Goodbye Viola, I'm moving outZarq promised to resolve the “misunderstanding” himself and left the hostel. It was impossible to tell from his cold face whether he believed me. Viola smiled triumphantly.- Ate? My Zark! - she hissed and walked away.I plopped down on the bed wearily. My head hurt unbearably. I'll probably sleep in before school. Although, I'd love to skip it. But she could no longer show her weakness in front of the blond bitch. Enough! Don't think she can get away with everything.“Listen, don’t mess with her,” Aina tries to calm my anger at school.- She runs herself up!- If you start a fight now, she will come out dry again.Indeed, Viola is surprisingly well-behaved. Just an angel in the flesh. From her joyful face becomes sick.I return to the hostel in a bad mood. In front of the door to my room, I freeze in disbelief. Yes, when will it end? Now my room is completely empty. I fly to Viola without delay.Entering a turn at a turn, I hit my nose into something ver
Will she ever calm down?I lay in bed until dinner. She completely let herself go! I need to start jogging in the morning and exercising again. I slowly washed my face, cleaned myself up, put on my school uniform, grabbed my jacket and went downstairs. The foot hovered over the last step. Viola was at the door. Zark blocked the passage and quietly explained something to her. I listened.- Don't be silly, Viola, you won't come in.- Exactly, - her voice squealed unpleasantly, - you never let me into your house! And not a single girl. And he immediately settled her with all the things!- She's my mate, and you know better than anyone what that is.But you don't even love her!- It does not matter.I felt a little embarrassed. What kind of relationship is this, where there is no love, and everything is decided by bestial instincts based on the call of blood? I definitely don't need this.Perhaps I sighed too loudly. Viola noticed me.“The fact that you slept with me doesn’t matter either
No way will I fall in love with himZark did not return during the night. I hardly fell asleep in a huge strange house alone. I should have called Aina. I wonder what Zark would say?Morning pink sunbeams looked into my window. As promised, I got up early. I washed my face and put on my sweatpants and went for a run. I was surprised to see that the glass on the door was intact. How fast can they work?Running in the pine forest turned out to be a pleasant experience. There were no usual treadmills, but fresh air rushed into the lungs, dispersing the blood. It's a day off at school today. This thought finally inspired me. In the heat of the moment, I began with pleasure to throw up dry leaves with my feet. Then the idea came to me with a running start to pull myself up on a branch of the nearest pine. I immediately started a new fun.Jumped to the branch on the third attempt. I hung up, throwing my head back.- God! - hands slipped, and I plopped down on the fifth point. - You scared m
Well, here we are, dadUntil the evening, Zark disappears from Tobias. I'm getting ready for bed when I hear a noise downstairs. Light footsteps run up the stairs. Stopped at my door? Quiet knock.Alicia, are you sleeping?“Come in,” I pull the blanket up to my chin.Zark walks into the room and looks around curiously.- It's getting nice in here.- The dorm was also not bad, but yes, a spacious room - I think we are getting a little closer.- For that closet in which you settled, I still have to get even with Clara and Director Rice. They should show my fiancée the same respect they give me.” His voice hardens.I don't like it when he growls like that.- Yes, everything is in order. I'm not offended...- Do you want to go to your father tomorrow? Zark suddenly changes the subject. He looks straight at me intensely. Surprised, I jump up in bed.- What?! So simple? Can we pick up and go? I still don't believe I heard correctly.- Get up early, we'll leave in the morning. By the way, do
I'm ready to change my mindZark rolled slowly along the forgotten forest road. I didn’t know where the bike was taking us, the main thing was that it wasn’t to school. I could just drive all day, cuddled against Zarq's warm back, to nowhere.It's amazing, just yesterday I thought this guy was a monster. And now he was the only one who could share my grief. The only one who could understand him.We drove to the edge of the forest and stopped. Right at the edge of the forest, a deep cliff fell down. I followed Zark to the very edge and looked down. The landscape from this place was breathtaking. Ahead stretched wide empty meadows, interspersed with multi-colored islands of autumn trees. We stretched out on the withered grass, admiring the clear, cloudless sky. All problems are somewhere else.- Is this your secret place? I turned my head towards Zark."Yeah," he nodded.- Handsomely!- I agree.I couldn't take my eyes off his resolute profile with a straight, high nose and strong-wille
It's time to give me the title of rumor queenThe morning started off quite normally. Went for a run and worked out. I didn't hear when Zark came back, he woke up for dinner. We casually chatted about this and that, eating the delicious dishes that the young cook delivered."Wait for me, I'll go to school with you," Zark warned.- Did he decide to make everyone happy with his presence? - couldn't resist the jolt.“You have to remind yourself sometimes,” the demon answered in tone.- Precisely, so as not to forget who the master is here, - she laughed without malice.The hostility between us was melting like spring ice in the sun.Aina smiled meaningfully when she saw our couple from afar. I rolled my eyes and shook my head: it's not what you thought! A large crowd had already gathered in front of the school door. Gossips immediately began to whisper behind our backs. I was about to walk proudly past, but suddenly a familiar voice from the crowd called my name loudly:- Fox!!!I turned
Have I been framed again?- Good morning!I do not respond. After a quarrel, you don’t want to just let everything go on the brakes. Yesterday he was ready to expel me from the clan...- Sorry.He looks upset. My heart is ready to tremble. Just not so fast!- Can we talk?I raise my eyes to the demon. He looks at me without looking up. I look forward to what he says next.I've been thinking about our quarrel all night. About the fact that you left ... I'm not going to lie, I really thought at first that it would be better that way. Especially if your heart is already taken. I won't be able to watch you meet him in front of me. The call of blood will not allow. But it's not just about instincts. It seems Toby is right - the demon gets up from his chair and walks over to me. His warm hand covers mine. - You're interesting.Interest?! Like an unusual animal? Fascinating book? What is another word for defining your feelings?! I frown and start chewing on my lip.- Interest? Finally, I bre
I know it's herI collect things. Zark did not return home after last night. Patrick relayed the order from the clan elders, and now I'm heading back to the dorm again. A bride with the marks of two werewolves cannot live in the house of one of them, so as not to provoke conflicts.I follow Patrick sadly along the garden path. I think I'm going to miss Zarq's house. The scene with the demon in front of the school gates comes to mind. Resentment rolls with renewed vigor. Why didn't he even listen to me? Mixed with resentment is the desire to protect this stupid demon from the pain that his speculation inflicts on both of us. I saw the pain in his eyes. Everything was getting better between us. How could Damian end up on my bed? Thoughts spread to the perpetrator of the scandal. Judging by his friend's dumbfounded expression, he definitely didn't expect to wake up in Zarq's house. Clearly, someone set it all up. And this someone knew the explosive nature of Zark very well and played on
Lisa didn't answer my call. I woke up closer to dinner and immediately dialed my couple's number. I couldn't wait to see how she was doing. But she was silent. Minutes passed and I began to worry.- Toby, did you send the answer to the challenge? - A friend picked up the phone immediately.- Well, yes and what?- When?- What?- When, I say?- Calm down, what are you yelling at? Recently…- What the heck? Why recently, I ask you!!! - I almost yelled into the phone.“S-sorry,” Tobias began to stutter, “first he reported to the elders…- I'm your head! And it was an order! I don't need the approval of the elders! Do you want to go into exile?- Zark, I'm sorry, I didn't think a couple of hours mattered.- They have! And how!!!- Yes, what happened?The fox isn't answering!Tobias was silent for a couple of seconds.- Wait, maybe you're boiling in vain? Probably can't hear, put the phone away. Isn't it enough?- Get ready, we leave for the Southern clan.As soon as I pressed the end call
Lionella and Conrad, having lost their enemy, looked for a new target with their eyes. And there were several of them to choose from: the sanctifier, but it was possible to wait with him, he was exhausted and would not be able to attack right away, a pretty bored archer boy who again got involved in the battle against the non-human heretics he hated, and Vlad, unarmed, trying to negotiate .Ridiculous... What could he bargain for if he had nothing to offer? The mage chuckled. It is done. Wolf Ruby, here it is, warm, as if alive, responding to the slightest thought, to the slight movement of the fingers. And the power that he pours into the brain is more intoxicating than any fortified wine. Konrad felt the ability to slam all enemies with almost the power of thought, without hassle, without loss, with almost no effort. But he was aware that this was only self-deception, a side effect of a too strong magical artifact, which, of course, increases the powers of the sorcerer many times ov
They caught up with the guards the next morning. The battle ended quite recently, in some places on the grass and weapons, not completely clotted blood still glistened. Eleven bodies of varying degrees of preservation - from literally torn to pieces to killed by a neat, precise blow to the throat. Duffel bags are turned over, but all belongings are left right there. They were looking for something specific. You had to be an idiot not to guess what.-The pebble has changed hands, hasn't it? Armand looked questioningly at Alisande.She nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating for a couple of seconds.-Wolves move faster than people, we need to hurry.No one had any desire to replenish their stocks of provisions at the expense of loaves of bread scattered among the corpses. Cesare, who did not utter a word at the sight of the carnage, quickly collected all the arrows, including those that were sticking out of the corpses of several werewolves. In order to fit such a solid supply, the ar
This night, unlike the last, was calm. No hallucinatory mists appeared. During the day they managed to overcome the “right of way”, as Vlad aptly called the area of the dead forest. The oak forest lived an ordinary life: twigs crunched, leaves rustled in the breeze, crickets chirped, fireflies gathered on grass stems.Armand went on twirling everything that had happened this way and that in his brain. “Something I also start to run like a puppet. I don't like it. And to understand the intricacies of all the intrigues does not work. Here is this girl, for example. After all, I see that she is lying somewhere, or at least not telling. However, we immediately fell for her idea, like two males for a female in heat. Stop. And here is the answer. She just uses magic. Of course, I understand, beautiful, but not to the same extent as to completely lose my head. He refused to believe that ordinary hormones were to blame for everything. “On the other hand, until we figure out what kind of peb
Leroy caught himself on the fact that he no longer remembers how much a pillar costs and stares, almost forgetting to swallow his saliva. The woman clearly saw him in the mirror, but not only did not quit her business, but did not even blink an eye. As if every single day unfamiliar men in strange clothes fill up in her boudoir and freeze into wordless sculptures. Although ... if they had come in, they would certainly have done so. It became obvious that the hostess of the apartment was not going to somehow react to the uninvited guest.- Eee … - thoughtfully began Leroy. It seems that his vaunted eloquence betrayed him for the first time in many years. “And because of what? he wondered inwardly. “You might think I haven’t seen beautiful women!” And then he realized that he had seen something, but unimaginably long ago, in a past life - this inhospitable world did not deign to show him any of its beauties. There is no need to talk about something more than just a look. Armand looked a
This hall was not so grandiose in size. But most likely the main one in the temple. The room was filled with the sun, beating through the huge windows in the ceiling. After the dim glow of the sanctifier, all those who entered for a while closed their eyes. And as soon as the eyes got used, they froze in admiration, surprise, disbelief ... Twenty meters ahead, right in front of them, on a dais, he lay. Wolf Ruby. Even though no one present had seen the ancient artifact before or even read the descriptions of its appearance, everyone understood that it couldn't be anything else.The amulet did look like a gem, but natural rubies don't get that big. It was no smaller than a fist. Sparkling with bloody facets, throwing glare on the walls, floor and altar on which he lay. It made the whole room look reddish. The altar very clearly reminded Vlad of what he saw in his time in Conrad's room and explored in the basement under Lionella's shed. The same stone parallelepiped, with a ligature run
Vlad was at a loss what was stronger in him - curiosity, which only flared up even more from the proximity of the necessary information, or fear of the unknown, hostile magic and, to be sure, ghosts. People who previously did not believe in the supernatural, when faced with irrefutable evidence of its existence, experience much more shock and horror than those who have always been afraid of meeting ghosts, goblins or zombies. That is why Cesare felt most comfortable and confident of all of the trinity, for him the City of Ghosts, although it was an implausible legend all his life, in the end it was much easier for a local inhabitant to come to terms with its existence than for aliens "from a distant world".The stones that could be seen behind the trees really turned out to be ruins. It was not possible to determine the original appearance of the buildings from what was left: separate blocks and slabs, fragments of walls, usually not more than the first floor high, sticking out like b
They walked through the oak forest for the third day. From time to time they deviated to the side, but, having heard a mournful howl, they corrected the route. Somehow the responsibilities were assigned. Cesare and Vlad took turns shooting at the birds for food. In the best of times, the boy would have coped alone, but now, with a not quite capable left hand, it was inconvenient for him to pull the bowstring, the arrows quite often went “into the milk” and they had to be searched for a long time. Arman was cooking game on a fire lit by common efforts. The mercenary was slowly mastering the difficult art of using flint and flint. At night, they took turns standing on the clock. No one wondered why this was necessary, because there was no third-party danger, but it was more familiar and calmer.And oddly enough, there were no more conflicts. It is not clear why this happened, but although neither of the men had any special positive feelings towards the other two, nevertheless, quite sta
Cesare looked, to put it mildly, not in the best way, but to tell the truth, it was scary. A face with a huge bruise on the cheekbone, a trickle of blood caked under the nose. His shirt was in tatters, there was a shallow cut on his collarbone, and on his back there was a mark from a wolf's paw that had gone through with its claws. The matted hair almost covers the face. His hands are twisted behind his back, and a barely audible whisper escapes from his broken lips. At first, Vlad did not make out the words, and only listening, he realized that the boy, without ceasing to repeat prayers, reaches the end and starts again from the beginning, and so continuously."Cesare," he called cautiously.No effect. The archer didn't even look up, the mumbling didn't stop. Vlad slightly shook the boy by the shoulder and said louder:-Cesare!The young man tossed his head, looked so that goosebumps passed over the skin - so much pain and approaching madness shone in his eyes. The endless prayer sto