Eternity Complex - Ch 5

NOTE: Apologies for the jump in scenario and time, but this is not a linear story, and I'm finding it impossible to write it that way.  It will hopefully all come together in the end, but I have a few threads to intertwine.

Sick of being cooped up, and having to deal with Dante and Sam on a daily basis, Angeline had started sneaking out for a walk most mornings.  She hated being a virtual prisoner in Dante’s mansion.  It was a stunning house, but knowing she wasn’t allowed beyond its walls made her feel like a caged animal.  She had spent a long time staring out of the windows at the white cold world beyond her jail while she pored over pages of books and diaries, trying to find the Antikythera.  She felt like a fairytale princess being held in a tower, watching the world turn to ice around her.  She’d never really been in the snow before, and it was a totally alien landscape, but beautiful in a way she never knew she could appreciate.

It became a ritual for her to put on her warmest clothes and go for a walk before anyone else appeared.  They were getting nowhere in their search for the Antikythera, and the fresh air helped her think and clear her mind.  She knew her father would have left her some sort of clue, she just had no idea what it was.  She had a million questions she wanted to ask both her parents, both about what she was meant to do, and why they had hidden it from her.  Asking the trees made her feel better, even if it did nothing about the answers.

It didn’t feel like it had only been two weeks since her parents had died.  It seemed like a lifetime ago, and at the same time it was like a raw, festering wound.  She didn’t know how she should be feeling, and with only Sam and Dante for support, she may as well have been totally alone.  Coupled with the loss of her family, the idea that the man she had considered a second father was a vampire was still making her head spin, and she was struggling to addjust. 

She had just as much trouble talking to Dante, but for far different reasons; just the thought of him made her ache.  She had kept to herself as much as she could, which was fairly easy in the cavernous mansion, but they still all had work to do which meant she had to talk to both him and Sam from time to time.  Pretending to be lost in her investigations, she had avoided him as much as possible, but she knew she couldn’t ignore him forever.  She wanted to let her guard down, to talk to him about what was happening, but her stomach knotted up any time she tried, and she chickened out.  After the effect his touch had on her before, she didn’t know what might happen if she let him get close again.  But she didn’t think she had the strength of will to get angry about it again or push him away.

Once more, Angeline snuck out of the rear doorway, and meandered across the fresh snow, listening to the crunching sound each footfall made.  Having only seen snow once before, on a weekend trip with some of her friends, Angeline had forgotten the sensation of sinking in the fresh powder, and she smiled at the unfamiliar sensation.  She watched her breath form little clouds in front of her, and soon was lost in her own  world. 

Walking over to the edge of the forest behind the property, she marvelled at the way the huge trees held on to the blankets of snow on their branches.  With the sun poking through the clouds in the sky overhead, everything began to sparkle, as if imbued with magic.  She touched a small nearby branch, and watched as its casing of snow crumbled and fell to the ground.  It looked bare and vulnerable compared to the thick white limbs surrounding it.

Strolling further into the trees, she closed her eyes and listened to the sounds emanating from the woodland.  It was almost silent, and she imagined animals huddled, safe and hidden in their winter homes, avoiding the icy ground as long as they could.  Occasionally a nearby tree branch would give up its hold on a heavy load of snow, and she would hear soft thuds as it fell to the ground, but almost nothing else broke the silence.

It wasn’t long before Angeline noticed her feet were starting to get distinctly colder.  She lifted one of her feet up, and inspected.  He boots were getting wet, and it was seeping rapidly through to her feet.  She wondered if there was a way to avoid it, her walks ended like this each time, and it seemed they were getting shorter each day. 

Her mind changed when she looked up at the sky through the trees.  The clouds were reforming, swallowing up the few fingers of sun that tried in vain to hold onto the morning.  The glittering branches now seemed like less inviting, and more like the frozen white arms of giant, menacing scarecrows.  Or corpses.  She shivered, not entirely from the cold.

Turning around, Angeline began trudging back the way she had come.  It wasn’t long before she decided she should have headed back earlier.  Her feet were getting colder by the minute, and even with her thick layers of clothes, the chill was beginning to penetrate the rest of her body as well.  She quickened her pace, and started dreaming of a hot, steaming shower when she got back.

Lost in her thoughts, it took her a while to notice she wasn’t sure of the direction she was taking.  At first she had been following her footprints back towards the house, but as she had begun fantasizing about being warm, she hadn’t noticed they were no longer there.  She stopped and looked about her, trying to spot them.  She could see her most recent imprints, but even they seemed to disappear about twenty metres away from her.

Suddenly wary and unsure, Angeline hugged herself tighter and tried to think.  She couldn’t have been walking in the trees for more than half an hour at most, surely she couldn’t be that far away?  She considered shouting out, but her stubbornness, and the knowledge both Sam and Dante would berate her for leaving the house, kept her quiet.  She would keep walking, she decided, and if she didn’t see anything familiar soon she would give in and call for help.

Walking briskly once more, it took a while for the foreign noises to filter through over the sound of the snow collapsing beneath her feet.  She slowed her pace, listening, her brow furrowing as she tried to place it.  When a brief flash at the edge of her vision made her turn her head, she identified it with a sinking heart.

Three wolves, large and pale grey, were closing in on her.  They were pacing her, watching her intently as they slowly edged closer.  The sound she had heard was their communication, occasional low growls and strange coughing barks.  She kept walking, not looking at them, hoping she was heading in the right direction.  She felt panic rising in her chest, but she didn’t want to run, knowing they would pounce on her immediately if she did. 

The wolves kept stalking her, getting closer and closer, until she could see the hungry glints in their eyes.  There was no escape, but still she refused to run or scream.  She knew it would do no good, and there was still a chance she was heading in the right direction. 

At a short sharp yelp from one of them, the wolves quickened their pace, and loped in front of her to cut her off from her escape route.  Stopping abruptly and sending snow flying in the air, they stood side by side and stared at her, forming a terrifying barrier.  She stopped and stood before them, trying not to panic.  She wondered how many seconds it would take them to bridge the distance between them, and whether it was worth trying to run to the nearest tree and climb.  She started to back away, slowly lifting her feet through the deep snow.

She had only made it back about six feet when the middle wolf, the largest, leapt at her with a vicious snarl.  She screamed, but couldn’t even begin to move, and it knocked into her chest with incredible force.  She flew backwards, slamming heavily into a tree behind her, and fell unconscious to the snow. 

The wolf stood above her, its heavy paws pinning her down, lips drawn back to expose long, sharp teeth.  It leaned down, its hot, foul smelling breath puffing into her face, growling deeply.  When she made no movement, and her eyes remained closed, he called the other two to him. Teeth sank into her shoulder, ripping at her thick coat, trying to get to her skin.  The other two wolves pounced in unison, tearing at her arms.  The animals began to rip frantically at her coat.  It had been two days since they had eaten, and their hunger had made them bold.

Before they made it through the material to the flesh beneath, something exploded out from the tress at them, a black and white blur travelling at lightning speed.  An inhuman cry accompanied it, and in one bone jarring swoop, it knocked all three wolves from their prey. They howled loudly as they rolled across the snow, furious they had been denied their kill.  As they jumped lithely to their feet, Dante stood between them and Angeline, shirtless, his chest heaving.  His eyes were blazing fires, and his fangs were showing dangerously. 

“Animals!” he screamed at them.  “Show yourselves now, or I will kill you where you stand,” his voice was hoarse, and he clenched his fists, trying to control his rage.

The three eyed him, unmoving.  Then the leader raised his snout in the air and snorted derisively, before turning away from him, making to leave.  In the blink of an eye, Dante was on its back, legs wrapped around its torso and one hand gripped, vice like, around its throat.  The other two wolves looked at each other, but made no move to intervene.

“You are on my land, dog, I have every right to kill you now, don’t you dare run from me.” He threw the wolf roughly to the ground and stood back, waiting.

Getting to its’ feet, more slowly and deliberately this time, it turned to face him.  A ripple went through his body, and then a young man, tall and muscular, stood before him.  He nodded to the other wolves, and soon the two others, barely more than boys, stood by his side.

“You play a dangerous game, little ones,” Dante warned.  “What makes you think you can come on to my land, let alone hunt here?”

“She wasn’t on you land, bloodsucker,” the leader sneered defiantly.

“It’s all my land, pup, and you know it.”

The young man huffed in response, and an instant later Dante was in front of him, delivering a hard backhanded blow.  Although he didn’t fall, his head snapped back hard, and blood trickled from his nose when he brought it back to stare at Dante once more.  He made no move to retaliate.

“Sticking your snout where it doesn’t belong will get you killed.  You go tell your pack leader that if he lets you wander off your leash, and on my land again, you won’t be coming back,” 

“I am the pack leader.” He retorted smugly.

This caught Dante off guard.  “What?  You?  What of Antoine?”

“He got too old, and too slow,” a smirk settled on the young man’s features.

Dante shook his head slowly, distaste clouding his features.  “Then clearly you still have a long way to go before you’re half the man he was,”

“Old gets replaced by new, that’s the way it is, grandpa,” he taunted.

“If you want to die now, by all means, keep going,” Dante squeezed his hands into fists again, and the werewolf blanched as his knuckles cracked.  “You’d do well to have some respect knocked into you.  If you had any sort of honour, you’d know there is a covenant, and you are bound by it, whether you like it or not.  Come near my land again and you’ll die, I’ll give you no more warnings,”

The three men stood their ground.  “And I have come to give you a warning, old man.  We just happened to come across a meal while I was on my way,” he smiled at Angeline, who lay unmoving behind Dante.

“What warning do you bear?” Dante stood up taller and squared his shoulders.

“Wraiths were seen outside Stuttgart,” he said carefully, his eyes coming back to meet Dante’s.

“When were they seen?  Are you certain?”

“Two days ago.  And I lost one of my pack to them, I am certain,” he replied.

Dante stood silent for a moment.  “Then I thank you for the information.”  He glanced over his shoulder at Angeline, before returning his gaze to the men. “Whose territory is Stuttgart now?”

“Tristan’s.  He dealt with them there, but there will most likely be more.  He asked me to warn you,” his tone made it clear he wouldn’t have come had he not been asked to.

Dante nodded.  “They’re getting bolder, then.  That can’t be a good sign,”

“Well, I’ve done my part, you are warned,” they turned as one to leave.

“What is your name, pup?” Dante asked.

“Lothair,” he said over his shoulder as the walked into the trees.

Dante shook his head and smiled wearily.  “I should have known,” he said quietly to himself.

His smile faded as he turned and saw Angeline in the snow.  He rushed to her and scooped her up in his arms.  His only relief was knowing he had reached her in time, they had not managed to get through her thick winter jacket.  He kissed her cold lips, then began running for the house.