"Untitled Novel"

A Story by Meaghan M

Prolouge to an untitled novel I've yet to write.

Prologue

It’s been almost ten years since I have spoken to anyone about this. And why I chose to share it now, with you of all people, is far beyond my comprehension. Be aware, this is not a tale for the faint of heart. I have seen such sorrow in my lifetime, and there is probably more to come. And when it is all said and done, I will still remain. I do not know why I should be made to suffer like this, but I remain. When they are all gone, I am what is left behind.

This is part of my tale. This is my past. I will begin at the beginning then.

My name was Jezibel, and I am a Norothein. I am one who is half-human and half-wolf. My blood is mixed as my ancestors’ was.

I was born first, and then my twin brother, Kelik, came a few minutes later. We were born to our mother, Kyrdren, and our father, Jedt. My father was alpha-male of our pack, making my brother the next in line to succeed him. There was nothing extraordinary about our birth. The Wise Ones of our kind made no prophecies of our lives to come. Putting aside the fact that we were the children of an alpha-male of a well respected pack of Norotheins, we were as normal as they came to our kind.

I was raised as any other Norothein child would be. I was giving schooling, or at least what my kind could pass off as schooling considering our situation. My brother was raised to be an alpha-male, which meant our upbringing differed slightly. It did not matter though. Whatever he was taught, he in turn educated me in those ways. I guess I could say that we were both raised to be the leader of our pack.

And we lived happily for a time. From what I can remember, we were actually quite happy. But, as I have already told you, I have seen such sorrows.

When our fifth birthday came upon me and my brother, things began to change. Humans, or as they called themselves the pure-bloods, never liked my kind. The two species had fought since life had begun, but nothing compared to the likes of what started in my childhood. Humans wanted to rid the world of us. They were bent on bringing about the extinction of my kind. And despite our evolved abilities, my kind was grossly outnumbered by the humans.

Three years passed by and the war between the humans and Norotheins dragged on. In those three years, I saw more Norotheins than I have in my entire lifetime. Packs from across the lands allied with each other to hold back the humans and their Blood Hunters, men sworn to the cause of riding the world of Norotheins.

There were, however, those humans who did not hate my kind. During the war, some even struggled to stop the war between their kind and my kind. Some pack leaders of my kind made friends with humans of great and important power. Apparently, laws were passed forbidding the war with the Norotheins. But the Blood Hunters were sly. They came up with ways to keep the war going by convincing those in power that they were only protecting humans against attacks by Norotheins. They made us out to be the ones who started everything. As long as they could keep up that charade they had their war.

But even in times of war, there are certain boundaries that are never to be crossed. That is what ended that war for a time. The humans crossed a line that brought about this darkness that my kind now lives in. A line that not only ruined the Norotheins chances of peace, but ruined my life in ways I could never speak of. That is, until now.

During my eighth year, my father returned from battle for a time being, along with the males of my pack. There were a few months that I can remember of returning to that happiness we once had. It would not last long though. Drunk and pompous, a group of Blood Hunters got it into their heads one night to lead their own campaign against my kind. And for whatever reasons the gods had that night, it was my pack those Blood Hunters found while marching through the woods of the northern lands.

The screaming is what I remember first. Then it was the light of the flames. I remember my mother ordering my brother and me to hide. I never saw her, I only heard her. From our hiding spot, my brother and I listened as the screams got louder and more disturbing. It was not long before we were discovered. I believe that is when I was struck across the head with something blunt. The next thing I remember is the feeling of cold steel on my wrists. When I opened my eyes, I was lying in the mud chained to a post. There were several others in the same situation as I.

I must have been unconscious for hours for the fires were gone and had left behind only scorched remnants of houses. The humans did not even have the decency to clear the bodies of the dead from the muddy ground. People I knew, people I loved lay bleeding in the road. The lucky ones were already dead. Try as I could, I could not find my father, my mother, or my brother.

This next part is that hardest for me to recall. From one of the houses that still stood, one of my friends was tossed from the door by a portly Blood Hunter. He laughed as my friend collapsed to the muddy ground, gripping what was left of her clothing. Growling, I tried to release myself and run to her. But I failed. And because of my attempts, the man pulled me into the house next. What happened next I will leave you to your own imagination to figure out. I will not speak of it. The man left me on the road, bleeding from places I did not know could feel such pain.

I must have passed out again because the next thing I remember is the sun rising over the trees and the men were gone. There were a few of us left alive. My friend had bled to death hours before I had woken up. I later found out that some of my pack even got away before the humans could get them. For the rest of us, we were not as lucky. I never found my mother. My father’s body had been piled among the other males and torched. The only reason I could tell that the blackened body was my father’s was by his pendant.

For my brother and the other younger males of the pack, the Blood Hunters had a different choice of torture for them. They were not burned along with the other males. Instead, they were strung up by their necks and made to bleed out from their wrists and ankles, but only after mangling their faces with their fists and daggers.

That day, I vomited more times than I have all my life. I stayed only to help the ones that survived to burn what was left of the remains of our pack. The few of us that were left then went our own separate ways. That’s when we learned that our pack had not been the only one attacked that night. Survivors scattered everywhere. I have heard that most of them joined up with other packs. Then there were the few that turned out like me. We melted away into the world until we came to an age where we could take care of ourselves.

And that’s the end of it. I’m not sure whatever truly happened to those that survived and those who got away. Truth be told, I hope to never find out. I walked away from that so long ago that I don’t even remember if there’s a reason to go back.

My name is Jynx, and I am a bounty hunter.