none of it works. I was twelve when my family was murdered. I was able to get out through one of our hidden escape routes, but my parents never followed me. My brothers never followed me. I spent a little while roaming, unable to find anyone or get help, too scared to ask normal people. I was very sheltered.” I poured my smoothie finally, hoping it wasn’t ruined by sitting for so long and walked into the living room.
“Same night? Nakul’s wife and son were butchered. It was a coordinated attack on every naga family with a female. We’re considered more vulnerable, thanks to sexism, and obviously, females equal breeding, which equals repairing our kind’s population.” I rolled my eyes as I finished.
“Jesus,” he whispered, following me. “That’s an archaic way of thinking.”
“Isn’t it? Remember what I just said, though. Most supernaturals are immortal. Sexism is hard to beat when it’s being perpetuated by men who are accustomed to times when women were property in a very real sense.” I sighed as I sat down, crossing my legs. Raphael sat down in one of the armchairs, then leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped together. The lines of his face were severe, even in the low light.
“You seem bitter.” The words were sad. “Is that what I’ve been missing here? You’re bitter.”
“I am,” I answered shortly, unable to deny it. “You would be too if you were found as a young teenager, your family dead, and the leader of your people told you that you had one responsibility in life. Have children. Breed. That’s it. Get paraded at puberty in front of the males of your kind, in hopes one of them might be compatible with you. Have kids as soon as possible, as often as possible.”
“Compatible?” Raphael sounded disgusted.
“Information for a different night, but you can assume it meant they wanted to find someone for me to fuck and have kids with.” I wasn’t getting into naga breeding with him tonight. Probably would eventually, but not tonight. I didn’t want him knowing the signs of compatibility, for obvious reasons.
“What did you do?”
“I ran away,” I said simply, but there was so much more.
I could still remember every detail of that night. Adhar upset I wasn’t able to mate with any of the available male nagas, furious even, like it was somehow my fault. He knew I would grow up to be a de facto leader of the naga, something no one had told me. I heard him say it that night, about how he needed to make sure I was perfect, well educated, and continued the old ways of doing things. Being mated would have helped control me and kept me doing things his way.
The old ways didn’t work. Not a single time in my life has his way of doing things ever worked.
So, I snuck out the window. I charmed the snake that lived in a bush under the window and used it to lead the others away from me. I stole money and found a way to get out of India before they found my trail. I was proficient at being alone by then, after surviving without my family. I never went back. When I left India, I stayed gone. It was twenty years before Adhar and I spoke again—twenty years without seeing or speaking to a single one of my own kind.
Trying to chase away the thoughts of the other nagas, I went back to the story.
“I got into some trouble, nearly got myself killed a couple of times. Went through some bad shit until I was seventeen. Hisao found me by accident and took me in. I trained with him since he knew I would never go back to the shelter of a naga compound. He pointed me to the Tribunal and becoming an Investigator or Executioner. I picked Executioner. I knew if I didn’t pick whichever one gave me more power to protect myself, I would never be safe. I picked up languages, having already trained myself to learn on-the-fly, thanks to the time I lived on my own after my family died. I changed, leaving behind things that made me a naga and an Indian. Luckily, I have a look that can blend in with a lot of different places. I learned how. Finally, I settled in America and never left. I like it here. I like pretending I’m American and belong here.”