The Silver Siren

Allie "What exactly are you?" “I am a white witch, Allie,” she said softly. “I’m sorry I made you think I was human, but it was simpler and safer for you to think I was human when you were small.”

“You’re a witch?!” I spat out, unable to contain my shock. This was all spiralling out of control.

She nodded slightly. Everything had been a lie. My whole life had been a lie. My breathing became fast and erratic. Blood rushed in my ears.

“Your Mother asked me to write a spell to cover their scents and protect them. So, I did. I tried so hard to write a good spell. But my power was only enough to mask one scent. I wasn’t strong enough to mask them both. I tried everything to protect them, making potion after potion,” she said, silent tears trickling down her face.

“It had never been recorded in our history that two sirens would be destined mates, simply because sirens are so rare. They decided to keep your existence hidden from the world. I was able to mask your scent because you were so small. We lived hidden in the woods, but one day the hunters found us. Suzanne ordered me to take you away, so I orbed out to the lake in the woods and left you hidden in a magical cradle. When I orbed back, George was protecting Suzanne from the hunters. I tried casting a spell of protection, but there were too many of them. George died trying to save Suzanne, and in the end, the hunters killed them both. I couldn’t save them.”

It suddenly dawned on me what she was trying to say. She was saying she was responsible for their deaths.

“Eventually, the Elder council discovered what the Alpha was doing and gathered enough evidence to strip him of his Alpha status and his pack, banishing him to rogue status. But by the time this happened, it was far too late. Only a few sirens survived, living secret lives in fear of him finding them, never to be seen in society again. No one is sure how many still exist, if any. They are thought to be extinct.”

My brain was desperately trying to keep up with everything that she said. But I couldn’t stop the trickles of anger that began to make their way through. How could this have happened? Why did they have to die? How different my life could have been if they had lived? Why didn’t Melissa’s magic protect them both? A white witch? Seriously?! Is this even my life? Hot tears burned my eyes.

“There’s more.” Melissa’s voice lifted me out of my anger briefly.

“With both your parents being sirens, it means that you are also….” Her voice trailed off.

No! Absolutely not. She had to be wrong about this!

“I can’t be! I’m not!!” I spluttered in protest. “I don’t have any magical powers. My wolf is just normal. I am just normal! A normal werewolf.” I hadn’t realised that I was shouting now. This couldn’t be happening. I could have made my peace, eventually, with a fucked-up Alpha hell bent on power and killing my parents. But believing that I’m some super rare special werewolf? No way. There was nothing special about me. I am just a normal 18-year-old werewolf who just shifted for the first time.

Melissa’s eyes met mine, and they instantly widened. “Allie, your eyes are glowing,” she said.

“What?” I ran over to the mirror. Looking back at me was a pair of luminous purple eyes, glowing brightly. Oh, my goodness. I snapped my head back to face her, fear rising in my throat. “What’s happening?”

“Your powers are connected to your emotions. Since you don’t know how to control them yet, your wolf is trying to take over. Try and calm her,” Melissa instructed.

I took a few steadying breaths. I could feel Lana trying to take over, but all I could feel was panic and anger. I had never been angry at Melissa before. But, as the magnitude of what she had revealed started to become real, I had nowhere to direct it but at her.

“You’ve lied to me my whole life,” I said, “And now you’re telling me I’ve got special powers?!” My voice sounded strange, and I knew I was losing control. The panic was overwhelming, making my chest ache and my hands shake.

“I know it’s a lot to take in, Allie, but I was trying to protect you. I failed your parents and I have to live with that every day. I couldn’t let the same thing happen to you. I’m sorry.” She sounded broken.

“I’m just a normal werewolf. I don’t want powers!” I screamed desperately. “I don’t want this. This can’t be happening!” I knew I was freaking out, but I couldn’t stop it. I had to get out of here. I ran for the door.

“Allie, wait! There’s more you need to know!” I heard Melissa call after me. She sounded distant. All I could hear now was the sound of the wind rushing past my ears and realised I was running. Before I knew it, I was in the forest. Lana was going crazy, jumping and howling in my head. Still running, I let her take over, wanting to escape. I leapt over a log and shifted into my wolf mid-air, leaving my clothes in tatters.

Everything was a blur. I kept running because I didn’t know what else to do. I had no idea where I was heading, and my panic was fuelling me on further and further. I don’t know how long I was running, but my mind started to clear, and I came across a narrow creek hidden in the dense forest. As I looked around, I spotted a boundary marker ahead. I must be close to our territory borders. The creek was small and trickled peacefully away from the borders, into the territory. I stopped on the soft bank and took a drink from the slow running water. When I had finished drinking, I waited for the ripples in the water to settle and stared at my reflection in the crystal-clear water. My eyes were still glowing purple, but not as bright as before, and my silver fur was glittering in the moonlight. I had to admit, my wolf was beautiful.

The serenity of the creek had helped to melt away the intense panic, but I could still feel energy coursing through me. My breathing became regular again and I sat next to the creek, gazing up at the moon. I tried to think things through rationally, but it was hard to believe that this was actually happening to me. A lot had happened in the space of an hour, and it wasn’t how I imagined my birthday would end. That thought made me sad, and I thought about Melissa. I tried to imagine what it must have been like for her to lose her friends like that, and then blame herself for their deaths. The anger I felt was gone. Shocking, overwhelming sadness replaced it. What Melissa had told me affected my past AND my future. I should go back and talk to her.

I got up from the bank and turned around to leave. I heard the distant sound of crunching branches on the forest floor and my ears pricked up.

“Rogues!” screamed Lana.

I looked around in every direction, but I couldn’t see any rogues. “Are you sure, Lana?”

“Yes, yes! I smell them. Danger!” she said, frantically.

I sniffed deeply and the deathly stench of rogues filtered through the air. It was faint, so they were probably far away from us here. But I wasn’t about to stick around and find out. Lana had us running before I thought about it. I let her take control and tried to focus on where the rogues were. The scent was getting stronger, and somehow, I sensed they were moving toward the creek down from the boundary but couldn’t pinpoint exactly where. The boundaries are always guarded by warriors. How could they have got through?

We kept running. The smell was getting stronger, and it didn’t matter what direction we ran in, the stench of rogues flanked us. They must be coming in from different directions. I was hoping that we could outrun them, but that was looking less likely. The stench was so overpowering now that Lana froze, and I didn’t know what to do. If we ran into them, we would have to fight. Rogues would not hesitate to kill any wolf in their path.

I’ve mastered self-defence and combat sports in human form. And I’d even had a real-life fight with a bully when I was 16, who was picking on a younger child. Boy, did I get in trouble for that. But fight in wolf form? I wasn’t sure I could fight as a wolf, and I would have no chance if I shifted back to human form.

“It’s ok, Allie,” Lana reassured me. “We can do this”

“I’m not sure about this, Lana,” I said desperately.

“What other choice do we have?” she replied.

Before I could respond, a lone rogue came into view between two trees. He spotted me and let out a loud howl. Almost immediately, howls from dozens of rogues echoed out in reply. The noise was deafening. There were more than I first thought. Shit!

Instantly, I turned and ran. I knew I was fast, so I decided to try and outrun him. I could hear him giving chase behind me. For a tiny moment I thought I might have got away. But my joy was short lived when I saw rogues running either side of me. They were closing in. Shit, shit, shit!

“Just keep running, Lana!” I sensed her fear.

She had good reason to be scared. They were everywhere. As soon as I outran one, another was ahead of me. Soon all I could see was rogues. There were so many of them and they were huge. This was bad. This was very bad.

“There are too many of them, Allie!” she wailed. She was right.

A familiar scent filtered through the foul rogue smell. “Pack. Pack!” said Lana.

“It’s ok, Lana. We just need to hold them off until the warriors get here. They are coming.”

I had no idea how we were going to do that, but we had to try. We were dead otherwise. The pack scent was slowly getting stronger, and I swear they were only two miles away. I had no clue how I knew that and had no time to find the answer. Rogues lined every direction. I circled back around, checking if I could find an escape route. There was no way out. The rogues had managed to form a circle around us. As they closed in, they became a wall of rogues, howling and snarling their intentions.

How did this even happen? Where had they all come from? And in such numbers? It was weird. It had been years since we suffered an attack on the pack. I don’t think there has been one in my lifetime.

There was no way we could take on them all. The pack was getting closer, I could feel it. Just a little longer. I didn't have time to dwell on it.

Two rogues broke free from the circle and lunged towards me. I dodged them by jumping quickly to the left and whipped back round so I was standing behind them. While their backs were still turned, I landed a bite on the hind leg of the closest one to me. Once anchored to him with my jaws, I swung my hind legs around and kicked the other rogue as hard as I could. He flew. He literally flew across the forest floor and hit a tree with such force, a branch cracked off and landed in front of him. He didn’t get up. Whoa. The strength I had was unbelievable!

I still had hold of the other one with my teeth. I bit down harder, violently shaking him until I could feel the warmth of his blood in my fur. A little gross, but I had to power through. I lifted his huge body into the air by his hind leg still shaking. I let go and he went the same way as the first rogue, flying through the air, stopped by a helpful boulder. I heard his neck crack as he made contact.

I quickly eyed another two rogues coming in towards me from the opposite side of the circle. So many. Too many to count.

“Keep going, Allie,” said Lana, sensing my despair.

One of the rogues leapt into the air as he sprung towards me. I slipped underneath him whilst he was mid-air and lashed out with my claws and slashed his throat. As he slumped on the ground, I was slammed into by the other one. The force knocked me down and I rolled but managed to right myself quickly. And so did the rogue. We were now head-to-head. He snarled and we circled each other. He made the first move, leaping towards me at speed. I dodged his attack and he stumbled forwards past me. As he did, I sunk my teeth into his flank, biting down hard. He howled and I began to shake my head. A chunk of his flesh tore away, and his body rolled away from me, spraying blood everywhere. I spat the chunk of flesh out and bared my teeth to the rest of the waiting rogues as I growled.

The smell of the pack warriors was getting much stronger now. They must be less than half a mile away. They would be here soon. But what was that other scent? Mixed in with the pack’s scent, I caught the most heavenly smell of sweet lemons. Like fresh lemonade. It was amazing.

“Mate! Mate!” Lana started to scream.

“What?!” I said. She couldn’t be serious.

“Mate. It’s our mate. He is coming to save us!.” She danced around my head, purring.

“Lana, this is not the time!” I said, angrily. It really wasn’t. The circle of rogues was closing in.

“Our mate will protect us, Allie,” she said firmly, believing it without question.

“But he’s not here right now, so get your head back in the game,” I said, “We don’t need him.”

Don’t I have enough to deal with right now, Moon Goddess? I don’t need a mate charging in and ruining my future. A loud bang rattled out in the forest.

A sudden thump to my shoulder sent me tumbling back. Pain was shooting down my front leg as I felt the trickle of blood make its way down. As I tried to get to my feet again, I saw the rifle, aimed at me by a rogue in human form from outside the circle. Shit. I heard the rifle fire again and, almost in slow motion, I saw the bullet darting through the air. I tried to dodge the bullet, but it caught me on my flank. Lana was whimpering as pain took over. They were closing in on us. In unison, a howl rang out through the trees. I closed my eyes. A tingling sensation in my paws and intense pressure in my head. I was too scared to open my eyes, but I heard them all advance. Closer and closer they got. A surge of energy shot through me and the pressure in my head was suddenly gone, and all I could smell was fresh sweet lemonade before everything went dark.