Self

Chapter 3-For Those Who Lose Their Life Too Soon…

This was the best part of summer and there was nothing nicer to be caught up in.

The White wolf lay asleep in the middle of a grassy field. The thunder and dark clouds

drew closer as the wind brought bigger drops with it. A large drop fell on his nose and

his eyes flew open. Big light-brown eyes scanned around to find the direction of the

storm.

Lifting his head and taking a deep breath, he locked on to the sweet, clean smell

of rain.

Henry lived for when he could be carefree and chase storms like he used to. He faced

the storm and ran full speed in the storm's direction. His paws hit the green grass with

such force that he dug out large chunks. Getting closer Henry could hear the sound of many other paws around him. At first they ran as individuals but soon adapted

Henry's pace. Every paw hit the ground at the same time creating one sound of united

power. It was known as 'The Heartbeat' of the Pack and every good pack had one.

The ability to be aware of each other and knowing how to move as a strong force was

why they were alive. Henry looked around him to see his family. They weren't all

related some were chosen family, the truest of friends. Suddenly a blanket of water

went over them soaking every part of them right to the skin. A bolt of lightning struck

the earth nearly hitting Henry. He laughed and sprang into the air and moved his head

slightly causing the earth to raise just enough to make Trevor lose his footing, making

him land face-first into a huge puddle of mud.

Trevor got up and ran as fast as he could to catch up to the pack that had stopped just

a little further. This is how most runs went ending with at least two of its members

scratched or dirty. It was a fun way to keep their abilities strong. They ran together till

they got to a cave where they could dry off. If it were up to them they would run day

long but they could not risk being out too long and they had been asked to meet

urgently. When they got inside the cave a fireball shot from one corner and landed on

a pile of dry wood. The fire was instant and filled most of the cave with light.

"You're getting good at that." Henry said as he changed to his human form. Trevor

gave a wide grin as he also shifted form.

"Thanks for the light Trevor." Said a dark-brown wolf with eyes so blue they looked

like the sky on a bright day.

She lifted her front paws to walk on her hind legs and

made her way to hug her husband. Lilly shook off the water in her fur splashing water

everywhere. Trevor put his paws in front of him but still ended up wet. He shook

himself off and ended up splashing water onto Henry and his brother Ryan. Soon they

were chasing each other around trying to get each other back. After a few minutes

they settled down around the fire to dry.

"As much fun as that is I always end up smelling like wet dog." Lilly started to

complain.

"No kidding?" Trevor said and closed his eyes waiting for his wife to retaliate with

her usual slap on his arm. It didn't come this time.

"Oh you're just jealous we can enjoy the weather and you can't." Lilly said and

couldn't help smiling.

"Guys we have a bit of a situation on the other side." Henry began "Shaun, alex and

Seth were sent through about three days ago to find a rouge Hunter-Soul and haven't

returned yet. I've gotten permission from The Prince to go find our men but he wants

to go with. That's not the most interesting part though. We seem to have a human who

has just hit Trigger."

"That's awesome! What trigger?" Said the black wolf that had now dried out and had

now turned back to his human form. He was the youngest of the five and usually

found most things to be awesome.

"All you need to know is a human is dead but hasn't stayed that way kid." Lilly quickly added when she knew Henry wasn't sure how to explain the situation.

"We

have gotten word that The Prince has a brother that didn't die from illness after all.

"The Prince has a brother? That changes things but why can't he know where she is,

this Natasha girl?" Lilly asked with a frown. Henry changed back to his human form and

sat closer to the fire.

"I'm not sure. A few weeks after she was born they were separated. The King had

made it very clear that they were not to see each other. It's easy enough to try and

hide her but he will sense her quickly."

Henry looked into the fire and then got up.

"I

need you and The Prince has asked for you."

"So we are going to risk our lives whilst lying to the guy that can have us executed."

Trevor said as he shifted form too.

"That just about covers it yes." Henry said a little nervously. If they went with it

would be an adventure but the adventures always carried possibilities for injuries and

fatalities. The curse of then wolf ran a lot deeper then just changing into one. The

bloodlines were from the finest warriors and not just those with swords either.

If there

was an injustice according to them then they would seek to correct it.

+++

Natasha woke up with a start and jumped up so quickly, she nearly fell off the foot of the

bed. She sat back and reached for the glass of water she always had on her bedside

table. Only it wasn't there and looking around slowly Natasha realised that this wasn't

her room. A few steps further she fell over something on the floor. She was just as

clumsy as always so all was right with the world.

Looking around she found a door and walked through to a hallway, her body felt as

heavy as lead. The light was so bright Natasha had to cover her eyes so that she could see

in front of her. She heard voices and walked as lightly as she could closer to where

they seemed to come from.

There were a few voices male and female, the laughter and light tone of their

conversation made her feel more at ease. Natasha got near the living room where the

voices had come from. Moving slowly with her back against the wall she crept closer

to try and see the people that had now gone almost silent. Her eyes hurt from the light

in the living room and her vision was blurry. Natasha started to panic as thoughts raced

through her mind of her life being in danger. Why had these people taken her here?

She wasn't worth a ransom so why kidnap her? And to be kidnapped by cops, weird

cops but cops none-the-less. Natasha took a deep breath and looked around the corner and

saw four very ordinary people having dinner and chatting. Natasha moved into the living

room and after a few steps collapsed to her knees, getting up was impossible. Her leg

must not have gotten the memo from her mind to move. A man and women rushed

toward her. Shedecided she would address them will calm and composure.

"Why have you drugged and kidnapped me I'm worth no money, I'm broke. Are you

going to kill me? The words slipped out of Natasha's mouth before she could stop it.

They had the same clothes on so they had to be in a gang or something.

"Girl you haven't been kidnapped and I'm afraid you're already dead, well rather

close I would guess." The man gave a friendly smile and helped Natasha onto a nearby chair.

"Honey you're safe here. We will explain everything but for now you just need to

know someone killed you and this is one afterlife option. You happen to be very lucky

as this is your second chance." The young women said who sat just behind Natasha.

She

smiled a smile that just made her look like an evil pixie. Her hair would make any

Anime character ashamed as it defied gravity and went where no hair follicle should

naturally go.

"Natasha my name is Seth and we are just as confused as you are. The way you feel right

now will wear off and we didn't do this to you. Usually you would go to the facility

but we have a little crisis on our hands so training will be a little different.

"How do you know who I am Seth?" Natasha said with suspicion and disgust.

She said trying to make him slip up. If you ask enough questions everyone slips up

eventually. Seth took a breath and then started to talk in an even tone.

"Do you remember the night before when a man robbed the store?"

"Yes." Natasha said softly as she tried to block the crazy, horrible episode.

"And do you remember the blood on the floor, the piece of metal you picked up? It

was the women who spoke this time.

"Yeah but I was hit on the head and I know head wounds bleed a lot but I don't know

what the metal is." Natasha rambled off barely pausing for breath till the end. The women

came to sit next to her and waited for Natasha to meet her eyes.

" That night you were shot at point blank range and it was a head shot. The piece

of metal is the bullet that went through your head. I know it happened because I see

weird stuff on a daily basis. I know your name because of the name tag that's on your

clothes on your bed. We were minding our own business when each of us got killed

somehow and landed up here; so far we are eight people."

Natasha looked around her as she listened to Seth explain what had happened. They just

looked like a bunch of normal people, perhaps this was some type of weird cult.

+++

"Henry what is it you're not telling me. You haven't heard one word I've said since

I've gotten into the car, spill it." Jake said as they drove to get The Prince's favourite

fast food before they were off to save the world.

"I just think it's foolish to come with us Your Highness. It's your servant's job to

protect the kingdom and if we get killed it doesn't matter. Completely the opposite if

you get hurt Sir. Have you taken that into consideration? I've asked you a million

times not to come with me sir and you didn't listen, how does it feel to be ignored?

The Prince just answered with a wide grin. Henry just sat back and decided the best

thing to do now was to keep The Prince very close to him and as far as possible from the girl.

Her powers were unpredictable and wild as she had gotten the lions share from their

Vampire mother. When it came to magic, The Prince was the runt and could easily be

overthrown. Henry had full right to the throne but didn't want it. Being raised in the

human world The Princess could develop into any creature and would be a dark day

for them if the kingdom were ruled by a unicorn or worse a troll or fairy. Henry tried

to imagine what an evil, maniacal unicorn would look like and laughed for the first

time in ages. Their mother had quite a few children but not all she had given birth to

herself. She alone had been responsible for the triggers in the first place. Her habit of

saving humans and training them had proved a truly valuable idea.

There had been speculation that the Queen had been trying to find a way to save her

younger son but was dismissed as it brought humans back only.

Natasha was not amused one bit. These people were insane and she was the girl you

laughed at in horror films because she very comical and dramatically gets hacked to

death. The copious and impossible amount of bloodshed was worth a giggle too. So

now she was already dead and on a bad high from some drug they probably made in

their kitchen with oven cleaner and something daft like baby powder. Mondays truly

were the pits but what with being shot in the head, dying and then having trouble

walking and seeing this one took the cake.

"I have to get back to work you do know people will look for me, right?" Natasha said as

nicely as she could as not to make the bunch of mental cases decide to kill her.

The

problem was that if these people could get this far in whatever scheme they had

planned out, she wasn't sure they would listen to any reasoning but she had to try.

Seth got up and reached for something in his front pocket. It was everything from a

gun to the worlds smallest torture devise as Natasha tried to prepare for the worst.

The

dreadful item turned out to be a pack of smokes and a lighter. Seth looked to the

women as if to ask if it was ok to have a cigarette and it seemed he could. Seth walked

off to one side and lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. He started to twirl the cigarette

around his fingers from one to another like a coin and then he tossed the cigarette in

the air and just when the cigarette was about to hit his outstretched palm, he turned his

wrist and caught a brilliant sword.

Natasha was so stunned she didn't even realise her sight had cleared up so much that she

could read the inscription on the blade near the tip. It read "REMEMBER" and had a

pattern just above the blades edge was no doubt pain-staking to complete. It was so

finely created that the tip looked like it was made of solid ice. Natasha felt as though her

head was going to explode. That made sense was that she had been given a huge dose

of some drug and it was taking a long time to work out of her system. Only how

could he have known what she would see whilst having a hallucination?

"What was the last thing you ate or drank before you died?" Seth asked Natasha as he

finished his cigarette. She wouldn't be surprised if he starting smoking the sword

next. Perhaps she had been shot in the head after all, she sure felt like a piece of her

brain was missing.

"Is that how you got me drugged you put something in my drink?" Natasha nodded her

head and felt proud. She had figured them out now and next they would confess!