Chapter 5
How do you know
Airiana had just finished getting ready when Celestia burst into the room. "RILEY"S MISSING!"
"What?" Airiana asked. "How do you know?"
"Come quickly." She said.
Airiana glanced at Lexi, who nodded, and ran after the whirlwind of auburn hair spiralling down the hall.
She had just been getting ready for dinner when Celestia burst in.
As Airiana ran throught the night to the headmistress, the night air clung to her face.
"Headmistress. Headmistress!" Airiana called as she ran to the woman running the school. She had never actually seen the headmistress. She had greying brown hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing a spotted dress with buisness heels and a red cartigan.
As Airiana reached the woman, she puffed, "Is it true."
"I'm afraid so. But don't you worry your pretty little head, we have our best werewolves on the job." She said, almost cheerfully.
The whole time Airiana was rubbing her head and brushing her fingers through her hair.
"Oh that's reassuring." Triston said, coming up behind them and hugging Airiana from behind.
There was a rising anger in Airiana, this was her fault.
Rain had begun to softly shower over the people outside.
She could see all the werewolves and security staring into the dark forest.
Airiana pulled Triston's arms away and ran towards the forest.
"Miss Lovett! Miss Lovett!" The headmistress shouted after her.
She didn't like going in there, especially not at night. But she had to.
"Riley!" She screamed as she ran.
She reached the forests end. "Riley!" She screamed again.
She took a deep breathe.
And in she went.
She could hear Triston shouting out for her, then Lexi's voice dropped in aswell.
She sprinted past the redwoods and the old fig trees. She jumped over fallen logs and skipped past the flowering shrubs.
The rain was getting heavier. Airiana's hair was darkening and sticking to her face as it moisened.
She heard Triston shouting her name. "AIRIANA!"
"AIRIANA!" Lexi shouted. They must be in the woods.
Airiana saw the leaves hovering above the ground as she ran through them.
Her hair was whipping out and her eyes may have been watering, but she couldn't tell through the rain.
"AIRIANA! She heard someone shout.
She dismissed it to the caring part of her mind and kept running.
It was so dark that she didn't notice the downhill in front of her.
She tripped down, rolling round and round, leaves sticking to her wet skin.
She hit the ground with a thud, landing on her stomach.
She lifted her head and saw a body laying not six feet away.
Riley.
She lifted her body a little and began to crawl, very slowly, her hair dripping off her shoulders and down to the sides of her face.
She reached his body and shook him a little.
He opened his eyes a little and then slowly sat up, startled.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
" I came to find you." She mumbled.
"No. You shouldn't have come. It's a trap!"
Airiana frowned then froze. It was so cold, frosty mist was flowing out of her mouth every time she exhaled.
She heard footsteps ruffling through the leaves behind her.
Well, several footsteps.
She stood slowly, but didn't turn around.
She then felt warm animalistic breath on the back of her neck.
She turned and took several steps back.
They were creatures of an unknown kind, like nothing she'd ever seen before. Or maybe she had seen it somewhere.
There were seven of them.
They were like werewolves, that had two feet and two arms, stood naturally, they had grey brown fur and long talons extending from their fingers. They had long pointed ears and less hairy six-packs. Their necks were short and thick, their teeth weren't long but very sharp. They had an over-sized dog-like nose. They looked mythical. Even through a vampire's eyes.
Some bared their teeth, some growled, but one, the closest, just stared. Then another looked, regretful. It looked more evil than the others. And it was scarier.
The only difference between each creature. The eyes. They each had different patterns of white in their black eyes. Except the closest one. It's eyes were fully black. no colour what so ever.
But then it morphed into a human. He had dark skin, and was bald, but he had massive muscles. "My name is Cretus. We...are Lycans. And this...was just a warning. We are the soilders of hell. At any moment, we can drag you down into the depths of hell in seconds. Be afraid." He said in his husky deep voice. He then walked intot he darkness with the rest of his pack.
Airiana could breathe again.
She waited for Riley to get up before cautiously trekking through the forest.
She happened to run into Triston and Lexi on the way out.
"WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING!" Triston shouted.
Airiana shrugged, she hated it when he yelled.
He cupped her face. "Your such an idiot." He whispered. Airiana was shaking violently.
He smiled softly and hugged her to him.
"You found him?" Lexi said.
Airiana pulled away from Triston and nodded.
She swore she could hear more growling, more leaves rustling. She darted her eyes around the forest. She could hear the soft patter of rain and an owl hooting above them. She looked up and saw a white snow owl with large black eyes. Black eyes.
Her lips began to tremble and she felt her blood run cold.
But she couldn't speak.
Triston looked at her, frowned, gripped her wrists, and asked, "Your in shock. What happened out there?"
Airiana just looked out into the shadows of the forest.
Triston followed her gaze. Just then she saw a flash of white teeth and then the lycan disappear.
But Triston saw nothing.
Airiana was sitting in front of the blazing fire in the hearth with Tristons arms wrapped around her waist as he sat behind her.
Airiana was holding a mug of hot chocolate with a swirl of milkier chocolate, small, melting marshmallows, and a sprinkly of white chocolate. Not a sip missing.
"Airiana, what happened." Triston whispered in her ear.
She took a sip from her hot chocolate to avoid the question. She took a long time to swallow.
Triston sighed. He took the hot chocolate off her and placed it on the floor, spun her around to face him, and asked again. "What happened?"
"Nothing." She said. The opposite of truth.
"Like I'm gonna believe that. Look at you."
"I fell."
"Your distraught. Something happened. Now, What was it?"
"I don't know. I saw something. It...warned me. It said it was going to drag me to hell."
"What was it?"
Airiana stood and pulled Triston up after her...
Together, they walked to the library.
It was huge, complete with hundreds of thousands of books, study tables lit with green lamps, cozt armchairs, a few fireplaces and one librarian, whom was buried in paperwork in her office, not noticing Triston and Airiana entering.
Airiana gripped his hand and led him over to the histories section. She ran her fingers along the 'myths' section and then spotted the book she was after. "LYCANTHROPY".
She handed the book to Triston.
He eyed the front cover, then looked up at Airiana.
"Lycans. You were attacked Lycans?"
"Shhhh. Keep ypur voice down. I wasn't attacked." She said.
Airiana hugged the book to her chest. She then saw another book. "LYCANISM".
She took that book from the shelf too and followed Triston out of the library.
Triston came to Airiana's dorm to help her study.
They found Lexi laying on her bed, reading 'The Lovely Bones'.
"Were just gonna study." Airiana said as she sat down in front of the fire. Triston crouched down.
"Right...study session or make out session?" Lexi asked.
"Either would be good for me." Triston said softly and began to lean towards Airiana, about to kiss her.
Airiana shoved the book to his chest and pushed him back. "Read."
Later on, after looking through half the book, Airiana looked up.
Triston was asleep on the floor, the book laying open next to him.
"Thanks for helping." She whispered. Taking the book.
Lexi closed her own book and walked over to Airiana, taking the book Triston was supposed to be reading.
"I'll help. What exactly am I looking for?" She said.
"I don't know, anything about, protecting yourself against Lycans." Airiana replied.
She looked down at the picture in her own book and gasped.
Black eyes.
She read the paragraph below the picture.
"Cretus."
According to folklore, the leader of the Lycans. Said to have dragged a million souls to his home in hell. Cretus is nothing more than a myth. He would walk around with a usual six members of his pack, hunting one soul at a time.
I guess that's me, she thought.
Oh, the irony. Just a myth. Just a myth. How about, I just saw him an hour ago, Airiana thought.
"Here we go." Lexi said, clearing her throat to speak.
"There was said to be a gun loaded with bullets of a glowing gold substance that could kill almost every creature within one shot to an eternal weakness. Supposedly named the "Starshot" by the mythical archangel, Michael. But no such weapon has ever been found." She said slowly.
"Know anything about the Starshot?" Lexi asked.
Airiana dropped her book and walked to her draws, opening the top one.
She withdrew her gun, the Starshot, and held it out to show Lexi.
"Oh I found it." Airiana said.