Prologue: Coming of Age

Evangeline

Dublin, 4 December 1870

I waited for the clock's last toll for midnight, when I would turn sixteen and earn my wings.

For any seraph, their sixteenth birthday was a marker in their lives. Seraphs grow up as humans until granted their wings.

I had mixed feelings about getting my wings. Learning to control our glamour, aging, and powers were a great responsibility. Every seraph and demon was granted the basic power: telekinesis, but each race was also given a special, more personal power. My brother, Darien became an empath, which was expected. He was always in tune with others' feelings. But I was the wildcard of the family. I had no idea what my ability would be, except powerful, that's what frightened me the most. I am the only female descendant of the first seraph, another one of my great responsibilities. Not to mention my mother was a Demon.

My mother met my father in 1789. She was running from her kind, the Demons. She had betrayed them; so in turn, she was an ally of the Seraphs. My mother pleaded protection for the Demons' secret. In short, the Grand Council agreed to her arrangement and my father was assigned to defend her from anyone or anything trying to hurt her. I would be lying if I said my father liked shielding a demon from her kind. Though, Mother changed his mind about it with a little persuasion. So after sixty years of trying, they had me, the only half seraph half demon child ever to walk the earth. My father had been married before and had Darien, a full blooded seraph. Father's first wife died in a raid just after Darien was born in 1778.

Darien never cared much for my mother. I presume because Father moved on so soon after Darien's mother's death. He was also neglected; Father's attention was always for Mother. But he learned to love me when I was very young. I suppose he saw it as I was his sister and there was nothing he could do about it. My brother knew he could not kill me. I was a child, youthful and innocent. With his attunement to emotions he would have felt the guilt more than twice as much, along with my parents' grief.

Finally, the last toll sounded and I held my breath. With my family around me I could feel them do the same. I felt the Power flow into me then. I felt it remake me into my true form of the winged beauty we all come to be. I rose above my family and the lit ceremonial candles around us. My wings broke through my skin out of my scapulas. I had never experienced anything like this. My anatomy was changing to accommodate my new form. My bones hollowed and my skin became flawless.

A great light encompassed me and my powers were given to me. First was the telekinesis. The light grew brighter and started pulsating. My final power was to be distributed.

The Power sent electric shock though my nerve endings. I seemed to float there for hours. Finally, my great ability was bestowed upon me.

I glided down slowly, feeling exhausted. I sighed when I touched the hard wooden floor.

Darien came to me to help me stand. I leaned against him a little, not trusting my feet to hold my full weight.

"Are you alright, Evie?" Darien asked me.

I couldn't find my voice so I only nodded.

My family gathered closer around me, aunts, uncles, cousins, and my parents looking at me in wonder.

Darien turned me to face the mirror. I gasped at what I saw. My skin was a ghostly white, a sign of my Demon heritage. While I was fair in color I was never this pale. My auburn hair was only made brighter by my skin. My eyes were a piercing blue, the color of the sea. But, what shocked me the most was my wings. It was one thing to dream about having wings but an entirely different experience to actually have them.

I stretched my wings out to their full span. I heard the gasps come from my family. My wing span was about five to six meters long. They were perfect. My wings were the color of charcoal, a symbol of my mixed mores.

My father broke the silence first, "Evangeline, what is your power?"

I stepped away from Darien. I followed my instincts; I wouldn't know what to do other wise. I turned to face my relatives, and closed my eyes. I took a few deep breaths and opened my eyes. My family was frozen in time.

I walked around them all. I touched my mother's hair, and she did not turn toward me like she usually did, she gave me no reaction. I walked the way around them until I was back where I had started.

I closed my eyes as I had done before to summon my power. I opened my eyes again and saw my family unfrozen. They were back to normal, whatever that maybe for Seraphs.

I looked at Darien. "Well?" he asked.

"I can bend time," I told them.

A murmur filled the room as my relatives discussed this.

"She may even be able to control space with some practice!" my uncle, Thaddeus shouted over the ruckus.

Time travel? I thought. Hmmm…

My mother and father walked to me. Each of them kissed me on the cheek and said their congratulations.

"Thank you," I whispered. I smiled and hugged them.

Nathan

Pack Territory, Georgia, United States of America; 12 June 2004

I stood in the forest, breathing in the cool night air waiting for my Pack brothers. I could hear everything, from the cicadas singing to my brothers' footfalls in the distance.

My Change had finally come. These past months had been brutal. The waiting was the worst part of it. After the first signs of the Change started coming all you can think about is when it will happen. I was itching to go wolf.

"Aww, look at the pup early to the Change."

"Shut up Ivan," I said as I mock-punched him in the arm. I looked through the forest and asked, "Can we go now?"

Antonio laughed, "He's eighteen and still has the attention span of a five year old."

I snorted; they couldn't even be nice to me on my birthday. "Can we just do this?" I asked.

"Impatient are we?" Micah, our Alpha male asked.

I smiled and cocked my eyebrow, my sign for 'of course, what do you think?'

Micah gave me a soft smile back. I knew what he was thinking. Something along the lines of, "I'm glad he's finally happy. He's been waiting for this for so long and he deserves this."

He was right, I was happy here. I'd wanted this since I was a kid, ever since I found my Pack seven years ago.

It's a long story, but the basics are my father was a mutt who raped a young girl who, nine months later, became my mother. She was still a teenager when she was pregnant with me, or so I found out through hacking into my files. And she did the obvious thing for a girl in her position: she gave me up for adoption. I was in foster care up until I was ten, when I ran away. My foster home at the time wasn't a terrible situation, but it wasn't all smiles either. I knew I didn't belong where I was, so I simply left.

I ran where my instincts told me to go. It turned out I ran for about a year, running from Washington State all the way down to Georgia, where the Pack resides. My journey didn't seem long when I was there. I hunted when I was hungry and slept when I was tired, simple enough.

When I got into Pack territory, Ivan and Antonio sniffed me out and brought me to Micah. He knew I was an Unchanged werewolf and invited me into the Pack once he heard my story.

So a few years later, I've graduated high school and waited for my Change.

Micah gave the signal to find a place to undress. No point ripping through all your clothes for the Change. If we did, we'd all be out of clothes in a month. I headed south, finding a snug area of trees; this was my favorite hiding place when I was a kid.

I ripped my clothes off in my excitement and rushed back to where we were gathered before. Micah came back a few minutes after I did.

He looked at me skeptically, "Save your energy for your Change."

I nodded, but I could only think, Let me Change already!

Micah looked at me suspiciously and chuckled. He could tell I was restless.

The rest of my brothers came shortly. Usually they would have stay where they had undressed to Change. Changing was private and personal, something only to share with one's Mate.

Although, that night was special, a new werewolf would officially join the Pack. We would Change, run and hunt.

"Nathan," Micah called me forth, placing his hand on my shoulders. "You ready?"

I nodded enthusiastically. Of course.

Everyone got on the ground on all fours.

"Breathe," Micah instructed. I did so, taking deep breaths preparing myself for what was about to happen. "This will hurt at first but just keep thinking after the pain you'll get the reward."

"Okay," I said. I was ready.

I closed my eyes and took a few more deep breaths.

Suddenly I felt my bones break and reunite, tissue and muscle tear and rethread themselves together. My fur came next; it was the same chestnut color as my hair and eyes. I sighed when my Change was over. I opened my eyes.

I raised myself from my crouch and stretched, popping everything into place. I had muscles I didn't even know existed. It felt amazing.

Micah nudged my shoulder a moment later with his muzzle; he had already taken his Change. He seemed to be holding his breath until I looked at him. When I did, he sighed with relief. I had taken the Change well; sometimes there were... complications we didn't usually mention.

My Alpha jerked his head forward, the signal to start the run. They took off, leaving me in the dust. I stood dumbfounded until I found my bearings and sped after them.

After only a few second I had caught up to my Pack. We were weaving in and out of trees and jumping over logs and small streams. It was exhilarating. We were almost flying we were going so fast.

I couldn't stop. I leaped over to Micah and lead the run with him. We ran like that for a little while but they were going to slow. I wanted to actually fly. So I sped up, leaving Micah and the Pack behind.

Micah snapped at me to stay with the Pack. I snorted and whined a little. This was my first run, and I wanted to take this as far as it would go. He gave me a small snort, but backed off after a moment. I'd be in trouble when we got back to the cabin.

I ran as fast as I could, not giving a second thought to anything else in the world.

It was almost as if I blinked and I was all the way cross the Territory. Then I heard it. Antonio gave a cry of pain. I had never heard him make a sound like that.

I raced back to my brothers, panting. Fear rose in my chest when I heard another cry, from Ivan this time. Micah gave a roar full of rage when they came into my view.

The creatures that attacked us were unlike anything I've ever seen. Their movements were animalistic, which was saying something coming from a werewolf. My instincts only confirmed they weren't human. They were ghostly pale, and had red eyes. Not just their irises, though, the whole eye was red. The creatures' mouths were stained with the blood of my Pack, my blood.

I roared, racing towards the fiends attacking my family, the only people I've ever truly trusted. They were the only family I've known. I had to protect them, even if it meant my death.

But when I got to my Pack, the only creatures there were the mangled corpses of my brothers.

No! I Changed backed to my human form as fast as I could, which only added to my pain.

I ran to where Antonio lay, bashed and bloody. I dropped to my knees and put my hands on his shoulders, shaking him.

"Tonio? Antonio! Come on, wake up!" I choked out. Nothing. He didn't move, didn't breathe. He was gone.

I heard rustling a few meters away from me and held my breath, ready for an attack. It was Micah, he was alive.

I started to make my way to him, but he look in his eyes stopped me. I saw terror and pain in him, something I had never seen portray outright.

There was blood all over him, just like the others, though his wounds were so much worse. The things that attacked us knew he would be the greatest threat. They had literally ripped him to shreds, turning his body inside out.

His voice was a garbled sound between a choke and a wheeze. "Go" and "run" were the only words I could make out.

"No, Micah, I'm not abandoning you now!"

He turned his head up slowly to look me in the eye. "There is nothing you can do for us now," his words were strangled in his throat.

"No—"

He cut me off. "I am ordering you," he wheezed, "as your Alpha to run."

"Bu—"

"No! Go, now!" He lifted his broken arm and pushed me away, "Go!"

I did as my Alpha told me. I ran. Happy Birthday to me.

Nathan