Chapter 40 Fictional Story
ADRIANA
It sounded like some kind of fictional story and I needed to understand certain things better before I could accept any of this as real.
My racing thoughts were cut short because I could see that Yara was about to walk away from me again. Just like she always did.
“Well, don’t just walk away like that. You’ve barely given me anything concrete to work with and now you want to leave again. I have a lot of important questions for you and they all need to be answered right now. You owe me that much.”
“Okay, I’m listening to you.”
I wish I had fallen asleep with a paper and pen clutched in my hand. Maybe it would have appeared here in this dream and I would have something to jot all my questions down on so I wouldn’t forget.
“First off, this evil that’s supposedly coming for me. Who exactly are they so I’ll know how to handle them when they come? Give me something to work with here.”
“They’re called the Antil Cult. As you already know, your father is a prominent member of this group.”
I stood there staring at her in disbelief, hoping desperately that she was lying to me.
My own father… wanting to actually kill me. That wasn’t exactly a new concept though.
It was something I’d joked about before but never really meant seriously. Now I’m hearing that they’re actually after me for real. That it’s not just paranoia.
“The Antil Cult? Why them? What do they want from me specifically? What did I ever do to them?”
“The Antil Cult are a special group of wolves who have been in existence for hundreds of years. They were originally formed way back in the 1200s during a major shift in the balance of power. Back then, the Vampires had taken over almost everything, wanting to completely overtake all Werewolf territories so a group of the most powerful men were formed to use their combined resources to tackle them effectively.”
Yes, I knew of the great War between the Vampires and Werewolves. It was a story that every single child was told growing up. Bedtime stories of heroes and villains.
“However, after the war finally ended, the group didn’t break up and disband like they were supposed to. They continued being in existence, systematically taking over packs and doing whatever they wished because they were so powerful. They killed people without any mercy and whoever stood as an opposition against them suddenly went missing without a trace. When the people finally cried out to the Moon goddess for help, she created your type. You and all the ones who have come before you.
“Every hundred years, she created a special wolf specifically to tackle the Antil Cult. They are her creation and she isn’t known for killing off her own children, otherwise she would have just struck them down herself. Instead, she made people with almost the exact same powers as she had to come down here and handle the situation personally.”
I joined in to finish her thought.
“Let me guess, they weren’t very happy with that discovery when they first found out about it.”
“No, they weren’t happy at all. Every hundred years, they begin the hunt for your kind and they systematically kill them off before they even fully understand their powers. They don’t even give them a fair chance to know what they were actually born to do. They hunt them like animals.”
“And their shifting is what led the cult members directly to them right? It’s like a signal.”
She nodded solemnly.
“If you had shifted back when you were still living in your father’s pack, he would have seen it immediately with his third eye and killed you on the spot without hesitation.”
I was about to say that my father would never actually kill me but then I thought about it again and reconsidered. He’d let me suffer for years. What was murder compared to that?
“Now that you have shifted, they know you exist, and sooner or later, they will definitely come for you. They don’t know that you know what you are yet so from now on, be extremely careful of what you do, what you eat, who you speak to, who you let touch you. They might be anywhere and they might send anyone after you. Trust no one.”
Now she was genuinely scaring me. But I knew that I had every single reason to be scared of this threat. This was real. This was happening.
If these people were really coming for me, then it was truly time for no more jokes or pretending. It’s a good thing I was safely in Elijah’s pack away from most of the crazies except Hannah.
If I were still back there with my father, he would have dragged me out by the hair while Lisa and Landon watched as they dragged a knife across my throat and slaughtered me like an animal for sacrifice.
“So what exactly am I supposed to do about these dangerous people? I barely know anything about them, I don’t know who they are specifically and I have no idea how to stop them. I’m completely clueless about all of this. You can’t expect me to fight something I don’t understand.”
If this was going to work out and I was going to end up not being killed, then I was going to need significantly more information than she was currently willing to give me.
“You have to use your powers to stop them. You don’t know them but they definitely know you. The Antil Cult isn’t your average cult that just goes around looking for trouble. They practice the dark arts extensively so they know a lot about a lot of things. They’re dangerous and powerful.”
“So you’re basically saying they’re actual wizards? Like magic and spells and all that?”
I wanted to say “So you mean my father is a wizard?” That would explain a lot actually.
“Yes, they are wizards with real power. Adriana, listen carefully to me. These men aren’t planning at all. They’re after something big and I don’t know what it is yet. So you have to be extremely careful and ready for whatever it is that they bring to you. You have to prepare yourself mentally and physically for war.”
The more she spoke, the more I realized just how I didn’t want any of this responsibility. I didn’t ask to be born this way so why did I have to pay for it now?
“Why me? Why must it be me? Isn’t there another special wolf somewhere that no one knows about? I’m sure there is. I’m not cut out for this at all, not one bit. I’m going to fail miserably, that’s for sure. I can barely handle my own life.” I was rambling at this point but it was genuinely how I was feeling.
“You can’t say that about yourself. Listen, you have to stop them, you can’t give up before you even start fighting. You’re stronger than you think.”
“I understand. I understand they have to be stopped but why does it have to be me? I don’t want this burden. All I wanted was to grow up normally, find a mate, get married, have kids and be happy. Not all this wizard war stories. I just wanted normal.”
I didn’t even want to get her started on the whole mate topic because we would be here for a very long while.
“Your mate, he’s much closer than you even know.”