1

Legend

“The greed and greed of a person awaken in him the basest desires, which give rise to black envy. This is exactly what happened to a little boy who grew up in an ordinary peasant family. Knowing nothing but labor and deprived of the benefits that noble people possessed, Demid nurtured true evil in himself. And evil, as you know, always breeds evil. Desiring power and great strength, with the help of magic on the night of the full moon, after performing the rite of conversion, he was reborn into a creature that the people had not seen before.

For the ritual, Demid chose not an animal, but a person as a sacrifice. Devouring his flesh, he acquired bestial strength, becoming the first wolf demon on Earth. Otherwise they are called lugars. The darkness inside turned him into a monster. Realizing that he could not achieve the desired power alone, he decided to convert others. The choice fell on three, in his opinion, worthy: Kasia, Velius, Maelia. They became called sons of the firstborn, the first to be bitten. Each had its own peculiarity. Casius is the best hunter, Velius is cunning and dodgy, and Maelius is a born killer. Together, the trinity spawned entire packs, and these packs brought one destruction. Monsters ravaged entire villages until shamans around the world turned to the gods and ancestors for help.

The most fearless warriors, protecting the innocent, began to turn into giant wolves (werewolves) and this happened wherever wolf demons appeared. Anikiy, one of the first half-wolves, defeated Maelius in battle. Although the third son was the most bloodthirsty, he could not cope with the power of the new convert.

The feud has gone on for centuries. Werewolves reduced the number of lugars, but still it was not possible to completely destroy them. Night demons hid and waited for the right moment.

To protect themselves in the future, the shamans asked the gods to give the wolves a special power, although the gods did not give it to everyone. The elders had visions that the elect would be born. The wolf, which will not be equal among the werewolves, is the true alpha and his pair, by right the second leader is the White Wolf. Together they will lead the largest flock on Earth. Their strength will be capable of destroying tens or even hundreds of lugars.

The birth of the elect brought with it great changes throughout the world. Velius - the second named son, along with his flock were destroyed. Next in line are Demid himself and Casius.

Our days. London.

Life is a long journey, it begins with birth and ends with death. But sometimes life is different, it has a beginning and no end. Such a life seems to some a gift, and to others a punishment.

I am Melissa Matthews, daughter of the most majestic werewolves on earth. She was born in a family of the chosen, true leaders of the entire wolf family. My destiny is to protect the innocent and fight the demons of the night (lugaru). Immortality does not please me at all, I would prefer to be a man, or at least an ordinary werewolf, able to choose - to live forever or grow old with loved ones.

There is a difference between me and my parents, I have been a she-wolf since birth. I can reincarnate from an early age, I didn’t have to wait until I was eighteen. Even my life is very different from my mother's, Katherine was a loner before coming to the City of Wolves, while I grew up among my own kind and among a wide circle of friends. My uniqueness gave me the ability to remain among people without their precaution and instinctive fear. I have never been shunned. Surprisingly, and according to all the wolves of the pack, my twin brother and I do not differ in smell from people, which makes us invisible to enemies. Only thanks to this feature, dad and mom were allowed to enter the University of London. But something did change on the third full moon after coming of age. Fellow students and girlfriends began to avoid. Appearance has acquired a certain power over the opposite sex. It seems to be afraid, but they are drawn. Accustomed to a big company, suddenly she was left alone. Fortunately, the parents are not around, they would definitely take them home. Her father was barely persuaded. Jason felt from the start that this was a rash move on our part.

Lugar for the last twenty years almost did not make itself felt, there were rare cases, but the werewolves scattered around the world did their job. And not only them. An unusual wolf demon, an enemy of his own kind, played no small role in the extermination. Legends about him spread across all continents. And only for me, for a girl who grew up on the stories of her mother about his heroism, I perceive the amazing lugar as a fiction, a fairy-tale character who was specially invented to further intimidate the enemy. In the modern world of technology, the Internet and glass skyscrapers, we are wolves hiding our existence, for people - folklore, and even among us it seems unreal.

Another creature that remains a mystery to me are vampires. My knowledge does not go beyond the book. Ancient werewolves claim that these predators are more terrible than the lugar, but they appear extremely rarely and prefer to remain in the shadows. It is not surprising that having lived for so many years in a small town, I have never seen them, and I have not come across them in London yet. Lovers to drink human blood, for me personally, is another myth. I am one of those who, having not seen with their own eyes, will never believe in the stories passing from mouth to mouth. Yes, my parents, brother and myself are living legends, but this is different.

I don't recognize myself lately. The reflection in the mirror is different from what it was just a couple of weeks ago. Green eyes have become more saturated, lips have acquired a brighter shade, eyelashes are much thicker. Accustomed to using make-up, like all modern girls, she no longer saw the need for it. At first I looked at the face for a long time, now I'm a little used to it. I always admired the beauty of Katherine, I dreamed of at least a little bit like my mother, and now my wish came true. One thing is worrying, if it happened on the third full moon, a kind of complete conversion, then it is now visible to the enemy.

Now, sitting by the window and enjoying the long-awaited sun, I am trying to get used to the idea that if this is true, I will have to quit my studies and return home.

I'll go for a walk along the beautiful streets while there is such an opportunity. The weather is wonderful today, but I can’t stay locked up all the time, afraid of my assumptions.

The students crawled out of the dormitories and settled down on the grass under the warm rays, chatting carelessly about the simple little things in life. How I envy them. Too bad she wasn't born human.

She got up from her chair and went to the chest of drawers, pulled out her white skinny jeans and black short-sleeved T-shirt. Today you can afford light clothes, I will not seem crazy. Because of the temperature of my body, I do not get cold, but among people I have to dress appropriately and for the weather. No matter how hot it is, I endure it.

She pulled on jeans and a T-shirt, let her hair down and looked in the mirror. You could say it's cute. Because of my appearance, I try to dress modestly, not stylishly. So I become more like an ordinary girl, but this is more self-deception than the truth.

She went to the bedside table and pulled out the money, almost forgot about it. On the way back to the hostel I will have a snack in my favorite cafe. There, my supernatural appetite scares no one.

Leaving the room in which I live alone thanks to Katherine, I locked the door. She quickly ran down the stairs and out into the street. The smell hit my nose, slightly damp, but not as damp as usual, the sun is bright and will soon dry everything. Summer is slowly approaching, and it makes itself felt. I looked around, the streets are filled with people, probably everyone is happy with the warm weather.

She walked along the sidewalk and watched with curiosity the animated squares. I did not immediately notice how others were looking at me. The disguise didn't seem to help. I shook my head slightly so that my hair fell on my face, so I would be inconspicuous.

Nearby there is a small cinema, I'll watch some new movie. I love youth melodramas.

I bought a ticket and went inside. As it turned out, there were almost no spectators besides me. That's what the sun means in London. In England, more than two hundred days a year are overcast or rainy.

I watched the movie. With carefree thoughts, I went to my favorite cafe.

I went through the alley, the path is shorter and there are no people. As soon as I went out to the next street, the sun illuminated me. She covered her face with her hair again. She waited until the traffic light turned red for cars and crossed the road. The cafe is crowded, but my table is free. Apparently Mrs. Dolly left it for me, because I go here almost every day. Before I could think, the waitress hurried over to me. She is not young, she is like my grandmother, she is plump, but very nimble for her age.

- Hello baby! – breathed a pleasant and affectionate voice.

Hello Mrs Dolly! smiled at her. I don't know why, but she, as always, broke into a satisfied smile.

- What will you order?

I did not look at the menu, I managed to study by heart.

- Beef steak and a larger piece. Just today I'll eat more chocolate ice cream.

The waitress nodded and disappeared in an instant. I'm sure he'll be back in five to ten minutes with an order. I was not mistaken, a plate with a huge piece of meat soon appeared on the table. Started. After eating everything in a matter of minutes, I moved on to ice cream. Enjoying his taste, looked out the window. Everyone is in a hurry. Couples are walking hand in hand. It is clear from their joyful smiles how happy they are. The children play carelessly in the square. Who is rollerblading, who is chasing a ball. Everything around breathes life. She sat for a while, and then got up, paid the bill and said goodbye. Mrs. Dolly said that an empty table would be waiting for her favorite visitor tomorrow.

It was already evening, the sun was still shining, but slowly hiding behind the houses. I decided to go to hostel. Better to be back before dark. This city is dangerous for me. Recently, I have smelled the smell of lugar more than once, their sorties have become more frequent.

There are a lot of walkers, I started to make my way through them and suddenly felt that someone was watching me closely. She froze and began to look through the eyes of an observer. I felt a strange aroma that clearly did not fit into either human or city smells. And finally, I found him.

I do not believe. Is he a vision or is he real? My eyes met those of a rare shade of grey, like a stormy sky. The look is serious and focused. A frown does not spoil the beauty of the face. Protruding high cheekbones and an imperfectly shaped nose, combined with full, but not too full lips, create a balance between beauty and masculinity. He has slightly arched eyebrows that are as pitch black as his long, glossy hair in a braid. The guy is incredibly tall. I thought there was no such thing as a father and brother, but I was wrong. We froze in the crowd. He stands just a few steps away and, without hiding his interest, studies me, without stopping for a second, and not paying attention to the people passing by.

His gaze was confused. From the slight smug smile I guessed that she had blushed. Suddenly, someone hit his shoulder. It helped me, distracted me from the stranger. I looked at the traffic light. For me, the red is still burning, and, therefore, more than one minute has passed since I met the eyes of this guy. He seemed to be bewitched, and I forgot about everything. The body refuses to obey, it was necessary to strain well to make the legs move. I walked close to the traffic light and began to look ahead of me. Didn't see anything. The head is occupied by the violator of my mental peace. I feel eyes on me, but I do not dare to raise my eyes, a strange feeling in my chest does not allow me to concentrate. Only by the way it ceased to flicker, I guessed that the flow of cars had stopped. People were crossing the road. Taking herself in hand, she followed them. Only on a parallel street did she fully come to her senses. Meeting with a stranger seemed like a dream, everything was like in a fog, time seemed to stand still. If no one had run into me, I would have stood rooted to the sidewalk.

‍​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌‍