Need to Change

Everything her mother said for the last couple of hours, was bollocks! According to her, Dante was some type of half-hunter half-warlock, who fought all his life with a curse that was bestowed upon his father, who apparently wasn't hers. They had different fathers, and at twenty five years old, she just found that. And all she could think about as her mother related her fucked up romance story, some Romeo and Juliet, that her grandfather cursed to become predator and prey, untill their last breath, was way to insane for her. She even started to think that maybe her weed had something in it. As she looked for the ninth time at her joint, Cheryl heard her mother trying to get her attention.

"Cheryl you need to listen to me. Me and your Danny boy, just wanted to protect you from..."

"So let me get this straight, ma' " She interrupted her, outraged. "You're saying that Danny felt like, he wanted to kill me? And you both decided to just what? Leave me alone at fifteen years old, to live alone in Chicago? That's your sorry excuse?" She could feel her hands shaking, unable to even hold the cup of coffee. Standing she started pacing the living room, while her mother was starting to get nervous. The woman had the audacity to look startled by her reaction. And her brother, her own brother, who she loved more then her life itself, was on their mother's side, trying to coax her with gentle word, like he too was afraid of what she would do next. "You are both fuckin' insane! That's what you are! You can't come to me with that stupid line 'I had to do it for you' when you did it TO ME!" She was screaming already, and everything felt so damn hot all around her. Throwing her sweater on the floor, Cheryl couldn't make her legs stop from pacing the room. "Fuck you Danny! I know I can be a real bitch, but I'm no witch!" She was clawing at her throat, the air all around her was so damn hot and heavy to breath. "You choose to leave me behind, you, not some curse or motherfucking fate. You left me all alone!" Her screams stopped in a instant, after a blast of black and red energy, hit Dante, throwing him on the couch next to their mother, who had fireballs in her had. Fuckin' fireballs. After a second of complete silence, she started to laugh hysterically and she didn't stop until the laughter became tears.

Sliding on her knees on the floor, she continued to cry, even when she felt her mother embrace her from behind. She wailed like a banshee, in her mother's arms. For the first time in her life, she was more afraid, then her ex, and her mother hold her, trying to keep her own tears at bay.

"What am I, momma?" She whispered with her head held down

"Your my daughter, and that will never change."

"Who is my father, momma?"

Silence was all she was given. Neither her or her brother, answered. But they knew, she could feel it in her bones, they were just afraid to tell her.

"I need to know... No more secrets, please..."

"When your Danny was five, Negan found me. At first, the look in his eyes, told me that he recognized me. Oh, the love and pain, that was in his beautiful jaded eyes..." Lucielle choked on a sob, and looked at her son, with eyes full of tears. "But the moment I kissed him, the damn curse took his mind, and he striked like the Viper king that he was, and although I waited for the pain to come, I didn't feel anything. That was because Danny got between us at the last minute. This stupid brother of yours, had a hero complex since he was five. His Viper's side sensed the danger before me, and came to save his momma" Lucielle was crying just like her daughter did, moments ago. "His abdomen was sliced open, he was dying in front of me. I don't know what happened to Negan, because I threw him on the window, and he never came back up to our apartment. But I was out of my league, my magic was useless in front of his injury, and I was watching my baby dye in my arms. I did what every mother would've done. I pleaded the gods and demons to save him."

Cheryl lifted her head, looking into her mother's eyes, waiting for her to finish, but Lucielle took her time, wiping her cheeks clean of tears. After tending to her daughter, she started speaking again, in a more composed voice.

"The gods didn't answer..." Putting a strand of hair over her daughters ear she inhaled deeply, knowing that what she was about to say, will change Cheryl forever. "I made a deal with Morphius, that in exchange for our Danny's life, I will bear him a child. He's the demon that saved Danny's life, and also your father, Cheryl."