DARK ALLIANCE (Scarlett of the wolves #3)

Chapter 2

Scarlett

June seven, six and a half weeks earlier.

That night, when I woke up, I realized in seconds that everything had changed.

I sighed deeply and lost myself in contemplating the ceiling. I was no longer human… and I was alone. Without him. My breath caught.

I got up on my elbows to take a closer look at where I was.

“How do you feel?” Rucker asked as he entered the room. “Do you like your room?”

Colonial in style, decorated in warm tones, it was tasteful and lit by large bay windows overlooking the sea. On the ceiling, a fan turned its blades in a dull movement.

“It’s very nice, thank you...,” I answered softly.

“You’re okay?”

I looked up at him like a battered dog.

“My heart is broken, Rucker.”

He knew that, I didn’t need to tell him. He understood the full extent of my suffering. He had experienced the same thing when he separated from Julia, sometime before her death.

“I don’t hurt anywhere anymore.”

He smiled and helped me up as I wrapped the sheet around my chest. I was half-naked.

I walked slowly in front of the mirror to examine my reflection.

I felt like I had undergone total cosmetic surgery. I no longer looked like Scarlett Rittel. I was NO LONGER Scarlett Rittel.

Imagine that one day you wake up in someone else’s shoes. Imagine what it would be like to feel like you no longer belong to yourself. And imagine still that the love of your life has abandoned you. All of this at the same time. It was scary.

“You’re beautiful…,” whispered Rucker behind me.

Yes, I was.

My hair had taken on an exceptional shade. A Venetian blond that shone as if the rays of the sun were falling on it. My eyes were a light green almost translucent in which gleamed a few golden notes that didn’t exist before my transformation. They were arguably the most vampiric, scary and hypnotic quality I had. My skin was also exceptional. It had kept its complexion, but its texture was unique, unimaginable until you touch it yourself, firm, smooth and flawless. I was as flawless as a baby would be. Only my chest was marked with the teeth of the one who had bitten me. As for my face, it gave the feeling of being powdery, delicate, fragile, and tinted just right, with red lips.

But the general appearance of my body was what puzzled me the most. Even in my wildest dreams, I never imagined being like this. Everything was so firm, muscular, shapely… perfect. Perfect, yes. It was for this very reason that I hated myself. The Scarlett from before was mundane, maybe, but normal. I would have given anything to find her.

I sighed and lifted my upper lip to inspect my teeth. They were a dazzling white! I hadn’t yet had the chance to see myself with those two canines vampires were famous for, and honestly, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it. And then how should I go about getting them out? What about my wings? My wings… my God… I didn’t know where I was anymore.

“Shall we get going?” Rucker suggested.

I was about to ask him where, when his two younger brothers entered the room.

“Good evening!” they sang in chorus.

“Whoa! You smell good!” cried Morel.

“You want to fly?” Corwin asked immediately.

I looked at Rucker, distraught.

The second kid, Morel, took my hand and said in a shrill voice:

“Come on, I’ll show you how.”

“Easy, boys,” Rucker warned. “Scarlett must be tired.”

“It’ll be okay,” I reassured him, nevertheless monstrously worried.

Morel smiled and pulled me with such force that I almost tripped. Rucker followed us.

In a huge library, he slid open a large bay window that looked out onto the edge of a cliff. Below, the sea rippled gently. The sky was darkening, it would be completely dark in less than an hour.

“This is the best time to fly!” Corwin chuckled.

Rucker and the children took off their T-shirts, then Rucker walked behind me and removed the sheet covering me. I found myself in panties. I made a gesture to hide myself.

“I wanted to buy you clothes specially to fly in, but… I didn’t have a chance,” Rucker stammered. “You have to be uh... bareback. Maybe some of the ones that Elgin brought back for you during your…” He gave an annoyed click of his tongue. “Anyway, I didn’t unpack them. We can do it quickly, if you want, we’ll surely find something there that...”

“It doesn’t matter,” I interrupted, smiling lazily. “We’ll see to that later.”

And then, my near-nudity didn’t seem to bother anyone.

Corwin and Morel spread their wings at the same time as they threw themselves into the void and soared into the sky before my astonished eyes.

Behind me, Rucker gently circled my waist

“We’re going to fly. Together,” he whispered in my ear.

I raised an eyebrow of incomprehension, twisting to look at him.

“To fly?”

He took me by the shoulders and spun me around, plunging his blue irises into mine.

“You’ll have a normal life.”

I shook my head. My life would never be normal again.

He smiles.

“Trust me. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

I’m about to speak, but Rucker put his finger on my lips before gripping my waist firmly again.

It was at this precise moment that I felt a slight tingling between my shoulder blades, a pain much milder than I expected, nothing compared to what I had felt during the last phase of my transformation. My wings unfolded on their own. No tearing of the skin, of muscles... No blood, nothing. It was perfectly magical. I couldn’t comprehend that such a thing was happening to me. Unable to utter a single word. Rucker took advantage of my amazement to flex his legs and throw us both into the void with one push. I screamed in surprise. He held me tight for a moment, then let me go.

I should have been scared, but I wasn’t. Everything was so instinctive. I was flapping my wings like I had been doing this all my life. The fresh air on my cheeks, the feeling of lightness, the immensity that suddenly belonged to me… It was unimaginable, breath-taking… I could have forgotten everything.

“You’re okay?” cried Rucker.

“Yes!” I replied, laughing. “Yes! Yes!”

For my first time, we had flown a good hour. Later that night, bundled up in Rucker’s bathrobe and slumped in an armchair, I watched him light a fire in the fireplace in his office.

“How did you get used to this life?” I asked. “It seems impossible to me.”

He sighed and came to sit next to me on the armrest.

“I don’t know… I think I liked it, after all. Eternity, freedom, excess...”

Rucker looked at me with an expression of admiration, a smile on his lips.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, reaching out to grab one of my hands.

I shook my head, smiling as he brought my palm to his nostrils to sniff it.

“And it’s insane…,” he said, his brow furrowed.

“What?”

“You kept your human scent.”

I didn’t understand.

“It’s strange, usually our dark angel scent is neutral to our kind. You still have that floral scent...”

“And?”

“And nothing. I’ve never seen anything like it, that’s all.”

“It’s serious?”

He smiles.

“I suppose not.”

I shrug my shoulders. I didn’t understand it at all, and it wasn’t going to change anything.

“I would like us to talk about my new condition. About what you told me earlier, about my future.”

“We’ll do that tomorrow morning if you don’t mind, it’s already very late,” he said, getting up.

I followed suit.

“Of course... see you tomorrow. Good night, Rucker.”

“Good night.”

But I stayed awake more than I slept.

It wasn’t quite daylight when I woke up to watch the sunrise through my open bedroom window. From here, we could see the cliff from which I had taken my first flight. It shone under the caress of the first glowing rays of the sun, while the sea came gently licking the low rocks. The air was loaded with salt, calm reigned… It was grandiose.

Two arrows suddenly flew past me with a burst of laughter. Morel and Corwin were acrobats in the sky. They were so carefree despite their seven hundred years of life... They had probably never asked questions about their condition as dark angels. I almost envied them.

“You coming with me?”

I turned to Rucker who had appeared in the doorway. He held out his hand to me. I walked over to join him, closing my fingers over his and smiled. Despite all the tortuous questioning that clouded me, there was one tiny certainty in my mind, one that I relied on a lot for reassurance: I was happy to be with Rucker.

He led me along a very large hallway leading to the main stairs. We went down them.

I hadn’t had a chance to visit downstairs yet, so my eyes widened while inspecting my new surroundings.

It looked like Rucker: warm, ancient and mysterious. The antiques hanging on the wall would have made more than a museum curator green, some were real collector’s items for medieval history buffs. Like that sword, just down the stairs, displayed on a white marble plinth, it seemed to weigh a ton. Closer, I tell myself that it was ultimately much larger than those of medieval times, or any other time for that matter, to the point that I wondered if it had not belonged to a giant.! The blade must have been at least six feet and shone like silver. The pommel was encrusted with lapis lazuli and coral. it was beautiful...

I shyly reached out to touch it.

“Go ahead, take it!”

I smile looking at him.

“You’re joking? It must weigh a ton!”

“A ton! Pff… for a human, not for you.”

To my crestfallen face, he laughed out loud.

“What’s so funny?”

“You’ve no idea who you have become, do you?”

“Uh... yes, a little bit.”

“Come on then, take the sword.”

I pouted and picked up the sword by the hilt. It seemed to be as light as a feather. I held it in one hand when it must have been around twenty kilos!

“So? Did I lie to you?”

I was speechless, staring at the sword hanging at the end of my arm.

“Honestly, if that amazes you, you haven’t seen anything yet! Come over here!”

He put the sword back on its stand and took me by the hand to pull me outside.

The first scent I smelled when I put my nose outside was that of a wet dog. Frankly not pleasant! I had already noticed it the day before while flying, but now it bothered me. I decided not to be a killjoy and didn’t pay attention to it.

Barely out, Rucker quickened his pace, a little more, still more… I couldn’t tell if we were running or not, but in any case, we were moving very quickly!

He stopped in front of a rotten old tree and stood up straight. In a serious tone, he said to me:

“In your dark angel skin, you inherited exceptional talents. Besides knowing how to fly and being immortal, you are extremely fast, incredibly strong, even if you are a weak woman,” he teased me, “and your senses are sharper than ever. You can’t imagine how much you’ve changed, Scarlett. You have become one of the most mythical beings in the world. You are a vampire of the noblest kind, a demonic angel.”

My mouth was still wide open. He smiled and slipped his finger under my jaw to close it.

“Uproot that tree.”

“I beg your pardon?”

He nodded in the direction of the tree.

“Uproot it.”

“You’re crazy!”

“Nope! Uproot it. Push it! Have you never seen a superhero movie?”

His gaze was as mocking as possible.

“Uh… yes.”

“Well, tell yourself it’s the same!”

Without thinking too much, I stood in front of the tree and placed my two palms on the trunk. I took a breath and pushed. I spat out a cry of surprise and jumped back when I heard the roots c***k under my feet.

“Son of a b***h!”

“Great, huh?”

“Scary, yes!”

Rucker resumed his seriousness.

“And your strength will increase tenfold as you grow. Here, you have a withered tree, but in time you’ll easily uproot a birch in the prime of life. You cannot imagine how much you’ll be able to achieve… You’ll be faster and faster, more and more skilful, you will be of terrifying perfection. More than you already are, young lady. It won’t take you long for that, believe me.”

“But I’ll never be stronger than a werewolf…,” I said aloud.

He hesitated before answering.

“No, not stronger than a male, but stronger than a female, most certainly, but not of all species. Tarja was a crinos and Minah…”

I shook my head from side to side.

“Okay. I don’t want to talk about it anymore!”

“But it’s you who...”

Thinking of Minah reminded me of Elgin and I didn’t want to think of Elgin! Why? Because werewolves are enemies of vampires and I didn’t want to tell myself that I had become Elgin’s enemy.

“I would like to walk now. Is that okay?”

Disconcerted, but patient, Rucker motioned for me to follow him on a path that led below the cliff. The slope was steep. In ordinary times, I would have fallen fifteen times, I might even have tumbled to the bottom. But now I was as agile as a mountain goat and sometimes I had a strange feeling that my feet were not touching the ground because I felt so light in my body.

We came out on a cove of steel-coloured pebbles.

“I imagine you must have a lot of questions for me? Rucker asked.

“Yes.”

“Shall we sit down?”

He showed me a series of flat rocks rising above the water. The sea was calm and the rocks completely dry, we sat in silence.

Like any human would, I took off my shoes and slid my feet into the water. The North Sea was always freezing, even in summer. I expected to cry out in amazement at the cold, but it was just the opposite...

“Oooooh! It’s… hot!”

Rucker smiles.

“No, it’s not. It’s you who feels it that way.”

“Because I’m cold?”

He nodded and I fell silent for a moment to think about what I was going to ask him.

“How quickly can I expect to return to normal life?”

“It all depends on your ability to adapt, but I would say several weeks. If you wish, you can resume your lessons at the start of the school year.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Scarlett. But you’ll have to learn not to want to drink human blood, at least to resist.”

Drink human blood? But who did he take me for?

“Don’t look like that, Scarlett. You’ll want to, and sooner than you think.”

I shook my head vigorously.

“Do you remember three days ago, when you got your drink from a badger?”

“No.”

The idea made me shiver with disgust.

“Well, you drank blood.”

I did have some memories of my transformation, but that, no. And fortunately.

“Was I in a trance?”

He eyed me carefully.

“Yes. Do you remember hearing Elgin talking to me?” he made sure carefully.

Sadly, I nodded. Something like this cannot be forgotten. I thought I was dying, at that moment, dying of pain.

“Generally, when a young vampire tastes animal blood for the first time, and it’s even stronger when it comes to human blood, his body is craving it. It won’t take long to happen to you.”

“And if not, is it serious?”

“No. It happens sometimes, with people like you.”

“People like me?”

“Those transformed against their will. But sooner or later they get there. No choice, it’s that or...”

Rucker paused.

“Scarlett, are you alright?”

No, I wasn’t at all. I felt uneasy. I was hot and had a feeling of oppression.

What was happening to me? A heady smell filled my nostrils and completely intoxicated me. I could feel my legs tingling with excitement and my heart racing with the adrenaline rush. But that…

I jumped to my feet. Rucker quickly imitated me and grabbed my arm. I pushed him away with violence.

My gaze twisted towards the sea, which could hardly be seen because of the mist.

I wanted to dive into the water. The smell was coming from there, far away… I had to go. I leapt forward, stopped in my tracks by Rucker.

“Scarlett, that’s enough!”

I turned my head towards him and glared at him.

I was no longer in control.

“The smell! That smell! I… Let go of me!”

Rucker grabbed both my arms and pushed them roughly behind my back. He hugged me and stopped me from moving. I screamed in rage, I growled, because he was much stronger than me. He rested his hand on my forehead and held my head back, close to him, which immediately created a savage rage in me. I was unable to scream, the almost vital urge creating an infernal hum in my temples and cutting off all my thoughts.

I shook my head all over the place in an attempt to neutralize the appalling headache that was overwhelming me and fell to my knees.

“Hush... hush. Calm down, Scarlett,” Rucker whispered, kneeling, “it will pass. The smell will pass. Don’t breathe anymore.”

He suddenly turned me to face him and took my face in his hands.

“Look at me, focus on me, on my eyes, on my voice. Shhh... everything is fine...”

For a brief moment, I thought it was better because the smell had indeed evaporated. But instead of calming me down, its absence made me mad with rage. I tried to pull myself away from Rucker’s embrace with force. He was too strong, way too much for me. So, my lips curled over two protruding canines and, without even knowing what I was doing, I planted them angrily in his neck.

Rucker didn’t move, he let me drink in big gulps, as his blood ran to the back of my mouth, down my throat… I calmed down when he whispered my name, stroking my hair. He gently pushed my head away.

“That’s enough,” he whispered.

I opened my mouth and stepped back in disgust to stare at the gaping holes I had left on his throat. They disappeared almost immediately, leaving Rucker’s skin intact.

Breathless, my head aching, I caught his eyes. His irises were gilded.

With his thumb, he removed the few drops of his blood that beaded on my chin.

“Even during the hunt, you are divinely beautiful,” he said. “You’re going to be a formidable predator, Scarlett. A vampire younger than me would have let himself be drained of his blood.”

As he breathed, he had a spasm.

“My God, you’re much more dangerous than I could have imagined.”

Then his gaze hardened. He gripped my shoulders violently and shook me sharply.

“Never do that again! You hear?”

I nodded my head in silence.

I had just drunk blood… I wanted to throw up and cry, but I couldn’t do either.

Rucker took off his T-shirt and lifted me into his arms to carry me. I closed my eyes and when I reopened them, he was at the front door and folded his wings.

The children came running to greet us. Morel had several bags of candy in his hands.

“We hardly eat anything but chocolate,” he explained to me. “You want some? It’s good!”

I grimaced, shaking my head.

“See you soon!” they cried in chorus as they left.

“Go and rest,” Rucker suggested, “I’ll meet you later, I need to think for a moment.”

I nodded and gladly slipped into my bedroom as Rucker threw himself on the living room couch.

I was sitting cross-legged in front of the mirror, examining the strangeness I had become when he joined me. I invited him in and saw him sit behind me, wrapping his long legs around me. Quite naturally, I leaned against him and stayed like that for a few long seconds.

“That smell…,” I whispered to myself. “How could it have put me in such a state?” I finally ask, my eyes riveted on the floor. “I’m sorry I bit you. Really…”

He took me by the shoulders and spun me around in front of him.

“Look at me, Scarlett.”

I looked up.

“I’m not mad at you. But I am surprised. I didn’t expect you to sense a human from that far away.”

“Did I smell a human?”

He nodded.

“I smelled his blood, and it put me in… in a trance!”

Here, I would have preferred to receive a punch in the face!

“Yes, and well before me...”

I opened my eyes wide.

“Before you? But… how is that possible?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what to tell you. It hasn’t been a week and you smell better than me!”

He shook his head.

“But your other reaction is normal, Scarlett, the opposite would have surprised me.”

“When I bit you?”

“And you have no interest in doing it again!” he chided me. “No, the fact of having lost your head while smelling the human. You’re programmed to drink human blood. When you sense it, it attracts you. Don’t worry about that, I’ll teach you how to do without and be content with animals.”

“I don’t want to drink blood at all!” I decided.

“I’m afraid that’s impossible. Animals allow you to maintain the energy that human food cannot completely provide. Generally, a new born should drink it at least once every ten hours so as not to weaken, at least during the first weeks.”

“And if I never drink blood, can I die? I thought I had become immortal.”

“No, you cannot die, but you lose your strength, your senses... Your skin withers, it turns yellow, your eyes are permanently engorged with blood, you become so weak that you are no longer able to get out of bed. You vegetate.”

“Well, that will suit me well!”

He laughed softly.

“Don’t say anything stupid, girl, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I have only known two cases of vampires refusing to drink blood in any form. They ended up biting themselves. They’ve gone mad.”

I hardly believed him.

“I’ll force-feed you if you refuse.”

I raised an eyebrow. He looked serious. And from what I saw earlier, you don’t mess around with Rucker. He’s fierce!

“Do I have to drink it again soon?”

He smiles.

“I like this better! We’ll see. I could spot your drop in energy. For the moment, you’re doing well. But I’m going to have to introduce you to human food, it’s not going to be easy.”

“I don’t need to be introduced! I’ve eaten it all my life!”

“Okay, you need to be convinced! We’re going to try something. Don’t move from here.”

He walked out of the room and returned a minute later with some candy. He sat down in front of me and removed a transparent paper with compunction.

“Honey candies are, from what I’ve been told, the sweetest. They’re very much appreciated. You agree?”

“Indeed.”

“Open the mouth.”

I obey, sure of myself.

He placed the little sweet ball on my tongue, I immediately closed my lips. As soon as my saliva moistened the candy, I was seized with an intolerable disgust. No beer, no cigarettes, no coffee in the world could have been that bad.

I managed to hold on for ten seconds before spitting the candy right in his face. The honey candy had stuck in Rucker’s beautiful blond hair.

His laughter left me speechless. Finally, he raised his eyebrows with a superior look and pulled the candy out of his hair. He crushed it with a touch of his fingers.

“So, as I said… I’m going to introduce you to human food.”

I shook my head. I’d rather die than put something so disgusting back in my mouth!

He stood up and rubbed his neck where I had bitten him.

“It hurts you?” I asked.

He held out his hand and helped me up. A smirk spread across his handsome face.

“No. But this is the first time that I’ve been bitten! Well, since I was a dark angel.”

“Seriously?”

“What do you think? That I’m a travelling pantry!”

He gave me smile.

“How do you get your teeth out?” I asked awkwardly. “And your wings? And... your claws?”

He raised his left eyebrow.

“This is a joke, isn’t it?”

“No, I’m serious.”

His smile faded.

“You know that; you’ve already done it.”

“Maybe, but I didn’t do it on purpose.”

He rubbed his eyes.

“How can you not do it on purpose? You decide you want to get your teeth out and you get them out. You want to spread your wings, you spread them. You want to raise your right hand, you raise it. (He caught his breath and strangely looked at me.) Raise your left hand. (I did.) Lift your right foot. (Same.) Get your teeth out...”

Nothing.

“I can’t do it.”

“What do you mean you can’t do it?”

I shook my head.

He curled his lips and showed me his protruding canines.

“Spread your wings.”

 I waited a few seconds.

“I’m sorry…”

Rucker’s lower jaw opened wide.

“Son of a b***h!”

He slipped a finger under my lips to examine my gums and turned me around to look at my back.

I heard him give a nervous laugh. He spun me around and grabbed me by the shoulders.

“There’s something really wrong with you. You’re the most beautiful creature I have ever seen, you kept your human scent, you can smell a scent as far as a werewolf, but you are unable to get your wings and teeth out! You’ll end up driving me crazy...”

He ran a hand over his face.

“Ok. We’ll talk about this again tomorrow, okay? Me, I’m going to go running for a while, just to clear my head. And you, try to train yourself!”

Before I even opened my mouth, he stormed out and slammed the door, leaving me as dumbfounded as he was, and for the rest of the day.