(This is going to upset some of you and I'm REALLLLLLY sorry. Don't hate me please. >.<)
Marie crashed through the door of Greyson's cabin, caring little that it swung wide letting the sweeping cold of winter in. With it came the snow that danced around her hesitant feet as she looked around her, searching for something. Her eyes wide with apprehension. There were so many places he could have put it and she was completely clueless on where to start.
Knowing that every second mattered, she rushed to the tall cabinet beside the fireplace. The doors forced wide revealed books and neatly stacked paper amongst a few unimportant items. Most of which ended up on the floor as she tossed them aside to look behind them. When the shelves were cleared with no luck, she dropped to the lower cabinets and repeated the process. Broken trinkets, torn paper and books sitting askew upon their bent pages rustled around her feet as she shuffled through the mess to the next cabinet.
Before long she had trashed his entire living area; pillows, documents, books, and décor scattered about her in complete disarray. Greyson would certainly have something to say later but for now it wasn't given a second glance. With her next destination already in mind, she turned and bounded up the steps to his bedroom. A pause was taken just inside his door, brushing her fingers through her wet hair as she growled in frustration.
Why couldn't he have just given it back to her? Would have made this a lot easier. She could have already been out there. Instead she was forced to tear through his bedroom and destroy it much like his living room. Her last hope finally swelled in her chest when she found a long flat chest hidden at the bottom of his armoire beneath his shoes. A sweep of her hand brushed them free letting her find the corners of the rectangle and lift it from the base.
Long strides carried her through the mountains of clothes and bed dressings to his now lopsided mattress where she set it down, instantly seeking the front clasps. Her anger grew when she touched the locks restricting her progress. A feral scream of frustration tore from her throat as she turned and stomped towards the fireplace in the corner to pull the poker from its rack. The remaining tools clanged loudly behind her as they toppled over.
Returning to the bed, she grabbed and tossed the chest on the floor to stand on it. Her weight anchored it as she forced the end of the poker into the lock and pushed down hoping to break it open. Instead, its tip slipped free causing her balance to teeter which only managed to increase her annoyance with it all. Expelling an agitated growl, she forced the poker back into the lock again, certain she gouged the wood floor but did not give it a care. Her muscles strained against the tight wrap of her dress as she fought the metal latch keeping her from helping. With every passing second, she grew more wary and anxious until, with a loud snap, it broke. Its counterpart followed shortly after on the other side.
Her heartbeat quickened in anticipation as she stepped from the top and quickly lifted it. Nestled inside was her treasure, her bow. Time was forgotten for the moment as she reached out slowly and trailed her fingertips over the crafted wood, tracing the carvings she never understood but remembered always being there.
As soon as she touched them, amber sparked in her brown eyes. Beside it, rested her quiver of arrows. She was surprised he kept them, considering they were silver and her means to their kind's end. Perhaps it was the weakness from the mating bond. It certainly gave her the reason why he hid and locked the chest. Though that reason didn't really matter to her at the moment.
She anxiously pulled the quiver's strap up her arm and lifted one end over her head to secure it across her back. As soon as she clutched her bow in hand she stood with a growing need to rejoin the fight outside. It was time to end this. Marie pivoted on her heel and started back towards the door, pausing when she caught her reflection in the mirror.
The white gown she wore was now stained with blood, most of which was Veiraes when she had worked beside Chris to remove the silver bullet and stem the bleeding. Normally it would have healed quickly but the silver slowed that ability. His urgency alarmed her and begged him to let her help but she saw the accusations in his eyes, forcing her to pull back. She did nothing but watch him lift his unresponsive wife and rush back to their cabin to save her.
She was left alone in the turmoil. Fighting herself as the chaos around her continued and blared cries and shouts in her deaf ears. Greyson had shifted the moment Veirae had crumbled. He'd nudged her back to safety and ordered some men to stay with their luna before leading the others into the woods to fend off the hunters. Part of her wondered if he would trust or blame her later...if there was any later time to give the pair of them. She'd ordered the guards to help protect the others moments later but they refused to leave her side. They'd been ordered by their Alpha and she was their Luna. They didn't know who she really was yet...
The coldness seeping in through her soaked dress finally woke her to the terrified screams around her. She was their Luna, they looked to her for guidance. However new her position was, she was their guardian now. There was no way she could stand idly by while watching other's fall. Marie pulled in her courage and stood, helping the remaining women and children back into the cabins. Some of them had been hit, nothing lethal thankfully. She wasn't sure how she'd be able to handle the death of a child.
When she was confident of their security, she slipped away from her guards and ran back towards Greyson's cabin, eager to join the fight, which had by then, leaked from the trees, closer to the Nightstone pack's homes. A couple of them had clouds of smoke billowing from their windows. Bleeding men laid dormant in the snow, the naked ones easily giving her count of the dead werewolves. There were more of them lying dead than the hunters.
Something was not right. It hastened her continued path back to Greyson's home to find her bow and arrows.
-- And now, looking up from the blood stains she met her eyes reflection in the mirror, widening slightly at the sign of her hunter's amber glow. The beast she thought had been subdued was near the surface. It gave her the extra strength she needed to push forward and rush back outside.
Instead of running into the depths of the growling wolves and shooting hunters, she moved around the back of her mate's cabin and into the line of trees. The ballet slippers she wore moved silently over the wilted underbrush and soft blanket of snow. It was taking longer this way to circle around and back to the fight but the hunter inside told her it was necessary.
Soon, the sounds of their labored breathing and growls grew until she knew she was only a few yards from them. Steady fingers reached back, slipping the pads of her fingertips over the feather, letting the softness of it calm her beating heart. Her brown hues hid behind heavy lashes as a deep breath fell from her lips in a soft white cloud. The arrow she selected was drawn from the quiver and notched easily before she opened her eyes again.
Time around her seemed to slow. The few snowflakes that worked their way through the maze of bare branches above her head fell to the ground like a folded paper plane on the wind. Any other time she would have been mesmerized, not realizing that it was her own ability that caused this effect. Time continued as normal around her but to her own perception it ticked by unhurriedly. It was the sound of a wolf yelping in pain that pulled her attentions back around, lifting the bow and arrow to aim as she stepped around the tree and started forward.
Her calculating aim slipped from one target to the next, each engaged in a bloody fight that soaked the snow beneath them with a crimson color she found herself hating with each second that passed. It wasn't until she found herself staring down the line of her arrow at her mate's wolven head that she stopped. He was in a ferocious tumble with two hunters. Both repeatedly stabbing at his tough flesh with their knives.
Anger from within trembled over her body, her aim shook in the struggle to calm her nerves and recollect herself to readjust her hold and sit it true again. The men he fought didn't seem overly threatening, their stature much smaller than his own. Yet they were holding their own against him. Even besting him in a battle he should have easily won. Again that unconscious thought ticked inside her mind. Something telling her that there was another factor here she wasn't seeing. Giving into it allowed her own hunter-tuned senses to focus and she caught the very faint blue glow around the wolves...every one of them. Each drew a line that reached up further into the trees.
Before she followed it, she released her arrow, watching it sink into the temple of one of the hunters tousling with Greyson. Her love's gaze left the other hunter for a moment to find her. She saw the hesitancy in his step, the want and need to protect her in his eyes. A shake of her head refused him. Any other time she would have laughed when he huffed from his snout in annoyance. But now wasn't the time. She turned before second guessing her decision and ran up the incline, parallel to the blue lines.
The sight that greeted her at the top was not expected and greatly unsettled her. No other explanation but a witch. She was beautiful; white-blonde hair whipped around her face. It was shaved at two points just above her ears, giving base to the intricate blue tattoo that started at her temples and followed down the line of her jaw. The thorned and branched lines continued down her neck, disappearing beneath the hem of her black jacket but giving no indication that it ended soon after.
Wind and snow collected from the winter ground, blew up around her legs in a slow circle, resembling a mini tornado. Her focused, silver-hued gaze was aimed at the battle, thoroughly engrossed with little attention given to anything else. What confused Marie, was the tears she saw streaking the witch's cheeks. Her body trembled as if she were frightened. There was no sign of hatred on her face that one would assume, would be there, when deliberately sabotaging the wolves.
Knowing what she was doing to her pack, Marie knew she had to kill her. Where the human in her hesitated, her hunter's spirit lifted the bow, notched an arrow and released it at the supernatural she was fated to kill. Never blinking at what she was doing. The whistle of the deadly aim through the wind drew the witch's gaze a split second before it sank into her chest. Their eyes met and she swore the woman mouthed a thank you before falling to the ground.
Marie's eyes instantly caught sight of the familiar blonde standing behind the now fallen witch. She stared in disbelief and fought an inner battle between her past and future. Her hand had only just reached for another arrow when she felt the piercing pain on her inner thigh. She didn't have to look to know that the other star was appearing above the crescent moon.
Her hunter was roaring to life again and their struggle dropped her to her knees, hands palming the cold ground while she fought to maintain control. This couldn't be happening, she promised Veirae that part of her was gone. She had to fight it. A heavy cloud of cold snow blew into her face when a pair of army boots stepped in front of her, breaking her concentration.
She hesitated at first, afraid of what she would see but slowly pulled her gaze back up to the man crouching in front of her. Her mouth fell open in disbelief when a familiar face looked back at her. Toothpick clenched in his teeth. So laid back and nonchalant, given the current circumstances.
"Hello Marie. Fancy meeting you here. Shame you had to go and kill my witch and she was just starting to come around. Took a lot of convincing from me." The way he said it gave her an idea of the type of 'convincing' he was talking about. The very idea made her shiver in disgust. "Guess I'll just have to take you to replace her." He spoke calmly, though she could hear the dark and menacing undertone. His gaze flicked over her shoulder for a second before returning to her face. "This will only hurt for a second."
Marie felt the prick against her neck and gasped as she reached up to cover her throat. Its paralyzing effect was almost instant, a burning path shooting through her body and limbs. The strength of her arms gave out, dropping her weight harshly onto her side, the force of it helping to roll her to her back. His face appeared above her, blurry, much like the dream she had been having since Greyson found her near death in the snow. She felt the heat of her tears seeping from the corner of her eyes to soak into her hair. Now, looking up into his, she was not so sure it was actually a dream anymore. He was there that night, after she escaped the cabin. The dream instantly became reality. But why bring her back?
"Why Joseph?..." It was getting harder to stay awake. Though she fought to hear his answer. His face kept splitting into two then morphing back into one blurriness of hatred.
"Just sleep Marie...it's going to be difficult removing the mating bond you have with the mutt." She felt his fingers pull the sleeve of her dress back to reveal the mark. How did he know it was even there? "You'll need your energy."
(There you have it. I hope you like it and aren't too upset. Don't forget to vote and comment...even if it's just to yell at me)