Laura - 1963
I struggle to breathe. My lungs seem empty as if they've been dormant for a long time. While I try to inhale as much air as possible, a muscular arm wraps itself around me, its touch frigid against my skin. Its earthy scent mingles with the smell of mildew.
The air seems stale as if no one has thought to open a window in years. What am I doing here? How did I end up here? Who's standing next to me? A whirlwind of questions invades my head, and I can't tell them apart.
As I remember the scene with the hooded men, the blade comes into focus, along with the pain and numbness. My fingers reach for my neck. No cut there, no pain. I struggle to move, but the man's grip holds me like in a vise. This is not how I pictured my first time laying with a man or sharing a bed and cuddling.
My fingers go through the mattress, and I feel something crumbly and hard, granules beneath my nails. I raise my hand and it's filled with dirt, black, dry soil. Never mind the bed or mattress. We are sleeping on the cold earth.
Everything has to be a dream, a nightmare. But how did I get here? And where is this? It's dark, darker than inside my hellish vision. However, my eyes become accustomed to the dark quickly, or I am experiencing something else. Although there is no light, shapes and colors emerge from the blackness.
Gulping, I turn to glimpse the man next to me. I cover my gasp with a hand when I see the one from my dream, the one who attempted to defend me. It can't be! How can he be real?
And how am I able to see everything so clearly? There isn't a window, a light, or anything else to be found. All my attention goes back to the man. I can plainly see his long, black lashes, as well as how they parted precisely at an identical distance from each other. His smooth, white complexion is free of blemishes and wrinkles.
Even though I have so many questions, my need to get out of here supersedes the need for answers. Slowly, I try to crawl from under the man's arm, but it weighs a ton. He spoke in my defense, but I'm still afraid to wake him up.
I dash for the door the minute he retracts his hand with a low snarl. His hand touches mine before I grasp the handle. How quick is this guy? He takes both of my wrists in his grip. I can't get my hands out no matter how hard I try. I'm doomed to fail.
"I'm sorry," he keeps mumbling as I struggle.
The tidal wave of reality washes over me. I look down. My dress is all red as if I bathed in blood. A dry coating covers the skin of my cleavage. But the worst part of all is the sudden realization that this is the moment in which my heart should be racing. No. It's still. Too still for comfort.
"Please allow me to explain." His hands have retreated, and I'm free again, gasping. His stunning sky-blue eyes reveal no animosity or ill-will.
I raise my chin as if I am the one in control of the situation. "Ok. Tell me. Who are you? What happened to me? Where are we?"
"Can I answer each question at a time?" The sad smile barely stretching his lips earns him some sympathy. After I nod, he continues. "You may not believe me at first, but strigois are real."
I furrow my eyebrows, waiting for him to laugh and say something like, "Fooled ya!"
When I see his solemn expression, I burst out laughing, a wild laugh, since I know this can explain everything. "You're a madman! Strigois are just a fairytale made up to scare children to go to sleep earlier or young maidens to stop going out alone at night."
"No, we are real." He yanks my hand and presses my palm over his heart, his skin icy-cold beneath his shirt, just like the fingers around my wrist. His heart is still just like my own.
I will not trust him. "We're not in a movie. Vampires are a made-up concept. And how corny would it be for them to exist in Romania, of all places, anyway?"
"What can I say? Bram Stoker got everything wrong except the country." He shrugs and releases my hand, which I immediately pull back. "And we are strigois, the original version, not the fiction. Older than the movies and this country. True, we hate the sun, but we can endure it if need be."
"Did you bite me? Have you drunk my blood? What else did you do to me?"
"I'm quite a gentleman, just so you know." He scoffs and seems really offended. "I didn't bite you, though I may have licked some of your blood considering it was already there for the taking. As for the last question, no, I only held you in my arms for three nights and three days."
"What?! Do you expect me to believe I've been here three days?"
"And nights." He nods. "When you live so much of your life in the dark, your nights become more important than your days."
"But you didn't transform me into one of you, did you? The stillness I feel in my veins is a mirage."
"A strigoi is a soul trapped in a dead body. An undead can touch souls and hold them inside for long enough to remain there forever." He steps forward, his face almost next to mine. "That's what I did to you. That's why I'm sorry." He grimaces and points toward me. "You are trapped in this dead body because of me. I killed a strigoi to save my love, and you paid the price for me."
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." I draw back until my back slams into the wall. In a feat of insanity, I shook my head frantically, my fingers clutching my hair.
"I'm sorry," he whispers yet again.
I don't care about his apology. I pound my fist against my chest over and over again. I yell and punch myself until I hear it, a faint but nevertheless much-desired heartbeat. Tick tac. "Can you hear it? It started. I'm not a strigoi."
"Oh, my poor devil." He comes and caresses my face. This time, his touch doesn't make me shudder. "There's no heartbeat. You somehow managed to glamour yourself."
Paul - Present DaySturdy strides carry me to the closed double doors while a hammering heart chisels away inside my chest. A soft scent of lilac persists in my nostrils, bathing me in bliss. The girl is asleep in my arms. I have to resist the urge to gaze at her rather than where I am going.Ana opens the main doors. "What happened? Who is she?"I finally look down and see her face. That's what makes my knees go weak. She's so beautiful that it hurts to think about anything else. The light from the chandelier above us illuminates her pale skin as her eyelashes lay gently over her upper cheeks."She's—" My voice trails off when I realize I don't know the answer to any of Ana's questions.Dan follows me inside the house. "From what I could tell from Paul's stuttering on the way here, someone tried to shoot him, and the girl leaped in front of him."Ana darts forward to examine the girl. She tugs the ruined blouse down over the girl's sh
Laura - Present DayThe door closes shut behind him. This man is quite a character. Ha! I guess this is how one acts when the entire world revolves around him. Sure as hell, I’ll not save his life again. I can find another alpha to kill me, but he’s the strongest, the surest bet. That is if the old hag didn’t lie to me when she said only the Dacian Draco could kill me.I’ve researched for years, trying to grasp the ancient legends and the true lore of Dacian culture. Draco, or Dracon, was the battle flag of the Dacians, Costobocs, and Tyrrhaites from the current territory of Moldova as well as the Dacians south of the Danube.It had the shape of a wolf's head with an open mouth, which continued with a dragon's body, made of textile or leather that swelled in the wind, making a noise that mimi
Paul - Wolves Inc Office BuildingI press a finger over the mouse. The screen wakes up, revealing a shit ton of emails and other official notifications. But not even the silence of my empty workplace can help me concentrate.My mind goes wherever it wants, without any consideration for my duties. Two days have passed since that girl saved my life, and for whatever reason, I can’t stop thinking about her. Every time I close my eyes, I see her sleeping in my arms. I have to keep reminding myself she’s a strigoi, not just a beautiful woman.Instead of reading those tedious emails, I watch the crowd rush from one location to another. Their noses buried in their phones and fingers typing away at tinted glass displays entertain me. Students carry bulkier backpacks that can hold books and binders, while others
Laura - Her apartmentThe doorbell rings. I place the leather bookmark and close the book.As I unlock the door, Alisa bursts out of her room, TV noises in the background. She’s always curious, and I’ve already stopped telling her that’s what killed the cat.A young man stares at me with a package in his arms. “Laura Nedelcu?”“Yes,” I reply as I realize he’s a wolf. His mind is closed shut to my power."This is for you." His veins bulge as my palm brushes over his fingers to take the package. It must be the dress for the party.The intensity of this wolf's stare hit me like a club. He would love to kill me and I would let him. Too b
Paul - RBO partyBoring people with heads filled with possibilities to make more money, as their pockets are already overflowing. The only interesting thing around here is the incredible champagne. The drinking practice from the parties I’ve been to is keeping the three glasses I already hurled down my throat from having any impact on me.Looking at the last drop of the sparkling liquid on the bottom of my crystal glass, I circle my hand and play with it. It's the most interesting thing here so far. People around me talk, but their words are muffled in a cacophony of tedious affairs.Lilac scent. My head swivels. I follow the enticing hourglass curves as she walks through the door. Her silhouette is stunning, accentuated by the light from the chandeliers. It's as though the room has suddenly sprung to life. It
Laura - Her apartmentI fumble to close the door, the keys jingling between my fingers. Why do two strigois bother locking their door? I would mourn the fool trying to steal from the undead.After letting my small purse drop on the counter, I settle my elbows on it too and let my head drop into my palms. What has gotten into me? It’s totally out of character for me to act that way with a man. The need to reply to him in the same style overwhelms me. It’s like I’m a different person when he’s around.Or maybe I’m more myself than ever before. Not hearing his thoughts relaxes me. The silence of his mind draws me toward him. He’s a mystery to me, while the others are an open book. I can take off all the safeguards I struggle to maintain, so I do not hear everyone all the
Paul - Wolves Inc Office BuildingAfter days of my men digging into Bogdan's background and scrutinizing his every action, I still don't have anything definitive that proves he's the one who wants to murder me. The digging efforts of my team have not yet yielded any results. All I have is Bogdan Badea's name and the fact that he bought shares in Wolves Inc from persons I had no idea wanted to sell.My wolves are in a state of tenseness. The pack is growing distrustful of my actions, particularly the one associated with a certain strigoi. I must avoid Laura for the sake of both of us. Whatever occurs when she's around is something I'll never understand.My mood is worsening now, as I have to hear Cristian applauding the results from the RBO party. I don’t know which is worse: when he’s pestering me to do
Laura - Wolves Inc Office BuildingPaul's gray eyes have darkened to the point of becoming pitch-black. Maybe this is what he looks like when someone pokes him more than he can handle. His wolf is furious, but this is what I want. We'll be done with this if he bites me in a fit of rage.I look toward the window, stretching my neck for him and making it easier for the wolf to bite me. His hot breath strolls over my skin, making it crease. He sniffs me as if to see if I’m a worthy meal for his majesty.“I like my meat raw and warm.” He licks my neck and then spits on the floor. “You’re rotten and cold.”His words hurt me more than I thought possible. Why do I care what he thinks about me? I know what I am, and no one hates me more for th