A Choice: Family or Love

Chapter 1

            Amber looked up from her notes on Shakespeare to the movie on the screen in her English class. Today and tomorrow they would be watching Romeo and Juliet; Amber’s all time favourite play by Shakespeare. She was certain there would be a quiz on it later in the week, so she made sure she had what she needed. She heard the final bell of the day ring, and as she began to put her books away and start to leave her seat, her friend Lucas came over.

“Hey Amber,” Luc said. “Can I borrow your notes from yesterday as I wasn’t there? I know you’re the only person in the whole class that takes excellent notes.”

            “Of course you can Luc, just remember to give them back in a day or two. I need to stay organized” Amber said to him and she handed him her notes.

She stood up and walked to the front of the class with her notes she just finished and handed them to Professor Stevens.

            “Professor,” she said. “I was wondering if you could take a quick look over my notes I took today and tell me if there is anything I need to add. In the off chance that there will be a surprise quiz later this week, I want to be ready.”

            “Amber, if there is a surprise quiz, you won’t be very surprised if you are well prepared.” Professor Stevens said to her, laughing.

            “Oh I know, but I have to keep my grades up for when I apply to University. The principal told me that I would be able to apply earlier than the rest of my grade because of my academic record, and I don’t want to miss out.” said Amber.

Professor Stevens nodded and glanced over her notes. He made a few comments in the margins and then handed them back to her.

            “Everything seems to be in order, just check those two things I commented on and you should be well prepared.” said her Professor.

            “Thank you so much! Have a great night Professor!” she said as she tucked away her notes and left the classroom.

The hallway was busy with activity; students leaving for the day, sports teams gathering for after school practices and those many students who stand at their lockers and chat when the day is over.

A multitude of students waved and hollered byes at Amber as she passed, and she returned them with a smile and a wave.

When Amber finally got to her locker, she was surprised to see a body standing against it, facing the opposite way. She laughed in spite of herself as she recognized her best friend James.

“Hi James,” she said. “What can I help you with? School is done for the day.”

“I came to see if you had my algebra notes that I lent you yesterday.” he said.

“Oh right! I had a doctor’s appointment.” she said.

Amber opened her locker and pulled out a blue file folder that was labelled James’ Algebra Notes and handed them to him.

“There you go,” Amber said. “Oh and I made some changes to your math. You had some errors. I think you copied the numbers down wrong.”

Amber said goodbye to James and she walked down the hall and out the heavy wooden doors of her high school. She saw her father’s car parked in the parking lot and headed over. Amber opened the car door and got in. With a final wave to her friends, they pulled out of the parking lot and headed home.

“You know Dad,” she said. “I am 15. I think I can handle the 20 minute walk to and from school on my own.”

“Yes, you are 15 and you could still be attacked while walking home from school. There are a lot of weirdo’s out there still. I will drop you off and I will pick you up until you leave home,” he said. “So, how was your day?”

“My day was spectacular! I got another A on my science test!” she said happily.

“That’s my girl!” replied her father as they turned into their driveway.

“Hey, Dad?” Amber asked. “When is Tanielle getting home from University?”

Amber looks over at her father at his silence and watched his face fall, and then in a flash it was gone.

“Soon,” he said.

Amber knew that he was hiding something, but she also knew better than to push it with her father, so she left it and got out of the car. She ran up the stone sidewalk, through the enormous wooden door and into her house.

Amber loved her school and her friends, but she loved her house more. Her parents had built it themselves. With three floors and a basement, there was more than enough room for Amber, her younger sister Zoe, her mother and father, and her older sister Tanielle who was away at university. Their house had 6 bedrooms, two studies, a library on the second floor which Amber loved, a large kitchen, large dining room that attached to an enormous living room, and a sunroom off of Amber’s bedroom, where she had a few plants she looked after. Mostly Amber sat in her sunroom and read if she had her homework done.

She ran up the spiral wooden staircase and into her bedroom. She laid her book bag on her bed and walked to the end of her bedroom where two doors opened to a porch that wrapped around the entire house’s upper level. She walked outside and took in the sight before her. Her parents owned 5 acres of property. Their house sat on 2 acres, along with some trees and what not around the house. The back 3 acres was what Amber loved the most. They consisted of a huge forest. At one time, the city was going to tear down this beautiful forest, but her father couldn’t let the city destroy something so magnificent. Now the McLellan’s owned the entire property and Amber loved it. She spent a lot of her time venturing back there with her two black labs Duke and Duchess.

Amber was still standing on the porch when she heard a horn honk and she knew her mother was home. She turned to her right, whistled for her dogs, and ran full speed down the wooden stairs that would take her to the front door. She came round to the front of the house and beat her mother to the front door. Amber was the fastest runner on her track team because she loved running so much; and she was very good at it.

She hugged her mother and helped get the groceries out of the car and into the house. Once the food and everything was put away, she sat down on a kitchen chair and looked at her parents.

“When is Tanielle going to be home? We have so much to talk about.” Amber asked again.

Her mother and father looked at each other and a silent thought flew between them. Her mother nodded and her father, Paul McLellan, took a chair across from his daughter.

Amber knew instantly something was wrong; she hated her instincts.

“Tanielle isn’t coming home. Not now. Not ever.” he said to Amber.

Amber started to protest, but her father held up his hand and she stopped. She saw him swallow deeply and braced herself.

“Your sister has been killed Amber,” he said finally. “She was walking to her car and they grabbed her.”

Amber was stunned; she didn’t know what to say. Whatever she had been expecting to come out of her father’s mouth wasn’t anywhere near to that. She did the only thing she could at that moment, she began to cry.

Amber’s mother came forward and put her arms around her shaking daughter and began to rock her back and forth.

“Why?” Amber screamed and continued to cry at the same time.

Her mother stopped rocking her and looked again at her husband.

Paul breathed in deeply and looked squarely at his 15 year old daughter.

“Tanielle was killed because she was a Loup Garou, a werewolf.” he said.

Amber stared blankly at her father for a split second, and then began to laugh.

Quicker than she would have thought possible, her father was on his feet and beside her before she could blink.

“It is time I told you once and for all about your heritage.” he said.

 Her mother went and checked on Zoe, and brought her back into the kitchen with them. Amber looked at her younger sister, and ran and hugged her.

“We are going to go for a walk in the back woods. I can’t simply tell you. I have to show you to make you believe.” her father told her.

Amber and her family left their kitchen, walked down the stairs in the basement, and out the doors that lead to the backyard. They followed the path into the forest and came to a stop.

“We aren’t far enough in, but I need to talk to you Amber. Linda will you take Zoe with you?” he asked Amber’s mother.

“Of course dear. We will stay close.” she said and walked off with Zoe.

Amber turned to her father, the man who had suddenly changed her world forever and again braced herself for what he was going to tell her.

“Centuries ago, there was a brotherhood called The True Seven. Each of its members were given an ability. Four of these could each control one element; another had the power of flight and invisibility as one. This leaves two of the seven. These last two did not get along at all. One was granted immortality as a vampire, and the other immortality as a werewolf. After some time, the members began to abuse their abilities. The Gods threatened to take them away unless The True Seven, as they called themselves, agreed to destroy the brotherhood and all traces of its existence. They agreed and each went their separate ways.” said her father.

“Why are they called The True Seven?” Amber asked.

“They considered themselves True beings of this earth and looked down upon the human race. They believed they were the True race,” he told her. “Some time later, there was an outbreak and war had started between the vampires and the werewolves, who each had many offspring’s of their own. No one knows what started the war, only that the werewolves became very powerful and the vampires were forced into hiding. The remaining members of the Seven had vanished. Your sister was killed by a rogue clan of vampires and now the war has surfaced again. Whether you like it or not, in four days, on your 16^th birthday, the wolf inside you that has lain dormant these many years will awaken and you will change” he said.

“They will come for me and kill me like they did Tanielle won’t they?” Amber asked.

“Long ago, there was a prophecy told to both a werewolf and a vampire, that a girl would be born a werewolf with the power to wipe-out vampires entirely. They believed that girl was your sister, but they were wrong.” said her father.

Amber knew something bad was coming next, but she couldn’t ignore her father. Not when he held the secret to why her sister was murdered.

“You, Amber, are the one the prophecy spoke of, and one day soon you will destroy that which has hunted us.” he said.

Paul looked at his daughter and could tell that she still didn’t completely believe what he had just told her. He walked to a small clearing and, looking back to make sure she was indeed watching him, he changed into a wolf.

Amber shrunk to the ground in shock and watched her father, who was now a wolf, pad slowly back towards her.

The wolf spoke to her, and she was surprised that she was able to understand what it was saying to her. She recognized immediately her father’s deep voice.

Her father changed back into his human form and dropped to his knees in front of his daughter.

“You understand that you can never tell anyone who you truly are, out of safety for both you and this family,” he said to her.

Amber looked up into her father’s face and truly saw him for the first time in her life. She nodded and enveloped him in a hug. Out of the bushes, a little ways away, her mother and her sister came towards them. The four of them embraced and slowly walked back to their house.