Anna stared at her angrily and then turned to the moon.
"Perhaps the line between love and hate is thin. But I feel disgusted with myself when I remember the time I practically begged to be touched by Allister."
"When you make the trip to Avallon with your father.... You'll hate him a lot more. E... I recommend that you advise Jenna to run away. Henry will kill her when he finds out what she's hidden on that island."
"What did she hide on Avallon?"
"I... I don't know. But I do know that there's a big secret about her family on that island. And Jenna... I conclude that she had a mission beyond delivering Brianna's body to Avallon."
Anna became pensive. She wouldn't protect Jenna again. She had her chance to put an end to dangerous secrets.
"You said you helped my mother develop her gifts. Can you do the same for me?"
"I'd be honored, Anna."
"I can stop Maxwell from reading the thoughts of vampires, and Adam those of werewolves. I can make sure they can never manipulate anyone again."
"Yes. You can. But you mustn't do it, Anna. Vampires and werewolves are evil, cruel, unbridled creatures. If they don't have someone who can stop them, who can inhibit their savage nature, if they don't have a leader who makes them fear them, or who can stop them... the world becomes a storm of human blood."
"Before Adam, they lived without law."
Jasmine thought.
"Is that what they told you? Do you understand about the war between the clans for the Alpha's inheritance?"
"They get rich..."
"No, Anna. It's much more than that. The werewolf in possession, of artifacts that belonged to an Alpha, receives from the moon, the gift to dominate the other werewolves. Not like an Alpha, who covers all the packs, even if they're on the other side of the world, but those who are nearby..."
"Allister lost everything because of Adam's birth, so..."
"Yes. He fought in a battle, killed many of his kind, in search of power, and when he finally succeeds, three years later, Adam is born Alpha. What a shame, don't you think?" Jasmine said wryly.
"Were you still married to him when Adam was born?"
"No. As soon as he defeated the last pack leader, Dester, his parents had already married him to Suzy, I was his first wife, but he sent me to Death Island."
"What a name... Poetic."
"Ah! Anna. You have no idea how..."
"Are you going to tell me about this place?"
"Werewolves have DremsStone as their refuge. Death Island is the equivalent for vampires."
"And when did Max return from this place?"
"Max didn't go with me, Allister wouldn't let him. He loved his son. Max stepped into our refuge, just to bring me back. I wasn't a prisoner at that time. I was still in love with Allister and spent many years meeting him, hiding from the family, but Suzy always knew and always allowed me to be close to the children. Suzy helped me raise him, and in return, I helped raise Adam. I think I'm responsible for Adam's cruelty and coldness being so pronounced... But... We both raised them as our children. When they were little, they both called me mother."
"I've heard Max calling you Mom."
"Ah. I don't mind. It can become a bad habit. I stopped aging when I was thirty. Maxwell is more like my brother than my son."
Anna looked puzzled at Jasmine.
"I... I really thought you were older too..."
"I think so. You didn't have the vision of a supernatural yet. I fed on a lady who must have been sixty, so that I'd look more like Suzy, and my grandchildren, and the people around us wouldn't realize that I wasn't aging."
"So, if you want to look like you're five..."
"Oh no, my dear. It's against the rules to feed on humans under the age of eighteen."
"Did Max impose this rule?"
"No. That rule existed before."
"You said you were turned, and that vampire disappeared... How old are you?"
"I stopped counting when I turned 198. It was getting boring remembering an unimportant date."
"If the beauty industry discovers that all it takes is one bite from Max for women to overcome their greatest enemy: time, Maxwell would certainly be a lot richer. They wouldn't want a competitor for their creams."
"Being eternally young isn't what attracts me to who we are, Anna. I wouldn't mind getting older. Most of the time, I present myself like this to people. I envy the passing of their years. The marks of time, of life, of wounds, scars, we'll never have those and I think we lose a lot when we're eternally young."
Anna smiled wistfully.
"Ian knew all along. He always told me that you didn't look like a grandma."
"Yes. Apart from Adam and Max, no other supernatural has mastered their gifts at such a young age. We need to watch closely, because Ian..."
"Ian...?"
"I think Adam did something to him when you were torturing Sarah. I can't say what it is, but Ian hasn't come home the same child."
"I'll ask him. Ian doesn't like secrets... "
"Do it, but be prepared to know something you won't like." Jasmine said, biting her tongue so as not to mention that Max was there too, as her son was listening to them.
"You know what he did." Anna didn't ask.
"Yes, Anna. I know."
Anna sighed deeply. Her mind was a little dazed with so much information.
"Does the moon have any relevance to vampires?"
"No. The moon is a natural influencer for werewolves. They worship it. The Brumas also believe in the magic of the blue moon, but only the blue moon that comes every eighteen years."
Anna was silent for a few minutes.
"There's something about me that you don't know, Jasmine."
"And I'm going to find out now..."
"The other Brumas dream of men who can give birth to the future Bruma."
"You were the only one who didn't dream about it."
"But I did. I saw the blue eyes in my dreams, or nightmares, but since I lived with Allister, I thought the look in those younger eyes might have been his at some point in his life."
Jasmine looked at Anna in surprise.
"You never... Adam or Max?"
Anna looked away from the moon and glared at Jasmine.
"Maybe one day I'll reveal that to you, Jasmine. But not today. I can't reveal it to any more ears, and Maxwell will have to wait to find out. I don't like people eavesdropping on my conversations. I hate it when someone invades my privacy." Anna said and climbed up onto the windowsill and before Jasmine could say anything else, she jumped down and disappeared into the night.