“Oh, really? Tell me.” She was excited to hear the story.
“Well, he came into the Refuge when I was working as a bus boy. He was chasing a criminal to the Authority, a man named Blaze. Blaze asked for sanctuary. The Refuge staff was obligated to protect him. As long as Blaze stayed in the sanctuary doors he was safe from everyone, including the Authority. Lucky decided to try and provoke the mastermind out of the Refuge. It resulted in a heated exchange which got them both thrown out. Outside on the street Lucky almost lost his life to Blaze… he was a fire witch and he didn’t play fair. I couldn’t watch the disaster happen without helping him. Together we fought Blaze and defeated him but we both almost lost our lives.” Gabriel took Rebecca’s hand and placed it on his waist on his left side. She felt the burn scar under his shirt. It ran up the length of his torso.
She sucked in a breath. For all the times she wrapped her arms around his waist she never noticed the scar. She couldn’t see it, but the touch of it broke her heart as she imagined what it must have felt like to have your flesh on fire.
‘I hope that doesn’t disgust you, babe.’ He spoke softly in her mind. ‘I have plenty more scars from other injuries as well.’
Rebecca shook her head, ‘no, it breaks my heart every time I hear about the tragedies in your life. You’ve seen so much cruelty for someone so young.’
‘We all have our own challenges we must face. I believe we are not given anything we cannot handle though.’ He grinned in her mind. ‘Unfortunately, I think you will see your own physical challenges in the years to come because of your choice to become a wolf. We’re not known to be a gentle species. But you will always have me there to help you through.’
“Whatever comes my way for the choice I made I can live with. What I can’t live with is if it ever hurt my family. That is something that could break me.” She whispered as they danced.
"You don't need anyone’s permission to teach your siblings to defend themselves." His statement made her think. He was right. She was learning to fight, so could they. So what if they didn’t have supernatural enhancements, at least they’d have some way to protect themselves if they were caught in a bad situation.
He spun her outward and grasped the tips of her fingers to pull her back in, all in time with the soft sounds of the music which was vibrating her very being. It was sensual and forbidden.
"In a few moments we’ll be announcing your homecoming king and queen. Will the candidates please come to the stage?" Vice Principle Frederick's voice interrupted the song playing and their dance. Rebecca looked around to find Hunter but couldn't catch sight of him.
"Speaking of my siblings, where’s Hunter?" They both scanned the room and quickly discovered he was nowhere to be found. "Savvy is about to be crowned queen. He wouldn't want to miss that." Rebecca looked at Gabriel nervously.
Despite the fact that the song was not over he laced his fingers in hers and pulled her from the dance floor. "Hunter is missing." He told Lucky as they passed him and Lucky sprang into action. He took Rebecca’s hand and Gabriel released the other. Her wolf whimpered and Rebecca chastised her appropriately as they headed out the gym doors to find Hunter. Natalia followed closely behind peppering them with worried questions.
"Do you have his scent?" Lucky asked.
The worry that filled Rebecca made her forget for just a moment that she would be able to smell where Hunter went. She closed her eyes and focused on Hunter's smell. Frustration filled her when she realized, "he’s all over the place." Which made perfect sense since he was a student there. "What good are these new enhancements when they can’t help me in a crisis?"
"Focus on the strongest trail." Gabriel urged, and then turned to Natalia. "Do you have anything of his?" Rebecca was barely aware of the crowd gathering. Sundae and Persephone had joined them and helped Gabriel, Lucky, and Natalia form a barrier of protection around Rebecca as she tried to focus on the scent.
Natalia shook her head and mouthed the word sorry.
Rebecca closed her eyes again and focused on cinnamon and gingerbread, Hunter's scent. In her mind's eye she could begin to tell the difference in the trails, she even saw the trails in different colors. Her wolf began eliminating the trails; blue, green, red, yellow, one by one they were dispersed until only purple remained. "This way." She led them down the hall, around a few corners and toward the wood shop classroom. "What’s he doing here?" She reached for the door and Gabriel stopped her.
"Voices." He said in a hushed tone. They both focused their hearing to what was happening on the other side of the doors. The first voice was Hunter's and the second sounded like Ethan, the troll.
Wolves don't have x-ray vision, but the hearing was so perfect she could close her eyes and see the scene play out in front of her.
"And you’re sure this will make me stronger?" Hunter asked, doubt in his voice.
"Danny uses it himself. He wouldn't have recommended you to me if he didn’t trust that it would help you." Ethan coaxed him gently into the sale.
"Danny isn’t exactly trustworthy."
"He’s dating your sister; he isn’t going to do anything to jeopardize that relationship." Rebecca heard a pop from a pill bottle being released as Ethan went on. "Here, try the first one for free and you’ll see what I’m talking about."
The scent of blood carried on the air. Rebecca reacted instantly as she threw open the doors just as Hunter was putting the pill in his mouth. Ethan and Hunter stumbled backwards. Hunter with guilt in his eyes as he swallowed the pill, and Ethan with fear as he took note of Gabriel, Lucky, Natalia, Sundae, Persephone and Rebecca. Rebecca was probably the scariest of the bunch. She could feel anger boiling and the pressure was about to explode.
Gabriel stepped in front of Rebecca and slammed Ethan against the wall. In this light Ethan’s dark hair looked bushy instead of the usually perfectly styled way he wore it. His hands tried to loosen Gabriel's grip at his collar but found no success. Gabriel growled, "Be thankful I got to you first."
His snarled warning helped Rebecca to keep the anger pot from boiling over. She went to Hunter instead and checked him out. "What did you give him?" She asked as she noted the instantly dilated pupils, shallow breathing, and racing pulse.
Gabriel slammed Ethan against the wall in an effort to get a response. "Black death."
"You’re not telling me you are brokering blood to humans, are you Ethan?" Lucky asked, his tone even.
"Blood broker?" Rebecca asked; fear seizing her and threatened to explode in anger. "You gave my brother fairy blood?"
"He wanted to be stronger, to play better football. Black death will do that."
"How stupid can you be, giving a child of the Winters family drugs?" Lucky asked, as he approached Ethan. There was a calmness about him that was scary, like the calm before the storm approached and ripped apart everything in its path.
"He’s just another stupid human." Ethan answered, he had no choice but to answer Lucky’s question.
"He is a Winters, you fool. There has never been a child in that family born without the witch gene." Lucky accented the name again.
Ethan laughed. "He isn’t that kind of Winters. I smell no witch on him." Ethan explained.
"That’s because they’re spellbound." Sundae spoke for the first time that night. "You really are a stupid little troll Ethan." She shook her head.
"What’s going to happen to him?" Rebecca asked, panic filling her. “Should we get him to a doctor?”
"I... I don't know. If he’s a witch it could have a different effect on him." Ethan stated, fear finally dawning in his eyes.
"Lucky, please get him out of here before I rip him to shreds and show him what a Winters really can do." Rebecca could feel the wolf clawing at her skin, begging to get out, the protective instinct powerful. Her fingernails grew before her eyes and speaking became difficult past the teeth that were sharpening in her mouth. The change was pushing itself upon her. ‘NO!’ She screamed at her wolf. ‘This is my battle!’
‘It is also my job to protect you.’ The wolf countered, wanting to come out and play with Ethan’s head. ‘Let me show him what you can do.’
‘I said NO!’ She pushed the wolf back down. It took everything she had to keep her under control. Her muscles ached from straining against the familiar tearing that came with the transformation. Sweat coated her forehead as the mental battle took center stage in her mind. ‘I will let you know when it is okay to come out.’ The wolf conceded reluctantly. Retreating into the corner of her mind where it took up residence.
Rebecca kept an eye on her brother who was flying high like a kite at the moment. The only reason she didn’t let the wolf out was because she didn’t want him to see the alpha. He was still too innocent, so she fought the instinct. "It’s going to be okay Hunt. I promise." Rebecca’s smile was shaky, but the promise was a vow. Nothing was going to happen to him, she’d make sure of it.
She turned her head toward Ethan as he was being escorted out of the room by Lucky. "If anything happens to him I’ll personally track you down and show you how protective a wolf can be when her family is threatened." She could feel the promise burning from her eyes and saw the impact of her threat slide across his face in fear.
Natalia came up next to Rebecca and set a gentle hand on her shoulder. Rebecca snarled and snapped, protecting her brother. The wolf and instinct were in reaction mode now. Natalia jumped back, her eyes large. "Let me help him." She asked meekly.
Rebecca stepped back and let Natalia work her magic; she was, after all, a guardian and guardian's were trained in magic before they became experts of the dead. Surely there would be something she could do to help him work the drugs through his system.
Rebecca nodded to Sundae, fast becoming comfortable with her silent presence. She was standing next to Gabriel, perhaps for protection or simply to be part of the group. "What does this blood do?"
"It reacts differently on people. Some get super human strength, others intelligence, others have their senses enhanced and so forth." Sundae offered as an answer.
"So basically it allows humans to experience a piece of the supernatural without the nasty side effects." Rebecca nodded as she processed the information.
"Oh no, there are nasty side effects. They may not show up right away but they’re there. Ingesting fairy blood is never good. Fairies are manipulative creatures by nature. They look for mischief, it’s in their essence. This essence is carried over in their blood." Sundae answered seriously.
"It really depends on how bad the fairy source is. Most fairies, like other supernaturals, covet their blood and would never share. Only the most mischievous of the race offer their blood up willingly to be sold to the highest bidder.” Gabriel added.
Rebecca ran a shaky hand through her hair. She had a terrible feeling all day that something bad would happen at the dance, and it appeared, that was exactly what happened.
"He should be fine as long as this is his first dosage. The worst effects he will feel are addiction to the substance." Natalia offered her knowledge as well. "I really think this is his first taste of the drug. His aura shows no signs of decay as others who’ve ingested the drug multiple times do."
The deeper she got into this world the more twisted and ridiculous things became.
Chapter Thirty-Two
~”The butterfly counts not the months but the moments, and has time enough.”
~Rabindranath Tagore
Savannah
Becoming homecoming queen was wonderful, but the celebration was empty without Becca and Hunter at her side. All her hard work and dedication to achieve this paid off and the two people who she wanted at her side were nowhere to be found.
"And now the king and queen will take the floor in the first dance." Vice Principle Fredericks announced.
The DJ put on a slow song. The rhythm and the words sounded familiar but Savannah’s focus was on finding her family. Danny pulled her close into a tight embrace as he twirled her around on the dance floor. He smiled at all the right times, chuckled in the perfect moments, said all the appropriate things a girl would expect to hear but behind his eyes she was beginning to notice an emptiness. The magic this night was supposed to leave her with was hollow and she found herself wanting more.
When the dance ended others joined them on the dance floor, and Savvy made an excuse of needing the ladies room to remove herself from his embrace. As she was about to leave his presence, his fingers grasped her wrist and he twirled her back in for a tender kiss. "Don't be too long." He purred in her ear.
"I won't." She smiled weakly as she left the dance area and only glanced back one time as she left the gymnasium. Rebecca had been absent lately but it was unlike Hunter to miss this moment. He was her biggest campaigner and supporter. In fact, this was a moment she felt she needed to share with him.
She went to the restrooms first; it seemed like a good place to start. As she started toward the ladies room she caught Jackson by the arm and asked him to look for Hunter in the men’s room.
He smiled and nodded. "I hear congratulations on two fronts are in order."
Her hand went quickly to her crown. "Two?"
"The crown, and if rumor is correct, you’re officially dating Danny."
Her mouth took on the ‘oh’ form before the word escaped her lips. "Oh yes, Jackson! We are very excited about it." Jackson always had a unique way of knowing things before she told him. “Who told you?” She asked more out of curiosity than anything else.