The Lykoi girl felt a satisfied grin caress her face when the poor rodent hit the stranger woman right in the face. Seventeen squirmed numbly to get on its feet and away, but the older woman caught it with ease and held it firmly while looking up at the girl that had thrown it. One of Halo’s eyebrows arched curiously now when she gazed into the woman’s face – there was something familiar. Instantly, red eyes started to roam the other woman’s body in search for the revealing star that most of the Lykoi members seemed to wear. She failed to spot any. Eyes snapped back to the older hybrid’s face when a question was raised. Her free hand unconsciously rose to stroke the Lykoi star that was located on her chest. Family, then? Halo almost regretted throwing the fat rat at the woman now.

        
Ruby eyes turned dark when the woman pulled the rodent closer to her face, teasing her. She felt a pang of pain in her middle floor and – knowing what was coming – rushed to the first subject that had revealed that they were kin. ”Family? Who are you?” the girl’s question sounded quickly as her gaze fled from the golden woman’s form. Her eyes almost bled with disappointment in her ability to control her damaged mentality. The strangest things seemed to trigger memories of scenes that she did not want to browse again ever – at least not anytime soon. She crouched down slowly and let number ten and two down on the ground next to her. Knowing she had trained them well, she did not bother to take notice of what they did, as they always came when she called for them.

Her gaze returned to the woman now; controlled and cool without a touch of the horror that had wanted to explode inside her chest.

        
That she would toss a rat at Gabriel’s sister was not something she had imagined on beforehand. Her name was immediately recognized, for Halo knew all Kaena’s children’s names. She wished she could have felt more enthusiastic about meeting another relative, but she had learned that carrying the name of the Lykoi didn’t actually mean they were worthy of it. Halo was still alive, so perhaps she had been given a second chance. This was not to say that she thought Rikka unworthy of anything – she did not know her aunt. Ruby eyes peered with mild curiosity before they dropped to the poor rodent. Its eyes seemed begging and she felt a hard knot forming in her throat. She did not care about her little rats, which was one of her own rules. She hated the weakness that currently inhabited her, making her all emotional and ready to break into tears so goddamn easily – like now.

        
Her lips tensed for a moment before she gave up and let a small whine escape her. ”Could I please have my rat back?” she pleaded as she reached out after it with a hand, knowing that she would surely break into tears if her aunt pressed the life out of rat number seventeen. Her facial expression was apologising deeply along with need for the small creature to be safe. There were many rats she did not bother much with at all, but there were of course some favourites among the trash and these three rodents were a part of that minority. She cursed herself, but she could not control the unsettling waves of emotional instability that had been released by Samael when he had turned her life upside-down. ”I didn’t know who you were; you don’t smell much of Inferni,” she lamely claimed as she tried to defend her actions.

        
The girl spent patience she did not possess as she waited for her aunt’s final decision. Black rodent eyes stared and stared and stared. When Rikka finally let the little animal go, the reunion with its master was not pleasant. The girl was about to pick it up as it seemed to settle by her hands, but a bite was all it had to offer her before it scurried away from the party and disappeared in-between the dying grass. A grimace twisted Halo’s feminine features as she glared after the little piece of dung before she tended her injured finger. The cut was not deep – the rodent could have done more harm if it just wished. Had it just punished its own master? Teeth grinded together at that thought and she let it go.

        
She had no patience for the light hybrid’s words as she went on about the rodent throwing. The girl stood up and remained silent, fighting to avoid rolling her eyes at the other. It had been a silly decision tossing the rat on the other, but why not? If Rikka had killed the rodent it wouldn’t have been a big deal. There were several of them – she could always breed new and better exemplars. It was odd how the Lykoi family was slowly gathering again. When she had arrived they had been few, but Kaena seemed to draw her spawn to Inferni like a rotten corpse drew Halo’s beloved rodents. ”I’m Halo, Vitium’s daughter.” was the reply from the girl as the woman seemed to want to know. Halo wondered if Vitium was as blacklisted in Rikka’s heart as well.

        
The question about Vitium served made a flash of badly hidden fire join in with the bright crimson in the young Lykoi’s eyes. There had been no hint of turmoil within the other female when Vitium’s name first had been mentioned and after the swift moment of disbelief and rage filtered out of the hybrid’s eyes she wondered if Rikka simply was unaware of what her brother had done. She did not know how present her aunt had been in the clan in the past, but the lack of reaction was unlike Gabriel’s. Samael and Kaena too had agreed that Vitium was a traitor to the clan and his own blood. Surely Rikka was not oblivious of this. Where her fucking loser of a father was, Halo did not know. Probably still up north raping females and raising children into believing his every word. Yes, Halo wondered if she would see any half siblings showing up in Inferni at some point. It was sad that such a young creature carried so much rage and hatred for both beings that had given her life, but betrayal hurt and burned with intensity few other things managed to match. In comparison to being raped, she was in this case allowed to let burning rage take space, not the sadness and self loathe.

        
Ruby eyes kept on the older female. Perhaps Halo was insolent, or perhaps she was just having several bad months that truly tested how much her mentality could take before it crumbled and made her insane.
”Sorry, but I know nothing of where that treacherous bastard is,” she announced with a quiet voice oddly empty for the anger that could be seen in her fiery red eyes. This meeting with her newly joined aunt was not going in the best possible direction – this was for sure. She did not like the way the other woman looked at her. She did not like being judged regardless if it was deserved or not. How could she have known that it was a fucking aunt that had been sprawled out like a slaughter on the rock? She was child of Ahren and her features spoke strongly of wolf just like Halo’s own should have had she been less fortunate. Her Inferni scent was close to non-existent and had she not known by the familiarity in the scent once she searched for it then this woman could easily have been an intruder.

        
The question questioned her reasons and nothing more. Crimson eyes hardened slightly and she stared at the older female, wondering whether or not the woman was oblivious of her father’s deeds. Her tail moved – coiled with frustration because the world was not like she wanted it to be. She wanted to have something concrete and steadfast that she could hold on to while the storms blew and ruined things she held dear. Her rodents were trained to be thrown away in blood and goo and whatever else. They were not living things to her – no, mere weapons that would be used on the larger versions of the canines. She would not have hesitated sending her killer rodents on her own father had he appeared by the borders with open hands. Although Halo had chosen her current life as a coyote, she also hated her father for taking her away from the only thing that had ever been good and pure in her life. This last thing was the cause of endless turmoil inside of her, for the girl despised her wolfen mother just as strongly as she now despised her hybrid father. She seemed to spend much energy on hating the two people that had given her life.

        
It would make little sense for outsiders, but Halo’s life was seldom pretty. She had been brainwashed at an age of a couple of months and Vitium had never shown his children much warmth. She had lived without so much for so long, though she knew what she could have had her parents just been different and more normal. Halo did not necessarily like herself. She knew she was gifted with a unique outer beauty, but she loathed what she was on the inside. This she could not change, because a certain male had granted her the sight and removed her strength. The young hybrid watched Rikka and saw the resemblance to the grandfather she never had and never would meet. Ahren de le Poer had created rumours and stories that still lived today and she could not make up her mind whether or not she should loathe him for being a wolf. Hallo’s grandmother had chosen to carry his children and that had to mean something. What kind of blood ran through her veins? Surely it was more value to find than that of the Lykoi?

        
The girl’s gaze had lost its focus as her minds had wandered away from the other woman’s question. ”He turned his back on Inferni and his family for some wolf, raped a wolf and stole her children only to fill their heads with worthless lies.” she spat, anger fresh and apparent though it was not truly meant to be thrown at Rikka. Halo was young though already bitter and disappointed with the life she had lived so far. She had believed Vitium was loathed by his family too, but if her aunt was unaware of this, exactly how long ago had this all happened?

        
If it weren’t for him she would not have existed at all. Ruby eyes definitely glared at the woman. Without a life she would not have had to go through such painful times for nothing. Without him she would have grown up with a loving mother. Yes, Vitium gave him for the extended family, but at the same time she had lost her Soul family forever. The hatred and denial of her wolfen blood had been forced into her and there was no way of looking around it now. She had made her choice and her family because she had never had any other choice. It had also become clear to her that the Lykoi family was not so glorious in every damn way she had believed. She knew how blue eyed she had been when she first had shown up at the borders marked by the death of wolves. Her brain had been fried and had fantasised so vividly of death and glory and her coyote heritage. Now Halo was finding herself go back in time and wish that her life had turned out differently. She knew not how a life with her mother would have turned out like, but she was maimed and broken in this life and shamed beyond belief. Mostly everything would be better than the holocaust within her after what he had done.

        
”A family made up of murderers, sinners and rapists,” the girl spat, though these reasons had once been glorious in her mind. Well, not when it happened to her. ”I suppose I can thank him for that, yes,” she added as an afterthought with a few spoonfuls of sarcasm added.

        
Rikka had not truly pushed anything. This was Halo revealing that she had issues. She did not meant to let the woman so early see this behavior, but she handled her emotions more poorly after Samael had ruined some of her. She felt ruined and out of control and she needed control in order to find her sanity. The red eyed woman had always adored the wickedness that two, maybe even three of her family lines carried. She had wanted to possess it, but she doubted that she did now after what had happened. Her devilish uncle saw her as weak and had openly revealed his opinion to her by dominating her completely in the most horrible way she could think of. Still she was alive though, but she did not know if that meant anything. Halo’s pride in her family was tainted. While she still so desperately wanted to adore it, the color was not perfect anymore. It was tainted because the relative she had adored had done to her what they did to enemies.

The young female said nothing as the golden hybrid apologized. She knew well that she had stepped well over several lines now, but she did not know how to minimize the damage done to their first impressions. Silence danced between the two women for a moment before Rikka spoke again and she felt no better. Only traitors left and she would not become her brothers and relatives. Those who turned their backs to Inferni did not deserve second chances in the young Lykoi’s eyes. Her face did not twist into a horrid grimace though, for some control seemed to have been found at last. ”I’m loyal to my clan and my family,” she replied, shifting her weight and trying to gain some of the extra size she should have had according to her wolf blood. ”It would make me a traitor of Inferni.” she added, letting her own view of such a decision come forth more clearly.