DESTINED, jasper hale [book 01] ✓

ix. the welcoming committee

•─────────•°•❀•°•─────────•

𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃

❀ 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦: 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘦

•─────────•°•❀•°•─────────•

𝐤𝐚𝐲𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞

     FOUR LONG YEARS OF death and bloodshed, but for what? Countless humans, vampires, and werewolves alike are dead, and the world is still shattering bit by bit every single day. Despite her assistance, from the look in Jasper's eyes, it's not going to be much longer before he leaves our coven; leaves Kaya and Maria. Hundreds of newborns died during the war, and they were forced to feel the repercussions of all the deaths — not just the newborns, but the entirety of those who fell no matter which side they were on.

     Majority of the time, Kaya siphoned Jasper's ability without him knowing, and allowed him to be able to fight without feeling the world of pain around him. In turn, that made her incapacitated from the sheer amount of pain and grief and suffering that this war was causing everyone. It was not just those fighting, but also those in the trenches who had to bandage and amputate and sterilise every single wound. Though it was a time where Jasper and her kind could feed and kill without anyone batting an eye, it still caused untold pain and suffering from those around them.

     To this day, almost a decade after the war started, in what everyone is deeming as a 'depression', the world is slowly re-building itself despite the crash of the economy that shattered absolutely everything — and whose after effects are still being felt in the southern states of what is now called 'North America'. The world is becoming even more dangerous with yet another levee threatening to break and let loose another war. As much as Kaya wishes she could prevent it, she knows that there is no stopping the next war that will occur in just over a decades time. Kaya hated being able to see what is to happen, but it's allowed her to be able to prepare for the oncoming battles that the future holds.

     The war took many lives — including the life of the man she entrusted my daughter to. Over the past decades, she has made sure to keep in contact with them via letters that she would place in the Houston post office once a week, and pick up their replies from the there almost as soon as they were sent. Jaida was the only one Kaya told the truth to: that her mother is a vampire, and she can't stay in one place too long; that Kaya can never see her again. Since the invention of the camera, a photograph has been included in each letter, and Kaya is proud to say that she looks more like her than Jaida does her father — whom Kaya sincerely hopes is dead.