Interlude.Four days later.“I found a human,” A man said with his head held high above his shoulders. He stood facing the window that looked into the far city, its light pollution preventing him from seeing the stars. “A very strange smelling one.”He was a large man, at least seven feet tall with a broad muscular frame. He was clean-shaven with russet brown hair that grew past his ears, brushing the top of his shoulders. All in all, he looked like a man who’d seen much in life, and who’d done much as well. There was a scar running down his cheek, from his eye to his jaw like a tear track. He wore only a pair of pants, standing barefoot on the plush carpet of the office.Another man sat behind a desk facing the same window. He was as big as the other one, but with dark blond hair, dressed in a casual outfit. His face was covered in a thick beard, and he wore an expression of interest.“What kind of a smell?”“Beautiful, really. Enticing.” He shook his head, “It smelled like her.”“He
Callista.“So, does that mean we can sleep here, for free?” I ask my new friend, looking at the run-down building in front of us.There is a line of people near the building, dressed like us. Some of them have the same look of misery on their faces, their hands tucked into various pockets in their layers of cloth, some carrying bags and some without anything. Some others look cheerful, some just look ordinary if this is a regular occurrence for them. When I was researching, I never did get a clear idea of what being homeless was like, and thought that it was misery all the time. I basically resigned myself to a sad existence when I decided to run, but seeing some of the people here I start to think that maybe it won’t be so bad. Maybe with the right friends, I’d be able to make it through.We have to stand in line for some time more because the building was still closed, only opening at 05:00 PM to take the people in. Apparently, it was only a night shelter, where you came in, had a m
Callista.Somehow, we got in.I honestly didn’t think that it would be possible, given how long the line was even if we had come relatively early. But about fifteen minutes after the place opened, we have two cots in the female section with a small bag of supplies each. I place my bag on the top of my cot, which doesn’t look much compared to the accommodations in the Rexellen castle. But I’ve been sleeping on park benches and even the cold, hard ground, which means that this cot would be heaven to sleep in tonight.Jenny looks happy as well. Well, calling it happy might be stretching it. She looks content for now, but her eyes are still so tired.We sit on our cots for a moment in silence, taking in the sudden change and making sure that it won’t go away anytime soon.“They told us that dinner's in an hour, right? Better get ready.” Jenny reminds me in a quiet voice. “Wanna take a shower? Bathrooms are communal but the water’s hot.”“That’ll be nice.” I don’t remember the last time I'
Callista.As I predicted, they don’t go after her.Three were-creatures chase me through the city. I don’t know what kind they are, wolves or otherwise, but I know that their intentions toward me are far from benevolent.I navigate through various streets, trying to get away. Being in the midst of humans means that they can’t transform, and I take that to my advantage. I weave through the alleys and lanes, entering two-doorway shops from one end exiting from another, and passing street vendors and street shops trying to lose them. But they don't fall away.“Excuse me! Coming through.” I yell at people getting in my way leaving a lot of angry people in my wake.My legs are burning and my heart is beating like a jackhammer. No matter what I do, I can’t lose them.I run and I run and I run. I turn left, right, and further right. My head spins, my breath coming out in short pants.There’s a mall in front of me and it seems crowded. Yes, it is perfect.I enter the mall and pull the hood of
Callista.I wake up in an office room with a moan.“Oh, Goddess…” My head throbs so much and my mouth is dry as parchment. I try to move my limbs but to no avail. My whole body feels heavy yet floating at the same time, a common feeling after regaining consciousness. This is not a new experience to me by now, given how many times I’ve been knocked out over the past few months, but I’m getting really tired of it.As my vision focuses on my surroundings, I realize that I’m in a rather nice office. There’s a plush carpet under my feet, and a sturdy desk in front of a large book cupboard that covers an entire wall. The books are neatly lined behind the glass panels of the cupboard. I sit in front of this desk.I try to move my legs, but I cannot. I look down, the inclination makes my head hurt more.I’m bound to the chair.“What the hell…” I mutter.Memories come back to me, and I remember how three men chased me through the city. I remember separating from Jenny and toppling a bookrack i
Callista.“LET ME GO!” I scream at the top of my lungs, desperate to rectify this mistake. “PLEASE, LET ME GO! I’M NOT A HUMAN. I’M A WEREWOLF!!!”I've made a mistake. A huge one at that. I cannot curse my own stupidity enough. I’d thought that trying to convince them that I wasn’t a supernatural was the right course of action, but I’d been so very wrong. It was the worst course of action I could’ve taken.I mean, how on Earth was I supposed to know that bears were screwed wrong in their heads? Who does human sacrifice to commemorate a genocide? You use flowers and candles for that shit. Not blood!Why does this keep happening to me? I came to the human world to get rid of the supernatural bullshit. I was happy last night, sharing a shelter with Jenny and knowing that the humans only saw me as one of them. I was free. I could breathe without worry, and that had been the case ever since I came out, regardless of my homelessness.I have been expecting something to happen. How can I not,
Callista.The phantoms accompany me as Edwin carries me through the foliage. My head falls off his shoulder, limp, and my blurry sight upside down. I see other white-clad youths walk behind us. Edwin leads this lethal parade. The whole forest is bathed in moonlight, and my scattered mind travels back to my own coming of age ceremony.The phantom of Farris walks nearest to me, dressed in the same way I last saw him. Seeing him makes me feel strangely nostalgic. Back then, things weren’t this bad.“My, my Callista,” He muses in a reverberating voice, walking next to me leisurely. “What happened to you?”Theon appears next to him, his face frozen in an expression of rage and pompous glory.“Serves her right. I gave you all the luxuries you ever wanted, but you couldn’t agree to the one simple thing I asked of you. And then you made me out to be the villain for trying to follow our agreement!” He decides to add his two cents.“You killed me to get him,” Ruelle walks next to the other phan
Theon.As soon as I saw the robed man raise the dagger over Callista’s heart, I lost it.The anger that had been building up in me exploded as my wolf commanded me to protect my mate, and there was nothing I could do to keep my instincts from taking over. There was no way I could deny the way my heart seized at the sight, fear unlike any other rising in me.Because Callista is under that knife.The stealer who escaped me made me search half the country for her because I didn’t even think she would be brave enough to do what she did is finally here and had somehow gotten herself tangled with a mess of a situation.How did this even come to be? The morning I realized that she wasn’t in the castle, my wolf had gone into a frenzy. I’d gone to my office to get started on some paperwork when Kellin had come bursting in to tell me, “Callista’s gone!”The sewers. Of all the things she could’ve done, she’d taken the damned sewers. When I’d arrived at the washing room, the other maids were gath