~BOOK 4/PART ONE~ Paranormal: The Battle's Only Just Begun (Multi-Bandom FanFic)

Chapter 18

Halsey was sitting in the middle of a dark alleyway. Beside her was one of her friends, Brent, struggling to light a joint. She raised her hand and snapped her fingers, the end of the blunt igniting. He glanced over at her with a smirk before nodding his head in appreciation and inhaling the drug. The hybrid rolled her eyes and pulled her legs in, resting her chin on her kneecaps.

"What's wrong?" Brent asked, noticing the girl's weird behavior and blowing a puff of white smoke into the air.

"It's just...a year ago, I had nothing to do with my parents. I'd finally moved on from them, and I was on the verge of forgetting about them too, but then this all happened and...and now it's like I can't get rid of them. They're everywhere."

"You have parents?"

Halsey glared at him. "No, Brent, I was forged from the deep depths of hell and blessed with all the worst qualities a person could have. Of course I have parents, why do you think I'm part vampire, part witch?"

"Wait...you're part vampire, part witch?"

The hybrid groaned and buried her face in her legs. "Brent, sometimes you can be so fucking stupid. You know that?"

"You still didn't really tell me what's wrong, Hals," The excommunicated wizard reminded her. He used to belong to the coven Rachael and Brendon came from.

"I don't know, I just feel-"

"Halsey!" A paternal voice screamed. The witch lifted her head to see her mother standing at the opening where the alley met the street. She clenched her jaw and turned her head away, listening as Rachael entered the dark side street and squatted down in front of her daughter. "There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you." She turned her head and noticed the man sitting beside her daughter. "Oh, hey, Brent."

" 'Sup, Rachael?" He replied casually, extending the joint out to her, "Want a hit?" The older witch smiled but shook her head no, kindly declining the wizard's offer. He shrugged his shoulders and kept the drug to himself.

She looked back at Halsey and asked, "Will you come on a walk with me? We need to talk."

"I'd rather die," The blue haired girl bit out.

"I know you would. I would've said the same thing had my mother asked me the same question, but this is important."

"Then I don't understand why we're even having this conversation." The girl rolled her eyes.

Rachael heaved a sigh, realizing her daughter wasn't going to budge. "Look, Halsey, I want you to leave town for a while, okay? It's not safe here and-"

"No," was all she said.

"But Hals-"

"I like it here."

"And so do I. But I don't want you getting hurt. Brent, you don't want Halsey getting hurt, right?"

"I don't think I want to be a part of this conversation," He retorted with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I agree. And besides, since when do you care?" She spat while getting up.

Rachael stood up as well and crossed her arms over her chest. "I've always cared."

"Right, that explains why I'm the way I am today." She huffed. Brent held out his blunt and Halsey took it, bringing it to her lips.

"I did what I thought was best for you."

The girl took a long drag before huffing out the smoke. "You brainwashed me." She shook her head. "What you did was wrong, you and Dad both know it was. And the fact that you're here trying to control me again is annoying and frankly pathetic."

"I'm not trying to control you! I just don't want you having to deal with the shit your father and I had and still have to deal with! Ashley, I didn't want you growing up like that. No person is happy being a paranormal. No one. I just...I wanted you to be accepted, to be loved."

"You know what? Maybe I should let you two talk," Brent grumbled while going to get up. Halsey stuck her hand out and with the point of her finger, sat him back down.

"You never understood, Mom. I would have felt accepted if you told me the truth. I always felt like an outcast, or like a mistake because I didn't fit in with the humans."

"I thought-"

"You thought wrong," The girl cut her mother short, "You never should've had me. Neither of you wanted me, so why did you go through with it? You could've killed me before I born, and we all would be happier." She looked Rachael straight in the eyes. "But no, you had me, you lied to me, and then you abandoned me, only to suck me back in. You should have just let me go, let me be alone. You never cared, so why start now?"

"I did!" Rachael screamed, infuriated with Halsey, "I did care but you just didn't see it! All my efforts weren't because I had to, or because I was trying to make Patrick's and my life easier. I did everything I did because I loved you and I wanted you to live a better life than your father and me!"

"Caring parents would have told their kid that they were a hybrid." Halsey held herself so she wouldn't lose control. "Parents that gave a shit would try to look for their kids after they left home." The girl pressed and the mother before her felt the sadness laced in Halsey's voice. "People that want their kids don't make them feel like a mistake."

Rachael hung her head and ran a hand through her hair, her vision blurring. She was speechless.

"I don't get it...why you and Dad are suddenly interested in me. Are you trying to make yourselves feel better? Right the wrongs you've made?"

"I just want you to be safe, Halsey," The older witch murmured, "Regardless if you think I care or not. Something bad is going to happen and I don't want you here to see this town implodes."

"Well that's nice of you, but I made a life here, and it was going great until you showed back up in it," She growled, and with that, the girl stormed away from her mother.

Brent watched as Halsey walked off, turning his attention to Rachael once the hybrid was out of sight. "You think you can make a new blunt? Your daughter took mine."

Rachael rolled her eyes before turning on her heel and going in the direction her daughter went in.