Capture My Heart

Violet stared at me, confusion on her face.

Her arms were tight around her knees and I watched them tremble. I kneeled down so I was at her level where she sat huddled up on the ground, my eyes were only for her.

“Are you okay Violet? Did they hurt you?” I asked in a rush. I needed to hear her voice. Needed to hear her reassure me that she was okay and no one had hurt her. It didn’t happen though.

She continued to stare at me without acknowledgment.

I felt my heart clench at the silence, and the realization hit me as she didn’t respond in the slightest. She seemed afraid, of me. Why was she afraid of me?

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

“Who are you?” Violet asked quietly, her voice timid and afraid. My heart dropped at her words.

She wasn’t serious. She couldn’t be.

“Vi, it’s me Jake,” I said, my voice quiet and broken. She scrunched her eyebrows but no sign of recognition passed through her deep eyes. Only sadness as she stared at me.

“I-I’m sorry, I don’t remember,” she said, her voice hushed.

Apologies were on her face, but nothing else. No emotion filled her brown orbs but sorrow, and confusion. There was pity there too I imagined, but I was too far gone to notice it.

I felt pain rip through me, and my face crumpled in discomfort. I started trembling, anger, sadness and agony washing over me before Poppy suddenly grabbed my arm and dragged me back.

I let her, my stomach hollow and churning while my mind refused to accept the fact that Violet had forgotten about me. I was dazed as Poppy let out a stream of words that I barely understood.

“What did you call her?” she asked, when I finally started paying attention. She had said some other stuff too, but I hadn’t caught it.

Her eyes were wide, a not so subtle you’ve-completely-lost-it look in her eyes as she talked. It took me a few seconds to respond, but finally I looked down at her, trying to find my voice.

“Violet,” I mumbled, the word burning my mouth. Poppy looked at my imprint sideways, a frown on her face while her shadowy eyes took in everything and missed nothing.

“She told me to call her Farah,” Poppy said looking back to me. Hearing the name shot a jolt through me and I paid attention more.

“What?” I said, my breath leaving my throat in a huff. Poppy jumped slightly at my change in tone and nodded, explaining everything to me.

“She met me in the um…bad section, she didn’t do anything to get their but she heard the guards say she was dangerous and doesn’t know why. Her memory was seriously trashed before she got here.”

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…shit.

“Why the name Farah then?” I asked. The name was familiar, and I knew I had heard it before, but I couldn’t entirely remember where it was from. I turned back to see Violet had turned her body. So she didn’t have to look at me probably.

“I actually asked that before, she said that ‘it seemed to fit’ and she has a tattoo of it on her-”

“Ankle,” I finished the memory fresh now.

The first time Violet had cooked for me; she had told me some of her history and showed me her sister’s name written on her skin in swirly letters. There was a butterfly beside it, along with a few stars.

“You knew her,” Poppy accused. I had no response, so I nodded limply. My whole world was burning down in front of me, a dull bitter aching replacing any other emotion that had existed before now.

“How?” Poppy whispered, her voice taking on an awe tone, but I didn’t get to answer, because a shrill, loud whistle was heard before everyone was scattered.

Poppy cursed and I snapped out of my trance to see the wolves lining up and huddling into bunches while the chaos ensued.

Several vamps poured into the room and I saw that they carried weapons, like those I saw when first arriving. Guns mostly, but also clubs, and what looked like…leather straps around their fists…

I looked closer at these, running at the same time, and following a few men I recognized to where we were supposed to be.

What looked like bands were holding a few scraps of metal near the vampire’s skin; blades.

It took me a second to realize what they were, and used for, before someone ran the wrong way, and long claw-like razors shot out, only to be swiped against the wolf’s back. Red immediately started running down it and I felt horror fill me as I got into ‘formation’ with my group.

After I was safe, I caught sight of Poppy and Violet in line, beside each other. Poppy was searching, most likely for me, and I saw her relief when she saw I hadn’t been clawed. I nodded to her, reassuring her so her eyes quickly flashed away, taking in the rest of this scene, just as I did.

Those hurt, were still stumbling and I watched as one person, a female, fell, and didn’t get up again. The vampires ignored her, and shouted to the rest in a variety of tongues.

They formed lines quickly.

Violet looked where they were, and then to me, and I expected relief to fill her eyes too, but instead there was only fear, left over from the scene in front of her.

She didn’t remember me enough to be thankful I wasn’t one of the injured right now. And she didn’t remember me well enough to reassure me that she was alright either.

It was like I was nothing.

I was just…there.

I was just another face in this crowd, that Violet didn’t want to die, but was alright with watching as long as she didn’t have to instead.

My heart sank.

XxX

Only a few minutes after being locked away again, I was led out of the room, along with six other men. I was concerned this was where the ‘going out and not coming back’ part came in, but I noticed that the guys with me were all just as new to this ‘camp’ as I was.

Initiation was the word that was passed around. There was a higher tension in the air, from the Alpha instinct in the air than from having the guns pointed at us.

I did my best to deal with it though. There was no other option.

We walked, filing past cells, so I caught sight of more wolves, never pausing in our walk as the group descended down some more stairs, and then went up some more a distance away into hallway after hallway.

My back was tense, and I was constantly on edge.

We walked for an eternity, before being ushered into more large doors that were thick and lined with silver hinges that glinted in the dim light.

I followed cautiously, sighing in timid relief when I saw that a group of wolves was leaving.

Their faces were pale and eyes wide, but they were alive. There was a good chance now that I’d come back out.

The vampire I met when first arriving was here, on a stage. He was surrounded by guards and behind a podium with a taunting smile on his face.

I kept my head down.

We were placed in folding chairs. The vampires waited for the silence to be broken, while those of us from the ‘good section’ dared not even to breath loudly in his presence.

We were the tame ones, those who were mildly trusted, so we were all in sync, passing a silent agreement not to do anything, and keep our muteness as we waited.

“Were’s,” the vampire directed, pronouncing it “where’s”. It was some kind of pet name for us, and I dared not be offended about it.

A few vampires behind began translating as he spoke, into Spanish, then Portuguese, then English and French.

Initiation. The guys were right. It was only a run down.

Such simple rules were given, but there were so many attachments.

No trying to run and no fighting. That was all we had to do.

The vamps were in control and we had no choice but to obey. One slip up and we’d be sent down a level, to where the bad sections were.

We had started off good, and now we had to keep it that way.

The lecture droned on, before finishing off with each of us being assigned a letter, and a number, that was on a new shirt we received after, trading in the old ones. I hadn’t noticed before, but a lot of the wolves here were numbered already.

Then it was over.

The vampire smiled, as if this was his favorite part of the day and I noticed that a ripple of fear had passed through those here.

I felt it too, but the emotion wasn’t mine, and I knew that he was inflicting it on us so that we would be a warning to those coming next. “Send in the next group,” he said cheerily, and we were filed out, the fear screened on our faces so the group of females about to go in, saw it and feared too.

As we turned the corner I noticed two among them, my two, Violet and Poppy, and I felt real fear fill me. Maybe the good sections speech was different.

I was forced to forget it though, as an even bigger thought clouded my mind. The one involving the ceremony that I had just endured.

I was no longer Jacob Black.

Here, I was W-15379.