The Thief With Wings (BOOK 1# OF THE TRILOGY SERIES) *Completed*

Chapter 28.

The forest around me gave off an chilly reception as I awoke, silence echoed around me while trees casted darkened silhouettes from the moon's silvery white light. I cracked them open a little more to feel a sudden warming breeze stroll by me for a split second and something quite furry beside me... Wait a sec. Furry?

Glancing over quickly, my eyes were taken by the large bird like beast lying comfortly beside me with his large fan like tail curled up beside me. Lying closer towards his head laid a tall woman dressed in torn leather clothing, her face and skin looking quite beaten and scratched up like a cat playing on a messed up record. "God... what on earth had happen to this poor woman? was I the one who had caused all that? Just what on earth did Olivia do?" I thought before slowly rising to my paws, carefully trying to avoid touching the beast's mighty feathers in case it would wake him and his master up from their slumber. Glancing around my surroundings, I noticed that we were somewhere deep inside the forest. Far from any nearby civilization or landmark that would be recognizable for me to return to, a faint sound of a rushing river would echo through the silence every now and then but if I were to leave these two now. The woman would surely die from her wounds getting infected and heaven knows if her beast even knows how to get to the nearest town in time either. I know that I shouldn't be using so much of my strength after that whole little incident that happened just earlier but I couldn't simply just let this innocent soul die...

Not like how all the others did...

Looking around what appeared to be the remains of a campfire, I noticed there was a bunch of equipment scattered around along with what appeared to be a small slightly cracked picture frame with a family photo revealed inside. Moving it slightly aside from the fire, there lied a empty canister with the lid twisted off just a little ways from it. "Perfect... now if I could just find the river, heh reading those survival books I managed to sneak away from the guards is starting to become quite handy." My mind echoed almost endlessly as I carefully grasped onto the container with my toothy jaws. As I lifted it into the air, I felt like I had done something similar like this before... but just where though and who was I doing it to? It didn't matter really, yet a part of me felt like it did. Moving ever so slowly towards the sound of the river, I could feel a spark of a sudden memory trigger through my mind like taking a single snapshot frozen away in time. 

-Flashback-

"Alright! Make the final blow! show the boy who gains respect in this place!" A guard shouted at a young winged girl who currently had a 14 year old boy pinned to the floor with her arms grasping each one while having most of her body weight on the boy's stomach. Both of them were covered in scratches and bruises while the girl had a purple eye from being socketed with a heavy fist. While the guards couldn't wait to see the boy get killed after he had tried to cut a hole through her wings, the girl hesitated... Why was she doing this? Why was she having to beat up or on rare occasions kill innocents to the guards and scientists enjoyment? While her heavy glare was kept on the boy, she could see it almost clearly... Fear and mercy pounding straight through his teary hazel brown eyes. As she rose her hand which was slowly curling into a fist, she finally felt her heart almost sink. 

"No..."

*SLASH!* came the sudden noise as a knife was brought to her shoulder, moving almost as quick like the sudden movement of a hummingbird dashing towards its small unsuspected prey. However, as she braced for impact. She never felt the blade touch her skin, instead something much warmer did along with small little droplets of liquid pelting themselves onto her arm. Opening her eyes, she noticed that the boy she had pinned managed to break away from her grasp in time to receive a major slash mark across his chest. Sending blood almost swishing to the air while she noticed what appeared to be a smile creeping across his face while a tear dripped away from his dying eyes. "You don't deserve punishment for something you choose not to do..." He spoke before he fell dead towards the floor while blood leaked heavily from his wounds.

-Flashback ended-

"Why would that boy save me though?" I thought as I lifted the canister away from the river, feeling the cold silent gaze of the moon petering onto me while a chilly breeze swished through my fur. Usually back at the facility, I would rarely be able to come in contact with other children whenever I was allowed to be out of my cell. However whenever I would be able to come outside, it was either to be tested on or to train in combat... saying that it was suppose to help me prepare for when they would use or require my skills for something. But yet every single time, it was child... a innocent victim under the same kind of the circumstances as I was would fall to my feet beneath. Dead from either blood loss or from the buffer serums reversing their affects on themselves, either way it was still sickening and heart breaking for me to watch them suffer and perish because of not only me but because of what the facility wanted. The only thing that always bothered me in its aftermath was the fact of having to see some of the faces the person knew and the expressions wondering what had happened to them. Even from that, one mere glimpse of the blood that would linger onto my face and body would almost immediately mean to them that they weren't planning on returning to them anytime soon.

And knowing I was the murderer behind their deaths, it made me look like the villain to blame for almost everything cloaked under a shadow...

"I thought I'd find you here... glad to see that your awake." came a voice beside me, I turned my gaze to find the woman that I had seen sleeping by the beast standing beside me. Her calming silvery eyes glancing over to the moonlit reflection given to the river while her beast could be heard faintly squawking and snorting in the shadowy trees behind us. "You know, I would often come out here to gaze up at the stars back in the Thief city where my home is... well was whenever I felt saddened or frustrated. " She spoke softly as she placed a hand over the bruise on the edge of her cheek, only to have it almost retract back from a sudden spike of pain. "dang, curse my brother for bringing that dagger with him to the tavern." She muttered under her breath before turning her gaze over towards me, seeing how her hood covered most of her facial figure while faint strands of light highlighted the lower part of her chin. From within her silent eyes held back the agony she had bear witnessed to gain all those scars. 

"I guess you've got quite a tale to tell too from having that scar on your eye."

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-Cree's pov.-

"What do you mean that she healed herself? How in the world would she be able to heal herself in the condition she was in? Last time I checked, she could barely move a muscle without her eyes twitching every now and then." Conner spoke loudly as he slammed his fist against the wooden table below him, his eyes aching hard for explanations and answers for all the questions his partner to answer while remaining cold and bitter like ice covering a frozen lakebed. Beside me sat the Queen who was giving me exchanged glances every once and while listening to the two argue like lions fighting over territory, every single one I would shrug at since I never really got to know my brother enough to understand the way he thinks. Quite honestly, I don't think he really had accepted me being his other sibling quite yet so it was probably best for me to remain quiet like I usually do. "I know my sister, she's got a lot more fight in her than you would ever know! If she managed to use her ability on herself then she must have known there was a catch to it that would send her out of control! She had done it just so she wouldn't have to make us worry about her so much and that she was capable of taking care of herself!" William barked back with venom hissing in his voice while his eyes narrowed sharply. Sighing heavily, he sat back down onto his chair. Placing a hand over his forehead to relieve the stress caught up between his brow. 

"I know your worried about her William, so am I along with the rest of us here but we need to know about what kind of power we are dealing with here. Not only is Gale able to possess the body of a wolf without much fail but also to be capable to dealing the power of life and death itself right at her fingertips. You saw how she easily killed those guards with a simple bite to their necks without having to do much and may I also add the fact that she almost killed you!" Conner spoke as his tone eased, his mug still full of whisky without having a single drop staining the table. I never would forget when that happened, seeing my sister growling and snarling at William along with her eyes almost red as the crimson sky while the sun would set. If Conner didn't knock her towards the window then she would have sunk her own poison into her own brother's neck. 

I just surely hope that she would be okay on her own...