Chereads / Split Souls / Chapter 66 - A Little Understanding

Chapter 66 - A Little Understanding

"He is very good, Jax." Jill said and sat down crossing her legs and looking at Kayla. She gestured to her healed wound. "Astor found him a while ago. Keeps him around but doesn't let him age past what he is. To valuable let pass on." Kayla looked at her.

"Why?"

"For what he just did to you. Jax can tell him what Astor wants to know. Can heal those that need it so he can torture them some more." Jill looked her up and down.

"Jillian, or Jill if you want." She said holding out a hand, like it was some trivial thing.

"Kayla." Kayla took her hand. She didn't trust the woman. She didn't know her and clearly was Astor's property.

"You need to change." She said gesturing to the clothes. Kayla gave a sigh and got up moving to take the clothes. She stripped and put on the black pants, and blue v neck shirt that Jill had brought her.

"You are Savon's?" Jill said, like it disgusted and intrigued her at the same time.

"I don't belong to him. I am with him because I choose to be, he doesn't control me." Kayla stated.

"No?" She asked like that was unbelievable and odd.

"No, he is controlling. Can be domineering, but I am who I am."

"So he would be fine with you just up and leaving him?" she asked. Kayla gave a sigh.

"No he wouldn't. I don't think that leaving him would end very well." Kayla narrowed her gaze. "That doesn't mean that is the reason I am with him. That I choose to stay with him mind you. I do because I love him, besides what is he to you? Why would Astor tell a human about him?" Kayla asked almost snidely.

"Because I'm his mother." Kayla was completely shocked at that statement. She was so... young, and definitely not what she thought his mother would look like. Kayla stared at her for a bit, between her and Astor she could now see some resemblance.

Savon had Astor's height, same build. Though Savon wasn't as muscular looking as Astor was. He had similar facial features to her.

"Oh." She said, her tone didn't sound pleased and she didn't really care. Kayla didn't like the woman.

"You sound as if my being alive is bad."

"Not your being alive no." Kayla said. "Just how you treated your child."

"I had no contact with my child. You don't know me, and what I've been through. Don't you look at me like I am less." Her tone sharp.

"I don't see you as less. I don't doubt you've been through more than most could handle. Savon told me about you." Kayla said before she could stop herself.

"He did?" Jill asked confused, and looked a bit uncomfortable for a moment. Fixing her shirt and glancing away for a moment. "I didn't think he would remember me."

"How could he not with what your only words to him where?" Kayla said. She didn't get how this woman had used the only moment she had with her son to put him down rather than help him.

"Words that I regret I said. I wish that wasn't his only memory of me. However when I saw him all I could see was Astor. You can't tell me that he is normal. That he has compassion like other humans, or feels the way that they do."

"He's not completely human, and he doesn't owe anyone compassion unless given it in return. Just like everyone else, no he doesn't feel things the same. He's much more intense, closed off because of it. The part that is acolyte will destroy what pains the human part." Kayla said to her. All the talks that she had with Savon, she never would have thought that she would share some of it with his mother.

"He has given you blood."

"Yes, the first time was to save my life. I was in danger of dying."

"It will keep you young. Keep you as you are so long as he keeps giving it to you. I wish that Astor would just let me wither and die like all the other humans. He doesn't, he keeps me alive because of what I gave him." Kayla sat back down looking at Jill.

"Would you tell me about him?" Jill asked. "I can't tell you how many times over the years I thought about him. Thought that if I'd been stronger, if the world had been different..." Jill stopped talking, tears forming.

"...if the world had been different, if I had him as a free human... do you have any idea what it means to be a mother?"

"No."

"Neither did I, I don't even really know now." Jill gave a bit of a laugh. "When I was pregnant, I thought about killing myself. About forcing a miscarriage, but I couldn't. I knew that the child I carried would live. That he would make it where the others failed. I was going to kill him when he was born, but they handed him to me and I just couldn't."

Kayla didn't know what to say to her. It seemed that this had built up over the years and with no one to speak to. No one to confide in it had eaten away at her. Kayla just sat there listening, which was what she was good at.

"I was weak."

"Or strong, that would have been the easy out. Kill yourself or your child. Now you've given the world a chance to win, to live." Jill looked at her, her brown eyes darker with a bit of tears.

"When they handed him to me, it was the first time that I had smiled in years. It just came from no where. For one second there was nothing wrong with the world. There was no problem, I had not been forced into this life. Used by Astor to have a child so he could bring up others. I was just a woman with her child. I'll remember that moment until I die, how peaceful it was." Her gaze moved off seeing what Kayla couldn't.

"He's a good man you know." Kayla said, she didn't think that Jill shared much with Astor.

"Is he?"

"Closed off like I said, but he helps others where he doesn't have too. I know that he wouldn't lose sleep at night if some of them didn't come back. However he tries. Drake I think has a lot to do with how Savon is."

"Drake, the one that took him?"

"Savon left with him, his choice."

"Oh." Jill said.

"He's a lot like a father to him. Savon's an excellent fighter, and I would never want to be on the receiving end of his anger. His real anger that is. I've seen what can happen if his acolyte is at the front. How much damage it could cause."

"Does that happen often?" Jill asked.

"He's in very good control of that part. Only if something extreme happens does he lose that hard won control."

"Does he really care about you?" Jill asked, it was easy to see that this Kayla loved her son. Though in an odd way. A son that she hadn't seen in years. Loved him, but didn't seem to realize it completely.

"He's not very free with saying how he feels." Kayla said looking off uncomfortably. "He's told me that he cares for me. Only once did he say that he loved me."

"You believe him?" Kayla felt a bit angered at her question.

"Yes, you don't know him. How it was said, I know he meant it. I also know that it made him feel vulnerable saying it." Kayla didn't need him to say it. She could feel it in the way that he touched her, spoke to her.

"I am glad to hear it." She said and sighed. She glanced at the door. "I hope he kills Astor."

"He will." Kayla said confidently.

"Astor greatly underestimates him. He is more powerful than he thinks, I know it." Kayla gave a nod. "Astor took you because you mean something to him didn't he?" It didn't really cross her mind to be worried the woman would say something. She could tell that she would share nothing unless really forced to.

"Yes." Kayla said.

"It would seem that you do mean something to him. And more than a simple passing fling for him to come for you here." Jill said looking at the wall for a moment. "He's coming, not far away."

"How do you know?" She asked and Jill gave a smile. She motioned for Kayla to lean toward her and in a very small voice that was barely audible spoke into her ear.

"I've always known where he was. I could have found him whenever I wanted." She shared and leaned back.

"Not that I was asked. Not that I would have told him." she said.

"You'd be proud of him, of how he turned out. I'm sure of it." Kayla felt some of her animosity for the woman die. If she had known all these years where Savon was but never spoke up then here was an ally.

"I know, thank you." Jill said looking at the woman sitting with her. She was a good looking woman. Her son had excellent taste, both in looks and personality. She was a fighter, wasn't going to give up. Jill was just waiting for the right moment and then Kayla wouldn't be in Astor's hold anymore. If Jill could give one thing back to her son, make up for her words. This was it.