Biting Sacrifice

Chapter V - The Preparations

With the Run coming closer and closer, it was imperative that all the unmated people started to prepare for it. For some, that meant being with their family and commemorating the time they still had - the last kisses and hugs that they might share between each other. For others it meant going on vacation, enjoying their possible last moments of freedom. For people like Tabitha and Maeve it meant visiting their parents.

Even though the air was still filled with an everlasting tension, the sisters knew they had to be an united front. With flowers and cleaning supplies in one hand, and their sister's hand in the other, they started by visiting their father. 

Although many years had passed since his passing, he left an aching gap in their hearts. An extremely kind man, he had been part of something bigger than he could have known, and had ultimately paid its price. 

So the sisters cleaned his spot of resting, working together in a way that would have made him proud. They scrubbed the dirt away, pulled the weeds out, made his grave shine with their love. The only sounds that could be heard were of the rags and sponges hitting the cold stone and Maeve's quick prayers to her God. Unlike sorcerers, they followed one God, and unlike wolves, they didn't follow Artemis and Selene, the Moon Goddesses. Tabitha followed no one but herself, but she admired her sister's unwavering faith in human's deity - if not for the hope it brought many of them, then at least for the freedom they still had to freely worship. 

With fresh flowers resting in an old porcelain vase, the sisters went to say their yearly goodbyes to their mother.

Melissa Drake was a human who valued freedom above else. Funnily enough, she had been imprisoned for the better part of a decade. 

With wild untamed curls, there she stood. Tall, too skinny, with the same wild but kind eyes that belonged only to her. Tabitha always belived her to be the most beautiful woman alive, but with each passing year she looked more tired, with less life.

They couldn't hug their mother as they had cell bars preventing it, but they could hold her cold hands, enjoying the precious minutes they were allowed. It was never enough, but it had to be. 

She whispered them a safe Run, free of claimings, as she once had to suffer. She whispered that they should fight together, that they could do it. And in the last seconds allotted to them, Melissa Drake whispered that she loved them, with her entire heart. 

As sisters left their parents behind, they knew the day was far from over. As Tabitha left to Greyback's, Maeve made her way home.

Putting her long hair up, she cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. Her place had to be absolutely spottless for the meeting that was about to take place. Gathering the awful incense that always made her sneeze, she wolf-proofed - to the best of her abilities - her home. In the meantime, as she waited, Maeve went through a considerable stack of papers that innocently layed in her coffee table. 

Wanting to tackle it before she was whisked to the Run, she firstly looked at the complaint she had presented the authorities, regarding the destruction of Maxwell's store. They knew that it wasn't really going anywhere, officers protected other officers, especially if they were wolves. Sighing, she continued looking at the other documents. 

The ones on top regarded her true life's work. The Liberty Party was growing stronger with the humans, predictions dictating that they would be able to send two more members to the Parliament. She knew that with her recent work in growing the party she'd most likely be chosen to represent her people, but she was dreading the possibility of being claimed, and thus not being allowed to continue her work. 

After quickly going through her work documents, she was faced with a lone letter. Opening it, she soon turned pale. The letter read "WE ARE WATCHING YOU". She didn't shake, or lose her breath. She stored the letter in her desk and proceeded to wait in the sofa for the members.

Soon enough they started to show up, with mostly unread books under their arms. She greeted them warmly, but with dread gathering in the air, waiting for her sister to show up. 

As time continued to pass and her home started to fill to the brim, Maeve started to get frustrated. Her sister had asked her, even after their argument, to please let her use the house for the next book club meeting, now that she had revealed that she was aware of what truly happened in them. She had complied and offered her home. Now, as she tried stopping herself from sneezing and thinking of the letter, she stood in front of a crowd of people eagerly waiting to hear how to proceed with the next Run, in case they or their loved ones were taken. 

And her little sister did not show her face. And where was Maxwell? She knew he was going to make an appearance. 

"I'm sorry, are we starting this or not? I have places to be." Started an unidentified voice in the crowd, soon joined by others.

Growing more frustrated and still feeling the effects of the letter, Maeve started with an uneven voice. "Right! My sister is late, but we can start. How do you usually start these meetings?"

"We usually, like, discuss how we're dealing with things and then Tabitha, like she helps us and comes up with things. I think that we were going to, like, talk about our plans in the case she's, like, you know... claimed." Started a young girl.

As Maeve fumbled with how to lead the meeting - seeing as she wasn't used to talking to people who either looked red with anger or pale with tears in their eyes - Tabitha stormed through the door. 

"After the meeting is over we need to talk." She whispered to Maeve. "Thanks, Mae." She said with a high-pitched voice and labored breath, making sure people focused on her. "Alright, everyone! I know we are all anxious about the Run, but we have things to discuss."

Maeve was impressed. Albeit she had always been proud of her little sister, seeing her move through the crowd made her smile. She had to admit that this side to her made her slightly envious. As an up-and-coming politician Maeve knew she needed to learn how to speak with her people, and not only pompous, condescenting wolves. Maybe, she thought, she should start going to the meetings from now on. 

Plans had been made in the meantime. No one could smuggle silver into the Run, but powdered Wolfsbane in their intimate clothing was a safe option. It meant that in the case they were taken, they had the option to potentially poison their kidnappers. 

The meeting was going smoothly, recovering from the initial hiccup. All of a sudden, what Maeve heard made her falter.

"Afterwards Johnson and Johnson will ambush him and stab him with this dagger."

Wha-what was this? Was-was her baby sister planning to murder one of the King's representatives? She thought she knew what transpired in the meetings, but maybe she was dead wrong.

With outrage, Maeve stepped in, "Tabitha! You ought to be joking, that's murder!"

Her sister looked her in the eyes and said "If we don't kill it's not, look, we're not killing him, the dagger isn't silver, it's just going to poison him - see, its going to be coated in Wolfsbane!".

"Everyone, out! I won't take part in this!" And in her own home at that!

"Everyone, stay! Maeve, come here for a second." Tabitha quickly retaliated.

She was incredibly pale at that point, "What's the meaning of this, Tabitha? How could you even think of something like that?"

"If you could calm down for a second! Like I said, we are not killing the mutt. We're going to kidnap them, like they do to ours." She tried explaining.

And then? Maeve thought.

"And then we're going to exchange him for Mary's brother!" Tabitha defended the plan.

"This plan has to be the most stupid thing I've ever heard in my life! They will know you're behind it! Look, Tabitha!" she opened the desk, where the letter was hidden. "You know they've been looking at you, and now you do this? You're going to rot in jail, just like mom!"

Tabitha stood silent, red in the cheecks. And then she retold what happened in the last hours. "I know they're coming for me already, Mae. That officer lead them into the basement and, and I don't know how, but they found the secret spot. That's-that's where we grow the Wolfsbane!"

"Tabitha! Is this why Maxwell isn't here?" she sneezed, the answer dawning on her.