Part 7
Susan woke suddenly, feeling there was something wrong. There was a presence in her room, something that didn't belong there. For a second, she was dazed, not sure what was going on, or what had woken her.
But something was there. Something that shouldn't be there.
Then she focused. Something was sitting on the foot of her bed. Something...strange.
She blinked and looked at it.
A *wolf*.
There was a big black *wolf* sitting on her bed.
Before she could do anything the wolf moved so it was lying on top of her, pinning her down. Susan was strong, but the wolf kept her immobile. It was as long as she was tall. A beautiful animal, sleek and handsome with such strange blue eyes.
*You think wolves are stupid and useless then?*
The voice was in her head, but she knew it belonged to the wolf on top of her. She eyed it cautiously, not saying a word for fear it would kill her. She'd lived for three centuries, she'd beaten Circle Daybreak at war...only to be killed afterwards by a werewolf that would no doubt take her head home as a trophy. How humiliating.
*An interesting idea,* the werewolf said in her mind. *But I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to do something much more humiliating...I'm going to make you a wolf.*
*You can't do that!* Susan shouted back at the wolf, stunned into speaking. *You can't! When I wake up you're dead! You can't do this to me!*
The wide jaws of the wolf opened in a smile, revealing the sharp white teeth. Before it ripped her throat out it said two words: *Watch me.*
* * *
When Susan opened her eyes she was alone. She wasn't in her room anymore. She was outside in a dark forest full of dead and twisted tree limbs. She blinked and groaned, feeling sick to her stomach. She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. She groaned again and glanced around, feeling dazed and frightened and angry with herself. In her confused and weakened state, the twisted dead black trees looked like tortured spirits. Probably the spirits of the people she'd tortured, she thought irrationally.
She shook her head, her messy black hair a tangle of leaves and bits of twigs, falling around her blocking her view.
Suddenly she caught a whiff of something. Life. There was an animal out here somewhere. She could smell the blood in it, sense the meat on it...
Suddenly she was running, running through the dark and the shadows hunting down the bit of life that she could smell...life that would give her power.
She could feel something happening to her as she ran. Something about her body was changing. Not her usual change, her canine teeth lengthening, her eyes going shining silver, her lips getting redder and fuller face taking on a predatory look. This was something else. She could feel her muscles flowing. For a brief, wonderful instant she felt as if she didn't have a body. And then she felt herself changing. She was becoming something else. She wasn't Susan the person at all anymore. er skin had changed, she could feel the warm thick fur rustling in the breeze. She felt the bestial triumph of the hunt as she came down on target.
Her first real hunt. Her victory. Her kill. She knew instinctively which parts of the deer she'd caught to eat. The heart and the liver. But it took her a white to find them and she knew she was making a mess of the rest of the animal. The blood was probably all over her fur. After she'd finished with the meal she walked back to the castle.
She spotted a puddle of water from the rain the night before, silver moonlight glinting off the surface and went to look at her reflection. What looked back was a wolf. A large, ice-white wolf with soft fur and shining purple eyes. Susan looked up at the full moon.
She smiled.
And threw back her head and began to howl.
* * *
Through the open window in the tall man's room Julia heard the wolf howling and shuddered and the sound. The sound was beautiful...but strange and eerie, unfamiliar. Well, wasn't everybody afraid of the unfamiliar?
She turned to face the man in front of her. He was looking at her with hungry golden eyes. And looked somewhat familiar. She felt she should know him. But she didn't. She'd never met him.
"Is it too much trouble to ask what you're doing in here?" he asked in a pleasant, deep voice.
Julia fumbled for an explanation. "I...I was taking food to the prisoners in the dungeon. My torch burned out and I got lost. I heard strange noises and I got scared. I didn't mean to intrude." Believe me, she thought. Please, please believe me.
"Such a good lie," the man said. "I suppose you're not going to tell what you were *really* doing."
Julia stared. Then she realised. Oh shit, she thought. He's a vampire. He must be reading my mind. She tried to envision a stone wall around her thoughts, blocking him. She was surprised she could do it so well. It must be the witch genes inside her.
The man looked surprised suddenly. He stared at her harder, looking angrier. "Tricky little vermin, aren't you? Well, I'll teach you a lesson. One for lying, one for trespassing."
He reached for her. Before she could run Julia felt his steel strong hands grab her arms below her slave tunic sleeves. Instead of feeling like her bones were being crushed something else happened. Sparks. From where his cold hands touched her bare skin there were something like shooting sparks and a vague pinky-blue haze filled her vision. A bright white light was beginning to engulf her and the man. Suddenly she realised to her horror she was being pulled into his *mind*. She couldn't stop the light. She knew he was being pulled into her mind. No! She didn't want him to see! He'd kill her. She searched the tall man's mind for a name. There...Redfern...Hunter Redfern.
*What are you doing to me?* he shouted at her. The voice was in her head. Not out loud.
*I'm not doing anything!* she shouted back. Something was bothering her. She didn't like what was happening anymore than Hunter did...but...but Hunter was *shaking.* He looked sick.
*Oh no,* he was thinking. *Please no. Not me. Why me? I don't want a human soulmate...*
*But I *have* a soulmate,* Julia thought back. *Okay, he's dead now. But I have one. I've had past lives and he's tried to be there. And I'm not human,* she added indignantly. *I'm a witch.*
*That's not much better,* Hunter grumbled.
At least, thought Julia, he was distracted and hadn't noticed anything about her plans or her friends. She didn't want them to be put in danger. But something else was happening now. The white light and the pinky-blue haze, they seemed to be mixing together, creating more sparks, trying to draw her and Hunter closer.
*How do we stop this?* Julia asked.
*I have no idea....but do we really have to? It's not so bad.*
Julia was surprised. She realised now what was happening. The soulmate connection was making them realise there was more to each other than the fronts they put on. Being slave and vampire noble wasn't important. What was important...or maybe disastrous...was that...that Julia realised she was falling in love with him. And she suddenly knew, as surely as she knew her own name, that Hunter loved her as much as she loved him. Hunter Redfern, the ultimate vampire, the ruthless predator and leader of the Redfern clan had fallen in love.
*God help me, but I think I'm in love with you,* he said to her.
*Oh thanks a lot,* Julia snorted. *You really know how to flatter a girl, don't you?*
*I have a reputation, you don't,* he shot back. His arms had wrapped around her in a warm embrace. *I don't know what I'm going to do with myself now. Susan's going to kill me. She'll have a fit. And for someone who crucified her own boyfriend, I dread to think what she's going to do with us.*
Julia sighed and held onto him. * I still don't understand this soulmate thing. I had past lives. And a soulmate.*
*You're someone else now. You were a human before in your other lives, your a witch now. A new soulmate for a new species and a new life, maybe,* Hunter suggested.
*Maybe,* Julia thought. She was quite happy to let the wonderful haze float around them. She could read his thoughts easily, she could feel how he felt. She knew him better than she knew anyone.
*You're planning a revolution? Are you insane?* Hunter said suddenly, angrily, sounding more like his old-self.
*I know it does sound insane,* Julia said. *But I'm going to. There are people who want the world back to the way it was before the millennium battle. And I know that it's possible to do that. Don't ask how I know, I just know. Are you going to turn me in?*
Hunter stared at her for a second, his gold eyes flaring. Finally, he sighed, defeated. Now he knew he couldn't go back to his old ways of thinking. She would be angry and disappointed in him. She would be unhappy and he didn't want that. *I really can't believe this is happening to me. No, I won't turn you in. I know how to fight a war. I can help you.*
Julia stared, surprised. This was turning out even better than what she'd suspected. *I just need you to distract the Queen. As long as she doesn't suspect anything we can do this. And we need weapons.*
*I can sort that out.* And then he kissed her. Julia kissed back, feeling fire and heat all over her, a wonderful, tingly sensation she hoped she could experience again and again. *I think you'd better go back now,* he told her.
Julia nodded and turned to go. *I love you,* she added before she stepped back into the utter blackness of the corridor.
* * *
Author's note: I realise this Hunter/Julia thing may seem a little weird if she's supposed to be Hannah's latest reincarnation, on my part it was about the third fan fic I've written, and at the time I came up with it seemed rather amusing, (I have a very odd sense of humour)
Susan woke suddenly, feeling there was something wrong. There was a presence in her room, something that didn't belong there. For a second, she was dazed, not sure what was going on, or what had woken her.
But something was there. Something that shouldn't be there.
Then she focused. Something was sitting on the foot of her bed. Something...strange.
She blinked and looked at it.
A *wolf*.
There was a big black *wolf* sitting on her bed.
Before she could do anything the wolf moved so it was lying on top of her, pinning her down. Susan was strong, but the wolf kept her immobile. It was as long as she was tall. A beautiful animal, sleek and handsome with such strange blue eyes.
*You think wolves are stupid and useless then?*
The voice was in her head, but she knew it belonged to the wolf on top of her. She eyed it cautiously, not saying a word for fear it would kill her. She'd lived for three centuries, she'd beaten Circle Daybreak at war...only to be killed afterwards by a werewolf that would no doubt take her head home as a trophy. How humiliating.
*An interesting idea,* the werewolf said in her mind. *But I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to do something much more humiliating...I'm going to make you a wolf.*
*You can't do that!* Susan shouted back at the wolf, stunned into speaking. *You can't! When I wake up you're dead! You can't do this to me!*
The wide jaws of the wolf opened in a smile, revealing the sharp white teeth. Before it ripped her throat out it said two words: *Watch me.*
* * *
When Susan opened her eyes she was alone. She wasn't in her room anymore. She was outside in a dark forest full of dead and twisted tree limbs. She blinked and groaned, feeling sick to her stomach. She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. She groaned again and glanced around, feeling dazed and frightened and angry with herself. In her confused and weakened state, the twisted dead black trees looked like tortured spirits. Probably the spirits of the people she'd tortured, she thought irrationally.
She shook her head, her messy black hair a tangle of leaves and bits of twigs, falling around her blocking her view.
Suddenly she caught a whiff of something. Life. There was an animal out here somewhere. She could smell the blood in it, sense the meat on it...
Suddenly she was running, running through the dark and the shadows hunting down the bit of life that she could smell...life that would give her power.
She could feel something happening to her as she ran. Something about her body was changing. Not her usual change, her canine teeth lengthening, her eyes going shining silver, her lips getting redder and fuller face taking on a predatory look. This was something else. She could feel her muscles flowing. For a brief, wonderful instant she felt as if she didn't have a body. And then she felt herself changing. She was becoming something else. She wasn't Susan the person at all anymore. er skin had changed, she could feel the warm thick fur rustling in the breeze. She felt the bestial triumph of the hunt as she came down on target.
Her first real hunt. Her victory. Her kill. She knew instinctively which parts of the deer she'd caught to eat. The heart and the liver. But it took her a white to find them and she knew she was making a mess of the rest of the animal. The blood was probably all over her fur. After she'd finished with the meal she walked back to the castle.
She spotted a puddle of water from the rain the night before, silver moonlight glinting off the surface and went to look at her reflection. What looked back was a wolf. A large, ice-white wolf with soft fur and shining purple eyes. Susan looked up at the full moon.
She smiled.
And threw back her head and began to howl.
* * *
Through the open window in the tall man's room Julia heard the wolf howling and shuddered and the sound. The sound was beautiful...but strange and eerie, unfamiliar. Well, wasn't everybody afraid of the unfamiliar?
She turned to face the man in front of her. He was looking at her with hungry golden eyes. And looked somewhat familiar. She felt she should know him. But she didn't. She'd never met him.
"Is it too much trouble to ask what you're doing in here?" he asked in a pleasant, deep voice.
Julia fumbled for an explanation. "I...I was taking food to the prisoners in the dungeon. My torch burned out and I got lost. I heard strange noises and I got scared. I didn't mean to intrude." Believe me, she thought. Please, please believe me.
"Such a good lie," the man said. "I suppose you're not going to tell what you were *really* doing."
Julia stared. Then she realised. Oh shit, she thought. He's a vampire. He must be reading my mind. She tried to envision a stone wall around her thoughts, blocking him. She was surprised she could do it so well. It must be the witch genes inside her.
The man looked surprised suddenly. He stared at her harder, looking angrier. "Tricky little vermin, aren't you? Well, I'll teach you a lesson. One for lying, one for trespassing."
He reached for her. Before she could run Julia felt his steel strong hands grab her arms below her slave tunic sleeves. Instead of feeling like her bones were being crushed something else happened. Sparks. From where his cold hands touched her bare skin there were something like shooting sparks and a vague pinky-blue haze filled her vision. A bright white light was beginning to engulf her and the man. Suddenly she realised to her horror she was being pulled into his *mind*. She couldn't stop the light. She knew he was being pulled into her mind. No! She didn't want him to see! He'd kill her. She searched the tall man's mind for a name. There...Redfern...Hunter Redfern.
*What are you doing to me?* he shouted at her. The voice was in her head. Not out loud.
*I'm not doing anything!* she shouted back. Something was bothering her. She didn't like what was happening anymore than Hunter did...but...but Hunter was *shaking.* He looked sick.
*Oh no,* he was thinking. *Please no. Not me. Why me? I don't want a human soulmate...*
*But I *have* a soulmate,* Julia thought back. *Okay, he's dead now. But I have one. I've had past lives and he's tried to be there. And I'm not human,* she added indignantly. *I'm a witch.*
*That's not much better,* Hunter grumbled.
At least, thought Julia, he was distracted and hadn't noticed anything about her plans or her friends. She didn't want them to be put in danger. But something else was happening now. The white light and the pinky-blue haze, they seemed to be mixing together, creating more sparks, trying to draw her and Hunter closer.
*How do we stop this?* Julia asked.
*I have no idea....but do we really have to? It's not so bad.*
Julia was surprised. She realised now what was happening. The soulmate connection was making them realise there was more to each other than the fronts they put on. Being slave and vampire noble wasn't important. What was important...or maybe disastrous...was that...that Julia realised she was falling in love with him. And she suddenly knew, as surely as she knew her own name, that Hunter loved her as much as she loved him. Hunter Redfern, the ultimate vampire, the ruthless predator and leader of the Redfern clan had fallen in love.
*God help me, but I think I'm in love with you,* he said to her.
*Oh thanks a lot,* Julia snorted. *You really know how to flatter a girl, don't you?*
*I have a reputation, you don't,* he shot back. His arms had wrapped around her in a warm embrace. *I don't know what I'm going to do with myself now. Susan's going to kill me. She'll have a fit. And for someone who crucified her own boyfriend, I dread to think what she's going to do with us.*
Julia sighed and held onto him. * I still don't understand this soulmate thing. I had past lives. And a soulmate.*
*You're someone else now. You were a human before in your other lives, your a witch now. A new soulmate for a new species and a new life, maybe,* Hunter suggested.
*Maybe,* Julia thought. She was quite happy to let the wonderful haze float around them. She could read his thoughts easily, she could feel how he felt. She knew him better than she knew anyone.
*You're planning a revolution? Are you insane?* Hunter said suddenly, angrily, sounding more like his old-self.
*I know it does sound insane,* Julia said. *But I'm going to. There are people who want the world back to the way it was before the millennium battle. And I know that it's possible to do that. Don't ask how I know, I just know. Are you going to turn me in?*
Hunter stared at her for a second, his gold eyes flaring. Finally, he sighed, defeated. Now he knew he couldn't go back to his old ways of thinking. She would be angry and disappointed in him. She would be unhappy and he didn't want that. *I really can't believe this is happening to me. No, I won't turn you in. I know how to fight a war. I can help you.*
Julia stared, surprised. This was turning out even better than what she'd suspected. *I just need you to distract the Queen. As long as she doesn't suspect anything we can do this. And we need weapons.*
*I can sort that out.* And then he kissed her. Julia kissed back, feeling fire and heat all over her, a wonderful, tingly sensation she hoped she could experience again and again. *I think you'd better go back now,* he told her.
Julia nodded and turned to go. *I love you,* she added before she stepped back into the utter blackness of the corridor.
* * *
Author's note: I realise this Hunter/Julia thing may seem a little weird if she's supposed to be Hannah's latest reincarnation, on my part it was about the third fan fic I've written, and at the time I came up with it seemed rather amusing, (I have a very odd sense of humour)