Wild and Free (The Three #3)(94)

“But if that’s your philosophy,” Leah put in, “how did you get the others to think that you might be on their side?”

Serena looked to Leah. “Our mates are phantoms.”

“Sorry?” Leah asked.

“Wraiths are ethereal, for the most part,” she stated, drifting a hand in front of her. “For those humans who have seen us who we did not let know what we truly are, we’re known as ghosts. All wraiths are female. Phantoms are the same, but they’re male.”

She looked to Abel and me and had clearly been informed we were new to this supernatural business, because she kept explaining.

“We aren’t actually ghosts. We’re born in this form and have always lived in it. We are much like all other beings. We live. We sleep. We love. We make babies.” She smiled. “And for us to make babies, we need phantoms.”

“All right,” I said when she stopped.

“The problem with this is, we and our phantom mates had a falling out some time ago. There was…” She hesitated before continuing, “A situation and we didn’t agree on how it would be handled. Our mates are quite protective and felt we should stay safe and they should deal with it. We wraiths felt we should fight at our mates’ sides. They’d demanded we stay behind and they do the fighting. We did what we felt was necessary and had joined the fight against their wishes. They thought that was disobedience. We found that concept repugnant as we’re not children; we’re simply a different gender. The situation we were engaged in was sorted, however, our mates are quite stubborn. Rather than being grateful for our assistance, they punished us by disconnecting.”

“When did this happen?” Sonia asked.

“Twelve hundred years ago,” Serena answered.

My eyes got wide. “Whoa, phantoms can hold a grudge.”

Serena smiled at me. “They can indeed, as can wraiths. The longer they stayed away, the more the grudge switched from one side to the other, turning us away from them should one try to approach for reconciliation. As you can imagine, this has gone back and forth for over a millennia. There were, of course, some…” Another hesitation before she went on with a not-hard-to-read-grin, “Connections as we all have needs.”

I got her so I grinned back.

She kept going.

“But this struggle started over equality. The sisters who have not turned traitor still wish for nothing but a lasting reconciliation with our mates when they accept us at their sides, not at their hearths. However, we were able to convince the traitors that we were tired of our disconnection with our lovers, and could deliver the phantoms to the other side through our subjugation to our mates. As the traitors are being led by males, it’s not surprising they would believe this, as even vampires, who well know that females of their kind have the capacity to be exceptional warriors, can be chauvinistic. Therefore, it didn’t take much convincing.”

“And the sisters who have turned traitor?” Sonia asked, and Serena’s expression became anything but serene.

“To survive, we feed off mortal energy,” she stated.

I tensed and felt Abel tense beside me.

She must have felt it too for she looked to us. “This does not harm mortals. It does not take from you; it emits from you all the time. It’s natural. We don’t need to control you to absorb it. You just need to exist so we can do the same.” Her tone changed to dire when she continued, “This doesn’t mean that all beings don’t have those amongst them who thrive on negativity. The majority of wraiths and phantoms absorb positive energy. They crave joy. Or contentment. Or success. Or humor. A variety of these things. But there are those who feed off despair, anger, fear, jealousy, prejudice, hate. In our case, quite literally, you are what you eat.”

“Yikes,” I muttered.

“Yes,” she agreed. “And those who have sided with the traitors would thrive if humans were enslaved. A world of unhappy humans would mean they’d have even more of what they crave.”

“Not good,” I kept muttering.

“No, and worse, it’s gluttony. For there is already much anger, jealousy, prejudice, and fear for them to feed from.” She shook her head and, along with it, her music-video-drifting hair. “It makes no sense to the sisterhood. The more you consume, you just become more of what you consume. It doesn’t make you more powerful. It just makes you angrier, uglier, more hateful.”

“Just like humans,” Leah stated.

“Exactly,” Serena replied.

“The good news is,” Gregor butted in, “although Serena and her sisters have lost their foothold amongst our enemy, she’s managed to make a meeting with Gastineau.”

“Who’s Gastineau?” Abel asked.

“My lifemate,” Serena answered. “He’s also emperor of the phantoms. We were reconciled seventy-five years ago, but this lasted under a decade. However, we made a child during that time, our third daughter, and since he dotes on her, but I’m raising her, we’ve had to stay in close contact. As his brothers wish after the last situation they involved themselves in, which segregated our kind, Gastineau prefers to keep to the shadows and allow other immortals, and humans, to do what they will. Including making their mistakes. I hope to impress on him during our meeting that this time he must take a stand, with his brothers, alongside their sisters, uniting us all once again in order to keep peace.”