“Oh no, I’m a monster,” Sophia cried for the umpteenth time already.

“Transformation 101, been there,” Hailey yawned loudly which irritated her sister greatly.

“Could you please at least be a little civil to a newborn,” Hazel implored of her.

Hailey rolled her eyes, of all duty their mother had to assign them, it was to guard this little crybaby vampire. Well, was she even a vampire? Who knew whether Ashton’s creepy blood turned her into a hybrid or tribrid all together?

“Sophy listen, -“

“It’s Sophia,” she corrected, still heaving from her sobs.

“Hurrah, she cares about her name, that’s a good sign she’s not going feral and still has her human characteristics”

“Hailey,” Hazel warned, a low growl escaping her throat.

“What?”Hailey shrugged,” I’m trying to be positive here – I’m sure uncle Ben would applaud me for that, “

“Why do I have this? ” Sophia opened her mouth, exposing the two long canines.

“That’s your fangs you use it -“

“To drain Ashton dry,” Hailey interrupted her sister once more. 

Hazel glared at her.

“Stop staring at me that way, it’s not like they’re not going to do it pretty soon. Just take a look at Ashton, she only tasted his blood and he almost went over the moon, what now happens if she does that during – mmmm,” Hazel cupped her sister’s mouth to prevent those dirty words from coming through. Sophia was a newborn vampire and didn’t need to know about that yet.

“Seriously!” Hailey pushed her hand away, “She’s not even a child, why hide the inevitable from her?”

“Because she needs time to absorb these all. She got pushed into our world so quickly she couldn’t even brace herself. For Christ’s sake, she has been a human all through her life,” Hazel, the responsible one amongst the triplets spoke sensibly.

“Then, are you trying to tell me that I shouldn’t tell her that her mate might in the future have another…..” she trailed off upon seeing her sister’s murderous look, rephrasing her words instead, “Might have the urge to marry her soon,” 

“Marry who?” Sophia panicked, 

“I’m still a high schooler, I haven’t even graduated – I have to graduate! I’m too young to be a wife and a mother!” 

This time the twins watched the girl interestedly as she freaked out. 

“Was this what our mother went through?” Hailey asked

“Probably. The emotions can be empathized with.” Hazel perceived. 

“We should treat mom well in the future,” Hailey suggested. 

Hazel acquiesced, “Yeah,” she added, “Starting from you,” 

Hailey gave her sister the look yet shrugged it off afterward, after all, she was the one who gave their mother the biggest problem, with Ashton closely-ranked second. Well, changes can be made… 

Meanwhile, in the other room, Lia was in an intense discussion with her son. 

“Why didn’t you tell me she was awake?” 

Amongst her three children, Ashton was the one with the highest tendency for violence, followed by his sister, Hailey. Hazel hated unnecessary bloodshed which was usual in a supernatural community and would rather be cooped up the whole day in her room reading. 

However, that doesn’t mean a good fight doesn’t appeal to her. Hence when Hazel and Hailey had left to watch the fight, she had thought Ashton had left to get the basin of water and towel – the errand Hazel abandoned just to watch her father’s fight – who knew he had felt the pull of the bond and went to answer it. 

“I was going to but she looked so scared and I tried to handle it on my own but then things went down so quickly it slipped my mind. I’m sorry,” He apologized. 

Lia knew that one was sincere, so she didn’t quibble much on the issue. 

“I told you from the start that the girl is your responsibility, so you’d be the one to carry out the test,” Lia told him. 

The test was no other than checking if the newly turned supernatural would be able to live in their former habitat. 

Lia had learned her lesson from her own experience with her mother hence made the rule. All human turned supernaturals would be exposed to their parents and guardians and unless they’re not okay with the transformation of their loved ones, their memories would be erased. It wasn’t right to hide something as big as a human’s change from their parents or guardian – they were allowed to make a choice. Since supernaturals were able to tell lies apart, it wasn’t easy to fool them. The test was 80% efficient. 

“I know,” Ashton was ready to carry on the responsibility. 

“Though it’s rare, it’s not entirely impossible to be transformed through blood transfusion. Hence this means I have a limited idea of your mate’s ability and most especially, her eating pattern – human or vampire blood -” 

“Vampire blood,” Ashton said with confidence. 

“Don’t be so sure. Becoming a vampire through transfusion is an unnatural process and I wouldn’t be so surprised if her diet deviates from the expected hence it’s your responsibility to keep an eye on her. I hope that won’t be a hard job for you,” 

“Of course,” he stood straight with his head held high. This was what he signed up for when she became his mate and got involved with him. 

“Now, I’ll advise you to get your ass moving, I have your childish fathers to tend to,” Lia dismissed him and left with the bowel and towels. 

“Goodluck with that,” He was amused before leaving to find his mate who had thankfully stopped crying – his sisters were surely the best for this job. 

“Now the beast is here, we should leave the beauty alone so he could devour her in peace,” Hailey smirked. 

Ashton hissed at her, getting the hidden message beneath her words. He would keep Sophia away from Hailey, so she doesn’t corrupt her innocent soul. 

“We should go, the spell used on your parents would lose effect soon,”

“Spell?!” She was shocked.

“You’ve been away for almost three days now, haven’t you wondered why a search party hasn’t been organized yet?”

“Oh,” It finally dawned on her yet her eyes widened, ” When you say spell, do you mean those cast by witches?”,

Ashton was amused by the look in her eyes, “What do you think?”

“No freaking way! You mean witches are real?!”

“Of course, did you think vampires were the only creatures around? In fact, the very ground you stand on is a werewolf pack,” He informed her.

“No way,” her mouth hung open from shock,” You can’t be serious. But then if this is a werewolf pack and you’re a vampire, how is that possible? I have never heard of vampires living in wolf packs, that is not even practical,” 

“That’s because I’m not just a vampire,” He decided to reveal the truth to her. There was no point in hiding it since she was his mate anyway. 

“Eh?”, 

“I’m a tribrid,”

“Huh?”

“Half-vampire, half-werewolf, half-demon,” he revealed and expected some sort of reaction from her, but all he got was her blank expression. 

Suddenly, she broke into a peal of long hysterical laughter, “Oh my God, you’re so funny. You’d make a good comedian – wait a minute, is today’s April fool day?” she continued her laughter.

Ashton sighed, they never believe him until he shows the evidence. So while she was entertaining herself with her daughter, Ashton lowered his head neither was the girl observant enough to notice the low rumble coming from his throat.

However, a scream tore from her lips when he suddenly looked up at her and his eyes were completely black.

“Ahh!” Sophia shrieked and at once ran back to the bed, cowering away from him till she had nowhere else to run to.

Ashton always had a hard time with his demon side so he couldn’t change back his demon eyes immediately. He followed after the girl, she shouldn’t be afraid of him, she was his mate and he would never hurt her.

“No, don’t come any closer!” Sophia screamed when the demon-like man climbed onto the bed and began to crawl towards her on all four. She was so scared, how could Hailey and Hazel leave her alone with him?

Having her trapped, Asher opened his mouth and licked her face. That was a way the demons acknowledge their chosen one. 

Eww, Sophia was disgusted even though it sent tingles down her spine. It would have been better if it was her dog licking her face instead of a full-grown demonic man doing that. She got to leave here, this place was so creepy

Ashton liked licking her face and dipped his head, about to taste her again when the girl in front of him suddenly vanished. 

“What the fuck,” He cursed, his eyes returning to normal as he pulled back from shock. 

“Sophia? Sophia, where are you?”

Then he felt a dip in the bed even though he couldn’t see who was doing so and realization dawned on him. It was her power manifesting! Invisibility! 

“Sophia, I know you’re scared but you just made a breakthrough and you would need me to – aww!” a punch landed on his face and another in the spot where the sun never shines. 

Ashton slid to the ground in pain as the invisible hand turned the doorknob and the door opened. Someone obviously left. 

Good going, Ashton. So much for scaring your mate. God, this was so damn painful!