The silver wolf comes flying towards us, slicing through the vampires with incredible strength. Her teeth sink into the one who has me and he screams as she rips him apart.I take advantage of the momentary distraction and jump right into the foray, pushing the vampires back.An arrow flies towards us, embedding itself into the neck of one of the vampires and as he gasps, I crush him quickly and effortlessly. Once we’ve essentially pushed them back and have a moment to ourselves, Sarah stops and looks at me. I pad over to her, sniffing her, as if to reassure myself that it’s really her. She lets me sniff her and then moves away, uncertainly in her eyes. Lately, the rift between has been growing smaller and smaller but I can understand her wariness. She takes a few steps back before rushing into the battle, leaving me behind.I transform back, trying to a get a hold of my senses as I stare at her.A year of thinking her wolf was dead when that was never the case.
Kayla’s face grows tense and she takes a step back, “That’s not normal. I don’t even think that’s entirely Other. I’ve never seen something like it.”The creature has a human face but completely expressionless. However, there is a vicious greed in its eyes as it looks at Kayla, whose flames begin to spread down her arms.“Sarah,” I say in warning. “This isn’t good.”“I know,” She replies, her face pale. “Kayla-““He wants me,” The Phoenix says, harshly. “Don’t get in our way. That one is powerful-““We’re not leaving you by yourself!” I hiss and Sarah nods in angry agreement. The frustration in Kayla’s voice is sharp, “He’ll kill you!”Sarah pulls out her swords once again, “We’ll take our chances! You stay behind us!”The enemy seems to have given a wide berth to us, no one wanting to interfere in this new fight.At first there is silence and then the demonic looking creature makes a beeline for Kayla. Kayla lets outs a stream of fire that stops the creatur
A hush falls over the battlefield as everyone turns to look at the ball of flames that has enveloped Kayla.Sarah is holding on to me, gasping Kayla’s name, as I hold her back from running straight into the fire ball which is expanding inch by inch.Aliya, who is badly wounded, hobbles over to us, “It shouldn’t hurt her. It can’t. She’s the Phoenix. Fire is her element.”But she sounds shaky as well, uncertain.“Aliya,” I give her a pleading look as Sarah’s blood begins to pool around her, her face going pale. “Help her!”Aliya crouches next to Sarah, placing her hands on her body, trying to transfer some healing power into her.However, it doesn’t seem to be working.Her face is white as a sheet as she tries again before letting out a gasping breath, “I can’t. I can’t heal her. It’s like something is blocking me!”My hands shake as I see Sarah’s eyes grow dimmer by the minute.I shake my head, desperately, my eyes burning with unshed tears, “Not like this! Y
Shock enters Sarah’s eyes and suddenly the whole scenery crumbles and I can no longer see her. This time, I am standing in pitch darkness, all except for a single golden thread in front of me.It looks dull and faded, as if it had once seen glory days but now, no longer. My heart is trembling from the force of my emotions but Sarah is no longer there.I call her voice in a raspy tone but once again, like before, I am met with a heavy silence and an unnatural stillness. “Sarah?” I call out again.The silence is heavy and damning and I approach the dull looking golden thread.As I approach it, I realize, it’s not a thread but like a thick rope which is frayed at the edges, barely holding on. There is a beautiful deep engraving on it. A closer inspection reveals that the engraving has begun to fade a little from the edges.Straightening up, I look around once more, “Sarah?”But my call fades with no answer.I turn my attention back to the rope and this tim
“What?” Sarah breathes in shock. “How did -?”I barely hear what she’s muttering to herself, my eyes taking in the scene before me.The Phoenix is crouched on the ground, struggling to sit up and Malcolm Is standing above her, holding the creature’s knife shaped hand in one hand, uncaring of the damage he is receiving.He then, effortlessly pushes it back.The creature staggers back but doesn’t attack this time, almost as if shocked.It stares at Malcolm for a brief few minutes and then throws back it’s head, letting out an enraged roar that has some covering their ears.Lowering its head, it charges towards Malcolm but before anybody can react, the Phoenix is already in the air, throwing a large ball of fire at the creature, making it jump out of the way.It lets out another bellow of anger before standing up and looking around. I help Sarah up, confused by what its doing and then it locks eyes with one of the vampires.There is some silent communication and
“Kayla?” Sarah’s voice is shaking.Kayla just smiles, allowing Sarah to touch her face, “Sorry. This must come as a shock to you.”Malcolm is already healing as he hobbles over, “She achieved her original form. That’s what happens when the Phoenix undergoes both her transformations. It shouldn’t happen this early on but when it does, she will assume her adult form, and her memories of all past lives will return.”Kayla studies me and Sarah, “It’s how I died during the Great War. I had been far too young to sustain the transformations and I had gone through too much emotional pain. This time, you and Lucas took me in, loved me, and allowed me to make peace with my family’s deaths. You gave me a new family. It’s how I was able to retain my adult form this time because I wanted to live.”Sarah touches her cheek, carefully and Kayla laughs, “I’m not going to break. I’m still me!”I am the first one to reach out and hug her. Sarah follows suit.“I’m so glad you’re okay!” S
The journey back to the Clear Mountain Clan territory is a longer than the previous one. Reason being that we have more injured shifters to carry. Amongst everyone, we just had two healers who were drained after a few hours.We have to pause more frequently to hunt food and get fresh water. Some of the injured shifters are healing quickly but those with grievous injuries aren’t.Sarah has taken charge quickly and while I actively avoid her, it seems she doesn’t quite like it.“I’ll go bring some fresh water,” I tell Damon as he helps out one of the injured shifters.Sarah walks towards me, “Are you going to get water?”I nod, silently.“I’ll go with you. We need more-““You don’t have to,” I say quickly, stepping back. “I’ll bring as much as you need.”She frowns, “I have-““You’re needed here,” I don’t let her get a word in edgewise,I see Aliya watch me with a strange expression and when I leave, I notice that she’s following me.“I’m not running away
“I have no reason to be there anymore,” I tell, quietly. “I was never built to be an Alpha. The only way I managed to keep the pack running was by following the guidelines you had set in place. But after you left, the pack’s progression came to a standstill.”Sarah’s face is taut with tension but I hope she will understand.. Because this whole time with her has showed me that while she still does have feelings for me, the scars on her soul are too deeply engraved.“I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to try and win you back especially now that I know what you went through,” I confess, wearily. “I just want you to be happy. And that’s never going to happen with me around, I’m always going to be a constant reminder of more pain, I don’t want to put you through that.”My hands ache with the desire to hold her but I refuse to allow myself that, “With you by my side, I never had any problem living in that pack. You were the reason I called it home. But without you, I don’