by Isobael Liu
* * * *
The two men walked down the sidewalk of Hawk’s Point. Residents, and even visitors to the small town, eyed the men and gave them a wide berth. If the two found it amusing, they didn’t show it.
Of the two, one man was dark skinned, dark haired, and dark eyed. Tall and muscular, he had an aura of danger around him. The second was not as tall, nor as dark. In fact, he looked rather pasty, and much thinner, but moved with an oozing slickness. While he didn’t have the aura of danger as the first, something about him made people want to avoid him. It might have been the glint in his blue eyes, or the smirk he had on his thin lips. Either way, no one wanted to go near him. Both dressed in the same manner, in black, although the tall, muscular man wore a trench coat, even in the summer heat.
The two of them walked into the town center. Neither of them spoke to one another, but they moved together, as if they knew what they were doing and where they were going.
The diner was slow when they entered. Peggy manned the dining room but when she spotted the two as they looked around, she froze in her tracks. Evil radiated from those two and she didn’t want anything to do with them. She jerked around and hurried into the kitchen.
Diners fell silent as they watched the strangers sit down at a booth.
“You have a table, Peggy,” one of the older waitresses announced as she came into the kitchen.
“Uh, you take it? I want to take a break.”
“No way. I’m off in five minutes.”
Peggy sighed and grabbed menus as she headed toward the booth and two freaky men.
“Hi,” she said in a polite tone. “Can I get you anything to drink while you decide?” She handed the menus to them.
The pasty man ignored her altogether, but the dark one looked her over. “Whatcha offerin’, sweet thing?”
Peggy shuddered and her smile weakened. “Iced tea, some different sodas, or lemonade. Most like the lemonade.”
“We’ll take the lemonade then,” he said with a sneer.
“And we’ll take whatever information you have on Lilian Quinn,” the pasty man said.
His voice was soft and carried a definite sense of threat.
Peggy took a step back. “Lil’s not here. She has the next couple of days off.”
“Don’t go yet, sweetheart,” Pasty whispered.
Peggy tried to take another step back as fear rose in her, but she couldn’t move. Her eyes flared open.
“You’re not being a very good waitress.”
Peggy let out a soft moan as pressure built in her head. With an odd “popping” sensation, the pressure released and memories tumbled out of her brain. She could feel something, or someone, in her head, sifting through the memories like a secretary sifting through a filing cabinet.
Memories of Lilian were extracted from her mind, examined. She could feel the amusement of the one in her mind, and a feeling of lust.
“Pretty, little woman, this Lilian Quinn.”
Peggy wanted to run, to get away from the two men, but locked in place, she experienced her mind being tampered with. She gave up her friend’s secrets: where she lived, what she liked to eat, who she had been seen with. When Peggy had given everything, she was released and she staggered. Peggy grabbed onto the table to keep from falling to the floor as she sobbed. The two men slid out of the booth and made their way to the exit.
One man watched the two, his eyes narrowed as he studied them. When they had left, he turned his head to look at Peggy and made his way over to her.
“Miss? Do you need help?” he asked.
Peggy looked at him, wide eyed with fear and confusion.
“Come on,” he said. “Sit down. You look like you’re going to pass out.”
One of the other waitresses came over, frowning. “Peggy? What’s wrong? What happened?”
Peggy cried. “I don’t know. They asked about Lilian and then…”
The waitress wrapped an arm around Peggy and led her to the restroom. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”
The man watched the two women leave. By the time they returned, the man was long gone.
* * * *
“Alpha!”
Matthias and Lilian were on their way over to a group of young adults, about five in total, when the booming voice rang out. Matthias turned to look and smiled.
“Octavius,” he said.
She watched an older man approach. Dressed in a toga, of all things. She wasn’t sure whether to smile or not. She had always thought togas were costumes for college frat parties, and seeing someone wearing one seemed a bit odd to her. Although given the place and the people involved, she supposed it wasn’t too farfetched.
Octavius extended a hand to Matthias, and they clasped one another by the forearms.
“How goes the class?” Matthias asked.
“They’re young, but their minds are eager,” Octavius said. “Good children.”
“What are you teaching?” she asked, curious.
“Herbalism,” Octavius replied.
Lilian gazed into his watery green eyes and they stared at one another for a few moments. She experienced a weak attempt to brush her mind and without hesitation, she slammed down mental barriers to keep out any intruders. She tensed in wariness, and her body instinctively took on a posture of defense.
Octavius nodded. “Class dismissed.” He waved the group off and turned to Matthias. “Come, we will talk in private.” He looked back at her, nodded, and turned, leading the way.
Matthias gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before he led her after Octavius.
They were taken to a small temple-like structure. When they stepped inside, the scent of drying herbs and burning incense wafted in the air. Warm and dark, with only candles giving off any sort of light, the far end of the temple had a dais on which the statue of a wolf had been placed. Beneath the wolf were two children, both reaching up to suckle from the wolf’s teats.
Lupa, the she-wolf who had raised the abandoned Romulus and Remus.
Lilian studied the statue. She could see its eyes were inset with amber stones so when caught in the light, they glittered as though with life. The statue itself looked to be bronze, and old.
She looked at Matthias, who had watched her study the statue. She smiled at him.
“Lupa.”
He nodded and lifted her hand to his lips, kissing her palm before he turned to Octavius.
“Octavius, this is Lilian Quinn.”
“Miss Quinn.” He nodded his head toward her.
“Octavius,” she said.
“She is a mystery, even to herself. We have a suspicion, but we’d like to know what she is. She is not fully human nor is she Lupine.”
Lilian fidgeted, uneasy.
“The Rite is not an easy one,” Octavius warned. “It can be physically and mentally wearing.”
“We are prepared,” Matthias said.
“Wait!” she interjected. “Maybe I’m not. Maybe I don’t want to know.”
Matthias turned and took her into his arms. “It’s all right to be afraid.”
She tried to push him away from her. “Stop, Matthias. I’m not afraid, per se. I just, well, maybe I don’t want to know what kind of freak I am.”
Lilian tried to get him to release her by bringing a knee up, but he twisted his body out of the way. He maintained his hold on her.
“Lilian,” he said. He seemed amused by her attempt at violence. “Deep down, you want to know.”
“No, I don’t,” she snapped. “I’m content knowing nothing. I’m content being normal in this little hole in the wall town. I’m content being nobody!”
“No, you aren’t. You can lie to yourself all you want, but I know better. Your nightmares, your hand, your strange allergies, you want to know, you’re just afraid to take that step.”
Lilian gave up and leaned her head against his chest. “I don’t want to verify that I’m a freak, Matthias. I just want to be normal.”
“Who’s to say you aren’t norm
al?” Octavius asked. “For you, this might be normal. We change into wolves. For us, that is normal.”
She remained silent for a while, counting the heartbeats in Matthias’s chest. Finally, she spoke. “How does it work?”
“We take a walk,” Octavius replied with a brilliant smile.
This i s so not going to go well.
* * * *
Peggy walked out to her car after her shift. She was on pins and needles, afraid the two strange men would come back, or worse, be waiting for her. When neither happened, she was relieved, but still kept alert.
“Hey, Peggy?” a masculine voice called out.
Peggy gasped, spun around, and pressed back against her car, terrified.
“Whoa, easy. It’s all right. Remember me? I sat in your section? I helped you when the two men left.”
She panted as her heart tried to regain its normal rhythm. Peggy studied his face and nodded. “I remember.”
He smiled. “Good. I was just making sure you were okay. I saw how much they had shaken you up.”
She gave a nervous chuckle and glanced around again, as if they might be watching. “If I never see them again, it’ll be too soon. I hope they’re gone for good.”
He gestured to her car. “I’ll see you into your car. Do you know what they wanted?”
Peggy eyed the stranger, but he looked nice enough and he wasn’t one of the two freaky men who’d been in the diner earlier. She stepped away from her car and opened the driver’s side door.
“They were asking about a friend of mine,” she replied.
It was the last thing Peggy said, other than a loud cry of pain as she was struck from behind. She fell forward into her car, consciousness careening in and out. The man shoved her over and slid in. With her keys, he started the car and drove off, taking her with him.
Peggy whimpered in fear, her head pounding like a bass drum. She tried to sit up, but when she moved, the man punched her again. Peggy moved in and out of unconsciousness, too dizzy to notice where they were going.
She surfaced from the blackness just before the car turned off the pavement and drove along a gravel road. Peggy could feel every bounce of the car amplified by the pounding of her head. When the car stopped and the engine turned off, Peggy remained in place, except for the trembling. She kept her eyes closed and tried to keep her breathing slow, as if unconscious. The man got out of the car and a few moments later, the passenger side door opened. She shrieked with pain and fear as he pulled her out of the car by her hair. Peggy fell to the ground and scrambled to catch up as he dragged her along.
She opened her eyes and noticed the forest surrounding her, the smell of charred wood close by. The man released her and she tried to turn her body and stand, but dizziness caused her to fall back to her knees. Her vision swam as she struggled to get her bearings, and it took a few moments to realize she was looking at the charred remains of a house. Her eyes widened in horror when she recognized where she was. It was Lilian’s yard!
“She shouldn’t have run, you know,” the man said.
Peggy looked at him with growing horror as he pulled out a large knife. The setting sun glinted off the metal blade as he lifted it. She dragged in a ragged breath to scream.
Her scream was short lived.
* * * *
Matthias eased the semi-conscious Lilian onto a raised platform in the center of the temple. She could hear Octavius mixing herbs and the acrid smell of smoke became strong as the herbs were applied to a burning censer.
“She is all right?” Matthias asked Octavius.
“She’s fine, Alpha. Merely in a relaxed state. She can still hear us.”
Matthias made a rumbling sound. She brushed his mind with her own.
“Stop it.”
“Lilian?”
“You know of any other women who can talk to you telepathically?”
She heard Matthias choke back a soft laugh.
The incense become stronger and she heard the shuffling of steps.
Octavius spoke near her. “All right then, we’re ready.”
With her connection with Matthias, she knew he moved aside and took a seat on a marble bench nearby, but out of the way.
Octavius touched his fingertips to either side of her temples. Because she had not relinquished her connection with Matthias, she knew he was able to see and experience everything she went through as though with her, a part of her.
Lilian was in a forest, dark and shadowy. She recognized it as the same forest in her dreams and nightmares.
I can’t hear anything. I don’t feel a sense of danger.
Lilian lifted her head, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled. . She shifted her form to the white wolf she’d used before. She felt Matthias and Octavius’s surprise and she laughed as she began to run.
The sheer joy of it was amazing. The freedom, the sense of being carefree, intoxicating. She leapt over fallen logs, her body instinctive twisting to take the turns, to grip the earth to keep her balance.
With a sudden appearance, the white stag stepped into her path and reared up, its hooves pawing the air. She twisted and rolled to avoid colliding with the beast.
Damn it!
The stag lowered itself back down to the ground and looked around.
“Something is different here.”
Lilian shifted to her human form. “Who are you?”
The stag looked at her. “Do you think you’re ready to learn the truth?”
Lilian sucked in a soft gasp of air as she nodded. “I think it’s time.”
“What of your abilities? What number are they?”
“What do you mean? How many abilities I have? Telepathy, Telekinesis, and Empathy. Why?”
The stag shook his head. “One more and then you will be ready.”
“Why can’t you tell me now?” she asked, frustrated. “I’m tired of the nightmares.”
“I will say this in warning. Death approaches. Beware. Trust only in yourself and your abilities. All will be explained soon, but not here. Not now. You are not ready.”
The white stag stepped toward her. “Let me see your right palm and the mark there.”
Lilian lifted her palm toward the stag. It reached out with its nose and touched her. Her mark began to burn and she cried out as she jerked her hand away.
“Lilian!” Matthias cried out in her mind, and she winced in reaction.
The stag’s head jerked up, its ears turned back. It stomped a hoof. “You are not one of them! You should not be with them!”
Before Lilian could reply, her vision blurred, followed by an explosion of bright white light. She gasped out loud and shielded her eyes from the intensity. After a moment, everything went black.
Chapter 6
“Well,” Lilian said as she sat up. “That was useless.”
“Not entirely.” Octavius handed her a mug.
“How not entirely?” she asked as she took the mug and sniffed the contents.
“It’s tea, drink it.” He walked away from her. “First, why did you choose the wolf form when you shifted?”
Lilian shrugged. “I did it before in a dream. Matthias was there in my dream as well. As a black wolf.”
Matthias and Octavius exchanged glances before they looked back at her.
“You two have not…” Octavius started to ask.
Lilian narrowed her eyes. “Not that it’s anyone’s business, but no.”
Octavius chuckled. “You are not a Shifter, yet you are able to change your form.”
“In my dreams,” she said. “You can do anything you want in your dreams.”
“You have never changed forms in your waking life?”
“No, of course not.”
“Have you ever woken up and been somewhere different, or woken up and suspected you’d been somewhere else?”
“Like sleepwalking?” she asked with a frown.
“In a way, yes.” Octavius returned to her side and checked the mug. He motioned toward it.
“Drink.”
“I don’t know what’s in it.”
He eyed her and she stared right back at him. Matthias stepped up to her, took the mug, and lifted it to his lips. He handed it back to her. She glanced in the mug, noticing the level of liquid had gone down. She looked at him.
“It’s herbs to calm you down, strengthen your mind,” Octavius said.
“It’s safe, Lilian.” Matthias reached up and caressed her cheek.
She nodded and took a small sip.
“You did not trust me?” Octavius asked.
She gave him a smile. “I don’t trust very many people. I’m not even sure I trust Matthias yet.”
Matthias laughed at Octavius’s shocked expression. “She jests, Octavius. She trusts me enough to come home with me and meet my family.”
“I did not. You kidnapped me.”
It was Octavius’s turn to burst into laughter. “Like father, like son!”
Lilian looked at Octavius, and at Matthias, her eyes narrowed. “What?”
Octavius let out a hoot of amusement. “Matthias’s father kidnapped his mother from the Remus clan. The fallout went on for years!”
Matthias rolled his eyes. “There’s always been fallout for some reason or another.”
“Why did he kidnap her?” she asked.
“He fell in love with her, but since the two clans are enemies, there was no way he’d be able to convince a mating. So, he planned a raid and kidnapped her.”
“I’m going to assume she wanted to be kidnapped.”
Octavius snorted, but fell silent when Matthias gave him a quelling look.
“Not at first, no,” Matthias said as he looked at her. “It took a while.”
“They fought likes cats and dogs,” Octavius said.
Matthias gave him another look.
Lilian lifted a brow at Matthias before setting the mug down. “I think I’ll get a motel room.”
Matthias smiled. “Of course not. It’s not safe for one, and two, you already have a room here. Plus Anoria is arranging entertainment, remember?”
Lilian hissed on her exhale. Like she wanted to be around that woman?
Hah.
Matthias picked her up and headed for the doorway, carrying her in his arms. Octavius chuckled.
“Put me down.”