Chapter 58 Isabella
Trees along the road transform as I walk back home, the neatly trimmed visage wearing off to reveal messier and withering shapes. Stopping there, on the dusty incline of the hill, I turn back to look over the center of the town. A feeling of alien strangeness washes over me. I believe it’s my first time ever feeling this way about the place that I grew up in, the place I’ve lived my whole life. A sense of detachment. I don’t belong here; both my past and my future are not here. It’s weird that I haven’t felt this way before. This feeling just sprouts up, like a fragile, green velvetleaf springing out from my fretful mind.
This town won’t change. Not for another ten years or more. There are three kinds of humans here in this town: those who think highly of themselves and take their rage out on the weak, those who are really kind, but do not possess the power and ability to go against the authorities, and those who are good at hiding themselves, hiding their hateful emotions, and only outwardly express their fondness towards others and pretend to live a good life.
With Lily and Noah missing, my family is once again facing great danger. I’m terrified of the unknown. Who can I turn to? The police here won’t help me. They never have before. What about Dominic? Maybe I could ask him for some help, but what could he do anyway? He’s new to this town and barely knows anyone. My mind keeps thinking over the shocking fact that the man in the black robe told me.
We were standing there, in the back lane, behind the cafe.
“My Princess. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kai, leader of the Moon Pack.” His voice was low and magnetic. He had a strong, square jaw. Everything about him was a mystery, but it seemed like he had a way of convincing people to trust him.
“Moon Pack?”
“Yes. We are the honored Black Wolves. We were kept in hiding underground, since the Great War.”
“But I don’t think I’ve ever heard of you. I mean, either during the war or after it. Lily or Father never mentioned anything like that.”
“Yeah, I bet.” A wry smile curved on his dark lips. “Our identity was supposed to be hidden from the sun. We were defeated by your father, centuries ago for our differing beliefs. We honored our blood as sacred and divine. Cross-race marriages, or even friendships with other races were forbidden. Our blood imbued us with almighty power that could easily win any war. However, your father banished our master outside of the world map and moved us to the outer range of the Kingdom. We had to go, as we were seriously outnumbered. But your Father’s army fell apart in the meantime. King Atwater never reached out to us for help in the war. By the time we formed an army and decided to assist anyway, it was already too late.”
He let out a sigh and paused a little, “We couldn’t believe that the Kingdom could be destroyed like that, almost overnight. The humans are a cunning race, they deceived King Atwater and trapped him, leading to his death. All the magical creatures were forced out of their power, the Moon was even cursed with blood.”
“The humans didn’t know about our existence, for we rarely showed up in the Kingdom before. That’s the reason we survived. And the luckiest part is, we still have our power.”
“You mean you s-still have the moon power? But how? How could it be?”
“We were not sure either. The disappearance of the Moon had no effect on us. It’s probably because we lived far away from this land, and we suspect the most reasonable assumption is that, because we’ve kept our bloodline very pure, the purity reserved in our bodies helped us.”
He told me a story that made my heart sink. My beloved father was killed due to the cunning trickery of humans. He never realized how cruel a human heart could be. “But why are you coming to me?”
“It’s about time. The moon is finally awakening. We need you, and you will definitely need us.”
“Why would I need you?”
“Don’t you want to take revenge?”
“I… I’ve never thought about it… We’ve always been too weak to take anything.”
“All that pain, huh? It’s not fair for you to take on all the pain of your race. Do you still feel it straining on your body?”
“It’s getting better these days, since…” I started thinking about that night with Dominic, and decided to leave him out of this conversation. “I’m actually getting used to it. It’s my responsibility to bear some pain for my race, isn’t it? This is the least I could do, as a princess.”
“If you come with me, then you’ll realize that it’s not. We bear our own pain, instead of unwillingly adding it onto others. This is all because of the impurity of the old Kingdom’s bloodline. You’ve taken on too much of other races’ pain as well. Wait and see if I’m right about this!”
“What do you need me for?”
“We need to get back and take back our throne.”
“What? That’s an impossible a task. Don’t you see the world we were in?”
“Trust me, we know everything about it.”
“But why did you have to come to me? The current, legitimate queen should be my stepmom, Lily.”
“No, she’s a full White Wolf.” He shakes his head, as though he disapproves the nature of a so-called “White Wolf.”
“What is a White Wolf? ” I wanted clarity even though I have guessed the answer already.
“A white wolves are the ones who had the privilege to live in the kingdom. Not like us, who live in the wilderness. We are the true werewolves, rather than those effeminate elites who called themselves civilized, that’s the reason the beasts in them were so fragile and weak when confronted with threats and danger.”
I understand every single words he’s saying. This is what happened to me, to the werewolves I’ve known over the years. We were no longer wild beasts, but victims and slaves.
“What do you need me to do?”
“Just come with me and have a look at our realm. It will awaken the beast in you. Trust me.”
“How can I trust a stranger? I only just met you.”
He then took off his hood and revealed his eyes. Red as ruby, crimson as blood. Werewolves with this eye color only exist in legends. “You will find that our king has the same eye color. He is alive and desperate to meet you. Your father’s brother, the King Draco.”
“I… I trust you.” Every hair on my body raised at this shocking discovery. There is another relative of mine who is still alive somewhere in the world. Father saved his life, instead of killing him for treason. The history between him and my father really intrigued me. “But I will have to think it over.”
“I won’t leave this town, and I will wait for your answer, my princess.” He put on his hood and vanished as Serena came.