POWERLESS • mikaelson mate

prologue

PROLOGUE

I would never forget the day that destroyed my life. They day one of the coven elders claimed that I was fated to the first ever vampires. I was only twelve at the time. I remember how disgusted I felt the day it was announced, horrified that fate had bound me to such monsters. But in the years that followed, I'd learnt that the Mikaelsons weren't the only monsters.

Hot sweat dripped down my forehead and I wiped it away with the back of my hand as I drove. I'd never driven a car before, but it's amazing how quickly you can learn when it's life or death. My eyes darted to the rearview mirror, my heart pounding. There was nobody behind me, but that didn't mean that their wouldn't be soon. If my calculations were correct, then I'd have an hour before my parents learnt of my disappearance.

48 minutes had passed.

I put my foot hard on the pedal and drove like my life depended on it, because it probably did. I had a vague plan. First, I needed to find a city to surround myself with people to help make any locator spells less accurate. I'd burnt my room and all my belongings to prevent them from performing the spell, but I didn't want to risk something surviving the fire.

Once I was in the city, I needed to get a fake ID and passport so I could leave the country. An ocean between us wouldn't prevent them from finding me but it would probably delay them. I also needed to find a witch to permanently cloak me from locator spells.

Despite being a witch myself, I was hopeless with magic. My magic was unpredictable and undisciplined. My coven thought it best to not teach me when they learnt who my soulmates were. It made me feel completely powerless and I was determined to change that.

I glanced at the time on the dashboard. An hour had officially passed. They had to have discovered that I'd run away by now. I almost grinned at the thought of my Uncle discovering I'd taken his car, which was his pride and joy.

I kept my eyes on the empty road that seemed to go straight through a forest. I couldn't decide whether or not the trees were beautiful or eerie. As I turned a corner, I saw a figure in the distance, standing in the middle of the road. As I got closer, I recognised the long red coat and I swallowed nervously.

It was my mother.

She didn't look angry, she looked nonchalant, as if I were just a mild inconvenience. I'd loved her once, maybe a part of me still did, but I also couldn't forgive the abuse I'd suffered at her hand. She stood so casually in the middle of the road, hands in her pockets. Others must be close by. If I stopped then I would be giving up my one chance at life, and I really wanted to live.

As I sped closer, her lips tilted into a smirk. She thought I was weak and childish but I'd already proven to myself that I wasn't completely powerless. My mother obviously thought I'd stop to avoid running her over.

She was wrong.

I pressed my foot down as hard as I possibly could. I saw the moment she realised that I wasn't going to stop. The look of shock would forever haunt my dreams. So would the sound that followed.

I let out a breath, adrenaline coursing through my veins. I was free, and I was going to do everything in my power to remain that way. Nobody would ever find me, especially not the Mikaelsons.

But it they ever did find me, I had a secret weapon.

I glanced at the short length of wood sitting on the passenger seat, the only item I had taken with me. When it was discovered that I was the Mikaelsons mate, my coven tried to use me to fulfill their ultimate desire: to end the original vampires. They taught me how to become their weakness and how to kill them.

I wanted to be be free and it that meant using the white oak, then so be it.

Originally published: June 26th 2023