Third-Person POV

"I hate hospitals," Cameron muttered as he, his sister, and his brother-in-law made their way through the slightly-crowded halls of Sammons Falls Memorial Hospital. "It reminds me of the day when I lost Floriana to cancer or the times I had to bring in Mi'Chelle for small injuries and whatnot. And now, Thierry's in here fighting for his life."

"But you forget that we never had to bring him in since Mom was the one to do that," Mrs. Lemieux reminded him as they approached the elevator, tensing up as she caught a glimpse of the amazingly-tall young woman named Electrique Shoque. "The three of us were mainly the ones who would leave Thierry for dead if we had our way."

Electrique snorted.

"Well, that was then and this is now," Mr. Lemieux commented as the elevator reached the fifth floor. "And if anything does happen to Thierry before we all had a chance to make things right, who knows what Druscilla might do as well as the wolves who have taken up arms for him."

"Don't forget about the witch coven," Cameron added as the elevator slowed to a stop. "From what Mother told me, the leader is not only Thierry's homeroom teacher, she's his mentor as much as Mom was to her. Not only that, her assistants, all drag queens, are known to be some very powerful beings who can cause a lot of hell on earth if someone's not careful."

"Preach," Electrique said, fighting a smirk as they jostled out of the elevator and approached a receptionist's desk where a middle-aged woman held court answering phones and dealing with visitors and relatives of the patients. Nearby, a stone-faced man held the hand of his young son that was clutching a stuffed dinosaur, both of them teary-eyed.

"Hey, Shoque," the black-haired receptionist (a fire nymph) greeted. "The other witches are waiting for you and the young future Luna's family."

"Thanks, Cathy," Electrique replied as she handed the family a clipboard for them to sign their names. "Did you make sure that-"

"Ariana's got her glass of champagne on hand and there's a small serve of canapes at the ready," Cathy replied. To Thierry's family, "You guys might want to brace yourselves. Ms. Vivacious has a lot to say about you all regarding your son and nephew."

"I'll bet," Mr. Lemieux replied gruffly. "And where are Ms. Vivacious and her clan?"

"Ah, no need to look for me, Lemieux clan," said a smooth and formal voice.

All heads whipped around to see the dark-skinned transgender woman dressed perfectly in a cream-colored blouse and business skirt that reached the bottom of her knees. Her stiletto heels made her taller than her leather-clad underling and her face was perfectly made up as if she was getting ready for a red-carpet debut. But despite all of that, she didn't look too pleased to see either of Thierry's parents or his uncle.

Mrs. Lemieux's eyes went wide as teacup saucers. "That's Thierry's homeroom teacher and the leader of the witch coven?" she exclaimed softly to her husband. "She doesn't look like any of the old witches I read in those Wattpad books."

"Ix-nay on the old-nay," her husband replied sotto-voce. He smiled softly as he approached the cocoa-skinned Glamazon. "You must be-"

"I know who you are," Ariana cut him off, her sharp glare startling the man a bit. "You're Thierry's parents and uncle- the three adults in his life who had made it a living nightmare and almost made him want to end it all had it not been for my mentor Druscilla."

"We're here to talk about what's going on," Mrs. Lemieux said curtly. "And we want to see if Thierry is doing okay."

"All will be revealed as soon as you three and my coven and I set the record straight between all of us," Ariana intoned. "Come along. There's a small service of canapes and champagne at the conference room where my other witches await your appearance."

She turned on her heel and made her way down the west wing of the hospital, leaving the three adults perplexed. "Why do I feel like she's ready to make us kiss lightning bolts?" Mr. Lemieux asked uneasily.

"Because she's a powerful witch," Electrique retorted, crossing her arms. "If she and my fellow witches had our way, you wouldn't exist right now. Now, to the conference room."

The three Lemieux-Sinclaire adults stared at each other in disbelief and concern. "This is not going to be pretty," Mrs. Lemieux said as they followed Electrique down the western wing. "Watch out, or we'll be lixiviated and destroyed in one entire day."

"I'll say," Cameron agreed. "Watch out, indeed."

****************

After Thierry's parents were formally introduced to the rest of the witches (alongside being greeted by Mrs. Rosseaux-Yanez and her husband) and served a small platter of canapes (shrimp cocktails, bruschettas, and small tarts) that came with a glass of champagne, they were soon seated in their chairs that framed the large conference table. "So, I assume that you three know the reason why your son is in the hospital," began Ariana as she sat back in her chair that was at the front of the room.

Mr. Lemieux nodded slowly. "Two she-wolves had attacked him before one stabbed him with a dagger," he replied. "Was it laced with anything poisonous?"

"Unfortunately for the girls, no. If it was, then the whole werewolf community would fall into anarchy and be ready to have those girls hung or even burned to the stake," Summertyme Salade commented crisply. "Not only that, but Matthieux would also be deceased since, as you should already know by now thanks to your chat with his mother, the death of one of the destined soulmates means serious business. Thankfully, the boys haven't fully completed the mating ceremony that's slated to happen next week, or else both Matt and Thierry would face dire consequences."

Mrs. Lemieux nodded. "If one dies, then the other dies instantly," she deduced. "Unless Thierry is carrying Matt's children at the time of the latter's death, then Thierry would die as soon as they are born."

Mrs. Rosseaux-Yanez nodded. "You've been learning of our culture," she replied. "Very nice."

"We had to learn a lot of the supernatural thanks to my mother," Cameron commented, pausing to take a sip of champagne. "More so, given what went down with Thierry and all that."

"Funny how y'all seem to take an interest in our friend's life after you learned that Thierry woke up in Matt's bed," Velvet said, giving the three humans a sharp glare. "When we first heard about Thierry's life back in Austin, y'all were ready to either ship him off to military school or have him buried in a shallow grave without a ceremony if he didn't be 'a REAL man.'"

"Call it ignorance on our part," Mr. Lemieux replied, "but we thought that we were doing what's best for Thierry before sending him here. He was being too clingy to my mother-in-law and no one in his classes wanted to be seen talking to a nerd. Our daughters were doing everything right with being social butterflies while Thierry was too caught up in school. We were worried that he was becoming like my father, who was as twice as a bookworm and too boring for his own good."

"But didn't y'all ever stop to think that your tactics were doing Thierry more harm than good?" Sagittarina asked pointedly. "He was being harassed and bullied by those airheaded jocks when not dealing with the bruises left by your daughters or cleaning up after your many raving parties before being slapped around, yelled at, and even deprived of any proper food."

"We were trying to toughen him up!" Cameron defended indignantly before calming himself down. "Back then, we hated him for being such a fucking weakling that was afraid of his shadow that we all did what we had to do to make him thick-skinned. Tiana, Fianna, and my daughter Mi'Chelle were natural-born leaders and fighters, so that earned them our love and respect while Thierry was far from that. As time went on, we continued to up the ante and made him work for it with mercurial requests and constant ignorance of his pain. His schools did most of the heavy work for us when we weren't around, so there was little to worry about that. He might have hated us from the start and even when we planned to ship him to military school if he didn't start opening up, but he might have thanked us one day if he survived it all."

"It's all about the survival of the fittest," Mrs. Lemieux commented. "Growing up, my late father's family taught us to use any resources that we were blessed with to get what we want. Sure, we had to suffer for our gains, my brother and I. But we came out stronger and more confident than our cousins, whom our mother favored more since they were respectful and more demure, and we instilled that in our values when we were raising our children. Thierry was doing just fine with being alienated and scorned by us before we sent him here and everything changed."

Ariana just stared at them intently, taking in the so-called excuses that her ward's parents and uncle were making and hating every single moment of what she was listening to. She took a deep breath and downed the champagne in one gulp, glancing at the now-empty glass before setting it down.

"Oh, fuck," Cameron hissed worriedly.

Ariana chuckled lowly without humor. "I can see that the three of you are the main reasons why Thierry was jaded for so long," she began. "In front of me is a widower whose wife was blissfully greeted by the raging disease that is cancer and yet is stuck raising some harlot who's far from being the respectable woman her mother was. And next to him is his sister and brother-in-law whose intimacy is nearing its final legs because the sister shudders to herself as her husband revealed his weeping genitals every time he took off his tattered underwear when not sleeping around with other men. And as for the father, he's more sexually impotent than his sexually-deprived wife since no sane woman would dare have a lasting affair because of the same reason if it wasn't for the fact that resembled a cross between a drunken elf and a candidate for Botched. If not for pity, the closest things to a vagina or a dick would be at your births."

Summertyme whistled low, pressing her hand to her chest.

"Excuse me?" Mrs. Lemieux said indignantly.

"Did I stutter?" Ariana shot back. "As for your family life with how Thierry was raised, it's little wonder that he plans to leave for California after college. The people who have nearly snuffed out of his flame were not the kind of people he would show to any future employer at all since they might ruin his chance for success to make it further in life, if not drive him to an early grave. He's been living a life that's twice as worse as the boy from Ordinary People, and that family can give any kid nightmares. Believe me when I say that your son and nephew is a true saint for putting up with your antics for that long. If I or my compatriots were in his shoes, one of us might have ended our lives or yours. I have seen my shares of what a real family is supposed to be like for a gifted child of Thierry's caliber. And believe me when I say this...I am not looking at that family right now."

"Damn," all three Lemieux adults said.

"She told y'all," Velvet replied.

Ariana nodded. "Now, as soon as Thierry is released from the hospital and the time for the destined dinner party begins, the three of you need to make a decision," she went on. "Either you three begin to make things right and admit that you all were clearly in the wrong while groveling on your ashy knees that hide behind your thrift-store outfits for his forgiveness so you can salvage the dying family dynamics while cutting loose the three treacherous whores who will join the rogues in ending his life...or continue to stick by your pathetic excuses and lose any hope of finally making things right while your daughters begin their campaign to snuff out my ward's light. And if you choose the latter, you will NOT like the way that my coven and I will deal with you completely. By the time we're finished, you three and those sluts will wish you'd treated Thierry like the treasure that he is meant to be."

She stood up, collecting her things as everyone else did the same. "Tick-tock goes the clock," Ariana finished sending them a final glare. "Either make things right and start to make him feel loved...or face my wrath and lose Thierry for good. Your pick."

With that, the troop of witches and the Rosseaux-Yanez couple sauntered out of the room, leaving behind the stunned human adults to their thoughts.

"Now what?" Mrs. Lemieux asked sadly.

"You heard her," Cameron pointed out. "Mother said that Ariana was going to let us have it and she did. And after all of that, we know what we have to do: get ourselves right and ripe with his newfound family or else die with our daughters."

"But what if Thierry hates us too much to give us forgiveness?" Mr. Lemieux asked.

"That's the chance we'll have to take," his wife replied.

The decision was made.

And after today, there would be no going back.

Ladies and gentlemen, Ariana Vivacious. And I present to you another Elektra Wintour tribute from "Pose" in the clip above.

Don't get too comfy yet, folks! The next chapter is when our Thierry finally realizes that he is a moon wolf and descended from the Moon Goddess! And trust me, folks! This is only a taste of a few gag-worthy surprises that will leave you gagging!

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