Forsaken

Episode 6

Nylah stilled with her glass upon her lips as she heard someone knock on the door. Harper's guests were arriving already. She immediately smelled another wolf and instantly got up from her chair, not knowing quite what to do with herself.

"So Honey. Why do I smell wolf? Have you bit into some wolfie a*s lately?"

Nylah dropped her glass, which quickly hit the floor and shattered. She was shocked to meet another wolf, let alone meet one here.

"I don't bite into people's a*ses, Chaz! Come in and meet my wolf friend Nylah." Harper said, while entering the dining room.

"Oh Goddess! I'm so sorry!" Nylah muttered, looking down at the shattered glass.

"No worries! It is highly fixable!" Harper chirped and started to mumble some ancient words while making some gestures with her left hand. Suddenly, the glass started to assemble itself into a perfect looking wine glass without a trace of the shatter. Then the spilled liquid caught on fire, making Nylah jump from the sudden flames. As fast as the fire had erupted, as fast had it disappeared back into thin air in a pouf of smoke, and left the floor all clean and dry.

"What..?" Nylah started, but was interrupted by Chaz, who was excitedly clapping his hands.

"Ooh a demonstration! Festive!" He exclaimed, looking appreciatively at both Nylah and Harper.

"Well, while a neat thing to be able to do in such a situation, I guess it is an entertaining little trick", Harper shrugged and smiled at her friend.

"How did you?" Nylah asked.

"Oh Sweety, is it your first time?" Chaz gave Nylah an understanding look.

"My first time?" Nylah asked, continuously confused.

"Your first time seeing magic!" He answered.

"Oh! Right! Uh, yes, it is." Nylah said, looking at Harper.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Chaz asked and took a seat next to the one Nylah was standing by.

"It is. But how? I only thought you could do things involving the elements?" Nylah questioned.

"We witches can be peculiar creatures. Nothing is set entirely in stone. Some have telepathic gifts, some can read auras and moods, some can communicate with the dead.. We can have additional powers to our elemental magic. But speaking of stone, this trick here is still elemental magic. You see, glass is essentially made of minerals which are like tiny stones. Being an earth witch, I can control them and make them do my bidding. Look!" Harper explained, and said another spell along with some hand gestures, and the wine glass turned into a tiny howling wolf statue.

"Wow!" was all Nylah could say, as she took the statue from the floor and inspected it. The detailing on it was amazing. She could even distinguish the fur, even though it was made out of glass.

"This is amazing", she said.

"Keep it!" Said Harper while beaming over the praise.

"Thank you!" Nylah said happily and put the little wolf carefully down on the table.

"How about the fire you made then?" She asked.

"Like I said earlier, I possess some fire magic as well. I can set fire to pretty much anything and make it appear out of thin air. I can't make huge blasts though, and controlling big fires are difficult for me. But I can easily light a fire on the alcohol since it is quite flamable, and then let it burn out. It never actually came into contact with the floor." Harper explained.

"It is so cool, you should see her set fire to shots of absinth. She always makes a tiny dancing fairy out of the flames before putting it out again. Brings the drink to a whole new level!" Chaz chimed in.

"I'm Chaz, by the way, a fellow wolf!"

"Hi Chaz, I'm Nylah, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too!" Chaz said, and shook Nylah's hand.

"I was just about to put the dessert in the oven, since you are a little early Chaz, do you want some too?" Harper asked, as her two wolf friends greeted each other.

"Definitely!" Came the answer.

"And I guess you want to help me do Nylah's hair too?" Harper added.

"Oh, Honey! I thought you'd never ask!" Chaz beamed and went straight to the bathroom to get what he referred to as 'supplies'.

As the lava cakes were baking, both Harper and Chaz were putting all kinds of stuff into Nylah's damp hair while chatting away. After a few minutes, Harper returned to the kitchen to serve the dessert and Chaz started to use an air dryer on Nylah's hair. Soon after, Nylah had wavy beachy curls in her platinum hair and they were all enjoying their chocolate lava cakes with vanilla ice cream and strawberries.

"You should really start to find a pack, you know. You're stinking a little sweety." Chaz broke the silence.

"Chaz! That's rude!" Harper scolded, feeling a little protective of the young wolf.

"No, it's fine, Harper. I'm a wolf without a pack, meaning I probably smell like a rogue to other wolves." Nylah sighed.

"Smelling like a rogue isn't the worst part of being a rogue though. You could end up losing your mind", Chaz said worriedly.

"I will NOT let that happen to you!" Acallia yelled in her mind.

"But it's the truth, Acallia. You can't just prevent it forever", Nylah answered softly, feeling warmth over her wolf's protectiveness.

I can do it. I'm not losing my human to some cuckoo mind!" Acallia exclaimed.

"Sure, stubborn wolf!" Nylah smiled to herself.

"I AM a stubborn wolf. You're very welcome!" Acallia chirped.

"Acallia has decided I won't lose my mind, probably because she doesn't want a cuckoo human to share her head with", Nylah stated, immediately resulting in Harper snorting.

Chaz smiled.

"I would argue that it's not really up to her, but I like her spirit!" he said.

"I will probably need a pack at some point. I'm just not ready yet." Said Nylah, and ended the topic.

"Fair enough. They can be overrated anyway." Said Chaz and added:

"I don't spend much time with mine, it is not the best pack out there. But my mum is there and she means the world to me. Why are you without a pack? Were you born a rogue?"

"No, I had a pack once. I don't remember much from that time though. At first, I thought it had been abandoned along with me. But I think someone did something to it. Everyone was just gone, the only thing left was a lot of smoke and some rubbles. I remember that it used to be very green though. We were surrounded by the lushest forest you can imagine, but the best part was the lake. Because of all the special vegetation, the water had turned green. Like eme.." Nylah said, but was interrupted by Chaz:

"..like emerald. You were from Emerald Moon?" He gasped and looked at her as if he had seen a ghost.

"Yeah, that was the name." Nylah confirmed.

Chaz looked at her as if to investigate all of her features.

"It can't be.." He almost gasped again, and grabbed a lock of her hair to study.

"What can't be, Honey?" Harper asked Chaz worriedly.

"You do have the features though", He kept mumbling.

Nylah looked down at her hands in her lap and sighed heavily.

"So you know.." She stated.

"Know what?" Harper demanded.

"It is almost a legend amongst wolves now. I, however, know about it because of my uncle. My mother's brother, to be exact. He was the beta there. Suddenly he was never heard from again." Chaz said, while Nylah swallowed down a lump that had been forming in her throat.

"Beta George.." She whispered.

"The white hair you have. It is not coloured is it?" Chaz asked.

"No." Nylah answered.

"You're the alpha's daughter." He concluded.

"I am." Nylah admitted.

"What happened?" Harper asked, breaking the silence that had crept up on them.

"Horrible things." Chaz answered.

"One day they were flourishing like no other pack. The next, it was wiped clean from the face of the earth. Everyone gone up into heavy black smoke. Well, until now, that is. We were all told there were no survivors. Yet here you are." He continued.

"Did you see what happened?" He added.

"No, I was hiding in the forest. By the time I got back, everyone was gone and everything was ruined. The air was full of smoke." Nylah answered.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Chaz answered sorrowfully.

"Me too." Nylah muttered.

"Does that mean that no one knows what happened there?" Harper asked.

"Maybe the group of travelers saw something", Nylah said.

"Travelers?" asked Chaz.

"Yeah, I met them in the forest. They said they had nothing to do with it and that the place was abandoned just like me." Nylah said.

Chaz and Harper exchanged a worried look.

"They did look like they had been fighting though. And probably been close to the fire as well. They were very dirty, covered in smudge and blood and.." Nylah stilled. Realizing something she had been suppressing. But now it was clear as day.

"They were no travelers. They did that to them, didn't they?" Her breathing started to pick up.

"They killed them. They even talked about killing me. How did I not notice this before?" She asked no one in particular.

"I was so stupid.." She muttered.

"Hey now, you were just a little kid!" Chaz defended her. "Everyone would have thought the same."

"I should have realized by now though.." Nylah continued.

"You never had the chance. Have you ever even had a conversation like this about what happened?" Harper spoke softly.

"No.." Nylah answered.

"And now you know the truth, it was probably good for you not to realize until just now." Chaz added.

"Maybe.." Nylah reluctantly agreed.

A knock pulled everyone out of their thoughts and brought their attention back to the present. The next guest had arrived.

______________________

Time flew by quickly as all the guests arrived around the same time. The first one had been a warlock from Harper's coven. The second and third were a vampire couple and the fourth one was a traveling witch who was visiting the country. Apparently, she and Harper had met in Italy at some point, and stayed in touch afterwards. They were an odd bunch of different species, but everyone seemed relaxed and open-minded. It made Nylah feel relaxed as well. The wine might have been a factor too, though.

"So, you are the young wolf Harper has taken under her wing?" Asked Alicia, the vampire woman.

"I work for her, and we are friends, if that is what you mean." Nylah replied.

"OOHH, Sassy! I like it! You are your own person for sure!" The woman winked and sat down next to her.

"Your blood really smells amazing, did you know that?" Alicia continued.

"Um. No, not exactly." Nylah answers a little uneasily.

"Not to other wolves though!" Chaz interrupted the conversation and added while laughing:

"The power of Christ compels you!"

"Don't you have a ball to catch or something?" She replied with a deep red sparkle in her eyes.

"Ooh! Game on b*tch!" Chaz said, clearly getting pumped up.

"Ignore them, they like to banter." Said Theodore, the male vampire.

"Alicia can sense special blood. That's why she says you smell good. There is something in your blood, other than being a wolf and an alpha. I don't know what it is though. It could be something ancient, for all we know."

"I knew you had something special in you!" Harper suddenly joined in on the conversation.

"It is faint, but there is definitely something!"

"Probably not anything important", Nylah muttered, getting a little uncomfortable with the spotlight on her. She wasn't used to a lot of people.

"Maybe we'll find out some day." Harper said, and ended the topic by asking the group if anyone wanted more wine. And most of them did.