Blood Trials

The du Luqs - Sebastian too - were in the parlour, listening to Ridley relay the information. Her dreams, dating back months, she parroted out with her sketchbook in hand, going through the faces of twin children in Viggo’s vicious blood game. Ankh was laying on the settee, still a wolf, a wordless spectator. She could feel the extent of the Source’s rue from this harrowing tale and all it encapsulated. The previous Sources also spectated, Ninsun and Onuris in protest but Earnest was being supportive as best he could. He too hated the idea but what could he do?

“I know Viggo has been part of an entity that all but destroyed our family,” Ridley concluded. “I know you want revenge; you want his head on a platter, or on a spike, or mounted on a wall. Believe me, I want to use his skull as a chalice that I drink his blood out of, but you’re going to leave this to me and Ankh.”

“But, sister-”

“The Consortium killed Aimée, tortured Ankh and I and now they’re kidnapping and torturing children. I don’t want to begin to think what they’re willing to do to all of us. Ankh and I were trained for this. This isn’t negotiable.”

“Alright,” Tomás caved. He stood up and took Ridley by the arms. “We will sit back. On one condition: you allow us to help where we can. Deciphering ancient languages; hosting balls to sift through suspects; financing a new armoury, if need be. We have our uses so, please, you cannot expect us to sit in the back while you carry this unbearable burden on your shoulders.”

The huntress turned to the wolfen who gave a nod with nothing more. “Okay. You can be my unit but only do as I say. I won’t risk your lives for no reason.” Tomás kissed her forehead. “I don’t want anything to happen to you any of you. You’re all under my protection.”

“We will not fail you, dearest,” Dominique chirped.

Ridley sighed her defeat then combed her damp hair with her fingers. “Ankh and I have work to do,” she concluded. “Don’t do anything reckless, please.” Ankh sighed then plopped off her seat and followed Ridley out the parlour. The walk back to their room was a quiet one; not even the other Sources were making any sort of advances to desist them.

Genvieve had replaced the air freshener in the bedroom from vanilla to rose, that matched the pale pink walls of the room. Ridley caved against the bedroom doors. Ankh sighed then retreated into the walk-in closet. Her yowl of pain cut through deafening silence. Ridley heard the sound of her flesh ripping and her yelps and grunts of pain.

It was a bone-chilling sight to watch Ankh go between forms; it was as if she were some gruesome anomaly gnawing out of a bloody chrysalis. Her claws would rip at her fur that came off with flesh that disintegrated in her hands. The sound of her bones cracking and re-shaping and realigning was gross too! Around her face especially.

The way her snout would retract, it dislocated her jaw every single time! The way her eye sockets would change in size, and her eyes going from grey to green looked like it hurt! The veins in her eyes look like they pop and the blood colours her eyes and then the blood changes to the colour of the form she’s in. It always sent goosebumps down Ridley’s spine!

At least it was easier for Ankh to be in her wolf form; that’s the form she was born in, hence why looking human takes too much out of her. Ridley looked up to see Ankh in her hoodie with no pants on. “You know you didn’t have to,” the Source voiced.

“I have apposable thumbs now; you never know when those might be useful.” Ridley pushed herself to her feet. She walked passed. “Hey. I don’t need the enhanced sense of smell to smell the fear all over you. They’ll be okay.”

Will they?

“Ignore him,” Ankh ordered. “From now on, you only listen to people who are certified alive. Partially dead, or neither-dead-nor-alive, or entities that swirl around in your head are optional extras.”

Ridley ignored them both and moved to the desk near her bed, where there sat a PostIt not with the numbers Morgan saw: 43 44 24 07 24 35. She slammed the sketchbook in front of her, open on her sketch of Morgan and Logan. Two boys with black curly hair. One a fierce rebel in the making and one a sweetheart; Ridley could feel it. They were blackblood ampyra and that’s why she could see them.

“Fear is good,” Ankh went on. “It shows your human. Ampyra, non-ampyra, therianthrope, kin. We’ll get through-”

“Ankh,” the Source interjected. “Name a time you’ve ever seen me afraid. Genuinely shitting-myself-in-fear afraid.” The room was quiet and Ankh huffed. “I’m very new to this and I hate it! It’s like I’m helpless.” She leaned her head against her hand, looking up at the chocolatey bob cut. “I get that it’s normal but not for me. The worst part is that we have a lead,” she went on, holding up the PostIt note. “I have no idea where to start looking. Is it test scores? Test subjects? Dialling codes?”

The wolfen leaned against the desk and took the Sources free hand. “You’re frustrated. We need to go slow and comb through every possibility. What do you remember from your...” she shook her head, racking her brain “... vision?”

Ridley looked down to her sketchbook, with the twin faces in pencil looking up to her. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. She closed her eyes, trying to remember. “The tablet had those numbers on it and... some sort of wild dog. I-I don’t recognise it; it had longer, pointier ears. It was definitely smaller than a wolf.”

Ankh took Ridley’s phone and started typing. “This one,” she asked, showing her the Google image. The Source nodded at the animal. “This’s a desert jackal. It’s what Ahmed turns into.”

“What do you know about them?”

Ankh shrugged while shaking her head at Ridley. Her green eyes filled with pensive thought. “Ahmed doesn’t really like to talk about his morphing. He never used it much either. These numbers don’t really link in with jackalens; not their height, weight, speed, nothing.” Ridley sighed then combed her damp hair then leaned into the desk. “I know someone who would know a lot about them.”

“Who,” Ridley asked with the past Sources suddenly also eager.

What sort of grand one would have an account of such ancient beings, Ninsun cheered.

“Sayeed,” Ankh answered and Ridley scoffed, shaking her head in defeat. “Do you want to figure this out or not?” Ridley tapped her fingers impatiently on her sketchbook. “He studied our father’s traits and behaviour patterns. It might be a little obscure because his study was on one person but... what other options do we have right now?”

“Personally, I trust Sayeed about as far as I can throw him; he’s almost fifty, with the maturity of a teenager. As a professional...” the Source arched her chin higher. “I can’t even make a threat against him because I know he won’t say a word.” She handed Ankh her phone. “I think he’ll be more interested in talking to his pet sister.”

Ankh kissed her teeth at Ridley while scrolling through the phone in her hand. She couldn’t help but grin at Sayeed’s name on the screen as she tapped on it. The phone started ringing, on speaker, and Ridley could see the wolfen bouncing on the balls of her feet. She was grinning from ear to ear and tinting red as the dialling tone continued. Ridley sat straighter, watching her ajar grow more and more elated until her cellphone was answered.

“Salamun alaykum.”

“Walaykum salam, wahashtini,” Ankh replied, tearing up. The two girls both heard Sayeed gasp. “It’s so good to hear your voice. I miss you so much! How-”

“Where are guys?”

“We’re safe.”

“God, Ankh, you two had me worried sick. The Axels and Dane have been losing their shit since you left. Where are you? I’m coming to get you.”

“You have finals,” Ankh countered. “And... Ridley...” the wolfen looked to the Source. “I need your help,” she deflected. “I need everything you can tell me on jackalen. Everything.”

“Jackalen? Why?”

“Sayeed, I don’t have a lot of time. Please!”

The line was silent. Ridley and Ankh looked between each other, awaiting the hunter. “Fine,” he sighed. Ankh gave the phone a small smile. “There’s nothing really differentiating them from you: peak human condition; predator instinct; zoolingualism. It’s just a manifestation of one’s inner animal, like any therianthropy. What’s this about, Key?”

Ridley held up the shocking pink PostIt note to Ankh. “Any statistics,” she pressed. “Like percentages o-or graphics?”

“N-no. I haven’t worked that detailed-ly into it.”

“Okay, but do the numbers 43, 44 or 24 mean anything?”

“No.”

“What about 07, 24, or 35?”

“Where’d you get these numbers from?”

Ankh looked to Ridley and the Source shrugged. “Um... okay. Ridley saw them and she’s trying to decipher them but-”

“How did she find them? Were they just there? Together?”

“Yeah, why?”

Sayeed remained silenced while Ankh and Ridley were looking between each other quizzically. The doors to the bedroom opened with Dominique letting herself in. Both girls shushed her before she said a word. The curvy du Luq tilted her head as she re-knotted her luxe white bathrobe that was over her nightgown. The Sources too were dead quiet awaiting for Sayeed to reply with his trail of thought.

The hunter sighed on the other end of the call before the women heard shut a door. “Six different numbers just put together,” he stated. “It’s not a code; the alphabet only has twenty-six letters. Have you tried coordinates?” Ankh looked to Ridley when the Source started typing erratically. “Key?”

“Pending,” Ankh answered. Ridley was scanning through the results then parted her lips at what she read. She turned her screen to Ankh. “No way,” the wolfen jeered. “You have got to be biting me in the ass!” Before Sayeed could reply, his sister replied, “it’s the Tournesol Forestry Reserve. That's right outside Dunon Town."

On the other end, Sayeed was also typing with his phone on speaker. "Huh," he commented. "It says that the place was buffered from tourists and hikers b-because..." Sayeed was quiet then sighed. "Ankh Yasmin Badr, what are you up to?"

"What? What is it?"

"The reserve was buffered off from tourists and hikers b-because of the wolf territory. Their numbers were uncontrolled and they were too aggressive to restrain, even with tranquilisers."

"Oh, God! Sayeed, I have to go," Ankh hung up and tossed the phone aside. "Ridley, those coordinates are to a colony!"

"French, please."

"A colony," Ankh persisted but even Dominique was shaking her head. "Stars above! A pack! It's a whole entire community of wolfen, right outside Dunon. How did Viggo find them?"

"Excuse my interruption," Dominique began then tucked her hands into her robe's pockets. "Does Viggo not have a son in this trivial little town of yours? A son he wants dead? Is it not possible that this son sold the information to his father to preserve his life?"

"Dane wouldn't that," Ridley exclaimed standing up. "He's a good man, an honest and honourable one. He..." the Source sighed then combed her hair aside to stop herself. She shook her head as she continued, "even if he did, Viggo has no idea where Dane is. Jakob kept them off the radar before they came to Dunon."

"It doesn't matter how Viggo knows, the point is that he does know. That colony is in danger. We have to protect them!"

Ridley slouched in her desk chair, swinging in it as she weighed her options. Dominique went to spread herself on the bed while Ankh gave Ridley the soundless lecture with her deep green eyes. The past Sources could sense the resolve coming over their protege but it didn't make it any easier to swallow the unavoidable fact that she would have to face her family again.

"We're going back to Dunon."