The only thing that matters to me in this life is that Sam is okay.
He's all I have, after all.
Or at least he was.
Mom died when Sam was a baby and left us alone with Dad who turns out to be a violent fucking piece of shit. Every time he drinks or gets angry, I pick up Sam and hide him in the closet.
"Stay here until I come back." I would tell him.
And he would. He would stay in there until I come back for him, no matter how long it takes. Whether it's ten minutes or ten hours. Because he knew, he knew that dad was a monster.
Dad is a werewolf, mom is a witch.
I would like to say that me and my brother are both things, that we got both genes from our parents, but we are not.
Magic is more complex than people think. A physical anchor and an emotional anchor are required. Wolves also need an emotional anchor, but they don't need a physical one, which is why I envy them.
Mom's physical anchor was her tattoos. A story was told in them, ink and magic flowed in them. Her guardian was hidden in them. As all witches need one, mom decided to tattoo on her skin that spiritual being who was destined to support her in the use of her magic.
However, she had other plans for the guardian. Since it was in her skin, she could use its power as if it were her own magic, then she would combine it with her own and create a new style of magic for herself.
This was illegal in the witch world.
Mom didn't care and nature took its revenge. It took her life by giving birth to her second offspring.
Dad always hated Sam for it. He blamed him for absolutely everything bad that happened in his life. That's why my goal is to protect Sam until nature does what it did to Mom and takes Dad too.
And after that too.
What I do know is that every night, the raven on my skin wakes me fluttering from a dream that is becoming a habit.
In my dream, Sam and I walk hand in hand through the woods. He is still a child and I am very tired.
Then it starts to snow and Sam is no longer a boy, he is a wolf. A small, gray wolf. I would wonder if he would grow as big as Dad.
And finally, in front of us, the raven comes flying towards me and lands on my head.
"Blue." I hear him whispering in my head.
I wake up after that.
I touch my chest where the crow rests, I look at my arms where the branches of leafless trees stretch like roots to my fingers, and I wonder if I will ever find a nest with an egg or two. Maybe I could have more ravens... and I don't know if that would be a good thing.
I get up and go to the bathroom, look myself in the mirror and wash my face.
I hear Sam wake up and open the bathroom door. He looks at me rubbing one of his eyes.
"Nightmare?"
I smile at him and invite him to sleep with me.
We sleep together until the phone wakes me up three hours later.
They are calling me. I take it and answer the call.
"Gia, honey. It's time to do an intervention." Lana tells me in her squeaky voice.
"Whom?" I say still half asleep.
"Daphne. She's back with her stupid girlfriend."
I sigh and hold my forehead. "I think she's a masochist."
"We have to do something." she announced. "We both know how to make this girl willing to have a serious conversation."
Dafne is my best friend since I can remember.
Thanks to her, I met Lana at one of her part-time jobs where Dafne forced me to go and bring her food. They are the closest thing I have to a social life.
Bad luck for me, my best friend is one of those people who goes out with a toxic person and cuts off the relationship and then gets back together. It is a vicious circle.
And the worst part is that she's also one of those people who can't have a serious conversation without being drunk.
"I hope you don't say what I think you're going to say." I whisper so as not to wake up Sam who was still asleep hugging my abdomen.
"You know it's the only way, Gi. I promise we'll make it fast. We will go to the nearest club, we will be there for about two hours and then we will finish the intervention in the car."
"It seems you have everything decided."
Lana does that. She decides, she plans, and she doesn't give a shit what anyone else thinks about it.
"You know I would never keep you long," she said with a reassuring voice. "You'll be back with Sam in two hours, maybe less."
And at that specific moment in my life, I wanted to spend at least more than two hours without worrying about my brother. I was seventeen years old, I wanted to go out and experience whatever. I wanted to live a normal life like all the teenagers of my age. That day I was selfish enough to say:
"We can take our time. The old man won't be home until tomorrow night."
But it was not like that. Fate had other plans for me since the raven visited me in my dreams to tell me the color of his eyes.
That afternoon I told Sam that I would be back at dawn. He, since he is a good boy, didn't ask questions and wished me luck.
"Call me if you need me," I told him. "I'll come back as fast as I can."
"I know. Don't worry. Now go before I throw you out of the house."
I kissed him on the forehead. "I love you, Sammy."
He didn't answer but he blushed. His usual reaction.
Sam was eleven years old. He went to school but had no friends, I was quite worried at the time. Yes, I was worried about things like my brother not having any friends instead of worrying about his imminent first shift which was coming up and I had to be with him for that.
In those days things seemed simpler to me than they really are.
______________________________________________________________
Lana had picked me up in her car, Dafne was in the back seat.
I got on the passenger seat and took a look at her. "Really, Daf? Again?"
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "You wouldn't understand. You have never been in love."
I looked at Lana and raised an eyebrow. "Can I hit her? Please tell me that I can hit her."
"Hey. If I didn't you, won't either. You'll wait."
She moved the car forward and in twenty minutes we arrived at the club. They let us in right away, Lana was very well known.
The dark, neon-filled atmosphere, the music blaring throughout the place making my heart pound in time to the beat. All of that was something I missed.
We went to the bar, ordered drinks, and entered the crowd that was dancing in the center of the dance floor. We danced, sang, sweated and drank alcohol until we felt dizzy. It was time for the intervention.
We took Dafne by her arm and dragged her off the dance floor. We took her to the bathroom and locked ourselves in one of the cubicles. We didn't give a shit about the girls who wanted in, with a flick of my fingers and a flutter of the crow's wings, the branches on my fingers would move and make the girls forget that this place was ever a bathroom.
And my friends knew it. Yes, Lana and Daphne know that I am a witch. And they know that Sam is a wolf.
Back in the cubicle, too small for three people, we huddled together so that Lana and I blocked the door. In case Daphne thought to escape.
"Now," I said a little dizzy. "Would you mind telling me why the hell did you come back with her? The bitch that cheated on you. Twice."
"I love her too much," she complained. "She is the love of my life. I can't deny it."
"Yes, you can," Lana said. "You deserve so many good things in life, honey. But that bitch is just taking your time to bloom into a beautiful flower and attract new attractive bees that maybe are worthy of you."
"Considering her taste in bees, we probably have to get ready to do this again." I said leaning my head against the wall.
"I don't want to be alone," Dafne said. "I don't know how to be single. I don't like being single. I want to kiss someone and cuddle and make love."
I giggled and looked at Lana. "She said 'make love'." I said pointing a finger at Dafne.
"Not all of us have given up on love, Gia. I'm sorry your heart is as dead as your soul, but that's not my problem."
The raven opened its beak and called out an angry song, the wings fluttered and the branches on my arms moved accordingly. I glared at Daphne and Lana put her hand on my arm.
"Relax, remember that she is a bitch when she is drunk."
"It's true, I'm a bitch. I'm sorry Gigi." She reached her arms out to me with the intention of hugging me but I pushed them away with my hands.
And suddenly, the call that would start my destiny came .
I took my phone and saw the incoming call from Sam. I answered the call instantly.
"It's here," he whispered. "I'm hiding in the closet."
"I'm on my way. Stay there."
I hung up and my friends were already looking at me alert. The drunkenness left us instantly.
______________________________________________________________
On the way home, Lana had asked me why I didn't do some magic to my dad to stop him from being a jerk. I didn't answer. I didn't tell her that I've been doing it since I was a child, quieting his mind so he doesn't have violent impulses. But dad is a werewolf, there is no magic that can make him go against his nature.
Panic made my heart skip a beat as I watched the flashing blue lights illuminate the neighboring houses. The neighbors had called the police and there were about three patrol cars at the door of my house. People crowded around trying to see what was happening.
I looked at Lana and told her to park where we were.
"What are you going to do?" Daphne yelled at me as I got out of the car.
"I'm going for my brother."
And with that said, I ran to my house.
Upon reaching the barrier of people, I pushed them aside. I made my way until I got to the first police officer who was blocking entry to the scene and calming people down.
As expected, he stopped me when he noticed that I wanted to pass.
"You cannot pass. It's a crime scene."
I looked at him terrified. "Crime scene?"
"You can't come in, miss."
"It is my house," I told him. "My brother is in there."
The policeman seemed considerate the idea of letting me in, but then the radio strapped to his shoulder informed him of a possible wild animal locked in the closet.
At that moment, my mind was clouded. Everything else around me stopped making sense, the only thing that was completely clear was what I had to do: Go find Sam.
I didn't care about anything, not humans, not my own life.
The raven opened its beak and screamed.
"Let me pass." The crow opened flight and flew towards my throat.
The policeman's eyes widened and he stepped to the side.
I walked towards the entrance of the house, opened the door and three policemen looked at me in surprise.
"What are you doing here?" said one. "You can't be here."
I looked at the floor and the walls of the house, they were stained with blood and some slimy things were spreading across the floor to the living room.
Two policemen tried to take me out of the house. The second they touched me, the branches of the trees shook. I held out my arms and the men shot sideways until they collided with the walls.
The policeman in front of me drew his gun and pointed it at me.
"Stay where you are!" He yelled. "Don't move!"
The raven hugging my throat with his wings also screamed.
"Sleep."
The man fell unconscious to the ground. And with a wave of my hand, the door closed behind me.
I followed the trail of entrails with my eyes.
A person I had never seen lay dead in my living room. He was a man in his thirties, with red hair and a snake tattooed on his neck. He was a warlock. His abdomen was open, bleeding and completely destroyed. His eyes were empty and opaque.
I didn't feel anything about it, to be honest.
And then I heard the growl.
A growl coming from my bedroom closet.
Sam.
I walked slowly there, when I got there I stopped in front of the closet.
"Sammy," I called him. "It's me. I'm Gia."
There was a sort of purring sound, and then, in a guttural, broken voice, Sam spoke:
"Gia. It hurts. It hurts a lot."
I opened the closet slowly and saw Sam in the middle of shifting. He seemed to be caught between the human and the wolf, not knowing which way to go. He moaned and growled in a distorted voice, he looked at me and his eyes glowed yellow for a second and then returned to the usual onyx black.
I crouched down in front of him and stretched out my arms toward him. "Come. I'll get you out of here."
I had no idea what to do, Dad had never told us anything about how to be a wolf or how to deal with this situation. I had to improvise. My first thought was to get Sam out of this place full of eyes and ears.
Sam moved slowly and shuddering. He reached out his arms to me and lunged at me, hugging me with arms and legs. He dug his small claws into my back and the raven flew there, healing the wounds with the caresses of its feathers.
Sammy buried his face in the curve of my neck and growled from his throat.
I stood up and climbed out the bedroom window. We appeared at the back of the house where Lana showed up with the car. She looked at us somewhere between horrified and surprised but she opened the passenger door anyway.
"What's going on?" She said when I got on.
"He is shifting."
"Now!?" Daphne yelled.
I glared at her in the rearview mirror.
"Drive to the forest," I told Lana. "Quick."
And she did that.
______________________________________________________________
When we got to the forest. Lana parked the car where the grove began. I got out of the car and ran into the forest.
"Stay here." I yelled at them as I ran.
I don't know what they answered me, I couldn't hear them. The only thing on my mind was Sam. Sam. Sam.
I ran and ran as Sammy moaned and writhed in my arms. I wanted to get to a clearing where he could run and have more space, but a scream from him alarmed me.
It sounded painful and a bone in his body made a snapping sound that made me gag.
"Sammy."
"Something is wrong." He sobbed.
"What? What's wrong?" I said desperate.
"I don't know… it hurts a lot… a lot."
I ran faster and pulled my brother even closer to my body. Until eventually I came to a clearing. But what I didn't expect was that a group of people was waiting for me.
I stopped dead when I saw them. Every sense of survival in my body filled every part of me with adrenaline. The raven reacted to this and flew up to my chest singing a war song.
I glared at the strangers. "If you come anywhere near us, I'll pop every single one of your heads off."
At that, Sam moaned in pain even louder and dug his claws into my back and dragged them tearing the skin. I stifled a cry of pain biting my lip, I walked slowly to the side without taking my eyes off the strangers.
But one of them, the one who led the group, gave me a friendly and concerned smile.
"The boy is stuck in his shift." he said suddenly.
"I know."
He didn't know what or who these guys were, but if they laid a hand on Sam I would kill them instantly.
"We can help you."
"Fuck you." I growled.
Some of the guys who were with him lit up their eyes yellow and growled at me, showing me their fangs.
They were wolves. It was a pack.
And the person who offered me help and lit up his eyes red, was the Alpha.