Luna

15

Everyone was surprisingly welcoming, at least all of the teachers and staff but then again that is their job. Lucky for me, I only had a half day and all my classes were with Bailey and Connor. I was so glad that I had worked hard the past three years, it made my life a little easier. When it was lunch time, I was debating on whether or not I would run back to the house or wait one more hour for Bailey and Connor to be done.
Bailey sighed, "Please wait for us or at least call Josh to come pick you up."
Connor nodded and looked hesitant and worried, "Or...Or take the Jeep and then come back in an hour."
Shaking my head, I smiled at his reluctance to let me drive his baby, "No. It's really okay. I wanna see the town and I have my phone. I'm safe here."
Connor exhaled loudly, "Fine just don't do anything risky."
Laughing, I rolled my eyes, "What's the fun in that?"
Bailey giggled as she pulled me into a hug, "I like you."
Laughing, I hugged her back, "I like you too. We should do a girls night this weekend."
"What about tonight?"
My face grew warm, "I have a date with your brother."
Her eyes widened, "You'll have to tell me how it goes."
"For sure."
Pulling Connor into a half hug we said our farewells and I skipped out of the court yard and down the driveway. The school was farther away from town than I had realized. Maybe walking was a bad idea. As I moved into the woods to shift, I could feel my eyes burning and a premonition coming. My vision was taken from me.
The woods were close to me, the area was up ahead. A girl around sixteen was going through her first phase and she was all alone. But that wasn't the problem. As she stumbled in her new form, a dark red wolf came from the water and attacked her. This wasn't the wolf of our Goddess, this was a hybrid - a vampire, wolf combination. She was too young to defend herself, too new. My heart ached as my vision was given back. There wasn't much time before the vision came true.
Shoving into Josh's head, I could feel my panic grow. A small wolf South of the house, it's her first phase and she'll be attacked by a hybrid! Hurry!
A hybrid? He snarled back at me but the vision didn't change. No one was close enough except me.
I have to go. You won't make in time.
No!
Cutting off our link, I dropped my bag after pulling out the silver knife my father had given me, it was similar to the knife the Alphas had used to cut their hands during the blessing - only silver. Silver didn't burn me like it did the other werewolves. I sprinted to the forest ahead of me, kicking my shoes off and throwing my jacket to the ground as I ran.
As I came to the familiar clearing, I found the hybrid biting down into the neck of the new wolf. Letting out a vicious snarl, he let the wolf go and she thumped onto the ground whimpering in pain, blood oozing from the mark. He snarled and dipped down into a defense position as he licked his lips. Unfortunately my gifts don't work as well on hybrids because they are an abomination in this world.
"Get out of here. I don't want to hurt you." Killing was always a last resort.
The beast snickered and rolled it's eyes as it lunged for me. Easily dodging the attack, I sunk the knife into its back and pulled it out. The wolf yelped and jumped back from me. Not giving it time to recover, I jumped in its direction and again stabbed the beast. Before I had time to get out of the way, the beast threw its weight into me and nocked me to the ground. It's paw slammed down on my lower back, shredding my shirt and flesh across my side.
Screaming, my wolf begged for control but I couldn't let her. If I wanted to kill this beast, I had to be in human form and I didn't have extra clothes with me. Reaching back, I hooked my arm around the paw and snapped its leg as I slid out from under its weight. The animal howled in pain and stumbled back as I brought the knife to it's throat, hitting the jugular vein. The wolf fell to the earth in its vampire form.
Franticly, I found a thick branch and shaved it into a point. Before the monster could get away and heal, I stabbed it in the heart. It's body stoned but I wasn't done. Taking my silver knife, I took a deep breath and whimpered. This was the hardest part. The vampire in it was dead but now I had to kill the wolf in it. I knew it wasn't full wolf but the part that was, was still a part of me, a part of Goddess.
Closing my eyes in pain, I took my knife and held it to the monsters neck. He looked at me in fear as I sliced through his flesh, and tossed its head to the side, I whispered, "Ad lucem. To the light."
I could feel it's life source leave as I stumbled back away from what I had done. A hand touched my shoulder and before I had time to think through my reactions, my knife was in my hand again and held against the throat of the new presence. As reality sunk in, I realized it was Kyle, the silver was burning his throat. Instantly I dropped the knife and took a step back from him.
He watched me with wide, fearful eyes.
Feeling the life of the young girl slipping, I ignore him, "Burn him." It wasn't a demand, it was a request.
Stumbling to the girl, I knelt down beside her wolf. She moved away from me in fear. I could feel everything she felt as she lay there dying. My mother had never told me about this. It was too much. I needed to focus, focus on saving her.
"Calm." I sent a wave of calm through her. "You need to phase back so I can heal you."
She whimpered and pushed away.
"I won't hurt you. Deep breaths, work with your wolf. Trust her, she trusts me." I could feel worry and discomfort coming from her. Turning to Kyle, I saw three more men and Josh looking at us with wide eyes. "Kyle! Give me your shirt please."
Without a second thought, he took it off and handed it to me.
"Now turn away."
Not knowing if they obeyed, I covered the girl with the shirt, "You're safe. Let your wolf phase back."
Instantly, she phased and the blonde girl whimpered in pain. "Am I...going to die?"
"No." Blood was pooling from her neck and coming from her mouth. This was going to be hard, "You're going to heal. Just deep breaths."
Turning, I found all the eyes on me in confusion. "Alpha. I need you to hold her down. This will hurt and she will scream but it will save her life."
He nodded and quickly came to our sides and rested his hands on her shoulder looking at me for approval.
Nodding, I looked back at the girl, "It will hurt but stay strong. Hold on. You're strong."
She nodded.
Taking a deep breath, I could feel my vision go white as I touched her bloody neck, "Crescents Luce. Light ever increasing." As I spoke the words, I could feel the power of Goddess pulse through me and into the small girl as we healed her and pulled the venom from her wounds.
She screamed and fought with Josh's hold but he held her still as Goddess worked through me. My energy was draining. I had never done this before - save someone so close to death. Five minutes of this and then she slowed and screams silenced as my vision went back to normal. Releasing my hold on her, I leaned back on my heels and trembled in exhaustion.
"You're gonna be okay."
The girl blinked up at me in confusion and happiness, "I don't feel any pain. It's gone."
Softly smiling, I nodded my head, "You're all better."
"But how?" She demanded.
"It's a gift." I was beginning to feel faint.
"Thank you." She smiled and sat up, holding the shirt over herself.
Josh looked at me with wide eyes as he wiped the blood from my cheeks. "Are you okay?"
The pain in my back and side was getting worse. I forgot it had scratched me. "Shit." Pulling off my shirt, I gasped as I stood and looked at my side. "It got me."
Josh growled and the men all turned. "Keep your shirt on."
"It got me."
He looked confused, "You'll heal?"
Had he never met a hybrid before. No I wouldn't heal. "No." My breathing grew heavy. "Hybrid."
He looked angry, "I don't know what that means."
Starting to feel the panic set in, I growled. My wolf wanted out. "Part vampire, part werewolf. Their venom is in their claws and bite."
Everyone gasped.
"Where's my knife?"
The men pointed at the ground beside the body.
I growled, "Why didn't you burn him? He needs to be burned."
Josh growled, "Kyle take Bree to the pack doctor and have him look her over. Sam and Kent take the remains and burn them. Make sure he is burned through and then throw the ashes into the water."
Stumbling over to the knife, the men snarled when I picked it up. "I won't hurt you. I need to scrape the wound, get the venom out before it heals and gets into my blood stream."
Josh looked so panicked, "Why do you have silver? Why isn't it burning you."
Not having time for this, I ignored him and scraped the blade along my lower back and side, reopening the wounds and cleaning them out. Screaming as I took off my flesh, I was hardly holding on to my consciousness.
"Stop that." Josh demanded, he sounded so broken.
One last scrape of the knife and the venom was out, I dropped it to the ground and whimpered, "It's clean now."
Josh was trembling, "Please start explaining."
Feeling faint, I knew what was coming. "I'm going to pass out but I'm fine. Take me home, grab the knife, I'll explain..." Before I could finish the darkness took me.