[IC] Werewolves in the City

[Arrayah]

She couldn't breathe. That was the first thing she noticed when she awoke from whatever dreams she'd been having. The air was thick with smoke, and she could not get oxygen. The second was the heat. It felt like she was burning from the inside out. The air was pressing down on her, suffocating. Her eyes opened and all she could see was red, everywhere. The flames danced in front of her eyes, as if they were beckoning her to enter them. For a moment, she thought it was over, that this was the end. Werewolves could survive a lot, but fire was just as deadly to them as it was to humans. Her body, however, had a different idea. It's main goal was to find her mother, her sister. It would not leave this house until they were safe. It was not giving up on life just yet.

Each breath was painful, each step agony. The flames licked her ankles as she tried to find the safest route through her home. More than once, she found herself staring at some precious memory that was now ashes, and wondering if she should just lay down and let the beast take her. Each time, her body pushed forward on its own, determined. When she finally made it to her mother's room, she was not prepared for the sight that lay before her.

Mother was dead, probably from the smoke. She had not been able to save her. She was gone forever. Without even thinking, she knelt beside her mothers bed and wept. She did not care that the fire was quickly catching up to her. She couldn't. Not if her mother was gone. As the tears fell down her face, dark laughter began to sound throughout the room.

"Are you ready for me? Because I am coming." The darkness came for her then, and she screamed.

The cries of her sister woke Elena from sleep and for a moment she just lay there, contemplating. Most nights since the fire, her sister had awful nightmares. Omens, she called them. Warnings. Elena wasn't sure if she was just overreacting or if something was actually coming, but tonight it didn't matter. Work started early in the morning. Grabbing a pillow, she placed it over her ears and went back to sleep.

[BattleShovel]

Charlie awoke suddenly to the sound of screaming, as he jerked to a sitting position from the couch that he slept on, keeping vigil over the pack, maintaining an alert yet resting state, his eyes blazed with protective fury. Charlie leapt to the floor, breathing heavily, shifting as he did, his instincts taking over before his rational thought, he sniffed the air, no disturbance there, but scent was easily masked, he eyed the room, still nothing suspicious, then he heard the screams again, his head turned as he focused on the door from which the sounds had been coming, and a mixture of annoyance and concern crossed the protector's face as he shifted back into his human form, it was only Kiara. These awakenings had become more and more common in the recent past, screaming as she slept, Charlie didn't know what was causing them, or why, except that Kiara had said that they were "warnings of things to come" and that worried him, but it also made him hesitant to wake her. Charlie straightened himself and relaxed slightly, looking at the clock, 06:27, 'bout time to wake up anyway, so he shut off his alarm, put on a shirt and got to work.

As Charlie made his way to the adjoining kitchen, he thought about the sound that had woken him. As he opened the medicine cabinet, his hands shaking, he pondered Kiara's dire explanation of her screaming, that these terrible dreams of hers were more than the simple nightmare, that they were warnings of the future. As he took a shaky handful of pills, and downed them with water, he wondered if it were true, after all the girl had certainly been through things, things that haunted a body, seen things that one could never unsee, and he knew how that went, no one would blame her if she had cracked, least of all him. "On the flip side" he thought to himself as he felt himself steady and began preparing for the morning ritual, the girl definitely had a stronger connection to the more mystical aspects of their being than did the retired-marine, so perhaps there was some truth to what she said. Charlie turned the burners on as he absentmindedly cracked several eggs into a bowl, and stirred in milk, after a minute or two, Charlie bit his lip in frustration, flipping, stirring and seasoning the eggs to perfection as he did so. It was as much killing him to hear her, night after night, screaming in her sleep, as it was to wake up in a state on full alert, ready to help in anyway, and yet be completely powerless to do so. Charlie took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself, as he absentmindedly threw some bacon into a pan, scooping the eggs onto a plate and placing it out of his way. So he started on the next batch of food for the pack's morning meal, sausage. As he worked, the smell of well-cooked meats floated about the small townhouse in the early morning sunlight.

[orcpunx]

Kalliades woke with the first sun rays brought by dawn. Since he turned eighty he has been waking up every day with the dawn. He slept for about four to six hours per day. Lately an interesting though has been mingling in his mind. The early waking up is a gift for his long life. Each day he could marvel and wake up with a beautiful sunrise. “Ha… it’s been years since i wake up just as you start to rise towards the high blue skies. And though I’ve seen this a million times, I’m still dazzled by your beauty.” Kalliades said to the rising sun. At that moment an extremely bright ray swam across the old wrinkled face of Kalliades. He didn’t avert his gaze. He lifted his head slightly and closed his eyes. Enjoying the short morning bath, of the one friend that was still with him, since birth. “Ah, yes. Good morning to you as well old friend.” Kalliades said with in a slow manner. His voice was raspy and low. As the ray on his face passed by Kalliades stood up and took some clothes from the wardrobe. Once he was dressed he slowly, with light steps walked out of the room. On his way out he took his old hat from the door, gently brushing it. “It seems we have another day to do nothing my love.” He said to his hat putting it on. The hat was old. He got it for his fiftieth birthday from his wife. And beside the old man it was the oldest thing in the house. It was covered in stiches and patches of different sort. AS he walked through the house Kalliades noticed the young marine sleeping in the couch. 'That will give you problems at old age.' Kalliades thought to himself. He went out of the house for his morning walk….
When he was coming back he heard screams from the house. At first second he jumped then he realised that it was Kiara. He understood the girl and pitied her. She was young and inexperienced. Losing so much, so soon in her life. As he got closer he could smell breakfast was being prepared. “Hey guys how are we today? Young as always i bet.” Kalliades said as he entered through the doors.

[CLIW]

Kim let out a small yelp as she was brought out of her sleep by the sound of screaming. It had startled her so badly that she had fallen out of her bed, but after that she quickly calmed down, her heart rate dropping almost back to normal as she realized that no one was being harmed, it was just another one of Kiara's nightmares. Although she'd heard that some of them were more than simple nightmares, it was much easier and less worrisome to think of them that way, and the smell of food cooking brought her out of her haze of worried thoughts.
Yawning, she picked up her sketchpad and a couple of pencils, scraping a nail across one to do a hasty job of sharpening it, and walked into the living room in her pajamas (one is never too old), ignoring the wavy locks of hair that fell in front of her eyes for the moment. She perched on the couch and rested brought her knees up to rest her chin on. For several moments she watched Charlie cook, hardly thinking because her mind was still shaking out the cobwebs of sleep.
Finally she pushed her hair out of the way, yawned one more time, and flipped to a blank page on her sketchbook. Taking sneaky glances at Kalliades and hoping the old man wouldn't notice, she started to sketch him, starting with general shapes and working down to the details. It would have been better if she weren't in a hurry to finish it, but all she wanted was a bit of practice to start her day. Through it all she didn't say a word, and couldn't really think of anything to say anyway.

[drallinix]

Blood flowed down his face as he was ran headfirst into the locker again this time he slumped down it and rolled over onto his back. His vision was groggy and he had splitting headache but the laughter resounding from around the hall was unmistakable. Dammit I could tear this kid apart but if i fight back im boned. Adrian thought as he slowly rose to his feet. "what now little punk think you have the right to look at my girl now!?" the large boy said as he threw another punch at Adrian. OK IM DONE WITH THIS SHIT Adrian thought then quickly batted the punch away and kicked the boy in his chest. The blow caused the boy to run backwards into the set of lockers across the hall seeing this Adrian took the chance to take off down the hall. Adrian could hear the kid following him and quickly stopped and stepped to the side holding his leg out tripping the boy. Adrian then takes off running down the hall again and out the doors of the school running out into the city streets and down some back alleys until he is by himself. When he was finally alone Adrian slammed both fist into a brick wall trying to stop the change.No not now please not now Adrian could feel the wolf clawing to get out and was desperately fighting it throwing himself at the wall and fence as he felt the pain searing through him. Adrian threw himself one last time then stopped he had held the beast at bay for now. "well I guess I cant go back now" Adrian sad to himself out loud then hunched his shoulders and walked along the street.