Ascension

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I WATCHED AS PEOPLE CONTINUED TO DRIVE into the roundabout, coming to my wedding, coming to my mistake. I fiddled with the ring my foster mother had given me when I was nine, right before she had died. She had always told me about how she hoped one day, a man would come and take her mind off of her long battle with colon cancer. She was the real reason I was here, I wanted to do this for her, but suddenly, I felt like I couldn't. I felt like I shouldn't. There is much you do not know about my fiancé's family, his family history. It was around the year 1882 when it first started happening, or at least that's the legend I've always heard. One day in the coldest winter of time, a society of people known as the Hand came into existence with the human world.

The Hand consisted of a bunch of supernatural beings; witches, werewolves, vampires, golems, just about anything really. The people of the Hand were gifted with beauty, they all were gorgeous. For a time, there was peace between the Hand and the humans. No one was ever seen as a threat. This peace however did not last for long. I'm sure you all have heard about

World War I, but whatever you heard is not the truth. My great-grandfather told me what really happened. Humans started becoming very territorial about where the supernaturals were supposed to be, they were no longer wanted on every corner of the Earth. The Hand started running for legislative, executive, and judicial positions, in the hope to create an even more direct path with human and supernatural relations. When the humans heard about this, they unknowingly started a war that they would not win.

The wolves led the Hand to victory in Europe and the United States. The wolves leading the way belonged to the Kane Pack, the most ruthless pack known today. Just as the Hand had won the war, suddenly, a lot of them started dying randomly. The members of the Hand that were left knew that it had to do with the humans. In the 40s, the Hand designed concentration camps, also throwing the idea to Adolf Hitler, who was in love with a witch. Many humans, both Jewish and non-Jewish were killed at the hands of not just Hitler, but the Hand as well. Shortly after the Hand won World War II, the same thing that had happened 34 years earlier happened again. Since then, we have been under the Hand's rule. I looked down out of the window, watching all of the Kane men stand in the yard, laughing and having a good time around each other.

I snapped out of my thoughts to see my best friend, Kayla, walk in, her beautiful skin gleaming in the sunlight. She was a member of the Hand, a witch to be exact. I flashed a smile at her, trying not to show her that I was nervous. Not everyone got to marry the alpha of a pack filled with ruthless killers. I thought that sounded better in my head, but it did not comfort me at all. I was about to marry the alpha of the most important wolf pack in the world.

"Kate, why are you not ready yet?" asked Kayla, rubbing her hand through my dark brown hair.

"I'm just enjoying my last moments being Kate Shepard," I said.

"Kate, you have had two months to get ready to be Kate Kane. You should be excited, you have a husband who's going to take care of you, he's hot, and I know the sex has to be amazing."

"Kayla, you know I haven't had sex with him," I said, turning away, and looking at the window below me. There was my beautiful fiancé, Alex Kane with his family. Alex's hair was slicked back and dark as night. His light blue eyes contrasted with his hair perfectly and his teeth were straighter than my life right now. He was the definition of beautiful.

"So, he doesn't know?" asked Kayla.
"No, he doesn't know. I haven't had the time to tell him." "He's expecting you to do it, you know what? That is what all

wolves want, pups. How are you going to tell him you can't have kids?" "When I feel that he should know."

The door to my room opened again, revealing an old man who seemed out of place, but after a moment of staring, I knew exactly who he was.

"Professor Walsh, you made it!" I said, going to hug the old, Filipino man. He was beginning to bald a little bit in the middle of his head, but he still had the same look to him, happy and at peace. He was my neuropharmacology professor during my undergraduate years.

"I'll see you when the wedding starts," said Kayla, leaving.

I nodded to her as she left the room. I hugged Walsh again and watched for the first time, a sad look coming upon his face.

"Katherine Shepard, you were one of my best students. I feel like I have watched you grow up, but this is not where you are supposed to be my friend."

"Why do you say that?" I asked, really concerned.

"The Kane family has nothing but corruption and murder behind it. You cannot be a successful doctor if you are always helping wounded criminals and cold-blooded killers."

"Dr. Walsh, I appreciate the concern but-"

"You can feel it. You are having doubts. These doubts are not coincidental love, you cannot fail where she succeeded."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't let them find her, because if they find her, there won't be any more humans to save."

With that, Dr. Walsh left my room in the house, he was shaking. He seemed really worked up about something, but what was he going on and on about? What did he mean there won't be any humans left to save? I began to get ready, but suddenly, I heard what sounded like glass breaking. I walked out of my room into the seemingly empty hallway. I could hear voices coming from around the corner, but they sounded unfamiliar to me. I got close to the corner to see if I could hear better. When I peeked around the corner, there was Alex's dad and his brothers, standing in front of Dr. Walsh.

"What all did you tell my daughter-in-law, Dr. Walsh," said Mr. Kane.

"I told her nothing, and even if I did, that is none of your business."

"Dr. Walsh, we cannot have loose ends with you. I was a fool not to kill you in 1986, do you really want me to kill you now?"

"I'm the best lead you have to that girl's real mother."
"And see that's where you're wrong."
I heard a violent snap, and then there was quiet. I peeked again to see

Walsh, lying on the floor. A tear fell from my eye as I watched his body sitting there motionless. I thought back to the beginning of when I first came

back to the town of Grandview, Washington. I thought about when my life was simple, well simpler. I quickly turned invisible so no one would see me. To the beginning.