THE SHE-DEVIL AND HER ALPHAS

Islinda hissed in rage when her connection to the crow was destroyed. Apparently, she had been spying on them when that irritating witch found out.

She sat on the throne, her previously closed eyes opened because of the disruption. The spying wasn't burdensome, It was like watching television; seeing things through the crow's eyes.

"What is it?" asked the acolyte by her side, taking care of her nails.

"They've found out I'm onto them," Islinda shared the irritating news.

"Even if they know, what can they do? It's not like they could stop the plan, anyway," the devoted follower shrugged, painting the Islinda's toenail red.

"Yes, they can't stop the plan but I hate being kept in the dark. I need to always have my eyes on them, know their agendas to prevent unnecessary deterrent to our plan," she complained. 

"We can add more precautionary measures if you're that worried, my Ladyship?" The girl suggested to her. 

"Yes, do that. This plan is too important to fail," the woman was rubbing her chin contemplatively, "I did discover something interesting though," 

"What is it?" 

"One of her children not only inherited the girl's demon side but activated it as well. It's quite interesting," 

"Do you need us to get him?" 

"No, don't. It's a suicidal plan. You won't even get to an inch of the child, that place is crawling and fortified with their presence," Islinda pointed out,

"Moreover, he's not useful to us since he's still a lad and can't manipulate his abilities to the extent," 

They were not prepared for the child - no one knew the girl would get pregnant - hence didn't have any spot in their plan for him - but they might need him in the future. 

"Oww!" Islinda winced when she felt a sudden pain in her feet. 

"I'm so sorry," the girl apologized instantly, withdrawing from her with her head lowered. 

The searing pain made Islinda look down only to discover that one of her toenails had completely fallen off. Her eyes narrowed, she was rotting, degenerating more faster than she thought. No, this can't go on. 

"Move up the plan," Islinda commanded, "I don't have much time to waste," She stood to her feet, "I need to make sure my people get their freedom before my time's up," 

"As you command my lady," 

      *********************

"Crows are a witch's watchman," Sabrina explained, transporting the crow back to her place magically. 

"You're trying to say someone has been spying on us?" Lia asked, holding her child protectively. 

"I'm not trying to say, I just said it," Sabrina bettered, "Someone has been watching us all this while, that's what I definitely said," 

"Who could that be? The council?" Daniel asked. 

"Probably not," Asher answered, thinking hard, "If it were the council, their army would be stationed here already. But then, crows are too dark a creature to be used as couriers by the council, which means that -" 

"It's the Burning Eaglet," Daniel said. 

"Burning Eaglet?" Jenny was confused.

"It's a coven or movement of dark witches who are hell-bent on some revolution which I would have supported if it didn't involve the massive shedding of blood," Sabrina explained. 

"So these evil witches are after my grandchild? " she gestured to the triplets. 

"Wrong guess," Asher said to her, "It's your daughter they want - at the moment," 

"Oh, you God fucking creatures are not…!." 

"Sabrina," Asher cued. 

"Mitescere, " Sabrina cast a spell on Jenny. 

The woman who had been boiling with anger, suddenly calmed down as if a bucket of ice water was poured on her. 

"I would sit at a corner and take care of my wonderful grandchildren," Jenny boomed a smile, taking one of the girls from Daniel and sitting at one of the couches, undisturbed. 

"What did you do to her," Lia was stunned, seeing her mother blowing raspberries on the baby's stomach amid concurring to the baby's speeches. 

"I lowered her inhibitions," replied Sabrina. 

Lia's brow raised questioningly. 

"Just think of it as making her less cray-cray," she finalized. 

Well, Lia could not argue with that. Her mom's outburst could be quite problematic - at least she looks happy over there. 

"I have a bad feeling about this, everything's happening so fast and bad," Asher observed, his eyes trained Lia, "First, you give birth to triplets in one day - not that I'm complaining, you're the most wonderful thing in my eye right -" 

"Can we please go back to the main topic you deviated from, Asher? Some people are single and can't bear to stand the cheesiness," Ben complained. 

Lia scratched the back of her head, a blush creeping up her face. Her eyes connected with Daniel's mistakenly or maybe he was the one who stared her way intentionally, but she saw a trace of jealousy on his feature. They'd need to work on that - she now had kids to care of not deal with a grown man's insecurity.

"Wait a minute here," Helen, Asher's mother butt in, "I just had a grandchild born to me today and the least you can all do is to push all this negativity aside and come up with a name for these wonderful children," 

"She does make sense," Jenny supported before going back to take care of her grandchild. 

"I'm in and already have a name already," Ben was excited, "Hazel and Hailey? Don't say no," 

Lia and Daniel exchanged looks, communicating with their eyes while Ben waited anxiously. 

"I guess while we name them that, you wouldn't mind being their godparent?" Lia requested. 

"Holy offer of the century, slap me!" He was delirious with Joy, "Why not! I'm so honored and can't wait to teach them all I know -" 

"Ben, I need you to inculcate into the girls' good morals and swear you would never use them to experiment your theories," Lia gave him a condition. 

The boy scratched his head awkwardly, "Urm… about that…" 

"Ben, is it a yes or not?" 

"Fine, no experiments on them," He added, "Unless they want me to," 

Lia raised his brow. 

"Like seriously, Lia come on," Ben began, "We just found out that you're a tribrid who gave birth to triplets in a day- freaking awesome if you ask me- but we don't know if the children inherited the same properties. It's established that Arthur there…" He pointed to the boy in her arms. 

"My child's name is not Arthur," Asher refused. 

"Noble, courageous. I just named your kid after the legendary heroic King Arthur, what more could you ask for?" Ben asked him. 

"My boy's name is Ashton; derived from my name 'Asher' and my father's, 'Antonio' you hear me?" said Asher. 

Ben didn't give up, "That name has been existing before you thought of it and come to think of it, means, 'ash tree town'. How can you compare that to the noble 'Arthur'?" 

"The name holds sentimental value for him, Ben," Helen understood her son. 

"Easy for you to say because you won't be the little boy growing up and being called 'ash tree' by those meddling bullies," Ben remarked. 

Asher was vexed by Ben's comment, "My son would be strong and would not be bullied by any measly human nor supernatural -" 

"Hence the name, Arthur," Ben insisted. 

Lia rubbed her temples, this wasn't how she wanted this naming ceremony to go. Ben was a stubborn argumentative human and Asher was a dominant alpha male vampire who would not give up until the lesser creature bows. Which made her yell, "Fine! We'd just call him Arthur Ashton Nicolli. Case settled?" 

"Yes, the case settled," Ben agreed yet simpered, "Still Arthur came first," 

Asher snarled at him to frighten him but Ben was not terrified. It seems associating with supernatural creatures all this period made him immune to all of their threats. If she could remember, the old Ben would pee in his pants by now. 

"Since we're done with the naming, we should move on to figuring out which kid is a hybrid or tribrid or has inactivated demon blood," Ben said so enticingly like a male presenter on stage. 

Lia swore he was enjoying every bit of this. But that very moment, Electra burst into the house supported by Trevor and bloodied. 

"Oh my God," Lia gasped.

"Trevor!" Jenny, who had been initially calm, was provoked. 

"She needs more attention than me," Trevor pointed to the injured Electra, gently laying her down on the couch. 

"What happened?" Asher was concerned over his daughter, " Dan, get me blood bags!" 

"On it!" 

"What the hell happened?!" Asher growled at Trevor. 

"Don't dare to touch him!" Electra came to his defense before falling back to the couch, writhing and screaming in pain. 

"God, she's your mate," Lia smelled it off her brother. 

Asher examined his daughter's state, "And Electra's delusional which could only mean one thing," 

"Werewolf venom," Daniel uncovered the sleeve of her shirt showing her black veins. 

All of their gazes turned to Trevor who was still shaken up by whatever happened to them. 

"Tell me what you did to my daughter" there was a dark glint in the vampire's eyes. 

"Asher," Lia touched his arm, calming him down. 

She faced her brother, " Trevor tell us what happened," 

Trevor gulped, "They know now," 

"What?" 

"And they're coming,"