Chapter Twelve Tooth and Claw

Chapter Twelve

Tooth and Claw

 

Mark

 

Mark had gone to claim his father’s body, hoping he might find some clue to the killers identity as well. He suspected Seyton, of course. He was the most logical suspect. After all, he had tried many times in the past to kill Nikolas Night. What he found surprised him.

“We suspect the killer was female,” were the first words out of the detectives mouth when he entered the room.

“Female?”

“Yes. A female wolf.”

“A familiar one?” He sincerely hoped it would be someone from another pack, not his own. Someone he wouldn’t have to feel as guilty for killing.

“No, someone new, I would guess.”

Mark’s head started to spin. Someone new? There was only one new wolf in town, male or female, Aly. She wouldn’t have, would she? No. Of course not. It wasn’t possible. She would never hurt him this way.

“When? When was he killed?” he asked.

“Two days after his rescue,” the detective answered.

Someone had known his father had been released and wanted him dead. They had wasted no time.

“Follow me,” the detective said, starting down a corridor.

Mark followed, a hollow feeling in his limbs. The only logical conclusion was that Aly was the killer, but she would never have done that. She wouldn’t have hurt his father, wouldn’t have hurt him, that way. He argued with himself the whole way there, trying to argue it somehow so that Aly would be innocent. He couldn’t bring himself to believe she could be capable of such a hateful deed.

The detective led him to the morgue area and had the M.E. open one of the refrigerator drawers. The sound of the drawer handle turning, even from the outside, made him shudder, remembering the time he’d spent in one of those cold, solitary, and creepy drawers.

The M.E. pulled out the drawer and Aly’s scent washed over him in incredibly strong waves. He started to panic, afraid it was Aly lying on that slab and not his father. It was difficult for Mark to decide which would be worse to see, Aly or his father, lying on that slab. The sheet was pulled back to reveal his father’s cold and lifeless face, deep lacerations on his forehead and cheeks. He fought to keep himself from crying here. He wanted to curl up in a corner and cry for hours. He didn’t want to have to be the adult that stayed calm and handled these things. He wasn’t ready for that. He realized suddenly that even his fathers death and having to handle it without tears seemed to pale when compared to the fact that he was now alpha, or Aly was. That would have to be determined soon.

It slowly dawned on him that Aly’s scent shouldn’t be here. Had she killed his father? Her scent indicated that she had. Add that to the fact that the cops were pretty sure the killer had been female and you could nearly convict her of murder.

“No,” he murmured, denying it to himself. “No, she wouldn’t.”

“Mr. Night?” the detective asked. “Who wouldn’t what? What are you talking about? Do you know who the killer was?”

He shook his head vigorously. “No, I don’t. I’m still trying to comprehend everything. I apologize.” He didn’t want to tell them his suspicions about Aly. Not yet. He would talk to her about it first, then, depending on what he learned, he would make his decision on what to do next.

“I’m sorry.” The detective didn’t really seem particularly sorry, unless she meant she was sorry he didn’t know who the killer was. That he would believe. 

He finished the necessary arrangements and went home. He didn’t want to face Aly yet. Not until he was sure the evidence really pointed to her and he had had some time to digest everything and cry for his father.

 

 

Aly

 

I couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t really be asking me these questions. Mark had shown up at my house unexpectedly at three in the afternoon, wanting to see me.

“Aly,” he said. “I have to ask you something, please, don’t hate me for it.”

“Ok,” I said hesitantly. He seemed so miserable that I worried about him. What could possibly have happened to him now?

“Did you kill my father?” he asked, looking only at the floor as he spoke.

“What? He’s dead?” I asked in shock. Then it clicked what he’d just said. “Wait, you think I killed him? Why in the world would you think that?” I was hurt to learn he could really think such a thing. Why in the world would I want to hurt his father? I didn’t even want to be alpha anymore. They could keep it. I didn’t want the responsibility forced onto my shoulders. I had learned it was not as simple a job as it would have seemed to begin with and I had enough to contend with without it. My mothers continued memory troubles.

“At the moment it’s all that seems probable, or even possible,” he answered solemnly.

“How does it seem probable or possible?” I demanded angrily. I tried to fight back the anger. He couldn’t be blamed, his father had been killed and I seemed to have every reason to kill him. I could forgive him for this.

“He was killed by a female, someone new to town, the killer obviously knew he had been rescued and wasted no time in killing him, and your scent was all over. Your scent was nearly as strong as his.”

I stared at him in horror. Did he really believe I could kill his father? I would never do that to him. I couldn’t hurt him that way. Ever. I loved him too much. And that’s not the kind of person I was. The killer knew he had been released? How could Mark know that? When had his father been killed?

“Please, answer me,” he pleaded.

I looked at him and saw desperation in his eyes. He really hoped I hadn’t killed his father and destroyed his family that way.

“Of course I didn’t,” I answered gently. “I would never hurt you that way.”

“Even then?”

“When?”

“Two days after the rescue. That’s when he was killed.”

“Of course not! I would never do that to anyone. Mark, I would never hurt you that way. I love you.”

He nodded. “That’s what I thought, I just had to ask.”

“Do the cops know it was my scent?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I didn’t tell them, but I’m sure they’ll piece it all together and come calling eventually.”

I nodded at him. This wouldn’t be good. How had my scent ended up at the crime scene? And how was it that all of the evidence pointed to me? Someone had obviously set me up. How could they have made my scent so strong?

“I’m so sorry,” I murmured, reaching toward him. I was afraid at first that he would pull away from me, but he didn’t. He leaned toward me, pulling me quickly and gently into his tender embrace. I held onto him for a long time. I knew he needed it. I paid no attention when the tears started to fall on my shoulder, he needed to cry, to release some of the emotion. I loved him so much and I hated to see him hurt this way.

After twenty minutes or so he pulled away and wiped the tears off his face. “Sorry,” he murmured.

“It’s ok, I understand,” I reassured him.

He gave me a small smile and stood up. “I should get home, tell my mom what happened.”

“Yeah, ok,” I nodded. I watched silently as he walked slowly away from me.

He opened the door and walked out, closing it softly behind him and leaving me wondering if he really believed what I’d told him, or if he had only allowed himself to believe me for a minute, while he needed my comfort. All that I had told him was the absolute truth, every word of it, but I wasn’t sure if he believed that. I needed him to believe me. Nobody had ever believed me or thought I was capable of anything until I met him. He actually thought I’d make a good alpha. That was a large part of the reason I no longer wanted to be alpha, because someone believed in me. I no longer felt the desperate need to prove myself. Not on this anyway. If he lost faith in me, I didn’t know what I would do. I didn’t think I could stand his rejection and utter disbelief.

I sighed in frustration and sat down on the couch, wishing I knew who had set me up and why they had. Who could be so desperate to destroy what little I had?  How had they managed to cover the crime scene with my scent? That was the part that really got me. Who could do that and how? I frowned as I thought. I didn’t know anyone who would do anything like that. Nor did I know anyone who would kill Mark’s dad. I grabbed a pen and pad from the coffee table and started scribbling notes.

Cassie: Doubtful. She’s one of Mark’s closest friends, but she’s also half Phoenix. A spy? Not probable.

Michael: Half Phoenix. Not sure.

Kat: Doubt it. She’s been a close friend of Mark’s since they were kids, why would she want to hurt him that way?

Chris: Not sure.

I looked over the list and felt horrible that all I could put for Chris and Michael was ‘not sure’ but I didn’t really know anything about him. That wasn’t my fault. I doubted he would have hurt Mark that way either. I wish I knew who did this. That I could do something for Mark. I thought to myself. But there was nothing I could do. I could try to figure out who had killed his father, but I wasn’t sure that would work very well. I would probably get someone else killed in the process. I threw the notebook across the room and watched with ridiculously childish satisfaction as it crashed into the wall.

I decided to call Kat and see if she knew anything about what had happened. If Mark hadn’t said anything I wouldn’t, but if he had, maybe I could figure something out anyway.

“Hello?” Kat answered.

“Hi, has Mark talked to you?”

“About his dad?”

“Yeah,” I guess he had. Perfect, maybe she could tell me something.

“Yep, he called me about last night when he found out.”

I frowned. Why hadn’t he wanted to tell me when he found out? Had it taken him this long to decide to talk to me about the fact that I was the prime suspect in his fathers murder? I couldn’t answer those questions, but it hurt tat he would have told Kat before he told me. They had been friends since they were kids, I guess it made sense for him to tell her first. “Aly? You still there?”

“Yeah, sorry, I was thinking.”

“No problem. Why did you want to know?” 

“I was hoping you could shed some light on a few things for me.”

“You think I did it?”

“No! That’s not what I’m saying. I was just hoping you might be able to tell me how someone could have managed to cover the crime scene with my scent. That’s the part that really has me stuck.”

“And you think I would know that how?” she demanded.

Dang, she was sensitive today.

“I was asking if you had any ideas. Seriously, what is with you today?”

“I don’t like the people I thought were my friends accusing me of murder. Come to think of it, how did your scent end up all over the crime scene if you weren’t there? Explain that.”

“I don’t know,” I answered in irritation. Why was she being so weird?

“Then I surely don’t. Goodbye.” She hung up on me.

I shook my head and went upstairs, leaving the notepad lying at the base of the wall across the room.

 

 

Mark

 

He was lying facedown on his bed, hoping his mom wouldn’t show up that evening, that something would come up and she wouldn’t be able to. He didn’t want to tell her what had happened. He wasn’t so sure she would be particularly upset by it and that was what bothered him the most about the whole ordeal. That she wouldn’t really care. He had to get up. To jump right into being alpha. He would have to talk to Aly about it, they would have to rule together for a time, until things could sorted out between them, though ruling together didn’t seem like such a bad idea anymore. He should have thought of that while he’d been at her house. Oh well. He’d had too many other things on his mind and been in a hurry to get the ugly question out of the way.

His cell phone rang.

“Hello?” he said.

“Your girlfriend is accusing me of murder,” Kat said angrily.

“What?” he asked in confusion.

“She’s accusing me of murder,” she repeated.

“Whose murder?”

“Can’t you figure that out, or do I have to tell you?”

“She wouldn’t.” He shook his head in denial. She wouldn’t do that. She might ask a couple of questions, see if she could figure out what had happened. He’d expected that of her. But to accuse Kat of murder? No.

“She did. She said I killed him.”

“When did she say that?”

“Five minutes ago, when she called.”

“Alright, I’ll talk to her.”

“Talk to her?” Kat shrieked. “I thought you’d actually come to my defense here!”

Why is she so angry about this? And so defensive? Something’s wrong here. He thought. I guess it would be kind of offensive if someone was asking questions and sounded as though they thought you might be the killer.

“I’ll figure it out, ok, Kat?”

She hung up on him.

“Oh well,” he sighed. “You can’t win them all.” He dialed Aly’s number.

“Hello?” she asked warily. It was as though she’d been expecting him to call.

“Hey, Aly,” he sighed. “Did you talk to Kat?”

“She told you?”

“Yeah, she just called. She said you accused her of murder?”

She groaned. “I asked her if she had any ideas on how my scent could have been all over the crime scene if I wasn’t there. I never said I thought she killed anyone. Honestly, I don’t think she killed him.”

“That’s what I thought. She won’t listen to that right now, though. Give her time, she’ll come to her senses.” He tried to sound reassuring.

“I can’t believe she actually thought I was accusing her,” Aly said sadly.

“Aly, there’s something we need to talk about…” He hated to bring it up now, but it needed to be decided.

“Alright, what is it?”

“One or both of us has to be alpha now.”

“Oh. Right. Um. You can have it, I really don’t want it.”

Mark was surprised. “But you did, right?”

“Yeah, I guess part of that is that nobody ever thinks I’m capable of anything, so I have this persistent need to prove myself. You said you believed I would make a good alpha and I no longer felt like I had to prove myself.”

“I see,” he said quietly. He had really been hoping she would at least be willing to rule alongside him for a while.

“I can help, if you want,” she offered.

He sighed in relief. “Thanks, I don’t think I could do this without you.”

“Thank you,” she said. He could imagine how red her face must be at this point. She blushed easily, especially when someone complimented her.

“So, when do we start?” She sounded resigned, not as excited as she had before all of this mess had begun.

He chuckled softly. “Immediately, I suppose. We have to inform the pack of what’s happened and that we’re in charge now.”

“Ok, where do I meet you?”

“I’ll pick you up in fifteen minutes.”

“I’ll be ready.” He smiled when she didn’t object. They had learned last night that her family didn’t object to him as strongly as they might have.

“See you then.” He hung up. This wasn’t going to be easy and it probably wasn’t going to go well either. He’d lied to Aly about how popular his father was with the pack. His father was always on the run or in hiding to prevent angry pack members from killing him. The pack had been better off when Aly’s family had been in charge. That was the way it should be. Her father should never have turned it over to his father. If he hadn’t, they might not be in this mess now. That had been a mistake, though nobody could have known at that time how big a mistake it was.

Things were suddenly so complicated. He wished his dad were still there to help him figure them out. Of course, he wasn’t here and that was a large part of the reason it was all so complicated.

 

 

Aly

 

I sat there, staring blankly at a wall, for ten minutes before I decided to walk downstairs and wait for Mark. I had barely taken two steps toward the door when my mom opened it. I was confused when I saw deadbolt on the outside of my bedroom door. I hadn’t seen it there earlier. I guess I’d just missed it. Why it was there was a mystery to me.

“Hey, mom,” I smiled.

“Going somewhere?” she asked, noting that I had pulled on shoes.

“Yeah, I have something important I have to do. I have to help Mark with something.”

“You won’t be going,” she had a strange glint in her eyes that bothered me.

I was surprised. Why wouldn’t she let me go where I needed to go? “Why?”

“You’ve been lying to me. You’ve been with that boy,” she stated. It was strange she was so angry about Mark, I hadn’t lied to her, she knew I was dating him. Why was she suddenly so angry? She turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind herself. I heard deadbolt slide into place. How was I going to get out of here now?

I grabbed my phone, I would have to call Mark and explain what had happened. The phone was dead. I had just charged it this morning, why was it dead now? I turned it over and pulled the top of the battery compartment off. She’d taken the battery, of course. Now I couldn’t even call him. Unless… I had hidden a phone in case of something like this. I’d bought one when she started acting this way so I’d always have one, no matter what. It should still be there if she hadn’t found it. I jerked open the hidden little drawer in the side of my dresser and pulled out the phone. I checked the battery. Still intact. She hadn’t found it.

I glanced toward the window and decided to try a window escape before I called him. There was a huge tree right beside my window and I’d always been good at climbing. This might not be as difficult as I had first thought.

I succeeded in tangling my hair with leaves and twigs and ripping the bottom of my t-shirt in the process of getting down that tree. I was going to be a real mess when we talked to the pack. Oh well, they could get over it. Sometimes people ended up with leaves and twigs tangled in their hair. I still wasn’t sure why I had decided to do this. Mark needed someone there for him. With him when he told the pack what had happened. He thought he did anyway. I knew he could do this but he lacked self confidence on that right now. It was odd to see him with so little confidence about this. He’d been so sure of himself before, he knew what he wanted to do for the pack and how he was going to get it done, but now, he felt like he needed someone’s help. He had just lost his dad. That was bound to take a toll on his confidence, especially when it came to being alpha.

He pulled up right after I jumped out of the tree. I ran over to the car and got in quickly.

“Don’t let my mom see us,” I said urgently.

“What happened to you?” he asked, his eyes shining with amusement.

“I had to climb down the stupid tree to get out of my room. My mom didn’t want me to come. She’s still acting weird. Have you had any luck with witches?”

“I’m sorry, Aly, so much has happened I haven’t really had the chance to look into it.”

“Oh. Ok. I get it.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll get to work on that when I get back.”

“Where’ve you been staying?” I asked curiously.

“I stayed with Juan for a day or two before my mom wanted me to come back. I’m back at my moms house now, someone has to watch her.”

“I guess she was pretty torn up when she got the news?”

He shook his head. “No, she was happy about it. She gets his fortune and he’s out of her way now, she can do whatever she wants. That’s all she cared about.”

“I’m sorry,” I said sincerely. How could his mother be so cold and heartless?

He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I’m used to it. Things have always been this way.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah. Anyway. So, what do we tell the pack? I’ve never been very good at talking to large groups.”

“So that’s what you need me for,” I laughed. “You’re alpha, I make the speeches.”

“No, that’s not…” He trailed off and his shoulders slumped. I had upset him.

I pushed him lightly. “Relax, I’m just messing with you.”

“Oh,” he smiled. “Right. Sorry.”

“No problem,” I answered. “I guess I’ll get to work on figuring out what to say to the pack.”

“Thanks,” he smiled in relief.

“You’re welcome.” I answered. I felt so bad for him, feeling like he had to have someone to talk for him. He was right, he’d never been great at talking to large groups, but he could if he had to.

 

 

♠♠♠

 

 

We were standing before the entire pack, forty or fifty werewolves, all in human form, fortunately. I didn’t think it was likely that I would have been able to talk to them all if they had been in wolf form.

Mark looked expectantly at me.

I swallowed nervously and turned to face the pack head on.

“Hello everyone,” I said.

Mark smirked and the others chuckled. “Hello,” they answered. I saw several headshakes and a couple of eye rolls. Ok, not the right way to start this off. Oh well, too late to change that now.

“Um, I’m Aly Donovan…” There were several murmurs of recognition. I guess at least a few of them knew who I was. “Mark asked me here to talk to you all about a recent tragedy.” Heads snapped up and everyone was paying attention to what I was saying now. No pressure, right? Ha. “Nikolas Night, alpha of this pack, was murdered shortly after his rescue from the Jasper Jail for the Supernatural. His body was only found yesterday. Mark is now alpha.” There were murmurs of disapproval at that statement. Why were they unhappy with Mark being alpha? Was his family not as popular as he’d said? I’d have to talk to him about that later. “He has asked me to be his co-alpha while the murder is investigated and we hope that you all will co-operate with us and forgive any stupidity on our parts as we have no idea what we’re doing.” Everyone laughed at that.

“We’ll try!” one of them called.

“Thank you,” I said. I wasn’t sure what made me acknowledge his joke, but something told me I should, so I did. “And we greatly appreciate it if any prejudices against either of our families are ignored long enough to give us a real chance to do this right.”

I saw several nods and was pretty sure I was doing an ok job of this. “I won’t take up any more of ya’ll’s time with my stupid prattling, but I would like to ask that, should any of you know or learn anything about Nikolas Night’s murder, you inform Mark or me immediately. Thank you.” 

I smiled confidently and walked toward Mark. I’d barely stepped up beside him when I asked him how well I’d done.

“How’d I do?” I asked, now that I was done speaking in front of all the wolves I was having a panic attack.

“You did great!” he answered enthusiastically. “Thanks so much. I think you may have actually got through to a few of them.”

I smiled at him. “Glad I could help?”

He laughed.

Juan, the beta, approached and I automatically stepped closer to Mark. Mark glanced at me in surprise and Juan smiled at me. Apparently he didn’t take offense from my reaction.

“Hey, Juan,” Mark said, clapping Juan on the back.

“Hola,” Juan answered. He looked at me. “Good afternoon, Miss Donovan,” he said politely.

“Good afternoon,” I answered stiffly. I was still panicked about the speech and he still gave me the creeps. Combine the two and you get almost formally polite from me.

“Sorry,” Mark apologized to him. “She’s still kinda nervous about the whole speech thing and she’s not particularly comfortable around you.”

“Perfectly understandable,” he said in a friendly manner. Maybe he wasn’t as creepy as I’d initially thought. My gut still said not to trust him and I always trusted my gut.

“I’m sorry, Mark’s right, I am nervous. I’ve never really talked to a large group about something so important and people kept laughing and I was freaking out. Actually, I still am.” Why had they laughed at me? I realized then that the person who’d called out.

“I’m sorry to hear about your dad,” Juan said. “He was a good man. Bad alpha, but a good person.”

“Bad alpha?” I asked.

Mark looked over at me. “Yeah, I sort of lied to you the first time I talked to you. My dad is not popular among the pack, yours was. My father tried hard, but he wasn’t cut out to be alpha. Most people think I’m not either.”

“Well, they have to give you a chance now, don’t they?”

“Not really, you see, they can vote that you’re alpha and I’m not, or that neither of us is alpha.”

“I hope they don’t do that to you. I think you’ll make a good alpha.”

“Thanks, I really think you’d make a better alpha, though.”

“That’s stupid,” I argued. “I don’t have the slightest idea what I’m doing. I just make it up as I go. I’m not sure that’s what an alpha’s supposed to do…You’ve at least grown up with some idea.”

“That’s ok, they loved it,” he smiled. “I think you’ll be very popular among the pack.”

“Thanks. Now what do we do?”

“We plan our defenses against Seyton. The pack must be protected.”

“Ok, does he know where ya’ll live?”

Mark laughed. “Does he know where we live? Yes. He knows where we live, where we meet, who in town is supernatural and who isn’t. That’s how we were located on Halloween. He told them where to find us.”

“Great, ok, so we need to find a place for the supernatural inhabitants of this town to hide out…”

“No, that won’t work, they would know who every single supernatural being in town is. As it stands, they only know who a few are. We have to keep it that way.”

“Ok, new meeting place?”

“There isn’t another.”

“Then how the heck are we supposed to protect the pack?”

“I don’t know,” he answered miserably.

“Well,” I said slowly. “Maybe we could arrange a place to hide the families of the supernatural beings. At least the kids.”

“Like the evacuations in world war two?” he asked.

“Yes,” I sighed. If history helped him stay calm, who was I to complain? “Like that. What else can we do? We have to protect the kids. Actually, if we evacuate all the kids in town that would do two things. One, it would get the kids out of here, protect them from the death flooding this town. And two, it wouldn’t reveal which families are supernatural.”

“Well done,” Mark approved. “Any idea where we would send them?”

“Austin? I know there are plenty of safe places there we could send them. People who won’t care what species they are unless it means they have special needs, like blood for instance.”

“Excellent. We’ll make arrangements for that. And the rest of us?”

I frowned thoughtfully. “We’ll have to be extra careful to keep our identity a secret.”

“And those who are known by the humans as supernatural?” he asked skeptically.

“Should go with the children.” I  was sure of my decision here. Adults could be with go with the children and could stay safe.

A woman of about thirty with wave black hair and brown eyes approached. “And you are both known as supernatural?” she asked with a heavy Spanish accent.

I saw what she meant. It was obvious. She, and many others, I would guess, were now under the impression that Mark and I would be abandoning them. “Yes,” I answered slowly. “But Mark and I will not be leaving. We plan to remain here and protect the pack to the best of our abilities.”

“Exactly as your father would done,” Mark said, smiling in admiration.

“Wouldn’t yours?” I asked in surprise.

“No.” He shook his head. “My father would have run.”

“And you?”

“I plan to stay here. I would have stayed, even when my parents would have run.”

“Perhaps you will prove us all wrong after all,” the woman observed.

“I know he will,” I assured her, pride and confidence filling my voice.

“He was following too closely in his fathers footsteps before. Perhaps it is because of you that he has become the person his is now.”

I blushed and glanced quickly away.

Mark looked slightly uncomfortable but responded quickly to her comment. “Yes,” he said. “I think you’re right there. Aly is the reason I changed. I saw the flaw in my fathers reasoning and had the desire to change it, but I lacked the courage to do so.”

She smiled at him. “It is very admirable of you to admit such things,” she observed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must prepare my son.”

“Of course, Maria,” Mark nodded quickly. “Go ahead. Aly and I will ensure that Antonio goes to good people who will care for him as you do.”

“Gracias,” she said gratefully. She had started to walk away when a thought seemed to strike her and she turned back. “And if I am killed?” she asked anxiously. “ I wish to have provisions made for my son. Will he still be a part of the pack?” She seemed honestly worried about that. Had such things been problematic in the past?

“Of course,” Mark answered before I could.

“Absolutely,” I agreed.

“Gracias,” she said again, she sounded as though we’d just lifted a great weight from her shoulders.

“No hay de qué,” I answered.

“Nice,” Mark commented as the woman walked away. “I didn’t know you spoke Spanish.”

“Yeah, I learned it for fun once.” I shrugged.

He laughed. “You learned Spanish for fun?”

“Yeah, I was bored, so I started trying to learn. Now I speak Spanish pretty well.”

“Good for you.” Mark shook his head.

 

 

♠♠♠

 

 

The arrangements had been made for all of the supernatural creatures in town within the hour. Now we just had to figure out how to convince the humans to do the same.

“What if we had one of the Phoenix/human’s suggest it to them? The humans seem to trust them a little more,” I suggested. It was the only idea I had so far of how we could do this.

“They do. Because they feel that anyone always in human form, even if they have wings, is more trustworthy than those who are not.”

“And vampires?”

“Too pale, nobody trusts them either.”

“Nice town,” I muttered.

“Yeah, well,” Mark shrugged. “That’s Jasper for you.”

“Seriously, why stay here? There are so many places you could go that would be easier to live in than this town.”

“That is true,” he agreed. “I guess it’s just because this town is where most of us have grown up. It’s hard to imagine ever leaving unless we were forced to.”

“I understand that.” I answered. It seemed somewhat ridiculous to me, but who was I to judge them on that? “Still, maybe we should consider moving the pack.”

“Perhaps that would be a good idea. We’ll talk to them about it at the next meeting.”

“Alright,” I agreed.

“Excellent. Now, who do we have talk to the humans?”

“Um,” I hesitated. I felt guilty for even considering volunteering either of my friends, but someone had to do it. “Michael. He’s probably better for the job.”

“You’re probably right,” he agreed.

We called Michael and made our request. He agreed immediately.

 

 

Michael

 

Michael was flying toward the church, where the town meeting was being held to determine what should next be done to protect the town  from danger.

He felt trapped. Not like he’d been forced to do this, Mark and Aly had made it exceptionally clear that they could find another way to get the information to the humans, but like he wasn’t capable of choosing Light or Darkness, he was trapped in the middle. He wanted to betray them, tell the humans what they planned, but he also wanted to protect them. Which instinct should he allow himself to follow? It was nearly impossible to decide. He would decide when he got there.

He’d been playing double agent since his arrival in this town and it was getting old. Keeping his loyalty split between both sides was difficult. He had good reasons to stay with each side. He was a supernatural being, his loyalty should lie with the other supernaturals. But the humans could help his kind to regain power over all other species, so, obviously, loyalties should lie there. The humans did not, however, care how many of their own went down in the process while the supernaturals tried to save as many was possible. Which side to choose?

He looked around in surprise as a thick black mist surrounded him in midair. The darkness of it was intriguing and inviting. A white mist floated around his head and shoulders and he could see everything clearly, every mistake he’d ever made, ever wrong thing he’d ever done. He could only see the evil within himself through the white mist. The blackness hid it all. He didn’t have to remember the bad things he’d done while looking into the inky blackness of the other mist. He looked closer and realized that, while hiding the bad things, the blackness also revealed the goodness within him. The obvious choice would have to be the Darkness. The mist that was black as pitch. The one that showed the good within him. He threw a final glare at the white mist hovering above him and ducked into the blackness.

He arrived at the church moments later and flew in through the door, landing gracefully at the front of the room.

He began to speak immediately upon his landing, betraying those he called his friends. “They are at the usual meeting place. They plan to evacuate all the children to Austin, to keep them out of the fighting. Also, all known supernaturals are going with them. Aly and Mark have elected to stay behind and ‘protect the pack to the best of their abilities’ as they put it,” he said, the disgust clearly written on his face and in his voice.

“Excellent,” Seyton said from behind Michael. “When do they move the children?”

Michael flinched at the cold, cruel voice speaking. “Tonight. Midnight.”

Seyton smiled at the boys obvious discomfort. “We strike tonight,” he decided. “Half an hour before they plan to move out.”

“And what do we do with the children, sir?” Michael asked.

“We kill them, as we will all the other supernaturals there.”

“The children?” A woman in the back asked.

“Of course, they are the spawn of those we must kill. Therefore, we must kill them as well.”

“But they’re only children!” the woman exclaimed.

“Only children for the moment. It is only a matter of time before they come after us as their parents are. Is killing them a problem?” Seyton asked in amusement.

“Yes!”

“Very well then.” He pulled a large hunting knife from its sheath at his hip and decapitated her in the same movement. “Does anyone else have a problem with my orders?” he asked, brandishing the knife.

Nobody said a word. If they did have a problem with it, nobody dared say so.

“Alright then,” Seyton said in satisfaction. “We strike tonight. Leave Mark Night and Aly Donovan. They are mine to kill. Anyone else who kills them will die.”

Everyone nodded and seemed anxious to move on to other subjects. Michael smiled and left the room, going back to the others to give them false information one last time before they were killed. It would be a shame to see Cassie die however. There was no other choice, she had chosen to stay with them, chosen the white mist over the black.

Not yet, he remembered. She hasn’t chosen yet. She’s still stuck in the middle, the way I was. She must choose sides before the battle. Before I am forced to kill her.

He flew quickly back toward the meeting place of the pack and was pleased to see the vampires had come as well. Excellent, they would be able to wipe them all out in one fell swoop. The whole lot of them. The Phoenix’s would rule again, as they should have all along and would have been, had it not been for one soft hearted king all those years earlier.

 

 

Aly

 

It felt like we had been waiting hours for Michael to get back. I guess a large part of that was my worry for him. I didn’t want him to get hurt. This time it really would be my fault if anything happened, I had volunteered him for the job. I really thought he’d be better for it than Cassie would, she was still so young and inexperienced, I was afraid she’d say or do something stupid and end up dead faster than was imaginable. Yes, I decided, Michael was the right choice. The best choice. I would have gone myself, but they wouldn’t have listened to me. They’d have killed me immediately and the children would still die. At least this way the children didn’t have to sacrifice their lives for something between adults. Sometimes I wished I was still a child. That I was going with them. Trying to make all these decisions that could mean life or death for so many was too stressful, no wonder my dad hadn’t wanted it.

I heard the flutter of wings overhead and stepped toward the entrance. Michael must be back.

He entered the room. “Hello, everyone,” he said, smiling cheerfully at everyone. “I’ve given them the information, as requested.”

I smiled proudly at him. I’d known he could do this. It was too easy. But why would he announce to the world that he’d given the information? It wasn’t something we had advertised throughout the pack and vampires certainly hadn’t heard that part of it yet. We hadn’t explained that far yet.

“Thank you,” I said, my suspicions were growing by the second, though I dared no say so.

“No problem,” he answered. I was only too glad to do it.”

I thought I saw a strange glint in his eyes, but I couldn’t be sure. I noticed something different about his wings, though what it was I couldn’t put my finger on.

 

 

 

Michael

 

It was nearly eleven thirty, time for the attack, and Michael was in his room, pacing anxiously. He was pleased that he’d revealed the intentions of the people here. It would help his kind regain the control they should have always had. He would only be second in command, Seyton would be the highest, of course, but that was easily taken care of when the time came.

Being second wasn’t so bad, he supposed, but being first would be even better. Within the year, he would be ruler. Ruling had always been his dream. Ever since his father had told him the  history of their kind. Of the lapis/onyx that allowed anyone to rule in the first place. He smiled a little at the word father. His ‘father’ was the man who had created him using magic. A man who had always dabbled in the dark side of life. His life revolved around the idea of ruling and the little stone that, if used correctly, could erase his kind from existence. Nobody, especially Aly or Mark, could ever learn of this. To think that they could even possess the power to end his existence was preposterous.

“Thank you, father, for explaining this to me, for creating me,” he whispered, gazing up at the heavens.

He heard a soft tapping on his window and turned to face it, unsurprised when he saw Seyton’s face looking at him, smug satisfaction in his eyes. Michael’s stomach did an unpleasant flop as he realized the extent of the damage he had caused. What do the wolves matter? He asked himself. Cassie will be horrid to lose. She’s the one for me. He was startled when his thoughts took a new and somewhat unpleasant direction. So? She shouldn’t have interfered with fate. She could survive if she had been smarter about it. She should have chosen this side, not their side. He nodded to himself, satisfied with the response his rational mind had given him. He was right, Cassie had chosen the wrong side. No. She hadn’t chosen yet. She was still a child in more ways than one.

“It is time, faithful follower, to wreak vengeance upon our hated enemies.” Seyton smiled.

Michael nodded and opened his window, allowing thirty or so bird-people to enter. Men and women. Anyone who appeared to be at least thirteen was here.

He proudly led the way as they all ran up the stairs to begin the bloody battle that would determine once and for all who would rule.

 

 

Aly

 

“Is someone downstairs?” I asked, positive I had heard someone running up the stairs.

“Michael went down there a little bit ago,” Cassie answered instantly.

I frowned. It sounded like a lot more people than that. “Something’s wrong,” I whispered to Mark as I reached the place he was standing. The center of a crowded room  was not the ideal place for this Conversation.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I heard voices downstairs, and now I’m sure I heard people running toward the stairs. At least thirty.”

He frowned and listened closely. “You’re right,” he agreed. “Everyone!” he called, trying to get attention.

Nobody listened.

“What do you want to tell them?” I asked. I had always been pretty good at getting peoples attention, maybe it would work now.

“Shift. Now.” Was all he said.

I climbed swiftly onto the refreshments table, catching several peoples attention from the start. Anyone who saw turned to the person behind or beside them and pointed to me, that person in turn did the same. Within seconds I had the attention of the entire room. Great, two speeches in a day! And I had never wanted even one.

“Um, thanks for paying attention, ya’ll,” I started. “Mark and I feel something’s wrong and we’d appreciate it if you could all shift and prepare for battle.”

Everyone looked at each other as though I were kidding.

“Please,” I begged. “Please, just do as we ask for now and question us later.”

Juan, the man who had called out during my earlier speech spoke again. “They’re right,” he said. “I’ve been feeling something wrong. We need to do as they ask. Immediately.”

People started shifting into wolf form or preparing themselves for battle in whatever ways were necessary for them individually. Within seconds everyone was prepared, aside from me and Mark.

“Aren’t you going to shift?” he asked me anxiously.

“Yeah, I just gotta focus. I still don’t know exactly how to do this. I dreamed it once though, a few days ago. I think if I just use the dream as a guideline I can figure it out.”

“I’m here to help, if you need me,” he murmured softly, brushing his fingers across my face. He startled me by leaning in quickly and kissing me. “I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you, too,” I answered softly. Tears welled in my eyes as I realized just how likely it was that this would be the last time he kissed me.

He backed away and I watched in awe as he began to shift. His form began to shake, to change. His face contorted in momentary pain as his body gave out and he collapsed to the ground, twitching. The change was quick. One second he was Mark, a human, the next he was a beautiful chocolate colored wolf.

I focused on the shift and felt myself beginning to change. I felt icy pain radiating through my body, running through every vein. Somehow. it was almost a pleasant pain. I knew that, as soon as it ended, I would be a wolf. Stronger, more powerfully built, and less vulnerable than I had ever been in human form. That knowledge made the pain bearable and not nearly as bad. Within a minute I was in wolf form as well.

How do we communicate in this form? I wondered. I wished I could ask Mark, but obviously speaking was out.

Just like you did a second ago. I heard his voice answer. I looked at him and he was smirking. There wasn’t time for him to explain for at that moment the doors at the end of the hallway crashed open and winged people came crashing into the room. Some flew while others ran. There had to be between thirty and forty of them. We stared in horror at the people before us. So many of them. What did they want?

My eyes flashed to Mark. What do they want? I asked him.

For us to be dead. He answered.

Why?

It’s complicated. A couple hundred years ago they ruled everything, nobody could touch them. Your ancestor found the lapis and took that from them. They want it back. Focus on the battle for now, please. I’ll explain more later. I looked up and saw Michael flying through the room. I smiled. He’d got a head start on the rest of us. Then I saw him take out one of our people. Sadly, it was obvious he had intended to get our guy. I  looked up into his eyes and saw a blackness glittering there that frightened me. Then it clicked. I had noticed something different before but I hadn’t been able to figure out what it was. Now I knew. His wings were now deep crimson interspersed with fiery orange and raven black. He had chosen Darkness. He’d betrayed us. They must have known we were leaving at about midnight. That meant Michael had to have told them. There was no other way for them to have found out. He had told them everything. All of our plans for saving our people. Our plans to save the human children. We would now have to fight someone we had considered a friend. Someone who had stood up for me when Mark wanted me gone. I fought against the tears that threatened to fall and began the fight to help my friends.

I saw Mark fighting Seyton and went to help him. Cassie and two of the wolves were fighting Michael. Cassie must be heartbroken, she and Michael had been together for a while now and Michael had turned against us. I wondered what she would do now. Would she hate him, or would her large heart allow her to keep a special place for him always, despite what he’d done to us all?

My focus moved back to the fight at hand when one of the bird creatures landed in my path.  “Going somewhere, mutt?” he asked.

I growled and tensed. I really had no idea what I was doing. I’d never been much of a fighter in human form, but I had never fought in wolf form. It made me kind of anxious to think of trying. I would go on pure instinct here. My eyes flashed to Mark and then back to the stupid creature before me. He feigned to the left and I moved to the right, allowing myself a good shot at his wing. I heard a cry of pain as I felt my teeth sink into his wing. Disgusting feathers. I twisted the wing slightly, satisfied when I heard a snap. I’d broken his wing, but I was sure that it wouldn’t incapacitate him for long. He moved back toward me, a quick swipe of his taloned fingers leaving small cuts across my muzzle. I bit down on his arm as he started to pull it away from me. Another satisfying snap. I saw a large chestnut wolf  lunge at him from the side, ripping his head off as he sailed neatly over him, landing perfectly on all fours. I nodded a thanks to him and moved swiftly toward Mark, wondering who had assisted me.

Mark was on the ground, blood streaming from the long gash in his side. I started to panic when he didn’t move. Then I saw his head shift slightly to the right and relaxed a little. He was alive. I would have to fight Seyton, but Mark was alive. I had to protect him the way he had protected me so many times before.

I lunged at Seyton, prepared to give up my life for Mark’s in a heartbeat, and was knocked to the side as if I had been no more than an annoying beetle, swept off his shoulder. I fought for a minute to stand, trying to keep the weight off my right leg. I snarled at him, infuriated by the smug smile on his face. He was powerful, there was no doubt about that. It would be hard to beat him.

I crouched, trying to determine what my next move should be. He took a step toward Mark and I lunged. I crashed into him, knocking us both to the ground. I noticed the same black in his wings as I had noticed in Michael’s earlier. I guess the black feathers went with a black heart.

Seyton threw me against the far wall. I felt a sharp pain in my side. Seyton now stood over Mark, a dagger poised in his hand, ready for the final strike. I lunged, knocking the dagger from his hand and he flew toward the door. The coward was going to leave! I snarled and he turned to look back at me. “I’ll finish the both of you next time, mutt. For now, I have accomplished a large part of what I intended.” He continued out the door, snapping his fingers and motioning for the others to follow.

Michael dropped Cassie and followed Seyton.

“How could you?” Cassie whispered brokenly from where she lay, crumpled on the stony ground.

Michael glanced back at her and I thought I saw remorse and pain flash in his eyes for a moment. “I chose power.” Was all he said.

I looked at the room around me, saddened by the loss of life on this day. There were dead bodies from both sides scattered throughout the room. I was saddened by the sight of the chestnut wolf who’d come to my rescue lying in a bloody and mangled heap only feet from me. I moved to Mark’s side, worried because he still hadn’t got up. I shifted back and quickly pulled a dress over my head before kneeling beside him. “Mark,” I whispered pleadingly. “Mark, please, are you ok?”

He stirred slightly and I placed my hand in the soft, dark fur at his neck. “I love you,” I whispered softly into his ear. His eyes opened slightly for a second and I could swear he smiled at me.

Moments later he got up and wandered into the next room, indicating that I should remain. I waited patiently for him and he came out in human form minutes later.

“That wasn’t pleasant,” he observed. “Are you alright?”

“I am. Michael’s on their side.”

“I know. I suspected as much when he came in here. He seemed different somehow, aside from the black in his wings.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have. Look at all those who died because I wanted to trust him.”

“Don’t say that! You did what you thought was right. He’s been our friend, nobody had any reason to doubt him.”

“We fought with everything we were worth and still lost.”

“We’ll win next time. We’ll beat them,” I promised.

“Even Juan died.” The sadness in his voice was overwhelming.

“Which one is he?” I asked in shock.

Mark indicated the chestnut wolf who’d saved me. I suddenly regretted my concern about him. I had been stupid to think he was a bad person. I vowed to myself that I would avenge his death. His and everyone else who had died that night.