Hunted

Chapter 42: What Am I?

Kora's POV:

I stared at Kelly blankly for a few minutes while I tried to process what she said. The pills did have tranquilizers. My mother was the one that created and designed the pills in the first place and when Kelly ran out of them after mother died, Francesca took over making them and sent them over for me. Cassie was working on getting in touch with someone to get access to my pills so she could look into it too since there were absolutely no records.

It was all done carefully, secretly. Apparently there wasn't even a record of my name at all in her pharmacy and everything Kelly did was just for show. To keep it a secret. To keep me safe.

Safe. People were using that word a lot and I still didn't understand it. Why wouldn't I be safe?

Kelly told us as much as she claimed she could, saying that she didn't know all the details but Francesca would be able to help me more. Francesca who was apparently on her way over from France as we spoke because Xander got in contact with her and as soon as he explained what was happening, she said she'd be here as fast as she could and to keep me as calm and away from other people as possible, to not speak a word to anyone or it would be dangerous.

"So... I'm sorry," I said, shaking my head and doing my best to stay calm. I didn't want to send knives flying around again. "Can you say that again? What am I?"

"You're a fae-witch hybrid," Kelly said. "Your mother was a fae, your father was a witch. Hybrids like you are rare, the genes don't mix well and so most babies don't survive but your mother knew that risk and started treating you with different things while you were still in the womb. Then after she gave birth, she knew you would be in danger so she did what she could to keep you hidden."

"I'm in danger," I repeated. I'd heard it a couple times but my brain was not catching up at all. "Is it like... Illegal or something?"

"No," Kelly said with a small smile. "No, it's not. It's just that... The kind of hybrid you are is powerful. So powerful that people would want to take advantage, harness your power for themselves, or in some cases..." she paused, sighing and shaking her head. "In some cases get rid of you so you don't end up more powerful than people can handle."

"More powerful than the Elders can handle," Addie corrected, rolling her eyes. "They're the biggest threat to her in that way."

"Yes," Kelly agreed. "The Elders wouldn't take it well if they found out about you. But other people would use you, too."

"Like Damon," Xander commented.

Damon. That's what they meant. I was too valuable... They were taking my blood... How did they figure it out?

"How did they guess what I was?" I asked, tugging on the sleeves of my sweatshirt. Well, Addie's sweatshirt, it's all I had for now. "I mean, how could they know when I didn't know?"

"There are some people out there that actively look for hybrids like you," Kelly explained. "They'll follow any rabbit trail they can find. The truth is, they probably aren't the only ones looking for you. A lot of people knew that your mother successfully delivered you and your family did their best to stage a death, so that people would think you didn't survive after birth. But people that are obsessive, like Damon, they still follow trails like that because they know that any hybrid that makes it out alive will most likely be under careful protection. I'm sure they were looking for someone that was hiding out. I mean some people obviously knew where your mother ended up."

"What do you mean, obviously knew?" I frowned.

"Oh," Kelly said, her face falling. "I'm sorry. I should've been... More careful with how I brought that up."