It all begins when a silver dagger goes missing.
For her entire life, a human named Cora Gabris has known that lycans were searching for her, as she was born as a Ruby -- a human that, when turned into a lycan, will become much stronger than any of...
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Inside the darkness of the closet, Cora's imagination ran wild with harrowing images of an injured Ben, lying somewhere in the dark while she hid inside of a wall. All to protect her identity. In the span of seconds, she considered all of her options -- she either saved her brother, or herself.
It didn't take long to come to her conclusion.
Cora opened the door after trying desperately to find the latch that would release it, and took a few steps forward on the old wood that groaned beneath her. She straightened her back and eyed the scene, breathing heavily. There were six or so middle-aged men with torches, lanterns, weapons, and all wearing cloaks. Hilda groaned and looked away in dread when she realized what Cora was doing, the light from her lantern casting ominous shadows on the witch.
The man in the very front of the group narrowed his only eye at Hilda, a worn leather eye-patch covering the other, and then looked at Cora with more focus as she stood there, waiting. He squinted. "Hold on" —he came over to Cora, and nearly dropped his lantern— "No..."
"What is it?" another asked as he took a few steps into the home, his boots heavy on the wood. "Fucking hell, your eyes!"
More came inside and she felt surrounded, like a mythical creature that had been discovered. But she knew it wasn't to stare in amazement. The look in their eyes ranged from abhorrence to confusion, all of them speechless.
She stood firm, accepting her fate with each second that passed. "Where is Ben? Where is my brother?"
The main villager, the one with the eye-patch, neared her, a clink echoing in his steps from the metal in his outfit as he raised a lantern at Cora. She squinted when it was nearly next to her face, both from the brightness of the flame and to how warm it was. He narrowed his only eye at her. "I never be hearing of anyone with red eyes, except for one type. You're a Ruby. One of them special Rubies, I reckon, with how much this witch is trying to hide you..."
Cora neither confirmed, nor denied it. With a shaking voice, grounded by a resolute tone, she repeated, "Where is Ben?"
The man dropped his lantern to his side, the shadows moving in his beard, making the untamed growth of hair appear to dance in the light. "At the river. Where more of your kind be waiting."
Your kind. She knew that he meant the lycans, and her lips twitched as she wanted to correct him, but all of her focus was on Ben.
Another, standing at the doorway, spoke up, "Now wait, we can get some serious leverage here with having a Ruby. What would one of them Phasin' Rubies get us? We been needin' more twine, and more pigs—"
The one with the eye-patch looked to the ground next to him as he said, "Enough. They'll be angry that she's been hidin' this long in our woods" —he faced Hilda—"And you better go too, witch, to confirm it's been your magic that has kept her hidin'. Can't imagine any other reason for why the lycans not be smellin' her out."
