Isabella Heathering's Story

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Isabella woke up with a start. She'd had a nightmare which she could no longer remember, to her greatest relief. She opened her eyes to sunlight streaming through her window, and she brought it within herself to sit up and pull on some clothes. She went for comfortable and practical rather than fashionable - a dark coloured hoodie, a simple tank top, and skinny, but not too tight, jeans.

She headed downstairs hurriedly, and scarfed down scalding hot eggs and toast. She just wanted to get out. She had to meet her pack. Her parents understood, of course - her father rolled his eyes as he noticed her eating so quickly. She smiled a little before returning to her breakfast, finishing it off as fast as she could.

Not 15 minutes later, Isabella slammed her front door, and began to jog down the street, and didn't stop until she reached the edge of the forest. Only then did she begin to sprint, dodging trees and leaping over logs. While she ran, she managed to plug in her earphones and switch on her music, humming along to some track she couldn't remember the name of.

She had no idea how long she had been running before she stopped. She stood in the middle of what could be described as a small glade, which had a small area cleared, from where her pack had been running for as long as she could remember. Only then did she cup her hands to her mouth and howl loudly, making herself known to the trees and animals around her. Almost immediately, she felt a weight lift off of her shoulders, as she let all the emotion from the dream go into the noise. It would also alert her pack to her presence, and she smiled to herself.

Finally, she stopped, and sat down on a log, when she smelled something... off... in the air. Confused, Isabella stood up, glancing around her. It smelled like...

She saw the crimson on the tree quickly after that. It wasn't a Wolfblood's - Isabella knew what that smelled like. She walked over slowly, and touched the red on the bark, examining it. The red came off in her fingers. She wanted her pack to come quicker now - she needed to investigate. They needed to find out where that blood had come from.

Isabella worried what that meant for the rest of their pack.

---

Mitch shook hair out of his eyes, as customary, when he woke up. He appeared to have woken up before his packmates, although he couldn't be too sure.

He brushed his clothes off, as they had become dusty in the night. It tended to happen, as he slept outdoors most of the time. He decided he was bored, and had soon located a tree that was suitable to climb. He grinned, and had soon hauled himself up to about 60 feet in the air. He could still see the rest of his pack, far below him. He wasn't paying attention, of course. He tended to daydream when he was up in the trees.

Suddenly, Mitch heard howling, and almost fell out of the tree. He was surprised - it didn't sound close, and he didn't think there were other Wolfbloods around. It sounded like a Wolfblood, at least. He decided he would let the rest of the Pack know.

"Hey!" He yelled. "Wake up. There's other Wolfbloods around." He began to clamber down the tree branch, although he didn't touch the ground. He sat on the lowest branch, waiting for his pack mates to wake up.

Charmaine was riding her bike, a rescue from a nearby dump, along the edges of the woods. As much as she liked the woods, there was no way for her to ride inside. She could run, after all, since she was a scout and the fastest wolf in her pack, but pedaling a bike was rather enjoyable too. An old transistor radio perched in the front basket of her bike played her all time favorite Beatles song, Yellow Submarine.

"We all live in a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine..." she sang along. Her hair was blown in every which direction from the wind, and it knotted together. Most of the brown strands stayed in front of her face, impairing her vision immensely. She was already wearing sunglasses in dim light, however, so it did not matter much to her. Charmaine was navigating mostly with her sense of smell.

Suddenly, a loud howl sounded from the woods, its piercing volume overpowering her radio. This howl did not sound like it belonged to anyone from her pack. So, one of the solar goody-two-shoes was making it. She might as well go see the patheticness of the entire situation. Charmaine slammed on her brakes, turned her radio off, and swept her hair out of her face before leaping off the bike. She leaned it against a broken and rotted wooden fence, and then turned towards the woods.

---

Seung was in the midst of quite the relaxing beauty sleep when awoken by a howl. He recognized the distress call of his female counterpart almost immediately, and rushed to get ready. Normally, he would take a very long time to dress and do his makeup, but there was no time for his daily routine. Lamenting his ugliness, Seung pulled his sleepmask off and tossed it onto his nightstand before dressing. This outfit was nothing he would wear out in public in a non-emergency, but speed was of the essence.

He pushed open his bedroom window and shimmied down the side of his home to the backyard below. It was the woods where he needed to head, and that was where he would head. Quickly double-checking that his laces were tied correctly, Seung took off galloping. Within 10 minutes, he had reached where Isabelle and Alex were. "What is the matter-"

The shiny crimson caught his eye, and he stopped midsentence. Seung understood now. The blood stank of human.

Isabella rubbed the crimson between her fingers, deep in thought. Why was there blood here? Was there a murder?

More importantly, why was it on her territory?

She looked up as she saw Alex running towards her at top speed. She bit her lip to stop herself from blushing - she should have guessed that her howling would have worried her pack. "I'm fine, Alex, but somebody obviously isn't." She turned slightly to look at one of her female guardians. She listened carefully to what she said, before shaking her head sadly. She noticed Alex staring at her, and she took it for a sign of needing comfort. She walked over briskly, wrapping her arms around her and kissing her cheek in greeting gently. "You're covered in it. What happened? Did you... find... a body?" A look of concern crossed Isabella's face as she pulled away from the girl.

Just then, Seung, her male counterpart, appeared in what was definitely not his customary clothing. She opened her mouth to speak, before deciding against it. Only then did she really look at her own outfit. It definitely wasn't much. Oh well.

"Good morning, Seung." She greeted him, hurrying over and greeting him in a similar fashion to Alex. "As you can see, we have a... problem." She sniffed slightly, her nose sensitive, when she picked up a strange scent. It was... Could it be? "Oh, and there are Lunar Wolfbloods around. I wonder if they have anything to do with it?" She bit her lip again.

"We need to find where the body is, if there is one, who it is, and..." She paused a second. "Where's Lily and Zach?" A sudden worry filled her chest as she noticed the pair were missing. Were they involved? No... They couldn't be. It didn't smell like them. So where were they?

The scent of Wolfbloods got stronger, and Isabella cupped her head in her hands. What on earth was going on? She did know one thing, though. "I think we need to talk to the Lunar Wolfbloods." She bit her lip, looking at the two in her pack that were there. "To make sure they had nothing to do with any of this. We also need to find out what happened to the human." She decided, out loud. "What do you guys think?" She added.

---

Mitch was sprawled out across one lone branch, and appeared to be asleep, when he turned his head and opened one eye in response to hearing a pack member approach. It was Sherrie. He grinned at her, before sitting up only slightly. He watched her using Eolas, before smirking. She always seemed to be keeping an eye on everyone. Then again, he guessed, that was kind of her job.

Mitch watched as the other members of his pack began to emerge from the places where they slept. Over and over again, he heard the question; "Where is Charmaine?" Mitch knew that Charmaine had most likely gone to investigate the howl off to - where was it again? He seemed to remember it was to the south-west - wherever it was. However, Mitch soon couldn't control himself as he answered rather insolently; "Sherrie should know, she used Eolas earlier." He winked at her and jumped down off of the branch. "And from what it sounds like, Charmaine is wherever that howl came from." He rolled his eyes and shook his hair out of his eyes again.

Mitch wasn't really listening to his Alpha - something he should have gotten a slap on the ear for, figuratively, but Mitch perked up suddenly when he disappeared off, walking away. He hurried along after him, as if there was something nipping at his heels. It was easy for Mitch to keep up - he was, along with Charmaine, one of the fastest in the pack, and he enjoyed it. He fell in line, and soon fell into place. It was strange not seeing Charmaine opposite him - she was normally there - but Mitch ignored it. He'd learned to do that, and Mitch stuck to what he knew. After all, it was one of his biggest pros.

She maneuvered over broken and gnarled tree branches, enjoying the scratches she received on her bare legs. Blood dripped down onto her hole-filled leather boots, adding to the dried blood and mud already staining the once black material. Her outfit was nowhere near practical for forest exploration, or athletics in general, but Charmaine really did not care. It added to the enjoyment of it all. She stole all of her clothing, and most of the time wore skimpy clothes in order to get the most out of running in the woods. It was great. Well, to a mentally unstable girl like her, it was great.

Eventually, she reached the gathering of all of the Solar wolves. The overbearing stench of human blood wafted through the air. It was rather enticing. She hid behind a tree, and spied on the conversations going on. These so-called "werewolves" seemed quite disturbed. How pathetic. They were a bunch of pretentious pansies.

She had to place a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. In order to occupy herself so that she did not giggle again, Charmaine popped a piece of purple bubblegum she had stolen from a General Store. She blew and popped about a dozen bubbles while she watched the events with interest. Like the pack in front of her, she was curious about who had been killed and who the killer was. But she was, unlike her solar counterparts, curious for all the wrong reasons.

---

Seung blushed ever so faintly at the brush of Isabella's lips against his cheek. "Good morning, Isabella." He listened to her speak, clearly concerned. After she finished, he gave her his opinion; "We should investigate. If the Lunar Wolves are involved, it can't be good..." His pearly white teeth bit down on his chapped lips, tearing off little pieces of his skin. It was an awful habit, really, but nervous habits were hard to break.

"What do you think about this matter, Alex? I think it's of the utmost importance to gather the others, confront the Lunar wolves, and figure out who was killed and who was the killer."

Isabella listened carefully Alex gave her opinion, but she was not totally focused. The blood had made her go into deep thought, and now she couldn't really concentrate. Her music blared out of her earphones that dangled around her shoulders, but Isabella didn't listen to it. Instead, she breathed deeply through her nose, taking in the scents around her. Almost overwhelming was the smell of blood, but the scent of Lunar Wolfbloods was masked by it. Isabella could just about pick it up, but by then -

"Charmaine, over here, now."

Isabella's head whipped around to fix on the Lunar Alpha Male, who Isabella wasn't too keen to see. He, along with his pack, was trespassing on her territory, in her opinion. Her eyes flashed gold, but disappeared to her normal colour just as quickly.

"Your territory? I believe you may be closer to Redbrook than you think." She raised one eyebrow. They'd been coming here for a long time now - when did that concern the Lunars so much? And why were they so close to Redbrook - on the day that they found all the blood? Isabella was suspicious. She didn't think it could just be a coincidence that they were in the woods, in the wrong place at the wrong time. She glared at them, chewing the inside of her lip.

She saw the Alpha standing over the body of a human. So that was where it was. It was such a tragic thing, that the human had died. She looked at the body sadly, sighing through her nose. They seemed to know exactly where the body was. Had the Lunars really gotten so bad? Isabella narrowed her state, her eyes glowing gold again.

---

Mitch followed his Alpha, until the scent suddenly bloomed in his nose. He could smell blood, mainly, and also Charmaine very strongly, but also Solars. He scowled at the ground, not at all pleased that they were here. He had no idea what they were doing there - and he definitely disapproved.

Mitch was glaring at the ground still, when his Alpha called out to Charmaine. She was up in a tree, something Mitch thought was out-of-character for Charmaine, and he'd be more likely to go up. Then again, it was Charmaine. He rolled his eyes, before fixing his eyes on the torn up, mauled body of a human girl.

He froze in place, staring at what appeared to have been a girl, but was now just a bloody carcass. Mitch didn't want to interfere, but as much as he hated humans, he found it slightly amusing that the Solars had seemed to have lost it with them. He smirked slightly to himself. "You think they lost it with the humans?" He muttered in a low voice to anyone who would listen. He sure hoped they had, but he also hoped they hadn't been hoping to win their affections by doing so. He wouldn't have liked it if they decided to try and join the pack.

Mitch's ringed eyes looked up through his eyelashes, glaring rather effectively at the Solar Alphas. He thought the girl that wasn't the Alpha was kinda cute, but he wouldn't admit that publically. She was still a Solar, and therefore, out of bounds. He huffed air out of his nose, and waited for his Alpha to reply to the words of the female Alpha, knowing to not speak out of turn any more than he already had.

Charmaine looked at her pack, and instantly flared with rage. She was trying to spy on the Solars but they had to swagger up and blow her cover. How fucking stupid were they? Especially Dalton. What kind of absolutely idiotic alpha did something like that? Her dirt-covered hands lifted up her sunglasses to rest on her forehead, just so she could display how angry she was. Eyes flashing gold, she looked her Alpha straight in the eye before she let the glasses slide down. She shimmied down the tree as quickly as she could, nearly landing in the maimed human in the process. Her gum fell out of her mouth, and she purposefully aimed it towards her pack.

Once on the ground, she heard Mitch's comment about the Solars and chuckled quite loudly.

---

"I agree with you wholeheartedly, Alex-"

Before Seung could get another word in, the all-too-familiar voice of Dalton sounded. He glared at the now-appearing Solar pack, but otherwise let Alex and Isabella handle the negotiations for now. He had great faith in their abilities. While he listened to the banter between the two groups of wolves, he slid his hands into his hoodie pocket and began to scan the ground. His eyes focused in on the puddle that once was a person. He felt absolutely nauseated, yet could not look away at the same time.

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"No one touch any of the Solar members. Got it?" He told them then asked them if they understood with a raised brow. "If it's a fight they want, a fight they shall get but otherwise, don't touch." Dalton turned around and continued walking. Sherrie furrowed in brow beginning to wonder exactly what Dalton spoke next, "Even if they are treading on our territory." She nodded grimly.

Sherrie caught the faint scent of her pack member as Dalton neared the Solar pack. Blood stifled the air and she glanced at the mangled body on the ground. It was a sad sight but death was a part of nature and wolves understood that clearly. Sherrie was no different but some annoying humanly part of her protested. "Charmaine, over here, now." Dalton commanded making Sherrie's gaze snap back to the Solar pack with renewed malice. Charmaine climbed down from the tree in a huff and Sherrie would have snickered if not for the situation ahead of them.

"Why are you guys in our forest? What is the meaning of this?" Dalton was referring to the body of the human right in front of him. Sherrie's eyes shifted color and she bristled unhappily. She wanted the Solar pack to get a clear message. They were treading on Lunar territory regardless of their twinkle toe ideals.

"Your territory? I believe you may be closer to Redbrook than you think." The female Alpha raised one eyebrow. Sherrie growled under her breath and returned the female's glare. How dare they believe that the forest was theirs! The forest had always belonged to Lunar pack. Sherrie tensed, hands clenching as she prepared herself. Solar pack was treading in dangerous waters. They had been found with a dead body and their scent was all over the clearing even though fresh and now they were throwing accusatory looks and trying to claim territory that wasn't theirs. They were asking for it. Sherrie reined in the wolf, barely, and glanced at Dalton wondering what he thought.


" Wait wait, before we start asking questions can I ask one? " Sherrie reluctantly let her gaze move to the other female. She seemed like a Guardian and a pitiful one at that. Plus, she was covered in blood and that rang alert bells in Sherries mind. However, her question was an important one. Sherrie remained silent, and took that moment to allow herself to take a more composed form. If the Solar pack was actually going to help then perhaps they deserved leniency even though one of them actually looked like the murderer. Like a child who had been doing indecent things and needed guidance from their parents. Sherrie raised her brows in interest," Is… it possible that there is more than one body out here…" The solar pack female face wore a worried expression now, and Sherrie wondered what led her to that conclusion. However she kept her mouth shut, she was a beta, meant to follow her Alpha first and whatever Dalton decided she would listen. Did he believe the Solar pack?

---

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Alesander followed his Alpha's orders as he trailed behind sniffing the air and staying cautious. His shoulders felt stiff as tension ran through him. When they neared the Solar pack the smell of blood drew his attention like a predator to harvest. He edged out from behind the rest of his pack and eyed the mess. The person had been ripped apart by something with enough strength not to do it cleanly. Had it been another wolf blood? Alesander questioned. A dark look came over his expression as he approached the mess carefully without stepping on any bit and parts and crouched down next to the remains.

The gore didn't bother him. He had been privy to more bloody scenes than he could remember and some of them were his fault. He sniffed and examined the tears in the flesh curiously before glancing back to his Alpha and then to the Solar pack. His eyes landed on one female who was covered in blood that smelled suspiciously like the kind spilt around the clearing. She was also kind of dirty. He scowled and stood up before backing away from the body to take a stand near Mitch who seemed to be trying to make sense of the mess as well.

"You think they lost it with the humans?" Mitch murmured quietly. Alesander stiffened and glanced at the young wolf. It was an amusing question but Alesander couldn't manage to find it in himself to laugh. His anger was rising steadily and he stared at the Solar pack alpha's maliciously. Eventually he glanced down and noticed that his veins were beginning to blacken. He growled, "This is our territory and you guys are suspicious as hell." His voice was gravelly as his control wavered. He took a deep breath and turned away from the scene and paced over to a tree that had blood splattered on it. He stared at the blood and seethed. Someday. Someday he was going to teach those tame pansy freaks a lesson. Today, however, was not the day and Dalton probably needed him to remain in control.

Isabella's face fell when Alex suggested the presence of more than one body. She bit her lip, although she tried not to show it. It would portray her as weak. She didn't wish to fight, either, which made her look even more weak, even if the other pack looked like they were taking her words aggressively. She hated being involved in conflict, but now there was a dead body in the forest, she wasn't going to avoid it.

She sighed heavily, turning her gaze to the forest floor. Large blood spatters were almost touching her foot, and suddenly Isabella felt extremely sick. She breathed slowly through her nose to try and relieve herself.

Her ears perked up as suddenly, a few of the Lunars began muttering amongst themselves and giggling. Then she noticed their male guardian, veins darkening in colour. She felt threatened, and her eyes turned to her wolf's again. She placed her hands on her forehead, to try and calm herself a little bit. Feeling vulnerable was new to her.

Isabella then caught the eye of the male beta, who smiled slightly at her. She tucked her hair behind her ears, and her eyes gradually returned to blue again. At least one of them wasn't acting too threatening. She was wrong, though. His expression turned aggressive too, within a matter of seconds. She sighed once again, deciding she would have to speak out.

"You can't honestly believe we'd run around in the village on a Full Moon, do you? We are entitled to the woods just as much as you are." She began, taking on a different, softer tone now. She couldn't deal with a full-frontal conflict with the Lunars AND a dead body as well. "It would expose us all, and I'm pretty sure you have an idea of what they would do to us if they knew." She knew it sounded dodgy that she was saying that, but the whole reason they needed protecting was so that this wouldn't happen. "Just... What I'm saying is..." She paused, glancing at Seung for a little bit of help. She had no idea how to explain it. All she knew was that they also needed the woods, even if it was a smaller percentage of it than the Lunars. They just didn't seem to understand.

"We may look suspicious, but so do you, in all fairness. It's all a huge coincidence that you just happen to be this close to Redbrook when you have 500 or so kilometres of forests to go through, and we find a body?" She sighed again. "We can't go accusing people straight up is what I'm saying, especially when we have no proof." She ignored the Alpha's final question, folding her arms slightly, and biting the inside of her cheek hard.

---

Mitch rolled his eyes at his beta and Alpha when they silenced him. They never had any fun at all.

He had to admit, though, he found it rather amusing that they had found a dead body on their 'territory'. He did see sense in what the Alpha claimed, but was it just a claim? He shook hair out of his eyes, as he often did. He caught his breath slightly as the Guardian Solar girl - the one Mitch thought was pretty cute - suggested that there were more than one body. He frowned slightly, watching as Alesander inspected the body over.

Danny was being calmed by Alex, which was one problem being dealt with already. Was it just Mitch, or did he see the Beta throw a smile at the Solar Alpha? A smile flickered across his lips, as he anticipated the laughter he could cook up with this one.

Then another idea crossed his mind. Couldn't they use Ansin on the body to find out it's history? Who it was, perhaps? If they were with anyone? Mitch looked up, his blue eyes bright. How had nobody thought of that. He glanced at Sherrie and Charmaine, and mouthed the words; "I'm going to use Ansin."

He strode slowly over to Alesander, crouching down beside him. He laid a hand gently over the body, closing his eyes. He then placed one hand on the ground, and opened his eyes, revealing the half blue, half golden wolf eyes. He saw flashes of what had happened. This had been a girl, a pretty human one, with long dark wavy hair. She had a friend with her, but they split up. Running, running, running... From what?

Eyes in the dark. Low down, growling. He could almost feel the teeth as they tore into the victim's body messily, tearing her apart. He watched as she was dragged down slowly, out of breath, no longer able to run. He pulled back hurriedly, feeling rather sick. His eyes returned to blue and he staggered backwards from the body.

"It was a Wolfblood." He confirmed. "And there was at least two. And the eyes? They were as black as night, and as silver as the moon."

Finally, someone was doing something productive. Charmaine watched as Mitchell used Ansin on the dead girl, smirking slightly once he voiced his answer. She had no idea who had done it, but she thought it was pretty funny that a murder had happened in disputed territory. This was going to make discovering the culprit so difficult.

The solving of this mystery will be so fun to watch, she thought as she ran dirty fingers through her hair. Maybe she would be considered a suspect, seeing her history of killing humans in the past. She giggled to herself, tossing her head back. Her hair was picked up by the breeze, and began to flow about. First, the giggles were so quiet that only the people immediately near her could hear. Soon, it reached a fever pitch, and her laughs echoed throughout the woods. This was going to make her far more suspicious than before. How fun, she thought.

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Seung listened to the Lunars' scout as he told what he saw. Disgusting. Who could do such a thing to an innocent girl? He really wanted to find who had committed these heinous crimes and bring them to justice. There was a great chance that the killers had struck before, and undoubtedly they would strike again. Suddenly, the other Lunar scout began to giggle. Her lips were twisted into a smirk. What was she laughing about? She had better not be laughing about the dead girl.

His lips peeled back, and he growled, exposing his sharp teeth. Seung's eyes turned golden, and he slowly inched his way towards the scout. He didn't want to start a fight, but she had to know just how disgusting her behavior was. She couldn't get away with this. Desecrating the brutal death of an innocent girl was not an alright thing to do, nor a thing he could just forget and ignore.