They call me Grim (COMPLETED)

Chapter 13: We can't . . .

"His name was Julian. We meet when I was sixteen. I knew he was a witch from the moment I meet him, and he knew I was a werewolf. I didn't know the truth until much later," Jessica said softly as she stared out the window, over the darkened town. She smiled sadly.

"It didn't matter that he wasn't a werewolf, I loved him utterly and completely, and he loved me. When he told me we had to keep it secret I understood, werewolves and witch mates aren't really encouraged. There was also the fact he was a good ten years older than me, and it might make other people uncomfortable. I believed him when he told me that. It took me to long to realise the truth, looking back on it I feel so utterly and completely stupid."

As you should, Mary thought but nodded understandingly. Her face was compassionate and soft, her hand placed on top of Jessica's icy and slimy flesh. In the next room Adele played with the girl. Mary could hear the child's cries of delighter and laughter every so often, no doubt because of the toys Mary sent Adele to buy. Adele had always had a soft spot for children and was happy to take care of the dead smelling girl. Mary was finding it hard to not hold her nose.

Jessica smelled atrocious, but Mary fought through it. She wanted to know how it was possible that her 'friend' had a mate that Mary hadn't known. She'd always just assumed that that group of friends told her everything. Why wouldn't they? She thought she'd made it impossible for them to hide anything from her, all those hours spent studying their faces and earning their trust. To think, she knew everything but this, which was quite probably the most important.

Mary eyed her old friend. Jessica didn't look so terribly awful in the shadows of the room. She'd wrapped a scarf around the gaping patch on her neck, but it didn't do much. Mary had to stifle a grin as she thought that Jessica would have fit in perfectly at a Halloween party.

Jessica sighed again. "I kept it hidden for about a year, but I think Mark always had some clue. He followed me one day and found out." Jessica closed her eyes tightly and swallowed loudly, "He was so understanding. He didn't care that he was a witch; he just wanted me to be happy."

"Mark helped me cover everything up. He gave my parents excuses and alibi's, I couldn't have done it without him. Everything became easier after . . . Anya. Our parents pulled us out of school, deciding to home school us. We had a pattern, the system worked and my parents never had a clue. Mark and I moved out together, just on the edge of town, but they didn't know that Julian also came to live there."

"It got a little harder when I found out I was pregnant. I was twenty-two, and only then did Julian tell me the truth.

"He told me he was a necromancer, and that he was the one to kill those three enforcers all those years ago, do you remember that?" Mary nodded, she'd always been very interested in that, wondering what actually happened. "Yeah, that was Julian. I might have left him over that if it wasn't for Clara."

"Did you know she would have his . . . gifts?"

Jessica shook her head, "And I hoped she wouldn't, so did Julian. You can't understand how hard it was for him. He couldn't control himself. These powers forced him, he couldn't leave the dead alone. He had to experiment. It's like that for all of them you know? As soon as it activates, their powers, they have to use them. Julian nearly went made trying to stop for me."

Mary filed all of this away. It could be very useful.

"You did a good job hiding her," Mary said with a smile. "I am very surprised and it's hard to surprise me."

Jessica gave a ghost of a smile. "It wasn't easy. I decided to tell my parents I was pregnant, but only by some passing werewolf. They were so disappointed that it wasn't my true mate, but that didn't stop them from loving her and me. Julian lived there most of the time, but he had to leave often so that nobody would get suspicious of his scent. Life was normal. Mark moved out to go be with his girlfriend and I had my little family. It was hard. I never had nay friends over, and was always careful to never venture back here. Julian made it all worth it though."