Special Circumstances

A Trick of the Mind

The pounding on her door jolted Mist out of her thoughts. The entire frame rattled and she gave a weary sigh.

“Okay, okay! I’m coming! Calm down!”

She threw it open and Alpha pushed past her into her room.

“What the fuck, Mist? What were you doing?”

She rolled her eyes at the fire ghoul. She wasn’t in the mood for his crap today.

“What do you want, Alpha?”

She glared up at him, and he was agitated. His eyes were glowing orange and she could feel that the heat that was wafting out from him was more intense than usual. Something had him rattled.

“I saw him too.”

Her heart stopped.

“W-what?”

“Special. I saw him too. You’re not crazy.”

Mist had to sit down on her bed before she collapsed.

This summer gone had been the thirteenth anniversary of Special’s death. A renegade angel had cruelly taken him from their pack along with Rho and Zeta when Terzo had pissed him off.

Mist had so many regrets as far as Special was concerned. As soon as he’d been summoned a couple of years after the rest of them, she’d felt drawn to him. He was such a doofus, so scatty and goofy. They’d had a connection straight away, but it had only ever been a friendship. An intense friendship, but a friendship, nonetheless.

She wished with all her heart that they’d gotten over their hang-ups and their shyness and their awkwardness and just gone for it. Special had made it known that he wanted her in his own way, but Mist had been too scared and too stupid to just let it happen.

By the time she’d almost plucked up the courage to take it to the next level, it had been too late.

Mist could never replace him and she never would, resigning herself to the fact that she had Terzo and the remaining members of her pack, and that would have to do.

“Where did you see him, Alpha? We need to go find him!”

She threw on her boots and a hoodie. It was Halloween and it was getting colder outside. Mist had felt the promise of winter in the chill breeze that had been present for the last few days. Ghouls hated to be too cold and the winters here sucked.

“Slow down, Misty! It was only for a few seconds and then he was gone. But I think he’s trying to get back to us.”

“Did he see you? Did he say anything?”

Alpha shook his head sadly.

“He didn’t get the chance. By the time I ran over to him, he’d gone. The Brother who was there instead must have thought I’d gone mad. He almost pissed his pants.”

That raised a smile from Mist. Alpha could be pretty scary sometimes without even meaning to be. The poor Brother of Sin probably thought he was about to get eaten by a pissed off fire ghoul.

It was a couple of days ago when Mist first thought that she’d seen Special. She was walking back from a dinner with Omega and his partner Seren, the Abbey's head witch, and she'd taken the long way back to the lair. Mist had gone on a detour through the Abbey’s gardens.

Mist had come across a group of Siblings sitting around a fire pit, drinking and chatting; and that’s when she’d seen him.

She’d walked right past at first, but then she swore that she'd caught his scent. She would know it anywhere. The image of his face had become fuzzy in her memory over time, but his scent had never faded. She’d turned around and found herself frozen in place, eyes wide and breath caught in her throat.