Chapter 6: Kin Spirits Are Calling, Part 2

The air was chilly; children screamed in excitement as werewolf after werewolf ran past them into the bush. At one other end of the community, young boys and girls were screaming in pain as they transformed for the first time, their bones cracking and making sounds they never believed was possible. Their mothers and fathers changed alongside them and watched them as they turned into their wolf selves for the first time before obeying nature’s call and dashing into the woods.

Gonzalo came out of his home and dashed into the woods as he transformed alongside other werewolves. Daciana had transformed in the cellar and would remain there until the moon was down when she would transform back. The woods were no longer an option for her.

The pack howled loudly and proudly as if trying to make up for all the times they had stayed locked up in their community, dreading the boundaries because of the havoc wreaked upon them by the vampires during the last battle.

The wolves gathered at a spot and grunted at each other as they waited for a herd of deer to run past; the moment they did, the wolves chased after them, hunting as many as they could find. They would keep them at a spot and take them back to the community when they changed; it was how they hunted.

As they ran, Gonzalo immediately felt something in him. He stopped and caught his breath, then began to run again. He heard a howl, it sounded very loud in his ears, but it was far. Experience had taught him that when that happened, a kin spirit was calling. Gonzalo was not the only one who heard the howl because the entire pack he was running with stopped immediately. They turned to face him and waited. They did not hear the howl again, so they went back to hunting.

In a few hours, the men had turned back and were walking into the community with their spoils when they heard the howl again; this time, it sounded scared, distressed, almost like it was in danger. As if on cue, the men dropped their spoils at the boundary and ran back into the bush. As they got out of their clothes before changing, Gavin asked, “Whose child is it?”

“It is not Farkas or Fiend; he sounds like a new wolf,” Gonzalo said as he threw his shirt on the pile of roughly discarded clothes.

“Could it be that one of the new wolves turned at this other side of the woods last night? They have a designated turning area, and where this call came from, it did not sound like it was from there. I turned off my hearing to that side of the woods because they are adequately protected. Where is this call coming from?” Gastos enquired as he dropped his last piece of clothing on the pill.

“Well, we are about to find out,” Corleon said and grunted as in unison, they all changed and took flight into the woods, listening for the howl as they went in with all their energy.

Daciana walked slowly through the cold woods, touching every tree she came across. Her movement was slow, tentative; her feet, although kissing the dried twigs on the ground, made no sound. Something was calling her in the forest, and she was answering. She kept walking till she saw it, the cave. It appeared before her, slowly making her stop in her tracks.

She stood, staring at the cave for a while, and the sound came again, that which had pulled here. A form appeared in front of the cave. Wrapped in swaddle clothes was a baby. He was crying softly. Daciana tried to run to the boy, and her feet suddenly felt heavy. The baby did not disappear; unlike the other times she had been here. The baby stayed and cried softly.

For every step she took towards the swaddle, she was pulled back by force. And suddenly, the swaddle disappeared. Daciana was soon filled with despair. She shut her eyes, trying to force herself away from this place, this place that had brought her only horror. Her eyes willed themselves openly, and she saw something else. In the place of the swaddle was a young boy. His back was turned, he had long dark hair. She tried to get closer again, but the force pulled her right back. Then he turned, and in the darkness, she saw two bright green orbs staring right at her before the figure retreated into the cave and disappeared with it.

Daciana woke up panting in the cellar. “He’s alive,” she whispered.

Seven hills crossed, and it dawned on them where they were running to; it was the vampire community. The realization hit everyone like a falling rock into still water and dragged them to earth, digging halt. The wolves looked at each other and were suddenly filled with dread. They knew what the implications of going further were, and it scared them even more because it meant that a new wolf had crossed this border and had been captured. This was every parent’s nightmare.

The men knew what they had to do; they could not go charging into the boundary, they would be killed, they had to go back home and strategize, and hope the universe that the vampires did not deliver a dead wolf to them by noon. By the end of the day, only the blood kin of the missing wolf would feel the wolf, every other wolf would not hear a howl until the next full moon, and that worried them, but it also meant that they would know whose family that wolf came from.

They turned dejectedly and ran back to the spot where they would change.

“What do we do?” Gastos asked as worry etched his brows.

“We have a peace talk with the vampires at noon over the 6th hill hunting grounds. We would ask them about the wolf then and see what we can bargain with,” Gonzalo replied.

And then added in an almost whisper, “Supposed they do not deliver the dead body of a child to us by then?” The men heard the whispers, but pretended not to, as it would mean giving life to those horrible thoughts. In silence, they walked to the community as they began to lose the ability to feel that wolf. Whomever they were, they had transformed into their human self again, and now, only their kin could feel them.

Gonzalo headed home, hoping that a parent would raise an alarm soon and he would know whose child was missing. When he got home, he smelt a strong aroma from the kitchen; he knew what was. Someone was boiling flowers for some herb Daciana used to make for her feet. Who was? And why did Daciana need foot treatment herbs when she was averse to seeing the sunlight, not even going out. He walked into his house tentatively and went straight to the kitchen; he wanted to talk to whomever Daciana had placed this task on. Once he entered the kitchen, he met the shock of his life; his wife, Daciana, hand put on her favorite linen clothes and was boiling feet herbs. He stood shocked for a while before making a sound. She turned at him and smiled.

That smile, he had not seen it in 16 years. She looked radiant; she smelt heavenly and had small flowers in her hair. Whatever the witch had been giving her, it was working. She walked up to him, leaned into him, and kissed him lightly.

“What…” Gonzalo began to ask. She smiled and said, “I feel him.”

“Who?” Gonzalo asked, puzzled.

“I feel our….”

“Gonzalo!!!” Brandon called from outside. The party that was going to speak to the vampires was ready.

Gonzalo took a deep breath, ran his hands through the long dark hair of Daciana, brought her closer to his face, and took in her smell. This was the smell he recognized. This was his wife. For the past 16 years, it felt like she had gone missing, but here she was right now, in the flesh, living, breathing, walking, smiling, wearing bright colored dresses, and boiling foot herbs. She was back. He had half a mind to call off the delegates right now and stay in her arms for today, for he was scared that if he left, he would come back to meet a lost Daciana. But something about the fire in her eyes told him that this healing was here to stay. He would take a stag to the witch as an offering of thanks later, but for now, he was going to soak in the beauty of having his wife with him here.

He kissed her forehead, released her, and went out to join his pack with his heart in his mouth.

The air in the room smelt damp. Like someone had spread wet hay all over the floor and shut the windows, preventing them from properly drying out. Hausten rolled over to his side and felt his hand restricted. He was on a bed, but it was a rather small bed, smaller than his bed. He forced his eyes open in the dimly lit room. This place was not his room, neither was it the hill where he was with Grenada…Grenada…the last night was beautiful, but where was she? He could remember everything about the last night until the full moon. He had seen the full moon, and he suddenly went into tremendous pain and blacked out. The last thing he remembered was seeing Grenada afraid before him. She was in blurs, and she stood there screaming before she ran away. He was also very hungry.

But where was he right now? He tried to move again, and for the first time, he heard them, the chains. They clanged softly as he tried to move his limbs. Now he was scared. He wanted to scream, but he looked around the room again and realized where he was. He was in the cellar, their cellar, but it did not have a bed; why was there a bed here, and how did he get on it? Why was he chained to the wall in the cellar? What was going on?

“Adolpha,” he called weakly. No reply

“Rue.” Nothing.

Now he was going to scream. “Father!!!”

Three of them rushed into the room and stumbled into each other as they stood at a distance. Hausten looked at them, puzzled.

“You do not remember, do you?” Adolpha quizzed concernedly

“Remember what, Sister?” Hausten asked.

“What happened last night?” she said as she slowly began to walk closer to him.

“Adolpha, be careful,” Rue whispered.

Hausten looked at them with a frown. Why were they being careful of him?

What was the problem? Adolpha did not seem afraid, but Rue and his father were far away. Alarick was also not saying anything, and that bothered Hausten more than anything else because the one thing Alarick was not known for was an uneasy silence. He always knew how to break the ice, why he was intent on not breaking this one was unknown to Hausten, but the fact that Adolpha came closer to him was comforting. There was a lot of confusion happening at this moment, and Hausten needed some explanations.

“Hausten, I need you to listen to me carefully,” Adolpha said as she sat down next to him. “Do not say anything, control your emotions, and do not react. I need you to trust me.” She reached out and held his right hand; it was the one closest to her, as the other was chained to the other side of the wall.

“Last night, while you were with Grenada, you turned.”

“Turned?” Hausten asked.

Adolpha looked at him with a frown; she had asked him not to speak. Hausten sighed and nodded in a silent apology.

“Yes, turned. Do you remember the monster you used to see in your dream?”

The one with the green eyes and the white fur?” Hausten nodded.

“Remember we told you that that was a werewolf?” she continued.

“Well, I do not know how these dream things work, but it would seem that that was a premonition that you were supposed to, that we were supposed to pay attention to, but we did not know. Hausten, there is no better way to say this, so I am going to come out right and say it. You are a werewolf.”

Hausten gasped and moved rapidly; he saw Adolpha flinch, and then Rue getting on guard to save his sister, and then remembered her words on not allowing his emotions to get the better of him.

“I know it is hard to believe,” she continued. “But, yesterday, while you were with Grenada on the hill, under the full moon, you turned into your wolf self for the first time.”

Grenada…if they were scared of him while he was in this harmless human form and chained, what happened to…

“Grenada,” he whispered.

“She is fine, son,” Alarick finally said. “She was the one who came to get me after you had turned. You caused no harm to the young woman even in your wolf state. It turns out that you are a wolf of honor as you are a man of honor.” He finished, then began to walk towards him, with Rue following stealthily behind him. Now his family was around him.

“When young werewolves turn 16 as you did, they trigger the curse that turns them into animals every full moon,” Adolpha continued.

“It is a curse? I am cursed?” Hausten asked shakily

Adolpha, not in the mood to sugarcoat things, nodded quietly, maintaining eye contact with Hausten as his hands slid to find him again. Maintaining body contact was the only way she knew how to establish trust between them, seeing as he was going through a difficult revelation moment.

“Several years ago, a witch laid a curse on the village of a young man who had harmed her. Before she died, she cursed them, she told them that every full moon, they would turn into the animal which terrorized them the most, and in that time, it was the wolves.”

“It cannot be undone?” Hausten asked quietly

“It was a blood curse, Hausten. She slit her throat as she laid that curse on them. A blood curse can only be undone by the witch who did it. Unlike the vampire witches who were buried, whose spirits still roam around the flower field you go to, this witch was not buried nor consecrated. She was burned,” Alarick said.

“By who?” Hausten asked in horror.

“The villagers who did not understand how much of a pit they were in. It caused a bit of a stir in the vampire kingdom at the time, as we were the product of a witch’s creation too, but not a curse. Over time, they learned how to accept their curse, finally made peace with the witches, and got some on their side. One of which made it possible for them to control their curse, but they had to learn it as they grew. It became a blessing for some because when they were in danger, they could turn and activate their super strength and other abilities.”

“Is super hearing a part of it?” Hausten asked

Alarick nodded.

“Throughout my birthday, I could hear things I was not supposed to. Like I can hear now that someone is headed here to give you a message, father. He is repeating it so that he does not forget. There is a meeting with Dez Alec at his house. He says it is urgent that you need to leave immediately.”

Adolpha smiled sadly and rubbed his hand.

“I do not understand,” Hausten whispered, his eyes watering. He looked up at Rue, and for the first time, Rue said nothing of that “man” nonsense; Rue instead fought his own tears. It was a lot for Hausten, coming to terms with the knowledge that he was the creature his father hated.

“We are here, Hausten,” Adolpha whispered. “You are not a danger to us; you are my brother, you are Hausten Alarick, my brother,” she said and leaned in closer for a long hug.

Rue got closer and hugged them both.

Alarick touched Hausten’s shoulder, and in that silence, the family came together, three of them wordlessly promising to love and support this one as he figured out his new life as a supernatural being.

Like Hausten predicted, three rapid knocks sounded from the door above them.

“That hearing of yours would come in handy soon,” Alarick said with a chuckle as he climbed out of the cellar.

“Rue, you stink,” Adolpha said as she shrugged her older brother off her.

“Man smell,” Rue said

“No, wash up, Rue.” Hausten said with a chuckle.

“Unchain him,” Alarick yelled from the stairs.

Rue took out some keys and unchained Hausten, then walked away with a proud gait.

As he sauntered away, Adolpha made a face, and Hausten laughed. His wrist hurt from being bound all day.

“I need to wash up,” he said to Adolpha. She nodded and stood up to let him through. With some effort, he got off the small bed he was on and began to walk wobbly to the stairs. Adolpha saw this and ran to hold him.

“Why?” he whispered. As they walked up the stairs.

“Your bones cracked when you turned. The formation of a man and the formation of a wolf are very different from each other. You went through an entire reconstruction last night, and you will, every full moon for the rest of your life. And when you learn to master the pain, your body will teach you how to turn when you are in danger to protect yourself, Hausten,” she said as they finally climbed out of the cellar.

“Now, go clean up and come to the table; there is food for you.”

Hausten nodded. He was hungry.

As he washed up, thoughts of Grenada flooded his mind. The night they spent together where they had cemented the testament of their love. He thought of her hands on his back as she screamed into the night, her voice echoing among the seven hills that severed the vampire community from a werewolf. He thought of her rapid breaths, her gasps, her whispers of “gently,” then “faster.” He shut his eyes tight and allowed the water to wash all over him as he basked in the reminiscent pleasure walk through the night before. Then in his mind’s eye, he saw her push away from him as her image turned to a green blur before him. He heard her scream too. He saw her run.

Hausten pushed himself out of the bath that he had gone head-under while he daydreamed. Grenada had seen him in his wolf form, and she had run away. The thought of her being afraid of him stabbed him in different directions. He was afraid and hurt. He did no harm to her, according to his father, but what if he had lost control of himself? Grenada would no longer want to see him, and that bothered him more than anything, more than even his current reality as a werewolf. Nothing was worse than losing the love of his life.

Alarick arrived at the council meeting and met some of the vampires there. They seemed to have some kind of worry on their faces when they saw him come in. something was clearly wrong, and Alarick hoped to hell that Grenada had not broken her promise and told Dez Alec what she saw. Hausten was his son, and he was not going to give him up, even if his life depended on it.

“Councilmen, is there a problem?” he asked as he sat down, hoping that he was able to hide the fear in his voice.

“No, Alarick,” Dez Alec said; and just as he did, the party of werewolves came in.

Alarick looked up, and time stopped. What was going on? Why were they here? Was this the reason for the initial unease he met when he got here?

He stood up and charged at Gonzalo as he said, “You have some nerve coming here.”

Three of the werewolves immediately stood in front of Gonzalo to protect him. He was not in his wolf form, and he stood no chance against this vampire who was forever in his supernatural form.

Gonzalo touched the men, and they fell back; he walked slowly towards Alarick, hoping for a peaceful conversation, when Alarick landed a punch on his chin.

The force sent Gonzalo flying against the chairs and hitting the floor with a thud as his lips began to bleed. The smell of blood triggered Alarick, and he unsheathed his fangs.

It suddenly seemed like everything around Alarick disappeared, and he was right back at that place where Serah died with this man. It was finally time for long-overdue revenge; Alarick had waited for this day since Dez Alec pulled him out of that place before he could kill Gonzalo in the same manner he killed his wife. But today? This was uncharted territory; he knew what was going to happen when he came here. Alarick felt hands on him as they pulled him away from Gonzalo.

“Calm down, my friend. Calm down,” he heard his friend say. He let them prevail, not because he did not have the power to fight them off, but because thoughts of Hausten and his new situation weighed him down.

Throughout the meeting, Alarick said nothing, He had zoned out right from when he saw Gonzalo, and he had not gotten out of that zone. He was seething with anger and wondered why Dez Alec made him attend a meeting that was going to trigger him. He sat through that meeting out of respect for Dez Alec when all he wanted to do was either kill Gonzalo or go home to be with Hausten. But no, he was a man of honor and would respect his leader for the sake of the community.

At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that the vampires would hunt at night at the 6th hill and the wolves in the day to avoid clashes.

Gonzalo asked for a truce, and Dez Alec refused. It was a rule in the vampire

community that a truce would not be called on behalf of who was wronged unless he called the truce himself. Gonzalo agreed; there was nothing he could do other than stay alert in case the vampires came to collect soon. He doubted that they would because, despite his anger, Alarick was a man of honor, and so was Dez Alec.

As they were about to leave, Gonzalo felt something strange. He stopped for a while and put his hands on his chest. Vance looked at him and asked him if he was okay; he nodded, and just as he was about leaving, he felt it again. His wolf was groaning. There was a wolf in the vampire community; he knew it now without fail. Why he was feeling the wolf when he clearly was not family was a mystery, but he was feeling it.

He turned to Dez Alec and said, “We may not have a truce, but I would not let you harm one of mine, especially a child.”

Dez Alec and the rest of the councilmen looked at each other and back at Gonzalo.

“What do you speak of, Wolf?” Dez Alec asked with a frown.

“There is a wolf in this vicinity; whatever they have done, the rest of the pack and I will pay for it but return the wolf to us.”

Dez Alec looked at Gonzalo like he was watching a court jester perform. What was wrong with this man? Clearly, it could not have been the punch from Alarick. Alarick was strong, but he was not capable of driving a man to insanity. But he could see that Gonzalo was serious, and that meant one thing, an accusation had been made.

“What wolf do you speak about?” Dez Alec thundered, jolting Alarick out of his zone. Gonzalo did not answer. Instead, he stared at Dez Alec, dead in the eyes.

“I will not ask again, Wolf. What is it you speak of?” Dez Alec asked again.

“I said, there is a wolf in this vicinity, and I want that child back.”

Alarick’s stomach rumbled as his heart began to beat faster. How did he know that there was a wolf here? Maybe he spoke of another wolf.

“If there was a wolf here, the dead body would have been at your boundary already. Now leave here before you stop being in our good graces; you have been granted more than enough leniency after what you did. Do the rest of the community know that your actions led them to war 16 years ago and may very well do it again?” Dez Alec retorted.

Gonzalo looked away. The only people who knew this story were his pack, and right now, he had more than his pack here. Before morning, it would have spread to the rest of the community that Gonzalo led them to a war they were not prepared for.

He could fight no further. His instincts did not lie. There was a wolf here, but he had no way to prove it, especially as he was the only one feeling it. As they left, Alarick felt his heart get heavier by the second. His son was not safe, and he had to go home to try and keep him safe at least.

Back at home, Hausten sat with Adolpha as she told him all she knew about werewolves from the books she had read. When Hausten asked her who wrote the books, Adolpha laughed and replied, “Humans. Humans write books about supernaturals because there is nothing interesting about their way of life. They spend their entire existence being afraid of and revering supernaturals such that they do not think of anything else. I feel sad about their times. They have other things to look forward to, for instance, lights. They created lights by themselves. However, they still stayed bothered about what we could do to them. This is why our communities are far from theirs, and even though we inter-trade and, in some rare cases, intermarry, there will still be a large disparity between humans and the supernatural communities.”

“How many supernatural communities exist?”

“I have lost count, Hausten, for we are legion.”

“Tell me of the ones you know.”

“Well, you already know of vampires and werewolves.”

“And witches.”

“Yes, and witches. But there are banshees; their job is to warn werewolves when death is coming. They live near the werewolf community.”

“How come they did not warn them of the war 16 years ago?”

“Well, the werewolves have a habit of fighting with everyone, and they had fought with the Banshees over land borders some before then, so the Banshees swore to abdicate that duty. I still doubt that they would have been ready anyway. Father and Dez Alec were baying for blood.”

“So, more.”

“There are the succubae, very dangerous supernaturals; even the vampires are afraid of them.”

“Why?”

“They are not supernaturals; they are demons. They have sex with men and kill the men by taking in all of their powers. They do not go after human men because humans are weak and will offer them no actual power. They intentionally go after supernatural men. So, the werewolves, the vampires, and other supernatural men are not safe. This is why werewolf men and vampires are advised to marry and procreate in their community. Unlike other supernaturals, the succubae do not have a special community where they live; they live amongst humans, so you cannot tell.”

“Are they just women?”

“Yes, they are just women. The vampire community, just like the werewolf’s, is protected with a special spell that makes it impossible for them to infiltrate our boundaries. So, it is clear that anyone killed by a succubus sought pleasures in forbidden places.”

Hausten nodded.

“My personal favorite is the fairies; they are nice supernaturals when they have not been pissed off. They have healing powers and would help anyone who comes to them for help, as long as they are pure-hearted.”

“Where are they?”

“Over the 12th mountain at Icea.”

“But no one can ever get there on foot.”

“Exactly, they are very secluded. Fairies fly, so they created a place where no one can ever get to. They do not want to be tainted; maintaining their purity is important to their survival.”

“So, if you need them, how do you find them?”

“Brings me to my least favorite supernaturals, Dragons.”

“Whoaaa.”

“Yes.”

“They live on the mountains and the lands, and they are anything but friendly. You have to part with something precious if you need them to take you to the fairies. It could be the love of your life or something else, but they must take something from you.”

“I do not think I like them very much.”

“Me neither, Adolpha. Me neither.”

The maid called to them; it was time to eat. As they walked away, for the first time since Hausten found out that he was supernatural, he felt excitement. The dread overwhelmed the excitement, which only lasted for a fleeting second, but the fact that he was not an ordinary human waiting to be turned…wait, turned.

“Adolpha, can I turn?”

“I doubt that there is any way that could happen; I do not know, Hausten,” Adolpha said. It was the first time she did not have an answer to a question Hausten had asked today. She knew the boy wanted to be a vampire more than anything, and now he was a werewolf.

“But there are answers to everything in the universe.” She reached out and touched his shoulder, hoping that she found whatever answers were there in the universe.