Instinct
4970 Words
***Ophelia***
My heart is thumping wildly in my chest as I creep out of the living room into the equally dark corridor. A shot of adrenaline thankfully makes it's way around my body after the howl I had heard. I was Lycan enough to know it wasn't from our pack. I listen intently, waiting to hear something else...anything else, that lets me know what is going on.
My head whips around as I hear a creak on the stairs at the end of the corridor, near the front entrance. I swallow hard, wondering whether I should investigate or go in the other direction...
...but...my sisters are upstairs, and as irritating as they had been since I had got home, I needed to make sure that they were safe.
I tiptoe along the corridor, my eyes darting around madly at every shadow as my eyes grow more and more accustomed to the darkness. Just as I turn at the base of the stairs, I bump into someone, and I hastily pin them against the wall, an apparent instinctual response left over from my self-defence training at Exton.
"f**k! Lia, let go of me!" I hear Olive whisper to me. I sigh with relief and remove my arm from her upper chest, still surprised that I'd even managed to pin someone against the wall like that.
"Where is Sage and Fern?" I whisper harshly, staring up the stairs into the pitch blackness.
"We're right here," I hear Fern reply quietly, evidently further up the stairs. I can just about make out her wide eyes; she sounds scared.
"Lia, we heard a crash outside, and Sage doesn't recognise the howl that we heard! It’s someone not from this pack!" Olive whispers harshly, her hand gripping my wrist. She is afraid, and I can't blame her.
Our parents aren't here, Joshua has disappeared, and I'm just...
...a joke.
"I know, it's not from our pack. But it's okay, I'm going to call Dad," I whisper, taking my phone out of my pocket. The front display is telling me the time, but it isn’t connecting to any kind of network. I hastily restart it, needing a signal.
"Lia, none of our phones work either, none of them are connecting," Sage says as I stare at my rebooting phone.
"Okay. I don't know why nothing works, but...ah for f**k sake...my car is still at Vale..." I mutter, wondering what to do. Our other pack members were only a short walk away, down the long driveway driveway and across the road…and then down a long footpath...
I step over to the front door and peer out of the security hole, and my heart promptly sinks, a chill spreading through me immediately.
I can see several pairs of glowing red eyes in the darkness...
...rogues.
I take a shuddering breath in and then breathe out, in and out, again and then again, as I try to calm myself while I think. I feel afraid, and I really wish I didn't. It was in situations like this that I ought to feel strong and powerful, and be so ready to protect my siblings and my pack.
“Well...there are rogues outside,” I whisper to them, feeling my mouth go dry as my heart begins to race more.
“Then what do we do? Doors are going to do nothing against rogues!” Sage whispers, knowing full well, even in her recently blended state, what a Lycan can manage to storm through.
"Okay….okay…so, we need to get to the tree, one of you can take me through. We will go to Dalston, okay. That’s the plan. There will be more of them, I am sure they will have the house surrounded. No matter what happens, we go to Dalston and raise the alarm, okay?" I tell them, and they nod in acknowledgement.
"Where is Josh? Surely he's around?" Olive asks. I grumble loudly and sigh.
"Josh went out. He's gone to bloody Cornwall," I reply sharply, "but we have got to get away from here. Josh can handle himself if he gets back and they’re still here."
I manoeuvre Olive's hand into mine and the others all take each other's hands, following me in a line as I swiftly walk down the dark corridor toward the kitchen diner. Thankfully my eyes have gotten a lot more used to the darkness.
All I can think about, is that I cannot protect them. I have no power, I have no wolf, and I am amazed I even remembered anything from self-defence. But I was their big sister, and I was still the heir to this pack, and it was my duty to ensure their safety, right now. Why there were rogues milling around in our car port, I didn't know, and for the moment, the 'why' didn't matter.
I open the door to the kitchen diner, feeling a gust of cold air rush past me; the telltale sign that the patio door was open. Joshua had definitely shut it, so it shouldn't be open.
"The patio is open," I whisper, as I step through the doorway into the large room, seeing moonlight coming in through the vast wall of glass. The door is indeed wide open. I elect to stick to the back wall behind the dining table and chairs, as the triplets follow me close behind.
"Oh! Who do we have here?" we suddenly hear a masculine voice say loudly from within the kitchen. The four of us jump in surprise, one of my sisters utters a scared shriek, and we promptly freeze.
I feel dread enter me at the knowledge that someone has gained entry to our home, and they aren't alone.
"Who are YOU and why are you here in our home?" I shout boldly into the room, giving Olive’s hand a squeeze. I hear a deep, cold chuckle in response, and a tall masculine figure looms out of the darkness, his facial features mostly obscured by shadow, but vaguely highlighted by moonlight.
"I am someone who really has not appreciated your father's attempts to meddle in our affairs," the voice says with a definite edge of irritation, "so, while we know he is currently indisposed at a lavish party in Austria, we are going to send him a message...and you, Ophelia Landry, you are going to help us do it."
I release my grip on Olive’s hand as I step out in front of them, staring down our faceless foe with a level of bravery I really hadn't expected to feel.
"Let my sisters go, they are only thirteen," I tell the man, my voice managing to sound far bolder than I felt.
He laughs loudly at my plea, and I feel another welcome burst of adrenaline course around my body, heightening my senses.
"Faerie’s and their precious fae blood...now that is a very rare commodity, so no, young Landry, I do not think we will let them go. Now, it is not as potent as yours is, I have to admit. For the last week it is all I have heard about. The vampires who smelled you at the king’s party have not forgotten about you, my dear, and I doubt they will any time soon. Lycan blood from the living has never been tasted by the vampires and coupled with your delectable Fae components too...what a prize you hold inside of you. You are probably the answer to all our financial woes. Good news travels fast, and these days, we can be just about anywhere…"
I bite my lip; because this was why my father was so angry with my aunt when I had returned. I had kissed Ares, I had felt more for him since doing so, and it had only made my blood more inviting to the vampires. Now these rogues were here to...kidnap me? Drain me? Sell me?
"But she has never blended with a wolf and she has NO faerie powers! She’s basically human. No one should really want her blood!" Fern says stupidly from behind me.
I shut my eyes and sigh loudly, wishing she hadn't said that. Now they know for sure that we were sitting ducks.
"Oh my goodness...Well, then this will be MUCH easier that we thought! Had I known that, I wouldn't have paid handsomely for the intense spell that has been cast over this place, cutting your power and communications. Could've just knocked and walked in!" the man laughs in sheer delight, stepping forwards. I look to my right outside of the patio doors, seeing no red eyes, no shadowy figures...
On impulse, I pick up a dining chair in front of me, quickly drawing it back to my chest before shooting it powerfully towards the shadowy man, just as I would do with a basketball.
"RUN!" I shout to my sisters, grabbing behind me for the closest arm and dragging whoever it is behind me toward the open patio door. I leap out of the patio doorway, hearing my sister's frantic footsteps close behind me as we run across the freezing patio paving slabs and into further darkness.
We hit the garden, our feet sliding somewhat on the frozen grass. I am suddenly struck sideways quite unexpectedly, by something large and very powerful, knocked painfully to the ground.
Winded and feeling totally useless, I roll onto my back, wishing with all my heart that Joshua hadn't selfishly gone to answer some ridiculous booty call over two hundred miles away.
The rogue veers around, and runs back toward me, it's eyes glowing so brightly red as it bears down on me.
This was it.
Me and my sisters were going to meet a grizzly end, cowering in our back garden, killed by rogue lycans, of all things.
Completely unprotected by their supposed future alpha as she lay on the ground, struggling to breathe after what feels like one or two broken ribs.
I instinctively raise both hands up in front of me as the rogue charges back toward me, evidently not satisfied with the damage he has inflicted already.
To my utter disbelief, a burst of bluish white energy, erupts from my hands, hitting the rogue square in the face. With only the sound of sizzling fur, the rogue stops immediately in its tracks, crumpling to the floor, utterly silent and still.
I am breathing heavily in the silence all around us, as I stare wide eyed at the now lifeless form in front of me, my fingers feeling as if they're crackling with electricity. The same yet intensified feeling I had straight after my kiss with Ares...
"OH MY GOD! LIA! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?" I hear one of my sisters exclaim in shock as I shakily get to my feet, still staring, unblinkingly, at the lifeless rogue in front of me.
I breathe in and out, painfully, unable to take my eyes off it.
I needed to figure that out later.
Right now, we just need to go.
"JUST GET TO THE TREE!" I bellow at them.
…
***Ares***
As I descend the staircase towards the empty foyer, I can feel a strange slither of fear sneaking into the back of my mind.
It is peculiar and a new feeling for me to have, and it soon becomes quite distracting as I make my way to the back entrance, opening the door and slipping out into the moonlit grounds.
The gravel crunches under my bare feet, and I wonder why I didn't stop to put shoes on; but I am acting entirely on instinct right now, called and pulled by some unseen force, towards the strange blue glow I had seen down in the orchard.
I slow down as I enter the orchard, the glow larger and now more visible through the trees; it is coming from something that is sat on the trunk of the wisteria tree.
I breathe deeply, as a feeling of dread now joins the fear, and I am truly perplexed as to where this odd combination of feelings are coming from...as they don't feel as if they are my own at all.
I walk through the snow-covered ground, ignoring how cold my feet are becoming, and I soon realise that the glow is coming from a familiar friend...
...the Blue Morpho butterfly has returned.
It is resting calmly on the trunk of the wisteria tree, it's blue wings glowing fiercely in the darkness. Blue Morpho butterflies didn't glow, though, but nor did they live in Dorset in the depths of winter.
What is going on?
What is the purpose of this butterfly?
I halt in my tracks mere feet from it, the strange feelings in the back of my mind making me feel terribly uneasy.
Something just doesn't feel right.
I focus my eyes, trying to adjust the way I am looking at the tree, just as I had done around a month before.
Finally, the 'aura' of the tree comes into view, and I blink several times in quick succession, because the display is markedly different to how it had appeared the last time I had looked at it like this.
The flow of energy that was once steady and even, is now fast paced and erratic. The energy that circulates the tree appears to be rushing heavily into the edges of what is essentially the doorway of it, and I can only stare at it for several moments, considering what this might all mean.
Something felt so very wrong about this.
The feeling of fear in the back of my mind, suddenly intensifies, just as something else takes me entirely by surprise.
"...PLEASE!...YOU MUST HELP!..."
It is the female voice from the tree once again, just as I had heard a month ago. Except this time, it isn't carried on the wind, it is inside my head, and it is frantic.
Clear and direct, it is a plea that I know I just cannot ignore. I step closer to the tree, the energy rushing faster and faster at an alarming rate, almost as if it is being sucked into the doorway...
The butterfly takes flight, flitting around me, it's brightly glowing wings leaving light trails in my vision. It hovers momentarily, just in front of my face, before it turns around and immediately zips straight into the trunk and out of view altogether.
"...PLEASE!..."
The voice calls again, as the fear and dread now reaches a fever pitch in my head. Too much is happening all at once, and I am struggling to comprehend what is happening in front of me and inside of me.
...and then...I feel pain.
It hits my chest like I've been struck by a cement basketball, a winding sensation that momentarily has me crouching on the ground, barely able to breathe for a few short moments.
I breathe in and out several times, the pain finally subsiding into an ache, as I stand back up, more confusion filling my mind over whatever is going on.
Had I fallen asleep?
Was this all a dream?
I look back at the tree, the energy flowing faster and faster through the doorway, and I feel the magnetic sensation in my chest, once again.
Where did the butterfly go? Am I mean to follow it?
In my heart I know where it's gone, gone toward the voice that has guided me in the past, but has called out again.
While I am considering my options, multiple, sharp jolts of pain suddenly occur all over the flank of my abdomen, just around the back...and with it comes an instinct, a knowledge.
It isn't my fear, nor my dread or pain.
I know in my heart, now, that it is coming from Ophelia, inexplicable as it seems, as mystifying as the idea is, I just know it to be true.
Somewhere, out there, she is in trouble, terribly afraid and now in incredible pain...
"...HELP!..."
Knowing it's Ophelia, coupled with this third, clear directive, is all that I need to charge steadfast into the trunk, my palm pushing through into the other realm.
I look around wildly at the familiar landscape now in front of me. It is warmer here and without snow, an entirely different season than in our real world. Here, the sun is starting to rise in the distance, illuminating the great prairie in front of me.
"...GO!..."
The internal voice orders me, although I have no idea where to go, despite the urge to go forward that I feel in my chest.
I look around frantically...letting out a short burst of nervous laughter as I see the butterfly, fluttering its wings a few metres away from me. I run towards it, and it immediately begins to fly at speed towards the open prairie, leaving a blue glow in its wake.
I charge after it, feeling my worry for Ophelia growing exponentially in the pit of my stomach. I run faster and faster, still following the butterfly as it speeds further up ahead.
This is all I do for a good long while; me, chasing a large glowing butterfly, through fields and thickets, across a shallow river, through tall grass and across jagged, rocky terrain.
I had never ventured further than a mile from the tree connected to the orchard, too afraid to explore this vast place on my own.
But that has changed, now.
"....HELP HER...OR ALL IS LOST..."
The voice echoes again as I push through a dense forest, brambles and branches clawing at my bare arms, leaving stinging trails behind.
My feet begin to burn with every step, but the pain I feel is irrelevant.
I run, mile after mile, with no idea where I’m headed, nor what has prompted this drama to abruptly unfold.
I just know, that I need to get to Ophelia. Somehow…
The pain in my flank worsens, urging me forward, faster than I have ever run in my life. Only one thing is for certain right now: Ophelia is in mortal danger. As I break free from the dense forest into another sprawling prairie, I have lost track of how far I’ve run.
But the blue morpho is still there, fluttering ahead, guiding me, hopefully, to where I need to go. I had to trust whatever was happening right now…I needed to have faith.
It dawns on me while I am running, that by getting to her through this place, I am saving time in the real world. A mere minute or two in the real world equated to an hour in this one.
I might just manage to get to her in time.
I had never run this far or for this long before, yet I am managing it with surprising ease.
In one of the rare moments of my life, I feel profoundly grateful for my supernatural abilities. For the first time- I am grateful for my vampire biology.
I soon reach a clifftop that overlooks the sea, and I recall Ophelia mentioning a few times that she lived near a beach during one of our many conversations.
Sure enough, for the next several miles, I run along the cliff’s edge, following the rugged coastline of this unfamiliar place, the sun now having risen entirely up ahead, warming my face as I continue to run. It always amazed me how the terrain in this other realm mirrored that of our own world so precisely. But it made sense, though; I couldn’t just step through a tree and end up in the middle of a mountain or plunge into a canyon. The landscapes needed to align.
Suddenly, the butterfly picks up speed, darting much further ahead. My gaze follows it until I spot another wisteria tree in the distance, one that I desperately hope is going to lead me to the Landry home.
I slow to a stop in front of it, turning to glance back at the path I have travelled.
...My eyes widen...
To my horror, I see the darkest clouds I have ever witnessed, rolling rapidly toward me, casting the land beneath them into deep shadow. They were not there even ten minutes ago, and I just know these clouds are not a good sign, and I do not want to be around for them to reach this place.
"...you must GO to her Ares...you MUST save her..."
The voice says, a cold chill passing through me as I finally hear it confirm that Ophelia is indeed in trouble.
The darkness gathering behind me has begun to feel like an evil and malevolent presence, and fear begins to course through me.
I hastily put my hand up against the trunk and focus my thoughts…my good intention is to get to Ophelia Landry and save her.
It works, I hope, as my palm disappears into the trunk. I follow it through to the much darker and frozen world on the other side.
...
***Ophelia***
"JUST GET TO THE TREE!" I command my sisters, still staring in disbelief at the rogue I have somehow killed.
"Lia, you MUST come with us!" Sage says, dragging me away from the rogue by my hand. I run with them down through the tiers of the garden, thick clouds beginning to bloom across the sky, blocking out the minimal light we had from the moon. I knew that one singular rogue would be too good to be true, given how many pairs of eyes I had seen through the peephole in the door.
Olive and Fern are now way ahead of us, which was to be expected, being Fae. They are already near the tree, but with three rogues now advancing on them fairly rapidly from further beyond the tree.
"GET TO DALSTON, DON'T WAIT FOR US!" I scream at them, hoping they actually listen to me for once and don't do something stupid... such as wait for Sage and I.
Their genetics were far more important than ours, being pure Fae. I breathe a sigh of relief as I see them disappear through the trunk of the tree, just before one of the rogues crashes hard into it, splintering part of the trunk.
These rogues seemed bigger and stronger than what I had seen in videos, because, mad as it seemed, that was the only time I had ever seen them.
They would usually never risk coming here, nor Exton.
So why now?
Sage skids to a halt, and I quickly understand why. The rogues have surrounded the tree.
Fear grips me in a way I’ve never known before and I wish our parents were here; our father would’ve torn these creatures apart without any thought nor hesitation.
They had trusted me to protect my siblings, and now... this...and this was why I could never truly be an alpha.
But, they only really want me.
Only me.
I just need to get Sage away from here...
"As you can see, running is POINTLESS!" I hear the familiar male voice shout maliciously from behind me. Sage whimpers a little next to me.
"I'm so sorry Lia, I can't..." she says timidly next to me, and I squeeze her handy fondly, knowing she is referring to shifting into her wolf, Saffron. She was still so new to it and so young, and she was so afraid. I don't blame her. I release her hand and turn angrily to face the man who had broken into our previously safe home.
"Clearly you have us surrounded, and we are in no position to fight back. So please, let my sister go," I tell him, the words choking in my throat a little as my voice feels thick, "it is ME you want. Just me. She is only thirteen and she is full Lycan...so…please, just let her go."
It has gotten so dark, that I cannot see much of the man at all, but I hear him sigh, and I hope he is considering my plea.
"Go, young one, but you tell your father this: I have his heir. She won’t die, but she might wish she would. We will spill her blood. Repeatedly. And he will learn that the rogue populous is vast, strong, and we are no longer in hiding. Truly, we are no longer rogues. We are our own pack - without borders and without limits. We...are...everywhere."
I glance at Sage, her young face streaked with tears. The sky rumbles ominously as she locks eyes with me, her gaze wide with fear. She shakes her head slowly, her face crumpling in sorrow.
"No, no, no Lia, I can't, dad would be so angry with me if I went without you!" she says in a little voice. I take her hands in mine, and she lets out a wretched sob as another louder rumble of menacing thunder sounds over the top of us.
"No, sweet girl. No, he won't. I promise, he will be PROUD that you were brave enough to LEAVE ME, Sage," I tell her, my voice thick, as I pull her towards me into a tight hug, "just get to Dalston and get Will. Tell him to please hurry!"
I release her and nod urgently at her.
"We really do love you Lia," she says in a little voice, before she takes off toward the tree.
The rogues part, allowing her to enter the trunk and out of sight.
A much louder crash of thunder occurs overhead, and I look up, the sky now completely covered in dark clouds, the moon fully obscured. I shiver, only now noticing the cold as I turn to face the man, rain starting to lash down upon us all in the freezing darkness.
"Come quietly, and I'll make this as painless as possible," the man says calmly, quickly stepping forward and grabbing my wrist, clearly not wanting to dither around for anyone who might come to help.
Out of nowhere, I feel a strong surge of energy rising up in my chest and I look down in shock to see a strange network of glowing blue veins burning down the length of my exposed arm, and then into his, where his grip has now tightened on my wrist.
In absolute horror, we both watch as the glowing blue veins snake up the man’s arm, quickly burning across his chest and up his neck. With an eerie, blood-curdling scream, his eye sockets suddenly flare violently with a bluish glow, veins of the same eerie light beginning to snake their way across his other features, spreading across his entire body. I am paralyzed, his screams escalating to a frantic crescendo as his skin suddenly ignites into searing blue flames before my eyes.
Desperate and in shock, I pull my arm away from this horrifying display, utterly bewildered by the unintentional devastation I seem to have unleashed upon him.
His body disintegrates fully in front of my eyes, and I clasp my hand across my mouth, muffling a scream of mirth. The glowing, smouldering remains that are floating in the air before me, become…nothing, and then...there is total silence.
I continue to clasp my hands over my mouth, tears pouring from my eyes as I let out one, pained, racking sob as I realise what I've just done.
A moment later, the night is suddenly alive with the feral howls and menacing growls of the remaining rogues, a cacophony that sends a shiver down my spine. I feel the oppressive darkness surrounding me, as I am suddenly tackled to the ground, too distracted and in shock to defend myself, as I struggle to comprehend the horror I have just done and witnessed.
They are on me, and I curl inwards instinctively, shielding my head, neck and chest from the snapping jaws, feeling their sharp bites connect with my limbs, tearing through fabric and flesh.
I can’t count how many there are, each guttural snarl blending into a general chorus of chaos. I roll to the side to avoid one of them, only to expose myself to another. I feel its powerful jaws close painfully around the back and side of my lower abdomen, causing me to cry out loudly into the night. I am acutely aware of many other injuries they have now inflicted upon me, although the searing pain is thankfully soon masked by a mad rush of adrenaline.
I feel another surge of energy once more from the depths of my being, a force of raw power, a sensation both terrifying and empowering as I feel it erupt from within me.
A tidal wave of electricity crashes out of me in a burst of searing, crackling heat, and I feel it collide with my attackers. Their howls of sheer anguish echos through the darkness, as whatever force I have manage to unleash upon them, rends through them, tearing apart the night.
And then...silence falls, a heavy hush enveloping me.
I open my eyes against the grass, seeing a million pieces of glowing blue ash, drifting around in the air once again.
The world is suddenly still, save for the relentless patter of rain against the frozen earth and the ragged rhythm of my own breath. I lay there for a moment, the cold seeping further into my bones, before pushing myself up gingerly.
A warm, wet sensation is spreading rapidly across my abdomen, and the unmistakable metallic scent of my own blood hits my noise. I recoil, the reality of my situation sinking in. Tears threaten to come as I lay back down, hoping deeply, that someone comes for me soon.
Then, a voice pierces through the shroud of darkness, anguished yet soothingly familiar, calling my name…
….“OPHELIA!”
- Writer
