by Cheree Alsop
“None of your business,” Vicken replied. “Leave, if you know what’s good for you.”
“You know better than to threaten one of my kind,” the voice replied.
She sounded familiar, but I couldn’t be sure past the dull rushing in my ears.
Whoever she was, her words seemed to have an effect. The kicking and punching slowed, then stopped entirely.
There was a moment of silence, then Vicken said, “Let’s go. If he kills you, it’s what you get for interfering. And if he dies, then I’ll consider it a win.”
I felt their footsteps through the floor. The sound of the cafeteria doors shutting sounded strangely muffled to my battered ears.
“If the word monster applies to anyone, it’s them,” she muttered. I heard her kneel. A hand touched my head. “What have they done to you, Finn-wolf?”
The way she said my name took me back to our conversation in seventh period. The name Lyris surfaced in my mind with some effort. I tried to reply, but the pain of sucking in the air it took nearly sent me over the edge.
“Hold on,” she said, her words soothing. “What does Professor Tripe always say? Blood for the hollow fanged, sunlight for wielders, moonlight for those of werekind, and save the water for herb inclined.” She said it in a singsong rhyme that sounded ingrained. “We’d better get you outside,” she concluded.
She ducked under my arm and tried to lift me. The pain sent me back to the floor. I held my broken ribs and tried to remember to breathe. I had never needed to work so hard to do so.
“Finn-wolf, stay awake,” Lyris said. Her voice was tight with concern now that the vampires were gone. I had to give her credit for holding up such a stalwart front with Vicken. That couldn’t have been easy. “I’m going to get help. Hold on for me.”
I lost track of time after the sound of her running footsteps faded away. I tried to open my eyes once, but the left one was swollen shut and something sticky dripped into the right one so I closed it again. I focused on taking shallow breaths. Maybe letting myself get kicked from the Academy wouldn’t have been such a bad idea. It definitely wouldn’t have hurt as much.
“He’s in here.”
The door swung open. The thought of turning my head to see who entered made my stomach roil nauseously.
“There’s so much blood!” a deep male voice said. “How do you know he’s not already dead?”
I wanted to tell them I was still alive, but my mouth wouldn’t cooperate. Fear that they would leave me there tighten in my chest.
“Dara?” Lyris asked.
A hand touched my forehead. “He’s alive, but he’s in a lot of pain,” Dara told her. “I feel broken ribs, a concussion, and internal bleeding.” Her voice was thick when she said, “We need to get him into the moonlight fast.”
“I’ve got him,” the male said.
Arms slipped under my head and my knees. I couldn’t stifle a cry of pain when he rose to his feet.
“It’s alright,” Lyris said gently. “Brack-warlock has you. Everything’s going to be alright.”
“There’s a lot of blood on the floor,” Brack said.
I heard the doors swing open as he backed through them.
“I’ll talk to Mercer-sweep. He’ll take care of it,” Lyris replied.
The sound of their footsteps bounced off the halls and came back to my ears in a muted percussion that made my head ache. The wolf side of me longed to find a dark corner and curl up in a ball away from anyone who would hurt me. The thought of trying to defend myself was laughable at that point, since even laughing would have been agonizing.
“What happened?”
Brack stopped walking.
“Your brother happened,” Dara replied. “Let us pass.”
“Vicken did this to him?”
A hand touched my cheek. I opened my good eye and saw the vampire with the long dark hair I had scared in the hallway the other night.
She took her hand quickly away. “Why?” she demanded.
“I’m not sure,” Lyris replied. “I walked in on them before they could finish him completely.” The bitterness of her tone told me that there was no friendship lost between her and the vampire girl.
“I’m going to talk to him,” the girl replied. “I need to—”
“Don’t.”
I heard her footsteps pause at the sound of Brack’s voice.
“Talk won’t help.”
“He’s right, Amryn-vampire,” Lyris said. “Your brother won’t listen. We don’t need him doing it to us as well.”
A surge of pain knifed through my stomach. I cringed and a gasp escaped me.
“We need to go,” Brack said.
“Where are you going?” Amryn asked.
Dara sighed. “He needs moonlight. We’re taking him to the forest.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“Do you have to?” Dara sounded completely annoyed.
“If my brother did that to him, then I need to help,” Amryn replied. “Hold on. I’ll get some things.” I heard her shoes squeak when she turned and ran back up the hallway.
“We can’t hold on,” Lyris called after her.
“Then I’ll meet you there,” Amryn shouted.
Brack continued walking.
“I just don’t see why we need her help,” Dara muttered. “What good is a vampire? He’s bleeding. Vampires and blood don’t exactly go together.”
“They go together too well,” Brack said, his deep voice resounded in my ears.
“Exactly!” Dara replied. “That’s like bringing a snake to a mouse party.”
“A mouse party?” Lyris repeated.
“You know, when the telepaths bring their little mouse friends and they all—”
“I know what a mouse party is,” Lyris said.
“It sounds like fun,” Brack replied.
I heard a door open. The smell of the forest washed over me.
The sound of grass swaying past Brack’s shoes made me open my good eye again. The thick canopy cut out most of the moonlight. The wolf in me longed to curl up in a bed of pine needles and sleep until I felt better.
“Over there,” Lyris directed. “In that patch of light.”
Brack knelt and then set me on the grass. I bit my cheek to keep silent, telling myself that they were trying to help even though I knew no reason why they would risk Vicken’s disapproval to do so.
I felt it then, a soft buzzing sensation as though a cloud of energy slipped softly over me. It helped my muscles relax and the pain eased enough that I could breathe.
“The moonlight is working. Take off his shirt,” Lyris said. “I’ll get my salves.”
Before I could protest, hands held me up while others slipped my uniform shirt off over my head. The motions stole my breath. I was set gently back down on the grass.
“Ouch,” Brack said. “That looks painful.”
“Dara?” Lyris asked.
A warm hand touched my forehead again. “Stop the external bleeding while the moon works on the internal. It’s going to take the moonlight a while to heal him, even if he is a werewolf. We don’t need him bleeding to death before the light has a chance to work.”
A bag was unzipped, sending strong scents into the air. The sound of a vial being unscrewed was followed by a rag pressed to my forehead. Scents of pine, lavender, and a flower I didn’t recognize filled my nose.
“I don’t know what you did to get on Vicken’s bad side,” Lyris said softly. “But he did a thorough job.”
I willed my eyes to open. They were less swollen than before. Apparently, moonlight was very good for werewolves. “I…told him…I wouldn’t leave,” I forced out.
Brack sat back on his heels. I remembered the hulking student from one of my classes, but couldn’t recall which one. He had sandy blond hair and a mild, round face. He was at least twice my size with shoulders that looked as though he could give a bear a fair fight. In the moonlight, a cloak of light had settled around his shoulders.
I wondered if it was the mark of the warlock. Alden’s voice repeated in my mind, “The moonlight reveals our truth.”
“You’re awake,” he said with a satisfied smile.
I nodded, then reached a hand up to my head to stop the pounding that centered where my skull had connected with the brick wall.
“Easy,” Lyris said, catching my hand and lowering it. “It’ll take a while for the oils to help, but I chose some that work with the moonlight.”
My gaze widened at the way moonlight moved with her fingertips, leaving trails in the air.
“Lyris is a witch,” Brack said with another grin at the statement.
“And you’re a warlock. No need to point out the obvious,” Lyris replied, but there was a fondness to her voice that softened her words.
She opened another container and began spreading salve across my ribs. I sucked in a breath.
“Does it hurt?” she asked, hesitating.
I knew she was trying to help and willed my muscles to relax. “It’s just cold,” I told her.
She nodded. “It’s the peppermint. It has a cooling effect. It’ll ease the pain so the moonlight can work faster.”
I didn’t know why she, or any of them, was helping me. I was about to ask, but the question caught in my throat. I swallowed and said, “I appreciate it.”
I turned my face toward the light and found myself looking up at Dara. The girl’s disapproving look was clear. I remembered Lyris saying she was an empath. The moonlight behind her made her heart glow within her chest. She knew I was lying about the pain of her friend working on my bruises. I lifted a shoulder in a small shrug and she looked away. Her ash-colored hair caught the moonlight.
“Can you roll onto your side?” Lyris asked. “I need to spread salve on your back. The bruises are worse there and you have gashes that are bleeding.” Her voice was quieter when she said, “They weren’t very nice to you, were they?”
My breath caught when I turned my shoulder. Brack helped move me so that I rested as comfortably as possible on my right side. The pain was intense, though the moonlight definitely helped lessen it so that the urge to black out has eased to dark fuzziness at the edges of my vision.
Lyris’ gentle hands spread salve across all the areas that hurt. Dara’s words were quiet as she instructed her friend where to put it. I felt unworthy of the care with which they worked. They were strangers, people whose nature I didn’t even know existed before yesterday.
“Why…why help me?” I made myself ask after the silence had stretched into a thick blanket that muffled the sound of my heartbeat in my ears.
Lyris’ hands paused. “Why not? You needed help, so here we are.”
“You’ll have him believe we’re his fairy godmothers,” Dara said, the disapproval thick in her voice.
Any thought I’d had that perhaps they were just being kind disappeared at her statement. I glanced back at Lyris.
“Who knew what…was happening?”
She gave me an uneasy smile. “We were told you might need our help.” She rushed on to say, “I would have helped anyway, if I had known. I promised I wouldn’t tell you who sent us. I don’t think they knew how far Vicken would take it, though.” Her eyebrows pulled together with compassion. “This is really bad, Finn-wolf. He could have killed you.”
“He wouldn’t have,” Dara said. “He would have had his coven do it. That’s how his kind works. It’s disgusting.”
I pillowed my head on my arm again. I couldn’t say why it bothered me that someone had sent them. I was grateful not to be lying dead on the cafeteria floor; that was definitely worth something.
The sound of a door opening behind us was follow by footsteps through the grass.
“I’ve brought blankets! And a pillow!” the vampire girl’s voice drew near.
“Oh, joy,” Dara muttered.
I heard Amryn pause. “He looks bad, really bad.”
“He’s better than he was,” Lyris said.
“He’ll survive,” Dara surmised, her voice indicating she didn’t care either way. “We don’t need you here.”
“Dara,” Lyris chided.
Amryn ignored her and walked around to face me. Her mouth opened when she looked down at me. In the moonlight, her fangs glowed. I must have appeared at least as bad as I felt, because she knelt without any hesitation. I was embarrassed to be laying there in the grass with my shirt off. At least Lyris and Dara were working together, but Amryn just watched me, her yellow gaze sad. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again without saying anything.
“I-I’m sorry I scared you the other day,” I apologized.
She lowered her gaze. “It’s my fault he beat you.”
“Tried to kill him,” Dara corrected.
Lyris made a sound of disapproval.
“You didn’t make him do it,” I said. “You weren’t even there.”
“Just the same.” She met my eyes. “Vicken was looking for a reason. He feels like no werewolves should be allowed in the Academy after what happened.” She lowered her gaze. “My parents were students here when that werewolf attacked. They would be furious to find out the Headmistress let another werewolf in.”
“I’m being judged by something I didn’t do,” I pointed out.
“My relatives were hung,” Brack said.
We all waited quietly for him to finish the statement, but he didn’t say anything else.
Dara cleared her throat. “We’re going to get in trouble if we’re found out here.”
“Really?” I asked. The thought of them getting in trouble because of me wasn’t a pleasant one. “You should go.”
“I agree,” Dara said.
“We can’t leave you,” Lyris protested.
I pushed up to a sitting position. When Brack saw what I was trying to do, he helped; fortunately, the moonlight had already done wonders. I could breathe with far less effort and the salve had done its job. I met Lyris’ gaze.
“I’m already feeling a lot better thanks to you guys. I don’t know how to repay you.” I shook my head. “Getting you in trouble would be the opposite. I’ll be fine; really. I can fend for myself.”
“Yeah, apparently,” Dara said dryly.
“I’ll stay with him,” Amryn offered.
Everyone looked at the vampire. She lowered her gaze to the forest floor. “Vicken did this,” she said. “The least I can do is make sure Finn survives.”
“Leaving a bleeding werewolf with the sister of the vampire who tried to kill him sounds like a bad idea to me,” Dara said, her tone ironic.
“What are you implying?” Amryn asked.
Dara shrugged. “I’m just saying that if he sent you to finish the job, waiting for us to leave would be convenient.”
Amryn looked angry and shocked at the same time. Her hands clenched into fists and she stood up to the ashen-haired empath. With her slender stature, she had to look up to glare into Dara’s face, but she did it just the same.
“I am not my brother,” she said, her yellow eyes flashing in the moonlight. “I’ve never hurt anyone in my life.”
“Whatever you say, blood drinker,” Dara replied without appearing the least bit bothered by the vampire’s anger.
“Alright, alright,” Lyris said. “Let’s work this out.”
“I’ll be fine here,” I told them. “Really. I think I just need to sleep. You can go back to the Academy.”
“Nobody messes with a werewolf,” Brack said.
“Unless you’re Vicken,” Dara replied levelly.
“He doesn’t know Finn-wolf’s here,” Lyris told them. “He’s safe for now.”
“I won’t let him catch me off-guard again,” I vowed.
“Will you phase to a wolf and fight them next time?”
Amryn’s question hung in the air. The others looked at me.
I shook my head. “If I do, I might kill him. Either way, I’m finished. I’m not about to let him win that way.”
Amryn nodded.
There was respect in her eyes when she said, “Thank you.”
I wondered if she guessed how easily her brother could have taken my place on the cafeteria floor. The realization set in that she appreciated me letting myself get used for a punching bag instead of taking her brother down. It made me feel a little bit better about my decision not to fight; though if I had learned anything from the slowly-fading pain in my ribs, I wasn’t going to be caught like that again.
It took a few more words of persuasion, but they finally left me with the pillow and blanket Amryn had brought. I closed my eyes, more comfortable lying in the moonlight in a forest clearing than I ever could have imagined. I took in a breath through my nose. My weary mind sorted through the myriad smells as I drifted off to a healing sleep.
Chapter Nine
“You-you’re the werewolf from the other night.”
I came to with the realization that I was standing in the cemetery again, and I was in my wolf form. My shoulders and back ached, probably from phasing while my body was still healing. I took a testing breath and was glad to find that the pain in my ribs was gone.
“Why are you here?”
I looked up at Mezania’s floating form. She drifted a few inches above the grass, her dark hair floating around her as though caught in some current I couldn’t see. She stood with the tombstone between us, the one that bore her name.
I wanted to tell her I had no idea why I was there, but I couldn’t speak. I was worried that if I made any move to approach her, she would scream and disappear again.
“I’m afraid of werewolves,” she said. “I-I don’t want you to hurt me.”
Since she was a ghost, I doubted I could do her any harm, but I sunk onto the grass on my belly to appear as harmless as I could. It must have worked because the smallest smile touched her lips and she came around to the front of her tombstone. She kept a hand on it, as though for reassurance.
“You came from the school. I saw you.”
When she moved her head to look in that direction, her hair flowed around her in graceful waves.
“You had friends. They cared for you.” The wistfulness of her tone left little doubt that she was lonely. Perhaps that was the reason she spent time talking to a werewolf in the middle of the night. Her voice was quiet when she said, “I had friends, once. Lots of them.” She lifted her head and her eyes sparkled in the moonlight when she said, “And I was in love once.”
