Goodbyes

It was inhumanly, like it was a being in the air, passing by them quickly. A whispering being.

They surrounded Serena, going round and round her, their whispers not ceasing. Serena's voice grew louder, those unintelligible words still tumbling out of her mouth. The whispers were numerous now and it became a sought of battle of whose voice would overcome.

Theirs or Serena's?

Finally Serena's voice overcame them and the whispers ceased abruptly.

Silence reigned for a while, no one knew what to do. They couldn't even really see, the moonlight that seeped in through the windows wasn't enough.

Serena opened her eyes and the lantern lit up once again, even brighter this time. Her eyes were a pool of spilling darkness and she moved closer towards the ladies like she was been controlled.

She blended into their midst, sniffing around them, touching their hands to check their compatibility with the essence that she was working on. Each lady she held flinched lightly, her hands were cold on them. Whenever she held them, they stared blankly ahead in a daze as she searched through their souls with her darkness.

She soon got to Elena, a tall slightly curvy lady with black long hair. Elena stiffened but Serena passed by her without a second look then her eyes settled on Alini, the lady standing next to Elena. She was quite shorter and curvier than Elena. She had thin red lips and her black hair was in a tight bun while a short bob fell over her forehead.

Serena moved closer to her, sniffing the air around her before her long fingers snaked around Alini's wrists. Alini flinched from the coldness but stared back at Serena black eyes. They were like an abyss, pulling her in dangerously. Serena dropped her hands suddenly like she had lost interest. Then she took in a deep breath, spun around and her eyes finally landed on Elena.

Elena's heart raced with every step Serena took closer to her. When Serena held Elena, the coldness sipped into her and she froze. Black blood dripped out of Serena's nose and a smile took over her face.

"She is the one. His mate."

"No--" Elena stumbled backwards as the words blurted out of her mouth, her eyes turning glassy. "No!" Her voice was firmer this time. "I'm to be married next week!"

"Then it is a good thing you know now. Cancel the wedding." Serena shrugged. Her eyes were clearer now, she seemed more in control of herself and she had wiped the blood away. She turned to Rita who stared ahead blankly and flashed her a smile. "You should be happy, Captain. Your niece is the Alpha Superior's mate."

Nobody said a word. Rita dismissed everyone including Serena who left immediately after her elixir was handed over to her. Only a crying Elena waited behind as a cold Rita read out to her firmly, the plan.

***

There were four regions in Teeland. In each region, there were two divisions. Human Division and Pack division.

The places where the humans were forced to stay after the werewolves had taken over years ago, were called the Human Divisions. These places were already crumbling down to nothing, they lacked necessary amenities and were mostly filled with debris.

The Pack Division were those places that had it all, like islands.

The Human Division was headed by a captain, this was easy because of the great reduction in population. Too many people had been lost to the war and the aftermath. It was also a case of survival of the fittest out here, they slaved away all day, tried hard to move on with the little resources they had for themselves while they worked ten times as hard to meet the quota of reasources the werewolves had set for them to provide daily.

The werewolves used them like animals.

Alini glared as she stared into the darkness. Even if there were no walls built around them, she still felt like she was in a cage.

Absolutely soffocating!

She heard someone crying some distance away from her and she turned around.

It was Elena.

She sat by the edge of the covered circular water reservoir, her face buried in her palms as the moonlight shone lightly upon her.

"Be strong." Alini almost bit her tongue for what she had just said. She hadn't planned it but those words had blurted out of her mouth anyways.

Elena looked up to Alini who was frowning down at her. Her eyes immediately filled with surprise. Alini had never spoken to anyone without it being official before. Ever since she had been found at age 15 and made to join Human Division D, Alini had been the most focused on her training. "You are talking to me?"

Alini shrugged and stepped forward. "I just thought you could use a friend."

She sucked in a deep breath, trying to find peace in this little act. "Thank you."

Alini was standing right in front of her now. "I know how hard this must be but it is what it is."

Elena scoffed. "They are practically telling me to go out there and die and you think that is alright?"

"No, I don't." Alini glared, a little crossed. "but nothing can be done."

Elena looked squarely at Alini. How could she talk about all these like that? Maybe it was because it wasn't her own life on the line. "If it were you, how would you take this?" Elena asked, her lips trembling slightly.

A coldness seeped into Alini's eyes, one that felt absolutely overpowering that Elena had to look away from her. "Gladly."

"Because you have a score to settle with them?"

"Who doesn't?" Alini shrugged, then hopped on the edge of the reservoir too, making herself comfortable next to Elena. "Isn't that part of the reasons tonight has happened the way it did?"

Elena sucked in a deep breath and she wiped away the hot tears that had quickly flowed down her cheeks. "Does it have anything to do with the memory you lost?"

"You read my file." A silent smile played on Alini's lips, hiding her anger.

"Only once. I was so curious about the new girl and I wanted to be you friend. Aunt Rita caught me though, punished me..." she chuckled lightly at the remembrance of the memory. "...and kept your file hidden. I've never seen it again."

Alini said nothing about that, instead she hopped off the reservoir's edge. "You should be saying goodbye."

"I--I ... can't." Tears threatened to choke Elena's throat completely.

Alini arched a questioning eyebrow at her. "The Alpha Superior comes to claim you at dawn and you are still won't speak to him yet? What if you hadn't known tonight and it all had happened tomorrow? You would be wishing you had time to say goodbye." Alini paused before she continued once again. "You know now. Don't waste this time." She turned to leave before she paused. "Jeremy has been searching through the whole division looking for you."

"You know his name?"

Alini turned around in surprise at Elena then. "You think I'm just a walking brick wall who doesn't know things?"

"I'm sorry," Elena chuckled with the imagery that casted in her mind. "I was just really surprised. You know because of how you normally just minding your business and..." her voice trailed off before if came back in a light gasp. "Jeremy."

Alini turned to see where Elena's focus was on. There was Jeremy looking around in a haste like he was searching desperately for something. She turned back to Elena who had frozen to a spot and had no plans of calling Jeremy's attention, it even looked like she was hiding. What nonsense?!

"Over here!" Alini waved her hands in the air so that Jeremy could see them.

"Alini." Elena snapped quietly but that didn't stop her. Jeremy's face first knitted in confusion when he saw Alini, then he saw Elena and that was it. He walked quickly across the field to get to where they were, each step faster than the last.

Alini took her leave then so that when he finally got to the water reservoir, Elena was alone.

He stood in front of her, watching her face under the moonlight. The news had broken her. He couldn't even really tell who the news had broken more between them.

She stared back at him with her puffy red eyes. He had cried too, his face that was usually filled with a smile looked completely weary and his curly brown hair looked absolutely distorted.

"Jeremy--" She started to say but he covered the distance between them quickly and pulled her into an embrace.

"Don't." His arms tightened around her and she wrapped her arms around him too. "Don't you dare apologize for something that isn't your fault."

They couldn't fight this, they knew. It was far more than them.

Soon, her gentle sobs filled the silence, her tears wetting his shirt as she shook with sadness in his arms. He stared blankly ahead, tears rolling down his own cheeks while he grieved silently.