by Tijan
Oh—ugh! I was tired of everything supernatural. "Whatever. Just go away."
I felt her leave. I didn't feel the slight tickling anymore. But I knew she'd be back. Anything supernatural always came back. They were always ominous. Then I watched Emily snore into the floor.
Nope. Nothing supernatural with her.
She wouldn't wake again for a long time, so I fell into my bed. At last.
Halfway through my first dream, a bloodcurdling scream woke me up. I bolted upright in bed and saw Emily in the middle of the room. She was pulling at her hair. Her hands had formed fists and were entangled in her hair. "AHHHHH!"
As screams went, hers could've been in a horror film.
"Hey, hey!" I tried to soothe her. "It's okay."
"It's not okay! What's wrong with me?" Tears cascaded down her face and she looked at me. The pain was so powerful, it staggered me back. "What's wrong with me, Davy? I am going crazy, aren't I?"
"No, no you aren't." I hugged her close and made soothing sounds. I rocked her back and forth.
"Do something. Make this stop. I can't handle it anymore," she sobbed into my chest.
I closed my eyes and held her tighter. Then I took a deep breath because I already knew what I was going to do. God help me, I went inside of her. I didn't control it like I had before. I didn't have the time. I went all in and choked on the emotions. It felt as if a bucket of vipers had been let loose. They were everywhere. Slithering. Biting. Angry.
Once I managed to stand my ground in the midst of the madness, I reached out and grabbed one of the emotions. It was hopeless. I gathered it to me and reached for another. I kept going until I had enough clasped to me that she could calm down. I wasn't sure how long this had taken, but then I enveloped the emotions into me. They passed the barrier of our bodies and I'd taken them into me.
As they bounced around inside of me, I opened my eyes and saw that Emily had calmed. I managed out, strained, "Go to the bathroom and come back to bed."
Emily nodded, still trembling. I'd taken what I could, but there was still Bennett's madness inside of her. When the door opened, I wasn't shocked to see Pippa there with concerned eyes. She looked from Emily to me and her eyes widened. She knew what I'd done and then she nodded.
They had never met, but Pippa extended an arm to Emily and she went to her. The two walked together.
I knew it wouldn't be long until they came back and I tried to hurry and get another potion of sleeping pills ready for Emily. My hands were shaking, butI only spilled a little bit before the door opened. Emily came in. She was calmer than when she had left.
I looked at Pippa and saw she must've done the same thing I did. I had no idea wolves could do that, but it didn't matter at that moment. I held out the glass to Emily. "Drink!"
She did and it wasn't long before her eyelids started to droop. When she curled into her bed, I looked at Pippa who had remained in the hallway. She watched me in sympathy.
"What are you?" she asked.
I jerked a shoulder up. It looked more like a twitch. "Does it matter? How'd you help her?"
"I did what you did. Wolves can go inside of other wolves. We can take their pain too."
I frowned as I still twitched. "Emily's not a wolf."
"Her soul is entwined with one."
"What does that mean?"
She gave me a sad smile. "You'll see."
Then she left and I closed the door. As I slumped on my bed, I shook my head. That was weird, even for me.
CHAPTER SIX
The next few days were the same. I went to class, the hotline, and checked on Emily as I could. At first I'd been reluctant, but Pippa won me over. Her wolf's sniffing didn't tickle me as much and she wanted to help with Emily. She made a good argument. There was something unnatural about Emily's willingness to go to Pippa that night. I wasn't sure what to believe about the wolf thing, but I couldn't sense any bad intentions from Pippa. So Emily found herself with one more friend when she finally sat up three days later, weaned from Bennett's lovespell.
"Who is she?" Emily asked an hour later after Pippa had come with coffee and left again. "She lives on our floor? I've never noticed her before and I notice everything."
Well, not everything.
I shrugged and reached for a coffee. "I don't know. She likes you."
Emily went still at my words. "What do you mean?"
I frowned at her. "I don't mean that!"
"Oh." She relaxed in her seat.
"I just meant, I don't know. She likes you. I think she needs friends and can tell you're one of the good ones." I hurried towards the door since I was late for the stupid empath meeting that Blue kept making me promise to go to.
"Davy." Emily halted me when my hand reached for the handle. I glanced back and she smiled. "You're one of those too."
Awkward. "Sure. Have fun with your new girlfriend!"
"She's not my girlfriend," Emily shouted after me as I rushed down the hallway.
I couldn't stop my grin, but it vanished as Pippa came out of the bathroom. Judging by the look on her face, she'd heard Emily's comment. "Girlfriend?"
I slammed on my brakes, right in front of her, and spoke in my mind, 'If you hurt her, I will hurt you and trust me, I can. If you tell her anything about this, I will come after you and your whole pack. I don't need a slew of vampires. I can do a whole lotta damage by myself.'
Pippa's eyes widened when she heard my voice. 'You don't know what you just did. The Mother Wolf knows about you now.' Then she spoke, "How can you do that? What are you?"
A part of me regretted my impulse, but I covered it up and gave her a smug smile. "I think you should be asking 'who am I?' Don't say anything to Emily."
Pippa turned and watched when I started to inch towards the hallway's door. "It's not for me to say anything. She's linked to another wolf. It's his place to say it."
I paused in the doorway. "Good then…" Was it? As I turned and left, I knew I needed to learn as much as I could about werewolves. I knew they repressed their emotions, but they were different from vampires, a lot different.
I'd gotten as far as my car before my skin started to tingle. Talk about annoying and then everything rushed at me. I'd been about to open my car door when the Immortal took over. Everything flew around me and I was lifted into the air. My eyes narrowed as I looked out and saw another approaching vampire group. There was no captured Wren with them and these vampires didn't seem bent on war. I hoped not. Then I closed my eyes and found myself in Roane's office. Everything still circled around me, but I saw him and Wren at his desk. Their voices were muffled when I heard her say, "—for her. Why can't we let that happen?"
Roane straightened. "If you're loyal to me, you're loyal to my decisions. Are you not, Wren?"
She stepped away from the desk and sighed with her head bent. "You know I am. You know what I gave up."
Roane narrowed his eyes. "Then trust me."
Gregory swept through the door in that moment. "They're here."
Wren's eyes widened and Roane shut down. He clipped out, "Let's get ready."
Gregory and Wren left the room, but Roane stayed behind for a moment and scanned the room. His eyes were narrowed and lingered where I stood, but then he left with a guarded look over his face.
When his door shut, I was back at my car. I gasped and bent over to rest my forehead on my car. What had just happened?
"You're transitioning."
Saren materialized on the other side of my car. Her eyes were still the same smoldering flames, but she was dressed as a normal college student in a white sweatshirt and jeans. The black hair was swept up in a simple braid.
"You look normal except for those things." I pointed at her eyes.
They burst into flame, but quickly sizzled as if someone had thrown a blanket over the fire. "I'm not here to play with your mind. I'm here to help you."
"What's the catch?" I eyed her in suspicion.
She held up her hands in surrender.
"I'm here to help. What did you just see?"
"Really?" There was no catch?
"I'm to help you."
"What'd you mean when you said that I'm transitioning?"
"Your powers. When you accepted the Immortal before, it was only the start. Everything molded to your body, but you don't know your full power. You don't know an eighth of your powers and you have to learn them one at a time. You can't learn it all at once. It's too much. Your mind would be overwhelmed. I'm here to help and explain things to you."
"So what was that just now? Any time that I've been around Roane, even when I slowed time, he always knew I was there." And why did she seem so much nicer than the last time?
Saren smiled. The flames lit again, but they were small embers. "I'm not nicer. I'm here to do my job and that's to tell you what's going on. When I need to make you angry, I won't hold back. You need gentle guidance and answers right now."
I still didn't like her. "About what just happened?"
"The Immortal sensed something that you needed to know. It/you sent yourself there."
"Why didn't he know I was there?"
"He's powerful, too powerful, but if you don't want him to know you're there, he won't. That was you, not the Immortal. You didn't want him to know you were there. What did you see?"
"A group of vampires are coming to town. Roane is going to meet them."
She nodded. "What does that mean to you?"
"They're coming for me. I'm guessing that they'll try to kill me."
"Try."
"Try." I nodded.
Saren nodded too. "Who were the vampires?"
"I don't know—" I started to say, but Saren shook her head. She stepped close. "You know who they are. Who are they?"
I didn't even consider it. I just answered. "They were Roane vampires. They were sent by his Elders."
"And?"
I had no idea how I knew it, but I did. "They're here to usurp Roane from his position as their hunter."
"Are they going to succeed?"
"No." I spoke so quickly, my eyes widened in surprise. I hadn't known that I knew any of that.
"Why not?" Saren knew. She measured every thought I had. "Why not, Davy?"
"Because he's powerful," I blurted out. The knowledge simmered beyond my reach. Now I grabbed it. "He's powerful because his blood is in me. He's connected to me."
Saren smiled and stepped back. "You're doing well. You might not need my help."
I frowned. I wasn't sure how I felt about that.
"He's more powerful than all the hunters." She still watched me.
I nodded. I hadn't known that, but it made sense.
"You don't like that?"
"Like what? That he's connected to me?"
She took a stalking step towards me. "That really bothers you. You don't like that he's connected to you, do you? You really don't like it."
I looked away, but I couldn't ignore what she'd said. Did I like it? No. I'll be honest. Everything was too much. I wasn't ready for this, much less ready for my abilities to help someone else. Roane was something personal, too personal to me. I didn't enjoy that I helped him become more powerful. At least, I didn't enjoy that I hadn't made that decision. It was taken from me.
"He doesn't know how powerful he is." Saren glided close behind me. "He knew you were the Immortal, but he didn't know your power would go to him. That's not why he wanted you to take his blood."
"Then why?" I turned back around. "No riddles. I need to know."
"Because he was answering something inside of him. Something in him beckons to him just like I beckon to you. It doesn't make sense, but it will. Someday. And as for what you heard just now, you needed to know they were here. You're the Immortal. You'll start to know everything that happens, whether you want to know or not. Right now, I'd be less worried about the Roane Elders and more worried about that Mother Wolf. She's a bitch."
And I needed more on my plate. "I'm supposed to go to an empath meeting. My sponsor is making me go."
Saren laughed. "I'm your sponsor, Davy. Don't go. You'll overwhelm them. They'll feel inside of you and most won't make it to the hospital. Trust me. And dump Blue as your sponsor. She doesn't mean well in the end."
My eyes snapped to her. "What do you mean by that? She's like a mother to me."
Saren smirked and stepped back. I felt her absence before it happened so I reached out and grabbed her arm. "Don't go."
She glared at my hand. I felt like it had been scorched and I let go. I didn't have another second to react. Saren was gone. I almost expected a puff of smoke to linger where she'd been, but there was nothing. Just air. Now I was really frustrated.
"Davy?" Emily called out behind me. "I thought you were leaving for something? Where do you go all the time?"
My roommate was such the inquisitive one. I wasn't too worried. She'd forget about it in two seconds, but I was relieved to see that her normal coloring had come back to her cheeks. In the broad sunlight, she almost looked like nothing had happened. She had changed to a similar outfit that Saren had worn, but her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Pippa was dressed in something that made her look like a hippie, complete with the same two braids as before. The shirt was full of flowers and her pants were brown suede?
"Davy," Emily spoke again.
"Oh. Right. I'm not going anymore. Something…I changed my mind."
"Oh. Well, we're going to get some breakfast. Did you want to come with?"
Pippa shifted behind my roommate, but the movement was so small. I wouldn't have noticed it four weeks ago. When she refused to meet my gaze, I shook my head. "I'm going to head to the library instead. There's something I need to look up."
Emily frowned. "You're going to do homework?"
"Yeah."
"By yourself?"
"Who else would I go with?"
"I'm the one who usually forces you to do homework. With me. And you're going alone?" My roommate looked too speculative for my taste. "Are you sick?"
"Ha ha. That's funny. See you." Then I hurried away. I didn't like that Emily was with Pippa, but I knew the wolf would keep her safe and I needed information on werewolves. I couldn't ask Roane. I didn't think to ask Saren. I was advised against seeing Blue. Kates was gone. So that left the library. Fun times.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I wasn't sure the library would have literature on werewolves. I expected cartoons, teen romance novels, maybe some articles, but I was surprised they had an entire selection of older books. When I looked for where they were, I wasn't surprised. They were on the sixth floor and the creepiest floor.
The book was gone when I got there. So I hoofed it back to the main floor and requested to check it out whenever it was due back. The guy looked like I had three heads when he informed me that the book was not allowed to be checked out. I gave him a blank look in return. Then he sniffled up his nose, lifted his arms like he was a tyrannosaurus rex, and proceeded to walk me back up six flights of stairs. As soon as we got there, he looked dumbfounded when he saw the book was gone. I enjoyed that.
"Well," he sputtered. "I have no idea. That book isn't allowed to be checked out. No one knows where it is. No one cares about where it us unless…" He gave me a meaningful look. "Why are you looking for it?"
I gave him a blank face. "I'd like to be a werewolf. You?"
He rolled his eyes and dismissed me with a hand. "I thought you were looking for a class. Perhaps one of your classmates has it, but I can see that I'm wrong. Hmmm?" Then he threw both hands in the air. "It'll show up."
"You're not very helpful."
He shrugged. "It's my last week. Do your worst."
As he left, I glowered at his back. When it didn't burst into flame, I gave up. I must not have really wanted to hurt him. Then I turned for the bathroom and as I walked past an aisle, I caught sight of someone bent over a table with a very large, very old, book in front of her. Maybe… I approached with caution at first, but the girl was oblivious to an
ything around her. Her nose was pressed into that book and I wondered how she could handle the dust from it.
I drew a breast to her table and checked the book. It was the one I wanted. "How long are you going to be reading that?"
She shrieked and fell from her chair.
"I'm sorry."
She pulled herself back up and studied me. "Who are you?"
"Who are you?" I narrowed my eyes. The girl had long brown hair that fell to her waist. She had a heart shaped face and glasses that covered dark eyes. Though she was dressed in a baggy sweater and jeans, I knew she was stick thin. Her feet peeked out from underneath her jeans in red ballet shoes. "I like your shoes."
She blushed. "Thanks. My sister didn't want them so I got them. I was over the moon when my mom sent—wait—Why do you want to read this book?"
"Werewolves."
She blinked and pushed up her glasses. "I didn't expect that answer."
"Why are you reading it?"
"Not for the werewolves." She laughed and turned back to her page. "This book has one of the best chapters on witches from Caduna. Do you know where that's at?"
I didn't.
"It's a secret place the Quakers first settled, but there was an abolition of witches so they moved and decided no one should know of the place."
"How do you know of it?"
"My family. One of the witches was my great-great-great-great-well…one of the founding witches was in my family. The secret was passed down."
"So you know all about that place?" This was interesting and all, but not what I had come for.
She frowned and scratched behind her ear.
"What's wrong? The secret didn't go to you?"
Tears welled up in her eyes as she shook her head. "It's always passed to the oldest daughter and I'm not the oldest. Tabitha doesn't care about this stuff, but she got everything. The stone. The books. The pendant. I got nothing" She sighed heavily. "I'm the witch of the family. I can do magic. The most magic she can do is with guys. She can get any of them. Not me. What's your name again?"
I extended my hand. "My name's Davy. What's yours?"
She placed her hand in mine. "I'm Sarah, but you can call me Brown. I prefer that name. I feel like I'm part of the earth and that's the natural color of the earth. Brown."