The Dark Ones

Chapter Seventeen: Remorse

The drive home was subdued. There seemed to be a silent understanding between them. The quietness acted like a reminder that their entire future together was now predicated on surviving a fight to the death that neither knew if they were ready for. It got to Georgia after a while and she tried to ease the underlying tension. She searched Hayden's mind. Despite his promises to Abbi, he still kept most of it tightly closed. She searched for a way to calm his mind. She played around with the music, selecting love songs at first. Since they were facing an uncertain future as lovers, these only made the mood more depressing so she switched to more upbeat tracks. These made her feel better at least so she decided to speak first.

"I feel terrible for Abbi. To think, all those years we just treated her like a crazy person."

He agreed and then opened up a little.

"It must have been horrible keeping all that inside for so long. It's a very lonely existence to bear. Before you came along, I experienced it myself for so long. It isolates you. It was the single most defining feature of my life but I couldn't speak to anyone about it."

Georgia nodded and took his hand.

"I can't imagine how difficult that must have been but that's the past. We have each other now and that's all that matters."

He stayed quiet and her mind went back to everything they'd just heard. It was so much to take in.

"So what do you make of everything? I mean, it's crazy, right?"

He nodded again.

"I know it seems surreal to think all this is true. When I turned, in the beginning, it was confusing and difficult to handle."

"Yeah. I tried to picture what it must have been like and the thought was....terrifying."

"I don't doubt a word of what she said, though. It's hard to explain but when you transform, it's like you perceive the world with this heightened level of awareness. It was like I could feel the blood of my ancestors coursing through me. It felt like being a part of some great collective, only I was alone so that instinct to be with others could never be satisfied. I could sometimes sense others like me out there but couldn't reach them. I'd hear flickers of their calls in my consciousness but could never do anything about it. It was horrible living like that, until you came along."

His expression turned thoughtful. Georgia could sense enough of his mind to know that he felt a great deal of anxiety since they left Abbi. Georgia decided to try and lighten the mood.

"So. We know now that you're a Lycan and I'm a Luna. Guess there's only one thing left for us to do now."

Hayden turned to her with a quizzical expression.

"What's that?"

"We gotta pick out a cool wolf name for you."

Hayden laughed. It felt good to hear the sound of it again.

"Hmm okay. How about Eros, and you could be Psyche?"

Georgia thought about it.

"I know Eros was the Greek God of Love, right? Cupid was his Roman counterpart."

"Yup."

"Who's Psyche?"

Hayden smiled. "His lover. She was a mortal woman said to have possessed unimaginable beauty and grace. They faced many obstacles for their love but overcame them. In the end, Psyche was elevated to the status of a Goddess and they were allowed to have a sacred marriage."

Georgia was impressed by his knowledge of this stuff. She smiled.

"Aw, babe. That's sweet but I don't think of myself as someone that possesses unimaginable beauty and