The Past-Forest Behind the Mansion

[Adele Holst]

It had been less than 14 hours since Adele arrived at the Den in Stockholm, Sweden. After finding the Queen of Werewolves and delivering the news that her sire, Perrin Goldeneyes had died, much of her time has been spent sleeping in the room she would come to call home. The rest of the time was spent crying.
Leaving her room on the third floor, the blonde haired girl closed the door behind her, wiping her eyes with the palm of her hand and making her way down the hall to the stairs. It was nighttime with a waning three-quarters full moon, but the mansion stilled buzzed with energy. She passed quite a few people as she walked through the Den, trying to find her way through the many corridors. The blonde kept her head down, hair covering her face and eyes on the floor as she passed by the other residents. Something was pulling her outside; she'd begun to feel claustrophobic in the room she'd chosen even though it was the biggest room she had ever slept in before.
After a couple of wrong turns, Adele finally found herself in the back of the mansion at a door that appeared to lead outside. Without hesitation the girl opened the door, bounding out into the darkness that filled the property behind the Den. There was a forest ahead of her, and the blonde made her way toward it, her feet kicking up faster as she role into a run.
Breaking through the first trees, the girl's senses were assaulted by Life. It was enough to stop her in her tracks, and she brought up her arms as if to block a visible assailant. Earthy smells so strong she could taste the leaves and trees and dirt flooded her head; there were animals in here. That's when Adele noticed her stomach rumble. She hadn't eaten since before the flight from Athens. Or had it been longer?
Something in the distance moved, cracking twigs as it went about its business, breaking Adele from thoughts of food. Her head snapped around, looking in the direction the sound had come from. More noises came soon after; the tussling of leaves in the wind, pattering of footsteps on the ground, the hooting of owls and squeaks of bats nearby. Adele could swear she could feel the forest breathing.
Carefully stepping over fallen branches, the girl walked further into the woods. As new sounds and smells came into awareness, Adele was constantly looking around. Trying to mediate the sensory overload she was experiencing, she came across as a bit twitchy as she walked further Into the woods.

[Pablo]

He should have felt bad, or at least some level of remorse or sadness at the loss of his sire, but the fact was he barely knew the man. Perrin was there to witness Pablo's first transformation, and he'd seen him around the mansion in the following weeks, but he'd quickly disappeared to his villa by the sea somewhere in Greece, and hadn't even offered to take him. He would have loved to go to a villa by the sea, it sounded miles more beautiful than this murky forest. He didn't choose to go off and die. Pablo reminded himself. Still there was some level of resentment. Who was suppose to train him now? His whole purpose of coming here was to learn to control his lycan abilities, and to dismantle the den from the inside out; under his cousin's orders of course. So he supposed that it was good he didn't feel sad or anything. That left his training unaddressed though, and though the young lycan believed he was making strides he wanted some level of guidance. During the last few moon, less than a week ago he swore he remembered most of his time spent as a werewolf. The immense strength he felt, the feel of the wind rushing by him as he ran through the woods, and the smells; from pine cone to wet dirt. Yes, he remembered all of it. Yet when he'd gone to brag to the other lycans they'd all sworn it was impossible. Telling him it was just a dream of what he thought it would be like, and that it would take him at least half a year before he remembered any bit of his transformation.

Pablo stomped through the woods loudly, lost in his thoughts. Six months was unacceptable. He didn't just want to remember his nights as a werewolf by then, he wanted to be able force a shift too. "Six months." He grumbled underneath his breath. Why didn't they believe him? Out of all the things he could lie about. "I'll show them six months. March right into the mansion and piss on their shoes. They don't think i'll do it? I'll do it." Stepping over a log and shoving his way through some bushes, he walked into a clearing. This seemed like as good as a place as any. And even though he'd failed every night since the full moon, tonight he was feeling luck. He began taking of his clothes, when his ears perked at the sound of soft foots steps. Somebody else was here. Pulling his shirt back on, he went to investigate. Crouching behind a tree, he poked his head out. It was just some girl, someone he'd never seen before, but there was something familiar about her. Her scent it - was she twitching? She looked like she was on the verge of a seizure or at least some bad drugs. "Hey!" The young lycan stepped out from behind the tree. Not waiting for a response he ran up to the girl's side. "You don't look so good. Are you okay? Are you lost? Do you need help?"

[Adele Holst]

In the last two weeks, the girl's life had been turned upside down. The day she found out her boyfriend had gotten out of prison was the day she met the man who would change her entire existence. Perrin Goldeneyes bit her, bringing her into the Werewolf fold. After that, Adele had traveled to Athens for the first time, to be with her sire for her first transformation. Little did she know, the night of her first transformation would be her last night with Perrin and the first day of a new legacy. He intended for the girl to carry on in his place. That thought alone was enough to make Adele feel sick to the stomach. She stopped, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth, but there was nothing in her stomach to come up.
No sooner had Adele and the attendants at Perrin's villa buried their master, than a group of three Vampires entered the villa, threatening everyone within. Knowing little to nothing about Vampires, or even if she would be able to transform without the full moon, the blonde went out to face the intruders. The circumstances must have been just right, cause the girl had successfully shifted into her Wolf form, although she hadn't had enough training. The three Vampires, the one named Rickter in particular, vastly out maneuvered and over powered her. She remembered getting shot with the most painful thing she'd ever felt, three times, and blacking out. In between moments of clarity she saw the Vampires hovering overhead, and then a man who felt like family in some strange way, carrying her away, back to Perrin's villa. The Werewolf who'd saved her introduced himself as Szandor, and he stayed with her while she recovered.
Lightly touching the place on her chest where the silver had pierced her, Adele could still bring to mind the hateful sting.
In the near distance, she could hear a soft russling of clothes, then more crunching of sticks and leaves on the ground. A soft presence filled her nostrils; warm and welcoming. It almost smelled like Perrin, yet it was distinct; different. She found herself staring at a tree, picking at the hem of her hoodie's sleeve.
She knew someone was there; knew it was coming, but she still jumped a little when the boy popped out from behind the tree, running to her. Her initial instinct was to turn and run from him. In the past, most strangers running toward you typically didn't end well. But something made her stay; he didn't appear to be much younger than herself. And in a way, that comforted her a little. She looked at him, not with her own grey eyes, but with Perrin's gold eyes.
His assualt of questions took the girl back a bit, and she was silent at first. She wasn't necessarily lost, but she didn't feel okay. The problem was, she didn't know what kind of help she needed. The kid addressed her in English, she when Adele did respond, she spoke it in kind, "...not lost.... Just.. New. To everything here." She couldn't help but feel she was inconveniencing this kid somehow, and she looked down, wondering why he reminded her of Perrin. "Do you... Um..." What was she trying to say? "Have you lived here long? Do you know..." -what I'm supposed to do?- was what she wanted to ask. Instead she let the sentence trail off. How would he know?

[Pablo]

There was rarely never some resemblance of a smile on the young lycan's face. The moment Pablo looked up at Adele was no different. He listened to her thoughtfully, though she basically only mumbled a couple short responses to him. She was weird, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, and maybe she wasn't acting like herself. Her eyes were red, like she'd been crying. And her iris's they were gold, like Perrin's! He leaned forward, still giving her a fair share of personal space, while visibly sniffing the air. She smelled like him too. The urge to blurt out more questions was almost irresistible, but she looked sad, and that in turn made him kind of sad too. "Of course I know how long I've lived her." He held up four fingers to her. "Three months, I know my way around the place pretty well too. I can show you around if you'd like."

Pablo didn't wait for an answer. Instead he grabbed her by the arm, but not tightly and began to lead her into the forest. He still wanted to ask her about her eyes. Was she Perrin's daughter or something? The elder lycan claimed to be a couple thousand years old. He probably had a bunch of kids. "This is a forest." Letting go of her arm Pablo gestured towards the trees and shrubbery. "You can find all kinds of stuff here. Squirrels, rabbits, trees, ect, ect. I once saw a wolf." Glancing back at her he smiled again. Pablo hoped she was finding him amusing. "There's a lake somewhere around here too... I think..." He tapped his chin with a finger while looking around. "this way." He pointed in a direction. "If you ever want fish, this is the place to go."

[Adele Holst]

Although born and raised in Germany, a couple of factors, such as her father's citizenship to the United States of America, and the fact that there was a US Army base in her home town of Wurzburg, made it so that the girl had grown up with English as a second language. Even still, when the boy held up four fingers but said three months, Adele was confused for a moment. With her hands at her sides, she pressed her fingers to her thumb, counting to three in English in her head. Only her pointer, middle and ring fingers were needed to get to three; but the kid had included his pinky as well. It took her a moment, but something about his smile made the girl think he was just playing with her.
Adele flinched slightly when the boy grabbed her by the arm, but she didn't pull away. Following him further into the trees, she looked around at the scenery. It was obvious this was a forest. She'd seen pictures in books of lush, green trees grouped together, although she'd never been in woods so large before. "Wolves in here?" She said the first word carefully, trying to make sure to pronounce the 'w' correctly. It made sense, she supposed, that there would be wolves in a forest belonging to Lycanthropes.
When the boy pointed toward the lake, Adele took a step in that direction. "I have never been fishing." She wanted to see the lake for herself. "Will you show me where?"
She found herself staring at the boy; he was being so nice. In fact, all of the Werewolves she'd met since Turning had treated him warmly; almost as if she'd been a close friend for years. Or... was this what being a family was really like? Biting her lip, Adele looked down at the dark forest ground. This all felt a little too good to be true. She was waiting for the moment it would all stop, and everyone would ask of her in return for their kindness.

[Pablo]

Pablo was of course referring to a lycan itself when he said wolf, and his mentioning of fish was also a joke in a way, but if she didn't see that, and saw that as an invitationto fish instead then why not? He'd never been fishing before, it couldn't be that difficult. He started to walk away, but stopped and glanced back when he didn't hear Adele following. She was staring at the ground, what had the world done to her? She looked so sad, like she needed a hug. And Pablo would have, he very much wanted to hold her close and tell her everything would be alright, but he couldn't quite claim that with no knowledge of her life. That and the way she flinched when he grabbed her arm did not go unnoticed. Something told him he'd be susceptible to a good smack or two if he tried embracing her. She wouldn't be in the wrong either, he was still very much a stranger. She didn't even know his name.

He moved to stand directly on the ground she stared at. "My name's Pablo by the way." He put on his most earnest smile, looking up at her golden eyes. They were unnerving, and the urge to ask her about them was strong. "Come on." The young lycan grabbed Adele by the arm again and began to lead her away. He continuously glanced back at her while they walked. "So," Pablo was determined to ask her about her eyes, but he needed to show tact. "what's with your eyes?"

[Adele Holst]

As if seeing Pablo for the first time as he stepped in front of her, her eyes focused, looking straight at the grin on his face. "Pablo." She repeated his name to make sure she was saying it right and in hope of remembering it. Something about his smile gave the girl a little spark of hope; maybe there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe she could fit in here after all. It was subtle, but a corner of her mouth lifted in the softest of smiles. "I'm Adele."
She let the boy take her arm again and lead her toward the lake. As they made their way through the trees, pushing aside low hanging branches and stepping over fallen trees, Adele was taken by the natural beauty of the place. The air was so fresh here.
She thought she could Pablo staring at her a few times as they walked, and then he spoke. Adele frowned a little, thinking of the answer. "...I'm not really sure. They were.. grey before, I think. The I became the Werewolf, and..." Adele paused, debating what she should say. "Then they became gold." The girl tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear as they made their way to the lake. "The one that bit me was Perrin Goldeneyes." She refrained from saying what Perrin had told her before his death. "Um.. you kind of riechst like him. Uh! Smell, I mean."

[Pablo]

She smiled! At least Pablo was pretty sure she smiled. For a moment he felt joyous at the fact he could be making a friend. His smile somehow grew wider for a moment, only to disappear at Xhel's reminder. He shouldn't be making friends, they were the enemies, monsters hell bent on destroying making. Not only had they targeted Pablo, but they were using him as a hostage or bargaining tool against the hunter. Adele didn't seem that bad though, and the young lycan doubted she'd ever hurt anybody. Her words brought the smile back to his face. "Perrin bit me too!" He said excitedly, like that fact was something they could bond over. Why wouldn't it be? That made her like his sister. "And you riechst just like him too." Letting go of her arm, assured she would continue to follow he jumped right over an easily steppable log. "But my eyes didn't turn gold, wait..." He turned back to Adele, looking at her with his pair of wide brown eyes. "Are my eyes gold?" Pablo asked realizing that he'd never bother to check, and would be the only person to not realize if they'd changed colors.

[Adele Holst]

The boy's enthusiasm was catching. He seemed absolutely ecstatic that Perrin had bitten them both; and in a way, it was kind of exciting. Maybe this kid could help her find some closure from his death, maybe they could swap stories or he could give her advice. Or Hell, maybe they could just be friends. Wolves were, after all, pack animals. They seemed to thrive in groups of their peers.
The girl actually almost laughed when Pablo tried to use the German word she'd slipped up and spoke. "Your German is not so good." This time, she smiled shyly, hoping he would take what she said in jest. It was completely likely, she thought, that her English was not so good either.
"Your eyes are brown." The girl bit her lip, thinking what she should say. "I don't know too much yet, about all of this. I've only seen one full moon. And I've only been the wolf twice; and the only reason I kind of remember the first time was because that's when Perrin died." I think it's my fault. Most of it was blurry, but she could clearly remember carrying the remains of her Sire back to his villa. The attendants there seemed to almost be expecting it; and they didn't blame her for anything. But how could they not blame her? "So much has happened... I don't know..." Her eyes seemed to water a bit, but a thought hit her, and she had to ask. "We're at war, aren't we?" Szandor had done his best to answer the girl's questions, but it seemed his patience with her was wearing thin toward the end. "Vampires are bad." Subconsciously, Adele touched the place on her chest where Rickter's silver bullet had pierced through her skin.

[Pablo]

"I don't speak German, maybe you can teach me." Pablo said, not really realizing her words were meant to be taken in jest, nor did he seem to care as he was smiling ear to ear. "Maybe you should walk in front of me, I just made a riechst."

Dammit, there was something about having golden eyes that appealed to him. Why did she have them and not him? Any disappointment he had for his brown eyes quickly vanished as she mentioned the number of times she'd been a werewolf. Twice, but only one full moon. Pablo didn't even need to do the math in his head. "Wait, you shifted without a full moon? Why, wait I mean how? Wait I mean teach me!" He exclaimed excitedly, almost brushing off the mention of Perrin's death. Taking a moment he took deep breaths to calm himself. "Sorry, I've been trying now for weeks."

"Yeah, vampires are bad." Her mentioning of vampires almost instantly dampened his mood, and it was noticeable as his smile vanished, though only for a second. "Vampires killed my parents." Pablo blurted, the filter on his mind wasn't always functional, and he covered his mouth with both hands as if he'd let out a huge secret. It wasn't really a secret though, he'd already told the pack mother, insisting he was ready to fight. He shoved his hands in his pockets, walking with his shoulders stooped as they cleared another set of trees.