Curse of Ferreus

2 - The Family Business

Crowded in the back of the car, jolting with every bump in the road, I breathe deeply and force my mind to empty. Pre-battle nerves are a luxury I cannot afford, tonight. My mind must be razor-sharp and my reflexes even sharper; there is no room for error.

At my side, Esme's leg bounces— though whether with apprehension or excitement, I cannot say. She keeps glancing at me, trying to catch my attention, but I can only stare blankly ahead as I run through my training one last time.

My mother, sitting up front with Liliana driving, keeps flicking her gaze towards me in the rear-view mirror. I don't look at her, either, or else I risk a lecture on upholding the family's legacy and traditions and how important tonight is. I already know all those things— I've grown up with honour and valiance shoved down my throat. I'm convinced my first words were probably si vis pacem, para bellum, or something equally philosophical and tragic. If you want peace, prepare for war. Our family crest, meant to signify our desire for freedom and the lengths we'll go to ensure it.

Orion drives the van up ahead, packed full of weapons and ammo and the equipment for a hasty bonfire once the fight is over.

On the other side of Esme, Myles sighs heavily and melts against his seat. "You're so lucky," he says, fixing my twin and I with a jealous stare. "You're leading the fight for a whole pack. My initiation will probably only be a couple of rogues."

Because that's all you can handle, I think bitterly. I get grouchy when I'm nervous, it seems.

"You'll have your own pack to fight, sweetheart," Liliana gushes, though the firm set to her brows and the tick in her jaw says otherwise. "We'll find one by the time it's your turn. They're cropping up everywhere, these days."

Myles turns twenty-five in seven month's time, and then we'll have to do this all over again— only then, we'll all have to suffer beneath his aloof decision-making and overall smugness. He'll want to make a fool of himself and play hero, and he doesn't care who he has to step on to achieve it. He lives life chasing after approval from parents who couldn't care less. It's pitiful.

Esme gives me a little nudge and says, "It's just like all the others, really. Easy stuff."

She's right. This isn't the first time I'm going into a fight against werewolves and hopefully it won't be the last. The battle tonight, if all goes well, gives us the right to join the elders of our family and undergo the ritual. We'll be regarded above the others as hunters of esteemed renown, able to take charge of missions and lead the others in training and, most importantly, go from subject to ruler. In other words, Orion and Liliana will have to stop looking down their noses at us, our mother must accept us as halfway decent hunters, and Myles cannot boss us around anymore.

So I suppose there is a silver lining to it all, in the end.

We reach the reserve before long and park up. Swathes of lilac and amber paint the sky as eager stars flicker and shimmer. Trees and shrubs glittered with raindrops shudder in a cool breeze that tousles my hair and sends flurries of leaves twirling into the air; an emerald tornado in miniature. Crickets buzz into the quiet and owls disrupt their incessant chatter with mournful hoots.

As we emerge from the car and fetch the bulk of our weapons — an assortment of bows slung over our shoulders and guns strapped to holsters (only the elders get these, unfortunately) and gas canisters for emergencies and a spray Orion nearly chokes us with that stinks of musk and moss — I survey the quiet woods. The spray helps to conceal our scent— an extra precaution, given Ferreus hunters naturally smother our scents to avoid our sworn enemies tracking us easily.

It's a peaceful, picturesque evening, to all intents and purposes. A quiet, clear night. Good visibility.

But I don't have time to admire it for long. Orion, Liliana and my mother don their weapons like monarchs fitting crowns atop their heads, and I watch with mingling awe and terror as they shift their focus and bring forth their hunter nature.