Amara – Reunion

Author's note: this is from Seraphina's point of view

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"Them? Do you assume it's more than one? How many?", I asked, anxious about the possibility of several murderers and also curious to find out how Aldus's mind is working.

"If it was one creature, at least one human would run, yet all bodies were found around the campfire. If my guess is right, with hearts and livers missing from the bodies, it was probably for the rite of passage. One heart per candidate...", Aldus paused and I knew that he was weighing his next words. "They should be conducting a ceremony, so we have at least one hour, but we are already more than one hour behind. As for how many of them, I'm not sure but we should assume four or more."

Aldus said many things I didn't understand. "Rite of passage?"

Lazarus answered. "Young warriors prove themselves by going on a hunt. They take the hearts of their victims as proof of the kill. There is a belief that a heart contains the courage of a person and by collecting hearts of his foes, the warrior will be braver."

"What about the liver?", I asked.

"It's nutritious and full of blood.", Aldus responded, and I took a deep breath while trying to suppress my nausea. Hearts for mementos and livers for breakfast. Ugh!

The three of us walked through the dark forest with only streaks of moonlight illuminating our way. Aldus in front, I in the middle, and Lazarus behind me.

Aldus briefly explained to me a set of simple hand signals that will help us communicate without words. Things like stop, move, attack, and so on. He repeated a few times that once we find the culprits, I am to hide and not move while he and Lazarus handle the situation.

After that was done, we were walking through the forest in hurried steps again.

The silence was pressing on my ears and every crunch below our feet made me jumpy.

I continued asking questions that swirled in my mind. "Was this done by rogues?"

Aldus confirmed with an explanation, "Claw marks are there."

"How can you be sure it's werewolves?"

"Vampires wouldn't waste all that blood. Ghouls wouldn't spill any blood. If it was a bear, some of the campers would escape…", Aldus explained patiently.

I did my best not to imagine young werewolves sneaking through the forest and attacking unsuspecting campers, but the images were flashing in my mind and made me restless. How could someone cute and cuddly Alex-like commit such a barbaric act?

In order to stop thinking about cuddly Alex, I glanced at Lazarus who shot me a half-smile. That did the trick. Lazarus is not cuddly.

To pass time, I thought about my resistance toward Lazarus. Objectively, he is a good-looking man, why am I unable to be amiable toward him?

Is it because he openly admitted that he is interested in me? I should appreciate his honesty, and not punish him for it.

Or is it because of Duke? My heart is set on Duke, but that shouldn't prevent me from having friends.

Or is it because of how Lazarus acted the first time we met? To be honest, that first impression was bad. He forced a hug on me, and I felt helpless and absolutely uncomfortable. That will take time to forget no matter how he acts toward me going forward.

"We are getting close…", Aldus said in a low voice and pulled me out of my thoughts.

I wondered if Aldus was tracking the scent of blood. Considering that Lazarus is a werewolf, shouldn't he be sniffing the air? I decided to keep those questions for later because I didn't want Lazarus to have more material to mock my ignorance, and if Aldus was using some super-secret ability, he will not talk about it in front of Lazarus.

Aldus and Lazarus were not talking, and I was nervous, so I counted my steps to keep busy.

When I reached five hundred steps, I wondered what's the time. Dang… I left my phone in my bag which is in the helicopter. I should get a wristwatch; one of those that lits up. Maybe I could buy it in London. I imagined shopping with Duke, and us buying matching wristwatches. I smiled at that thought.

"Aww…", a muffled moan escaped me when I bumped my face in Aldus's back.

Why did he stop abruptly?

"They are near…", Aldus said in a whisper and motioned with his hand that we should be quiet.

I felt my heart rate increasing. They? Suddenly, I remembered why I'm walking in the forest at this hour. There are killers nearby, more than one, yet I'm lost daydreaming about shopping with Duke.

Breathe, Serina… breathe! And don't forget to control your pheromones. The last thing you want is for a bunch of rogue werewolves to come at you because of your pheromones!

As we progressed further carefully, I noticed shadows dancing over the tree trunks. There was a fire up ahead. The air smelled funny, probably because they burnt some plants in it, but that was good because it will conceal our scent.

Aldus gestured to me and then to one wide tree trunk and I understood that will be my place to hide and observe.

Now I could hear voices of three, no… there were four men talking.

Aldus said that there were at least four attackers, and he was right.

I placed my palms against the rough tree trunk and observed the fire in the middle of a small clearing. The grass was bent, as if someone rolled on it, to make the ground even.

Only one bush was separating me from the campfire and four men who stood around it. The bush was tall enough that I could observe them through the thin layer of leaves at the top of the bush without bending.

I glanced to the side and noticed that Aldus and Lazarus are not in visual range anymore. I held my breath and observed four men while wondering what they were doing and trying to guess how they will react when Aldus and Lazarus show up.

One of the four had a glass bottle in his hand and was taking a swig from it occasionally. His back was turned toward me, so he looked like a tall muscular shadow.

The second man was squatted next to the fire, and I saw his face. He appeared as someone in his forties. Didn't Lazarus say that they are doing this for young warriors? That man didn't look very young to me.

The last two men were talking one over the other and I couldn't understand what they were saying.

Next to the man who was squatted, was a plastic tarp with something on it; it glistened in the light the fire provided. My eyes widened when I realized those are missing organs from the people that got killed.

Subconsciously, I gripped the hard bark of the tree and I cursed internally when I realized that my hands are empty. How come I didn't bring any weapon? A gun, a knife, a stick… anything would do! Those are four big guys, werewolves with super strength and speed, murderers. Am I just going to hide here and hope that no one comes my way?

"Am I interrupting something?", Aldus asked as he stepped into a small clearing and I held my breath.

The man who was squatting next to the fire swiftly flipped the plastic tarp, covering up the organs and the other three snapped to look at Aldus, obviously surprised by his sudden appearance.

"Are you lost?", the man with the bottle asked Aldus.

I saw Alex coming from the left. It seems that four men didn't notice him.

I thought that Aldus and Lazarus have some plan that included me hiding and they ambushing them or doing something, anything other than just walking in.

In the next moment, the four men noticed Alex and started shifting to werewolf forms.

At that moment it hit me that they will fight and some of those four, probably all of them, will be dead soon. My stomach formed painful knots as I repeated that they killed those campers and they deserve whatever is coming their way, and I need to watch because this is what I came here for.

The man who held a bottle, froze with his body in between human and wolf forms, and he screamed while falling on the ground like a statue. I knew that was Aldus's power. He was sapping life force from him and I wondered if he will stop when the werewolf is too weak to fight back.

The other three werewolves completed shifting into their wolf forms and focused their attention on Alex (aka Lazarus). 

Alex was bigger than the other three wolves and definitely stronger. However, this was three versus one and I couldn't stop worrying.

There was no hesitation as they pounced at Alex. He dodged one, kicked the second one, and bit the third one at his neck, drawing blood immediately.

Growls and whimpers were heard as they went at each other.

My heart clenched as it pounded fiercely, and I was unable to move.

Alex threw his first attacker to the side and tore into the second one, the one that he dodged previously.

A small flash of light behind a bush on my right entered my peripheral vision and snapped me out of my daze. I made my way there, thinking that it might be a camera or a security device. The last thing anyone would want is for this to be recorded. Maybe I can be useful, after all.

My steps halted at the sight of four terrified teenagers, one girl and three boys, staring at the bloody scene around the fire, more terrified than I was.

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