The Start

Lightning Danced across the sky and thunder struck not far after. As rain poured down the windows. A Tree branch knocked against the side of a beautiful home just off the beach. It was a Three bedroom among the human world about 10 mins from the college. Inside lay asleep the 3 siblings Of Jade Covington and Erin Blackwood. 29 Year old Lyn, 23 year old Lysander, and 23 year old Fenris. They been away from home for four years, because Lyn had begged to leave and go to college. She got a 4 year deal from her parents which she kept at gratefully, however groaned when she was told her brothers had to join her.

They had gotten this place 4 years ago paying upfront for 4 years of rent. The time had come for them to move home the boys excited to be back among there own, Lyn a bit more reluctant she enjoyed her time. She had met people and made friends, even other wolf friends that had also made a deal with their parents. She knew she made a deal and would not back out of it. She had passed all her finals with flying colors and tomorrow she would be returning home. However while she slept darkness seemed to creep into her and her siblings dreams. A premonition of things to come. She tossed and turned in her bed. Well the bed that had come with the room. Her breathing had become heavy.

"You can't do it. Your nothing you and your family will fail and Parrish. You Human loving beasts don't have a chance." The dark voice growled. She snarled and tried to jump at the voice unable to jump she was chained. She felt a sharp prick in her neck. Her body turned from wolf to human. "What the hell, why can't I turn?" She asked. "I stopped it for now. Now look." Her eyes saw her father chained as she was. She tried to get to him. "Daddy." She screamed out. Her voice seemed to be lost on him. "Daddy no look at me." She sobbed. She tried to look away as a shot rang out and her father's body went limp. "NOO" She screamed. She struggled, she saw her pack strewn all over the place next to the male she didn't know was her brothers Fenris and Lysander stood at attention. "Join us or your pack. Lysander Fenris, how could you?" She choked out. Her eyes went to the figure that struggled as it was brought up no there was 2. Her mother and Grandmother. "No no. Join and they live." The voice said. Lyn could not breathe. "No." She cried out.

It all went black and she jolted awake to the sound of her brothers rushing in. She was soaked in sweat and breathing heavily. She guessed she screamed out loud and loud enough to bring her brothers rushing in. She looked at them her white hair matted to her skin. She gasped and tried to control her breathing. She looked at her brothers, they seemed just as Disturbed as she was. It wasn't just her dream they had them as well, but she didn't know if it had been the same. She realized she wasn't dressed when her brothers looked away. "Umm Lyn can you cover up?" He asked. "One to talk" she muttered and pulled the sheet to cover her body. "You okay?" Her brothers asked when she was finally covered. "Yeah. She got up and went to her closet to slip on the clothes she had for moving home. She walked out with them and glared at the sky. None of them spoke of their nightmares.

Lysander ran a hand through his head. He looked at his siblings. "So what does this mean?" He asked his deep grumbly voice soothing to any one. Lyn looked at Fenris then Lysander than with another glare at the sky she sighed. "Its means it is time to go home. "Grab your things we need to leave." She said. She rubbed Fenris back. "You okay?" She asked him concerned for her brother. He seemed more broody than usual. "Don't worry nothing is going to happen to any of us. Mom and Dad got us and the pack and when I am in charge I have the pack.' She said and winked at her brother in a comforting older sister way. They grabbed the small things they had left and hopped into the moving truck. All 3 siblings looked back at the beach house. None wished to truly leave, but after their nightmare they wanted to never see it again.

As the 3 left their 4 year home Lysander drove them to their home they had said they were coming in the next day, but none wanted to prolong it later than it was.

Jade had been asleep next to Erin wrapped in his grasp. Her children were safe and the pack was thriving. Her life seemed to be on the up and up. However mid sleep she gasped and popped up. Her head turned where in her dream she seen the figure. She shivered and got up kissing Erin on the cheeks. She looked when he asked her what was wrong. "Not sure just a feeling, I am worried about the kids and I feel like something is coming, something unpleasant." She said. I am going to go down and try the kids on my phone and grab something to drink, you can join me." She said. She was glad when he did join her. However what started to worry her is she couldn't reach any of her kids. She tried multiple times and sat on the porch with Erin worrying. He had stopped her from going to find them. Her mind raced as she sat there they could be in danger and she wasn't there. She leaned into Erin and watched the darkening sky and the lighting dance across it. She just couldn't help the nagging feeling that was tugging at her. Something had happened to her offspring, but she had no clue if it was good or bad. She felt Lyns fear though. Fenris anger, and Lysanders worry. She knew her mate felt what she was feeling, but it was hard to control when a mother Lycan worried about her pups.

Around 2 am she spotted something not to far off. She had heard it before she saw it. Her eye's trained on the road. Nothing good ever came at 2 o'clock in the morning. Breathing a sigh of relief when she saw there three children in the front seat of a moving van. She frowned, they weren't supposed to be here till the afternoon. That definitely concerned her. She ran for her kids when the truck stopped and hugged and kissed each. "What happened what your doing here in the middle of the night." She asked.

Lyn had dozed off till they got to there road. She sat up as her brother drove down it. Her eyes spotted lights on and movement on the porch. She groaned, "moms up." She said. Lysander sighed. "Of course she is, she must of felt it." He said. He pulled the moving truck up all three kids got bombarded by there mother. Lyn pushed her way out. "Mom stop it were fine, just some bad dreams and we were up, we didn't want to wait, so we figured we just head out. Sorry we didn't call, it is out of service until this area." Lyn told her. "You scared the living hell out of me." Jade scolded. "Sorry mom" all three mumbled. "Will unpack tomorrow come on in its late." She told them.

The whole drive back home, Fenris had been slightly agitated, his mind was still on the nightmare he had awakened from. He was grateful that they had decided not to share their bad experiences, because it wasn't something that he wanted to talk about, although the images never once left his head: The body of his family splayed out all over, blood covering his hands and the taste of blood in his mouth, his older sister and father in chains, the gunshot, and him telling Jade to save herself and join them. The thought of such a disgusting scene made him snarl a bit, but he was grateful that they were heading back home early.

The 4 years away had been awesome! He had enjoyed what the Human World had to offer, and he could definitely understand the appeal of wanting to experience such a thing. It was way different from pack life, but he wasn't sure if he would consider that for the better. Humans lived too carefree, in his opinoin, blissfully unaware that their happy little bubble of perceived safety could be popped at a moment's notice. They were a beautifully ignorant species...he's sure that's exactly how his birth-father felt about them.

His birth father. Now, that was a subject that made his head hurt to even dwell on, but made a lot of other things quite clear. It certainly made his standing in pack a lot clearer for him, and it only made him resent a lot of things and people a lot more. He did his best not to think about Ulric, if the two of them weren't in the same room, but he could sort of understand where everyone's subjective malice came from. Granted, it wasn't as if he had asked to be born from such a thing, so it was safe to say that he had his own reservations and feelings of abhorrence for those who cast disgruntled looks his way.

It had been that line of thinking which made the nightmare he had that much more unbearable to think about. It was the fact that, at some points, he had wished he could tear into those who treated him differently or looked down on him or thought less of him. While he knew that he would never harm his mother, or at least thought to himself that he wouldn't, that didn't mean that he wasn't capable of such a thing. Of course, as far as sibling rivalries go, he knew that he fell second to his brother, for obvious reasons, but he didn't necessarily hold Lysander responsible for such things. In the end, what bothered him about his nightmare, was the fact that he couldn't completely dismiss such acts as improbable. He was sure that the others were all curious as to the nightmare that befell the rest, but he was glad that no one pressed the issue, as he didn't want to have to be the odd man out for not wanting to talk about it.

His mother, their mother, had greeted them as they pulled up, and they all expected nothing less. He felt a little better, being back at home and seeing both his mother and Erin, who stood in the doorway yawning with a sleepy grin on his face. Even though he loved those two to death, he had to admit that he felt a lot more comfortable around Gabrielle than the rest, likely because she was also somewhat of a black-sheep of this pack. He had been able to open up to her a lot more than he had with his mother or Erin, not to mention his siblings, who he wouldn't dream of sitting down and having a heart-to-heart with.

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Erin hadn't questioned Jade more about what she felt, completely trusting his mate. He was still a bit drowsy as he agreed to come get something to drink with her as she tried to get a hold of the kids, wondering if anyone was going to pick-up this late. Granted, they were at college, so he wouldn't be surprised if they were all still up doing various sorts of things. He yawned and stretched hard as they made their way downstairs, Jade trying multiple times to reach them, but having no luck. He had gone to the kitchen to get them both a drink before they were sat out on the porch.

"I'm sure they're fine," he said, handing her a glass, "They're either out and just don't hear it, or in a deep sleep. I'm sure it's nothing." He attempted to comfort his obviously worried mate.

Things had been going pretty smooth for awhile now, so it troubled him to hear from Jade that something unpleasant was likely heading their way. It reminded him too much of the last time they had trouble, his upper lip twitching a bit. He had been very much against Fenris being anywhere near Ulric, or Ulric being able to see him at all. However, Jade had talked him down, expressing how the time together would be supervised and that doing so would also ensure no further issues with the Lycan. While that did turn out to be true, Erin was still looking for a good time and opportunity to rip that man's heart out and eat if before his very eyes.

As far as Jade's mother, Gabrielle, he still had mixed feelings about her. He had noticed that her and Fenris spent a lot of time together, and as far as he could tell, it was simply training and chatting. It seemed that it helped Fenris more than it hindered him, so he hasn't really made a fuss about it. He, on occasion, has saw fit to seek her out, to try to tap into his Lycan bloodline, in an effort to make himself better prepared for the unexpected and to be able to properly protect his family.

"Hey hey!" he called as Jade finished smothering the troop, covering his mouth after another big yawn, "Well now that you've effectively worried your mother and gotten me up as well, I hope you're ready to regale us with stories of your time away?" He grinned, glad to have the kids back, "Not taking no for an answer, so if you need coffee...make some."

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It was true that neither The Order nor the Witches had forgotten about them, though a very small coven of Witches was neutral to them. There was also the Vampire coven that was now headed by Marius' son, Killian, who had recently decided that it was time to make a trip to his father's friend's side soon, to show his support and extend his friendship. While he did has his reservations, he was not one to disrespect his father's wishes just because he had gone to ground to sleep. As such, he would be on his best behavior, and seeing as he didn't plan to come without his Queen by his side, he was sure that she would make up for any of his misgivings.

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Elsewhere, in the basement of an abandoned building of an abandoned city, the echoes of agony and distress could be heard. The desperate cries and please for help were mixed in the clanking of heavy chains that bound the individual to a makeshift alter that was at the center of a meticulously drawn magic circle. The runes and lines had been made with [FONT=Marcellus, serif]precision, the red lines being made with the blood of young girls. Around the alter stood a half dozen figures in cloaks, chanting in a language that non would remember, as it was not of this plain.

As the words were repeated and the red lines seemed to sizzle, a figure stepped from the shadows and up to the alter. "Take this body as a conduit! Bless us all with your presence, that you might make shape this world in your glorious image! Lead these mindless masses, show them the True Path! Come forth and conquer!"

The chanting continues as the room begins to shake violently. The granite stone alter slowly begins to turn pitch black as the boy upon the slab begins to scream in existential terror. The inky black substance seems to transfer to the boy and cover him, creating a writhing screaming mass of blackness. The sound of bones snapping and chains rattling are all that can be heard, until the body stops moving. The shaking soon fades as the last sounds of cracking and breaking bones fade with it. As the blackness seems to be absorbed by the body, what was once the body of a young boy is now the nude body of a man.

The body sits up, restraints falling to the ground with a loud clank as the chanters fall silent yet unmoved. The man is quickly given the robe of the man who had been talking.

"Welcome, my L-," his words are cut short.

"Silence...," his voice is deep and seems to ripple through the room, "You who have called me here, reached into the Void...," he slowly stood up, "Whom do you serve?"

All on the outside of the etchings dropped to their knees.

"We only serve y-," he was interrupted again, but this time because his head was severed from his body with a wave of the hand.

The head made the sound of a popping watermelon as it struck the wall. "Let us go from here."

The group leaves, silently following the one, who has yet to give his name, but is soon to be known by all.