Bite

16

I woke up in my bed, feeling my face wet with tears. Emilia, Stefan and Lauren stood above me.

"Ashara." Emilia looked like she'd been crying for hours. Her eyes were red and puffy. I get up. I want to believe it's a dream but I know it's not. It's a fucking nightmare.

"Any updates?" I ask them.

"Sorry, Ash, I'm not able to find their phone signal or anything." Lauren looked upset and her eyes looked red. I say nothing but I walk out of the basement and go into my room.

"Ashara!" Emilia chases after me. "Ash!" I shut the door and go into my drawer.

"Ashara!" Emilia yells.

"It's okay, just let her cool down." Lauren says to her.

"I'm okay, Emilia, just give me a second." I find the copal sticks, my obsidian blade, a clay bowl and a lighter. I then put those items on the floor and lit the copal on the bowl.

"I invoke thee, Tzirihime." I yell out in Purepecha. "I invoke my ancestors, the gods of the underworld, and the gods of life." I then grab the obsidian blade and run it across my pinky finger. It takes a lot of self control to stop myself from grabbing my finger back. Blood runs down my pinky and into the copal, sizzling in the hot incense stick. "I am going to wipe out all of those who harmed my family and I in the Summers pack and I will kill that wolf woman. If I die doing so, may you grant me the death of a warrior."

Spirits emerge and they take the incense. One presses its hand against my forehead and becomes Tzirihime.

"As you wish, champion." She then fades away. I then take the bowl with the copal and open up a window, letting it clear the room of bad air. I open the door to see Emilia looking at me.

"Ashara, you okay?" She looks concerned. I simply walk up to her and give her a hug. I don't want her to be mad at me. She hugs me back. Stefan and Lauren stand nearby.

"We can't give up on trying to find them." I say. Emilia pulls away.

"You're right, we can't abandon them." Emilia then looks at me, sadly. "But we don't even know where to start."

"That's the worst part. I wonder if the Summers are still in the same place." I try to remember where they used to be. Deep in the woods behind the park and the artificial lakes they created for fishing and stuff.

"They might be if they can come across here easily." Lauren then looks at Emilia. "I'm more than willing to bet they're there but I could be wrong."

"We also can't stay here now, they know we're here." Emilia looked at the phone. "We need to get in touch with Ellisyn and find a new place. Also where's Monica?"

"Monica is resting in the office. She wasn't doing so well after that battle." Lauren sighed.

"I always thought she was....I guess normal." Emilia shook her phone.

"I thought so too but there's always been something up with her. I know you guys have good healing rates but not that good." Lauren leaned against the wall, crossing her arms. "Especially when you were first brought in Stefan, even in my textbooks it takes werewolves a bit to heal when they're as starved as you were."

"I mean I am a god." Stefan shrugged. "My body probably held on as much as it did because of that."

"True that." My phone started to ring. It was Ellisyn. I quickly picked up.

"Hey, so my Ring cameras were going off like crazy but the footage is gone. Y'all wanna explain that one?" She asked me.

"We got attacked by the Summers. They took my parents hostage." I took a deep breath.

"Oh dear Lord." I heard her huff. "Is the god there too?"

"Surprisingly. But yeah, it's definitely not safe for us anymore." I shake my head.

"I bet it isn't. Look, this is what I want y'all to do.Pack up, get in Lauren's car and drive up to the Wawa by 5th Street and stay there. Don't get out, don't talk to anyone or try to do anything stupid. I'll come pick you up in a white SUV. I'll walk out of the car. You see anyone else and you drive off, fight them, whatever. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." I responded. The Wawa in the "nicer" part of town, neat.

"Alright, good luck, y'all." Ellisyn hangs up.

"Did y'all hear her?" I look around.

"Yep, pack and get in the Honda, got it." Emilia runs to her room.

"I'll wake up Monica and get us packed." Lauren responded, going down the stairs. Stefan nodded and went to his room. I then ran off to my room to pack as well. I take all of my religious items, a few changes of clothes, another pair of shoes, my album full of family pictures and a few pairs of beaded earrings. I put on my jean jacket and then sit in the living room. Stefan has a smaller bag and he has a few books in hand. The werewolf history one, The Magic Fever, and Paranormal Creatures and How to Catch Them I think were the ones he had.

Monica and Lauren emerge from the basement with a few bags of things.

"Alright, let's all get loaded up and going." Monica says, acting like nothing happened. We don't say anything but we start to arrange our stuff in the back of Lauren's car before hopping in. It smells like those pina colada scent trees. Stefan sits to my left and Emilia to my right.

"I'm not looking forward to this, I got used to that house." Emilia sighed.

"Yeah, we've been there for three years." I stare out of my window as Lauren backs out the driveway and into the road.

"Bye, house." Emilia looks out of the window and waves. "That sucks."