Hello beautiful people. It is Sunday and I promised you a chapter before the end of the weekend. Well here it is. BIG REMINDER: this is where it starts to get dark. See you at the bottom to yell at me.
Where am I? I thought to myself when I actually woke up. It was dark, and damp, and the faint smell of salt and water filled my nose so I knew it was somewhere near an ocean. I took a deep breath bringing myself up and instantly regretting it.
There was a rush of pain, accompanied with the memories of what happened. I was injured, Jennah was ruined, people were hurt, and my family was no doubt in twice the amount of pain I was in due to my absence. I whipped my legs around trying to get off of the rock that was covered in a very thick padded blanket beneath me.
I scooted off wincing as I felt everything that sleep wouldn't allow me to feel. My feet barely touched the ground before a pair of strong arms caught me sitting me back on the padded slate. "You shouldn't move, sweetheart." The familiar voice chastised. "You'll only hurt yourself more."
"Where are we?" I demanded, not recognizing my own voice from the raspy edge to it.
His look now, made his normal unkempt looks appear tamed. His hair was still going in different directions, though longer than I remembered him. His five o'clock shadowed face was accompanied by scrapes and dirt. "A set of caves off the coast of Georgia."
My mind tried to calculate the distance from Jennah to our current destination that was at least four countries north of it. "How long have I been asleep?"
"About twelve hours." He answered simply handing me a canteen of water, which I didn't hesitate to accept trying to get rid of the dry strain in my voice. "We stopped at sunrise since we changed back and I was a bit too fatigued to carry you this way. At least until your body heals."
"The only werewolves I've ever known were Jacob, Seth, and the other Quileute's. I would have never thought that's what you were." I admitted.
He stiffened at the sound of my husband's name. "They aren't werewolves." He stressed harshly altering his tone when he saw me flinch away from him. "I suppose it would be shocking though my Rennie. You were a shock to me after all, but we're all countries on the same continent in a way. If our supernatural world were as narrow as we both thought we would have never found each other and come together."
The nickname caused a flicker of irritation in me, "Stop calling me Rennie." I demanded shoving the canteen back at him. "I only came with you so that you would leave my family and everyone in Jennah alone. Don't confuse surrender with your fantasy of two star crossed lovers running away with each other. That isn't what this is."
Zach's penetrating grey eyes flickered with a dark anger as he tensed for a minute, a low growl escaped him before he sighed rubbing his temples. "I shouldn't provoke you when you're like this. With the full moon tonight you're bound to be just as irritable as I am, and it isn't good for your injuries to be upset." He continued to ramble on amazingly, "We'll be home soon, and we'll have plenty of time to spend with each other when we're both a bit less temperamental. Now let me see your wounds."
There was so much I wanted to say to him, but I just unzipped my hoodie revealing surprisingly bandaged arms underneath, the same on my shoulder. They weren't as neatly done as I had seen Carlisle do on patients, but it was still kind of him. He unwrapped it gently revealing cracked marble in a purplish tint. They seemed to hurt more that I could actually see the damage.
Zach sighed rewrapping them just as loose before looking at the one near my collar bone. "You need to be a bit more careful love, I thought you'd be a bit more graceful considering your parentage. How long does it take your kind to heal Rennie?"
I didn't know how to answer that, "I don't know, about a day I guess."
He raised a curious eyebrow at me as he covered it back up. "You guess?"
"I'm using my friend Asima as a guideline," I admitted truthfully. "I've never been hurt before."
Zach found this hard to believe, "You've been in harm's way before. How can you have never been hurt even in the slightest?"
"My family and friends have always done a very thorough job of protecting me." I answer truthfully.
This irritated him, but he did his best to control it, "Well that's my job now, and I'll do better."
"Zach…" I started, but he wouldn't allow me to say anything I was thinking.
He got up and disappeared around the corner for a moment, before walking back around with another blanket. "No, no, no Rennie. No provoking each other my love. It's hard enough to deal with your stubbornness when I don't have the moon making me short tempered, and since your feelings are connected to mine it won't end well." He put the blanket on my legs and sat on the rock next to me. "I'm sure the more you rest, the faster you'll heal, and I'll move you as soon as the sun sets."
He was right about my need to heal, so I laid back. The sooner I wasn't limited, the sooner I could plan escape, or at least a plan of action. There had to be some way that I could send out an SOS. Not that I was expecting my family to even think to travel this far, but I had to find some way to make it easy on them.
I laid back and Zach scooted off the rock taking a spot by my side on the floor. Apparently he wasn't going to leave my side. "What time is it?" I asked frustrated that I couldn't find a comfortable position.
"A little before three. Sunset isn't until eight twenty-eight so we have some time until we leave." He explained.
I finally just gave up, lying on my back. The feeling of agitation burned within me and I tried to ask more questions to take my mind off of it. "Where's home for you Zach?"
"Just a bit further north." He answered carefully, no doubt not wanting to tell me too much.
"Where are the others?" I asked hearing nothing but the sound of ocean and Zach's breathing.
He was less withholding with this answer. "The cave formation goes a lot further back than you think. This is where I sleep when we're traveling. We're all a bit more irritable during the end of the lunar phases, so it's best we stay out of each other's way."
"Do you like being a werewolf?" I asked timidly. "When you change?"
He waited again. I thought he was going to find a cryptic answer, but instead he was more truthful than I was expecting. "We're amazing creatures, werewolves. When the change starts, scientifically, we should be dead in thirty seconds. Our heart is two thirds the size of the average humans, but in order for it to shrink, first it has to stop. In other words we have a heart attack. All of our internal organs are smaller too, so while we're having a heart attack, we're having liver and kidney failure as well.
If we stop screaming, it isn't because the pain stops, it means our throat, gullet and vocal chords are tearing and reforming and we literally can't make a sound. By then the pituitary gland should be working in overtime flooding our body with growth hormones in an ill attempt to ease the pain, but that too is shut down. Our bones break and reform, while we lose our identities into what we turn into. Any normal person experiencing this would die have died from shock a long time ago, but it won't quit, that's what makes us so remarkable. It drives us through the fire, keeps us alive, and even conscious to endure every second."
I wanted to cry for him, I couldn't image the pain that he went through three times a month for his entire life. "I'm sorry." I choked genuinely hurt for him.
"Don't be sad for me my Rennie." He crooned slightly as he continued, " Yes, it's a lethal curse spread by tooth and claw, victim begets victim, begets victim. We go through the worse and we still stand. In a way it makes us Gods amongst Gods, not to mention men."
It was an odd way to look at it. As an empowering curse that made them superior beings. Curiosity still got the better of me despite how sad I was. "Are there more of you?" I asked trying to make my voice sound casual. "More than just the five of you, I mean?"
He waited for a bit longer before turning to me in the dim lighting of torches brushing a stray hair from my face, "You'll see when you're home love."
The sad part was though that irritated me the burn within me shifted to other feelings. A more wanton fire flickered within me, and I was thankful that he turned away from me to sit with his back against the rock.
It was his turn to ask me questions it seemed. "What are you thinking?"
"You have to ask now?" I rolled my eyes sarcastically attempting to laugh as well before cutting it short when pain became more evident.
He chuckled himself. "You don't understand me at all Reenie. The only reason I was in your mind in the first place was because I needed to be. You weren't near me, and I couldn't bear to separate myself from you."
"So now you're out?" I asked skeptically.
His deep chuckle made me unsure on whether I should believe him or not. "We're connected Rennie. So yes I'm able to dive into your mind at any time, but I won't unless I have too. Now that you're with me, I can be a bit more patient. I'd prefer you give yourself to me on your own terms. Which I won't expect to take very long since you're no longer surrounded by outside influences."
He sounded so sure of himself. "Don't count on it." I snapped.
"I know you're trying to fight the fact that you want me." He stated with humor.
I narrowed my eyes muttering, "I thought you weren't in my mind."
"Just because I'm not in your mind doesn't mean I can't feel you Reenie." He answered with dark amusement. "My body is always aware of what you crave."
I grabbed the blanket in fists to keep myself from touching him. "Is it always this difficult?"
"When I linked us, I gave you a spark. A very small ember of passion, after all that's what drives our kind. Whether it's something we desire or the freedom to obtain it. Passion, fuels it all. It's also how I know you'll accept me on your own eventually." He explained in a voice that was sounding sultrier the more I listened to it. "You have been reserved for so long that just a spark is all you need. The flame will catch, grow, burn, and ache until you can't resist it any longer."
"Zach, I won't ever do that." I swore. I had a family, friends, a husband, and kids that I wouldn't turn my back on. I knew that as long as I was with Zach, they were out of harm's way. It was my love for them that made me come with him, not love for him. What Zach did to me was a disease, an infection, nothing more.
Zach didn't bother to get irritated this time. I wasn't sure if it was because he had heard my song so long that he didn't believe me anymore or because he just didn't want to fight me, but instead he just sighed. "Rennie I love you. Now get some rest. One day you'll understand the gift I've given you."
I didn't argue anymore, though I really wanted to. I eventually just shut my eyes, and for the first time dreamed of something other than the oasis with Zach. A sleep that I welcomed.
The sounds of guttural snarling and anguished screams woke me from the peaceful dream I was having about being reunited with my family. "Zach?" I called into the darkness the torch burned out after being left unattended for hours.
My body was in pain, but I pushed myself up using the walls of the dark cave as support. I followed the scream, groans, and the sound of struggling around a corner as quickly as I could. I had seen the transformation through Zach's eyes, but for some reason it was harder to watch.
"BACK AWAY!" He demanded clenching at the ground as his hands contorted into claws.
I reached out to him, instinctually and a loud growl mixed with a screamed caused me to flinch back as I saw his face. I collapsed against the wall remaining on the ground as he finished his transformation, barely noticing the sounds of other screams throughout the caves.
His screams stopped, replaced with struggles within his throat that brought me back to his explanation earlier. If we stop screaming, it isn't because the pain stops, it means our throat, gullet and vocal chords are tearing and reforming and we literally can't make a sound… When his transformation is actually finished my eyes were blurry with tears. Thankful that for now, he was done. I wiped them away as he walked over to me. His all black fur radiated a heat that seemed to call me to him. He stood on his hind legs, his breath wheezing in snarls. He waited a moment before walking over to me slowly and I was too fascinated not to run my fingers down his muzzle. Stroking his soft wet fur seemed to calm him slightly as I pulled myself up and I placed myself into his arms again.
He carried me gently around corner after corner until we were under the night sky running along the sand of the beach. He moved a lot faster this time than yesterday and it didn't take him long to catch up to the other four wolves and I was once again asleep.
When I woke up again, I wasn't lying on a rock, instead I was in a large bed covered in a plush comforter. The sun was bright through the window, but the temperature was cooler. A couple layers of snow covered the ground from what I could see and I tried to guess what part of the world we were in. I pulled myself out of the bed realizing again that I was in pain, but more irritated that I was dressed differently than the clothes I had left Jennah in. My jeans and tank were gone, along with my hoodie, all replaced with a long cotton gown that fell to the floor.
"What in the hell?" I thought to myself ignoring the fact that there were three large oak doors in the Victorian set room instead setting course for the balcony and sending myself over the edge. A four story drop that normally would have been a breeze sent pain through my body as I rolled onto the frozen snow covered gravel, but even that didn't deter me for long.
I searched around for a few minutes more realizing that I could in fact feel him. I turned on my heels away from the gate seeing red as I stalked quickly around the side of the house. I spotted him before he spotted me.
He was sitting at a table with two blonde men I didn't recognize, though from their lack of scent I could tell that they were werewolves too. I lunged at him across the bushes with a very frustrated "Zach!"
All three of them turned at the same time, but I was already midair with my hands reaching for his throat. I managed to lock onto my target bringing him out of the chair and both of us skidding across frozen gravel into the snow covered grass. "I'm gonna kill you!" I threatened bringing my hand to his face as he tried to wrestle me into control.
"What did I do?" He grunted frustratingly between closed fist slaps all over his body. "Rennie, stop damn it."
The two guys grabbed me by the arms pulling me off of him, though it took all of their strength to do it. "You undressed me! How dare you, who do you think you are?" I demanded feeling the pain of my a bit more now that I didn't have to flash of anger to distract me.
I turned to the man with the shorter blonde hair not hesitating to use my own powers to show him a few flashes of me tearing him limb from limb, "Let go of my arm if you want to keep yours."
He complied quickly and told the guy with the long blonde hair a quick, "Let her go man." His accent sounded Russian.
"Are you ok Zach?" The guy with long blonde hair asked looking between us anxiously.
Zach was on his feet by then, rotating his jaw reliving before rubbing is shoulder. "I think you dislocated my arm sweet heart."
"Good." I snapped trying to hide my wince at the snapping noise that brought it all back into place.
Zach chuckled, "Give us a minute or two alone will you guys?" He requested wiping the dirt off of his cargo shorts, the chill outside not even affecting him.
The short haired blonde looked between us again. "Are you sure?"
A flicker of irritation caused me to snap again. "He said go."
"What?" The short haired blonde questioned raising an eyebrow at my tone.
Zach somehow found this funny. "Yes I'm sure Sven, head inside. Forgive Reenie; she refuses to give in, so the lunar cycle is making her a bit more agitated than the average complement." He winked at Sven before the man just shrugged and walked back towards the house.
"Complement?" I hissed looking at him expectantly.
Zach just shrugged smiling. "Yes, you are my complement Reenie. My partner, my other half, you complete me, etcetera. You can choose any word you like if ours upsets you."
"I'm not your anything." I stressed for the umpteenth time.
Zach raised an eyebrow at me before shaking his head. He wrapped an arm around my waist pulling me close to him, and I could feel my normal hummingbird of a heartbeat fly twice as fast. He ran his finger along my collar bone as the heat from the bite of my arm coursed through me. He leaned in towards me and my breath hitched when I realized that I didn't have the strength to pull back from him. "Are you sure about that Reenie?" He asked that deep sultry voice returning.
"Zach…" I whimpered in a one word plea as he came eighty percent of the way to my lips, inching to ninety slowly.
He brushed my bottom lip with his thumb before chuckling and pulling away. "You can't give yourself to me this way. Not while you're hurt. I just think you should stop pretending that you aren't anything to me and vise versa. You are my complement, Reenie."
"Zach you're impossible." I groaned when he relaxed his hold on me, still not letting me go.
He grinned at me unabashed. "That's exactly what you need." He guided me to the two chairs that were still standing and made sure that I was seated comfortably before he sat himself. "Now tell me, why on earth did you attack me, love? I couldn't make out what you were saying dear."
I looked down at my white cotton gown that was now dirty and torn at the bottom. "You changed my clothes."
Zach laughed running his hands through his long hair. "Is that all that upset you? I didn't dress you, Nina dressed you."
I didn't like that he was belittling something that upset me, "That doesn't make it any better. I don't know any of you, and I'd prefer to change myself."
"You were just sleeping so soundly, I didn't want to wake you. You needed to heal." The mention of me being hurt brought his serious side back. "Now let me see your arms."
I held them out as he rolled up the sleeves and unwrapped the coverings. "They aren't much better than yesterday." I noted as he ran his fingers across three lines before he squinted at them gently turning my arms over showing claw marks on the other side.
I could feel his anger rise as he clenched my wrists only to let them go before it got painful. "Reenie…" He growled with a low patience.
"Yes…" I responded confused and somewhat fearful.
He ran his fingers through my hair once before bringing my head up to look in his eyes. "How did you get these exactly?"
My mind flew back to the battle with the blonde haired wolf but for some reason my answer came out differently, "In Jennah…"
"How in Jennah, Reenie?" He requested trying to hold his patience. Zach pulled the shoulder of my nightgown down low enough to pull the bandage off there and he growled again when the healing once cracked marble took the shape of four puncture wounds. After seeing that he lost all patience in waiting for me to answer, taking my head in both of his hands he searched my eyes again, this time involuntarily, my mind ran over what happened.
There was a deep growl that snapped me out of my mind, "Zach…"
"I'll be right back." He promised before getting up from his chair and taking another a few steps towards the house before stopping and turning back towards me. "No I can't leave you out here, you'll freeze."
He pulled my up into his arms and carried me back towards the house. The fire that seemed to burn hotter whenever he touched me was working overtime, and though part of me wanted to insist that he put me down I was glad that he was holding me, because he wouldn't do anything crazy when he held me.
He walked me into the front of the house, and for the first time I recognized the house. No, not a house, a mansion. I remembered it from a book Esme was searching through when she was looking for her newest renovation project. The mini castle in the Zvenigorod countryside was abandoned centuries ago, assumed to be left to rot. Esme and I didn't understand this because the building was rich in Russian history. Many famous Russian painters lived there at some point, including Levitan himself. They turned this place into their own. The black and grey shingled roof sat atop faded yellow stones, just like in the picture.
He carried me up the stairs swiftly taking me to the first room on the right, the exact same one that I woke up in. He sat me gently on the bed and made sure that I wasn't in any pain before he kissed the top of my head and attempted to walk back out of the room. "Stay with me." I requested quickly. "Please."
He sighed, "I'm just going to have a talk with Jinny. We have hours until the moon rises and I'm forced to leave you."
"I know, I just, want you to stay now." I requested again putting on my most pathetic face in hopes I'd get my way.
He couldn't not give me what I want it seemed. "Fine, get comfortable and I'll stay."
I scooted up to the top of the bed putting the blanket over my legs, and he sat on the bed Indian style. "So how did you come to live in the Uspenskoe Mansion?" I asked trying to take his mind off of the anger.
"Impressed." He admitted surprised. He didn't expect me to know the house at all. "Well simply put, it's mine."
"Yours?"
He nodded, "In the late 1800s a man by the name of Sergei Morozov commissioned an artist by the name of Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel to design this mansion. Sergei Morozov was my father."
"Your father?" I repeated in disbelief. He nodded. "That would make you-"
"I'd prefer if you don't do the math." He laughed running his hands through his hair again.
He looked to be in his early twenties, but then again that meant nothing in our world, since over half of my family was well over a hundred and looked to be in their mid-twenties. "I thought that werewolves aged and died like humans."
"You've been reading too many books Reenie. I was born this way, I wasn't bitten. Once we mature we don't age anymore." He explained patiently tracing his finger on the back of my hand.
"So your father was bitten, and lived out his life and died?" I asked trying to understand.
He stopped tracing the invisible pattern on my hand and I could feel him smothering me with a hint of sadness and anger. "He would have, but he was killed."
"Killed? What could possible kill your father? Why?"
" A very old enemy, Reenie. The same reason why anyone has ever fought and killed. Power, fear of what they can't understand, and their need to overcome it." He answered. "Our kind have always been loners, only seeing each other in passing. My father however, saw grouping us together as a better chance to survive. He was right, we were a much stronger people this way. However, there are others out there that were threatened by our numbers. We were hunted to near extinction. Only me and four others survived, Jinny, Peter, Daniel and Ray went into hiding for over a decade before we attempted to recreate my father's vision except this time, the right way."
"And that's why you want me? To increase your numbers." I asked understanding really for the first time.
Zach took my hand into his making me look at him. "Don't ever think that way, Reenie. I can easily have any mate I want, you're special."
"Special?" I asked skeptically.
"Over the years, I've had mates, but they were all superficial and fleeting. I don't want fleeting anymore. You are the one thing as indestructible as I am. I've allowed myself to love you, because I know that you'll be here forever." He explained the best way he knew how.
I didn't know how to respond, because I wouldn't be here forever. I'd never be his, and I could never be his mate. It'd be easier to hate him if he didn't believe what he was saying to me.
"Get dressed." He instructed disappearing into a closet and coming out with a blue dress that seemed oddly familiar. I looked at the dress he put on the bed trying to remember where I saw it before. "You were looking at it in a shop in Cairo a few weeks before I introduced myself to you. You looked so lovely in it when you tried it on, I couldn't help but get it for you.
"How long did you watch me?" I asked walking behind a divider in the corner of the room and peeling off the nightgown.
"About six months." He was very honest as he answered me from the bed "I had to make sure you were, what I thought you were. I've never seen someone like you so I could only speculate.
"So you knew that I would end up here long before I even knew you existed?" The dark blue dress fell past my knees fitting me perfectly, the sleeves of lace covering up my injured arms that I decided to shed of the bandages since I wasn't bleeding.
Talk about confident, "It's a part of being a werewolf Reenie, when we want things, we make them happen. Part of -"
When I walked back around the divider he stopped his sentence staring at me, "It fits…" I celebrated sarcastically filling the silence.
"You're stunning. Just perfect." He praised standing up, wrapping his arms around my waist to guide me towards the door.
I pushed myself away from him wanting to walk for myself. "What's the occasion?"
"I'm going to introduce you to everyone else, it's bound to be meal time now. You should meet everyone." He answered proudly.
I froze, me being in a room with more werewolves probably wasn't a good idea. "I don't think it's safe for me to-"
"I'm in charge Reenie, no one will touch you." He vowed. "Your home is my home and I want you to be comfortable to roam wherever. You'll have the entire castle to yourself tonight, so feel free to explore it if your body is able."
He led me down the stairs, down the hall, and to a large wooden door where I could hear several voices from the other side. "What makes you think I won't just run away?"
He didn't hesitate with his answer while opening the door, "Because you know the first place I'd search for you."
I was expecting about five or six werewolves, so when I looked over the tables I had to recount again. There were three tables holding ten people of all colors, ages, and mixed sexes. In front of those tables was a shorter table holding the other four werewolves that I recognized from Jennah.
I felt him tense beside me, something I didn't understand because no had even cared that I was there, until I followed his line of vision. He was staring at the blonde haired, Scottish woman eating a piece of what smelled like chicken.
"Jinny." He hissed , and all of our talking, the calming effect I tried my best to have went out the window and I didn't even have a chance to grab him before he grabbed her by the throat picking her up from her benched seat and slamming her against the stone wall.
This got everyone's attention. "I gave you all specific instructions that she was to come to me unharmed." He grunted keeping his hand on her throat her feet dangling trying to find the ground.
"Zach stop…" I requested from my spot in the doorway, but he didn't hear me.
The Egyptian man with black hair got up from the table trying to make Zach stop strangling the woman. "Zachariah, let her go."
"Did you see what she did to her, Ray?" Zach demanded not letting her go, though she was struggling for air. "Did you know she injured her?"
"Of course not brother, we all thought she got injured in the rubble." He reasoned, "Just, let her go and we'll talk about this."
"I don't need to talk." He stressed dragging her higher up the wall.
Jinny's hands clenched at the wrist cutting off her airway struggling to get him to release her. "Zach… I can't breathe." She pleaded looking at him and then to me.
I was amazed that no one else intervened, and I wasn't sure if it was because they feared Zach that much, or didn't like Jinny.
"You aren't supposed to breathe Jinny." He threatened, and I could almost see the aura of anger around him. "I gave you specific order that she shouldn't be harmed for any reason."
"Oh my god he's going to kill her." I said to myself before burring to his side doing my own attempts to calm him. I rubbed the arm that was tensed straight against Jinny, tracing patterns on his skin like he so often did to me. "Zach… let her go. I attacked her first, she was defending herself."
"I don't care who attacked who first," He clarified. "She could have fled for all I cared."
I tried to put on a softer voice. "Zach… she won't touch me again… please. Let her go, for me."
He narrowed his eyes looking back at me and then to Jinny again. "I should hold you here for every minute that she's scared this way. Touch her again and I kill you." He vowed clenching his fist tighter and I could hear a breaking sound as she screeched in pain before he dropped her to the ground. "You should thank Reenie for saving your life."
She didn't say anything, she held her neck in the weirdest way, and I was certain that she still couldn't breathe. "Zach!" I snapped pulling him away from her and out the large door. "You could have killed her!"
"I'm sick of it. She's been acting crazy ever since I found you. She needs to learn her place and stay in it." He responded unapologetically leading me back up the oak staircase, no doubt back to my room.
I processed what he said as I opened the door. "I don't want to be the cause of fighting-"
"You aren't the cause of anything Reenie. She is the cause of it." He clarified pacing back and forth.
I sighed running my hands through my hair. "I heard something crack Zach, you could have killed her."
"She'll heal." He shrugged not caring. "We change tonight; tomorrow it'll be like it never happened."
"Unless she dies before then." I spat back at him. "You crushed something."
"People like her don't die that easily." He spat back.
I grabbed his arm turning him to face me. "Stop it! No hurting people, especially not in my name."
He took a deep breath, bringing my forehead down to his lips releasing a tired exhale into my hair before kissing my forehead. "I will control my temper if you promise me you'll stay in this room until the moon phase is over."
"I wasn't going to leave anyway." I agreed sitting back on the bed.
He sat on the bed as well pulling the covers back for me to get under and get comfortable. "We'll good. What would you like to talk about Miss Reenie?"
"I'm tired…" I admitted letting my head hit the pillow It was odd, because I had literally slept all day. "Can you just talk to me until I fall asleep?"
"Anything for you Reenie." He promised with a smile in his voice. He told me about his adventures with his four friends, how he made his pack better and stronger by only creating birthed werewolves. He talked about his friends Peter, Daniel, and Ray, avoiding Jinny's name whenever possible. Though the stories were fascinating, it didn't take long for me to fall asleep.
I felt horrible when I finally woke up. It was dark outside, and I wasn't sure that day it was. I knew I slept through Zach's transformation. I slept through the entire castle's transformation, and I was in pain. I was dizzy, weak, and barely coherent when I felt Zach's hands on me. They were cooler than my body temperature, which wasn't normal at all.
"Reenie wake up." Zach whispered wiping damn hair from my face.
I didn't want to open my eyes, my body felt limp and all I wanted was to lay back down. "I'm tired Zach, and my body and head hurts." I groaned wanting to lie all the way down.
"You've been asleep for over two days Reenie, and you aren't getting any better." He explained gently. I heard other steps enter the room and I started to open my eyes.
The two olive toned twins I remembered from Jennah looked at me puzzled. "Is this normal for her kind?"
"How am I supposed to know Daniel?" He muttered putting me down gently so that I was once again lying all the way down. My head no longer swirling in a dizzy mess.
His identical match spoke up as well. "We're just wondering bro; she's been sort of feeble since we got her. Maybe we should-"
"We are not taking her back Peter." Zach frowned. "And she's not feeble."
A female voice cut in as well, Scottish. "Well at least break your connection with her. You're in pain because she is, and it's not helping you or the cause."
My eyes snapped opened again. She was just fine, no bruising, casts or anything, but I was wondering how he would react to her suggestion. I had no idea how in depth this connection went. I didn't know that he could feel my physical pain as well.
"You would like that wouldn't you Jinny." He spat not looking away from the others to even acknowledge her.
Jinny look mildly offended by this. "I'm just trying to help Zachariah."
"No you're not." Peter scoffed with abit of humor.
Daniel finished the thought, "And since she's hurt because of you it's probably best you keep your distance until she's better."
Jinny was quiet for a moment before stating her point, "I'm just saying that our kind has never tried to connect with someone like her. If the complement is defective it could be detrimental-"
"LEAVE JINNY!" Zach yelled so loud it hurt my head more. When I whimpered at the pain he was at my side rubbing the back of my hand. "I'm sorry love, I won't raise my voice again."
Jinny scoffed before stomping out of the room and slamming the door so hard I felt my brain was going to explode. Zach started to get up from the bed to go after her but one of the twins stopped him. "I'll handle Jinny, you stay with her."
"I'm going to kill her if she doesn't get herself under control. See that she gets that Peter." Zach promised rubbing my hand like a calming tool.
The minute Peter left the room the Egyptian man with the cropped hair with the very long blue bangs entered with a short red haired girl by his side. "Maybe a cool bath and a change of clothes will do her some good. Nina offered to-"
"Thanks Nina, but she doesn't like anyone changing her." Zach side.
The voice that responded was small, but powerful. "We'll maybe she needs to eat something."
Zach shook his head, "She doesn't feel hungry. I've been keeping her fed."
"Well, maybe she doesn't want food. I know it's a bit gross to think about but she is part vampire, maybe she needs blood." Nina admitted.
No one really said anything to that, but Zach put my head in his hands gently. "I think I remember something like that, I'm going to need to look into your mind for just a second." My mind involuntarily flickered through memories until when Asima was experiencing similar symptoms I was. "When was the last time you've quenched your thirst Reenie."
The last hunting trip I could remember was the tiger trip we all did together, after that with my birthday, Zach, and everything else I never got a chance to. He didn't wait for me to answer.
He pulled the covered back pulling me into his arms. "Nina you are a genius. I'm taking her to hunt."
"We should go with you." Ray's voice suggested as he walked me down the stairs.
There was a hint of worry in their voice. "How do you know she attack you once she's stronger." Daniel asked. "We're always our weakest the first few days into the month."
"She won't." He answered unafraid as someone opened the door help him out.
Nina looked at us both curiously before shrugging, "Carpe Noctem I suppose...be back before sunrise."
He ran with me, nowhere near as fast as he did in wolf form, but the speed reminded me quite a bit of Phillip. The snow covered countryside though beautiful, wasn't peaceful enough to keep me awake. "Go to sleep my love, I'll wake you when we're near food."
It felt like no time had passed when I felt my bare feet touching the cool ground. We were standing on the roof top of a large building, traffic and streets busy below is. "Why are we here?"
"For you to hunt of course." He answered. "We couldn't go too far, I figured downtown Moscow would be the most inconspicuous place."
I shook my head instantly panicked. "No Zach, I don't hunt this way, just take me woods. Somewhere with deer, elk, hell I'll take squirrels but no not here."
"That doesn't sound very appetizing Reenie." He chuckled. "You've had human blood before."
"I didn't have to kill for it. It's different, and I don't drink human anymore." I clarified.
Zach sighed running his fingers against the lacey sleeve of my arm. "You need to get this warped sense of rules out of your mind Reenie. You've restricted yourself for years under everyone else views. Relax."
"Zach…no."
He continued talking. "This world is over populated with weak species; it's supposed to be this way. The animals eat the plants, humans eat the animals, and vampires eat the humans. It's all a circle that balances the world."
"Zach I can't." I begged him to understand.
"Shh…" He soothed working his way up the my collar bone, the hypnotizing effect making me listen. "Do you remember how it felt to taste human blood?" He questioned bringing it back to my mind, a memory long forgotten playing crystal clear in my head so strong my throat ached. "How good you felt afterwards, how a hunt hasn't given you that same feeling since? You can have that again."
The sound of two drunk guys speaking Russian turned off the main road into the alley that connected buildings. "Zach…"
"You can, your body has done this dozens of times. The sound of the heartbeats making your muscles tense…"
And I could hear them, even from ten stories up…my body did tense.
"…the heat radiating from your prey making you realize how cold you actually are…"
And I felt it…
"…the sweet smell making your mouth water, to the point that you're ravenous and everything else disappears giving you tunnel vision on your hunt."
This time he was wrong though, at least partially. Though I was painfully aware of the blood being pushed through their bodies at a fast pace due to their intoxication, it wasn't the only thing that I noticed. The fire that seemed to pull me to him, giving me my own form of intoxication was working as well making me just as painfully aware of Zach's arms around me.
His fingers traced along the back of my neck as he pulled me closer to him, his lips coming closer to mine. The heat was so unbearable on both ends that I didn't even hesitate to close the gap. My lips crushed into his and though I thought that would extinguish the fire it exploded instead, burning me to ash and consuming me all over again.
Zach pulled away from me, pleased by my reaction. "It's a good thing that atleast one of us has control Reenie." He smiled bringing his lips to mine again, smothering me to the point that I felt weak. His tongue swirled into my mouth before he forced himself to pull away again. "Though it doesn't seem like I have much of it." He kissed my forehead bringing me to the edge of the roof. "Now, hunt my love. Carpe Noctem..."
My body tensed, at the smell of them and instincts took them over, he kissed me again before letting go of my hand and I dove into the alley…
So.. there it goes. Waiting for the outrage. If you want to see the things Nessie describes then follow me on twitter, dinisharob I think I will post a few pictures that help describe the scenes i really want you to picture. Special thanks to my new followers. I'd love to hear your thoughts and where you think this is heading. My vacation will be over soon, so I'm not sure how soon 16 will be up, but I promise to make time for it.