It felt too real to be a dream. I felt the wind blowing over my face as my heart hammered against my chest at the impending terror approaching.
“Run to the fountain now!” Aaron told me, and without waiting, I took to my heels, running as fast as my feet could take me. The cold gripped my skin, but the adrenaline rushing through my veins made me focus less on that. I didn’t want to leave Aaron all alone with those men, but there was Nothing I could do there, and my stay would only leave me vulnerable to the attackers.
From what I had gathered so far, the fountain was a defence built by the Dominio pack as a fortress for the humans in their midst in times of war between any pack. The human, who would likely be the weakest among them, would run and hide under the fountain until the war or whatever conflict was going on ended. Just like every other fountain, water flowed through it, but unlike the others, its water was already laced with wolfsbane. This was a repellant for every werewolf, as wolfsbane was their poison.
The fountain also had silver bullets and daggers close to its mouth, and I had learned how to use them. Some werewolves were stronger than others and could endure the fountain and the pain it inflicted. They would not relent until they found their target and eliminated them. If such cases arose, I could use the silver bullet gun to defend myself.
That was what I wanted to do now.
I was a few metres away from the fountain when something lifted me off the ground and threw me down, so I fell on my face on the cold, hard ground. I groaned out in pain, but the pain disappeared almost immediately after.
I rose to my feet and ran and hid under the first layer of the fountain, shivering at the touch of cold water in the early hours of the night. But I covered my mouth so I wouldn’t make a sound, even though my pursuer saw me take cover under the fountain.
“What do you think you’re doing?” The man with a scary face asked, taking a step towards the fountain, and my heartbeat increased.
I replied to his question with silence, and my hand found the gun placed in the fountain for desperate measures. This man scared me, and I knew if he could have his way, he would harm me.
“That’s your best place to hide?” He roared, storming towards me and reaching into the fountain to grab me, but I pulled away from his reach, and as the water poured on his hands, I watched it burn. He growled out in pain and withdrew his hand.
He turned to me and growled loudly, his eyes glowing blue, and it was my first time seeing a blue-eyed wolf. The blue eyes meant he had taken a human life before, and, from his attempt tonight, he was ready to take another.
His panic-filled growling reduced, and I knew his hand had healed up, which only meant he was going to try again.
My hand blindly found the silver bullet gun in the fountain, and I clocked it and waited for him to make a move.
Just as expected, he drew a deeper breath and reached into the fountain with his now-healed hand, and this time, I let him catch me. Growling, he pulled me out of the water, and as I emerged, I raised my hand and pointed the gun straight at his forehead. Before he could realize what was happening, I had already pulled the trigger, and the bullet sank into his head. His grip on my shoulder reduced, and he fell backwards onto the ground, dead.
I heard footsteps racing towards me, and I prepared myself for the worst. I stepped back into the fountain and cocked the gun, ready to fire at anyone and everyone who came at me.
“Zera!” Sesi called out, running over to me but not coming close to the fountain where I stood. “Are you okay?” she asked, her eyes big and weary.
I nodded a little. “Yes, I’m fine,” I assured her.
Her attention moved from me to the one on the ground, whom I had just shot and killed, before returning to me. “You did well.”
“I think Aaron needs help,” I told her. I dropped the gun into the fountain, where I picked it up before stepping out. I should have felt cold from being so wet in the early hours of a frosty morning, but I didn’t. The event that had happened had adrenaline rushing through my veins at an insane level.
She nodded. “They are already with him,” she told me. “You’re safe now.”
My eyes snapped open in bed at the buzzing of my phone, and I realized I had been dreaming all along. My heart hammered against my chest, and it clenched with fear at how real the dream felt. It took about a minute to regain composure. I glanced at the clock on the nightstand and found it was a few minutes past seven o’clock. That meant that I had only had four hours of sleep, as I had stayed up thinking into the early hours of the morning.
I quit my job at Stanford University last week with Aaron’s support, and though every day I asked myself if it was a wise decision, I consoled myself and told myself that it was. Last night, I had those deep thoughts and doubt moments, and they kept me up until early in the morning. I only found sleep after Aaron came home at around two a. m. and held me close to his body.
He had told me a war was coming, and I felt it draw near with every passing day.
I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I wanted to stay snuggled against Aaron’s body and find a little more sleep. So I reached for the nightstand and flipped the phone upside down to continue my sleep, but the call came in the second time. I knew whoever was calling wouldn’t stop, not until I picked up. Groaning, I sat up and picked up my phone while rubbing my eyes clumsily. The caller ID boldly read Lionel, and I wondered what could make him want to blow up my phone at this early hour of the morning.
“Hello?” I spoke after picking up the call. My voice appeared half-sleepy and half-annoyed.
“Zera!” came Lionel’s trembling voice over the phone, and all the hairs on my body stood alert, knowing something terrible had happened.
“Lionel, what happened?” I asked, even though deep down I didn’t want to know what it was.
I felt Aaron also sit up in bed, probably because my voice had woken him up.
“Tatiana is dead, Zera,” he cried, and my heart stopped beating.