*Soleil*
"Here". Gudrun hands me a small drawstring bag made from rabbit fur. "I made it for you".
Carefully I open it, pulling out a white piece of fabric. It is a rune cloth like the one Gudrun has. I look at her with surprise. "Is this for me ?"
She nods, looking very excited. "You need one for Your runes… you need to make them first though".
Then she starts teaching me about the 24 different runes, all taken from the old Nordic alphabet the futhark. How they are separated in 3 different houses and what the different ones represent.
After almost an hour Gudrun looks at me. "Are you with me so far ?"
"Yeah I think so... all those choices and paths, it kind of like with us right…our path, our choices and the things we have to go through to become a vǫlva
*Davina*I am putting the last touches on a new dress I have designed when my phone rings. I am quickly pressing the green button when I see who it is. I was not expecting to hear from him today. "Hi it's Davina, didn't you have meetings and a business dinner ?""Well lucky me, it was funnily enough Your number I pushed". His voice sounds at the other end. "Plans changed, are you home tonight ?""Might be.. why ?" I ask. "Are you okay ? Your voice sounds a little of"."Just a little cold". He says. "As I said, plans have changed. I have a club I need to make an appearance at. You could come if you are not too busy"."Yes !" I whisper, holding the phone away from my face, pumping my fist into the air."Was that a yes I heard ?" He chuckles. "It might get a bit lat
A small warning this chapter contains hard sexual content, blood sharing and puplic sex.. so be warned.*Davina*Inside the club Lefu leads us through the crowd of guests. They part for us, making a path. We walk directly to the stairs, without stopping or talking to anyone.This is how it works, just like in the Grotto the rumours of the out of this world beautiful royals will quickly spread and people will come in throngs, hoping to catch a glimpse of Lefu or Celine, maybe even of me. The bat is sure to be a success.When we are upstairs, I go to stand at the railing, looking over the club. It is much bigger and more luxurious than the Grotto. The dance floor is surrounded by greek columns. Ther
*Soleil*"That's it ! I am never gonna learn this. So if I am not to get a melt down we need to stop now". I get out through gritted teeth and exhausted huffs. I have just ended on the ground for only God knows which time after trying to jump. I have done my best and nada is happening". I point to my sweaty and sore body.Gudrun straightens up and looks at Marta who sighs. "Alright then, five minutes break. Then I come with something else for you to do"."What just happened ?" I say, letting Gudrun pull me to my feet."You are fighting, you are doing Your best. Marta knows that and she is just at frustrated that she can't help you over Your barrier". Gudrun answers."Barrier ?""Sol, you have the ability in you. You have to believe. Maybe you just need to focus o
*Soleil*The next couple of days are even worse to get through. Opening up to nature takes so much energy and most days I am asleep before my head hits the pillow and I have no energy to think of anything but training. It takes me forever to answer Davina's messages. I simply don't have much time alone. I only have time to answer when I am in the bathroom or on my way to bed. And the answers I get worries me. Davina's messages are different, so elated and almost sanguine.After asking several times she finally admits to having met a guy. I am truly happy for me, she deserves to be happy. But she won't tell me anything about him or who he is. It makes me sad because we have never had secrets for each other. From now it will all be different. I have to lie about all of this and if she can't tell me about her life either, I feel it will tear us apart.While getting rea
*Soleil*"Sol". My mom calls across the terminal as she runs towards me.The others have driven me to Heathrow airport less than ten minutes ago and I am just making a short stop in the coffee shop before spotting my mom. Now I walk out, trying to put on the appropriate expression. The face slides into an involuntary smile as I get close to my mom. Is she going to look right through me and know Ghana is a lie ? My stomach starts knotting up with fear of being discovered. In my head I go through the lines I have practised, just to be sure; they have to be believable. Siri has told me that Ghana is reality for my mom and if I stick to the story she will never know differently."Oh I missed you so much sweetie". My mom says, hugging me tightly in her arms.All doubt disappears when I hug my mom back. I really have missed her. No matter wh
chapter contains passionate first time sex*Soleil*The next day it is pouring down outside. My mom left early and I got the house to myself. It doesn't bother me to be home alone; then I can just relax and do nothing for once.Despite the rain the air is calm and it feels hot and sticky. After a while I just can't stand it any longer and I decide to open all the windows, trying to air out the house. When I open the window in my mom's room I catch a glimpse of someone standing by the curb. My whole body reacts when I recognize him. I have imagined so many times how it would be seeing him again, what I would say. But as I run out the house and down the driveway my mind is blank.When I reach the road I stop in my tracks.There he is, Luca, standing in the pouring rain, totally shaking through and looking
*Soleil*I am awakened by my phone ringing. Next to me Luca turns over, mumbling incoherently. When it rings again I quickly get up and look at the screen in surprise. "Hi, it's Sol"."Hi, it's Marta. I am on my way to London. I'll be there in around ten hours. We are meeting at Siri's place tomorrow"."Tomorrow ? But we just got home". I say confused.She sounds stressed. "I know. But Gudrun has got some premonitions we need to look at. It looks like more hamrams are gathering"."Here in London ?" I ask, feeling chills running down my spine."She couldn't say precisely, but definitely close". Marta says. "I have to turn on my phone soon. But see you at Siri's tomorrow sister"."Yeah, see you". Marta hangs up
*Soleil*We are sitting around the table in Siri's small kitchen, discussing how to read the runes Gudrun has thrown about the premonition."My premonition was very specific. They are not newly changed and they are gathering". Gudrun looks at us."It has to be the two High ones we saw at the last moon". Marta gets an annoyed look on her face. "I said we should have followed them. Good knows how much damage they have done since"."Marta, don't forget the last of this kind we fought took,all of our combined powers and it was alone". Siri points out. "We can't go blind into battle with an enemy like that, let alone two"."I saw four". Gudrun swallows. "My kin showed me four, not two. They were in a wood. There was water behind them, maybe a lake. Farther down was a bridge. I am sure it was England, mos
*Soleil* "Oh! I never thought we would get away from Scotland”. I kick off my shoes and throw the backpack on the floor. "It was getting cramped up there”. "We're getting ok at it actually”. Luca closes the door to the small apartment and slams the lock. "We handed out some serious ass kicking” I huff. "Yes, we could win every time if you did not try to decide it all”. "You can just accept that I'm always right”. He grins. "I do when you realize that it's not about being right, but about what works !" I star defiantly up at him, but surrender as he pulls me into him. "I'm just happy you came back”. He bends down and kisses me. "So am I". The butterflies flutter joyfully inside me, and I pull him down in a deeper kiss. I twist my fingers into his tousled mocha brown hair and indulge in the feel of his lips and exploratory tongue. “Well, what do you say ? English or history ?” He withdraws and deftly avoids my aggrieved gaze. "Seriously ? You want us to read our hom
*Narrator* “Magnificent !” The lord of the wind's eyes shone with obvious joy. “I could not have done thatbetter myself”. "You were entrusted to bestow on this man your strength, and now this !" The lady of the earth thrust her arm out against a settlement, engulfed in flames. "We were just letting out a little smoke". The lord of the fire grumbled. "We just happened to realise that If humans do not gather as a people, then they will never overcome the brood and not at all the queen”. “It might very well be right. But this is not the solution”. She sighed heavily. “They were meant to live happily, not to be subjected to more tyranny”. A small lake began to trickle up from the ground beneath them and manifested itself in a figure like the other three. "It's over”. The lady of the water said. “There is no hope anymore. Tonight they will gather, and your kinship will be wiped out”. "Oh, I can not get air". The lord of the wind sobbed with laughter. "Very funny !" Snarled the fir
*Tjalfe* The villagers have never seen Hrazgouls so close before. Only a few, fleeting glimpses have been had. They always come after the Bakorshas have finished emptying their prey of blood, to eat the remains. In the morning, when the residents venture out into the daylight, there are only pieces of clothing, shattered bones and stinking piles of entrails left in rust-red stains on the ground. When one of them has tried to escape over the mountains, the remaining ones do not even get to see the Bakorshaer’s servants before the death cry of the fugitive resounds across the valley. Now they come in between the houses. One being more abominable than the next. Giant beasts with luminous, yellow eyes, whose long gaps flashes with large serrated rows of teeth. Their upright bodies were covered with dense coarse fur, while the broad shoulders and long, bulging arms end up in a paw-like hand so large that it could effortlessly crush the skull of a man. In between them comes smaller cre
*Tjalfe* Although darkness reigns behind the houses, it is easy to find the victim. The child’s screams drive Saren forward, and the fire blazes furiously in his hand. He finds the child just as life leaves the body. Like a breastfeeding infant it lays the arms of a Bakorsha, whose teeth sit deeply buried in the child’s thighs. With an insane scream, Saren sends a long beam of fire towards the monster. The heat is so high that it instantly sets both the Bakorsha and the child corpse on fire. When the last rays leave Sarens hand, both fall on the ground, charred and annihilated. The embers reveal the next victim and her assailants. It is the child's mother who lays helplessly on the firewood block while one of the dark ones brutally mates her and rips her flesh to blood with its dirty nails. Three others are biting into her arms and neck, where they greedily empties her of blood. Saren raises his hands to obliterate the creeps and free the woman from her afflictions, but nothing h
*Tjalfe* Malicious laughter and agitated voices intrudes in the dark, first from the west, but gradually the sounds spread until they surround the whole village. Bringing promises of carnage and death. The people flee back out of their houses, and all search for the relative safety of the fire. Quickly they get their torches lit and turn front towards the enemy, who is still hiding in the shelter of the darkness. Only now do they become aware thatthat their medicine man stands among them without a torch. The fear of Bakorsha had for a moment made them forget the new danger that had manifested itself in their midst, but then the burning house begin to give in to the ravaging of the flames, and it seems to dawn on them what they had witnessed as they scouted out the windows. Those closest to the medicine man hurried awayfrom him. This is a mistake and part of me wants to warn them, but it is too late anyway, and a shadow flies past and grabs one of the men. His howl is drowned
*Tjalfe* I am watching from my spot inside the storm, watching as things unfold below me. The people look up at the storm, which suddenly hangs over their heads. Panic and confusion arises in the village. Everyone let go of what they have in their hands and run into the middle of the square to seek shelter around the bonfire. Humans are no longer one, they have been divided by fear, and everyone care only to keep himself and his offspring alive. Everyone pushes and hustles to get closest to the fireplace andfarthest from the edge of the circle, for now that the sun's rays are hidden behind the heavy slate-gray clouds the Bakorshas will arrive prematurely. In the middle of the village a large bonfire is burning, and torches have been laid nearby, so they can be quickly ignited. The people has learned that the Bakorshas are not enthusiastic about fire, and that it sometimes happen that the sharp-toothed monsters will abandon the attack and instead throw themselves at another vict
*Tjalfe* The valley is a beautiful, small oasis between the high mountains, which in its time had attracted the inhabitants. They had lived in peace and perfect harmony. The mountains had shielded them from the worst winds, so the crops were diverse and the people of the city had never experienced distress. The only entrance to the village is an opening to the west where the surrounding mountains remain broken by a narrow passage. The view over the pass makes it possible to detect travelers coming from distant parts of the continent in good time, and show them hospitality. No one knew of anything but tolerance and no one dreamed that travelers could come up with anything but peace. It ended when the dark ones came. From then on, the valley became a prison for the people. During the day they were trapped, and at night they were harvested like grapes on stalks. There was no way out off there, all passable roads were blocked by Hrazgouls, the servants. Many had tried to flee, but eac
*Lefu* A tear rolls down my cheek. "Goodbye, Katje". I whisper softly. "I swear your death will be avenged”. "Now you see what they are capable of”. Strano puts his hands in the pockets of his night-black Armani jacket. "It is only the beginning”. I hiss angrily at him. "How can you choose them over your own ?" "You still do not understand, do you ?" Strano rolls his eyes. “They would not be here if it were not for you. Remember that”. “You knew it all from the start, right ? That there were several dogs and that I knew about them. That's why you did not kill me right away when you came up here and picked me up. That’s the truth right ?" I can’t help but seek assurance that I am right. He gives a small sigh. “I saw an opportunity and I took it. When the girls sacrificed Elisabeth, I could not prove that they were involved. I bet you would throw in the dogs as bait if you got the chance, and that Lyndsey would bite”. "What about her ?" I nodded down toward the figure with the
*Luca* My gaze is fixed as I step forward towards Harry. The dark blonde ulfhedin might be the pack leader, but this is my prey, and I do not shy away from the warning snarl of the alpha. Harry must have come to the same conclusion, for he goes silent and withdraws. I stop in front of the charred statue. My nails slide down the rough surface. Although the texture feels like charred wood, the shell is massive. I withdraw my arm and fire. The charred crust cracks, and I have to strike through once more to penetrate into the goal. When the shell breaks, a rain of coagulated blood sprays over me. I stick my paw into the evil bitch, find what I am looking for, and pull hard. The heart is still pumping weakly as I hold it up in front of the statue. I growl triumphantly and squeezeit in my powerful fist. The heart stops beating, and the red flesh-filled tissue gives way and explodes in a cloud of dust. It is over. "What do we do now ?" Soleil's cousin stands in front of the grotesqu