Secrets Revealed

Carmina was covered in blood and gristle, her dark hair matted with drying gore. Her hands and arms were almost black from the blood that stained them.

Her eyes glowing like two blazing fires as she caught her breath. I looked around at our handiwork. I hummed while leaning on my sword. I hadn't kept count of how many we had killed but it was in the high hundreds. 

'Not bad for a few minutes, could have been faster though.' I mused. 

"I-I feel nothing…" Carmina whispered. "I killed so many and yet I feel nothing for their deaths." 

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked. 

"I'm not sure, these people. They worked for a company that fed on the suffering of my people. Unaware or not, they had the blood of innocents on their hands." 

"So, good?" 

"I must think on this, thank you for everything that you have done." She replied. 

"Don't thank me yet, your… work, is far from over." 

"But I- my people have a chance now. That is all I could have ever asked for." 

"Just remember, if you ever find yourself in trouble or just need help. You only need to reach out through our bond and I will return." 

"You are leaving?" Carmina asked. 

"As much as I enjoy slaughtering evil people I have responsibilities outside of killing things. Don't worry though, I'm sure I'll come back to visit sometime in the future." 

Carmina gave me a hug before pulling away. A smile had found its way onto her face. I let out a sigh and pulled out a dagger from my inventory. Handing it to Carmina I told her what it was. 

"It's made out of enchanted steel. Should you find that the enemy you are facing can't be killed by normal means, you may be able to kill them with that." 

"Don't worry it's not some evil sacrificial blade." I added when she looked at it warily. 

Which was true, it was one of the first weapons I had bought aside from the guns during my early days.

It had an enchantment on it that dealt extra damage to ghosts and other supernatural beings. Carmina held the dagger close to her chest. 

"Thank you again Blake, you have given me purpose once again." 

I gave her one last wave and nod before disappearing in a flash of light. I found myself back in my pocket dimension. Bill, who had patched his wound up, was now smoking a cigarette on the porch of my home. I waved to the old veteran and teleported again.

My mothers house was silent, I was beginning to worry until I heard giggling coming from the kitchen and a snicker from the living room. I walked through the door and glared at Selene who was holding a large album of photos and Lena who was red faced from holding in her laughter.

The two women shared a look before bursting out in laughter. I groaned and walked away from the duo to look for my daughters and my conniving mother. I found the trio in the kitchen.

Luna and Aurora were making lumpy looking balls of cookie dough while my mother was setting up the oven.

The twins waved at me with sticky fingers and returned to their 'cooking'. I looked pointedly at my mother who gave me an innocent grin. 

"Baby pictures? Really?" 

"They were your karate class pictures actually, and no. It was Selene's idea." 

I sighed, "You're taking this rather well." 

"Believe me, I've seen worse Blake." 

"Worse? What could you hav-" 

"Maybe some other time, go wash up and help set up the table. Dinner is almost ready." 

I looked around the kitchen, I hadn't noticed before but she had prepared a large meal. It shouldn't have been possible. Time froze when I was in a dungeon or an alternate dimension. I looked over to my mother who caught my eye and winked.

I frowned, she had never been this eccentric when I had been growing up. She was too casual and knew too much to be somebody impersonating my mom.

There was also no way she could have fooled two vampires who had their own share of bullshit logic defying detection abilities. 

Dinner was surprisingly pleasant, the silences in between conversation comfortable. Curiously my mother allowed Selene and Lena to take center stage.

Normally she would have been the one speaking the most but this time she let my fiancé and 'mistress?' do most of the talking. She listened as they recounted their experiences of our first meetings.

I was a bit confused, my mother had time to prepare a large feast, that meant that time may have kept flowing when I was dealing with Carmina's situation.

Which in turn meant that they either talked about everything or talked about nothing. Either of which would have or should have covered the topic they were on now.

My thoughts were a tangled mess of multicolored strings. I let out a sigh and took another mouthful of stew. It would have been pointless to bring it up. My mother would have never answered directly. 

Once the impromptu feast had concluded I stood in the kitchen drying dishes as my mother handed them to me. I didn't even know how I had gotten in that position but chose, once again, not to question it. 

"You know, you should really just move forward and stop procrastinating here." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean your promise to help that lady out. You've been procrastinating once you've discovered that you could." 

My eyes narrowed at my mother, "What are you implying?" 

She smiled nonchalantly. "Nothing son, just get a move on yeah? I'll see you around." 

She raised her hand and snapped. In the blink of an eye I was standing in the middle of the sidewalk Selene and our daughters at my side. Lena on my opposite side looking around just as confused.

It took a second for it to click that my mother had just somehow teleported me. I cursed under my breath and shielded Selene from the gaping public that had just witnessed us appear out of nowhere. 

Having been at my moms place I had dropped the glamors on our faces. The sudden teleportation had resulted in me never having put them back up.

I heard the click of a camera shutter followed by the distinct flash and roar of a mob. I cursed again and yanked my family around me.