I
The stale air of the bar brought peace to her, the dim lights easy on her overly sensitive pupils. Her only complaint was the rowdiness of the dingy dive bar, her ears twitching at the sound of pool balls knocking together and beer glasses clinking. If she focused long enough, she could make out the couple bickering in the corner, a petite little thing with no meat on her bones and an incessant itch caused from drug withdrawal. The male wasn't much better, scrawny and ragged, like he hadn't had a bath in months. Although that might be true, she could scent the dirt and grime that clung to his skin wafting in the air. She didn't mind much, she was used to dirt and grime having been raised in the lowest of hellholes.
The vibration of her phone on the bar counter caught her attention, lavender eyes flickering to the electronic device in mild annoyance. Becks had been hounding her all night, demanding when she'd be back, where she was, if she was sober. A scoff escaped her lips as she ignored the notification for the tenth time tonight. Of course she was drunk, why would she want to stay sober in a shitter like this?
She brought the cool beer bottle to her lips, sucking down the contents of the translucent green bottle. She would deal with Becks in the morning. Tonight, she was hoping to drown her sorrows in wheat ale.
Mara Vail was an anomaly. Born due to a selfish male's pleasure and a females non consent, she had been bouncing around the foster care system since the moment she had taken her first breath. Her lavender eyes, indicative of her coven ancestry, was something of a bad omen to potential parents and the wolf that prowled behind them didn't give her much of an advantage either. Humans could feel that she was wrong, a mistake, a being that shouldn't exist. They were right. This world only approved of the pureblood, beings who had no intermingling. As a hybrid, Mara had no law defending her. That being said, she belonged to no treaty, no species, and acted like it. The laws put in place by the supernatural committee had no bearing on her, a loophole the great ancestors had overlooked. As a result, Mara acted as she wanted, when she wanted, with little to no regard for the petty laws the world tried to force upon her.
While Mara was an anomaly, she wasn't completely alone. Her witch and wolven blood made her a singularity, but there were plenty of other halfbreeds out there. The difference being, they were all mixed with humans. Intermingling between species was looked down upon as when bloodlines clashed, the power within the blood fought against one another. The struggle resulted in a stillborn babe and a dead mother.
When the intermingling of species involved a human, there was no other power for the blood to fight against. The power held within the blood was simply diluted and most mother's made it through childbirth with no hiccups. That being said, the babe was still a hybrid, a species with less power than a pure blood and therefor unwanted. They were almost always thrown out without a second glance.
Mara wasn't exactly sure what had happened to her. She had theorized that her wolf was possibly weak and choose to adapt rather than fight, and her witch heritage could've came from a weak line. It would make the most sense. Mara had the instincts and skills of a wolf with an inability to shift. She could feel her wolf prowling in her mind, but she had never shifted. Her powers, however, typically were volatile and hard to control. They lashed out when Mara felt threatened or fearful, which had caused a plethora of problems in her foster homes. She had runaway at 13 for that very reason.
She had unintentionally picked up a litter of halfbreeds throughout her years. They clung to her like a pup clings to its mother and though her wolf was a quiet thing, it would not let her turn her back on them. Over the span of 14 years, she had accumulated her chosen family. Most were younger than her, ranging around 13 to 22 in age. She had a few who were closer in age to her, Becks being older than her by just a year, but they all relied on her heavily. She put a roof over their heads, kept their bellies full, and taught them how to blend into the world while also knowing how to defend themselves. Unfortunately, that made Mara their makeshift matriarchal figure and they refused to leave her den.
Mara knocked back the last of her beer, waving down the bartender for another round when she felt someone stroll up behind her. Sleaze and grime poured off of him like a river and she had to fight the urge to shiver in disgust. She made no attempt to acknowledge his presence until he laid a hand on the bar infant of her and one on her ribs, effectively boxing her in. Mara could feel her irises begin to glow as her temper soared to unbelievable heights. Her lips pulled back into a snarl, her canines descending as she fought to regain a modicum of composure.
"You have approximately five seconds to remove your filth covered hands from my body and move about five yards back before you regret it." Mara's hand curled around the neck of the empty beer bottle, her body tense. The male behind her simply chuckled, the hand on her side sliding up to just under her bra line.
"C'mon, baby. Dont be-" He wasn't able to finish his sentence. The beer bottle smashed into the bar and she had flipped around to slam the male into the bar where she had just been siting. Her forearm rested heavily against his Adam's Apple, the jagged bottle neck pressed right up against his jugular. He struggled in her grip, but being a wolf hybrid had its perks. She may be small, but she was stronger than most men, human or supernatural.
"When a lady tells you to remove your hands, you do so. Capiche?" Her voice had taken on a deeper tone, a typical sign that her magic was humming beneath her skin and waiting to breakthrough. The idiot male didn't respond, still struggling in her grasp in attempt to break free. Mara simply put more weight behind her stance, the males eyes beginning to bulge out of his face. The liquor bottles on the wall began to shake as the lights above flickered and swung frantically. The males face paled, eyes darting around as he took in the precarious position he was in. Mara's eyes glowed brighter, her magic begging to be released to end his pathetic existence. She pressed the beer bottle further into him, eyes lighting up in pleasure as a droplet of blood fell from the cut.
"Mara." The liquor bottles began to settle, the lights still flickering but once more providing the standard lighting for the dive bar. Mara's eyes returned to their normal lavender hue as her wolf and magic melted into the back corners of her mind. She held her position, eyes boring into the shit brown irises in front of her. She didn't want to relent, she wanted his blood flowing onto the bar. She wanted to drink up his life essence and continue to fuel her rage. But, unfortunately, Becks had a very calming effect on both Mara's wolf and her magic. She gave once last glare at the offensive male before shoving off of him, pushing him further into the bar top. She kept a hold of her beer bottle, pointing it in his face.
"Pay my tab, then get the fuck out." She turned to the bartender, who just looked at them bored and gave her a cheeky smile.
"Same time next week, Chara?" Chara rolled her eyes at Mara, waving her out of her bar before wiping down the bar top and returning her attention to the other patrons of the bar. Mara shrugged and made her way towards Becks who stood at the entrance of the bar. His eyes burned a hole into her as she dumped the broken glass in the trash can and exited the building.
She made her way to her bike, a sleek black vehicle that Becks had insisted she didn't get. His advice had been ignored, of course, and this beaut had brought her immense joy and pleasure in a world that was built to hate her. She skipped the helmet, wanting to feel the breeze against her face. She also didn't necessarily give a damn if she lived or died. She didn't plan on taking herself out of this world herself, but she had very little care if an outside force did it for her.
"Mara-" An exasperated groan escaped her lips as she turned to meet Becks eyes. In another world where Mara believed that love and relationships were real, she would've dated the guy. Maybe even married him. He was a sight for sore eyes, hazel eyes that could warm you from the inside out, beach blonde hair that held waves you just wanted to run your hands through, pale skin that was slightly tanned from the sun. You could hardly tell that he had vampiristic tendencies. But that was the how all vampire halfbloods were. Their beauty was to draw in their victims, even if they didn't necessarily need blood to survive. They were almost more dangerous than pure blooded vampires because they had the ability to walk out in the daylight, they just had to wear spf and sunglasses no matter how gloomy it was outside.
All that being said, Becks made it his life mission to be a pain in her ass. They had found each other when Mara was just 17 and living out of a makeshift shack in the woods. He had also been bouncing around from foster care systems but he had finally made it out. He had little to no money to his name, but with his looks and charm he had an easier time navigating the human world. At the time, Mara had five little ones in her care, some as young as seven and the oldest being fourteen. She had been stealing from Becks neighbor when he found her and followed her home. To his surprise, she had stolen clothes, food and supplies to fix up their makeshift shack.
He confronted her, offering to help, but Mara had been distrustful to him. It took months of him popping by, leaving clothes and supplies, fixing their roof when it sprung a leak, playing with the little ones before Mara trusted him enough to let him in. He helped ease the burden of being matriarch, but he took it upon himself to try to fix her. One thing about Mara, she may be broken, but she's fine with it. The world broke beautiful things, and no matter how hard he wanted to glue to pieces back together, they were still broken. Including Mara Vail.
"You were losing control." It wasn't a question. It was a statement. One that came with a lecture no matter how badly Mara wanted to avoid it. She rolled her eyes, turning in her seat with one foot firmly on the ground and one hitched onto the side of her bike.
"I was fine." She didn't try to defend her statement. Most nights ended like that at the dingy dive bar. If it wasn't her involved in a bar fight, it was someone else. Sometimes it was because some sleaze was trying to cozy up to her, other times it was because those same sleaze balls were trying it with other girls who simply didn't know any better. Mara knew how to pick and choose her battles when it came to other girls. She tried to save the ones she could, but others didn't want her help so she left them alone. Can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved. A concept Becks simply could not grasp.
"Holding a broken beer bottle against a mans jugular and your magic flaring so much that the walls were shaking is you being fine?" He scoffed, leaning up against his sky blue Bronco that looked too expensive to be parked in a lot like this. Mara bristled slightly, attempting to tamp down her anger. Her magic wouldn't lash out at him, nor anyone she had a kinship with. Her wolf wouldn't let it. But that didn't mean Becks wasn't pissing her right the fuck off. She ignored him, kicking the stand of her bike and balancing with both of her feet on the ground as she revved her engine, signaling that she was done with this conversation.
"Go home, Becks. I'm fine." Was all she said before speeding off into the night, leaving Becks in the dust.
