“Good god,” her father muttered again.
Glancing up at her father. “Sorry for scaring you, sir.” Jason apologized.
“Sorry for sca…,” her father sputtered, mortified. “You’re apologizing to me? I’m the one who shot you!”
“Well, that is true,” Jason began, “but you wouldn’t have done so if I hadn’t come around the corner so fast and looking the way I did.” Jason barked a laugh. “I would have shot me, too.”
Her father appeared like he was going to pass out, his face pale, almost white in the moon’s radiance.
Jaws clenched and her hands on her hips, Stephanie lashed out at her father for not leaving like he was supposed to. “What are you doing here, Dad? You were supposed to be gone, remember?”
Her father lowered his head.
“I’m sorry Stephanie. It’s just, I thought you might need me. Also, I didn’t know if when you guys changed if you would be able to change back.” He gave a sheepish grin. “There are some decent people around here I didn’t want to see get hurt.”
Staring hard at her father for a moment longer, her countenance softened. He did the right thing she decided. Stupid. But right.
“Why don’t we go in and sit,” she suggested.
Glancing at her father, who gave a curt nod, then turned and made his way inside.
Stephanie stared at Jason. It seemed impossible he was standing there as if nothing had happened, though he had, a minute ago, been blasted off his feet by a shotgun.
He smiled at her. “I’m all right, Stephanie. Trust me.”
Frowning at him, she was not sure if she believed him, but could see no evidence to the contrary.
Continuing to smile at her, he moved to take her hand. Taking his, they went inside.
Several hours later, Jason and Stephanie retired for the night. They each gave their account of the night’s events to her dad, and answered his questions as best as they could. They changed forms several times to let him watch. Stephanie was exhausted. It had been a long day, and a long evening with some stressful events. She had a great deal to think about.
They discussed returning to school. At first Jason was all for it, but she convinced him they should wait it out for a bit. Just to make sure they had control over this thing. Capitulating, he agreed she had a point. Quite honestly, she was scared. This thing scared her. It also excited her at the same time.
They spent a few months on her father’s farm learning what they could of their new forms and helping her father resurrect the farm. They found after a few more changes, it became almost instantaneous, and almost entirely painless. Though, there is only so much pain you can ignore of your body being dismantled, stretched, and fused back to a new body.
There were many things they learned. Their senses were more acute than before. Their sense of smell and eyesight were especially keen. The ability to see almost perfectly at night was amazing, as well as their increase in strength and speed. In time, Stephanie became comfortable with the changes happening with her and suggested to Jason they return to school.
Although both had contacted the school and requested a medical leave of absence, the schoolwork must have been piling up, so Jason readily agreed. They said their goodbyes to her father and headed back to school.
Leaving was tough. During the last month, her father and she were able to heal much of the damage caused during her childhood. They were starting a new relationship which promised to be special. As their relationship healed, it brought new life back to her father. Every day, with their help, he worked tirelessly on the house, exacting repairs and much needed maintenance. Returning to the fields, he planted new crops of corn. When she left, they shared a long and warm hug. She knew he would be okay. When Jason and she backed out of the driveway, she could see tears running down his cheek. She knew she would be okay, too.
Chapter 6
Returning to school was easier than she had expected. Beth was ecstatic she was back and wanted to know all about what happened. She asked Stephanie to change for her, because she had never gotten a chance to see it. It was a little awkward to be asked to do it, like she was some kind of circus freak or something. But, she knew Beth wasn’t like that, so she changed for her. She was a little worried Beth might be a little weirded out by the whole thing, but she took it stoically.
Everything was going well at school and with Jason, as well. It was a nice thing she liked him so much, because she could sense him wherever he was. Everything was going well as could be expected and for a while it was like the transformation thing was only a dream.
Sitting next to each other at the kitchen table in the apartment she shared with Beth, they worked tirelessly on their homework. Months had passed since Stephanie’s initial shift. Life had returned to relative normalcy of classes and schoolwork.
It had been a long night and their eyes dropped and their thoughts grew sluggish, but they were trying desperately to finish up the last of the schoolwork they needed to get done for tomorrow’s classes. Stephanie stared blankly at the calculus problems, trying hard to convince it to solve itself, to no avail. Math was hard enough when rested.
Pressing pencil to paper to try for another go at it, she felt her mind lurch. It was as if someone had grabbed her whole body and yanked in one direction. It was a clumsy grab, heavy handed. The strong pull lessened and she felt her muscles ease, though she didn’t remember clenching them. There was still a pull, but less than before. Staring off in the direction it came from north, maybe northwest, out of the corner of her eye she caught Jason also staring in the same direction.
“Did you feel it, too?”
Turning his head, he gazed at her, his body still facing the pull, and nodded.
“What do you think it is?” The question was left unanswered. Though they both knew they needed to find out.
Hank and Simon sat around the fire outside their cabin, cooking up a deer they hunted down earlier. They ate half of it while in bear form, but saved the rest for the evening’s meal which they chose to cook over the fire. While hunting and feeding in their bear form was exciting and freeing, they both realized the risk of getting carried away in the power of their Lycan body. Though they could hunt and feast in bear form, they chose to do so only occasionally, relying on more mundane methods most days.
They appeared different than they had only a few months ago. Hank let his beard grow out and it was now full and scraggly. His hair was longer as well, now reaching his shoulders. Sim had filled out as well. It appears, along with the extra strength, came the muscle shape as well. Facial hair had started to grow on his face, but it only came in at the lower jaw line and the upper cheek, leaving the middle somewhat sparse.
These past few months had been wonderful for both Sim and him. With the situation they were in together, they couldn't help but grow closer. They shared something like no other two could share. They could always sense the other’s presence, an unspoken acknowledgement of the other’s importance.
They sat in silence around the fire, neither needing to speak. A weird tingling crawled up Hank's neck. It was like someone dragging a string up his neck. The string dragged from the back of his skull and out the front. It dragged his head around to face south-west. It unraveled inside his brain as it traveled south, to reach its destination and grow taut. He could feel a slight pull on him in that direction. Sim, he noticed out of the corner of his eye was standing, staring off in the same direction.
He wasn't sure what it meant. But he knew it must have something to do with them being lycanthropes. As strange as it seemed, he could sense no hostility from the feeling. If anything, it brought a sense of peace to him.
"Sim?"
"Yeah, Dad?"
"It's time to go." Standing, Hank walked to the house.
"Right behind you, Dad."
Chapter 7
Sylvanis knelt in the garden behind her latest home. It had been a tumultuous time these last eight month. Harder for her parents, she knew. Th
e moving, searching for new jobs, and the separation from their families, all to raise her. And yet, they had no idea as to whom they were raising.
In many ways, she didn’t know who she was. A child of this world and this time, but her memories, though spotty at times, were of someone from a time long ago and far away. Now she understood why she was here, alive now, which was what mattered. Her power was returning to her, a dribble at times, a rush, overwhelming her, at others. There was an urgency to it which frightened her. She learned long ago to trust her power, and when it was urgent, something important was coming. She only hoped she lived long enough to find out what it was.
She had gambled, and her life was the wager. But the bones were cast; it was only a short while till they revealed their roll.
Her parents, if she could still call them that, had left. They had suffered profoundly for what her essence had been forced to do. They essentially lost their child upon her arrival, though she promised herself she would endeavor to be a daughter to them. She smiled. You shouldn’t promise things you don’t know if you can accomplish, she chided herself. After all, she might not live through the night.
Shaking off her doubt, it was the doubt of the child she was. Regardless of the age of her memories, she was still, in some ways, a baby. Sylvanis hoped her gamble paid off, because there was much to do.
There was a shuffle off to her left, a presence on the wind confirming she was no longer alone in the garden.
“You are slipping, Sylvanis,” Kestrel’s voice was still shocking to her, for when she drove the knife into the woman’s heart, she thought for sure it was the last time she would hear it. Rising, she turned to the sound.
“Have you lost the old ways?” Kestrel’s eyebrow arched. “You neglected to hide your presence from me… I could sense you from the other side of the world.”
Kestrel moved into the light from the porch. Sylvanis gazed at her. Kestrel, of course, was unchanged. Tall, regal, and beautiful. Yet, cold and hard, like the alabaster her skin resembled. Black hair flanked her face and flowed down over her shoulders. She wore a dark green robe of what Sylvanis believed to be silk, given its reflective quality. It was hitched in the front with a belt, looped over twice, enough to keep it snug to show off her curvaceous body.
Never one to be jealous of Kestrel’s beauty or shape, she felt a little envy rise inside her now, when she considered her own shapeless body. Pushing down those thoughts, they were the child’s in her head, not her own. This was going to be difficult if these thoughts continued to push their way forward.
“Good evening, Kestrel. I see your spell worked well. Although vile in nature, it was a creative way to escape your punishment.”
Anger flashed briefly across Kestrel’s face, but fled promptly as she smiled.
“Your counter spell was equally creative, Sylvanis. To be honest, when I woke, I was quite astonished you had the nerve to conceive of such a response. I see your essence has made its mark upon the body of the one you confiscated.” Her lip curled in a sneer. “Yet, you still have not answered my initial question. Have you lost the old ways? By not hiding your presence, you must have known I would find you?”
“I wanted you to find me.”
Kestrel, who had been moving closer, stopped, wary.
“What do you mean? You wanted me to find you?”
Sylvanis took in a deep breath and released it slowly before answering.
“I was hoping you would join me.”
Kestrel barked a laugh. “Join you? Join you for what? Tea?”
“Join me in the work we began long ago sister.”
“Don’t call me that!” Kestrel snarled at her. “You turned your back from the right path long ago, Sylvanis. When that happened, you ceased to be my sister. You were unable to do what needed to be done. You failed to do your duty as a Druidess.”
Sylvanis could do nothing but shake her head.
“It was you who turned from the right path. It is not our place to decide the direction any one animal species should go. Our duty, our calling, is in teaching, healing. Our job is to teach mankind how to live with nature, not to force them.”
Kestrel moved forward again, stepping within an arm’s length of Sylvanis.
“You are wrong. They are destroying this Earth. Haven’t you sensed its pain? It cries out in suffering, suffering caused by mankind and its unrestrained desire to expand at any cost. If you had let me do what needed to be done centuries ago, our Earth would be joyous!”
Sylvanis shook her head as Kestrel spoke. “Oh, Kestrel, you hear what you want from the Earth. Don’t you understand? It is always in pain. It is not done growing, yet. It’s like a child going through growth spurts, and it can be painful. You would understand if you listened to the Earth, not just heard it.
“There is still time to correct your course, Kestrel. Work with me. Help me guide this age in how to live with nature. They have made vast strides from where they were a few short decades ago. Together we can teach and heal as we were meant to.” Even as Sylvanis finished, she knew Kestrel’s answer. She would never change. She would continue to fight and attempt to control mankind, to ensure it would not damage Earth anymore. For those she couldn’t control, she would destroy.
“Enough of this pointless conversation, Sylvanis. Your arrogance in believing I need you for anything is humorous.” Turning from Sylvanis. “I might have one day said this was going to pain me. That I would grieve after you were dead, but since you stabbed me in the heart, I feel less remorseful about it.”
There was a loud thud from near the fence behind her. Turning, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Syndor?” Impossibly, the man she would have assumed dead centuries ago, stood before her. “Did you also cast that vile spell as well?”
A slight smile crept up on Syndor’s mouth.
“It’s Samuel now. I wondered how your spell would play out.” He examined her. “The same, yet different, fascinating.” He shifted, cobra form, neck flaring.
Sylvanis had gambled poorly it seemed. By allowing her presence to be felt by others, she knew it would allow Kestrel to find her. If Kestrel had come alone she could at least hold off any attacks, if not defeat her. Figuring Kestrel knew this as well, she would wait till she could round up some of her minions. Hopefully giving her time for hers to arrive. She never believed for a moment Syndor would have found a way to survive. He must have been waiting for Kestrel’s spell to activate, and then it was a matter of showing up at the Calendar.
She didn’t think she could take them both. She was sure she couldn’t. She needed to act, and act now.
“Coirt,” she whispered and her skin transformed into a rough, thick bark. Syndor started toward her.
“Talamh titim.” The ground beneath Syndor’s feet drop away as she uttered her spell. He fell, his momentum slamming him into the far wall of the pit she opened beneath him. Turning towards Kestrel, who surprisingly hadn’t made a move, made her hesitate.
“My Lady, what do you wish me to do with these two?” A voice called out from behind her, near the house. A sense of dread creeped into Sylvanis as she saw the wicked smile twist upon Kestrel’s mouth.
Sylvanis turned towards the voice.
Standing near the house was a Werecroc. Not Answi, he at least, had died at Calin’s hands a long time ago. Clearly a descendent though, whose lycanthropy had been passed on to him by his bloodline.
She was doomed. Foolishly, she had believed, she might be able to defeat Syndor and Kestrel. It wasn’t the addition of this new Were which doomed her though. It was what, or rather, who, he held. Hanging limp from each of his upraised arms were her parents, trussed up and gagged, which was the only way she could tell they were still alive. She closed her eyes.
“Did you think I wouldn’t cover all my options, Sylvanis? I am not going to make a mistake like you did when you killed me. No. You will surrender yourself to me, and I will take your life. Your fight is at an end, or I will have Gordon
over there kill your parents. He is fond of human flesh it seems. It happens sometimes among the Weres. Once they taste it, they want more and more of it. I’m sure your parents will make a nice meal for him. Unless you give up now.”
Sylvanis was trapped. If she gave up, Kestrel would indeed kill her, and she held no doubts about the real fate of her parents, regardless of what Kestrel claimed. Unless...
Straightening, she turned back towards Kestrel. “Your oath?”
“My oath on what?”
“You will allow my parents to go, and you or your minions will never harm them if I surrender.”
The expression on Kestrel’s face confirmed her fears of Kestrel’s intent. Kestrel smoothed her face, and nodded, reluctantly.
“You have my oath; they will not be harmed.”
A low growl came from behind her and Kestrel turned to the Were with a glare, who’s growling swiftly subsided.
“There. It is done.” Kestrel pulled a dagger from a sheath resting in the small of her back.
Sighing, Sylvanis stepped forward to approach Kestrel when she heard two thumps and a loud grunt from behind her. Kestrel’s eyes widened and Sylvanis knew something happened. Kestrel lunged at her desperately with the dagger. Diving to her left, she felt the dagger score off her barked skin harmlessly.
Rolling, Sylvanis sprang to her feet to take in the scene. She couldn’t help but feel a little bit of joy at what she was seeing. Her gamble may have paid off after all.
The Werecroc was on his knees in the grass, his hands pressing against either side of his back, pain was evident in his eyes. On either side of him, a short distance away, setting her parents down in the grass were two Werefoxes, a male and a female. They straightened almost synchronously, and faced off against Kestrel who, when she lunged at Sylvanis, made her stumble closer to the scene.
The Awakening: Part Two (The Lycan War Saga) Page 18
