Ninovan (Hypernaturals 10)

Angel and Ayasha

Tala's expression changed, and she looked very sad as she replied to Morgan. "That is a very long story. The short version is that I had two lovers at that point in time. Not at all unusual here. Jealousy is unusual in this place. Normally no one cares who is having a loving moment and with whom. One of my lovers was Angel's father, Apisi. The other lover was a younger Siren male. Angel's father was Astral, like me, and we called our child ... You dear..." A nod Angels way. "Chenoa. Angel is better. I can see from the family she has gathered around her that she truly is an Angel."

Tala touched Angel's arm lovingly. "My lovers fought. It was horrible. All the time. Apisi, being an Astral, was a sensitive man, and hated the fighting. Hated the conflict. It hurt him. Merely the hot emotional rage hurt him. He stayed with me through all of that because he loved me and we had a baby together. I knew my little baby was Apisi's. There was nothing that prevented it from being either lovers, Apisi or Ulysses, but I knew. I knew the moment I conceived. Ulysses was young. He had just come into his song, and he was taken with me because that is how an Astral affects a Siren. He knew the rules of our little home. Of Ninovan. He knew I was not his to own. No one owns anyone here. We are all free to love whoever we want and whenever we want. Unfortunately, a Siren male of that age tries to claim a woman, and I would not be claimed. It made Ulysses so angry. He wanted exclusive ownership of me. My body. He wanted to sire children with me. I felt his love and his lust, and it was flattering and attractive. I felt his anger and his jealously and it was terrible."

Vera quietly said to me, "See Larry for details."

Tala did not notice. "Ul could be sweet too, but he thought that you, Angel, were his baby, not Apisi's. You were not. It was not intentional. It is who my body chose somehow. Astral to Astral may be something that catches easier? I don't know. I only know it got worse and worse. The whole of Ninovan knew about it. Alexander intervened numerous times. Your father feared for your life. He thought that Ul was going to be like one of those animals that kills a rival's child, and he told me he was going to take you out of here and hide you so that you could grow up without worrying. I did not want him to leave with you, but one night you were gone. So was he. So was Ulysses."

"Do you know if Ulysses had a very large, broad-bladed knife?" Morgan asked.

"Ul was a hunter. He loved to hunt. He came here and became a provider of food. He hunted deer and all manner of things, and yes. He had several knives. He carried one like that on hunting trips." Simi said.

"As I said. I left Ninovan to look for you, but I do not know the outside world or its ways. I had little money. No concept of how to look. Where to look. I came back here a wreck. A failure as a mother to protect her child. It changed how I approach lovers."

Tala paused. She is collecting herself. Living with the memory of her failure again.

"Ul taught us a lesson. Maybe it was one we already knew from centuries before, but if we knew it, it was lost along the way. Never allow a male Siren to be here if they are under seventy or eighty years old. They are too unstable and violent. We have to grow out of that stage." Tobey said, miserably. "We should have known."

A youthful blond man entered the hall, followed by Kevin. He easily spotted us and came over. "Hi! I'm Alexander" he said. Maybe it is he chirped? "Kevin said we have visitors, and so we do! Oh my god! We have never had three Vampires, an Astral, and a Siren all show up on the same day! Wow!"

So this is Alexander. The one that intervened in Tala's story. He looks twenty-five but he has been here for at least forty years if he intervened back when Angel was an infant.

I reached out a hand, "Alexander. I'm Adrian. Very nice to meet you. If I can introduce you to my family, this is my wife Jessica, this is my wife Morgan, the woman hugging Tala is Angel, who we have learned is Tala's daughter. You knew her as a baby. This woman is Vera. Vampire / Siren Liaison out there in the world and Angel's main squeeze."