Chapter 16 Chapter 16

Chapter 16 Chapter 16
Valaria and Charlie took it in shifts to drive back from Nevada with Lucy and Galen in tow, Valaria didn’t say what had her in tears so each one of the Pack members conjured their own worst fears, Lucy thought that maybe another pack member had died but quickly dismissed the notion as Charlie would have felt it, maybe an attack leaving people wounded? Or a human rebellion in the nearby city? Her mind was racing with bad conclusions, but Galen was managing to suppress most of her negative emotions simply by being near her, confusing as it was for each of them they shared a deep connection.

When Charlie finally pulled the SUV into the Packhouse driveway they saw the reason to be recalled,

“There’s nothing left,” Charlie stuttered as he peered through the dust of the decimated remains of Riverside,

“It looks like a bomb went off,” Lucy added in disbelief,

The entirety of the Riverside Packhouse was raised to the ground, every brick, door and military rivet was nothing more that scrap at this point,

Valaria exited the vehicle and dropped to her knees, the pain and anger she felt radiated from her in waves so strong they forced the SUV door closed and left a body sized dent, she couldn’t sense any of the pack, for a moment she feared the worse but her Panther spoke to her with such rationality it scared Valaria,

“Take me to Westingdale House, our Pack is there,” jumping back into the SUV Valaria wiped away the tears and directed Charlie on the best route, avoiding the main town and sticking to the back roads seemed the best thing to do given the circumstances.

Two large wrought iron gates clanged and squealed as they opened to allow the SUV into the grounds of Westingdale House, the gravel crunched under the tyres as Charlie drove up to the Civil War era building that seemed untouched by time,

“So, this is Westingdale House?” he asked staring at the huge plantation house,

“Not any more,” Valaria replied with a grimace, “It’s home now,” the anger still present in her voice was only cooled by her Panthers purr at the end of each word.

Standing at the main door was Dominic and Stacy, Stacy looked ill, almost as if she was on death's door and clinging to existence, Dominic on the other hand looked like Dominic, he seemed unphased, Valaria couldn’t help but smile when she saw him, her Panther took control and pounced from the vehicle window into his arms, he placed a sensual kiss on her rose red lips as he lowered her dangling feet to the floor,

“What happened to our home?”

“You best come inside, Wendy can explain,” Dominic took his mate by the hand and lead her inside while Stacy waited for Charlie and Lucy,

Lucy’s eyes landed on Stacy and in an instant knew something terrible had happened, the life was drained from her eyes, the once vibrant blue as a dull brown and her skin had paled, her hair even seemed lifeless and grey.

“C’mon, the meeting is about to start, you should both be there,” even Stacy’s voice was lacking her usual lustre.

Charlie and Lucy left their bags in the SUV and followed Stacy to the main reception room where they were met by Pack leaders from up and down the west coast, there was even a few Demons present and Valor had brought his entire Coven, a coven which as it turns out is made up of what the Vampires call Monarchs, Kings and Queens of covens that keep Vampire leaders in check.

Dominic stood and the room fell silent, he began to speak and his voice sounded troubled, “For those of you who do not know me, I am Dominic Kane, Alpha of the Riverside Pack, I first want to thank you all for making the trip, especially our Royal friends of the Monarchs,”

The Vampires each nodded their acknowledgement and allowed the Wolf to continue.

“About a week ago my Pack learned from word of a Valkyrie that Lucifer was not only real, but that he had escaped his prison and was on Earth,” the room began to bustle with indistinct whispers but Dominic quickly silenced them with the loud thud of his fist hitting the cold steel table.

“None of us believed this of course, but to take precautions I sent three teams to find our lost brethren and to help unite other species, while away our Packhouse was attacked, one of our members was taken from us, from all accounts the attacker was Lucifer, the member taken was one of the Crowned Princes of Hell, most of you know him as Mal,”

Stacy sobbed and left the room, quickly followed by Valaria,

“The scripture says that Lucifer wants to rule over Earth, to do that he needs to destroy what has come to be called The All Kinds Pack, My Pack,”

“What can be done?” Questioned Valor as he stood from his seat, and suddenly all eyes were on Dominic,

“We need to find the lost Species, we need to unite, this is not a play for power, anyone who knows me will tell you I couldn't care less about Pack size, all I care about is survival, I will leave you to your discussions, please feel free to use the grounds, my enforcers will aide you in any way,” Dominic left the room and sought out his mate while the collected moved off to their own conversations.

“He’s gone,” Stacy sobbed into Valaria’s shoulder, “The bastard took him from me,”

“It’s OK, we will get him back,” Valaria whispered,

“No, we won't, don’t you get it? Wendy bound his powers to me, he can’t come back unless I go to Hell to get him,”

Dominic approached and added, “It would seem that Mal convinced Wendy to bind him, when he was taken the binding took affect, a Demons powers have never been bound to a Wolf before, it’s taking its toll,”

“My Wolf is silent, as if she is in a coma, I have never felt like this, she has never been away this long,”

“she will come back, she is probably in shock, she lost Mal too,” Valaria explained,

“I hope so, I’m going to need her strength to kill Lucifer fucking Morningstar.”

In the weeks that followed the destruction of the Riverside compound things began to return to normal. The leaders of the neighbouring Packs returned home albeit with new signed alliances with Riverside. The enforcers continued their duties of perimeter checks and breaking up the odd in Pack squabble, Dominic had even delegated the search for the other species to their new alliance members.

Valaria hired some Preter friendly contractors to begin work on expanding Westingdale house, the pack was still growing and they needed accommodations. Drake and Grace lead teams to salvage what they could from the rubble of the old Packhouse. Lucy was beginning to come to terms with the deep connection she had with Galen and they had been exploring their own sexual relationship.

The only person who didn’t return to normal life was Stacy, she had shut herself off from the Pack, mentally and physically, her Wolf had grown distant and in turn so had she.

A day or two after Valaria’s return from Nevada Stacy found a room that looked like a personal library, maybe the former Kings office, she locked the large double doors and began reading, every book contained more history and secrets that the Panther Council had hidden away from the rest of the Preternatural world. Stacy decided that she would learn everything there is to learn about every species there is, so that when her Wolf returned to her she could come out swinging, that is, if her Wolf returned.

In all honesty Stacy had never felt so alone, her Wolf had been there to guide her from the moment she was born, a large part of her was missing and it pained her heart not knowing where the She-Wolf had wandered off to, Stacy couldn’t even mourn Mal without her Wolf, like her emotions wouldn’t engage, and if she was honest with herself she didn’t want to mourn, she wanted vengeance, Stacy imagined grabbing Lucifer by the throat and tearing out his vocal cords, every time she thought about killing the demon that took Mal away from her she would feel a warmth grow inside, as if the pleasure of killing him was already corporeal.

Stacy thought to herself that maybe the warmth she was feeling was actually her Wolf agreeing with the vicious torment that would befall Lucifer, occasionally she could almost hear growling, but it sounded deeper, more menacing than the Wolf she had grown up with.

“Hey Stace? It’s me again,” Amber spoke through the small gap between the two reinforced doors to William’s office, she came everyday, and just like everyday she brought food, Stacy couldn’t remember the last time she ate, maybe a week, or was it two? She didn’t feel any hunger.

“Hun? At least let me know that you’re still alive in there,” Amber may have been joking but not a single member of the Pack could feel Stacy through the Pack link,

“Grace returned to Riverside today,” Amber rested her back against the door and picked at one of the sausages on the plate, “She found something, I’m going to slide it under the door for you,”

Stacy turned to see a charred scrap of paper slide under the door, she padded over to it and turned it over, her eyes welled up, it was a photo that Amber had taken, of Stacy and Mal, Stacy had just finished a run and her eyes were glowing, Mal had even let his demon to the surface showing a deep violet in his usual brown orbs, while staring at the picture Stacy felt warm again, no not warm, she felt as though her entire body was burning from the inside out, just as she did when Mal was taken, but this time it wasn’t stopping, Stacy let out a violent scream, the agony resonated throughout the mansion alerting the entire Pack, Dominic was smashing through the doors before Amber could even stand up.

The dust of the crashing doors began to settle on the scattered books and scraps of old paper that Stacy had been using to take notes, there was an odd smell to the room, like ash, there was no sign of fire or cigarettes, Amber joined Dominic in the room while Charlie and Valaria kept the rest of the Pack at bay, that is when they heard it, a deep rumbling growl, not the growl of a She-Wolf, in the corner stood a large Wolf, it’s fur was dark as pitch and seemed to be smoking, like it had just run through a burning building, this wolf was big, bigger even than Dominic, it’s eyes were an ever changing orange, so deep that Amber hadn’t even noticed that she had crossed the room and stood mere inches from the menacing creature.

“Amber, don’t move,” Dominic whispered hoping not to startle the beast,

Amber lifted her hand gesturing her Alpha to shut up, she then tilted her head to one side, then the other, “I think it’s Stacy,”

Dominic scoffed, “Stacy is half the size, oh and not black,”

The beast turned it’s head towards Dominic and snarled with a primal anger, Dominic extended his claws and teeth readying himself for a fight, as his eyes flashed Wolf he doubled over in pain, dropping to his knees he gripped his head in his hands,

“Dominic!” Stacy’s voice bellowed inside his head, Dominic was always more susceptible to psychic messages but this was like someone shouting in his ear using a megaphone, he looked up to the towering black beast, it lowered its head below his and nuzzled his chin submissively, as if a switch had been flicked he could sense her again, the Pack link had reconnected and was stronger than ever, Stacy was actually laughing in his head, the oversized black Wolf reared up on to it’s hind legs and began to shed its fur, with the falling fur came a cloud of blackish grey smoke that dissipated quickly revealing Stacy, naked and skinny, much skinnier than Amber would like but at least she was smiling.

“Stacy, what the hell?” Dominic asked as he draped a blanket over her naked form,

Stacy looked up to her Alpha, “Dom before I say anything I need a couple of things,” before Dominic could reply she was gone, leaving behind a wisp of smoke she vanished,

“What the Fuck?!” Valaria exclaimed as Stacy appeared next to her holding the plate of food that Amber had left by the door and now blanket less

Stacy smiled at Valaria, “OK I need three things, meat, drink and Chloe, I really need Chloe,”

“OK, but why Chloe Does she know what has happened to you?” Valaria asked trying her hardest not to notice how Stacy was swallowing whole sausages without chewing,

“Oh I doubt it, but she really knows how to please a girl, and I have been locked in a room by my lonesome for nearly a month,”

Valaria just smiled and pulled Stacy into an embrace, “Gods I have missed you,”

Stacy embraced the touch of her Alpha female, every fibre of her being longed for this contact, reached out for it, she knew now that she was no longer a Wolf, binding herself to Mal’s demonic powers had changed her, she was something new, but ancient at the same time, half Demon, half Wolf, stronger and faster than both, she was a Hellhound.