Phoenix of Dawn

    Death wasn't a stranger to me. It was an unwelcomed friend. Like the distant relative you didn't invite to the family reunion but they showed up anyways. It was always lurking just at the peripherals of my life, waiting for me. Hunting me. It slithered across the shadows, claws digging deep into the soil, fangs dripping with venom. Sometimes I heard its call outside, the throaty vibrato that shook the air. It haunted me. They all did.     I lay stock still in bed, knowing they were near. I waited with baited breath, my ears perked and the hair on my skin standing on end. If I was still enough I could hear the rustle of the leaves outside my window. If I focused enough I could smell the rotten, leathery flesh that covered their backs. If I kept control then maybe they wouldn't sense me.      The sheets were scratchy on my skin and I fought the desire to itch my irritated skin. The window was open, the pale moonlight filtering like milk over the small bare room. It wasn't much but it had been home for the last three months.      "Kyra."     My aunt Claira poked her head around the corner of my door. There was a sense of urgency to her voice that told me this was it. We were running again.     Throwing my covers off I slipped out of bed. I was already dressed. We'd known they were on our trail for a week already and I'd started going back to sleeping fully clothed, always ready. We'd been here long enough that before we'd received the warning I'd actually started to opt for pajamas. I'd gotten comfortable here.      I couldn't get comfortable anywhere.     Tugging on my boots and lacing them quickly I tiptoed through the shack, ears trained for any indication that the beasts stalking the perimeter were onto us. If they figured it out then we'd have three seconds before a fight was on our hands. The odds of surviving were slim.      From beneath a loose floorboard Claira handed me my backpack and I strapped a few knives to my thigh. Another just in case in my boot.      Claira gestured for the side door.      I followed after her, dodging the creaky floorboard we'd mapped out when we'd first arrived at the safe house.      Earth itself was meant to be a safe house but that was a joke now. The war had spilled over from Eden to here. There was no escape any more.      We darted into the stale night air, the humidity thick around us as we ducked into the shadows of a nearby tree. Under the cover of darkness we assessed our next move. We had to get to the car five miles out, hopefully undetected.      I tilted my head, listening. The ground crunched and sliced under heavy foot and claw to my left. Claira brushed her finger over her lips to warn me  to be silent, not that it was necessary. The breath in my lungs had already ceased as I struggled to keep my heart rate slow.      It came into view at first like a slight shift in the darkness and then it took form as it crossed our path. Out of instinct I gripped Claira's arm, my skin prickling with fear. My eyes squeezed shut as the massive head of the leathery beast turned to us.      Don't see us. Don't see us.     Nausea rolled through me at it's approach. Images flashed in my mind of my uncles death, of the war, of wolves that had lost their lives by the masses. Green fields painted red, silver coats matted with blood so thick it ran like rivers to the sea.         My body tensed, the air crackling with energy.      The long talons of the beast before us were only inches from my feet and I readied myself for death. There were no tears. Tears wouldn't save me. They hadn't ever saved anyone. Claira gripped my hand on her arm, holding tight, trying to relay all her final words to me in that small connection.      My life flashed before me as the breath of death brushed across my face.      I'd never fall in love. Never find my mate. Never discover my purpose in life or know what it was to have a true friend. I'd never avenge my family, torn apart by the war, taken by Ky and his army. Never have a pack.      My lips pressed firm, muscles coiled in preparation as the tips of my fingers brushed over the blade on my thigh.     The sound of the bushes giving way had me opening my eyes once more. I watched the whip of it's tail disappear as it walked away from us.      I exhaled, refusing to let go of Claira as we basked in the brief moment of survival.      We moved fast, sprinting through the trees as fast as we could go quietly. The bag jostled and yanked on my shoulders as it bounced with every one of my strides. There was no stopping, we had to keep moving forward now that we'd moved at all.      I heard the crash behind us as the beasts launched their attack on the shack. It wouldn't be long now until they picked up our trail and started the hunt again. I pumped my legs faster, Claira fighting to keep up with my youthful pace.      The call that had haunted my dreams all my life resonated through the trees, gripping my heart like a vice. They knew we weren't there.      The hunt was on.      We were close to the car, close enough that I almost felt relief that we would make it but I knew better. In the distance I could see the sleek black of the jeep hidden beneath the underbrush on the edge of the dirt road. I rounded to the passenger side as Claira yanked open her door and threw herself in.      The engine growled to life as I climbed into the car, throwing my bag to the floor. My breath was labored, sweat covering my brow as we lurched forward, tires spinning over dirt as we went flying. Using my elbow to prop myself up I peered over the back of the seat and through the plume of dust we'd kicked up. The night was still but I knew they were coming.      Claira was pushing ninety, the trees blurring by and the road flying at us almost faster than my eyes could keep up.      I looked back again, my heart stopping. Several miles back their dark body's were converging into a point, feet pounding against the ground we'd just covered.      "Claira," I called, "Claira!"     I heard her foot slammed down on the gas, the engine snarling as we picked up speed. The opening to the single lane highway was coming up fast. We were going to wreck. We were going to fast to make the turn.     "No, no, no," I screamed.     "Hold on," She shouted before yanking the emergency break and turning the wheel sharply.      We were screaming, the jeep leaning and I was sure we would roll any second.      Don't roll!     The air crackled again a glimpse of silver in the corner of my eye that I was sure was the flash of a street light and we righted.      "I can't believe that f*****g worked," I panted.      She pressed hard on the gas again.     "We just have to make it to sunrise."     "Sunrise," I agreed.     We weren't out of the woods yet even though we quite literally had just come out of the woods like a bullet. They would keep tailing us until the sun came up. Hopefully we just had enough gas to last the remaining four hours before sunrise.      They wouldn't survive in sunrise but the wolves would pick up where they left off. Wolves were easier though. Beastbane were meant to hunt and kill a werewolf. They were built for it, created long ago in order to help maintain balance in the natural order. Something had to keep wolves from over populating Eden.      Unluckily for us they happen to be on the wrong side of things.      Ky appealed to them, his quest to set time back to a day before light had won them over.      A day without light...     There would be no peace, no order. Rules would be thrown out the window and chaos would reign over everyone and everything. It wasn't right. The balance was created for a reason, Ky had been born to protect that balance but he had betrayed us all the day he slaughtered his pack. They were all meant to defend the balance, the Gray Wolves, but now they were all but extinct. Rumors circulated that some survived and were hiding out, waiting for an alpha to appear or simply waiting out the war.     I couldn't blame them. They had a larger target on their backs than I did.     There wasn't much I recalled from my childhood but I remembered Ky. I remembered him training me after I lost my parents. He'd taken me, mentored me, wanted me to be his successor to his dark and twisted throne.      I was one of five. Five children from great lines of wolves. The sixth had yet to be captured.      My aunt had saved me when I was eleven. Now he wanted me back or at the very least, out of his way. Ky believed that if you didn't stand with him then you were against him, there was no in between, no... gray area.     Much of what I knew I learned from him, as much as it pained me to admit. He started us young. Just toddlers told to hunt and kill, show no mercy.      I wasn't even sure what pack I belonged to. All I knew was that they had been one that had been killed. A lot of them had been. There were a few larger packs that still stood. The Blue pack in the north was still standing, their white coats mostly clean from the war since they were furthest from it's front lines. The Golden pack to the West, their essence tethered to the sun despite their midnight fur. The Red pack had joined the Gold but their alliance was shaky since the Golden pack's alpha died. As far as I knew there had been some kind of drastic change in leadership but it wasn't clear to me what.      Need to know, I supposed.      Claira and I had been running for seven years. We lost my uncle, her mate one year before and now we didn't take many chances.      All we had was each other.      It had taken us two years to find a portal to Earth and it took Ky another three years to figure out we'd jumped. They'd been hunting us ever since. Every time they got closer to catching us and I knew it was only a matter of time.      I craned my neck again to see if they were still on us. They weren't visible but I knew they'd stay clear of the street lights. They'd likely be running along the tree line, trying to find an opening.      "You think we'll make it," I asked, my eyes on the dashboard clock.      Claira's blue eyes were focused on the road before us, her blonde hair pulled tightly back to show case the grim look on her pale face. It didn't do much to instill confidence in me but then again I knew better than to ask such questions. There was no way of knowing if we'd make it till dawn.      We'd keep driving if we did make it. We'd drive until the poison wore off, ditch the car and I'd hitch a ride on the werewolf express to wherever the hell we were headed next.      I couldn't shift yet but Claira could. Unfortunately the Beastbane didn't smell like death for no reason. It was poison their body secreted into the air that suppressed a werewolf's ability to... well... be a werewolf. That's why they say if you can smell death then it's already too late. I'd grown too familiar with the smell of it, it felt wrong. Like I had cheated death one too many times and now there was no other choice but to die.      "I'm sorry, Kyra," Claira murmured suddenly, tears welling in her eyes, "I hesitated before coming to get you out of bed. I shouldn't have. We would have had more time."     I reached across the center console to put a hand on her shoulder.      "It's okay."     "You know what to do if this comes to a fight," She was all business then, eyes solid ice once more.      I hated this part.     "I run."     "You run like hell. He can't get his hands on you, understand?"     I nodded, "I understand."     If It came to a fight then I would leave her to die. That's what I understood. She was ordering me to leave her to die for me if it came down to it. She was telling me to abandon her and save myself instead.     The reality was that I wasn't sure I could do it, not without shutting it all down the way Ky had taught me.          To numb myself, to feel nothing, to be nothing...     If Claira died I wouldn't just be nothing, I would have nothing.     I looked over at her. She had rescued me, spent years helping me cope with the damage my mental health had endured, she was the only family I had left in any world... I wasn't sure that if she told me to run I would do it. How could I live like that? Knowing that I had abandoned her to die or worse, be captured? I couldn't.      She wouldn't die so I could run scared.      My hands trembled in my lap so I clenched them into fists focusing on the tree line. If they attacked I'd see it. I'd be able to save us. I had to be able to save us.      "Kyra," Claira started suddenly, drawing my eyes back to her unsettled expression, "How did you hide us before?"     I frowned at her, "I don't know what you mean."     She chewed her lip, eyes scanning the road ahead, "I think it's time we head back. We'll go to base in Kansas and find a way back now that you're eighteen."     Go back?     Dread filled me but I quickly pushed it away. I'd always known the plan was to go back when I was old enough, when I was ready to shift but I hadn't shifted yet. I didn't even feel like I was close to shifting.      Why was she even telling me this? She never told me where we were going next, we'd just go and I'd figure it out when we got there.      Kansas?     Wasn't that some nowhere state in the United States? Why would we have a base out there? I supposed it was because it would be in the middle of nowhere.     Claira gave me a meaningful look, "I know that this has only brought you misery but my love for you is deeper than any man made lake."      I was staring at her like she was insane. What kind of conversation was this? Did she really think that we weren't going to make it this time? That was impossible. I would make sure that we made it just like every other time. There was no other option.     "Claira--"     The side of the car smashed in, the sound of it like a thousand aluminum cans crushing at once as my body was thrown to the side. The sound of the car rolling and crashing around us was deafening but it didn't strike as much fear in me as that call rolling through the night sky.      They had found us.     Disconnecting my seat belt I grabbed my bag and looked to Claira. She was a little banged up, a slice on her cheek and a few cuts on her hands. I was sure there'd be bruises under her clothes just as I felt the soreness in my own body.      "Move," She shouted, letting loose her belt and kicking out her door.      I followed her example and together we took off running across the highway. Being out in the open was a good idea if we were moving fast but on foot it was safer in the cover of trees. They'd catch us easily if we stayed in the open.      I heard the groan of the jeep behind us and the tear of metal. Ignoring the throbbing in my head I pushed harder, willing my body to keep putting foot to ground.      The smell of death permiated my senses, the fear icing over my veins.      "Keep going," Claira screamed after me.     We met the treeline as the air shifted around us, the slice of claws narrowly missing me as it shifted the stray tendrils in my braid. The scream stabbed through me, it carved out my insides and left me hollow.      I skidded to a stop, turning to see what I already knew to be true. Claira was dead.      No, not dead. She would be soon. Her back was slick with blood, the claw mark deep as the beast hovered over her, ready to kill.      "No!"     The word tore through me as I propelled myself forward, raising my hand to stop the blow I knew would permanently remove my only reason for living. Silver sparks ignited from my palm, blasting out of me and slamming into the beast threatening my only remaining family member.      I didn't watch it writhe in pain on the grass as I leaned down to lift my aunt's bloody form. There was no time for gentle, her cries lancing me as I heaved her into the forest with me. I had to find cover. I had to hide us.      The rest of the beasts would be on us in too small of time, we had to move faster but Claira could barely keep her feet under her. The call shook me, the ground trembling as they gained on our stumbling forms.      Something hit me hard from the side, the pain blooming through my body as I went flying. My cries mingled with Claira's, my back hitting the trunk of a tree as her body rolled to a stop several feet from me.      There were three of them, large and slinking across the ground toward us. I tried and failed to summon that silvery spark from before, my body broken and weak. With great effort I managed to prop myself up against the base of the tree, something thick and warm slipping down the side of my face.      Their sharp teeth glinted, the venom dripping as they advanced in their formation. They didn't have eyes, their heads a collection of slashes that they pulled air into. They saw though scent alone, their necks a throbbing, sleek muscle that picked up nearly every sound within five miles. They were built to hunt, to kill.     "Stay back," I yelled, knowing it was futile but holding my hand up anyways.     My other hand gripped the knife on my thigh with slick fingers as I watched the advance of all three breasts before us. The one on the left lunged for Claira and quick as lighting I threw the blade, watching it sink into it's neck. It erupted with dark tar like liquid that spilled across the grass below. It wouldn't be dead but it would be out of the fight, wounded enough to send it running in order to heal.     In my distraction the one on the right moved for me, snarling as it approached. I held up my hands as a weak defense and felt the tingle from before explode through my body and slamming into the beast. My body crumbled, my vision blurred as I focused on the last remaining beast.      There was nothing left. My head dropped back against the rough bark, spent and worn.      So this is death...     I turned to look at Claira's limp form before closing me eyes to the assault flying my way. The sound of a garbled whimper had my eyes pricking with tears but when I forced them open, Claira was still laying where I had last seen her.     Casting my eyes around the trees I saw him standing over the beast who had been moments from taking my last breath. He was in all black, hair almost silver in the pale moonlight that filtered through the tree tops. The jacket he wore bore the insignia of the Dawn Breakers, Ky's army.      No.     My eyes flew wide as he turned to look at me with expressionless eyes.      I gripped the tree, trying to get to my feet as I fumbled for the knife in my boot. Holding it out before me with a shaky hand I knew I wouldn't last more than a split second.      "I won't go back," I shouted at him, "You'll have to kill me."     He moved fast, gripping my hand with searing heat and twisting the knife from my hold. His other hand came out, gripping my jaw as he pinned me to the tree.      "If I wanted you dead then you'd be dead," He said in low voice.      He was right of course. If he wanted me dead or captured even then he'd let the Beastbane handle me. They'd been given orders to hunt me down and yet this guy had interfered with those orders.      "Who are you," I asked bravely.      He lifted a brow in return, his eyes shadowed in the dark of night. Even in the shadow, though I could tell he was handsome. It didn't matter though because he was my enemy. Even if he'd saved me from dying.     "Who are you," He retorted.      The world was slipping away from me, my eyes heavy.      "Just...Save her," I murmured before the world went black.