Chapter 1

"Come on D, it's already late."

Damion sighs. Pulling his pants back up, he plants a kiss on the neck of the girl lying beside him, half-naked. Nibbling softly on her left ear, he whispers, "Sorry darling, I got to leave. But don't worry, I'll see you around." 

'Or not,' he thinks to himself.

He stares directly into her eyes and says, "You will not remember me or anything that happened between us. You were tired from working, came up to this room and took a nap."

Then, in a mere flash, he exits the room.

It has been difficult getting around lately, and they have been using hideouts, mingling with the human population to stay out of sight. This is their last day in Brecksville, and they are hoping to finally make some headway. Though in either scenario, they leave for their hometown after nightfall.

"What have you been up to?" Brent inquires irritably when he sees Damion walking down the stairs.

"Oh, just getting to know people better, making myself at home," he tilts his head to one side, "Mingling, you know," and winks.

"Your callous attitude might just ruin our entire operation."

Damion's whole demeanor changes at these words, and he responds in a grim tone, "I know how important this is, and I'll never do something that jeopardizes our already slim chances. No one will know we have been here."

"This is it, guys. I've made the arrangements." They see Tyrus walking into the room. "We leave through the backdoor, it leads directly to the mud path in the forest. It is already dark. This shouldn't be much of a problem."

"That we will see soon enough," Brent contemplates, "Do you think Gremin will listen to what we have to say?"

"Carl's clan has been giving him much trouble lately. I am not saying Gremin is, by nature, highly sympathetic to humans, but he is intelligent, and he always chooses what works best for him and his clan." Damion replies, "They have always been amongst the least barbaric ones. All I can say is that it's worth the shot."

They leave the dingy inn and move quickly but quietly through the thickets. The forest thickens, and the moonlight is now barely reaching the ground. But the darkness is not a problem for them. They are, after all, nocturnal beings. Mostly.

Finally, they see a makeshift hut and a man sitting on a thick fallen tree branch just to the right of it.

The man gets up as he sees them approaching and two more men appear from behind the hut.

"Greetings, Gremin," says Damion

He nods his head in response with a slightly crooked grin. His eyes move from Damion to Tyrus whom he acknowledges with a grin-less nod, and then to Brent. This time there is a visible change in his demeanor and his face contorts with an expression of disapproval, almost disgust.

"What is he doing here?" He asks through gritted teeth.

"He is a part of the cause." Damion responds calmy

"But he is-"

"A vampire. Yes."

The other two men shift to stand up straighter.

"We do not associate with such creatures." says Gremin.

"We associate with whoever is willing to help improve the situation, and Brent is more than willing to do that."

"You are trying to change the order of nature, my boy, the werewolves and the vampires have never seen eye to eye, and they never will. We are enemies by nature."

"The only enemies I have are the ones that threaten the peaceful co-existence of different species, and that's the end of it." Brent says, coming out of the shadows and looking directly at Gremin, "I do not see you as my enemy, and I can tell you that it is not nature. It is a personal choice that we all have made collectively. If it had been for nature to decide, Damion or even Tyrus would not have been my best friend. But they are, for a couple of years now, and I think that is proof enough."

Gremin looks at Brent for few more seconds, as if sizing him up, and then turns towards Damion, "Okay, talk."

"That's the spirit." Damion says with a lighter tone, "The goal is pretty straightforward, Carl and his people are, to put it simply, barbaric and their definition of existence is, either you are one of them or you are their enemy to be pushed around or killed. It does not matter whether you are a human, a vampire, a werewolf, a hybrid, or a witch."

Gremin nods.

"But there is another simple fact that he has an immense group of people behind him." Tyrus continues, "Currently, it would be impossible to take him out. He is strong, clever, manipulative, and powerful. The resistance is weak, scattered, and skeptical of one another."

"What do you suggest?" asks Gremin.

"We suggest the most obvious and probably the only solution: unity." says Brent, "This is the reason we are here. The rallying of people requires one-on-one conversation and effort. We know you have connections, and your clan has a relatively peaceful leader. We would like to meet him if you can arrange that."

Gremin takes a long pause and says, "I can certainly arrange that, but the question is: what do we get out of it to what we might lose in the process? Going against Carl means that my entire clan may be wiped out. We do not have much freedom or say today, but at least we are alive."

"We would never ask you to stand up alone or put yourselves in a position that might be fatal. An open move will only be made once we are sure of our strength." says Damion, "We only ask that you arrange a meeting. Can you do that?"

"I think I'll be able to do tha-"

A heart-wrenching scream pierces the still night air. The source didn't seem to be too far.

***                                       

Lilia's life has been difficult for as long as she can remember. After all, being an orphan and homeless is never easy. Today was another of those pointlessly troubling days. She had found herself a part-time job a couple of months ago and had somehow been able to scrape a living and pay for the community high school. It wasn't much, but she was doing better than she had ever been. Not today though. There was this unfortunate mishap and a mix-up of some orders. She didn't do it on purpose. But, she was fired. So now, she was homeless as well as jobless.

She walked along the road, not paying attention to where she was. She was so angry at herself and pissed with the world. Why does it have to be her? Only when she felt everything was turning out fine, this had to happen. She continues walking and turns to a mud path that seemed to be leading into the forest. She walks for a bit and sits on a stone boulder, angry, disappointed, sad, and lonely. Before she knew it, there were tears streaming down her cheeks. She hadn't felt such a desperate need to belong to something or someone in such a long time. It was clawing on her heart. She continues sobbing to her heart's content, to let it all out. She had to. She couldn't stay this way for long. Tomorrow would be another battle with this world that has been trying to push her down, time and time again.

She tries to steady herself. She knew she had to be strong because the only person she could rely on was herself. She slowly wipes her tears with her sleeve and notices that it had become very dark, she was surrounded by tall trees on all sides, it was difficult to see. This wasn't a safe place to be at, at this time. She gets up and starts walking back, but her hand scrapes across a low-lying tree branch and creates a gash. Blood starts seeping through the gash.

"Oh, great! As if my day wasn't bad enough."

She tries to stem the flow and starts walking faster, but she stops in her tracks, breathing heavily, and tries to focus on a spot fifteen feet ahead of her. She had just seen something flash past that spot, lit by the moonlight seeping through a gap in the trees. But what was it? It couldn't be a human. It was too fast. It was too fast for even an animal. Maybe, it was just her eyes playing tricks. But now her urge to leave the forest was ten times stronger.

She quickens her pace, but she had hardly taken six steps when she hears a distinct heavy breathing and a low growl from behind her. She turns around, shaking with fear and what she sees almost knocks the breath out of her.

She screams and turns to run as the giant wolf sprints towards her. In the panic, she trips and hits her head on the corner of a big stone boulder. She loses sense of everything for a couple of seconds and tries to crawl away, not knowing in what direction she is going. She grapples with her hands on the ground and finds a stick. She feels the giant wolf nearby and tries to brandish the stick in every direction trying to protect herself.

But it was no good, she saw the giant wolf through her blurred vision. It raised its front legs and kicked her in the chest. She fell flat on the ground with the stick thrown out of her hands. The giant wolf was upon her, she felt his raw blood-soaked breath on her face. Holding her down, the wolf raised his head and howled into the night. She didn't know whether it was celebrating the hunt or calling others of its kind. But she didn't care. All she knew was that this was the end of her. She felt herself drifting into unconsciousness and almost welcomed it.

She welcomed not feeling, not knowing.