The Seekers

Chapter One

Blood and lies

Does anyone else realize just how wrong the decision they’re making is while in the middle of making said decision? Yet would still go ahead to make it? Then regret every second of making said decision?

That was me right now, in a completely messed up situation because I said yes to this dude who’d shown up uninvited to ask I repay a favor.

Now why would I accept something like that, You might ask. And why was I owing this dude a favor in the first place?

Well, because the dude in question was Mathew Sinclair, the older brother of my childhood best friend, and the favor was to help find said childhood best friend.

I cursed as I wiped the blood dripping from the corner of my mouth and stared at the olive-skinned, wolfish looking man halfway across the room from me who’d just hit me.

“Ow?” I cried, wincing.

I hated these guys.

"You cannot escape,” the man said in a calm, yet firm tone. "Struggling is useless".

Oh, there’s a genius. Go figure. I had no idea.

"Piss off,” I replied out loud instead, because there was really nothing else more I could’ve said. A WOLFISH LOOKING MAN, I repeat, CLEARLY NOT A REGULAR GUY I WAS WILLING TO FIGHT OFF.

I suddenly felt cold hands grip my throat and lift me off of the floor. My vision blurred immediately and my lungs felt like they were going to explode. I otherwise rather fancied being choked, but this, this guy was about to kill me.

He glared into my eyes, his reddish stilts shocking me.

“Your attempts, at most, amuse me", He growled, holding on tighter.

Any second now, Mathew I think, beginning to lose consciousness. I start a countdown in my head, and when I get to zero, I open my eyes for one last second and grin.

His brows furrow in confusion for a split second as he notices. Then realizes.

Matt comes into full focus behind him and I face the man squarely again and mutter before losing consciousness,

"I was just the distraction.”

***

"Alix!” a voice whispers harshly behind me as I’m packing up to leave the library. I wince because Jasmine Muller was the last person I wanted to see right now. I was in for a lot of questioning.

"Hi Jazz,”I whisper back, “What’s up?”

"Oh, it's nothing really—Just that I didn't see you at the party last night,” She whispers back accusingly, “Or in the house this morning. Where’ve you been?”

"Yeah, I was at a different party,” I reply nervously, "A more private one.”

"You know I can tell you’re lying right?”Jasmine replied dryly.

“Deadass?”

“I mean, why didn’t you invite me then?” She asked, determined. “Or even ever speak about it.”

It was something I both loved and hated about her. She was nosy as hell. And right.

"Well, I was told I couldn't bring anyone, couldn’t even talk about it till it was over.” I shrugged, looking at my blue converses.

"Wow, you really got in with some high class people there.” Jasmine rolled her eyes.

"You don't know the half of it", I murmured as we started walking.

Jazz and I had shared a house since freshman year in college, and seeing as we were in our finals, you could tell I liked her company even though we were worlds apart in more ways than one.

I was Eighteen years old when we’d met first during Freshman week. She was nineteen, and she had said she’d spotted my fire truck red hair and almond skin from the Administrative block and immediately knew we were going to be best friends because of how odd we’d look together.

I, too, could always remember how her too short pink skirt paired with a tight crop top hugged her perky breasts when I’d looked at her that first day–and her thick cheese coloured blonde hair which I imagined running a brush through.

But very importantly, I remember gaping at her stylish bratz styled cowboy boots. I had never seen anybody wear those boots. They looked expensive as hell. SHE looked expensive as hell. and I remember being extremely surprised when she walked up to me and said she was a freshman as well. She sounded expensive as hell too.

“Jasmine Muller.” She had said. “But everyone calls me Jazz.”

She made us rent a house together off campus, and over the years it had become a safe space for both of us. We had different tastes in design, so Jazz’s room was a preppy pink with LED lights and three vanity’s where she kept all her makeup (Apparently her mother worked at Fenty beauty so she had all the latest stuff), while my room was a simple cream with simple sheets and fluffy pillows.

Even though we were different, Jazz always looked out for me. She held me when I cried over Shawn who had broken my heart in second year, and then she had offered to take me to where she got her Nipples pierced.

“You’ll have some other pain to worry about.” She promised.

I respectfully declined.

Jazz was an extrovert, which meant she was always doing something and knew basically everybody. Which meant she attended all the parties and knew all the parties happening because she was invited to all the parties, and she knew all the College gossip because everyone wanted to tell Jasmine something. She was magnetic like that.

She had broken up with her boyfriend last semester and knowing her, I was surprised it even lasted as long as it did anyways. The kind of person she was, she was always partying and hooking up with the hottest guys around campus. Ol guy never even stood a chance- especially not with the I.T. guys around.

Jazz and I were Health science Majors, and she always said her husband HAD to work in I.T.

So I didn’t even remember his name, but I was sure he was a Law major or something like that, and I was sure Jazz didn’t either.

She had always had a party or two to attend almost every weekend for the past five years, and as her loyal housemate cum best friend for all these years, I had been (forced) to quite a few myself. Enough to know that College parties weren’t my thing. Enough for Jasmine to know that too.

Now, we made our way down to the Pop shop where I’d worked part time in third year for a school project and ordered our lunch.

“Hi Alix, Hi Jazz.” Poppy, the barista smiled as we walked in.

“Hi Poppy!” We called back.

It was a sunny Friday afternoon and that meant that the weekend was ripe and ours for the taking, obviously after finishing Dr Jackson's presentation though. That meant only I was finishing Dr Jackson’s presentation, because Jazz probably had six parties stacked for the entire weekend. I wasn’t expecting her presence at home at all.

"So, tell me about that party last night", Jasmine wasted no time in asking immediately we sat at our table.

"I honestly don't want to talk about it, Jazz", I said as I leaned over the table to pick up the menu. As if I didn’t know what was sold here. As if I hadn’t ordered the exact same thing for the past five years consecutively. Jazz hated that, and so I made sure I did it just to spite her everytime, “ Not my type of crowd.” I continued.

“Rude!” She said, realizing what I was doing and grabbing my arm.

"What's that on your neck?", she asked suddenly, holding me in place and peering at my neck.

"What's what?", I wince, shaking free from her grasp.

"Is that a hickey on your neck?" She asked again, her eyes widening.

"No no, it isn't a hickey.” I sigh, rubbing over the sore red patch on my neck. “I-uh- got hit?”

“Why are you lying!” She cried, exasperated.

"It's not a hickey Jazz,” I say finally, lowering my tone. “It was from a hand.”

I could see her physically get taken aback.

"You never told me you were into that kind of stuff.” She said finally, her eyes darting to my neck again.

"Well…" I stuttered, struggling to make up another explanation. Lying was SO hard.

“Who’s he?" She asked even more expectantly. “He's not a student here, Is he?”

"Definitely not a student here", I agree immediately, without even thinking about it.

"Hey Ladies", We’re interrupted by a familiar deep voice. Well, familiar to me. I roll my eyes. Great.

His timing was almost comedic.

"Hi, My name is Matt, I'm a friend of Alix.", He says.

"Jasmine.” Jazz says, taking his outstretched hand. “But everyone just calls me Jazz.” She looked at me with wide eyes as if to ask if he was the one.

“No!” I say very loudly.

But she wasn’t buying it. And if I wasn’t sure, what she said next made me sure.

"You know, Alix was just telling me about you and the party you took her to last night,” She started, and for a moment I wondered what it felt like to start conversations as easily as she did. It was so effortless whenever she did it and it was something I really did admire.

Matt looked at me quizzically. I buried my head in my hands.

“Uh yeah,” he replied, “but I barely remember anything that happened. We got so wasted.”

“You seem fine.” Jazz mocked.

“High Alcohol tolerance.” Matt replied, nodding.

I groaned.

“Can I borrow Alix for one minute?” I heard Matt say, and I groaned even louder.

“Are you gonna be okay?” Jazz asked, and I knew she was seriously contemplating having to leave me behind.

“Yeah he’s clear.” I say, finally looking up.

She gave me one last glance before picking up her tote.

“See you back at the house.” She says, almost warningly, and then she walks away.

We both watch her leave before I remember that this dude was probably here with bad news-again.

“What is it?” I ask, facing him. I was so regretting even engaging him in the first place.

“Bad news.”

Chapter two

A glimpse from the past

“Don’t say it.” I say, my heart pounding.

“Relax, Lix. The Lycan didn’t hurt you.” He said, his voice low.

I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding.

“My mother said your neck should be fine in a couple of hours. It will go away like a regular bruise.”

He reached out and brushed his thumb over the raised skin on my neck. I closed my eyes and let him. His hand was ice cold, and very pale.

“What happened to you?” I ask.

“Nothing.” He replied quickly.

Very convincing. Very.

I wondered if Jazz had rolled her eyes like the way I just did when I was lying to her earlier.

We were both quiet for a few minutes-that felt like forever- before he looked up at me again, and for the first time since I saw him again, I remembered just how piecing his green eyes were. They were tainted with hazel flecks, and they were overall just gorgeous.

“He doesn’t know where April is.” He said finally, balling his fists.

Hearing that, the pounding in my chest stopped for a split second. My heart suddenly felt too big for my rib cage and bile filled my tongue. I recognized this feeling. Anger. Anger was slowly building within me as I stared back at him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, balling my fists as well.

April was his younger sister and my childhood best friend. We’d all literally grown up together, and we’d thought we would be best friends forever when we were little kids and didn’t know any better. But after a ghastly accident seven years ago that involved four teenagers who didn't know how to navigate while speed driving, that dream ended quicker than you could say the word 'end'.

Because we’d bothered them.

I hadn't seen April since, as my parents packed and left town as soon as the dust settled. I finished high school and started College two years later, so there was no time to properly reflect on what had happened.

I pushed the memory to the back of my mind and I had nearly forgotten all about it if it weren’t for Matt who showed up last night to tell me that April had gone missing, or rather had been kidnapped by an old Lycan during a hunt.

Yes, you read right. A Lycan. As in-Lycanthrope.

This was the part of my past that I hadn’t told anyone yet. Not even Jazz. It was something even I was trying to forget.

My sister was coming into Uni next year, and my parents were happy that we wouldn’t be in the same vicinity for a long period of time, incase they struck.

"So, you mean to tell me that I almost died helping you last night and that guy-wolf- whatever! didn't have April?" I asked slowly and carefully, as if he would miss a part of my question if I was any quicker.

My anger suddenly peaked when he didn't answer within the stipulated two second gap I mentally gave him.

"So I could've died for nothing?", I asked again in disbelief.

"Calm down Alix, I never said we didn't get anything out of it", Matt said, holding his palms up in exasperation.

"He didn't have her but he gave me a lead", He continued. "Said something about an old pack up north side which is most likely abandoned, but he swore that’s where she could possibly be.”

Matt looked uncertain, so obviously that piece of information was to be taken with a pinch of salt. What did that even mean?

"Let me get this straight, you had me help you fight what, a two to three hundred pound DOG last night, A fight in which I almost died- I lied to my best friend- you’re making me open up a portal into a world I’ve always wanted to forget about- and I have successfully done for the past seven years, the mission is failed, Now you want me to help you go after one that's most definitely more dangerous than that? Are you insane?", I asked while giving him the knife point.

"I know how it sounds Alix, but you're the only one I can ask for help on this", Matt said in a defeated tone. "You're the only immune I know".

"You mean the only immune that would help you", I corrected sharply.

"Yeah, the only one willing to help me", Matt said, his brows furrowing into a confused scowl.

'I knew I shouldn't have gone with you last night', I said matter of factly. “I can’t believe you would do this. You promised he knew. Where do you even get your information from?”

It was always from one sort of trouble to the other whenever Matt was involved.

He was like a magnet for the supernaturally dangerous, or better yet, he always sought out the dangerous. I was hardly surprised at how last night turned out knowing who I was with, but before last night, I had tried not to involve myself in anything supernatural.

If you don’t look for them they won’t look for you. My father used to say.

In the world, there were a lot of supernatural beings roaming about and, of course, there were vampires and werewolves too. Come on, Don’t be too surprised- I did say I had almond skin and bright red hair.

But don’t be alarmed either, I’m not any of those. I’m just aware they exist. Let me explain.

With nasty, scary witchcraft and other things like those crawling about, there were also people who hunted them down to maintain the balance between the natural and the supernatural. It is for this reason regular people don’t believe in the supernatural, because these people work very hard to keep up the façade. They are called Seekers.

Seekers were humans born with superhuman abilities which they used to hunt and kill the supernatural. Enhanced strength and heightened reflexes were top two features, but what really made the seekers special and feared was that there was a special clan amongst them whose very blood negated the supernatural, to varying degrees, based on their bloodline purity. This clan was called ‘The Immune'.

A powerful Lycanthrope Chief had discovered the very first Immune seeker, capturing the pure blooded child and carrying out all kinds of experiments on him in a bid to try and turn him into a Lycan himself. All efforts proved abortive. Realizing this didn't succeed, the child, wise beyond his years-had found a way to escape. Years later, when the child had grown into a powerful young man, he had led his clan of seekers and newly discovered immunes to hunt the Lycanthrope Chief and his pack, killing them all and beginning the greatest supernatural feud.

Ever since then, the legend of the first seekers grew amongst the supernaturals and if an immune was discovered, they were either killed immediately or avoided as best as possible.

Since my family left Landon town all those years ago, my parents had done their best to keep I and my younger sister, Annie, away from anything supernatural. We were a family of seekers, but my dad wanted out of all the hunting and dangerous missions. He said he didn't want to go out someday and not come back to his family, especially after the accident had happened.

He also said it had opened his eyes to how really dangerous it was letting kids play around with the supernatural or even having knowledge of it. My father was an immune so he understood the dangers of being targeted by anybody in the supernatural world. He knew that our family especially was in danger because of that.

I'd promised my mom before coming back to Landon town for college that I wouldn't go back into hunting or would even dabble with anything slightly not mundane, but there I was, sitting with the man that got my cousin killed seven years ago, talking about werewolves and threatening to open me back up into the world I had shut behind me all those years ago.

'The only reason my parents even let me back into this town is because it has one of the best colleges of health sciences and medicine in the country, now I'm going after Lycans that are maybe even older than the town itself',” I continued, exasperated, “'I'm in way over my head on this one.”

I continued to shake my head, realizing the danger I was about to put myself, my sister- my family-Jazz into. I wasn’t ready to open up to her about this part of my life. We’d gone too far. We’ve come too far.

"I'm sorry Matt, I can't help you anymore than last night", I said, looking at him. I really couldn't, and it hurt me to say those words to him because he was still my friend even if we had opposing opinions right now.

"Please Alix, I need you. April needs you.” he said, looking down.

Matt and I were similar like that.

We were the shy ones when it was just the four of us all those many years ago.

But that was so many years ago.

I looked down at my own shoes. But my mind was made up. There was too much at stake.

Chapter 3

Decisions, decisions

“Really Matt, I can't.” I stared very hard at my shoes, as if they would make saying it a bit easier. Tears had begun to cloud my sight. I wanted to get away from him as soon as possible.

"Why then? Why can't you help me find April?", Matt's voice was pained as he asked again.

"Because a half immune can only be bitten once", I said as I finally turned to face him again, tears falling from my eyes.

"You know that half immunes aren’t like full blooded ones. I can’t risk being too weak incase I need to protect my family or friends in some sort of way, and this bruise or bite or whatever from last night has only made me more sure that I want nothing to do with the supernatural. Not now. Not anytime soon.”

"Wait, what?" Matt asked as the expression on his face went from pleading to shock. "I didn’t know that. What do you mean you’re a half immune?”

"It means exactly what it means, Matt." I say, wiping the tears that had started falling from my face as I started gathering my things.

“Please leave me alone.” I stand up and begin to walk out.

“You’re making a mistake.” Matt called behind me,

“No matter how far you run, how many years you hide, you’ll never be able to get away from your destiny as a seeker, even if you’re not a full blooded immune.”

"No Matt," I answered, “Whatever you think does not define my reality. It only defines yours.”

I nearly laughed at myself. When did I become such a motivational speaker? That sounded like something only motivational speakers said.

I wasn't going to look back, because I knew that would incite more trouble than it was worth. After the accident, it became clear that Matt was bad news for anyone and everyone around him.

'He probably got April mixed up in this mess and now he wants to rope me in too.' I thought to myself.

Poor April.

A hand suddenly grabbed me by the arm, bringing me to a stop. I knew it was Matt, and I sighed.

"Look, I know what you're thinking and I can promise you that this had nothing to do with me." he started. I tried to wiggle free, but his grip was firm.

I still hadn't turned to look at him, I didn't want to. I was barely able to hold in my tears as I stood there, Matt still holding on to my arm.

"I wish I could believe you Matt, but unfortunately I don't." I said, trying not to sound as emotional as I felt, although I knew my voice sounded tired and scared when I’d wanted it to sound firm and strong.

He finally let go of my arm, but I could still feel him behind me.

"I hope I don't see you around." I said, hoping it would hit the nail on the coffin.

I started walking again, and this time I knew he wouldn't follow. Matt was persistent, but he wasn't so stupid as to not know when to give up.

I made my way through the streets and the busy campus back to my house off campus. The doors were locked so I knew Jazz hadn’t come home yet., I was done quietly sobbing and had put all the thoughts of Matt and his trouble behind me, hopefully for good this time.

'She’s definitely going to blow off Dr Jackson's presentation work to go somewhere fun.' I said to myself with little smile as I saw her assignment supplies on the kitchen table.

I knew I was doing both our assignments tonight. Better get a head start.

That was good for me, actually. I wouldn't have wanted her to see me the way I was. She was so unusually perceptive and she would have noticed the change in my mood as soon as I walked in the house had she been here.

Plus I needed the normalcy anyway.

I hated dabbling into the supernatural.

I threw my bag on Jasmine's bag rack and threw myself on my puff. I felt mentally exhausted as thoughts from yesterday came back, flooding my mind.

Beep beep.

My phone's notification tone sounded and I quickly picked it up, seeing a text from Jasmine.

Where the hell are you, Al?

She had been waiting on me to get back from school for hours now and very impatiently at that. She had told me about this party that some guy invited her to tonight.

Apparently the guy was a graduate from Landon town college, those were the type of guys she was into now. With us being seniors and her breakup behind her, she decided she didn't want to hang around college boys anymore.

I quickly responded, telling her I'd be back in about thirty minutes and put away my phone.

I grabbed my things and walked out of the library, stopping by to dump some trash on the way, and greeting Mrs. Smith the librarian.

She shushed me.

Expected.

'Now to head home before Jazz takes my head off.' I said to myself

I made my way out of the campus premises and was about to cross the street when I noticed how dark it had gotten. No wonder Jazz texted. And texted. And texted.

I plugged in my earphones and pressed play on one of my favorite playlists. I'd gotten it from Jasmine because I was horrible at curating them, and I started contemplating how I'd look to the party as I walked down the sidewalk back home.

Although the streets weren't too busy, night life wasn't too bad in Landon town. That was especially because you could almost always find college students trying to get into one pub or the other. I mean, Who wouldn't want to have the time of their lives in college?

I mostly ignored the people I passed by as I walked along, some of them were either drunk or on their way to getting there.

Suddenly, I felt eyes on my back.

Very funny Alix. You’re in the middle of the street.

Yeah? But I’m a Seeker. I know when I’m being observed.

That’s when I noticed a figure had been walking a distance behind me after I'd turned the corner.

The figure following me was tall and was dressed in dark clothes, probably a stalker.

'Just my luck.' I grumbled to myself. Not like some guys hadn't tried to come at me before, but those guys were usually drunk and looking for some poor girl they could exercise their drunk misogynistic tendencies on. Thankfully my pepper spray was always ready to handle them. I turned on my location and I waited till I heard the ping that signified it had sent my location to Jazz’s phone, and then I tried to walk faster.

The figure kept following as I approached my street. He had been getting closer but hadn't made any attempt to stop me or talk to me yet, so this was beginning to get really weird.

I fiddled gingerly with my pepper spray can in my bag, but for some reason I felt like just pepper spray wouldn't work this time. Something felt off about this. I closed my eyes. What had I done?

I made a decision quickly because I wasn't ready to be looking over my shoulder whenever I was going to or from school for some creep that might swoop in any minute to cut me up or kidnap me. Plus I didn’t want this stalker knowing where I lived.

I crossed over to the next alley just after my street and kept walking like it was part of my route, and sure enough the figure walked in after me not too long after.

"Something tells me you're not the typical guy that wants to just take me out to dinner." I said out loud, stopping in the middle of the alley as I turned to face my mysterious follower.

The figure stopped for a second, although he didn't seem surprised that I knew he was following me. He then continued walking towards me as casually as ever.

'Definitely a serial killer, I sighed as I prepared to face him, and probably with a few hundred years of experience too. I knew that scent too well.

I tensed as he got closer and closer, and I began to make out his facial features clearly. The closer to me he got, the clearer his figure became.

He had light brown hair, As many Lycanthropes did, but that wasn't my concern right now as I got ready to deal with however the situation turned out.

I kept observing the dude, who inched closer. He was so silent about it even though we both knew we were aware of each others presence. At this point he was about ten feet away from me. He suddenly stopped and smiled at me, and his smile was carefree and somewhat-dare I say- familiar.

I took a couple steps back, suddenly unsure of myself, but he didn't come any closer. He just stood there, observing me, as though he was contemplating his next move.

"What do you want?" I finally asked as the figure still hadn't said or done anything.

"Alix Baker?" The man finally asked, calling out my name like it was the answer to the question I had just asked.

Chapter 4

An old friend

I wasn't really surprised that he knew my name, serial killers or stalkers usually had the basic information about their targets. I wasn't going to play along with the script.

The thing was, that voice. It sounded familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. Like I knew this guy but not from college or anything like that.

I suddenly felt a rush of memories storm my mind, memories from a long time ago. Coincidentally, the memories were from before I left Landon town years ago with my family.

I looked at the figure before me again as disbelief overtook me. I recognized the figure in front of me almost instantly, even though it had been years.

His calm shy smile, his laugh, his childish antics and all the trouble he got me into when we were little. They all came back to me now.

"I'm sorry for meeting you like this Alix, I wasn't exactly sure it was you." The figure said again. "But I'm sure it's you now, and I need your help."

"Matt?" I asked in shock. I couldn't believe my eyes at this point.

"Thank goodness because I swear this would have been really weird if you couldn't remember me." He said with a relieved grin

"Fucking hell Matthew? Would have been a little weird?" I nearly yelled. "You stalked me for minutes before walking into a dark alleyway after me!"

"Okay, yeah." He chuckled as he said. "maybe a little weird."

I couldn't believe this guy, the urge to use the pepper spray on him was building. It would have been very justified to me.

"What do you want, Matt?" I asked impatiently.

Despite his good looks, Matt wasn't someone you would want to spend too much time around. He was trouble, he knew it and everyone around him knew it too.

"It's April."

The smile faded from his face and was replaced by a somber expression.

"What happened to April?" I asked, looking back at him more seriously now.

My intuition was screaming at me to hightail it away from the disaster magnet of a man before me, but I couldn't ignore April. She was my best friend growing up.

Plus I wanted to see her again. I hadn't heard from her ever since I left Landon town and I'd hoped to find her when I came back for college but apparently she had travelled overseas to study.

I'd sourced for her contact information and tried to reach her countless times, but somehow they never went through.

Our families had been distant since the accident happened all those years ago, so I knew going to them wouldn't help anyone.

Now here Matt was, April's older brother, telling me that the very person I've been trying to hear from might be in some kind of trouble.

"You might not like what I'm about to say very much." Matt said as he heaved a sigh.

"What happened to April?" I asked again, my voice filled with worry

"She joined a couple of seekers and casters to hunt a pack of Lycans north of Richmond Bay." Matt started explaining.

"Wait, I thought April went to study overseas?" I cut in before he could finish.

April was a caster-which was a fancy name for witch- and although the witch covens usually kept to themselves, there were some that joined seekers in hunting rogue supernaturals.

April and Matt's family were one of such casters and they were powerful ones at that. So powerful that they were the only casters within about a hundred miles of here, one family had marked a territory so big.

No other witches dared to come within the Sinclair family territory without a good reason.

"Apparently she came back two years ago, even I didn't know she was back." Matt said in defense.

"How could you not know that?" I suddenly screamed at him. It was audacious of him to lie to my face like that. She was his younger sister, how could he not have known.

"You don't know what happened after you left". He said, looking away from me for the first time since we started talking.

There was a tinge of guilt in his tone and expression and I couldn’t imagine what he was thinking about as he said that. Matt was an amazing liar if I could remember clearly.

"What's going on, Matt?" I asked again, ready to leave but suddenly curious. There were too many fragments of information with no connecting pieces. And he wasn’t helping.

"Look Alix, I don't really know so much either." He said, finally looking at me again.

"All I know right now is that the hunt didn't go as planned. The team was nearly wiped out, because turns out there was an ancient one in the lair."

"An ancient one?" I asked, could this get any crazier?

"Yeah, they couldn't handle it and apparently it was the vengeful type." Matt continued. "It didn’t kill them all, according to the only seeker that made it out,

"It just felt insulted that its lair was invaded, so it wanted to make the invaders suffer." Matt kept going. "The ancient one toyed with them, killed some and took some prisoner. April couldn't escape but she created the opening for the seeker that did."

"A caster as strong as April couldn't make it out?" I was still taking in all the bits of information I was getting.

"Like I said, I don't know what happened. The seeker that made it out fell into a coma not too long after, the poor guy might never wake up again." And Matt sounded sympathetic as he said that.

"Matt, this is a lot to just take in all of a sudden." I muttered, stopping him.

"Look, I know you've kept away from all this supernatural bullshit but I believe there's a chance to save April from this and I need your help to do it." Matt finally said.

I took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself while Matt looked at me expectantly.

So many thoughts were going through my mind.

I could go with him and try to save April, I thought to myself, or I could sign him the middle finger and run back home. My phone beeped again and I knew Jazz was beginning to get worried.

I started weighing my options.

This is the same person I'd been trying to reach for years and now I'm hearing she wasn't all that far away but she never even tried to reach out to me.

If she wanted to find me, I doubt it would be difficult. Take Matt here for example, he must have probably used something like a tracking spell. There's no way April wouldn't have been able to cast one herself, that was one of the most basic spells. Meaning she was avoiding me, I had no reason to help find her if she didn't want to see me herself. I reached a conclusion in my head.

"Matt, I'm sorry but I don't think I can help you." I said decisively. I had no reason to get involved and I was actively trying to stay away from things like this.

It hurt me to think that April had gotten herself into a mess as big as this but, but with Matt as your brother? You were bound to have a bit of adventure in your bones as well.

I also knew there was nothing I could do to help here, at least not from my perspective. Except-

No Alix. Nope.

The Lycan that had them was an ancient one, those were Lycanthropes that had lived for at least a hundred years. These were special cross breeds and were the type that got stronger the older they grew. I had never faced an ancient one before, but I'd heard stories about seekers hunting down five hundred year old Lycans before and even then, they would have to pay a heavy price before being able to kill them.

This was definitely something I shouldn't get involved in..

I didn't want to stay there long enough for Matt to come up with a way to convince me about this terrible idea so I immediately moved towards him, my goal was the entrance of the alleyway behind him so I could make my way back home. Jazz was probably sick of waiting on me, and worried sick about my location. I needed to get back to normalcy.

All of a sudden, partying didn't seem so bad of an idea to me.

Maybe I'd be able to put all this crazy behind me. Oh this was such bad news.

"You owe me a favor, for Jamie." Matt suddenly called out, his words stopping me in my tracks.

Anger that I had no idea I still harbored rose up as soon as I heard those words, and I turned right back around to face him.

My cousin. Who had died.

I couldn’t believe him right now.

“What is this?” I muttered. “What are you trying to do?”

“Listen Alix, I have the perfect plan. I promise you I’m not wasting your time.” Matt begged.

I shut my eyes, sighing. He never did budge.

“I’m listening.”

Chapter 5

The last bit of normal

I woke with a start. I had a blinding headache and my neck hurt like I’d been stomped on by a flipping elephant or something. I instinctively reached toward my neck and realized the swelling had actually reduced to a painful little welt. It hurt so much.

Jazz still wasn’t home, and she’d sent me a text confirming that she’d be out for the night and she’d ordered pizza earlier for me.

I was just grateful that I didn’t have to cook anything. I grabbed the box of pizza from the fridge and put it in the microwave. There was some Apple juice as well, but everyone knows Orange juice is superior to Apple juice, and Apple juice should never be had. Well, everyone except my preppy housemate. I grabbed some FroYo instead.

I cleared the dishes as I waited for my pizza to get hot and I mentally ran through the tasks I would need to complete to finish out assignments tonight. I was 100% sure my headache was just because I was hungry and I’d needed to eat.

I’d taken the last bite of pizza when I realized my headache had actually become worse.

“What is happening.” I mumbled, doubling over and trying to remember if we had any aspirin.

It had been a while since I’d done anything as rigorous as last night. It was bound to have some adverse effects on my body.

I found the aspirin on Jazz’s nightstand, and I wondered how she wasn’t already immune to it. She took it basically every morning when she got home from a party. She still got hangovers regardless.

I popped two pills and finished the entire glass of water, standing still till I could literally feel the throbbing at the side of my head numbing. “Much better.” I muttered. I was going to have to get round two of sleep before I would get any work done. That was fine. I had the entire weekend to myself. I’d just take a bath, close my eyes again and by the time I’d wake up, everything would be back to normal.

Right?

I’d barely gotten into the shower when I felt myself being watched-again.

“How the fuck did you find my house?” I cried, sliding down the bathroom walls and cursing very unladylikely

I should never have given Matthew Sinclair the time of the day. Not now, not when we were sixteen year olds. I always had to walk away not long after. And walking away always hurt like a-

“Alix?” I heard Jazz’s voice through the bathroom walls. Relief washed over me and I got up and made to open the door.

“In here.” I reply, poking my head out.

No Jazz. Just that creepy feeling of being watched. I understood what had just happened before I even saw the figure in my house. Jazz’s voice has been used to lure me.

Luring was a trick used by Casters to manipulate the voice of a loved one. Typical Sinclair move.

“Fine. You caught me.” I say, coming out of the bathroom. “Show yourself.”

“What?” Jazz asked, coming out of the kitchen. “Why are you speaking like that?”

The relief over me doubled.

“I thought-“

“I’m still going, I just thought to grab a few more things. Spending the weekend at Jeff’s.”

She pointed towards the window, where I saw a Tesla parked outside.

Of course Jazz was spending the weekend at a rich College Graduate’s condo. Of course.

She looked at me quizzically, “Are you alright, Alix? Who was that guy from earlier?”

“Childhood friend.” I reply honestly.

“He’s really hot.” She nods. “You should let him pipe you down.”

“No I shouldn’t, and no that’s not happening.”

Jazz shrugged, grabbing the aspirin from the kitchen table,“You’ll thank me.”

“I’m thanking you right now.” I reply. “For the Aspirin.”

“We’re going to talk about this.” She points at me, leaving the house and sashaying into Jeff’s car.

I watch them speed off, and I realize that something still felt wrong. I could still feel myself being watched.

“I know you’re in here, Matt.” I say, wrapping my towel more tightly over my chest and turning around to scan the empty apartment. For a second I thought I was running mad. But I could feel it. I could!

Matt’s form materialized a few feet away from me, his hands up in surrender.

“Your senses are still so strong.” He said.

“What the fuck, Matthew!” I yell, grabbing a throw pillow from the sofa and throwing it.

“I’m sorry, Alix.” He started, “I saw her as I was leaving and I knew I had to come and find you and try to convince you again.”

“So you followed her to my house?”

Oh this was so bad. Now that Matthew knew where I lived I knew he wasn’t letting me go without helping him again. He was persistent like that. It was so annoying.

“I know it looks bad, but-“

“There are no buts.” I cut in, “this is a bad idea, and I am not in support of you trying to get me to dabble into something that can get me killed and put all my loved ones in danger.”

I pointed towards him. “April is your sister not mine. I’ve repaid the favor I owed by following you yesterday and it’s not my fault he didn’t have the answers you were looking for.”

I pointed at the door.

“You’re not welcome here. Please leave.”

But even as I watched him hang his head and walk out the door, I knew that he’d be back soon. Matt was annoying like that.

One more weekend, I begged whatever, whoever. One weekend of normalcy PLEASE.

I really couldn’t do this. And I had to tell my family. Put them in the know. They would know what to do. Because I didn’t.

I grabbed my phone and called my sister.

“Hey Lix.” I heard Annie’s calm, sugary voice. I closed my eyes, enjoying the last few seconds of her ignorance.

“Matt’s back.” I say.

The silence from her end was so thick, you could’ve cut it with a knife.

“How.” She said finally. “I thought they went abroad.”

“I thought so too.” I confirmed.

“Have you told Mom and Dad?” She asked.

“I wanted to call Dad but I dialed your number instead on second thought. And Annie… I did something.”

“Oh no, Alix.” Annie said, understanding.

“He brought Jamie up.” I explained, the tears blurring my vision before I could help it.

“That sly bastard.” My sister muttered. “Did anything happen?”

“I got hit.” I reached for my neck, and I realized the bruise was no longer there. No welt, no pain.

“I’m so sorry Alix.” She said again. And I knew if we were together she would’ve held me till I felt better again. She was the younger one, but sometimes it felt like I was.

“It’s alright.” I say, finding my voice. “I know he’ll be back again, and he’s trying to convince me to help him find April.”

“She’s missing?” Annie gasped.

I ran her through everything that had happened in the last twenty four hours, and by the time I was done I could feel her mouth hanging open.

“Jazz is going to find out.” She warned.

I already knew that, but my job was to stall for as long as I could.

“I know. I don’t want her to.”

“I know.” Annie replied sadly.

“I’m going to try to finish up some assignments this weekend. Please tell mom and Dad.” I say, “without the fighting a century old, three hundred pound werewolf please.”

“They’re never going to allow me attend Landon now.” Annie sighed.

“I’m so sorry, Annie.” I said softly.

“It’s alright.” She replied.

I looked at my phone for minutes after the call had disconnected.

I had to distract myself somehow. And I knew there was no sleep for me anymore.

It was a matter of time before Matt showed up again to try to convince me to go with him.

I resented him greatly for coming back and disrupting everything I had built and gotten used to over the past five years.

I knew that as long as I had bothered them, I would not rest till I found a way to somehow make everything disappear like my parents had down all those years ago. And that involved going away from Landon town.

I went to take a shower to calm down my racing thoughts and afterwards I ended up in the kitchen, spreading out my biology textbooks to try and start working on my assignment.

A few hours later I was happy that I had made some considerable progress. I looked at the digital clock on the TV stand.

12:17AM It read.

I had successfully stayed up till midnight. A few more hours and I would be done. I contemplated pushing it do in the evening, but with the uncertainty of the last few hours, I knew I had to finish it right now.

I thought about the accident. I thought about how happy the four of us were. I thought about my cousin Jamie, and I winced in pain. She wasn’t even supposed to be there that summer. And she had been killed.

I buried my face in my palms as I remembered her gorgeous red hair and her soft hazel eyes.

She looked so much like Annie and I, everyone had thought we were sisters.

Jamie was older than all of us at Nineteen years old, and Annie was still a preteen, but she was quite big for an eleven year old, so she fit into most of the things we did. That summer, the four of us were inseparable.

I couldn’t help but wonder if we still would be if we hadn’t gotten into that accident.

The accident.

I didn’t want to think about it.

Because when we had realized that Jamie had died, we immediately understood that life as we knew it was completely going to change.