"No one can tell what goes on in between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come out the other side.
Or you don't."
-Stephen King
Lifeline By: We Three
I floated on the edge of the aether in a timeless loop, existing in spirit and not flesh. I was nothing and everything. I could not see, taste, or hear, but I remembered what these things were and I knew that I very much wished to experience them again.
Which is why the day I woke up in my body, six feet under ground and unwillingly inhaling dirt and bugs, came as such a shock.
My body, as lifeless as it was, acted without my permission, clawing at the walls of this rank and unforgiving prison with broken nails. My breathing came in panicked bursts, and it startled me to see my skin shift and feel my bones ache. I couldn't see anything, it was so dark that even my lupine vision failed me. As waves of claustrophobia sunk in, I screamed, the sound cut short as dirt fell into my mouth. Spitting out as much as I could, my trembling fingers tentatively probed my neck, finding the thick ropy scarring that now donned my skin.
I can't breathe.
I started to hyperventilate, black spots hovering over my vision as my fractured mind gave in to the mind numbing panic. My head started to throb with pressure, like a balloon was slowly filling inside my head. I couldn't contain my screams as pain sharp and burning attacked my skull. In my minds eye I watched as the golden threads of a soul bond slowly started to knit back together. I gripped fistfuls of my hair and groaned as the pressure finally receded, releasing all the dammed up memories.
Elizabeth. My eyes squeezed shut as I was sucked in.
I saw myself through her eyes, my body lifeless and my eyes blank, my throat torn to ribbons.
My chest ached as I watched Camille beg me to hold on, my last words meant to be an apology for not full-filling my promise and reuniting her with Michael.
I watched Elizabeth scream and scream, cradling my dead body to her breast, begging me to come back, begging me not to leave her. I watched her eyes turn black as she fled deep within herself, surrendering control to her kindred spirit.
I watched my family wail and plead, the pack mourning my death under the watchful eye of the moon. I watched as Kore commanded them to leave and heard the war within her words when she spoke of her feelings for me to Owen, her confusion at it all but her faith in my revival.
Memory after memory poured in, too fast for me to track, which I was thankful for given my current state. When the last of the threads wound into place, the bond snapped into place and our minds collided with such wildness that I reeled back in shock. I noticed the change immediately as raw power flooded my thoughts, wrapping them in a tight embrace. Since she was a goddess, I couldn't sense Kore's feelings unless she wished me to, which is why I was so surprised when she allowed me into her mind with no hesitation.
I sensed an overwhelming amount of relief and a bit of shock, which would've made me laugh had I been able to.
"Can't.....breathe." Was all I could manage, the fear of being crushed to death pressing on my mind.
Her response was to withdraw and I panicked at the sudden loss, screaming as the earth around me started to shift and rumble like thunder, rattling my jaw with the loudness of it. After a while, I understood that I was being lifted out of this horrible grave and forced myself to calm, regaining a small amount of control over my breathing. As the weight on my chest lessened, my body worked to dispel the dirt.
Bit by bit, light poured through, the last of the earth peeling back to reveal day.
A flash of lighting greeted me first, followed by the angry growl of thunder. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, it was too much all at once. The light too bright for eyes that were awakening anew, the dirt too sensitive on skin that was only just pinking back up. Too weak to turn my head away, I shut my eyes, the allure of sleep too difficult to ignore.
I didn't have it in me to react when my ears started to pick up bits of language, only I could kind of understand what the woman was saying, given that I had grown up listening to her speak it.
The knowledge that my mother was here didn't register with my mind until I forced my eyes open as far as they would allow, which unfortunately wasn't much. But it was enough for me to catch sight of her tear stained face and stricken expression.
I tried to get my throat to work, but all that came out was garbled nonsense. Fear washed over me as I reached for my neck, gasping unintelligibly. My body was shifted onto its side as I expelled lungful after lungful of soil until I felt I could breathe again.
"Oh, bebelușul meu." She sobbed, her fingers trembling where she brushed my throat, the small amount of contact shooting shards of pain through my body. Kore's presence surged forward at my discomfort, wrapping me in warmth as she tried to shield me from the pain. I dropped in and out of consciousness from the time I was lifted into a warm embrace, the pain becoming too much. When I did wake, I managed to catch snippets of conversation but was too out of it to make much sense of anything that was said.
"It will take time for her to heal and time for her body to remember the feeling of being alive." The words vibrated through my body as she spoke, her tone deepening into warning.
"I have allowed you to see her out of courtesy, but now you must go. Camille will have your head when she realizes her mate is not where he should be, and I have neither the time nor patience to deal with that right now."
"I will not leave her again." My mother's voice hardened.
"Please......her....stay." I begged Kore, my thoughts fractured. I wanted to cry as her awareness shifted to mine, gently probing and assessing. A keening wail rang in the air and I didn't realize it had been mine until the arms holding me tightened protectively.
"Shh little one. You have only just awoken. Your mind and body cannot handle such foolishness right now and I refuse to risk your safety. Sleep." I tried to fight the command, but my body was too weak and I quickly sank into sleep, plagued by nightmares.
🖤
"She's alive? And you knew?" Camille shrieked, running her hands obsessively through her red hair as she paced back and forth in the little clearing they currently inhabited. Her eyes were bloodshot and her features seemed to have drastically aged in the weeks after Azalea's death, but her fiery temper had not lessened and did not disappoint. "All this time I could've helped her!" She snarled and red smoke started to waft off of her as she stalked angrily towards the immobile goddess, stopped only by Owen as he abruptly stepped in front of her, a glower marring his features. Lightning cracked nearby, briefly illuminating their faces.
Kore was amused at the absurdity of this young wolf who assumed she needed his protection.
"Enough. I understand that there are questions to be answered, but for now I would like to be with my sister. I received wind from my father, and Ravenna's men have been spotted just outside Wyoming. I'm not sure how, but it is possible someone tipped her off. Now more than ever we need to restore our kingdom. Now more than ever, we need our Queen and her mate." He finished quietly.
Camille's eyes blazed with murder at the sound of her mother's name, and a string of curses pouring from her mouth that had the smoke surrounding her thickening into fog. They had just made it to the border of Nebraska, without incident so far. Of course this was mostly due to the fact that they'd been cloaked, but now that Azalea's life was returned to them, they were all the more vulnerable.
"Elizabeth refuses to come forward and she has a nasty temper." Kore waved her hand and sighed as if she were exasperated but no true feeling escaped with the sound. "Azalea is still much too weak."
"Returning from the living is....not pleasant. However, I may have something in mind." A grin stretched across her face as a flower bloomed out of thin air in her hand, wilting and dying in seconds only to repeat the cycle.
Once more Owen had to stop Camille as she raged forward, enraged by flippant way Kore had spoke of Azalea's painful awakening. Ignoring the witch, the goddess let her mind wander back to the girl, finding her deep into a nightmare. Her fear was tangible, and snippets of what she was living through flashed through her mind.
This will not be pleasant." She determined grimly as the dream played through her mind.
Dirt pouring into her mouth, choking her as she desperately tried to claw her way out of the grave, hope rising every time she caught a glimpse of sunlight only to fall as the hole would begin to fill once more, and endless cycle of fear. Knowing she had to pick a memory of upmost importance, she reached out and brushed their minds together, plucking the scene from her mind, a memory shared between her and Elizabeth. As their engagement played across the bond, a presence stirred faintly within their shared consciousness, drawing closer the farther Azalea sank into the memory.
"So, you are still with me." The goddess murmured in interest to her kindred spirit, cautiously observing the wounded soul as it tried to skirt away from the memory.
"Oh no you don't." She surged forward, latching onto Elizabeth's mind, commanding her forward, forcing her to take back control.
Previously, she had been happy to leave the creature to her pitiful grieving as it had made it all the more easier for her to pursue her original goal. But now that her interests have shifted elsewhere, she found she actually had need of the vampire's experience. So, she melted into the shadows of Elizabeth's consciousness willingly, content to watch and learn.
"Oh shit." Camille and Owen, who had been watching warily, blurted in unison as her eyes suddenly snapped open, a vibrant gold. "The crazy bitch actually did it! That was way easier than I th-," her voice cut off as her sister suddenly screamed out in pure rage.
"Never mind." She muttered.
"Let me go!" She roared through her fangs, fisting her hands in her hair as power raged around her. "I cannot bear it. Let me die." She slid to her knees, her head in her hands as she begged over and over for death, anything that would take her away from a lifetime without her mate.
"Gone, gone, gone." She moaned over and over in broken English.
Camille's eyes filled with tears as she tentatively approached, motioning for Owen to stay back. Ignoring the tornado that was her sister, she knelt down and pulled her into a crushing embrace. For a long while all she could do was hold her and speak softly, praying that the bond madness hadn't completely broken her.
"Elizabeth. Azalea lives." She spoke softly, but the older woman was having none of it, shaking her head rapidly back and forth.
"No no no. She's dead. I saw her die. I saw her...I held her...." Her beautiful features crumpled as she shook, unable to see reason. She was so mad with grief that she was unable to sense her own mate.
"So much blood."
She folded in on herself, shuttering with unimaginable pain. If it was hard to be away from your mate in life, Camille couldn't begin to understand what it was like if part of your soul died. She cursed the eternal sleep that Michael was in, wishing very much for the comforting warmth of his presence in her head.
Cupping her sister's face in her hands, the witch brought their foreheads together, staring deep into sightless eyes. "Look deep within yourself. She lives, I would not lie to you." She punctuated her words with a powerful shot of pure magic, hoping it would provide Elizabeth the clarity she needed to see the truth.
Elizabeth couldn't breathe as pain wracked her body, her soul crying out, reaching for it's other half. She didn't have the strength in her to fight anymore, and it was only a matter of time before death came for her too. But despite this, her sister's words had struck a chord deep within her that would not be ignored, and she found herself opening her mind, knowing only emptiness would great her. Instead, she was suddenly overwhelmed with the presence Azalea's mind. As wild and free as she was and lined with a thick barrier of love and lupine strength, there were no doubts as to who's mind this was.
Camille's tears spilled over as she watched her sister's expression pale with shock, her own cheeks wet with emotion.
Owen stepped forward and knelt down with his hand out, a tentative smile on his face. "Would you like to see her?"
Enjoy ;)