Page 69 of The HalloQueen

“Well… I guess to put it simply, they push venom out. It’s not like they’re eating it.”

“But it’s part of them. You just said plants were a part of witches and that's why they repel venom. Wouldn’t the venom be in their blood and make them immune to it?”

My mom cringed, “Darling, the blood inside of an undead’s body isn’t that of the undead. That blood contains no venom…”

“Ew! You’re saying-”

“Yeah…”

“Oh, gods.” I leaned my head back against the bed and looked at the ceiling, shaking it in disbelief, “And you guys wait until I’m almost 30 to try and get me to believe in fairy tales? Come on!”

“You clearly already knew something, love, we just want to fill in the blanks. Why do you think we wanted you to move home? It was time to teach you before we forgot something important.”

I pressed my palms into my eyes, “Jesus the almighty baby in a manger. I don’t-”

“Anyway,” Mama pressed on, “upon the discovery that Green Witches were immune to the bites of the Undead, the Coalition tasked our line with being the eyes and ears around the world to help protect mortals and to report back when needed. Our family moved to Boston and were tasked with protecting the people and witches here, and honestly, for a long time now, there hasn’t been anything to report. No Others were behaving so extraneously that we needed to include the Coalition. I don’t even think there’s been an Undead in Quaker’s Wharf or Salem in… what?”

“At least as long as Bels has been alive. There are Others around, but none that want to draw attention to themselves. In fact, there’s a huge Other population here. We often have our hands full just acting as the witch mothers to every little demon and werewolf that needs someone to talk to. The Mother has blessed us to be the mothers and it is a task that we do not take lightly,” my mom added.

“But- we wanted you to experience as normal of a life as you could while there was no threat. We wanted you to have friends and experience your childhood. We didn’t mean to go so long before starting your training but…there was no reason to and then you were in Chicago and…”

“And now Monique bit me and shit is about to hit the fan.” I cringed, and my mom leaned over to press a button attached to my IV.

“Just some morphine, love, it will help the pain in your elbow. We can heal the bone more at home to restore your use of it but they needed to set the pins in it.”

“How could I live with you and not know anything? How could I live with witches and not know?”

“Not just live with us, Bels, you are one too. You’re a part of us.”

Mama squeezed my thigh, “I did many of my meetings at my office at the College, or away from the house. Your mother grew everything we needed to help the Others and frankly…you were such a bookworm and uninterested in the plants that you didn’t give a shit what she was doing out in the solarium.”

“So what happens now? Monique is sick, she needs help, and Thomas and Yus-”

“Honey, you know all these creatures?”

I blushed, “uh, Thomas and I have an…arrangement. He has been running the Halloween store.”

My mom arched her brow, “interesting choice of profession for a…vampire, I’m assuming?”

I nodded, the morphine swirling into my mind and making me feel loose, “I need to tell him Monique is sick - I don’t think he knows. He didn’t tell me…”

“You focus on healing, love. Let us do our job.”

My vision began to blacken as the morphine took hold as sleep beckoned for me, but I didn’t miss the concerned look that passed between my mothers as I drifted back into unconsciousness.

30

THOMAS

“Where the fuck is she?!” I raged, my insides a mix of fear and anger. Annabel wasn’t answering her phone and we couldn’t find Monique. What if something had happened to her? What if Monique wasn’t even in the area anymore and Annabel had just decided to abandon our relationship?

“Thomas you need to eat - you’ll be no good to me if you go out of balance and fall Undead too.” Yusuf lay on my air mattress, tossing a ball into the air as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “There is a mall full of people right there, go eat something.”

“I can’t. I can’t do that. I promised Bels-”

“She wouldn’t handfeast, right?”

I glared at him.

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