Of wings and claws

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"The blood moon is tomorrow night"

"What am I going to be doing while you're in hiding, can I come with you to your hideout?"

"Hello, earth to Melody"

My eyes snap towards her. Emily Elizabeth. She has her left hand against her forehead and the other at her waist while she paces back and forth in our little room. Her expression shows frustration and little bit of nervousness.

"I heard you Em, but we both know we are much safer apart than together. We will survive this, we always do." I assure her, hiding my own nervousness.

"Why are you so calm Mel? We survived all these years because we weren't of age yet and they possibly couldn't smell us out, but now, now we have matured and every fiber in our bodies pulls our beloveds closer when they are near" Emily yells in frustration and I flinch at her tone. She knows I don't like it when somebody shouts at me, pecks of living with an abusive woman my whole life.

She notices my discomfort and she sighs loudly sitting on our small bed next to me. Her small hands grip mine in a firm squeeze. Emily is a beautiful woman, her caramel skin made her green eyes pop out, her jet black afro that matches mine. Then there was her little button nose that scrunch up everytime I say something she doesn't like,or when a man that isn't her type suddenly shows interest in her.

"I'm sorry Mel, I just, I'm scared for the both of us. Those beasts are brutal, they won't hesitate to reject then kill us the moment they find out what we are. We are supposed to be extinct remember?" She sighs again.

"I know, but we are not sure if we are even bounded to werewolves Em, I know the chance of us being bounded to one of our kind is non existent but there are other species out there, witches, day-walkers, Nosferatu, humans, even hybrids." She scoffs at my words. I would have scoffed at my words too.

"We both know it is very rare for witches to bound outside of their covens, they are secretive creatures and very wicked. Day-walkers like to toy with creatures like us they are very sly creatures who think they own the universe just because they are immortal. I wouldn't start about the Nosferatu and humans, they despise us to the core" she rants, she isn't wrong. Every creature hates us, they see us as inferior, unworthy to be called supernaturals.

I know she has a point, I would rather be bondless than be bounded to a Nosferatu, no offense to the already dead but living creatures but nobody would like to be with someone who lives in darkness their whole life which makes their face paler than normal and blue green veins to be visible all over their bodies. Others even looked like they are rotting, but freaking out about the blood moon is not going to help us with anything. I know we would talk about this until the sun rose and I was tired,when Emily is nervous about something she can talk about it for a whole week. The only thing that could help the both of us right now is rest. We don't know what awaits us on the night of the blood moon but I had a feeling that we were already dead women walking.

"Okay I'm not talking about this anymore Emily. Stressing out is not going to help us in any way. I'm sleeping now and you better get some rest too or else we won't be able to outrun those beasts tomorrow." I say getting under the covers. I slowly feel the tiredness of my muscles paralyse my body from the long hours of work.

"That's not funny!" Emily yells again. Oh for goddess' sake woman!

"Didn't say it was. Come on lay with me." I say signaling her to come over with my fingers. She mumbles complaints under her breath but gets under the covers next to me. Our bed was too small for two people, but it is the comfiest thing we owned except our worn out brown couch. We didn't have a lot but we appreciated the little we had.

We tried to mingle with the humans and never stayed in one place for too long in fear of being discovered and ratted out. The little jobs we got never paid the number of bills that were piling in every month, but we survived and that's what keeps us going every moon.

You would swear me and Em wear sisters, I considered her as my sister but reality was, we were just two broken and otherworldly strangers that were better together than apart.

"Sleep tight Mel" Emily whispers sleepily before her breathing evens and she gives out light snores through her mouth. Well that was fast.

Before my thoughts get complicated even further I find myself sinking into a deep sleep too, one that's short-lived, or should I say short-sleeped.

Waking up the way I do was not something I had expected. Red dull light fills our small bedroom and howls fills the air and that only meant one thing.

It was the night of the blood moon.

My eyes shot open and I find Emily hastily putting on her knee high boots. Once she realises that I'm awake she throws my pair and I catch them putting them on. She might have noticed the horrified look on my face because she comes and shake my shoulders firmly.

"We calculated the moons wrong Mel, they have started the hunt. By the sounds of their howls they haven't reached town yet, we can go East and by the Ainè's grace we make it out of the witches' realm alive." Emily says putting on her ruby pendant that shined at the light of the moon, around her neck.

I knew we didn't have much time till the beasts reach town and devour, kill and capture every supernatural they could lay their filthy claws on. We can't go West because most of Dark Forest was owned and filled with Nosferatu, they called it the Dark forest because it was always night there and only the Nosferatu could survive, since the day-walkers could survive in the sun they moved out of the Dark Forest and mingled amongst the humans here at the Center while others occupied some parts of the East where the witches covens were fewer.

We were out of the house at the speed of light, we blare through the human streets and head East. The streets are empty and every house had their lights out. They know better than to irritate the beasts. Our feet thud against the concrete ground as we run. I hear the howls getting closer and I pray that that didn't mean they have sensed us.

If we continued at the pace we were going we would reach East in an hour but it was the blood moon and our powers are barely there, which means we couldn't fly either.

I see Emily's pace dropping and I can tell by the sweat drops that litters her face and glistened in the moonlight that she is tired.

"We can stop for a minute and figure out what we will give to the witches as a token of our respect and peace"

"No Mel, they'll catch up to us. Let's walk instead" she says out of breath.

"I can offer them my emerald" I said brushing my fingers against the glinting gem that hangs around my neck almost similar to hers.

"Are you nuts, you lose that, you lose your powers and you won't survive even an hour in any realm without it." She whisper yell pointing at the emerald around my neck that resembled her ruby. It is true, since our kind was known to be extinct, we don't have a place to call our own. Every realm we enter has a different atmosphere to accommodate the creatures living there. Getting in any realm without our gems can cause a major drainage of our powers and sometimes death.

We continue to walk in silence until we hear a howl followed by growls close by.Em and I both share a horrified look before we break into a sprint again. Our species wasn't gifted speed because we have wings and whenever the need to run rose we just fly, but today luck wasn't on our side. The blood moon mostly enhanced the powers of the werewolves, day-walkers and Nosferatu leaving us and the witches vulnerable.

We are almost there, half of an hour away, but just like I said luck isn't on our side. The werewolves have detected us, now they weren't just running and hunting for their mates, they were running after us.

"Let's split"

"No Mel, I can't lose you. What if they find you"

"No time for discussion Em, we both know our scent is stronger when we are together. Take left I'll take right" I don't wait for her answer and I sprint to an unknown direction. I knew we were closer to the East, just one wrong direction and I'd be ripped to shreds in the realm of the Nosferatu, those creatures always behaved like something was stuck up their butts.

I can feel my chest tightening and my legs growing weaker. I continue to run nontheless, I wanted to stay alive for Emily's sake and I knew she would do the same for me too. Black glitter forever, she had said.

I continue to run for what seemed like hours but I know it's only a few minutes and if I don't stop to rest soon my heart would. I slow my pace and hide myself behind a little bush, but I knew it would take more than this to hide from a werewolf on the blood moon. I wish for a miracle.

I hold my emerald tightly in my hand and call out to goddess Áine to have messy on me. "Schermami" I whispered in hopes of creating a shield around me but before I even wonder if it worked the sound of paws hitting the forest ground shake me out of my almost relaxed state. It wasn't just one wolf I knew there were many of them. A whole pack maybe.

I squeeze my eyes shut, my whole body trembling, not from fear only but from exhaustion.

"Come out come out wherever you are" a singsong voice says tauntingly. I feel a trail of cold sweat trickle down my back slowly.

I sit rigidly still and suddenly wish the ground could swallow me right there and then or better yet, the blood moon would be over so I can gain my powers back so I can show this monster who's boss.

"I got your little friend here and before I break another bone in her tiny, fragile body I suggest you come out wherever you are witch" he grits out and I sigh in surrender stepping away from the bush, I wouldn't just leave Emily to deal with this alone while I cower away.

"We are not witches" I say lowly.

The man a few feet away from me just shrugs as if saying that's none of his business. What I feared the most is happening, right in front of my eyes at that.

He has Emily's wrists tightly gripped in his enormous hands.

The moon light shines above us making it harder to see the black wolves. The man that had Emily was the only one who shifted, the rest were in wolf form. He stands there stark naked like it's normal, well maybe it was in their community. Afterall they were creatures without shame.

My mind is buzzing, thoughts jumbled. I had to get Emily and myself to safety. I don't know what they are planning to do because the man who has Em stayed rooted in the same sport. As if sensing my thoughts Emily shouted at me "run Mel"

"Oh no no, no one's going anywhere. We stay here and wait for the Alpha, besides there's nowhere to run witchy" the man taunts.

"I am not a witch you dog" and that seems to anger him because the next thing I know a small crack followed by a short scream breaks the silence. He has broken Emily's wrist.

I find myself letting a short scream too quickly rushing to help Emily but the man let's out a low murderous growl that has my feet glued to the ground again.

"Take another step and it will be her pretty little neck next" he growls his eyes shining a golden color. I gulp as the thought of Em's lifeless eyes and awkwardly bent neck forms in my head.

"Please..." My voice defeated. I felt my knees buckling under me and they gave up under pressure. I land with a hushed thud on the forest floor.

"Please let her go. Take me instead, she's weak she won't be of any help to you" I grovel. I almost sounded pathetic, heck I did sound pathetic. Not a single day in my life did I ever think I would be begging a beast,a heartless dog! Surely Jerusalem has fallen.

I rarely cried but I can feel my eyes becoming glossy by the second. I knew Emily was hurting and without her powers she won't heal until tomorrow. Dog man spoke of waiting for the Alpha and if that was true we were as good as dead. Werewolf Alphas were dominant, protective, territorial and merciless I knew we wouldn't survive this if he finds us here so I continue to beg.

"Yes you're right, you both won't be of any help if you're both dead and I'm sure my Alpha will make sure of that once he arrives." Dude seems to be enjoying our misery way to much. I couldn't even see his face properly, the shadows made by the trees made it harder to even see the other unshifted wolves.

I've never felt so helpless in my entire life. I know that our time was over, this beasts won't go easy on us. If they weren't going to make us slaves, they would kill us either way we were as good as dead. As I continue being lost in my thoughts I fail to notice the other presence that has joined our lovely meeting.

If I thought Doggy man was scary then this beast before me is the epitome of the word deadly.

It is huge and stands a few inches taller than my miserable five foot two. It viciously threw it's head sideways rapidly while baring it's sharp pointy teeth.

Another wolf stands next to the black one, it's size smaller and shorter but still way bigger than an ordinary wolf.

The Alpha and Beta.

The air around us is eerily calm,even the insects have stopped creaking at the loud growling. The moon's bloody light shone over us as if marking our deaths.

The beast shifts smoothly and unbothered, his naked form tall and muscled to perfection. His abs looks like those from a sculpture of a Greek god. My eyes trail up to his face slowly taking him in. Our eyes meet and I swear the world stops spinning, so does my breath. My worst nightmares was coming true in the worst possible ways.

"Alpha good that you're here, the weird scents we detected earlier came from these two" Doggy man decides to talk but no one seems to care nor listen to him. The god infront of me doesn't even blink as his eyes bore into mine. I can't see his face clearly but I know the face is as good as the body.

In one swift motion the Alpha is in front of me cupping face in his huge hands and I feel the warmth spread from my face going south. He quickly buries his face at the crook of my neck. My thoughts had stopped the moment we looked at each other,right now my body was working on its own accord. He inhales my scent slowly and then back away from me as if recognising something, his eyes glowing gold. A loud growl ripples from his chest and he says the one word I dreaded hearing from a wolf. The one word I wished to never hear from my mate.

"Fae"

The hate he put into the word makes my stomach churn.