Spirits of the Night

Three days without food and now, she's the happiest in all her life. The spirits welcomed her with a marvelous sight. An adult lamb. 'Thank the spirits' When the continuous earthquakes had ended, more animals decreased in population. And her family went rigid in hunting a meal. In the vast valleys of Bloodstone, her parents are scattered somewhere else within. Natalya shifted, warm white fur coated her skin. She paced like a feather, slow and quiet above her ripped brown leather clothes. Her body is still frail. Their last turkey didn't do her any good, nor her family. A sound will startle anything in the dead air hour. But the wolf had no choice. With the risk of the animal escaping she howled deep into the valley. It travelled through every echoing air of Bloodstone and sure enough, the lamb ran. The canine's nimble steps had led itself to a meadow of forest. The lamb stood in the middle, wherein the night lit generously.Grumbles behind a bush were picked up by her ears. There, she met eyes with Carolina. Her eyes glowed with hunger, eager to pounce in every moment in. In a brisk moment, another wolf, Carlos leaped from behind. 'Now!' The white animal tried to walk his feet away and before it can move another muscle, her mother had locked it in place. It danced as everyone bars it in place. Neck broken, blood spilled, and dinner, served. Covered in coats, the three trailed back home. Natalya were counting the drops of water from the skies that kept on hitting her face. She smiled, satisfied with the meal. "The storm is about to fall anytime soon, we must hurry" Her mother looked at them, then forward. She's thinking of her brother and paid little attention. 'He must be drooling, he'll be thrilled' She smirked at the thought. In their little pack composed of her family, their way of hunting is primitive. The valley provided foraging and meat for food until the earthquakes occurred, and now the cold storms. Her eyes locked in to different views surrounding them. They are close back home. Multiple sounds echoed everywhere inside the three hundred year old valley. Natalya likes peeking around, female werewolves usually have greater eyesight. Ironically, something caught her attention, it looked like a red aura of light somewhere up the stone mountains. She squinted her eyes aiming for a better look when continuous thunders roar above. "This is not good, storms make food go scarce" Her mother sighed. "Its not, my love, Its the just valley talking to us" "What- do- you think- its trying to say?". Carolina coughed. Carlos' eyes shaped in worry. "Honey, are you ok?" "J-just some rest Carlos." "We need to take her home dad". Natalya's head shifted back and forth to their house now in a distance and her moms slowly closing eyes. Moreover, the heavy rain poured. They made a run stepping through puddles of water all through their yard. Her eye picked up the silhouette of her brother in front of the house. They reached the door. Carlos dropped his wife as soon as he entered the house. Natalya stayed outside for a minute, checking for things. The red light that left her mind for a moment shone ever brighter but in a longer distance from where she stood. Her brows furrowed in and the arc of her lips pursed. Waiting inside, Yulo caught Natalya rubbing her face with the rainwater before she entered. "Good evening, Ate." "Brother" she smiled. "Where is mother?" She didn't notice that her brief moment outside took more than five minutes and the two lamb thighs were still sitting on their porch. "Dad took her in their room, she needs to- rest" As long as he saw what her sister is holding, he gasped as he talked. "That for me?" His eyes were in glimmers of little happiness. Natalya adored his brother that he argued with her parents to keep two thighs, his favorite. "Of course Yulo" The thighs sat above the wooden table then she went to the bathroom to rub off the remaining blood in her face. The Grustrom house is cranky old, it is owned by their grandmother decades ago. Inside the house sits a classic wooden style interior, Red acacia wood stood sturdier than most type of woods in the valley. Natalya, left the bathroom straight to the living room in front of the main door where Yulo was in the middle of his turf. He admired his sister. Being the only one who can shift of them two, she did most help in the hunting. While he, stayed to guard the house. "Where are you going?" Natalya gazed back to his brother struggling to speak with his mouth still full and blood still on his face. "Finish your meal kaka, I'll be back as soon." "I wrwrwrwrwr" She giggled, she can't understand what that meant. She drew no time standing and left the house in her thick coat and hood on her head. Coming from Night Spirits, the moon is the only one that gives them the ability to shift. Its also the reason she's confident going out after dusk, even in the roaring storm. The light is nowhere now to be seen, but she recognized where It came from. 'The Mountain Altar.' She sprinted the high steeps of rock all the way straight up the high boulders but she saw nothing. Not with the storm messing her sight, there really wasn't anything. 'Can't be, someone must be somewhere' She thought. Her feet walked slowly at the edge of the cliff, little stones fell down. The wolf breathed the night air, the wind blew close to her face, her feet stepped back. But no more than few steps is enough when the edge of the cliff suddenly fell. "Aaahhhh!" She lost balance and cant build momentum. There isnt anything to hold on to. "HELP!" Natalya screamed the loudest she can maintaining a cover on her face using her hands.She laid flat at hard ground. A little stream of water that flowed all the way from Imbus met a little bit of her body. Her hair wet on the water as it danced on the reddening water. "Y-yulo" her lips whispered, consciousness faded away. ----- "Harpy!" Thats the strongest he can manage after repeating the name for minutes now. "God where have you been?!" The little sticks crunched broken as he stepped further in his brown boots, the little flows from the river followed splashing cold water to his pants. 'The color is weird' He thought when little pigments of red mixed along the swift waters. "Holy. s**t!" His eyes locked with her.