Sybil is unique, gifted with a certain type of magic. One she is going to use to save not hurt. She'll do what she must, even if that means crossing some lines to get what she needs. What she doesn't realize is that her stubborn determination puts her right in the path of Alpha Prime Aries. He's intimidating and clearly used to being obeyed. Who in their right mind would actually disobey him though? He's the leader of the strongest wolf shifters there are. Aries knew the moment he laid eyes on Sybil she is his mate. Even if she doesn't know this. What he does know is that his mate has a will of iron and a fire in her soul that she hides behind a polite mask. He's not fooled, and her stubbornness will make it hard for him to protect her. Sybil has no idea the dangerous world she just stepped into. Werewolves are not the only type of creature out there. Aries knows he needs to get Sybil to understand just how dangerous things are. Especially since she is the mate of the Alpha Prime and that puts a steep price on her life. __ “If I said no?” Sybil asked. At her words it looked like Aries's gaze went solid black. “Do you want to learn what bonding is by force or choice?” He asked her in a growl. “In this I will be an animal before a man.” Sybil saw the truth in his gaze and it made her heart slam against her ribs.
view moreSybil pushed some of the brown and copper strands out of her face and behind her ear as she worked. The ponytail wasn’t really doing its job anymore. She’d been working so many hours now that she didn’t realize how poorly it was holding her hair back. However she didn’t have any help right now, it was just her. Either lucky or unlucky enough to be immune to the sickness that was spreading through her town.
“Where is it!” She snapped narrowing her aqua colored eyes. She spotted the black jar that she wanted in her pantry and nabbed it, nearly spilling a couple other jars. She quickly went back over to the stove and in the pot there she measured out several teaspoons of the yellow powder. The thin liquid in the simmering pot instantly turned blue, and she sighed a relief happy that it worked.
The kitchen she was in was a mess of jars, bowls, utensils and paper towels. On the kitchen table she had empty vials set up in a holder. She took the pot of blue liquid over to the table and dumped the contents into a pitcher like item not spilling anything. Then she tossed the pan in the sink and went back to the pantry and reached up on the top shelf. She picked up a long wooden box and went over to the table and opened it. She paused and felt her heart sink, she had one juniper lily left.
The flower she pulled out of the box looked like it was fresh cut, but she’d had them for years. The flower had white tips and in the center it was a splash of pink and purple. There were only five pedals which meant she could only make five antidotes. She thought she could at least make ten. She felt frustration set in and a sadness. People were dying and modern medicine wasn’t going to cure this illness. Not in the slightest, it wasn’t a normal earthly sickness.
A few hundred people had died from it already. Only twenty two were sick with it at the moment and being held at a medical building. She practiced alternative medicine, and by that it wasn’t just drink some tea and energy work. She might be like a witch to some, but she didn’t have magic like that. Her talents were earth based, and dealt a lot with plant life. She could heal with touch to some extent but nothing miraculous. Just some cuts and bruises here and there. However what she could concoct from the natural world was pretty damn miraculous and she wasn’t saying that to be full of herself.
She could make drinks or even injections that would heal the sick. Of course she needed to know what they were sick with, otherwise one potion or antidote might not work. With her talent to read plant life, she just seemed to instantly know what plants and even fungi could be used for. What she was unsure about, she researched and tested first. She was just lucky that those here in her community didn’t shun her or some of the others that had gifts. Some places did, but that was why she was here. Why her family came here, and now all she had was her father who was sick with this illness but had just started.
Sybil ripped the pedals and put them into five vials. She poured the liquid in over it before a stopper. The blue liquid went violet and had a kind of shimmer to it. She put the rest of the liquid into vials and then a case with individual slots that she could carry it safely. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock. Four hours this set had taken. She’d only figured out that the juniper lily cured this illness, not just slowed it down. The flower was rare and didn’t grow here.
It was nearly six pm now and she grabbed her coat sliding it on. She had the case in her hands and went out the door locking it. Sybil went down a set of stairs rather quickly. Her shoes were worn and made little sound. She had on a nondescript blue t-shirt and a loose pair of athletic pants. She wasn’t exactly worried about appearances right at the moment. She went into the parking lot of her complex and then to a small maroon car. It had definitely seen better days, but it started right up for her and she drove fast the few miles to the hospital and parked haphazardly before running inside with her case.
“Greyson?” She asked the receptionist who was on the phone. She point down the hall mouthed floor four and Sybil nodded. She went to the elevator and then to the fourth floor. The floor they had the extremely sick, and many with terminal illness. This sickness no one was sure how they got it. It didn’t seem like it was transmissible by air, just if you got their blood into your system. Which many of the patients hadn’t had contact with someone else that was infected, so it was a mystery.
Sybil had a feeling that all of them had been exposed to some kind of inhuman blood. Particularly that of a demon. Which she couldn’t really start spewing such things? They might accept some of the potion magic she did, didn’t mean that all were believers. She couldn’t see how you couldn’t be with all the different species out there that were known now. Especially with the portal not so far away that could let other things in. A place she was going to need to go to. She didn’t have a choice in her opinion. No one else seemed able to help these people.
“Sybil!” She came out of the elevator and Greyson looked relieved. He was in his forties and a good doctor, he’d been the one to contact her about helping those here. By then her father had started to show signs of the sickness. She thought it was pneumonia at first with how it looked, but everything she tried failed. Then she’d taken some of his blood and tested it and it showed nothing she’d seen before. Potion magic and chemistry were her forte.
“I have only five, but an additional five more vials that will slow the progression down. You are putting holy water in their drink? Burning sage as well?” She could smell it and he nodded.
“Yeah, much to Clive’s displeasure but since it is showing results he’s allowing it. Only five? We have six that have nosebleeds.” He commented and they all knew that once they started nosebleeds or from the ears typically the person had five days and then they died. No one could actually figure out how it killed them. No one had seen it take a person. Just that they all looked hollow and sunken in when it hit.
“I’m sorry. I have to go and get more it’s going to take me a few days.” She told him. “How’s my father?” She moved toward his room, she plucked one of the blue vials out. She knew he would refuse the cure when there was those that needed it more. He wasn’t a severe case yet.
“No nose bleeds. He’s doing a lot better, but your treatments with him seem to have helped. Where do you need to get the ingredient? We can have someone pick it up. I don’t really care what it is. At this point if it had crystal meth in it I’d be okay with it. It works, full recovery just over a week.”
“You can’t pick it up here.” She told him with a smile. “I have to go to the portal, it’s a special plant that doesn’t grow here but on Brahi.” She told him and he glanced in the box.
“How long will that take?”
“I don’t know. I can get the portal from here in about an hour. But I will have to hike to where the plant is. They don’t have cars there. I’d rather not be known by the inhabitants.” He had been following her and touched her shoulder to stop her just before her father’s room.
“Will you at least let one of the guardians know? It’s not safe over there.”
“I’d rather just go through. If I see one when I do, then I will.” Which she probably would. They were called guardians for a reason, the cave system to the north of here had several portals in it that lead you to other places not of this world. There was a race that lived mainly on Brahi that roamed the cave system to check for where the portals shifted to, or if they moved. The guardians kept a watch on those coming and going. However it was Brahi’s portal that had the real dangers. The side the guardians came from had some fantastical creatures that were incredibly dangerous. The guardians weren’t to be trifled with either, some type of shifter from what she’d been told. Like a werewolf on steroids. She just knew that they preferred to be called what they did and that was guard. So guardians it was. They didn’t seem to like the term werewolf as others had bad connotations with it.
“Just be careful. From what I hear they haven’t been letting many even into the caves. There was a group that used to give educational talks about it. Showed some of the caves, just not the rooms with portals. They were told to stop, and that Brahi’s natives are starving. Their winter hasn’t let up it’s been a few years for them. Last year that golem thing killed a lot of people and injured more. They should just destroy that portal.”
“You can’t just destroy a natural portal. It would rebound and find another way to work. Destroying portals can cause cataclysmic events.” She told him and he rubbed his face.
“That’s why I leave things like that to you and them.” He pointed down the hall and there were two men there. They were really tall and muscular. Jesus, if one of them came at her she’d be terrified. But looking at them she instantly knew who they were. Guardians, they didn’t seem to label themselves with a given name for their kind. Just as mentioned before they just said they were guarding the portals from the nasty things that tried to come and go. So obviously the rest started calling them that.
“They are here? Why?” She asked.
“Showed up a few hours ago. They think the sickness is from one of their more elusive creatures. A very dangerous and hard one to catch.” He gave her a knowing look since she had already stated this to him. “Said they have seen this sickness before. Just not so severe, but seeing we don’t come from there…” Yeah she just bet, after all it was a plant from their land that was a cure. Well she felt it was demonic in nature, and with their creatures she wouldn’t be surprised if it was.
“Oh, well if it is I hope they find it and get rid of it.” She turned to go into her father’s room. She glanced down the way at the two that were there. She’d never seen them fight or what their other form was, but she heard they could fight really damn well. They were made for it, and whatever they could become wasn’t something to screw with either.
“Hey dad.” She said with a smile pushing her thoughts about the two men in the hall to the side. She wasn’t going to tell him that she was going through the portal. He wouldn’t want her too, but she had too. He was sick with this illness and she wasn’t going to let him die.
“Sybil, I was wondering when you were going to show. God when was the last time you slept you look awful. Actually go home and go to bed, you are going to crash. You over work yourself too much.” She shrugged and sat down.
“I’m fine, there are people dying. You need an antidote. I won’t just go sleep when I know how to cure it.” She handed him the vial and he eyed it.
“I heard that there are four children sick, two have started to bleed.” She gestured at the vial.
“I only had enough for five antidotes, or cures. If you want to get technical, but we can’t say it’s not a toxin.” He smiled at her, but still didn’t drink the vial. “It’s only going to slow the progress keep it where it’s at for you, not cure you. I knew you’d be a stubborn old fool about it.” he gave a nod and then drank. She knew he’d be more than upset with her if she lied and tricked him into drinking a cure. She respected his decision, and wouldn’t be selfish and disregard his request.
“Tastes like limes.” He commented and she shrugged. He eyed her, “You really need to sleep sweetheart.” He moved to get up from where he sat on the bed. She waved him off sitting down in a chair. He could see the dark circles under her eyes, and the way her shoulders slumped with tiredness.
“I will as soon as I finish making more. I brought what I could right now. The potions only good for so long, but I will need to travel and get some more ingredients. I’m really low.” She told him. “I’ll have to go to the city for it, there’s a store there that has items I need.”
“Witch craft.” He said wiggling his fingers. “Your mother was good at it, but you’re phenomenal.”
“I’m not that kind of witch. Not even a witch actually, you know that.” He shrugged.
“Doesn’t matter, you have a talent that’s amazing. You should show some of the others how to make what you are making so you can relax take a break. You’ve been at it since this started. It’s been a couple months now.” She sighed rather heavily.
“I would, but they don’t seem to want to take my practice seriously. I’m lacking in some way apparently.” She told him and glanced toward the door. “Just a simple medicine doctor if you would.”
“The best kind, you save people. You cure people of things modern medicine can’t do. That drugs made from the same plants can’t manage. You might have some magic.” She gave a half smile.
“Just a special kind as you say.” She moved over to hug him and he hugged her back. “I just wanted to check on you, make sure you got your medicine. Before I headed out. I want to get there and back and then rest like you want me to.”
“You better, you’ll make yourself sick and then where will we be?” He asked her and she shook her head standing straight.
“Fine because I can cure the cold or the flu. Virus or not.” He frowned at her.
“I’m serious Sybil, you take care of yourself no excuses. Getting a goodnight sleep isn’t going to kill anyone.”
“I’ll get some sleep don’t worry.” She told him. “Love you.” She commented heading out the door. He called after her that he loved her as well. Sybil was going to go get that flower, because she was not going to sit here and watch her father die. Just because he wasn’t showing the final symptoms didn’t mean he wouldn’t. It was only a matter of time and she couldn’t handle losing him. She’d do whatever she had to.
“Are you sure Zekiel?” Aries asked looking back up the mountain. It was a long hard fight with the demon army over the past few months. Pushing them back across the land and farther south. A few other dragons had chosen to wake but the rest still wished to slumber. They were not interested in being awake when there were no mates known to be left. Or even where they were. None were sure now even were the mated dragons might be through the portals it was that long ago. ‘Yes.’ Came his deep voice. Aries stood out on a terrace that put him level with the dragon’s face. ‘We will remove the rocks and I will go through. He needs to be found Aries, and I want to do it. I want to see him dead for all he’s done. So do others including you. Velex will be found and he will be dealt w
Aries passed into the massive cavern that had the dullest blue glow in here. He saw the large sleeping forms but didn’t stop at any of them. He raced through searching for the one he needed, scenting for him. He felt like it was taking forever and yet barely a few minutes passed. Still he was starting to descend into panic the longer it took. The longer Sybil was being chased by Velex. He kept his mind open, feeling her, knowing she was still alive.As he came to the back he found the one he was looking for. A huge dark colored dragon. In the light it was hard to tell his color. Aries knew it was an iridescent black that would have a deep blue appearance in the right light. Though the color did not matter. Aries pretty much slammed into the side of the dragon. Then leapt up and over him before coming down hard on his head and just missed getting stuck by the shorter horns on the back of his hea
Sybil managed to get to the mage and she practically landed on him. She was starting to get her breath back. He gave a cry of pain as she landed on his fresh wounds. The nerve endings raw from the fire. She gripped the box with him. He tried to pull it away but was unable to as she was stronger. He looked at her with pleading eyes.“You don’t understand, my granddaughter. I have to.” Sybil felt his despair and yet in her heart she knew that one life now meant everyone’s life later.“We can’t, you know we can’t. She will die too.” She reasoned as his fingertips dug into the edge to open it.“I can’t. You’ll understand one day.” Sybil held on to the box and kept her gaze solid on his.“What
“Hey.” Sybil said looking up at Aries with warning. “Stop that, you can relax. I’d have thought having me for two days would calm you down.” Sybil stated looking up at him. Aries had slipped his hand into the cloak she wore. It moved under her shirt to slide along her skin. Sybil sure felt sore once the heat wore off, but she sure didn’t regret it. She definitely let him even after, still desiring him too.“If you are hoping I will get tired of you, you are going to be sorely disappointed.” Aries told her looking down at her. They were using a snow prin again to go up to the cave. They didn’t want to run and use up energy they might need. Sybil had to take a couple more days to fix the drink. Neither of them could afford to react like they had that first time. Whether her receptivity was responsible for it or not. All Sybil had to say was if she h
Aries was looking down at the large wooden table. On the surface of it was what looked like a burned in map. It was actually created with magic, so you could make the map shift. Expand or zoom in if you would. Still it was just lines and names. depictions of towns. They might not have computers like Sybil’s old home, but they had other things. He was looking at where Velex had paused his army. Aries had his own line above the bottleneck where Velex would have to march them through.“I think he’s going to rush them. The fastest will move through first. Then the slower but stronger will follow. So it’s the choice of which we let through to fight and who set the traps off for.” Daral said and a good number of his top warriors were in this room. Aries just stood with his arms crossed. This was going to get bloody.“We are g
“Okay.” Sybil said, looking at her one bowl and one jar. Now was finally a good time to test. She’d been side tracked a bit the past few days. Tika had gone into labor a bit early and Sybil had been asked to give aid. Tika had been in labor for nearly a full day before she gave birth. So it was helping to keep her comfortable and monitor her. Sybil took note of all that was used and happened. She wanted to know so she could see if there was anything she could do or make for the next to help at least with the pain.They did not have the kind of drugs that her home world did. Not that you were going to stop labor pains completely. It was different for everyone from what she heard. Lastly being part of it, Sybil saw just how much Tika’s child meant to the rest. The first birth in so long. He was healthy and strong. No adverse effect to the little one, and it just seemed to elevat
Aries was exhausted as he opened the door to Sybil’s room and went in. He closed it softly, the predawn light was barely there. It had taken longer than he wanted to get back. Still had to check in with a few others that were guarding and now he finally got to just lay down. He didn’t even question where he was going to go and rest either. He would go where she was. The moment he entered the room her scent just surrounded him.It was wonderful, and now mixed with the wild scent his people held. He could smell her animal there now and it called to him. It also made him feel giddy and relaxed at the same time. He moved around the bed and looked at her form. She was breathing evenly if not a bit deeply. He moved in sliding below the covers and immediately pulled her to him. Her back had been to him so it was easy.He was sore everywhere, an
“Sybil.” Tika said clearly uncomfortable and kept moving a lot. “Can you just give me something to make this kid come?” Sybil smiled at her as she was helping pack some of the foods away. Since the fighting had started several days ago, a lot of the warriors had been called down to lower parts. Duties had been shifted and she was helping in the kitchen today. Happy to help, she told Tika to sit as she kept leaning on things.“How about just some pain management instead? He’ll come when he’s ready.” Sybil stated. A couple others in the kitchen laughed a bit.“I feel for you Tika. I remember my last week carrying Tre, I was so done with it. Swear to the moon goddess he was kicking my spine or bladder all the time.” Helena stated and there were smiles.
“I want this known, and I want it known now!” Aries shouted to those here. His message would be heard and he was at his final straw. At this rate they just might have to flee. Others needed to stand up and fight with him. “If they get up to the portals that is it! This line up the mountain is the last defense for us here to live. Me and mine have been up and down this entire range fighting and putting ourselves in great danger to keep the demons from getting the last portion of magic we have keeping us alive! What do any of you think will happen if he gets up the mountain? Velex will have direct access to our ley lines! No one will be alive after that. No one, our winters are longer, our flora and fauna are dying. The magic is leaving and all of us rely on it to stay alive. You will not be a pet to demon, you will be food when the magic runs out and our world collapses. If you rather an end as a dem
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