Flaming torches lit the cobbled cellar, their smokeless flickering flames illuminating a dozen robed and hooded figures.

The ritual was a complex one, requiring several sacrifices prior to as well as during.

Then again, sending one’s consciousness across hundreds of miles to possess even a lowly creature like a serpent was no small task.

The sisters joined hands around the carefully painted circle on the cobblestone floor, its color a darkened red of dried blood.

No electronics were permitted within the room and all materials, even the paint, were carefully selected as to not cause any interference.

The last sacrifices were brought in, a common rattlesnake along with a pitch black goat, both animals entranced and unresponsive.

Even as a sister walked forward and slit the goat’s throat, it simply stood there unresponsive before collapsing from the blood loss.

Likewise, the snake beneath it seemed unbothered as it was bathed in blood, the circle showed no signs of success, there was no dull glow or gust of wind for theatrics as the Head mistress walked forward while chanting in a guttural tongue.

She picked up the bloody serpent caressing it for a moment as alertness returned to its movements, its tongue darting out to taste the air of its curious surroundings, the moment it regained its barrings enough to tighten around the headmistresses hand she lunged forward like a wild animal, biting the now thrashing snakes head off.

It was a painful and slow death as the snake ceased its thrashing and went limp in her grasp.

She threw the now headless body to the ground and walked back out of the circle, carefully removing the still bloody head from her mouth and placing it carefully on her palm as she held it up to her face, its eyes open and staring at her as if it was still alive, the only hint that the spell had taken effect was a slight glossy gleam covering both of their eyes as the witch stood frozen in place.

Over a hundred miles away, a common rattle snake slumped over, its body tensing briefly before it raised its head with an unnatural level of intelligence behind its slit eyes.

It surveyed its wooded surroundings before slithering towards the light of a nearby city.

It would likely take its small body hours to actually get ther-

CAW.

The snake instinctively swung its head back towards the forest, whereupon a low-hanging branch, a dark raven sat. It was perfectly unassuming in appearance, although it regarded the snake with an almost trance-like intensity.

It would be a simple matter to deal with the bird, as the current occupant of the snake’s body cared not for its wellbeing. A few scratch marks; no matter how deep, would be of little consequence so close to the completion of its task.

All it would take was a single bite.

Caaaaaw.

The drawn out sound came from above, seeming almost gloating, far above the snake’s head, high in the trees, every branch was covered in dark silhouettes, two figures sat perched side by side, lit by crimson markings, giving their surroundings an unsettling atmosphere.

A red shimmer passed across the eyes of every entity occupying the trees above like a pulse originating from the two marked ravens.

***

“God fucking dammit!” Jemma hissed out as she dropped the severed snake’s head to the damp stone floor of the cellar and held a hand to her temple, wincing in pain.

“High Sister, this is the fourth attempt in as many days, maybe we shou-” An Acolyte started, but Jemma cut her off with a murderous glare and the Acolyte braced herself for the punishment she’d no doubt face having spoken out.

But she was saved by the slow staccato sound of heels on cobblestone echoing down the damp cellar stairs, one of the coven’s newest initiate’s anxiously coming into view before the intruder.

Jemma raised her mental guard and began silently chanting both defensive and offensive rituals while also sending out a thin tendril of energy to probe the one the would-be intruder

She clasped her amulet tightly as she felt the nature and immense age of the creature in front of her.

“Please, there’s really no reason to go that far. I come in peace, at least regarding your coven.”

“Speak.” Jemma replied anxiously.

“This little one has been quite informative, the only one not shielded by one of those impressive amulets. It would seem you’ve been trying to breach the wards of a certain valley, to no avail. Today’s attempt marking the fourth of such attempts, and by your expression, it seems it was another failure.” The Sentire looked around the room indifferently as she spoke.

“What of it?” Jemma all but hissed back.

“Maybe it’s time for a change of tactics. As I hear it, The Eve clan is looking for a coven to ally with after their sudden move, but have had a hard time finding anyone willing. Something which I feel no shame to admit having had a hand in.” The Sentire walked around the edge of the room, the Initiate following along as if chained.

“They’d demand we open our minds to them and the ruse would be revealed, likely leading to a gruesome end for us. Is this truly the extent of your plan? If so, I’ll have to say I’m disappointed.” Jemma mocked, her expression turning to one of arrogance and derision.

The Sentire clicked her tongue at Jemma in annoyance. “No patience. Yes you are correct, if closely examined the ruse would be discovered, but if say, you were to time your approach just right, you might be invited to a certain gala before anyone was the wiser, a gala which your query will attend, I can assure you.”

“Who are you?” Jemma demanded hesitantly, the Sentire taking immense pleasure in dragging out the moment.

“Mavis, And I speak for the council.”

***

As the morning sun peaked over the distant cliffs, it bathed the quiet bedroom in golden rays of light cascading through the large French windows, making up the entire eastern wall.

Natasha yawned and stretched, letting out a soft sigh of satisfaction before climbing onto the body next to her, resting her chin on Aleks’Andros’s chest, studying his features as he slept.

As a Sentire, gifted with eternal youth and life, experimenting wasn’t uncommon, neither was polygamy, but had someone told her a year ago that she’d willingly share her wife with another, especially a man, she would have laughed in their face, shortly before knocking them out.

But of the long list of things she would have considered unlikely to happen, that wasn’t even in her top five.

The Eve clan and all of its branches had assembled in the valley. Sentires walked the streets in broad daylight and a Sentire was pregnant for the first time in history, and with a child of three separate bloodlines no less.

The days ahead were going to be quite chaotic.

The even breathing of her person-shaped pillow staggered slightly, and she felt his unconscious mind slowly switch places with the conscious one as Aleks gradually awoke.

“Morning.” She said with a soft predatory purr, something most humans found unnerving, but for some reason, put this one at ease. The corners of his mouth pulled up into a smile while his eyes remained closed.

“Morning.” He echoed, his voice perfectly mundane.

“Too perfect.” Natasha thought to herself.

She hadn’t given it much thought when they’d first met or in the following months, but lately she couldn’t help but notice it.

The pleasant scent that humans like Tessa seemed oblivious to, the almost confident attitude that all but dared people to act, and the perfectly mundane outer appearance masking the truly terrifying powers just beneath the surface.

It reminded Natasha of how both Sanguinares and Sentires drew in their prey.

The feeling of his calloused hands brushing along the side of her body brought Natasha’s focus back to the present, Aleks now looking at her worriedly, the genuine feeling of concern washing over her as he allowed her in freely... under the agreement that she never went looking too deeply.

“I’m fine, just worried about Soph.” She lied, but hid away her troubled thoughts as she heard the shower in the adjacent bathroom shut off. Moments later, Sophia stepped out wrapped in a towel, although it did little to hide the perfect curves beneath.

Sophia looked cooly at the pair still lounging on the bed and huffed out a breath.

“You two should really start getting ready as well, we’ve all got a busy day ahead of us.” Sophia chided, sitting down on the edge of the bed letting the towel wrapped around her torso slip and fall away as she started putting on the clothes neatly folded on a chair beside the bed.

“Yeah, real busy, I should probably hurry on down to the workshop to-” Aleks started

“Oh, no you don’t.” Sophia said, glaring over her shoulder. “You’ve got a meeting with the pack today. In fact, you should bring along Tessa. It’d do her some good to get out. Maybe have a conversation with someone who isn’t a century old immortal.”

“Yeah, a pack of shapeshifting werewolves is far better.” Aleks joked back sarcastically.

“Are you sassing me, Titan?” Sophia’s voice dropped slightly, and Natasha stiffened.

Sophia had been under a lot of pressure lately with her clan and organizing the Gala.

“Nope, I’d never dream of it.” Aleks replied quickly, letting out a breath as she turned back around.

“Besides, I don’t want her to be all alone in a big house. It’s not healthy. And no, shadowy creatures scurrying about don’t count.” Sophia finished cutting off a retort not even fully formed in Aleks’s mind.

“What about Nat?” he instead asked.

“I’ve still got drills to run with the trainees at the Custodes training facility, as well as a late strategy meeting for security at the Gala. Everyone’s pretty antsy since a certain unnamed individual is still insisting on attending.” Natasha explained, giving the back of Sophia’s head a disapproving side eye.

“I’m pregnant, not disabled. There’s absolutely no reason I can’t still do my job, I’m not even showing and won’t be for quite some time, at least according to that one.” Sophia retorted, gesturing dismissively at Aleks without looking back.

He turned his attention to Natasha and mouthed a silent “That one”? to which Natasha just shrugged.

Natasha knew why Sophia was on edge, but didn’t want to air her thoughts, verbally or otherwise.

Sophia’s relationship with her clan had been strained since before the two had even known each other, and Natasha could count on one hand the number of times there’d been any sort of contact through the years.

But for whatever reason, Agda, the current Matriarch of their clan, had chosen now of all times to reconnect and try to mend their strained relationship.

She had apparently intended to get closer by attending the Eve Gala and had been waiting discreetly in the lower valley.

Sophia had been conflicted about this, as no one could know whether this was a genuine attempt at reconciliation, or an instinctual and unconscious response to a potential heir.

The morning the valley had felt a new heir, so too had Agda.

At first she’d suspected Katya of conducting foul experiments with another’s line, something forbidden by the laws of every clan and the council.

She’d even gone so far as to threaten Katya with exposing her supposed actions to the Sentire world if she didn’t present a proper explanation, tempers had flared at the threats until finally Sophia had to step in, she’d calmed her grandmother down and assured her that no foul-play had taken place and had even agreed to a meeting for the two to talk in person.

Which was today.

Sophia stood up from the side of the bed wearing nothing more than black lace and hosiery, her gently swaying curves mesmerizing both Natasha and Aleks as she walked over to a small table to retrieve her skirt.

She turned around and leaned up against the table, crossing her arms curtly at the two lustfully gazing at her from the bed.

Sophia sighed resignedly while pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Unbelievable.” Sophia muttered while shaking her head.

***

I felt Arkos and a mass of shadows pull away from my domain as Sophia pulled out of the driveway along with Natasha; the latter getting a ride to the Custodes facility before Sophia headed to her meeting.

It had been a busy week, last night being the first time we’d had any sort of time together, just the three of us, and it showed.

I stood up from the bed and walked over to the standing mirror Sophia had used to get ready earlier, I’d finished the foundation of the Runes on my body, it had taken longer than I would have preferred, but nowhere near as long as the first time, not to mention it felt far more robust than its previous iteration, I’d incorporated many of the lessons I learned the first time around, improving many aspects.

But it wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine, the additions I’d made to the original design meant it now drew far more power than I could currently supply, I had known it would be an issue, but decided it was a problem for future Aleks to deal with... Which wasn’t all that well thought out, I’ll admit.

Normally I would have coaxed a couple of casters into summoning a chaotic entity or two, for me to use, but as it stood The Eve Clan had no allied Coven, Tessa was improving by leaps and bounds but was still nowhere near the level I needed for this.

No, this time I’d have to find a different solution, something that didn’t rely on filtering raw energy through conduits, at least not in the same way as before.

I got dressed and walked downstairs, finding Tessa sitting on the couch with a tablet. Sophia had convinced her to finish her remaining semesters of college virtually, although she’d apparently changed her major, although I hadn’t heard to what.

“I thought old people were supposed to get up early.” Tessa said, without looking up from her tablet.

Lately she’s become more relaxed around us, although that’s probably to be expected since we aren’t just weird strangers who broke her out of a hospital anymore.

I looked at her and smiled, taking a moment to enjoy what I was about to do.

“You got a pair of hiking boots, right?” I replied, my tone eliciting a shiver from her as she looked up and saw my expression.

***

Sophia walked down the central valley shopping district, trying desperately to ignore the immense security presence attempting to discreetly follow her.

It hadn’t taken long for the elders of Clan Eve to figure out what was going on, and even less time for word to spread.

The security wasn’t immediately suggested, but after a thoughtless elder had proposed running some tests to figure out the secret to this miraculous conception, they’d found out her safety was in everyone’s best interest.

The elders leaving the emergency meeting had looked pale and gaunt, refusing to even go near her and flinching at the sight of Arkos.

Katya had only told her not to ask before looking towards Aleks with an expression of resignation and dread, clearly having given up on ever civilizing the brute.

Although things hadn’t quite settled completely as there still was one problem ahead, a blonde, old and very complicated problem currently playing with a borrowed daylight ring on her finger while sipping from a cup of tea at a small café across the street from Sophia.

“Are you acting like you haven’t already noticed me?” Sophia sighed mentally, to which the old Sentire at least showed a bit of embarrassment.

Sophia approached and sat down without a word. A waiter quickly approached her, asking for her order.

“I’ll have a Mocha.” Sophia responded without even looking at the menu.

The young man serving them paused for a moment, glancing first at the security detail, trying not to block the street, then at the woman sitting across from her, before looking back at Sophia with pleading eyes.

“Urgh, fine. I’ll take a vitamin smoothie.” Sophia groaned, letting the poor boy off, but a voice instantly froze his hasty retreat.

“No Papaya or pineapples.” Her grandmother added, her stern tone making it clear that if she even caught a whiff of either, there’d be hell to pay.

“So, wonderful weather we’re having. Although I’ve heard they’re dealing with a nasty bit of fog rolling in out by the coast.” Sophia casually said as she took a drink from the delicious-looking mixture of exotic colors.

“Sofia, I never blamed you for what you di-” Agda started, but was quickly interrupted by Sophia.

“Let’s not rehash old wounds,” Sophia said, holding up a hand halting her grandmother.

An awkward silence hung over the table as Agda sat quietly, looking at the cup in front of her.

“I’m married now, by the way.” Sophia said, showing off the golden ring on her finger.

“I hadn’t heard. Congratulations, I would love to meet him-” Agda responded, brightening.

“Her.” Sophia interrupted again, silencing Agda.

Sophia and Natasha’s relationship might not be widely accepted on this continent, but in the old world falling in love with someone of the same sex was viewed as setting a bad example, after all, artificial insemination didn’t work for their kind, even before their rebirth.

And anything that might make an heir unwilling to further the line, especially in a dying branch, was heavily frowned upon.

Sophia could practically see the wheels turning in Agda’s head, no doubt probing her mind for any and all information that might clear up the confusion.

Where the Nikoleve line prided itself on their psychic strength, what had once been the Fjorgyn Clan excelled at subtlety and finesse.

Their clan had been among some of the oldest and most powerful, maybe too powerful, as their influence was ultimately the reason for their downfall.

Their clan had experienced a culling before Sophia had even been born, some ancient grudge held and finally exacted on them.

A dying clan has a sense of desperation that can’t be described, a pressure, a dear wish for revitalization.

Sophia knew today the results such expectations would cause in a young girl who had only just found out that among a clan of immortal mind readers, she was somehow still the odd one.

At first she pushed her feelings away, ignoring them, but the pressure was always there, until it was finally too much.

From a clinical perspective, she could understand the series of events leading up to it.

Her anxiety and shame over who she was, her mother’s callous dismissal as she confided in her, their clans continued vocal expectations and confrontation.

She could still see that young girl in the mirror, holding a straight razor. Feeling as if she had no other choice, as if taking her own life was the only way she’d ever be free to live her life the way she wanted to.

“Why is it so important for our line to continue that I have to give up so much?!” her younger self had asked.

It was a mistake. She’d known it as soon as she woke up. She’d realized what she’d done, but it was too late.

She spent years trying to deal with her remorse, doing even more things she would come to regret, even to this day.

Although there had been a light at the end of the tunnel so to speak, she had managed to pull herself out of that dark pit of remorse and chosen to help those in similar situations to her own, help them see that they weren’t alone, that they didn’t have to resort to such drastic and final measures.

It was through this occupation she found a heart to fill the empty hole she felt in herself. Sitting with leather combat boots propped up on her expensive couch, hair cut short and face pierced, she wasn’t Sophia’s type, or so she’d thought, their friendship had taken months, and their romance years, but she’d finally found a reason to live, love and enjoy life.

But although she had learned to live with her choices, a small sliver of guilt had always remained, festering in her mind until one day she stood in Katyas office and overheard a piece of information that would shatter the world she’d built.

It had been like a switch flipped in her, and suddenly the weird and eccentric young looking man calling himself a Titan was no longer a person, but merely a means for which to redo or fix the mistakes of her past.

She tried to fight it, but to no avail. She hadn’t been able to forgive herself after the fact; she hadn’t known whether she used her powers to influence his decisions in the matter; she had been inconsolable.

Until she felt the warm embrace she’d only ever felt from Natasha, it radiated forgiveness and care, an almost possessive affection.

It was an unconventional sort of arrangement, two people committed to each other and a third orbiting their relationship.

Her professional experience told her it was doomed to fail, but seeing the weird certainty Aleks exhibited, it made it feel possible, possible to be in love with each other, as someone else loved both of you.

It may sound arbitrary, but it felt.... It felt right.

Sophia returned from her ruminations, Agda sitting stunned across from her.

She finally seemed to collect herself letting down her guard and inviting Sophia in as she spoke “I realize now that an apology is in order, I wanted to blame it on the times or the nature of the world and situation we found ourselves in, make excuses for your mother and why I never stepped in... But that would be a cowards way. I am sorry, Sofia, we should have protected you, even from ourselves. And as a Matriarch, I failed you.”

Sophia could feel the genuine sorrow emanating from their connection.

“We all made mistakes. I was not innocent of that, either. But I would like to try to reforge old bonds, although they might never become what they once were.” Sophia replied.

“I would like that very much.” Agda responded, her voice slightly fragile.