Knight of the Black Rose (40 page)

Stuart chased after her as the others came in, Mark smiling as he watched Lucy run around the pillars and Stuart pretending that he couldn't catch up to her.

"You're both right, she was missed," John said beside of him.

"And what about us?" Paul asked.

"I've been meaning to ask you, do either of you know anything about those articles in the paper?" John asked them.

"Ask Nathan, I'm off to my room, then I'm going to catch up with the others," Paul said as he walked off, business wasn’t really what he had in mind.

"Paul!" Nathan shouted as his dad rounded on him, he knew that he wouldn't last long before he broke. "I don't know anything,"

John took hold of Nathan's arm leading him away following after Paul, as the door to their right opened and Charles walked out dressed in a charcoal suit scowling at the screen before him.

"Lucy!" Charles said sharply.

Lucy stopped suddenly at the sound of her dad's voice, making Stuart catch up to her, he grabbed her around the waist lifting her into the air turning around before putting her back down.

"We're just saying hi," Stuart said smirking.

"I just need her for a little while, then you can carry on playing with her," Charles told him.

Lucy walked over to her dad. "See ya later,"

"Come find us, after you've finished," Mark told her. "The kids will love to see you,"

"Okay," Lucy said smiling at him, before she turned back to her dad and allowed him to lead her into the main leopard room, which they used for their meetings.

The room was huge, with pillars dotted around as walls had been knocked out to make it larger. There were sofas, chairs and cushions scattered around the room with people in them watching her, then at the back was a long conference table that looked out over the ground. She knew them all, and they could probably smell how nervous she was about being here, not because she was afraid that any of them would hurt her, but because of what they were talking about and that she had to be apart of it.

A woman stood suddenly from one of the sofa's, the man next to her quickly following suit, she had black hair tied back in a pony then braided, she wore a pastel suit with the jacket open showing off her crimson roll neck and her ample breasts. The man next to her had shaggy hair to his shoulders, over a sleeve top and ripped jeans.

"Lucy dear, how was school?" she asked smiling warmly at her.

"I bet she got into loads of trouble!" a man shouted smirking at them, from a chair pulled back from the others; he only looked as though he was in his early twenties and was dressed in t-shirt and jeans as well.

Lucy ignored him as she focused on Jarvia in front of her. "It was alright, fun, exciting...kind of scary."

"Why scary?" Jarvia asked confused.

"Well you heard about that thing going around sucking the life out of things, well it's been at school," Lucy told her.

"Are you serious?" Jarvia asked worried. "No wonder you're mums been coming around here asking Ella about you,"

Lucy smiled at this; she had known that her mum had been worried. "She did seem worried in her letters. Dad never wrote...just the other day telling me to come home,"

"Because I knew that you were alright," Charles told them.

"Stuarts been checking you out every time he went to the school," the man in the chair told her.

"Arvin, you don't need to tell her all of that," Charles told him sternly.

"I already knew that he had come to the school, without anyone having to tell me of course," Lucy told them. "He never talked to me or any of my friends. Even though Will saw it in the field and we were chased through the underground tunnels by it,"

"You were chased by it?" Charles demanded.

"The teachers knew," Lucy said as off handily as she could moving closer to Jarvia, not wanting to be on the bad end of her dad's temper, not that he would ever hurt her, but considering that there were people around he wouldn't say much to her.

"You really must have been scared going through something like that, I had no idea." Jarvia said concerned as she directed her over to the sofa.

"You can tell Stuart everything about what happened after we've talked here," Charles told her. "Unless you know who it is,"

"I don't even know what it is," Lucy told him. "I couldn't really get anything off of it, as though it wasn't there enough for me to sense anything from him. But at the same time, it didn't sense like a ghost. But, also before you say anything, I have no idea if it's Wrath or Phantom of any kind, because I've never seen any before,"

"I forget sometimes that you're so young, especially when you talk like that; so grown up," Jarvia said smiling silently. "Corey wants your honest opinion honey,"

Corey sat down again next to her as Charles took another chair to one side of those in the Pack.

"I'm sure that you've heard about what's been going on here?" Corey asked her, which she nodded. "There's a lot of angry people because of what happened with Fritz and then with Aaron turning...he's doing alright by the way,"

"He let my little brother die!" Arvin shouted angrily.

Corey shook his head. "I can't change what happened. Fritz didn't disserve to die, but he did save lives. That's the problem, the Pack has lost faith in me,"

"What does that mean?" Lucy asked nervously.

"We're thinking of leaving, honey," Jarvia told her.

"What?" Lucy asked upset, she didn't want them to go, she had known them her whole life.

"We don't want to abandon anyone, but the Pack can't go on like this either," Corey told her kindly. "We all think that it's best, we'll start over somewhere else, and the rest of the Pack will be able to get over my letting them down,"

"You didn't let them down," Lucy told him. "You protected the territory and the others...it wasn't your fault..."

"Lucy, you may understand a lot, but you are still too young to understand everything, especially everything that goes on in here," Corey told her.

"He's right, he goes and everything can go back to normal," Arvin told them.

Lucy looked over at him, he was sat on the edge of his chair as though he was ready to pounce if he didn't get what he wanted.

"What we need is just someone who can step up, until we can get someone to come into the Pack as Alpha," Corey told her.

"I can just do it," Arvin told them angrily.

Lucy didn't want to be put in the middle like this, especially considering that she already knew that Arvin wasn't strong enough to lead the pack, but at the same time she wasn't even sure who else once.

"Well...err...do I have to say anything straight away?" Lucy asked nervously.

"No, honey," Jarvia told her smiling. "But we would like it, if you could tell us before you go back to school,"

"Whoever you put forward, they'll have to be trained to handle this position," Corey told her.

Lucy nodded nervously as she slid off of the sofa between the two of them, wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible, before anyone started to ask her questions. She had known that this is what they use her power for, for a couple of years now, but it was still kind of hard to do this sometimes; it was harder when she knew them. Her dad let her go without saying anything, which she was glad of, but also knew that he probably wanted to talk to them more about the situation. This time, she actually agreed with Corey, she really was too young to be put in this kind of situation, but could she tell her dad that without getting into trouble, him thinking that she was trying to run away from all of this.

She walked out into the main entrance, but it empty now; she looked over at the door wondering if she should just go back home and see her mum considering that she hadn't seen her for months, the longest she had ever gone without seeing her. But then she sensed Aaron in the back, she wondered if she should see him, he hadn’t long been changed and she had told him the bad news, and now the pack was being torn apart because of the incident with how he had been changed.

She went off to her right, deciding that she was here she might as well say hi before she went back home; she wouldn't be back here for a couple of days when she would go shopping with her mum and sister for the winter solstice.

Lucy went down the back corridor, knowing that she wouldn't bump into anyone as they were either in the main section or up in their rooms upstairs; it kind of worried her a little if he was still considering himself an outsider. At first she wasn't sure where he was only that he was back here in one of the rooms, but then she realised that he was actually in one of the training rooms, which made her smile. He wasn't rejecting being a Lycanthrope; in fact he was trying to improve himself. Lucy knocked gently on the door hoping that he wouldn't be angry with her interrupting him.

"Come in!" Aaron shouted through the door.

Lucy took a deep breath, then opened the door and went inside; the lights were set on dim and the room was littered with obstacles and frozen figures.

"Lucy, I didn't realise that you were home already," Aaron said brightly as he ran over, jumping over several fallen trucks and then stopping in front of her.

"Hi," Lucy said shyly.

"Are you alright?" Aaron asked stepping back, he sat down on the closest truck and patted next to him.

Lucy looked at him for a moment, it wasn't that she didn't trust him to be alone with him, if so then she wouldn't have been here to begin with; after several seconds of hesitation she finally she went over and sat beside of him.

Aaron smiled. "Not sure if the others would consider this as being safe,"

"Why?" Lucy asked. "You don't look as though you're going to change, and if you were going to, you would have, probably while you were training,"

"You're good," Aaron said.

"I don't want to be good," Lucy told him. "Corey and Jarvia have just told me that they're leaving. They want me to tell them who would be best to look after the Pack after they’re gone, and I don't want to. Why do I have to do something like that?" Lucy stood suddenly. "I don't want that sort of responsibility..."

"Lucy you’re special," Aaron told her. "Everyone here thinks so. I think you are, when I was told how old you were, I couldn't believe it,"

"I don't want to be special...but...but at the same time...I...err...I wouldn't want to not know anyone here," Lucy told him.

"Lucy...it's tough, everyone’s finding it hard," Aaron told her. "I am...I've been in touch with my family, but I can't tell them what's happened to me. Your families got me a new job and everything, and my family are quite proud of that; I mean that I've gotten a good job finally. I was angry at first that all of this happened to me. But then...yeah it's hard Lucy. But this whole new world that you lot have opened up to me, it's just incredible,"

"Do you really believe that?" Lucy asked him kind of unsure.

"Yes," Aaron told her honestly. "Just be honest, tell them the truth. If we can't handle it, then it's our fault,"

Aaron smiled at her, and she smiled back; she couldn't believe how well he was dealing with all of this and that he was now the one giving her advice on all of this. He had come so far in the under a year, more so than some of the others who had been Lycanthropes for years or even those who had been born that way; he was just a natural.

It kind of made her worried if perhaps he could be Alpha one day, it was possible with the right training and if he really wanted something like that; but she didn't want to say anything just yet, not to him or to the others. She'd do what she said, check everyone out and then speak to the elders as it would probably be their responsibility to take care of the Pack anyway until a new Alpha was chosen.

Chapter Twenty-Five

A group of men and women played instruments by the edge of the forest, that glittered with freshly fallen snow, the branches swaying to the music as Lucy and her friends danced around the bonfire smiling and laughing. Children of all ages ran around excitedly, as their parents and the rest of the adults talked amongst themselves; a small group gathered around the grill cooking a constant stream of food to keep them all going. Everyone from the apartments were out celebrating, even though it was freezing and snowed every so often, no one really seemed to mind as there were bonfire's dotted around the field where they were all gathered.

Alex grabbed Will before he could run past him, and pointed out his parents to him. "Do you see them? They're still arguing, he's been like that since I got back,"

Will looked over at the two of them, they had moved back from the rest of the group, probably so that they wouldn't be over heard, but anyone could see that they were arguing even if they couldn't be heard.

"What's he going on about now?" Troy asked stopping behind them.