Acceptance

Chapter 23

I stood at one of the make shift windows, having been woken up by a horrid nightmare. Looking over the trees, I could see several places where smoking was going up to the sky. In some places the ground was nothing but blood and bodies. I had seen so many  go through the painful change because I wasn't fast enough to end it for them. I watched a child, no older than four, scream and cry for their mother as his mother went through the change. I tried to get to the child, tried to save them, but I got to him too late. The mother had clawed him across the face. I ended that child's life as they cried and screamed, still human. I slaughtered so many people who had once been human. I had seen several I had even gone to school with laying dead on the ground. 

I jumped when arms wrapped around my waist. "It's just me Alice," Shelton whispered softly. My heart hammered in my chest, "I'm sorry." "Why are you apologizing," He asked me. Tears came to my eyes, "I killed a child Sheldon." I broke. "I killed children. I-I killed a pregnant woman. I killed so many. I tried to keep the demons away from them, but I wasn't fast enough." He turned me to face him, hand buried in my hair as he held me to him. "I looked that little boy in the eyes as he screamed in pain after his mother attacked him, and slammed my sword into his chest, his cries instantly stopping." I hid my face in his chest as I cried. "I-I killed so many. A-And tonight while I slept, I kept seeing his face and hearing his cries. Even now, I it's like I can still hear him. Hear all of them crying and screaming in pain and fear."

He held me out at arms length and wiped away my tears, "None of this is your fault. You did what you could." "I-If I had done a better job at dealing the book, then none of this would be happening," I told him, more tears streaming down my cheeks. "It used up all of your magic, Alice. Had you have tried to do more than what you did, it would've killed you and then we wouldn't be complete," he reasoned. I closed my eyes, knowing he was right. He pulled me to him again, "Its gonna be okay. We're gonna be okay."

After another minute, when I felt calmed enough, we went back to our make shift room. The others were awake, waiting for us. I crawled into the bed and they all gave me the comfort I more than needed. I fell asleep for another couple of hours, but I was up early, dressed, and ready to come up with a plan.

I was out of the room before any of my mates. I found the meeting room with many agents, leaders who were both human and supernatural, and a few council members. "Wondering when you were gonna show," the Chief said handing me a file. "Since you are the only one in this room who's faught the king and lived, you'll be in charge of all of this."

I felt the weight of many lives on my shoulders at that statement. Goddess this really was hell. I looked through the file and saw it was status reports. "Have we gotten into contact with the churches about evacuating to here," I asked them. "Uh no. We thought the churches would be more than well off while we handle this," one of the men at the table said. He wore a uniform for the US army, and he was human. "The King is out and about now. He cant come on to holy ground, but he is now free to use things such as bombs that you humans have created. Plus the churches are most likely on the brink of overflow, with not enough supplies. On top of that, this isn't some easy to deal with matter that we can simply bomb the shit out of. It'll swat the bombs away like pesky flies."

"How did you fight it," The man asked me. "It took every ounce of my magic to seal it away. I had advanced warning that it was going to be unsealed so I was able to prepare and I got there thirty minutes after the book was opened. I didn't know this time until two hours after, by then the Demon King had all of his strength and magic back. Plus we didn't even know where it was. I prioritized evacuation over attacking," I told him. "So everything up to this point has been your call," A coven leader said with a scoff. "A useless half breed?" I glared,"Try tri-breed you full blooded bitch. You see these humans? They're only using us until this shit is dealt with, then they'll turn on us, throwing us into a supernatural VS human war. They'll treat you just like how you treat me and everyone else who has mixed blood."

"I don't see the issue you two are discussing," another human said. "In the supernatural world we have a segregation much worse than what you humans once had when it came to race many years ago," One of the council members explained. "Those who are mixed of races, like Ms. Grommel here, who's birth races were witch and werewolf. She was later turned part vampire when a deceased member forced one of her mates to turn her to save her life." "It's Mrs. Vin now," I corrected. "I had just finished my mating before this shit happened." They nodded, "You and Shelton, as well as your other mates have my congratulations." They then turned back to the humans, "The reason why it is such a big deal, is because we see them as tainted. Of course we can't choose who the moon the Goddess chooses as our mate, but we do have the choice to reject them. Many who's mate is of another species tend to reject because they refuse to accept it. It may seem cruel and inhumane at how we treat them, but that's just how it is in our society."

I slammed my hands on the table, a crack going up the center, "Which is bullshit, and needs to change." Many of the full bloods rolled their eyes, and my blood began to boil. Shelton came in, "Alice." I growled softly, but pulled back my anger. I grabbed the file again, "Moving on. Resealing the King of Demons is going to take preparation." "Are you saying you know how," One of the council members asked me. "It's gonna take five people who know holy magic to reseal him. I'm one, we now just need to find four others." "Five isn't enough," One argued. "Anymore and it won't work. Each one represents an element; fire, earth, spirit, air and water. It's all about balance, and if that isn't there then we're screwed," I told them. "What element do you represent," One of the humans asked me. "Spirit," I replied. "It killed the last ones who resealed him," Shelton said, eyes glazing with tears and sadness. I cupped his cheek, "I know." His eyes then became hard and he left the room. Most likely to talk to the rest of our mates. Usually I would ask for their opinions on matters like this, but there was no room for talking on this.

Those who know holy magic were few and far between. It could take us years to find someone who has mastered holy magic. We could also have the issue where we are short the remaining elements because no one practiced it, and we have to find someone willing to sacrifice themselves and learn it. We may not have that long, but we have to try. I just hope they understand why I'm making this sacrifice.

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So I realized that I had spelled Shelton as Sheldon because I wasn't paying attention in the last couple pf chapters, and I will fix that, eventually. Just ignore it for now lol.