Chapter 7 - Labels

"What is so great about a blood moon again?" Zane asked as he settled down next to Cora on the roof.

"Really?" Cora laughed. "Mom is fae and lycan. You don't remember what a blood moon is?"

"Mom isn't really lycan," Zane scoffed.

"What do you mean she isn't really lycan? She has lycan genes just like she has fae genes. She was born into a lycan pack!" Cora exclaimed.

"She doesn't turn into a wolf, Cora," he countered. "She doesn't howl at the blood moon."

"You know by saying that you are just reaffirming the persecution of the lycans who are like her?" she scoffed in disgust.

"There is a name for those like her. They are alyko—literally 'without wolf.' And how is that what I am doing? I am simply stating facts. She doesn't turn into a wolf, just like the name alyko says" he chuckled.

"You said that she is not really lycan. That part. You are denying her a significant part of her origin because she doesn't conform to the majority," Cora said, passion for the subject fueling her words.

Their mother told them all about the history of the alyko and how they were called 'witches' and imprisoned, killed, and hunted simply because they manifested different abilities than turning into wolves. They were always marginalized, always kept on the sidelines.

The alyko had even believed the widespread lie within the lycan community that they could not experience the mate pull like their wolf-bearing counterparts. To think of how much hatred it took to sow a lie like that simply in order to keep the alyko from that most sacred of experiences…

"That is not what I meant and you know it. I just meant that she is more fae," Zane said.

"The name alyko is even problematic. I hate that word, because it defines them by what they lack rather than what they have," Cora grumbled. "'Without wolf,' as if that is truly what defines them."

"Then call them fae. Isn't that accurate?" Zane shrugged. "That is how the vampires consider mom anyway."

"Yeah, because the fae are their enemies," Cora mumbled. "Why do we have to have labels? Why does an individual have to fit inside one name? Lycans themselves are so complicated—they literally have human, fae, and wolf DNA. Like… why is it the wolf that is the most significant part there?"

"Have you ever seen one turn into a wolf?" Zane chuckled. "If you did, you might understand why the wolf seems like the most significant part of their ancestry. Also humans are boring. Would you ever consider mom a human? Or yourself for that matter?"

Cora groaned. "That's what I am talking about. I have no idea what I am or what I would identify most as. Why do I have to pick one? Can't I just be… me?"

"You are definitely fae like mom," Zane mumbled to himself, causing Cora to hit him on the back of the arm. He was missing the point. She didn't want a label.

"Ow! What? You are! You can make things grow out of thin air for Goddess sakes! You might be the most impressive one that ever existed!" He said, rubbing the back of his arm with a grimace.

"No, I'm not La Loba. I didn't birth an entire lycan species. She is pure fae," Cora said dreamily, imagining meeting someone as incredible as La Loba as she stared up at the deep night sky with its tiny pin pricks of light. La Loba was the predecessor of all lycans, for she had created them. And she may still be out there somewhere—existing as this beautiful, potent life spirit flitting around doing magnificent things.

Like vampires, fae were eternal. They were pure life—the very source of it. They were the embodiment of nature's four elements, wielding the power of earth, air, fire, or water. And a select few like La Loba embodied all four elements at once, which made them capable of not only birthing new life but bringing those who had died back into their physical bodies once again.

"What about that story mom told us? About the alyko Luna who brought someone back to life? You don't have to be pure fae in order to do things like that. She wasn't," Zane pointed out.

"That's right. I wonder if she is still out there somewhere," Cora thought aloud. "Wouldn't that be cool to meet her and others like us? We don't belong here, Z," she mumbled.

"Don't say that," Zane said, his tone taking on a thread of warning.

Cora might be struggling with how to define herself and grappling with her own identity, but the vampires of Gray Vale were even more wary of their presence here. If they heard her denying that their family belonged here, it could worsen those feelings of distrust and suspicion that were already looming around them.

"Don't you feel the same way?" She whispered, her eyes darting around. "Like we don't belong here? What if we never turn?"

"We haven't turned yet and that is why you feel that way," Zane grumbled.

"You don't feel the same way?" She asked, starlight glimmering in her eyes as she gazed at him, searching for the inner truth that he never shared.

Zane was always goofing around, playing off the seriousness of their situation. He avoided revealing his true feelings to anyone, so she wasn't sure if she even knew what they were. Did he feel that he belonged here? Did he truly?

"I am a vampire, Cora," he said now, staring her straight in the eyes. "I know it."

"What?" She asked, her eyebrows pinching together as she pushed herself up to a sitting position. "I mean… of course you are, at least a little bit. Dad was, but…"

"That's not what I mean," he shook his head. "You always try to hear something other than what I am saying," he chuckled.

"Okay, then what are you saying to me right now?" She asked, her stomach twisting with the answer she already knew.

"I am saying that I am positive I am going to turn. It is only a matter of time. I belong here, Cora."