Lily Swales'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.