by Eryn Ryans
“Yes, I would, thank you Phillip.” Robert said as he stood up, shook hands with the young Elder, then took the microphone. “Samuel would you please come and stand next to me.” I got up and went and stood to my father’s right-hand side nervously as I had no idea what I was getting inducted into. Then my father started speaking.
“Do you Samuel Matthew Drake, vow your loyalty to this Clan, the Tempest Dragons from tonight and forevermore? To train under me, your father and learn our ways in order to one day lead in my stead. To never turn your back on another vampire and always fight for them?”
I quickly answered with a direct and powerful, “Yes I do.” Once I answered, my father handed me a chalice filled with a red liquid. I thought it was a deep red wine, but when I took my first drink of it, I found out it was blood. I looked up towards my father, and he just motioned for me to keep drinking, so I did. I didn’t much care for the bitter taste, but if my father told me to do something, I had learned at an early age I had better do it. When the Chalice was empty, I handed it back to the Master of Ceremonies and then turned back towards my father.
Then came all the Elders wishing me longevity and a life filled with love, family, honor, and most importantly Trust. Through this, I couldn’t help but wish that Ally could be here to celebrate this with me. She was the one I wanted to be by my side. The sound of a Gong being rung brought me out of my thoughts of Ally. I looked up to see my Mother standing up at the front of the Hall and I was surprised. I had not seen her move from her seat in the audience at all. I watched her so intently.
She stood tall and Proud next to my father before saying loudly, “Tonight, not only do we induct my son into our prestigious coven, but we also begin his training to become your next leader.” The hall erupted into loud applause and hollers it was so deafening. I quickly went and sat down just staring at my parents, in shock, in wonder, and completely overwhelmed. I was
really starting to wonder what they were getting me into. I'd never seen myself as a leader of anything, even though I had just pledged to become one. I couldn’t help but think that Ally had always been the leader.
She could convince anyone of anything. There had been a standoff at school, and she was able to defuse it like it was nothing and I was so proud of her. Me? Become a leader? Never in a million years did I ever think I would a be a leader of anything. I quickly got up and walked out of the hall because suddenly, I couldn’t breathe!
After the induction ceremony ended Sam and I went home. “I guess you have a lot of questions don’t you,” I said when we finally made it home. Sam was quiet for a long period.
“Yes, I do mother, but not tonight. Let me go inside and sleep on it. We can talk tomorrow.” He kissed me on the cheek and walked into the house looking a bit taller than when we left the house earlier in the evening.
I was a bit worried about my son. When I had seen him walk out, I wanted to follow him, but he needed to work through these things on his own now. I followed him into the house and got ready for bed. Hopefully, tomorrow would be a better, brighter, new day. I said to myself before I grabbed a book and began reading.
The next few days ran together and nothing much changed. Sam basically was not talking to me, which is not like my son, but I had resigned myself to let him work through this on his own.
By Thursday though I could not take the silence any longer so when he came down for breakfast I tentatively asked, “Sam can we talk please?”
“What about mom? How you and Father basically lied to me about what I am, who I am for basically all my life?” he said looking at me with his accusation in his eyes. My heart just about broke. I quickly sat down next to him.
“It’s not like I wanted to keep it a secret from you, it’s just the way it had to be.” He scoffed at that.
“The way it had to be? No, you could have told me plenty of times. Now I am expected to become a leader of a Coven I have only just been inducted into and have only known exists for a few days. That is a lot of pressure to put on me.” He said and then immediately stood up and slammed his empty plate into the sink. “I've to go to school unless that’s no longer expected of me,” he said with his back to me. I hung my head and tried to keep my voice calm before responding.
“No, you’re still expected to go to school. Your father will meet you after school to begin your training.” I said. He didn’t say anything just grabbed his book bag and walked out of the kitchen.
I have been eighteen years old for a couple of months now, and the birthmark that I thought was insignificant has begun to throb and ache. When I touch it, my skin feels hot to the touch, as if I am running a fever. The birthmark itself looks like it could be glowing at times as well.
I am unsure what that is all about. It is an unusual birthmark, some would say so anyway. My birthmark is in the shape of a Phoenix. Yes, it is the shape of a bird. I have never met or known anyone else with a birthmark of this shape. I had asked my father about the unusualness of the shape and he dismissed it and wouldn’t talk about it. I have tried to research the shape of my birthmark but couldn’t find anything and there is no one I can ask either.
Aaric and I have gotten closer since we started meeting in the woods. It’s like we have this connection that no one else in our family does. I can’t exactly explain it.
Meeting with the wolves have been cool as well. Though I do get the feeling that one wolf does not like me. This one is gray in color and always stands close to Abigail as though he is protecting her from me. I have tried to ask Aaric about him, but he laughs off my suspicions and told me not to worry about Kayne.
Walking in the woods has gotten to be quite therapeutic for me. The smell of the cool, crisp air, the freshly fallen leaves, the bark on the trees, the aroma from the many different plants and flowers that are growing in the woods are all quite soothing. The rushing sound of the waterfalls or the babbling brooks are also quite pleasing to the ears. Listening to Aaric talk about Sage Hollow and the history behind this sleepy little town is interesting and calming as well. I feel like I can ask him anything.
“So, were you born here?” I asked on one of our walks. He smiled when I asked him that question.
“No, I wasn’t born here. In fact, none of us were. Pam and Roger have adopted all of us.” He said and stopped walking and looked at the waterfall that we had come to.
“I’m sorry I had no idea,” I said looking down at the water falling below us.
“No need to apologize,” He said looking over at me. “My parents were killed.” he started to say, then stopped and picked up a rock then tossed it into the water below.
“I’m sorry,” I said looking up at him. “How may I ask?” He looked down at me with a smile.
“The town I was born in and started my childhood in had come to know that my parents were wolves and condemned them to death by stoning.” He said quietly.
I thought about what he had said then asked, “May I ask why you were spared then?” I thought I had seen a look of sadness come across his face for a split second before his face became the look of stone, I had become fond of.
“I was a child, and no one wanted to kill a child.” I must have had a look shock on my face because he also said, “don’t be so surprised, people can be mean to adults but be the sweetest people in the world to children while thinking they will ship them off to be other adult’s problems. Turns out Pam and Roger believe I have been a blessing and so adopted me, then Brooke, Janie and Scotty.”
Then, he turned back to the waterfall and we both were caught up in our own thoughts for what seemed like hours before he replied.“You have heard that the symbols on my skin make me the Alpha of The Phoenix Warriors, which is the Pack in this area, but do you know that the birthmark that you like to cover up so much makes you one as well.” he smiled at my gasp when he mentioned my birthmark as I had not told anyone about that.
“How….how...how did you know about that?” I stammered out as my hand instinctively went to it and
grimaced in pain when it came in contacted with said birthmark.
“It has been aching and throbbing has it not?” he asked in response, not answering my question.
“Yes?” I responded.
“How long has it been hurting like that?” he asked.
“I don’t know, a week, maybe. I haven’t really been counting…” I said with a shrug of my shoulders. I turned away from him then because I really wasn’t sure how he had come to know about my birthmark. I never showed it to him.
He gently laid his hand upon my shoulder with the birthmark and it instantly cooled. This got my attention and I turned back to look at him.
“Allysonn, you are a descendant of one of most Ancient Great Ones known to our world. Your mother is one as well…” he said walking towards me. I had to take a step back from him, not understanding how he knew about all of this.
“Aaric, I don’t know what you are talking about. I can’t be a wolf. I am a human being.” I said stumbling backward, finally stumbling, falling and twisting my ankle. I tried to stand back up and flinched when the pain grew and went up into my leg. Aaric crouched down and checked on me.
“Looks like you twisted your ankle pretty good,” he said and then began looking around us.
“What are you looking for?” I asked curiously. He got up and went to a group of what looked like weeds to me and started picking them. When he came back, he started applying what he had picked up to my ankle and surprisingly enough the pain started easing up.
“What the heck did you do to me?” I asked when he had helped me to my feet.
“The plants and flowers you see growing around here can be used for medicinal purposes if you choose to learn what your ancestors have passed down among them throughout the years, you can learn what each plant and flower can help with as well.” he replied and then started walking back the way we had come.
I just stood there looking at his back unsure of what he had said. He stopped and turned around and asked, “are you coming? It’s getting dark and Pam will be worried if I return without you.” He said with that incredible smile of his. My heart started fluttering and I had butterflies in my stomach. I had never felt this way about any guy before. Not even when I had dated Sam. Was, I falling for Aaric?
When Allysonn moved in with us I totally hated the idea. I thought she would be another bratty, teenaged girl that would fawn all over me like Brooke and Janie did when they first moved in, but she turned out to be cool. In fact, turns out that she is more like me than I would have ever imagined.
I knew it the first night I caught her watching me in the woods. When she left that I felt as if a part of myself had left with her. I had never had a feeling like that before.
When Abigail first came and started talking to me, she told me of what the Pack had been foretold. My mother and father had told me about the symbols I had on my body, that all the other boys and girls had made fun of, that set me apart from them.
I missed my parents, but having Abi and the other wolves now, I knew I had a family again. I know that Pam and Roger meant well, but they just never felt much like a true family.
My life changed drastically, after Allysonn moved in with us. Not only did I transform into the wolf that my parents told me I would become, but I was now the Alpha of a wolf pack. My first job as Alpha was to inform Allysonn that she was a wolf just like her mother and that her mother was Abigail.
We have had many after-school walks in the woods for me to ponder how to do this. Then one-day Allysonn came upon me talking to a female that she did not know or at first thought she did not know.
“Aaric, oh excuse me,” Allyson said as she walked up to us. The woman I had been talking to turned and Allysonn immediately saw the birthmark in the exact same spot as hers and curiously it was in the exact same shape as hers.
“Allysonn…” the womans voice cracked with emotion as she stared at the increasingly confused girl.
“Do I know you?” Allysonn replied.
“Allysonn, I would like to introduce you to Abigail. Abigail Mortigan, she’s… uh… she’s your mother.” Standing in the quiet between their breaths I waited for the shoe to drop.
Allysonn just stared, open-mouthed, not moving. Abigail took one step towards her and that got Allysonn moving,
“I’m sorry Aaric, but I have to go…” Allysonn said and turned and took off running. What her mother and I saw next was so beautiful. Allysonn became this silver colored wolf, that when running looked so much like a falling star streaking across the dark night sky.
She was like a vision I had seen in my dreams that was finally coming true. Then it came to me, she had turned into the same exact wolf that was like the trinket that she had on her necklace except for the fact that Allysonn had brown eyes and the wolf on her necklace had blue eyes. I was pulled away out of my thoughts by Abigail’s cry,
“Allysonn, wait!” Abi cried out but Allysonn was too far for her to hear her mother’s pleas.
“Abigail, hey. Allysonn will be okay. She has just phased into a wolf for the first time and she must be very scared. She has not only found out that her mother is alive, but she has turned into an animal that she never knew she was. You need to go back to the pack house and get Falcon.
He is the only one who can stop her now and you know it. She will not listen to either you or I at this point in time.” I said to her.
Abigail was not looking at me, but at where her daughter had disappeared too deep into the woods. I turned her to me and shook her shoulders to bring her attention back to me.
“Abigail, did you hear me?” I questioned.
“Uh, what did you say Aaric?” she said questionably.
“You need to go and tell Falcon what just happened and get him to go after Ally. He is the only one that will be able to get her to stop and listen to him at this point in time. Allysonn has just gone through a huge shock, and if you or I go after her at this point in time, we just may push her even further away.” I said as I looked deep into her eyes to make sure she understood me.
“Yes, yes you are right. I should go and tell Falcon. She phased and she is just so beautiful, isn’t she?” Abigail replied with tears flowing down her face.
I had to smile, “Yeah Abi, Ally is truly beautiful inside and out.”
“Okay you stay here in case she comes back, and I will go and get Falcon to go in search of her.” she stated before turning and phasing herself and running off into the opposite direction.
I couldn’t help but think to myself that Allysonn was going to make a very good addition to the Pack once she was trained properly. From everything I already knew of Allysonn’s personality, she was fiercely loyal, she would protect those she loved with everything she had, and she would give her own life before she would allow those she loved to get hurt.
That is what the Phoenix Warrior’s needed in an Alpha Queen. I smiled at my thoughts. Yes, Allysonn was finally home. She has been looking for a place where she belonged, and I do believe she can finally stop looking.
All I could think about was getting as far away as fast as I could and about how much my birthmark burned and hurt. I took of running as fast as I could. My entire body felt like it was on fire, but I didn’t let that stop me from getting away as far as I could. I didn’t even take the time to look around at where I was going.
I was so angry at the woman that Aaric had said was supposedly my mother that I just kept running, not paying any attention to where I was going. The scenery was flying by me so fast, then suddenly, a voice in my head tells me to stop.
When I stopped, I looked around and I didn’t recognize anything around me. I also realized that I was no longer standing on two legs, but I was closer to the ground and I had four paws. “What the heck?” I thought to myself.
Once again, the voice in my head says, “It’s okay, stay calm, Allysonn.”
“Who are you?” I asked back.
“We have not yet had the pleasure of meeting, but I am a member o
f your mother’s pack. Everyone calls me Fal which is short for Falcon. I am close. Stay where you are and let me come to you.” Falcon said.
“Please hurry. I’m scared.” I said as I had finally calmed down enough to really be scared instead of angry.
“Turn around,” he said in return. I turned around and there was a wolf the color of a reddish brown.
“Falcon?” I asked.
“Yes, Allysonn, everyone is worried about you, especially your mother.”
“She has no right. She lost that right the day she walked out on me when I was a baby.” I said angrily baring my teeth, once again very angry at the woman who was supposedly my mother.
“You don’t know the true reason she had to leave, do you?” he said gently.
“My dad said she didn’t love me,” I said.
“That is so not true. You owe her the chance to tell you her side of the story,” he replied.
“Never!” I said once again baring my teeth. “Why do I owe her anything. She left me and never looked back. Never even reached out to see how I was doing while I was growing up.” I asked.
Instead of answering my question he said, “Fine, at least come back with me so I can show you how to transform back.” he asked.
I thought about that for a moment. “Fine, but only because I am getting hungry, and don’t think I want to remain a wolf forever,” I said and started walking towards him. I didn’t know how I could trust this new wolf as I had never met him, but something in me knew I could trust him, and he would never lead me astray and so I followed him.
