"What is wrong with Ally, mama? Is she sick?"
"She is not sick. Just a little different.That is why you must not tell anyone about it and make sure she is safe and can protect herself. People will hurt her if they know she is different. We don't want that, do we?"
"No. I'll always protect her. I promise."
"I know, my beautiful Kara. My strong girl."
Camille to daughter, Kara (11yrs)
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ALLY’s POV
My father was going mad with rage. Three more dead bodies had been found in less than two weeks. All showing the same symptoms:
No pupils, fangs removed and black liquid oozing from their mouth. All in their teenage years.
At first, we were convinced that whoever was doing this attacked only girls, until Jeff's dead body was found floating on the lake.
Jeff was one of the star quarterbacks in the town's high school, barely in his sophomore year. He'd gone missing for days, just like the others before him and had turned up in front of his parents house, dead. His mother was devastated and had almost committed suicide. I couldn't blame her. He was the only child she'd been blessed with and children were an almost rarity amongst supernaturals.
Now, everyone between the ages 15-20 was seated in the Town square,our parents sitting opposite us.
I was terrified out of my mind because somehow, I always seemed to be near when the bodies were discovered. Caleb had tried to pacify me,saying that it was barely a coincidence, but what if it wasn't?
I didn't even want to think about finding Caleb's body or worse,dying and leaving Myers alone.
"It's going to be fine, Ally. I'm not going anywhere."Caleb whispered, taking my hands in his and when I looked at him, he gave me a reassuring smile.
"Calm down,your eyes are glowing"He whispered and I stiffened when he lowered his voice even lower to tell me the colour. "Yellow."
"Now is not the time to be funny."
"You know I wouldn't joke about that. Close your eyes and breathe." I nodded and did as he asked and when I opened my eyes,he gave me a nod of approval,never leaving my hand.
I sighed and moved the fake glasses I wore sometimes as close to my face as possible. Not that I needed it anyway. My eyesight was more than perfect. I was eleven-still a long way to go before my first shift, five years to be exact- when my eyes glowed for the first time.
I had chocolate hair and hazel eyes, much to the surprise of the townfolk because my dad had dark hair and brown eyes whereas my mum was the perfect blonde with emerald eyes, and Myers and Kara had inherited her features and good looks.
We were out playing in the woods and I had twisted my ankle. Kara had rushed and we'd watched as the broken ankle went back into place as if nothing had happened. She'd looked up at me to see if I was as shocked as she was and gasped, saying that my eyes weren't hazel any longer but were the brightest yellow.
I'd shrugged it off, telling Kara that we were probably seeing things, but neither of us could explain the fact that until after the first shift, werewolf children were relatively human and couldn't heal rapidly but I'd done exactly that. And there was the fact that my eyes were glowing a different color already.
In the end, we'd gone to our mama to tell her everything and she'd repeated what she'd told me that first time when I burnt down her garden in Italian, the native language of her parents, whom she'd had to cut off contact with the moment she agreed to be the mate of a werewolf.
"You are special, my beautiful Allyson. You are unnatural. You are a secret. No one must know or you will die."
Months later, when Kara had come home with tickets for a movie that I'd wanted to watch but had sold out at our town's cinema, I'd almost snuffed the life out of her and was jubilating when she stopped me and screamed.
"Your eyes!" Kara gasped and I frowned.
"What are you talking about? You shouldn't joke about stuff like that, Kara" Before I knew what was happening, she'd dragged me to stand in front of her bathroom mirror and I gasped when I saw it. Bright yellow orbs.
"What are we going to do? I can't go to school like this. Nobody can find out."
I began pacing from one end to another ignoring the awestruck look on Kara's face.
"Well-" I snapped my fingers in front of her. "What? You could just use glasses or tell anyone that it's contacts. It's the reigning thing now. Besides,you haven't told anyone about, you know" she gesticulated with her hands.
I smiled sheepishly. "Uhmmm,I might have told a certain Caleb." Kara's expression turned grim. "Why would you do that?"
"It was an accident!!! I set his books aflame."
"Mama said not to tell anyone. He could get hurt or worse. Even father doesn't know. Mama made sure of it. And please,don't tell Myers. Where does this Caleb stay?"
"Your father is looking this way. Please tell me you've been listening. I don't want my head on a pike." Caleb whispered and when I nodded sheepishly, he sighed. "You haven't been listening, have you?" "What'd he say?"
"There's going to be a curfew. All teens must always have their phones and be in groups of at least two. So in other words, I have to follow you everywhere, even the bathroom." Caleb said and wiggled his eyebrows and I smacked his arm.
"I say we fight those good for nothing monsters. I'm sure they are behind this." One man stood up and spoke. People began to murmur and nod their heads,even teens who didn't know more than sucking each other's faces. I snorted. Many of these kids had never witnessed violence before or taken a life.
Other than the excruciating pain that came with the first change on the night of the first full moon after their sixteenth birthday, none of them had been taken. None of them had violently turned wolf on a random day that wasn't a full moon. None of them had spilled blood.
When I came to, I was hanging off the body of a vampire. I could see the back of his legs as he walked, his shoulder bumping against my stomach as he moved. That's when it hit me. The last thing I saw before I'd gotten a blow to the head was my sister being dragged away. I thought they'd agreed to let me go in exchange that Kara went with them. Of course not. They weren't called the vermin of the earth for nothing. Liars.
"Why, hello sweetheart. Awake?" One of them bent and whispered close to my face while the other cackled.
"Where are you taking me? Where is my sister?." I growled and they laughed. "We're hours away from where you took a nap." The man that called me sweetheart said. "I think we're going to have a little fun with you first." The man carrying me added and threw me to the ground like a sack of grain. There were four of them, twice my size and looking at me with malevolent smiles. As they advanced towards me,I crawled as much as my bound hands and feet would allow and when they grabbed me, I fought to release myself from their grip. Weak and pathetic. A werewolf turned would have snapped these binds and clawed their faces. A pity that I wasn't one yet.
One of them licked the spot behind my ear and I froze. Oh no. This wasn't how I was going to end. I'd rather be dead than let them have their way with me. As I struggled and thought of how to free myself, I heard that tiny voice that always whispered to me whenever I was in agony.
Use your fire, it said.
But they'll know who I am, I shot back.
They won't be able to tell if they're ash, it argued.
I didn't get time to argue or tell it that I'd promised Kara to never use it, to never expose myself when one of them cupped my breasts and another bit into my shoulder.
I snapped.
I screamed.
They were flying off me in an instant. When I deigned to look, where there were four, there was now three. A pile of ashes told me what I'd done. The magic moaned in satisfaction.
I saw shock all over their faces and I knew my eyes were glowing. The migraines that came with using the fire magic hit me with full force but I stood still, wiping blood from my nose.
My voice was calm, a dark contrast with the hell I was going to raise, secret be damned. "Tell me where my sister is."
The one who bit me snarled, unfazed. "Go to hell, bitch."
He was ash the next second.
Where there were three, there was now two.
One of them took off running but the other was frozen in place, his voice trembling even as he begged his limbs to support him and flee.
"Please, please,don't hurt me. I can convince them. They have the wrong wolf. I know that now."
He stuttered and I was waiting for him to get to the point of telling me where my sister was when I felt it. I was shifting and it was happening faster than I'd ever imagined. I don't remember much of what the pain felt like because the man took off and my wolf licked her fangs in anticipation of her first of many kills. She was right. It was the first of many kills that night.
"We cannot attack them without any proof, Greg. We will lose our lands. Do you want our children and wives to be homeless." A deep voice that I knew very well responded. I looked up and saw the man standing, arms crossed. It was Dominic, Caleb's father.
"Go,daddy" Caleb murmured and I chuckled.
"We'll discuss this when the kids are not around. Children,you may leave now. Remember, groups of two." My father said and I heard many of the kids heave a sigh of relief. I didn't think they understood the gravity of what was going on. Or the carnage that would come upon us if the vampires were indeed responsible for the crimes.
"Hey, let me drive you home." Caleb offered and I shook my head.
He needed the security a whole lot more than I did. "You're in more danger than I am. You of all people know that I can handle myself." He rolled his eyes at my response and shoved me into his jeep.
"Put on your seatbelt. We're preparing for take off." It was my turn to roll my eyes. "Aye aye captain"
"I can't hear you."
"Aye,aye captain"
"Oh,who lived in a pineapple under the sea-"
"That's enough, Caleb. Please keep your eyes on the road." I hushed him and he pouted and started the car.
As I looked around, I was sure I could hear eerie voices but with the happy look on Caleb's face as he bopped his head to Lush life, maybe I was too paranoid. Maybe it was just a supernatural serial killer on the loose. I wished that was it.
