Ariella
I look at myself in the mirror as I prepare myself to speak to my parents. Classes finished early for me today, so it worked out well.
I’ve showered and changed, but I don’t plan on going anywhere tonight. Harmony’s asked me to go over to hers, but I don’t want to. I know it annoys her that I don’t spend as much time with her as she’d like, but I’ve also had to get ahead with my schoolwork because of the time I’ll be spending off school.
I’m wearing a fitted yellow dress that really brings out the dark gold of my eyes. My eyes change colour depending on my mood. They’re dark gold or hazel when I’m nervous or angry but when I’m happy or aroused, they’re like the lightest gold, just like my parents’. People think I wear contacts and I don’t correct them—for obvious reasons.
Although everyone says I look like my dad, and I do, I also have a few features from my mother. I have her long curly hair, for one. It’s dark brown with a few natural highlights of light brown. Mom’s hair is brown with blonde mixed in, and she also has a big chunk of blonde at the front that reminds me of Rogue from X-Men.
Mom’s more beautiful, though. She’s a very natural beauty; she was even before her change. She has a mixed complexion, whereas I have a darker complexion like my Dad. Mom’s skin is like a light caramel and mine is more of a warm toffee.
I tie my curls up into a ponytail and then feel the hairs on my arms prick up. This only happens when Aura, the elder of werewolves, is around. I frown because she only ever visits us when something important is going down.
I instantly worry about mom and the baby.
I drop my hairbrush on my dresser and then make my way downstairs. “You need something from us?” I hear mom ask, just before I walk into the kitchen. Aura is here, standing a few steps away from the island where mom and dad are sitting, eating grits. Mom’s favourite.
“Aura,” I say with a nod as I walk over to the stove. I’m starving but also intrigued as to why she’s here. I wonder if Davonyé likes grits? He looks like he goes to the gym a lot with a body like that. Maybe he ain’t allowed to eat things like this?
Ugh… Stop.
“Hello, Ariella. I hope you are well?” she says calmly. Aura is always calm; not once have I ever seen her give any other emotion away. She’s got beautiful dark skin, and black eyes that look like they’re swirling sometimes. She always wears a white dress type robe and has long straight hair down to her hips.
Ugh… Am I okay? Not really. “Yeah, I'm good. You?” I grab a plate of shrimp and grits from the stove, adding extra pepper and some hot sauce before taking a seat at the island with mom and dad.
I zone out from the room while I think about how Davonyé looked at me yesterday…
God, I want him so bad.
Shit is so depressing.
I mean, if he is my mate, then he’ll definitely like me back, but what if he ain’t and this is just a crush? Maybe this attraction is only physical? I seriously just need to talk to him so I can find out.
But I’m scared and nervous, too.
What would I say?
‘Why are you scared, Ariella? The male in which you have feelings for will feel the same as you.’
I still as I hear Aura’s voice inside my head and look at the fork holding a shrimp in front of my face. You’re being bait, Ariella, I tell myself before I quickly carry on eating.
‘He’s human, though...’ I think so that she can hear.
‘And?’ she replies as if my concerns are for nothing.
“So, what do you need from us?” Mom suddenly asks her.
‘So many things,’ I begin, but now ain’t the time to use Aura as an agony aunt; she’s clearly here because of something important.
She gives me a faint smile before turning to look at mom. “It is a matter regarding the kratius.”
What?
Mom doesn’t often appear shocked, but she definitely is now.
“Uh… As in, murderous Pires kratius?” Dad asks, equally as stunned.
Aura gives a single nod of her head. “Yes, unfortunately so.”
I frown. I thought Aura had left that world behind, so the fact she’s been there, is surprising. So that must mean… “You travel between here and there…” I say out loud.
Her eyes widen a little as she looks at me. “I do.”
“They ain’t coming here, are they?” Mom asks, instantly panicking.
“I do not believe so,” Aura replies quickly. “But there is a certain type of witch that resides there that may wish to break through to this world if they are not eradicated soon.”
Mom goes quiet and I know it’s because she’s thinking a mile a minute. Mom is the ultimate thinker, and she worries a lot, too.
Dad rests a hand on her arm. I can see by the way they look at each other that they’re talking to each other in their minds.
“How do we stop them from doing that?” dad finally asks when he looks away from mom.
Aura is quiet, as if she’s thinking about what to say. I pick at my food while I think about dad’s question, and what I heard mom saying when I was coming down the stairs. What would we have that Pires don’t…?
And then it clicks.
I look up at Aura. “Bane. She needs werewolf bane, Dad.”
Werewolf bane is like a vampire’s venom. We secrete it from our canines, either when we’re marking someone, or we’re biting someone to change them into one of us.
Aura blinks and I know I’m right. “How do you know of this?” she asks, sounding impressed.
I shrug. “I've read enough books to know that the one thing we have that they don't, is bane, Aura. It's obvious.”
“No way,” Mom protests. “What if they use it to turn humans into wares so they can start hunting them over there? No chance. I'm not submitting my kind to that shit, no way.”
I look back and forth between the both of them; it’s as if Aura knew this was gonna be the outcome of her request. She doesn’t look one bit surprised by mom’s reaction.
And she shouldn’t be.
Twenty-one years ago, just after mom turned twenty and went through her change, her and dad had to fight time and time again in order to protect our kind. Dad’s grandfather, who was his mother’s father, reappeared after years in hiding and intended to capture mom for her blood. Mom and dad lost a baby during one of those fights and learned the preciousness of life.
Now, mom and dad protect wares at all costs – with the help of a very select chosen few who fought alongside them in the war. Mom would never risk subjecting wares to a life of torture if she could help it, so there is no way she’s gonna let that happen over in another world.
“Abriya,” Aura finally says. “They do not wish to use bane to create werewolves. The Princess that requires the bane needs it to kill other Pires and Noir witches that threaten the peace they have created there.”
Princess? Black witches? What the fuck kinda world do they have over there?
“But how can we trust them? After everything they have done?” mom insists, referring to how Pires hunted werewolves thousands of years ago and killed Clantius, Ariya’s mate who was our ancestor and first of our kind.
“I know Vallessa and of her intentions,” Aura replies.
“But I don't,” mom snaps before she looks down at the bump in her robe. Mom is pissed, but she’s holding it in well.
“Abriya is right,” dad says, sticking up for mom as always. “Those Pires craved ware blood. How do we know the temptation won’t be too much for them to resist?”
“The Dianders in the kratius already have the ability to make synthetic bane and have done for millennium. Not once have they attempted to create werewolves for Pires.”
Dad ain’t convinced. “Because they probably know they need the real thing.”
Aura actually looks defeated for a moment, and I feel sorry for her. “I do not expect you to trust them,” she tries again. “And I understand why you do not, but if Princess Vallessa does not obtain wolf’s bane from your bloodline, chaos will erupt in the kratius that will inevitably spill over into the world.”
Mom and dad look at one another after she says that. They’re talking to each other again.
“Ain’t there another way to kill them, other than using bane?” dad asks Aura after a minute of silence.
This shit is tense.
“There is not. The noir witches are a different entity entirely from Pires, and not only does she need it to stop them, she also needs it to kill those that are much older than herself.”
Mom groans and suddenly holds her head in both her hands. She soon releases a long, heavy sigh before she turns to face Aura again. “Who do you need the bane from?”
“From any of you in this room.”
Me? But I haven’t changed yet…
Aura gives me a quick glance; she’s listening to my thoughts. I wonder if she would’ve asked me instead of my parents if I had changed already. It would have saved mom the stress. And she probably knows that I trust her. I always have. I know that she always has our backs and would never let anything bad happen to us if she could help it.
“Can we think about it?” mom eventually asks.
Aura looks relieved. “Yes, of course you can. But please, think hard and quickly. I do not wish to bring you stress while you are with child, Abriya, and I am sorry to ask this of you now, but time is of the essence.”
Mom sighs. “Give me a few days. I will call for you.”
“Then, I will see you soon,” Aura replies before she disappears.
I look at my parents; they look tormented. I know this must be a big deal for them. They’ll wanna do the right thing. They’re good people.
“What the hell are we gonna do?” mom says to dad while rubbing her bump. “We don’t want them coming over here, but we can’t trust those things either.”
“Aura wouldn’t trick us, though, would she?” I ask them. “And she must know their true intentions. She knows almost everything.”
Dad looks at me as I hear mom sigh. “It’s not Aura we don’t trust. Those things are cunning, and if witchcraft is involved, they could be hiding their true intentions for all we know.”
“Yeah… I guess so.”
I finish the rest of my food and then clear mom and dad’s plates with my own. I know mom forced herself to eat for the baby’s sake. Dad didn’t finish his food either. My parents don’t even have to eat food, but they become exhausted when they don’t and end up sleeping loads. Dad’s the worst for it. He’s always taking such good care of mom that he forgets himself. That’s why you always hear mom telling dad to eat something.
I decide to leave them to talk, and I return to my room. We can always talk about my change another time. Right now, wares could be in danger, and as Alpha’s, they’ll be taking this threat seriously. This situation is much bigger than my change, and they need to make a choice.
