Artemis' POV:
When I returned home with Sapphire, I laid her down on her bed. I went in my room, shifted back to human, and got a new pair of clothes to put on. When I was dressed, I went to see if either Topaz or Zev were home yet.
"Zev?" I called out. "Topaz? Guys, is anyone home?" I wandered all about the house, but nobody else was home. "Great." I sighed. "Guess I'll just play my luck with the emergency kit." I was about to head back to Sapphire's room, but I heard a knock on the door. "Oh, maybe that's them." I silently hoped.
Boy, was I dead wrong.
"Good afternoon, Artemis."
"Oh, h-hey g-ma. Haven't seen you in a while."
"I saw you this morning." She pointed out as she tried to make her way inside of the house.
"Heh, yeah, I knew that. S-so, uh, what brings you here?"
"I came here to announce that I have found your long lost sister. Artemis, meet Carmen. Carmen, meet one of you're older and responsible sisters, Artemis." A teenage girl, about 15 years old, stepped out from behind the old geezer. With the amount of fear that her eyes were showing, it seemed like this girl was looking out for the next World War.
"Um, hi?" I awkwardly reached out, attempting to shake her hand.
"Hello..." She responded, and shook my hand. Her voice was high pitched, and it matched her face. Strange thing to say, I know, but she reminded me of one of those peppy girls you'd find back in high school... Only more shy.
Well, she defiantly has our mother's looks. Seriously though, she was like an exact copy of our mom. Just like Sapphire, she had really dark brown, almost black hair. She also had grey eyes, but the were a little lighter than mine. She was also shorter than me. She was only about 5 foot, but I guess that's okay, because I heard she was only 15 years old.
"Well now, look at that, you two are already bonding." My grandmother laughed. This situation was awkward, and with Sapphire being right upstairs, it would be complete disaster if she woke up. If Sapphire saw Carmen, all hell would brake loose.
"Look, um, I'm pleased to meet you and all, Carmen. But, g-ma, you guys can't stay at the moment."
"Why not? Wouldn't you like to get to know your sister more?"
"Yeah, I would, but now's just not a good time."
"And, why is that?"
"Well, Sapphire's right upstairs. I mean, after how she acted this morning, I don't think it's a good idea for you two to be here right this moment."
"Nonsense, I think this would be a great opportunity to Carmen to get adjusted to her new life with us. Besides, she is going to be living with you guys from now on."
My jaw dropped all the way to the floor. This lady is crazy! She knows how Sapphire is. She's just gonna end up ripping this girl to pieces.
"Now come on," My grandmother urged us both to sit down on the living room couch, "We have much to discuss."
Luna's POV:
I was laying on my bed while my little brother was watching TV in my room. I was in deep thought with what happened not too long ago. This isn't the first time that we've been targeted by wolves, but this is all too confusing. And, I'm starting to think that my sister knows something that Griffin and I don't, and she's hiding it from us. The fact that my sister was communicating with a wolf.. I don't even know if they classify as wolves, because one of them turned back into a human.
"Luna? Griffin? Are you guys home?"
"We're both in my room, Jen."
I heard my sister coming up the stairs, so I unlocked my room door, and let her in. "So, care to explain wait our little brother and I just witnessed not too long ago!?"
"Look, just calm down, I'll explain everything. Griffin, turn off the TV, and let's go in the kitchen."
"Ugh.." My brother turned off my TV, and we all went to sit at the kitchen table. My sister was in the kitchen making herself tea.
"So... Are you going to tell us what's going on?" Griffin asked.
"You guys are so impatient." Jen sat down across from me, and took a sip from her tea. "Okay, I'm going to tell you something that obviously I've been hiding from you for a long time now. But, you can't tell anybody else, okay? You have to keep this a family secret. Do you promise?"
"We promise."
"Okay, so, this whole wolf thing.. As you can see, the two wolves that confronted you today were no ordinary wolves. They're, as a good majority of society calls them, werewolves, but the proper term is a shape shifter."
I stole a quick glance at our brother. He seemed to be more interested than I thought he would be. He was leaning over the table, fascinated by what he was hearing. I, on the other hand, didn't know how to react.
My sister continued, "Shape shifters have been around since the 11th century, possibly even longer. Nobody exactly knows. Humans and shape shifters lived in harmony for some time. They would protect us from any danger while in return humans would share land and resources. This happened because when they shifted into their inner animal, they were much smaller than the ones we see today, and much more tame. But, during the early 1800's all of that changed. There seemed to be some kind of virus that spread worldwide, but it only effected shape shifters. This virus caused the inner animal to become much more deadly, and they grew in size. There were tremendous reports of shape shifters killing innocent people due to how vicious they became. So, certain families trained themselves to put an end to the madness. They're commonly known as werewolf hunters."
"Okay, okay, okay.." I interrupted. "This is a nice history lesson and all, but you know that's my least favorite subject in school. What does this have to do with us though?"
My sister sighed, and took a long pause before continuing. "Luna, it has everything to do with us. You two were born into a family of hunters."
Sapphire's POV:
When I woke up, I noticed I was back in my human form. I was resting on my bed, and I had a major headache. I tried to sit up, but throbbing pain in my lower back prevented me from doing so. I lifted up the blankets that were covering me to reveal that my whole torso was wrapped in bandages.
"God dammit, James." I muttered and fell back on the bed. "Next time I see you, I'll rip you to shreds."
"Yeah, I think you're gonna have to left your body fully recover before getting into anymore fights, little sis." Artemis was leaning on the nearby wall looking out the window. "Actually, I think you're going to have to improve you fighting technique too. It seems like James has leveled up in his training."
"Yeah, no shit he has. Hey, did you bandage me up?"
"No, it was the freakin' tooth fairy." My sister looked at me as if I was stupid. "I was the only one with you when you were knocked out against the wall."
"Shut up. I can't believe he beat me that easy." James has always gotten more attention then I have, and he was better at almost everything that I do. It shouldn't have been such a surprise to me, but I can't stand losing, especially to a jerk like him.
Artemis sighed, and shook her head. "Look, we have more important things to focus on anyway. Remember our new sister that we told you about this morning?"
"How could I not remember?" I can't believe we're bringing this up again. Does she not remember what happened after they told me about her?
"Well, guess whose gonna be staying here for a while..."
"Oh no. Don't joke like that, Artemis."
"I'm not joking. Our grandmother came with her right after I brought you back home. Her name's Carmen, and she's only 15 years old, so of course, she's weaker than you. Sapphire, you're gonna have to get along with her, or at least avoid giving her a tough time adjusting. She just found out that she's a werewolf after all."
"Who the hell cares? If she's going to adjust, then she's going to have to deal with me. I'm not softening up for anybody."
"See, Sapphire, this is your problem. You're as stubborn as a fucking mule. I'm surprised your inner animal isn't a mule instead of a wolf."
"I heard that." I heard my wolf growl. "Yeah, well, that's just how I am." But, I decided to change my tone, because I could tell my sister was getting upset. And, I didn't want to get into another argument that could turn into a fight. My body wasn't in any condition to shift at the moment. "So.. This girl, Carmen, is she still here?"
"Yes, she is. She's occupying the downstairs bedroom and currently unpacking. Granny Smith left though. She says you have to drive Carmen to school tomorrow morning."
"Why me?" I whined.
"Do I look like a semi old lady with grey hair popping out of her skull? No. So, I don't know. But, she probably knows that you'll make things awkward with our sister. She most likely wants you two to bond."
"That bitch. Fine, I'll do it, but I won't like it."
"Good. Now, you get some rest. I'll check up on you from time to time to make sure you're okay." Ha, is this the Artemis I know? She's being way too nice to me.
"Yeah, okay." I said before I turned to my side and made myself comfortable. "Tomorrow should be interesting." I said as I fell asleep with a smirk on my face.
The next day (still Sapphire's POV):
After I woke up, and got dressed, I went downstairs trying my best not to wake everyone up. My brother, Zev, and my sister, Topaz, came home late last night after patrolling the area for our cousins. They barged into my room with a worried look, because they had heard what happened. Sometimes those two are just too much. They act like I'm still 5 years old most of the time.
"Yo, Carmen." I knocked on the girl's room door as I called out for her.
"Come in." I heard a soft, delicate voice reply.
I opened the door to find a petite looking girl fixing her hair in the mirror. First impression? This bitch is a diva.
"First of all, I'm Sapphire. You're other sister. Second of all, your hair looks fine, so let's hit the road. I suppose you don't want to be late on your first day at a new school now do you?" I asked in a flat tone.
"Oh, Sapphire!" She stopped with her hair and paid attention to me. "I heard so much about you."
"Oh really? Like what?" Like I already don't know.
We walked out of her room, and made our way towards the front entrance.
"Well for starters, I met some of the elders, and they told me that you can be an excellent leader. They spoke so highly of you."
I stopped in front of the door. "They did?"
"Yeah. I'm that you're not the next alpha. They said you're full of great potential and everything. As for me, well... I don't even know how this whole wolf shifting thing works. I've known I was a shifter for a while, but I still don't know how to control my wolf." She looked down at her shoes. That's something a submissive would do.
"This girl is our future alpha?" My wolf commented. "She's so tense, so timid, and so small."
"Trust me, they're all lying to you. And besides, you're only 15 right? Trust me, you'll get the hang of your new lifestyle in no time." I snapped back into reality and unlocked the door. We both stepped into my car, and I started driving along the highway.
"I hope you're right." She said. She was looking out the window, admiring the scenery. "Maybe you could teach me everything that you know? You know... About being a werewolf and all."
I laughed. "Sure kid, whatever you want." I smiled at that thought. That's weird and unusual. I'm supposed to be giving this girl a hard time, not acting all nice and what not. But, she was acting like I was somebody famous, and she was my number one fan or something. I was told yesterday about how shy she was towards everyone, but she's here sitting in my car talking up a damn storm. It's been so long since somebody actually acknowledged me like that. Maybe I am going soft...
"We're here." I pulled up next to the local high school. "Spencer High. Home of the Chinchillas."
"Chinchillas? That's the mascot?"
"Yeah. Not very intimidating, is it?" We both giggled. "Come on. Let me take you to the main office, so we can get you your schedule." We got out, and walked inside the school. Man, how I hated doing that everyday. I hated coming here and seeing everybody's face and seeing the same old ugly hallways and lockers.
"Here we are." I opened the door to the office room.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Sapphire Daze. What brings you back here?" The lady at the front desk asked. "I hope you're not planning on enrolling back in, because as you can tell, it's way too late for that."
"No duh. I'm not coming back to this hellhole. This is my little sister, Carmen Daze." Carmen stepped up next to me and waved. "She's new, and she needs a schedule."
The lady took a look at my sister, and went to her computer. We heard the printer starting up, and not too long after, she handed Carmen a copy of her schedule. "Here you go, sweetie. Let's hope you don't end up like your sister over here. I hope you have a wonderful experience at Spencer High School." She smiled a fake smile.
"Thanks." Carmen said, and we exited the office.
"So, you think you'll be okay from here on out?" I asked and patted her back.
"Yeah, I should be fine. Thanks for the ride and everything."
"No problem. Topaz should be here at 2:30 to pick you up. So, I'll see you later."
We waved goodbye and went our separate ways.
I was in deep thought, still thinking about what Carmen said earlier on. Did the elders really say that about me? They always act like I'm never good enough, but hey told my sister that I'm an excellent leader? I swear even family can be so fake.
I was so deep in thought though that I ended up bumping into a girl. Her books fell on the floor, and other females, which I'm guessing were her friends, crowded around her and gasped.
"Geez, why don't you watch where you're going asshole?" I asked in anger.
"I'm so sorry, I should've watched where I was going."
"That voice..." My wolf hummed. "It sounds so familiar." I ignored my inner animal and continued being my usual bitchy self. "Yeah, you should've. That's one more thing I'll never miss about this place. People are always knocking into each other."
"I'm really sorry." She apologized again.
I stood up, annoyed, and I was about to continue on with my day, but I caught a glimpse of the girl that I knocked into. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw her on her knees picking up her textbooks from the floor. With every passing second I was finding it more difficult to breathe.
"Oh my god.."
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The picture is Artemis' wolf.
Now excuse me while I go snuggle up in my Snuggie, because my house is FREEZING COLD.