The Siphoner - Divine Creatures 1

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nothing he had faced had prepared him for the horror surrounding him. His always-sha

vanished. In one night, the pack had gone to sleep complete and happy, only to wake up the next morning to chaos. Doz

they had been enduring from the humans who had turned against them. The attacks began after a notorious murderer tried to escape justice by claiming to

ship and respect, now distrust and fear had replaced these things. A community that had kept the pack secret from the rest of the world while the pack maintained local secur

by without news and the endless scouts' hunts failed, they couldn't deny the evidence any longer. Som

use they felt no threat or pain through the bond between mates. However, they also could no longer feel the bon

em that kept them in this cursed forest. Even with their leader's incessant attempts to persuade them to seek

s of transformation. Some in human form, others as wolves, and some even in the powerful intermediate form. But nothing had b

called home. Most of the cabins were now completely destroyed or still bu

ained fixed in the same spot in a trance-like state. All those carbonized bodies belonged to the few

the fog that had been engulfing him, and he found

rible whimper, a mix of wailing and howling, belonged to his friend, and D

uld find. Of all his friends, Severin, Sev as he was known, was the only one in his inner circle who had

an extraordinary wolf with an important future. But judging by the massacre around him and the agonizing howls comi

e reaching the source of his immediate concerns, he saw his pupil and friend Noah on the periphery

e. Anna always treated Noah as part of the family, despite being only three springs older than the feared Executor; the

he mistreated and traumatized pup, after being rescued by his pack, spent more than a y

ce, that kept the sanity of the little puppy, who eventually healed and int

iction. Sev was in what used to be the centre of their village, near where the large bonfire was lit

ty of his pack. Now stained by the blood of their women and children, and

ooking around blankly, as if his soul was gone. He was certain that the same expression was reflec

s, he could see Anna's violated body, as if a savage beast had turned her inside out. He

the perpetrator of this sickening massacre had deliberately spared the beautiful

e strong odour of burnt bodies and the foul scent of death, not even lycans with the keenes

something as calculated as leaving a face untouched to be recognized, amidst all the other mutilated and

minds beyond reason. Lost to hatred, revenge, fear, or any other emotion capa

ut a shadow of a doubt that they would find those responsible for these atrocities and make them pay. But with

, combined with the right dose of mutilation. This would make it impossible even f

asts. That this being had left Anna, specifically, recognizable among the entire pack, left him more uneasy than he would like to admit. An

his left shoulder. "They slaughtered all the women, not even the puppies were spared. Only th

ch's eyes were clear as the morning sky, but now they were almost

oid of warmth. "I should have foreseen this, I should have ordered our retreat and moved the camp to the Carpath

t friend had died this night along with his people; in his place was a shell of what h

k after the disappearances. But no man with a missing mate and pup would have followed you, and you would nev

ll tired and in shock, and in different stages of grief and despair. "Did you see my brother?" Ulrich

aos. He wondered if it would not have been better for everyone if the weasel had

as the only blind spot in the otherwise astute leader, who seemed incapable of seeing any evil in the buffoon-excuse of a

ime before Noah was able to function rationally. This left only Ulrich and him to dea

on the here and now. This would be a long night, the longest of their lives, and his alpha and his pack would need his strength and command. But he feared they would never recover from th

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rs, and his head was cut off before burning his body at the stake. Stumpp's head was then mounted on a wooden pole carved in the shape of a wolf, displayed as a warning to o

term, "granny" or "grandma" in Portuguese, used in an ende