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SEVENTY-THREE | SAGE
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2020-10-05 01:10:38“You’re here,” I breathed, silhouetted by the warm light of my bedroom behind me. I suddenly felt exposed, my hair up and off my neck, my bare legs pasty white in the damp, grey daylight.
“I’m here,” he murmured, taking a shaky step forwards. He was soaked, and the ground was wet, but I didn’t care as I leaped towards him, my tiny body crumpling against his, large and warm and safe.
There was a beat of silence, of nothing but raw joy, rising in each of us at the sight of the other. Then my brain caught up with my heart, and I stumbled backwards, my eyes wide and glistening with fear.
“You can’t be here,” I whispered, raising my eyebrows to drive my point home.
“I can,” he said, pressing a finger to his lips. His other hand dug in the pocket of his coat, and he held up a small bag, no bigger than the size of his palm. Then he shru
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“What?” I pulled away from him, my back straight and uncomfortable. “What do you mean, who you really are? I – I thought I knew you, Skye. Pretty well, too.” I huffed, crossing my arms across my chest. I was hurt, but I wouldn’t let him know that.He opened his mouth, dismay warring with hope on his face, and then he froze. A floorboard creaked outside. Someone was there.“They can’t hear us,” he whispered, though I noticed with a dark sense of amusement that he’d dropped his voice. My hardened humour was marred by fear, despite Skye’s certainty that we were shut off from the rest of the world so long as the spell bag was near.The silence was tense and brittle between us, icy cold, the thin layer on top of a frozen lake that might, at any moment, snap. There was a sigh – small, withdrawn – and another footstep. They were right outside my bedro
Last Updated : 2020-10-07She Runs with Wolves SEVENTY-FIVE | UNMASKED
“W-what?” I stammered, my breath hitching in my throat.“Well,” he muttered, his gaze fixed firmly on the floor, “it would make sense, wouldn’t it? I mean – I always assumed you couldn’t age, but I wasn’t sure, not with everything else I’ve learnt about vampires since meeting you. But then you confirmed it for me, and, well – you’re going to live forever, never aging, never changing. And I’ll get old, and I’ll – I’ll die.” He swallowed, finally daring to meet my eyes.“Yeah, Skye,” I said, speaking slowly, watching him intently for even the slightest movement, the slightest hesitation or frown, “but that was never an option. This – I wouldn’t want this for you.”“But you said yourself that you don’t hurt anyone. And you’re strong, and you don’t feel the co
Last Updated : 2020-10-09She Runs with Wolves SEVENTY-SIX | CODEX
I could hear Aradia’s words ringing in my head: “They cause chaos, destruction, but they are – for the most part – mindless. They attain pleasure from the pain of others…”I’d remembered part of my early education in the supernatural, but not all of it. The pocket-sized book Skye had shown me had filled in the gaps in my knowledge, and, at long last, we knew what we were hunting.Herb’s warning had also gone right over my head. Large, crowded events, full of people, were a breeding ground for violence and torment. Skye had left me the book – though we’d been hidden from the Clan’s eyes and ears, his family, his pack, would still worry if he’d been gone too long, which he already had been; as such, he’d had to leave soon after explaining what he and Rowan and Rosie had found in the tiny book.It didn’t look like much, faded and crinkled a
Last Updated : 2020-10-10She Runs with Wolves SEVENTY-SEVEN | UNDERWORLD
“So,” Rowan said, sitting back on her heels, crouched in front of our little circle on the porch, “the book says that marks, or signs, like the one we’ve been seeing are Marks of the Underworld. Sort of like a supernatural clue for anyone smart – or lucky – enough to recognise it.”“But demons have to be summoned, don’t they?” I asked, frowning down at the book. It was splayed out in the middle of us, the pages held down with two large, unpolished crystals that Grandma Rosie had donated to the cause. “Surely whoever had summoned it would clean up after themselves?”“It could have been summoned a very long time ago,” Kathrena said, clucking her tongue against her teeth. “After the demon has done its duty, as such, it’s free to stay on this plane of existence and do whatever it wants. Which usually entails mindless violence and other horrific acts.&
Last Updated : 2020-10-12She Runs with Wolves SEVENTY-EIGHT | HEATED
Skye’s face paled immediately. I doubted my complexion had changed much, but my eyes were round and glassy as I stared off into the pots of herbs. I read the label on the green sage to myself, over and over, until the words no longer looked like words to me, and the letters no longer looked like letters.“Why the silence?” Grandma Rosie seemed equal parts irritated and concerned. “That shouldn’t be a problem, should it? Wolves run in packs, and based on the fact that there are two vampires sat in front of me, both of whom are willingly attending school for what I assume is not the first time, I’d hazard a guess that there’s a clan nearby, too.”“It wouldn’t be a problem,” I began, very quietly, “if either Skye’s pack or our clan knew about the other. They don’t… they don’t know about us,” I gulped.Grandma Rosie sighed.
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“Although rare,” I read aloud, “mate bonds between Vampyres and Werewolves do exist. These two species are believed to be polar opposites in every way, and, often, such bonds are either left undiscovered, or are terminated upon the realisation that they exist between two souls.”Skye squeezed my hand. “I’m glad that we found each other, El.”I smiled. “Me, too.” The heat of his skin against mine sent a shockwave through me, and I struggled to return my focus to the book.“However,” I continued, “for those that are brave enough to see past their preconceived notions of the other species, mate bonds between Vampyres and Werewolves are the source of immense power. Rather than soulmates, this pairing is often likened to twin flames: two souls lighting up the dark together. Two wholes, rather than two halves, combined as one in order to displace the darkness.”“I wonder what that means,” Kathrena said. “I’ve read it before – the book talks about human and vampire bonds too, which is why I d
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I pulled my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them firmly. A thrill ran through me at the feel of my own body heat, radiating through the thin fabric of my pyjama bottoms. I wriggled my toes in my fluffy socks, squeezing them together to feel the warmth pooling there.Had I been able to cry again, I would have been blinking back tears at the sensation. Even alone, without Skye’s body heat to warm me, the feeling of temperature – real temperature, not just an assessment of it – was heady and overwhelming, and entirely enjoyable.For the first time since David’s death, my shower had been an utterly pleasant experience. I’d focused on the hot water, on the oozing steam, and I’d been overcome by the feeling of the heat on my bare skin, and the fresh chill as I’d stepped out and into my towel.I didn’t want to take this lightly. It was a gift, no matter the cause of
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I balled my hands into fists, stuffed deep inside my pockets. I’d forgotten what the cold truly felt like: the shuddering, uncomfortable chill that bit at the tip of my nose and made the ends of my fingers ache. Yet still I relished in it, thinking with excitement of how pleasant the warmth of my bed and blankets would feel later. Perhaps I could have another shower when I got in; I could let the hot water stream down my skin, heating me from the outside in.It was a luxury to feel the cold; so much so that I kept missing what Falmer was saying to me.“You took the time to dig out a scarf?” He was tutting, his hands in his pockets out of habit rather than to keep them out of the bitter cold.“You know me,” I teased, “I always want to look my best.”“For school, maybe. But for a night-long patrol?” He raised one quizzical eyebrow.
Last Updated : 2020-10-15
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The week following the defeat of the demon had been surprisingly normal. Well – as normal as a week could be for two vampires, a witch, and a werewolf.I leant back against Skye, pressing my body against his. His arms slipped around my waist, and I snuggled closer. I could see the darkness swelling outside, scattering the stars and drawing away the purple haze of dusk.Skye had all but moved in to the Clan house, and, whilst most of his belongings were stashed in the spare bedroom upstairs, he slept and spent all of his time in my room.I’d dragged another chair up the staircase and lugged it into my room, so that we could share my desk – though very little homework ever got done, what with our constant teasing and moments where, despite the desk and my laptop, despite the mounds of assignments and text books, nothing but Skye and I existed. Those moments ended in kisses, always, and though I was
She Runs with Wolves 107 | AFTER
The large, red-brown wolf in front of me panted, its claws digging into empty earth. I stepped closer, one quivering hand outstretched. The rain splattered onto its fur, slicking it down as it turned its huge, golden eyes to look at me.There was a nudging glee between our bond, as though we were both too scared to accept that we’d done it. We hadn’t failed. We’d won.I held the wolf’s gaze. He gave me a nod, and his jaw hung open in a lopsided grin.It was raining. I’d made it rain.I couldn’t make sense of everything that was happening. My grip on the knife loosened, and it clattered to the floor. Then Skye was shifting in front of me, and, rain soaked and bloody, we fell into each other’s arms. All around us people were waking up, witches and vampires alike, and I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding. They were going to
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“If you have the power to do that,” I said, yanking the blade out from under my skort, “why not just kill us all now?”Cythraul clucked his tongue. “And what would be the fun in that? The realm I’m from is nothing like your world, Ellis. This place has hope, and fear, and love, and loss. There is duality in all things. It is a privilege for me to be here, you see. I plan to enjoy it.”“So this is just a game to you?” I spat, raising the knife. I tried to keep my eyes on the demon, not wanting to see the lifeless bodies of my family all around us.“Of course,” he grinned. “Though I’m afraid your chances are perhaps bleaker than I’ve made out. Your little witch friend, the red head – she was wrong about that stone around your neck.” He nodded at it. “It doesn’t mean what she thinks. Her first guess was right &n
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“You know?” I whispered. My mouth went dry, and I swallowed thickly, trying to wet my lips. Ice flooded my veins. We had lost. We had failed.He stepped out of the shadows, snakes of black mist pooling around his body as he moved. His smirk deepened, and I saw a flash of white teeth as he struggled to hold in his laughter.He looked, for the most part, human. His skin shone with a pearlescent lustre, but two dark horns protruded from his forehead and his eyes glowed red. He was tall – taller than any person I’d ever seen, be they vampire, human, witch, or wolf – and, as the fog parted, billowing away from his legs, I understood why.He had the upper body of a human, and the legs of a large goat. But, as I watched, they shifted and shimmered in the darkness, stars and sparkles of an indeterminable colour – too matte to shine like that, too black to be so bright; it was impossib
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“I guess this is where I have to leave you,” I said, though I didn’t slide my hand out of Skye’s, or make any indication that I was planning on walking away from him. I was reluctant to leave him alone, even though I knew that his job was more likely to be safe than mine. That didn’t mean I wasn’t scared for him.“I guess so,” he echoed, though his clutch on my hand grew firmer.We’d agreed before that Skye should stay to protect the humans in the maze. With every second that we put off the inevitable, we were putting lives at risk. Our jaunt through the maze had been undertaken with the knowledge that we would likely be to first to arrive at the scene of any attacks – but there had been none, and, so far, it seemed as though the demon was planning on giving the maze a miss.The thought gripped me with fear, icy and unyielding, a frozen cage that constricted my
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We had an hour to kill before the Clan were due to start their fight. I didn’t want to think that it might be my last, but try as I might, my barricades were struggling to stay in place. The two thuds played on a loop in my head, and I had to concentrate very hard to keep the images of David and Toby out of my mind.No. I couldn’t think like that. Tonight we would avenge David, and we would keep the rest of the town safe. We’d been lucky so far in that there had been only one casualty – there was something odd about that, I was sure, though I was grateful that was the case – but I didn’t want to put anyone else at risk.I took a deep breath. “Do you want to go through the maze?” I asked, turning to face Skye.He slipped his hand out of mine and rubbed it on the thigh of his jeans. “Sure.” He pulled a smile onto his lips, but it seemed that I wasn’t alone w
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“Okay,” Molly said, clapping her hands together. “I think that’s everything.”“Finally,” Rowan muttered under her breath, and I had to stifle my laughter.It was the night of Halloween, and we were all milling around at the entrance to the maze. The committee had grown considerably since our meetings – we’d needed more volunteers to fill the maze, and there were parents, teenagers, friends and family stood beside us, all in costume. Molly had given out costuming guidelines before the event, much to the dismay of most of those participating, but even I had to admit that she’d done a good job with organising the maze and the activities within it.And, to my absolute delight, she’d made Skye come as a werewolf.“You’re just tall, and muscular, and you have all that hair,” she’d shrugged. “It makes perfect sen
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Skye let out a tiny, defeated sigh, but then he pushed through his disappointment and stepped closer, peering into the window beside me. “Are you sure they haven’t just changed the display around?”“The display is the same.” I groaned, banging my head against his arm. We were being careful not to say what we were looking for out loud – there could be ears anywhere – but I’d been so pent up all day, so focused, and it felt as though our plan had fallen flat before we’d even had a chance to start.“Hey, don’t do that,” Skye murmured, prying my chin off his shoulder. “You almost went through a window yesterday.”I shrugged. “It’s pretty much healed now. But – thank you for being concerned. It’s sweet. I like that you forget what I am, sometimes.” I gave him a tiny smile, and he pressed a kiss to my forehead, rig
She Runs with Wolves ONE HUNDRED | OCTOBER
I’d thought that my classes had dragged today, but they had been nothing compared to the committee meeting that followed.Beneath the table, I linked my fingers with Skye’s. We were in the same dimly lit classroom as yesterday, and, though it was still light outside, the room was cast in shades of grey. Outside, most of the leaves had fallen from the trees, leaving behind gnarled and bony fingers stretching up into the white sky.“So,” Molly said, tapping her stubby index finger against the whiteboard, “we’ll put the tomb right in the centre of the maze, and then I’m guessing you two want to be the ones to jump out of the coffin?” She directed her gaze at Carys and June, who both nodded eagerly, before turning to grin at one another.“Awesome,” Carys said.“Where’s the centre going to be?” I asked, frowning. It looked close
