Bøüńd

Loyalty is in our bones...

The new traditional Friday night sleepover was abuzz at Kohleena's house. Surrounded by empty soda cans, lit candles and the void of darkness, the four castors sat in a circle, performing a binding ritual. The aim was to open themselves so that the others could both share and give off their powers. Each castor felt a different connection to castors around them, forming a different color that bound their energies together.

Mona's was a hue of green; vibrant and lively like the forest-like setting of her house. Koh's was a stunning crimson, shining like a deep ruby while Monroe's was a bottomless black void, like the color of Dominic's eyes. Aden was in direct contrast to her and blazed as a blinding white light like his shimmering silvery snake scales.

After the day she's had, Monroe wanted nothing more than to be surrounded by witchcraft and forgetting about DeMarco Pierce and his associates. The distraction from her friends proved helpful until Mona turned Koh's bedroom into a jungle.

Grape vines, jasmine shrubs, a small tree and fresh grass sprouted in between the tiles. "That explains the green aura," Koh commented humorously. "I bet the Black Pearl here could turn it into ash without trying," she directed to Monroe next to her.

"Kohleena," Mrs. Crimson's called from the other end of the door. When she came in, her face was pallor with shock. "Dear Lord," she gasped then closed the door and loudly ran away.

"I've always feared staunch Christians," Aden voiced, "most of the tragedies in history were caused because of them. Look what happened to my village because of the Spaniards."

"Don't you miss the Philippines," Monroe asked softly but he shook his head. "I'm sure you could find your closest relatives if you tried. One of them might also be an aero castor." Everyone was silent as they all stared at her sadly. "Don't pity me, I hate it." Koh took her hand in hers. "I said I don't want to talk about it."

"We're just concerned about you," Mona replied with vines growing into a crown around her head. "It couldn't have been easy, hearing him say all that."

Aden scoffed as he took her other hand, "look on the bright side, now you know why you have wings and what the ruin on your wrist means. There no more mystery around us. Apart from the vampire and dominion after McMahon."

"It's not like any of us actually care about him," Monroe replied, "he's just a human." They all studied her puzzled - especially Mona. "Don't mistaken concern for connection. Lucas maybe in mortal danger but who are we to be bothered when hundreds of other humans die every day? He'll just be another statistic that nobody bothers about. No offense," she directed at Koh and Mona who both had human parents.

They merely shrugged their lack of offense. "Can we talk about something else," Aden pleaded. "Preferably something not somber."

Koh shifted on the bed as she tightened her grip on Monroe's hand. "How the holy Hell are you married? You've literally been here for three months!"

Mona hummed in agreement while Aden slipped off the bed towards the desk with packets of potato chips on it, stumbling across bushes and vines. "It's not an 'official marriage', as humans would say," she started with air quotes. "Dominic didn't intentionally do it but he can always undo it if he wanted."

Koh furrowed her eyebrows, "and you can't?"

Monroe shook her head while Aden pushed Binx aside to sit back on the bed - still covered in greenery. "Despite what the human society believes, in our society, women don't have much influence. That's why families like mine are so celebrated because an affluent and powerful witch-only family is rare. None of the men born into my family have ever been castors, or supernaturals in general. But it's not like gender equality is actually an issue but... Even I had the power to revoke the marriage, nothing would happen because Dominic's an alpha that's part of an alpha pack. So, by default, he has more influence over me than I do."