The Ascension of the Species

Rebirth in the Storm

~ 17 ~

Terrence got up from the table almost with a jump. I understood from the look on his face that he was starting to put the pieces together; he was so pale and his eyes were so wide with surprise. 

"You? I..." He shook his head. It was strange, I thought I would feel scared, but saying it felt good, unlike him, who couldn't even form the question properly. "He died in the train explosion you were in..."

"Yes, he surely wanted to see me dead... I haven't told you yet why I disappeared that day. Archer always, somehow, found us in the end; he always tracked us down. And it wasn't just two or three coming. By the time I was five years old, I was already reading very advanced science books, mathematics or anything I read, I learned it in a short time. Cain always forced me to keep it a secret when I lived in Archer's laboratory. Once away from that maniac, Cain did genetic and physical tests on me. He was worried about how, being just a child, I could be so intelligent and agile..." I looked at his face, I didn't know how to say it out loud. "Atda worked in a small laboratory in a small city of betas, where technology is more advanced because of the medical equipment. That helped Cain advance quickly in his tests and theories. He put into practice a theory he was working on about the early discovery of the second gender. At seven years old, Cain discovered that I was a dominant Omega, the first in centuries, and this obviously terrified my Atda, so much so that if he was worried and somewhat paranoid before, it got worse for me. I hadn't manifested yet and he was already training me to control my pheromones and not release them, he taught me to fight, to use all kinds of weapons, to always keep a good distance from Alphas. He was afraid I would be discovered, that I would become a lab rat."

"I didn't go to school, nor did I have friends; it was just Cain and me. I manifested late, at a debutante dance party in the south... that was the night I met you. I ran away from home that night to go to the dance. Cain promised me that we wouldn't move again, that this was over, and that night he told me we had to leave again. So, when he fell asleep, I went out the window and got to the dance in an old, ugly truck. I had the best night of my life, I had fun, I laughed and danced with a fantastic male who turned out to also be a dominant like me. Cain always told me to stay away from those who possessed the dominant gene like me, and it wasn't difficult, because there are hardly any dominants. That night, after spending hours with you talking and flirting, I went into heat, the first time in my life, and you were right there."

"I...you, don't tell me I" he kept stammering. It was serious that he didn't remember anything at all. "That day I also went into my Rut."

"Calm down, you didn't force me. I wanted it too and I've never regretted doing it with you. It was wonderful." I moved closer to him; I wanted to touch him, but I held back. "When I left you that note, I fully intended to see you again. I would go home and tell Atda no more escapes or running away, that this had to end. But, by the time I got home, Cain was dead and Archer was waiting for me. In one day I was the happiest being in the world and the next everything ended. I managed to escape from him... we always had an exit, a plan B for emergencies, though I always planned it with Cain. They had hurt me and I fell unconscious for several hours; when I woke up, I didn't see the point in looking for you. What would I tell you? I was a stranger with a lot of problems; I could say I was young and naive, I was only eighteen, Terrence. Archer tore away all my ideas of happiness. If he existed, I would never be happy."

"That day at the train station, I ran into him by chance. I was waiting for my grandmother's partner when we met on the train. I had a disguise, a black stone with a camouflage spell; you must know how it works. We fought inside the car, I tried to make sure no one got hurt, so we fought until he ended up dead in an explosion. I survived miraculously, and he died. I spent the next few months in mourning at my grandmothers' house."