The Prophecy (2 page)

“
No.” She whispered in horror as she felt deep within her soul that something was wrong. Terribly, utterly wrong.

“
My Goddess,” she whispered, her eyes searching frantically for someone, anyone, that might be able to help. “Please, take mercy on my child.” She prayed, her heart and soul searching for an answer.

Her eyes widened as she heard a twig snapping in the woods. Trying to calm her breathing, she bit her lip to hold back a painful moan. Snapping her head to the left, her eyes narrowed as she focused on the wood line. Frantically searching for whomever was approaching. Seeing movement within the shadows, she focused on the shifting darkness, gasping when she caught sight of glowing amber eyes.

Curiously, they stared deep into her. Sarah felt as if her soul was being laid bare by those hauntingly beautiful eyes.

“
Shifter,” she called out softly between contractions. “Please, come forward.” Cold sweat and blood soaked through her simple gown, creating a grotesque film across her weakening body.

She felt the waves of energy caress her as he shifted from his animal form into that of a man.
“Quickly,” she urged. Another fierce wave of agony crashed into her, the contracting muscles causing more blood to pour from her. She knew there wasn’t much time left as she gazed into the hauntingly beautiful eyes of the man before her. The creature who was her child’s only hope.

He knelt beside her, his dark hair falling forward, creating shadows across his face. His amber eyes were the only thing discernible.

“What service have you need of me?” he asked quietly, his voice was gruff yet somehow gentle. 

Her breath caught as the pain hit her again. She reached out and clasped his supremely large, hot hand with her cold, bloody one. Weakly she gripped him as the pain ravaged her withering body.

She relaxed her grip as the pain lessened. “Please,” she said softly, weak from the pain and blood loss. “I know I have no right to ask this from one of your kind, and I do not have time to explain, for death is approaching quickly. You came because you heard the call of the Goddess. Trust in her that what I say is important. Within me lies a child of The Prophecy, but I cannot deliver her naturally into this world. Something is wrong. You need to cut her from my womb. There is a cottage deep within the forest, deliver the babe to the couple residing there. They will care for and love her, but I will need you, and that of your line, to guard the burial site of Merlo. Then when the time comes, to protect the descendent while she finishes what I was too weak to do.” She barely paused for breath as her words tumbled from her lips. The shifters eyes glowed brighter as the truth of her words beat against his soul. Marking him, changing him. He felt the will of the Goddess press down on him, urging him to make the oath and accept his fate.

He breathed deeply, trying to calm the animal within. He clenched his eyes shut against the urge to run, to stay free. The animal within him rebelled at the thought of a cage, any cage. The man in him knew it was his calling, his fate. He felt the caress of the Goddess. Tangible, soothing. He opened his eyes and became caught in Sarah's penetrating gaze.
“I give you my oath.” Sarah closed her eyes in relief. A soft whisper of thanks formed on her tongue only to have it changed into an agonizing scream as the most intense pain hit her.

She frantically gripped his arm, surprising them both with her strength.
“Now! You must do it now before we run out of time!” she bit out between clenched teeth, holding in another scream as she felt her body starting to rip from the pressure. She wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer. She pulled her sacred dagger from the folds of her blood stained cloak. She handed it to him, silently begging for him to end her pain.

He nodded as he grasped the hilt, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

She tensed as she heard him cut through the fabric of her gown, exposing her clenching abdomen to the warming air. Morning was fast approaching, turning the midnight blue sky to gray streaked with the softest of pinks and yellows. 

“
Remember your oath, shifter.” Even though she said it softly, on the merest whisper of breath, he still heard the steal beneath her gentle tone.

“
My name is Maximus.”

“
Maximus.” She echoed, looking deeply into his eyes. “The Goddess will bless you and your descendant’s.”

With her last blessing as High Priestess, he plunged the dagger into her abdomen, cutting open her womb. As the sun rose over the top of the trees, he held the babe in his hand, letting her wail the first of many tears to be shed over the loss of Sarah, High Priestess, and beloved of the Goddess.

Chapter Two

Present Day

“I can't
believe
you shanghaied us to
here
.” I twisted my auburn hair nervously around my hand while glaring out the window. I didn't want to look at my parents. I didn't want to see the 'look' they'd share. The one that said they were getting tired of hearing me complain. Yes, I was complaining. Majorly. But this was a big change. With everything else that had been going on in my life lately, you'd think I'd deserved the right to bitch a little bit.

Streaming sunlight illuminated the red tint in my dark tresses with strands of gold gleaming sporadically throughout. Trees flew past the window, causing a dizzying display of browns and greens. Even though the passing scenery was beautiful, it didn’t compete with my overwhelming depression and fear. Not to mention the confusion. It's pretty bad when you don't even know who you are anymore.

“Seriously mom, we could be headed straight into a den of inbred serial killers. Haven't you seen
Wrong Turn
? There could be ‘cannibalistic mountain men’ lurking everywhere!”

I switched my gaze from the passing scenery to my mother’s reflection in the rear view mirror. Eleanor, my mother, was the epitome of perfection, both physically and person-ably. Her long strawberry blonde hair was cut to frame her fairy like face, enhancing her slightly angled violet eyes. They were captivating and so clear they made my own violet-gray eyes appear murky, dull. Her eyes were sparkling with irritation. I knew mine fared no better.

“Star, we've been over this a million times. There are
no
mutant freaks, 'cannibalistic mountain men', or deranged serial killers here. I wish you'd quit watching so many scary movies.”

“
Hey, I did my research.
Ten
horror movies are based in Virginia.” I slouched in my seat, feeling petulant.

“
Let me guess, Google?” she looked over to my dad for help. My dad, Paul, wasn't very good with the whole parenting thing. He was always too much fun to ever be serious. Even now, when I felt like my world was going to implode and I'd be left in a million pieces, he still wasn't serious. He looked up through the windshield, searching the sky like he was seeking divine intervention. I hoped that if he received any that he'd send some my way. I could totally use it.

“
I like being informed. Besides, they have to be based off of
some
semblance of the truth. People don't just get ideas out of thin air. There are way too many similarities between movies and books to argue otherwise.”

“
They're
movies
Star, not reality. There's as much of a chance of you being eaten or murdered in California as there is here.” Dad added in, trying to be helpful. He failed miserably. 

I straightened at his comment. His baby blue eyes sparkled with mirth. I didn't find it funny at all.
“Gee, thanks Dad. I feel so much better about my chances of survival.” I may love horror movies, but I'm actually a big chicken when it comes to anything even remotely scary.

“
Glad to help keep you informed.” He said, grinning.

“
You're not helping.” Mom whispered loudly at him with an elegant eye roll. That was one thing about my mother. No matter what she did, it always looked elegant. She could stand in the streets wearing a clown costume while doing the chicken dance and people would applaud her and say how graceful she was. I didn’t inherit that ability. Compared to her, I was as graceful as a lopsided elephant.

“
Well it's the truth. We could have moved to Florida and faced flesh eating bath salt zombies instead. But, hey, I'd rather face the possibility of ‘cannibalistic mountain men’ over zombies any day. There's more of a survival rate that way.” He shrugged and turned his full attention back to the twisting road ahead of us.

I couldn’t believe we were actually on our way to Shiloh, a no name town smack dab on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Three days ago, we were in L.A., surrounded by the familiar comfort of concrete and an overwhelming population. Now, we were surrounded by nature. I shuddered at the thought of all the different creepy crawlies I’d end up encountering.
 

I didn’t mind insects. I could look at them with no problem, even point out different types. But there was a big difference between looking at them from a safe distance to actually encountering them. I paled as I pictured waking up to a spider staring at me. I wasn’t much for physical fitness, but if a bug got near me I’d sprint faster than an Olympic gold medalist. Insects were just one of the things that marred living in the country.

“Mom, can we please just—”

“
Star, we've been over this a million times. You know why we're moving here. I just wish you'd accept it and make the best of it.”

I could feel my anger building up. I bit my lip, attempting to keep the bitterness in. Getting into a fight wouldn't help my situation any, and we've been getting into to many lately. I hated it. I hated the fighting. I hated hurting my parents. I hated feeling so out of control.

Mom did one of those heavy sigh things that only mothers know how to do. Like their kid is the equivalent of the weight of the world on their shoulders. “Look, I know that this move is hard on you. You're seventeen, emotional, and being thrown into a new environment that you're not familiar with. But you have to understand that this is a
good
thing for our family, especially with everything that's been going on these past couple of months.”

“
Mom, please don't start this again—” I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to stave off a headache. I knew all of their reasons. I had them memorized by now. I just couldn't understand how they didn't see that moving me across the country wasn't going to fix my problems. If it was that easy, I'd happily move across the world to do it.

“
We're just worried about you, pumpkin. It seems like bad luck has been following you around lately and figured we could all use a change of scenery after this last incident.” The ‘incident’, as my parent’s referred to it, flashed to the forefront of my mind. I cringed in remembrance. The smell of burning flesh still haunted me. I could hear the echoing screams of agony in my head. I didn't think the nightmares would ever go away, and I didn't know if I wanted them too. I felt guilty. Supremely guilty. But I couldn't have had anything to do with what happened. I couldn't have been the one to do it. Even to contemplate it was ten types of crazy. I just didn't want to go there, although I thought I might be half way there already.

“
I know. You both think this is for the best, that I need a chance to get away from all the gossip, to start over. But this is
my
life. I know you don't believe me, but I had
nothing
to do with what happened to Rebecca.” Even to myself it sounded like a lie.

She sighed and rested her head back against her seat. I could almost feel the weariness coming off of her.
“We've already said that we believe you didn't have anything to do with it. But we're not worried about our own opinions. For God's sake Starlette, LAPD almost
arrested
you! I don't know why you had to go and say you wished Rebecca would catch on fire, because she did. Though no one knows exactly how
that
happened—”

“
I didn’t say that exactly. I only said—”

“
Regardless of how you worded it, the 'threat' was enough for them to make you a person of interest. We will not have you living with that over your head.”
Too late for that.
“We will not have people staring at you like you're some kind of deranged pyromaniac!”
They already do.
“So you just better get used to Shiloh, because this is our home now!”

With every word, her voice got louder until she was almost screeching. She was breathing heavily by the time she turned to look at me. I knew my eyes were huge. Mom never yells. Never.
“Geez Mom, that one was a long time coming.” And it was. Mom had been so calm about everything that I was beginning to feel like I was adopted. My own emotions had become so out of control that I was relieved to discover that my perfect mother could snap too. Even if it did hurt to know that it was because of me.

“
Star, one of these days, humor and sarcasm won’t be enough to solve every situation, even if temporarily.”

I relaxed against my seat and tuned my gaze back to the window.
“I know mom— I know.”

“
Then why do you keep fighting us on this?” she looked at me pleadingly, begging to understand.

I debated on whether or not to speak. I was tentative about saying anything that would give away what was really going through my mind. It would just take one slip for my parents to think that I was losing it.
“I just want to have a say in something. Everything's changing so fast that I feel like I've been left behind. Like my life is spinning out of control and I don't have a say in the matter. I just want to have some control.”

Her eyes began to water. I didn't think I could deal with her crying.
“Pumpkin, I know—”

“
No mom, you don't,” I hissed, feeling my volatile emotions shift within me, my anger swiftly pushing to the front. “You don’t know how I feel, you don't know what it's like, and you
don't
understand what I'm going through. Just give it a rest already and quit treating me like I'm a child with a booboo you need to kiss!” I almost slapped my hand over my own mouth. I paled then immediately flushed with regret over my outburst and the wounded puppy look my mother now wore. The guilt intensified, taking over where the flare of anger resided. I may be sarcastic, but I had never been outright rude or mean to my mother.

My head slammed into the window as Dad turned too fast in his seat, jerking the steering wheel in the process.
“Shit!” he turned back to the road, barely missed driving off the cliff, and straight down the sheer drop off of the mountains. He slammed his fist against the steering wheel and shot daggers at me through the rear view mirror. I shrank back from how angry he looked. This was new to me. My dad had never been outright angry with me. “Starlette, I don't care how 'emotional' you are right now! You do
not
talk to your mother that way!”

“
Dad, I don't even know where it came from!” God my head hurt and yelling wasn't helping anything. Neither was the anger that was back in full force. I swallowed, trying to push it down.

“
Paul, she didn't mean—”

“
Mom! I don't need a savior! Would you just stay—”

“
Starlette! Do not talk to your mother—”

“
Enough!
I've had enough of
both
of you! Paul, you need to quit switching from being a friend to a parental figure, it doesn't work that way. Starlette, you need to mind your father and watch your attitude. I really don't care for either of your attitudes at the moment, so both of you just need to
shut the
hell up
!” My father and I were both shocked into silence. 

I knew Mom was stressed, but I didn't know she was
that
stressed. It's a good thing to get your frustrations out, and I was happy to see that I wasn't the only one that snapped in my family. Although I'd bet my entire savings that Mom wasn't surprised at all that she snapped. Me? I'm always surprised.

A heavy silence descended upon the car, so I turned my gaze to the town coming up. We finally made it through the mountains without driving off a cliff and dying in a fiery explosion. I was extremely happy about that.

The buildings were made of authentic brownstone with brightly painted awnings and shutters, creating differences between the stores that lined both sides of the street. I could see what looked like apartments above the main floors. I wondered who would ever live above a store, but then reminded myself that this was
Shiloh
. There were probably inbred families living there, all happily squished together.