Ruby's Heart, A Blue Moon Coven Chronicle

37. Solemni Introductio ~ {A Solemn Introduction}

Fragments of fractured light clung to her vision as she panted deeply. She desperately tried to focus on anything other than her body. She pressed her eyelids closed. She could not relax even at the short cessation of the all-consuming pain. 

Genevieve could not remember getting into the tub, but she was glad to be there as she felt the amount of fluid and blood that would gush from her body at the onset of each debilitating spasm of pain. She held no illusion that her child would live. Her body was already mourning the loss. The evidence found in the ever-present trail of tears on her cheeks.

Confusion circled around her mind. The manifestations of pain she could not comprehend existed, muddled, and morphed her reality. Her body was in a never-ending spasm now. She felt herself pushing. She grunted as she bore down and with a great effort, something very disturbingly solid left her body.

Her hands were quick to reach for the fetus. Shock resounding about her as she calmly and while grunting still, removed tissue from the fetus so she could see that her stillborn child was a girl. Her hands shook as she fitted the small being into the palm of one hand. Her body fell back against the wall of the tub and her eyes closed. She was aware of more pain but she was certain no physical pain could match the loss she felt in her soul.

"Child, do not sleep. You must listen to me." An ethereal-sounding voice was heard and Genevieve assumed she was dreaming. 

"This body of yours will die if you do not shift my she-wolf. There is not much time." The woman who spoke bent down and used her hands to tear a strip of fabric from her nearly diaphanous gown. "Let me wrap your pup."

Genevieve watched as the woman, who surely was a hallucination, took the fetus from her palm and wrapped it delicately in the fabric, tying it securely bound. She could feel more warm blood leaving her body and the effect left her fading. She could hear the woman speaking. What was she trying to tell her. Shift? What does that even mean? Genevieve watched as the woman leaned forward and pressed a fingertip to her forehead.

"Your wolf has been bound, I will release her now. You will shift and then you can heal, and live. We will meet again, my she-wolf. I have much to share and much to tell. For now, I will help  you to shift." The woman set Genevieve's wrapped fetus on the edge of the tub.  Then stepped back and lifted her wrist to flourish her hand. 

Genevieve's body began to break and re-form into Heart, Ruby's wolf. 

Genevieve believed this to be some elaborate hallucination that was brought on by the copious amounts of blood she lost and the grief she felt. After her body shifted it felt as though she were floating in someone else's existence.

She turned her head and saw that the mysterious woman hallucination was gone. She tried to reach for the wrapped bundle on the edge of the tub and realized she had a paw instead of a hand. She watched as she picked up the bundle in her mouth and then was merely a passenger as the wolf jumped from the tub to pace out of the room into the opened garden.

The wolf whimpered as she slunk around, sniffing the air and padding toward the wall that Genevieve often wondered about. There was a hedge against the wall, the wolf laid down nearly under it, the wrapped bundle laid between her two front paws. She whimpered softly while laying her head next to the bundle and sniffing at it softly.

~~~

"Heart's awake!" Kieran ran out of the portal to announce to the rest of the crowd that was gathered at the portal tents.

"I can hear her, she's talking to me! I don't know how. How is this happening? Gah, Brother says Heart is fine and telling him something, I need to get to a map?" Keiran ran toward the house and the parlor where the maps were laid out.

"I need help, Caspian or anyone? Heart says the moon is at this position in the sky, what does that mean? Can we find her with that information?" Kieran looked around at the small crowd that had gathered around him.

"How is she relaying the position?" Greg asked while pulling the world map out.

"Straight up. She says the moon is in the dead middle of the sky." Kieran looked around and then back to Greg.

Greg pulled out his phone and quickly typed something in then looked at the map and pointed to a very small island in the south pacific sea. "Here, let's go." He pointed to the island then looked to Evelyn. "I think this is it. So whoever needs to go, can come. Let's get the hospital set up for her. Kieran, you need to be in front on this so Brother can handle Heart if need be."

Ryan was about to take offense but his hand lifted to his shoulder as though to remind himself that they were no longer bound together. He would remedy that at the first chance appropriate. He readied his gear and stood before the tent where his Mum would open the portal.

Evelyn Brose downed another bottle of potion energy and then with an exhausted body she lifted her arms to open the portal. The team of eight stepped through quickly.

The moment they were through the portal, all of them caught Ruby's scent. The scent of blood was also heavy in the air. Evelyn had ported them to the center of the Island. A large estate could be seen across the field from them. Marny was the first to break into a run. Her pace was quickly matched by Greg and then Ryan left them all in the dust as he'd shifted to paws to get there faster. While the group headed toward the front of the estate, Beau had taken over Ryan and ran toward the rear.

Kieran quickly picked up Ryan's course change and followed behind on legs. He ran to try and keep up but before he could catch Ryan's wolf, Beau had jumped over a wall near the rear of the estate. Kieran scaled the wall and jumped over, landing with bent knees. He was quick to scan the area and realized he was in a garden. The sound of whimpers brought his gaze low. His eyes fell to the pair of wolves who were now against each other near the wall. Beau was sniffing at something between Heart's paws and the two wolves whimpered and whined, crying together.

Kieran moved to approach the wolves but they both broke out in snarls so he stepped back and looked toward the house and the open French doors. He walked toward them hoping he could help lead the rest of the group here.

When Kieran entered the room that had been Ruby's living quarters for the last fifteen days he could hear banging on the door. He ran over and tried to pull on the knob then yelled through the door.

"She's in a garden through here! Beau is with her and they aren't letting me close. Can you get through?" Before Kieran finished asking the question, the wall beside the door began to shake, and then an ax head was seen poking through it. Kieran stepped back while they hacked into the wall to get around the door.

As Kieran turned to face the bedroom his eyes caught on the portrait of Ruby on the wall. He walked over to it wondering how someone ever managed to paint such a detailed work of art so quickly. How long had this guy been targeting Ruby? It was then he noticed the style of clothing in the portrait. It was from another era entirely. Maybe two or three hundred years back? Kieran shook his head and then startled as Greg came crashing through the wall, ax in hand.

"Through there?" Greg asked as he laid the ax against the wall and hurried through the open French doors to the garden. He was tailed by a desperate Marny. 

"Is she okay?" Marny called out as they reached the two wolves. The wolves began to snarl again as they stayed over the small wrapped bundle between Hearts paws.

"Do you have the syringes Marny?" Greg asked softly. He didn't want to alarm the wolves. 

When Beau heard the word syringe he gave control back to Ryan immediately. Beau had a fear of needles! Ryan shifted back and reached for the shorts that Greg handed him.

"The pup, she's there," Ryan whispered. He didn't reach for the bundle because Heart wasn't letting it go. 

Marny walked over tentatively toward Heart. Once she was close enough she quickly jabbed the syringe into the wolf and hoped it was enough.

As the rest of the team swept the estate for information about Ruby's abductor, Ryan lifted Heart into his arms and waited while Greg called Evelyn to open the portal home. 

Marny lifted the little wrapped bundle from the ground and held it to her heart, then followed Ryan through the portal to the pack hospital.