I blasted to the House of Night and blew up the front gates with darkness (they'll get over it). I jerked my car to a stop and jumped out.
I could hear something really big growling and guys shouting.
"Skye, stay back." I shouted over my shoulder. She growled and ran alongside me. I ran towards the source of the shouting.
As I rounded the corner of the dining hall and Warrior flew past me. I looked and saw a huge wolf in the middle of a circle of Warriors.
Well, it looked like a wolf or a wolf was the closest animal looks wise to this beast. It was huge though. Most of the Warriors' heads didn't even come close the creature's shoulders and there was the tiny fact that its paws, tail, and ears had red flames burning off of them. Blood dripped from wounds all over its dark blue-gray fur. Long fangs dripped with blood and saliva and piercing gray eyes whirled around deciding who was going to get a chunk ripped out of them next.
It howled in rage as Aurox charged at and got onto its back. It twisted its head and grabbed his leg. It tore Aurox off and shook him like a rag doll before slamming him onto the ground. Aurox bounced a couple of times before settling on the ground, dazed out of his wits. The flaming wolf turned and began charging at him.
Until I put myself in between them.
The wolf skidded to a halt with its nose almost touching me. It stood there, holding my gaze, while the Warriors looked on, unsure on whether or not to help me.
It growled low in its throat.
"It's okay." I gently touched its thoughts. It shook its head and growled more viciously. I could feel his fear like a slap on my face. "Sh, it's okay." I raised my hands. He backed up and glared at me.
"You're okay." I murmured. "All right? Everything's going to be okay."
He folded his ears back and glanced at the Warriors. The ones who were inching towards us froze immediately.
"They won't hurt you. You just freaked them, that's all." I said. I gentled touched his muzzle. A shiver rippled through his body and the red flames turned a purple-ish red. His eyes got softer. "Okay now?"
He whined and the flames turned blue-purple. He buried his nose into my stomach and his trembling had me shaking. I wrapped my arms around his big head (I seriously think that from nose to the back of his skull was as long as I was tall) and my golden healing flames wrapped around his body. I gave a little mental nudge and the flames spread out towards the injury Warriors and Aurox in the fluttery bird/butterfly thing.
The flames turned golden and he raised his head.
"Better now?"
He gave a happy bark and wagged his butt with his tongue lolling out. He began licking my face. "Cut it out!" I pushed him away, but he thrusted his head under my arm and flopped his big butt onto the ground. "You idiot." I looked at Dragon.
"Everyone okay?"
"I believe so." He said. He sheathed his blade.
I turned and faced Aurox. "You okay?"
"Yes." He said after a pause. He looked down at his body. "Your golden flames helped heal me."
"That's what they're supposed to do, so I'm glad they did their job right."
Skye stalked over grumbling and sniffed the flaming wolf. He sniffed her back and barked. She warbled back at him before leaping into my arms.
Thanatos walked up. She glanced at the wolf.
"He's fine now. He just freaked out a bit about crossing into a new world is all." I said rubbing his cheek. He bent his head so I could scratch his ears. He did that cute thumping thing with one of his back legs.
"Your gift to communicate with beasts is quite remarkable." She said.
I shrugged. "It comes in handy." I patted the wolf's massive shoulder. He was a gazillion times calmer than he had been and warily glanced at Thanatos, but didn't give off 'I'm going to take a chunk outta her' vibes.
She reached into her robe and handed me a piece of paper. "Lenobia has informed me that you have been enrolled into the House of Night and therefore you should attend class."
I stifled a groan. I glanced at my schedule. Vampyre Sociology with Thanatos was first hour.
"Um, I'm not a vampyre." I said.
She smiled. "This Vampyre Sociology class will be different. It is filled with some individuals who are not vampyres such as your brother and the human Prophetess Aphrodite."
"Okay then." Second hour was Literature with some Professor named Penthesilea. Good thing I've always loved to read. Third hour was Latin level three. I had taken Latin for the past two years and a half so I wasn't too alarmed with being placed in a high level class. Fourth hour was a self-defense class in the Field House with Darius and Stark. A lunch break and fifth hour had three classed for me to choose from all related to the arts, joy. My final class was Equestrian Studies.
I tucked the schedule into my back pocket. "Kay. Anything else you guys need me for." I glanced around at the broken benches and crushed gardens. I feel like I should help the gardener people clean up this mess.
"I don't believe so, although, I would appreciate if I could have your cell phone number just in case an event like this occurs again." She glanced at the mega wolf and then at the destruction.
"No prob." I gave her number which she immediately put into her iphone.
"Thank you, young Mediator. I will see you in class or Monday, or perhaps sooner." She pressed her fist to her heart, a gesture I mimicked. "Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again."
I echoed her words and she turned to disappear back the way she came. I looked at the wolf.
"Um…you're kinda big, can you shrink or something?" I hope I didn't insult him.
He blinked at me. A shiver shook his body and he did shrink. The flames vanished too, but he was still pretty big. His eye level was easily at my waist. I rubbed his ears. He had insanely soft fur. As soon as I got a moment by myself, I was so stuffing my face into fur.
"I guess I'll see you guys later." I didn't see Bryan and I didn't really want to talk to him anyway. I should forgive him because it hadn't been his fault my parents had been murdered, but then again I couldn't forgive his 'who cares they're human' attitude.
"Good-bye, young Mediator." Dragon said. He bowed to me and the other Warriors mimicked the gesture. I bowed to them and began heading back towards my car.
"I am never going to get use to that." I told the wolf. He barked. "Well, it's just…blecky. I've never liked being the center of attention and now it feels like I always am." I huffed a big sigh. "If this is karma's way of getting back at me for something I did in this lifetime or the one before, I'm going to punch it."
OXOXOXOXOXOXOX
I pulled up to the depot and saw Rephaim pacing in front of Stevie Rae, Zoey, Darius, Stark, and Aphordite. Shaunee was there, but not Erin.
"There you are!" Aphrodite shouted. "We've been waiting for eons." She glared at Rephaim. "She's here, so let's go shopping. I need your girlfriend to keep the manager from locking up early." She glared at the wolf, who I decided to call Shadow. "What is that?"
"A hellhound."
I turned and saw the unicorn walk up.
"Aren't hellhounds bad?" Zoey asked. She looked at Shadow like he was going to blow up or something.
"Depends. Hellhounds are loyal to one person and only person only."
"So, it depends on the person?" Zoey asked.
Dark Moon nodded. "This hound is very young, a teenager. I doubt it has claimed loyalty to anyone yet."
I rubbed his head. I really hope Damascus didn't get his claws into him.
"Well, that's hunky dory. Let's go." Aphrodite told Stevie Rae. "Where's Kramisha?"
"Right here." She came up and gave me a piece of paper. "For you."
"Oh boy." I looked at the poem.
Unite as One
Evil shall be Undone
Prince of Darkness shall destroy his Light
Queen of Peace shall conquer his Might
"Um, kay." I tucked the poem into my pocket. It sounded pretty crystal clear and I had a pretty good idea who was the Prince of Darkness and Queen of Peace. Ugh.
"Not sure how I feel about poems about Dark Princes or beasts." She glanced Stevie Rae.
"So, what did your lawyer say?" Zoey asked.
"We can take anything we need from my house." I said. "But, I'm selling it, period. I don't care if you guys need a love nest or anything like that, it's going."
"Unattractive, middle class furniture." Aphrodite wrinkled her nose.
"You haven't seen it so how do you know it's unattractive?" I asked. I looked at Shadow. "Well, I'm going to Wal-Mart or Petsmart to get some dog food. Bye." I hopped back into my car. Shadow bounded into the car as I pulled out.
I put the window down for him and he stuck his head out to scare little kids. Skye got up on the arm rest and peered out the window. Who knew I was going to be the foster mom of a hellhound and a dragon.
I turned my car into Petsmart's parking lot and put Skye into my bag. I got out and Shadow hopped out.
I summoned darkness and made a makeshift leash and collar so the little dog owners don't panic thinking my hell hound might eat them. And he might. I dunno know what hell hounds eat.
There weren't many people there. I thought that maybe I should get some dog toys for Skye to nibble on while I was in class. It probably wouldn't hurt to get Shadow some too since he was a teenager.
What the hell was I going to do about them during class? Skye has never been out of my sight or I haven't been out of her sight technically and I had no idea how teachers would react to a baby dragon in their class. Would Shadow follow me everywhere too? Was Snap getting jealous of everyone else who was begging for my attention?
"Hello, we're closing up soon so can I help you?" A cute looking guy asked.
"Yes, I need some food for this guy and some toys." I said. "Oh, and some formula for baby kittens." Kitty cats were close to dragons, right, maybe? I wasn't sure if Skye was getting all the nutrients she needed and probably getting formula made for carnivore babies might be a good step in the right direction.
"All rightie." I followed him down to the dog food aisle. "Do you know what breed he is?"
Hell? Was that a breed?
"Mutt. That's really all I got." I said.
"Weight?"
"I don't know it off the top of my head." I said. I just want some dog food. I'm sure he'll be fine.
"Well, he looks like a big dog." He offered his hand for Shadow to sniff. "And he's fur is a beautiful blue-gray. I've never seen a dog with that kind of coat before."
Probably not. I haven't heard anything about hellhounds wandering suburbia eating little dogs and cats and kids.
I slugged a fifty pound bag of dog food into the cart and then journeyed to the aisle of toys. I got some of the thick rubber Kong toys and a rope tug thing. I also grabbed some tennis balls and Frisbees for Shadow. I'm sure these will keep my kids entertained while I learned. Yuck.
I grabbed a spiked blue collar and a thick leash cuz I worry about my hellhound, okay. I almost forgot to grab him a water and food bowl, but remembered just in time. After I paid, I made a doggie tag for Shadow's new collar. I'm worried about losing my hellhound okay or I'm more worried about the people who find my hellhound. Yikes.
"Come 'ere, Shadow." He padded up and allowed me to put the collar onto him. "Good boy." I rubbed his ears and he barked.
I parked my car at the depot and slugged the food over my shoulder. I grabbed the bags and made my way into the kitchen.
Zoey waved at me.
"Hey, need help?"
"Nope." I dropped the food down.
"You could have had some of Duchess's food." Stark said.
"Um, he's kinda of big. He could probably eat that whole bag by himself." I set his bowl next to Duchess's and filled the bowl. He immediately began inhaling the food and it was all gone when I turned around to put down his full water bowl.
He looked at me expectedly with his tail wagging slightly.
"You ate it all."
He barked and pawed at the food bag.
I poured him another bowl full. "That's it till dinner."
Stark laughed.
"What?"
"You do realize he is a hellhound right?"
"He's just a dog not matter what breed he is." I tossed a Kong toy at Skye. She sniffed it. I mentally nudged it with darkness and she pounced on it.
"Hey, Ray." Zoey asked. "Do you mind if we try something?"
I looked at her. She began to open her mouth, but Damian came in with a notebook in his hand.
"Hey, Ray. I've been thinking that we should keep a journal on Skye so we can compare her growth to the ones in the dragon manual so we can be ready for that growth spurt."
"What are we going to do about that?" Zoey asked.
"We'll deal with it when it comes. Who knows what state the world will be in when she does become full grown." I said. Skye warbled at me and I scratched behind her horns. "Give me tape measure." Damian handed me the tape measure. He helped me measure Skye's body areas and he wrote the measurements down on the little table he had set up. He scribbled the date.
"Okay," he cracked open the dragon manual. "She's about the size of a two month year old hatchling. We'll have to ask Aphrodite to borrow her scale to get her weight."
"How long are they going to be gone?" I asked.
"They're shopping." Stark said.
"Right. What do you want to try Miss Z?" I asked.
"I would like you and me to cast a circle with darkness and light." She said.
"Shouldn't we wait for Erin and Stevie Rae to come back?" Damian asked.
"I want to do one with just me and Ray, just in case…"
"We blow up." I offered.
"Or something bad like that." She said. She looked really nervous and I felt bad about putting that idea in her head. I highly doubt we'll blow. That's like in the .1% percent of the 'what could happen to us' pie chart in Raven's head.
"I'd be more worried about a lot of power attracting something dangerous." Stark offered taking Zoey's hand and giving it a squeeze.
"I guess that's a concern too." I mumbled. I sighed. "Well, let's go get it over with."
"Jeez, you could be a little more enthusiastic about casting the first circle with darkness and light." Zoey said.
"Okay, give me a second to put on my excited Raven face." I took a deep breath and put a huge smile onto myself. "I'm excited! Are you excited? I'm excited!" I said bouncing up and down while clapping my hands.
"Don't do that again." Stark said.
I laughed. "Let's go, Miss Z." I hooked arms with her and marched her out of the kitchen. "Uh, where are we going?"
"Outside to the old tree." She said.
"Do you have the candles?"
"Candles are just for ceremony and since we don't have all my circle members we don't need them." She said climbing up the ladder to the outside.
I blew my bangs out of my face and climbed after her.
We kicked some of the sticks and shit out of the way so we could have a nice area to do our magical circle casting thing.
"Stay Skye." I told her. Damian put a hand on her while I walked back to Zoey. Shadow sprawled out between him and Stark.
Zoey took a deep breath and faced East.
"Air, please join our circle."
A mini twister encircled her before she moved down the South.
"Fire, please join our circle." She continued on to the West to summon water and North to summon earth.
"Spirit, please join our circle." My own spirit fluttered in my chest. Oh, boy. I hope I don't accidently astral project or do some crazy half-breed shit.
She turned to face me.
I took a deep breath. Please, I don't want to blow up.
"Darkness, please join our circle."
Soft, black feathers caressed my arms and I saw it was also caressing Zoey before it spread across the ground to create a beautiful wheel looking symbol.
"Light, please join our circle."
Light shone out from my pores like someone turned on a light from within me. Light spread from my feet and curled around the black swirls. A purple symbol appeared in the middle under Zoey's feet. I turned and saw a yellow, red, blue, and green symbols at the edge of the circle.
My body quivered. The power in the air was intimidating. I don't care that I helped summon a chunk of this power, it scared me.
"I kinda feel like we need to do something with this power." Zoey said.
"Maybe we should establish some kind of protective barrier." I suggested. "Or something that will let us know if someone decides to pop in and give us an unwanted visit."
"Kay." She looked at me.
"Nuh uh. This is your circle. You summoned five-sevenths of this circle." I said.
"But I've never channeled your elements." She said.
"You're a High Priestess."
"You're the Mediator."
I didn't have a comeback. I shot her a look before raising my arms. The elements vibrated around me and I felt like they were waiting for me to tell them what to do so they could have at it.
I took a deep breath and pulled the elements into my body. I was filled with warmth and I was sure I was going to blow up.
"Contexi domum." I whispered. The elements rushed from my body and impaled the depot with shimmering symbols.
When the last bit of elemental magic left me, I fell onto my butt.
"Wow! That was a rush!" I felt giddy. I easily hopped back up. The circle was gone and I couldn't feel the elements presence anymore.
Skye squawked at me. She stalked over and squalled.
"Come on, let's get food." I picked her up.
"Hey, Zoey, Ray," Shaunee said in a quiet voice from the entrance to the depot. "I need to tell you guys something. Can you guys meet me in the kitchen in a bit?"
"Yeah. Skye needs her bottle so I'll be there for a while." My scalp was suddenly tingling. I better not be sprouting horns.
I studied the shadows.
"What?" Stark asked.
"Nothing. I'm probably just over reacting to the whole magical circle Latin shit." I said.
Skye squealed and snapped at my nose.
"All right, all right." I said. "Let's go get food." I started walking towards the depot and she snuggled against me and cooed. I rolled my eyes as Shadow walked alongside me into the depot.
When I passed through the door, it felt like I passed through a cobweb. I hoped this shield can stand up against Damascus. Maybe the guys could hide out here and maybe I could sleep in peace without getting mouthed by a pedophile.
I sighed. It probably wouldn't work out that way. It never does.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
So, I have Hidden and it was awesome! I'm only half-way-ish through Destined so no worries about spoilers anytime soon. Sigh, this fanfic is a lot longer than I anticipated. I might actually finish one. Finger crossed!
Anyway, if you read please review.