Blood Trials

Ridley was on her window seat, watching the nighttime beyond and how the school simmered down. Her bedroom door creaked open and just by the door closing, she knew who it was. "That was new," he stated. "I don't think I've ever seen you lash out at them before." Ridley said nothing while glowering on. "Even after Ryan died, you always maintained your cool around Clarke and Ezz." Ridley relaxed her shoulders then felt Dane sit behind her. "The weird thing is that all that just happened and I'm more concerned that you're wearing a dress."

"I've obeyed every order, without question: killing my pet mouse, breaking your arm, underwater combat camp." Ridley leaned into him and Dane went stiff. She looked into his dark eyes to see them wide with disbelief. "You're usually the voice of reason, say something."

His lips were moving but there weren't any words coming out. He blinked erratically at her before swallowing hard. "You're wearing a dress."

Ridley spun to face him and combed her hair behind her shoulders. "Is it weird?"

"Y-you look in-ncredible," Dane offered in stutters. He cleared his throat then looked down to see her hand over his. "You have a nice pair of carves." Ridley leaned into his shoulder. "Okay, you have a glorious pair of carves." He heard her snigger then furrowed his eyebrows. "No snide comment? No-no funky Hemingway-esque quote like 'only blood can be glorious, even then, it's just red. Only the poets made it glorious'? Who are you and what have you done with Ridley Axel?"

Ridley sat straight then lightly shook her head. "While I was gone, I realised that it's always been you. You put up with my no-nonsense, business-only, fuck-you attitude. I like you more than I planned, Sorensen," she admitted softly. "Seeing you with Chasseur..." she shook her head then sighed "... I've never seen an apple as green as my envy."

"Wha-what?"

"Cupid clearly wasn't a hunter; if he was, not only would he have hit us at the same time but he would set us up with someone compatible."

Dane was still blinking his confusion. "Ridley!" She sat back and looked away then cleared her throat. Dane huffed as he took her in. "Did you just tell me you're in love with me? That's... concerning. That's seismic! What the holy fuck?"

She steeled herself to look at him. "I don't want to come between you and Chasseur. I just..."

"Marie is... trivial. We just stem together," Dane cut in. His hand reached for her face and her dark eyes turned to the scarred index finger. His hand pulled away. Ridley took his clammy hand and rested in on her cheek. "I must be dreaming." Ridley shifted closer then kissed his cheek, right under his eye. "Definitely dreaming."

"Then I don't want to wake up," Ridley whispered against the reddening face.

She glanced into the dark eyes that were still filled to the brim with astonishment. Dane coiled her hair around his fingers, taking her in. A smile grew before he shook his head, awed beyond belief. Ridley bit her lower lip as she leaned in. Dane scoffed before he leaned in too. She moaned softly against his lips on hers. His hands trailed over her cheeks and neck before settling on her waist. Ridley clutched his school shirt by the collar, pulling him closer.

She pressed her face deeper into his, almost pinning him against the wall. Dane blinked his surprise when Ridley forced him deeper into the wall, straddling him. "Ridley," he gasped and pulled away. "You're really aggressive," he whispered. She straightened her hair out awkwardly. Dane scoffed at her sudden recluse. "Was that your first kiss?"

"Tell anyone, I'll skin you alive."

"You have no idea how long I've waited to do this." Dane kissed her again, tugging her more onto his lap. "God, it's going to snow tomorrow; you're wearing a dress and you're kissing me." Ridley rested her hands around his neck. Dane's hands went over her legs, her waist and her back. Ridley rested her head on his shoulder. "You never seize to amaze me, Ridley Axel."

"You're writing chem tomorrow; you should..."

She sighed unable to finish her sentence. "You realise I have centuries to do high school, right?"

"Five hundred years isn't as long as it sounds."

Ridley woke up to Ankh licking her face and groaned from the sudden burst of sunlight that seeped into her room. She sat up to see a grey wolf wagging her tail erratically. By her curtains was none other than Calista Badr. Sayeed's mother, and Ankh's adopted mother but she looked younger than them both. Ridley sighed then turned to find Dane still asleep next to her. Ankh didn't say anything but the excitement was on her snout. Calista turned to Ridley then gasped.

"Incredible," the goldblood exclaimed. She sat on the edge of the bed between the two girls, staring Ridley in the eye. "Sayeed said you were the Source but..." Calista tilted her head, not looking away from the gold she saw in Ridley's eyes.

"My parents came in last night from Spain," Ankh sang eagerly. "They're coming with us! Therianthropes live in secret, so they'll probably be more accepting if you have one on your side. Two are even better."

I find it hard to believe these filthy beasts live still, Ninsun jeered. Gods above, what is this life?

Ridley shook her head and sighed. "Thanks, Calista. I appreciate the extra help." Calista nodded then handed Ridley a stuffed bagel. "Where's Badr?"

"Sayeed is probably studying, passed curfew. Ahmed is indulging Rowan."

Ridley looked back to Dane then kissed his temple before stirring herself out of bed. Ankh's wagging tail was seen vanishing down the brief stairs that led the tower bedroom into the passage. She and Calista made downstairs while Ridley got dressed. The strangeness of being back home was still weighty in the air; the faded, gothic French floral wallpaper was familiar and also exotic. Returning to Dunon wasn't in her foreseeable plans, even with that heart-stopping crush on Dane.

The dark brown bathroom walls; those two uneven tiles in the shower; the sterile bathtub splat-bang in the middle of the floor; this was the place she grew up and felt no remnant of nostalgia or yearning for it. The candle chandeliers spread across the headmaster's residence, with their wax dripping over the wrought iron; the down lights that were installed to replace them; the creaking in wooden tiles on the right side of the corridor just before one of the guest rooms.

Ridley returned up to her room - in her towel - and squared her shoulders. Dane had made her bed and he was straightening her pillows. "You're doing that thing with your eyebrows," Dane pointed out. "You're planning something."

"I'm always planning something."

"I know; your contingency plan's contingency plan has a contingency plan that has a contingency plan." Ridley opened her closet and rummaged through her old clothes. "I think I missed a contingency plan," he chuckled. Ridley said nothing. "Talk to me."

"No."

Dane slumped his shoulders. "Is this because of last night?"

"No."

"I gather you're new to this but part of being in a relationship is communication." Ridley tossed a plaid shirt and a trusty pair of black jeans onto her bed. "It's a lot like being a hunter: we have to trust each other, talk and lookout for each other. Tell me, please, what's on your mind."

Ridley squared her shoulders then turned to her suitcase that still hadn't been unpacked. She took out a black lace spaghetti strap top and the platform stiletto ankle boots Dominique had Coco Chanel customise for her niece. The back of the shoes had jagged studs on them for fights! Ridley turned to him with her black underwear and matching bra in her hands. Her dripping hair made her towel damper.

"In the Antiquity Ages, goldbloods were threatened by the therianthropes' prowess. They spread propaganda among other bloods and among non-ampyra. It led to a widespread eradication. At the discovery of the New World," Ridley shrugged in dejection, "they took their extermination campaign wherever it led them. Dominique, Renee, Aimée, their parents, some of our teachers, Calista; they did nothing. As far as we know, they may have helped. Whole civilisations, beliefs, practices, philosophies..." She shook her head, splattering water around her carpet. "Now that I think about it, is your father really the bad guy, here? He's trying to undo all that and restore-"

"He's killing children!"

"My moral compass doesn't point due north. What's eighteen kids in the eyes of hundreds of thousands of lives? How many of them were children? Maybe I'm playing devil's advocate but for ones like Ahmed and Ankh who've had to live the whole of their lives in secret, what Viggo's doing..."

"Don't!" Ridley rolled her eyes then cast her undergarments onto her bed. "You're a hunter; your job is to do what's right."

As the Source, Onuris argued, your job is not to decided what is right and wrong. You must remain impartial, always.

We told you to leave this to the lesser bloods. The pride in Ninsun's voice made Ridley growl under her breath. This will only get messier the longer you remain within this little inconvenience.

I hate to say it but Onuris and Ninsun are correct, Ms Axel. Perhaps it is time to wash our hands of this.

Ridley brushed passed him and started lowering her towel to her waist. "Ridley..." Dane sighed. He turned his back to her as she got dressed. "Look, I know you're not staying around long. I-I was, er, um, thinking that... um... maybe you would be my farewell date." Ridley tied her bra then looked back to face him. "Assuming neither of us dies before this weekend."

She set her hand on his shoulder then turned him to face her. "How many knives am I holding?"

Dane bit his lip, stiffening his shoulders as he studied her; grey towel around her waist and the black bra, the only clothing she was wearing. The Danish hunter shrugged a single shoulder. "Three?"

"Lucky guess."

"Is that a yes?"

Ridley ran her fingers down the line of buttons on his school shirt. "Are you going to ask me to wear a dress?"

"Yes. Hell yes! I've seen it once, I want to see it again."

Ridley rolled her eyes then returned to her bedside to get dressed. "Fuck it," she sighed softly. "Fine. I'll be your date." Dane pumped his fist into her shoulder. "Dominique's been looking for a reason to drag me into a shopping spree, anyway."

"Good luck with the werewolves."

"He did not just call me a werewolf," Ankh jeered.

I believe the child was being polite, Onuris voiced.

Only when Dane shut her door did she sigh. "Do any of you watch me shower or take a shit?"

All the time.

"Unfortunately," Ankh added.

I believe I have been present whilst you were... how you say... flicking your bean, Ms Axel.

"Urg, been there! Be grateful we're too polite to speak when you're handling your business," Ankh jeered.

When Ridley made downstairs, the sound of her ankle boots' echo caught Esmeralda and Dominique's attention. Two contrasting women, two contrasting reactions; Dominique had a growing grin and gave a chuffed applause. Esmeralda, however, had a scrunch in her eyebrows while Rowan was nursing. Ridley looked between them and took another bite out of the bagel Calista bought her. Dominique crossed the parlor, swinging her blue maxi skirt in her hands like a giddy little girl.

Mariska's eyes went owl shaped at Ridley allowing Dominique to faff with her. Pale meaty fingers tugged on the flannel's collar. Esmeralda swaddled Rowan lightly before adjusting her arm that his head rested on. "Ar-are you wearing..." Esmeralda blinked her bewilderment. Unable to comprehend what she saw, she shook her head almost as if she were glitching. "Are those platform stilettos?"

"Oh, you will never guess the number of lessons we had before she could walk in them," Dominique voiced. "By the time I was done with my battle angel, she could scale a wall in nine inches! I've seen it."

"Heels? Into a wooded area," Calista voiced.

"These are the ultimate heels, my dear," Dominique continued.

"Coco Chanel made them for me," Ridley answered and caught them all off guard. "She replaced the heels with stiletto knives."

In the stunned silence, it was Mariska to say, "that sounded like the most Ridley thing you could have said and yet..." Esmeralda sighed then handed Rowan to her mother. "How is Coco Chanel still alive?"

Esmeralda shook her head then stormed passed Mariska and Dominique. "I'm going with you."

"You literally just breastfed the baby. And you're leaking."

"I'll be damned if I let you walk into unknown territory without backup. I doubt Pride and Prejudice, over here, is field-tested," Esmeralda countered, pointing to Dominique. "Don't forget who taught you skills that could save your life and not skills to save your ball gown."

"This little girl is jealous, my battle angel," Dominique purred. "Odd, I thought in replacing Ridley, you would have no reason to-"

"Both of you," Ridley cut in. She turned to Ankh wagging her tail next to Mariska as she took a breath. The Source looked between her stepmother and her aunt. "Esmeralda, you're not coming, neither is Dominique. Whatever trivial rivalry you two have is between you. You can sit around bickering like two embittered spinsters waiting on Death or you could be useful. But let me make something explicit," she added, growing annoyed. "I care for you both."

Esmeralda gasped and Mariska's jaw hit the ground with Rowan burping over her shoulder. Ankh too sat straighter. Her tail froze and dropped with her jaw. Mariska and Esmeralda looked to each other, wholly in disbelief, and even Dominique had to shake her head to make sure she wasn't asleep. Ridley took in the confusion throughout the parlor then dropped her shoulders. The past Sources were dead quiet and giving no sign that they were not shocked also.

"Suck it up. It's not that deep," Ridley concluded then turned on her heel. "Ankh, Calista."

The room was left with the hanging awe in the air. Esmeralda looked to Mariska stricken with dumb. "D-did she...?" Mariska nodded mutely. "Ma, Ridley just-- oh my God! I-I have to tell Clarke!"

Ridley rolled her eyes at what she heard from outside the headmaster's residence. Calista still wore her awe on her face as did Ankh. Ahmed, in all his glory as a muscular aging man, only gave Ridley a firm nod. She and Ankh filed into the backseat of his Jeep. "I can't believe you said that," Ankh roared.

Nye can I, Earnest piped. 'Tis dumbfounding. No offense, Ms Axel.

"Can you be quiet," Ridley bellowed into the silent car. She slumped into her seat as they left the school grounds. Ridley massaged her temples with her heavy breath. "The five of you give me headaches just from being in my head." She leaned her head against the cold window. "Not a word."

Ahmed looked into the back to see her close her eyes then turned back to the road ahead. Dunon was lively with mid-week activity. All along Main Street and the square, were people meandering purposefully. Ankh watched it pass. The dregs of Dunon were soon behind them, leaving only hills and forests that would soon turn to mountains. An endless, gorgeous expanse of greenery! Ridley was missing it, snoozing lightly against the window.

The drive was bottomless. Lethargic from the car’s confinement all too quickly, the passing scenery was the only excitement. Barely seeing the birds scatter about in the sky and only having the car's engine for noise had Ankh too down too quickly. Still, she stared out the car, resting her head on the windowpane. Their car carried on insouciant and flooded with silence. Ankh never saw Ridley look up from her nap to see her smiling at the passing wooded patch, nor did Ankh see the faint joy on her huntress’ face at the sight.

The summertime sun on Ridley's face was welcoming and made her relax in a way she hadn't in years. Not since Jakob took her and Dane camping at a lake, all those years ago. Of course, on the first night, Jakob left the two to fend for themselves with one bow and two arrows. They survived the whole three days without him. Those were simpler times; a time before making hunt was a cold and pitiless task. Back when it was still a thing of popularity and status.

The Jeep took a sharp right off the main road and into the lumped terrain of the hills' incline. The car jerked rapidly over roots and granulated ground. Ankh fell onto Ridley and the wolfen barked her frustration for the wild ride. Ridley groaned then shifted her legs onto the couch and used her arms to stablise herself. Calista also jolted from her own driving! Ahmed grunted and growled an animal's growl. Claws sprouted from his hands and pierced into the dashboard.

The bouncing smoothed out and Ahmed was taking deep, calming breaths along with Ankh. Ridley felt Calista slow down before the engine died. Ridley all but jumped out of the car, feeling her breakfast rise. She held it down and exhaled. Ankh followed out behind her and shook out her grey fur. On the car's opposite side, they heard Ahmed belched out his breakfast. Ridley straightened up then shrugged out her shoulders.

"I can't believe we're here," Ankh cheered. She was sniffing ahead, leading passed the front of the car. "It smells like there's dozens of them. Maybe hundreds! I-I'm not alone." The wolf froze then laid down on the ground with her ears flat. "I'm not alone." In front of her was an electric fence with a warning for volts and also for the Tournesol Forestry Reserve. "I'm going to be sick."

Ridley examined the fence then unearthed her karambit from the sheath on her garter. She tossed it to the fence; nothing. "Take your time," the Source replied. "I'll scout ahead."

"That's a terrible idea," Calista pointed out. "This colony has been secret for years, centuries even. I doubt we're the first outsiders to wonder into their den."

"Stay behind Ankh and I," Ahmed ordered. Ridley rolled her eyes but obeyed. "Also," he added, "lose all the weapons."

"You're crazy."

"We're trying to help them. They won't trust us if they feel threatened."

This may take a while, I suspect, Ninsun joked.

Ridley squared her shoulders then took off her artillery; her collapsible bow and a round of arrows tucked into her jeans; throwing knives strapped to her bra, along with two guns; ammunition in her pockets and socks; another set of daggers up her sleeve; and finally, her trusty karambit, sheathed in the garter on her thigh. Ridley turned to Sayeed's parents. Calista pointed to her hair. Ridley groaned then pulled out her ponytail and put the bow string in the car, with the brass knuckles that were hidden there too.

"Want me to take my belt off too," Ridley spat.

"It does look suspicious," Ahmed joked.

Ridley walked passed Ankh and the wolf sniggered under her breath before prancing up to her adoptive father's side. Ahmed crept ahead of the group with Ridley and Calista watching their rear. He was so tall and so beefy that he looked like he was about to blow up. The man wore a white jacket over a red shirt with a pair of black pants. He was the splitting image of Sayeed! Apart from the grey in his hair and beard.

Ankh sniffed ahead, leaping over boulders and dips in the ground. Ridley kept her dark eyes peeled and her senses alert. Ahmed stepped passed a tree and ran his hand over the bark, feeling the moss on his fingers. He sniffed it. "We're getting close. No sudden movements."

Calista glanced at Ridley who had her fists raised. "Why do you expect the worst of people you haven't met?"

"I trust the world about as far as I can throw it."

Calista shook her head as she ducked under a low-lying branch. She scanned the area - a hat tip to her decades, or even centuries, as a hunter - before following deeper. Ahmed looked at Ridley, over his shoulder. Ridley froze. Her head darted to a fox diving over an uprooted tree. Before either on of them could react, howling sounded. Ridley stiffened between Ahmed and Calista. "No sudden movements," Ahmed echoed. "Everyone remain calm."

A wolf - too huge of any natural wolf - stepped onto a boulder and towered over all of them. Its coat was chocolate-coloured, like Ankh's hair in her human form. He growled at them. "That's a big puppy," Ankh whimpered as she backed into Ridley. "Very big puppy."

A dark grey wolf also crept forward, along with a pure white wolf and the melanistic fox Ridley spotted. Ahmed raised his hands in surrender and nodded at the huge brown wolf. "At least we know who the ikon is," he whispered. He stepped forward cautiously making the entire group growl. "We're not here to hurt you. We're here to help. Protect, really." The brown wolf snarled a warning. "My name is Ahmed Badr. This is my daughter, Ankh. Ankh?"

"Nope. He's radiating intimidation in waves and I'm drowning."

"Ankh's scared," Ridley jeered, not breaking eye contact with the white wolf who stared her down too.

Ahmed sighed. "Ikon," he went on. "There's a vampire out there hunting you down. You see my wolfen daughter. And I am jackalen. My wife and my son's... girlfriend... they're kin. Please, let us help. We mean you no harm."

Listen to them a woman's voice said. Ridley looked around for the voice that came from everywhere. She hears us. Ridley turned back on the white wolf. This is no ordinary vampire, Falk. She is... beyond.

An old hag in wolf's skin. What comedy, Ninsun cheered.

"You're going to get us killed," Ridley whispered. Ninsun stayed quiet but Calista looked to Ridley. "Ankh, are you hearing this?"

"Hearing what?"

Incredible, the white wolf commented then straightened from her defensive crouch. She stepped closer to Ridley and Ankh snarled. Ridley pet the grey wolf. The white wolf came closer. They are who they say they are, Falk. Grant them passage. The brown wolf barked his rage. They mean no harm. The white wolf sniffed Ridley's hand before nestling into it. They are hunters, yes, but they're telling the truth.

The brown wolf huffed then turned deeper into the forest with his horde. The white wolf beckoned them after them. "You didn't hear that," Ridley asked Ankh.

"All I heard was growling. Why? What did you hear?"

Calista rested a hand on Ridley's shoulder as they followed the wolves and fox to their sanctuary. Ms Axel, I don't mean to speak out of school but these... people have great legends that run deep into the protection of nature and all things order and balance. Perhaps we can assume that as a vessel of a scared part of nature, you are...

What Earnest, Ninsun barked! Acquainted with their mysticism? Ha! They are vermin! Our natural enemies! They are inferior, mangy and without decorum. Their place is beneath our feet. Is it not so, Onuris?

I wish to remain impartial in these affairs.

"Excuse me," Ridley piped up loud enough for the entire group to hear. The therianthropes, Ankh among them, halted to look at her but the Source's eyes were on the white wolf. "How do you know I can hear you?"

What, by the gods, are you doing!

"Ninsun, shut up," Ridely vexed. "How am I able to hear you?"

The towering brown wolf stood on his hind legs and roared. He started to peel off his fur and his skin. The exposed muscle healed and grew new skin over. The crunch from his bones made Ridley cringe, along with Ankh. "Oh God," the wolfen gagged. "This is more gross to watch."

Falk exhaled a shaky breath before looking at Ridley, completely naked. Calista and Ankh looked elsewhere while Ahmed only turned his eyes away. The ever brazen Ridley shamelessly looked him in the eye. "You have no right to speak here, you-" Falk's brown eyes did a double take on her. He stomped up to her and clasped her jaw. His hands were meaty and warm, squeezing her jaw as he stared into her eyes. "What is she," he jeered.

A root from the Tree of Life, the white wolfen answered. The same as a First Family. Falk turned Ridley's face but her eye contact never broke from his. You see it because you are trueblood.

"This feeble little mouse? I could snap her neck with ease."

"Try me," Ridley dared.

"We're not here to fight," Ahmed yelled. "Ikon, please, your colony is in danger and we came to warn you."

"Then warn us and get out."

Falk, the white wolf called. She stood on her hind paws, next to Ridley, and pressed a paw onto his pronounced bicep. You would kill their Source?

"As they have killed ours!"

"That's right," Ankh stated. "I-I always thought it was just some Greek myth but..." Ridley looked to Ankh. "Supposedly, Zeus was an ampyra. You know the story of King Lycaeon and his sons."

"Wait, wait," Ridley cut in. "If Lycaeon was your Source, after he died, someone else would've become the new one."

Do not compare us to them, you insolent...

"Ninsun, shut up," Ridley jeered under her breath. "That's how it works with us. If your Source was truly dead, none of you would be here. The Source isn't the person, it's-"

"The Bloodline," Falk cut in. Falk sized her up then let go of her face. "That is knowledge kept only by the truebloods of both kinds."

"We call them goldbloods but, yes."

Falk, get on with it.

Falk looked to the white wolf who was back on all fours. "You best be grateful the åse is here to vouch for you. All of you - kin or not, Source or not - would be dead in the dirt." The dark grey wolf and the fox turned and continued into the forest. "No outsider is allowed into the den without her say-so."

Ridley glanced to the white wolf and gave a firm nod. The åse blinked then continued on. "Your colony is in danger," the Source began.

"You've been saying that since we found you yet you haven't told us anything."

"There's a man, descended from a wolfen bloodline in Denmark. He's hunting for wolfen, jacklen, hyenian, foxen, whatever else there is. He found your colony. You have to..." Ridley saw a series of cabins beyond a thicket of trees ahead. People, nonchalantly walking among wolves and foxes, were awed by the trespassers "... move."

"This colony has stood on this landed for well over a thousand years. My grandfather settled on this land and I'll be damned if I undo his hard work and suffering."

Why does a kin hunt his own people?

Ridley bit her lip then looked to Ankh. "If you lie to them I swear..."

"His name is Viggo. Viggo Elliott-"

Viggo Elliott Wolfensøn...

"Wolfensøn? A Wolfensøn lives on?" Falk turned back to Ridley, ignoring Calista and Ahmed. "My grandfather was made ikon of this colony at Greybeard Wolfensøn's behest. How can a Wolfensøn be a threat to the colony?"

Ridley squared her shoulders. "Greybeard was Viggo's father. Viggo's a goldblood and he's always been bitter about that. He wanted to be a wolfen, an... ikon, I'm guessing. Look, I won't lie to you," Ridley sighed. Falk's eyes went wide as a woman handed a pair of pants to him. "Eighteen children have gone missing; all of them younger than ten, and six of them are dead. He's using an abomination science to turn them, against their will."

"And you've seen it," Falk pressed, pointing to her forehead.

She looked down. Out of the corner of her eye, Ankh and the åse were strolling through the line of cabins. "I watched them die," Ridley admitted. "If things were different, I'd probably be out there helping him find more children to turn. He needs a viable blood source. It's someone who's half therianthrope and half ampyra."

"We've none of those," Falk stated coolly. "Therianthropes breed with therianthropes or with the ordinaries. Never with the fangs." Ridley gave a firm nod. "I'll admit, I'm conflicted. It would be a dream to see more of my kind out there; not having to hide from the fangs." He nodded to himself then looked back to Ridley. "And to know it's a Wolfensøn to do this, what an honour it would be to serve a First Family."

"'First Family'?"

"Your Bloodline is passed by the bite. Ours is passed by the womb. Few families are Firsts and the Wolfensøns... as a Scandanavian wolfen, myself, I feel a great pride to know that name."

"When he comes, he won't ask for your people. He's still ampyra at the end of the day."

"It couldn't have been easy for you to tell the whole truth," Falk began, turning to walk on. "For a therianthrope to know that someone out there is trying to salvage your race, it's something we pray the åse would tell us. To risk our allegiance with the truth, like that, you must be either very desperate or very brave."

"A few months ago, all this nothing but myth to me. A few months ago, I almost lost my family by omitting the truth from them. It's not a mistake I'll make again. So here I am, asking what I gather is this colony's alpha, to let me help him protect his domain from my own people."

"Where would we go? This reserve is all we've known for a thousand years."

"Dunon isn't far from here. My father is the chief hunter there; we could-" Ridley stopped and knelt. It was as if the ground was whispering to her.

What witchery are these beasts doing!

Do you feel that? It's... hypnotic... Ridley swayed from her drowsiness then looked up to Falk. Ms Axel, do you hear buzzing or have we gone 'round the bend? She shook her head but the odd sensation remained. We've been poisoned!

"What is this?"

"The den," Falk stated then picked her up. "A sacred place for us, like a church of sorts." She moaned with her head against his thick shoulder. "We were once defenders of the natural world. Our... magic, let's call it, was a gift from nature. The story goes that a woman in labour pleaded with the wilds to spare her child's life. Then, in a clearing, she found a tree with water sprouting from it. She drank the water, and she and her child were saved. The tree made them the first First Family."

"It hurts."

"What you're feeling is that magic. We call it the primal."

"A few minutes ago, you wanted to kill me."

"I still do. When the åse trusts enough to let outsiders into the colony, our stories become theirs. I'm still willing to slash your throat, if the opportunity arises." Falk walked into a cave, dim, and only lit by the shimmer from the pools and hot springs inside. "We heal our sick with these waters. Some not all." Ridley moaned then turned away from the glare. "The åse says you are a root from the Tree of Life, this means you feel the primal for you, yourself, are a vessel of primal."

Slash this mutt's throat! I demand it.

Falk set her on the brink of a pool and offered a wooden cup of its water. "Drink. Better to have it in you than against you." Ridley took a sip and hummed then downed it in huge gulps. "Better?" She nodded feeling the headache subside. Ridley leaned into his chest and closed her eyes. "We cannot leave this place, little mouse. Our entire civilisation has been rooted here."

Incredible, Onuris gasped. These children... they are much like us.

Poppycock, blaspheme! These vermin waste the air they breathe and-

"At least let me help protect you," Ridley offered. "I can have an entire perimeter of hunters secure the colony within the hour. When Viggo shows up, I can put a stop to this."

"I'd trust an outsider as far as I can throw them," Falk countered. He combed her hair out of her face to see the gold ring in her eyes. "Our åse may trust you to let you in but I would never trust you with an allegiance. Not after all your kind has down to mine."

"Even when Ahmed and Ankh are willing to vouch for us?"

"Ahmed's wife is a fang and his daughter is muttblood. Fangs and therianthropes may live in peace in this colony but only the fangs within this colony." Ridley nodded into his bare chest, feeling a great tiredness consume her. "Never in my centuries did I expect to meet the fangs' Source, nor expect her to be..." Falk watched her eyes flutter weakly. "You're something."

They will stay the night. The wolfen looked over his shoulder at the pure white wolf who had Ahmed and Calista on her tail. Next to her, Ankh was drinking water from a steamy pool. They are kin. The Source too. They know very little about their history. Teach them as your grandfather taught your mother, as your mother taught you.

Falk turned to Ahmed and Calista then Ankh. "Your daughter is a muttblood; the one incapable of maintaining human form."

"There's a name for it," Calista asked. "There're others?"

Ahmed added, "can you teach her control?"

"Muttbloods weaken our bloodlines. We cast them from the colony and leave them to the wilds, after they're born. What happens to them after that is not our concern." Calista still pet Ankh under her chin and the grey wolf nestled into her mother's ribs. "If there is a cure, you will not find it here." Falk's dark eyes turned onto the white wolf and he nodded. "Our åse insists you stay in the den. We'll bring you blood, Calista Badr, and food for the rest of you."

"What about Ridley," Ahmed pressed, pointing to her unconscious form in Falk's arms.

He took in her sleeping form then tilted his head. "The primal one will stay with me. Her heart beats steady and she reined in her adrenaline, unlike you three. Strength like this proves to be a great threat; I won't allow her to out of sight."

Ankh growled warningly but Ahmed raised his hand to her snout. "We're in his territory," he stated but his wolf daughter growled on. "Ankh, please." She snorted then bared her teeth but sat down. "We'll do as you order. Please don't hurt her."

Falk's dark eyes looked down to Ridley and he shook his head. "Every fang in the world could be dead in an instant with her head. And she's asleep in my arms. The world could crumble at my feet and therianthropes could reign once again." The ikon looked back to his pallid guests and Ankh readying for an attack. "You came in peace so I'll let you remain in peace, only for the åse's sake. Thank her that your lives are still your own."