What she never seemed to realize was she was my mother and I loved her, I felt bad for her lost love, but from that point of view, I understood it. Caroline was in my house but lost to me.
“And what are you doing here in the Bay?” my mother asked. Her pursed lips and drawn eyebrows clearly telling me she didn’t expect I was doing anything good.
“I have a problem, Mom, and I need some help.”
“You need help from me, a mere human?” she asked.
I swallowed hard and ignored her tone of voice and even her words.
It was best to deal with my mother just straight up front. “Yes,” I said without elaborating.
“At least there’s no more monsters breeding in the world,” she said. My fist clenched at my side at her words. It was no secret she wasn’t fond of me, but her need to rub it in every time I turned around drove me crazy.
“Besides, I’m way too young to have grandchildren,” she said, brushing her hand carefully through her hair and she sniffed.
“You’re sixty-seven, mom,” I said. “I think it’s a perfect age to have grandchildren.”
“I don’t have any,” she said hastily.
“Well, it’s true you don’t, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about,” I pointed out.
“What do you need?” my brother asked stepping into the kitchen.
“I need a safe place,” I said.
“And how do you expect a mere human to help you with this problem?” my mother asked.
“Well, I think that might be part of the deal. They’re trying to get to me, and I’m worried they might’ve tried to get to you.”
“There’s been nothing strange going on here at all,” my mother said. “If you can’t protect yourself in the supernatural world, I don’t know how we’re supposed to protect you in the human world.”
“I’m not asking for protection,” I said. “I need a sacrifice.”
“What?” My mother’s eyes grew wide.
My brother leaned in to listen to my words.
“We’re trying to flush out whoever is after me.” I looked him in the eye.
“You want to use me as bait?” he asked.
My response was succinct. "Yes.”
“I’ll be there for you, brother. Just tell me what you need done.” He clasped his hand on my shoulder.
“I want you to come to the temple with me and offer yourself as a sacrifice to the priestesses,” I said.
My brother, who had lived his entire life as a human, looked confused. “What’s that going to do?”
“It’s going to make it obvious I have a brother for a start, because it’s not like you are the most known person. Even though you belong in the supernatural world, you choose to hide out in the human world, so I want people to know you’re here and then maybe we’ll see what happens.”
“What exactly is this priestess sacrifice?” my mother asked.
“It’s nothing bad, Mom,” I explained. “It just means he offers himself to the temple to work in service to them.”
“But won’t I be protected by the temple in that case?” my brother asked. “How is anyone going to attack me if I’m in the temple?”
“Don’t worry, Magnus,” I told him. “We’re going to use the one in San Francisco, the Temple Cyrene. We must head down there now. Every day we wait, creates more and more danger.”
