Chapter Two
Blaire — Present
Iwasgoingto explode.
Keeping my identity a secret in the only place I'd ever known was like chugging gasoline and then throwing a match down my throat. It seared deep into my core—to my very soul. This secret was the only thing that's kept my family line alive, despite being hunted down for centuries by brainless men.
I couldn't be the one to reveal the truth.
But I was so tired of being treated like a lowly member of the society I was raised in. Hadn't I earned my spot? Didn't I deserve the same respect as my peers?
No, because my family's secrets didn't have to be exposed for us to be the town's outcasts. That role fell onto us, regardless. We were used as scapegoats, constantly breaking our backs carrying the weight of the town's problems because we were perceived as the weakest links.
I'd been beaten down and mistreated by children and adults since before I could speak and defend myself. They were the voices in my head, reminding me day in and day out how worthless me and my family were. But I fought against them, just as Grammy taught me to do.
If only they knew our strength.
If only I could show them that I held more power in one finger than they could ever dream of holding as a collective.
Yet, I was forced to stand on the sidelines with my ego bloodied and bruised, while those around me worship the ground that they stood on.
The Quarters of Watchtower.
It wasn't fair.
My mother and grandmother constantly reminded me that it didn't have to be fair; we just had to survive. They watched me slowly descend into the mental depths of depression as our family burden took its toll on me.
But what kind of life was that?
To merely scrape by. To ignore every gift and shining trait you've been blessed with by the gods, simply because those with small minds couldn't comprehend it. Because they were afraid of it.
I say, let them be afraid.
Let them fear us.
Let them worry over every interaction we've ever had with them when they've treated us like lesser beings.
Let them lose sleep over how we decide to enact our revenge.
Let them fear our power.
And if we couldn't do that, then let us be free of this town and all the negativity it holds.