Everlost

Chapter 3

I woke up feeling sick, my stomach was hollow, my throat felt like I had swallowed a boulder, and my head was pounding from whatever light was on; event through my closed eyes I could see it. Then I felt someone gently brush my tangled hair off my face and heard them say,

"Fleur, it's morning. You must wake up." My eyes fluttered open to see a woman in her early 50's with dark eyes staring at me smiling. I looked up in fear.

"Darling, you are safe, now please get up" She smiled one more time before going to the other giant dogs...were those wolves?! She brushed their fur and said something in another language to wake some of them. The first wolf with pale grey furn shrugged the blanket off and turned into a girl about 20 with hair so blond it was almost white, and clear blue eyes, she stared at me with a look of amusement that morphed into disdain. Then suddenly everyone looked over and started talking at once. My head started to throb even more. I grabbed it overwhelmed by the noise and the sounds of pumping hearts. Tears stung my eyes.

"Morning everyone. I see you noticed this new face, he name is Fleur Frost. Our newest member of the clan" A stout, elderly man said at the base of the cave, with a boy who had tan skin, black hair and gorgeous green eyes. They stared at me again. I shrunk under the covers.

"Juliet and I found her beaten badly, and...she was bitten." The boy said, Tanner I guessed.

"Tanu this is insane!"

"A bloodsucker in the clan!"

"IMPOSSIBLE!" So many voices shouted insults. Bloodsucker? What was I? A chupacabra? No. Tanner and Tanu mentioned it last night. Vampire. That's what I was. I started to feel the tears prick my eyes, I forced them back down. I sat there shaking instead. Tanner shushed everyone and rushed to my side. Cradling me and whispering that it was ok. I pushed him off.

"No! It's not ok! I had a life, it was a wonderful, perfect life! Now it's ruined because of you! I'm this..." I gestured to myself. "THING! Because of you!" I started to feel the walls close in on me, I was shrinking and everything was getting bigger and bigger, my breath came fast and short. My life was perfect. I was loved at home, a cheerleader at school, and I had so many friends. I even had a boyfriend named Sam who was captain of the baseball team. I was living the dream, I was going to go to NYU the second I graduated. Now I couldn't. I was on the way to a full blown panic attack.

"Fleur, please calm down. We didn't make you a vampire. You were meant to become a wolf." Tanu said. Like that made things better.

"I. Don't. Want. To. Be. A. Wolf! I don't want to be anything but human!" I pulled the covers over my head, the cave now fully lit with fluorescent lights hurt my eyes despite my growing tunnel vision. Tanner came up behind me and held me again.

"Fleur please..." He begged. "Listen to us. You'll be fine." I could feel his pulse. So calm, and steady, just like him. His breath warmed my neck.

"How?" I asked softly.

"We can help you. Don't worry." He promised me. I shifted so I faced him. I looked into his green eyes and felt something. Like a spark.

"Oh God...they're mates! No wonder we can't kill her!" The girl with white blond hair said.

"Juliet!" A man with red hair yelled.

"Oh stop it." She said. "It's true, I mean, look at her! Tanner never acts like this to anyone! And she looks horrible, so they're obviously mates!" Juliet rolled her eyes. And stomped out of bed and out of the cave.

"Juliet's upset I couldn't mate with her. Don't listen to her." I shifted again so I'd be buried in his chest, he stroked my matted hair, picking out stray twigs and leaves from it. Tanu walked over to us and told us we had to go.

"Gregory will send his disciples to find you." Gregory? I think they noticed my confusion.

"That man who broke you and bit you." My stomach went into knots. I pushed Tanner away to be in the fetal position, a large cramp struck me suddenly and it felt like my stomach was ripping in half.

"The one who turned me?"

"Yes. Fleur." Tanner said.

Oh no.