Reed was already entirely engrossed in every single word that left Billy's lips, hanging onto every single syllable. Callas wondered if these were the legends that Reed had remembered growing up with, if the stories were the same. She knew she was too young to remember anything about them, but it was still nice to finally experience something that meant so much to Reed with him. The fire, in the middle of the circle, crackled as the wooden logs burned underneath, the warmth of the flames travelled to Callas, which she was thankful for as the wind had been cold and unforgiving as it swept through the back of Jacobs house. She looked over to her left and smiled to herself as her eyes met with Embry. He sent her a wink before he turned his attention to Billy as well. The moon shone overhead, casting a soft glow around the circle. Billy cleared his throat and Callas looked over to him, catching her full attention.

     "The Quileutes have been a small tribe from the beginning," Billy started. "But we've always had magic in our blood."

     Everyone's attention was now glued to Billy. There was a commanding tone to his voice that sucked Callas in, her eyes were unable to move away from him. There was something about him that seemed different to Callas now, she hadn't noticed it before, but he held a strong authority and wisdom over the group that gathered around the fire. Reed had nodded his head along with a few others, including Sue and Old Quil. A chill ran down her spine, the hairs on the back of her neck pricked up, something washed over her—she wasn't sure if it was pleasant, or if it had terrified her. It wasn't his words, but the meaning behind them that seemed to stick with her, striking her bones. Billy glanced over at them, there was something—a look—in his eye that caused her head to tilt.

     "We were great spirit warriors, shape-shifters, that transform into the powerful wolf. This enabled us to scare off our enemies. And protect our tribe."

     Images began to flash into her mind, pounding against her skull as they all emerged at the same time, fighting for her attention. It was overwhelming. But there was one that caught her eye. There were men, but she didn't recognise any of them. There was a hard look set across each of their faces, but she couldn't see what they were looking at. They were ordinary men that shook with anger and vengeance before wisps of white surrounded their bodies and rippled, causing them to lunge forward into a beast. Wolves, seemingly much larger than the average wolf, stood in their place with snarling and blood soaked teeth that snapped as their lips turned up. It was a large pack of them, they were almost as tall as she was when they were on all fours—she hated to think about what they would have looked like had they stood up on their hind legs. Their paws extended with sharp claws, coated in a dark layer of dry blood that soaked into the fur, matting it together in clumps. The low rumble that came before an eye piercing growl shook the earth.

     "One day, our warriors came across a creature."

     Callas stared at the fire, her mind wondering, sinking into her vivid imagination as Billy's words came to life. There was a clearing, tall thin trees were closely packed together around the large open space. Ice cold, crystal clear, water flowed just beyond a man, with hair down to his shoulders, he was wearing a red Spaniard uniform that looked mid-sixteenth century. His skin was pale—too pale to indicate that he was alive. His eyes were of an ochre red, that matched the blood that ran through her veins. Ones that she was all too familiar with seeing in her dreams and on the face of the Wight. From one area, two Quileute warriors, that looked human, emerged from the trees, horrified to find the red-eyed man bent over two lifeless tribe girls. His eyes were feral as his body turned to face them, tauntingly.

     "It looked like a man. But it was hard like stone. And cold as ice."

     The two warriors yelled out in anger before their bodies shook, the first one lunged forward and burst into the skin of a wolf just as it took off, heading straight towards the red-eyed man—who had no emotion or expression on his pale face, his head tilted down, ready for whatever was going to happen. It was like a shot of lightning struck her body, fear rushed over her as her mind forced her to watch, she wanted to scream out. The red-eyed man was able to wrap his arms tightly around the wolf, tightening his grip, strangling the wolf before a loud crack echoed through the clearing, the flowing water seemed to silence as the dead body of the wolf was thrown to the side, landing with a thud. The second wolf charged forward as the red-eyed man watched the body of the wolf drop, he was distracted long enough for the wolf to get its teeth around the neck of the red-eyed man, thrashing its head quickly as it managed to snap the red-eyed man's neck, ripping it from his body.

     "Our warriors' sharp teeth finally tore it apart. But only fire would completely destroy it."

     She gulped to herself as she couldn't will her mind to ignore the thoughts, she wanted to get rid of them. Her mind was forced to watch, compelled to a trance-like state, her body twitched as the wolf's bones cracking continued to echo on repeat, followed by a dull thud. The fur was no longer moving up and down in a steady rhythm of breathing, but instead swaying slightly with the wind. Reed squeezed her lightly, resting the side of his head on top of hers, managing to shake her out of her thoughts for only a few seconds before Billy had continued with his story. It was as if Callas was the only one seeing it in her mind. No one else had a look of pain or anguish, like she did, on their faces. It was haunting and just as vivid as her nightmares—if not more.

     "They lived in fear, the Cold Man was not alone... and they were right."

     Fog clouded her visuals pulling her mind back under until it cleared, focusing on a young woman with dark brown hair that curled down to her waist. She wore a tattered Spanish gown, in a similar style to the red-eyed man. The woman screamed out in anger and pain as she attacked the tribes-people. Almost effortlessly, she moved through the small Quileute village of houses and tepees. Behind her, a trail of dead bodies, all massacred in cold blood as the tribes-people screamed out in fear. They rushed to the water, pushing out boats with tear stained faces and their hearts in their throats. Her pale skin seemed to lose even more colour as her ochre red eyes glowed, her teeth were sharp and coated in the blood of the tribes-people. The red-eyed woman lifted up one of the tribes-people, snapping their neck with her cold vice grip, screaming out, throwing the body to the side like it was nothing. Callas moved closer to Reed.

     "She took her vengeance out on the village. Our elder chief, Taha Aki, was the only spirit warrior left to save the tribe after his son was killed."

     A man, who looked like he was in his sixties, stood over his dead son, an expression of anguish washed over him. Taha Aki's third wife, who looked about forty, wept inconsolably next to his body, cradling his head in her hands as Taha Aki spun, turning towards the red-eyed woman. He took off running, a loud yell erupted from his throat as he lunged, transforming into a large wolf. She screamed out as she turned to face him, running forwards. The red-eyed woman and the wolf clashed. The third wife watched in horror as the red-eyed woman managed to lock her arms around his head, pulling the wolf's jaw apart, thrashing around as the wolf's body attempted to get out of her grip. But she was strong, just like the red-eyed man was.

     "Taha Aki's third wife could see that he would lose."

     The third wife picked up a knife from her dead son's hand. Shakily, she stood up and breathed heavily, tears still rolling down her cheeks. Billy glanced around the circle, his eyes landing on Callas.

     "The third wife was no magical being... no special powers, but one... courage."

     The third wife plunged the knife into her own heart, blood soon began to flow out of her chest, staining her white clothes. The red-eyed woman paused and sniffed the air, catching the scent of the third wife's blood. Her red eyes landed on the pool of blood surrounding her chest, the red-eyed woman looked at her ravenously. She released the Taha Aki-wolf, who fell to the ground, stepping forward with a hard look on her face. The third wife breathed deeply as she stared the red-eyed woman down. The Taha Aki-wolf leaped onto the red-eyed woman, his jaws clamped around her neck as her head snapped from her body, a broken corpse laid underneath the body of the wolf.

     "The third wife's sacrifice distracted the Cold Woman, long enough for Taha Aki to destroy her. She saved the tribe." Reed nodded his head as he listened, humming to himself. "Over time, our enemies have disappeared. But one remains. The Cold Ones." Callas looked over to Billy once more, tearing her eyes away from the fire. "Our magic awakens when they near. And we sense it now. We feel the threat in our blood. Something terrible is coming. And we must all be ready. All of us."

     Callas looked down to the fire once more, and asked quietly, "So, we're descendants of wolves?" She turned her head to Reed.

     "Yeah." He turned his head to look at her.

     "You believe that?"

     "I want to." He shrugged to himself.

     "Why?"

     Reed paused. "I don't know. I guess it gives me a purpose."

     "A purpose? A legend gives you purpose?"

     "Our family's legend, Cal." He pressed another kiss to the side of her head. "Even after all of these years, the legends never fail to amaze me. But, yes. If in the end, all of these legends are true, then I'd want to be able to step up and help the people of our tribe."

     "There's more than one legend?"

     A smile rose to his lips. "Well, there's different versions of the same type of legend. You were too young to remember, but when Dad used to take me to listen to the legends they were always different versions. There was one about a treaty, between the Cold Ones and the wolves. I think you would have liked that one."

     "Why?"

     "Because it was Mum's favourite."

     Callas looked up at him. "What are the Cold Ones?"

     "Vampires."

     She rolled her eyes. "They aren't real, Reed."

     "No one knows that for sure."

     "You've been watching too much TV."

     "Maybe."

     "As long as they aren't like Dracula. Bram Stoker really knew how to make a hideous vampire."

     "Good book."

     "Great novel," she corrected.

     "Alright, nerd." Reed snorted a laugh. Zeus turned around to face them at the sound of Reed's laugh, a yawn escaped him. "Do you want to put him in the Jeep so he can sleep?" Reed asked, taking the keys out of his pocket.

     Callas stood up. "Sure." He handed her the keys and Zeus was already walking off to the Jeep. Although she wasn't far from where Reed was, the trees around the houses, and the darkness that seemed to swallow it, put her on edge. "Okay, Bud," Callas mumbled as she unlocked the door and pulled the seat back. "I'll leave the window open a bit for you." She reached into the back and turned the handle, opening the window before she pushed the chair back and closed the door.

     She turned back around, pocketing the keys as she walked back over to the circle, sitting back down next to Reed as the rest of the circle began to have their own conversations. Reed offered her a smile, wrapping his arm around her shoulder again. Her eyes cast upwards, the moon was almost completely covered, small rays escaped through the gaps of the clouds. The tops of the trees were lit up and became darker the closer it got to the ground. Her eyes followed the trunks down, noticing small birds' nests scattered along the trees, a few odd empty patches where the branches didn't grow leaves. When her gaze dropped down, so did the expression on her face. Her heart felt like it had stopped.

     Along the dark tree line, he stood watching her. The deep ochre red eyes seemed to glow in comparison to the darkness that grew behind him. Her body froze and her lungs felt as though they were slowly filling up with thick cement. Her blood ran cold as the corners of his lips tugged up into a mocking smile, his expression became just as chilling as the air that blew against her skin. The hairs on her arms pricked up once more and a single shiver ran down her spine, almost painfully slow. Reed's attention was brought away from Billy, who he was talking to rather loudly from where he sat, and over to Callas, his eyebrows furrowed as he gently shook her shoulder.

     "Callas?"