AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She can't be here…not after all this time…
Incense and sage, the jingling of copper bracelets, the curtain of her hair as she knelt over him in the closet.
His eyes scan the forest, fear rippling through him as if it’s still that night, rather than so long ago. Against his will, he shifts, becoming a wolf to protect himself. He starts running back the way he came when he followed Elara here. If this is real, if his senses are really telling himshe’shere, then he’s as good as dead.
As he runs, images play in his mind on repeat. Christmas, his foster family…the blood when he woke up…and the smell ofherwhen she arrived like a specter on the breeze.
Kade cowersin the closet among the jackets and shoes of his family. The family who now lay dead on the other side of the door. All he can smell is blood, all he can see is red. Images flash before his eyes, his sister screaming, his father lunging for him.
None of it makes any sense.
A knock at the door has his sobbing go immediately silent. He does everything in his power to scoot farther back into the musty shadows and hide behind the coats, but there's nowhere left to go. His back hits the wall and freezes him in place.
“Hello? Sister dearest? Where are my favorite nephew and niece? It’s so quiet in here, are you guys still—” Her sentence is broken by a shrill scream. “No! No, no, no! Goddess…why?”
Sobs echo through the house, rattling in Kade’s traumatized brain.
“Wait, where's the little boy?”
Kade hears the woman scrambling around the living room. There’s jingling as she walks, the sound of her heels on the hardwood floor, and the deafening squelch when her shoes leave the puddles of blood.
“What was his name… What did she tell me?”
There’s the sound of beeping coming from her cellphone, and then a breathy sigh as she whispers his name.
“Kade? Baby, are you here? Are you alright? Auntie Coraline is here! Don’t be afraid, I’ll protect you, baby! Come out!”
Kade doesn’t know this woman, there's no way he’s coming out. She smells different from anyone he’s ever smelled, a heavy scent of smoke emanates from her. Every time she passes in front of the closet, he can smell sage and lavender, rosemary and thyme.
The next time she passes in front of the closet, she pauses. “Oh…oh no…” He watches her shadow as she crouches. Long black sharp nails slide under the door and come away bloodied. “Please, mother goddess, do not let that little boy be dead in here…please let one of them live, please…”
The door opens with a slow and ominous creak, drawing Kade’s eyes up.
The woman who opens the door looks a lot like his new mommy, but darker. Her long black hair falls in waves to her waist, her black lacy clothes flowing around her as she falls to her knees in front of him.
“Blessed mother, he lives!” Her pale hands reach for Kade, like talons coming in for a deadly strike. She pulls him from his place on the floor in the closet and cradles him against her chest. “Oh my sweet child, you poor baby…” She strokes his head, cooing to him quietly as black makeup stains her cheeks with her tears.
“What happened, Kade? Will you tell me?”
Kade can handle it no longer, his resolve to be brave cracks and he wraps his arms around the woman and wails. His body is wracked with sobs, shaking and trembling in her arms as she rubs his back and soothes him. The jingling sound came from the copper bracelets stacked on both wrists. The smell of smoke clings to her clothes and hair. She smells like comfort, like safety.
Slowly, she pulls Kade away and puts both hands on his face, looking deeply into his eyes. Kade looks back, losing himself in her clear blue eyes. He could love this woman, love her like a mother. He tries to pull her close again but her hands suddenly go rigid. Kade blinks, trying to pull his head away, but her long sharp nails dig into the soft flesh of his cheeks.
“Abomination…” she whispers, denial and pain darkening her once beautiful eyes and twisting her features. One hand slides to the back of his head and grips his hair like a vice, and the other slashes across his mouth in one quick swipe.
Kade cries out in confusion, his terror spiking again. Her hand came away from his face bloody. Dripping blood, even. Once kind eyes blaze with fury and hatred, and as she stands she pulls him up with her and holds him up in the air by his neck.
“You did this?” she screams, flinging him to the ground amongst the piles of shredded bodies. “You? You killed them?” Darkness pools around her feet, and the sound of whipping wind begins outside. There’s a crack of thunder, a flash of lightning.
Kade shields his eyes from the raging storm outside and screams, “I don’t know! I don’t know what happened! Please! Please?” he cries, crawling to her feet as the room darkens.
When he looks up again, the woman’s eyes seem to be glowing electric blue. Her hands are raised, talons sparking and arcing with electricity.
“Reveal your true form, monster! Reveal the beast that you are!” she roars, her voice inhumane. Her hands drop, reaching for him like the claws of an attacking eagle, and electricity shoots from her fingertips and strikes Kade. “Show me the monster that killed my family!”
Kade’s body buckles, back arching too far. His bones crack, and his skin splits. A scream of pure agony rips from his lips and seems to shred his very existence.
When the pain stops, his screams are no longer human, but a mournful howl.
