CHAPTER II: Thoughts

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I woke up covered in sweat.

Anxious, still breathing hard, both of my hands covered my face. Sat on the comfy mattress, I tried to relax my tense and nervous frame and, once I was calmer, I let my body fall back on the soft bed and pillow.

Rubbing my forehead, I removed the remaining beads of sweat, the same moment I turned to my right to see the electronic clock indicate the 4:37 am. Sighing, trying to recompose myself, my eyes closed for a brief moment, but it was short cut by my dried throat.

Incredibly thirsty, I made my way to the kitchen, my feet led me quite tiredly. Opening one of the cabinets, I filled one of the crystal glasses with tap water. So deep into my thoughts, I didn't even realized someone was there too until we nearly collided. Taking a deep breath, with a hand over my heart I scolded him, "Gosh Emmett! What are you doing in here?"

He chuckled, closing the plastic bottle of water he took from the fridge, "Sorry to scare you, but I can ask you the same question."

He got me there, but his eyes drank in my appearance, frowning in the process, "Are you okay? You look pale and troubled." I shook my head, confirming his worry. Just few people, actually you could count them with your fingers, were aware of my 'sleeping problems'. "A nightmare?" Emmett suggested, but he already knew the answer.

"Yeah." The word slipped past my lips as a breath. "Do you wanna speak about it?" I wasn't sure about his proposal, it was too complicated to even try to explain it.

Emmett offered me his bottle of water. Taking it, I drank it up. I seriously needed it, and the previous glass didn't satiate me. His black eyebrows rose in surprise, brown eyes wide.

Taking the empty bottle, I raised one of my done brows curiosity, since he seemed astonished. Sat on one of the stools of our Italian kitchen, Em positioned himself in front of me, on the other side of the worktop. His arms crossed on the table, supporting his weight on the Carrara marble of the counter.

He looked intrigued, but didn't utter a word. "What?" I asked a bit annoyed, reason unknown, maybe because he was still staring at me like a creep. He shook his head, shrugged and finally sighed, "How was it?"

"This one wasn't a simple nightmare, I felt like it had a deep meaning."

My packmate seemed taken back, not expecting my answer, but before he could say something, I continued my explanation. "First I found a girl who had no eyes, nose or lips, nothing. Suddenly she started crying, asking for my help, begging me to save her brother, who I'm suppose to know. After our strange meeting, I was in a different place, and the three nightmare's guardians appeared."

Taking a deep breath, I went on with the story, "Girdiwa told me I was going to meet someone special, and they brought me to a guy called Lucius, I know I have met him in the past. No one answered my questions, he just told me he was correlated to Dux Ducis. The dream ended with the execution of my sister and mother, and I woke up because someone chopped my head off."

Emmett looked stunned for a second, "Why the three of them appeared? Wasn't it one of them every time?" Oh, silly me, I forgot the best part, "I asked the same question, receiving as an answer my father invoked them."

He actually froze for a moment too long, he was a werewolf too, so he got the idea, "That means he's an hybrid and comes from a royal family, how is that even possible?" I shrugged, knowing his worry, "And how is that even possible he's alive? He's dead, yet, if he was an hybrid, I'd have been one too, which I already am for my parents, but a third grade? Or even fourth? That's crazy."

Creatures who were born from two different species were quite normal in our world, but the offspring couldn't have newborns if they didn't find their true and real mate. Hybrids were pretty strong, more than the average one-typed blood. About Alpha, Beta and Gamma, they were more powerful if they shared the same werewolf genes with their partners or parents. What the world had never seen, was a third or fourth grade hybrid, it was unthinkable, because, the ones of their type found always a mate who had pure blood, but two different types engendering a descendant was scientifically impossible.

Emmett stayed quiet, until another question broke the silence, "Are you sure you don't know the girl? And how do you know you have met this Lucius guy if he doesn't ring a bell in your head?" I took a deep breath, trying to clear my mind, "I'm still thinking who her brother might be. About Lucius, I knew his voice, I heard it before, but his face was a blur, and I think if his features were clearer I would have recognized him."

He was going to answer, but I stopped him with my hand, "Oh, do you know why it was so fucking creepy, without the details? Girdiwa, at the end of the dream told me to find the truth and execute the real culprit, and not trust anybody who has been keeping secrets from me."

The guy paled for a moment, and the reason was clear: the dream had a really deep meaning. "I'll have to look for some information so I can know what the hell is going on. I need answers, but I'll have to explain everything to Vicky." Emmett raised an eyebrow, "Vicky? Really?"

I chuckled in response, I didn't know how to answer that.

Taking a deep breath, he stood up. "Well, psychologists say if you dream about death a big change or transformation will come for you or someone close to you." My voice smooth, but didn't keep him from sigh, "I really hope it will be a positive change."

Shaking my head at the negative thoughts, I looked at Emmett with a suggestive smile on my lips. He cocked an eyebrow, "What?" Shrugging my shoulders, I took a sweet moment to think, "Nothing... I was wondering why you're here. Let me guess, you wanted to do the dirty and your mate didn't want to?" His jaw clenched and his teeth gritted. "Did I hit a nerve?" Biting my lower lip and raising my eyebrows twice, I waited exited for his answer.

With narrowed eyes, he started to explain the whole thing, "No asshole-" I stuck out my tongue to him, "-she just arrived from a party in one of her friend's house, with Taisia and Agathe. When she pulled the covers over her, yeah, I tried to, but she was so tired she felt asleep incredibly fast. Unable to sleep, I stayed awake so... here I am."

He shrugged his shoulders, as if it wasn't a big deal, but glared at me, who was giggling like and old grandma. Em was one of the strongest warriors inside our clan, not for nothing he was our fourth in command. His pitch black hair and deep dangerous brown eyes, with a wide and angled jaw made you bow your head in fear. He had a brute aspect, but was a softie when it came his family, us.

The day he told me he found his mate I was speechless, not expecting the news, but I was so damn happy for him, he just deserved it. At first it was difficult for us, because she was a rare type of vampire, speaking to no one inside the house. It was strange, he being a werewolf and all, the differences between them were huge, and we thought they weren't going to work.

We were wrong.

My laugh lasted until his growl, "Okay, okay, I'm sorry-" inhaling deeply, "-both of us had a rough time so, do you want to go jogging to clear our minds?" He smiled, accepting my proposal.

Oh! How I loved him and Charlie! They were like the brothers I lost years back, a huge support.

"I don't think you will be as fast as me!" Smirking my way, a chuckle escaped my lips, "Don't speak too soon, or you may regret it... Anyway, at 5:15 am in the kitchen." He agreed, "Sure."

We left and went upstairs to our rooms to get ready. I didn't mind to shower, since in less than an hour I'd have been all sweaty. I opted for my green and black Nike, over the calf black socks, a white sports bra, a gray T-shirt and dark gym shorts. Lastly, I put my hair into a high ponytail braid.

Realizing I still had ten minutes left, I joined Emmett, who was cocking some pancakes, I fucking adored them. If I could, I'd have married one, it was the most delicious thing to start a day, back in Europe I wasn't use to. Once we finished breakfast, speaking about random things, we washed the dishes and stretched our muscles for fifteen minutes.

Before six we already left the house.

The word pack didn't describe us. Clan suited us better, werewolves coexisted with demons, magicians, vampires... Our difficult pasts was all we had in common.

Emmett, in his case, had to see how all his pack was slaughtered before his innocent teenagers eyes. The survivors were sold as servants, houseworkers, or sexual slaves, and the unfortunates ended up in a laboratory where, our fucking same enemies, experimented with them.

Unfortunately, Em's family got caught and, as her mother didn't want to sexually submit to them, they killed her but, luckily, not long after, his father and him escaped, but they had a non-existent relationship from the moment they saw the only woman they loved at the time given as food for wild demons, tearing her body extremities from her body. Supposedly, he blamed his son, but he never told anyone about the details, probably just his mate, or maybe not even her.

So lost in between thoughts and the past, I didn't even realize we arrived at our favorite place to catch a breath.

"Everyday is more beautiful here, don't you think so?" Emmett pointed out, breathless. I was amazed by the winter landscape Vermont gifted us with. It was the closest thing to a paradise.

"Yeah, I totally agree."

Thankfully, our different genes, differing from humans in a lot of things, allowed us to be more resistant to low temperatures, adapting to the climatic changes.

From where we were we could see our little village, Livoti, do his curious appearance between the dense clouds of snow. Ten minutes away from Underhill Center an forty-five minutes from Burlington and, at the end, at the line of horizon, Lake Champlain.

Livoti was a little village created few years back where different clan's members coexisted, just some humans lived with us, but they knew about our existence. To keep our secret intact, they had to sign a contract with the Alpha, if it broke, the punishment was death.

We only had an elementary school because the kids were too young to go alone to the city. Once they turned the appropriate age to go to middle and high school, they were sent to Burlington, so they could learn to live with humans and their story, since ours was a black hole. We knew millenniums back we came from a magical portal opened from a parallel world, and from then on, our past was always intertwined with the humanity story.

College was pretty different, because once people graduated from their last year, they started working inside the clan, all of them with specific tasks. Just me and really few people completely ended their studies, or were in the process of.

About our internal status, in the principal clan's house were allowed to live the Alpha and his Luna, along with their children, the Beta, me, and Gamma. In our case, pretty rare if I had to say, two Alphas, Beta and Delta. Instead, in the other houses lived warriors without offspring, and the ones who had their own home.

"Andy! You're too slow today!" Shaking lightly my head, I reached him. "Sorry Em, I'm just lost in my thoughts." He took a quick peek on my way, "Yeah, I noticed that."

As he predicted at 9:10 am we were walking inside the house, from one of the back doors, that led to a room we used to use as a changing room when we shifted from our wolf back to human. Emmett left to get a shower, while I stayed in the kitchen, drinking water. Everybody had already had breakfast, at least it was what I supposed since nobody was in sight.

Suddenly, a sweet scent joined my sweaty one, "Oh! Hi darling! How are you doing?" I turned to my right, giving our Luna a sincere smile, "Good morning Gen, fine and you? Did the baby give you problems last night?" Placing a hand on her almost nine months belly, "No, yesterday he behaved."

Sharing a giggle, I saw our Alpha winking my way and approaching his mate, greeting her with a kiss on her lips. My eyes shifted, focusing elsewhere, sometimes I couldn't help it but feel pretty awkward.

They were married since she was twenty and he twenty two, and in all the years they were together the way they looked at the other didn't change one bit.

Victor chuckled at my reaction, "As always Andy you don't like to see our displays of affection. I wonder if you have ever kissed a guy." He laughed at his own 'joke', which made me roll my eyes. They weren't just my Alpha and Luna, they were my parents when I needed them the most. They didn't try to replace them, they just helped me out to chose the correct paths in my life.

"Good morning to you too Alpha. It seems with age you're becoming more witty." Obviously, it pissed him off when I didn't call him by his name, but what really annoyed him was the age thing.

His features turned into a scowl, "I'm not that old! And you're lucky that I'm not the typical Alpha, who gets angry for every single thing! If that was the case, I assure you, you would have no longer ahead." I stuck out my tongue to him, but he laid a hand on my left shoulder and gave me a sincere smile.

Such as Charlie and Emmett, he was one of my principals pillars in my life and thanks to them, I was proud of who I had become, although I would say he was the most important because he played a crucial role, of being a father. I wouldn't blink twice at giving my life up for him, he accepted me as his daughter in the bosom of his family when I didn't have a house, nor a place to stay.

His warm hand seemed almost cold compared to my sweaty skin, "Go get a shower and meet me at my office. We have to discuss about clan's business." I nodded, "Roger! In thirty minutes I'm back."

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Hiya!! Hope you liked the second chapter!

In this one I wanted to show more or less what type of past all the clan's members have in common, and, also, a bit of Emmett, since he will appear a lot of times during the story :)

Thank you so much! And if you liked the chapter I'd really appreciate a like or a comment! Just let me know what you think!

20/12/2015

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Awaken Demons: Stheno
2015© BecomingApocalypse