Sorry, I haven't posted this in a while... I've got through Chapter 4 written, I've just been a little lazy... It may be a while before I get passed 4, though.. My animation and schoolwork are occupying way too much of my time...
Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Although, I may redo this chapter because of a really lame joke I put in further down-- I could've done so much better with that spot without doing that, but I was rushed in writing it and it's not wise to rush a writer when they have writer's block! >O At least in my case, you'll get lousy updates.
EDIT: I've rewritten some areas.. I hope it's better than before ^^;; I've also done the same with chapter one, so please check with that as well!
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Night fell upon the forest as the lycans gathered to the dead center, where the trees separated from each other so you could see the starlit sky. Some of the residents had been working on piling wood for a fire for the past five minutes, so the heap was nearly ready to be lit. A tiny fire pixie flew up and, after snapping her fingers, created a spark to ignite the wood. Just as she reached her hand towards the wood, a mischievous water pixie extinguished the spark and giggled. Just when they started to fight with each other, a tall and graceful lycan held her hand between them and convinced the enemies to save their fight for later. As she walked away, the fire pixie resumed her task of lighting the bonfire and flew away.
Cayla leaned over towards Jet. “Who’s that? Is that the Charlotte person that Luna talked about?” she asked quietly.
Jet glanced at her seriously. “As stupid as this may sound, you might want to say ‘Lady Charlotte’ instead. There are some here who are overly loyal and will be pretty peeved if you call her ‘that Charlotte person.’ But, yeah, that’s her.”
“Oh… Sorry,” she said, feeling a little foolish. “So, why are we all here? I don’t quite get it… Yeah, these walls may be strong but wouldn’t it be stupid for all of us to be clustered together in the same spot? What if the vampire guys managed to break in and attack us? We’d be sitting ducks!”
“I think you’re underestimating us. We work better in packs than we do alone,” he laughed. “Don’t worry; nothing’s going to harm you.”
She was still a little uneasy. “But, I thought you could only change during the full moon?”
“So? That doesn’t mean we’re weak in our human forms. Each of us has practiced some kind of technique—be it magic, fighting, or both—that aids us in battle. We’ve really thought ahead on this stuff,” he replied confidently. He sat down a little ways away from the fire and motioned for her to sit next to him.
She sat down, still a little confused. “So… Why are we here again?”
Luna snuck up from behind them and sat on the other side of Jet. “We’re here because Lady Charlotte called us,” the brunette stated—still with that same expression. She looked at Jet very seriously. “Have you heard anything yet?” she inquired almost inaudibly.
“Not yet. As far as I know, Cody still hasn’t returned. It’s been three hours now,” he replied, sounding a little concerned for the messenger he sent out.
Cayla leaned in closer to hear them, but found herself pulled back by something abruptly. She looked around and grew a little paranoid when she didn’t see anyone; all she noticed was a shadow that quickly vanished.
“That’s odd… I hope he’s not facing some kind of torture, like that obnoxious Caleb did,” Luna wondered.
“Yeah, well, Caleb had it coming… He’s probably better off now.” He didn’t seem to show much remorse about it.
A tall, well built lycan stood up as regally as possible and took a deep breath… “Announcing the presence of Lady Charlotte Delphia Begra’an!”
Everyone but Cayla stood in respect as the lycan walked forward gracefully. She looked around at everyone, wondering why they were standing. After a moment, it hit her and she stood up and caught the glance of the Lady’s icy eyes. “Uh-oh… She’s gonna come over here and find out I’m a human… Luna’s gonna kill me…” she said under her breath, glancing at the frowning brunette.
Sure enough, Charlotte began walking over to the cowering girl. When she stopped in front of her, Cayla’s heart sank. The fire’s glow reflected off of the lycan’s white dress and her eyes seemed to glow—piercing through the shadows. “Why do you fear, youngling? You are among friends in this haven.” A soft smile appeared on her face. “I welcome you to Bachei, young lycan. As does everyone else.”
Cayla could only stand there feeling terrified. Not a lycan—human. But she couldn’t say that in front of all the eyes staring at her; all those lycans could kill her in an instant! She tried to speak, but only inaudible stutters would escape. Her knees were shaking so bad that she was about to collapse.
“Milady?” Luna called. “Might I have a word? I have some information that you might find interesting.”
Charlotte turned from the trembling blonde. “Of course.” She followed Luna away from the fire—and eavesdropping ears.
Cayla heaved a sigh of relief and fell to the ground as the two talked. “Close one, hu?” She looked at Jet. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Jet sat with clenched fists. Lady Charlotte could see it too—Cayla’s not a human anymore. He was ready to find that renegade, with or without his help.
The next thing he knew, a lycan lunged through the ground into the air and landed flat on his face. “Cody!” Jet ran over to the trembling messenger as a portal seemingly fastened to the ground disappeared.
“Don’t send me back there!” Cody shouted. “Don’t send me through that chaotic wormhole again!” His eyes were wide with terror.
Jet sighed and shook his head. “I thought I told you to drop the message and go?” He tried to help him up, but the lycan pushed his hand away.
“I tried that!” he shouted in a panic. “He insisted I stay and tell him what the message was about… I couldn’t move… I think he sent me through…” His trembling became worse and his eyes grew larger, as though he was experiencing the incident again. “No! Stay away, you… you thing!” He drew his daggers and attempted to stand. “You won’t take… What gypsy?”
Cayla watched this bizarre scene petrified with fear and confusion. “W-what’s wrong with him, Jet?” she asked over the messenger’s ramblings.
He muttered a spell to raise some tree roots and had them tie the delusional lycan down. “There’s a good reason as to why we live here and not other places, Cayla…” He walked towards the messenger. “Can you at least tell me if—. “ In that instant, Cody dropped a slip of paper covered in blood. Jet picked it up to read the words.
“I’ll meet you outside the gates of Bachei tonight. He won’t get far.
-Syn”
“Excellent.” He walked to Luna, who had just finished speaking with Lady Charlotte, and handed her the paper. “And here’s our answer.”
She took the note and read it quickly. “Good, then. We’ll leave as soon as everyone’s asleep… And you’ll need a distraction for the girl. We can’t have her following us.”
Jet looked around and saw Cayla and Nidena talking. “Done.” He turned to the girls. “Nidena!” he shouted. “Can Cayla stay at your place? I’ve… I’ve been told that she doesn’t have anywhere else to go.”
Nidena waved to Jet. “Yeah, sure! I’ve got a spare room she can stay in. Leave it to me!”
Luna turned towards a gate. “Then it’s settled. Be at the north gate around eleven. I’ll be waiting there.”
~
Luna glanced up at the clock tower—for the third time now. “I said around eleven—not eleven fifty-eight! Where is he?” She was growing impatient. She turned to face the night watch posted at the gate. “Understand, if you don’t let us in when I give the signal, you’ll wind up just like poor Cody. I don’t care about the rules—this is more important than you could imagine. Besides, I have written permission from Lady Charlotte saying that this plan should take place… So, it would be wise of you to follow through. Got it?”
The centaur dropped his spear for a second. Wide-eyed with his mouth hanging open, he reached to pick it up while still staring at Luna. “Yes, M-miss Ravenclau. Everything will go just as you say, I promise,” he replied. “Nothing to w-worry about here, ma’am.”
“Nice to know.”
Jet ran up exhaustedly. “Sorry. Cayla insisted on staying awake and it took forever for me to convince her to go with Nidena to her cabin. I forgot how stubborn she can be,” he laughed.
“Well, we have a lot of ground to cover. Just be glad we have help on this one.” She turned to push open the gate and a strange fog spilled in through it. “Thanks for joining us, Mr. SynCrow. Lady Charlotte will be pleased to know you decided to help reel in the stray.”
The fog started to clear when a dark figure was seen. “Personally, I’d rather not help those humans-- they should deal with their own messes. However, that would mean losing a lycan, in this case… ”
“Ok, let’s just go! Do you know where to find him?” Jet was getting pretty antsy.
Luna closed the gate behind her. “I think someone needs to calm down.”
“I’ll say...” Syn shook his head in annoyance. “He’s walking around in the humans’ town—still thinking he’s one of them, most likely. You just worry about whether or not we’re too late to find him.”
Jet gave the demon a curious look. “What do you mean by that?”
“Don’t tell me the…” Luna paused.
“Yeah, the vampires know about him. If my scout was right, they’re probably in the town by now.”
The fog cleared a little more, allowing Jet to see their collaborator for the first time… Barely, considering their only major source of light was a quarter-moon, they were still shrouded in some darkness. The only thing he could see were silver specs where his pupils resided. With all of them adorned in black, they could provide one of the best sneak attacks on those unruly bloodthirsty beasts.
“Well, then we have absolutely no time to waste. Let’s go!” she darted through the forest, heading towards the humans’ territory, with her cloak flying behind her.
Syn seemingly disappeared and reappeared running behind her, leaving the last lycan to follow. “I need to catch up with them, and fast!” He muttered a quick spell to lift a root above the ground. When he jumped on it lifted him to the branches, where he leapt to others with unnatural speeds.
~
“Cayla, go to sleep already!” Nidena mumbled sleepily.
Cayla stared out the window, unable to so much as blink, feeling left out from whatever was going on with Jet.
“I told you, I’ll come back later… Just trust me.” His eyes screamed that something was wrong, but he didn’t want to say anymore. He let go of her hands and walked away.
“What was so important?” she muttered, continuing to stare out the window. Little by little, rain began to trickle down the window until it started pouring. In the blink of an eye, lightning flashed across the sky and thunder rolled quickly behind. “Oh… Please don’t be out in this mess…”
~
Syn stood there, feeling pretty satisfied about his addition to the torrential downpour and flashed another bolt of lightning through the sky, causing more thunder to rumble.
“Must you do that?” Luna stared at him, feeling a little frustrated.
“Of course!” he laughed.
Jet dropped down from the last group of branches and looked around at the buildings. “This place has changed…” he sighed. “They tore down the playground we used to play at when we were little…”
The group walked down the street and looked around. The enormous corporation buildings towered over the tattered houses; the cobblestone streets were torn from being ripped apart to make room for bigger and “better” things. Further down the main street, the cathedral that once stood tall in Luna’s memory was utterly demolished—crushed beyond rubble.
“This… This isn’t the home I left…” Luna stopped and looked down at the cracked ground.
“This is no time to reminisce, you two. We have unwelcome visitors about a block away,” Syn said while looking off to the right. “Besides, we may be short on time at this point.” He darted off into the distance, not waiting to see if they would follow.
Jet started to run after him, but stopped when he noticed that the brunette wasn’t budging. “C’mon, Luna! We have to find this guy before the enemy does, if they haven’t already,” he shouted impatiently. When she didn’t show any sign of moving, he walked over to her and set his hand on her shoulder. “What are you remembering that has you so stiff?” he pried. “I know how you feel and all—about having all these memories flooding back into your head—but we really need to get moving.”
Luna’s head jerked up and looked at him briskly. “Uh… Sorry… I didn’t hear you,” she mumbled.
“Well, you need to snap out of it. Let’s move.” He ran in the direction he saw Syn disappear to.
Luna sighed and pulled her hood over her head. “Right.” She sprinted off to catch up with the others, but quickly found herself facedown in the street after being plowed into from behind. She looked up at the careless runner, who hadn’t moved since he collided with her. She stood up and walked over to the familiar-looking person and gasped. “It… No, it can’t be…” Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at the red-haired man. She slowly backed away, turned around and finished running to her destination.
She finally met with them at the corner of the main street and a back alley; they seemed deeply engaged with whatever they were watching.
“Took you long enough,” Syn sneered.
“What’s happened?”
Jet continued staring at the scene. “We… We were too late…” he huffed angrily.
Luna stood there feeling worse about the situation. “It’s my fault…” She mumbled a few incoherent words and shadows surrounded her hand, and a large scythe began to take shape. “We’ll fix this… C’mon, you two.” She started walking into the alley.
“No!” Syn grabbed her arm and jerked her back. “They didn’t just attack him, Luna—they were feeding off of him. In the state they’re in now, your attacks would only sign you up for a death sentence.”
Jet bolted in the alleyway, fists clenched, ready to take on whoever would come to him first. “Come on! If you want to kill lycans, then have at it!” The vampires turned from their dinner to him abruptly, baring their bloodstained fangs.
“Jet, stop!” Luna shouted. “You have someone waiting for you! Don’t do something foolish!” She turned to Syn, who was still gripping her arm. “Could you let go, SynCrow? Please?” she requested, a little irritated.
“Sorry.” He was too focused on the body lying on the ground unconscious.
As soon as he let go, she rushed off and grabbed Jet by the neck of his shirt. “You can’t take them on your own! I’ll force you to move if you don’t come to your senses!” she snapped.
“They took my chance to avenge Cayla!”
The tallest of the group of vampires slowly walked towards them.
“She’s not even dead! You’re being stupid! Don’t risk your life when she’s still there, waiting for you…”
Jet lowered his head. “I didn’t want her to be like me… I’m just a monster. How can she still bear to look at me knowing what I am?”
“I think you should be more worried about how she would react if we came back and said you were dead.”
The vampire lunged at them. In a split second, a curve of light wisped through the hungry being and a large wound appeared across his torso. When he fell dead, his companions backed away in fear, recognizing the style of attack. The brunette lowered her massive scythe and stared at them emotionlessly.
“What’s wrong, boys? Afraid of a little scythe, are we?” she asked. “Maybe you should run home like good little children and tell your parents what failures you are.” Her eyes had changed from her normal aqua color to pitch black.
The vampires drew back for a second. One of them started to charge at her but was stopped by the other one. “Not today. We’ll meet your challenge at another time.”
“Oh? And when might that be?” she sneered. “When you have reinforcements and you can all gang up on us? That’s pretty cowardly.”
“Let’s go, you two. They’re too scared to do anything at this point,” Syn said, turning away from them. “Besides, that’s not your missing lycan over there—that one’s human.” He lifted his head to the sky, closing his eyes—like he was listening to something faint. He opened his eyes and looked back at the party. “He’s not here. According to a scout I sent to follow him, he’s wandered deep into the woods and is heading for the gates of Bachei. We have no more business here among the humans.” He started walking out of the town, leaving the others standing there.
Luna let go of Jet’s shirt. “You see? We’re not after these guys right now. As much as I’d like to get rid of them since they are, after all, vampires—“ she scowled at them, causing them to back away in fear, “—we need to find our target first.” She turned to leave. “Are you coming or not?”
Jet stood with clenched fists and turned to her. “Yeah, I’m coming… But he’s mine as soon as I see him.”
“I didn’t really expect otherwise, to be honest,” she said as her scythe dissolved back into shadows. “So, let’s go if you’re so eager for vengeance.”
He looked over his shoulder at the confused, cowering vampires. “You know, I’m a little disappointed that we couldn’t finish this. I hope we run into each other again,” he smirked.
The vampires continued trembling as the lycans darted away to the forest. Luna had planned on getting Syn’s attention on the way out, but he had disappeared by the time they got to where she thought he’d be.
Jet ran faster and faster, despite the soreness in his legs from all of the running that night. His mind and heart were racing—almost as if he wanted to get there before his own spirit could. He was going to make Cayla’s oppressor pay. “He’s not getting away,” he whispered breathlessly. “I told you that I’d come back, and I meant it.” A grin crept from his mouth as he sped to Bachei.
