SOL - Generation Five - Chapter Eleven
Okay so long story short I may have forgot which house I used as Eve and Marie’s. Whoops. They’ve now got a new house so.... just ignore that their living rooms are different :D
ALSO! There is a brief mention of self medication, both in Ven’s past and of another very minor character.
Last Time...
Scott led Netalia up the slope, their hands linked. His other held the picnic basket, and whenever he looked back at her, her wide grin lit up the darkening evening. “Come on, slowpoke,” he teased, breaking into a run. She laughed and ran too, easily keeping up and then overtaking him. She reached the top of the hill first, shielding her eyes and she looked down at him.
“I’m queen of the castle!” she yelled, laughing.
Scott laughed too, doing an elaborate bow. “My lady, would you take me as your king?” he asked. Netty grinned and pretended to think about it.
“I think it would please me greatly. Join me in my castle,” she said, spreading her arms wide. “This kingdom is now yours too.” He reached her and turned in a slow circle at the view.
“Damn,” he whistled. “It’s quite a kingdom, my queen.”
“You picked it,” she replied playfully.
“Last time I was here was with my younger sister. It was darker than now though, so I never realised how amazing it was.” He lifted up the picnic basket in question, and she nodded. He put it down and unpacked it, and they ate a late dinner together.
Not even a day ago, her Alpha had told her that she could tell Scott about them. When the food was almost finished, she thought of how to do it. She reached out and took his hand, linking their fingers together with a smile. He raised an eyebrow, smiling back.
“I have something to tell you,” she began.
“What is it?” he asked, pulling her closer.
“It’s pretty big,” she warned him. “And it might freak you out a little...”
His eyebrows rose. “You’ve been taking the pill, right?”
“Oh god yes,” she said quickly. “I’m not pregnant,” she assured him. “I...” She trailed off. This was harder than she imagined. How could she ease into this? Or maybe she should just go out and say it... “I... and my whole family except my dad... are werewolves.”
Almost immediately, Scott snorted. “That makes the Scooby Do jokes make sense.”
She stared at him in surprise. “You’re... -“
He quickly sobered up. “What is it, really?”
Netalia pulled him up. “No, I’m serious. My family is a pack. My cousins range from warlocks to elves to vampire magic users.”
Scott frowned at her and crossed his arms. “Netty, if you are pregnant -“
“I’m not!” she burst out. “I can prove what I am.”
“Please, go ahead,” he said, with the nonchalance of someone who did not believe her one bit. She took a deep breath, pinned her hair back, and brought on the change, watching as his eyebrows rose higher and higher. “Holy shit,” he breathed, quickly standing up. She did too. “What happened to your face?”
“I changed,” she mumbled. “This is my half-form. We can’t change into actual wolves, cause my Alpha -“
“How did you do this?” he asked, reaching out hesitantly to touch her teeth. She let him. “I thought that fancy dress shop in town was a bunch of crap.”
“Scott,” she said tightly. “It’s not fancy dress.” She tilted her head back and let out a long howl, which startled him. “I’m a werewolf. Willow and Belle? They’re vampire magic users. Ash is a warlock. Jason is a vampire. The supernatural stuff... it’s all real and so much bigger than you could ever imagine.”
He stared at her, confused. “Netty, this isn’t funny anymore.”
“It’s not a joke!” she exploded. “How could I have done this so quickly?” she asked, gesturing to her face. “Just believe me, Scott. This is who I am.” She reached out to take his hand to put it back on her cheek to see for himself, but he recoiled away from her. She stared at him.
“You’re a werewolf,” he stated, quickly pinching himself. Netty’s irritation grew. “Alright. Okay. Werewolves. And vampires. And warlocks. Jesus.” He was staring at the town below them, alarmed. “There’s supernaturals all around us - me?”
“Especially here...” She pointed down to the town hall. “The Supernatural Council meet here. My dad and papa are both Seats on it.”
“Holy crap,” he whispered. “Holy... crap.”
“The Council have a new teaching thing where they can give you a rundown on the basics of the supernaturals,” she told him, reaching out to him. He scrambled away.
“I don’t want to know,” he said quickly, shaking his head. “Jesus, I don’t want to know.”
She stared at him. “Why?”
“It’s not normal. Your face just changed in front of me. You howled like a goddamn wolf.”
“That’s because I am one! Partly,” she amended. “Look, Scott -“
“No,” he said, shaking his head and backing away from her. “No, Netalia. You and your family can stay away from me. I don’t want to be involved in this... werewolf stuff,” he said, voice shaking. Netalia didn’t move; she couldn’t. “Or any of it. Holy crap, werewolves.” He looked at her as if she should be in a zoo or museum; somewhere where she could be made a spectacle of.
“How can you say that?” she asked, tearing up. “You’ve known me for almost a year now, I love you -“
“Clearly I didn’t know you!” he said, gesturing to her, still backing away. The distrust in his eyes broke her heart and made the tears fall.
“But you love me,” she whispered.
“No...” He looked at her as if he wanted to be sick. “No, I don’t. I can’t. You’re not natural, Netty.”
“Werewolves have been around for centuries - longer! How can you say that?” she asked, beginning to feel angry. “How can you look at me like I should be caged up? We don’t kill people. I’ve never hurt anyone in my life. Is that what this is about?”
“It’s about you being a werewolf,” he said, looking disgusted and freaked out. “It’s about you being... not human!” He held his hands out in front of him, as if scared she would try to follow him; she couldn’t. She could only stand and watch as if rooted to the ground. “I’m sorry, Netalia. I don’t want this. Please stay away from me or I swear to God I’ll tell everyone what you are.”
She watched him, stunned. He gave her one last look and then turned around, hurrying down the hill. Above, clouds began to darken the sky further and a light snow started to fall.
Wiping her tears away furiously, she went down the other side of the hill.
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“Quinn?” she asked, knocking on the door to what was supposed to be his office. He called her in, and she wasn’t surprised to see his feet up on his desk and a magazine in front of him. He quickly sat up when he saw her, giving her an easy smile.
“What can I do for you, Netty?”
She burst out into tears and the sound of his cheerful voice, and he looked stunned at the sudden change. He got up and walked around the desk, pulling her into his arms. “Hey, Netty, what’s wrong?” He stroked her hair softly, remembering the days when Storm and Samia wanted the same sort of comfort. “It’s a boy, isn’t it?”
She could only nod.
“We’re far too much trouble than it’s worth. Trust me,” he told her, trying to cheer her up. “And you’re much too good for them anyway.”
“I t-told Scott.”
Quinn was quiet for a while. “Ah,” he said eventually. “And he took it badly?”
“Do you even need to ask?” she said, pulling away and wiping her tears.
“Obviously not,” he said, leaning back on his desk. “Well, forget him. He’s a dick.”
She laughed, startled, and Quinn smiled slightly. “Do you want me to take care of it?”
“What do you mean?” she sniffed.
“Make him forget what you are.” Quinn shrugged. “Standard procedure for this sort of thing.”
“Y-yes please.” She sniffed.
He pulled her in for another brief hug. “I’ll give you a lift home,” he said, placing a hand on her back and gently leading her out of the room.
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“Hey, Ares,” Eve said, coming into the living room. “Waiting for Marie?”
“Uh huh,” he said from where he was stretched out on the sofa. The TV was on some music channel that he was ignoring in favour of the book in front of him.
“She’s gonna be a couple of hours,” Eve said.
“I know,” he shrugged. “I don’t want to hang at home. Netty’s boyfriend broke up with her. Papa is out for blood and dad is calming him down, as usual.” He rolled his eyes.
“Jason out too?” Eve asked. It was common knowledge that Ares was always at Jason’s.
He closed his book in frustration. “He’s busy wooing some girl. Besides, Marie is always best when I want to rant.”
“About?”
“About Scott,” he said, shrugging. “If my papa didn’t want to confront him, then I would.”
Eve hummed and came to sit on the sofa, nudging his feet out of the way until he sat up. “I’m here to listen. It’s either this or read another book.”
“Getting sick of them?” he asked teasingly. “I thought that day would never come.”
Eve gave a brief grin. “I’m not always in the mood to read. Besides, I’m busy planning a book myself.”
Ares looked up, interested, and smiled when he recognised the lively glint in Eve’s eyes. She was passionate about few things, but those things always made her eyes shine and her grin brighter when she spoke about them. Her hands moved as she explained what her idea was, and he found himself captivated.
Quickly, he shook himself. Marie would not be happy if he started liking Eve. He wasn’t sure she would even be okay with it if he was close friends with her. Then again, Marie had been getting more and more serious with her girlfriend; Ares wasn’t even sure she would notice.
“That sounds awesome,” he told her with a grin. “I’d love to read it.”
She brightened even more, eyes widening as she practically bounced in her seat. “You could be my beta reader!”
“Sure,” Ares said, sitting up straighter. “If you explain what that means.”
“You’ll read it as I write it and tell me what you think. What’s bad and good about it. And you help me bounce ideas back and forth.” She grinned again, hands clasping together. “This is so exciting!”
“Do your friends know about your book too?” he asked, reaching over to mute the TV.
Her smile dimmed a little, but her excitement didn’t go. “What friends?” she snorted. “I’m kind of a social outcast, if you haven’t noticed.”
Ares blinked. Honestly, he hadn’t. “How?” he asked, mystified.
“My year are all twats,” she shrugged lightly, though he could tell it bothered her a bit. “I’m just looking forward to Uni.”
“You’re going to university?”
“Hopefully,” she said, crossing her fingers. “I know I’ll find good friends there. I don’t know what to study though.”
“English?” he said.
“I’d rather study books in my own time,” she said, shrugging. “I’m kinda thinking science.”
He looked interested. Netalia had started to get interested in doing a science degree, and she’d be the first of the family to go to University. He knew some of his cousins were thinking about it, too, but the older cousins had practically settled down already. Ash wanted to live with the elves and Bryn wanted to go to chef school, which had been a surprise in itself. As far as he knew, Willow and Arabella had only briefly entertained the thought.
“Are you going to go?”
Ares smiled proudly. “I’m going to be Alpha, and it’s a full time job. Papa is going to teach me things, and I want to look into pack history and stuff. I’ll be learning lots of different things too, there’s no point specialising.”
“When are you going to inherit the pack?”
“When Elyssia takes dad’s seat,” he explained. “Papa is going to stay on the other Seat and devote more time to the council, and let me be the Alpha. So long as I don’t boss him about too much,” Ares amended with a grin. “But you might see Netty at uni, if she still wants to go.”
“That’ll be nice,” Eve smiled. She stood up. “Do you want to read my first chapter?”
Ares perked up. “Yeah, sure,” he said. She led him through to her room, and he looked around curiously. She brought it up on her computer and he spent the next while reading it and making comments, while laughing and joking around with Eve who hovered behind the chair.
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Since hearing about Mal’s attempt to force Cameron into a marriage he didn’t want, Elyssia had been more and more worried about their relationship. He had reassured her that he would fight his father on this, and for now Mal had dropped the issue. They both knew he’d try again when Cam was a bit older, and she couldn’t help but worry.
“You know if my father ever found out about us-“ he broke off as Elly’s face whitened at the thought of what Mal would do - both to her pack and Cam - but Cam quickly continued. “I’d refuse to take the Seat.”
“What?” she asked, looking up from the base of the snowman that they were making.
“I know you want it badly, and I know you’ll do brilliant things when you have it. If I still went for the seat after my dad knew, he would do everything he could to stop you, but if I refuse to take the Seat he’ll be too mad at me to concentrate on you.”
Fear clenched around her heart at the thought of what Mal would do to Cameron, should that ever happen. “He’d kick you out the pack, at least.”
“Maybe,” Cam shrugged. “I heard that being an omega isn’t too bad.”
Elly bit her lip. “What if he did more than that, though?”
Cameron let out a sharp sigh. “He wouldn’t,” he said.
“But -“
“Elyssia,” he said, taking her hands. “Whatever you think of my father, true or not, he’s still my father. Can you respect that? I know he’s obsessed with power and he can be spiteful, but he’s the man who read me to sleep most nights and cuddled me when I got nightmares. Can you just...” He broke off and sighed. “Please, respect that.”
Elly pressed her lips tightly shut. She nodded, not trusting her voice. Cam sagged in relief. They both hated arguing, and it was about the same thing every time. She couldn’t wait until they were older and could be seen together without fear of consequences... if that time ever came.
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“Hey, Rory?” Jason called out, ducking into the empty warehouse. “Are you home?” As much as he had pressed her, she hadn’t told him where her real home was, or why she couldn’t go there. He had given up trying to get information out of her, and instead just taught her about the supernatural world and tried to be her friend. It was surprisingly easy, once she revealed that she had a wicked sense of humour.
She came out of a door in the trousers and top he’d brought for her, after realising that the dirty dress was all she owned. She waved at him and promptly sat down on the old deck chairs she’d snatched from somewhere. He took the other one, bringing out a plastic tub of the meal’s leftovers. She took it with a bright smile.
“I’m tired of learning about the council,” she told him. “Tell me about your two friends?”
“Ares and Marie, right.” Jason frowned. They were still as close as ever, but things had been pulling their time away from each other. For Jason, that was Rory. For Marie, that was Naomi, her girlfriend. For Ares, that was the three teenagers he was trying to keep safe from the ghost world they were riling up. It was obvious to anyone who listened that he and the girl Erica had a thing, whether it was serious or not. Jason doubted it was; she didn’t sound the type, but Ares didn’t seem to mind. “I haven’t had much of a chance to talk to them lately. Besides, they’re as crazy as ever.”
“Crazy in a funny way?” she checked. Jason nodded, trying not to smile. “That’s a shame. Do you think you’re drifting apart?”
“Nah.” Jason smiled. “We have our school lunch times to catch up. We keep each other updated.” Jason thought, with a frown, of the way Ares had been slightly less open than usual the last few lunch times. Marie hadn’t noticed, but Jason had picked up on it. If Ares wasn’t falling for either Erica or Eve, then Jason would be surprised.
“Did you have any close friends? Before...” he trailed off. Jason wasn’t entirely sure what he meant by before, but she understood.
“Not really. I was quite young.”
Jason frowned, worried. “Did someone kidnap you?” he asked, feeling a protective surge.
“No.” Aurora reached out to take his hands and reassure him. “No one kidnapped me,” she promised him, yet again. She paused, and he held his breath. “It was an entirely human, natural and misfortunate incident. What happened next was not so human,” she allowed, before her lips pressed together. Jason knew that was all she would say for the next while, and mulled over what it could mean in his head.
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Netalia answered her phone when she saw Willow’s name flashing, feeling happier once they chatted about nothing in particular, avoiding the one topic she wanted to forget: Scott. Once Quinn had made him forget her confession, Scott had forgotten that they were no longer together. Netalia couldn’t stomach knowing what he would really think of her, and so she had broken up with him. His confused expression had hurt her almost as much as the memory of what he had said and how he had looked at her. Only those who knew the truth behind the break up weren’t confused, and she was somewhat of a controversial topic at school right now.
When she hung up, she stretched and looked out the window sadly. She was still reeling from the break up, and her eyes stung whenever she thought of him. Whenever she saw him, it felt like all the breath was gone from her lungs. She missed lying beside him and cuddling up to him, and his laugh. She had thought he would be okay with it. If he wasn’t, how would she find someone who was?
She wiped away tears and stood up. After the break up, her parents had been encouraging her to look into university more. She had to admit, the idea of studying science and doing so much interesting research - like Law was doing - and writing papers appealed to her. She wanted to do something that would make an impact too, not just be the sister of an Alpha and a Seat.
She walked to her computer and turned it on, loading up her email and sighing when nothing new popped up. As she did most nights, she drafted an email to Kit about Scott - who she had never mentioned before, for fear that he would be hurt by it or tell her that he had a girlfriend - and, as always, deleted it.
Tonight, she stopped herself.
Her mouse hovered over the send button. What was she expecting, though? They hadn’t spoken in almost six months. The last email he had sent her had been short and sweet, and when she replied with an even shorter email, that had been the last of it. She had been too focused on Scott to miss Kit, but now she realised how long they had been out of touch the aching in her chest only grew.
Tears falling down her face, she clicked send and hoped he would reply.
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“I managed to get someone to hack into Vanessa’s email,” Ven said as he prepared dinner. Dova pushed the book that Tore had recommended away, paying full attention to the conversation.
“Find anything?”
“Quite a few things.” From the tone of his voice, Dova could tell he was frowning. “Her ex was emailing her before she left, remember. He was talking about their daughter.”
“Yeah?” Dova asked.
“Saying that she was still alive, that she had come to him in a vision.” He sighed. “It turned out he was taking anti-depressants - or was supposed to be.”
“He didn’t?” Dova asked, before wincing. “Let me guess, he was self medicating.” He sighed as Ven chopped vegetables for a while, the silence telling him how much Ven felt for the poor guy. After all, he knew all about that from the months after Briony’s death.
Finally, he spoke again. “He had an older brother, who killed himself when he was seventeen. Bullies.” Ven’s mouth twisted. “He may have been prone to depression.”
“You’re talking like he’s dead,” Dova said cautiously. Ven winced again.
“As of three days ago, he killed himself.”
“Crap,” Dova sighed. “You think Kit knows?”
“I honestly don’t know. It depends if his mother has told him, I guess. I’m half tempted to track them down myself.”
Dova nodded in agreement. “Poor Vanessa. She must have been scared to have left. This is a mess.”
Ven sighed. “Who would have thought that normal people could have it so hard?” he asked.
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“I have to go to meet Naomi now,” Marie said, hovering at the door. Ares glanced up and nodded, getting up too. She rushed out the house before he could say goodbye, and he tried not to smile. She was always late.
Instead of leaving, he took the stairs two at a time and knocked on Eve’s door.
“Come in!” she yelled, and he opened the door. Her computer was, as always, on and a document was up - she was almost reaching the half way point in her book, and he was pleased to note that she had the books he had bought her - some fantasy, which was what she was writing, and some just on writing itself.
He closed the door and saw her standing by the large whiteboard she used to plot out ideas. He tried not to let on that he had given her a quick look, up and down, when he realised she was wearing the skinniest jeans possible.
As always, she seemed ignorant. “I’ve done another chapter!” she said brightly.
“Brilliant, can I read it? I want to find out what happens to Sam.”
She gave him a wicked grin. “Tough, it’s from Lee’s viewpoint.”
“What!” Ares barked. “That’s not fair.”
She gave a very evil cackle. “You’ll have to wait.”
“Aw, come on Eve!” He walked closer to her and tried to see if she had written anything about it on her board. Laughing, she covered his eyes and gave him a friendly shove. He came back and took her wrists in one hand, tickling her with the other. “Tell me or I’ll tickle you further!” he said, trying not to laugh too much.
“Nooo!” she screeched, writhing around as he ticked her mercilessly. She giggled, helpless, and tried to bat his hands away. “Never!”
“Tell me!”
“Leave me alone or I’ll kill her off!”
“You wouldn’t dare,” he told her, gasping.
She turned in his arms to look up at him, a wicked glint in her eye. “Wouldn’t I?”
He pouted playfully, and then became aware of how close they were. He couldn’t help but blush, especially when he saw Eve had realised as well. She didn’t move away, instead looking up at him with an open, hopeful expression.
Despite his better judgement, he closed the distance and kissed her.
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“At least I’m not a bigoted piece of -“
“Ven,” Quinn said sharply, giving him an exasperated look. Mal sat back smugly, arms folded over his chest. “And Mal.” His narrowed gaze crossed to the other werewolf, who didn’t seem fazed. “Either ignore each other or get out. And don’t have a fight on Council grounds.”
Ven gritted his teeth and looked at Quinn petulantly, who gave him a glare back. Mal scoffed and continued to smile smugly.
After the meeting, Quinn put a hand on Ven’s shoulder. Ven stopped from where he was about to rush out the door to give Mal a piece of his mind, and instead turned to glare at Quinn. Behind him, Fury crossed his arms. There was no way this wasn’t getting back to Dova.
“You have got to stop this,” Quinn said, voice low.
“Tell that to him,” Ven hissed.
“I would, but he’s sneaky enough to make it so no one can actually accuse him of anything. If you keep encouraging him, he’s going to snap,” Quinn hissed.
“Then do something about him! You have the power and the Elite behind you, get off your lazy backside and kick him off the Council!”
“Ven,” he said, exasperated, “if I do that, I’m going to be accused of bias and Mal will make my and the Council’s lives hell. He has a huge pack and two more as his allies, and if this wedding goes ahead he’ll get another. I’ve already told you, I can’t do anything unless he takes direct action against you.”
“Well, I’ll push him hard enough until he does,” Ven said, shrugging.
Finally, Fury spoke up. “You really think you’ll live through that?” he asked.
“I can beat him,” Ven said confidently.
“In a fair fight,” Fury agreed. “But how likely is it that he’ll play by the rules? He’s more likely to just shoot you than he is to take you in a fight.”
Ven stayed silent, brooding. He knew they were right, but he didn’t like the idea of sitting down and taking whatever snide remarks Mal threw at him.
“I mean it, Ven,” Quinn told him seriously. “I’m not letting you push him any further. He’s dangerous, and I’m not going to let your stupidity and anger be the death of you,” he said.
Ven sighed. “Why are you so sure it will?” he muttered.
Quinn folded his arms tightly over his chest, jaw bulging. “Because I See possible futures, idiot. If you get Mal to snap, he will kill you - and none of us will be able to stop it.”
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Only two more chapters to the heir vote! And we still have a lot to cover...