Free Within the Cards by Donna Altman

Elizabeth's destruction, they were angry. They turned their backs on the hybrid vampires and the crossbred witchyres. War was eminent between the three races. The witches would be at war with the witchyres for betraying Elizabeth and with the vampires for destroying her. The vampires would honor their agreement with the witchyres until they had a reason to change their minds. This had been the fear of all immortals. This war would come some day; it was only a matter of time. It was a time that would be an eternity for a human, but it was a time that was a short span for an immortal.
    The witchyres multiplied into vast numbers, reproducing with each other, brother with sister; uncle with niece. Incest was a human word not known nor cared about within the witchyres. They carved power and numbers. Their only loyalties were with the vast numbers of immortals they could create. Love and compassion were not a priority. They were not even words they cared to understand.
    Ellie’s life began just a small fame of time before her grandparent’s annihilation. She did not like to go into further detail of her conception. This was not something she thought was prideful. Ellie didn’t talk about it to me. All I knew was her sisters raised her, and her mother had left her many years ago. She didn’t know much about her mother or father nor did she remember her grandparents. All she knew was her sisters were in control of her, and she had to listen to them. My mind again pushed deeper into the history of Ellie’s creation.
    A Witchyre’s body temperature was warmer than that of mine, but they thirst for the blood of humans as I. They inherited mystical powers from their witchery ancestors and their taste for blood and true immortality from their Vampire ancestors. This made them a force to fear by all races. They were almost impossible to defeat. They were the only immortal that could reproduce and live forever. They had few flaws, so they were an almost perfect race.
    Their eating habits were of that of the vampire thus causing friction at times between the two races. The vast numbers produced by the witchyres cause alarm with the vampires. A meeting with the rulers of each clan drew lines that neither group dared to cross. Witchyres got a part of the territories of the earth to feed as vampires got the other. Witchyres were savages and didn’t save their prey. Once they decided on a food choice this human never survived their assault. This was true until Ellie chose me.
    She was the exception of the witchyre rule. I was her creation in a world that I wasn’t supposed to exist. A witchyre was never supposed to change a human. This was part of the agreement with the vampire purebreds. Changing a human was not the way they reproduced. Yes, I was the only one of my existences. Others that knew I walked the earth considered me a hybrid. I was even a hybrid to Ellie because she had no memory of my creation. However, I was far from a normal hybrid of the vampire clan.
    Ellie was one of three daughters. Her sisters were older, and they had greater control over the direction of their family. The three daughters were direct descendants of the original rulers of the witchyres. Ellie’s mother was one of the three daughters of Ultress and Elizabeth. Ellie never spoke of her mother because her uncle’s removed Ellie from her many years ago.
    Ellie was the youngest, but her ambitions were to connect with the outside world. Her thrust for blood was strong, yet unlike the others of her kind, she didn’t feel the loathing for humans. She had developed a compassion for the living. She hated she needed to feed on their blood. Her compromise was to only part-take of those that were dying. Within her race, her feelings were unheard. They never compromised. They hunted and took at will. They never worried about the death and sorrow of mere humans. This again was a cause of the constant battle and hatred between the hybrids and the crossbreeds. The