Obliterate

thirty four

SOPHIE AND ELI waited until they were safely confined within their bedroom — away from prying ears of the armed guards that roamed the halls outside of their apartment. Both sat down on their bed, turned toward each other. Sophie held her phone carefully. Its screen was illuminated, showcasing Aubrey's contact information. Her thumb hovered over the little telephone icon depicted on the screen.

"Ready?" she asked Eli.

He nodded.

She pressed down. The phone immediately started to dial. Sophie tapped the icon that activated the speakerphone function. She also lowered the call volume itself — just to be on the safer side.

"Hey," Aubrey greeted as she answered the phone.

"Hey there," Sophie responded. "Eli is here. You are on speaker."

"I found something that might be of interest to you," she explained. Her voice was soft — just barely above a whisper. It was hard to tell whether her voice was lowered due to Wolfe's conscious presence or not. "Are you both alone?"

Sophie found herself nodding, even though she knew that Aubrey couldn't see her. A grimace flashed across her features when she realized. She opened her mouth to respond but Eli beat her to it.

"Yes, we are alone," he said, a small smile on his face.

"So I've been researching what I can about those creatures," Aubrey said. "And I think that I might have found something about them. It's hard to be one hundred percent certain — it doesn't explicitly call the creatures Revenants, or whatever it is that Finn has named them. But the details about these creatures are similar to the ones that we are facing"

Eli and Sophie shared a look. Both leaned in closer to the phone.

"Okay, tell us everything," Sophie said.

"I was scrolling through various websites that talk about obscure myths and ancient lore throughout the world. There is one myth that stood out. It talks of creatures that are almost vampire-like, that feed on humans and drink their blood. It does not explain how these creatures are created/made, but it does describe their appearance as humanoid, but with elongated limbs and pale, pasty skin."

Aubrey paused for a moment and then continued, "According to the myth, a small tribal village was attacked by these creatures and a heroic outsider saved them. The creatures were killed — but it is pretty gruesome. It says that the creatures have the same social structure of a werewolf pack. There is an alpha. The stranger managed to dismember the alpha, brutally proving his strength to the other creatures. He essentially became their new alpha and he was able to lead them away from the village."

Sophie frowned at this. Her gaze focused on Eli. It was strange to her that these creatures were considered almost vampire-like — yet followed the social construct of a werewolf. It was something unheard of, at least to Sophie.

And Eli, as he appeared just as concerned.

"It doesn't really say what happened to the creatures," Aubrey continued. "It just says that the village was never bothered again. The humans idolized the stranger that saved them."

Then a sigh escaped her. "It is hard to say whether or not this is genuine," she added. "It was honestly almost impossible to find. Seriously. It was some random blog-post. It wasn't written in English either — so there may be some bits and pieces that are mistranslated."

Eli shrugged slightly. "Still," he said. "It's better than nothing and gives us something to work with."

Sophie nodded again absently. "Yes, it does. Honestly, if there is any sort of accuracy behind this blog-post, then we at least have some sort of idea on how to stop these creatures. And some reassurance that it can be done."

Aubrey appeared to pause for a moment. "I just don't know how these creatures can be overpowered. It just said that the stranger was able to dismember the alpha. I feel like that is going to be a lot easier said than done."

"It will be," Sophie agreed with her. "From what I have encountered so far, these creatures are definitely going to be hard to overpower."

Her thoughts drifted back to the moment she happened upon Finn being attacked by one of the Revenants. Absently, her fingers touched the scarf that covered her throat. Her jaw clenched tight.

The glowing mark on her throat had to be the key.

She wasn't sure how — but she did know that it had scared away the creature that attacked Finn. The moment her scarf fell free and her mark was visible, the Revenant ran for the forest. It had booked it, moving as fast as it possibly could away from her. Her mark had something that the Revenants feared, and it was possible that she could use it to defeat them.

"Thank you for telling us," Eli said to Aubrey. His voice yanked Sophie out of her thoughts. She perked up a bit, actively listening as Eli inquired about Wolfe's condition.

Aubrey's answer was short and sweet. Not much had really changed with Wolfe, aside from his newfound state of consciousness. Once the conversation simmered down, both exchanged their goodbyes with Aubrey and then ended the phone call. Setting the cellphone aside, Sophie leaned back slightly and watched Eli's expression.

"Do we tell Aelia?" she asked quietly.

Eli sucked in a sharp breath and then slowly exhaled it. His lips pressed into a tightly wrinkled line. His gaze watched her expression carefully. "Do you think that we should?" he asked.

Her lips pressed into a firm line. She stared almost absently at her hands for a moment, her thoughts a whirlwind inside of her head. "Not yet," she answered slowly. Her gaze met Eli's. "We do not want to give her any false hope. I mean, you saw her. She is at her limits. I don't think it would be a good idea given her current mental state."

Eli nodded in agreement. "So how do we proceed from here?" he asked her.

She stared at him for a moment. "We need to figure out which one is the alpha," she answered.