pendant (2)

"They were. Burned more houses than they could repair. Can you hold it place?" She asked as the stone slid down onto the bed.

The lunar put it back in place and pinned the stone there as Carey chanted something behind her breath.

"What is it that we're doing?"

"Something Laurent's mother taught me for when we got hurt." She sprinkled the cold water with a finger onto Kalla's chest and put the glass in between the old woman's breasts. "I haven't done it in a while so I'm not sure if it works.

"This feels odd."

"Don't worry, tell me if you start feeling all tingly." She closed her eyes and ran crossed fingers up the Kalla's chest while still chanting something.

"I already feel..." she gasped and tapped Carey's hand. A pentagram drawn in blue luminous light formed around the stone with runes all over it. The lunar's skin cracked at every point of the star and the blue light seeped into her cracked skin as the lunar started screaming.

Carey's eyes glowed bright green. Her hair rose for a second turning gray.

The Alpha's wife skin burned red with gray veins popping up all over as the water rose from the cup and spread all over her chest.

The blue light slowly turned gray as black lumps formed around the points of the pentagram. As the lumps grew the size of ping-pong balls, they burst open and started flowing into the cup. The water seeped into her skin making her entire chest appear gray.

She continued screaming, shape-shifting her head for a second before reverting to her human form. By the time the glass was full, and started overflowing, only her chest was gray. The pentagram was black and her skin glowed pale white and her screaming died.

A warrior ripped Carey off her. The pentagram followed her hands and the gray matter did the same, taking the shape of the lunar's lungs before spilling onto the bed and floor. The pentagram spun and slammed into Carey's forehead as she slammed on the ground back first.

The pentagram turned into a tattoo as three runes from it had spread outside the pentagram. The runes of water, fire and air. The water rune went over her left eyelid, the other two below her eye like tear drops and stood there.

"you okay?" The warrior asked his lunar who groaned as her skin regained its vigour.

"shit, I… I'm okay. And I feel like…" she looked at herself as if it was the first time she saw herself. Her calloused hands were smooth. Her scars were gone. Her body seemed slender. Her skin was tight and the four hundred year old body felt thirty again. "…young again. Carty…!"

**

That night; on the other side of the mountain.

Laurent watched Allison eat to her heart's content and smiled. She ate like a famished troll. But cute. Really cute. He thought. His heart hummed beautifully as he watched her. But he had to go somewhere.

He took a look at his shadow and told it to watch over her.

The shadow split into nine and merged with the shadows ad space in front of him twisted and turned before a corridor of doors appeared in front of him.

He walked into the corridor and went straight for the first door on his right. He opened the door and walked into the white wolf pub. He turned and walked out the door before Debby could notice he was there.

He sighed once outside the pub and found his way towards the grocery store. A few minutes later he found himself staring in front of different types of feminine products and his head jammed. What should he buy for her? He wondered. After picking up one product after another and examining it, he realized, he wasn't cut out for it.

He garnered a lot of looks from the other shoppers but it didn't bother him. What bothered him was the language written in the products. He didn't understand shit. Nor did he learn what a woman's toiletry needed. After a minute of contemplating, he looked at his basket and decided, it was small.

He went back to get a trolley and started taking the short way out. One product per make and before he could even reach the end of an aisle, he needed another trolley.

A woman who had been watching him silently laughed as he looked at the trolley and sighed. She thought of helping him out but decided a video was better. After a while, he left the trolley there and before she could run to him, he came back with another trolley and continued taking down one product after another once again.

A shop-helper saw his predicament and tried to approach him but she stopped him, given the helper a bank note and continued watching the show. After a while, she put the phone away and approached him.

"How many people are you buying for?" she asked as she looked at the the trolley full of sanitary pads and tampons.

"one."

"One?" she looked at the trolley one more, then at Laurent. Has his head taken way too many hits or was it just him being utterly stupid? "…and how old is she?"

"Twenty three,"

She looked at the trolley not knowing how to respond. Should she say lucky girl? Or ask him if he has brain damage? Or say something utterly ridiculous? Sarcastic? "Really? I'm sure she'll be touched knowing she had pads for every year." She finally said with a masked face.

"Meaning?"

She started helping him chose the best toiletry for a twenty year old. When she was done, a single trolley was all he needed with space to spare. She left him and walked out of the shop and reported to another woman who hid watched him from the shadows.

The woman smiled as she received the report and tipped the woman with another roll of notes. Gladly, the woman took the money and left.

Only, she didn't really leave. She just kept following Laurent and the woman following Laurent. He went into the women clothing and before she could make a move, she noticed another woman following Laurent.

What the fuck was Laurent knee deep into? She wondered. She thought she was the only player in the game but now to more players? She stopped in the shadows and kept her eyes open.

She knew the relationship between Laurent and the woman who paid her to watch and help Laurent. That's why it was easier to get paid to do her own bidding. But the second? Why was she following him? Did the woman pay another?

Or were way more people looking for him and knew that only the place to find him was waiting for him at his pub?

The second woman following him helped him with choosing undies and though she was anxious, she couldn't help but be glad Laurent cared for the woman she kidnapped. But also worried about him should her fear of him make her break his heart.

She stepped away to watch the mall from afar and noticed even more people following Laurent.

He went to the other shop and picked up a few accessories then he headed to the pub. Once Laurent went into the pub, the second woman she noticed joined him at the table and talked with him.

The first took out daggers and started cleaving the tails one by one.

"Shit!" She said shape-shifting into an owl and flying above a few thousand feet above the mall to watch everything from a safe distance.

The woman erased the tails easily without leaving any body behind and after making sure all the tails were dead, she went to the rooftop of the building overlooking the pub and turned into a giant white two tailed wolf. Black shadows materialized next to her and merged with hers. As more shadows merged with hers, she started growing more tails until she had eight bushy tails.

The owl's heart almost stopped as she realized that she was staring at a mountain spirit with a mountain on her back. She cursed her informer and before she could say or do anything, the mountain spirit looked at her.

"Fuck!" She cursed as clouds formed above the island and turned into a hawk. She flew silently down and landed on the other side of the building from the mountain spirit.

The spirit turned into a woman again. This time, instead of wearing wearing a black robe that covered her from head to toe, she wore the same armor as her. Only black with no helmet. But she knew it was there, hidden from sight.

She turned too. Back into her human form and instead of the jeans and the fur coat, she wore her armor. Her golden full body armor with green dragon scales showing wherever the armor plates didn't cover.

"Princess, what are you doing in a den of wolves?" The mountain spirit asked with a voice that sounded sweet. But unlike her mentor, her voice was calming and the least threatening. It flowed like a calm spring. If not too much it ripped her defenses apart.