by J. E. Cluney
“You don’t have to do that,” I tried to say, but she held up a hand.
“If I want to cook a meal for my granddaughter and her boyfriends, then that’s what I’ll do,” she stated, and Skip snickered.
Natalie just groaned and facepalmed as Dixon snorted.
“We’re not…” Ollie started, but I just shook my head at him. There was no point in arguing with this werewolf. She had a fiery side clearly.
“The half naked one can help me cook, this old girl wouldn’t mind seeing something that nice up close,” she grinned, and I was unable to control the snorts that I tried to stifle as a look of horror rolled over Skip’s face.
“Come,” she beckoned him, and Ollie grinned stupidly as Skip did as he was told, casting us a pathetic look of mortification before following it with a smirk.
Natalie was giggling as Dixon just shook his head.
I loved her grandmother already.
“Don’t mind her, she’s… unique,” Natalie apologized once she got her giggling under control and wiped at her eyes.
“She fits right in,” I stated as I sat down on the now vacant lounge, with Ollie joining me.
“So, how is Ally doing here? How are her classes going?” Natalie asked, and we both grinned at each other as we heard Patricia making remarks about wishing she was younger. Even Skip was flirting playfully with her.
“She’s doing well, we do the veterinary studies together,” Ollie jumped in.
“Nice!” Dixon said.
“I’m honestly so glad she’s not with Linda anymore, I worried so much about her, but I had my own daughter, and the courts favored the mother’s side,” Natalie sighed.
“She’s doing well here, seems happy. She’s been stressed about her powers and such, considering she’s only now learning about supernaturals and the entire world of it,” I stated. No need to delve into Ally’s shitty life with her aunt. That was the past, and where Ally wanted it left.
“We’ve booked a nice airbnb in the area, and we were hoping we could see her over the next week while we’re here. Just around uni and work, of course,” Dixon said as he squeezed Natalie’s shoulder.
“I’m sure she’d love that. She was excited to meet you all,” I said.
We continued to talk about Ally, and they shared stories with us of when she was a small child. It was nice hearing them speak so fondly about her and her parents. They’d even brought some photo albums to show her, which they’d get out after dinner.
I was positive she was going to enjoy that, although it could make her a little emotional.
Guess we’d just find out.
3
Marcus.
I drew the bath for Ally as she sat on the edge of it, staring down at her hands.
“It’s going to be okay,” I murmured as I tested the water and then sat beside her while I waited for it to fill.
“A wendigo wants to eat me, I can tell when people are going to die but can’t change it, and my parents died because of me,” she muttered, clasping her hands together as her jaw clenched.
“We won’t let it get to you. As for your powers, well, that’s just a part of who you are. And your parents’ deaths are not because of you. Don’t ever think that,” I said firmly. I could not bear the self-loathing I could feel from her.
I moved to kneel down in front of her, holding her hands and catching those beautiful chocolate eyes. Choc drops. That’s what Dixon had called them. I liked it.
“This is what you are. There’s no changing it. Just like I’m a vampire. I can’t enjoy any food, I’ll never grow old and have children, I’ll never be able to spend days in the sun,” I murmured, and those sweet eyes broke for me.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Don’t be sorry. I’ve accepted what I am. I may lose out on a few things, but I’ve gained others. I’m fast, and strong. I don’t sleep much, which means I have plenty of time for my hobbies,” I tried to lift her spirits a little.
“What awesome powers do I get though?” she mumbled as she stroked my hands with her soft, warm fingers. It sent little tingles through me at her feather-light touches.
“I don’t know. You sense illnesses in animals, and that can be treated,” I pointed out, having overheard what Ollie had said downstairs.
She pursed her lips at this, acknowledging that maybe that was true.
“But Derek is going to die. And I can’t do anything about it,” she sighed, gritting her teeth in frustration.
“I know, it sucks,” I said softly. I hated Derek for what he’d done to her. Death was a pretty big thing, and maybe it was more than he deserved. But it couldn’t be stopped. That was just a fact.
“This wendigo, how come they still haven’t found it? It kinda stands out. You know, with those horns and skull face,” she grumbled. I could tell she was on edge, stressed and worried about the creature after her. She was doing her best to stay calm and not allow her emotions to get the best of her.
“I’m not sure,” I answered honestly.
It was frustrating that Mr Brady and the police hadn’t found the creature yet. He was a warlock for crying out loud.
Which only worried me more.
“Do you think, if it was once a shifter or something, that it can turn back into a human?” she asked with a worrisome frown.
The thought was quite distressing. To think it could conceal itself in plain sight.
What aura would it have then? I hadn’t bothered to check out auras much ever since I’d learned how. Unless I was meeting someone new and wanted to know.
I’d be more careful now.
We all had to be careful.
I wanted to find this monster. If it wanted to kill Ally, and it was only alive to kill and grow more powerful, then it needed to be taken care of.
I wanted to kill it, especially if it meant protecting her.
“You really think it’s soulless?” she murmured. “I mean, I googled them, and it says they’re monsters, but no souls?”
“They were hunted by the supernatural council because they are soulless. They’re killers, true monsters,” I confirmed.
She just chewed her lip, and I checked the water of the now nearly full bathtub. I turned the taps off, and pulled her to her feet.
“We’ll protect you, I promise. All of us. I’ll never let anything hurt you,” I promised. And I meant it. I had come to accept our bond, but the thought of her getting hurt or worse, it was unbearable. I’d never allow anything to happen to her.
“A banshee chooses those it deems worthy and capable of protecting her,” she smirked.
I smiled softly at her as I stroked her cheek. Her skin was always so soft and fair. So beautiful.
I ducked down to leave a soft kiss on her lips, and she smiled gently as I pulled away.
“Relax, try to forget about it all and just take a bath. Don’t stress, VB,” I murmured as I kissed her forehead.
I hated the fear and dread I could feel coming from her. Her thoughts were running amuck. She didn’t know what to think.
I left her alone to bathe, checking if she needed a pad. She shook her head. Apparently her period had lightened and was pretty much finished, and she had some liners in her toiletry bag under the sink if needed.
I headed back downstairs, finding Lucas, Ollie, and Dixon, in the living room. I could hear Natalie, Patricia, and Skip, all in the kitchen cooking.
“How is she handling it?” Dixon asked instantly, lines of worry marring his rounded face.
“How you’d expect,” I sighed.
“She’s scared,” Ollie murmured.
“I don’t blame her. It’s a lot to take in,” Dixon said as he leaned back into the lounge.
“My father is looking into an instructor for her, and amping up the search for the wendigo. Now that we know what it’s after, he’s keeping officers in the area,” Lucas informed me.
“What about work?” I asked.
“I’ve warded her workplace, she�
�ll be safe there, we just have to make sure she doesn’t go anywhere alone. Drop her off at work, make sure someone walks with her to uni,” Lucas stated.
“Be good to find out more about banshees though. What other powers she can get,” I mused.
“If the wendigo wants her for her power, should we really be helping her get stronger? To learn more of what she’s capable of?” Ollie questioned as he tugged at the hem of his shirt uncertainly.
“She needs to know it. That’s just life. But it’s a valid point,” Lucas pointed out as he held his pointer finger against his chin in thought.
“I think this wendigo needs to be dealt with. Not much is known about them either. Did your great grandfather have anything more to say about wendigos?” Dixon asked Lucas.
“No, he didn’t. But he may have a book on them. I searched his journals in the library for an idea on what Ally was. I’ll check to see if there’s any mention of banshees or wendigos,” Lucas said as he leaped to his feet.
I flitted after him to the library. I wanted to know everything as well.
Lucas murmured softly under his breath as he waved his hand around, the faint purple magic shooting forth from his hand and zipping around the room.
A single book floated off the shelf in the corner, and I caught it mid-air as it drifted closer.
“That’s the only mention of either creature,” Lucas stated as I flipped the book open.
It was a hand-written journal of his great grandfather on rare supernaturals. The contents listed a banshee and wendigo as some of the creatures found within.
I flicked through to the banshee first, reading over the text.
“What’s it say?” Lucas asked as he joined me and peered over my shoulder.
“Wailing woman, foretells death, extremely rare, only ever female, all the originals have long since died out and only supernaturals carrying the gene who awaken remain. He never met one, only heard tales about them. That their cries mean death is coming. They have a special link with the dead, including vampires. Wendigos are known to hunt them for their power, as they can grow more powerful by consuming them,” I summarized the paragraphs as my eyes flitted over the words. I was able to read quickly, a vampire speed thing, but not insanely fast.
“Anything else?” Lucas queried.
“Unconfirmed accounts of banshees being able to summon the dead to defend them,” I stated.
“Like necromancy?” Lucas frowned.
“No, says it’s short-lived, more a spur of the moment, life and death protection thing. They can’t summon a lot either, maybe one dead thing at a time. But it’s not confirmed, just a tale he documented. There’s nothing else here really,” I sighed.
That was frustrating as hell.
“What about the wendigo?” he asked.
I flicked through to its pages. Most of the stuff we’d already learned about on the supernatural web. Ruthless killers, feasted on others. Different variations of how they came into being. No one knew for sure, but the majority of it was similar to what Patricia had said. They were created. There was some belief that they could even be born, but that was only a tale, no evidence to support it.
“Nothing new, same stuff,” I murmured.
“How about how to kill it?” Lucas asked.
I’d googled that myself. They were hard bastards to kill. Beheading was the main way. Not even setting on fire did the trick, despite what the TV show ‘Supernatural’ led you to believe.
Beheading killed most things.
But it also depended on how old the wendigo was. The older they were, the harder their flesh was, and decapitating one was not an easy feat.
I hoped the one after Ally was young.
“Decapitation, which I already knew,” I said as I glanced at him.
“So, pretty much only the same crap online?” Lucas growled.
We’d both been hopeful his great grandfather would have more knowledge.
“We should google banshees,” I suggested, but Lucas already had his phone out.
I joined him as he sat down in one of the armchairs, and we both scrolled through webpages on banshees. Mostly the standard stuff we already knew. Their powers differed from the type of supernaturals they awoke in, which made it even harder. Especially since there were very few accounts of them, let alone a halfling.
“It’s useless. They’re so extremely rare. I’m worried my father won’t be able to find an instructor for her,” Lucas muttered.
I only vaguely heard him as I scrolled through a forum I’d come across.
“Someone on here says they’ve seen a banshee animate dead animals,” I mused.
“We already discussed that,” Lucas groaned.
“They say that they’ve seen one animate a number of dead animals, at once,” I explained.
“Council would class that as necromancy, I think,” Lucas frowned.
“They said it was small animals only. I don’t think that would be bad. I think the council is concerned with warlocks raising armies of the dead.”
“Yeah, but you can’t be too careful. Any other powers?”
“Nope. Nothing else. Just the screams, although there has been mention of being able to sense potentially fatal illnesses before they get bad. Correlates with her ability with animals,” I said as I flicked through the forum some more.
We spent the next few minutes flicking through it, informing Ollie what we’d learned when he came in, the little that we had, and then had to give up when Patricia called us for dinner.
I reached out to Ally, finding that she’d been crying softly in the bath.
I wanted to go to her and reassure her, but what more could I do? I hated not knowing the plans of this thing after her. When was it planning on coming for her? She was safe here, and the only thing we could do was make sure she was never alone, but that wouldn’t be completely possible, not with uni. And then what? Just live like that forever? That was no way to live.
I would be better off finding a way to find this creature and kill it.
But if Mr Brady and the officers couldn’t find it, what chance did I have?
4
So a wendigo wanted to eat me.
Fucking fantastic.
And I could foretell death. Perfect. Just the power every girl dreamed of.
The dread still lingered inside me. Would it only go away once Derek actually died? I knew it was him. Because when I thought of him, the dread worsened.
I tried to focus on the memory I’d had of my parents. The reason I’d been wailing and screaming. That dread had dissipated when they’d died, replaced with their loss instead.
I sunk lower into the water, closing my eyes and submerging just enough that my face was covered but my nose and mouth jutted out.
The darkness behind my eyelids was a small comfort.
The wendigo.
Why had I seen it when I’d screamed?
My power had awoken, finally. But it had obviously been there as a child. Same with my aunt’s dog, Maisy. I’d had that same dread the night she died. Maybe I felt it for animals too then.
But I could sense their illnesses too, and they could be treated. The ones that were potentially fatal. Strange.
So had my power really been dormant? Maybe it was like my grandmother said, it only flared up, but never fully awakened.
Until now.
But still, why had I seen him?
And why did I know it was him? Was it just from meeting him as a child?
And Wayne. Why kill him?
Was he protecting me? No, that was absurd. Maybe it was because Wayne was a threat, and he wanted me to himself. Had he been watching me all this time then?
The thought made a chill course through me.
I could feel the power inside me, the darkness swirling within.
I was not afraid of it.
Like Marcus had said, this was who I was. I had a darkness in me, a power like no other.
Surely, there was more to my kind than jus
t foretelling death. Could I find serious illness in people? I’d never really tried that before.
And I could still help animals like I’d always intended. That power was real.
But what about my mischief magic, and my wolf side? Would it tamper with that at all?
My mind thought back to the pencil that had gone psychotic. I’d purposely focused my magic into it, and somehow, my banshee magic had seeped into it. That was clear, since Miss Watson couldn’t stop it, and she said there was different magic in it.
And my banshee side was bound to death. Of course it would take on the shape of a weapon.
At least my mischief magic only flared up normally.
I’d hate if my arousal or anything made marshmallows turn into killing machines.
Fingers crossed it remained that way.
I stayed under the warm water, loving the floating sensation as I focused on the darkness inside me. On the power deep within me.
I imagined it drawing forth, simmering beneath the surface. I wanted to know just what it could do. What was I capable of?
I whimpered as the dread only grew worse, my chest tightening as my heart hammered.
No. I needed to let it sink back. I couldn’t figure this out right now. I was in no state to discover more about my banshee side.
I sat up, opening my eyes to the warm light of the bathroom.
No more darkness.
I sniffled as my eyes watered, and I allowed the soft sobs to escape as I began to wash myself.
Mr Brady hadn’t found the wendigo yet, and he was a warlock. That fact terrified me. If he couldn’t deal with the monster after me, who could? How could I truly be safe?
I knew Marcus was stressed about it. He wanted the creature dead.
Ollie was just trying to wrap his head around it all still.
Being my mate. His family was not going to be happy with that. He was meant to be with a true shifter, even if he was cursed.
He dreaded them finding that out. But he was more worried about me and all this new information.
I could feel the worry and fear from both Marcus and him.
As for me?
I was scared too.