Strains

Chapter one

STRAINS: PROLOGUE

S

laughter was the word of the day, as blood painted the ground, grass and trees in a crimson canvas, the iron scent of blood drifted in the wind, the cloud was laden with the ominous aura that drenched the area, body parts lay strewn about and amidst the blood and gore a figure bathe in red strode.

Black combat boots with soles drenched in red, flapping black coat covered in gore, black shirt a shade darker with black pants to match, a figure strode through the crimson field of death, around him a sanguine aura billowed, he walked, unbothered by the gruesome scene around him, stopping before a massive tree, leaning on its trunk was a woman, bleeding and with a foot in the grave.

"Sabrina Ananeosi, you're weak". The figure's voice rumble, a deep and rich baritone, echoing with power.

"Vorax scum, you'll meet your end at the hands of The Assembly", came the wheezing reply of the woman under the tree, her voice cracked with tiredness and dread, the figure said nothing, choosing instead to sit next to her broken form.

"Let's have a little chat shall we? You can use the the lull to heal, and if you deem yourself fit enough to battle me, that's fine, should you attack me again though, I will kill you".

For the next sixty seconds, they both sit in silence, the only other sound that whistled it silent chorus was the snapping of the woman's bones and the sound of knitting flesh, she made low grunts of pain as a particularly nasty wound puts itself back together.

"Ananeosi, you really do live up to your Clan's name. No other wolf can put itself back together like you can", his baritone was almost mute, even then, she heard him clearly.

"But you can, you and your wretched Clan", venom and hate dripped from her tongue as she spat her reply forcefully, her eyes glared in his direction but she didn't face him fully.

"Even after a decade and five years, your hate against my Family still burns strong. Tell me, do you know why the war happened? Do you know why you hunt us still?".

"What do I look like to you, a child?" She asked in return, her lips curled in a sneer, her eyes brimming with hate, fear and pain. "Well, you are acting like one, little Sabrina". His response was light, carrying a hint of a chuckle.

Sabrina growled in fury, her fangs on display, it ivory sheen screamed murder. "Be calm now, I did say we should have a little chat, no? So humor me and pray tell, why do you hunt us so? Simply because The Assembly commands it?".

"No, none of you deserve to live. You're monsters that prey on other monsters, even amongst werewolves, your Clan is an outlier, death is simply what you all deserve".

"How amusing, you sound plenty the child you asked if you were. So we deserve death simply because we are more monstrous than other monsters? Is that your own thoughts, or some fallacy fed into your mind by The Assembly?".

"What does it matter to you? You have your answer". She said, turning to him now with the full force of her glare.

A slight smirk played on his lips, "you know full well that is not the reason, you're lying to me, no, you're lying to yourself". "Twenty-five years ago, you Assembly dogs took everything from me, whatever little I called dear, many died, some lived, still, the truth stands as you know it, we are stronger, thus you condemned us to death".

"You are? Vorax Clan is a thing of the past!" Sabrina's voiced with derision, her face a permanent sneer.

"You don't seem to understand the concept of strength it seems Miss Sabrina, that's understandable, you're weak after all".

"What are you saying?"

"Do you even know who I am? No random Vorax could decimate you and your squad so easily. Are you as silly as you are weak?". Curiosity rings genuinely on the voice the male figure. He turned to stare at her, he bronze skin glowed an ethereal sheen beneath the setting sun.

"Your identity changes nothing, you'll die, just like the rest of your clan will". Sabrina growled with hate as she glares at the man who had beaten her to an inch of her life once already, and though she had healed fully of all her injuries during their little back to back speech, she could not bring herself to attack him, for though he looked calm, she held no doubt that he would kill her should she raise her claws to attack him. All she could do was answer him with sneers, and mock him at every turn, for she knew that he would not attack her for it. The man was death walking.

"Of course you'd think so, you indeed are as silly as you are weak. I can't say am disappointed. Sabrina, I am the one true Scion of The Vorax Family, I am unlike the weaklings you Assembly curs have culled, and as long as I live, Vorax stands strong, always".

"You lie, everyone was accounted for..."

"Everyone?" The male figure cuts her short, "no, not everyone, not when your forces where divided as they where, taking on the worshippers of the moon coven and my clan, you had no spare unit to account for every dead or dying, not until the war was over. Now you hunt the dregs of the Clan, the little few who escaped the unfortunate tragedy of that very day, you chase them down without reprieve and you kill them slowly. The Assembly has lost it way, once it was noble, made for a moral course, to keep rogue werewolves in check lest they decimate all of humanity in a day, now it but a gang of thieves".

"Shut up! All those who've been slain on The Assembly's order had their death coming, do not perverse the sanctimony of The Assembly..." Sabrina spat, venom in every word.

"Is that so? It seems it'd be impossible to come to any sort of consensus with you. It one thing to be weak, and another to be stupid, but to be both, it stands to reason you're the outlier not me. It about time you died".

CHAPTER ONE

F

ifteen years, that's how long it'd been since the m******e of her people by The Assembly, she had been taken and broken into servitude, "...a hex wolf would do us good, just one will do", that's what they had said before whisking her away. Freedom was a thing of tales now, she had been forced and tortured and her soul shackled to do their bidding, obedience to every command was absolute. She was a slave to the very people who had taken everything she held dear from her and she could do naught but hate them fiercely, after all, she couldn't even hurt them.

She had been given a squad of her own and tasked to hunt down every surviving member of the Vorax Clan, and kill them in the most agonizing manner possible. She acquiesced, after all, no matter how unwilling she was, she couldn't say no. Before the s*******r fifteen years ago, the Vorax Family was their greatest backer and support, fifteen years after, she was murdering the last of them with her own two hands, what a sinner she was.

As she walked away from her latest kill, her face was passive, expressionless, she had been doing this since she was ten of age, it what she had been groomed for, ironically, they didn't hide the truth of the matter from her.

"Know this Amelia, every man, woman and child of the Vorax Family you slay in our name, where once your hex coven greatest supporter. And for every life of theirs you claim, you betray their goodwill, as you torture them and bring them to their slow demise, never forget, they'd have fought fang and claw to safe you, you're that precious to them, not for any other reason, but for the fact that both your Clans are blood sworn to protect each other".

Those words rang ever so loud in her ears everytime she drained their life with her claws or spells, it never got easier, and though she'd rather believe she had grown numb to it, it hurt her still, it tore a part of her, brutally, everytime, it never got easier. She hated The Assembly, with every fur, claw and fang of her monstrous being, she hated The Assembly, how she wished she could razed it all to ash.

The scent of blood and curses pervaded the air and the land behind her, twisting it, soon it'd invite forces not of this plane, something only fang and claw could destroy, that was the nature of her magic, and the will to live of the man she just killed. He just wouldn't die.

Admittedly, she had prolonged his death with her spells so she could torture him for as long as his body could endure, his will to live was unimaginable. Over time she had come to learn how to shorten the time Vorax Clan rogues had to suffer by having them beg for death, the quicker they did, the shorter she'd have to torture them for, but they where a stubborn bunch, this one most especially, and no matter how he screamed in pain, even till his body gave out and he died he never once begged her to kill him. Over and over at ever moment of reprieve he muttered gingerly, "I will live, I will live", like some mantra.

Her squad had surrounded the vicinity, their forms corded with muscles and thick fur, their maws in a perpetual snarl, as they secured the area growling and sniffing the air for enemies, ears erect and muscles taunt, ready to pounce at moments notice.

"We're done here", her velvety voice rang on the clearing as she shifted her form, one minute she was a woman of grace and power, the next minute, she was a beast. Power filled her veins as her bones popped, stretched and shifted and red fur covered her tan skin, with a majestic howl to the gleaming silver moon above, she took off in a sprint. Howls echoed a response to hers as her team joined her, howling and running behind her, the hunt was over.

Amelia took lead as they ran through tickets and dense trees, weaving in-between in a beautiful dance of grace and ferocity, her paws slapped dirt and grass hard as her claws sunk deep into the earth and she pushed herself forward, running faster and faster, her squad almost failing to keep pace with her.

Her thoughts where all over the place as she ran, the voices, the screams, her head was chaos, if only she could run from it, for just a little while, she was losing her mind.

"Know this Amelia, every man, woman and child of the Vorax Family you slay in our name, where once your hex coven greatest supporter. And for every life of theirs you claim, you betray their goodwill, as you torture them and bring them to their slow demise, never forget, they'd have fought fang and claw to safe you, you're that precious to them, not for any other reason, but for the fact that both your Clans are blood sworn to protect each other".

"I will live, I will live".

She howled into the wind that buffeted her face as she ran faster than humanly possible, her howl rung with sorrow and pain with undertones of hate and rage, it echoed far in the distance, carried by the wind, she pressed forward, her maw curled in a ferocious snarl as she clawed at a tall tree, her claws shredding through bark and trunk, splintering the tree in pieces, her rage was palpable, someday she'd make The Assembly pay, she'd draw the marrow from their bones whilst they still lived and exert upon their souls every torture and pain they had wrought her.

If she had a True Pack, they would've responded to her howl in kind, to tell her she was not alone, but what she had was a sham, The Assembly had destroyed the werewolf society, turning packs into squads, true hierarchy existing only within the Five Great Families that made up The Assembly, and even that was a lie. She'd change things, all she needed was a window of opportunity to destroy her most hated foes.

She came to a sudden halt before a large hill, beneath it a clearing, a valley to be precise, within it a massive building that gleamed a cold, metallic silver beneath the moon, this was The Assembly