I awoke seconds later. Sweat dripped down my face as my brother lifted me up so that I wasnt laying down.
"Breathe sister," he gently told me as he slowly rubbed my back.
I looked over at him. His left eye was blue, just like his dad's, his right was half brown and half green.
"My name is Carla," I groaned as I rubbed my temples.
"I'm Matthew," he responded with a smile, "Can you stand sister?"
I nodded and stood to my feet. He still held me to keep me from toppling over.
"I'm sorry for throwing this on you so quickly," Alpha James apologized.
I shook my head, "Yeah okay."
"Would you like to eat something? Maybe it'll help the fainting," Matthew insisted as he sat my chair back up and put me in it.
"How often does the fainting happen?" Alpha James asked concerningly.
I rolled my eyes, "Not often."
"I didn't need the sass," Alpha James growled.
"Listen," I sighed, "I am here to make a deal that saves the life of every living superhuman and cachion on this continent. Tomorrow I'll be at a different clan trying to make the same agreement."
"What happened to you?" Alpha James asked, "You're hard, dark, you're not the girl I got updates of as you grew up."
"I grew up," I said as I stared him in the eyes, "Without a mother, without a father. I grew up fighting for my life everyday. Wanting to meet people on this continent." I hit the table every few words to further my point. "I grew up a warrior, not a child. Two days ago I had to bury almost three hundred bodies. People I knew, friends I made after we escaped the island. I am here for business."
"You're here because you want an army," Alpha James growled.
"You think I need an army?" I scoffed, "You think something of this world can kill me? How do you think I've survived?"
Eclipse, Gena, and Donte squirmed in their seats as I stood from mine.
"You've killed?"
"More than I can count Alpha James."
"Then it is on your hands what happened to your friends," Alpha James growled as he stood from his seat as well.
"I did it to save my friends, my chosen family who have been more of a family then a shady dude who sent me to an island to live with a murderer and grow up without a family. A guy who got updates of how I turned out. We grew up together. They were my family and they were murdered by Alpha Jason. Not me, I did not pull that trigger."
"What motive did he have to kill your family?" Alpha James asked, "You see you did something to make him want to kill everyone, so that's on you."
"I was protecting my family!" I growled, "I only have three people I trust now, and I will do anything to keep them alive and safe."
Time stood still.
I said too much.
Showed too much vulnerability.
Four gunshots rang out.
Gena.
Headshot.
Eclipse.
Headshot.
Donte.
Headshot.
Carla.
Headshot.
Alpha James grabbed me by my collar and pulled me close to him from across the table.
"It's sad Carla, it truly is, women like you drown oceans. But to save the world, I must destroy the shade."
I smiled and started laughing in his face.
"I guess you didn't read my case file very well father," I said as I grabbed his throat and threw him across the room.
Matthew grabbed Alpha James's gun and pointed it at me.
"Now Matthew," I said as I put my hands up, "Do you really think that bullet will stop my heart?"
Matthew winked at me.
"Get on your knees," he growled. I followed his orders, this brother of mine obviously had something up his sleeve. "Dad are you alright." He called across the room."
"Yeah I'm fine," he said as he walked over, "Shoot."
Matthew nodded at me, and then kicked his dad's legs out from under him. He hit the ground with a hard thud. Matthew handed the gun to me.
"You may be my father but you will never be my dad. What a shame, you truly are the shade in this world. Killing three innocent people and trying to kill your own daughter. For what?"
"Superhumans are a plague to this world," Alpha James growled, "A plague I created."
"Funny," Matthew scoffed, "Looks like you're falling ill."
I looked at Matthew who had a yellow power ball of something between his hands. A gun appeared and he quickly grabbed it and pulled the trigger.
My head shot to Matthew.
He was a superhuman.
But how?
He looked at me as if he knew what I was thinking.
"Our father tracked me down after the plane crashed."
"And your power?"
"Anything I can see I can replicate," he said with a smile, "Unless it's alive."
I looked down confusedly and then back up at him.
"You just killed the father you've had since you can remember to save a sister you've never met," I stated, "Why?"
"He's been testing on our other two siblings, trying to turn them into killing machines. You being here really only gave me an excuse to shoot him," Matthew stated as he put the gun in his pocket. He awkwardly looked down at our father and then back up to me. He tried to force a smile but I looked right through it.
"If you need the army then take it, anything for the last Hena or my sister. We're allies alright," Matthew said as he pulled ths crown off our father and put it on himself.
"Alpha Matthew," I sighed, "Don't tell anyone we're related. If someone named Jason comes to speak with you then send Joey a mind link and we'll come handle it. Don't provoke him, and act like you're going to take whatever deal he comes up with."
Matthew nodded, "Hena?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are you so calm? How are you so calm?"
I looked at Eclipse and Gena, merely lifeless bodies on the floor. As if they didn't have family or friends. As if their lives hadn't mattered at all.
A deep breath forced itself into my lungs as I looked up at Matthew, my only blood family left.
"I already said Goodbye," I said as I forced a smile, "I'll see them again after I let Jason kill me."
"You can't just die Carla, you can't leave Joey," Matthew said.
"Joey has his family," I blankly stated as I started walking out of the room, "Everyone I love ends up dying."
I stopped at the doorway and turned around. Matthew was watching me walk away. He seemed somewhat sad.
"Just promise me you'll call if he tries to recruit your army or challenge you." I said sorrowfully. Part of me want to hold onto the only family I had left, the other part wanted me to fall off the side of the earth so people wouldn't hunt them anymore. It truly was a war between the mind and heart.
Matthew nodded softly, "Yeah, I promise Hena."
I nodded back and left.
I didn't even bother grabbing a horse on my way out. I just ran. Ran from the kingdom that held my only living siblings. My only family. The body of my real father who was a real jerk.
I ran home.
Back to my kingdom. Back to a life of "maybe I'll be poisoned today." Back to the place where I can truly keep my family safe.
And I had only one worry on my mind as I ran:
How am I going to keep Joey and Kaida safe?