Dangerous Games - Chapter Sixteen

This chapter is a bit exposition heavy, so please let me know our thoughts, good, bad, it doesn't matter. Your feedback is always welcome. 

Also, shout out to 24hicking for joining me on stream and keeping me company for a while.

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Ethan found himself in a private elevator going up to a penthouse suite in Lotus Park, the extremely high-end apartment building in north Port Iron where Sera apparently lived. He was still in a bit of a daze from Sera’s bombshell reveal earlier and wasn’t exactly sure why he agreed to go to her place. He looks over at her and tries to get some sense of what she was thinking but he couldn’t get a read. Her head and shoulders were slightly down as if in regret or shame but the look on her face was stoic.

After telling Ethan her father’s identity, the council began to throw a fit at her for revealing something that had apparently been a secret. The council demanded to know who Ethan was to Sera, only for her to reply, “Fuck off”, before turning her back on them and walking out, pulling Ethan along behind her.

“Sera?” Ethan calls gently.

Sera shoulders jolt at the sound of her name.

“I need answers.” Ethan finishes.

The elevator door dings open, and Sera let’s out a sigh; she walks out of the elevator and Ethan follows after her. Stepping out of the elevator Ethan stops and lets out a low whistle as he takes in the massive penthouse apartment. He was also surprised by its more traditional décor and feel; it was cozy but efficient, he had pegged Sera for a more of a modern or spartan design.

Sera tosses her jacket onto a table and turns to Ethan, “Why so impressed, as a thief you’ve probably broken into places a lot nicer than this.”

“Not really, despite what movies and tv shows tell you, most people who live in places like these don’t usually keep valuables in them. If they can afford places like these, they can afford private vaults and banks.” Ethan answers.

Sera thinks for a moment and them gives a slight nod and hum in agreement.

“Besides, most of the thieves who do hit places like these are posers looking to get caught or noticed.” Ethan states with bitter annoyance.

“Why?” Sera asks.

“So they can pass themselves off as high-class cat burglars and get into movies.” Ethan answers.

“Movies?” Sera questions, confused.

“Yeah, so that the next time Hollywood decides to make another heist or robbery movie they’ll reach out to them to consult.” Ethan answers as he shakes his head in disgust. “Anyway, no more stalling, I want answers Sera.”

Sera looks down and lets out another sigh before looking back up at Ethan.

“Let me at least treat you while we talk, go sit down while I grab something for those cuts and bruises.” Sera states, motioning with her head to the couch in the living room behind her.

Ethan does as she says and takes a seat on the couch, there was a fire going in the fireplace and and though he wasn’t cold its warmth gave him some comfort. Looking around the room Ethan didn’t see any pictures, but one small frame near the fireplace had what looked like a green marble inside. As he continued to look at it, the green swirls on the marble seemed to shift and move. There was something about it that seemed familiar to him even though Ethan was positive he had never seen it before.

Confused, Ethan shakes the feeling away, and watches as Sera joins him on the couch with a small jar in one hand with a bottle of wine and two glasses in the other. She places the wine and glasses on the small coffee table in front of them.

“This should help take care of those cuts and bruises.” Sera states as she opens the jar with what looks to be some sort of cream inside and takes out a small smidge of it with two fingers.

Sera starts rubbing parts of his face with the cream, and the places she touches begin to feel cool and tingly. Ethan looks at his reflection in a metal tray that was on the coffee table, the cuts and bruise on his face begin to fade away as if they were never there.

“Holy shit.” Ethan says in astonishment.

“Ok, now take off your shirt.” Sera orders.

Ethan quirks an eyebrow at her, “Sera, c’mon.”

“What? I just want to check the cuts and bruises on your body.” Sera replies.

“I would find that more believable if your eyes weren’t black and glowing, and you weren’t biting your lower lip.” Ethan states, trying not to smile.

A look of surprise crosses Sera’s face, she clearly didn’t realize any of those things were happening, and immediately tries to school her features.

“Sera, it’s time you told me about Ashford.” Ethan demands in a gentle but firm tone.

Sera takes in a deep breath opening the bottle of wine and pours herself a glass of wine before standing and walking over to the fireplace.

“The first thing you need to understand is that unlike humans, the other races have exceedingly low birth rates. Compared to humans there really aren’t that many of us, and its not from a lack of trying, it just the way we are.” Sera starts as she stares into the fire. “Because of this the witch’s council contracted some of the smartest minds from each race to begin looking into ways of increasing our birthrates, Ashford was among them. They would study and research both pregnant and non-pregnant women. After a while a subgroup emerged that began trying to combine the races.”

“Yeah, Diane told me a little about it. She said that all their attempts ended in failure.”

“They did and their work was eventually shutdown by the council. Ashford who was a member of the subgroup tried to appeal their decision by stating he was close to a breakthrough not just for combining the races but also for increasing the birthrate of witches.” Sera explains as she sips her wine.

“So, did they?” Ethan asks.

“No, but that didn’t stop Ashford, he went ahead with his research and ended up killing two female witches in an experiment. Needless to say, the council was less then pleased and assigned a group of Wiccans to bring him in.”

“I’m guessing he fled before they could catch him.” Ethan states.

“No, they caught up to him, but that’s when they found out that Ashford was a lot more powerful than he let on and killed two of the three Wiccans sent after him.”

“Jesus.” Ethan states unconsciously.

“Since then, he’s been on the run from the council, only resurfacing every once in a while.”

“Where do you come in?” Ethan asks.

Sera didn’t turn around and continued to stare at the flames, but the air surrounding her grew tense.

“Ashford at on point kidnapped a female vampire named Mira, and…and…”

Ethan closes his eyes in realization, “Sera, you don’t have to-.”

“NO, you need to know.” Sera takes another breath before continuing. “He raped her, he did so repeatedly until he was sure they conceived, and after he was sure she was pregnant he…he used her as a test subject for his experiments.”

Sera’s body begins to tremble, and Ethan immediately goes to console her, but it wasn’t sadness she was feeling it was anger and hatred. Ethan takes Sera’s hand into his, to calm her down, and slowly pulls her back to the couch to sit down beside him.

After a few calming breathes Sera continues, “Because of the things he did to her she died not long after giving birth to me. But he didn’t care, to him she was no more than a test tube, and after breaking her he moved on to his new one, me.”

Ethan began to feel his own anger and hatred grow as Sera continued to talk.

“He raised me, taught me to read and write, but not from any parental obligation, no, he just didn’t want to deal with an illiterate who couldn’t answer his questions when he gave them. Every day I was poked and prodded, there was always some new test he wanted to run, pushing me to my limits to find out what I was capable of. He could sense magic in me when I was born, so he knew I was a witch right away, but it wasn’t until I was ten or eleven that I started showing sign of my vampiric side. Oh, he was over the moon when he found out I was a half-breed, his little success, he called me.” Sera scoffs. “He never bothered to give me a proper name.”

Ethan wanted to comfort Sera, but he didn’t know what to say, instead letting Sera continue her story.

“When he would finish testing me, he would lock me up in my bedroom which had a steel door and bars on the windows. My only solace was in the books he gave me, but that was also his first mistake. My mind grew faster than my body, I’m not sure if that’s attributed to my dual nature or not but it was a weapon, one that hid. Little by little I learned more and more not just about myself and the different races. But important things like how I was being kept in an abandoned hospital, and that Ashford was communicating with others like him.”

Sera then became quiet; she was looking at the red wine in her glass, but her eyes were no longer focused on the present but the past.

“Then came the day he wanted to test the effects of blood on me.”

“Effects of blood?” Ethan whispers.

“He started off small, giving me small animals to feed on and asking how I felt afterward and how it tasted.”

“Oh God.”

“I knew right away that their blood would be too weak to sustain me, but Ashford insisted I do it anyway, when it finally came time to feed on a human, I refused. Ashford was infuriated by my refusal and locked me in my room without any food. By the time the third day came and went without any food I knew what he was trying to do. On the fourth day he brought in a human man he had kidnapped into my room hoping that in my starved state I would eagerly feed on him. But I held fast, refusing to even move from my corner. Ashford, angry at my continued defiance, cut open the man’s throat and dropped him on the floor. Stating, that since he was going to die anyway, I shouldn’t let his blood go to waste.”

Sera looks down in shame and regret.

“I tried to endure but I was just so hungry, but what’s worse is that since it was human blood it still wasn’t strong enough to fill me and only partially staved off my hunger.” Sera says in a sad tone.

“Sera it’s okay, you don’t have to say anymore.” Ethan tells her, but she wasn’t listening.

Sera gulps down the rest of her wine. “That’s how I learned that like normal vampires, I inherited their ability to survive off blood, but I didn’t inherit their taste for it. Nor do I need to feed on a regular basis like they do, unless forced to.” Sera face becomes one of pure hatred. “When I was done, the asshole had the gall to come into the room with a smile and a pad and ask how it was. I decided right there and then that I would kill him.” Sera’s killing intent began to fill the air.

“How did you finally get away?”

“Ashford wanted to show me off to some people, like a prize dog. While being transported, I saw my moment and took it. When I got free, I still didn’t know much about the world and caused quite a ruckus, eventually I was found by the witch’s council and after countless debates was given to Diane…and now you know my sad little tale.” Sera states in a self-deprecating tone.

Sera places her wine glass on the table, grabs the bottle, and takes a swig.

Ethan had no words he wished he did but he didn’t.

“Is that why you don’t get along with the council, because of your connection to Ashford?” Ethan questions.

Sera snorts and rolls her eyes, “No, they don’t like me because of a prophecy, and I don’t like them because their a bunch of stuck-up bureaucrats who can’t get their heads out of their asses.”

“Prophecy?”

“It’s nothing.” Sera states in a dismissive tone as she takes another swig from the wine bottle.

“Ok, then is that why they more interested in my relationship with you than the explosion caused by Ashford?”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, even before you came crashing in, the first thing they asked was what my relationship with you was.”

“They probably wanted to know so that they could use it against me.” Sera muses. “Anyway, it’s complicated and I don’t want to get into it.”

“Ok, then I guess I only have one more question, why was the council calling you Wicked Sera?”

“Oh that, that’s just what they call witches who do off the book jobs, jobs Wiccans can’t be sent or seen doing.” Sera explains.

“Wait, so you’re telling me…”

Sera smiles, “I’m a Wicked Witch.”

Ethan couldn’t help but chuckle at the irony.

‘So do you hate me yet?” Sera asks.

“Hate you?” Ethan repeats in confusion. “Why would I hate you?”

“Weren’t you listening, I was born from something monstrous, I was raised by a monster, I’M a monster!” Sera says getting louder and louder.

Ethan takes Sera face into his hands and looks her right in the eyes, “All I heard was that you survived a monster, and that you were his victim more than anyone else. I am once again in awe of you, your strength, your perseverance, and your will to fight back. You’re not a monster, and you’re more beautiful to me now than before.”

Sera rushes in and kisses Ethan, she wanted him more than ever before, “You don’t know how glad I am to hear that. I was worried I’d have to lock you in here after learning the truth.”

“Lock me in here?” Ethan says in surprises as Sera kisses his neck.

Before Ethan could press further on the subject, Sera captures his mouth and pushes him down on the couch, causing him to his in pain.

Sera immediately sits up, “Sorry, sorry, I forgot you interrupted me before I could finish putting the healing cream on your body. So, seriously take off your shirt.”

Ethan complies and takes off his shirt and let’s Sera put the cream on his body, as Sera is finishing up her cellphone rings.

Sera look at her phone, “It’s Diane.” She announces in annoyance before tossing it aside.

“Sera.” Ethan chides. “She might be looking for me since my phone is still at the police station.”

“Fine.” Sera grumbles as she picks up and answers her phone, “What? Yes, he’s with me. Ok, alright, we’re on our way.”

Sera stands up and hands Ethan his shirt.

“What did she say?” Ethan asks.

“She says she’s figured out the illness and how to possibly cure it.” Sera answers.

Ethan quickly puts on his shirt and follows Sera; they quickly make their way to the hospital in one of Sera expensive looking cars. When they get there, they go up to Ethan’s mother’s room and find both Joe and Diane inside with her. Diane was standing by his mother talking to her while Joe was sitting in a chair drawing on a sketch pad.

Seeing her son arrive with Sera, Helen couldn’t help but smile, “Dr. Umbra what a surprise, I didn’t expect to see you here so late.”

“Mom, not the time.” Ethan chides his mother. “Also, Diane, shouldn’t we discuss this somewhere more private?”

“That’s just it, for this to work your mother must be brought into the know of her illness.” Diane states.

“Into the know, what don’t I know?” Helen repeats in confusion.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Ethan questions.

“No, but it might be for the best.” Diane answers.

“What’s for the best?” Helen asks.

Joe, having finished his drawing, tears the page out of the pad.

“Here, what do you think?” Joe interrupts as he hands the page over to Ethan.

It was an almost identical sketch of Ashford’s face.

“It’s good, really good but why?” Ethan asks.

“To find out who this S.O.B is, I’m planning to give it to Ava so that she can run it through her facial recognition software.” Joe answer.

“Who’s an S.O.B?” Helen tries to ask.

“Don’t bother I already know who he is.” Ethan states.

“You do?” Joe asks in surprise.

Sera grabs the sketch from Ethan’s hand, “Yep, that’s Ashford alright, his hair is a bit different but it’s definitely him.”

“Ashford!” Diane yells grabbing the sketch from Sera hands. “You two saw Ashford?!” Diane asks as she looks between Joe and Ethan.

Joe takes the sketch from Diane, “Saw doesn’t cover it.”

Having had enough of being ignored, Helen takes the sketch from Joe, “ENOUGH, this is my room, so someone better start explaining things to me right now or I will kick each and every one of your asses out of here myself!”

Everyone apologizes in disjointed unison.

“Good now then.” Helen takes a moment to look at the sketch. “Hey, I know him.”

“You do!?” Everyone asks in unison.

“Yeah, but his name wasn’t Ashford it was…Willis, Dr. Willis, he was my OB while I was pregnant with you, Ethan.”