Frozen Atonement - The Beginnings

Skin Walker

Jace leapt over a chair and was on the move to reach for Sorcha when the growl that bellowed forth from Nix stopped him cold in his tracks and movement. Alex noted that it appeared to be Nix’s doing and not Jace of his own accord. No doubt it had to be one of the powers that Nix possessed.

Nix shifted her gaze towards Jace and shook her head at him for a moment. “This is not Sorcha. In fact, I am not sure that we have ever had the Fox Heir in our grasp, but rather a mole.” Nix reached down, grabbing the limp body by the hair and hauling Sorcha up like a ragdoll as she looked over towards the small group of Mages, Witches and Warlocks and gave a nod of her head. “Undo the magic.”

It was a rather good-looking man that stepped forward first, leading the small group over towards Nix and the limp woman she held as they began to chant in a foreign language, and everyone could feel the tendrils and static of their world bending and shifting as the magic around Sorcha slowly began to be broken down like a wall being taken apart brick by brick.

Sorcha’s hair went from the silken dark chestnut color to a dingy black, the natural large wavy curls shifting to board straight and that creamy soft white skin darkening a bit, freckles appearing under the closed eyes and the entire body shifting to a slightly taller, thicker version of a female amid multiple gasps in the room and Jace growling as he angrily proclaimed. “A f*****g skin walker! How did they get in here?!”

Volten, the leader of the mage’s that had stepped forward first, had finally stopped chanting. The others following suite as he looked towards the woman before them a moment and then towards Jace. “It had to be the dark kingdom; they are the only ones that would be strong enough to produce such magic to get past the forces we have on the castle grounds and even then, only a couple possess the ability to do it.”

Nix wrinkled her nose up as the magic fell away from the woman that she was holding as an earth-shattering snarling growl left her lips. Without so much as a second thought or any time for anyone to react to her sudden spike of anger, Nix had pulled hard against the woman’s head with one hand, the other on her shoulder and pushing the opposite direction as everyone watched in horror as Nix separated the unconscious female’s head from her body spraying those close with blood as she affectively decapitated the female. It was one swift and quick movement with a scream of pure anger and agony that left Nix seeming so out of character for her.

Alex looked on in utter horror, his eyes going wide, his mouth left open and even Atticus gasped as several others had turned away to keep from retching then and there. The sudden surge in intense anger caused even Volten to look concerned as the mage reached forward, grabbing ahold of Nix as the woman began to shift into a massive werecat before she was pulled through a portal and the pair vanished before everyone.

Tane took several steps forward as Nix was gone, taking over as he made motion towards the dead body and several of the witches and warlocks came forth to clean it up, stepping through their own portal with the body and head as Tane looked towards the others with a clearing of his throat. “In light of that… I believe we will need to interrogate the others in the dungeon a bit better. They had confessed that this was not truly the heir. It seems the heir has been long since found out and kidnapped and is still in the black-market trade and there are to be several small auctions and entertainment. We are unsure of the entertainment that is supposed to take place. However, it seems many of the kin are being sold as s*x slaves or maids and the highest bidder is to collect the heirs in order to make them their mate. We have a few names of a couple of the ring leaders and are working on leads to track them down.”

Alex couldn’t help the rage that was building in him as he listened to Tane. They wanted to sell his mate? She was already marked; he couldn’t understand why they would want to take Taz. The others, sure, because they were unmarked and unmated, but Taz? It simply did not make any sense. He looked towards Atticus as the man seemed to be stewing in his thoughts as he reached out to mindlink him. “I thought Nix was the cool and levelheaded one, what was that about?! Killing our one good lead?!” He tried to restrain himself a bit, but he was quite angry.

Atticus glanced towards the blood-stained floor a moment before his gaze flickered over towards Alex. He felt for him, his mate was gone and he himself wanted his sister back just as much. She was still weak and that gave her even less of a fighting chance now. “There are only two things that make Nix lose control. Her ex-mate and the abuse of children. I vaguely recall the smell that was on her, and it is that of Nix’s mate…” Atticus linked back as he seemed to be still thinking about what that meant.

“Ex mate.” A voice interrupted both of their thoughts and as Alex looked shocked, he turned just as Atticus did and looked behind them towards a female standing near to them. Emberly offered a smile as the kin held up a tray towards the pair with food on them as she sighed and gave a small shrug of her shoulders. “I’m sorry, I was not trying to intrude.”

Atticus arched a brow, he looked upon Emberly as if he was finally understanding something. “You mean you can hear our thoughts? So, all those times…”

Emberly nodded her head as she looked down and chewed on her bottom lip a moment before looking back up towards Atticus and Alex. “I can hear thoughts… and… maybe… I should speak with Alpha Keturah and a few of you…”

Drax looked over towards Emberly a moment from where he was not terribly far from Atticus and Alex, arms crossing over his broad chest. He was a good-looking man, tall, muscular, tanned skin that had a shimmer to it like gold and tattooed. Deep forest green eyes and a strong jaw with spiked dirty blonde hair and a neatly trimmed goatee. He had always fancied Emberly, because of being a dragon kin she was quiet, reserved and seemed so shy. She always seemed to get nervous around him for some reason, but it was cute. He could sense the unease in her now and he couldn’t help but to step over to the trio. “Emberly? Everything alright?” He was not the leader of the Dragons, but since Faith was just a kin and he was second in command, a lot of things did fall upon him. The kin technically answered to Faith, but she was not there, and he was.

Emberly chewed her bottom lip a bit more as she looked up towards Drax. Atticus and Alex both noticed a deep blush appearing upon her cheeks as Alex smirked a bit before glancing towards Atticus and mind linking him. “Pretty sure she has the hots for that one.” Atticus smirked as well before glancing up towards Alex. “Half the kin have the hots for him. Faith won’t even give him the time of day unless it is to order him around. He is supposed to be her personal guard, but she refuses to have him hanging around all the time.”

Alex cleared his throat for a moment as he looked towards Drax and offered a smile. “Emberly was just saying that there is something she should speak with us and Alpha Keturah about. Perhaps we should all head that way?”

“No need.” The smooth soft voice reached all their ears, the rest of the room seemed to clear out besides a few select people such as Jace, Tane and Vance, as they were all coming closer and watching Emberly, who seemed to grow increasingly shy with the more people that came closer. Keturah made a motion for them to ease back a bit, and everyone started to lean back towards chairs or tables in the room, their postures relaxing as Keturah smiled and leaned her butt back against the edge of a table, hands neatly folded against her lap as she looked at Emberly. “What is it, Emberly?”

Alex glanced towards the strawberry blonde kin before them. She was cute, in a little sister kind of way. She wasn’t too old, it seemed, and for a dragon kin she was awfully shy. He just studied her for a moment, thinking about how old she really was. He wouldn’t think her more than sixteen or seventeen. He seemed to be lost in a moment’s thought about it when he heard her speak.

“I’m sixteen, Sir.” Emberly glanced at Alex for a moment, but the surprised look on his face saw her looking away as she appeared ready to flee.

Keturah reached out, lightly touching Emberly on the arm with a smile as she glanced between Alex and Atticus a moment before looking back towards the kin. “You can hear them, can’t you? Mind linking?”

Drax arched his brow, leaning forward a bit as he seemed rather curious about this. Jace, Tane and Vance were quiet, but they were equally curious, and Atticus gave a small nod of his head. “I think she can hear more than mind linking. She always seemed to know what I was going to ask her for beforehand.”

Emberly looked towards the lot of them a moment before she turned back towards Keturah and frowned. “I’m sorry! I don’t mean too, it just… it happens! I’m so sorry!” The poor child looked like she was about ready to have a mental breakdown and did indeed turn to run.

Keturah reached out, gingerly yet firmly catching ahold of Emberly before she could run, her hands lightly grasping the female about both arms and pulling her over towards her as she shook her head. “Emberly… take a breath for me, ok? Deep breath, in, out. In… out.”

Emberly looked ready to have an absolute come apart melt down right then and there and it only seemed to get worse as Keturah grabbed ahold of her. Emberly flinched and cowered as if she were indeed going to be beaten, which caused Drax to growl.

Keturah reached out to wrap her arms around Emberly as she enveloped the kin and leaned forward to whisper into her ear. The words were so soft that even those with superior hearing that were all around her couldn’t hear and Alex was convinced that Keturah’s lips may be moving but she wasn’t actually speaking. They all stood and watched as Emberly went on a rollercoaster of emotions from out of her mind, terrified, to acceptance, to slowly starting to calm down.

Alex glanced at the others for a moment, wondering if he could mind link Drax. When that failed, he went back to mind linking Atticus instead. “Is she alright?”

Atticus clenched his jaw a moment as he watched the kin and couldn’t help the small growl that came from him as well. All the men seemed to be a bit up in arms and Atticus shook his head a bit as he looked up towards Alex, responding via the mindlink. “No. She is one of the kin we found in the smaller black-market trade. We thought her hair was black when we first got her back here, it was just caked in mud and bodily fluids. Poor thing, she is terrified of most men. She only recently started coming near me. She has been here just about two months. Faith only just got her to start coming out of the Dragon housing a week ago without an escort and this was her first time in The Village when we were attacked.”

Keturah continued to hold onto Emberly even as the kin’s frame went slack, and she effortlessly held her up before turning to lay the kin on the table. She didn’t answer anyone, and no one was asking questions. They all seemed to know what Keturah was doing. Her fingers slid across the unconscious female’s head, slowly working along the scalp as if she were giving her a scalp massage. Keturah was focused as she went through the kin’s mind and took a short breath, slowly exhaling it as if she were seeing things she would rather not.

Drax seemed to be the most interested at the moment, as he was watching Keturah, a scowl upon his features as he watched her fingers and when he saw her exhale, he couldn’t help but ask. “What do you see, Keturah?”

Keturah clenched her jaw a moment before she opened her eyes and looked towards the men that were standing there watching her as she shook her head. “I cannot show you that… not for Eberly's sake or the others when we find them.”

Drax noticed that Keturah was having a difficult time, as if she were struggling to keep herself in check, which quite frankly none of them had ever seen. Her words were slow, methodical almost and he noticed that her body quivered ever so slightly.

Keturah tipped her head to the side, for a moment she just took each breath as it came before she let out a long slow exhale and looked at them all in turn a moment before she looked pointedly towards Alex. “There is information you should know, but I will not tell you. You will lose your control and I think you also need to hear the information from someone else. Taz was taken for a very specific reason. The others were taken because they were the heirs. They will be used for leverage and as mates. Princess Keavy has been taken because they wish to use her as leverage to have Queen Niamh take the leader as a mate. Emberly was too terrified of anyone and what she could hear of their thoughts and some of them were jumbled because of the explosion. She will need my help and Volten’s if we are to untangle this mess. In the meantime, Drax, Tane, Jace, you all need to get scouts in the air and on the ground. It seems that they are only meeting and gathering here but plan to flee France tomorrow. I don’t know how, but you need to get the gryphons to the portal area and the magic Kingdoms and see if they can uncover where the others have gone, and you need to do it fast. I will continue to work on Emberly.”

Keturah left no room for argument as she reached out and carefully hefted Emberly into her arms. As she turned, Alex watched as the ground opened up like a hole had been ripped into reality and he could see a realm beyond it that called him. He resisted the urge to follow as he watched Keturah vanish from site and the hole close before he looked towards Atticus and the others. “I will not even pretend to understand the reason why they would take Taz and the fact she knows infuriates me, but I can only assume she has a good reason for not telling me and will trust her.”

Tane glanced towards Alex as he gave a nod of his head and a heavy sigh. “If Keturah won’t tell you the reason, there is a good reason. Drax, meet you in the courtyard? Everyone can gather their best scouts and we will reconvene there and send out search parties?”

Jace was still reeling for the moment, but he did give a nod of his head, seeming to agree. “I will gather my best scouts and see if the coyotes want to go.”

Tane gave a nod before looking towards Atticus, Vance and Drax while arching a brow, considering Vance had been rather quiet.

Vance sighed as he gave a nod of his head. “Sure, but I need to touch base with the mage and warlocks first and see what they have done with Nix. It is not like her to lose control of…”

All of them paused and turned to look at the light pop in the air going off and Volten strode across the room towards them. “Nix is in the dungeon peeling the skin off the other two. She refused the help of the magic strip and said she would peel it from them piece by piece to figure out who they were.”

Volten’s words were enough to make several grimaces, they had clearly seen her do it before and knew that Nix meant business.

Atticus looked towards Volten then and made a motion towards him. “We have the support we need from you, the witches, faerie and warlocks? We all need to meet in the courtyard and get moving before it is too late.”

Volten gave a nod of his head. “I will support it, yes, but I think we should delay long enough to let Nix do her thing… it is her ex-mate, after all that is in charge…”

Atticus, Jace, Vance, Tane, Alex, and Drax all whipped their heads towards Volten and stared at him. Nix’s mate was the one kidnapping children and kin? Gaia herself couldn’t save his soul and they all knew it…