Chapter Four A Time Of Secrets
FIVE YEARS AGO. LONDON, ENGLAND 1727.
The bar was a calm environment with the pleasent yet fowl scent of bourbon and liquor wavering in the stale air while a jukebox rumbles through the ambient noise in the background, forcing through the sounds of murmurs and uslesas gabbering.
There were few humans and little distractions. Viktor's hunger had grown as he tried his best to suppress it. He'd dig the devil's grave if he fell into a feeding frenzy, it would become uncontrollable and as the unbearable force of the moon reeled him in.
Outside far from the smell of bourbon and cheep cigars the sun fell with a steady grace and the moon rules the sky. It was full and a large illuminated disk that stretch to the clouds.
Viktor weaved through a thick crowd of muscles and stupidity. Two men tussled in the middle of the heavy crowd of humans, everyone scrambled away and fled through open door. Tables cracked and glass shattered on the old wooden floor boards.
One man layed on the floor and the other loomed over him with his fist clenched tightly.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Viktor sat on a bar stool with his drink in hand, pulling it to his lips calmly.
"What do you know," He snaps back angrily.
"I know I'll kill you where you stand," Viktor's gaze met with his with a glowering expression.
"Go ahead and try foolish child."
Viktor's glass hit the counter with a snap as it glittered in dim lighting. His figure whipped around and pinned the man against the back wall, he dangled by his throat clawing at Viktor's hand that enclosed his neck.
"Want to say it again, fool?"
The buff man struggled and his head shook violently. "Get out and don't come back," Spoke Viktor calmly.
Viktor slung the aching man to his knees as he slippes and crawls through the entrance frantically, the body who laid in the floor scrambled away aswell.
Viktor returned to his drink, all life faded and no humans were left, the bar was vacent and peaceful and not a souls stirred.
In a cold flash the air went out, it vanished and lights closed the place in darkness without their flickering glow. Viktor jolted up from his stool as his gaze adjusted through blackness, they now shined with red hues and swirled with crow-black. Boots clicked across the floor in single strides, light-footed and thin.
"Who goes there?" Viktor's growl grew unsteady and on edged. On the inside he panicked, but he wasn't about to let it shown to the figure that lurked in the shadows. He was usually the unknown in the shadows, the beast, this was different.
He took in the unusual scent and overflowed with the smells of hurbs and I scents.
"Calm down wolfie," A soothing voice told echoing closer. The shilouette was that of a woman, refined and sleek.
Viktor's growls rose at the lady's words. Who did she think she was? "Show yourself,"
The lights had flickered on again, a woman stood merely five feet away, a few feet too close to cause an uneasyness.
"I've heard many things of you Viktor Sullivan," She amused. "Like the beast you are,"
"I work hard for such a reputation love." He gave an evil grin through squinted eyes,
"Who do you think you are and bow do you know my name?"
She suppressed a small chuckle, her fingertips grazing over shattered glass on a banged up table. The skin of her finger cut at the slightest touch, crimson trickled from it.
"That is not your place to pry,"
Viktor tensed as his jaws clenched tigeather to control a growing hunger, the moon's force reeled him in like a puppy on a chain, and the woman wasn't helping.
"What are you?" Viktor fumes through hunger. "Your scent is not of that of a Lycan."
She wiped the scarlet substance through her fingers and paced evenly in front of Viktor to gaze in his dimly lit eyes.
"You have the nose of a hound. The names Circe Black. I'm one of the Six Sister's but you needn't know that."
"What is your need with me, I don't deal with Witches."
"I've had my eye on you for some time, you drink alone without the company of your pack." She touches his shoulder lightly and circled around his back.
Viktor snarls at her actions. "That's not your concern." He spat.
"Calm down pet," Circe furrows her brows with a scowled face.
"Do not speak to me like a dog," He challenged, he stepped in territory he dared not to cross, but he was already there.
"I like you Sullivan, you give up a fight." Circe sat cross-legged on the bar counter scanning over him widely.
"I'm not fond of you and I'll only ask again, what is your need Witch?" Viktor's snarl emerged through bared teeth.
"Your a stubborn man Sullivan," She pondered deeply with an expression that deemed him a fool. "I wish to help you, I've not met many Lycan's whom I've grown a liking to. I don't want to see you dead on a Hunter's wall or by another means."
"Witch's don't give favors without a price."
"But I do," Her legs sway gently. "This is a game and your my dog,"
"I am no one's," Viktor shuffles and resumes to his drink. "Leave be Witch,"
"Come now, I can teach you about your curse and guide your through a maze of difficulty and changes." She gleams grimly. "Your hunger."
"Your words are cryptic, I've been aquanted with several Witch's in my time and I don't like their bargins." Viktor:s eyes shot to his glass that held nothing but a drop of sorrow. "But I like your words Black,"
"Shall we leave?" Questions Circe straightway.
Viktor straightened his garmet and strides heavily out the entrance with Circe tagging behinh him in long paces.
PRRSENT DAY, 1733 LONDON, ENGLAND.
"Come back with us, there is nothing here for you brother,"
Jesper pondered Viktor's kind words and scales tipped in his brain.. "Very well, I shall travel in your pack."
It had been two days since Alric's great passing, the sun had set two times and the moon had rose.
"And you, Eliza?"
Eliza responded quickly. "I have no ties here, I will take glory in traveling in your pack." She spoke gingerly.
"We must find Circe and question her about the Witches bind on Blain's arm." Tells Clayton from a far behind Jesper.
"We have no where to go." observes Jesper keenly. "Where will we take shelter?"
"We shall find Circe, she will take an evil pitty to use," Viktor reminds everyone of the Witch whom helped him with his struggles and hard times.
They began their journey back through high tides and stale waters, trekking to the opisote side of London where forests were few and streams none except the rain that lines the gutters.
FIVE YEARS AGO 1727, LONDON ENGLAND
The building of one of the old complex's were merely a skeleton of what had once stood in the rundown alley way. There was one enclosed and had been refurbished from longful years of damage and harsh weather.
"Here," Circe motioned grasping an old door handle. "After you,"
Viktor flashed a curious glance and entered into dreery shadows at will. It was ice cold and damp on the inside, yet the warmth of a flickering flame illuminated in the distance behind a quick turn. Light spilled through the crack of the old metal door from the moon's glow--It was a Witch's den, the devil's house.
"Tell me Witch," Viktor rumbles. "How do you plan to help a beast such as myself."
Circe's fingers wrapped around a large, thick book as it slammed into Viktor's chest with a thud behind it. "You start there."
Viktor huffed through his nose and folded through long and wide pages. It was filled with all the knowledge of Lycan's, to shifts through sickness.
"Where did you aquire such knowledge?" Viktor's eyebrows knitted together as his spine tingled from the chilly inside.
Circe took in a deep breath and began with windy words. "It was created by the Witch whom the First Lycan's were derived from,"
"Alison Waterhouse," Viktor's tone was bleak as he admiers her voice as she spoke. "My mother," He whispers
Circe nods her head keenly, her head twist around her shoulder to face Viktor. His eyes closed and he breathes in deeply. "The woman whom cursed you created one book after the abilities you are capable."
"Origionals?"
"Mostly everyone who deem themselves a Lycan."
"I can feel the moon, it's pulse, the light that gleams from it." Hia jaws tightly chelched. "The hunger only grows each night," A bereft tone grumbles from the back of his hoarse throat with a heavy rasp.
"You shall drink this, the cravings will fade." Circe demanded, the glass she held was murky and dark in it's odd coloring. It wasn't pleasant to gaze at, sertently injest.
He drew it to his lips as the glinting pearl clearness of the glass tips in his mouth. Viktor's face scowled with a snarl as his nose crinkled upward. He choked lightly.
"What was in that?" Viktor grasp at his throat and scratched it. He struggled to breathe, his lungs left like they were acid through the thin lining and his stomach venom. He fell to his knees in defeat and his pupils flared the color of a scarlet birds wing. Viktor's veins crawled up his neck spiraled in black and darkened blue, his scenes blurred between a fine line of there and no where close.
"Wolfsbane," Told Circe admiring from a far. "You'll live cub,"
Viktor's expression grimaced and tried for small gasps of somewhat clean air. The olive color in his face drained to nearly a pearl-white.
"You about killed me!" Viktor's voice was the thunder in a blackend sky as he weakly raised from the cold flooring. He supported himself with an aged table as razor sharp claws dug in calously.
"Stop your whining," Circe quarrels examining Viktor who hunched over in pulsating anger.
Viktor allowed a growl slip from his throat loudly as he lunged forward. A force pulled him backward as his figure darted against a stone wall like a childs doll, he coughed and his body held steadily no more than a foot from comforting ground.
Circe's eyes glint the shade of a brilliant mullberry and streaked with brilliant hues of a tanzite gem.She held her left arm drew hight in the air with it outatretch, her palm curved in the breeze.
"Try that again and I'll have your head," She turned aggressive and her tone was on the brim of hostile.
Viktor fell as he collected and scanned over himself. He stood and fumbled on his first step back towards the table that held the book of Lycan's.
Viktor's pride stung while taking a seat and gathering the book as pages withered.
It was going to be a long night, and that it was. Lengthfull and time passed--Time didn't seem like it moved at all pass nevertheless.
The moon lit brightly and a cold air radiated from the glimmering disk while stars speckled beautiful in the bleak ash colored sky.
PRESENT DAY, 1733 LONDON, ENGLAND.
It was grueling two day trip, wind raged beastly and rain pelted heavily, but the pack made it safely to their destination across ol'London with little trouble.
The sun had made its way downward and the town desened into shadows and the land if darkness. Nothing looked the same as it was in daylight, things changed and grim scenery grew.
Jesper turned and straightened up eyeing the rest heavily. "Do you know where we can find Circe?"
Clayton's broad head turned over his shoulders and shot Jesper a glance, he had only asked ten times at the least.
Viktor spoke up in the eerie silence that stood between all of them. "When I met Circe she guided me to an old complex, it was a skeleton then I don't know how appealing itd look now." He told stopping in his tracks and gave an ear to Jesper.
"She's a woman of many mysteries." Jesper mumbles with his head down, trotting up where Clayton and Viktor stood.
"Indeed," Utters Clayton.
"Will you journey to the old complex?" Suggested Eliza.
"I'm not going to sit here and wait on her to pop out from a corner, Eliza." Viktor states sharply.
Viktor, Clayton, Jesper and Eliza maze through old buildings and small shops. The memories of the location was vague and gone in Viktor's mind but he managed through the famillier damp scents of the street.
A strong smell broke the air, it was another Lycan, male. Big, strong and feirce, willing to put up a good fight.
Viktor turned and faced the pack that stepped behind him, Clayton stepped up first.
"Another Lycan," Notes Jesper from the back.
Viktor's head nods at the slightest with his pointer finger sealing his lips. He tilts his head upward to see a lurking body before it fell to the ground. Eliza screams and jumps backwards.
The mysterious man shoved Viktor against the wall with a great deal of force.
"Malcolm?" Clayton recognizese the famillier face. He bounds off the alley wall and steps up to Clayton with heavy shoulders.
"It's a pleasure to see you again, Clayton." Malcolm's eyes wonder back over to Viktor. "You can stand now Viktor," He chuckles.
"What are you doing here Malcolm?" Viktor asks.
"Working a job,"
"Lycan's don't work jobs," Tells Viktor sharply.
Malcolm gave a small laugh. "I work under a Witch, Circe Black."
Jesper creaps forward and give Malcolm an eye. "Can you take us where ol'friend?"
Malcolm turns back to Clayton and glances over his shoulder with knitted eyebrows. "Viktor doesn't deal with Witches, nor any of you do."
"We need to find Circe." Says Viktor regrouping, still receiving confused gazez. "Someone wants me dead, he had a Witches Bind on his forarm."
"Everyone wants you dead." Malcolm states sharply.
"Can you take us to her or not?" Huff's Viktor irritated.
Malcolm turns and walks away to retreat back into the dark shadows. Clayton's shoulders shrug and follow into the dark abyss. Viktor, Jesper and Eliza follow closely behind.
Soon and many grueling steps later they had arrived at the once Witch's den, it's appearance was the same cold, darkness as before. Viktor stood beneath it, the hight of the building was tall and weigh baring. "Circe!" He shouted loudly. "I know your in there I can smell you Witch!"
An icy breeze gust through settling deeply in their bones. Malcolm began firstly on his way in to a shallow entrance then Viktor with Clayton and Eliza soon behind his back. Jesper loomed lastly, gazing upward with a regretible sign as he follow hastily after.
"Circe Black," Viktor's tone was an echo in little noise. "Show yourself Witch."
A figure lurks against the darkness of shadows and few slivers if moonlight infiltrate through cracks and boarded up windows.
"Welcome back Malcolm." A curious tone steps from darkness and Circe loomed wide-eyed, looking them over. "You should have never returned here Viktor Sullivan."
"I see your fowl heart is still beating Circe,"
FIVE YEARS AGO 1727 LONDON, ENGLAND
"Why'd you kill her!" A voice yells above the humming noise if streetcars in a dimly lit alleyway.
"We made a deal Viktor!" A voice shouts hauntingly. "You broke your promise to me Sullivan!"
"I'll kill you where you stand Witch! You will pay for what you've done!"
"You broke the bargain I sold to you and a death has taken shape, now leave while you can!"
Viktor turned from a body of an unknown and lashed at Circe violently with a hatred that would stand for centuries.
PRESENT DAY, 1733 LONDON, ENGLAND.
Circe took even, light paces till she stood in front of Viktor, Circe's palm grazed his cheek with a snap. "You should have never returned here dog!"
Viktor took it, the stinging and cursing words while he gritted tigeather his jaws. "I need your help," He pleads.
"I gave you my help once before and you broke my Bind!"
Clayton's face scowled and knitted in confusion. "You binded with a Witch?"
"I was a desperate man Clayton!" Viktor snarls in a battle of Ill words, his Beta wasn't pleased nor enthused. Sides had shifted and the scales weren't good, Viktor stood alone in a battle he wasn't going to win.
"Ten years ago when I left the pack I had made a bind with Circe and I broke it,"
"You broke every law of nature!" Circe fumed. "You never told your little pack how you broke my bind did you? Let me remind you all," Circe circled around Jesper and Eliza. "He killed a Witch, one of the Sisters now standing are six."
"Is that true brother?" Jesper stepped toward the slivers if golden moonlight that framed both of them. Viktor tensed up tightly."I've killed one hundred times over again and it hasn't changed."
"You killed the one closest to me! That's what you do Sullivan, you take what you can't have like Rebekah!"
Viktor growled with the deepest growl that had ever surfaced from his throat and pushed Circe against the wall as her back thudded hard. "You do not speak her name devil!"
Circe twisted Viktor's arms away as her expression scolded like ahot iron. "I'll make you a deal Sullivan." Her tounge runs across her teeth. " My bind returns with new conditions and you're bound to me till the day I die."
"I give you my word," Viktor muttered while his eyes wondered over the his pack, a heaviness grew and detraik set in.
"Very well," Circe dusted herself off kindly. "You will be forever in deat to the Moon for what life you have taken, you ranking in your own pack shall be an Omega. Your lead Beta will take charge until you earn your rightful place to resume as Alpha." Her tone was grim and evil as she eyes Clayton a few feet from her. "And you will never escape the web of lies you've weaved yourself into."
"That's not how a bind works!" Viktor angered. "Out cannot change my rnking!"
"Your're my toy Sulivn, you may not realise it but the bind you made five years ago still remains."
"I was desperate when I broke from my pack, I didn't wish to kill anymore so-." Viktor's tone was cut off.
"So I found you, took you in under my wing. I healed you Viktor from the true beast within yourself, you killed one hundred men that year."
"And I still feel from it everyday! I took humans lives because I seen them as nothing more than toys!"
"Then you met Rebekah." Circe's stone expression lightened up at the woman she had taken.
"After you killed her on the street corner I went back to the comfort of my people." He sulked and gazed at the pack with wide eyes. "I never spoke of her again, not never and I don't plan to start now. I've changed Circe the beast may lay awake inside me but you do not know what strength it takes to fight back, you may keep your bind on me if you grant my pack one question."
"It is no longer your pack, you shall be seen as an Omega, it is not your place to question." Her gaze shifts to Clayton.
"I will not take his place as Alpha." Clayton says keenly. "He is my friend not my Alpha."
Circe nods in resprct. "Jesper will resume as leader until Viktor earns his way through ranks."
Those words stung, anpain settled in Viktor's chest, his eyes flaired to the palest white--The ranking f an Omega.
"Your question, Jesper?" Circe knew exactly who Jesper was, Viktor spoke fondly of him when be left the pack in the five year stand.
"The man whom wants Viktor dead, he had a Witches bind on his arm."
"His name?"
"His name was Blaine Coldwell,"
"Made a bind with that man no more than a month ago, his price was high. For the bind twas his life if he broke it,"
"What was his bind?" Clayton steps up beside Jesper and eyed Circe with eyes that popped out of his skull."
"If he killed Sullivan he would become like an Original Lycan, powerful and steady on his feet. He also wants to break every Lycan's curse expect his, if he failed at Viktor's death his daughter would perrish."
"How would you break the curse?"
"You have to have the heart of an original Lycan,"
"That's why he wants Viktor dead," Clayton and everyone came to a startling realization about Blaine's bind--It was a death scentence for both parties and hardly anything could be done to reverse it.
"Can Maura remove the bind if we find her?" Viktor joins in.
"It's illigel by the means of our laws." Circe muttered under her whisking breath . "But it doesn't mean we can't try."
"Do you know where Maura is located?" Jesper asks drawing closer to Circe and Viktor.
"You Lycan's must deem me a fool," Circe glowers. "She is a woman of many mysteries and she never stays in one spot for too long."
"Can't you use a locator spell?" Eliza questions with round eyes, focusing to the dim lighting.
Circe nods her black locks that grazed her cheeks. "I am of need if Nihm root,"
"I don't think so," Viktor's growl raised in curiosity and uneasiness. "That stuff is deathly if we get too close!"
A quarrel brewed sharply. "I'm well aware what Nihm root does,"
"What is Nihm root?" Eliza asks as she could see Viktor shaking his head from a far.
"It's a root found by the early settlers here to kill Lycan's. It'll shake you with a terrible fever and gift you with an awful rash, you will shift between man and wolf uncontrollably until your physical form cannot take it anymore." A cold chill traced Viktor's spine from the words." But those are just a few symptoms, at first it starts out slowly, it could take days or weeks to kill you. At first your scenes heighten and your eyes swirl in a brilliant arrey of colors invisible to the human eye." Circe sighed and gathered in a lengthful breath. "There's a Sorcerer whom sells Nihm root, but it isn't easy to collect. It's Hunter territory and dangerous people roam there,"
"We'll go collect the Nihm root." Jesper comments through rumbling tones.
"No we won't!" Griped Viktor yelling.
"You're not an Alpha anymore Viktor!" Circe shouts at Viktor like a stubborn child.
Viktor hushed and cursed heavily under his breath listening to Jesper resume. "Where shall we go?"
Circe tensed. "The man you're in search for is named Lazris."
The moon glittered high in the ebony sky, streams of moonlight bound off and illuminate a dark street path lined with cobble and crisp fall leaves.
"You had to open your mouth Jesper?" Grumbled Viktor from behind.
They lead themselves upon a small cemetery, an old one at that. The stones were cracked and mostly broken with a light mist that covered the streets close by. There were fresh flowers and fine smelling wine as gifts, roses, lilys, wolfsbane. They could scence this wasn't their territory, they were in high water.
"What brings you to the dead?"
Viktor spun around to find a man gazing downward in a long, raven black cloak. He blended like night itself, perfect for lurking in the shadows in a cemetery.
Viktor's teeth grinded together as his muscles tightened. "We look for Lazris."
"You have found him before you, what is your need?" The voice was dark and the tone grasped with a great deal.
"Nihm root,"
The figure pondered and lifted his head. His eyes glistened blue with a foggy glaze. "That won't fare well with what you are," He rolled his tongue and stressed the words.
"We are well aware what Nihm root will do to our skin and the spirit that dwells inside of us." Clayton reminds darkly.
"The root you seek comes at a heavy price," His face shined with silver highlights and piercing eyes. "The Witch sent you is that correct?"
"Circe Black," Jesper says with uneasiness trickling down his spine. "Name your price,"
"Each give a memorie to the souls so they shall taste the air once again." His arms guided away from his riab and sifted the coarse earth as he motioned towards the gravestones."Gift abmemorie of whom you cared for most of all," The voice's tone was that of a raspy middle-aged man in his sixies if you didn't know any better, but he was far older and had seen many darkend days--He was at far one thousand years old, forged from the earthy soil itself.
The Sorcerer held his hand out to Eliza firstly. "Come Child," He utters, Eliza's steps were light and set at a delicate pace. "You will each give one memorie of life, the saddness that fills your heart, the anger you felt then replaced with grief, lastly, a memory of death."
The gravestones were placed in that of a circle lined with bitter flowers, the most prominent was the plant of Wolfsbane. Any Witches--Any unnatural life held a hatred for Alison's creations, for Sorcerer's were a symbol of once life and past death until Allison's reputation dug them into the ground for fowl beats and poisons potions.
Eliza's dim green gaze shut and everything fell deeply into silence as Lazris' boney fingers stretch across her forehead as he whispers words not of this world. A green mist streaks across the heavy air swirling into nothing, a woman lying on her death bed painted before Eliza's body that shook. The lady was I'll and weak, sickened, her face was that of a ghost's and her eyes stained purple with hues of deep blue. Eliza's eyes shot open to reveal a golden pupil that washed with crystal tears.
Eliza collapses to her knees and her hands to cup her mouth as her cheeks flushed coral red. Lazris pulled Malcolm by his arm as Eliza rose steady to her feet. Malcolm's eyes were wide open with shimmering brown iris's that soon change as Lazris' fingers grazed gently his forehead. Malcolm's gaze shifted into darkly blue hues--Regret, taking an Innocents life. His vision was Alison caved to her knees in scattered, icy snow, he killed her where she sat and didn't blink his lashes once. The pale emerald mist swirled away with a twisting gust of harsh wind that shook the roots of trees.
Viktor was next, his heart thudded out of his chest and his blood pumped. Malcolm backed down stunned and Viktor shadows his place. The green fog tangled from Lazris' fingertips and an image become clear, it was him and Henrik gathering round an old tree as younglings, then it was of another memory of Henrik he cherished. Then, twas the night of his passing.
Viktor held back tears of what has been and has lost, now it was Jesper's go. Viktor's view faded into the background and Jesper steps up. His vision was that of the future only he could see, Eliza's demise and Viktor's great wounding. His foggy mind cleared and the scent that flew off of him was fear.
"What was your vision?" Mutters Viktor under his breath eyeing his Brother. Jesper shook his head and twisted to Lazris as he pulled Clayton, his vision was that of the past, when Viktor fled and hard times rolled in.
"The root you have promised us."
His arms guided lenghfully out from his cloak and held a root in his crumpled palm. "Hold it with great care, if the spell finds you with a dark heart it shall kill you, a good soul and it shall save you."
Jesper's eyebrows knitt in uneasiness. "How will I know?"
"Time will tell," Lazris sunk back through the shadows not to be seen again. They fled back to Circe's den and gifted her with the most deathly root know to Lycan's.
"Better be worth it," Viktor growls like a useless child wanting to start a good bickering.
"Shut it Sullivan," Circe gloweres.
Viktor sulk's over his shoulder. "Jesper," He calls. "You've seemed shaken since we met with Lazris, what's wrong Brother?"
"Nothing Viktor, i'm fine Brother, do not worry for me." Jesper grins and taps Viktor on his heavy shoulder before turning away.
"I have something I think that needs to be said," A voice emerged from next to Clayton's stance. The mouth that whom belonged to was Eliza's. "Before I met you all, fine Hunters were on my back, I shook them for awhile but they are one of the best I've seen in my time. The Woodrow line of Hunters, they're back,"
The bar was a calm environment with the pleasent yet fowl scent of bourbon and liquor wavering in the stale air while a jukebox rumbles through the ambient noise in the background, forcing through the sounds of murmurs and uslesas gabbering.
There were few humans and little distractions. Viktor's hunger had grown as he tried his best to suppress it. He'd dig the devil's grave if he fell into a feeding frenzy, it would become uncontrollable and as the unbearable force of the moon reeled him in.
Outside far from the smell of bourbon and cheep cigars the sun fell with a steady grace and the moon rules the sky. It was full and a large illuminated disk that stretch to the clouds.
Viktor weaved through a thick crowd of muscles and stupidity. Two men tussled in the middle of the heavy crowd of humans, everyone scrambled away and fled through open door. Tables cracked and glass shattered on the old wooden floor boards.
One man layed on the floor and the other loomed over him with his fist clenched tightly.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Viktor sat on a bar stool with his drink in hand, pulling it to his lips calmly.
"What do you know," He snaps back angrily.
"I know I'll kill you where you stand," Viktor's gaze met with his with a glowering expression.
"Go ahead and try foolish child."
Viktor's glass hit the counter with a snap as it glittered in dim lighting. His figure whipped around and pinned the man against the back wall, he dangled by his throat clawing at Viktor's hand that enclosed his neck.
"Want to say it again, fool?"
The buff man struggled and his head shook violently. "Get out and don't come back," Spoke Viktor calmly.
Viktor slung the aching man to his knees as he slippes and crawls through the entrance frantically, the body who laid in the floor scrambled away aswell.
Viktor returned to his drink, all life faded and no humans were left, the bar was vacent and peaceful and not a souls stirred.
In a cold flash the air went out, it vanished and lights closed the place in darkness without their flickering glow. Viktor jolted up from his stool as his gaze adjusted through blackness, they now shined with red hues and swirled with crow-black. Boots clicked across the floor in single strides, light-footed and thin.
"Who goes there?" Viktor's growl grew unsteady and on edged. On the inside he panicked, but he wasn't about to let it shown to the figure that lurked in the shadows. He was usually the unknown in the shadows, the beast, this was different.
He took in the unusual scent and overflowed with the smells of hurbs and I scents.
"Calm down wolfie," A soothing voice told echoing closer. The shilouette was that of a woman, refined and sleek.
Viktor's growls rose at the lady's words. Who did she think she was? "Show yourself,"
The lights had flickered on again, a woman stood merely five feet away, a few feet too close to cause an uneasyness.
"I've heard many things of you Viktor Sullivan," She amused. "Like the beast you are,"
"I work hard for such a reputation love." He gave an evil grin through squinted eyes,
"Who do you think you are and bow do you know my name?"
She suppressed a small chuckle, her fingertips grazing over shattered glass on a banged up table. The skin of her finger cut at the slightest touch, crimson trickled from it.
"That is not your place to pry,"
Viktor tensed as his jaws clenched tigeather to control a growing hunger, the moon's force reeled him in like a puppy on a chain, and the woman wasn't helping.
"What are you?" Viktor fumes through hunger. "Your scent is not of that of a Lycan."
She wiped the scarlet substance through her fingers and paced evenly in front of Viktor to gaze in his dimly lit eyes.
"You have the nose of a hound. The names Circe Black. I'm one of the Six Sister's but you needn't know that."
"What is your need with me, I don't deal with Witches."
"I've had my eye on you for some time, you drink alone without the company of your pack." She touches his shoulder lightly and circled around his back.
Viktor snarls at her actions. "That's not your concern." He spat.
"Calm down pet," Circe furrows her brows with a scowled face.
"Do not speak to me like a dog," He challenged, he stepped in territory he dared not to cross, but he was already there.
"I like you Sullivan, you give up a fight." Circe sat cross-legged on the bar counter scanning over him widely.
"I'm not fond of you and I'll only ask again, what is your need Witch?" Viktor's snarl emerged through bared teeth.
"Your a stubborn man Sullivan," She pondered deeply with an expression that deemed him a fool. "I wish to help you, I've not met many Lycan's whom I've grown a liking to. I don't want to see you dead on a Hunter's wall or by another means."
"Witch's don't give favors without a price."
"But I do," Her legs sway gently. "This is a game and your my dog,"
"I am no one's," Viktor shuffles and resumes to his drink. "Leave be Witch,"
"Come now, I can teach you about your curse and guide your through a maze of difficulty and changes." She gleams grimly. "Your hunger."
"Your words are cryptic, I've been aquanted with several Witch's in my time and I don't like their bargins." Viktor:s eyes shot to his glass that held nothing but a drop of sorrow. "But I like your words Black,"
"Shall we leave?" Questions Circe straightway.
Viktor straightened his garmet and strides heavily out the entrance with Circe tagging behinh him in long paces.
PRRSENT DAY, 1733 LONDON, ENGLAND.
"Come back with us, there is nothing here for you brother,"
Jesper pondered Viktor's kind words and scales tipped in his brain.. "Very well, I shall travel in your pack."
It had been two days since Alric's great passing, the sun had set two times and the moon had rose.
"And you, Eliza?"
Eliza responded quickly. "I have no ties here, I will take glory in traveling in your pack." She spoke gingerly.
"We must find Circe and question her about the Witches bind on Blain's arm." Tells Clayton from a far behind Jesper.
"We have no where to go." observes Jesper keenly. "Where will we take shelter?"
"We shall find Circe, she will take an evil pitty to use," Viktor reminds everyone of the Witch whom helped him with his struggles and hard times.
They began their journey back through high tides and stale waters, trekking to the opisote side of London where forests were few and streams none except the rain that lines the gutters.
FIVE YEARS AGO 1727, LONDON ENGLAND
The building of one of the old complex's were merely a skeleton of what had once stood in the rundown alley way. There was one enclosed and had been refurbished from longful years of damage and harsh weather.
"Here," Circe motioned grasping an old door handle. "After you,"
Viktor flashed a curious glance and entered into dreery shadows at will. It was ice cold and damp on the inside, yet the warmth of a flickering flame illuminated in the distance behind a quick turn. Light spilled through the crack of the old metal door from the moon's glow--It was a Witch's den, the devil's house.
"Tell me Witch," Viktor rumbles. "How do you plan to help a beast such as myself."
Circe's fingers wrapped around a large, thick book as it slammed into Viktor's chest with a thud behind it. "You start there."
Viktor huffed through his nose and folded through long and wide pages. It was filled with all the knowledge of Lycan's, to shifts through sickness.
"Where did you aquire such knowledge?" Viktor's eyebrows knitted together as his spine tingled from the chilly inside.
Circe took in a deep breath and began with windy words. "It was created by the Witch whom the First Lycan's were derived from,"
"Alison Waterhouse," Viktor's tone was bleak as he admiers her voice as she spoke. "My mother," He whispers
Circe nods her head keenly, her head twist around her shoulder to face Viktor. His eyes closed and he breathes in deeply. "The woman whom cursed you created one book after the abilities you are capable."
"Origionals?"
"Mostly everyone who deem themselves a Lycan."
"I can feel the moon, it's pulse, the light that gleams from it." Hia jaws tightly chelched. "The hunger only grows each night," A bereft tone grumbles from the back of his hoarse throat with a heavy rasp.
"You shall drink this, the cravings will fade." Circe demanded, the glass she held was murky and dark in it's odd coloring. It wasn't pleasant to gaze at, sertently injest.
He drew it to his lips as the glinting pearl clearness of the glass tips in his mouth. Viktor's face scowled with a snarl as his nose crinkled upward. He choked lightly.
"What was in that?" Viktor grasp at his throat and scratched it. He struggled to breathe, his lungs left like they were acid through the thin lining and his stomach venom. He fell to his knees in defeat and his pupils flared the color of a scarlet birds wing. Viktor's veins crawled up his neck spiraled in black and darkened blue, his scenes blurred between a fine line of there and no where close.
"Wolfsbane," Told Circe admiring from a far. "You'll live cub,"
Viktor's expression grimaced and tried for small gasps of somewhat clean air. The olive color in his face drained to nearly a pearl-white.
"You about killed me!" Viktor's voice was the thunder in a blackend sky as he weakly raised from the cold flooring. He supported himself with an aged table as razor sharp claws dug in calously.
"Stop your whining," Circe quarrels examining Viktor who hunched over in pulsating anger.
Viktor allowed a growl slip from his throat loudly as he lunged forward. A force pulled him backward as his figure darted against a stone wall like a childs doll, he coughed and his body held steadily no more than a foot from comforting ground.
Circe's eyes glint the shade of a brilliant mullberry and streaked with brilliant hues of a tanzite gem.She held her left arm drew hight in the air with it outatretch, her palm curved in the breeze.
"Try that again and I'll have your head," She turned aggressive and her tone was on the brim of hostile.
Viktor fell as he collected and scanned over himself. He stood and fumbled on his first step back towards the table that held the book of Lycan's.
Viktor's pride stung while taking a seat and gathering the book as pages withered.
It was going to be a long night, and that it was. Lengthfull and time passed--Time didn't seem like it moved at all pass nevertheless.
The moon lit brightly and a cold air radiated from the glimmering disk while stars speckled beautiful in the bleak ash colored sky.
PRESENT DAY, 1733 LONDON, ENGLAND.
It was grueling two day trip, wind raged beastly and rain pelted heavily, but the pack made it safely to their destination across ol'London with little trouble.
The sun had made its way downward and the town desened into shadows and the land if darkness. Nothing looked the same as it was in daylight, things changed and grim scenery grew.
Jesper turned and straightened up eyeing the rest heavily. "Do you know where we can find Circe?"
Clayton's broad head turned over his shoulders and shot Jesper a glance, he had only asked ten times at the least.
Viktor spoke up in the eerie silence that stood between all of them. "When I met Circe she guided me to an old complex, it was a skeleton then I don't know how appealing itd look now." He told stopping in his tracks and gave an ear to Jesper.
"She's a woman of many mysteries." Jesper mumbles with his head down, trotting up where Clayton and Viktor stood.
"Indeed," Utters Clayton.
"Will you journey to the old complex?" Suggested Eliza.
"I'm not going to sit here and wait on her to pop out from a corner, Eliza." Viktor states sharply.
Viktor, Clayton, Jesper and Eliza maze through old buildings and small shops. The memories of the location was vague and gone in Viktor's mind but he managed through the famillier damp scents of the street.
A strong smell broke the air, it was another Lycan, male. Big, strong and feirce, willing to put up a good fight.
Viktor turned and faced the pack that stepped behind him, Clayton stepped up first.
"Another Lycan," Notes Jesper from the back.
Viktor's head nods at the slightest with his pointer finger sealing his lips. He tilts his head upward to see a lurking body before it fell to the ground. Eliza screams and jumps backwards.
The mysterious man shoved Viktor against the wall with a great deal of force.
"Malcolm?" Clayton recognizese the famillier face. He bounds off the alley wall and steps up to Clayton with heavy shoulders.
"It's a pleasure to see you again, Clayton." Malcolm's eyes wonder back over to Viktor. "You can stand now Viktor," He chuckles.
"What are you doing here Malcolm?" Viktor asks.
"Working a job,"
"Lycan's don't work jobs," Tells Viktor sharply.
Malcolm gave a small laugh. "I work under a Witch, Circe Black."
Jesper creaps forward and give Malcolm an eye. "Can you take us where ol'friend?"
Malcolm turns back to Clayton and glances over his shoulder with knitted eyebrows. "Viktor doesn't deal with Witches, nor any of you do."
"We need to find Circe." Says Viktor regrouping, still receiving confused gazez. "Someone wants me dead, he had a Witches Bind on his forarm."
"Everyone wants you dead." Malcolm states sharply.
"Can you take us to her or not?" Huff's Viktor irritated.
Malcolm turns and walks away to retreat back into the dark shadows. Clayton's shoulders shrug and follow into the dark abyss. Viktor, Jesper and Eliza follow closely behind.
Soon and many grueling steps later they had arrived at the once Witch's den, it's appearance was the same cold, darkness as before. Viktor stood beneath it, the hight of the building was tall and weigh baring. "Circe!" He shouted loudly. "I know your in there I can smell you Witch!"
An icy breeze gust through settling deeply in their bones. Malcolm began firstly on his way in to a shallow entrance then Viktor with Clayton and Eliza soon behind his back. Jesper loomed lastly, gazing upward with a regretible sign as he follow hastily after.
"Circe Black," Viktor's tone was an echo in little noise. "Show yourself Witch."
A figure lurks against the darkness of shadows and few slivers if moonlight infiltrate through cracks and boarded up windows.
"Welcome back Malcolm." A curious tone steps from darkness and Circe loomed wide-eyed, looking them over. "You should have never returned here Viktor Sullivan."
"I see your fowl heart is still beating Circe,"
FIVE YEARS AGO 1727 LONDON, ENGLAND
"Why'd you kill her!" A voice yells above the humming noise if streetcars in a dimly lit alleyway.
"We made a deal Viktor!" A voice shouts hauntingly. "You broke your promise to me Sullivan!"
"I'll kill you where you stand Witch! You will pay for what you've done!"
"You broke the bargain I sold to you and a death has taken shape, now leave while you can!"
Viktor turned from a body of an unknown and lashed at Circe violently with a hatred that would stand for centuries.
PRESENT DAY, 1733 LONDON, ENGLAND.
Circe took even, light paces till she stood in front of Viktor, Circe's palm grazed his cheek with a snap. "You should have never returned here dog!"
Viktor took it, the stinging and cursing words while he gritted tigeather his jaws. "I need your help," He pleads.
"I gave you my help once before and you broke my Bind!"
Clayton's face scowled and knitted in confusion. "You binded with a Witch?"
"I was a desperate man Clayton!" Viktor snarls in a battle of Ill words, his Beta wasn't pleased nor enthused. Sides had shifted and the scales weren't good, Viktor stood alone in a battle he wasn't going to win.
"Ten years ago when I left the pack I had made a bind with Circe and I broke it,"
"You broke every law of nature!" Circe fumed. "You never told your little pack how you broke my bind did you? Let me remind you all," Circe circled around Jesper and Eliza. "He killed a Witch, one of the Sisters now standing are six."
"Is that true brother?" Jesper stepped toward the slivers if golden moonlight that framed both of them. Viktor tensed up tightly."I've killed one hundred times over again and it hasn't changed."
"You killed the one closest to me! That's what you do Sullivan, you take what you can't have like Rebekah!"
Viktor growled with the deepest growl that had ever surfaced from his throat and pushed Circe against the wall as her back thudded hard. "You do not speak her name devil!"
Circe twisted Viktor's arms away as her expression scolded like ahot iron. "I'll make you a deal Sullivan." Her tounge runs across her teeth. " My bind returns with new conditions and you're bound to me till the day I die."
"I give you my word," Viktor muttered while his eyes wondered over the his pack, a heaviness grew and detraik set in.
"Very well," Circe dusted herself off kindly. "You will be forever in deat to the Moon for what life you have taken, you ranking in your own pack shall be an Omega. Your lead Beta will take charge until you earn your rightful place to resume as Alpha." Her tone was grim and evil as she eyes Clayton a few feet from her. "And you will never escape the web of lies you've weaved yourself into."
"That's not how a bind works!" Viktor angered. "Out cannot change my rnking!"
"Your're my toy Sulivn, you may not realise it but the bind you made five years ago still remains."
"I was desperate when I broke from my pack, I didn't wish to kill anymore so-." Viktor's tone was cut off.
"So I found you, took you in under my wing. I healed you Viktor from the true beast within yourself, you killed one hundred men that year."
"And I still feel from it everyday! I took humans lives because I seen them as nothing more than toys!"
"Then you met Rebekah." Circe's stone expression lightened up at the woman she had taken.
"After you killed her on the street corner I went back to the comfort of my people." He sulked and gazed at the pack with wide eyes. "I never spoke of her again, not never and I don't plan to start now. I've changed Circe the beast may lay awake inside me but you do not know what strength it takes to fight back, you may keep your bind on me if you grant my pack one question."
"It is no longer your pack, you shall be seen as an Omega, it is not your place to question." Her gaze shifts to Clayton.
"I will not take his place as Alpha." Clayton says keenly. "He is my friend not my Alpha."
Circe nods in resprct. "Jesper will resume as leader until Viktor earns his way through ranks."
Those words stung, anpain settled in Viktor's chest, his eyes flaired to the palest white--The ranking f an Omega.
"Your question, Jesper?" Circe knew exactly who Jesper was, Viktor spoke fondly of him when be left the pack in the five year stand.
"The man whom wants Viktor dead, he had a Witches bind on his arm."
"His name?"
"His name was Blaine Coldwell,"
"Made a bind with that man no more than a month ago, his price was high. For the bind twas his life if he broke it,"
"What was his bind?" Clayton steps up beside Jesper and eyed Circe with eyes that popped out of his skull."
"If he killed Sullivan he would become like an Original Lycan, powerful and steady on his feet. He also wants to break every Lycan's curse expect his, if he failed at Viktor's death his daughter would perrish."
"How would you break the curse?"
"You have to have the heart of an original Lycan,"
"That's why he wants Viktor dead," Clayton and everyone came to a startling realization about Blaine's bind--It was a death scentence for both parties and hardly anything could be done to reverse it.
"Can Maura remove the bind if we find her?" Viktor joins in.
"It's illigel by the means of our laws." Circe muttered under her whisking breath . "But it doesn't mean we can't try."
"Do you know where Maura is located?" Jesper asks drawing closer to Circe and Viktor.
"You Lycan's must deem me a fool," Circe glowers. "She is a woman of many mysteries and she never stays in one spot for too long."
"Can't you use a locator spell?" Eliza questions with round eyes, focusing to the dim lighting.
Circe nods her black locks that grazed her cheeks. "I am of need if Nihm root,"
"I don't think so," Viktor's growl raised in curiosity and uneasiness. "That stuff is deathly if we get too close!"
A quarrel brewed sharply. "I'm well aware what Nihm root does,"
"What is Nihm root?" Eliza asks as she could see Viktor shaking his head from a far.
"It's a root found by the early settlers here to kill Lycan's. It'll shake you with a terrible fever and gift you with an awful rash, you will shift between man and wolf uncontrollably until your physical form cannot take it anymore." A cold chill traced Viktor's spine from the words." But those are just a few symptoms, at first it starts out slowly, it could take days or weeks to kill you. At first your scenes heighten and your eyes swirl in a brilliant arrey of colors invisible to the human eye." Circe sighed and gathered in a lengthful breath. "There's a Sorcerer whom sells Nihm root, but it isn't easy to collect. It's Hunter territory and dangerous people roam there,"
"We'll go collect the Nihm root." Jesper comments through rumbling tones.
"No we won't!" Griped Viktor yelling.
"You're not an Alpha anymore Viktor!" Circe shouts at Viktor like a stubborn child.
Viktor hushed and cursed heavily under his breath listening to Jesper resume. "Where shall we go?"
Circe tensed. "The man you're in search for is named Lazris."
The moon glittered high in the ebony sky, streams of moonlight bound off and illuminate a dark street path lined with cobble and crisp fall leaves.
"You had to open your mouth Jesper?" Grumbled Viktor from behind.
They lead themselves upon a small cemetery, an old one at that. The stones were cracked and mostly broken with a light mist that covered the streets close by. There were fresh flowers and fine smelling wine as gifts, roses, lilys, wolfsbane. They could scence this wasn't their territory, they were in high water.
"What brings you to the dead?"
Viktor spun around to find a man gazing downward in a long, raven black cloak. He blended like night itself, perfect for lurking in the shadows in a cemetery.
Viktor's teeth grinded together as his muscles tightened. "We look for Lazris."
"You have found him before you, what is your need?" The voice was dark and the tone grasped with a great deal.
"Nihm root,"
The figure pondered and lifted his head. His eyes glistened blue with a foggy glaze. "That won't fare well with what you are," He rolled his tongue and stressed the words.
"We are well aware what Nihm root will do to our skin and the spirit that dwells inside of us." Clayton reminds darkly.
"The root you seek comes at a heavy price," His face shined with silver highlights and piercing eyes. "The Witch sent you is that correct?"
"Circe Black," Jesper says with uneasiness trickling down his spine. "Name your price,"
"Each give a memorie to the souls so they shall taste the air once again." His arms guided away from his riab and sifted the coarse earth as he motioned towards the gravestones."Gift abmemorie of whom you cared for most of all," The voice's tone was that of a raspy middle-aged man in his sixies if you didn't know any better, but he was far older and had seen many darkend days--He was at far one thousand years old, forged from the earthy soil itself.
The Sorcerer held his hand out to Eliza firstly. "Come Child," He utters, Eliza's steps were light and set at a delicate pace. "You will each give one memorie of life, the saddness that fills your heart, the anger you felt then replaced with grief, lastly, a memory of death."
The gravestones were placed in that of a circle lined with bitter flowers, the most prominent was the plant of Wolfsbane. Any Witches--Any unnatural life held a hatred for Alison's creations, for Sorcerer's were a symbol of once life and past death until Allison's reputation dug them into the ground for fowl beats and poisons potions.
Eliza's dim green gaze shut and everything fell deeply into silence as Lazris' boney fingers stretch across her forehead as he whispers words not of this world. A green mist streaks across the heavy air swirling into nothing, a woman lying on her death bed painted before Eliza's body that shook. The lady was I'll and weak, sickened, her face was that of a ghost's and her eyes stained purple with hues of deep blue. Eliza's eyes shot open to reveal a golden pupil that washed with crystal tears.
Eliza collapses to her knees and her hands to cup her mouth as her cheeks flushed coral red. Lazris pulled Malcolm by his arm as Eliza rose steady to her feet. Malcolm's eyes were wide open with shimmering brown iris's that soon change as Lazris' fingers grazed gently his forehead. Malcolm's gaze shifted into darkly blue hues--Regret, taking an Innocents life. His vision was Alison caved to her knees in scattered, icy snow, he killed her where she sat and didn't blink his lashes once. The pale emerald mist swirled away with a twisting gust of harsh wind that shook the roots of trees.
Viktor was next, his heart thudded out of his chest and his blood pumped. Malcolm backed down stunned and Viktor shadows his place. The green fog tangled from Lazris' fingertips and an image become clear, it was him and Henrik gathering round an old tree as younglings, then it was of another memory of Henrik he cherished. Then, twas the night of his passing.
Viktor held back tears of what has been and has lost, now it was Jesper's go. Viktor's view faded into the background and Jesper steps up. His vision was that of the future only he could see, Eliza's demise and Viktor's great wounding. His foggy mind cleared and the scent that flew off of him was fear.
"What was your vision?" Mutters Viktor under his breath eyeing his Brother. Jesper shook his head and twisted to Lazris as he pulled Clayton, his vision was that of the past, when Viktor fled and hard times rolled in.
"The root you have promised us."
His arms guided lenghfully out from his cloak and held a root in his crumpled palm. "Hold it with great care, if the spell finds you with a dark heart it shall kill you, a good soul and it shall save you."
Jesper's eyebrows knitt in uneasiness. "How will I know?"
"Time will tell," Lazris sunk back through the shadows not to be seen again. They fled back to Circe's den and gifted her with the most deathly root know to Lycan's.
"Better be worth it," Viktor growls like a useless child wanting to start a good bickering.
"Shut it Sullivan," Circe gloweres.
Viktor sulk's over his shoulder. "Jesper," He calls. "You've seemed shaken since we met with Lazris, what's wrong Brother?"
"Nothing Viktor, i'm fine Brother, do not worry for me." Jesper grins and taps Viktor on his heavy shoulder before turning away.
"I have something I think that needs to be said," A voice emerged from next to Clayton's stance. The mouth that whom belonged to was Eliza's. "Before I met you all, fine Hunters were on my back, I shook them for awhile but they are one of the best I've seen in my time. The Woodrow line of Hunters, they're back,"
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