Wolf's Fate

CHAPTER 3

AMBER POV.

“Thank you.” I heard a voice say when Ava turned to walk away. The others followed except for me and Seth. I turned to face her and gave her a kind smile while Seth watched the girl with suspicion. “You are welcome. I’m Amber by the way.” I said and extended my hand towards her, but I rushed forward when she winced as she got back to her feet. “I’m okay. I just need to catch my breath.” She said as she held her hand up for me to stop and she didn’t extend her hand in greeting. “I’m Rieka.” Was all she said as I found her staring curiously at me. Whatever she was thinking, she snapped out of it when the group started to get themselves together and her gaze went to the bush she came out from behind. ”I need to get my backpack.” She said and she was about to move towards it when Seth stepped in front of her with a suspicious glare. “I’ll get it. I’m not letting you out of my sight.” He sneered at her and she returned his glare that matched his own.

She really was something different. I could sense it. I knew she was a magical but apparently, she was a werewolf too. That combination wasn’t very common. It’s not as though it was forbidden, but different species tended to keep to their own, unless she was bitten off course, but something told me that that was not the case. The girl named Rieka was watching Seth like a hawk as he retrieved her bag. It was curious to see that she wasn’t afraid of him in any way. Everyone tended to fear vampires as their lust for blood was legendary, but this girl didn’t, and I couldn’t help to have my curiosity to be peaked and I couldn’t exactly call her a girl. If I had to guess, she was around my age. About nineteen. She had long dark hair that fell around her shoulders and dark blue eyes. Watchful eyes that gave me the impression that she rarely missed a thing happening around her and it gave me a sense that her eyes have seen much more pain than someone of her age should have. We were the same height, and she was dressed in camo pants and boots that gave off an army vibe but the sweatshirt she wore gave her a more casual look.

Ava’s voice rang through the clearing as she called everyone to gather around just as Seth came back with her backpack. The three of us walked towards the group and when we were all together, Ava spoke up. “We have a small problem.” Ava said and held out her hand for everyone to see. There were small fragments of broken glass in her hand that used to be little glass orbs with a misty fog on the inside. Like the one Rawlson used to get away. They were teleportation orbs that send people from one place to the other. “All of them are broken, it must have happened during the fight.” She said and sighed. “We’ll have to walk.” She said and buzzing of chatter went around the group. “Walk? Ava! We are miles from the manor… it would take us at least a day to get there on foot.” Samantha said as she is rubbing her forehead. More objections erupted as I looked around the group.

“I can help.” The girl named Rieka said but her voice was drained out by the buzzing of the concerned chatter around us. I noticed that she looked slightly winded, but she took a deep breath and spoke up louder. “HAY!” She said loudly and everyone fell silent to look at her. “I can help. I have extra orbs in my pack that Seth is holding.” She said and turned to face said person. “In my front pocket there is a small tin. The orbs are in there.” She said and turned back to face Ava who was staring at her in disbelief. She wasn’t the only one, several others including me, was staring at her in shock. “That’s not possible… orbs are really hard to come by and to make them is extremely dangerous. You need to be an experienced magical to be able to make them.” Ava said and she nodded. “I know. My grandmother made a few before I came here. Just in case I need it.” She spoke.

Seth walked past her with the little tin in his hand and gave her a suspicious look before handing it over to Ava who took it and her eyes widened when she opened it. My mouth dropped open to the now opened tin that had a milky glow that came from the little orbs inside and Ava’s head snapped up to Rieka. “There are so many. How on earth did she manage to make so much when making one takes weeks of charms and brewing?” She asked in awe, and Rieka merely shrugged her good shoulder. “She had a lot of free time on her hands.” Was all she said, but I knew that there was more to it than what she said.

Ava removed one of the orbs and closed the tin and just as she was going to give it back to me, Seth took it from her. “I’ll keep an eye on this.” He said and Rieka rolled her eyes at him and nodded. Ava inspected the little orb with fascination before her gaze went over the others. “Right, everyone, get a hold on one another and hang on.” Ava said and I held out my hand to her and with a slight hesitation, she took it and I gave her a smile wich I was glad to see that she returned. Seth stood on the other side of her and took hold of her arm as he swung the backpack over his shoulder before taking the other person’s hand to the other side of him. “Ready?” Ava asked and when everyone gave an affirmative nod, she dropped the orb at her feet where it released a cloud of smoke that quickly enveloped us all and with a slight turn feeling of the stomach, the smoke cleared to reveal a magnificent manor standing in front of us.

“What the hell?” Jenny exclaimed in surprise as she spun around. “I barely felt a thing?” She said as she rubbed at her stomach. “Yeah, usually I would be puking my guts out right about now, but it felt like we barely moved.” Said Samantha and I and the others agreed. Orb teleporting was worse than a roller coaster.

Ava Looked at Rieka in question and disbelief and she shrugged her good shoulder again. “Like I said, my grandmother had a lot of time on her hands, so she decided to play around with the recipe.” She said and Ava just looked at her with her mouth slightly open. “Still takes long though.” Rieka said as an afterthought. I was intrigued by this girl and what type of family she has. If her grandmother had the balls to play around and experiment with a highly dangerous recipe as the transporting orbs then I wondered what other surprises she might have in store for us.

“Look, this is all good and dandy, but could we get our asses inside and start figuring out what the hell happened tonight?” This time it was Jason who spoke up and that seemed to get everyone in motion. I noticed that Seth still held onto Rieka’s arm when the others let go of each other, but it didn’t seem to bother her at all. In fact, from the way she was clenching her jaw, I surmised that she was in more pain that she wanted to let on and that Seth was partially helping her to stay upright and that concerned me. how injured was she? I wondered and I felt the need to have a quicker look at her wounds than before. She was starting to look pale as we walked up the stone steps to the manor and I saw her eyebrows crinkle in thought. Whatever was going through her mind was obviously confusing her.

By the time we reached the top of the steps, she was short of breath, and I ushered her and Seth through the front doors and directly into the study hall and sat her down on one of the chairs. Seth stood a few feet away from us and kept a close watch on Rieka as though she was going to flee at any moment which I doubted. Before I could start looking her over, Ava entered the study hall. I could faintly hear the others moving around upstairs. Probably getting cleaned up.

Ava came to a stop a few feet in front of the girl, studying her silently before she spoke. “Who are you?” She asks and the sternness in her voice was inadmissible.

She swallowed and took a deep breath but kept eye contact with Ava. “R-Rieka” She says and swallows painfully again and my concern grew as she became paler by the minute. “Rieka?” Ava repeated her name. “Not wanting to sound ungrateful Rieka but why did you help us?” Ava asks. Rieka looks at all of us in the room in turn before her eyes track back to Ava. “Because you needed it.” She said and Seth snorted, but she ignored him whilst I gave him a stern glare. Ava also gave him a look before facing her again. “That does not explain why you helped us.” She said and went to sit on the edge of a desk closest to the girl.

Rieka opened and closed her mouth as though she wanted to speak but her eyes were taking on a distant look and I was really starting to get concerned when it looked like she was starting to sway at her seating position.

“ANSWER HER!” Seth bellowed and this not only startled Rieka, but me as well. Rieka grunted in pain and clutch at her shoulder, close to the wound on her back. “SETH!” I chastised and turned on him with an angry glare. “Can’t you see she is in pain?” I said over my shoulder as I rushed to crouch down at her side. She blinked her eyes at me as she tried to focus on me, but I wasn’t looking at her. From the point of view, I was crouched in, I could see a blueish substance that stained the temporary bandage that I put on her wound under her sweatshirt. I frowned in confusion as I reached out to pull at the material covering her wound and I realized that the blue substance was her blood… but how was that possible? It was red before.

“Amber, we need to know who she is. She could be a threat!” Seth said but I didn’t hear him. “Something is wrong.” I spoke up as I got back to my feet. Rieka followed my movements as though everything was happening around her in slow motion. I reached out and took her face in my hands and I immediately felt that she was hot. “She’s burning up!” I said and it was a few seconds before her face scrunched up in confusion before her eyes went wide. It was as though a realization suddenly dawned on her before she uttered; “No!”

“H-help me get this off.” She suddenly spoke up and I immediately reached out to help her with her sweatshirt. “What’s wrong?” I asked but she didn’t answer. She only uttered out a cry in pain when the material came off over her head and slid off her injured shoulder. Before the sweatshirt dropped to the floor, she reached for the wound and when she pulled back her hand, she gasped. “That’s n-not possible.” She spoke. It sounded more to herself than to the people in the room

“What? What is it?” It was Ava that spoke up this time because I was staring in shock at the blood on her hand as I was still baffled to why her blood has suddenly turned blue. “What the f**k?” Seth exclaimed in disgust and Rieka’s head snapped up, but it wasn’t him who her eyes landed on. She had a look of realization on her face of what the blue blood meant and just at that moment, Jason came running into the study hall.

His eyes were wide as he stared at Rieka and something in her eyes cleared up, snapping her out of her shock and her head snapped to Seth. “M-my backpack? I need it.” She spoke as she tried to get up, but her legs started to tremble and if it wasn’t for Ava and me who caught me, she would have been lying on the ground at our feet.

“What? What do you need it for?” He asked as he picked up the pack that he set down at his feet. Ava and I were holding her upright in a sitting position on the floor. She pointed shakily to the bag and uttered; “Red…” She coughed and took a deep breath. “Red ph-phial. In… in the side pocket.” She said and she slumped her weight onto me as she couldn’t keep herself up anymore. What the f**k was happening? I thought to myself as I looked at her with wide scared eyes as I held her. Seth rummaged in the side pocket and pulled a small red vile from it and looked at it intently. “What is this?” He demanded but Jason grabbed the vile from his hand and fell to his knees in front of Rieka. “For Gods sake, can’t you see the girl is dying… leave those questions for afterwards.” He barked and unstopped the little bottle, prying Rieka’s mouth open and emptied the red liquid down her throat. She was barely conscious and watched us through heavy eye lids, as Jason rubbed her throat so that she could swallow it before she passed out.