Project Servile : Defect [Book #1] ✔ Complete!

➽ N i n e : Ethology

"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like."
-Lao Tzu

Waking up in a hospital bed was nothing new to me as handlers would get particularly rough at times. However, waking up to see someone sitting in the chair next to me, fast asleep with my hand in their grasp, that was new to me. Becca was snoring but not loud enough to cover the soft tap-tap of shoes across the floor. My body ached but I knew nothing was significantly wrong with me. I tried to open my mouth but before I could, the machinery next to me started to beep.

Queen Helen rushed over to my side to press a button. I watched her swipe at her face, trying to erase the tiredness from her expression. With a small sigh, she looked down at me. "Maddie! Oh thank goodness you're awake!"

Her exclamation shook Becca awake. She darted her eyes around then settled them on me. It took a moment to clear her sleepy haze and realize I was awake. Then they widened. "Maddie, I was so scared!" Her grip on my hand tightened. The expression on her face made my heart crumble. She would never feel the same way when she learned what I did, how brutal I could be.

"Before we talk, Madelyn, I want you to know that we saw everything. Creed set up a camera in the corner of the room to record the pain she caused. I believe she was going to send it to the manor anonymously, to punish me for the orders I gave my guards." Helen laid her hand on my shoulder, her eyes never wavering from mine. "You are safe."

"There was something we didn't tell you about your mother. Something we only suspected but no one could prove." Helen pushed her hair back behind her neck and adjusted her legs. She brought attention to a thick folder she held in her hand, filled with paperwork. "Research, and a lot of it. I'll give these to you so you can take a better look."

She went to hand me the file, but my heart pounded and I couldn't bring myself to take them. "Is there something wrong with me?"

"No darling. Not at all," She brought the file back within my reach. "You know how every supernatural being is just a different species of human? That our only differences are a few genetics here and there?"

I nodded my head. I read a few books on famous supernatural ethologists who concluded that they were all in the same genus as a human. That's what caused all the significantly heightened abilities, the genes for them were altered.

"We believe your mother and a few others, very few others, have started a new species. A new gene has been introduced. It only affects those who are servile and only a fraction of them are able to embrace the gene, the ones who understand their self worth. In the others it just lays dormant. Those of us who know about it, who tried to study it, we call them Defects."

Everything ran cold. A new species? My mother? Everything seemed to lead back to her yet I still haven't found any concrete information about her. It's like she never existed other than to those who met her. I drew in a rigid breath and felt Becca squeeze my hand. "What does that mean? I'm not human?"