"She won't survive, you know that," a cold voice snarled out.
"I know but, well, if she's going to die anyway, then what harm could it do?"
I blinked my eyes open. Pain.
I sucked in a sharp breath as the pain from my leg shot up my body like a rocket. It took my breath away; a breath that I quickly tried to find so I could start to breathe through this terror.
My head rolled to the side. It was dim in the room, a small lamp providing the only source of light.
It looked like a cabin of some sort. Wood-paneled walls decorated with different trinkets. A photo of some ducks, a wooden bass with gold hooks for hanging coats, and a sign that said 'The best meat is red meat.'
I tried not to panic. These people did save me after all, whoever they were. If they wanted to kill me, they probably would have already done it, unless they were a sick pair of psycho killers...
I took another breath and tried to push myself up. Pain shot through my leg like wildfire, causing me to collapse back on the bed that I was tucked into.
My leg was wrapped in a thick bandage, and I was thankful. I didn't want to see the mangled mess that was left of it. Left from what that creature did to me.
That creature.
What the hell was that?!
My heart raced as the images of my attack poured into my brain. Wolves. Big ass wolves. I had never seen anything like it. I tried to push away those images. Push away the images of the wolf tearing into my leg, or the golden-eyed devil who was trying to sate his own needs with my body.
I wouldn't cry. Now was not the time. I needed to get up and figure out where the hell I was, and who had saved me.
"She's just going to be a burden and a royal pain in my ass," a man groaned out from behind the door, a green door that separated me from the two men who were talking right outside.
"It's only a month. Barely. Others have survived, she could too," a man pleaded.
"I've had enough of this," the other man almost growled.
Light pooled into the room as the door was thrown open and the light's turned abruptly on. I had to shield my eyes with my arm, so they could adjust to the harshness. My eyes blinked rapidly, squeezing hard as I tried to make out what was happening.
A gun.
A shotgun was being pointed at me.
I scrambled up as best I could, backing myself into the corner of the best and using a pillow as a shield. Like that would have helped.
It was the man. The gray haired goon who told me to get off his property before.
He was the one that saved me?"
"Please! Please, I mean no harm, please don't kill me," I cried out.
"Levi don't do this, you don't want her blood on your hands," a tall man with dark hair, almost black, and brown eyes like chocolate pleaded. He looked at me frantically then back at Levi, who was shooting daggers at me with his silver eyes. "Levi, please."
Levi clenched his jaw. "She's going to die anyways, she won't survive the turn. I mean, just look at her! She's a black and blue skeleton as it is."
I winced at his words. I winced then I got angry. I felt a bubble of anger surface. Anger that I hadn't allowed to take charge for so long now. But not anymore. "How dare you!? You don't know a thing about me! Not one damn thing! I don't know what this 'turn' thing is you're going on about, but I can tell you that I haven't fought for so long to just die now. Not after everything."
My own words seemed to shock me as they did the two men in the room. The black-haired man in the room was staring intensely at Levi, who was in turn, staring at me with silver eyes that seemed to churn like a storm.
"Girl, believe me, I'd be doing you a favor."
"Levi," the black-haired man said while placing a hand cautiously on Levi's shoulder.
A growl erupted from Levi's chest causing the black-haired man to hiss and bare his long white fangs to Levi, who looked like he was about to explode from all the anger building up in him.
Fangs. He had fangs.
"What the hell?!" I gasped out and scooted myself further to the edge of the bed.
The black-haired man quickly closed his mouth and gave me an apologetic glance before stepping closer to Levi, who seemed to be brooding, gun still pointed at me with a labored breath. "Levi, what's there to lose? A month of your time? Compared to the lifetimes we will live? Please, don't do this."
Levi whipped his head back to the man and let out a hot breath while slowly lowering his gun. "Fine. But this is on you. Do you understand?"
The man nodded as Levi started to march out of the room. He looked back over his shoulder and said, "Wait, we need to tell her. You have to show her."
"Show me what?" I looked between the two men quickly.
The black-haired man sat on the bed a few safe feet away from me. He gave me a small smile filled with kindness and for the first time, it looked like I saw a bit of hope. "What you're going to become."
"If she lives," Levi growled out.
The man shot his friend a look before turning back to me. "What's your name?"
I clung the pillow closer to my torso and swallowed down my fear. They were going to kill me, not right away at least. "Charlotte."
He smiled gently again and sighed. "Charlotte, do you remember what happened to you? The attack?"
I nodded. I remembered all too well.
"Charlotte, tell me. Tell us what you saw," the black-haired man gently prodded.
I bit my lip and tried to be brave. What people don't realize about things like this, is they are much more terrifying in your mind. A place where the situation can be turned into the vilest poison. "There was a man and these two dogs, wolves. They were huge."
"And?"
I looked up as Levi decided to plop into a brown wicker chair with a red and white polka-dotted cushion. His eyes were still on me, burning through the strong facade I had put up.
I let out a shaky breath and met the black-haired man's eyes. "They attacked me. I tried to run. There was another man, but he was gone before I knew what was happening." I blinked back tears that were starting to pool at the edges of my eyes. "They tried to rape me. They were so close to raping me."
"I know," the black-haired man said then sighed again. "What happened next?"
Quickly wiping my eyes and pushing back a sob I tried to gather myself and contain the bitter pain. "Something tore him off me. I ran, I didn't look. I just wanted out of there. But I was attacked again by this wolf, he had my leg in his mouth like it was a chew toy."
I didn't realize how much I had been shaking until a hand gently covered mine. The black-haired man opened his mouth once and closed it before opening it again. "What happened after that?"
"A black wolf. Black with gray starting to come in. He killed him, the wolf that bit me. That's all I remember," my voice said in a whisper that barely broke through the silence.
The man let out a breath before looking back to Levi and then to me. "I know you know that there is something different about Levi and I. I know you do. I can see your mind churning behind your eyes."
I looked down at my hands. He was right. He had fangs. He had fangs and Levi growled.
Maybe it was just a costume? Maybe they were into some weird kind of role-play crap? I mean people are into that stuff, and if that's what they want to do then so be it.
But my gut told me otherwise.
"Levi and I are not human. Not human at all."
I snapped my eyes up to his. Curiosity and fear were eating away at me, toying with my thoughts. "What are you then? I mean, what else could you be?"
The man cocked me almost a smirk. "Some call me a nightwalker, but vampire is what the most common name is."
I laughed. I laughed nervously as Levi ran his hands over his face and chuckled too. "Keep going Derek, you're doing a hell of a job."
"Shut it!" Derek hissed out. He looked back at me and moved closer, too close for my comfort. "Do these look like a laughing matter?"
Fangs. Fangs that looked like they wanted to sink into my neck. Before I could open my mouth, a blur buzzed around the room and settled next to me. I whipped my head around to find it and felt my mouth drop to see Derek smiling like a kid in a candy shop next to me.
"Still feel like laughing?" Derek said right next to me.
I looked forward and the space was empty where he once sat. He was just smiling gently. Not pushing but not going to easy on me either. "What. The. Hell?"
My heart was pounding and my hands started to tremble again. "So then what does that make you?"
Levi's silver eyes burned into mine. He looked over at Derek who was starting to walk his way around the bed to his original spot. "What you'll be if you survive. Which you won't. Humans rarely do, especially women."
"Humans? Survive what?"
"The change, the first shift."
"Wha–what?" My breath was heavier now, labored. Derek quickly settled in front of me, closer than before and took my hand again.
"Little one, listen to me," he said firmly.
I snapped my gaze directly to his. My heart still racing wildly in my chest. It was beating so hard that I thought that everyone in the room could practically hear it.
Derek sighed. This couldn't be real. This was all just a bunch of fairy tales, stories! "Levi is what you would call a Werewolf. Bound to the moon and beast that lives within him."
"I don't..." My voice trailed off as the weight of the situation settled in.
This was crazy. Completely crazy. It's a good thing these two lunatics lived so far off the beaten path, they'd probably be locked up if people heard them rambling about with this nonsense.
I had to leave. I had to get out and get out of this crazy place.
I started to lift myself up. My leg was throbbing in pain, but I didn't care. I couldn't stay here.
"You can't go," Derek said.
"I can't... Listen, thank you for helping me, but I don't think that your help will be necessary anymore."
Derek ran his hands through his hair while I flopped around like a seal as I tried to get out of the bed. I twisted the wrong way on my leg and a sharp pain sliced right through me. I hissed before my voice turned into a whimper.
"Shit, don't do that. You'll open the wound back up," Derek groaned. Before I could blink, he was situating me back in bed and adjusting my pillow so I could sit upright. "You can't go anywhere like that. Especially now. You're going to need our help."
"Your help, she's your responsibility," Levi barked out.
Derek hissed at him again. "And she will need you too. Do not forget that you owe me."
Levi rolled his eyes and muttered a curse under his breath. Apparently, whatever was going to happen to me was going to be some sort of a high-maintenance project.
"Are you saying that I am turning into some sort of dog?"
"A wolf, we're not dogs," Levi growled.
I jumped back into my pillow a little more and pulled the covers closer to me. He growled. Like really growled. Like the beasts that had attacked me last night.
"Levi, why don't you show her? She won't believe us otherwise."
"Show me what?" I breathed out.
Levi muttered more curses as he stood and started taking his clothes off. I felt panic surge within me as images of my attempted rape came to mind; golden eyes with a sickening smile staring down at me like I was a large piece of chocolate cake. I whimpered a bit and tried to scoot back more into the pillows, away from these two men.
"Shit, I didn't realize, I'm sorry Charlotte, but he has to," Derek said while moving in front of me, blocking my view from Levi who standing half nude in the center of the room.
"Why? What the hell do you two want?!"
"I don't what to shred my clothes. I really like those jeans," Levi mused while looking back at the pile bunched together near the chair he previously sat in.
"Wha–What?"
Cracking.
There was cracking and breaking as his body began to quickly contort into sickening directions. I felt bile rise in my throat at the sight. At the sight of hair that sprouted through skin, at the sight of sharp teeth that were peaking out from his lips, and at the sight of his head that was starting to contort into a muzzle.
Before I could blink again, he had changed. He changed into a large black wolf; black with bits of gray peeking through.
He was huge; larger than your average wolf, almost the size of a damn horse it seemed like. He looked back between Derek and I, almost with an expression that seemed annoyed. He was clearly cramped in the room that did not give him enough space to really move around.
He took a step towards us, his muscles rippling beneath the fur. He was older, but he was in incredible shape.
What the hell has he been eating?!
He came closer to us. Calculating eyes assessing my small form that was sunk as deep as it was allowed into the bed. A rumble came from his chest and a whimper escaped from my mouth. I would not stand a chance against a predator like him.
"Levi," Derek warned.
The wolf turned to the vampire, whose fangs had started to peak out of his lips defensively, and snorted. Apparently, the threat meant nothing to a beast such as he.
He was within distance to touch. His breath combed over my face and his eyes seemed liked they were trying to make a decision. He didn't look aggressive, but he didn't look too friendly either.
I reached my hand out slowly. A low growl came out from his lips, a warning. I quickly retreated my hand and looked back at Derek who was staring furiously at his friend.
I reached my hand out again. If I was going to live here, I at least wanted to make sure this thing wouldn't eat me.
"Please, I don't mean any harm," I whispered.
He cocked his head and allowed my hand to move a few inches closer, shaking with fear and anticipation. I got almost close enough to touch his nose, and he snapped. Lucky for me, I had retreated my hand back to my chest. I didn't want any more mangled limbs.
Derek growled louder which only resulted in another low growl from Levi. I felt anger swirl in me. I wasn't going to let him bully me around. I wasn't going to be scared into submission anymore. I tore back the covers and stepped onto the cool wooden floor with my good leg. Derek grabbed my arm and gave me a warning look, but I yanked it away before he could pull me back into the bed.
I let out a shaky breath and pulled my other leg out carefully so I didn't put any weight on it. I hissed and groaned from the pain but I wasn't going to be stopped. Using the bed as support, I took a step-like-hop towards the wolf.
He cocked his head at me again but did not move. I took another step, feeling bolder with each move. My leg was throbbing and sweat was starting to pool around my brow from the pain. I kept my mouth shut though, for now, to keep from screaming.
I lifted my hand again to touch him and he gave me another low growl to which I clenched my jaw and narrowed my eyes.
Before he could snap at me again, I touched his head. Right between his eyes. He closed them, as if he were sighing, then opened them back. He looked less annoyed but he didn't look too happy either.
I moved my hand over his soft fur to his neck. It was so much softer than it looked; It looked coarse, but it felt nothing like that.
He didn't growl or move, he just let me explore without fear. Without fear. I almost had forgotten that I was afraid.
I took another step to get closer but stumbled, almost falling, but was saved by his head; his head that had landed under my torso to keep me from hurting myself further. I wrapped my arms around his neck and allowed him to pull me upright, steadying myself so I could stand on my own again.
"Thank you."
He let out a breath and started backing up, back to the place where he first shifted.
Derek had jumped up and was now helping me hobble back into bed while the sounds of bones cracking filled the room again. I settled back in bed and looked up at Levi, who was giving me the most perplexing expression. He walked back to his clothes and started to quickly dress while Derek took a look at my bandage that was now sporting spots of red where blood was trying to leak through.
"We're going to have to change that soon," he sighed out. He looked at me with a small smile and sparkling eyes. He was entrancing. Almost too entrancing. Was this how he lured his prey? "You're brave little one."
I almost scoffed and shook my head. I don't know if that is what you would call bravery but I took the compliment anyway.
Levi cleared his throat, he was dressed again in his worn jeans and faded forest green sweatshirt. "Derek why don't you go get some bandages and let me talk to the girl."
Derek nodded obediently and quickly padded out of the room. Leaving me alone with the wolf. He walked over to his chair then drug it across the room so he could sit across from me.
He looked tired. The lines on his face showed his years, but his eyes, his eyes were still young. They looked so full of life. His hands were wrinkled, worn, he was a man that gotten his hands dirty instead of being pampered his whole life.
He rubbed his face again then looked back at me as he leaned back in his chair. "So now you know."
I nodded. "What's going to happen to me?"
"Well," his gruff voice started while he scratched his head, "you've been bitten by a werewolf girl. The next full moon, your body will try to shift. The beast will emerge, and you will become what I am, if you live."
"If I live?"
"Did you not hear my bones cracking earlier? Do you think that looks easy?" His voice was a challenge, one that I was sure I would lose.
"No, no it looked horrible."
He nodded and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "The first time is the most painful, the worst, even for wolves that are born into this life. You can only be born or bitten, but usually, the bitten don't survive their first change."
"Why?" I sighed and tried to not let my impending doom consume my thoughts.
"When you're born into this life, you're born with your beast, stronger than humans. The change is painful, but eventually we shift. Humans are not born as strong as us, nor are they born with a beast. The human body was not created to shift in that way, to be pushed to that level." He sighed and rubbed at his scruff that needed trimming, thinking to himself in what looked like a world away from here.
"I don't understand. Has anyone survived? What's the difference?"
His silver eyes flickered to mine almost apologetically. "Well, the difference besides what I just said, really just comes down to good old biology. The first shift for normal wolves can take a few hours, it took me about three hours in excruciating pain to finally shift, and believe me there was a moment that even I wanted my father to put a bullet in my head."
I shuddered, the thought of more pain almost made me sick. "For humans?"
"Much worse. Like I said before, the human body isn't made handle such things. I've only seen barely a handful of people survive, all male. The shift took almost all night. They had to be given doses of adrenaline and revived over and over to make it. The ones that did were born as weak wolves, omegas."
"So that's why you wanted to kill me?"
He nodded. "I would be doing you a favor, believe me."
I shook my head in frustration. "Then why the hell save me from those other beasts? Why not just let them finish me off if I was going to die anyways?!"
"Because" he groaned, "he wouldn't let me."
"He? You mean Derek?"
"No, I mean my beast. Pain in the ass right now is what he is."
I stared at him for a minute while I tried to comprehend what he just said. "You're beast? What the hell does your beast want with me? A snack perhaps?"
He chuckled lowly and gave me a coy smile. "Little girls are not as tasty as you would think."
I blinked as a bolt of fear shot through me while he began to laugh harder. I blinked again while his laughter picked up and realized the joke.
"Sorry Charlie, I just had to," he shrugged. "But to answer your question, no, he doesn't want to eat you. I don't know why he is even drawn to you, he has this incessant need to protect you."
Charlie. Charlie is what my dad used to call me. He loved Top Gun, too much in my opinion. My heart twisted at the name, twisted at the thought of them–my parents.
"Protect me?"
He clenched his jaw again as his eyes turned dark. "Don't read into it too much."
Right on cue Derek waltzed in with a box of things in hand. Levi stood and quietly left, leaving me with Derek and my curious thoughts to brew in my brain.
Derek looked at the door as Levi closed it and sighed as he put the box gently on the bed. He pulled back the covers and started to carefully unwrap my leg, but even with his careful touch, it was still painful.
I winced as the bandage finally came off my skin, leaving my mangled flesh exposed in the air.
"Sorry," Derek whispered while he pulled out some ointment. He squeezed a big glob of it on his finger then moved towards my leg, towards the flesh that looked hardly like flesh anymore. "This is going to sting a little."
I nodded, giving him permission to continue.
I didn't just sting, it stung like a thousand bees. I bit down on my lip until I could taste blood and tried to put it out of my mind, tried to ignore the fire that seemed to be consuming my flesh.
"Sorry, sorry," Derek muttered as he wiped the remainder of the goop on his jeans. He fumbled with some other items in the box; a fresh bandage and gauze to keep the wound from getting infected.
"So," he said while carefully placing gauze on my wound, "how are you feeling about all this?"
"How am I supposed to feel?" I hissed out as a spike of pain shot originated from where the gauze touched my flesh.
He shrugged and continued his task. "Most humans would be a bit more hysterical I would think."
I answered his shrug with a shrug. How was I supposed to feel? Scared? I was so tired of feeling scared. Angry? I was damn sure angry. I couldn't help but feel like reality had been suspended, like I was living in a dream, but the pain from my leg told me otherwise.
"I'd take this beast over another," I answered. It was true. I would take this over and over rather than go back to Marcus.
"So how did you come to this part of the woods, sleeping in your truck all on your own?" he prodded gently.
I let out a shaky breath. "I guess you could say another beast was chasing me."
He nodded and didn't try to pry anymore, and I was grateful. I wasn't too ready to tell these two men about my life, not yet anyways.
"Levi isn't all that bad, a little rough around the edges," he said while carefully placing the bandage over my freshly cleaned wound.
"He said his beast wanted to protect me? What does that even mean?"
I had to know. I had to know why this bipolar grump felt any inclination to help me.
Derek gathered the trash and tossed it in the box before turning to face me. "That was a brave thing you did there earlier. You're much braver than you look little one."
"Is that why you told him not to kill me? Earlier?" My voice was small but my heart was a bit frantic. If all he was doing was saving me for a snack, then I would be out of here come hell or high-water.
"No, I told him not to because first, I knew he would regret it. His beast is pulled to you, even though he won't admit it. That's why he let you touch him earlier, he has no desire to really hurt you."
"But he snapped at me, and growled..." my voice laced with disbelief trailed off.
He chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Yes, well, even in that form he is one cranky asshole."
I smiled and bit back a small laugh. I didn't understand it, I didn't really understand any of it. I didn't understand how my life could have changed so much in such a short span of time.
"So you don't want to eat me?" I prodded playfully; a playful front to hide my fear.
"No, sorry but you're not my type," he winked then set the box on the floor.
I almost felt offended. I mean, I was a human; well, human-ish. Weren't all humans his type?
He seemed to sense my train of thought and chuckled again. "You already are starting to smell like your beast, and for me, that smell is not appealing."
"I smell like a dog?"
He laughed again and nodded. "Don't keep referring to them as dogs, they hate that. But yes, you're starting to change already."
I smelled my hair quickly and noted that while it did smell grungy, it certainly did not smell like a dog. I sighed, I still didn't understand everything. All of it. I was becoming something that wasn't even supposed to exist! I mean, this was supposed to be a load of sparkly fairy-tailed crap!
"I don't think you'll die. That's the other reason I prevented him from killing you."
I looked back him. His face was serious, almost statuesque. "You think I'll make it?"
He cocked his head and pushed a wild dark strand behind my ear. "You have much more fight than the others. I've seen quite a bit in my time, but you, I think you can do it."
"Thank you."
"Well," he smiled, "don't thank me yet, we can't put the cart before the horse, can we?"
I shook my head in agreement. "No, I guess not."
"You'll need our help, well, Levi's help mostly. He can train you, teach you, help you to get stronger. I can help you too, but not like him. I will help you, though, as much as I can."
"Why are you doing this? You don't even know me, I could be a terrible person for all you know."
He mused a bit before rising. "Like I said little one, I think you'll live, and that's a sight I would much like to see."
He picked up the box and started to walk out of my room, leaving me to my thoughts and emotions that refused to settle down.
"I'll bring you something to eat, ya?"
I nodded again as he gave me a small smile before slipping out of the room.
A vampire.
A werewolf.
What the hell had I gotten myself into?
And now it seemed like my clock was ticking. Like an hourglass flipped over; sand pouring out without relent.
I couldn't die. I wouldn't die. I hadn't survived Marcus and made it this far to be killed because I apparently am going to turn into some stupid fluffy dog.
No.
If they were right, which I feared they were, I would fight. I would convince Levi to help me and survive. I would survive so I could then live my life as I pleased, freely, without fear of ever being caged.
Freedom.
I was one step closer, all I had to do was live.