slashthedrabble | BtVS, 300 words, "First Sight"

BtVS, 300 words. “First Sight” challenge. When I say pre-slash, I mean pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-pre………… yes, it's backstory time!

Origin of Species

“No vestige of webbing to hand or foot. And sired by a warlock, no less. Human magic buzzes like carrion flies around him. My Lord, you must end this abomination now! “

Corrigen nodded gravely. “Bring them to me, mother and child. “

Mora knelt before the old man, her long dark hair wind-whipped, a sealskin-wrapped bundle clutched in her arms as she begged for the life of her child.

“Give me the baby, Mora. You know what must be done.” Around the rocks, the waves crashed and roared hungrily. Mora lifted her desperate, human face to her father, her black eyes streaming. Shakily, she offered up the stirring bundle.

“What did you imagine would happen if a changeling, a mere half-breed, were to conceive to a human? What would become of him, this poor monster you have bred? A sage? A seducer? A dark heart that belongs nowhere? “ The Selkie spoke as much in sorrow as in anger for the warm burden in his arms.

“He cannot return to the sea with you, Mora, and I didn’t free you, destroy his father, to see you bound to the land by a near-human child. “

For the first time, Corrigen looked down at the newborn creature. A gaze like sea-washed jet held him. A tiny pink hand grasped at the grizzled curls of his beard. His daughter still crouched at his feet, softly keening. Around them, the sea quietened, expectantly.

“Take him far from the sea, child, for if ever I find him again, I shall kill him. Sixteen years, Mora. Then you must leave him and return here to your people.”

He looked down once more into his grandson’s unwavering gaze, as he handed the child back to its mother.

“It seems you are a seducer already, Ethan.”