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Alexio
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Things were tense in the castle right now. Talia and the other kids weren't allowed to leave. Those murderers that we were chasing all over the world were now here in our own city. Talia's last vision was of her friends and classmates being murdered right very close to the place that we slept at night. Things were just getting worse by the day.
Talia and the others were a little upset about the current situation. However, whereas the other kids were upset about not being able to go to school and see their friends, Talia was the most upset about the potential loss of life.
In the two days since she had had the vision at school, Talia had seemed to be stressing more than I had ever seen her before. In the many years that I had known her, she had always done her best to hide the emotions that she didn't want people to see. It was like she was trying to prove that she was stronger than they thought or something. These last couple days though, she has looked like she was about to crack. This case, and these visions, they were getting to her in a very bad way.
Right now, at this very moment, it was four in the morning. I was still awake right now, because Talia was still awake. As her guards, Rudy and I had dorms that were next to her room. They weren't meant to be a place that we used as our permanent residence or anything, but I spent more time here than anywhere else. I didn't have a mate or a family. Talia was all that I had. My work was my life and that meant that my life revolved around her at the current moment.
.....
As I listened to Talia pacing around the room I thought about the future. As Talia got older and older, I knew that she would eventually find someone to be with. She would have a mate and he would help to protect her. Just like Reece helps to protect his wife even though she has a lot more guards than almost any one person needs. Talia would be that way in the future. Maybe, when she found the man to make her happy, I could find myself a mate. That would be the time for me to do so. But until that time came around, Talia was my main focus.
And as my main focus, I didn't like letting her suffer. I didn't want to know that she was hurting and there was nothing that I could do about it. As her guard I was supposed to stop things from hurting her, that was my job. But the only things that I was truly able to protect her from were physical. These emotional problems were out of my realm of expertise. And knowing that was even harder for me.
I guess that both Talia and I were suffering. She was hurting because of the case. I was hurting because I couldn't stop her from hurting. I felt like a failure of a guard that wasn't able to do his job at all.
I think that Talia might have finally fallen asleep. While I was thinking about these useless things, and how I needed to improve myself, I stopped hearing the sound of her pacing. She must have finally settled down enough to sleep.
She usually has a hard time sleeping, but not this bad. I was used to her being up until one or two in the morning sometimes, but not pacing her room until she passed out from exhaustion.
“Hahh.” I sighed as I finally relaxed in my bed. “What am I going to do Talia? What can I do?”
I was just starting to drift off to sleep, to get what little bit of it I could, when I was startled awake. The sounds that I heard were so frightening to me. What I heard was the sound of Talia's agonized screaming coming from her room.
“AAAAHHHH! AAAAHHHH! AAAAHHHH! AAAAHHHH! AAAAHHHH!”
The very millisecond that I heard Talia's voice begin to scream I was on my feet. The next millisecond I had my shirt back on and was sliding my feet into my boots. I wasn't wasting any time here. None at all.
“AAAAHHHH! AAAAHHHH! AAAAHHHH! AAAAHHHH! AAAAHHHH!” By the time that she screamed again, I was out my door and running toward hers. I wasn't the only one either. Rudy was only seconds behind me as we raced toward her door. And the other doors in the hall, all of them, opened as well. The other guards, all the other children, were running toward us right now. They were scared because of the screams and worried about Talia.
“What is happening?” Reagan, the big brother and proactive protector, called out as he raced toward me in his pajama pants.
“I don't know. I am finding out now. Send one of the other guards to get your parents.”
After yelling out those orders to Talia's brother, who I didn't have that sort of authority over, I slammed into Talia's door and broke it off of its hinges. I didn't care. The door could be fixed easily. Talia might be in real danger.
“TALIA!” Rudy and I both screamed for her the moment that we were in the room, but she just screamed in agony and fear once again.
TALIA!?” I called her again as I ran across the room toward her bed. I could already smell the sharp tang of blood in the air and that didn't help me at all.
“WHAT HAPPENED!?” I could hear the fear in Rudy's voice. Not that he would be hurt, but for Talia.
“AAAAHHHH! AAAAHHHH! AAAAHHHH! AAAAAHHHH! AAAAHHHH!”
“TALIA!” I skidded to a halt next to her and I just wanted to scream myself. “TALIA WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!?”
Rudy and I were both kneeling next to the bed and trying to find out what was wrong with Talia as she screamed over and over again. As the sounds came from her mouth I could hear the sound of blood bubbling in her throat. What had done this to her? Where had all this blood come from?
Talia wasn't listening to me or Rudy though. She didn't seem to be capable of it. And the more that I spoke to her without her being able to respond, the more frightened I became.
“TALIA!” I lifted her into my arms and started to check her for injuries. I needed to know where the blood had come from. “What happened to you? Who hurt you? How did this happen?” She didn't answer me though, she just continued to scream like something had scared her to the brink of insanity. And while she screamed she sobbed. The tears were leaving large streaks in the blood on her face. “Talia, please, you have to stop screaming and talk to me.”
All of the siblings started to unleash a barrage of questions. I didn't know what to tell them because I didn't know what was wrong with their sister. If I did know I wouldn't be as scared as I was now.
“She doesn't appear to be hurt.” Rudy noted as I finished checking for injuries. He was right, but that didn't help the situation.
“If she isn't hurt, then what happened to her?” The older brother asked as he walked closer to us.
“I need to get her to wake up. Whatever happened to her, she is still not fully awake.” I knew that I needed to wake her up, but how was I going to do that?
“Take her to the shower. Get her to wake up that way.” Rika suggested. “The cold might jolt her awake. Plus, it will rinse all of that off of her.” That wasn't a bad idea at all.
I held Talia close to me as I rushed toward the bathroom. She was still screaming almost nonstop until we got in there. It was almost like something had broken through to her, but what was it?
Rudy had opened the door and started the water, that was good. It meant that I just needed to step into the shower with Talia to get the water to run over her and clean her up.
“It's OK, Talia.” I soothed her as the water started to cascade over the both of us. It was all that I could do for her, and it wasn't nearly enough.
There was something that seemed to be happening to her, to Talia. She was warm, very warm. And I could see something moving in her wide eyes. Something was happening.
“Talia?” Right when I said her name there was a sort of explosion.
“WHAT THE HELL!?” Rudy jumped back in fear.
“WHOA!”
“OH MY GODDESS!” Reagan and then Rika yelled out as well.
“TALIA!” I tried to hold her, but I hadn't been prepared for the explosion of power and magic, and for Talia to change the way that she did.
I was sitting on the shower floor as I looked at what Talia had become. She was standing on four feet. She was a wolf now. She had changed. And what a wolf it was.
I was looking at a dark purple wolf that was tall and slender. Throughout the darker colored fur there were light streaks of purple that almost seemed to glow in the light. And speaking of glowing, Talia's blue eyes were now violet and shining like there was a light behind them. She was beautiful and amazing.
“Talia?” I called out to her nervously as she walked to see herself in the mirror. “Are you OK?”
“I am fine.” She spoke perfectly clear, like there was nothing at all different about her.
“What happened?” Rika's voice was filled with fear and aww. She couldn't take her eyes off of her sister. “Why were you covered in blood?”
“I had another vision.” Talia turned to face me and sat down. “And this one was a lot worse than the others.”
At that moment, a little delayed from when I sent the guard to get them, Trinity and Reece showed up.
“Talia!?”
“You shifted?”
“And I had another vision.” She said this again. “I need to talk to you.” She was looking at her parents as she spoke, but if she thought for one minute that I wasn't going to be there too then she had another thing coming.
“Then shift back, Talia. After that you can talk to me and your parents about the dream.” I made it clear that, as her head guard, I would be there.
“I can't.” She seemed to shake her head. “I don't know how.”
“I will help you. Everyone out.” Trinity was waving at them all. “Reece, ask Abigail to prepare breakfast so that we can talk.”
“Yeah, OK.” He nodded. “Let's go.”
Everyone started to clear out except for me. I was going to protect her. I wasn't going to leave her ever.
“Out Alexio.” Trinity yelled at me.
“I think I should stay. To protect Talia.” I refused to leave.
“OUT!” She ordered me. “Unless you think that I should let you look at my daughter while she is naked.” Her words sank in then. Talia's clothes were destroyed. I needed to go.
“I will go get dressed and wait for you in the hall.” I literally ran out of the room. That was not something that I needed to see. I was her guard and that was inappropriate.
I couldn't get out of that room fast enough. I needed to change anyway, so I made that my excuse, but I just really didn't want to overstep my bounds. I knew that if I were to see something like that, Talia would never be comfortable with me as her guard ever again. Not only that, but I would likely be murdered by Reece. Not that I couldn't take him, but I wouldn't be able to fight my future queen's father. That was wrong, so very wrong.
