Wolf's Bane

By Samantha Lee White

Tobias' heart stopped, his breathing caught painfully in his throat. His mind buzzed with indiganation. Azera had not just done that. Fern was not laying in a pile of her own blood at his feet.

No. She couldn't have. This was all a dream. He'd wake up tomorrow at Fern's incessant laughter, and Azera's ruby coloured dress would not be blotted crimson with his twin's blood.

She, no, the murderer, slapped him and he fell to his knees. Tobias' tail sank into the sticky puddle, but he couldn't find the strength, or will, to remove it. He turned blank, once sparkling sapphire, eyes to the sorceress in front of him. "Why?" he whispered hoarsely, the agony of the event evident in his features.

Azera shrugged. Shrugged! As if she weren't coated in his sister's blood! Fern had been the only companion Tobias had shared his secrets with deeply, even Skai, the genetic hybrid, hadn't even been able to wedge between them-not that she had tried that hard. "Why?" Azera repeated, as though he should have known the answer to that.

Had anyone else been lying at his feet, knees, he would have hid is head in fear that his tears were weakness. With Fern, he did not. "Yes," he said. "Why."

"Because it is the only place she will belong," Azera stated with a glance at her fingernails. they were the only place not flecked with Fern's rich blood.

"Are you gonna kill me too?" Tobias sighed. That morning he had been full of energy after finding out that their parents were the monarchs of Illyria, but now it seemed like a lifetime ago. Now that there was nothing left, it almost seemed better if Azera did kill him.

Azera stared at the city gates ahead. She looked as though she were considering it. "No," She finally said, her voice wavering as though she were also uncertain about this answer.

Tobias could feel the hot tears trickling down his face now. He staggered to his feet, swaying a bit as he did so. "I can't believe... I can't... I-I-I... How could I..." Tobias' shoulders shook as he said this, sadness melting into rage.

Growling in Azera's general direction, Tobias managed to collect himself. The sorceress was completely unphased, even Tobias' glistening canines didn't cause her to worry. He growled even louder, having grown annoyed. This bitch had taken his sister from him, and now she couldn't be bothered to show the slightest hint of remorse.

"Mörder," Tobias growled. Azera courtsied. This was a game to her. "The Full is in this starfall. Enjoy the remainder of your time," he said. "If there is some mistake and you are not sent to Gehenna right away, do not cause my sister anymore grief."

Azera smirked. "A mörder I may be, but you cannot kill me. Your heart will not permit it."

Tobias growled but commented no further. She was right, he loved her. He was even going to ask her to participate in the trauen rite with him. Was. Not anymore.

Did he still love her? he asked himself.

Well, he had. But did he still? He didn't think so.

Could he still live with her, knowing she was a mörder?

Most definitley not.

Yet, could he live without her, even though she was a mörder

Another most definite no.

So he said the only thing he could think of. "You've killed my heart. Come starfall I will seek you out. Your magics will not save you, do not rely on them. I have grown and you have not." Tobias' determendly empty stare sent shivers through Azera.

Her voice was not as unnerved as the rest of her. "The puppy can try," She said in her smug, superior voice.

"Oh, he'll do better than that. And after you're scattered around, I'll bring Charon and Callypso their lost daughter," Tobias said, giving a cheeky smirk at Azera's blank expression. "The king and queen of Illyria. Our parents."

He quite enjoyed the 'Oh, Crap' expression on the white-haired sorceress' face. "Shocking, isn't it? We were quite suprised ourselves."

Azera paled. Tobias smirked. "Your shadow's getting longer. Run," he said with the last human smile he'd have that night. He could feel the change begin. He reveled in the sweet pain of bones and muscles detaching and retatching themselves in the familiar wolf shape, along with the waves of pleasure the wind through his fur and lean muscles brought him. He flexed a paw and gave a wofish grin.

Then howled. The hunt was on.

Human was the largest prey Tobias had ever hunted. And the noisiest. The forest wolves that had gotten used to his presence and usually hunted with him hung back. They could smell his fury and sense his need for revenge. This would be a solo hunt - But if they wished to feast on the remains they would be able to. However, snow hares tasted much better.

Tobias growled in frustration. Frustration at his boredom. The sorceress had no idea how easy a target she was. Her high-heeled boots left sharp, screaming tracks and her windy scent was so strong that had he been nose dead he still would have smelled it.

He could hear her ragged breathing now. Another wolfish grin graced his muzzle, she had actually been scared of him. Even if he had not been able to hear her raging heartbeat, or smell her pungent perfume, he still would have found her without breaking a sweat - If wolves, werewolves actually, could sweat.

For once, he allowed his instincts to guide him, not his heart. Azera was prey now, no longer friend. She was an enemy, one that Tobias had been foolish enough to trust. Well, that was the past. And Azera's fragile neck between his powerful jaws was in the present. He had felt her go rigid, mutter something in her native tongue. A prayer perhaps? And he snapped her neck. It was over. Tobias did not tear her limbs apart and scatter them as he had threatened, it would only make it harder for the carrion birds to find her.

A cold breeze ran through his pelt and he shook. He felt drained, and empty now. Limping over to where a crow was considering his sister he growled half-heartedly and latched onto her leather clothing with his powerful jaws. Sunrise would be soon, and he would lose his wolfish form, but for now he dragged her limp form in the direction where the sun would rise. Where he would be infront of the Illyrian castle by the next starfall.

No moon shone the night he arrived in front of the castle, his paws bleeding and muscles protesting every ragged breath he insisted on taking. The little weight that Fern had lost along with her life made no difference as he carried her, except now she was rigid, pale and cold. He was tired, and wished someone would just end it all.

A sentryman on watch saw him and came over to question him. "What're ye doin'?" he demanded in a harsh voice that made Tobias want to wince.

"Oh, good. You've got a sword," Tobias muttered, dull eyes half lidded. "You can kill me then, hmm?" he asked with a deranged smile.

The guard, sentryman, nodded. "I could, but I think I'll let the King and Queen deal with you two."

"Two?" Tobias looked utterly confused. The guard pointed to Fern and Tobias gave a hollow laugh. "No, there's only one here."

The guard looked at Tobias for an explanation, but all he got was a glossy-eyed stare. For the first time the guard noticed that Fern was much paler than her counterpart, even slightly blue, and that her chest did not rise and fall as it should have. The guard said nothing, but nodded in that understanding way that people seem to get when faced with death and then ushered them, him, inside. "No need to bother the King and Que--"

"What'd you drag in this time?" A strong, female voice said from around the corner. When she appeared before them Tobias noted that she was half a head taller than him. She seemed almost fragile with her pale skin and strikingly red, wavy waist-length hair. Her frame was hidden by a flowing crimson robe, but Tobias guessed that it was hiding the lean muscles that many werewolves had.

Something in the way she walked seemed familliar, with pride and dignity. Tobias scented the air and found that he was right, she was indeed a werewolf. Possibly Charon, his mother. She was halfblood, though, as most werewolves were-he and Fern were the only exception to this-- having been born of two werewolf parents.

"This is--" The guard began, stopping as he realized he did not know the young creature's name.

"Tobias," Tobias supplied, looking down as the woman and a man who had recently appeared exchanged glances. "... And Fern." Tobias sighed, shifting the body in his arms. The rigid hand of death seemed to have made her a hundred times heavier, or him a hundred times weaker.

"We had a set of twins once, Callypso and me," A voice, the woman who Tobias guessed was Charon's, said softly. "We had only named the boy when they dissapeared - Died, said the nursemaid."

Tobias continued staring at the ground. He was too tired, too done, to even feign comprehension.

"Tobias. Tobias Illen Monroe, that was the name," Charon continues, speaking softly. Callypso stared at the ceiling, bored or indifferent. "I think that he is you."

At this, Tobias stopped his intence scrutiny of the hallway's marble floor. "If I am, your daughter is dead," he whispered.

Callypso looked over Tobias and Fern as though he had not know they were there. Tobias met his hazy gaze each time, growling when he realized that Callypso was sizing him up - Seeing how much of a threat he could possibly be. And staring. Staring at the wolfish attributes having two werewolves for parents, his ears and his tail, had left him.

"Y'look 'alf dead," Callypso said gruffly. Then turned and left.

Charon smiled, a half-smile. "That's his way of saying you can stay," She said, and motioned to take Fern from him. "Can I take her?"

Tobias nodded and allowed Charon to take Fern from him. "I just need a minute," He said when Charon motioned for him to follow her down the extensive hallway.

"All right," Charon said, nodding sagely. "Just come back in when you're ready."

Outside the clouds that had previously covered the moon had moved, and now a sliver shone intsensley in the black velvet night. Tobias watched it, wondering. How much sadness had it seen in its' time? And, Had there been enough happiness to eclipse it all? "I don't want an answer to those questions," Tobias spoke to the star strewn night. "I'll decide on my own," he said more softly. He turned back to the castle to head on in, and the events of the past day caught up to him. He stumbled and collapsed, falling facefirst in the dirt, where the guard would find him the next morning --

A changed man, er... werewolf.