"Welcome Home." Raven walked into Liam's house cautiously, it smelled freshly clean. To be honest the décor didn't match his personality at all, everything was modernized, and majority of the walls were white. Jay and Abbie followed closely behind with some new clothes bagged up for her. Raven was so grateful she couldn't help but smile, they all watched contently as she walked around as if seeing the world for the first time.
"What do you think?" Raven was startled slightly as Lima called out to her; it was clear she was still on edge.
"I think it's beautiful, I like the conservatory you can see the trees from here." Raven places her hand on the glass and watched the birds fly from branch to branch. This was somewhat nostalgic she thought, even though her memories were blank she felt a slight pain in her chest.
"Are you sure you're alright living with this idiot, I have a spare room you know." Abbie seemed to be pushing it as if begging her, but she didn't save her life after all and Raven knew deep down that Liam needed her a lot more.
"I don't mind, maybe I can knock some sense into him." Jay chuckled, at first, he saw Raven as conceited but now he found her dry humour immiserating. Liam seemed to be tamer around her too most likely because they were two of the same breeds, so he didn't feel the need to challenge her. Jay took her bags upstairs along with Abbie leaving Liam and Raven side by side staring out of the window. Liam was having trouble understanding why the sun was so bright all of a sudden seeing Raven there. As he studied further her expression seemed troubled, her brows were furrowed more than usual, and she seemed tense.
"What are you feeling right now?" Raven smirked in defeat, as expected not much slipped past him. In truth she didn't know what she was feeling deep in her heart was a sense of freedom and content, but her soul was hurting, burning from the image.
"I feel uneasy. I know it's just simple scenery, but it confuses me without any memories to associate them with. Maybe I was raised in the country or something." Liam could see the cogs turning it her brain, she was trying to seem fine about losing her memories, but it bothered her more every day.
"Raven, when you said you didn't want to remember, you lied didn't you?" Raven stiffened up and went on the defence, Liam was always one to unravel their hidden words. Raven gave him a sharp glare; she wasn't lying at all.
"Not at all, it's difficult to lie about something you're not sure on. I thought when I woke up that I was happy and that maybe those memories were painful and that's why I blocked them out but now…I feel pretty empty like there's something missing. It's stupid forget it." Liam grabbed her desperately as she tried to walk away, he wouldn't let such feeling be deemed as idiotic, that was the first time he'd seen Raven look so vulnerable.
"It's not stupid at all it's perfectly understandable. This is tough on you, so you don't have to be considerate of us and play the I'm fine card. You have no idea who you are, your carrying a child you have no idea about and now your being forced to live with strangers you've barely known for more than two weeks. It's okay to be afraid." Raven couldn't look at him at all, Liam was kinder than he believed, and he'd basically outlined all of her worries in the space of forty seconds.
"Your right, I am afraid but…I'm also grateful for the chance you gave me. Thankyou Liam." Raven turned around giving a tearful smile before wandering upstairs to help Jay and Abbie. Liam stood in awe her face flashing through his mind. It was a tearful smile…something he'd never seen before. Happy and sorrowful in the same expression…so people were capable of such things. Jay migrated downstairs avoiding the girl talk.
"So, you finally have someone who can tolerate you for more than five minutes. What now?" Jay said rudely, Liam was slightly dazed when reality hit him in the face. Living with someone for the first time since the accident.
"What do you mean what now? We live together obviously." Jay sighed, if only it were that easy.
"Liam, she's smart right? Raven will find out eventually what happened I mean you didn't show her the kitchen did you? That's where—" Liam quickly gripped his throat and glared desperately at him as if begging him not to elaborate.
"I don't need to be reminded and keep your voice down or she'll hear you."
-----------------------------------Raven room-------------------------------------
"Can I be godmother when she's born?" Raven attempted to lift a box when her stomach began hurting, Abbie had sat her down and started talking about babies and family. Raven felt uncomfortable even thinking about giving birth to her.
"Of course, I mean you're the only female I know so why not?" Abbie smiled victoriously and began unpacking her things, Abbie was attentive and mature it was clear she did majority of things for Liam around here including the cleaning. Raven was staring out of the window watching the birds fly by when a scent drifted towards her causing her sanity to crumble.
"Ouch! Dammit papercut." Abbie carelessly sucked the blood from her finger failing to see Raven nails dig into the chair beside her. The minute the scent found her everything zeroed out and she could only focus on Abbie, her heartbeat and blood flow thumped in her head until there were no other sounds. Raven gasped and covered her mouth feeling her throat painfully contract.
"How are you coming along up here?" Liam waltzed in avoiding even more interrogation from Jay, as he entered the smell also hit him hard as he covered his mouth. Abbie quickly understood his struggle and wrapped her hand in her shirt to stop the smell. Liam relaxed slightly and sat down next to Raven on the bed. A few seconds passed by before he noticed her unusual silence.
"Hey are you oka-"Liam spun her around only to be met with two luminous violet eyes. Liam backed up in total shock while Raven covered her mouth.
"Abbie please leave the room." Abbie glared at him bewildered, it was unlike Liam to panic like this, but she didn't question him assuming he was struggling to control his blood lust. Hunger, Desire, Lust, Passion…they were words she couldn't escape from as her instincts concorded around her nervous system until her whole body shivered in shock. Liam knew that pain like the back of his hand, the stiff convulsions embedded deep into their stomachs as well as the overwhelming fear that they would harm someone they truly loved. Raven was so confused even when sitting right beside one of her own kind she couldn't fathom why it had impacted her so much.
"W-What is wrong with me…" Raven stood up and began pacing clutching her stomach, under her distress she noticed her stomach was hurting immensely but it wasn't a physical pain…it was a hunger pain. Liam couldn't muster the strength to speak his mind was too cramped with analysis. Out of all the people in this world he could have rescued, it was a vampire he'd obtained. This was pushing the boundaries of fate by a mile. Raven leaned over and began taking in deep breaths, calmly while glancing at Liam. He was completely white in awe; Raven couldn't help but be intrigued by his reaction and migrated to the bathroom to catch a glimpse of herself. As soon as glass met reality, she could understand his silence. Violet…her eyes were completely violet, shimmering like sun-struck water…Liam soon stood up and joined her.
"You're like me…" he said quietly. Raven felt a rush of hot nausea flow over her as those solemn words entangled in her brain, she wasn't so ignorant to bypass the truth behind those words and all of a sudden that past she wanted so much to forget was more intriguing than ever. Liam couldn't help but wince at the pain in her face as she began throwing up violently. Was she being too understanding because of her character or did her body already know exactly what she was?
"Cloth…" she said weakly reaching out to him, Liam handed it over wearily which hurt her heart even more. Was he going to throw her out? One vampire was enough to keep control over. Raven sat on the bathtub and dapped the sweat and stomach acid from her lips. Liam wouldn't even look at her…
"You had no idea about this?" he asked accusingly. Raven felt gut-wrenching anger raging around inside of her, he was doubting her memory loss story. Rationally, he had a good point. Innocent and pregnant young girl infiltrating his home because of her apparent memory loss only to punish him for his sins. Raven felt her softness evaporate in seconds as she switched into survival mode.
"Yes, Liam I tricked you by injuring my brain just so I could punish you for a sin, I haven't the faintest clue about. Why? Because you haven't told me or anyone else. I'm what you would call karma." Liam gasped and collapsed backwards, hearing her tone become formal as well as her sitting position. It was like she was a completely different person.
"Really?" he said in fear. Raven swiftly slapped him across his face which seemed to knock some sense into him.
"Are you that naïve Liam? I don't even know my own name so please remind me of how I would be aware of my genes. I thought we were of similar levels of intelligence, but your emotions are too ruling. Deduct the situation until your hearts content and get rid of me if you wish but before you make that decision think carefully. If my affliction is true, then god only knows how many years I've been alive and as for my contacts I could be royalty for all we know. In this world people like us are rare, you need help to overcome your guilt while I need aid in finding out who I truly am. Face it Liam, I'm your best shot in this world." Raven stroked his head before brushing past him and unpacking again. Liam was totally frozen; her aura was so menacing it had ripped the oxygen from his lungs. Finally finding his breath he calmly stood up and walked downstairs. Raven heard his footsteps get further away before covering her mouth. Those words weren't hers at all, she could feel her mouth moving but as for what she said…it was a mystery to her. What was so wrong with her that she couldn't even speak for herself? She knew something was wrong, when she accepted her affliction it was so natural…like breathing. This was familiar to her.
-------------------------------------------Back at the Pack House--------------------
"Let's go over tactics. Firstly, we have Luther, he knows the ins and outs of the facility that gives us an advantage over positioning as well as numbers. Next we have Isaac; his strength and skill are more than enough to take down the first line of defence. Stage 3 is Aiden along with his friends from the Lang organization. Vermont has kindly granted us jurisdiction under the conclusion that Ally's death was unlawful as well as unnecessary, we are not breaking the rules. Final stage will be facing off with the superiors who are troublesome men, three of them are high ranking officials and highly guarded. As for George, my father, he's the most ruthless of them all and will most likely be expecting our attack so stay sharp and do not under any circumstance fight him alone. I'm one of the most powerful mages in the country but he is much stronger." Everyone sat in a circle listening to Shadow go over the key points of their infiltration. It was a steady plan but also had a lot of loopholes, battles like this were brutal and unpredictable so many possibilities were unprecedented. However, the people in the room didn't care for complications, they had one goal and that was to avenge Ally.
"What do we do about Mika and Amy, we can't exactly keep them in the basement forever?" Blake muttered still devastated he was sitting in a room without his twin sister beside him. Joseph had returned from business and joined the coalition after hearing of the tragedy. Ally was like a daughter to him, so he was deeply hurt.
"I propose we use them either as bait or hostages for leverage." His idea was practical, but Aiden had to disagree.
"George will most likely have already of discarded them due to their incompetence to succeed the mission, quite frankly their safer in our hands than theirs. Ally was important to him." Isaac clicked his tongue bitterly.
"Important? More like a new toy for him to play with. By the way I'll see to it personally that he loses his head so don't get in my way." His eyes wandered directly to Luther whom scowled defensively. Everyone had noticed the animosity between the two increase, Ally had acted like a guard for them both and now without her hand to split them apart, they clash like black and white.
"This isn't a competition gentleman; this is a war. Kill who ever you want but keep in mind were on the same team so either get along or you will be excluded from the mission." Blake stood up and took on a professional standpoint. Blake understood probably more than anyone that the anger and pain was so raw consumption was out of the question, it would poison them. Yet, baring teeth and fangs at the wrong people were going to make this already cracked formation crumble like corroded brick.
"What do you think Ally would be doing right now?" The tension froze mid-air as Helen finally spoke for the first time in two days. They all looked bewildered, what would Ally be doing now?
"I d-don't know maybe she would be training the pack or cooking dinner, why are you asking?" Helen seemed disheartened by their answer; her face was so plastered with grief just looking at her made them all want to break down in tears.
"No, I mean if one of you were in Ally's position and she was standing here having this conversation right now, what would she do?" Everyone was stumped, even if that were possible, no-one could ever read Ally. Helen smiled as she watched the lightbulb switch on in Luther's head.
"Nothing…" he said quietly. Helen was content at least someone understood. The rest of the redemption squad weren't grasping her ideals, but Luther had not only observed Ally her whole life but had also known Luna for a long time.
"Ally, wouldn't be fighting in fear of losing another member, she would be negotiating." Isaac felt the tendons in his brain snap.
"This isn't something we can just talk out ad everything will turn out fine. They killed her so whether Ally would do it or not we are paying them back tenfold starting with the piss-poor excuse for soldiers' downstairs." Luther sighed seeing there was way of talking to these people who were in pain. Bloodlust was a tough thing to bypass; he knew the feeling all too well. You follow one goal and re ignorant to anything else. Seeing their eyes and gritted teeth he simply nodded his head in defeat. Becoming public enemy number one was not going to help his favour. Shadow noted what he was trying to achieve but he was also not ignorant to their feelings.
"Okay, so negotiations are void at this point. I have valuable information on my father which will help us, however the numbers were looking at right now I'm unsure how we're even going to get in never mind fighting the elite teams." They were all stumped as a giant rock planted its way through their path. Helen had accepted their decision but also had some concerns on their emotional status.
"Right now, this pack is in grief. We have children and teenagers that need help and as for all of you. I don't have faith that your emotions won't come first in this siege. Look at you all, you can barely speak without hurting someone." Aiden frowned at her; Helen had motherly instincts but ridiculing them based on emotions was like the pot calling the kettle black.
"That's unfair, if anything what we feel right now will keep us motivated until this ends. I would rather feel the way I do now than feel nothing. All due respects, you're not exactly keeping it together very well either Helen." Isaac raised his eyebrows; Aiden wasn't one to snap but when he was pissed his words always carried glass. Luther, Aiden and Isaac all glanced at eachother. When they first discovered about Ally. All three simultaneously turned off their emotions rendering them wild animals. However, it was Blake who brought them back round carefully, speaking the wisdom of Ally King in order to focus their bloodlust on redemption rather than revenge.
"How exactly do you think this is going to end Aiden. When either side is dead? Do you really think Ally would want this?" Blake had been quiet for a while, but his patience had finally run out…
"Ally doesn't want anything because Ally isn't f*cking here mom! Look at us all, your right we can't keep it together at all, but do you honestly think we're just going to mope around mourning her when the S.E.S are continuously hurting our kind? We are infiltrating and overtaking, end of story. If any of you are having second thoughts, then don't bother staying. I'm going to do what I think is right for this pack whether you believe in me or not."