Chapter six

“Lithmus kitus hilichan” The sisters chanted continuously without stopping. They were all dressed in red robes and red blood marked on their foreheads. The robes had hoods which covered their heads. They all sat down with their legs crossed and in a circle. They held their hands as they chanted together without pausing. They were deep inside the woods so they did not have to worry about anyone passing through in the dead of the night. The only sound you could hear wear their chants and the birds chirping.

  The leader of the group stood in the middle. She was in her early forties. She stood in the circle with her long black robe with thorns on it. There was a crown of daffodils flowers on her head and she stood in the circle holding a white lamp which was tied by the legs. She slaughtered the lamb at the neck as they chanted aloud. She took a calabash and allowed the blood from the lamb to pour inside. She inhaled deeply and dipped her finger inside the blood and put it in her mouth. She began to chant louder than others and knelt on the ground whipping her hair and rolling her eyes as if controlled by someone else. 

She stopped abruptly. “Quiet!” She ordered them. They all kept quiet and everywhere was silent. “We need human sacrifice. We will let our ancestors choose for us”. She brought the calabash of blood forward and muttered some inaudible words. 

“Sisters, the time has come. We will all drink this and let the ancestors choose. Do not forget that if you are chosen, you are doing something for our kind. This is for us and we will have the protection of the wolf pack”. She then took a sip and started chanting again. 

 They took a sip and chanted along with her till one of them let out a piercing scream and fell to the ground rolling. Her eyes turned white and she started to jerk on the floor. Some of the ladies tried to hold her down but she was too strong for them. She kept shouting and rolling. The leader walked towards her and touched her forehead with some of the blood. She then remained still but was still chanting the words aloud. “I guess it's you, sister Phoebe”.

The girl stopped chanting and spoke, “I am yours, mother Amadius”. The leader smiled and said, “You will be the answer to our questions and help our kind. The alpha will protect us and Beatrice will help him”. She brought out a large knife and dipped it in the lamb's blood and used it to touch the fire. “Go be with the ancestors, Phoebe”. 

She signaled to the others to leave her and continue their chants. They left her and circled around her holding their hands. Amadius held Phoebe's hair back revealing her neck. She put the knife on Phoebe's neck and slit her throat slowly. Blood gushed out of her neck as she tried gasping for breath. She released her as she fell to the ground jerking. Phoebe's eyes were open wide with shock and her body jerked as blood poured out of her neck and mouth and she finally drew out her last breath. Everyone stopped chanting and it was silent. 

Amadius walked over to the lifeless body to make sure she was dead and inhaled deeply. “It is done. The battle has just begun. We are prepared for this battle”.

********

“Why don't you love me anymore?” Beatrice asked Danny. Danny was taken back by that question. He wasn't expecting it. They were both at his house having lunch and trying to finalize his wedding plans. He wasn't interested in the wedding plans. If he had the chance, he would cancel it. He and Beatrice were lovers in the past but that had changed after she left him for another werewolf. He has moved on from that relationship and all he felt towards her was friendship.

“What sort of question is that?” He asked, sipping wine from the cup. Beatrice scoffed. “It's a normal question. You don't seem to love me anymore. You don't care about….”

“Can you stop asking such questions?” He cut in. “We broke up years ago and have moved on. What did you expect?”

“Do you like someone else?” She asked, looking into his eyes. Danny has to be careful with his body language and answer. Beatrice was very good at reading body language. She could detect dishonesty from any angle. 

“Beatrice, I am marrying you. This marriage is for us. For our children. For our people. I am not in love with anyone else. You and I know why we are doing this. You want power from being the alpha's wife and I want your father's connections and protection. Let's not act like we don't know why we are here and stop talking about who loves who” he said plainly.

“I still love you and would appreciate it if you acknowledged me or still cared. It hurts that you think it's basically transactional from my end” she said with tears in her eyes. 

“I am sorry if I hurt you. There is a lot going on. Someone is attacking us” he said, trying to change the topic.

“Humans?”

“I am not sure. Humans won't try to use wolfsbane bomb”

“Wolfsbane?!!” She exclaimed. “I thought there were no wolfsbane in town,” she said, terrified.

Daniel sighed. He didn't find anything useful at the library. The records showed that wolfsbane had been destroyed completely from the town so whosoever attacked them is probably from another town. 

His phone rang and went to pick it up. It was Anderson. His right hand man. Anderson was someone he trusted completely and was loyal to him. 

“Hey Anderson. What's up” he asked. Beatrice stood up and walked up to him when she heard the wine cup fall from Danny's hands to the floor. 

“Daniel!!! What happened?” She demanded.

Daniel dropped the phone. He looked terrified and angry at the same time. Anderson just dropped bad news.

“Two werewolves were killed,” he said with sadness in his eyes. Beatrice put her hands over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. This is bad. 

“What happened?!”

“Someone attacked them and cut their hearts out,” he said looking distraught. This was diabolical. 

Beatrice chuckled. “You are joking, right?” 

Danny shook his head. “Oh my God?!!!”, she exclaimed.

It was a big deal amongst werewolves. When were-wolves are killed, the head is usually cut off or stabbed in the heart. Cutting out a werewolf’s heart means one thing, the heart was eaten. Eating a werewolf’s heart means the powers would be transferred to you. You get strength and abilities. These kinds of wolves tend to be two times stronger than the regular wolves. It was forbidden to do that in the werewolf’s traditions and anyone caught doing that would be killed or banished. This news cut him deep. He needed to find who or what was doing this.

“Do you think werewolf hunters are in town? She asked 

“No. Hunters don't carve hearts out. They make a swift kill by using silver bullets or beheading. They don't have the time to carve out hearts. We have a rogue wolf.” He said getting up.

“Let me drive you home. I need to reach out to the council. This is a state

of emergency. We need all the help that we can get” he said