Chapter 1- Everly

Eighteen is a special birthday for many. My eighteenth birthday is special for different reasons than one would think. Eighteen signifies adulthood, but I’m not so sure adulthood is important to an immortal. It’s not even that I have all the time in the world to grow up. Ever since I started going on missions with my dad at fourteen, I’ve grown up. When you learn to reap souls, and one of your grandfathers is Death, well, you grow up on faster. 

That doesn’t mean I didn't have a childhood. My parents are amazing. They did everything to help keep me little for as long as possible. I’m close with my parents. Actually, I’m close with my whole family. Even my annoying little brother, Kai, and I are close. I love my family, but I’m also looking forward to independence. That’s what turning eighteen means for me. The deal I have with my parents is that I can finally go to the human realm on my own. I’m going to travel and explore. They want me to enjoy life a little bit before I start going out in the field and reaping souls on my own. I’ll still probably have a lot of missions with my dad, which I don’t mind. 

My parents are impressive. Dad is a demigod of death and a total badass. Mom is a lycan with a unique gift from the Five. Only my family could take missions like reaping souls and saving the world as bonding time, but we are not a normal family. We are like the Addams family. Damn, humans had awesome TV shows at one point. Now all the realms are vastly different from what it once was. Many ignore the fact that they are basically living in the aftermath of the apocalypse. Denial is a strong emotion that many thrive off of. 

Shoving more clothes into my duffle bag, I think about how I’m going rogue for a bit. Since I’m part lycan, rogue would mean I’m leaving my pack. Mom, Kai, and I are technically pack members of the Hunter Blood Moon Pack, but we are more like honorary members. Rogue missions in the coven mean I’m going off the books. It’s not an approved mission by the mission leader, who is currently my dad. 

 I know my parents want me to enjoy my time and live a little, but I want to be out in the field. I want to go on my own missions. While I love missions with my dad and even my parents or the four of us, it’s still nice to be on my own for a bit. There is this overwhelming need to prove myself to everyone, including myself. So, while I’m exploring the human realm, I’m also going to be doing my own missions. 

First on my list is the Voice and Music Academy. It’s an old opera house turned into a music school. They even bought out the hotel across the street and turned it into a student housing building. It’s kind of like a summer-long camp for music, but instead of the woods, it’s in an opera house. The opera house is rumored to be haunted by several ghosts. Odd sightings, weird things happening, and other stuff make this location a prime spot to do some exploring. I get to explore my love of music while also investigating my rogue mission to prove myself. I’d say it’s a win-win situation, but my parents have no idea why I’m truly going to the academy. 

I don’t want to tell them about my rogue missions. I trust my parents. I’ve never hidden anything from them before, but I want to do this on my own. I need to prove myself to the coven and to myself most of all. My parents and the coven believe in me to do everything I’m supposed to do, but sometimes I fear I’ll fuck up. My parents and my entire family are respected and loved by the coven. My grandparents, Blaine and Zara, were the first leaders that no one wanted to see retire. My Aunt Blair and Uncle Cade are now leading the coven. They are also loved leaders, even if they have some major issues in their relationship. 

Then there are my parents. Dad was adopted by the Shadow family, who happened to be the ones running the coven. They look at my dad like he is their own.  My dad is my hero, I look up to him, and I aspire to be as good as him. My dad is feared among the coven but also loved. The initiates dad trains look up to him, and many go to him for advice about studying the magic of our coven. 

Then there is my mom, who is my dad’s familiar. She is a badass lycan, and her wolf Sasha is cool too. I look a lot like my mom, and I look up to her for different reasons. I even dress like her and totally steal her clothes. Seriously, I think half of what I packed belongs to my mom, but she doesn’t care. She shares her wardrobe with me. I think she loves that my style is like hers. I even have the same cartilage ear piercing she does. I have a small black stud in at the moment, but I change it up. 

My family, especially my parents, are amazingly supportive, sometimes too supportive, but I can’t complain about that. I’m lucky to have parents who love me and support me. I don't know the full history of my mom and her parents, but I do know that they ignored her and made her feel unloved. So, Mom makes sure Kai and I know how loved we are. Then dad didn’t have a good relationship with his bio mom, who he had to kill to save the world. Dad has a decent relationship with his bio dad, Death, who is one of the Five, making dad a demigod of death. From what I understand, their father son relationship really started when I was conceived. 

I’m special because I’m the first girl ever to be born in our coven and the first hybrid as well. Not all the warlocks in my coven get a familiar as they have to meet certain requirements or be in leadership, which is my dad, grandpa, and uncle all have one. Their familiars are their soulmates. Normally, everyone in the coven has boys and warlocks. Death created a new bloodline with my parents to permanently sustain the coven’s realm and magic. With our new bloodline comes hybrids and girls. My birth was a huge deal in the coven. As of right now, I’m the only female, but my senses tell me I won’t be for much longer.

Kai and I are unique not just because we are hybrids but because we both have a part of our mother’s gift from the Five. Mom has the ability to have premonitions. Sometimes they come in dreams, other times through intuition. I have mom's intuition, and Kai has her dreams. We both have a type of premonition ability, but neither of us can control it. Hell, Mom barely controls hers half the time. We are also half lycans, and the two of us have a dire wolf spirit so that we can transform. My wolf is named Stella and is a light gray wolf with hints of white throughout her coat. Kai’s wolf is named Shade and is a black wolf. Sasha, Mom's wolf, is a dark steel grey color. The three of us like running together in wolf form. Dad might not be able to join us since he doesn't have a wolf, but he enjoys watching the three of us play. 

Along with all the remarkable abilities that come with being half lycan, I have the abilities of a warlock, well, witch for me. I’m the first witch in my coven, and I was born more powerful than most of the coven members. Kai and I have strong magic that only our father can rival. I’m not sure we will ever be on his level. Dad is powerful, so powerful he can run the underworld for Death, and he has. Death has taken breaks, or when he is busy dealing with god business with the other Five, dad will step in and run the underworld so Death can focus on his important business. 

I’ve literally grown up around death and darkness. It’s not as gloomy as one might think it is. I liked growing up in the coven’s realm, surrounded by shadows and a gothic inspired mansion that would give any haunted mansion a run for its money. Death doesn’t bother me, and spirits aren’t scary. The shadows that weave their way through the realms are in my control. There is nothing to fear regarding death, shadows, darkness, or spirits. I control them all to some degree. 

Kai and I were born as necromancers, an ability that used to have to be mastered and earned. Dad had to learn how to become a necromancer. He died and had to bring himself back to life. I’m glad I got to skip that part. I was born with all the necromancer's abilities, such as controlling death, talking to spirits, and immortality. That’s why eighteen feels like a blimp to me. A moment in time that I will forever have. I won’t age past eighteen. This is the end of the line for me regarding aging. I’ve always been immortal, but I stop aging now. I’m technically a year younger than my mom, who has been stuck at the age of nineteen since she became my dad’s familiar. Dad is stuck at twenty-seven. Dad, Mom, Kai, and I are all immortal. We have the ability to give up immortality, but when we do, we die.