Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Forever ❯ Young Ones ( Chapter 4 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Neona’s head felt light, she liked the way her hair brushed her shoulders as she shook her had from side to side, though she had been a little sad when she had seen her hair gathered into a small trash barrel.

She thought about Laila’s fluffed out black hair and eyed Aluna’s as she wondered if all the females were required to have short hair for some reason. Thinking about it made her remember Laila’s overall strange appearance.

Now that she thought about it Aluna too had very strange apparel. The squirrel wore what at first looked to be a tightly fitting grey dress. Upon closer inspection Neona saw that it was closer to a tunic with a long slit of each side to her waist and a pair of black shorts underneath for modesty. On both her arms, midway from her shoulders to her elbows, a loose sleeve was fastened with black belts with a silver buckles. Around her waist was another black belt with matching buckle.

“Aluna,” Neona said, watching as Aluna rummaged about looking for clothes for her to wear.

“Yea- yes?” she said, twisting around and clutching garments to her chest. She fought to look casual but the fur on her tail was standing out in all directions.

Neona smiled softly, and waited a few moments for the girl to calm herself again. “I wont hurt you,” she said, hoping to allay some of her worries.

Aluna frowned, her Aqua eyes lowering to the floor. “I’m sorry.” she said with such a sad voice that Neona almost took a half step towards her. “It’s just that wolves killed most of my family...” She looked up as she finished arranging clothes on a small table.

“I’m... sorry,” Neona mumbled. She didn’t understand why wolves would have done such a thing. Her kind didn’t kill unless threatened, and squirrels most certainly didn’t attack wolves. She was sure that the girl was simply mistaken, it hadn’t been wolves but someone easily mistaken for one.

“I need to go,” Aluna said. Neona raised a hand to stop her but with one twtich of her bushy tail she was gone, making Neona blink in surprise. She had heard that squirrels were very quick and elusive but the girl had disappeared before her eyes.

Neona sighed, shaking her head in her confusion. Perhaps, when she spoke with Aluna again she could help clarify the poor squirrel’s mistake. Neona nodded to herself, and turned her attention to the clothes Aluna had laid out for her.

First was a strange top she had to struggle to put on. It was brown and very tight fitting around her bust but ended just below it, leaving most of her waist and torso exposed. At the bottom of the shirt, instead of a hem there was a black belt attached that fastened with a silver buckle like Aluna’s.

One sleeve was the same material as the top and was so long and wide that it nearly covered her right hand, the other was a buckle like the hem of the shirt with another silver buckle. The pants she then pulled on were also brown and came down to her knees, these were not tight but seemed to flow like her right sleeve did. She also now wore a black waist belt with a silver buckle, and like Aluna had, small, black slip-on shoes.

“Oh, that fits you so well!” came Laila’s voice from the entrance way. Neona looked up excitedly, her tail wagging back and forth as she smiled to great the bear.

“Laila,” she said, then realized she had no idea what to say to the bear as the girl came skipping towards her, her face suddenly very alarmed.

“Your hair!” The bear cried, taking a bit into her hands. “Aluna cut it so short!”

“It’s alright,” Neona said, more to console Laila than herself. The bear had tears briming in her eyes.

“It was so lovely though...” she mumbled, as though she felt it really was a shame. Neona felt herself smile as Laila’s fingers ran though her hair and she fussed over her. She was beginning to enjoy Laila’s touch.

“I don’t mind, it’s a nice change,” Neona said finally. Laila reluctantly nodded and let her hands fall to her sides.

“Well, I do need to show you inside now,” she said, as thought to try and put her mind somewhere else. Laila frowned a little, giving Neona’s hair one last mournful glance before motioning for the wolf to follow her out of the servant house.

Neona obediently followed Laila from the run down shack, across the dark grounds and to the mansion without a word. Only when they had entered and the many different smells came to her sensitive nose did Neona finally speak.

“There’s so many,” she said raising a hand to cover her nose in protest. Laila looked over her shoulder and smiled almost proudly.

“Yes, it was a little overwhelming for me too when I first came. You’ll soon get used to everyone’s smell, and some of them don’t even have a scent, they’re harder to get used to,” she mused, smirking as though something funny had crossed her mind.

“Where are we going?” Neona asked, remembering suddenly the vampires of the household. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to meet Laila’s lord. If he was anything like Keahi then she most certainly wasn’t looking forward to it.

“To the nursery,” Laila said, continuing on her way as Neona tmidly followed behind, looking at everything that caught her eye. “I take care of the little ones, the orphans we find in the forests or in human settlements.”

“Are there many of them?” Neona asked, her heart squeezing tightly at her own tragic memories. Laila’s pace slowed somewhat and she shook her head.

“No... not now,” she mumbled. Neona’s eyes widened in surprise as she heard a quiet sniff from Laila. “We’re here.” she said softly, placing her hand upon the handle of a large wooden door. Laila smiled brightly, looking to Neona as though nothing had been said, but there was a trace of sadness behind the bears eyes.

“Brace yourself,” Laila warned as she pushed the door open.

“Laila!” a small white and pink blur pounced on Laila with such force that the bear was instantly floored. “Marius is bullying us again!” said the attacker.

Neona looked closer at the small thing clutching onto Laila and realized it was a small, female child of the rabbit clan wearing a very frilly pink dress. She watched as Laila climbed back to her feet, lifting the small child with her so that she was effectively holding her in her arms.

“Marius are you bullying Cossette and James again?” Laila asked someone within the room. She stepped inside, still carrying the girl and Neona followed slowly, hoping no one would tackle her as well.
Inside the walls were painted in a bright shade of blue with a white border around the entire perimeter of the room. Toys were scattered across the floor, though many of them looked broken, and there was a large chest against one wall that seemed to contain an array of blankets, soft toy animals and pillows.

Standing to one side of the room was a small boy nearly identical to the girl in Laila’s arms, except for his light blue pants and shirt. Neona supposed they were twins, both having the same soft white hair and long rabbit ears; and both had bright ruby eyes that seemed to be boring holes into Laila as they both watched her and waited for her to act.

In a corner all by himself sat another boy child, this one looked slightly older and was from a different clan altogether. He had a wild look about him; his white hair spiked in different directions and had streaks of gold running through it. His ears were rounded and nearly all golden in color save for the white spot on the back of both ears. His ears, and his long white and gold stripped tail gave him away as part of the tiger clan, but the small child was alarming in one small way.

It wasn’t the scowling, almost hate-filled glare he gave the other two children, but the almost hungry look in his eyes when Laila stepped towards him and let the female child down.

“Marius,” Laila said almost in a pleading tone. “Can’t you try to get along?” She placed a hand on her hip and the other over her eyes as she sighed. “If you don’t I have to tell Exhaine.”

The boy looked away from her, huffing as though to tell her he didn’t care.

“Laila,” said a small voice belonging to the boy rabbit. “Who is she?” Laila blinked and looked from the boy to his pointed finger, then followed it back to Neona.

“I nearly forgot!” Laila said in an excited voice that made both rabbits jump in surprise. “This is Neona, she’s a wolf.”

Neona frowned slightly. Laila forgot about her? She looked away from the bear to the two rabbit children who looked somewhere between awe and utter terror.

“Hello?” Neona tried, not really sure what to say to the children. She racked her brain trying to remember what her nurse had done with her when she was a child. Nothing came to mind.

“Does Lord Haimon know?” the tiger said in a low, hesitant voice. Neona watched the two rabbits roll their eyes at him. The boy cast them a rather nasty glare and they both clamped onto Laila’s legs in hope of protection.

“Yes, of course he does. He gave Neona permission to help me with you rascals, which reminds me...” Laila smiled as the two rabbits suddenly groaned in unison.