I said recourse not intercourse!!!

The lavender scent from the lighted candles in the living room brought a sense of ease each time I was within the four walls. It has a beige and cream-colored theme with a cracking furnace that has served the quarter for a millennium of years.

The tiles are a perfect blend of black and white and it compliments the entire nude coloured living room. The white curtains are parted side by side to give a panoramic view of the street.

My parents are situated at a far corner of the room and I watched with interest when mom stood up and walked towards me with a smile on her face.

"Where is Hilda?" I furrowed my brows at dad.

"I sent her on a mission to inform the northern vampires, the council about Lucindo."

"You won't believe they think I'm mad!" Mom's eyes widened in panic and she pressed her slender fingers on my face.

"Do I look mad to you?" Her blue eyes peered into my black orbs and I narrowed my eyes at her, trying to understand where all of that was coming from.

"What are you talking about? And why the sudden interest in madness?" I tucked some strands of her curly chestnut hair behind her ears and her features suddenly went rigid.

"Bloody hell! So you do agree with them? Tell me you don't, I'm your mother." She yanked my hair and threw me with full force next to the burning furnace.

I hissed in pain and tried to stand up. The scars from my fall were beginning to heal up almost immediately. Mom's eyes blinked red and she stared at me with hatred and full resentment and launched at me. Cass stood in her way and tried to fight her off but she bit him and flung him aside.

"You bastard child, despite everything I have done for you? You dare think I'm crazy?" She gritted her teeth and tried to bite me when dad punched her and slammed her across the pieces of furniture.

"What the hell is happening, Suzy?" I yelled at the witch and tried to help a bleeding Cass. Werewolves bites are lethal to vampires because their venoms can kill a vampire, it causes a kind of delusion and also makes the healing process of a vampire slow. A bite of a werewolf can kill a vampire.

"I think it has to do with Lucindo. She has been cursed." Suzy cried out and walked towards mom. Dad was trying to hold her down but whatever Lucindo did to her made her a lot more stronger and crazier. Her wild side is a huge contrast to her usual calm and cool personality.

Suzy placed her index finger on mom's forehead, said some magical incantations that made mom relax a little. She looked drowsy like she had been drugged.

"Don't leave me, Cedric. I don't know what the hell is happening to me." A tear slipped from her dilated eyes.

"I will always be by your side and together we will overcome this, Kate Marshall." Dad kissed her palm and finger-combed her hair that now resembled a bed nest till she passed out.

It was at this moment I knew how dangerous Lucindo was. Even without his presence, he was still able to stir up trouble. Kate Marshall isn't just a loving mother and wife but also an Alpha to the Eris pack. So if anything happens to her, the pack suffers too.

Outside the dark storm, clouds were gathering. Rain began to hit the glass window and a flash of lightning forked across the gray sky followed by a loud crash of thunder that flooded the corridor with light.

A raspy cough from my back startled me and I yelped in worry when I saw Cass gradually dying. His once olive skin looked pale and ghostly, his eyes looked dull and some dark veins were scribbled underneath his eyes by nature's invisible artist, Death.

"Stay with me, Cass, and stop risking your life all in the name of trying to save me because there will be no thank you sex for you." I squinted my eyes shut and said with a frown and a playful grin lit his face.

I picked a broken shard of the flower vase that must have broken during Kate's episode and slashed my wrist.

"Here you go, Cass. Drink and be healed." I pushed my wrist towards his mouth and watched his fangs blare out before sinking into my wrist. Every drop of blood Cassius drained me off replenished him. His wounds began to heal and color was restored to his skin.

I'm the combination of my father and mother. A hybrid and I can cure werewolf bites with my blood. My grandmother from my maternal side used to be a very powerful witch hence my link to magical powers. I learned from my history that access to magical powers was given to a chosen member of the family in each generation, so I can either be referred to as the hybrid with magical powers or a tribrid.

I helped Cass up and we went towards Kate to see how she was doing. She slept peacefully but a crescent sign which represented the curse marked her wrist like it was in its rightful place.

"How can we save her?" Cass ruffled his tousled hair and stared at Kate.

"This curse is nothing like I have ever seen. It is an ancient curse." Suzy crossed her arms to her chest.

"And every curse can be broken, we simply need a loophole." I struggled to swallow and it became harder to breathe.

"For Pete's sake, just do whatever the hell you can do to save my mate. I will ensure I hunt that bastard who started this whole plague in the first place and have him undo it." Dad slammed his fist on the table and walked off.

A terrifying thunder and lightning filled up the sky with bangs after father left as if it was some parting tune.

"We need some sort of recourse to salvage the situation. What is the way forward." I sniffled.

"I may not know how to cure her but I can help manage her illness. She is beginning to have a temperature." Suzy touched Kate's neck.

"I said recourse not intercourse." I raised a brow at Suzy.

"I'm the only witch who knows her way around magic for now so let me give this my best shot."

"Alright, let's get started. How can we help?" Cass rolled up his sleeves.

"I need some toucan beaks, owl feathers, and some sages." Suzy stared at Cass and me, probably wondering if we were up to the task.

"You should get that at the witch market which is a two hours drive from here." Suzy placed her hands on Kate's chest and began to mutter some incoherent words.

"The curse is a deadly one and Kate has only seventy-two hours to get it lifted, else she dies," Suzy said the words that stopped us dead in our tracks.

"No!" I raised my hands and screamed, "that's impossible, you are lying."

"It's okay, let's go look for the herbs and we will ponder over that later," Cass whispered into my ears and led me out of the Quarter, and with a heavy and grieving heart, I braced up to get the task done even though a part of me feared for the inevitable.