I slowly fluttered my lids open, feeling a hard surface beneath me as my blurred vision started to become clearer. All I could see was void and the bars that gleamed under the dim light above me. I could hardly move my body like I was paralyzed and my eyes were daring to close again. But I was forced to flick my finger to, at least, feel my body. Pulling my hands closer to my sides, I put both of my palms on the ground and tried to lift my body from the floor. But as I was about to move my head up, the ground shifted and the sound of an engine halted, making me stumble back on the cold surface and banged my head. My temples throbbed and the back of my head tightened like my brain was about to explode. So I winced in torment and grasped the side of my skull to somehow relieve the tension, but it did nothing. I then placed a hand on my stomach where I felt the sharp needle burying inside me.
It must be
I laid my back flat on the cold floor as I looked up at the dark ceiling. Deafening silence consumed the area and my throat was becoming dry because of the wolfsbane. My muscles hurt, my insides just felt so painful that I somehow got used to the feeling. I thought about how it must’ve felt like when Tobias was in this situation—but even worse. With continuous wolfsbane flowing through his veins because of the tube that connected to the IV bag, I wondered how he managed to stay strong and survived that torture. I just had a dose of it and I already felt like my body would give out. But despite the agonizing pain running through my body, the thought that irked me the most was the conversation I had with Sir Shelton. Instead of feeling anxious that he kidnapped me out of nowhere, I was rather disconcerted. Not from the fact that he locked me up in here to keep the warlock from finding me, but he did i
By the time I knocked him down and went out of the room hastily, I was greeted by an empty hall containing some scraps and broken cement. Pieces of broken wood were sprawled on the dirty floor and wrecked furniture cluttered almost every corner. I had no idea where to go, and I was afraid to turn in the wrong direction and get caught. Aside from that, I needed to be careful crossing this massive hall for I was certain that if I hit the clutters, creating the slightest of sounds, it would echo loudly and they would hear it. I had no idea where they hid Agatha, and I wasn’t supposed to leave this abandoned building without her. This was the least I could do to pay her back for what she’d done to us. Despite my being clueless about which direction to go, I followed my insti
I least expected to wake up in a nice, comfortable bed, with the smell of porridge making its way to my nostrils and waking up my senses, alongside the rustles of trees that filled me with so much euphoria. I thought I was dreaming—that turning last night was supposed to give me some kind of weird hallucination or dream. All I ever anticipated was dirt smudging my skin and disheveled hair that smelled like the moist ground. I was supposed to be in a damp forest, covered in dried leaves, unclothed, not knowing a single thing about what I must’ve done while my conscious mind couldn’t control the urge of my werewolf form. I should’ve woken up with aching muscles, exhausted and restless, but I felt different. It was odd. Instead, I woke up lying on a soft mattress, inside a cottage that seemed too small for my size. Light filtered through the small windo
What was I supposed to do with their issue? was all that lingered in my head as soon as the dwarf tried to stop me from leaving. I had enough of almost every circumstance telling me that I was significant and I was supposed to fulfill a major duty to save the supernaturals. Instead of feeling special about being needed, I felt as though I was lifting the world on my shoulders. With all this you-are-significant stuff, I could only imagine myself fighting off powerful creatures that were a hundred times stronger than I could ever be. And it left me wondering how a stranger—or someone I just met—immediately expected too much from me. Everything didn’t add up in my head. “We, werewolves
My mind hung in the air as I tried to process what they said. Just as I thought the warlock couldn’t get any worse, another creature always had to get in the way of everything. But was there any danger that might come ahead if the gemstone wasn’t retrieved? “How powerful is the creature you’re talking about?” I asked. Wendy fidgeted her hands as I gulped in nervousness. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hear it, or if I ever wanted to know about the creature. Nevertheless, this might help me figure out or precede any worst circumstances that were about to come. None of them responded and Wendy’s eyes started to flick everywhere as if too hesi
We would rule this together, I repeated in my head as I confidently stared at his pack. With him by my side, I could fulfill my duty and help him protect the pack in any way we could. And as an alpha, I should be strong enough to rule and be a good leader, just like Giofré. I guess the moon goddess had been waiting for this to happen—for me to accept my duties and not run away from them. Maybe I had always known that I was strong enough for this. Everyone clapped their hands as they welcomed me into their pack. I had just arrived in the bayou from the crazy things that happened to me from the past few days and I thought my disappearance wasn’t anything significant. Now that this unexpected moment happened, I was filled with relief and enthusiasm.
We were all gathered around the bonfire, seated on the tree trunk, as they all chattered with each other. We were still drinking some margaritas, with some of them almost drunk while most of them were already tipsy. I hadn’t drunk that much because I was just looking around and I was mindful enough to know what was going on at this moment. I was sitting beside Beatrice and to my left was Tobias, who was too occupied talking to another male beta. We were just laughing around while Beatrice made some silly jokes about their fun experiences in the village. We all knew she was intoxicated enough to not realize what she was saying. And she could’ve puked on me if it wasn’t from someone distracting her from the vomit that was daring to escape her stomach. “I think you’ve had enough drinks for tonight,” I told her, rubbin
I stared at myself in the full-length mirror attached to a wardrobe. The warm light of the lamp cast a shadow on the floor as I sat at the edge of the bed while contemplating. Agatha was already asleep beside me, wrapped in a duvet blanket as she constantly shifted from the bed. She was probably tired from the celebration we had a while ago and she was drunk enough that she collapsed on the bed and passed out. I didn’t sleep or rest for a bit; my mind wouldn’t let me. I was thinking about what Tobias had told me while we were dancing—that I should meet him outside when everyone was already asleep. Now I couldn’t sleep because I was reminded of that. I glanced at the door near the bed and heaved a sigh. Running both my hands to my face, I bit my bottom lip and shook my head. Should I pretend like I had f
A few years later I peered through the oven before grabbing the potholder and pulled it open. The smoke and the aroma of the freshly cooked chicken made its way through the kitchen, as I laid it on the counter. I saw someone moved at the side of my eye and when an arm suddenly laced around my lower torso, I giggled and turned my back around to face Giofré. “Hey,” he said in a husky voice before leaning his face to me and placed a kiss on my lips. I curled my lips to a smile and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Hey, hun. Have you already considered my proposal?” “You’re making it sound like we’re dealing a business matter.” Giofré chuckled before pulling away from me. He moved to my side and opened the fridge, getting a glass pitcher before continuing, “I’m still not sure about it.” “Why not?” I shrugged. “I mean, we’re not leaving this town completely. There’s
It had been a few months after that tremendous crisis we had gone through in defeating the dark soul and the other supernatural creatures that dared to destroy our living. We had survived that tribulation and we managed to get back up and rebuild everything that was destroyed, especially our pack. It still hadn’t struck us that the war was over, and the crippling anxiety was still lingering around. But those circumstances taught us the biggest lesson in life: no matter how hard it gets or how unbearable life gets, you get back up and fight. It felt as though we were trained as soldiers—battle through hardships and face the biggest hurdles that came along the way, not knowing if we would survive. But we fought anyway because we had some people to protect—those people we cared about. I once thought that, perhaps, I was supposed to get rid of all the pain in order to find genuine happiness. But I figured,
The veins bulging from Elspeth’s face began to diminish and she fluttered her lids open, gasping for air as she came back to life once the knife was pulled out of her. But when she tried to move from her spot, she failed because her body seemed to froze because of the spell Aunt Odessa cast upon her. With fury building up in her eyes, she stared at Aunt who was chanting under her breath while sprinkling some salt on top of her. She screamed in torment as soon the particles touched her skin, and I could imagine how much it must’ve hurt her. It might’ve felt like there was a burning sensation on her flesh because of the smoke her skin emanated as soon as the salt landed on her. She groaned loudly, too loud that not even the rainstorm could overpower her ear-splitting voice. As Aunt Odessa continuously chanted the Latin words written on the pages, the wind became more aggressive, making me almost lose my balance. The candles were still lit and the wind didn’t swe
Agatha opened the trunk as I dropped Elspeth’s body inside, with the knife still plunged in her back. Her pale skin turned to grey and purplish veins became prominent on her skin, some even bulged in her neck and face. As soon as I got Elspeth inside, I turned to look at my right and spotted Lucas and Weston, running toward the car while Lucas lifted a body on his shoulder. I motioned them to hurry and, once they were already in front of me, Lucas dropped the body beside Elspeth. His face immediately came into my view—eyes shut close, mouth parted, and his skin was almost as pale as Elspeth. My heart clenched at the sight of him and I couldn’t help but cover my mouth in shock. I hadn’t seen him after the incident and it pained me tremendously that this was what happened to him. All of these, defeating the dark soul and the vampire, was for him and the pack. Though his loss caused me to be wretched inside, it brought out the suppressed st
We arrived at the mountain of witches, venturing through the forest with my arms wrapped around the book protectively. All of their attention averted to me as soon as we halted, so I roamed my eyes around and took a deep breath. “Aunt!” I shouted, but my voice was overpowered by the thunder. “Aunt Odessa, we have something for you!” The vigorous wind caused the leaves that had fallen from the trees to fly around us as we scooted closer to one another. And just as I thought that Aunt Odessa wouldn’t appear immediately, I heard her voice from behind me saying, “Portia.” I turned my back to face her and when she noticed the book in my grasp, there was a sudden spark in her eyes. She tugged her thin lips to a half-smile and slowly approached our vicinity. “We got the grimoire you were looking for.” I
Our clothes were soaking wet because of the rainstorm and we had to drop by in Giofré’s house to find some clothes to wear. And since almost all of our stuff were stuck there, we managed to change our clothes so we could head to our destination which was the library. Library of Hillford was the oldest library in this town and was the main library of this city. It was one of the largest libraries in this country, containing the oldest—ancient—books that only the Hillford was authorized to have. I remembered, during high school, I had been there once. It was for a research and when we got the chance to use the computers, we found some skeptical files in there that the librarian was quick to notice. As soon as they thought we were snooping around—like what usual highschoolers do—we were kicked out. That was the only memory I had in that place, never had I thought that the grimoire would lead us to that lib
I approached the voice and, as I got closer to the end of the hall, the light of the torch reflected to the iron bar where I spotted Weston, seated on the ground near the rusted bars. He was staring at me in dismay, his eyes hinted sorrow as if he was about to tear up. He tilted his head down to hide his face, shifting from his seat before he sighed. “Weston,” I mumbled his name, walking closer before crouching down beside him. The muffled groan of the werewolves inside this place was the only thing I could hear aside from our heavy breathing. “I’ll get you out of here.” I gripped my free hand on the bar and immediately flinched as soon as I realized that it was made of silver. Silver tarnishes because of the sulfur substance in the air. “You can’t get me out of here.” His voice was laced with hopelessness. “And I do not know if I can still fight.” “If I can muster enough strength, t
Under the stormy night where darkness engulfed the forest and the trees were soaked up with rain, their branches falling on the ground as their leaves rustled, we ventured through the woods and hid behind a huge rock that stood just in front of the warlock’s tower. We viewed the vampires guarding the place from afar and we kept our noises as inaudible as possible so they wouldn’t sense that there were other creatures around. As we held the wooden stakes, with Agatha holding the crossbow, we all stared at each other to plan for an attack. “There are about twenty of them outside the tower, and some were roaming around inside,” Lucas said, peering through the huge rock as Agatha and I leaned against it. “We already manage to escape kill most of them last time, I’m sure we can do it again. Maybe we have more advantage because of these weapons.” “But what if the warlock suddenly shows up?” Agatha asked and I sighed in frustration. &nb
“We’ve been in the dwarves’ village to find some answers. They told us that only the witches have the ability to resurrect a dead body. But since the nature wouldn’t allow this loophole to maintain the balance, it was near to impossible to find a grimoire containing a complex magic,” I told Aunt Odessa but she shook her head as if disagreeing from what I said. “There’s, indeed, a grimoire containing the spell that could resurrect any creatures.” She pulled away from me, her hands falling to her side as she started pacing back and forth. I glanced at Lucas and Agatha and noticed that they were already shivering from the cold atmosphere, but they chose to stay in my vicinity to watch me intently as I talked to my aunt. Agatha mumbled something under her breath, mouthing what now to me. “You’ve seen the grimoire?” I asked, raising my brows and casually glancing