We trotted along the well-worn bridleway, the horses hooves gently churned up the loose ground, flicking clods of earth and I slowly began to relax into the saddle. My muscles seeming to know how to ride, naturally adjusting my position and leading the horse, even though I had never ridden. The birds were singing in the branches over our heads and we saw the occasional deer, that paused mid munch to watch us, before darting away into the undergrowth; upsetting the rest of the nearby herd.
"The deer seem a bit nervy today." I said as we progressed.
"Well it was a full moon last night." That explained it then. They'd spent the night being primalupuses food.
"How far does the colleges territory go and what stops the primalupuses from just wondering into town?" Kody ducked a low hanging branch before answering.
"Well except for the electrified fence that runs the perimeter of the college's grounds, primalupuses are very territorial and enforce their areas. There are several small packs on the college property. Although they only really enforce their territories during a full moon." We picked up the pace and broke into a canter, letting the horses burn off some of the nervous energy they were picking up from the wildlife.
"I almost forgot to tell you, Maara is coming back tomorrow. She's finally starting the college term." She beamed at me and I wondered not for the first time if she had a bit of a crush on her.
"The other member of the covern you keeping going on about." She blushed bright crimson and spurred the horse forward, ahead of my pleased smile. I caught up with her easily.
"So that's the news you wanted to tell me?" She shook her head.
"No, there's a new girl being brought in this morning. She was carried down to the lower level of the college before anyone saw much, but the rumour mills been at work and it's suspected that she was attacked by a vampyre and that she's in transitioning." I stopped the horse and Kody did the Same thing.
"Do you know her name?"
"Alec Creed" I almost fell off my horse, Alec was here. How had she been attacked and was she going to be okay? Not every one survived the transitioning. It was very taxing and took a massive physical and mental toll on those who were born with the gene and virus dormant, let alone a human.
I turned my horse around and prepared to gallop back to the college, ignoring Kody's questions, when a wolf stepped out into our path making the horses freeze. Luckily they didn't rear and throw us and I found myself being thankful for their training, which generally made them harder to spook and hardened to predatory animals in particular. I recognized the wolf instantly.
"Samantha." her name left my mouth in a whisper and a moment later she was standing before me, completely naked in the middle of the trail. I looked across at Kody to see her eyeing her up and cleared my throat. She turned shamefacedly towards me.
"Oh, okay." She spurred her horse on at a slow trot, going around Sam, who hadn't moved, to give us some privacy. I dismounted and tied my horse up to a branch, before turning to talk to her; only to be met with her lips on mine.
"I finally remembered last night." She said in between kisses, as she backed me up against a tree and I wrapped my legs around her waist, completely absorbed in her and the primal energy she was radiating. I shivered as heat flared to life once again from her touch and memories of last night came flooding back to me, as she dug her fingers more urgently into my hips. Our bond bloomed to life, as her fingers found the raised flesh of the scar-tissue, reminding me of our connection.
"Nia!" Yelled a voice, just as Samantha was leaning in again.
"She's a dominant, get away from her." Her voice had a shrill squeak to it and she held out a hand to me, as if the force of her offer could will me to move over to her. I didn't want move though, I was in a haze with Samantha's scent wrapped all around me and it had awoken a feral need within me; making me yearn for her primal touch.
"It's okay." I managed to say, in between gasps.
"No it's not. Her pheromones are clouding your mind. She's not controlling them." Kody continued to insist.
Samantha growled openly and lifted her lips up past that of any human capability, to show of pink gums and teeth that were starting to lengthen and thicken into wolf canines. Her eyes began to take on the lupine's yellow glow. Kody didn't move an inch though, even as she began to slowly shift. I had no idea if Sammy knew that she was shifting, or if the instincts of her wolf were driving her, but with Kody not backing down or submitting, her wolf would only see it as a challenge. I was dropped to the floor, as Samantha pivoted and faced Kody full on, the wolf had now completely taken over her and a growl was vibrating from deep within her throat. Kody remained where she was, but did let out a startled shriek when Sammy roared and leap towards her; clearly not happy with Kody's challenge to her dominance. She threw up a hand and with the twist of her wrist, sent Samantha crashing in to a large tree where she made a Samantha-shaped impression in the trunk; making me flinch at the sound of the impact. Kody teleported over to me and grabbed my arm, clicking her fingers in front of my face; in a effort to get me to wake up and shake off the effects of Sam's pheromones. Primorphs communicated through their pheromones, as well as body language when in their animal form, but a dominant wolf's pheromones were stronger than a submissives and was used to enforce the pack's hierarchy.
"Snap out of it." Her voice was starting to adopt a lilt of panic, as Samantha began to wiggle free from her hole leaving a crushed impression of her body indented in the tree.
"Sorry?" I looked up at her, mildly surprised and looked around dazedly in my trance; that was until she slapped me around the jaw and then I snapped out of it. It was just in time for Samantha to roar in anger and she lunged again at Kody. I reacted purely on instinct and throwing my hands up, felt a force in my voice that had never been there before. The crackle of power surprised me and Kody flinched as well.
"No!" The yell immediately made Samantha fell to her hunches by my side, the command had more power than her wolf could handle and on instinct it submitted; as faced with a more dominant opponent. Kody came over and touched her index finger to the side of her temple, making her collapse on her front in a deep sleep; before pulling me to my feet and dragging me to my horse.
I was about to mount, when a raised mound of grass caught my eyes and as soon as I saw it, I wasn't able to tear my gaze from it. The mound was barely risen at all now as the landscape had shifted over many years, but no brambles or plants of any kind grew over it, leaving it as just plain and wild grass, even though the surrounding forest was a dense and wild mixture vegetation and flora. As I stood looking at it, my skin broke out in to goose-bumps, even through there was no change in the weather and the day was sunny and warm. The mound held a deep sense of disturbed peace and Kody walked over to it and standing on it gazed back at me in puzzlement. I suddenly felt sick, as a wave of nausea swept over me, like someone had walked over my grave. I turned away, finding my thoughts deeply disturbing and this time mounted up. After a moment Kody shrugged and walking back over me, mounted up behind me.
"Where's your horse?" It was only now that I realised her horse wasn't here, with how distracted I had been.
"I sent it back to the stables." She kicked the horse's flank and we set off, giving me no choice but to turn around in my saddle and guide us back to the college. I felt guilty about leaving Samantha passed out cold on the forest floor, but this turn of events was very unorthodox and I needed to clear my head.
Dominant wolves were not supposed to use their pheromones to seduce their prey. It was considered taboo and frowned upon in the eyes of all primorphs. A dominant primorphs pheromones wasn't only effective on their own species and could be used to subdue and in a way hypnotize another being. Some vampyres, as a sub-species of primorph, used this ability when feeding off humans; as it made them more complacent and often stopped them forming memories of being fed off, but like submissive wolves; not all vampyres had this capability. Submissive wolves didn't have pheromones strong enough to subdue anyone, as they were themselves submissive by nature. The connection between Sam and me, made a lot of physical contact between us electrifying, but it had been her pheromones that were controlling me back there in the woods. We were soul-mates, which meant we could feel each others emotions and read each others basic thoughts, when close enough to one another. It also meant she could track me over long distance and that we were inevitably drawn to each other. However it looked like she hadn't yet learned to control her inner wolf, who's natural instincts were to dominate.
*****
We galloped straight into the stables barn and I had to rein in the panting horse, as Kody slid off. After I'd dismounted, she silently led the stallion into its stall, where sure enough her still fully tacked up mare stood patiently waiting outside its stall. We worked in silence un-tacking, washing down and brushing the horses together, before feeding them and closing the stalls behind us. Then we headed over to the college's main building.
"Well I think we've officially discovered that I'm a nephilium witch. I'd like to say thank you for what you did back there." She grunted in response and I walked round in front of her, causing her to stop.
"What's wrong?" She averted her eyes to look out over the horizon.
"You shouldn't be able to do any real casting yet, not without learning where you draw your power from, or how to ground yourself. You should only have the basic physic abilities, that you've told me about." So this was what was bothering her, that I might be some prodigy and end up being stronger than her. I knew she had been training all her life. Training and learning as much as she could and then here I come along, able to do what had taken her years of dedication; with only the flick of my wrist. I knew that must be frustrating for her.
I headed down to the main office, to try and find the head of the college, but no one was around. However as I went to leave, another door set in the opposite wall caught my attention and I paused in consideration. Why not, it couldn't hurt to have a look and give in to temptation, I headed across the room to open the door. Peering in, I could see a flight of stairs that led downwards, heading underground and beneath the college grounds.
I descended the concrete stairs, until I came to a white corridor. The sound of screaming made me shudder and I suddenly understood why this hospital was underground and out of ears of all the students, not even a primorph could hear this far down into the ground; through all the concrete. I followed the sound along a bare, but brightly lit corridor, tracing my fingers along scratch marks that were worn into the walls. The corridor was straight and wide enough to fit three people down side by side. The smell of strong disinfectant and other chemicals hung in the air, like a smog. I cautiously followed carried on, following the screams and groans, until I came to a room. It was the only room in the corridor, in which the door was shut and locked. Peering in through the thick glass window at the top of the door, I saw a thrashing figure was tied down onto a metal bed. The room was bare except for the bed and its frame looked like it had been set into the concrete, so even with all the thrashing and moving the person was making, the bed wasn't moving an inch. Probably made that way to hold up against the strength of a primorph or vampyre. The figure withered again and groaning, turned her head to face me. It was then that I recognised it to be Alec. I tried the handle, but the door was locked, however my attempt caught her attention and even though I couldn't hear her, I could see her dry and cracked lips move, as she mouthed my name. I knew I wasn't about to get through the door just by opening it and thought back to what Kody had said about me not being able to do casting, without even being properly trained. Having no idea what I was doing, but hoping it would work. I pressed my palm against the metal door and focused on it. Willing it to open, picture it flying open in my mind. To my shock and surprise, the door did just that and was left barely hanging off the hinges, as it flew open and banged off the wall. I wasted no more time in running to her side and knelt down next to her, at the side of the bed. Her eyes were bloodshot and her lips looked like she'd spent hours biting them. There was a glass of water on the floor next to her, I hadn't seen before and helping her lift her head, She managed to drink, as I held it to her mouth.
"What are you doing here?" The sentence choked off and ended in a shrill cry of pain. I grabbed her arm, not knowing what to do, as she moved about the bed, in a vain effort to ease the pain.
"My parents are dead and I called the organisation, who sent me here." The pain seemed to die down for a moment and she relaxed for the moment, before speaking.
"You look and smell different." I grimaced, wondering if I should tell her.
"Yeah. Turns out I'm a witch." I waited for the disgust to appear on her face, but all she managed was a pained half smile.
"I'm turning into a vamp and you're a witch. I don't think I'm in any condition to go for a stake." She took a shuddering breathe.
"Don't trust the organisation. They did this to me." I dropped the now empty glass on the floor in shock. The organisation had turned Alec into a vampyre, why? I could feel the heat coming off her body, as the fever took ahold of her and built within.
"I never had time to try to get to America. They caught me at the airport and managed to convince me to come with them, saying you were in trouble. I was blindfolded and taken somewhere." She shook and her breathe came out in a shudder.
"When they finally took it off me, I was in a bare concrete room. They interrogated and tortured me for hours, Nia. They wanted to know about your parents and if I had known they were wolves." My blood ran cold and the suspicions came back. The organisation had found out that my parents had been primalupuses. Had they killed them. I'd heard that if a primorph is tortured enough, they can revert back to their wild animal instincts. In effect becoming rabid and broken. If they had done that to them, had they then sicced them on me at the house, to make sure I was taken care of as well. To my knowledge the organisation didn't know I was adopted, so they might have thought I was a primalupus like my parents. Although I was beginning to realise that I wasn't as knowledgeable to what was happening around me, as I'd thought.
"I didn't know anything and after a while the person torturing me had enough. They put me in a room with a captive vampyre, that they hadn't fed in days. He was wild from hunger and tore into me. Once he'd had his fill they shot him and dumped me off somewhere. I don't know how I ended up here." It was likely they were hoping that Alec would either not making it through the transformation process and die, or that she wouldn't be able to live with herself, after being turned into one of the beings she and I used to hunt.
Her eyes briefly shone golden, before returning to their normal brown, but the cry she'd made was answered by the sound of running feet and a nurse finally burst in to room. Upon seeing the condition Alec was in, she reached in to her coat pocket and withdrawing a needle, quickly and fluidly jabbed it into her neck. She pushing the plunger until it was empty and as she withdrew it once again, Alec finally fell silent and relaxed on the bed; fading into unconsciousness.
"You shouldn't be here. Leave now." She barked at me in a stern voice, before turning her back on me, to check Alec's vitals and I was forgotten as she tended her patient. I wandered back down the corridor and managed to sneak back through the office, without being seen and into the normal college hallways.
Heading up to my room, I collapsed on my bed, shaky from the encounter that had left me trying to still my thundering heart. My heart was racing from more than just the fear; I was angry. The organisation had killed my parents, but if that was the case, why answer my call for help and send me here. They would have known I'd survived their ambush, using my rabid parent's wolves, when I'd placed the call to them.
I sat up and decided to see if I could call upon the magick again, mostly out of curiosity just to see if I could. I looked around my room and my eyes settled on a magazine. I tried to concentrate on it, to see if I could raise it or make it move. Nothing happened. I rubbed my eyes and scooted across my bed to be closer, wondering if this might help. I even raised a hand over it, like I was expecting it to rise up to it. Still nothing, not even the smallest hint or buzz of power filled the air. Just then a flash lit up behind my eyes and I thought I'd done it, until I heard a voice in my head. 'Meet in the equestrian barn, after the afternoon lectures.' I smiled at the telepathic message being sent to the rest of the covern, as the light behind my eyes once again receded. I ran a brush through my hair before heading downstairs to my first lecture of the afternoon, Vampyre Biology. At this point I was learning more actual facts about all the supernatural being here, than I had done in my lifetime as a hunter. Our views on them, I was realising, was warped or just plain incorrect.
Samantha.
I inched my eyes open and saw only darkness, for a minute I panicked and thought I'd gone blind, until I tasted the soil and realised I was on my front, in the dirt. I rolled over onto my back and saw that I was lying face down on the ground, in the woods and that I was naked. It was getting to be an annoying habit of mine, blacking out after a shift. I needed to hunt whilst I was in wolf form. Feeding from the kill would then give me enough energy to retain consciousness, after the exerting shift back into human form.
A night running under the full moon, or just using your lupine body can really take it out of you, but it's also has the side benefit of toning up and building muscle mass; each shift strengthening the body. This time I remembered exactly what had happened because I hadn't fainted, I'd been drugged by a witch. The witch magick was like a drug in my system and would have kept a human out for several more hours, except I wasn't human and my high metabolism made it hard for me to even get intoxicated and I burned up pretty much any drug that passed through my digestive system. Managing to stand up on shaky legs, I massaged my head and recalled what had happened. All I had done was follow Nia's scent into the woods, to tell her I'd remembered our previous night together, when I'd caught the smell of the horses and had ended up shifting. I remembered catching up to them, my wolf mind was torn between my mate and the prey that was standing there, so easy for the taking. As I was fighting with the instincts, hearing her laughing triggered something within me and that's when everything went hazy. Everything after that was fragmented, like I was only half aware of what was going on and not fully in control of my own body and movements. The instincts had taken over again and I'd caught the following events through snap shots; kissing her, holding her, leaping at a terrified Kody, with Nia stopping me and finally Kody drugging me with some kind of casting. To say I was embarrassed was the least of it. I needed to learn how to control the wolf. I decided that it was time to confront my mum about why she'd kept everything hidden from me for so long and hopefully I'd learn how to control those primal instincts.
There was something about Nia that seemed to set me off. The scent, sight or sound of her, had my wolf clawing at the insides of my head, wanting to reach out and claim her with its animal passion. Was Nia affecting me so much because we were soul mates, because of the scar on her hip, or both?
Stretching and heard the satisfying sound of bones cracking and my ligaments popped slightly. I must have been passed out for a while, to seize up. Now that I'd had a nap I may as well head straight to my afternoon lecture, Vampyre Biology; if I remembered correctly.
*****
I met up with the pack on the way back to the college, as they hung around on the steps of the main doors, their wolves more content to be out in the open. As I approached, Fang got up to head inside.
"Did I do something?" I said, staring after him and Ash smiled.
"Don't mind him, he's just got a lunch date with Rose." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively causing Trey to laugh.
Nia.
The class was only half full today, I guess the vast majority of the Primorphs were still sleeping off their nocturnal adventures, or else trying to get the dirt out from under their nails. The primorphs that were in class looked like the living dead, with tired hollow eyes and pasty complexions, but they looked happy as well; each with a content expression on their faces. It wasn't like all those horror movies where the transformation was hideous and painful, it was fast and only lasted several seconds. The speed overriding the natural pain, as nature intended and beautifully graceful and fluid to watch. The shift happened lithely and was evolution in the making, with the thrill of being free, running carelessly under the stars and the whole night sky and endless woods stretching out all around you. It was said to be the greatest adrenaline rush someone could ever experience., or so Samantha had told me; I've never experienced it.
I sat at the back of the lecture hall, the obvious place to sit if you don't want to answer questions and most teachers honored this mutual truce between seating arrangement and picking who answered the questions. I didn't want to draw attention to myself with the knowledge I had on supernatural being, as people may start to wonder how I came in to his wisdom; especially as a human.
"Today's topic is vampyre puberty" The class shifted, slightly uncomfortable, but unlike in the normal college there was no giggling.
"We are going to learn how vampyres get through their pubescent changes when they can't shift into lupine bodies.'" This was going to be an easy lesson. Finally something good about being the daughter of hunters, whilst in this college.
"Okay does anyone wants to start us off." Just then Samantha came in through the door, nodding an apology at the teacher and came to sit down next to me. No! I couldn't face this right now and racked my brain on how to avoid whatever it was she was about to ask. She turned towards me, no doubt wanting answers from this morning, but I didn't have them. I did the exact same thing I'd just said I would never do, I drew attention to myself and raised my hand. Even the teacher looked taken aback and I guessed he knew a quiet one as well when he saw one, but he wasn't going to pass up a willing volunteer and nodded for me to speak; so I did.
"At puberty for born vampyres, the naturally fluxing hormones and adrenaline trigger the same chain reaction for them, as for primorphs. Although the main difference is they cannot begin to change into a lupine form because of their genetically inbred mutation; which only has 'broken' wolf genes in it. However, when a primorph shifts into their animal form, their teeth change into canines. For a vampyre their canines, also specifically called fangs, appear from 'pockets' in the upper gums and descend down over their existing teeth; as a second set. As an added bonus and due to their broken wolf genes -that come from having chromosomes that are very similar- when they try and shift, they end up turning into a swarm of cells. This form resembles a mass of cellular compounds and is a semi-solid state. They are able to re-organise into their human form, due to non-contact cell-to-cell communication. This form gives substance to the myth that vampyre can turn into a swarm of bats." There was the usual round of applause , but I noticed that Samantha didn't clap. However I had done my job, as there was only five minutes of the lesson left and the teacher had already demanded our attention back on him; once again making Samantha face the front of the room.
"One last thing before the bell goes; I expect an essay report on how the adrenaline gives all Primorph and vampyre powers. It will be due next week. Obviously if you have any queries, speak to our classroom expert, Nia." I blushed red and sunk down in my seat, hating the attention. There was the usual collective group of groans about the essay, but I think most of it was for show. I mean they'd been asked to do a report, basically on how they lived and it couldn't have been any easier, if you'd asked them to write about themselves.
Right on cue the bell rang and there was the collective squeaking of chairs and a stampede towards the door, as everyone crushed out in to the crowded hallway for the final lecture of the day.
"A moment please, Nia." Damn, I'd been so close to the door and now it looked like my snap second decision to avoid Samantha's questions were back-firing already, karma really had it in for me and my plan hadn't even worked because I could see Samantha waiting for me outside the room, fiddling anxiously with her jacket. I took a breath and headed over to the teacher.
"You did very well today. I'm quite astounded at how much you've learned since you arrived here." I blinked at her in confusion, come again? I glanced a quick look towards the corridor and saw it was empty; Samantha must have gotten bored and decided to leave. I turned back around as she started talking again.
"And here I thought you'd just been daydreaming at the back of the classroom, all this time. I guess you really have been taking in my lessons after all." I wheezed out a breath and nodded at her. She dismissed me and I hurried down the corridor, before anything else could be said.
The hallway was empty now and I was already late for the last lesson, so another few minutes couldn't really hurt. I wasn't paying attention as I walked and was fiddling with my phone. When I looked up, Samantha had materialized seemingly out of now where and I had to stifle a yelp of surprise.
"Jesus, don't do that!" I clutched my chest with one hand and to her credit she looked mildly apologetic, but only shuffled her weight from one foot to the other; in awkward silence.
"I was following you." Now was not the time I wanted my primalupus girlfriend to turn into a stalker. I'd end up with grey hair by the time I was twenty. When a primalupus doesn't want to be heard they weren't. Their lupine genes gave they the grace and silence of a predatory animal.
"You're avoiding me, Nia." I gave her a look, before walking around her.
"No I'm not." I answered, as I walked off. She easily caught up with me.
"Look Nia, I don't know why I can't control my wolf's instincts around you. All I know is that when we're close, those instincts go crazy in my head and all I can think about is how much I want you." I blushed at her confession and turned my head so she wouldn't see the redness creeping up my neck and cheeks.
"Try harder." I mumbled. She gave a short barking laugh.
"Believe me I'm trying." She caught me by the arm and turned me around to face her, her gaze drilled into my very heart.
"But I'd be lying if I said there was a part of me that didn't want to give in to the desires you awaken in me." I couldn't make eye contact with her right now, but she pulled me closer, so I could feel her breath in my hair.
"I've always had a crush on you, for years, but since my wolf awakened, its been more intense." I could hear her panting slightly under her breathe and wondered how active those instincts were right now. I didn't want a repeat of the forest incident, or at least that's what I was telling myself; but my endocrine system wasn't agreeing with me.
"I don't know what to do okay. I don't have all the answers all the time Samantha!" Then a bit more quietly, I added. "I'm just as unsure and scared as you are. If anything I'm more scared because..." I couldn't finish that sentence without giving away that my parents and me used to hunt beings like her. That I was literally trained in ways to kill her.
"Why are you more scared than me?" Her breath was a whisper against my ear and I wanted to spill everything out to her. I just didn't want to see the look in her eyes when I did.
"Nothing. Never mind." I pulled away from her and hunching my shoulders against her gaze, managed to walk away.
*****
Lessons only lasted an hour each, so it was already seventeen minutes under way when I sneaked in. Luckily the class was watching a film with the lights were off, so I managed to get to my seat unseen. There was a boy sitting next to my seat, that I didn't remember seeing in any of my previous lessons, since I'd started here.
"You'd better sit down or Mr. Ellis is going to catch you." He was dressed all in black, with a black t-shirt stretched over his chest like a second skin, making every curve and contour of his well muscled chest visible. He was sitting in his chair like he owned the place, emitting an alluring vibe, that surrounded him like a aura. I tuned into my psychic sense to try and get an image on his personality, but strangely enough there was nothing. Even with the other celestial beings like the fallen and nephilium, I could read their energies. It flowed around all living creatures on earth. I'd never come across someone that I couldn't pick up on any energies. It was strangely silent and peaceful.
"You're staring." He muttered, showing off a set of pearly white teeth, as he smiled casually over at me.
"What's your name?" I turned away from using my psychic sense and instead focused on what was visible in front of me. This man seemed otherworldly and unearthly, giving off a dangerous vibe.
"I'm sure you've heard my of name." With a wink, he stretched his hands above his head and I realised it was not a lazy cat he personified, but more like a stalking black panther. This young man was the personification of night time and everything dark and enthralling it contained. My inner instincts, the ones we usually ignore when its telling us something is wrong. The one that makes the hair on the nape of our necks stand up in warning, was telling me to stay away from this person. I didn't know who or what he was, but I knew I shouldn't get close to him.
*****
The tables in the canteen were all full, as it was the usual eating time. I spotted Kody at a table with the other two girls from our covern and made my way over to them. Kody was the first to speak to me, but as she did a scuffle started out behind me between a fallen and a primalupus. I ignored the commotion, as it was just apart of the civil-war between the primorph species and the celestial descendants. It wasn't new to me anymore.
"Ready for the afternoon?" I nodded to Kody, as I munched on an apple and Thea gave me a genuine smile. I had been thinking about what Alec had said on and off for a while now, trying to convince myself that she was just delirious from the transformation fever, but the look of fear in her eyes made her words ring true in my ears.
"I hear you can already cast." Before I could answer Thea's question, a masculine voice, tinged with arrogance called out behind me.
"There you are Nia. It's rude to run off like that." I turned and saw the same man from the lecture, striding through the canteen doors; turning heads as he walked. A couple of vampyres bristled as he walked past close to them and it looked like I wasn't the only one who sensed there was something wrong with him. He sat down next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. I was too shocked by the bold move to shake him off me and both Kody and Thea were staring at him. I couldn't quite make out the emotions in their eyes, but they seemed drawn in by him. I finally snapped out of my thoughts and removed his arm from around my shoulder, not liking the chills the contact was sending down my back.
"You're not supposed to be back until tomorrow." Kody was the one who broke the silence, that had fallen over our table at his arrival.
"And yet you're broken heart called me all the way from France, how could I resist." The confidence of his voice was laced with arrogance, but it clicked in my head who he was, finally.
"Your Maara?" She grinned at me and gave a sly wink.
"I knew you'd have heard of me." She made a move to put an arm over my shoulder again and of course that was the moment Samantha stepped in to the canteen and saw what was happening. She clenched her teeth so hard I was surprised her jaw didn't crack. I could actually see the muscles bunched up and I was worried she would actually fracture a tooth. I knew that her instinct would be fighting for control, at seeing another person in such close proximity to me. The lupine genotypes that made them more confident, also made them protective of what they perceived as their 'property'. She strode over to the table and I could hear the snarl behind her voice, as she growled out words.
"Let her go." I stiffened in her arm. But Maara remained unperturbed.
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean, little wolf." That lazy smile was back on her face and I could feel Samantha vibrating with the itch to wipe it off. The only thing stopping her, was that if she started a fight here, I would get caught in the middle. I could see the slivers of yellow starting to streak into her irises. Her wolf was bubbling just beneath the surface, like a ticking time bomb.
Suddenly Samantha grabbed Maara by her collar and lifted her up and off me, before throwing her across the floor.
"Stay away from my mate." Maara's eyes flashed with a dark and old light that seemed to add centuries to her face. She froze in place where she stood, as an older-than-time stillness overtook her, betraying to her true age. The things with supernatural is that they didn't age in mortal years. Someone who looked to only be in their late twenties, could in fact be sixty years old; or centuries old. She snapped out of the stillness and a soft glow danced over her skin, shimmering with fury, as she flung Samantha across the canteen; until she crashed head first in to the wall on the opposite side. I still couldn't figure out what kind of supernatural Maara was. She possessed the strength of a primorph, but the ethereal aura of a celestial descendant. Glasses and cutlery in the canteen were starting to shake with a low vibration, that I realised was a growl coming from Sam. She stood up and locking her eyes on Maara, cleared the room in one graceful, bounding leap. At the last minute Maara just simply side-stepped and she landed on the empty floor. It was near impossible to track a vampyres movements, when they were moving at full speed and they were the fastest supernatural, but it was also difficult to track a primorphs movements too; still Maara had easily managed to avoid her attack. Instead she kicked her arms out from under her and pressed a foot against her back, forcing her to lay flat on the floor; stomach first. This was doing nothing to calm Sam's wolf, who as a dominant wolf, would hate being forced to submit in such a humiliating way. I was about to step in and break them apart, when Maara spoke.
"If you knew anything about Nia, you would realize she doesn't like being talked to like a possession." Even from her prone position on the floor, she was not about to give up her pride.
"And you know her?" Maara seemed taken aback at first and removed her foot, before half turning to me where I just stood next to my seat at the table, watching everything unfold. She stood their looking at me for moment, before turning away and blurred from the room, moving with the same preternatural stuttering speed as a vampyre. My eyes lost track of her and to me one minute she was there and the next she was gone. She supposedly knew me? I was sure I would have remembered someone like her. Samantha was picking herself up off the floor and Kody came over with Thea in tow.
"When you're finished here, we'll meet you in the barn. Its time to have our first casting circle, as a full covern." I nodded silently and they walked off. I turned to Samantha.
"Are you okay?" She shrugged.
"Are you ready to tell me what's going on?" I opened my mouth to tell her that I honestly didn't know Maara, or remember him from anywhere.
"Not that. You've been avoiding me like the plague since the night of the full moon and you've only become more distant since this morning." I hugged my arms across my chest.
"I don't think I'm ready yet Samantha. My parents are dead and I still don't know how or why. I find out that the girl I've had a crush on for years, is a supernatural being and I don't know what to do with that information. I'm still processing everything. I'm sorry." I stopped to take a breathe and wait for a response at my outburst.
"You think you're the only one with problems. I left everything to come with you to try and keep you safe. I'm the one who found out I'm a primalupus and that basically all these supernatural creatures we thought were mythological, are actually real. I also still don't know why my own mother decided to hide my own identity from me and lie to me for years." I was surprised at the anger in her voice and it unleashed my own rage, like the glowing ember in the pit of my stomach had suddenly been stoked into a roaring furnace.
"I didn't ask you to come, I told you to stay behind." She shook her head in disgust.
"You still don't get it." Raking a hand roughly through her hair in frustration, she took a few steps away from me, trying to decide what to say next; before giving up and walking away. I watched her leave the canteen, until she rounded the corner of the hallway and was out of sight.
I was left alone in the canteen and just stood there in numb shock for a moment, before heading out to the barn to meet the whole circle. There was an empty space in my gut and I'm pretty sure I knew why. Changing my mind about the barn, I went to my room to grab my phone, in an attempt to do something useful and keep my mind off Samantha.
I was left sitting in my chair, holding the phone aimlessly in my hand. It had been a mixture of pacing my room and annoyed sighs for the past few hours for me, as I contemplated what I needed to do. I needed information about my parents and the only people who knew anything, was the organisation, but I knew they weren't just going to give me what I wanted. After Alec's confession, I was more certain than ever that they had sent me here to die; maybe hoping someone here would recognise me and kill me as revenge for what my parents had done by hunting them. The only place I could think of going for answers, was out family holiday home. It was also like a second base and so secure. My dad had a small armory there and I was sure there would be something that could at least point me in the right direction to answers on what had happened for them. I could no longer just sit idly by at the college and keep my head down, waiting. I didn't even know what I was waiting for anymore. If I wanted answers, I would need to seek them out for myself.
Maybe if I could find the location of the nearest sectors headquarters, then I could infiltrate it. I could find out if the organisation had my parents killed, because they found out what they were, or if something when horribly wrong on their last hunt and it exposed them both.
I managed to get past three students, that were hanging out in the common room. The noises on screen, of the game they were absorbed in masking my footsteps; as I headed towards Samantha's room. I knocked on the door and it was answered with an annoyed grunt.
"Is that how you always answer the door?" I spoke to Samantha through the door, whilst checking down the corridor for any sighs of movement; I was practically dancing on the spot from nervousness.
"Nia, What are you doing here?" The creak of bed springs and the soft patter of feet told me she had heaved herself off the bed and was coming towards the door.
"Quick, before someone sees. I don't want to have to explain anything to Kody or your pack of friends." She opened the door, stepping back to let me in and I darted inside. The curtains were drawn, so it was dark in her room, but otherwise the room looked practically identical to mine.
"I didn't wake you did I?" She shook her head.
"So what are you doing sneaking into my room, at eleven o'clock at night." I caught the ghost of a smile playing on her lips, but she also had her arms crossed over her chest, like a physical barrier between us. I bit my lip uncertainly. It might have been a mistake to come here and to get her involved, but I could think of no one I'd rather have with me and no one I trusted more than her.
"I need your help." The smile fell from her face, as I told her about what Alec had said and about my plan. She remained silent and let me finish speaking.
"I know you're gonna say it's probably wrong, or not to do this, but I really need you with me." She uncrossed her arms finally and walked across the room, to a plant that looked half dead on the window sill. Still not saying a word, she spread her fingers, splaying her palm over the wilting plant and after a couple of seconds the capillaries along the back of her hand light up. The electricity that sparked through them, making them glow under the skin of her hand. The light flowed down to her palm, where it grew into a warm and heated glow. The wilting flower leaned up towards the heat of her palm, probably thankful of the light in this dark room and like it was under a heat lamp, it started to bloomed open; giving off heady flowery scent. She closed his palm and turned to me.
"I didn't know you could do that." I was still staring at the plant, partly in awe. She shrugged.
"Neither did I. They're teaching us how to control our abilities and use them more widely, in biology class." It sounded like the strangest biology class I'd ever known.
"Apparently a primorph's body generates and stores a lot of electricity, mainly from every shift, but also because our bodies work overtime, compared to a humans. A few can harness this capacity for storing electricity and use it for other purposes." She held out her hand again, but this time face up and once again, generated the glow; which I now knew was from electricity. Only this time she continued going. I could see the heat building up in the palm of her hand, all the electricity in her body must be flowing to it. Suddenly her palm caught fire, as a small flame burst in existence, in it. She'd generated so much heat, but she'd made fire. Clenching her palm to dowse it, she again turned to me and I could see the line of sweat that had formed on her forehead. Looked like it took a lot out of her. After getting a drink of water, she finally spoke to me about the plan.
"What I was actually going to say was when do we leave and what are you going to do about your circle meeting tomorrow. This isn't exactly a couple of hours round trip." She was right. I needed to post pone the meeting, they had brought I forward a few days to initiate me into their covern. Hopefully they would be happy to push it back to the original date, which would give me time to get to Devon and back at the very least; if there turned out to be nothing of use at the holiday house.
"Looks like I need to visit Kody next." She smiled and put a hand on my shoulder which was still warm.
"I'll get ready then."
Luckily Kody was in her room with Thea. The two of them were looking at the covern's casting book, a worn leather book that looked like it had been passed down to each head of the covern, for generations. The two looked up as I stood in their doorway, as the door was wide open and smiled at me, before Thea patted the bed sheet indicating that I should sit down with them. I ended up perching on the edge of the bed, looking at the book in Kody's hand with mild interest.
"You ready for the ceremony?" Kody asked, the excitement in her voice was obvious and I immediately felt bad.
"There's a problem with that actually. My parents have been taken ill and I want to visit them in hospital for a few days, so I was hoping you could move the ceremony back to its original date; to allow me a few days with them." The lies flowed easily off my tongue, once again thanks to my dad's training and it was the first excuse I could think of, that would be most easily accepted. No one here knew my story, so using my parents as the perfect alibi proved easy. Kody put her hand to her mouth and I once again felt bad that I was deceiving her. She had never been anything but nice to me, since arriving here.
"Of course you can. You must visit your parents in hospital. The ceremony can easily be postponed." Thea patted my leg.
"I hope they get better soon. You get going and we'll inform the rest of the covern, okay."
"I hope they get better quickly." I mumbled to myself, as I left the room, feeling like something a cat had coughed up. It was an easy and quick lie, but it made me feel rotten inside.