Chapter 6 Healer

"Hold on," Laura said softly, her hands wrapped around Jenine holding her up. "Don't put too much weight on that leg. You'll only hurt yourself."

"Thank you," Jenine muttered as Laura offered her a pair of crutches.

Her body reeled as she tried to balance her body under the wooden stakes that were the crutches but Laura moved quickly, arms extended to catch her just in time.

"Careful now. One leg at a time."

Laura held her by the shoulders leading her down the stairs that descended from the porch and into the grassy yard.

"Everything seems peaceful around here," Jenine sighed. She breathed in deeply letting the scent of nature-of fresh leaves and green grass-filter into her nostrils filling her lungs as they strolled outside.

"Seriously?" Laura's brows furrowed.

Surely she can't just go from fearing this place to thinking it was paradise within this short period of time. Did she already forget?

It was late evening and the burning mass that was the sun hung idly in the sky. Tired from her daylong journey, her light dimmed down upon the earth casting long shadows behind the small frames that were Laura's and Jenine's.

The leaves rustled in the calm evening breeze complementing the chirping of birds to give off a soft melodic sound akin to a nature's paradise.

The rays of the setting sun grazed the top of the trees as gently as a deer nibbling through fresh blades of grass. Everything did indeed feel so peaceful.

"Wait..." Laura shushed, placing a hand on one of Jenine's crutches. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Jenine's lips pouted, her eyes darting round.

She couldn't hear anything. What could she possibly hear when she didn't even have a wolf?

"I only hear the rustling of leaves."

Her eyes surveyed the surroundings again. There was absolutely nothing to see and quite frankly, nothing to be heard except maybe the chirping of the birds. She saw Laura's body go stiff and taut as she stared into the emptiness before her.

"Stop!" Laura growled, her voice deepened by her wolf startling Jenine. "Don't come any closer."

The shrubbery shuffled as a faint cry of pain came from behind it.

Two boys emerged from behind the bushes, tears streaming down their pale white faces, their hands red with blood.

"Please," they begged, their bodies quivering as they sobbed, "please help him," they pointed behind them.

Jenine's eyes followed their trembling blood stained hands as it pointed behind the bushes they had come out from.

"Oh my God," she gasped, her hand moving swiftly to cover her mouth. "Is...is that what I think it is?" she swallowed as her body went cold, her stomach churning.

She willed herself to keep her lunch down as the nausea hit her in waves.

"Laura..."

"Good Goddess," Laura moved swiftly but cautiously towards the bushes. "What happened to him?"

It was a boy-same age as the two that had come crying-lying on the ground. With a huge bloodied slash across his chest-a slash that definitely looked like claw marks-he looked more dead than alive as the blood dripped out of his mouth down the sides of his face, his eyes wide open.

"Is he alive?" Jenine asked, her crutches shuffling under her as she moved closer. She swallowed hard as a lump formed in her throat threatening to upset her stomach.

The boy coughed-as if to answer her question-blood spurting out of his mouth as he groaned in pain.

"We have to get him out of here," Laura quipped, her voice filled with urgency as she bent to pick him up. "Quick, help me," she signalled to the boys.

The items on the table clattered down as Laura swept her hands across it making space for the injured boy.

"Lay him here," she tapped the table.

Their bodies swayed under the weight as they heaved their friend onto the table a bit roughly.

"Careful," Laura warned, her voice taut as her healer instincts kicked in.

Her feet slapped the floor as she moved about the shed swiftly opening the lockers and closing then rapidly looking for something. She used this shed to attend to wolves with very serious-mostly bloodied-injuries.

She hated the thought of having to scrub blood out of the floor of her house. Situated at the back of the house, this shed gave her all the privacy she needed to carry out her healings.

"Bingo," she exclaimed, holding up a pair of scissors.

She approached the wounded boy slipping her hands into a pair of surgical gloves. She proceeded to cut open what remained of his shredded shirt.

His chest heaved slowly, his teeth gritting as she pulled the blood soaked rag of clothing from the wound carefully, drawing muffled groans from him.

"It's a miracle he's still alive," Laura thought as she removed the last piece of clothing.

The deep, red, punctured flesh stared right back at her. The boy's body shuddered as she cleaned up the wound meticulously with some antiseptic.

"Heal," she growled her eyes gazing deep into the boy's eyes. Nothing.

"Heal," she growled again, this time louder than before. Still nothing.

"Has his wolf not emerged yet?" she turned to the other boys who up until now, stood at a corner staring at Laura through blurry eyes, their fingers fidgeting.

"It... it has," one of the boys stammered. He was slimly built with an almost white face, short curly hair and a red cut on his lips quite unlike the other who was short and on the chubby side. "It emerged in the last Bloodrink festival."

"Then why? Why doesn't his wolf heal him?" she muttered peering into the wound, her fingers pressing into the gash.

The boy groaned loudly as the wound bled again.

"Oh fuck me sideways," Laura's voice thrilled as her eyes lighted up. "I should've known."

She pushed herself away from the table striding towards the lockers. She extracted a gaslighting, flicking it on.

"What are you doing?" the slim white face's eyes widened.

He rushed towards Laura as she approached the lad laying on the table, the gaslighter lit, her squinted eyes focused.

With one swift movement of her arm, she pushed him off making him land hard on the stone cold floor of the shed.

The wounded boy's arms grabbed Laura's tightly as she held him down, his screams filling the shed as she burned right into the wound, the flesh sizzling like bacon on grill.

Jenine turned her face away as the sickly odour of burning flesh hit her nose, the smoke filling up the entire room. The boy's screams transitioned to a growl as the gaslighter burned brighter, searing deeper into his flesh, making Jenine shudder.

"Heal," Laura growled again as the fire from the gaslighter dimmed, the boy's voice fading with it.

His chest heaved up and down as his burnt flesh hissed. He breathed heavily, his face creased with sweat. His dilated eyes had a faint glow in them.

"He's healing," the shorter boy cried.

The slim white face scrambled to his feet, his feet shuffling as he rushed to his friend's side.

"You're okay," he sobbed, the tears that blurred his sight falling freely. "You're okay."

He turned to Laura. "Thank you."

She nodded.

Laura's eyes met Jenine's as she tossed the gaslighter onto a small table at the corner and pulled off the gloves delicately.

"Why does she always have that surprised look on her face?" she muttered to herself.

"You mind telling me how he got this messed up?" Laura's voice sliced through the room as she faced the boys.

They exchanged glances, their eyes sharing secrets amongst themselves.

"HOW–DID–THIS–HAPPEN?" Laura spelled out the words her tone flat. Her patience was waning with each passing second.

"We..." the wounded boy grunted, "we were playing in the woods when she came after us. I wasn't fast enough and she caught up and did this to me."

"Who did?" Jenine asked.

"She had eyes the colour of the rainbow."

A hush fell across the room. Only the ticking of the clock could be heard. The curtains swayed gently in the evening breeze daring them to beat it at gracefulness.

Laura looked at the injured boy. His wounds healed fast.

"You should be on your way home now," Laura chipped in, breaking the silence. "Don't ever go back into those woods," she warned. "And stay close to the road until you get home."

The first stars peeked out in the skies as the boys left, their frames disappearing into the young night.

Laura's eyes darkened as she wrung her fingers pacing about the room, her mind wandering faraway.

"Laura," Jenine's voice came softly. "Laura?"

"They're here," Laura's lips quivered. "They are here in Lupestone."

"Who?"

"The Triad. I'd been hearing rumours that they were headed this way. It all makes sense now."

The room grew silent as she stopped pacing, the sound of her feet fading into the silence. In a split second, she swirled to Jenine.

"The man who attacked you... the one with the angry face, that's their leader, Vlarr. The one who attacked those boys, with the rainbow eyes... that's Braden," she paused, her hand running over her jawline. "I think there's one more of them left but that doesn't matter. I found traces of wolfsbane in that boy's wounds."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Jenine's voice came in a whisper. "That's why you had to burn his wounds?"

"It is. That woman meant to kill him. And yes, burn out the wolfsbane or the wound doesn't heal."

"Why would she do something like that?" Jenine asked, her body jerking as a mix of fear and anger hit her. "I mean she's a werewolf like him and he's just a kid. Why would she use wolfsbane on a child?"

Laura exhaled softly as she shook her head. "Killers don't need a reason to kill. It's like second nature to them and it's best to avoid running into them. You said the wolf that chased you down looked like he was enjoying the hunt. They do it for fun."

"Maybe I should have stayed home," Jenine sighed, her body shuddering a little.

She hadn't stayed that long in Lupestone but she'd already witnessed quite a number of miss kills.

"This is far more dangerous than I expected," she thought, her fingers tugging at the edges of her hair. "What about the Alpha?" You have an Alpha right? Is he not supposed to be the strongest and most powerful and all that?"

A dry mirthless laugh escaped Laura's lips. "Trust me, you wouldn't want to cross him," her eyes glazed as she stared out the window. "You don't want to cross Alpha Ferguson."