"Vanessa we can't afford to start another project now. We have to prepare now for the girls getting into college. And then there's your Mom's hospital fees." a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard whispered to the woman sitting in front of him on the couch. She had beautiful blond hair which was now like the fleece of an unshaven sheep.

Despite her rough appearance, her beautiful bright eyes roamed around the room before stopping at her husband. Looking into his eyes she started.

"I have something in the works, trust me. We just have to take a loan for now, and by the time they are ready for college, we will be set. I promise"

"V, I know you wouldn't jeopardize our children's education, but I really hope you know what you are doing this time."

"We'll be alright Daniel, don't worry."

The man sighed and pulled his wife into a hug, his eyes staring at the ceiling with a crease on his forehead.

The next morning saw Vanessa, the woman from the night before dressed in a proper skirt and office blouse, her hair neatly combed and falling to her shoulders as she busily arranged lunch boxes into school bags.

"You're making our lunch?" A voice startled her, forcing her to turn around.

Below the stairs stood a girl like a younger version of her in ocean blue and dark blue school uniform and a few books in her arms.

"Hey Dani, you're up early" Vanessa chuckled awkwardly.

Giving her a side glare, Dani squinted, "Where's dad?" She asked turning her head side to side as her eyes scanned the kitchen and barely visible dining room beyond the arched doorway.

"He left early, told me about this big case last night," Vanessa replied, rinsing her hands off at the sink.

Nodding, Dani stepped forward to examine the food on the kitchen counter. Behind her two younger girls in school uniform walked down the stairs together.

"Alright, hurry up or you'll be late. I'll bring the car around" Vanessa grabbed her keys and stepped out, Dani eyeing her as she went.

"Mom made lunch," she tattled as soon as Vanessa was out of earshot.

"That's okay, I still have some money from doing homework for my classmates." One of the younger girls replied, her expressionless eyes not even glancing up at Dani or the bags on the counter.

"Why is Mom making food where did Dad go?" The second girl asked, her voice gentle as she walked up to Dani to get a closer look at the food inside the boxes.

"Mom said he got up early for a case," Dani replied, closing the lunch boxes and returning them to the bags. "Come on, Mom will be waiting for us," she urged them, handing the now zipped bags over to them.

With the girls collecting one each, they walked out the door, Dani lingering behind to lock it as the other two headed to the SUV with Vannesa waiting on the driveway.

"Alright, let's go," she called out to them, and they all got into the car.

****

Moments later, the car pulled up in front of a school gate, and Dani ushered the two younger girls out.

"Ruby, Nisa, you both have fun today alright? I'll come pick you up after. No bullying" Vanessa waved with a smile on her lips as the two girls walked away from the car.

"I love you, Mom," the girl with the impassive expression called out a small smile, greeting her lips before she turned around and hurried after her sister.

"Love you too, Ruby," Vannesa shouted after her.

"She seems to be in a good mood today"

Dani, now in the passenger seat rolled her eyes at her mother. "Yeah because you promised her you'd be bringing her brother home today"

Glancing at Dani's distrusting expression, Vannesa scoffed.

"I will, okay?"

"Why is this even important, I don't understand. Ruby asks for a brother, and suddenly, you and Dad are adopting? Children are a big responsibility you know?" Dani preached her eyes smiling as she held a water bottle close to her mouth.

"Yeah, my fourteen-year-old preaching to me about responsibility. I must be doing something right" Vannesa laughed.

"Nah" Dani turned to her mother with a grin, "I'm sure it's Dad"

They both laughed and settled into a comforting silence as Vannesa drove. Soon, they arrived at Dani's school and she started gathering her things. Pausing for a moment, she glanced up at her mother, her expression somber as she considered.

"What's wrong?" Vannesa asked, her brows creased in concern as she leaned down slightly to observe Dani's face.

"Sometimes I try to picture what life is like for Daemon in the Orphanage. I know he can be spoilt sometimes, but he was doing fine with us for a few days, and suddenly they're taking him back?"

Shaking her head Vannesa put a hand on Dani's shoulder, her pale grey eyes staring into her daughter's.

"Dani, they are not taking him back. They had to bring him in for some tests after that he comes back home to us"

"I understand that, but you promised his Mom you'd look after him, right? I mean his Mom brought him to us. What does the Orphanage have to do with anything?"

"Dani, he's a Hybrid!" Vannesa exclaimed.

"He's a child, Mom!" Dani shot back, her shoulders tensing as she stared fiercely at her mother, "A child who just lost his Mom and the world he knows. From having people attending to him around the clock, he's navigating the world like the rest of us. Learning for the first time to do things for himself. Something he was never taught." Dani paused and her face fell as she looked down at the books she had gathered in her hand.

"I never saw you and Dad as prejudiced. I guess I was wrong." she quickly opened the door and got out of the car in a hurry, leaving Vannesa staring at the spot where teardrops had soaked the car seat.

Sighing Vannesa ran a hand through her hair as she took in the conversation. A few weeks ago she had accepted a patient to her clinic who came in with a boy. The patient was dying and had no relatives to send the boy to so she offered to care for him. What she hadn't expected was how quickly her girls would become attached to him. She completed the adoption process with the boy's mother, becoming Daemon's legal guardian, but when Daniel, her husband, started looking into the boy's past, she found a few alarming things that caused her to quickly call the Association. The boy was a Hybrid as was his mother.

Daniel and Vanessa were not usually prejudiced against hybrids but Daemon was a different kind. He was an empath, meaning that, to a certain extent, he could read their minds and emotions; paired with his amazing intellect, he was quite a powerful empath. What if he manipulated their daughters somehow? They knew nothing about him.

So when the Association came for Daemon, they gave him away and told the girls that an Orphanage wanted to run some tests on him.

Now Vannesa was having second thoughts. Ruby completely shut down, and she had never seen Dani look at her the way she did today. What if Daemon was somehow responsible for this?

A cold expression appeared on her face and she started the car.