Diamond Vendetta

Unwelcome Home

Adelina POV

"Adelina!" A voice hissed. I ignored it, peering intently through the thick forest brush, my eyes locked on my target. "Adelina!" The voice hissed again, louder this time. I shooed the voice away but I could see my target's face turn suspiciously in my direction. Damn it. It looked like I was going to have to adjust my plans a little. "Adeli-" I spun silently and grabbed the person whose loud whisper was going to get us caught. I clapped a hand over her mouth. 

"Seraphina, I swear to god if you make one more sound I'm going to kick your ass." I whisper in her ear. "I've done it before and I'm more than willing to do it again." Her eyes narrow in annoyance but she nods anyways. I wait a moment before letting go and lightly pushing her away. I turn again to track my prey, but he was gone. 

"Found you." An amused voice says to my right. I whirl around and manage to dive out of the way of a blurred form heading straight for me. The form stopped and turned, but not before I threw myself into a fighting stance. The figure stopped moving entirely, a small smile on his face. "There's no way I can beat you in hand-to-hand, Adelina. Let's just call this a draw." I sighed and stood up straight. 

"Fine." I grumbled. Marcus laughed and walked towards me, his eyes sparkling in delight. 

"Good job, cousin," he said, clapping me on the shoulder. "I really thought you had me." He laughed, his silver eyes flashing in the weak sunlight. I gave him a slight smile back, still annoyed. 

"I would have, if it hadn't been for Sera over here." I jerked a thumb in the direction of the offender. Sera scoffed. 

"Oh, shut up. We'd been out here for hours. I was trying to tell you that Lynne wants us back as soon as possible. Your stupid little rivalry will have to wait for another day." I frowned. That was unusual. 

Lynne was the woman who raised us. Me, Seraphina, and Marcus, that is. Long after my mother died and pretty much right after my father was killed, Lynne took me in with open arms and treated me as one of her own. She helped me learn how to track, fight, and lead as one of the strongest female wolfs for thousands of miles. I owed her everything. 

"Fine, let's go back." I said, and go back we did. Myself and several of the others piled into Lynne's small living room as we joked and laughed. Our mirth faded as Lynne walked into the room, a serious look on her face. 

"What's wrong?" I asked immediately. She ignored me. 

"Is everybody okay? Does anybody need anything?" She asked politely. I rolled my eyes. Lynne, ever the gracious host. 

"Everybody's fine, Lynne." I said.

"Actually, I could use a water." Marcus replied. I glared at him. 

"Die of thirst, then." I snapped and turned back to Linda. Out of the corner of my eye I could see him flip me the bird. 

Lynne sighed. "Everything's fine." She said. "For now, at least." I waited for more information. After a minute of silence, she spoke again. 

"Everybody out except for Adelina and Cesar." She  said. The rest of the crowd grumbled as the filed out of the room. Not that it really mattered, if we were being honest. Werewolves have incredible hearing. They would have to go pretty far to not be able to hear what Lynne was going to say. As the last of the stragglers left, Lynne turned to me and the other remaining werewolf.  

"It's about your father." She said finally. I felt like somebody dumped a bucket of ice water over my head. My heart began to pound and my vision started to shake. A calming hand touched my shoulder. I relaxed slightly and threw a grateful look over my shoulder at Cesar. He gave me a small smile in return. "Retribution has ended. The Diamonds are back." She said. We both looked at her wordlessly. 

After my father had been murdered by one of their leaders, the Diamond pack had disappeared, knowing what they did went against every rule the Werewolf Guild had in place. As the sole remaining member of the Starfell line, I was owed retribution that I never received. Unfortunately for me, the Guild had statutes of limitations in place that meant after a certain period of time, any claims of retribution I had were null and void. Something about werewolves being a bloodthirsty lot, I guess. Every family would have claims against them if these statutes didn't exist. Usually, families that had been wrong had people that old and strong enough to see the retribution through. Unfortunately for me, I was 9 years old at the time. Hardly old enough to go after one of the most powerful packs in the world. 

I narrowed my eyes at Lynne. "I thought Retribution ended a couple of years ago." I said. She nodded. 

"It did." 

"So what does this mean?" Cesar asked before I had a chance to reply. 

"I don't know." She rubbed her forehead. "I don't know why they decided to come back now, or what their plans are." She paused. "I'm sure they'll do their best to start to regain control over the city. I wanted to warn you both to be on the lookout for unusual activity. They're a bloodthirsty lot, and I want to make sure our pack is protected." 

I scoffed. "That's it? That's all we're going to do?" Lynne shot me a look. 

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." She said. I drew myself up to my full height, which I was happy to say was a solid four inches taller than the woman in front of me. 

"You're saying that we're just going to let them come back? They murdered Dad!" I said, frustrated. "They tortured him and killed him like it was nothing. They would have killed Cesar too if it Dad hadn't managed to call for help." I heard Cesar's grunt of affirmation behind me. "And then they ran like cowards. They disappeared in the dead of the night because they were afraid of - of what?" I laughed manically. "A 9 year old girl? They took the one thing in the world that I loved more than anything and didn't even have the guts to pay a child the Retribution she was owed." I felt a tear slip out of my eye and I dashed it away angrily. 

Lynne watched me, her eyes sympathetic. "I'm sorry, Adelina. There's nothing I can do. There's nothing that anybody can do." I shook my head.

"That's not true. I can do something." 

"Adelina..." Cesar said from behind me. I angrily shrugged off his hand and spun around. 

"What?" I snapped. "Are you telling me that you wouldn't want to get revenge on these assholes if you could?" 

"No, that's not what I'm saying at all." He shot back. "What I'm saying is that you need to think about what you're implying. You may be one of the only people who could do anything at all, but you're also one of the only remaining Starfells. You're definitely the only remaining direct descendant of Aldrus Starfell. You have a responsibility to this pack." I crossed my arms. 

"I know that." I said. "I don't appreciate the implication that I can't get revenge and lead the pack." 

"Adelina, if you find the revenge you're looking for, you would have to disappear for years. You wouldn't just be able to gallivant back home and act like everything's fine." He replied, exasperated. 

"Actually..." A quiet voice from the doorway sent us all whirling around. A small woman in wire-rimmed glasses stood in the doorway, seeming to shrink under the intensity of all our gazes. 

"Who are you?" Lynne snapped. The woman straightened her shoulders and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. 

"I'm Vega Hyglove." She said. "I'm from the Guild."