Smoke and Mirrors {Completed}

Chapter Three: Outcasts

Sapphire Nightborne

The fresh air was a much-welcomed change to the stale scent of blood that once filled the air. We were now a good distance away from the place we once called home, my heart ached to know that we would never be able to go home.

My nose scrunched with disgust knowing that we were now doomed to live amongst humans, the descendants of those who had oppressed and slaughtered our kind, and that we would have to hide who we really are due to their fear of the unknown and different.

I was proud of who I was and what I was, it pained me to know that I would have to conceal it. I traced the intricate tattoos on my bicep knowing that from now onwards, I had to hide it. Most of Mankind may have forgotten that we exist, but there are still some who hunt us just like their ancestors before them did.

My marks were once shown off proudly as they were proof that all my hard work was not in vain. That I, Sapphire Ragna Nightborne, became the first female Head Warrior Commander, these tattoos showed my rank as well as my pack's crest, they were the first and only ones of their kind.

My lips lifted by a fraction as I looked down at the gold necklace that rested on my chest. It was a tiny pendant, nothing fanciful, a simple circle of gold with a tiny sapphire in the middle. It had been the first and the last gift that I received or will ever receive from my mother, it was very special to her at least that was what my father told me. If it was any consolation to me that I would still be able to wear it proudly even when we live among humans.

I remember clutching on to it when the hunters took me and some of my comrades, crying to my mother to protect me and to give me strength to continue fighting. Even now, as an adult, I still clung on to it in times of need.

A small noise caused me to look down at Antony who was now peacefully sleeping in my arms, hugging his teddy bear without a care in the world. He would assimilate well into the human way of life, he was never put to training but what worried me the most was that although it was a good thing he was young as it would allow him to adapt to the new style of life better, it would be hard for him to hide and go through his first shift. I remembered my first shift, the pain was almost too much to bear, but no one paid attention to me or helped as they did not expect anything from a girl. I chuckled as I remembered their expressions, their shocked faces when they saw black fur, the colour of power to my kind, their astonishment grew as they saw golden eyes, the mark of a Lycan.

Lycans were the ancestors of the werewolves. They were the first Wolves, the first Children of the Moon and were every bit like the romanticised legends that humans fear. Their bite was infectious as it could turn humans into werewolves. They used this to their advantage to create the first packs, which have branched out to produce the packs of today.

This carried on for around a hundred years and brought about the first generation of werewolves. The Lycans were now the apex predator, but as the humans fought back, their numbers dwindled till Lycans were all but extinct. As the years went by, the werewolves procreated, bringing about generations of werewolves due to the inherited infection.

Possessing Lycan blood meant that I was a direct descendant of a Pure Lycan, which was usually due to relationships between Pure Lycans and werewolves. As Lycans soon found, to continue their line, they had no choice but to mate with werewolves to preserve what little of their kind was left.

The Lycan gene, although weakened through the generations, could still pass on some of the Pure Lycan's abilities to their werewolf descendants through a recessive gene. My case was not unheard of but was rare enough to garner the 'special attention' of my Pack Elders.

The horrific memories of the numerous tests the Pack Elders carried out on me would remain with me for the rest of my life. There have been no reports of someone possessing an active Lycan gene in the last two hundred years. So, they told me it was just for research, to study this rare occurrence for the good of the pack, of course. The naïve child that I had been, so desperate to be accepted, I believed them.