Bitter Submission ✓

Chapter Thirty Seven

| Thirty-Seven |

|Luxinia|

I spent hours completely immersing myself in teaching Ale to fight, trying my hardest to ignore the fact that Jesse was gone. Alethea was getting the brunt of my sadness since each time we fought I felt her whole body rock backward. I reached a point where I swung my staff so hard and she tried to parry my blow, but she was too weak that she fell to her knees and got knocked on her forehead. I backed up, eyes wide and I dropped to the ground. "Oh, Ale, I'm sorry are you okay?"

Alethea smiled, a slight bruise already forming on her head. "Yeah, I'm fine. No pain, no gain right?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't paying attention," I pulled her up and inspected her head a little more just to make sure I didn't hurt her too much.

"You mean you were holding back the whole time?" Ale stared at me with a shocked gazed, probably somewhat offended.

"Yes. I have super strength and when succubi fight they use it. Definitely your enemy will be using it too. Speed as well. We are faster than humans. You live your life as a human," I replied, wiping off the dirt on her back.

"Teach me to fight supernaturals then! I want to be strong, not weak. Don't you dare hold back on me," Alethea shouted, shoving me backwards. She gave me a glare and kept pushing me again and again.

I grabbed her throat and shoved her back. "You cannot handle that and you sure as hell aren't ready."

Alethea's eyes flashed red, the first time I've seen them ever do that and she charged towards me. I ducked and shoved her back into the ground, frowning that she would let her impulses get to her. "Stop. I'll teach you in due time."

"NO! You're going to leave us soon too. Jesse left and so will you!" Alethea soon started to sob as she shouted at me, throwing missed punches and kicks. I let her hit me in the chest and walked closer bringing her into my arms. I hugged her tight as she cried into my chest. This was foreign to me. I never was the type to want a child, knowing that I would die after having one. However, holding Alethea in my arms made me feel... warm. Warm and fuzzy. Something that I had never felt before. I didn't feel like a mom. I felt like an older sister and that I needed to protect her. 

And I'd be damned if I let anyone hurt her.

"I'm not leaving you now. And when I do leave, it's not like I'll forget about you," I sighed, pushing her back slightly so I could look at her.

"Are you sure? Because Seres left us. And Jesse always leaves us."

"Seres died. I'm not planning to die. Jesse left to protect you guys. He can never stay here for long because you all must be a secret. You are his weaknesses. They could use you three against him and he doesn't want that to happen," I explained, stroking her hair.

She seemed to calm down some, but she still had tears running down her cheeks.

"He doesn't explain none of that does he?" I asked. Jesse could be a hard man when he wanted to. Just like every guy. 

Alethea shook her head. 

"He does it to protect you. You shouldn't let it get to you," I replied, trying to get Ale to not feel as bad.

|-=-=-|

|Jesse|

I came back into New York thinking that I would easily find Bloodtrei and Dominick. However, it was harder than I thought. Every incubus bar I went to no one would say a word or they just didn't know at all. My next objective would be to go into a succubus club and see what happens there. I would not be welcomed with open arms since no incubi were allowed in places like that and they were kept a secret. Hopefully, knowing that I knew about it they would trust me more not to say a word. If not, I could just use force.