The Torment • Alternate Reality Book One

Chapter 2- The Capture

Author's Note: I hope you like my story! Feel free to voice your opinion, ask any questions and point out any mistakes I make.

Ivy's POV

"Wolf, I'm worried." I nervously bite my lip as I pace in the living room.

"About what?" Wolf stops my frantic pacing by putting his hands on my waist and pulling me down to sit next to him on the couch. He grasps my hand in his and brings it up to his lips, kissing the back of my hand softly.

"Nia and Saber have been gone all day! What if they got attacked again? What if they need help? What if they got hurt?" I ask in a panic, trying to stand up again. Wolf pulls me back down to sit again and whispers soothingly in my ear

"Then we will go track them down, and see if they need help."

"Okay." I sigh, and agree

"I'll help you guys look if you want! I am a great tracker." Sophia exclaims, appearing in the living room. I jump up and yelp in surprise

"Sure, an extra nose would always be helpful." Wolf says after he and Sophia chuckle at my reaction. I huff and frown, until Wolf kisses my cheek and tickles my sides. I squeal and launch myself off of the couch, speed walking through the kitchen and into the back yard as his and Sophia's laughter follows me. I quickly change into a leopard and sit down in the middle of the back yard, patiently waiting for them to arrive.

Less than a minute later, they stroll out of the house and shift. Wolf transforms into his typical wolf form, and Sophia goes for a lycanthrope. We all start running straight in the forest, and I soon pick up on Saber and Nia's mixed scent. Continuing on, we don't stop until another scent is mixed in with theirs, causing me to freeze in shock and panic. It's barely there, but I can detect it.

Fear.

Wolf whimpers and nudges my side, and it breaks me out of my trance. I rub my head against his, and growl lightly at the scent. Eagerly, I propel myself further into the forest. I need to find them. Something made them scared, and I want to know what.

Continuing on with our non-stop sprinting, we find a strong scent start to mix with the scents of Nia, Saber and fear. It's extremely strong, and repelling. Sophia shifts and states

"I've smelled this new scent before, it was all over the house and the room where we found Marie..." She drops off, not needing to explain any further. I shifted into my human form as well and replied

"Then Saber and Nia were, or are, in grave danger." The scent seems to grow, but it must just be my nerves making my senses go haywire, or the wind blew the scent to me. "I remember them explaining what attacked Marie, it was the Dark Earth Queen's crazy enhanced mutts, the Dark Hounds. They are extremely powerful in every sense, super hard to kill and even harder to run away from, it's so nearly impossible it's unheard of."

"Right you are, Ivory. You are very smart, and a quick learner. Great attributes for a Dark Earth Princess." A stranger compliments  me in a sickly sweet feminine voice. I turn to look at the source of the voice, and see a very tall and muscular woman standing in front of me, flanked by two Dark Hounds. She has shoulder length curly black hair, and black eyes that seem like endless pools purely made of darkness. They show no emotion, they're like a void.

"Who are you?" I ask, growling and taking a pouncing posture. I think of a chimera in my mind, ready to shift if necessary.

"I am the creator and sole controller of the Dark Hounds. Some call me the Dark Hound Mistress. Also, I wouldn't shift, or your little friends behind you would die like that." She smirks evilly, snapping her fingers.

I gasp and look behind me to see Sophia's arms and legs pinned by the massive paws of a Dark Hound, and her eyes closed, with her head facing the base of the trees. She has obviously been knocked unconscious, and I quickly look over to see Wolf looking the same. At some point, he must have shifted back into his human form, because he is lying on the ground as a human. Focusing my attention back on the powerful warrior in front of me, I reply angrily

"Fine. But what you said makes no sense, I thought the Dark Earth Queen controlled the Dark Hounds."

"Yes, they do, but only because I tell them to. If they are told to do something that I really don't want them to do, they won't." She explains. I widen my eyes in surprise, and question

"What do you want with us?"

"That's easy, the Queen wants you."

"Why?"

"Like I'm going to tell you, sure! Do you really think I would, or are you just that stupid?" I don't reply, and just snort in an annoyed fashion. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with." She snaps her fingers, and a Dark Hound leaps at me, hitting my head and knocking me out.

Angel's POV

"Okay, now I'm really scared. Ivy has left this realm as well! First Saber and Nia go off, then she ends up in another realm. Then, worried for her sister's safety, Ivy goes off looking for her with Wolf and Sophia! Then, same thing! Same time period, same occurrences. I can't even sense what realm they are in, which probably means Amaro is involved! Therefore, they're probably with the Dark Earth Queen, and we most definitely don't have the strength to get them all back! What do we do?" I ramble to Inferno. We have been growing quite close, I just feel comfortable with him.

"Angel, please calm down. We will figure this out. What has probably happened is the Dark Earth Queen has sent all of her puppets out on a personal vendetta for revenge to retrieve her nieces and their friends that defeated her Dark Warriors and successfully rescued Nia, the soon to be perfect heir, right out of her grasp." Inferno says "So why don't we fly over the forest and I can see if I can sense whether Darkness has been there, and we can come back and tell the others, maybe go to Gato Reino to get help!"

"But what if we get captured as well?" I wail

"We won't! The closest thing that the Queen has under her possession that can fly is her Darkness tendrils, and all they do is float around and stuff. We will be perfectly fine."

"Fine." I sigh, agreeing with his probably idiotic plan. But, it's the only thing that we have to go off. It's the only thing we can do. Inferno can sense whether Darkness has been in the area, since he used to be a Dark Warrior. This will help us narrow down the possibilities of what has happened to them. It has to be done.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Author's Note:
Sup kittens! Interesting, huh? Now we know a bit more about what's going on, and what most definitely happened to Nia after she passed out. But, this new character is a bit weird, and a bit of a mystery.

Question:
Do you think the Dark Hound Mistress is telling the truth about who she is, or is she lying! Or, maybe option 3, it's Cora in disguise! Hehe, have fun thinking about that!"

~Cat Queen