As I sat in class all I could concentrate on was the smell of blood in the people around me. It was rather disturbing, when I thought about it, I had read about the whole vampire blood lust thing and it had fascinated me. But now I was actually experiencing it...well, maybe not a vampire blood lust...
Was this how vampires felt? I didn't know. I wasn't sure if I wanted to. The whole thing was starting to lose it's appeal to me now. I could see Rick eyeing me from his seat beside me.
I felt kind of bad about the way I was treating him. I had spent most of the day avoiding him, and all of my friends. I was too afraid that I wouldn't be able to control myself and hurt them.
I didn't understand it. Blaine had told me we only needed to feed once a month, during the three days of the full moon. I had fed last night.
My thoughts returned to those...no. I wouldn't think about that. I had nothing to do with it. I was absolutely sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Wasn't me. No way. No way.
I had bee telling myself this all day. But still...a knot of dread was pulling deep inside me, making my stomach feel as if there was a grinding stone inside it.
There was always the slightest chance. I was the newest member of the Pack. I hadn't learned to control myself and my powers properly yet. But that brought me to the thought...there were others werewolves out there.
Maybe they had done it and were making me think that I'd done. I just didn't know.
I wanted to crawl up in bed and never come out. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea if I could convince Blaine to come and stay with me.
A glance at Rick and I felt guilty all over again. What was I going to tell him? I was going to have to think of a reasonable excuse to dump him.
But how could I do that? Was Blaine really worth it? I still wasn't sure if I loved him or hated him. He was cute, that was all I knew, but was that enough?
"In case you hadn't notice, the bell went about ten minutes ago, Dreamy."
I blinked, surprised at the sudden sound of Amber's voice beside me. I looked around, seeing the classroom was empty. I really mustn't let myself get so deep in thought like that. I stood up, flushing, gathering my things quickly.
Amber watched me, a frown on her face. "Seraphin, why don't you tell me what really happened? What's been bugging you."
I studied her thoughtfully. Could I tell her? Blaine had said that any human who found out about Night World secrets had to die. But Amber was my friend. She wasn't the type to go around blabbing to everyone. I could trust her, couldn't I?
"All right," I said finally. "But we can't talk here." We left the high school. Despite the fact it was September, the sun was still bright, and yet, I couldn't feel its warmth at all. Werewolves didn't have body temperature? I knew that was the case for vamps, but I hadn't known it was that way for 'wolves.
We went to a secluded little coffee shop called the Black Dahlia that Amber liked. After we'd ordered iced coffees, I took a deep breath, and told her everything that had happened from getting up in the middle of the night to being bitten by a werewolf, and finally realising I was one myself.
"You're a werewolf?" Amber asked, head tilted. She was taking all this in quite well.
I nodded miserably. "It's all Blaine's fault," I said moodily. "He bit me. I didn't ask to be one."
"The Pack can't have been happy," Amber commented dryly.
I studied her. She knew about the Pack? Was she a wolf? "How do you know?"
"I'm a witch," Amber said simply. She showed me her right hand with her silver ring with a black dahlia on, like the one on the sign for the café. Come to think of it, that wasn't really such a surprise. "There aren't many other Night People here. Most of them are the wolves from the Pack, who supposedly have their hide out in the woods. I guess I should have thought about that before I suggested camping."
I glared, but didn't say anything. I didn't mention I had been in the Pack house. I wondered if she knew Isabella, who seemed to be the leader. If I remembered correctly, wasn't Alpha the correct term? Why they used Greek letters was beyond me.
"So what are you going to do about the mysterious Blaine?" Amber asked with a smile. "Rick can't be too happy."
I sighed heavily. "I haven't decided yet. Blaine's so infuriatingly obscure. He's cute, I have to admit that, but then again, so is Rick, and I've known Rick longer..."
"The law says you can't love a human," Amber said softly. "The Night World officials will be outraged if they find out."
I guess that didn't leave me with much of a choice. I thought about how I had always wanted to belong to the supernatural world. Now I had learned it was actually true, it looked like I'd gotten more than I'd bargained for.
* * *
By Friday, I was felt like I was going to punch anyone I came across who looked at me and whispered. I felt like standing in the middle of the football field during a game, or maybe during the assembly held that afternoon, a warning thing to be careful cause there was a psycho going round gutting people, and screaming at the top of my lungs "So I'm a fucking werewolf! Deal with it! It's not my fault!"
But that was just going to get me killed. Sighing heavily, I was beginning to think that maybe that shouldn't be such a bad idea. Both Amber and Blaine had been lecturing me on Night World law and history all week, and especially what happened when you were naughty and did something the council didn't like.
Blaine had explained to be privately that the Pack wasn't really part of Night World, it had its own laws and rules, but considering there were other shapeshifters hanging around, I might as well know the whole score.
As I walked through the school halls I wondered how many other people were Night People. They were supposed to be brilliant and blending in and passing themselves off as normal humans, (no one had noticed anything remarkably different about me, well, apart from Rick, but I'll get to him in a minute) so I didn't know for sure. I couldn't tell just by looking. But I was told to identify them by black flowers.
So far nothing spectacular had caught my eye.
As for Rick...he'd noticed there was something different about me. I hardly spoke to him anymore, I didn't want him dead because of me. He'd gotten jealous and mad at me spending more time with Blaine, and sort of broken up with me. I guess I can't be too pissed at him, it's safer for him that way.
When I reached my first class on Friday morning, I noticed more people than usual staring at me. Amber was in her usual seat, twisting a lock of red hair around a finger in an almost nervous gesture.
"What?" I snapped, when someone else looked at me as I sat down.
"You didn't hear?" the girl, whose name I didn't know, asked.
I shook my head. "Hear what?"
Amber looked up, seeing us, and came over. "Seraphin...don't you know?"
I sighed with exasperation...forget punching, maybe I should eat somebody. That'd teach 'em a lesson for staring. I could feel my beat inside me, feel it start to stir at the mention of hunger. A sort of prickling heated sensation was running along my skin. I saw Amber look at me with a sort of shocked awe. Power. *My* power. She was only a witch, and she could feel it.
I suppose I should be impressed, or smug, but at that moment, I didn't really feel either. Just irritated. "I don't know," I snapped again. "What the hell is going on?"
"I can't believe no one told you," the nameless girl muttered, scurrying to her seat.
I looked at Amber for an answer. Amber hesitated, then blurted out, "It's Rick. He's sort of...deadish..."
I wasn't sure how I was supposed to react to that. Did she expect me to scream, cry, shout, yell who'd done this was going to be my late night snack? All I felt was vague surprise. "Rick's...deadish..." I got out through the lump forming in my throat. Where had that come from? "How?"
"He was...eaten," Amber said softly. "By wild animals. He went into the woods again. Why, I don't know. They found him...or what was left of him...this morning."
The surprise was slowly turning to dread. Somebody *ate* Rick? What had I been doing last night? I had been at home, I'd spent most of the night just lounging about doing nothing cause I was depressed and hungry...
No. Oh no. No. I couldn't have...
But last night wasn't a full moon. Werewolves could only change during a full moon, right?
I sat through my morning classes, vaguely trying to pay attention to the teachers, but most of the time my mind was elsewhere. Why would I want to eat Rick? It just didn't make any sense.
Hell, none of this made any sense. If it did, then maybe I wouldn't be whining so much.
What had Blaine been doing last night? Picking off competition?
That thought wasn't as shocking as I thought it might have been. Blaine had known I had something going with Rick. He had pulled me out the woods and bitten me so he could have a mate...
Hmm...
* * *
I wondered where the hell I was supposed to even find Blaine to demand to know what the fuck he was playing at. What had happened to Rick had been bugging me all day. I knew it wasn't my fault. I was positive that this was one mauling that I hadn't done.
When school was over Blaine was waiting for me by the entrance. I stared at him, not sure whether to be amused or angry. He just fixed me with one of his to-die-for smiles. I didn't know if I wanted to kiss him or punch him.
He was one of the most infuriating, most confusing people I had ever met.
"We need to talk," he said simply.
I nodded. "I guess." I took him to the café where Amber and I had gone. I noticed a few people giving us strange looks as we walked in.
"What's their problem?" I muttered.
The girl behind the desk had locked eyes with Blaine. They seemed fixed in a stare out of pure hatred. I could almost feel something in the air, running along my skin, like a cool breeze.
I looked at Blaine, stunned. His blue eyes had turned pure silver, and were shining like a searchlight. His face looked somewhat - different - scarier, older somehow.
I'd never seen a display of power like this before. That's obviously what it must be. A display of power. The girl actually hissed like a cat, and turned away. When Blaine looked back at me his face had gone back to normal, only more smug.
"What was that all about?" I asked as we headed to a table.
"She's a vampire," he said dismissively. "Vampires don't tend to like werewolves much. She's pissed cause there are more wolves here than anything else."
"The Pack," I said.
He looked surprised. "Yeah."
We sat down and looked at each other in silence for a few minutes. I knew there was something he wanted to say to me, but was looking as if he wasn't sure how to approach the subject.
"Something to do with my boyfriend being eaten?" I suggested.
He just looked at me, his expression blank. "What were you doing last night?" he asked.
I shrugged. "Moping at home and feeling sorry for myself." I didn't mention to him about my lack of control over my shifting. Besides, I had convinced myself this wasn't my fault.
"There's a difference between shapeshifters and werewolves," he said, drumming his fingers on the table. "Were-animals only shift during the full moon, while a shapeshifter can shift anytime. Of course, there's always the rare were-animal who can shift when they please, normally it's only the alphas that can do that."
I was confused. "What's that got to do with me? I'm only new at this. I don't think I've managed alpha status yet."
Blaine just gave me one of his irritatingly gorgeous smiles. "I was just saying. There's always exceptions."
I snorted. I hadn't even mastered shifting completely during a full moon yet, let alone how to shift outside of one. It was hard enough as it was. "So what else can we do?" I asked him. "There's gotta be more than just changing shape and pissing off vampires with cute little power tricks."
Blaine looked a little offended at that. "Cute little power trick?" he echoed. "That took years to perfect." He sighed and shook his head. "Well, we're stronger than humans, we can heal from anything but silver. The old silver bullet will kill us. There re some other things we can do with power, but it's kind of hard to explain." He frowned, trying to think how to put it into words. "The best way to deal with it is to just adapt as you go on."
I sighed heavily. Great. I was afraid of that. "It's all just a little overwhelming."
He moved closer to me and slipped an arm around my shoulders. "You'll get used to it."
I moved to shrug him off, then changed my mind. I let him take me home, and finally gave in, letting him kiss me at the door to my house. A pleasant tingling feeling ran along my nerves, hot, like fire.
"Don't forget," he said as he turned to leave. "Pack meeting this Sunday." I watched him drive off.
I sighed again and went into the house. I'd forgotten about that. I wasn't looking forward to that.
* * *
On Sunday there was a pack meeting. A big black car had pulled up outside my house, beeping the horn insistently until I showed up. I could see my parents exchange glances. I couldn't exactly tell them I was off to meet with the local pack of werewolves, so I just told them Amber had gotten a new car and ran out before they could ask anymore questions.
I couldn't actually tell them what was wrong. For starters, it was forbidden, and second, it was going to get everyone I told killed. And no one would believe me anyway.
Blaine was sitting in the car, waiting for me. He was dressed entirely in black, which made his blond hair almost shimmer, his dark eyes were nearly glowing. He looked so *different* than normal.
I hadn't known I was supposed to be all formal. I was just wearing jeans and a silver top. Well, next time I'd known. I waited for Blaine to say something, but he said nothing, just stared right ahead.
Okay. Fine. I did *not* get this guy. One minute he was all cozy and flirty, next he was cold as a block of ice. He hadn't looked at me once.
And this side of him was even scarier than when he'd stared down that vampire who had made smart remarks about 'wolves. There was a sense of Power, so strong it was like a breeze rolling off him, raising goosebumps along my skin.
I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut. I felt a rumbling in my stomach. There wasn't another full moon for several weeks. But what did I have to eat in the mean time? I'd have to ask that when I got an opportunity.
Finally, the car stopped, pulling up outside the mansion I'd woken up in. It still looked dark and creepy and deserted from first view. If anyone was just passing by you'd never know anyone was inside.
Blaine got out the car after someone had come and opened the door. I could see someone coming to open my door. I wasn't incapable. I opened it myself and headed after Blaine. I could see some butler/servant type people who looked rather flustered. I ignored them.
The silence was really starting to get to me now. I didn't like silence. I liked noise and company. Shame my company was as interesting as a block of wood right now. I'd get more response out of a brick wall than I was getting from him.
We arrived in a sort of gathering room where a bunch of other people were standing in clustered. Most of them looked to be somewhere in their mind twenties, maybe early thirties at the oldest. I could only see about two people I could put at maybe eighteen/nineteen.
They were all dressed in dark clothing as well, their eyes gleaming strangely in the gloom. The double doors at the end of the room opened and Isabella walked in. She was dressed in blue rather than black, her suit stood out against the darkness of the others, her hair was almost woven in gloom.
"Let's get this over and done with." She took a seat on a sort of raised stage, the chair was almost like an elaborately carved wooden throne with a high curving back and long arms. Six other people came from two directions, three men, and three women. They took seats on less elaborate chairs beside Isabella.
"Who are they?" I muttered to Blaine. "And how come Isabella gets to boss everyone around."
Blaine smiled faintly for the first time that afternoon. "Isabella gets to push everyone about because she's the pack leader, our Alpha. The others are members of the Pack Council."
"I'd take Richard over her any day," I muttered.
Blaine gave me a sideways look. "What?"
I shook my head dismissively. (Richard was a character from my favourite book series, Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter. He was an Alpha werewolf, and he sounded absolutely gorgeous.)
"I thought there were supposed to be two alphas in wolf packs, male and female," I whispered to Blaine, ignoring Isabella as she went on blathering.
"Generally there are," he whispered back. "Izzy's mate was killed a few weeks ago by a werewolf hunter. She hasn't picked a new male alpha yet."
I didn't say anything. Izzy? She must love that nickname. I was still confused, and didn't understand half of what Isabella (Izzy) was going on about, I just wanted the meeting to be other with a get the hell out of there.
"...victims mauled in the woods. Night World council reps from this area are generally tending to point the finger at us."
That line got my attention. My suspicions and worries resurfaced, the terrifying thought that I couldn't control myself when I shifted.
I could see several of the Council looking at me. My ego was bruised a little. I didn't do it. They had no proof that I had done it. "I didn't do it," I said stubbornly.
"It takes at least from six months to a year for a new 'wolf to learn to control themselves," a council member said icily.
"She's not a shapeshifter wolf," someone else said.
I was confused. What was the difference between shapeshifters and werewolves?
"She seems to be getting the hang of things," Blaine said, speaking up in my defence. Now I was starting to like him again. Oh, this stupid boy was so confusing!
"What's the difference between shapeshifters and werewolves?" I asked.
"Shapeshifters can shift whenever they like," Isabella explained. "Were-animals can shift only during the full moon."
Oh. Well, I couldn't do that. At least, I was pretty certain I couldn't. Of course, I could always be wrong, a little voice inside was reminding me.
I didn't remember what I did when I shifted. Maybe I wasn't getting the hang of it was Blaine seemed to believe.
The meeting broke up shortly after that, but before I left someone from the council caught my arm, leaving me with a message.
"We'll be watching you."
* * *
Was this how vampires felt? I didn't know. I wasn't sure if I wanted to. The whole thing was starting to lose it's appeal to me now. I could see Rick eyeing me from his seat beside me.
I felt kind of bad about the way I was treating him. I had spent most of the day avoiding him, and all of my friends. I was too afraid that I wouldn't be able to control myself and hurt them.
I didn't understand it. Blaine had told me we only needed to feed once a month, during the three days of the full moon. I had fed last night.
My thoughts returned to those...no. I wouldn't think about that. I had nothing to do with it. I was absolutely sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Wasn't me. No way. No way.
I had bee telling myself this all day. But still...a knot of dread was pulling deep inside me, making my stomach feel as if there was a grinding stone inside it.
There was always the slightest chance. I was the newest member of the Pack. I hadn't learned to control myself and my powers properly yet. But that brought me to the thought...there were others werewolves out there.
Maybe they had done it and were making me think that I'd done. I just didn't know.
I wanted to crawl up in bed and never come out. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea if I could convince Blaine to come and stay with me.
A glance at Rick and I felt guilty all over again. What was I going to tell him? I was going to have to think of a reasonable excuse to dump him.
But how could I do that? Was Blaine really worth it? I still wasn't sure if I loved him or hated him. He was cute, that was all I knew, but was that enough?
"In case you hadn't notice, the bell went about ten minutes ago, Dreamy."
I blinked, surprised at the sudden sound of Amber's voice beside me. I looked around, seeing the classroom was empty. I really mustn't let myself get so deep in thought like that. I stood up, flushing, gathering my things quickly.
Amber watched me, a frown on her face. "Seraphin, why don't you tell me what really happened? What's been bugging you."
I studied her thoughtfully. Could I tell her? Blaine had said that any human who found out about Night World secrets had to die. But Amber was my friend. She wasn't the type to go around blabbing to everyone. I could trust her, couldn't I?
"All right," I said finally. "But we can't talk here." We left the high school. Despite the fact it was September, the sun was still bright, and yet, I couldn't feel its warmth at all. Werewolves didn't have body temperature? I knew that was the case for vamps, but I hadn't known it was that way for 'wolves.
We went to a secluded little coffee shop called the Black Dahlia that Amber liked. After we'd ordered iced coffees, I took a deep breath, and told her everything that had happened from getting up in the middle of the night to being bitten by a werewolf, and finally realising I was one myself.
"You're a werewolf?" Amber asked, head tilted. She was taking all this in quite well.
I nodded miserably. "It's all Blaine's fault," I said moodily. "He bit me. I didn't ask to be one."
"The Pack can't have been happy," Amber commented dryly.
I studied her. She knew about the Pack? Was she a wolf? "How do you know?"
"I'm a witch," Amber said simply. She showed me her right hand with her silver ring with a black dahlia on, like the one on the sign for the café. Come to think of it, that wasn't really such a surprise. "There aren't many other Night People here. Most of them are the wolves from the Pack, who supposedly have their hide out in the woods. I guess I should have thought about that before I suggested camping."
I glared, but didn't say anything. I didn't mention I had been in the Pack house. I wondered if she knew Isabella, who seemed to be the leader. If I remembered correctly, wasn't Alpha the correct term? Why they used Greek letters was beyond me.
"So what are you going to do about the mysterious Blaine?" Amber asked with a smile. "Rick can't be too happy."
I sighed heavily. "I haven't decided yet. Blaine's so infuriatingly obscure. He's cute, I have to admit that, but then again, so is Rick, and I've known Rick longer..."
"The law says you can't love a human," Amber said softly. "The Night World officials will be outraged if they find out."
I guess that didn't leave me with much of a choice. I thought about how I had always wanted to belong to the supernatural world. Now I had learned it was actually true, it looked like I'd gotten more than I'd bargained for.
* * *
By Friday, I was felt like I was going to punch anyone I came across who looked at me and whispered. I felt like standing in the middle of the football field during a game, or maybe during the assembly held that afternoon, a warning thing to be careful cause there was a psycho going round gutting people, and screaming at the top of my lungs "So I'm a fucking werewolf! Deal with it! It's not my fault!"
But that was just going to get me killed. Sighing heavily, I was beginning to think that maybe that shouldn't be such a bad idea. Both Amber and Blaine had been lecturing me on Night World law and history all week, and especially what happened when you were naughty and did something the council didn't like.
Blaine had explained to be privately that the Pack wasn't really part of Night World, it had its own laws and rules, but considering there were other shapeshifters hanging around, I might as well know the whole score.
As I walked through the school halls I wondered how many other people were Night People. They were supposed to be brilliant and blending in and passing themselves off as normal humans, (no one had noticed anything remarkably different about me, well, apart from Rick, but I'll get to him in a minute) so I didn't know for sure. I couldn't tell just by looking. But I was told to identify them by black flowers.
So far nothing spectacular had caught my eye.
As for Rick...he'd noticed there was something different about me. I hardly spoke to him anymore, I didn't want him dead because of me. He'd gotten jealous and mad at me spending more time with Blaine, and sort of broken up with me. I guess I can't be too pissed at him, it's safer for him that way.
When I reached my first class on Friday morning, I noticed more people than usual staring at me. Amber was in her usual seat, twisting a lock of red hair around a finger in an almost nervous gesture.
"What?" I snapped, when someone else looked at me as I sat down.
"You didn't hear?" the girl, whose name I didn't know, asked.
I shook my head. "Hear what?"
Amber looked up, seeing us, and came over. "Seraphin...don't you know?"
I sighed with exasperation...forget punching, maybe I should eat somebody. That'd teach 'em a lesson for staring. I could feel my beat inside me, feel it start to stir at the mention of hunger. A sort of prickling heated sensation was running along my skin. I saw Amber look at me with a sort of shocked awe. Power. *My* power. She was only a witch, and she could feel it.
I suppose I should be impressed, or smug, but at that moment, I didn't really feel either. Just irritated. "I don't know," I snapped again. "What the hell is going on?"
"I can't believe no one told you," the nameless girl muttered, scurrying to her seat.
I looked at Amber for an answer. Amber hesitated, then blurted out, "It's Rick. He's sort of...deadish..."
I wasn't sure how I was supposed to react to that. Did she expect me to scream, cry, shout, yell who'd done this was going to be my late night snack? All I felt was vague surprise. "Rick's...deadish..." I got out through the lump forming in my throat. Where had that come from? "How?"
"He was...eaten," Amber said softly. "By wild animals. He went into the woods again. Why, I don't know. They found him...or what was left of him...this morning."
The surprise was slowly turning to dread. Somebody *ate* Rick? What had I been doing last night? I had been at home, I'd spent most of the night just lounging about doing nothing cause I was depressed and hungry...
No. Oh no. No. I couldn't have...
But last night wasn't a full moon. Werewolves could only change during a full moon, right?
I sat through my morning classes, vaguely trying to pay attention to the teachers, but most of the time my mind was elsewhere. Why would I want to eat Rick? It just didn't make any sense.
Hell, none of this made any sense. If it did, then maybe I wouldn't be whining so much.
What had Blaine been doing last night? Picking off competition?
That thought wasn't as shocking as I thought it might have been. Blaine had known I had something going with Rick. He had pulled me out the woods and bitten me so he could have a mate...
Hmm...
* * *
I wondered where the hell I was supposed to even find Blaine to demand to know what the fuck he was playing at. What had happened to Rick had been bugging me all day. I knew it wasn't my fault. I was positive that this was one mauling that I hadn't done.
When school was over Blaine was waiting for me by the entrance. I stared at him, not sure whether to be amused or angry. He just fixed me with one of his to-die-for smiles. I didn't know if I wanted to kiss him or punch him.
He was one of the most infuriating, most confusing people I had ever met.
"We need to talk," he said simply.
I nodded. "I guess." I took him to the café where Amber and I had gone. I noticed a few people giving us strange looks as we walked in.
"What's their problem?" I muttered.
The girl behind the desk had locked eyes with Blaine. They seemed fixed in a stare out of pure hatred. I could almost feel something in the air, running along my skin, like a cool breeze.
I looked at Blaine, stunned. His blue eyes had turned pure silver, and were shining like a searchlight. His face looked somewhat - different - scarier, older somehow.
I'd never seen a display of power like this before. That's obviously what it must be. A display of power. The girl actually hissed like a cat, and turned away. When Blaine looked back at me his face had gone back to normal, only more smug.
"What was that all about?" I asked as we headed to a table.
"She's a vampire," he said dismissively. "Vampires don't tend to like werewolves much. She's pissed cause there are more wolves here than anything else."
"The Pack," I said.
He looked surprised. "Yeah."
We sat down and looked at each other in silence for a few minutes. I knew there was something he wanted to say to me, but was looking as if he wasn't sure how to approach the subject.
"Something to do with my boyfriend being eaten?" I suggested.
He just looked at me, his expression blank. "What were you doing last night?" he asked.
I shrugged. "Moping at home and feeling sorry for myself." I didn't mention to him about my lack of control over my shifting. Besides, I had convinced myself this wasn't my fault.
"There's a difference between shapeshifters and werewolves," he said, drumming his fingers on the table. "Were-animals only shift during the full moon, while a shapeshifter can shift anytime. Of course, there's always the rare were-animal who can shift when they please, normally it's only the alphas that can do that."
I was confused. "What's that got to do with me? I'm only new at this. I don't think I've managed alpha status yet."
Blaine just gave me one of his irritatingly gorgeous smiles. "I was just saying. There's always exceptions."
I snorted. I hadn't even mastered shifting completely during a full moon yet, let alone how to shift outside of one. It was hard enough as it was. "So what else can we do?" I asked him. "There's gotta be more than just changing shape and pissing off vampires with cute little power tricks."
Blaine looked a little offended at that. "Cute little power trick?" he echoed. "That took years to perfect." He sighed and shook his head. "Well, we're stronger than humans, we can heal from anything but silver. The old silver bullet will kill us. There re some other things we can do with power, but it's kind of hard to explain." He frowned, trying to think how to put it into words. "The best way to deal with it is to just adapt as you go on."
I sighed heavily. Great. I was afraid of that. "It's all just a little overwhelming."
He moved closer to me and slipped an arm around my shoulders. "You'll get used to it."
I moved to shrug him off, then changed my mind. I let him take me home, and finally gave in, letting him kiss me at the door to my house. A pleasant tingling feeling ran along my nerves, hot, like fire.
"Don't forget," he said as he turned to leave. "Pack meeting this Sunday." I watched him drive off.
I sighed again and went into the house. I'd forgotten about that. I wasn't looking forward to that.
* * *
On Sunday there was a pack meeting. A big black car had pulled up outside my house, beeping the horn insistently until I showed up. I could see my parents exchange glances. I couldn't exactly tell them I was off to meet with the local pack of werewolves, so I just told them Amber had gotten a new car and ran out before they could ask anymore questions.
I couldn't actually tell them what was wrong. For starters, it was forbidden, and second, it was going to get everyone I told killed. And no one would believe me anyway.
Blaine was sitting in the car, waiting for me. He was dressed entirely in black, which made his blond hair almost shimmer, his dark eyes were nearly glowing. He looked so *different* than normal.
I hadn't known I was supposed to be all formal. I was just wearing jeans and a silver top. Well, next time I'd known. I waited for Blaine to say something, but he said nothing, just stared right ahead.
Okay. Fine. I did *not* get this guy. One minute he was all cozy and flirty, next he was cold as a block of ice. He hadn't looked at me once.
And this side of him was even scarier than when he'd stared down that vampire who had made smart remarks about 'wolves. There was a sense of Power, so strong it was like a breeze rolling off him, raising goosebumps along my skin.
I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut. I felt a rumbling in my stomach. There wasn't another full moon for several weeks. But what did I have to eat in the mean time? I'd have to ask that when I got an opportunity.
Finally, the car stopped, pulling up outside the mansion I'd woken up in. It still looked dark and creepy and deserted from first view. If anyone was just passing by you'd never know anyone was inside.
Blaine got out the car after someone had come and opened the door. I could see someone coming to open my door. I wasn't incapable. I opened it myself and headed after Blaine. I could see some butler/servant type people who looked rather flustered. I ignored them.
The silence was really starting to get to me now. I didn't like silence. I liked noise and company. Shame my company was as interesting as a block of wood right now. I'd get more response out of a brick wall than I was getting from him.
We arrived in a sort of gathering room where a bunch of other people were standing in clustered. Most of them looked to be somewhere in their mind twenties, maybe early thirties at the oldest. I could only see about two people I could put at maybe eighteen/nineteen.
They were all dressed in dark clothing as well, their eyes gleaming strangely in the gloom. The double doors at the end of the room opened and Isabella walked in. She was dressed in blue rather than black, her suit stood out against the darkness of the others, her hair was almost woven in gloom.
"Let's get this over and done with." She took a seat on a sort of raised stage, the chair was almost like an elaborately carved wooden throne with a high curving back and long arms. Six other people came from two directions, three men, and three women. They took seats on less elaborate chairs beside Isabella.
"Who are they?" I muttered to Blaine. "And how come Isabella gets to boss everyone around."
Blaine smiled faintly for the first time that afternoon. "Isabella gets to push everyone about because she's the pack leader, our Alpha. The others are members of the Pack Council."
"I'd take Richard over her any day," I muttered.
Blaine gave me a sideways look. "What?"
I shook my head dismissively. (Richard was a character from my favourite book series, Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter. He was an Alpha werewolf, and he sounded absolutely gorgeous.)
"I thought there were supposed to be two alphas in wolf packs, male and female," I whispered to Blaine, ignoring Isabella as she went on blathering.
"Generally there are," he whispered back. "Izzy's mate was killed a few weeks ago by a werewolf hunter. She hasn't picked a new male alpha yet."
I didn't say anything. Izzy? She must love that nickname. I was still confused, and didn't understand half of what Isabella (Izzy) was going on about, I just wanted the meeting to be other with a get the hell out of there.
"...victims mauled in the woods. Night World council reps from this area are generally tending to point the finger at us."
That line got my attention. My suspicions and worries resurfaced, the terrifying thought that I couldn't control myself when I shifted.
I could see several of the Council looking at me. My ego was bruised a little. I didn't do it. They had no proof that I had done it. "I didn't do it," I said stubbornly.
"It takes at least from six months to a year for a new 'wolf to learn to control themselves," a council member said icily.
"She's not a shapeshifter wolf," someone else said.
I was confused. What was the difference between shapeshifters and werewolves?
"She seems to be getting the hang of things," Blaine said, speaking up in my defence. Now I was starting to like him again. Oh, this stupid boy was so confusing!
"What's the difference between shapeshifters and werewolves?" I asked.
"Shapeshifters can shift whenever they like," Isabella explained. "Were-animals can shift only during the full moon."
Oh. Well, I couldn't do that. At least, I was pretty certain I couldn't. Of course, I could always be wrong, a little voice inside was reminding me.
I didn't remember what I did when I shifted. Maybe I wasn't getting the hang of it was Blaine seemed to believe.
The meeting broke up shortly after that, but before I left someone from the council caught my arm, leaving me with a message.
"We'll be watching you."
* * *
