Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Lila
When I reach the main living area of our house, I’m surprised to find it empty except for an old man who looks like Professor Dumbledore from Harry Potter.
He has a long gray hair and beard and sparkling blue eyes, and he’s wearing a robe—a robe, for fuck’s sake.
All he needs is a pointy hat and a wand.
He stands up as I enter, and we both take stock of one another.
He doesn’t look all that special except for the fact that he’s the first old person I’ve seen since joining the circus—or the first one who actually looks their age.
“Lila?” he asks, and I nod. A smile spreads across his lips.
“Please join me.” I step into the room, followed closely by Link and Xavier, but Oshan shakes his head.
“Just Lila, if you don’t mind. I have no problem if she shares all this information with you later, but it really is a discussion she and I need to have privately for now. ”
They both frown, but I assure them with my eyes that I’m okay and that I need this probably more than I’ve needed anything, except for maybe dick in a while.
“Go check on the babies for me please, Link,” I request, and that is enough to distract him. Xavier narrows his eyes but doesn’t argue, instead following the cyborg on the mission I’ve now assigned him.
I take a seat on the sofa opposite Oshan and cross my legs, trying to resist the urge to squirm as he studies me closely. “How are you feeling?” he asks, and I shrug noncommittally. I’m not sure if I’m ready to admit exactly how I’m feeling to this stranger.
He sighs and waves a hand, and we are surrounded by a warlock bubble of privacy. My eyes widen, and he smirks.
“Alright, I’ll do the talking, shall I?” He doesn’t wait for an answer.
“I found out I was a mimic in my late teens. I hadn’t really been showing signs of any kind of Skarrian powers, unlike all of my peers, and I was considered to be a dud.
I was a real disappointment to my parents, and I didn’t have a lot of friends.
The few I had were solid, and one day we attended a recruiting expo for soldiers to fight for the Una’s against the Aaz’axians.
Their race had been decimated, and they needed help, and we weren’t about to let the Aaz’axians get their hands on the orb that could wipe us all out.
Many planets sent volunteers. I was sent to training camp, and it was there that I changed for the first time, surrounded by so many different races.
Back then, mimics were still remembered, and I was able to get some much needed help, but I had to work out a few things on my own. ”
“Such as?” I ask, leaning forward, fascinated by this man’s story.
“Assimilating each mimic race was fairly easy. Once I assumed a new form, it was like it became a part of a database inside my mind, and I only had to picture it again, and I could become it.”
I nod. I’ve avoided thinking about other forms because I had a feeling this was the key to my abilities. I hadn’t wanted to play around with anything without definitive answers.
“But it must be clear. The easiest way to do it is to have a mirror, and when you assume another form, you examine yourself down to the smallest detail and lock that into your mind.” I wrinkle my nose, and he frowns. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not good with details,” I tell him, and his frown clears, replaced with a look of understanding.
“I wasn’t either, but it quickly became second nature.
I have a database of thousands of creatures inside my mind and can access each one of them easily.
” My mouth drops open in shock. “I think it’s part of the mimic skill.
You should be able to do it too, but you have to see it clearly in your mind.
Don’t try to think of two forms at the same time, because it will not work.
I was cautioned that if I tried, I could either get stuck or my body would just explode because they weren’t ever meant to be combined. ”
Holy shit! A shiver runs down my spine at the thought of blowing myself up.
“Okay, so let’s get to your hormones and emotions. Are you feeling the desperate need to constantly fuck?” the old man asks bluntly, and I feel my face flush red before I answer him.
“Yes. I thought it was my pregnancy vibes from when I was carrying the babies, but it hasn’t stopped, and my emotions swing from happy to sad to angry with the snap of a finger.”
He nods with complete understanding on his face, and I feel this immense sense of relief. Finally, someone who gets it and isn’t judging.
“Mimic powers use an incredible amount of energy, and the way we refuel that energy is through sex. I assume you’ve noticed you are attracted to a lot of men as well?”
“Yes. I have three husbands, a fiancé, two cats I won in a mate challenge that I’m not sure what to do with, and a merman I did the wet tango with when I really wasn’t sure I wanted to.”
“That is normal. The more races you assimilate, the more people you will add to your harem. I currently have twenty members in my harem, both women and men. My friends whom I mentioned earlier were the first I added to it, and it just grew from there.” My eyes just about bug out of my head when he says this.
“Your harem contains some incredibly powerful men already, though, so I’m not sure if you will need that many, but I thought I would warn you.
Every time you find yourself feeling out of sorts, just find one or more of them and let them give you a couple of orgasms, then you’ll soon feel normal again. ”
He is so matter-of-fact about it, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around the multiple mates thing, and now I’m being told there could be more.
“But I just spent the night fucking my cyborg’s brains out, and I’m still horny,” I argue, and he sighs.
“That is because you haven’t filled your harem with the right amount of people yet.
I suggest you bond with the cats. Your body will keep riding you until it deems you have the right number of people, and then it will even out somewhat, and you will only get horny if you have used or need to use your powers.
Most days, I don’t use them anymore except to keep my family safe.
My warlock powers of glamour come in very handy.
I’m able to keep us all disguised so no one really knows what we look like.
” He gestures to his own body, and I realize he doesn’t really look like Professor Dumbledore.
“Safe?” I ask, not even wanting to touch the idea of mating with the cats at this moment.
His eyes become shadowed, and his lips turn down in a frown.
“Yes. Mimics are rare, and legend has it, they only appear in times of great turmoil, hence why my powers revealed themselves when I joined the war efforts. I was able to help the Una’s get away from the Aaz’axians, but it came at a great cost to the Una’s and their race became extinct.
I have an Una husband, and something you may not be aware of is not only can a mimic change race, but they can also change sex if needed.
I was able to assume female Una form and have a baby with my Una husband.
I’d like it very much if I could introduce my son to you if you don’t mind. The fate of the Una race is at stake.”
I’m speechless at his attempt at matchmaking and his revelation about being able to change sex, but he doesn’t wait for me to acknowledge his words.
“After that, I was approached by all manner of species wanting to hire me to do things for them. Some of them were legit, and some were a little shady. When I said no, they tried to use my family as a bargaining chip. After that, we decided to relocate. Much like your family, we don’t have a permanent base, and instead we move from home to home on various planets in an attempt to keep our secret, never staying anywhere longer than we have to. ”
“That sounds exhausting. What about kids? Are they half and half of whatever their other parent is and Skarrian?” I want to know if I have to watch for the babies to start exhibiting Skarrian powers as well.
“No. They will be fully whatever their other parent is. So your kraken babies will stay shifters. My three original harem members were Skarrian, so I have some Skarrian children, but the rest are whatever their other parent is, so if you have a baby with the warlock, it will be pure warlock. Same with the Vilaxian. The only one I’m not so sure about is the cyborg.
I don’t have a cyborg mate, and as far as I know, we can’t mimic them because they are not completely organic. ”
I bite my lip, wondering if I should tell Oshan about what just happened with Link, but I decide to keep it to myself. He can’t help me with it anyway.
“Unfortunately, it is widely known that you are a mimic. That gossip spread throughout the galaxy faster than any before it. It’s how I knew to contact your grandpas to offer my assistance. Now, do you have any questions?”
“How old are you?” I ask now that I know he was in the war between the Una’s and Aaz’axians. From what I understand, that was hundreds of years ago.
“I’ve recently celebrated my seven hundredth birthday.
My partners, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren all came together and threw a huge party for me.
” He smiles broadly, and I find myself speechless.
He must see my confusion, because he allows his glamour to drop, and sitting before me is a handsome, blond-haired and blue-eyed man in his late twenties.
“Mimics are ageless, and our mates will be the same. It is hard watching your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren age. I have lost a few over the years, and it’s probably the hardest thing about being a mimic, but most races are generally long-lived, so it could be worse.
And sharing all the love and grief with your mates makes it all bearable, though we have stopped having any more children. ”
My heart sinks when I consider what all of that means.
I’m going to outlive all of my children.
One day, I’m going to have to say goodbye to Cordelia, Calypso, and Jack.
That’s enough to not want to have any more, but could I really deny my other mates the chance to be a parent just because it will eventually be hard to say goodbye?
It’s not really a decision I should make without discussing it with them first.
“Oh, I can feel that I’ve made you sad. Don’t think of it like that. Think of it as a blessing for all the time you have in their lives.”
“Vilaxians don’t age, right?” I ask him, suddenly thinking of something.
He shakes his head. “No, the blood they drink makes them regenerate, so they remain practically ageless, like mimics.”
“Well, I changed into a Vilaxian before my mimic powers were active. Technically, I’m a Skarrian-Vilaxian-shifter hybrid, and my babies were in my womb when that changed. Link said they showed some Vilaxian DNA, but wasn’t sure how that would manifest.”
“I think I can see where you’re going with this.
You may very well pass the genetic trait onto all of your children.
I have no idea. You will be the first hybrid mimic, so everything that happens to you will probably be slightly different than what I experienced.
Your children may very well be ageless as well, though whether or not they pass that onto their own children and so forth, only time will tell. ”
My enthusiasm dies down at his words, and I’m back to feeling sad.
“Lila, the best advice I can give you is to live your best life. Love and joy and happiness always come with a side of sadness and pain, whether you’re long-lived or not.
Parents frequently outlive their own children throughout the galaxy.
Don’t let fear stop you from having everything you deserve.
Now, I don’t know what turmoil has seen the need for another mimic in this world, but if it is linked to the orb again, then all I can say is that it cannot get into the wrong hands.
Your family was chosen to protect the orb because they are true of heart with no self-serving desires, and I can tell that still stands with your grandfather’s generation. ”
What the fuck? I thought the knowledge of us protecting the orb was limited to my direct family.
“You know that we protect the orb?” I ask, and he nods solemnly. “I was one of the Una’s who descended to Skarr and selected the Adams family.”
“My grandpas said the orb absorbed the remaining Una’s,” I argue, remembering the story they told me.
“It did, but because I am not strictly an Una, I was left behind. I was also tasked as a last resort safety net. If the Adams family ever became corrupt, I could retrieve the orb from them.”
“What would happen to it then?” I ask, and he shrugs.
“My harem and I would probably find a way to destroy it. Although it can do much good, it can also cause much destruction.”
His words are heavy, and I can’t help but ponder what the ramifications of doing that would be. Surely if it had been destroyable, the Una’s would have done that in the first place.