Hunting The Dark Side

Chapter 19: Wolf\'s Bane

Sapphire just stood staring at their stunned faces, she could see how dark of a brown that Dominic’s eyes were, she momentarily got lost in how brown they were, it made her feel like she was running through the forest all over the get, the dark brown of each passing tree. Sandalio seemed to love his eyes for the same reason because she was getting very excited.

Dominic was staring stunned that her own brother would try to hurt her, the anger built up within him, it felt like burning in his chest, his hands were in tight fists. Thoughts consumed his mind.

Why would he do that? Because he is jealous of her? No he wouldn’t kill because of that, would he? I mean he has had Jackson all of his life and now Sapphire suddenly is there. Still not a good enough reason for him to attempt to kill her.

When his rush of thoughts finally came to a halt he noticed that Sapphire was just staring at him, straight in his eyes. When he looked back it felt like she was staring straight passed his eyes and into his soul, he shifted ever so slightly which made Sapphire look away.

Jackson stood trying to process what he was just told, she cannot be right, the pack cannot be right. It couldn’t have been Leo, he would never do anything to hurt our sister right? A voice in the back of his mind answered.

Are you serious Jackson? You have seen him hurt her on two occasions now, the first one you slipped under the rug because he was saving you, but this time it was unprovoked. Sapphire didn’t do a thing, he is out of control. You need to somehow get through to him, that or keep him away from your sister.

Jackson didn’t even try to argue with the voice in his head, he knew that it was right. That he had to figure out what is going on with Leo, when he snapped out of his thoughts he looked at Sapphire who was staring so intently at Dominic. He turned to look at Dominic who seemed to be staring back at her though he seemed to look at little uncomfortable about the situation he was in. Jackson looked down Dominic analysing his stance and he saw how defensive that it was, he hands were in fists that showed that he was angry about everything. Maybe he really does love her.

When Dominic shuffles Jackson notices Sapphire look away looking almost embarrassed. Her eyes looked at the ground, her paw seemed to play with the gravel on the floor nervously. Jackson cleared his throat feeling tension in the air.

“Alright, umm, let’s deal with one thing at a time. First let us get you mended Sapphire, then I will find and talk to Leo, how about that?” Jackson finally speaks up, not liking the tension. It didn’t help that the air was still around them that just added eeriness to the whole situation, it was like something would jump out and attack them at any minute. Of course that only happened in movies. Plus he was pretty sure that Sapphire would know by now if something was wrong or off about the area. If there was something in the area she would know. She would hear or smell their scent then she would let them know but she hasn’t informed them of anything which means they are save.

Jackson shook his head trying to get the eerie feeling away from him, he walked towards Sapphire slowly. “I'm going to pick you up to put you in the car, ok?”

Sapphire nods but she talked to Sandalio. You heard him, he is just going to put us in the car ok? No sudden movements and certainly no biting or scratching! She warns her as she was extremely worried about hurting or turning Jackson, she would never forgive herself or Sandalio if she done that to him.

Sandalio felt how anxious and nervous she was and she whimpers a little nervously too. I will not move a muscle I promise, I will not let you down.

Sapphire felt relief wash over her, she was lucky enough to have a wolf that cared about her just as she cared for her wolf, they seemed to have an understanding of each other which isn’t always how it is with werewolves.

Jackson walked towards her, kneeling down in front of her, both Sapphire and Sandalio froze so they wouldn’t move a muscle. He carefully wrapped one arm under her whilst the other wraps around her back and under her carefully he picks her up. Sapphire push up to help him pick her up, he looks down at her and smiles a little, he picks her up with ease, lifting her up quickly because he expected her to be heavier than she was. He stands up with her in his arms.

“You are lighter than I thought you would be.” Jackson mutters to Sapphire quietly not wanting to really wanting to embarrass her in front of Dominic.

Sapphire just glared at him as a response. Jackson turned to place her the back seat until he realised he forgot to open the door first, he groaned then mentally hit himself. He heard Dominic chuckle with amusement behind him, before he saw his hand reaching passed him to open the door. Jackson took a step back as the door was pulled over for him. “Thanks.” He muttered so only Dominic could hear.

Sapphire pretended not to hear the gratification coming from her brother, she had to hold a laugh deep within at how he hated needing help for something. She soon felt fabric of the car on her side as he lay her gently down. She could feel and sense everything around her, she could feel each stitch that ran through the chairs, she could smell the metallic smell of the whole car, the smell of the steel, the oil even the water. Sapphire closes her eyes just to rest them but she jumps nearly out her skin the loud sound of the door slamming echoed through the car, to her it was as loud as a firework exploding in the sky.

Jackson watches as Sapphire jumped, he sighed softly as he knew it was because her wolf hearing was off the chart, he turned to look at Dominic. “Try shut your door quietly when you get in ok? I forgot how loud everything would be to her.”

Dominic was looking at Sapphire sadly and sympathetic, he felt sorry for what she had to go through, how one of her brothers doesn’t seem to give a s**t about her. He heard Jackson starting to talk to him so he quickly turned to look at him.

Dominic saw the same concern in Jackson’s eyes as he spoke, he could see the worry and confusion in his eyes. Dominic just nodded before walking to the passenger seat of the car, he opened the door stepped in, making the car shift under his weight, he carefully and slowly shut the door so that it wouldn’t slam. He turned back to see Sapphire rest her eyes, he feels a little smile creep over his lips.

He heard the driver’s door close so he turned to face out of the front window. It was still pitch black so he couldn’t see far ahead of him. “How long do you think Sapphire will be in wolf form? Like how long will it take for her to heal?”

Jackson glances over at him, before turning the ignition on, he puts the car into the reverse to pull out, he shifts the gear before answering. “She should already have healed, which means that either a part of the knife is still inside of her or the knife was drenched in wolf’s bane.”

Dominic’s hands were in fists again, his fists were trembling with anger, “What is wolf’s bane?” He manages to say through his teeth.

Jackson sighs softly, “Try calm down ok? Sapphire can sense what you feel.” He says before turning onto the main road, he glances over to Dominic, though he felt as if he was a hypocrite because Jackson’s knuckles were white by how tight he was gripping the wheel.

“Wolf’s bane is another name for the poisonous plant called Monkshood from the Aconitum Napellus family. It contains a poison called Pseudaconitine; it pretty much attacks the neurotransmitter called Acetylcholine.” Jackson answers the scientific way assuming that he would understand it all considering he works alongside a scientist, also to show off in front of Sapphire knowing she would know all of this.

“Why is it called wolf’s bane then? and that the hell is the Neurotransmitter called Acetylcholine?” Dominic questions confused, Lincoln normally dumbed everything scientific down for him so he didn’t have to ask these type of questions.

“Acetylcholine is a chemical that is released in the body from nerve cells that sends signals or messages from one cell to another. It pretty much tells the body what to do.” He dumbs it down a whole lot, as he pays attention to the road making sure that he takes his turns slowly and carefully. “And it is called wolf’s bane because it is what most hunters use to slow down or kill wolves.”

“So Sapphire could be dying then? That is what you are telling me?” Dominic raises his voice, his tone was high pitch as the worry hit him like a bus. He turns to see Sapphire laying breathing softly.

She lifts her head up to look at him, her tail swishes up then against the seat again as if she was trying to tell him a message, as if she was telling him that she would be fine. “So you don’t have this wolf’s bane in your system then?” He questions tilting his head with curiosity at her. He wondered why she didn’t just communicate in their mind like she did before.

Jackson answers for her though, he knows the symptoms of by heart. “No, she doesn’t have it in her system”

“How do you know? Do you know for a fact that your maniac of a brother didn’t put bane on the knife?” Dominic spat his words out as anger coursed through his veins, even thinking of Leo caused him to be so angry.

Jackson rolls his eyes at how dramatic Dominic was being, he answered calmly though, “because I know the symptoms. Monkshood poisoning causes gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms.”

“Speak English please. How do you know all of this anyways?” Dominic asks folding his arms staring out the window as he hated being the one that knew nothing about a subject, he is used to knowing it all.

Jackson sighed deeply. “Gastrointestinal are common medical conditions in Monkshood poisoning the type of Gastrointestinal symptoms are nausea and vomiting. Neurological are things such as pain and paralysis. Like for this sort of poisoning there is a burning pain in the abdomen, and a tingling and numbing sensation of the face.”

Jackson shrugs about the second question, he turns into Sapphire’s street. “We have to know these sort of things, it has to do with hunting. We were taught from a young age, it started with the little stuff like you should not under any circumstance touch wolf’s bane with your bare hands; you have to wear gloves. When buying a batch or finding some you have to wear gloves when coming in contact with it or you will be poisoned. Then the older we got the more we were taught.”

He parked up in the drive before opening the door to get out of the car. Katherine walked out of the door, anxious and frantic with worry about what had happened, “Where did you all go? One minute you were all in the house the next minute I knew I was eating alone.”

“Is Leo back yet?” Jackson answered with another question as it was none of her business what had happened he didn’t even know why he asked Sapphire for her to stay in the first place.

“Yeah but he didn’t say anything to me, he is just sat on the sofa furious about something. Are any of you going to tell me what is-” she is cut of when she across the back seat to see a large white animal in the back of their car. “is that a wolf?” Katherine was stunned to the core that they drove with a werewolf in the back of their car, they should have killed that thing as soon as they saw it, shouldn’t they?

Jackson looks at Katherine with a warning look in his eyes, as if to say ‘don’t even think about it’. He walks to the back door and opens it. “Yes it is a wolf. It is my sister, so if you lay a finger on her you will be out of her house before you know it.”

“How do you know she won’t hurt us?” Katherine corrects herself when she saw the murderous look in Jackson’s eyes. “I mean isn’t the wolf in control?”

“No, the wolf isn’t in control. Sapphire isn’t in blind rage therefore she is control. I also know that she wouldn’t hurt us because we were stood right in front of her when she went hunting for animal food. She could have easily snacked on us instead but she didn’t, she decided to feed on a bird instead.” Jackson gently slides his arms under Sapphire’s body, he picks her up then places her on her feet. He thought about carrying her to her room but if Leo was there then if she was in Jackson’s arms then there would be more chance that she cut him by mistake.

Sapphire started limping to the door, each and every time she put pressure on her front leg pain rushed through her leg, she knew there was silver from the knife still in her, that it moved with every step she took, but she was glad that Jackson put her down, she didn’t want to hurt him. She nudged the door open with her head.

She heard Katherine start talking in the background, “She is injured, is she going to be ok?” but she ignore it all, she slowly and carefully walked upstairs, she tried not to put any weight on the front leg but when it came to stairs it was hard not to. She walked to her bedroom, looking around to see a small pool of blood on her floor where she was attacked, she shook her head jumping onto the bed laying down.

Dominic climbs out of the car shutting the door before walking inside the house ignoring the convocation that was going on between Jackson and Katherine. Dominic watched as Sapphire struggled up the last few steps he sighed softly, he followed her up worrying about her. He walked to her room and sees her laying on her bed, he knocks quietly not to startle her before walking inside.

“I’ve just come to see to your leg for you, I mean I don’t know where you keep your first aid kit or anything but I'm sure you can tell me.” He says softly and caringly just wanting to see her back in her human form, not that he doesn’t love her in this form because he loves the whole of her.

Sapphire looks to see Dominic stood at the door, after she heard what he said she felt a warmth flood her body, something that she had never felt before, her heart starts to race at the thought of him worrying about her. That he cared enough to worry about her. She uses the rest of her energy to communicate in his mind.

In my private room, the code is Jackson or 3316, on the left hand side bottom draw.

Dominic stood stunned at first, she gave him the code with so much confidence and trust. He quickly snaps out of it and walks to the code box that was still open, he types in 3316, he watches he would always been stunned as he watched it, he always wondered how she even started to design this. When the room was fully open he walked inside on the left hand side, he kneels down to look at the design, he sees a shelf on the bottom that had books and diaries then to the left of that was a draw, he pulls it open, he sees the large green first aid box, along with bottles with vampire fangs, werewolf fangs, blood of some sort. He just shook his head at the grossness of it and picks the first aid box.

He walks over to Sapphire opening the box he feels her eyes on her as he picks up forceps, then sponges to control the blood flow, he moves closer to Sapphire to look at her leg wound. He could see that the wound is too small to get the forceps in, he sighs softly. He looks back in the first aid box.

“Sapphire I am going to have to cut the wound open more. So I can get the forceps in to pull out the remaining of the silver. Ok?” Dominic says softly looking at her as he picks up the scalpel.

Sapphire looks at him and nods. Tie my feet together and my tape my mouth. She stares at him to show that she is serious.

Dominic stares at her stunned, “I am not going to do either of that!” He raises his voice at her as he hated the idea of hurting her or anything that could frighten her or her wolf. No way in hell he would do that.

You have to. What if I bite or lash in pain. I don’t want to hurt you. Sapphire replied with a voice so soft, so fearful and so broken.

“You will not, I trust you. I trust you not to hurt me.” Dominic sounded so confident and certain that she wouldn’t hurt him, he knew she didn’t want to therefore she wouldn’t.

He moves the scalpel over the wound, letting the blade glide across her skin. Sapphire whimpers louder, closing her eyes begging Sandalio not to take control.

He is hurting us! He needs to learn a lesson!