Chapter 49 ∣  State of Harmony

-Maverick

The attacks had all but ceased, maybe a word having been raised here or a question of the werewolves' existence there. My threat wasn't an idle one but having to let Ryker go took everything in me to do after the way he had betrayed us all. The hunters we had seen lately kept to themselves with their eyes turned to the ground, their attention elsewhere in hopes to keep their heads out of the mess that transpired from choosing sides.

Rainier...I forgive him. I forgive him for everything he's done, and I can't judge the choices he's made for I've made similar ones myself. Hate only brings us to the final journey's end much sooner than we had hoped for. If I come face to face with him again, I can say with certainty that I'll nod my head and move along, letting the hard decisions that have been made rest in the grave of those who gave their lives in a senseless disagreement.

"Maverick?" Eris' soft voice came from the slightly ajar door to the office that once belonged to my father. Now, I'm left to hold the weight of the world on my shoulders and with my threat, it seems that some terms have been met for our species to both live on this planet.

She glided effortlessly across the room when I nodded my head, her footsteps lightly echoing off the floor. As she neared the edge of my desk, the clothes that clung to her revealed the vastly growing abdomen. She was progressing much more quickly than a regular human pregnancy, but also faster than a vampire one.

This has put a strain on her, and I can see the anxiety in her features as she gently asked me, "Did Erebus say anything to you?"

I glanced down at the journal he had given me.

His journal.

Erebus had recorded everything in his life up to a certain point. My mother had come across it and she had eventually returned it to him once they'd met with one another. It held a lot of branches to theories we often wondered about the hunters' existence in this world and our origins as vampires.

I'd asked Erebus about the quickly progressing pregnancy and that's when he'd given me the journal. He made mention of the difference between Gage and a few of the other siblings in his late wife's pregnancies. For one, with the pregnancy of Gage, she progresses about as quick as the life growing in Eris' womb however, others were about as quick as a normal vampire pregnancy.

The only conclusion he could draw was that Gage had the ability of blood magic and that might be the reason why he was born much quicker than his siblings.

I exhaled slowly and wrapped my arm around her waist, gently drawing her onto my lap. She sat sideways on me, her arms encircling around my neck before our lips met in a very loving kiss. When she delicately drew her lips away from mine, I told her, "There might be a reason as to why you're progressing so quickly." I paused, reaching my arm around her to flip open the journal page. When it opened to the page, I'd been looking for I said, "The true born hunter within you quite possibly may possess the blood magic trait."

Her lips parted to speak but she quickly closed them with a soft sigh.

"What, sweetheart?" I asked her. It was as if she wanted to say or ask me something but instead, Eris shook her head lightly and a small smile made its way into her lips. "Eris?" I pressed.

"It's fine," she replied, arching a brow when her gaze met with mine. From that mere look, I knew it was time to drop it, I knew she was going through enough without me pestering her and I knew she'd tell me if it was anything serious. After everything we've been through together, I'd be surprised if she didn't tell me.

She tilted her head to the side and asked, "Can I read it?"

"Of course," I allowed her to lean down and pick up the journal. Everything stemmed from this very book, marking a passage of time over centuries.

Eris furrowed her brows and asked, "Do you worry at all?"

"About what?" I chuckled, "There's a lot in life for me to worry about and you're at the top of my list." After a short paused I continued, "I will always worry about you, my love."

Eris' small smile grew a little wider when she also let a giggle surpass her lips, "I mean, do you worry about what will become of the being inside of me?"

"I'd never be anything like my father," I replied very calmly and continued, "he judged me harshly before he even knew me. A pureblood having a hunter as a child considering my upbringing and the way I've had it out with them over time...yes I wasn't exactly sure myself..."

My voice trailed off, remembering the moment when I realized I would have a hunter for a child, did sting for a moment. Every hunter I've ever known has turned against me or flat out wanted to kill me from the beginning...or betray me above all others. However...I don't want to be anything like my father and a small voice whispers in my ear reminding me of nature versus nurture.

I want to be a good dad.

I want my child to look up to me without fear, but respect and know they are loved and protected.

"You'll be okay with this?" Eris asked me, shifting slightly on my lap.

One of my hands gently landed on her bump, absentmindedly rubbing her belly. Her hand touched the back of my own and brought me from my thoughts. I gazed back at her and smiled, "Yes, I'll love this child with everything I am, and it'll have two parents that won't bat an eye at any differences it carries."

She smiled wide and was about to say something when a knock came from the door. She turned just as I said, "Come in."

When the door swung open, Zak was standing in the door frame, his eyes trailing over the two of us. He said, "Something came for Eris."

When I furrowed my brows, he withdrew an envelope with her name gracefully written on the front of it. When he didn't move from the spot he was standing on, I asked, "And?"

"She's not the only one who received a letter," he hesitated for a second before walking toward the front of the desk. From his other pocket, he pulled out three identical envelopes with the same writing scrawled across the back. He set them down on my desk and I saw the names clearly read:

Arlynn

Evicka

Annika

He handed me the one with Eris' name on it, but before it could make it into my hand, Eris snatched it. Zak shook his head and when I went to question her, she stated, "It does say it's for me, now doesn't it?"

"Well...yes," I watched her carefully.

"Don't you know you can't read people's mail?" She arched a brow and giggled, "It's a crime," she stuck her tongue out and I let a sigh leave my lips.

Zak couldn't keep the small grin from his lips either and he asked, "Did you want me to deliver these three as well?"

"Might as well," I replied while Eris lifted away from me and stood up onto her feet. I finished with, "I wouldn't want to get in trouble with the law," using the term lightly as the human government didn't interfere with vampires and hunters. However, I know Eris would use anything against me with how she'd been acting.

"Where are you going?" I questioned her as she edged closer to the door and around Zak. He turned around just as she was reaching the door frame, his eyes also following her movements. She shrugged her shoulders while her eyes drifted around the room as if to distract herself.

When her eyes finally found mine once again, she stated, "Well, I want to know what's in it," she stuck her tongue out at me before skipping out into the hallway.

"That's one childish Queen you have for a beloved," Zak shook his head at her antics, both of us knowing full well that she'd already made it down the hallway and more than likely headed toward the direction of our room.

"Yes," I chuckled, "but she's mine and I love her no matter what she does," it really had been peaceful and I wondered if it would remain so or perhaps if Chase would eventually seek out a treaty. Not that the treaty between the hunters and vampires had gone over so well when a third party decided to take center stage...namely the werewolves.

Zak gathered the envelopes from my desk and put them back into his pocket, his white irises meeting with mine briefly. He held an aura about him, something he knew that he refrained from delving further into until I stated, "Everything will be alright."

"That's not what every pureblood has said before you..." Zak's tone altered slightly and I hesitated when he reminded me, "there's a reason vampires killed us, our natural instinct to protect the humans goes against everything ingrained into the core being of a vampire."

"I understand that," I wondered how Erebus must have felt when he realized exactly what his children were, watching them being killed by his own species. With a heavy sigh, I lifted from my chair and said, "Times have changed. This is a different day and age."

Zak asked, "Have they really?"

"What do-"

"We're always at war," Zak interrupted me, taking a step to the side as I maneuvered around the desk, "a vampire seated in power among the supernatural will always call for retaliation. From centuries of their dominance of utter need for control has rubbed everyone the wrong way." I said nothing, remaining silent as Zak took a breath, "There needs to be peace without rule."

Here I have the very hunter I wanted to kill since childhood presenting me with greater advice than a vampire Commander. I asked, "Without rule, there is no control," I paused a moment before finishing with, "Chaos will ensue."

"Not necessarily," Zak shifted his stance and left me with a very chilling resonance of, "you only see one individual controlling a mass group of individuals who are vastly different but want one common goal...peace. You need order among the supernatural species, control within their groups that answer to one individual...but not by force."

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To Seduce a Mortal by K. A. Young and Laisha C. Gardner

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