The journey I had made every day since I could walk, became scary and ominous for the first time. The light from the torches cast an eerie glow on the trees that I had named as imaginary friends when I was two. The eerie silence of the usual night noises signaled that all living creatures somehow knew that nothing would be the same after that night and they were also waiting on bated breath as to what evil was about to happen.
My father fell a little behind Reef going as slowly as our captors would allow him so my mom and I could keep up. He didn’t make a sound, walking with purpose and pride. My mother’s feet were in time with my father’s; I remember trying to use the rhythm to stop myself from hyperventilating. Mum was crying softly, but I could barely hear her over my own labored breath. As hard as I tried, my little legs couldn’t match their stride. I was almost jogging until Reef noticed how far behind we were, turned and swung his torch at my father’s head screaming for him to keep up. Then I had to run or I’d be dragged behind slowly being strangled and my dead weight would then lead to the deaths of my parents. In my haste, my foot caught a root and began to fall, Sven was to my left, and he scooped me up before I could hurt myself or my parents. Caleb to my right barely acknowledged anything had happened, only giving a slight nod agreeing to the small kind gesture.
Sven carried me the rest of the way. He didn’t say anything and seemed so sad when our eyes met that I only stared at the back of my mother’s head for the rest of the way. That sadness scared me. The fact that he was obviously doing something he didn’t want to probably frightened me worse though.
When we reached our destination, every other adult within our Plesio Clan were waiting in an incomplete circle, leaving a space open enough for our group to be led into the inner circle closer to the bonfire that was raging. The crowd quieted when they saw us. No one was tied up, but a lot of them appeared a little beaten up, so I don’t think they were there voluntarily. I was the only child there; I was six in 1934. I obviously didn’t look eighty-four, really no older than thirty. All shifters had expanded lifespans, they all differed according to the species but we, the Plesio, were some of the oldest around except the immortals who weren’t. They could die, but they never aged so if they didn’t die, they lived forever.
Sven set me on my feet and positioned my family side by side staring at the back of our alpha and then faded back, as did the rest of the brutes, to complete the circle.
Our Alpha, Angus, was staring into the red, orange, and blue flames for several moments before turning to face us. The glow of the fire illuminated his face like Bela Lugosi. The scent of the dried bog moss being burned turned my stomach for the first time. I used to love that smell, but after that night it reminded me of death. Fear permeated the connected energy of the pod, except some of the brutes who seemed to enjoy the power they felt over us. I can remember the bloodlust in their eyes as well. Reef especially, he was relishing in the shared experience of pain and fear. I could feel his stare in the back of my head, emanating a darkness I had never felt before.
The Alpha’s voice was so loud and powerful it shook the earth we stood upon, and the vibrations would crawl across your skin leaving a cold-sweat and shiver in its place. His expression was unyielding, whatever happened that caused the reaction was going to change our clan forever. I was only six, but I could sense the gravity of the situation. It was then the Alpha leveled the charges, my father had broken our most sacred law, the Good of the Clan by revealing himself to a human.
There was an audible gasp from the crowd, my mother weeping resembled a banshee’s call as she sunk to her knees. Every other member of my clan expressed either utter devastation and tears or absolute hatred. I knew what it meant, the Good of the Clan Law was the boogieman to shifters. Used at bedtime or when we were misbehaving, as what could happen if we didn’t j acting correctly. But what did death mean? We could live thousands of years, I never knew anyone that died. I didn’t understand. My father stepped between my mom and me, his hand appeared in front of me, and I took it in my own. He pulled me close as my mom leaned her head against his legs and I copied her. My father smiled at me, then went back to staring at our Alpha stoically.
Our Alpha held up a newspaper, the Daily Mail, there was a blurry image of one of us on the front page with a giant headline, London Surgeon’s Picture of the Monster: Monster within yards of Lochside.
There was another audible gasp from the crowd but then my father’s closest friend, Seamus spoke up, “How can you tell that’s Sean? The picture’s so blurry that no—”
The Alpha’s expression was unyielding, “Perhaps you want to take his place?”
Seamus appeared as if he would take the blame for a moment, Lucy, his wife, and my mom’s closest friend was crying and holding tight to his arm. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my father shake his head no to Seamus who reluctantly stepped back.
There were myths about us worldwide. Perhaps a cave drawing or two of us might exist, but the first written account was in the sixth century in the Life of St. Columba by Adomnán, written about a century after the quote-unquote incident. He and his followers came across the locals burying a man by the River Ness, they claimed one of us attacked him while he was swimming. The story goes on to say that Columba sent a follower to swim across the river and when the beast approached him, Columba made the sign of the cross, ordered it to go no further and go back at once. He claimed the monster stopped and fled at that point giving Columba credit for a miracle. In truth, the dead guy was very drunk, drowned, and while the Alpha at the time was watching the situation, he never approached the swimming follower and wasn’t compelled to retreat or any other nonsense. But the story did keep humans away for a time, so there was good that came out of it. There wasn’t another written account until the 1800’s, but for the most part, stories of the ‘monster’ in the Lochs kept humans away.
All that changed when two different articles and what seemed like a million letters to the editor from other supposed eye-witnesses appeared in our local papers about us. I’m sure some of them were real, we weren’t as careful back then as we were today. I wasn’t allowed to listen to the grown-up talk, but I had eavesdropped a couple of times. I knew the adults were frightened by the articles, that we would become something people hunted or worshipped, and there could be boat tours of crazy people invading our village.
None of that mattered anymore, this photo was the first proof that the Plesiosaurs didn’t go extinct with the dinosaurs. Although, the humans never called us that, we had different names all over the world to them. Champ, Ogopogo, Mokele-mbembe, in our area we became the Loch Ness Monster. Appointed by a human, of course, we weren’t monsters, and I hated that nickname. Although, monster did work ‘for’ us in the early days when everyone was afraid of monsters, not so much now when everyone seems obsessed with the unknown.
The Alpha’s voice boomed over the hush of the crowd, “You have all been warned what would happen if any ‘proof’ made it to the outside world. I would be obligated to open our ‘fate worse than death’ punishment and do whatever our forefathers deemed would be an appropriate punishment.”
“Why are Edith and June here?” someone shouted.
The Alpha’s expression didn’t waver, if he felt sorry for what was happening he didn’t show it when he said, “That’s the fate worse than death. Sean’s family must bear witness, and you be warned that the next infraction will include your children as well.” Collectively the circle seemed to step back. Each sub-group of species had their own version of the ‘Fate Worse than Death’ punishment locked away only to be revealed when the law was broken. The mystery of the sentence was enough to keep most shifters in line.
The Alpha was gazing above my head and nodded. Reef and Sven stepped behind us, they untied my mother’s rope from my father and ordered him to walk to a large stake near the Alpha. It was about his human height, and thick chains were crudely bolted in the middle and the top.
My mother was weeping and scoote
d closer to me and whispered, “Baby, don’t listen, don’t watch.” That was the moment everything became clear to my six-year-old mind; when I knew what was about to happen and completely freaked out.
I let out a blood-curdling scream of, “No” as I jumped to my feet and tried to run to my father’s side. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that I was still tied to my mother and within a couple of feet snapped backward with my feet dramatically flying into the air. I remember feeling like I was dying and the pure freedom of flying simultaneously since I was completely airborne. I landed so hard I knocked the wind out of my lungs, but with the rope around my neck the breath wasn’t released and caused pain so agonizing my lungs could explode. Almost immediately the inevitable tunnel vision, daze, and bright flashes of light had set in from cutting the oxygen off from my brain. I wasn’t struggling, I laid there dying for barely a moment before my mom’s bound hands frantically began trying to pry the rope from my neck. She was crying and was struggling to breathe as well since my reckless actions affected her too. The rope was so tight around her neck the skin around it was bright red and bulging.
My father was shouting in the background to save us, and the Alpha replied, sounding slightly remorseful, “They thought this would happen. A fate worse than death, watching your loved ones die trying to save you before you face the same fate.”
It sounded like I was in a wind tunnel to match the tunnel vision that had begun but could hear yelling, shock, and disbelief from my clan that that was what our ancestors had set as our punishment. Above all the shouting, there were shouted orders of; stop, don’t move, and a loud grunt before Lucy placed a hand on my mom and me, then made a wish for the binds of the innocents to be released. The ropes around my mother and me fell; my father’s did not, sealing his fate.
There was some grumbling amongst the brutes that we should be retied, and Lucy tied up as well because she broke the Alpha’s orders, but most of the clan was shouting to let us go. That we were not as evil as our forefathers, that we shouldn’t die because of the crimes of my father.
The Alpha’s voice rose above the crowd with a small dose of his power ordering everyone to stand down and to leave us unbound. He and the rest of us didn’t realize it at the time, but that marked the beginning of the end of our Alpha. While most of the clan admired his decision, it was a slap in the face to the purists, the brutes that had the physical strength to one day challenge his authority which they eventually did.
After a couple moments of silence, the Alpha ordered us to stand and bear witness, that seemed to somewhat appease the brutes at the time. I felt mom and Lucy get up while I laid on the hard, compact earth that our clan had trampled over forever squeezing my eyes shut and fighting the Alpha’s power over me. I remember shaking from the sheer force of it, granted I was six, but I was fighting it with all my might because I didn’t want to be haunted by what was about to happen and my mother told me not to. But then I felt a firm grip on the front of my dress jerking me up until my feet were dangling a couple feet off the ground and the only noise was the sound of my dress ripping at the seams. My eyes locked with Reef’s whose expression told me he was relishing this small taste of power. He actually smiled as he set me on my feet staring straight ahead at the post and chains keeping one hand on my chin and another on my shoulder. His grip was so hard it left bruises and a physical in your face reminder of what had happened that night for many weeks later. It took until well after the bruises had faded for the pod to look me in the eye again.
My father pleaded for the first time that night, “My wife and child are innocent. Please, Alpha Angus, don’t make them suffer for my mistake. I’m sorry. Please, don’t make them watch.”
The Alpha showed a glimmer of understanding before he steeled his gaze and said, “Every shifter in the world will learn of your… as you put it, mistake. You not only put us in grave danger, but by extension, every other shifter as well. I am Alpha Angus of the Plesiosaur Pod, member of the European Lupinski Clan and I will uphold our most sacred law.
“I will not kill them, nor punish Lucy for her interference in your daughter and wife’s part of your punishment, but at the very least they will bear witness to your demise to uphold the Good of the Clan Law. They will be haunted and changed forever, and serve as a living warning to every other shifter what will happen if they were careless.”
He nodded at the guys leading my father, and they continued to the post. They wrapped the chains around his neck and torso before joining the outer circle. The Alpha surveyed the circle with an ominous warning on his face. I’m not sure if it was a warning for them not to look away or that he wouldn’t hesitate to do the same thing if any of them were as careless. When his gaze locked with my father’s, he only said, “Shift.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, I couldn’t watch what was about to happen, but then Reef whispered, “If you don’t open your eyes I will kill your mother.”
I knew he was telling me the truth, I felt the malice radiating from his dark soul. I couldn’t lose both parents on the same night, so I reluctantly opened them. My father had begun to shift, the chain at his neck tightening as he became a plesiosaur. His eyes were wide with fright as the chains cut through his neck and torso, while the unyielding rope sliced his wrists and ankles. There was silence around the fire as he was decapitated his head rolling a few feet after hitting the ground landing near the Alpha’s feet. Each of his flippers was also severed and his torso cut in half. My screams began a chorus amongst several of the pod, the rest were shell shocked at the gruesome horror that quite literally for some landed at their feet. It only was a few moments, but it felt like forever for my dad’s body to revert to human. His face was pointed at me, his death stare haunted me still.
Reef let go of me with a slight push before going around me and grabbing the upper half of my dad by one handless arm and lower half by one footless leg and began dragging him. The circle opening and giving him a wide berth as he approached and disappeared into the blackness heading toward the lochs.
My father’s head, hands, and feet were collected and placed on stakes that were around the circle meant for torches, and then the Alpha informed us that they would remain there as a warning and then ordered us all back to our homes.
The next morning, I found out that Reef had dumped the bulk of my dad’s body into a bog known for things to disappear. But his head, hands, and feet had gone missing from their stakes that night as well. There was a commotion about it, but charges were never leveled against anyone. I always suspected my mom had done it, but she never confirmed my suspicions even on her deathbed.
Our pod was never the same after that night. We became more recluse and suspicious, barely keeping any contact with the outside world. Trusting no one, instilling stronger magic to keep us hidden. With the rise of technology, it became more dangerous, we couldn’t even trust the heavens to keep us safe. My poor mother had it the worst I think, she wasn’t a plesiosaur, she was a polar bear. Try explaining that one if she showed up on camera in a Scottish Loch. I offered to move with her so she could live in a more hospitable environment but it would be the exact opposite for my needs, and she refused to even think about it.
“Welcome to Atlanta,” the loudspeaker crackled. I was so lost in my thoughts I missed the rest of what the captain said.
“See, that wasn’t so bad,” Sally May chirped.
“No, it wasn’t.” I gave her a fake smile. This was it, possibly my last moments of freedom. My last ditch effort to get out of the mess I had gotten myself into, or rather, forced into and I was terrified of what would come next.
“The Crazy Cat Lady Speaks,” Sally May said.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“That’s where you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube etcetera.”
“You’re on Facebook?”
“Oh yes, after my grandkids showed me how there was no stopping me. I was meant to be internet famous.”
I laughed, oh my Goddess she wa
s the cutest old lady ever. “I’ll friend request you.” I reached into my purse and turned my phone back on. Several messages started dinging from my cousin George letting me know he was there and excited to meet me.
“Do you have a ride?” Sally asked.
“I do, a very distant cousin I’ve never met before is supposed to pick me up.” I stuck my phone into my purse and stood to get her bag from the overhead bin and then my own. “It was wonderful speaking with you Sally May.” The line began moving, and I let her get out before following.
“Likewise, Dear.” She glanced at me. “I hope whatever is troubling you gets worked out.”
“How did you—”
She shrugged and then looked forward again. She offered to let me join her in the golf cart, but I had been sitting so long that I needed to stretch my legs, so I waved her on. I texted George I was off the plane and would be out as soon as I made it through customs and got my suitcase.
I wish I could get some sense of what was to come, but that intuition went away with the wish as well as the general numbing of all my feelings. Taking a deep breath and squaring my shoulders, I took off to find out what my destiny could bring.
Chapter Two
After the long walk through the airport, I made it through customs without any issues, and my baggage was already taking a lazy spin on the carousel when I got there. I grabbed my rolling suitcase that contained all of my worldly possessions and headed out into the central area of the airport. George had texted when I was going through the double glass doors that I couldn’t miss him, and I didn’t, considering he was holding a giant poster board with, ‘Welcome Edi’ written across it in giant sharpie. He was a very distant cousin, fourth cousin sixth removed on my mother’s side or something ridiculous like that, but it was incredible how much he resembled my mom. George was tall with a slightly rounded face and well built. Dark almost black eyes that sparkled like obsidian, a huge smile that made you smile in return, and he even had the same little white streak in his hair she did.
Covet the Curves: a Romance Collections Anthology Page 2
