12 | WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW...
I smell death, heady and thick, nearly choking me as I struggle to remain conscious. I swallow hard, my whole body feeling like it’s been frozen in time, but without the vibrations of those chords around me. It’s more like I’m a fly caught in a jar of honey. The hooded figure slowly turns to face me, a darkness shielding their face and any truly descriptive markers aside from their shape. Tall, nearly seven feet of thin, almost blinding white-blue with a yawning void in the place of a face.
It’s gaze is almost palpable, skirting up and down my body in a calculating and predatory way. Being part wolf and part vampire, I’ve learned very few things scare me these days…but right now I’m completely engulfed by the crippling emotion. Terror trickles down my spine, pooling and zinging through me like lightning. If I could move, I’d be running from the room, maybe the country. My wolf is a cowering, whimpering voice in my head, scared so shitless I think it’s about to leave my body just to get away. If it could. Hell, even the vamp, that icy bastard, is absolutely petrified by this sight before us. The warring primal sides are, for once, in complete agreement.
And then the figure moves, graceful arms rising slowly to pull at the hood masking it’s face and exposing- A beautiful woman. Her eyes captivate me, a silken, shimmering violet - bold and brilliant - like no color I’ve ever seen before. Highlights of red flaring through are visible as she takes a few, unhurried steps towards me. Her body moves like its gliding through water, her white robes moving softly around her. Her head’s bare, shaved so clean her olive skin practically glistens in one continuos line.
As I stare at her, I can’t pin-point her age. Only that she has no wrinkles on her face and no baby fat in her cheeks. Cheekbones that would put Mina’s to shame. The closer the woman gets, the more I think my heart’s going to try to leave my body too. Looking at her the way a human would, you would think there’s nothing to be scared of. But her scent speaks volumes. Timeless, powerful, humming with a million things - and death. Like aged flowers and decay. My skin’s still crawling when she stops two feet in front of me.
“Scarlett,” She addresses me with a voice that sounds like the wind, caressing and right in my ear. I shudder, cringing against the way my name sounds like a yawning abyss opening beneath my feet - ready to swallow me at her command. “I’m not here to hurt you.” She continues, as if reading my mind. My stomach roils with acid at the thought of yet another thing that can read my mind.
“What are you?” I manage to blurt this question. My lips sealing themselves almost immediately after. The woman’s stark white eyebrows lift at my words.
“My name is Nikki and I am an Ancient,” Nikki replies and looks me over once again, her brows knitting slightly. “The question is, *what* are *you*?” I’m surprised by her words. The term *Ancient* sets the terror in my spine zinging again, but I don’t know why. I’ve never heard of it before, whatever an Ancient is, and I sure as shit *don’t* want to know.
“I’m a hybrid.” I reply, my lips again parting to blurt this out against my will before sealing once more. I try to push my tongue against the seam, but they don’t budge.
“Yes, of that, I am aware.” Nikki sighs, moving in a slow and graceful arc to circle me as I stand immobile. “What I do not understand is how something like you could disrupt the balance of the cosmos.” Her words sting against my frayed nerves, making my face twitch in aggravation. And then their meaning hits me. Questions and warring emotions explode as my curiosity burns a hole through whatever’s holding me captive.
“What are you talking about?” I whirl to face the Ancient, her eyes going wide as I do. Power hums under my skin, suddenly flaring to life as courage floods the terror in my body and lights the fire of my curiosity. *I need answers*. “Look, I’m new to this whole supernatural-thing. I barely know how to control myself around blood let alone *‘disrupt the balance of the cosmos’*. I don’t know what it is you *think* I’m responsible for, but I’ve been fighting for my life most of my existence and only just recently got my freedom back. I’ve been in school the last seven months, doing normal *humany* things and just trying to live my life. And what the hell’s an Ancient?” It all flutters out of my mouth in a gush of word-vomit, filling the space between us as Nikki just stares at me in awe. And then she bursts into laughter. The tinkling of wood chimes explodes from her mouth in a giggling titter that cools the remaining fear in me and makes my muscles relax.
“I like you,” The Ancient finally murmurs, wiping at her eyes as if she laughed so hard she began to cry a little. Her face becomes solemn as she regards me again, this time, her eyes more red than violet. “But you are dangerous if you do not even know the full extent of trouble you have caused.” Her words have that fear rocketing through me again and I feel like an ant about to get stepped on. “Scarlett,” She addresses me again, that same leaden feeling of my whole life hanging in the balance rippling through me. “You altered the course of this timeline. You and your mate have created an unstable reality and, as a result, sped up the apocalypse.” I blink as I absorb her words - feeling like I’ve been swallowed up by that hole now as what she’s saying hits me. “By changing the inevitable outcome after your Blooming, you have doomed the entire world to complete and utter chaos.”
