Chapter Five

We reached the mansion in ten. I swallowed hard when I saw the huge building before me, with its grand doors and lit torches on each side, as though it was Dracula’s house or something. Dusk gave the structure an even more ominous feel, the dimming sunlight causing the bricks to gleam menacingly.

We entered after the Guards at the entrance made sure we didn’t carry any weapon with us - as if we would - and then we were in the entrance hall, with tall ceiling, huge windows, marble floor and a staircase at the end, leading to the second floor. There were security cameras, I could see, and portraits decorated the walls. The mansion felt both ancient and modern, new, and it made for an uncertain air.

Strider came to a stop in the middle of the hall, and we followed his lead. Charlotte and Hazel took the opportunity to ogle his behinds, whispering about whatever, and from the tense lines of his spine, I knew the werewolf could hear them even if I couldn’t, thanks to his superhuman hearing. He didn’t turn around, though, his face planted forward, and I gathered he was avoiding my friends, like one avoided a determined mosquito.

After a few minutes of nervous wait, three people came down the stairs. My breath hitched when I spotted the Alpha of the Millennium, wearing similar attire to that he’d worn the day before, approaching us. Behind him there were two werewolves I recognized from his convoy; Albert, the mal wolf the Alpha had introduced as the point of contact, and another werewolf who was stunningly beautiful, with long silver-gold hair and a pair of kind, hazel eyes. Everything about this woman screamed empathy, softness, and warmth, and I wondered if she was some special type of werewolf, because the aura she emitted was so strong I was inexplicably drawn to her, wanting her to hug all the sorrow away from or something equally as creepy. Her looks only added to that freaky aura, and all she was missing was a pair of wings and a halo and she was set.

The Alpha stopped before Strider and the two did that hug-tap-on-back thing that men always did and smiled at each other. The picture of the both of them, looking so serene, was extremely hot and I felt my heartbeat accelerating. Suddenly, the Alpha’s reddish eyes snapped to me, and my cheeks flushed automatically, but his gaze didn’t linger for longer than a second before he returned it to Strider, and it occurred to me I might’ve imagined it, staring so intently at him. Or maybe I didn’t imagine it. I had no idea. I was even more confused when the Alpha’s nostrils flared and he seemed to be sniffing the air, as though the same irritating smell from yesterday was still bothering him now, and I began to wonder if it had anything to do with us humans or something.

Strider walked to the side, revealing us fully to the Alpha and his companions. The Alpha nodded to us, a small, polite smile on his face. “It’s very nice to finally meet you, humans,” he said in that low, deep voice of his, but now it seemed to bear a soft undertone it hadn’t had before. “I believe I’ve already introduced myself, but allow me to do so again. My name is Frederick Rhodes and I’m the Alpha of the Millennium. You may call me Alpha.” He motioned toward Albert. “This is Albert Lugos, my senior assistant, and a Messenger type of werewolf, meaning he has the ability to telepathically pass on messengers, announcements, and the like, using his thoughts only.”

I had no clue there were types for werewolves, and now I saw Albert in a new light, aware as I was of his abilities.

The Alpha continued. “And this is Maria Oliver, a werewolf Healer.” He motioned at the beautiful blonde.

Now it explained why there was such an aura of goodness around here. I’d heard of Healers back in the day, and I knew they couldn’t literally hate another living being, because the purpose of their entire existence was healing the sick and wounded and care for the mentally unstable when they needed them. They could only love and accept every person they met, be them humans or werewolves, villains and heroes. Just thinking of someone who would hug, love and accept me as I was, was both incredible and terrifying in equal measures.

“You must be wondering why I invited you here,” the Alpha said, returning my attention to him. “I apologize, but I cannot answer that until I get some answers of my own. If the answers will be given, I’ll explain. If not, we’ll have to depart with an unfortunate case of dissatisfaction.”

The way he chose to word that statement, and the words themselves, confused the hell out of me, and I saw that my friends felt the same way, too. But the Alpha didn’t give us time to ponder it all and instead glanced at Maria. “Do what you must,” he ordered her in a soft, quiet voice. Maria seemed so fragile, so good, that I couldn’t even think about raising my voice at her.

The Healer smiled warmly and nodded. From the corner of my eyes, I caught Ethan’s face as he looked at the she-wolf; he was utterly enthralled. I couldn’t blame him; I was fascinated with her as well. She drew close, and spoke in a melodious Soprano voice, “Please get in line, darlings.”

The five of us did as told and I found myself between Charlotte and Jane. Maria started with Hazel. She stood in front of her and put her index finger on Hazel’s forehead in a strange way. Hazel let out a surprised gasp. “Tell me your name, dear,” said Maria, her smile intact, much like Hazel’s constant smile, only prettier, obviously.

“H-Hazel Milton,” my friend stuttered out.

Maria nodded. “Close your eyes now, dear. Don’t be afraid.”

Hazel nodded and, still hypnotized, did as asked. Once her eyes were closed, Maria shut hers too, and a complete silence stretched over the hall. Not a soul breathed, as though everyone was waiting for something to happen, expecting it, even. I could see it on the Alpha’s face, along with Strider and Albert’s, too. Even I felt like I wanted something specific to happen, but I had no idea what it was.

Nothing occurred.

Maria disconnected her finger from Hazel’s forehead at once, and the two opened their eyes. “Thank you,” Maria said, bobbing her head shortly, and moved to the Ethan. “Your name, please.”

“Ethan Benson.”

The Healer did the same thing with Ethan, and after a few moments of tense silence, the result was the same and Maria moved forward to Jane. The same thing happened with Jane, and then it was my turn. Maria’s smile was still on her face as she said, “Tell me your name, please.”

“Angela Wayne,” I said, trying to calm my loud heart down. No one had ever looked at me so directly like this werewolf. It seemed as though her eyes bore right into my soul, exposing all of my secrets and laying me bear for her to see. It was a disconcerting experience, especially since she was so kind and warm. It made me want to take a few steps away from her, but I didn’t dare to move.

“Close your eyes, Angela,” she ordered pleasantly, and I did. I felt her finger resting on my forehead, colder than I’d expected, and I waited.

Something stirred inside me. I didn’t know what it was, exactly, but I felt it moving, slithering through my chest. But before I could decipher what the fuck it was, Maria’s finger was removed from my face and I opened my eyes, seeing that she already moved on to Charlotte.

I blinked, trying to get my thoughts in order, aware that I must’ve had a very peculiar and rather stupid look on my face. I turned my head to Jane, Ethan, and Hazel, all of whom seemed stunned. Jane mouthed to us, “Did you feel it, too?” and Hazel, Ethan and I nodded slowly. Everyone felt that unidentifiable something inside of us moving, then.

Once Maria was done with Charlotte, she returned to her place next to the Alpha. “I see,” the Alpha murmured, and he couldn’t quite conceal his disappointment. “If so, no answers will be given. You may go back.”

It took me more than a moment to comprehend what he was saying, and when his words finally computed, I was crushed by a wave of disappointment. That was it? Really? After all this time we humans felt like we weren’t being seen by the race we shared this earth with, when it finally happened, it was only for this few, odd minutes? What the hell was going on?

“Come with me,” Strider said, his voice and face also showing his own disappointment. The Alpha, Maria, and Albert turned their backs to us, and I felt as though a knife was shoved in my heart, for an unfathomable reason. I forced myself to turn my back to them, too, and, along with my friends, started making my way out after Strider.

I felt awful. It was so cruel of them, of the Alpha, to make us feel needed, that we were actually acknowledged, only to take that away from us just as quickly. It wasn’t fair. Why did we have to suffer like that, and all because of werewolves’ superiority complex that prevented them from befriending the lesser, weak humans? I wanted these werewolves to see us as equals, no matter how much of a weakling we were as a race. I wanted them to see us, not just when it was convenient for them, but all the fucking time.

So change it.

I froze in my place at once, sure I had imagined it. A voice didn’t just whisper into my head right now… right? It wasn’t my voice. I mean, it sounded like my voice but… it wasn’t. Could it be Albert, the telepath, intruded upon my thoughts? But why would he say that? And besides, it was a feminine voice, oddly familiar as though it was mine, but was it?

My frantic thoughts came to an abrupt stop when the hall’s windows shattered.

Hazel, Ethan, Jane, and Charlotte froze as well, and Strider spun around, watching the five of us rigidly, positioning himself in a fighting stance I recognized from the many mock-battles he’d participated in at the college’s quad for all to watch. I turned my head slowly and saw that the Alpha and his companions stopped as well and stared at us with palpable incredulity. “Come back here,” the Alpha then commanded, his nostrils flaring.

We walked toward the Alpha, unsure and lost, with Strider at our heel. My heart beat loudly in my ears as I wondered what the hell had just happened. Why did the windows shatter out of the blue like this? It was actually a nice day - there weren’t any strong winds or something like that! And that voice in my head…

I reached the obvious conclusion that I had lost my fucking mind.

“Which one of you did it?” the Alpha inquired, motioning at the shattered glasses. His voice wasn’t angry as I’d expected it to be but rather… expectant. If only I knew why.

None of us responded, because really, it was a stupid question. How could we break the windows if we’d been nowhere near close to them? And even if we were, they would’ve noticed one of us had a bloody hand or leg from shoving at the glass. Not that we could’ve done it violently, anyway; the windows were huge and neither they nor I were strong enough to do that.

“I’m asking again,” the Alpha’s voice turned a little threatening now as he stepped closer in a calculated, slow pace, intended to overwhelm. “Which one of you did it?”

Charlotte squeaked; Hazel, for once, wasn’t smiling; Jane was on the verge of tears, holding Ethan’s hand tightly; and I looked at the Alpha in pure disbelief. How could they even think one of us did it? We were human! We didn’t have supernatural sense and quirks like they did!

I felt the rage inside me beginning to boil. I tried to push it back and not let it rise to the surface and control me. But I worked so hard every day keeping it at bay, and now, with my emotions at their extreme, it was even much goddamn harder.

“Answer the Alpha, humans,” Strider snarled, his voice sharp. He looked at us with such judging, superior, condescending eyes, that I felt the rage inside me threatening to explode. I desperately tried reining it, put it behind mental bars, but I lost the fight.

“Not everything is our fault,” I blurted into the silence. “Not all ‘humans’ are to blame for everything.” The bitterness in my voice was apparent for all to hear. I was beyond self-control; the rage had taken over, and even if inside, a voice - my own voice this time - yelled in panic What the hell are you doing?! It was pointless.

The Alpha and Strider’s gazes snapped to mine, their eyes sharp. “What did you just say?” the Alpha walked toward me slowly, stalkingly even, like a predator marking their prey.

“Stop treating us like varmints, you filthy werewolves!” I screamed before I could try to stop myself, and horror replaced my rage when the floor began quaking, the entire mansion with it. The trembles grew stronger and stronger, and along with it that stirring thing that had moved inside me when Maria touched me. That thing unfolded and encompassed me, causing me to feel hot and cold, happy and sad, terrified and exhilarated.

I stepped back, my eyes wide. The looks on everyone’s face only made my emotions even more unstable, while the floor shuddered, the portraits fell from the walls, and the light-bulbs flickered. Next thing I knew I was on my hands and knees, my breaths shallow, cold sweat covering my face, and my body weak and limp from over-extraction I didn’t understand where it came from.

As abruptly as it came, the earthquake stopped, and a whimper escaped my mouth.

“We got our answer,” the Alpha’s voice penetrated through my confounded brain, shoving away all the troubling thoughts that began crawling back inside my now-clear head. “Welcome to the world, Spirit of Chaos, Calamity, and Disasters.”