Chapter Five: Athelstan Hawkins

Uncle Stan paced the room for the last hour, mumbling to himself. He took glances at Gideon and me once before continuing his thinking mode.

Uncle Stan, real name Athelstan Hawkins, tall and handsome with his long dark hair and dazzling green eyes, lives in Grimwald. He sometimes visits us when he has a chance; not busy at all if you consider being lazy is a job. Not only he's one of the most powerful wizards in Grimwald, but he is also my godfather.

Dad explained there is a community where humans live to stay away from non-humans begins. Nobody knows how humans came to Grimwald, only that they arrived on a big ship full of people. Humans have lived in a world full of supernatural for years that can birth humans with magic. When humans are born with magic, they are considered heroes as they can deal with life-threatening beings. After they are born, they are taken in by their predecessors and trained under them until they can take over the title of the Greatest Sorcerer or Sorceress of Grimwald.

Uncle Stan has been good friends with my parents and has helped them to elope. He has been best friends with Dad way longer than meeting Mom. He was the one who introduced both of them because of his prediction. Wizards and witches don't see the future, and they can assume the possibility of having good or bad karma. And Dad falling for Mom was good karma, but the wrong side of it is the demurral of their families. But the ambiance of being together was having me, who they love so much.

Uncle Stan was the first to support their love because he felt it was time to end the hate between the vampires and werewolves. Dad said Uncle Stan doesn't like to be between two powerful families because of a 900-year-old hatred.

The pacing stopped as Uncle Stan stood in front of us as he put away his thoughts reluctantly.

"Let me get this straight," he starts after thinking for an hour speaking with Gideon, "Three rogues showed up here. Looking for 'the child.'" He eyed me briefly, and I frowned at him looking confused as he continued. "You killed two while one is with those Silvercrest brats outside."

Uncle Stan had Izek and his friends stay outside with a soundproof barrier over us so outsiders couldn't hear anything we were discussing. Even if those people are from noble families, Uncle Stan has high authority because of his status as a wizard. You can say he has the same position as a king.

I would take chances and glance at Izek through the window from time to time while Uncle Stan was in deep thought. Sometimes, Izek would catch me looking at him and flash those million-dollar smiles, and I would look away with my face heated and heart racing. Even with the soundproof barrier, my heart can be heard from miles away.

"Aneria suddenly went berserk because the voice in her head told her to, correct? Or am I missing some details?"

"No, that is everything," Gideon rubs his hands on his pants as I fumble my fingers, waiting to see what Uncle Stan will say about this.

"Okay," he glances at me as I can feel the nerves traveling all over my body. Uncle Stan goes down on his knees and takes my hand. "Aneria, sweetheart, when did you start hearing voices?"

I bite my lower lip. I kept this secret for five years and never told anybody because I thought I could deal with it, but it has gotten worst, just like what happened an hour ago. I inhaled and breathed out sharply as I told him. "It's only one voice, and it started when I phased."

"That was five years ago, Ria," Gideon turned wide-eyed, sharing eye contact with Uncle Stan.

I pull my hand away from Uncle Stan and stand up to move to another spot having my back turn. I cross my arms facing the wall full of family portraits of my parents, Gideon and Uncle Stan.

"I thought it was just a delusion, but..."I pause as I take another deep breath. "Every night with the same dream, I saw blood all over, bodies dismembered around me, the stench of death overpowers my nose that it never bothers me. And my hands were covered in blood from the corpses." I uncrossed my arms to give my hands a stare. Images from that dream flash a resemble what I saw. "The hands look like hands but are coated in white hair almost like fur, with long sharp black nails that can easily pierce the skin. I would stare at it and feel the resentment, the burning rage inside me growing stronger every second. As I stared past my bloody animal form hands, there was a body."

"Whose body, Aneria?" Uncle Stan asks. "Who?"

I tried to remember, and when the image of that person flashed before me, it was a woman with brown hair and pale blue eyes, the trait of a vampire. Then I looked up into the night and saw the red moon as I let out a long howl. "I don't know who she is, but I was howling in my dream, only it wasn't the howl of hatred, more like the despair. I was crying over the woman's dead body in front of me while howling up at the red moon."

"The red moon?" I turned around as soon Uncle Stan gasped and watched his face goes pale. "So, it's true."

"Stan, what's wrong? What's true?" Gideon asked, but Uncle Stan did not reply.

The wizard thought and looked up at us. "The red moon. My teacher, Ribeus Graham, had told me a prophecy that has been passed down from one wizard to another."

"What's the prophecy?"

"When a child is born of fire and snow of two enemies, the world will be covered in a sea of blood. Their howl blows the fiery ashes of the enemies, and their touch can melt the ice of winter. The Great White Beast will bring to the end under the blood moon. Only a silver heart can subdue the beast."

I never believed in prophecies or looking into the future because it's in riddles, and I wouldn't say I like to decipher the code. But hearing the prophecy from Uncle Stan sounds serious. It matches every aspect of what I've been seeing in my dreaming. All the signs were there; I was standing over dead bodies, blood all over the place, and white fur growing out from my skin.

Am I going to...Oh no!

My heart starts to race as it becomes hard to control. My breathing is going hard and accelerating. I need a moment to clear my head which is making me dizzy. "It's enough that I'm a freak, but..." I swallowed hard and glanced at Gideon and Uncle Stan as I asked frantically. "Am...I...a...killer?!"

"Okay, Aneria, breathe. Gideon!" Uncle Stan grabs me before I faint as Gideon runs off to the kitchen to grab a paper brown bag and hand it to me before the anxiety kicks in.