1 01

"The boundaries which divide life from death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?"

-Edgar Allan Poe

Town after town was terrorized, razed down completely.

Screams chorused throughout the midnight sky as smoke clouded over the last village, casting a shadow over the small community of people. Everything was so grey...So dark. The only light seen was the wild flames lapping at the wood of several homes.

Yet, everyone knew why the troops of men had come.

The smell of death lingered in the air, lifeless corpses, that were once people, laid staring up at the darkened sky. Pain and shock was left forever on their bloody faces as if to say, 'it shouldn't have been like this.'

Abandoned children cried for their loved ones, not knowing that they would never return. There was that awful, fearful stench that was emitted by the villagers.

It was the fourth raid they have had so far. And yet, it seemed to be the worst one of all. The guards became merciless, they were impatient, and hostile. This was the first time the townspeople had seen them kill so many. Never had they seen someone become a true monster until now.

Flames continued to dance around, enlarging whenever it hit untouched wood that could fuel its enormous appetite. While young women were the main target of not the fire, but the beasts that created it. Every single one of them were being pulled from their homes and if their families got in the way, they were striked down and killed. This left towns in shambles, not only did the towns lose their young women, they lost their homes and were forced to either move or rebuild.

It became a harsh reality for the townspeople. Even made women fearful of birthing girls instead of boys.

Guards searched the last few homes, many flocking around the last home as if they knew their main target was there and wasted no time knocking down the door. A few of the guards stormed inside, their glowing eyes scanning the place for the girl. The girl that their prince had specifically ordered them to retrieve. But she was nowhere in sight, causing one of the guards to grow angry. His eyes snapped towards the older woman and her son who cowered in a corner, tears filled the woman's eyes, while anger raged in her son's.

The young man pushed his mother behind him when the guard marched forward, "Where's the girl?"

"It's just me and my mother, sir."

"Bullshit!" The guard bellowed and did a quick signal with his hand, motioning for the other guards to grab the woman's son and the rest to search the place. Two guards gripped the man, holding his arms tight while the lead guard stepped forward, eyed him, and yanked his mother up and onto her feet.

"One last time. Where is the girl?"

The young man wrestled against the large guards as his mother gasped out, the leader gripping her by her throat. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she spat at the guard, "Go to hell."

He growled and wiped the spit off his cheek before flinging the older woman down onto the floor, his arm drawing back to hit her.

But before he could, there was loud rustling from beneath the wooden floor boards and a hatch lifted only to reveal beautiful grey irises.

The eighteen-year old girl made her way out of the hatch, her eyes full of concern and fear as she looked over to her mother and brother. "Please. Don't hurt them. I'll come with you..."

She sucked in a breath and walked over to the guard, her expression showing her fear, but she tried to be strong for her loved ones. Her brother continued to try and get out of the guard's grip, but they held him tightly to them and narrowed their eyes on the girl. Their eyes shifted to look at the leader to heed his command.

"Dove no! You're staying here with us! I won't let them take you!" Her brother shouted, thrashing against the guards that continued to restrain him.

The sight caused tears to swim in her eyes, but she looked away and steadied her breathing. Her mother's cries filling her ears. "Let them go! And I'll go!" She begged again, the lead guard looking down at her, he nodded to the other guards, who soon shoved her brother to the ground next to their mother.

Dove was able to give her family one last glance before the guard gripped her by the back of her neck and forced her outside where her voice was drowned out by the mourns of the families who were also torn apart around her.

A strained scream left her lips when she realized what they were doing. One guard held a torch, while the other coated her house in alcohol, without hesitation the guard with the torch lit her house on fire. She screamed, struggling against the guards, as the fire roared and began to eat at her home. Their eyes lacked empathy as they left her family to burn inside.

Tears streamed down her face as she shoved away from the guards as they were trying to tow her towards the awaiting truck.

"Mother!!! Brother!!!" She cried out and raced forward, her legs running as fast as they could go towards the burning building. Despite her hands shaking profusely, she began tearing at the untouched wood. "No! No! No!!!! Please, please save them!" She pleaded, her shrill cries weakening as the guards gripped onto her again and dragged her away.

The familiar sensation of eyes boring into her back, made her wildly look around, tears staining her cheeks. Before she was loaded into the enormous truck, she caught a glimpse of blue eyes watching from the woods that surrounded her small town.

"Aren't you a gorgeous one? The King will be pleased." A guard smirked, giving her a once over while her attention lingered on the blue eyes she had seen, but when she blinked they were gone. She came back to reality as she was shoved into the back of the truck and the doors slammed shut in her face. Leaving her and the other young women in nothing but darkness.

"It's gonna be okay..." She whispered shakily trying to comfort the other girls as many began to sob uncontrollably. But she wasn't so sure they'd be alright.

She hoped they would.

*

I awoke.

The sound of laughter dragging me out from unconsciousness as my eyes slowly fluttered open. Out of sheer confusion and curiosity I began to glance around. For some reason, my head felt like it was about to explode as I pressed a thumb against my throbbing temple, rubbing it to try and ease the pain. Then it hit me. I wasn't at home.

This place was way too spacious and cold to be home. There was no small fireplace, no comforting smell of freshly baked bread, no sound of my mother's familiar humming as she prepared food.

Instead my back was pressed against soft cushions that smelled like lavender, and I was met with the sight of white marble floors, white walls, white pillars. This place was definitely not home. It was a dressing room in a palace. The King's palace.

I sat up and watched silently, confused as girls ran around painting makeup on their faces and throwing on poufy dresses. Their hands clutching gold and silver jewelry as they giggled, their smiles turning vicious and greedy. Their eyes glazed over by the sight of riches they've never had the chance to lay their eyes or hands on before.

"That's the same look I had. A guard came in and told us all to get dressed and use whatever we want because some of us will be chosen by the dire wolf princes..." A raven-haired girl mumbled and pushed off the wall to sit beside me. "Crazy, isn't it?"

Fear and shock busted onto my face as I looked at her. "T-The..Dir-Dire wolves?" I gulped, my voice trembling slightly. Since I was young, all the towns children were told awful tales about the dire wolves. We've always come to fear them. They were told to be scary monsters. Heartless and full of evil. But no one's seen them in person, some say it's because they're the last sight you'll ever see. Which seemed so true as no one has ever lived to tell us what they looked like.

Another girl approached us and nodded, "Yes, the dire wolves. This raid was unlike any other. I heard that this year is the final year. The fourth and last raid, apparently the guards think 'the new batch' of women are very promising. But I don't see it? I mean look at these girls, they must be crazy." The girl paused for a second and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Come on, we have to meet with Emerald. She found a way out. Oh, right! I'm Autumn by the way, and that's Raven." She said with a smile while pointing towards the black-haired girl sitting beside me. I nod and hesitantly stand with my hand still gripping onto my head. "I'm Dove..."

"Are you okay?" Autumn raises a brow at me, her eyes focused on my head.

"Yeah, just my head hurts that's all." I wince and start rubbing my temple again.

"That's because they hit you pretty hard when you tried to escape out of the truck not too long ago." Raven muttered and winced with me but turned away and motioned for us to follow her. "Let's go before that guard comes back."

We all seemed to suck in a breath at the same time and hurried past the other girls and into the next room where a blonde girl stood by an open window. It looked like she just finished tying two sheets together. Autumn coughed a bit, announcing our presence, which caused the girl named Emerald to look our way. "Hey, it's all set."

Her green eyes flared with determination as she turned away from us and threw the rope made of sheets out the window. She held tightly onto the other end and tied it around a metal post, which was a bed leg that was stuck into the floor. She glanced back at us, "We don't have much time, let's go."

Autumn went first, Emerald, Raven, and me. I clung desperately onto the sheets, my body tense at first before I slid down the smooth fabric. I kept my eyes closed until I felt my bare feet hit grass. Thankfully when I reopened my eyes, Emerald and Autumn quickly motioned me and Raven over towards the woods. That's when we heard it. Those loud angry roars that caused the ground to shake. Roars that would echo forever in my mind and would haunt my dreams at night.

Startled, we gasped and didn't hesitate to run through the endless woods that seemed to surround the place like a group of frightened deer.

"Get off me!" Raven suddenly shouted angrily from the side of me, her voice slowly fading as we all stopped to look around for her in hope to save her. But we came to find more horrible news, we were surrounded by huge guards who glared and growled at us, they had found us in just a matter of seconds.

Unfortunately, we were all cuffed and brought back to the palace. No matter how much we fought against the guards, it was no use. Their amount of strength was far from human.

"Let us go!"

"These are the girls that tried to escape?"

Each of the guards that were currently holding us captive bowed in sync, all responding obediently.

"Yes, Sir."

The King's eyes scanned us over as his wife stuck beside him, whispering something in his ear. He looked at her for a split moment, before nodding and barking out another command, causing all of us to jump and stiffen, even the tough guards.

"Get them dressed and into the ball room with the other human girls. My sons will be there shortly, keep an eye on these four. They amuse me."