The School of Wolves

Ch. 43 A Half Breed?

After my brothers came into the kitchen telling me that they caught the nurse, I was taken down a steep staircase leading into the tunnel. Owen leads the way as I hold onto Jake's wrist so he can navigate me through the pitch-dark tunnel.

I am now walking down the cold and slippery tunnel that leads us to the prison. Even though I can't see what's in the tunnel, I'm kind of glad because I bet the floor isn't only slippery because of water.

Drops of water fall from the ceiling landing on the floor echoing throughout the tunnel. Well, it's more like a highly sealed off cave.

Generations ago, our pack found this cave and it has been used as a prison since. Jake comes to a halt, leading me to unintentionally stumble over the uneven ground from the sudden stop.

"Sorry Cress. We're here. We just have to wait for a guard to unlock the door," Jake says as his voice echoes' loudly in the small space.

"Oh, okay. I wonder how long it will take," I say in a whisper but fail as my voice is projected off of the cave's walls. I guess no matter how much I try, my voice will still echo in this place.

The door creaks open just as I finished speaking. A flashlight turns on, shinning in my face before the guard says, "Jake, Jared, Crescent. The Alpha is waiting for you in cell twenty."

As we walk into the tunnel, I am given the flashlight from the guard. I thank him and take my hand away from Jake's wrist.

I relish in the ability and newfound freedom of seeing. I don't think I could have stayed much longer without seeing. It was starting to be hard to not be able to see in a dark tunnel.

We walk farther down the tunnel, and I count each empty cell until we reach the twentieth one. We walk past the fifteenth cell and a rogue lying on a cot caught my attention. I continue to stare as he faces away from us looking at the stone wall.

I have to peel my eyes from him before catching up to my brothers. I didn't know we had any rogues down here. The fact that we only have one prisoner means that the world we live in is at its safest times.

He was even clean and seemed as if he was wearing new cotton clothes. Plain as they may be, at least they are clean. Our tribe is one of the few that treats rogues well.

If they come in peacefully they can go through the process of being a member of the pack. Not every rogue is bad.

I've heard of some rogues that can't adjust to the pack life and end up living in the cells instead. It's sad but it's a better place to keep their wolves under control since they become more animalistic once they are away from a pack.

Cell 18, 19, 20. I count to the twentieth cell and the person inside of it doesn't look like the nurse or even a werewolf for that matter.

Her head whips up and her eyes burn into mine. What surprises me isn't the intensity of hate in her gaze but the blood red coloring of her eyes. She's a vampire?

It takes me a while to notice the silver chains wrapped around her wrists and ankles. But what surprises me the most isn't the chains but a wooden stake that is embedded right under her ribs, into her sides. Her body has already healed around the stake.

What is she? Or maybe I should be asking, is a half vampire, half werewolf looking at me with the most murderous gaze I have ever seen? Aubrey couldn't compare, not even a little.

How is it possible for a half-vampire half-werewolf to be born when they are enemies?

"Cress. You okay?"

I turn around to see my dad looking at me with a gentle, caring gaze. I finally notice just how bad my hands are shaking. I fold my trembling hands together as I give a confident nod to my father.

"Well, isn't that sweet! A disgustingly sweet father-daughter moment." A mocking, raspy voice shouted from the cell.

I turn back around towards the cell and notice just how badly the nurse looks. Well, not the nurse anymore. Her hair looks like it is caked in mud, her white nurse clothes are no longer white and are slightly torn.

She picks at the dirt inbetween her fingernails that are sharpened to a point. The signature looks of every vampire known, their perfectly sharpened nails.

I step closer to the cell and Jared stops me with his arm protectively in front of me saying, "Don't go any further. We don't know what she can do."

I nod my head and stop in my tracks. This newfound confidence that I won't get hurt is almost scaring me. When did I ever develop these dangerous tendencies.

Maybe she's messing with my mind, using compulsion. It is the average gift that many vampires have and I wouldn't put it past her if she used it on me.

She turns her head to the side before giving me a creepy smile, "You know, they never said that you would smell like this. It's irresistible to any vampire, even a half-breed like me."

She then laughs as if it's the funniest thing she said all day.

"You and I are kind of alike, Crescent Swiftwater. One is a vampire-werewolf mix and the other is a human-werewolf hybrid," she continued on with a faraway look on her face.

Her stating that we are alike, sent a weird feeling through me. As if I want to vomit from hearing those words. I am not like her; I don't kill or harm people just for fun.

Why does she think that we are somehow the same? What is she trying to do?

"Alpha, I don't think she's sane," the beta murmured in a disdainful tone of voice.

I turned around to see James and his father. They must have been here the whole time since she was caught. I didn't notice them when I came in.

See, this is what I've been talking about. I really am going to be kidnapped one day with my lack of awareness.

While I turn my back from her, she swiftly, faster than any wolf, lunged at the cell bars. Thankfully, Jared pulled me back just in time before she would have grabbed onto me. Maybe Jared's right. I shouldn't stand so close to the cell.

I stare at her as Jared has his arms wrapped protectively around me. Her eyes turn from red to black and she screeches at me with her fangs showing.