A/N
Hey guys, wow I've had writing fever latetly :D. YAY UPDATES! So this chapter is sorta confusing. Read the author's note at the bottom to have some things cleared up :)
Shout-outs tooooooo *drum roll*: coltengrey and PinkRose7Fire :) Thanks for the comments and sorry the shout out is so late
Anywhore, En-joooyyyyyy!! :)
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16 - Saving Justin
SAM
For the next few hours the packs assembled in the school gym went over tactics and strategy for how we were going to get Justin back. In total, between Phoenix, Silver Light, Blood Tears, Blue Lightning, and Black Death, we amounted to about 700 wolves capable of fighting.
All of the wolves aged seventeen and under would stay behind when we went to storm the rogues, the older ones either watching the younger ones, or providing base support. My mom had also set up a team of medics to stay behind and tend to the wounded. She would've stayed herself, but she said that Justin had become a second son to her and she would be going no matter what.
Even through all of the preparations, there was still one question looming over everyone's heads, the actual whereabouts of Justin, Andréas, and the rogues.
I was currently trying to lock onto Justin's position. My dad had told me to concentrate on his consciousness, that being his mate, I'd be able to determine where he was.
I kept getting little flashes of success, but they retreated as quickly as they had appeared.
Anthony Lynn, Katie's dad, had taken up position as alpha of Silver Light, and was sitting with my dad, Leo Cole, Jordan Merrik, and John Abbot, deep in discussion. They were each going to lead a squad of wolves in at different points.
"Sam!" I heard Katie calling me and looked over to see her and Luca hurrying over to me.
"Luca knows where they're keeping Justin!" she said excitedly.
My eyes widened in realization and I mentally smacked myself for not thinking of that sooner.
I knelt down beside the four year old, putting a hand on each of his shoulders.
"Are you sure?" I asked, barely containing my excitement.
"Mhmm," he nodded, "The big scary man brang me to a big big big house. It looked like a castle."
I puzzled over his description for a minute, "Do you remember where it was?" I asked.
"Mmm, it was on a big hill," he replied, obviously thinking hard, then added, "it was really dark."
Katie gasped, "The old manor!"
"Of course!" I all but cheered.
"Dad!" I yelled, running toward him, "We know where Justin is!"
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JUSTIN
"Wh-wha?" I stammered, not knowing if I had heard correctly.
"Yes Justin, your mother was my mate." Andréas said bitterly, but he wasn't finished yet.
"What I didn't know though, is that your mother wasn't the only one leaving me forever. It turned out that even as she was walking away, one of her eggs was dividing, having been fertilized the previous night. She was carrying my child. Not a month later, she was dating a man by the name of Nicholas Summers. Apparently she convinced that the child she was carrying was his, and they were engaged within the year."
I was having trouble processing everything and dreaded what was coming next.
"One month after the marriage, Sarah went into labour, and her son was born. She and Nicholas named him Justin."
I shook my head. No, no, it couldn't be true, there was no way this man was my father. I looked him in the eye for the first time, and recoiled. They were the exact same shade of blue as mine.
"She had no idea that I knew of your existence. Once, just after Nicholas had become a raging drunk, I showed up on your doorstep, offering to take her away, offering her protection. She slammed the door in my face. That was the final straw for me, and I became a fully-fledged rogue. However, I couldn't forget her, no matter how much I wanted to. She was my mate and I was doomed to be tortured by her rejection for the rest of my life.
I remembered mom answering the door and a tall, clean-shaven man with short black hair standing there almost ten years ago. My dad was passed out on the couch, drunk. My mom and the man had had argued for several minutes then I heard the door slam and watched the man flee from the living room window. I then entered the foyer to see my mom sobbing. I had comforted her and asked her what was wrong, and she had only smiled at me and told me it was nothing. I realized with a shock now, that the man must have been Andréas.
"When I found out that Nicholas had killed her, I was filled with a blind rage. I didn't want to care, but I had no choice. A week later, I visited him. He was disoriented and confused, but did remember killing your mother. He also remembered why. I got all of the information I could out of him then killed him, slipping out of the jail. The authorities were baffled as to how he died because he wasn't sick and there was no sign of a struggle."
"The call of death," I whispered.
It was Andréas' turn to be surprised this time.
"How do you know about the calls of power?" he asked incredulously.
"Sam's dad told me about them," I replied, "It was when you were using the call of pain on me."
He nodded and continued his story, "I then went in search of you. You were hard to find, I'll give you that."
"So, if you are my - father," I said, still not quite able to believe him, "then why are you hurting me like this?"
"As long as you're alive, you will constantly remind me of what I had. You will also be the cause of my mate's death in my mind, which is why I do not want you to go quick and easy."
I looked at him, appalled, "How the fuck am I the cause of my mother's death?!" I yelled.
Part of me already knew his response, but I didn't want to admit it.
"If you hadn't told Nicholas, if you had just kept quiet, we wouldn't be here talking right now. You would be at home, lying in bed asleep, your mom and Nicholas in the room across the hall."
His words cut through me like knives, the emotional pain ten times worse than anything Andréas had done to me so far. I had caused my own mother's death. Tears were filling my eyes and leaking, rolling down my cheek.
Andréas had broken me.
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SAM
I cursed and whirled around at the sound of a stick snapping but, as usual, it was just one of the wolves that surrounded me. We were closing in around the manor house, moving like shadows, quickly and silently. I was in the group led by my parents, along with Katie, Ethan and Tracy, the rest of my friends, and some members of the other packs.
There were four other groups also approaching the manor, each led by an alpha. The plan was to take the rogues by surprise, using the cover of night and the storm to arrive unseen. Then, while everyone else was fighting, a small group composed of me, my parents, Ethan, and Katie, would slip inside to look for Justin.
We had reached the fence and could now see the rogues. They were in their wolf forms, looking dark and foreboding where they stood, guarding the gates. Their glowing red eyes swiveled around, looking for intruders. Thankfully, they hadn't spotted us yet. We didn't stand a chance without the element of surprise, there were just too many.
My dad turned and nodded at us, urging us into action. We rushed forward and leapt out of the trees, lunging at the rogues. My sensitive hearing picked up snarling coming from five directions, telling me that the others had moved into action as well.
We easily killed the few wolves on guard but more were flooding out into the grounds to replace them soon enough.
'Everyone, close your eyes!'
I caught the message from Jordan and instantly followed his instruction. I heard a whine and then a brilliant flash of light lit up my eyelids, dying them bright red for a few seconds. When it subsided, I opened my eyes, looking around.
The rogues looked stunned. Some were pawing at their eyes while others shook their heads, no doubt trying to clear their vision. Then I realized what Jordan had done. He had used a power call; the call of light more specifically.
It seemed to be greatly effective, I observed, but even then the rogues were recovering.
'Come on!'
My dad ran for the house and we followed, dodging claws and teeth as we went. We reached the huge oak double doors that stood at the front entrance and pushed through them, finding ourselves in a beautiful foyer. We were standing on a floor of marble tiles, leading to a carpeted grand staircase that split in three directions at the top. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, bathing everything in its sparkling light. The banisters were ornately carved to look like dragons, their heads rearing up and facing us, teeth bared and eyes unblinking.
I marveled at the beauty of it all for a split second, but then shook myself out of it and started looking for a door leading to the basement, which was undoubtedly where Andréas would be holding Justin.
We ran through room after room, stopping in each one only long enough to look for the door we were seeking.
The first appeared to be a sitting room. It was adorned with luxurious, nineteenth century furniture, their fabric looking thin and fragile. We skipped this room, seeing instantly that the basement entrance wasn't here.
The adjoining room was nondescript and had hardly anything in it. We searched it for a moment, and when I was checking the front wall, I realized what the room was. It was a gallery, and the front was in fact a row of floor to ceiling windows, covered by blinds dyed the same colour as the walls. Determining that there wasn't anything there, we moved on.
Next to it was a kitchen. It was old fashioned looking with a wood burning stove and scarred wooden counter tops that contrasted with today's common polished granite.
An arched doorway led to the dining room which ran along the entire length of the house at the back. Its high, vaulted ceilings and elegant woodwork gave it a sense of grandeur second only to that of the foyer. A long mahogany dining table dominated the center of the room, three more chandeliers hanging above. It looked like it would comfortably seat fifty people.
We kept moving, passing through another kitchen on the other side and reaching a library. I stopped running, gaping at it in awe. Bookshelves lined the walls on all sides, stretching from the floor to the ceiling three stories above where we currently stood. Ladders stood at intervals around the room and on closer inspection, I found that they had wheels attached to the top that moved around on a series of tracks running along the shelves. This, of course, was how the occupants had reached the books at the very top of the shelves.
Tables, which most likely served purpose as a way to sit and read, were placed throughout the room, elegant oil lamps in the center of each one.
Finally we spotted a set of doors on the inside wall and padded over to them, moving cautiously now. I nudged them open, wincing when they creaked, and peered through them. A set of plain stairs led underneath the manor, lit by torches. We were going in the right direction at last.
We crept down the stairs as silently as possible, Ethan locking the door after us. The torches bathed us in a flickering light, casting eerie shadows onto the walls. The stairs curved at the bottom and we stopped just around the corner.
I could hear a faint sobbing coming from the room and the heart-wrenching feeling told me that we had finally found Justin.
I nodded and we rounded the corner, ready to meet whatever Andréas had in store for us. Only he wasn't there.
I tried to disregard the foreboding I felt at his absence, looking around in the dim light for Justin. I finally saw him, strapped to a chair on the far side of the room and ran to him, shifting as I went. He saw me and sighed with relief, though tears still streamed down his pale face. I undid his bounds and pulled him to me, not caring that I was stark naked.
He gave a whimper of pain, but hugged me back anyway, hanging on tight when I tried to pull away and inspect him for injuries.
I gently withdrew from the embrace and looked him up and down, nearly bursting into tears myself.
He had little cuts and scratches everywhere, often accompanying bruises. Across his neck was a long hairline scar, as though someone had held a knife to it and pushed lightly but didn't want to draw much blood. The worst injury though, was a rough stab wound in his thigh. It looked deep and was gushing copious amounts of blood, pooling on the table. The wound was surrounded by a nasty looking red-orange ring. "Blood-poisoning" came to the forefront of my thoughts as I remembered some of the cases that my mom had treated.
"Oh, Justin," I whispered, my voice breaking, "I'm so sorry."
"It's okay Sam, it's not your fault," he assured me.
"Yes, it is ... I never should've left you alone at the pack house. I should've stayed with you, kept an eye on you. And now look at you..." I gestured at his various afflictions, trailing off.
"Sam, look at me."
I obliged, meeting his gaze as tears traced glittering tracks in the grime on my face. His blue eyes looked different somewhat, as though someone had flicked off the light in them.
"I'm fine ... thanks to you," he said, giving me a smile.
I stood dumbfounded for a minute, amazed. He remembered, he really remembered. I had said those exact words to him after I was attacked by rogues the first night we spent together. I didn't know it was possible, but somehow I managed to fall for him even harder.
"I will always be here for you; to protect you, to console you, to love you. Don't you ever forget it," I said, putting my forehead to his.
"Awe, so sweet."
I whipped around, snarling. I knew the voice. It belonged to none other than the snake, Andréas. However, as I turned this and that trying to find the source of the words, I was surprised to see no one. Apparently it wasn't just me, because the others also looked utterly bewildered.
I heard soft chuckling and turned to a corner of the room. A pair or red eyes pierced the darkness moving toward us. Andréas revealed himself fully, stepping into the circle of light in the center of the room.
"So, you managed to find me," he drawled, eyes roaming over the six of us, "I must say I am quite shocked. But not as shocked as I am to find that you made it all the way down here."
I barely heard what he was saying. Waves of raw fury coursed through my body. Before I knew it I shifted and lunged at him, but I was met with empty air.
"Ah-ah," I heard from behind me.
I spun and saw that Andréas was now on the other side of the room.
'What the hell are you?" I raged through thought.
"You see, my mother was a were, so I naturally obtained the traits of your species as my dominant genes. However, my dad had - special abilities. He was capable of bending reality. He possessed the ability to - shape shift - if you will, as well as disappear..." he did so, "... and reappear elsewhere,' he said, now in the center of the room, "Among many others."
'Lupusmotus', my dad thought.
Andréas smirked, "Wow, I don't give you pups enough credit apparently. Yes, I am a Lupusmotus; literally, a "Changed Wolf"."
'But I thought they died out a long time ago,' my dad seemed perplexed.
"My name is Andréas Novissimus, and I am the last Lupusmotus."
Andréas spun on the spot, his long coat swirling about him as he disappeared.
We all looked at where he had vanished for a minute, but were brought back to reality by a quiet voice.
"Maybe not..."
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A/N
Sooooo? What did ya think? Huh? Huh! Hehe, wonder who said that last bit? ;) First person to guess gets a shout out in the next chapter!
So, clarifications:
Andréas's last name: Novissimus, means "last" in Latin. Basically, it's a play on to outline last of his kind.
Lupusmotus came from two Latin words: lupus - meaning wolf, and motus - meaning changed. He isn't only a shape-shifter, he can literally bend reality; in other words, he can make anything happen (within reason of course, or there wouldn't be a plot XD)
Me: "I'm still mad at you Andréas, you mofo!"
Andréas: "Wheves, youse an idiot anyway"
Me: ...
Andréas: *smirks*
Me: "I will get you in the next chapter!"
Me: *stalks story*
See ya'll next time :)