Claudine awoke to her body being dragged by the arms. Her body was slammed onto the dirt, grimy streets by the wolves who lifted her up. The blood on her torn off wing had dried along with all the other blood on her body.
Vrrooomm!
The van took off, the big metal doors closing behind it by the guards who operated it. Claudine was able to be assisted and lifted up off the ground by the other species there. She placed a hand on her head and looked at her head, dried blood drums.
She was lifted to her feet, her arm placed around her shoulder.
The infirmary wasn't much more than a dimly lit shipping container wedged between decaying tenements. Inside, moth-eaten curtains separated rusting cots, each occupied by beings whose injuries whispered of brutality she understood too well.
Claudine was guided to an empty cot, the thin mattress sagging beneath her weight as she settled. The air hung thick with antiseptic failing to mask the underlying stench of infection and despair.
Sudden silence gripped the infirmary, every ragged breath paused, before a rifle crack shattered the night outside.
BANG!
Claudine flinched violently, muscles locking as her one and only good wing jerked against her back. Pain lanced through her anew, sharp and bright. Her gaze snapped to the container's thin metal wall as if she could see through it. Beyond, hurried footsteps pounded on pavement, followed by a low, guttural snarl cut abruptly short.
"What was that?" The pixie asked.
A fairy walked over to her with some tea. "It was a gun, a technology made by humans. The humans are the guards, ya know," she exclaimed.
Claudine drunk the tea and handed it back to the woman. She looked around, trying to find any clue on where her friend could be.
"Was a man with brown skin, dark hair with orangish wings enter here?" She asked, referring to Grunk.
The fairy shrugged. "I only see those who come through these doors," she admitted. She sat down on the side of the cot and took a cotton swab, and began to clean Claudine's wounds.
"Hiisssss!" The pixie hissed, wondering where her friend was.
She looked around. Bodies groaned quietly around her, cots squeaking under restless movement. Her one good wing twitched involuntarily against the rough mattress ticking, phantom pains echoing where the other had been torn away.
She stared at the container's corrugated metal ceiling, rust blooming like dried flowers in the dim light filtering through a cracked, grime-covered skylight. Her fingers traced the crusted ridges of dried blood matting her hair.
A nurse came in, dragging a body into the container. The fairy looked and shook he head. Another one.
"We don't have any more cots," she said to the nurse.
"Its fine," the nurse responded. "He's dead anyway. He was shot on the spot. Imma look for more bodies."
Claudine just listened to the exchange, realizing she was sent to a ghetto. She looked at the fairy. "Where am I? What ghetto am I in?"
"Area 34," she answered. "All we have arr numbers. We're in the area fairies and vampires used to live prior to Apex take over."
Claudine looked at the man on the ground; she could see it now, see he was a vampire.
Sous stood side by side to her mate, Kara. She held her wand in the position that Kara recommended, and even helped shape in Sous' hands.
The Alpha was lifting up a small log near the coast of their small cabin. The wind wasn't that strong that day, and the snow wasn't that deep. She had said the spell, 'levitas', the log floated in the air.
Kara watched Sous twirl the log around. The log dropped once Sous let go of the spell. Kara nodded her head. "Good, now do 'trusito', the more advanced 'pull' spell above 'pello'."
Sous nodded and concentrated on the log. Kara stood beside her. "Try it, see if you can get it to be pushed off the ledge of the cliff."
"Trusito!" The log soared off the cliff. Kara nodded her head once more, smiling at her mate.
They spent that entire day practicing the basic spells and the four basic element spells regarding fire, water, air, and earth. Kara then taught Sous the electric spells and putting spells together for compound spells.
The next day, right after Sous came home from work, after she took the small Alphas on their hunt, she came back to Kara and the two went at it again. This time with a focus on defense and teleportation.
Sous was a young one anymore, these spells were coming easy to her, simply because she had already learned them back when she was a kid.
They stood in the middle of the ocean, her and Kara, just standing there, looking up at the sky. "How does it feel to walk on water?" Kara asked.
"It feels weird. I never used magae like this," Sous said. "I-I can't believe I teleported out here. You know, that was the last spells I learned prior to going to Dragon Lair."
The two women began to make their way back to the coast. When they looked down, they couldn't see anything. Sous was in awe.
Sppoooosh!
Water and air shot up from the ocean with Sous flying about thirty feet into the air. She slammed onto the water, submerging underneath.
A humpback whale swam by as if it was playing with Sous, using the grown Alpha as a ball to toss around.
She spat out saltwater and coughed, her hair soaked and clinging. Kara's laughter echoed from above, sharp as seabird cries.
Kara floated down, boots barely kissing the waves, and offered a hand. Sous took it, letting Kara pull her upright onto the water's surface again. The ocean stretched, endless blue under a pale sky, and they walked without speaking, each step a ripple spreading silent over the depths.
"Let's get you home because you get sick," the Omega said.