Shifting Worlds: Book 1 In The S.W.S. [COMPLETED] ✔

Chapter 6

"Why am I here?" Seems like a good place to start.

Connor stops rubbing his hands looking confused. "You agreed to come."

"No, I mean why am I here as in alive?" I clarify.

"Oh, that's the Gabe thing!" Luna pipes in excitedly. "It's totally cool and unique but also wicked sad and depressing." Her face falls again.

"What she means is Gabriel saved your life by counteracting the venom." Connor illuminates.

I'm not sold. "How? He's a vampire."

"Not exactly. The reason you thought he was a hunter was because you could smell both vamp and shifter right?" I nod and he continues. "That's because he is. He's a hybrid so to say."

Connor pauses as he lets it sink in. I slowly walk over to the other side of the wrap around couch. Just the thought of being a vamp sends chills down my spine and they want me to think he is both? It's wrong. It's unnatural. I laugh at my foolish thoughts. If you ask a human they would say we are unnatural.

I look at each of them but their faces give nothing away. A perfect calm. Looking back to Connor I'm ready to ask. "How so?"

"Both of his parents were shifters but when his mother was about to give birth your fath-" He cut himself off. He must have seen the resentment that flares in my eyes. He starts up again. "Kain killed his father and took his mother to experiment on her. We don't know all of what was done but we know his last experiment was the cause of her death and Gabriel's condition." He pauses looking down in pity. "He had one of the vampires working for him feed on her when she went into labor to see what it would do to the baby."

I gasp in horror. Connor looks at me then continues. "They believe that the venom was filtered through his mother and diluted before it reached Gabriel. That's the only way he could have lived. But the side effect is he's constantly being poisoned and has to feed on shifter blood to filter his own venom out. He was meant to be a shifter but the mutation that attacks his own blood also mutated the would be vampire venom. Instead of harming shifters it attacks the vamp venom in our system when we get bit."

Connor finishes with everyone staring at the floor myself included. Them in sorrow for what had happened to their friend. Myself in shame for being the daughter of the monster that would do such a thing. This explains why he hates me.

"How did he escape? There is no way Kain would let a cure go that easily." I ask when I'm able speak again.

"There was a vampire who took care of Gabriel. And after taking care of him for so long she grew to love him. She would bring him candy and toys, try to give him some joy." Connor shakes his head. "When Gabriel refused to cure anyone that worked for Kain he ordered Gabriel killed. Why keep a cure you can't use?"

I shudder. "When the vampire who loved him heard this she had to save him. She got them out but was caught in the process. Kain did not kill her kindly." He finishes looking as sick as I felt.

I shudder again. "Wait is there more like him?"

"Not that we know of." Connor answers. "They only had a few interactions with others and everyone kept things secret. You know, fear of death and all."

"You keep saying they."

Luna ask turning to Charles. "Mo' Charlie?"

Charles gives a nod saying, "Not right to share Gabriel's story but not mine."

I look to Luna who begins rapidly explaining. "Mo' Charlie is a bear right? Well they shift for the first time when they are five and some bad stuff happened. His dad took him camping the first moon after his birthday so he could shift but a bunch of vampires attacked them and killed his dad. Not knowing what to do he ran all the way home. But his mom's human. She just sees a grizzly cub running up to her so she freaking out. Chucking things and stuff."