TEARS OF HATE

At the very moment Mary opened her mouth to begin telling the truth to the young man sitting beside her on the bed, a frosty, strong wind blew opening the wooden windows of the small room in a loud titof, scaring Occisor. Mary rose silently and closed the windows.

Once again she took a deep breath. Though many saw her as a cold, heartless being – as she didn't really have a heart – she cared too much for both Occisor and Margaret. They were her family, and for them she was capable of anything.

"Do you know what a velut luna is?" Mary asked.

"Yes, I read in one of Margaret's books that the female with that title is the companion of the alpha male." he said. He was so smart.

"So you know a lot about the lycanthropes, don't you?" She finally walked again, returning to bed and sitting next to the boy.

"Not much. Margaret said that wasn't a book for my age, I disagreed, but she wouldn't let me read anything else. She's so boring!" He shouted and Mary held the urge to laugh with the little one's sullen face.

"I understand. Have you ever wondered why you like to eat only and almost raw meat?"

"I know why, it's because they're delicious! What I don't understand is why neither you nor Margaret like them." Mary laughed. "Look how strong I am!" he stuffed his chest and crossed his arms, yet in less than three seconds his arms fell, one on each side of his body. "But... What does that have to do with my mother?"

Mary again took a deep breath, and Occisor didn't fail to observe this. Outside the room, Margaret had her ear placed in the door. She also wanted to know the truth about Occisor; all she knew when he arrived was that his mother and aunt had been murdered by the cruel wolves and that Mary saved him from having the same fate.

"She was a velut luna," Mary said bluntly and observed the boy's reaction. Nothing. He didn't say a word, so she continued. "What I'm going to tell you now is not a beautiful story. Are you ready to hear it, or would you rather wait a little longer?"

"I'm ready," he said firmly, but she saw his eyes tremble.

"All right. Five years ago, in a harsh winter, the moon shone brightly in the sky and the velut luna gave birth to a cub. The werewolves, when they generate their proles, they...

They stay in their lupine forms until the cubs reach six months of life, and the cubs only show signs of humanity after those six months," Occisor interrupted Mary and completed her sentence, already losing some of his patience.

"Yes, you already knew that. However, when you were born..."

She stopped for a few moments to look at him. The boy's prying eyes were cloudy.

Does he already know what happened? Mary wondered as she watched him..

"Childbirth forced your mother back into her human form and then you were born, as if you were a baby with only human blood, with no Lycanthropic characteristic.

"Why?" he whispered, but Mary ignored the question.

"Your mother was accused of treason and involvement with the witches to hide the smell of the man with whom they believed she betrayed her mate. The execution took place the same night, but she fought and fled, her sister, your aunt, helped her escape. Your mother and your aunt believed that the goddess had chosen them for some purpose. A luna cimex rebelled against her whole pack and paid the price with her own life. Unfortunately your mother was badly injured and couldn't run anymore. Unable to continue protecting you, she entrusted you to me. The wolves found her and killed her and they hunted for you.

"What... What was my mother's name and my aunt's?" he asked with his eyes closed. He didn't want to cry, not in front of a woman.

"Emerald, that was your mother's name and your aunt was called Ruby."

"How… What were they like?"

Occisor had his eyes closed tightly, the tears wanted to come out at any cost.

"Your mother had long black hair and green eyes. Ruby had reddish brown hair and amber eyes. The two were extremely beautiful, strong and...

"No, they were not!" Margaret finally appeared and opened the door in a bang. "Never will that cursed race be beautiful!" They're all horrible! Cruel! Miserable! They're..."

"Shut your mouth!" Occisor shouted. The burning in his eyes grew even stronger.

"Are you gonna cry? Those bastards left your aunt with an unrecognizable body, trampled her until there was nothing left of her and your mother had her head cut off! They did that to their own kin and they just didn't do the same to you because...

"I said shut up!" This time he released a growl that made Margaret's eyes widen.

"You've got to be kidding me. I don't believe it, Mary!" A tear came down from Margaret's lonely eyes.

"Margaret, listen..."

Margaret didn't listen, she turned her back and ran down the hall. Mary looked at Occisor and decided to let him ingest the whole story, alone. Now she needed to find Margaret.

With her supernatural speed, Mary caught up with her in seconds and turned her around. Seeing the tears in her eyes made Mary sad, she didn't want to see them there. She lied to Margaret saying that Occisor was simply a human baby. But I always knew that sooner or later the day would come that she was going to have to tell the truth and it wouldn't be easy. And it wasn't. Carefully, she lifted her thumb to the young woman's cheeks and wiped away her tears.

"Why did you do that? Why did you lie? He's one of them."

"No, Margaret, Occisor is one of us. He, like you, is a Van Helsing. You're both my children!"

Mary hugged the young woman who cried as if there was no tomorrow. After sniffling a lot, she let go of her guardian's arms.

"What if... If he ends up like those monsters? If he..."

"I'll never be like any of them! I'm gonna kill those monsters! I'll hunt them down one by one, I reject them, just as they did to me, I will do much worse to them!" Occisor uttered every word with his fists clenched and trembling by his side.

Margaret startled, she hadn't noticed the little one's presence. She stared at him hesitantly, but soon any doubt was extinguished from her mind. From Occisor's eyes, tears kept falling, but the firmness in his gaze, the hatred he felt for those who killed his mother was transparent.

"I'm in!"

THE GENUINE ALPHA'S DAUGHTER

The dining table was full. On the dark stone walls of the great hall, every fifteen meters there was a torch lit with the dancing fire on them and the last rays of sunlight illuminated the dining room. The genuine couple was the first to feed, when they were finished, it was the betas couples' turn and then the omega couples'. When the table was practically empty, with not much left, it was released for the last one's meal.

"Now you can help yourself, Bloodstain," ordered the genuine to his cub, who kept her eyes on the table, her mouth salivating and her stomach growling every time she saw someone chew on any piece of meat, but waited patiently for her turn.

"All right, papa."

"I told you not to call me that!" cried the genuine, interrupting the small hand of picking up one of the bones on the table. "Go to your den, you won't eat today!"

"But..."

"You want to get beaten up?" Bloodstain felt her body tremble all over at the murderous look her mother cast upon her.

It has been three days since the little one ate. The first day was because she transformed and ran through the hidden forest, she was caught lying on a tree with large roots that protected her from the snowflakes. The second was because she didn't clean up the blood in the torture room after the genuine one had fun slicing up a middle-aged human, and now this. Tears cascaded through the little girl's almond brown eyes, her belly growling, but the fear was much greater.

"You know I don't like it," Kratos pulled her black hair, almost pulling it out of Bloodstain's scalp, causing immense pain and forcing her to lift her head. "Don't make me lose patience with you, you disgrace!" He shouted and spat in the girl's face, who closed her eyes and swallowed her crying, unable to control some sobs that came out of her mouth without her permission and she knew that this was irritating the genuine even more.

"Sir, she..."

"Stay out of it!" He growled at the luna cimex who tried to intervene on the girl's behalf.

With disgust stamped on his face, Kratos pushed Bloodstain into the ground, banging her head. She was dizzy for a few seconds and felt the blood drip down her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she gathered all her strength and rose from the ground, looked around, and only received looks of disgust and contempt from almost everyone in the hall. The only different look came from the cimex luna called Guila. Bloodstain bowed to the genuine couple and left the dining room. With faltering steps, leaning on the walls, she descended the stairs that lead to the basement of the castle, where her den was. Alone, again. It hurt her, she hated being alone, but loneliness was her greatest companion.

Bloodstain, like the other pack's members, blasphemed against herself, saying that if it were not for her existence, her brother would be alive and would be loved by all for being the next genuine alpha.

Bloodstain didn't die as a puppy thanks to luna cimex Guila, who was the only one who took care of her. Guila was the one who remained in her lupine form to warm and protect the puppy. The hardest part of all of that was when the little one was hungry. The genuine lunam refused to feed Bloodstain; the most she did, and just because it was her mate's order, was to pump her milk and put it in a clay pot.

Guila would wet a cotton cloth with the milk and put it in the little one's mouth, over and over again. She had to do that in her human form, but soon afterwards she would return to her lupine form and nest the little one in her warm fur so that she could sleep peacefully.

The genuine's daughter's den was always cold and not at all illuminated, there was no bed of straw covered with bear skins. There was only the icy floor to lie on, so as not to freeze to death, Gulia could only sleep in her lupine form on the cold floor. When Bloodstain positioned her hands to take off her battered and torn dress, her ears detected the sound of footsteps approaching. It was Guila, the only one who cared about Bloodstain.

"You shouldn't be here..."

"I know," Guila replied softly. She entered the den and sat on the floor next to her. "Here, take it."

From inside the pocket of her dress, Guila pulled out a small piece of dried meat, it was the rest of the food destined for human slaves. But that was better than letting the girl starve to death.

Bloodstain's eyes flashed, she had to control herself too much not to let the drool drip. With eyes fixed on the small piece of dried meat in Guila's hands, she lifted one of her hands and, with her fingers trembling from the anxiety of finally being able to eat something in days, the young woman took it and ate it in just a single bite. It wasn't enough for her hunger to pass and her stomach growled asking for more. It hurt Guila's heart to see her like that.

"Thanks so much, Guila. You saved me as always."

Bloodstain thanked her with her head down and a tear trickled from her eyes. The blood on her forehead was still dripping, but the pain of that didn't compare to the pain she felt inside.

"Why don't you treat me like the others? I know I shouldn't have been born, that because of me, my brother..."

"Don't talk nonsense, girl. The goddess is never wrong. Everything that happens is because..."

"What goddess are you talking about, Guila?" Bloodstain looked at her in confusion.

Talking about the moon goddess was forbidden. Nobody believed in her anymore and the genuine alpha would even kill anyone he saw thanking or talking about the moon goddess.

"The goddess of the moon. It's thanks to her that we exist. She's our absolute goddess, she's the one who dictates our fate," Guila said quietly.

"And why are you almost whispering? You can't talk about it?"

"Your father doesn't like us talking about her."

"Why?"

"You don't have to know now, you just need to know that the goddess has a purpose for you."

"Then why did she let my brother die? She made me born just to be hated by everyone and what's the point in that, Guila? I'm sure she doesn't care about me."

"Stop with this blasphemy. They don't treat you like that because of her! The Lycan race fell into disgrace because they so wished, because they didn't listen to her. They changed their own path. She has nothing to do with the wrong decisions of our kind."

"Then why, Guila? What's the point of living like this? I don't want to suffer any more!" she cried. .

"In time the answers will come, child, one day, I'm sure, the goddess's plans for you will make sense. Until then, don't talk anymore nonsense, and always ask her for protection. She'll listen to you. She's fair!"

"I want to know more about her," Bloodstain said as she wiped her eyes. Her head throbbed, the cut on her eyebrow burned.

"You better transform, so you can heal this wound," Guila said gently and so the girl did.

She got up and took off her dress and transformed; in her lupine form she was still a puppy. Transformed, she was almost the size of Guila's wolf. That was another proof that Bloodstain didn't look any weaker than a cimex luna, even though she was treated worse than one. The girl was a noble Lycan.

Bloodstain lay down beside Guila, who patted her fluffy head.

Bloodstain's fur, in Guilla's eyes, was beautiful, so white. Guila could see beauty even in the small red round patches scattered across the back of the cub wolf in her lap.

On the rest of her limbs, those stains represented her brother's blood. That's why they named her Bloodstain. From Latin, it means bloodstained.

"Sleep, my little one."

Guila said and took the girl's head from her lap. Her heart ached every time she saw the pitiful way in which the genuine's daughter was treated. The girl didn't have any privilege, being treated worse than a servant. And it hurt so much not to be able to do anything. Guila's heart hurt for her. The most she could do was watch and hope that the goddess would rid her of the cruel fate that this poor girl's father had prepared for her.

And the goddess had been watching all along. Her trial was already in progress.

HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT

"Mary, please tell me. When?" Margaret insisted once more.

"It's dawn, we have to..."

"You promised, Mary," Margaret crosses her arms at breast height. "I thought you were a woman of your word, but from what I see now..."

Mary rolls her eyes. Not even half an hour since the timid rays of rising sun passed through the windows and Margaret was already on her feet tormenting her with a promise she made ten years ago.

When she saved the little ten-year-old child from being enslaved or devoured by the Lycanthropian beasts, in order to get her out of the deep depression that possessed her body, Mary promised to train her and transform her so she could take her revenge. Mary thought that in time the girl would give up on this idea, however, nothing would get it out of Margaret's head, and it frustrated the red-eyed vampire immensely.

"In three months. "In three fucking months!" she said in a loud tone that scared the young woman, who tensed all her muscles on alert. "On that same date, three months from now, if you ask me again, I swear Margaret, I swear I will fulfill my promise." Mary decreed impatiently. "Now go and have coffee!" she shouted, pointing to the table.

"A-all right."

That was all Margaret could say. She was happy, after so long now she has a date set and it made her anxious.

"Hey! Stop yelling!" Occisor entered the kitchen covering his sensitive ears.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your ears," Mary apologized. She knew that Occisor's hearing was more sensitive than hers.

Although only Margaret needed to have breakfast in the morning, the three of them sat at the table at every meal to keep her company. The other two members ate only at dinnertime.

Mary still remembered how to cook and so she made the dishes with great pleasure for Margaret. It was one of the only things she could still do normally and it always brought back memories of when she was just a human. She misses that time, the time before everything was ripped away from her.

"Good morning to you, too," Margaret said to Occisor who gave her an impatient look.

"Eat up, creature, don't delay me, I want to train!"

"Don't talk to her like that, Occisor, or you won't have any training today!" Mary scolded him firmly, but Occisor didn't feel the slightest bit frightened.

"If not with you, I will train with anyone else. I just need the basics, the rest I can improve on my own," he replied boldly and Mary took a deep breath.

"Today I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, you've got to be kidding, the two of you decided to rattle me! Bloody hell!" She said angrily.

"Look, kid, you're barely out of your diapers and you think you're a man? Wake up, naughty boy."

"I don't think I am, I know I am and I know what I'm gonna do! And if you don't want to help me, don't get in my way."

For a ten-year-old, his tongue was too sharp. Everyone knows that the development of a lycanthropist after six months of life tends to be accelerated, but it was impossible for this to have happened in just one night, one night when he spent practically all of his time crying.

"Look, puppy, don't forget who it was that saved you from death!" She spoke very close to Occisor's face as she suspended him by his collar.

"As if you would let me forget!" He rolled his eyes.

Mary's eyes changed color, when she is calm her eyes are red, when angry, black. And at that moment they were turning black.

"Calm down, Mary. Occisor has not yet digested the events of last night," Margaret intervened and reason reigned again in Mary's brain. She released the boy who settled back on the table.

"May this attitude not be repeated," she said at last and sat back down at the table.

It took only ten minutes for Margaret to finish eating the spiced bread that Mary had prepared.

"Ma'am, the room is already ready," one of the guards entered the private kitchen.

"Thank you, but next time wait for us to get out of here," she scolded him.

Mary hated having to live on a government base. Privacy, that's all she ever wanted, but it seemed to her that her will wasn't the priority.

The intruder guard was called Derrick, his hair was dark brown and wavy, and he was only five years older than Margaret. Also, he was in love with her.

Derrick was the son of a king, a kingdom killed by Lycanthropic beasts; his mother gave her life so that only he could escape. The government found him and his tutor, who had looked after him for thirteen years and died on the battlefield.

Derrick got lost in time when he looked away from Mary's face and paused on Margaret's beautiful eyes. She loved him too, but she had her priorities and unfortunately love didn't come first. She didn't want love, not at that moment.

"You can go back to your post now, Officer Derrick," Mary brought him back to reality and he tilted his head in a nod and walked back out of the private kitchen.

"Now can we go?" Occisor questioned as he rose from his chair.

"Let me just wash this first..."

"You've never washed your plate in the morning. Is all this just to avoid that officer?" Occisor loved to tease Margaret because he knew she liked the boy.

"Go to hell!" She cursed, picking up her plate and going to the sink.

"Will you stop it? And let's go already," Mary said and started walking, being followed by the other two in silence.

The training room was upstairs. The base had three floors, the second was the private one where only the three lived, but the officers never respected their privacy and always entered their quarters uninvited. The base had no elevator, so they needed to climb two flights of stairs to get to the top floor.

The third floor contains five rooms, which are:

A interrogation room for humans;

Mary not only had the responsibility to hunt the supernaturals, but she also had to deal with serial killers. The government didn't want any police officers to die dealing with these kinds of people, so it was Mary's duty to hunt, interrogate and kill those serial killers.

The second room was an interrogation room for superhumans.

That room was intended for werewolves, vampires and witches. A few years ago, the three races went to war, and that had terrible consequences for the humans. The death of many innocents, the trafficking of virgin women, vampires took them to generate their heirs and witches to complete their ritual. The enslavement of humans to werewolves.

The third room was a human torture room.

This room was destined for the accomplices of serial killers or even those who betray the human race to make it difficult for agents to hunt supernaturals.

The fourth room was another human torture room.

Unlike serious killers, supernaturals are not only entitled to death, before that they go through torture. And the only one capable of that so far is Mary. Each race has its weakness, and she exploits each and every one of them very well.

The fifth room was the training room.

The room that Mary intended to use for hand-to-hand combat training. Inside there's various materials for various kinds of fights. This room is divided in two parts: one for combat and the other for target training guns, knives and arrows.

"I still think they should install elevators here," Margaret grumbled.

Despite her good physical fitness, she hates the stairs.

"It must be pretty cool to go up by just pressing a little button."

Margaret always found the idea of elevators fascinating, she only stepped on one once and felt like she was floating. But the government didn't want to pay for it.

Occisor and Mary could already be on the third floor, but Margaret was walking at a much slower pace than they were.

After another ten minutes of climbing the stairs, they walked down the hall heading for the last room in the corridor. Mary opened the door and gave the other two space to enter as well. Margaret and Occisor only observed the place. He had never been there before.

"Margaret, today you will train with the targets."

"Alright."

Margaret assumed her place, leaving only Mary and Occisor in the hand-to-hand combat area.

"Listen, Occisor, when your training is over, you will have the responsibility to deal with the humans."

"I just want to hunt the..."

"Don't interrupt me!" Mary said harshly and Occisor shut up. "The government supports us in order to deal with Vampires, Wizards, serial killers, accomplices and werewolves."

"I don't want to get involved with the other races!"

"If you want to hunt the werewolves down, you will have to do that, if not, you will also be hunted and will be accused of being an accomplice to the vampires and the witches!"

"This is bullshit!"

"Watch your mouth!"

"I'm not a kid anymore, Mary."

"Then be a gentleman and respect the ladies present here."

Occisor rolled his eyes in response, his rebellion making Mary even angrier.

"Today I'll teach you the fight of the eight guns."

"I thought it was going to be hand-to-hand combat."

"But it is, the eight guns' fight is known to utilize various parts of the body. Let's start with the base."

And so Occisor's training began.