Hybrid Luna

2. The Night Everything Changed

Elaris POV

I was drunk on that feeling; the sheer force of my power standing over everything.

Only when I noticed that the male on the ground was fighting the urge to bare his neck, I sensed the leak in me, but I didn’t stop it. The moment went by like in slow motion. I silently enjoyed the way his wolf squirmed under my pressure, until his friend suddenly helped him stand, murmured something on his ear and they ran away with their metaphorical tails between their legs.

“Elaris, control yourself.” The old hags voice made me startle, and my faint control over my aura slipped like water around my fingers, making me recoil and feel a growing, throbbing pain in my temples. Not only that; I felt the judging stares of all the other customers around on me. Some were disgusted, others surprised and just a few scared or with amazement.

But the heaviest of the stares was from the Old Bonesetter, the witch that was by my side.

“Sorry, Mama. I dirtied your floor.” I said with a meek voice.

“Then clean it.” She said with the coldest voice. Then she bit on her pipe with the smelliest tobacco I’ve ever smelled and gave it a big inhale, with an equally heavy whiff of smoke. That thing burned on my nostrils, but I didn’t flinch. “You remember what’s the first rule of the tavern, right?” She asked on an angry undertone. I looked away, trying not to roll my eyes.

“You fight one, you fight all.” I answered in a slightly mocking voice, which earned me a magic hit on my head. “Ouch.”

“And the second rule?” She asked without even blinking. “The first hit pays the spilled drinks.” I answered now with a more controlled tone.

“Then pay, clean and get your sh*t together.” She stated with a cold fury. I know it wasn’t exactly because of what I did to those mutts, but because what I somehow managed to do with my aura. “Have you been taking your meds, pup?”

The question made me recoil. I felt a mixture of shame and anger boiling inside me, and Aelun growled too, mirroring my feelings. Did she not trust us?

“This is the third time this week…”

“This has nothing to do with my meds, Mama.” I gritted through my teeth, calling with my magic the cleaning tools to wipe the blood and dropped drinks from the floor to get my head off the anger. “They were being touchy in places they didn’t need to.”

She looked at me for a moment, maybe trying to see through my head. With witches, you didn’t know if they had that power, but certainly I felt like she was scanning my brain.

“Even so, the other *incidents* didn’t go in your favor either. When you smashed that vampire against the wall just because she accidentally spilled your drink? Or when you broke one of my glasses on the other wolf’s head, just for badmouthing you? You had more patience than that.” I felt my face frow hotter with that memory, and I didn’t dare say a thing. “Drink your damn potion, I don’t care if you’ve already did it this week.”

I wasn’t about to argue, but I certainly had reasons to defend my case. The first one was grating on my nerves, and the drink was just the end for me. And the wolf was talking s**t about my parents. I could handle insults for me, but not for them.

“Either way, I don’t care if you want to be aggressive and go truly rogue but at least don’t do it inside.” She screamed on her way to her office, and before she shut herself inside, came her last warning. “If you don’t, find yourself another place to live!”

As I finished cleaning the mess I made, Tharion finally showed up and the music started again in the stand. Slowly, everyone just diverted their attention on their conversations, but I heard my name on their chatting and what had happened just now. Things like “What was that?” “Oppressive aura for a female” and “monster” were ringing on my ears.

“You should’ve let us handle those two.” Interceded Tharion, who silently looked at the door where the wolves disappeared. “Three clients on one night. You outdid yourself. Maybe you can break your own record.” He mocked, his mood lifted a bit now, surely because I got scolded by Mama.

“Not even close to the record. Don’t you remember when I chased out six young humans when I told them that they were getting their throats open if they kept bullying Anandra?” She was a vampire with much more anger issues than me. The memory of it made Tharion laugh, and everything seemed to de-escalate from there. The tension between us faded and I had my only friend back, finally.

“Right, but it wasn’t really your doing.”

“Oh, but I paid for their drinks either way and Mama yelled at me for a solid 30 minutes.”

“Right, she really is a gold digger that couldn’t accept the money loss.”

I brushed my pants from the dirt of the floor and went for my bag. I searched inside for my thermos, getting it out with a sigh. I hated drinking that. It was sour af and left a bitter aftertaste that lasted a couple of hours no matter what I did.

“What is that, anyway?” Tharion asked, looking at the thermos. “Since I’ve known you, you drink that once a week and make memorable faces afterwards. What kind of med is it?”

I uncorked the bottle, offering him a whiff of that scent. When he did smell it, his face was certainly a poem of disgust. “Ugh, that’s disgusting.”

“Tell me about it. It’s something Mama Mirelda and my mother did for me.” I sighed, getting my phone again to open my calendar and updating my potion consumption for the week. “It’s just a calming medicine. I have… uh, anger issues that I need to keep at bay.” I subtly lied. Or omitted the whole truth, really. The story behind my angry moments was far more complicated than I wanted to let on, but I wasn’t about to talk to him about my family matters or my own weaknesses. He might be one of my only friends, but I’ve only known him for 5 years. My life has taught me to distrust anyone, no matter what. The only people I did trust were my mom and Sylvette. Sylvie has been in my life since my third birthday.

“But why, though?”

That’s the main issue.

Memories flooded my mind, with Aelun softly whimpering.

Me screaming for my mother, hidden under my bed, everything dark and cold, and some vicious snaps of fangs trying to reach me. Then the searing pain on my shoulder, the consequences it brought. If I wasn’t careful enough, I might share the same fate as my father, who was feral. Mom and I were looking everywhere for a way to bring him back, as well as a way to avoid that I ended in the same path.

“It’s… personal.” I answered with a low voice, grabbing the thermos to get that awful potion in my mouth. But fortunately, Tharion spoke, and I used it as an excuse.

“Alright… by the way, I was hoping if I could… uh, talk to you about something.”

“Mh? What about?”

“Well, it’s uh… nothing important… but I wanted to talk to you about it in private. Or… well, maybe someday I could invite you lunch…”

Suddenly, I heard a small commotion just outside the tavern, and I didn’t hear Tharions last words. I thought the vampire or the werewolves were back for revenge or something like that, but to my surprise it was nothing of the sorts. Instead, Quinn, another old friend of mine from war, crashed through the door, making some people gasp and jump for his sudden intrusion.

“Quinn?” I abandoned my thermos on the table, watching the young, handsome werewolf stumbling in the doorway. He was bleeding his guts out, and his eyes were unfocused and bloodshot. I had a surge of memories from war, but this was different.

His dark blond hair was a mess of blood and dirt, and his muscular body was covered by cuts and bruises, but what was more worrisome was his blood-soaked shirt, that smelled strongly of wolfsbane.

He locked his eyes with mine as soon as he heard me, and his features softened with fatigue.

“Hey doc… a little… help?” He exhaled, barely holding himself up. Before he collapsed, I was already on his side, using all my strength to carry him over my shoulder.

“What the hell happened to you?” Quinn was a very good fighter. He usually was at the underground arena and things like this happened more often than not, but never to this degree.

“Don’t… let them find me… please.” He begged as Tharion suddenly was by his other side, and together we carried him back. Then he lost consciousness, and the heavy load was doubled.

“Who? Quinn! Wake up! Damn you, stupid wolf!” I let out an exasperated sigh. Tonight was not my best night.

“For the Goddess, Elaris… you’re really a magnet for problems.” Tharion mocked, and I couldn’t argue.