"There are three things all wise men fear; the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man." – Patrick Rothfuss
Moonless, the night was still; clouds allowed the stars to show themselves to the world that rests. There was no breeze, no cold air to soothe the sleeping citizens of the town; not even the owls were up to talk so they could sleep soundly.
The town was quiet, not a single car drove down the streets – except for the patrol officers that roamed the quiet street. Pubs were open, but there were just a few patrons within; not a lot of people were up for a night drink. Friday was supposed to be the bustling nights, yet there was not a single drinking establishment full in their small, quiet town.
Peering out her open window, Katherine stood watch as she kept her guard up; her nights have become erratic, hard for her to sleep for whenever she closes her eyes, a figure of a man seemed to be calling out to her – phantasm, premonitions, or not, she only wished for it to stop. Even the open pits of white that surrounded her every now and then, does not seem to stop and she could not help but stare into the white open void.
"What bothers you, silver one?" Vivian asked as she stood next to Katherine.
The young wolf shook her head, "Nothing."
"The look on your face says that there is," Vivian pointed out, "Whatever it is, it cannot be any worse than the tremors you air takers seem to be having so often," she spoke as Katherine took note of it, "I mean, what in the world is going for it to be even happening?"
Katherine merely shook her head, "The news say that the cause remain undetermined," she explained as kept staring at the forest behind the house, "It seems that it's happening in several parts of the country."
"I'd be surprised if the world would be affected," Vivian replied, "It has never happened in my lifetime, so it'd be something different for a change."
Katherine sighed, "I don't see how that's a good change."
"Now, now," Vivian chuckled lightly, "Don't be pessimistic about it," she tried to lighten the mood, "Be thankful that there aren't any victims or else I would be terrified," she explained then hummed, "But then again, I'm already dead."
With a loud laugh, Vivian vanished as Katherine did not find any humour in her words. It's easy for her to say, she thought as she exhaled through her nostrils. She did not mind Vivian's remark, aware that it did not concern the spectre for her world was already bliss as they have told her, yet she cannot picture it ever being heaven.
Raising the window, Katherine exited through and walked under the night light; there was no moon above her. Her body felt hot under the moonless night, which made her sit by the edge of the roof and dangled her legs as she closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she tried to check if there was anything nearby that posed a threat, but all was fine; not a single NoM was in range nor was there any sign of Alexis.
Feeling secure, she opened her eyelids slowly and as her surrounding eventually came to view, an unexpected figure stood in front of her. There stood the teenager she saw smiling at her back at the camp, on the first day she was there; he disappeared as soon as the crowd vanished before her after she had been called by the elder.
He smiled at her as his grey eyes lit up; there was a dimple on his right cheek that Katherine did not notice before. It caught her curiosity as she allowed herself to fall onto the soft grass in a quiet thud. She approached him as she offered him a small, yet curious smile, to which he replied with a much wider grin, but not too wide for her to see his pearls, but wide enough for his dimple to deepen.
"I saw you the other day," Katherine spoke, "But never saw you again," she pointed, "Did I scare you?"
He shook his head, "No, you didn't," he chuckled lightly, "I just didn't have time."
"I understand," Katherine nodded as she stood in front of him, "Does that mean you have time now?"
He shrugged honestly, "That depends."
"On what?" she asked, but only got a smile from him.
All of a sudden, dogs began to howl in the neighbourhood and made the young wolf to turn around; she listened to their cries of fear as she took a good sniff around the area. There was nobody around, just sleeping bodies in their houses; it made her raise a brow, wondering what the hounds of the neighbourhood seemed to be afraid of.
Shrugging off the matter, she turned to her visitor, but as soon as she turned, there was nobody there. Her eyes paced from left to right, wondering where he had gone, but could not see him anywhere. Using her sense of smell, she did not catch a whiff of his scent which was rather peculiar; a normal wolf could smell anyone within a twenty mile radius, yet she could not discern him or his scent.
Weird, she thought whilst pacing towards the patio, but felt a whiff of air touch her nape. She spun around, but found nothing there; not even the rustling of leaves to tell her that the wind was passing by. She took a deep breath and exhaled as she began to make her rounds around the house, wondering if she should take a rest; she was certain that all would be well, but she did not wish to leave everything to chance.
Walking through the side gate, she rounded the corner of the garage and found herself stopping on the third step. There on the front lawn, the young teen she was talking to a while ago, was standing still with his eyes on one of the windows. Her brows furrowed with suspicion as she approached him, aware that the window he was looking at was none other than Hailey's.
"Something caught your eye?" she spoke casually, hoping not to alarm him.
He chuckled lightly whilst shaking his head, "Once," he replied as he moved his gaze to her, "But that escaped a long time ago."
"I see," Katherine hummed as she noted the sad look in his eyes that almost made her sympathetic, "What are you anyway? Faerie? Wolf? Vampire? Mage? Morphling?"
He shook his head, "None, I guess."
"Human then," Katherine concluded as she nodded to herself, but the young man merely kept quiet. "Well, what brings you here?"
Before he could even answer, the dogs of the neighbourhood once again let out their howls of fear; it disturbed Katherine. She approached the gate and took a good sniff of the area once again, but like before, there was not a single hostile entity nearby; not even anything that posed as a threat to her or the dogs either.
So what was causing them so much distress?
Sighing, Katherine turned to face her companion, but like he did before, he was no longer there. It boggled her mind as she tried to look for him, but to no avail; she could not find his scent nor his temperature, which only caused her to be more suspicious, yet curious at the same time.
How could he possibly do that?
Sweeping it under the rug, she jumped the wall and began to pace down the sidewalk to begin her nightly patrols; she has been doing this ever since they got there. Even though she does the house chores and what not, she still had time to train her powers as much as stay up for the whole night just to make sure that she would be able to protect them.
Never again will she fail to protect Hailey. Even if she had been distant, she still cared for her even if she would be a possible candidate to be the key that would end both realms. She would gladly trade herself if it should happen.
But was she ever a key?
Come to think of it, Jesslyn had not yet discussed anything she has found about this key as much as Zander had yet to reveal the information he had. As far as she knew, the only clue she had about who the key could be was that they were born on the second of November – the day of souls – which meant that she was a possible candidate as well.
Have I even committed taboo? she asked herself as she drew near the end of the first block, then took the curb. Her mind was in deep thought, but did not the lack the capacity to take in the scent around her – nothing too suspicious arose. She was trained well-enough with her sense that even without total concentration, she can smell her surroundings to a certain level of detail.
As she thought of anything forbidden she has done, she noticed a scent in the air that made her stop and look over her shoulder, only to sigh at whom stood behind her. He was smiling casually as his eyes sparkled enthusiasm – energy she did not have to handle him. She merely returned his smile with a small one as she waited for him to catch up with her.
"Out for a night stroll?" Deckard queried as the two of them resumed their walk.
Katherine nodded, "You can say that."
"Isn't it too dangerous for girls to be out at this time of night?" Deckard queried further, "You may never know what's lurking around every corner."
Katherine scoffed with amusement, "Yeah as if they can take me."
"Take you yes, subdue you no," Deckard replied as she chuckled lightly to his remark, "So, how have you been?"
She raised her brow, "You're so weird, Deck."
"What?" Deckard asked a little horrified as he hung his mouth partially agape with a raised brow, "Is it wrong to ask how my friend is doing?" he feigned hurt as he clutched his chest and putting his backhand to his forehead, almost as though he would faint, "You hurt me, milady. Hurt!"
Katherine rolled her eyes, "You spent the entire afternoon til dinner with me," she explained as she pinched his cheek hard enough for him to repeatedly say 'ow' as looked at him with irritance and said; "Goofing off and almost being a pain in my arse and adding clutter to my clean house, then being a headache to Jesslyn."
"I'm sorry!" Deckard apologised as he tried to remove Katherine's fingers on his cheek, "Please, let me go, I beg you!"
Katherine let go of him, "Now, you're literally hurt," she chuckled as she watched him pout like a child whilst rubbing his cheek, "What are you doing here anyway?"
"Evil wolf," he mumbled under his breath, but Katherine heard it and nearly glared at him which made him chuckled nervously, then responded; "I was tinkling nearby."
Katherine narrowed her eyes and hung her jaw a bit, "I didn't wanna know."
"What?" Deckard chuckled, "You asked me."
Katherine rolled her eyes as she shook her head, "Next time, I won't ask."
"If you say so," Deckard replied as he put his arm around her shoulders, only for Katherine to remove it immediately, "What?"
Katherine slapped his arm, "Don't touch me with your unwashed hands!" she exclaimed as Deckard rubbed his arm, feeling the light sting on his skin, "You touched your you-know-what then didn't wash your hands, then you go and touch me," she made a gap between them, "You're disgusting."
"Damn, clean freak," Deckard mumbled under his breath as he looked away whilst still rubbing his arm.
Katherine glared at him; her eyes almost feral, "What did you say?"
"Nothing, nothing," Deckard chuckled nervously just as the curb came into view. Both of them stopped there and he looked at Katherine, who seemed a little miffed, but reasonable. He smiled at her and held a two fingers up for a peace sign before he waved; "See you tomorrow, grumpy."
Katherine nodded as she waved him off, "Yeah, yeah."
With that, both of them parted ways. Katherine took a deep breath and sighed in relief as she smelt the air, calming herself further. She does not understand how she can tolerate people like him – ridiculous, weird, and downright crazy. A part of her wonders how, but somehow, she was used to it after she met Jesslyn for the first time, at how her personality nearly reflected Deckard and Art.
At least, they're harmless, she thought as she took the dirt path to the forest; her usual patrol route that would end with her leaping over the back wall of the backyard. Pacing through the trees, she raised her sense of smell as she tried to discern anyone that seemed rather unusual, but so far, the night had been peaceful; she expects it to end quietly.
Reaching the middle, she stopped for a moment as she observed the forest; it was calm and the smell of the earth relaxed her further, almost nulling her senses to tranquillity. Taking a deep breath, she resumed her pace and at the fourth step, she heard a twig snap, which made her turn around almost immediately.
"Who's there?" she asked the darkness as she took a good sniff, only to find a fox appearing from the bushed. She sighed in relief as she watched a family of foxes – four of them – walking north. "It's just those."
A smile crept on her lips as she watched them disappear into the night. She turned to resume her pace, but something entered her sense of smell, which made her duck forward. A loud growl came from behind as she got on her two feet, then faced her attacker; its eyes were as dark as the night as much as his nozzle reeked of saliva that dripped out of its lips.
Renegades? She thought as she took a stance and leapt to the right just as the rabid dog lunged at him. From its scent, she knew it was a NoM – a Morphling – yet it made her wonder why she was not able to smell its scent all this time; she had been alert for the whole time yet this happened.
Taking the initiative, Katherine ran towards it just as it came charging towards her. She grappled the Morphling in the form of a huge wolf that stood at least five foot tall; its eyes were visible in the darkness as it bore a light red hue. The trees provided no shelter from the light as its leaves had long fallen.
Growling, Katherine bared her fangs as she punched the humongous dog in the gut before throwing it against a three; it dented the bark of it as Katherine speared the dog in the middle even before it could recover. Not taking any chances, she wrapped mounted the beast and grappled its neck, then tightened it in hopes of making it collapse; it whined under her hold as she tightened it even further, yet not too tight for her to kill its host.
It was the soul within it that she was battling, not the person who owns the body.
The huge beast did not wish to lose as it bashed Katherine against the tree several times before it ran deeper into the forest, hoping that she would fall off. But Katherine knew better, the light scratches on her skin would heal easy as she tightened her grip around it which eventually made it stop and threw tantrums on the spot.
"Stay down!" she growled as the huge beast under her finally ceased its attempt to escape; it slowly fell under her as she held on for a few more seconds before letting go. She got off it and looked at its open eyes that no longer bore the taint of black – a renegade's soul's mark.
Taking a few steps back, she caught her breath as she looked at her scratch marks that have already healed itself before she looked at where she was. She was certainly far from home just from the speed of the beast, she knew she would have been taken far; how far, she can only guess.
Exhaling out loud, she was about to take a step when she felt a tight grip on her neck; her body rose from the ground as she immediately held the hand around her neck. She smelt his scent – a scent too familiar – from a long time ago. Her fingers managed to squeeze between his fingers and her neck, roaring as she unleashed his tight grip on her.
Falling out of his grasp, Katherine threw a roundhouse for his face, only for him to catch with his hand. Her eyes lit up in yellow as she recalled his face that very night – the first night she was unable to protect Hailey.
"You're going to pay for what you did to Hailey!" She roared as spun her body to hit him with her left ankle and managed to land a hit; it made his face turn the other way from the force as his hand let go of her right foot. It did not seem to hurt him that much as his black stained, golden eyes spoke of anger; a rage she could not quite understand.
Anger blinded Katherine as she roared out loud and charged at him; she landed an uppercut to his jaw that she was certain it cracked from the amount of force she had. He stumbled back and threw a left hook at her, but she dodged it by a few millimetres; it merely grazed her cheek.
Throwing a flurry of punches, Katherine exchanged blow for blow with this man, whose anger rose with each punch. The night deepened as he roared out loud after taking a leap back, his form shifted to half and lunged at Katherine with claw first. She did not pull back and instead, charged for him without a second thought.
The man roared and landed a claw on Katherine's cheek; five deep, long lines that bleed as soon as her skin parted. She did not whine, but merely roared louder than him as she punched his cheek. Both of them tried to tear each other apart as Katherine refused to shifted into half, almost half her body was covered with scratches, but all her wounds were healing at exponential rate.
Unlike her opponent, who almost seemed out of breath but the look on his eyes were raging. Tackling him, he caught her by the wrist and threw her against the tree that took a dent; before she could even recover, he tackled her against the tree and bent it backwards causing the nearby animals to scatter, even sending the owls to fly away.
Damn it! Katherine cursed mentally as she felt his claws dug onto the sides of her ribs; it was slowly digging deeper into her as she clenched her teeth, refusing to roar in pain. She tried to push him back with her might, but he bit her arm deep enough for his canines to taste her blood. The smell of her own blood infuriated her, causing her eyes to go gold; she wanted to fight the urge to shift, feeling that her current form was enough.
His claws dug deeper as much as the tip of his canines grazed her bones which proved excruciatingly painful for her, which almost caused her to roar. Her eyes widened at the pain as she tried to push him with all the strength she could muster, only to feel the pain in her ribs heighten; with each push she gave, his claws dug deeper.
Unable to hold the pain, Katherine surrendered to the pain as she pulled her arms back, then pushed his mouth open to free her other arm. Her efforts almost bore fruit, but her opponents did not want her to break free; he lodged his claws into her ribcages. Katherine felt the pain shake her spine as hammers rocked her bones, making her give into the pain and roared out loud.
"Hey, ugly!" a voice called which made Katherine pupils turn as much as the half-shift in front of her, "Pick on someone your own size!"
The man merely roared at him as Katherine felt hope rise inside her; she watched him throw a fan of knives at him and impaled his back in a line, which made him roar and pulled back. The pain from retracting his fingers from Katherine's side made her roar as well before she rolled off to the side to recover; she can feel the cuts in each of her ribs that does not seem to be regenerating.
Trying to get up, she looked at the half-shift that roared the creatures out of the forest as he turned into a full werewolf. Deckard leapt off the tree he was in and took out a knife from his belt, then engaged the werewolf, whose wounds seemed to have healed upon his transformation, but the knives on his back remained deep inside.
"Kathie, run!" Deckard shouted as he made three quick jabs to the werewolf's legs, but found himself backhanded; his back slammed into a tree that made him groan out loud and close his eyes tight. As he opened them, he rolled to the side to evade the incoming charge of the werewolf that tore the tree in half. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."
Katherine recovered her footing as she looked at where the werewolf was, then growled at his presence; her eyes tarnished in gold as she howled to the sky. Shifting in her half state, she charged the werewolf on all fours and used the trees around her to get onto his back, then grappled his neck. The werewolf tried to grab her, but his humongous size – bigger than the wolf of a Morphling just now – prevented him from reaching her.
Spring towards them, Deckard aimed for the werewolf's knees and stabbed his knife through its kneecap, making it bend forward with a roar. He dislodged his knife from its knee to further cripple it by impaling its other knee, bringing it down for good. He stood behind the wolf as he watched Katherine tighten her grip around the beast, eventually subduing it for good.
Katherine growled down at him with a glare; the light in her eyes stained gold with grey; she slid off him in her half state, then looked over her shoulder, at Deckard, who seemed to be admiring her form. He had a smirk on his lips as he walked on over to her whilst she met him half way.
"Damn," he spoke as he dusted himself, then fixed his messy hair, "You were good."
Katherine raised her brow, "Were?"
"Okay, are good," Deckard admitted as he raised his bloodied knife, "But I have to say, I am better."
Katherine chuckled as she released her half form, "As if," she scoffed, "I took him down, not you."
"Well, I guess you did," Deckard shrugged as he looked at the passed out beast, "Why didn't you just kill it?"
Katherine looked as well, "I want to bring him in for questioning."
"Spoken like a real assassin," Deckard mused as he kicked it lightly just to see if it would move, "So, how do we carry this big piece of meat?"
Katherine shrugged as she sat on the fallen tree, "We wait for it to return to human form."
"How long is that?" Deckard asked with a raised brow as Katherine merely nudged at the beast's direction. He looked back at it and had his eyes widen at it; the beast slowly returned to its human form, its clothing torn to shreds and left him nearly bare. Deckard approached it as well as Katherine, who procured silver handcuffs to bind him. "Damn, that was quick."
Katherine pulled him over her shoulder in one fell swoop and began walking. Deckard pointed the direction back home and the two of walked in silence. Katherine could feel her ribs aching from the injuries she incurred, which made it a little difficult for her to keep walking; her arm was also quivering from the scratch on her bone, almost making her let go of the body on her shoulder.
"Want me to carry it?" Deckard offered as Katherine shook her head, "You sure?"
Katherine merely shot him a glare that shut him for good; he just looked away with miff and mumbled to himself. They walked a few metres away, until Katherine's bones could no longer shoulder the endearing pain; it was a struggle to breath as much as to carry something like a six foot tall man.
"Shit, Kathie," Deckard spoke as he watched her fall forward on her knee; he removed the body off her shoulder and laid it on the floor before looking at her. She was breathing fast as though trying or at least, forcefully trying to cure her damaged ribs. "Just stay still and breathe okay? We'll go after you've recovered."
"I'm fine," Katherine replied as she stood up and began to walk, which made Deckard sigh. He pulled the unconscious man over his shoulder, then followed her; she was far better, looked as though she was indeed fine as she claims, which only made Deckard sigh with relief. It was not that he did not trust her, but he was merely worried about her.
"You're really something, Kathie," Deckard spoke to remove the silence, "Taking on a veteran wolf and even managing to subdue him," he exhaled with admiration, "I think you're qualified to be an assassin."
Katherine scoffed, "I rather not."
"Ah yeah, Alexis," he remembered as they kept walking, "You know you ca-"
In the blink of an eye, a tiger mauled Deckard over in front of Katherine, which made her eyes widen. Without thinking, she growled and ran to it, trying to pull it away from Deckard, who was trying to keep its canines away from its face; its claws pierced his skin as he cursed out loud in pain.
Gripping its sides firmly, Katherine pulled the tiger away with all her force and threw him against a tree that the huge cat merely used as an anchor for his fall. The tiger rushed over towards them before Deckard could even recover; it bit his arm, canines sunk into Deckard's skin as he screamed out loud from the pain.
Once again, Katherine tried to grapple the tiger, but it knew of her approach and lifted Deckard to throw him against Katherine; it sent the duo flying against a tree then created a dent, almost breaking half through its width. The tiger was rushing towards them, making Katherine pull Deckard and leap out of its way.
"Shit," Deckard cursed as he rolled out of Katherine's hold and took a knife, only to find them glimmering all over the grass, "Fuck!" he exclaimed as Katherine picked him up once again to evade another pounce from the tiger, where she dropped him before retaliating. "Katherine, Don't!"
Charging forward, Katherine bared her teeth out to show her anger that almost made her shift into half. The six foot tiger did not seem the least bit afraid as it clashed with her head on; it clawed Katherine across her arm as she tried to deflect it, but she countered with a hook to its face that caused it to stagger for a moment before biting her arm.
Damn this! Katherine fumed as she roared in pain, trying to shake and punch the huge cat off her arm, but its teeth were too deep in her bones that she could feel her arm going numb from the deep hole its teeth created. She punched and punched, until its left eye was swollen, yet it was insufficient for it to unlatch it.
Deckard could not get up, his body too torn from the encounter; he tried to crawl towards one of his knives, but with every move and with every breath, his body would beg him to just lie still. The pain was too much for him to bear, unable to help Katherine at all; he watched with anger in his eyes for his uselessness and inability to sense the danger that came.
Struggling out of its teeth, Katherine felt faint as the blood she lost grew unbearably high, making her fall onto her knees, unable to keep her strength up; her internal injuries were too much for her body to fathom to the point that it could no longer obey her mental command. Katherine tried to move her limbs but the amount of blood escaping her body was making her lose consciousness.
As she fell onto her knees, the tiger finally dislodge itself from her, then took a step back just to growl as though trying to threaten her; Katherine, with her stubborn self, growled back as well, but not as intense as it was earlier on. The tiger with dark stained eyes raised its claw, ready to behead Katherine whilst she took heavy breaths trying to command her body, staring at death in the eye one more time.
"Kathie... shift," Deckard mumbled as he tried to call out to her; the pain nearly silencing him as much as his consciousness waned as well. His blood created a lake around him, nearly making him bathe in it. "Save... yourself..."
Katherine wanted to shift, but her consciousness was waning faster than she can command her body to obey; her will was strong, but her body would not simply have it. The claw came down as she closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable to come; her heartbeat echoed against her ears as she felt pain envelop her.
Fae, don't be sad.
The tiger roared as it laid down its slash, but it suddenly stopped its roar then slowly back away, shaking its head fervently as though trying to shake off something. It staggered left and right for a few moments as though fighting an internal battle until it eventually dropped unwillingly on the ground; its eyes were closed as though asleep.
"Geez," Katherine heard a familiar voice as much as she could smell gunpowder a few miles away, "Good thing we got here in time."
Jesslyn emerged from the trees with a rifle in one arm, fast pacing towards Katherine who had a smile on her face; she was glad that Jesslyn was there even if she could no longer open her eyes. Allowing her to lie down, Jesslyn watched as Katherine's wounds sealed themselves, but the blood could not be denied.
"Art, carry her," Jesslyn commanded her companion who seemed to be very reluctant to approach the sleeping tiger near her. She looked over her shoulder and glared at Art, who seemed to be quivering inside his skin, heavily perspiring under the star light. "Hurry the heck up, you wimp!"
Art gulped the lump in his throat, "I'm scared!"
"It's asleep, you idiot," Jesslyn replied as she walked over to Deckard, picking up his knives along the way; she took out her jacket and wrapped it around his chest, hoping to seal his wounds. He had a smile on his face, glad to see her there to save them. "You did a good job, Orion."
"T-Thanks..." Deckard mumbled as blood escaped his lips, streaming down his lower lip.
"It's okay to pass out," Jesslyn offered an assuring smile; "You'll live."
Smiling, Deckard slowly closed his eyes and passed out from the loss of blood. Jesslyn carefully lifted him up military style, then walked over to Katherine, where Art seemed to be puking somewhere else, probably unable to fathom the smell of blood. She cannot deny that it reeked of iron around her as she carefully lifted Katherine, balancing both people on her as much as the rifle of her shoulder.
"Be useful and drag those two near me," Jesslyn commanded Art, who was still regurgitating his guts out into a bush. She merely rolled her eyes as Art eventually obey and pulled the naked man and humongous tiger near her. As Art pulled the man, he noticed him gaining consciousness; his black eyes almost glistening with amusement, eventually chuckling. "What's so funny?"
"You're too late," the man with black stained eyes laughed at nothing in particular. Jesslyn headed his words and feared for the worst, unable to comprehend what it might be that she had failed to see. Maniacally the man laughed; his black stained eyes told Jesslyn that a renegade still resided in him. She let him be for now, for she was not in position to lose her temper; waiting for what bewildering words he might say next.
"The search is almost complete – the Key will soon be ours."
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A/N: The answers to these questions are fast approaching, how will the truth be accepted?
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