by Mela Zen
“I am assuming it has vampires, werewolves, and witches like in the Vampire Diaries. Are there like demons and angels like in Supernatural?”
“Hmm, not that I am aware of. I have never seen a demon nor an angel in years, centuries. There have been whispers but there has always been whispers about everything and anything.”
“Oh. That’s good, I guess.”
“There are vampires, werewolves, and witches. As you can see you are a werewolf as well as your family or whatever your pack is. Then there are vampires, vampires have been living as long as werewolves, but werewolves been around just a tad bit more. Witches came out of nowhere, don’t know their exact origin, but they have been out there.”
“And you are a werewolf right? A long living one at that.”
“I am also a vampire. And a witch. I am kind of a rarity.”
“Jesus. Are there more of you?”
“That is all three? No. There are hybrids though. It is mostly werewolf and vampire, the most common one. My brother, Ezekiel, is one.”
“That's your brother?”
“Yes, that is my brother.”
“Oh. Um, can there be a person who is a witch and vampire? Or a witch and a werewolf?”
“There are some, but again it is very rare. Most of the time when a witch tries to be a vampire, they lose their witch abilities. Or when a witch tries to be a werewolf, they lose their ability. When it does become successful, the powers are diminished and replaced with the most dominant gene.”
“Safe to say, highly unlikely for me.”
“Safe to say.”
“Well, good to know. Um, I am going to get ready for school. Can I borrow some clothes?”
“Of course. First room on the left, walk in closet. It’s mostly black and grey.”
“I’ll make something work, I think,” she gets up but suddenly turns around, “Were you drinking blood?”
“Yup.”
“From...a...human.”
“Donated blood. Yes I have killed people, but haven’t in awhile. It’s mostly donated blood or animal blood. Do not worry.”
“That is...um...great.”
“Hey, what’s your name? It seems I have been avoiding that the whole time.”
“Oh, it’s Daniella. Or Danni for short.”
“Okay.”
***
Turns out, Daniella is staying out with some friends. She already brought her clothes and car, citing that her father was not happy at all. However, I guess she refused to hear his side as he almost had his crew jump her.
Ezekiel is also out which means that I am also out. It is a Friday night, class has been out and people are ready to party. The sun is beginning to fall on the day, I grab my black leather jacket and my boots checking my map on the town. I like to know what the hell I am getting into because vampires could be lurking or witches casting a barrier spell. I hate bumping into those in a middle of a crowd, people automatically assume you are a weirdo.
“Thank god,” I said when I saw my baby out on the driveway. I rev it up and leave towards the inner city.The town itself is fairly beautiful, I especially love the antique feel. It reminds me of...well...the old times. Although there are new stores such as Starbucks and Dutch Bros allowing the town to grab the young audience.
Walking around the area, a bunch of colleges students is either making out in the dark or just as confused as I am looking at their phones for directions. So far the people are either super helpful and caring or a jackass and assholes. Even though my tastebuds are practically gone, I grab a lot of cookies and savory items from various stores leaving them in my car.
“AHHHHHHHHHH!” I hear a scream a couple blocks away. I am not usually a hero but this heart is pounding through its confinement, terrified.
Dropping everything, mainly my baked goods, I run through the alleys jumping on dumpsters and then onto the roof. The heart’s beat is getting closer and closer increasing my speed allowing me to reach my destination sooner.
“Noooo! Stop!” it is now more of a feminine voice, struggling for air.I look down at the situation, thanking the gods that the clouds are covering the moon’s light. It looks like a young woman is getting robbed from a crazy bearded man. His heart is also pounding due to the fight the woman is putting up, but he also seems nervous. Perhaps it is his first time robbing a girl? Or is it because he knows the girl?
Then the unthinkable happens, he tries to go for her shirt.
Disgusted, my fangs retract as I jump from my perch landing just behind the girl. He looks up then back down, then back up and his eyes widen.“You are one fucking pig, you know that?” I grab his wrist twisting it causing him to scream in pain.
“Oh my god...thank...you..I...oh...my...,” she stutters while trying to compose herself.I toss the man with no force necessary, just a simple flick on his shoulders can send him flying away. I have killed before, killed a whole village, but I never killed without reason. Correction, I have killed without reason, but that is a different story. He lands on his back groaning in pain. My fangs are already retracted aching for his blood but I have to get the girl out of here.
I hate compulsion sometimes, I hate it on me especially. “You will turn around and face the wall. Do not move a muscle, not even a twitch. Just breathe and stare at the wall. Also, take out your phone and record this conversation.
“Her pupils dilate at the command and her face goes expressionless. She turns around facing the wall while I check she is breathing.
Sometimes compulsion is too literal, if I didn’t tell her to breathe, she’ll most likely suffocate because her muscles won’t be contracting.
“What the hell,” I hear the man get up.“What the hell is right. Why were you trying to rob her?”
“Not your issue princess.”
“Then why were you reaching for her breast?”
“Because..she has some nice ones,” he grins, “you do too. If you wanted to pl-“My fingers wrap around his neck, forcing him to the wall. I held up slightly higher than me giving me the advantage to look up at him then I focus my eyes on his.
“Why did you attempt to rob her?“”I need money for drugs and sex. I lost all my money three days ago and became homeless. I am too lazy to restart and get a job.”
“Why were you reaching for her breast?”
“I haven’t had sex in two years, I thought it’ll help my drive.”
“Did you thought about raping her?”
“No. Just touching her.”
“You son of a....okay...”
I let him go causing him to thud on the floor. Again he mopes in pain shaking his head. Although I saved her from a terrible situation, I feel bad that she almost was about to be sexually assaulted.
I have zero, absolute zero, tolerance for people like that. If it weren’t for her being here, I would fucking kill him and have his blood for dinner.I won’t kill him, but I can do with human blood.
“What the hell you just do to me?”
“Force you to tell the truth. She’s heard it and she has it recorded for her to tell the cops in case they don’t believe you.”
“Not if I kill you first!” He attempts to come at me with a small knife. He does cut me, a cut that I barely felt.
I grab his neck again and look at him dead in the eyes. I smile, showing off my fangs that are sharp and long. My eyes turn into this bright orange-red color, similar to a fire for comparisons due to me being both species.
Immortal vampires have a dark ruby red while newborns have a bright red that turns into a darker red as they age. Werewolves have grey eyes signaling the common wolf, alphas have white eyes similar to snow, and the wolfs with yellow eyes are actually a hybrid of wolf and vampires.
“What the fu-” he stops as soon as my fangs pierce his skin.The difference between human blood in bags and fresh human blood is the fact the source of the blood is constantly replenishing the lost amount.
That means the blood has a fresh set of oxygen and the fresh s
et of iron coming to the point of extraction. Blood bags have the same components, but it is preserved and tastes just a tad bitter.His pulse is rapidly slowing down telling me that I need to stop. I let go and his eyes are now shut and his heart is coming back to its form. I bite my wrist giving him a sip or two of my blood so he can heal and wake up because he needs to go to jail. His eyes open and his pupils dilate at my sight.
“You will stay here tied up while the cops come for you. Once they have you in handcuffs you are free my from compulsion,” I whisper because the recorder is still going. I am taking a risk not telling him to forget about me.
I search for something to tie him in, anything really because I hear footsteps coming. I finally found some meshed up rope and use it to tie his hands as he sits on the floor. I retract my fangs and wipe any blood that is left over on my lips.
I walk to the lady who is ever so quiet holding the phone in her hand. I press stop on the recorder and look at her in the eyes, “You will call 911 and tell the cops everything that transpired here including my appearance. However, due to shock, you fainted and do not know how he was tied. I left without saying anything more.”
She quickly dials 911 and I hear the interaction between the two people. I kept my eye on the robber because his heart is doing some weird things, beating quickly then stopping for a brief second.
The sirens I can hear from here a couple blocks down. I see her shivering in the cold due to her wearing a skimpy outfit despite covering most of her features. She quietly walks up to me but her heart pounds out of fear.
“Thank you for your help. I don’t know how you did it, but you saved me,” she cries.“Not a problem. I would suggest going to some kickboxing class or self-defense class. He might not get a long time behind bars and he will come out,” I look at her.“Will do.”
“Bye,” I finally say to her as the sirens are becoming more prominent. She responds by giving me a small smile and a quick wave.I walk away from the scene of the crime while the blue lights flash flicker against the brick wall. I turn the sharp corner trying to get to my car a couple blocks down and that’s when I bumped into someone.
“Sorry,” I said looking up.
There is a tall dark skin man towering before me as he tries to help me up. My nose immediately went to action trying to decipher if he is human, witch, werewolf, or vampire. To my surprise, his scent is hidden not even giving me a single clue on him.
“My fault, I didn’t see you walking by. To be fair, you are kind of short,” his deep voice rumbles through my body. His laugh is also kind of cute.
“One would think a tall man like you could see everything,” I finally look into his eyes.
“Touche,” he looks at me in my eyes.For a millisecond, I felt his eyes looking into my dead soul causing my heart to skip a beat. Nothing, not even my fake relationships in the past, ever made this heart skip a beat. Even though my hands are touching the cloth of his long sleeve shirt, I felt my hands warm up to his touch. This feeling is so unknown that it puts in another emotion that I haven’t felt in a long time.
Fear.
“BRO!” I hear another man yell.
His head, although there was a slight hesitation, snaps the other way looking at the other guy. I took the opportunity and quickly escape with my speed hiding behind some buildings. I guess he felt my disappearance as he quickly looks back at my space. Normally, a human wouldn’t even recognize I left until about ten seconds. He is different for sure.
Then the realization hits me.
I never believed in this nonsense because it ONLY happens to werewolves, it just barely begun with vampires.
There is the slight possibility that he can be my mate.
Chapter 5
Annabelle
“My fault, I didn’t see you walking by,” his voice says to me all disoriented.
“To be fair, you are kind of short,” he says.
“Touche,” still looking at my eyes with deep passion making me shiver.
“UGH!” I throw the heavy book across my bedroom, hitting the snowglobe, breaking it to a million pieces.
Fuck.
My.
Life.
I have been screwed before but not like this. There is no way that this stupid mate thing is a thing! Not to me to say the least. Oh, come on who I am kidding! I have been avoiding this whole damn thing for years and yet here I am wanting to know everything about this young man.
When I got home, I was breathing heavy as if I did a 5k marathon. Time felt slower and longer, the ticks moving at the slowest pace possible. I began sweating, my thoughts running from how to meet him, do I meet him, is he the one? Never in my life, I have felt this hopeless.
I yell out loud sitting back in the middle of the circle of books. I opened all the books that I have collected 300 years ago since the whole mating thing began. I have never been a firm believer, bloody hell, it only was recorded 300 years ago.
Mates. Mates. Mates. I thought they were a werewolf thing since werewolves are more close to earth and nature. Vampires are known for never keeping a relationship because they simply live longer than their partners and their hearts are cold.
Mates.
Signs and symptoms of possibly finding your mate: shortness of breath, heavy breathing, time slowing, overthinking, heart pumping, sexual arousal.
Sexual what?
I think back to his face, looking at his plumped lips and beautiful eyes. My mind stops when I feel something churning down my core.
Confirmed. Sexual thoughts.
There is only one person I can call without giving me bullshit. Jacqueline Devine, a tall brown hair vampire known for her impeccable beauty. Jacqueline also happens to be a primmortal, in fact, the second vampire ever created. The first is her brother Jaxson. Also the one who thinks she is the Mate Matchmaker; to be honest she has been right 99% of the time, the only failed 1% is me and Jax.
“Hello,” her soothing voice answers.
“Jac, hey its...Annabelle,” I respond.
“ANNABELLE! MY GOD, IT IS GOOD TO HEAR FROM YOU!”
I love Jacqueline, I really do. She is like the sister I never had....but sometimes she can be the sister I don’t ever want. For years she has been convincing me that mates for vampires exist and that I will find mine soon. She thought she hit the jackpot when she firmly believed that her brother and I were mates. When we touch, sparks are sent flying through our skins. That is one of the signs of being mates.
However, when we bit into each other’s neck, a process which binds our dead hearts together, we were met with near death. The only reason we didn’t die is, according to her, that we were given a second chance.
For me that is bullshit.
“Hey Jac, I have a few questions,” I look at the gray sky not seeing a droplet of rain, so I open the balcony door and head out. I know my brother might want to hear into the conversation, so I jump and ran a few miles down.
Once the coast is clear, I resume my sentence, “about mates.”
The line went completely silent, still. It was so silent that it irritated me half to death. I waited for her just a while longer but the silence is killing me, “Jacqueline?”
“I am sorry. I was recovering from shock. Mates, you want to talk about the subject you hate the most?”
“Yes, quite frankly I do. If you are too busy then I’ll call some other time,” I groan.
“No, I am never too busy. Tell me did you find him...or her?”
“Him. Why would you think it is her?”
“We don’t choose our mates Annabelle.”
“That’s messed up.”
“Anyways, what is he like.”
“Tall, handsome, square face and pearly white teeth. His skin rivals chocolate and his hair, his hair is well groomed and cut to perfection,” I smile like I am looking at a puppy.
Wait, what the fuck?
“Awe, you are already smitten about him. Did you guys touch?”
“Yes, a sting ty
pe of sensation was sent through my body, not sure about his. It was so powerful I am surprised I didn’t burn. The funny thing is that I touch his wrist that was covered and I swear if it wasn’t I-”
“You would have felt the intensity lit up? Yeah, I know. Tell me when did you last see him?”
“That night. However, his image is literally plastered on my eyeballs. Everywhere I turn I swear I see him. And you know what I feel that I can’t be without him like my whole world stops and I am freaking out that he is not here, next to me. I just get choked up thinking about what the hell he is doing. I get even more angry thinking that he can be talking to some girl that isn’t me and I just want to rip her throat,” I sigh.
“Damn, you are also possessive.”
“Why am I feeling like this,” I sink down on the rock, overlooking the view.
“Because he is your mate, Annabelle. I know I have been wrong before but I am right this time. Everything you just felt now is what I felt when I was with Francis. Once we united our bond and our hearts, we felt even more powerful and we freak out less than we are apart. What is he?”
“He is human. However, his scent is masked very well. I doubt he is a werewolf, usually, werewolves don’t mask their scent let alone know how.”
“Well, Annabelle looks like you have to do everything in your power to make sure he is alive. You know already that you have a target on your back. Don’t let anyone know about this, especially Daryl. They will use him to their advantage, please be careful.”
“On it boss.”
“I will come and see you soon. I wa-”
“No. Bye. And thanks for the advice,” I hang up before she stops me and yells at me for hanging up.
“I have a mate,” I smile to myself.
***
I shut the door behind me, taking in the wooden smell of the house. My head perks up when I hear laughter entering the house, one of them belongs to Danni while the others are more masculine.
I straighten myself up and smile my way to the living room. I notice that the two other people are young men, all of which came with backpacks and duffle bags. And all of them are humans.
