Amirah Cullen
The next day Axton and I met Elliot in the middle of the res and we took a car into Old Forks. I wore one of my cotton dresses so that I could phase easily if I needed to, and Elliot was tugging at the shirt he was wearing as if he were uncomfortable. I spent the morning hunting, consuming as much blood as I could so that my magic abilities were at their strongest in preparation. We rode mostly in silence. Elliot and Axton didn’t really get along, but one thing kept them civil over the years. The desire to protect me. If one thing they annoyingly agreed on, it was that. Elliot thought I deserved better; Axton thought the wolf was beneath me. They were two sides of the same coin, hence why I’d fallen for both so easily.
“What’s the plan princess?” Elliot asked as we arrived.
“You stay in the trees. I will send you a message if I need you to get back to the res.” I informed him.
“What? I’m here to protect you, not run away.” He argued.
“You’re here to protect La Push. They knew exactly where the border was and tested us. They waited for the wolves to find them. They weren’t surprised when they saw them either. They know things about us, maybe through the stories, maybe through something else. I need you to protect our home. I will be perfectly safe; I will also have Axton on the other side of the door.” I informed him. He sighed.
“I hate you,” he said knowing he had to do exactly as I said.
“No, you don’t,” I winked at him and leant forward to give his cheek a peck. He turned and walked towards the forest line.
The reason I had picked Old Forks was it was the outskirts of Seattle. The last part of civilisation before you hit Olympia forest. It was still public but running distance to La Push if necessary. It used to be the town my grandparents lived before it was consumed by the growing city of Seattle. Axton followed me closely into the building and paused at the entrance to the main library. I could see the stranger sitting at one of the tables. This was a digital library of course. Scattered with computers and laptops and tablets and displays. There was no book in sight, but he held a few sheets of paper firmly in his grasp as if he was protecting it.
“You’ll stay here?” I asked Axton.
“Please link us,” he said and held out his hand. I took it momentarily and used my power to link our minds for the next hour or so. I was buzzing with power from my earlier hunt and it was as easy as breathing. I took a step into the library and went straight to the Spanish man in the centre.
“Hola,” I greeted him before he looked up quickly to me.
“Tríbrida,” he said with a bow of his head. “I am grateful you came.”
“What is your name?” I asked him as I sat opposite him on the table.
“Vicente,” he said and held his hand out to me although he frowned slightly as if the custom wasn’t familiar to him. I didn’t touch him.
“You don’t need to keep calling me ‘the tribrid’. My name is Reinette, but I’m sure you already knew that. Forgive me, I don’t mean to be rude,” I said but shook my head, denying the handshake and he dropped his hand.
“I understand. I do not intend any harm to you. I am here at your service,” he said and smoothened out the papers on the table. He looked nervous. I looked up and scanned the room. There were a few people going about their business but nothing suspicious.
“What is it you wanted to tell me?” I asked trying to sneak a look at the papers.
“I realise this may come of a shock to you and I do not know English well enough to elaborate so I will be blunt.”
“You seem to know English just fine,” I stated sitting back in the chair as I studied him. He was wearing western clothes, but things were askew as if he was wearing a fancy dress costume. He seemed uncomfortable in the fabric and he kept itching his forearms. “where are you from Vicente?” I asked.
“I am from Chile, one of the most southern islands, Isla Navarino.”
“You speak exceptionally well English,” I remarked, and he nodded as if he was getting to that part of his story.
“One of our elders is an American woman. She insisted we all learnt good English. For the war that was to come. She fled to our island to hide.”
“Hide from what?” I asked him and he sighed before he locked eyes with me. I realised then that this man wasn’t human. I wasn’t sure what he was, but it wasn’t human. His irises swam. They moved; the blue was like staring at the ocean. I had never seen anything like it before, not in someone’s eyes anyway.
“She needed to hide her son,” he said and held out a picture. I looked down to see a dark-skinned Spanish man. No older than twenty or so. He was attractive but something about him sent a shiver down my spine. His eyes were the darkest I’ve ever seen. Where you expected pink in the flush of his cheeks or the shade of his lips, it was a shade of purplely black.
“What is he?” I asked instantly.
“He’s your destiny,” he responded, and my eyes immediately shot up to the stranger before me.
“What do you want?” I asked. “I’m not here to hear a story. You told me you had information. What is the information?” I was suddenly hostile. Who was this stranger to throw me a paper picture and tell me the man in it was my destiny?
“A great evil is coming, one that no power on this earth can stop. The man in this picture is the answer to this great evil. With your help, you can gift your joint powers to those that follow you. You are both destined to bring an end to this evil. With his unique blood and your unique abilities, you can join and beat it. Protect the world from the forces of evil.” He said and I sighed. I didn’t take him for a preacher.
“Why would I believe this?” I said. There was nothing in the world that could beat Esther or the Life and Death twins. I was fairly sure whatever the hell he thought was going to come would take Esther but a week to diminish. He pushed the papers towards me then.
“This is a prophecy…” he began but I had heard enough.
“Are you kidding me? This is the twenty third century. No one believes shit like this anymore,” I said standing up.
“Please, Mia…” He said and the desperation in his voice almost distracted me from the fact he had said my name, but Axton’s mind registered it too. Mia?
“How do you know that name?” I asked him. No one outside my family used that name. Vampires, the supernatural knew me as Reinette. That was the name of the mythical tribrid. There was a few that knew of my name as Amirah, but no one called me Mia. Not even my wolves.
“I told you. We’ve known about you for a while. My master, he dreams of you. He has for years…” Vicente was trying to reason with me, but it only scared me more.
“You are to never say that name again, do you understand me?” I asked and my anger was almost uncontrollable. Who was this man to come into my life with tales of destiny and great evils without more proof than a piece of paper?
“I need you to listen to me, this evil it’s not an evil your supernatural family can beat. Only you can, with him.” He said pushing the picture back towards me.
“Leave, now. Get out of my town, get out of my country. Go home.” I threatened him as I walked around the table towards him. The closer I got the more I could smell him. The wolves I had sent to follow him, and his friends had watched them book into a hotel and not leave until he was due to meet me. There was nothing suspicious about him until I stood face to face with him. He was tall and muscular under the unusual clothes he wasn’t used to. I could see tattoos through the material.
“I need you to listen to me Mia, or I will go to the Volturi with this information. It is for the future of the human race, for all creatures on this planet,” he said in a pure panic.
“Stop,” I hissed as I glared at him. I could see as he visibly flinched back from my power.
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t life or death.”
“What are you?” I asked him as I watched the iris of his eye dance like the surface of the sun.
“I am a shapeshifter like you.” he said, and I tested the surface of his mind but there was nothing there I could read.
“You’re lying,” I said but his body was starting to shake ever so slightly as if he was on the verge of a phase.
“You are powerful, and you are a danger to me. You can see my physical reaction to your presence. Is it not familiar to you?” He asked me but I couldn’t focus on anything but his eyes.
“What are you?” I asked again.
“I am a shapeshifter; my form is not of a wolf but of what I believe you call a polar bear.” He said.
“A polar bear?” I scoffed. It wasn’t completely unbelievable. My uncle and aunt had wolves that used to be other forms before they swore fealty to the legendary double alphas.
“Indeed,” he said and turned back to his papers to find another picture. It was of a row of various sized bears lined up, the man from the other photo stood proudly at the centre of the group.
“He is your alpha?” I asked unsure why the man wouldn’t be in bear form.
“Sort of. He doesn’t change like we do, but we follow and protect him as your wolves do for you.” He explained and his shaking had stopped.
“What is he?” I asked then.
“I can’t tell you that,” Vicente responded.
“If you want me to believe your little story, I’m going to need more than a picture of a strange looking man and a bunch of polar bear pets.” I said almost with a snarl.
“I don’t need you to believe my story. I just wanted to give you the respect of hearing it before I took it higher. This story revolves around you Mia. One day you will be my alpha and I wanted to give you the chance to hear this from a friend before your world got turned upside down.” He said softly.
“I think your delusions have taken over your mind. I am a wolf not a bear. I am not your alpha and he is not my future. Go home Vicente.” I ordered him and turned to leave.
“Your vampire family will not be able to fight them. You won’t stand a chance without us.” He called and I turned to make sure no one around us had heard the word ‘vampire’.
“Fight what Vicente?” I was bored with this now and I was about to leave when I turned to look at him one last time.
“Demons.” He said and the word made my blood run cold. I turned and left immediately. Axton was waiting for me and I didn’t even have to say a word before his hand was in mine and he had teleported us back to La Push.
Watch him leave. Make sure he goes to the airport. Then run home. I informed Elliot and turned to Axton who was watching me intently. I dropped my link to Elliot and looked up at Axton before me. It was a moment or two before I suddenly fell to my knees. My body shook with emotion and my mind raced.
What the hell was that?
No comments:
Post a Comment