CHLOEMere moments before, I’d been ready to leave them all behind when the very air around us sizzled as Pascal Dennison made an appearance, he told us to leave the Porter’s house, which was fine with me, I was already leaving. Till he looked at me directly for what felt like the first time and said.“ If I were you, I wouldn’t go to Vincent’s, not right now at least. I just left there. Let’s just say I left him and Jacinta in sour moods. But you can’t stay here either.”And for what felt like an eternity, he and Jane simply stared at each other, with a mixture of emotions written on my mother’s face. He turned and left without saying a word, while my mother looked as angry as a tempest.Jane had decided that it wasn’t safe for us to remain in town. Mark commented on having connections out of town, enough for us to get a pretty decent safehouse. He made some calls and before long we were in his car on our way out of Drewsy.Tension in the car was so palpable I could almost taste it.
CHLOEMy heart almost beat out of my chest as I got down from the taxi at the warehouse Vincent had planned for us to meet. It looked mostly abandoned apart from the fact that one of the bay doors was open and there was light coming out of it.For a brief moment, I thought about what my mum would think… and mark. I quickly shook the thought out of my head. The only thing that mattered was Mackenzie and I didn’t need anyone to come to my rescue. As I got closer to the bay doors, I noticed the area was crawling with Vincent’s goons, some were even humans armed with guns.Why did he need so much man power with me? Or didn’t he trust me that I’d come alone?The men didn’t speak a word to me as I walked past, some barely even regarded me. Vincent was at the center there with a makeshift dinning table and a single chair having dinner.“You’re late, Chloe.”, He muttered without looking up from his plate. “I’m just glad you made it.”“Where's
MARKWe pulled over at the address given to us by Jeff. The ride over here was monotonous and dull, my insides were a flurry of emotions, unease at meeting a member of my biological family while, at the same time, my heart bled from the whole exchange with Chloe. Hurt like I’d never felt before coursed through my very veins, making me want to transform and rage through the countryside for three days straight, like I used to back in the day, Whenever Jacinta took it upon herself to show me how “generous” she was by raising me, her husband’s bastard son, Or in the days after Pascal left and my father’s passing. All these feelings triggered by her words.The power this woman had over me scared me. My feelings for her scared me more than I’d ever admit. She wanted to go back to the father of her child, A familial bond that I have never had. Even with my father alive, I was still always a bit of an outsider. Never completely a son, a bastard son, or a stepson, never completely a brother.
MARKI was immediately distraught. I wasn’t sure how to react. Rachel ‘s anxious voice still trickled out of the phone in my hand but I couldn’t hear a thing. I was caught up in my own emotions. I didn’t know what to feel; anger, hurt, frustration, betrayal, denial… it all kept looping around my head.“Who was that?” Jane inquired, obviously concerned by my broken expression.I squeezed my mobile so hard the screen cracked.“She left…. Chloe… she’s gone to meet Vincent”Jane stared at me with her mouth hanging slightly open, eyes wide with fear and concern.She stood to her feet and headed for the door. She tried to pull me along but I didn’t budge.“what are you doing mark?, “she asked incredulously, her voiced etched with despair, ”we have to get her back, come on”I held my place.“Come on Mark, you know how much danger she’s in”“she’s made her choice” I muttered silently, “ she’s chosen to trust Vincent over me”Jane let go of m
MARKI rushed out of the car and went straight for the entrance. My brother seemed to have been expecting me and had a welcome party waiting for me. I stood there, looked at the dozens of already transformed werewolves snarling and growling, all ready to stop me.“You have two choices; go home to your families…Or don’t.” I boldly declared to the wolves assigned to stop me. I could tell my words gave them reason for pause, but they quickly shook it off and came charging into their deaths. The first wolf to reach me landed from above with his claws bared out to do damage, I stepped to his right and sank my fingers into his neck plucking out a handful of his flesh in as he dropped to the ground gasping with arteries already lost. This angered the rest of them as they rushed at me from every side. I dodged a direct slash to my core as I shifted to my wolf form as well. All around me I delivered death to my own Pack members. I refused to think much about that though. All that I care
CHLOEI screamed through the rag tied to my mouth like I never had before. I tried to run to Mark but the claws at my neck bore through my skin a little deeper. I looked to my mum for some kind of solace or help. She too stood there transfixed, her mouth hung open, her features turning more human.I managed to manoeuvre my gag out of my mouth. It was all I could do at the moment.“Vincent, you bloody bastard”, I screamed, “I’ll kill you myself…”Vincent still stood there over Mark’s squirming, bloody form. He had a satisfied smile on his face as he looked down on him.My mother, having recovered from her shock tried to move towards my direction. But Vincent countered. He moved like a damned spirit. Before my mum could take a step, he had crossed the room over to where she stood and grabbed her neck.“Vincent, no!!” My voice was already hoarse from all the screaming.Vincent seemingly ignored my protest and held my mother throat even tighter.“I would hate to kill a mother in front o
VINCENTIt took a while for me to recover from my initial shock. The weak Chloe, a real werewolf. I never would have imagined that she had it in her.By the time I came to her, she was heading for my mother with bared fangs and claws and blood in her eyes.She looked impressive but She was nothing compared to my strength, especially now since I’ve started the ritual. I’ve gotten stronger than ever before.I sped towards her, confident in my ability to get to her before she got to my mother. Suddenly I felt the entire weight of Jane Vandersen hit my midsection as she tackled me to the ground.“Stay away from my daughter, you monster” she screamed.She had quite the strength, for an old werewolf. But she too was not on my level.I signaled to my wolves to go after Chloe while I put this old mutt down for good. I managed to eventually loosen her grip and throw her off me. “Stand back Jane. You keep this up and you will lose your life.”She igno
CHLOEI opened my eyes slowly and I couldn’t exactly recognize where I was. I seemed to have passed out for a bit.My head spun and my body ached. I tried to sit up on the bed but it only made it worse. I seemed to have the craziest dream, but I couldn’t remember the details.I looked around trying to figure out where I was. Apart from the bed I was sitting on there was not much else in the room. There was only a small table and a cupboard. It was a small room.As my eyes scanned the room looking for clues as to where I was, I eventually looked at my self. My clothes were tattered and there was blood all over me.I slowly began to freak out as my memories seemed to return like a tsunami. Mark, My mum….. Mackenzie!!The image of mark lying in a pool of his own blood punched me in the gut. And my mum…. Vincent…I couldn’t bring myself to complete the thought as my heart threatened to rip itself apart.I laid there on the bed and mourned. I cried so
MARKThe pure undiluted rage pumping through my veins seemed to overflow and fill my senses. All I could see was red and I was going to make sure Ronald felt that rage.I pounced on him and he braced himself in response as we crashed into the marble table in the center of the room reducing it to a million tiny pieces.Ronald seemed to recover first and made to swipe at my face with bared claws and a maniacal grin on his face. But Pascal intervened, grabbed him from behind, and threw into the wall with sufficient force that made Ronald-shaped cracks in it. Pascal stretched his arm out to help me up which I took. I looked at him a bit quizzically. All the time I’ve known him I had never seen him intervene physically in any conflict in the pack or even in his family apart from the training he gave me and Vincent. The fact he was fighting with me now, especially against someone who actually shared a blood relationship with him made me feel a type of way that was difficu
FANGROOTMARKI sat there and simply processed what I’d been told. Christian Packard had allowed himself to get caught because he would rather we catch him than go back to Ronald’s clutches. Ronald Dennison, the new thorn at my side. He was powerful, undoubtedly so. Testament to his ability was his seamless invasion into my home. Now I know how. Wolves have always been social creatures, from the wolves in the wild to the more advanced kind, we have always been social creatures, and we’ve depended on our senses. A werewolf has a heightened sense of smell and hearing, impeccable vision, and most of all, what we rely on is our ability to sense our immediate environment, the energy around us, and the general life force.But there was a werewolf who could manipulate al
FANGROOT CHLOEAlone. Unaided, that’s how he did it. Ronald had successfully invaded my home and showed me what we all knew now. That we were completely at his mercy. I didn’t know it at the time, but Mark had half a dozen werewolves watching over us when he left the house. He had two monitors outside the gates, another two on the grounds of our property, and two more on patrol. Yet not even one of them smelled his entry, much less saw him enter. He sat in my chair and threatened to end everything I cared about in the world and we don’t even know how. Logically it was almost impossible to avoid the senses of six well developed werewolves on guard. Avoiding just one werewolf’s senses was lucky, avoiding two was considered divine luck. Avoiding three, now that would require divine luck and help from others. Avoiding Six was Ronald. And no one else. I knew Dennisons. I know the feeling of having your existence be threatened by one of them.Mark had left the house ye
MarkThe unusual blend of dread and determination in my wife’s eyes was something I’d never seen before and it made my heart sink. I felt a bit of fear too but the rage mostly overshadowed it.Ronald had managed to get into my house despite the couple of wolves I had put on guard duty to watch my family. What was worse was that he also managed to get Mackenzie to ingest something and neither I nor Chloe knew exactly what it was. We were again at the mercy of one of Vincent’s goons. I could only imagine how distraught that made Chloe feel.The children were asleep now but she refused to take her eyes off them. She sat in their room and watched them as they slept. I, on the other hand, had to figure something out. I can’t sit on my hands while my family remains at Ronald’s mercy. I was so consumed by rage so much that I wanted to go to the Caldor lands myself and rip his head off with my teeth, consequences be damned. Besides I was only raised with the Dennison family
CHLOEMark had gone to meet with his uncle and once again I was left at home with the kids. Mackenzie and Victor were my joy and reasons for living, but It was hard. It always was, sitting and waiting for the men in my life to cause problems and to solve problems, with me, left at home to wonder if they are alright and if we are going to be fine. Ever since Mark left I haven’t been able to take my eyes off my daughter. Always shadowed her, especially when she played with Victor. I hated to think that my daughter could be a danger to my son and herself, the little girl didn’t deserve to be burdened as such if only I had been there to protect her and keep her safe as a good mother should. The teardrops came running along down my face. “Now, Chloe. That just wouldn’t do.”I froze dead in my tracks at the familiar yet unfamiliar voice that invaded the air around me.“Hello, Chloe. I see you standing there doing what you do best. Nothing.”Ronald was sitting in
MARKI could hear Mackenzie’s blissful chatter as she told little Victor stories of how she beat me in a race. All I could think of was going straight to Caldor and detaching Ronald’s head from his shoulders. I didn’t mind stepping over his body to get the Crane Lilies, the only plant known to succeed in reversing the effects of fangroot. “You can’t go alone, Mark. Let me come with you. At least let someone else come with you, Pascal, or anybody Goddamnit!”She yelled now. Causing me to pause in my actions and regard her calmly. My phone rang with urgency as I made to silence it. I looked at the screen and saw it was my uncle calling.Speak of the devil.“Now’s not a good time, uncle. I’m in the middle of something.” I said coldly to my uncle. “This can’t wait. And if you wanna save Mackenzie from the Fangroot that has invaded her body for a year, you’ll get yourself to the Dennison manor and we’ll go on a little drive together.” My uncle finished with
CHLOEIt was the weekend, and as promised, Mark and I decided to begin Mackenzie’s trails. She was to take the first step on the trail today with Mark and me around to guide her through. “I’m ready mummy. This is like when Aunt Sally gave me a tour of the woods at the other house. Uncle Mark raced me!”Mark laughed a laugh that only came out when he played with Mackenzie. A breathless laughter that always sounded unintentional, as though the child in him came out despite his best efforts. It never failed to warm my heart, seeing him be a father to her in a way Vincent never was. “Slow down little wolf.”Mark said, still laughing.“We’ll race alright, but first I have to tell you something. Something about our family and other families who live in Drewsy.”Mackenzie was jumping at this bit already. She’d always liked it when Mark called her his little wolf. But now she was eager to run and Mark wanted to talk. She was beside herself with excitement as sh
MARKChloe was asleep beside me as the affairs of the day played out in my mind. I calmly told my wife that it was all fine and that there was nothing to worry about. If only that was the case. The look on Chloe’s face right before she went to get dinner ready was the scariest I’d ever seen her. Because she meant every word she had said. Chloe and I had been through a lot. Had a lot taken from us, so it was no surprise she was willing to crack heads and spill the blood of whoever was going to try to take the happiness we’ve found together, away from us. I would seek divine retribution for anyone who hurts my family…The fear of losing them loomed bigger than anything I’d ever faced. So I unconsciously said a prayer: Oh God I’m sorry. Please don’t take these beautiful things that I got.Chloe stirred at my side and snuggled up to me. I held her closer as my thoughts ran miles a minute with my fears.I took up my phone and called the only person I thought I could trust. The Pack elders
CHLOE“Wolves are social creatures, they move in families called Packs. And when the moon is full, they howl at the moon.”I could hear Mackenzie’s voice over the sound of the radio as she told her little brother stories about animals. She seemed to have a new obsession with wolves, I’d like to think that was a coincidence. The Drewsy Pack usually kept all information about their true nature from their children till the children turned 10 years of age. The change could be too much for the young wolf to bear. It usually ended up in a catastrophe, traumatizing the child and even causing self-alienation from the Pack.“Mummy, can we please get some Ice cream, please? You promised.”I'd been waiting for her to say that Mackenzie could forget her backpack in the house and settle into the car all ready for school, but she never forgot an ice cream promise.“Of course, baby girl.”I said with laughter in my voice at the pleading look on Mackenzie’s face. She started