River of Blood

Chapter Eighteen

"Did you hear that?" Annalise asks, her voice airy as she latches onto Aquila's arm. Annalise's blood begins to pound in her eardrums as she races towards the window. Opening it, her eyes widen at the scene happening by the lake. Her gasp it loud enough that it wakes up Sarafine, who grumbles to herself as she sits up.

"What is going on?" Sarafine asks, her eyes glancing at Annalise's horrified face.

Annalise pushes her fingers through her hair, trying to keep her heart calm. This isn't happening. This isn't happening. This isn't happening.

"Annalise?" Sarafine pushes her way to the window, and Annalise watches her gaze widen to the point of having saucers for eyes.

Annalise glances at Zelda, who still seems to be sleeping calmly. Looks like she won't have to deal with this, which is probably good considering the condition she is in. Annalise isn't even sure if she wants to deal with this. She doesn't know she's going to deal with this. Sarafine's wide green eyes come to rest on Annalise's face in horror.

"What do we do?"

"There are five bodies outside, Sarafine." Annalise's voice shakes. "We have to investigate to see what in the world happened to them."

A knock on the door stops Sarafine's reply, and Annalise glances at it in confusion. "Who on earth...?" Sarafine wonders as she makes her way to the wooden object. Annalise hovers behind her, and she becomes aware of Aquila again. The girl was so quiet she's forgotten that she was there in the first place.

The door slides open easily, exposing a pair of brown eyes. Blood drips down her forehead as her shoulders visibly relax. Annalise is the first to react, throwing her arms around the werewolf, "Judi, holy crap!"

Judi awkwardly hugs the slight girl back, before addressing the rest of the group there. "Guys, I know how the bodies outside died."

Sarafine looks dumbfounded, Annalise senses dread rolling off of Judi, and Aquila is so washed out she looks about ready to faint, "Why do I get the feeling that none of us want to know the last part of that sentence?" Annalise whispers, her emerald eyes gazing back at the injured wolf.

A groan interrupts them, and they all whirl towards the bed. Zelda sits up, rubbing her skull. She lets out a small cough, her eyes finding the group of frightened girls standing before her. "I missed something." Her voice cracks.

"Judi just showed up." Sarafine tries to keep her voice light, but fails at the end when her eyes drop down.

Zelda winces as she sits up more, keeping her hand pressed onto her head with the movement. "I take it that it's not a good thing that Judi is back, with two other girls none of us know?"

Everyone turns quickly, eyes landing on the two girls hovering in the doorway behind Judi. Annalise narrows her eyes, trying to figure out where she knows one of them from. Her black hair flows down across her shoulders, brown eyes gazing openly at the group. She seems exhausted, barely able to hold her eyes open.

The other has brown hair, eyes as wide as saucers. Her body seems to shake as she flinches every so often.

"Alright," Zelda pushes herself up off of the bed, her body unsteady. Annalise wants to run over to help, but the look in Zelda's eye is one that screams do not touch me. Annalise holds her ground as Zelda presses a hand against her stomach.

Blood is still smeared across her body as she takes a deep breath. Annalise glances towards Judi, who still has red dripping down the side of her face.