The Mate Haunt

Chapter 1. Waking Up

Lianna awoke anew on a clear morning, the sun shining against her translucent skin. She found herself in a forest clearing, silent and still. She felt odd, like she was not fully herself. When she closed her eyes, she could hear a steady beeping noise. It made her feel cold and alone and scared so she quickly snapped her eyes open. Predawn light painted the room in vibrant hues of golds and tangerines.She stood up and began to walk through the deciduous greenery and walked faster when she heard voices. Male adolescent ones. She fast-walked to the place it came from and found two half-dressed young men walking around barefoot. Wanting to get some answers as to where she was and why she was there, she ran up to them.

"Hey, can you help me?" They kept walking, not even turning their heads. "Excuse me!" Why do they keep ignoring me? She tried to grab the arm of one of the oddly-muscular men, but her hand phased right through it. "What?" She looked at her hands, confused, and then back at the men.

Lianna noticed the two men getting away so she decided to follow them. She followed them to an even bigger clearing where she found a mansion and several connecting structures. There were also people turning into wolves and wolves turning into people. She wondered what kind of world she stumbled upon and also what kind of creatures these freaks were. Maybe I can find out what's going on.

She tried to open the door, but couldn't grasp at the brass door knob. "Ah!" she screamed in frustration, and again no one noticed. A few seconds of fuming later, Lianna took a deep breath and walked straight through the door. It made her feel all tingly and weird, though.

The inside of the mansion was just as busy as the outside. "Hey!" Girls, boys, men, and women. They all ignored her. They just walked right through her. It made her feel so powerless. So non-existent. She went into a living room, feeling so lost. I'm all alone. What do I do? Are these people even real? Maybe I'm in a dream.. or rather a nightmare... She sat at the edge of a couch, invisible amidst a group of teenagers. They were watching some Fast and The Furious movie on a big flat screen TV. The teenagers seemed normal enough. There were three girls and two guys. The girls were whispering about the danger and the violence and the guys were both saying something about Vin Diesel, whatever that was.

Half way through the movie, a person walked into the living room with a vibrant aura of reds and indigos. Her eyes when she saw him. Were her eyes playing tricks on her or what? He smirked mostly to himself as he sat beside a guy on the same couch she was in. She looked away, feeling embarrassed for staring. It was pretty dumb, though. This guy probably couldn't see her either. "Why are you up, man?" questioned a stone-faced guy with dark hair. "Yeah," agreed a light haired guy with an amused smile. "Thought you'd be knocked out after the night you had." The girls snickered save for one. A girl with dark tresses and intriguing eyes. She was just as emotionless as the other guy.

"Well I would," said the guy, "but I heard a scream." A scream? Lianna wondered. My scream! "Thought I'd check it out."

"Scream? What scream?" questioned the stone faced guy. Lianna whipped her head to him, eyes wide. Could it be that he can see me? Maybe.. One way to find out.

"I heard a woman screaming," he said as Lianna stood up and walked in front of the television only five feet away from him. He noticed this and gave her an annoyed expression. "You wanna start something with your soon-to-be-alpha. Move." She tilted her head and smiled intrigued. Looking at the others, his gaze followed and his eyes shown the same perplexity as hers.

"Who are you talking to?"