Page 60 of Tainted Gifts
"Hybrids were bound, beaten, and shackled for so long. I know because I was one of the forgotten. I was a child of the world who feared the unknown just like many others in here."
She pauses, casting her gaze to all the hybrids who were willing to do the same thing to these children that was done to them. Rex nods, agreeing with her as he stays focused on her.
"What does this have to do with the emergent hybrids and full blood hybrids?" a full blood asks, his voice timid and crackling as he addresses the powerful hybrid he should fear.
Mom cracks her neck to the side, trying to control her anger as she continues.
"The point is, it was wrong. It was terribly wrong. All we did was create broken bodies and hearts. To this day, I still have scars not visible to the eye. My husband is all that keeps me together some days. It's fortunate I have my savage under control.
"Men like Ty Silvers weren't born monsters, we forced them into being monsters. Full bloods who craved the vein more than others were confined, forced to live in pain. They too became monsters. Once cured, they weren't monsters anymore. My point is we need to find a way to coexist with all of the evolution our world will face. We need evolution to keep surviving.
"It wasn't too many centuries ago that full bloods couldn't walk in the sun or eat food. They lived with the pain of a craving they couldn't satisfy, feared a sky out of tint, and dreaded the day they would thirst through. Do you know how that was cured?"
Oh shit!
Jase's eyes widen, realizing why my family has come to congregate around me. How the hell weren't they thinking about it?
I understand why Aunt Angelica made Simone come along as well. We're about to be running for our lives, children in tow.
Jase sighs out loudly, leaning over to whisper in my ear.
"I just read Brazen's mind. The kids are already loaded up in your van, and some guy named Corbin is behind the wheel, ready to whisk them away when he sees the signal."
Corbin. Good grief. That's Uncle Brazen's wild ass friend from Metropolis - the old full blood colony from way back when. He's so obnoxious, but he has always had Uncle Brazen's back.
"They weren't thinking about it?" I ask, keeping my voice quiet, though I should have just used my mind to ask.
"I... um... well... you're very fucking distracting, so I didn't catch on to what was going on," he murmurs, stifling a grin while making me blush.
"How?" one guy finally asks to end the suspense, bringing my conversation with Jase to a halt.
"An emergent had a child, and that child survived to live past puberty, and that child's blood healed the full bloods of their blood thirst and sun allergy."
Everyone gasps, some demanding to know who authorized such a thing without the council's consent.
"Does it matter who gave the order? Is there a full blood here who regrets feeling the touch of the unobstructed sun? Does a single full blood miss hiding from the full glow of the sun when the tinted sky's timer opened up for the rays to shine through? Is there a full blood who doesn't enjoy food? Do any of you miss the ache you had for the vein?"
The chatter dulls down, everyone carefully assessing that, knowing she's right.
"And hybrids. You're the ones I'm disappointed with the most. After centuries of oppression, forgotten children were no longer forgotten. Life changed because of two men - Clay Jude and Hale Banner. How could you turn your back and act the same as the ones who deemed you too powerful to be free? How could you deal out a death sentence to children just as innocent as you all once were?"
They all cast their shame to the floor, their gaze not moving back up to meet her eyes for fear of what disgust she'll toss their way.
"Tell me something, is there a hybrid here who regrets having their womb healed? We spent centuries as sterile - unable to have a family of our own. Do you know what healed your wombs?" she asks, bordering on shedding tears and revealing the biggest shock of them all if her contacts dissolve.
"No," one whispers.
"No?" she snarks. "The phase three blood of an emergent hybrid healed your wombs."
The hybrids keep their heads down, their own disgrace ruling them.
"Humans, do you regret the world being filtered, cleaned up, and radioactivity being brought down? Just over seven hundred years ago, your species didn't have but forty years left to survive. It was determined we would all die. Humans would die of cancer cells growing before they could even come of age to bear children. Full bloods would die because they had no chance of survival without their only food source at the time. And hybrids would cease to exist when no one was around to create them, given the fact they couldn't have children of their own before this miracle cure.
"And finally, do any of you regret Ty Silvers being killed? The man who damn near created his own version of hybrids that had no choice but to be a slave to him because he ruled their minds? Do any of you remember how close we all came to becoming slaves to a madman?"
They all grow quiet, absorbing the information very slowly.
"All of our kind has good and bad. There could be ten good hybrids and one bad. The same with all full bloods and humans alike. Blood doesn't make you the enemy, gifts don't make you the enemy, none of that matters. The only thing that makes someone bad, is society's expectations or their own free will. If you condemn someone to be a monster, they feel that's all they have the right to be. These are children. Children."
