DISCLAIMER: You know what it means.
Chapter 1:
Basque to English translation- wolf-Otsoa. English to Latin translation- willow- Salix.
Otsoa's POV:
Kiba and I circled, both in wolf form, neither of us wanting to make the first move, I rolled my hunches forwards and back making it seem as though I was going to pounce, he draw his lips back exposing his lethal fangs.
We continued our displays of prowess, until Kiba lunged for my hind hunches, he had strength, but I had speed, and I promptly shot off like a rocket into the undergrowth surrounding the cabin we had found in the forest just on the outskirts of the continued to practice together until we grew bored and hungry.
"Where the hell is Lotus?" Kiba shouted at no one in particular. He was lying on his back with his arms and legs stretched out like a starfish.
"More to the point, where the hell is the fucking coffee?" I said as I walked up to him while fluidly morphing back into my human form, and sat cross-legged on the grass next to him.
Lotus' POV:
Oh my good god, how hard is it, really to make 5 coffees before the customer dies of old age?
And with my kind I think that would be quite an achievement, but the cashier girl was acting as though I wanted her to fly to Brazil and grow the beans for the coffee herself.
I put my face in my hands on the counter, my gaze began to wonder around the dimly lit diner, until; I noticed a strange energy signature out of the corner of my eye coming from a booth in the corner. Something non-human. You see, my kind can sense the energy given off by different species.
Any way, there was 2 guys and a girl - only about a year or two younger than Otsoa and Kiba-, were sitting there talking in hushed tones, one of the guys had aviator sunglasses and huge headphones, all I could see of the other was the back of his head and the girl had blond hair and a designer school girl look about her.
The guy in the sunglasses was surrounded by a cloud of greenish mist, while the other's was a purple mist with yellow streaks and the girl's was pale blue.
Human's energy signatures or auras as they were sometimes known, were buttercup yellow. At that precise moment the cahier girl decided to give me the coffees. I handed her the cash to pay, making sure she got no tip.
I took a seat opposite the glowing booth. I couldn't leave, yet I knew the coffees were getting cold.
Dammit!
These weren't shades of auras I'd seen before, well the sifter's were dark blue laced with the aura of the animal they sifted to, the born vampire's auras were black, made vampires didn't have auras and the faie had different auras depending on the element they specialized in.
Using my magick powers, I spoke to the others.
Otsoa's POV:
"Hey," Kiba said, morphing then rolling onto his paws."What's that weird glow?"
I turned to look and there it was. A bright yellow glow. I morphed quickly ready for a fight.
"Guys!" the glow shouted. We both jumped, Kiba growled.
"Lotus?" I turned my head to the side, moving closer to the orb.
"No, it's the Easter Bunny! Of course it's me!" The orb changed colour as she spoke.
"Where is the damned coffee?" Kiba asked, heatedly.
"Don't get grouchy with me, Wolf! Listen there is something more important than coffee. I've found some people…our people…ish anyways."
"And?" Kiba and I said together.
"Have you forgotten what we do? I need you guys to come down here and we can talk to them…" Lotus paused. "Twigsnap, they're leaving! Hurry up!"
The orb dimmed before going out.
"Race ya?" I said turning to Kiba.
No sooner had the words come out of my telepathic mouth had Kiba shot off like a rocket.
The little bugger, I thought and set off after him.
Lotus' POV:
I couldn't let them leave.
I had to make them stay or their lives could be in danger.
Thinking quickly I grabbed one of the many cups and causal walked past them, tilting the cup towards one of them. It splashed over one of the boys with dark hair.
"I'm sorry. So so sorry!" I said sweetly, batting my eyelashes.
"It is fine," he said, in a deep silky voice, yum. "I'm wearing a water proof jacket."
"Oh dear, let me buy you a drink. Well, all of you a drink, I can be such a ditz." I hoped they would take me up on my offer; I had no clue when those furballs would get here, and this guy was too cute!
The others all looked at him, boy; these kids needed food and new clothes.
Before he could answer, Otsoa and Kiba bust in through the door, in human form thankfully. Kiba, his dark shaggy hair swishing around, took in the small chic shop.
Otsoa caught my eye and walked over.
Otsoa's POV:
One of the two guys stood up as if to challenge me, he had pluck I'll give him that, but no sense or he wouldn't be so eager to challenge me.
He slipped out of the booth and stood before me, as if to intimidate me.
I squared my shoulders and a low warning growl escaped from my mouth, to which his eyes only narrowed.
I'm not sure how long the staring match went on for but,
"I suggest that you two sit down, because the waitress isn't happy about our little crowd." Lotus hissed at us,
sure enough the waitress that looked about 60, was making her way towards us.
Lotus let out a sigh, turned and stood up, pressed her thumb and index finger together and drew then across her face as though she was closing a zip.
The waitress became suddenly distracted by something and walked trough the doors behind the counter that lead to the kitchen. Leaving us to talk in peace.
"Good going." Lotus said sarcastically after rolling her eyes, at having to use her magick.
I shot her daggers, and resisted the almost overwhelming urge to bang my head on the table. The guy with the headphone and the prep school Barbie turned to the other guy, as if looking to him for leadership.
"Who the hell are you?" demanded the taller of the guys.
"Oh nose. I haven't introduced myself; I'm Lotus, like the flower. This is Otsoa, she…" gushed Lotus, after sitting down, in a desperate attempt not to scare them.
"I don't want you to talk for me. Listen, because I am not going to say this again. We know you're not human, neither are we. What are you?" I said, quietly but menacingly.
"Now, now! Don't scare them! Sorry she has no manners, it's as though she was raised by wild dogs." Lotus laughed nervously at her pun.
Kiba and I looked at each other across the table and sighed. They just stared at us. Like no movements, no nothing.
Kiba and Lotus stared back.
"Well this is awkward." Lotus said. She didn't know what else to say.
"As Lotus said, I'm Otsoa." I said trying to break the silence. "This is Kiba,"
I gestured to where he was sitting, next to the Barbie girl; who was pointedly staring at him and I could see it was making him very uncomfortable, poor Kiba.
"We are both shifters, Kiba's a lone white wolf, and I'm a silent silver, a strain of winged wolves. But both of us are stronger, faster, larger and better predators than average wolves. Lotus is the queen of the Faye, and can command all of the 5 Faye elements."
"Five elements?" questioned the guy with the head phones.
"Yeah, Earth, Wind, Fire and Spirit. Oh and as you have seen she can use magick." Answered Kiba, counting each element on his finger.
"But the real interesting question is, what are you?" asked Lotus pointing to each of the strange strangers, and we're usually the strangest thing in a room.
"You." I said pointing at the guy I assumed was the leader, "Smell like a bird, raven I think, and I'm getting fresh air but the kind of air at high altitude. Also," I said then taking a deep breath. "Mountains most likely Colorado area, and others like you, most prominently a girl, part eagle/ hawk?"
the guy blanched, as though the mention of the girl was somehow painful, a relative, friend, girlfriend?
"Your also tense, fight or flight kinda thing, you also favor putting weight on your legs and butt, not on your shoulder bones and lower back like most people while sitting, and have been having a rough time for a couple of weeks, perhaps more?" I concluded.
"You can tell all that from just sitting there?" asked headphone guy, looking as though he was going to drop out of his chair in shock.
"Yeah, that was kinds vague compared to what I can do in full form."
"How did you do it?" said the leader guy, the first time he'd actually said anything, he looked contemplating.
"Well the first part was just using my sense of smell. The body language bit was from looking at you."
"Most predators can read body language." Injected Kiba, "E.g. lions and the rest of the big cats, wolves and bears. Horses can do it too, like they can sense if people are tense."
Kiba turned to the Barbie, "You're also tense, fight or flight instincts too, only your muscles in your legs are rippling. Suggesting confinement maybe? You're also in contact with a non-human girl that is not here."
The girl just nodded to what Kiba was saying. The leader guy lent forward, onto his elbows.
"I'm Fang, this is Rachet," he gestured towards headphone guy,
"This is Star," Barbie girl.
"We're DNA hybrids, genetics gone haywire, different. I am an avian hybrid."
"That is why I could smell bird." I realized
"Your aura is laced with bird." Said Lotus thoughtfully.
"Yes, er anyway," he's not comfortable with talking, I thought, Fang looked outwardly normal only; I could see that the muscles in his jaw were strained. The song 'Pretty Handsome Awkward' by The Used sprang to my mind. (Listening to that now ha ha.)
I smiled at the thought.
Lotus' POV:
"Avian hybrids, we have wings, different blood," he continued
"Bird's blood have nuclei, unlike human blood, they contain DNA." Said our resident brain box Otsoa, I swear she can remember anything science she was ever told, even after ditching high school before the start of 12th grade.
"We have air sacks as well as lungs to make it easier to breathe at high altitude, and extra powers that birds don't have, like an ability to fly super fast…" I noticed how he always said we, not I.
Otsoa mentioned that there was others like him; a girl. His aura was laced with sadness when he talked of avian hybrids,
why were the others not here?