In the middle of winter, the woods were quiet. The river had frozen over, and all of the small animals were tucked into their nests and burrows, sleeping away in the cold night. Soft snow was falling on a wooden lodge in a clearing. Two lights shone brightly at the front of the house, illuminating the front door. Inside, the lodge was dark: all the lights had been turned off for the night, save for the one in a bedroom on the second floor. In the yellow-lit room, a little girl sat hunched over on the edge of a soft bed. The child was trying to run a comb through her thick black hair. Her hands tugged hard at the wooden comb. As she struggled with the tangles in her hair, a dark shadow loomed over her. A thin white hand reached out, hovering over the innocent little head. "Aaah!" the little girl gasped. The pale white hand clutched the little hands that held the wooden comb on the child's head. A long arm wrapped itself around the thin shoulders, holding her in a pale embrace. "Gr
Ash waited listlessly for Celia in the common room of their dorm building. It had stopped snowing outside and the sun was just peeking through the clouds. A few students were milling around the dorm: some were still in their pajamas, while others, like Ash, were standing around in their uniforms.It was still more than one hour before the start of morning assembly. Normally, Ash would be one of the students sleepily walking around in pajamas, stretching lightly and scratching at her bedhead at this time, but the dream had cut her sleep short and so she had gotten dressed and ready for school an hour earlier than usual.Celia however was an early riser and she was very pleased to have a leisurely breakfast with Ash. She was in such a good mood that she ran back upstairs to change out of her regular stark black coat and look for her "special coat" to wear to breakfast.Ash thought it was a lovely gesture. Celia's "special coat" was an expensive green designer coat
Isabelle let out an exasperated sigh as Ash stood in front of her. Ash was a tall girl but she had poor posture, and today her brown eyes looked tired. Her shiny black hair was tied up in a bun on top of her head, making her look like a matron."You look like hell, Boots. What's wrong with you?"Ash smoothed her hair back and moved to rub her eyes. Isabelle slapped down her hand."Hey!" Ash yelped."Don't do that, Ashy! Your hands are dirty from the oil in your hair!""Sorry, My Lady!" Ash said, rolling her eyes."You keep calling me 'My Lady' and I will slap you right across your dumb face!""I would love to see you actually slap someone, Izzy. It would be hilarious. Saint Blaise himself would rise from the dead to see that.""You are the most blasphemous person I have ever met, Ash Parker!""Clearly, you don't keep the company of many blasphemers, Your Ladyship." Ash laughed.Isabelle rolled her eyes at Ash. Ash
Ash felt the dull pain in her back all throughout breakfast. She felt it in the back of her neck as she bent down to bring spoonfulls of food into her mouth. She felt it shifting through her organs as she laughed with her friends. She felt it spread from her back to her legs as she walked to class and felt it in her arms as she shifted the weight of her book bag from one shoulder to another."Ash, you don't look well. What's wrong?"Isabelle looked at her friend with concern.Ash smiled widely, but even the effort of smiling made her face muscles ache."Don't worry about me, Mom. I think I might just be catching a winter cold or something. I always feel a full body pain before I get the flu.""Mom?" Celia laughed. "Don't mock the Comtesse, Ashy. She may just well adopt you. She has connections, she can totally do it." she joked.Izzy looked pointedly at Celia before turning to look at Ash. Celia may not have meant anything by it, but Izzy wa
Aside from that morning's minor incident, the rest of the school day was uneventful. Ash had gotten over her embarrassment quickly and by lunch time, she had already allowed Celia to earn her forgiveness by buying her an extra plate of chicken wings.As Celia and Ash used their hands to dig into their lunch, Isabelle looked at them, her face scrunched up and looking judgemental."What, do you want to take a picture so it lasts longer?" Celia asked, sarcastically."I know it's normal for you guys to eat like barbarians, but I'm still not used to seeing it up close." Isabelle said as she sliced delicately at her salad and chewed carefully."Come on, Izzy, we've seen you eat a burger. That's not exactly fine dining." Ash replied."Yes, but that's outside of school, in a restaurant that sells hamburgers. That's only appropriate, especially when I'm always outvoted by the two of you at dining choices," Isabelle said, primly."It's not about fine
"Hey, I'm going for a run later, are you coming along?" Celia asked the girls after class."I have a fencing class later, but if you go before that I can do a quick jog around the field with you." Isabelle said."Uh, yeah, I'll go too. My back's been hurting all day. Maybe I can jog it out, stretch my muscles.""I don't know, Boots. If it hurts, maybe you should go lie down. It's a little cold out."The girls were walking back to the dorms to put their things away. The sun was still out, but the wind was cold.Ash pressed her thumb to her lower back and traced along her spine, massaging the sore spots. She'd felt a slight pain in her back for days now, but today the pain was sharp. Not only that, she had felt her joints aching all day. It was like someone had thrown her body in a washing machine and set it on high."Maybe she just needs a massage. I bet she'd like a Swedish massage, wouldn't she, Cece?" Isabelle said playfully, looking to Ce
As soon as Ash got inside her dorm room, she dropped her book bag on the floor, tossed off her overcoat, stepped out of her leather school shoes, and flopped face down on her bed. She didn't even bother to change out of her uniform.Celia looked on from the doorway. She shrugged and quietly picked up her friend's discarded book bag, setting it on the floor beside Ash's study table. She balled up the crumpled coat and set it on top of Ash's book bag. Then, she put away both of their shoes, nudging aside Ash's strewn pair with her socked feet, and put her own book bag on her own study table, just beside Ash's.Celia quietly changed into a pink velour Adidas Originals tracksuit and put on a pair of pure white Adidas trainers with gold accents. She knew that some of the students made fun of her for being noveau riche and ragged on her alleged lack of good taste, so she made it a point to double down on her flashy street-style aesthetic at school. She knew what she liked an
Hunter had noticed the change in the color of Ash's ears as he passed by the girls that morning, just before class. He had been genuinely amused by Celia's accidental insult of her friend's mental capacity (Celia had accidentally called Ash "retarded" earlier that day) but he felt a little guilty that Ash had been embarrassed by it. He had no doubt that Ash was smart. And it wasn't because she was a scholar: the SBA scholarship's only conditions were that she didn't violate any of the Academy's rules and that she pass all of her classes.Despite that minimum standard, Ash had made the effort to perform well in school. She maintained her academic standing in the upper 10 percent of their level every year since she started at Saint Blaise's Academy. While she didn't exactly top the class, she always ranked third or fourth at every term and received minor commendations at the end of every school year.Hunter admired Ash's tenacity. She didn't have the advantage of exclusi
Ash’s wolf eyes opened to see two girls cowering together on the bed in front of her. She could smell their fear distinctly: an acrid smell that caused her nose to twitch. The smell was emanating from these two girls and these two girls were her friends. She knew this in her heart. They weren’t prey animals.Ash moved to bring comfort to her friends, seeking to calm them. She opened her mouth to speak and a low keening howl escaped her throat. The sound seemed to reverberate around the room. The sound was monstrous and offered no comfort to the human ear.Celia screamed, afraid. Izzy, however, remained perfectly still. Her fear was still palpable but there was an underlying courage that kept her from swaying.Ash could sense an aura coming from Izzy. Something yellow, with lines of sky blue. It was warm and soothing.[Ash, please, Celia is scared. Please stop] A voice echoed in Ash’s head.[Izzy, is that you?] Ash thought.[Yes, it’s me. Please stop this.]Ash locked eyes with Izzy in
The silver-haired man looked like he was in his late forties, perhaps fifty years old at most. He had sun-warmed skin that contrasted with his pale blond, nearly silver hair. He looked like an outdoorsman in his denim jacket and worn gray jeans.“That’s Wendell Carson to you, my boy. Grandfather was an old life,” the silver-haired man replied with a half-smile.Hunter didn’t say a word. He did not know what to say. He only knew that he had said something he wasn’t supposed to say.The man turned toward the girls and smiled.“My name is Wendell Carson. I’m a wildlife expert from The Wolf Sanctuary in Mountain Range. In an old life, I was Hunter’s known grandfather.”Ash’s eyes widened. She had only ever heard of Hunter’s grandfather from Lavinia, Hunter’s mother. The story of him killing and eating Lavinia’s horses shot through her mind. Her heart beat faster and her palms began to sweat.Celia and Izzy merely looked on, confused.“You will call me Mr. Carson and that will be all. No o
In the middle of the first week back, the headmaster called all the students to the Grand Hall for an assembly. This was unusual as Assemblies were usually set for the beginning or end of term, and certainly not done mid-week.The students shuffled in at an early 7:00 am, with much grumbling and fidgeting.The Head Master looked out to his early morning audience and began his speech. He spoke first of preliminary matters, welcoming the students back from their holidays. After the brief niceties, a somber look came upon his face and he continued.“There are a few matters I will be addressing this morning that is of great importance to the Academy.First, I am sure that all of you have heard of the tragic incident that occurred over the holidays in the restricted area behind the school. It is true that a man was found thereon, but I would like to assure everyone that it was not a student of this school. Those of your peers who have yet to arrive from their holidays will be accounted for
Monday Morning: At lunch, the cafeteria was abuzz with chatter. It was the first day after the holidays and rumors were flying.Rumor 1: Apparently, a man had been found dead in the woods behind the school.Apparently, the man had killed himself and the body had been eaten by animals, leaving only his pecked clean bones. Others claimed it was one of the school staff that killed himself.Rumor 2: Celia, the new money girl, had apparently tried to stab the orphan Boots girl at the fancy restaurant in town. Her vulgar rich parents had paid off the orphan to not press charges, and apparently, that was why trailer trash Celia new money wasn’t back yet.Rumor 3: It appears that there was some truth to Rumor 2, as Hunter Guzman had suddenly seemed to take an interest in Orphan Boots.They had been seen jogging together at the quad in the early morning and they seemed to be chatting away. He also
Lavinia had a powerful aura about her. She was not a shifter, yet she was clearly the alpha female of the Guzman house.Madame Guzman was of average height, but she stood tall and walked tall. The hems of her flowy pants never creased at the bottoms. She never dragged her feet.Ash wasn’t sure if Lavinia was actually taller than her (she wasn’t) but the woman just seemed to stand over her, literally and figuratively.Lavinia spoke with authority and moved with a dancer’s grace. With her wavy black hair, curling softly about her shoulders, she looked regal: the rightful and noble queen of a castle. To Ash, even her name sounded fancy: Lavinia.And yet, Mrs. Guzman was also warm and motherly.“It’s not too tight, is it?” Lavinia asked.“No, ma’am,” Ash replied.Ash sat on the floor of Mrs. Guzman’s sitting room as the lady of the house braided her long dark hair. Mrs. Guzman herself had offered to do it. It had seemed so natural to sit at this woman’s feet and sink into the gentle grazi
Hunter was even more touchy than usual. He hugged Ash just before they entered the house. When he pulled the chair out for her at breakfast, he gave her a squeeze on her shoulders just before he sat down in his own chair.Lavinia glanced at her husband, speaking with her eyes. “Are you seeing this?”Silverio nodded, subtly.“Ash, come by my study after morning training,” Lavinia said, with a hint of a smile. Ash smiled back. She had an inkling that it was going to be about her suits, but she didn’t want to say anything. She was excited but she didn’t want to jinx it.***Ash stood in Mrs. Guzman’s reading room. There was a pile of leather-bound books on the mahogany writing table, a bowl of crystals, and two sets of cards. Ash looked around, trying to find the package that contained her new suits.The door opened and Mrs. Guzman came in with a large black box.“Don’t you just look excited?” She teased Ash.Ash got dressed in the adjoining powder room and emerged. She wore a set of dar
When I woke up that morning, I felt like the world was finally my oyster. For most of my life, I endured pain. When I was little, I suffered through the pain of rejection. I was already “too old” when I arrived at the Orphanage. Most couples wanted babies or toddlers: too young to know that they were abandoned, easily raised and molded, no need to tell them where they really came from until they were adults themselves. We were taught to appeal to the visitors. We were to stand in a line at the doorway to greet them and smile when they walked past. We were to stand in lines arranged according to height and sing a song about how sad it was to be a child alone in the world. The visitors were allowed to cry, but we were not. We were told to smile and play. We spoke only when spoken to. We were not to speak of our parents. The guests could say whatever they wanted to us. They could promise us new toys, good food, a new home, a new hope of belonging: we were supposed to smile and act shy.
Two weeks into the holidays, Ash could feel herself getting stronger.Every meal she ate at the house was the most fabulous meal she had ever eaten in her life. Everything was fresh and delicious, many of the dishes were ones she had never had before. She used the softest towels on her body and slept in the biggest, softest bed she had ever slept on.The Guzman’s refrigerators were the most wondrous things she had ever set eyes on. Double doors, a built-in ice maker, and each one was always full of food. If she wanted a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich with olives and feta cheese at ten in the evening, she could have it. There were bottles of sparkling water, infused water, and even alkaline water.The casual abundance of their home was both comforting and exciting.The training was hard, but her body seemed to recover fast. Her days were filled with training and grand pockets of leisure in between. She had full use of the family library, and in
The next few days revolved around training. There was an hour of running in the morning, an hour of weight training in the afternoon, and another hour of running in the early evening. The household staff had returned and there was a semblance of normal in the Estate. Apparently, none of the staff, with the sole exception of Fernan, knew that the Master of the house and his son were werewolves.“What would happen if anybody else knew?” Ash asked, early one morning.Hunter’s head was buried between her breasts and he looked up at her with a dazed expression in his eyes.“Huh?”Every morning before their daily run, the pair had taken to making out in the bedroom almost immediately after waking. It was very difficult for Hunter to keep away from Ash at night, but he abided by the most important rule and did not share Ash’s bed while she slept. Every morning at the crack of dawn, however, he would barge into the bedroom and