Page 58 of Tainted Gifts
I'm getting the children out of here if I fail to convince the council to spare their lives. These guys are complete assholes, and they don't do well with change. More than likely, they'll vote against the kids, and I'll have no choice but to disappear. I want you to know I love you, and I hope I have the chance to see you again one day. As selfish as it is, I want you to come, but I know I can't ask you to leave your counter and become a fugitive for the rest of eternity. Please, please don't stay with Kellan if you never find the feelings you're searching for.
From the first day I saw you, I knew I was in love. I couldn't stop thinking about you, dreaming about you, wondering what it would be like to spend the rest of time together. It hurts to see you with someone else, but at least I got to have a part of you he never will... your heart, though you don't see that yet.
They'll come question you once I go missing, so burn this letter. Tell them you haven't spoken to me. And one last thing... I love you. I love you. I love you.
Your full blood,
Jase
I want to cry and smile at the same time upon finishing the letter. I push my knee to touch Kellan's just to keep from letting Jase overhear something stupid my mind might say. I love him too, and it's killing me.
Walking out of that RV was the hardest thing I've done in a while. It feels so natural, so easy, so perfect with him. With Kellan it all seems so forced. I have to keep reminding myself what Dad meant to Mom. It's the only thing keeping me from stringing Jase along the way Mom did Uncle Brazen.
"I'll take comments from the heads of the unions now," Jase murmurs, motioning toward a woman and snapping me out of my trance.
I pull my knee away from Kellan's as I speak to him using my mind he loves to read.
We have a van out back. You stay. The United needs you. I'll go. I... I...
Before my trembling mind can release the truth, a woman's words distract me and Jase, who cuts his eyes away from mine.
"They should all die. We can't afford for a new breed of hybrid to go on the loose. We certainly can't afford for two new breeds of hybrids to go free. We shouldn't have ever allowed any hybrid to produce a child. I knew this would happen," the full blood woman says, her racism clear.
I glare at her, just as all the hybrids do, venom seeping from our eyes.
"Shouldn't have let us?" a hybrid woman scoffs. "You ignorant bigot. If anything your kind shouldn't be the ones reproducing. You're nothing but inferior to our kind."
Shit. This will get us nowhere.
An uproar of arguments break out as hybrids verse full bloods. Kellan gets a few snarks in, forcing me to roll my eyes. Jase pounds the gavel on the podium, demanding everyone shut the fuck up... sort of.
"Damn it. This is a meeting to decide the fate of twenty children. Get the hell over your racist issues. All of you!" he blares, making me stifle a grin.
I happen to be a hybrid who is very fond of full bloods.
It's easy for me to joke since I know the kids aren't in any real danger. I'll have them out of here in no time. Mom should be arriving soon. She'll sneak into the meeting and get ready to work her magic.
Jase smirks, having read all of my mind.
"We have hybrids and full bloods who are happily married all throughout the United," he says, delivering me a message with a cryptic seal. "Can we not have the room of the two get along for five minutes? These are children we're talking about. Let's not forget that. Most of which are projected to not survive past puberty as it is."
That part breaks my heart, stinging me with a sobering piece of reality. It's not a joke anymore. I can save them today, but five years from now is another problem entirely.
"And the full blood hybrids?" a man asks, standing to show himself more prominently. "Will they have such a short life span?"
Jase tightens his lips, looking at me for some sort of guidance.
I'm getting all of them out, so it doesn't matter what they decide. Just be honest with them.
He looks back to the man, shaking his head. "According to what little we know, their life span isn't shortened."
"They're too powerful," another man interjects. "I've read the research we were offered. They'll be just as strong as some of our gifted fleet. Some of them could even be stronger. We don't know enough to risk it. I say we exterminate the threat before they have a chance to exterminate us."
Jase lets out a burdened breath before looking around at the room full of terrified people. They're all a bunch of cowards who are willing to sentence children to death for fear of the unknown. Panic is a ruling emotion. It's amazing what monsters they are.
Jase looks to the council who will rule based on the opinions of the majority. No one is speaking up on behalf of the young ones besides Jase. Everyone knows they'll be flogged for doing so. It's pointless.
"Well, if that's the way you feel, then I'm sorry. I can't be a leader to-"
