Chapter 1
Hours earlier
The beginning of the last day of my 'life'
"So, I'll see you tonight?"
Dominic's voice sounded behind me as I organized my locker. He slipped his arms around my waist and kissed the base of my neck. I closed my locker.
"You know you will. I wouldn't miss this for anything. How often do we get to celebrate our one-year anniversary?"
He thought about this for a second, his arms still around me.
"Um, I'm pretty sure that's a one-time thing."
"Exactly," I said, turning around and draping my arms over his shoulders. "But for now, I have to go to class."
I smiled, slipped out of his grip, and started walking to my next class. I made it to my first period seconds before the bell rang and sat down beside Trisha. She smiled at me excitedly.
"Are you excited about tonight?" she whispered.
"It's no big deal. We're just going to a concert."
"Ladies, the last time I checked, concerts weren't a part of the curriculum. Can you focus, please?"
We looked up at the sound of Ms. Peyton's not-so happy voice. Now, what I don't understand is why is it that when someone has a question, suddenly she can't hear worth anything, but then, God forbid, you talk when she's getting ready to teach and suddenly she has the senses of a hawk? Teachers are a puzzle. But alas, who was I to argue? And thus AP Literature began. Sadly to say, my entire day dragged on like this until I finally made it to Drama, the only class that I could truly expect to break away from the monotony of everyday classes. But, even Drama couldn't fly by fast enough for me today.
I stopped at my house to get ready for the concert. I took a quick a shower and put on my favorite black, lace top and dark blue jeans before going through the special occasion 'teeth, hair, makeup, nails' routine. Finally declaring myself concert-worthy, I grabbed my cell phone and ran downstairs to my car. I rolled down my window and took a few deep breaths. I leaned back in the seat and closed my eyes. There was just something about the moment that felt strange to me.
I tried to force myself to calm down. What did I have to be worried about? The concert was going to be amazing. My boyfriend is amazing. Tonight was going to be amazing. I pulled into Dominic's driveway and parked my car next to his, honking my horn excitedly. By about the second full minute of this, he finally came out laughing. I stepped out of my car and walked up to his truck.
"Come on. You move so slow," I said as he opened the passenger door for me. He jogged around to the other side and jumped in.
"You know, patience is a virtue."
"Yes, and it's one that I do not possess."
Already bored and even more anxious only five minutes into the trip, I started playing with his radio. All of the commercials on the stations were making me anxious. I finally decided to turn on the CD that Dominic had in and fell asleep for the last thirty minutes of the trip. My legs twitched awkwardly when Dominic finally stopped the truck. I stretched my arms and punched Dom when I caught him laughing at my strange awakening.
The screams of the excited fans could be heard from the parking lot. My heart started to race as we jumped out of his car. Dominic looked down at me and put his arm over my shoulder.
"Are you okay?" he asked. It took him asking that question for me to realize that my heart wasn't just racing, but that I was nearly hyperventilating. That feeling had come back and I guess I was making a face. I snapped myself out of it and smiled at him.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
He stopped walking. "Get on."
"What?"
"Come on."
He bent down and I couldn't help but laugh as I jumped onto his back. He spun around a few times before running to the door. He walked down the hall of the huge arena and found the room that we were looking for: the room to the football stadium. The concert was so large that it had to be held here, but of course, this was a Paramore concert. He let me down so that I could give the man my ticket. We had managed to make it nearly forty minutes early, so the place wasn't too overly crowded just yet. Before we went to our seats, I stopped to buy a bottle of water. At the time, I didn't realize how big of an effect this small event would have on the rest of my life, but halfway through the concert, I leaned over to Dominic and yelled, "I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."
He nodded. I left. The concert was clearly more crowded by this point, leaving me unaware of the stranger who had followed me through the large double doors. I made it to the bathroom without a problem. Sadly, the bathroom was a pretty good distance from the stadium. I felt a chill go up my spine in the perfectly heated room. The feeling was back yet again, and this time it was overwhelming. I sped up, but it didn't do me any good. I blinked and suddenly I was slammed against a wall. My head collided with an unearthly thud against the concrete, and it took nearly all that I had just to stay conscious. I screamed. It didn't help. I could barely hear it myself as the combination of the screaming fans and blasting music drowned it out.
I struggled to breathe as he put his hands around my neck. Who was this guy? He had perfect crystal blue eyes and unreal features. His black hair was to the side in a shag and that was all that I remember before scratching at that perfect face. I had left a few cuts and his grip was loosened enough for me to get free. There was no way of me getting back to the door. He blocked off that possibility. My only option was to go outside, in the snow, with no coat. It was in the stadium with my half-empty bottle of water and Dominic. Suddenly, I was regretting leaving everything in the stadium. I thrust the door open and ran. He tackled me to the ground furiously laying me out on the frozen sidewalk. Pain shot through me as my knees hit before any other part of me. I tried to reach for whatever was closest but there was nothing but grass and snow with more starting to fall.
He growled at me causing my adrenaline started to pump twice as hard. I kicked until I was away from him and ran full speed. I stumbled clumsily a few times, but kept moving. The question was though, where could I possibly go? The arena was the only building for about a mile or two, and the only light came from the few orange street lights along the roads. The entire area was deserted. There was no point in screaming again because there was still no one around to hear me. Running out of options, I cut through some trees, hoping that he wouldn't be able to see me. I tripped over the decaying roots and broken branches, but stayed standing. The trees were becoming harder and harder to run through as I got closer to the clearing praying that there would be some buildings near there.
My shirt was pulled and ripped by the sharp branches, but I refused to stop. Not now, not here. I broke through the last few branches and my heart sank. There was nothing ahead of me but another empty street. The sound of my heart pumping drowned out everything else but the sound of him behind me. Surely he was faster than this. If he really wanted to catch me then he would have. He had something else planned for me…something worse. I was slowing down. I could feel it. My muscles were screaming at me to stop. I was out of options. He was going to catch me and he was going to kill me. I could hear him behind me and he was getting closer. Sound familiar? It should because now you see how I ended up here, but all of the real fun starts with what happens later.
I sat up screaming. My heart pounded furiously against my ribcage. Everything was bright now and I was coated with snow. What was wrong with me? I screamed again. I felt like my collarbone was on fire. What was going on? I'm dead. I have to be. But why does being dead feel so bad? Fresh tears blinded me as the pain intensified. Why wouldn't it stop? I tried to straighten myself. That made it worse. This scream was the worst. It rang in my ears and echoed in all of the open space. If anyone had possibly heard it, they probably would have been too afraid to see what it was. I blacked out.
Was I dead for real this time? Because dying the first time really didn't feel too good. Maybe this time would be better. The pain in my collarbone was gone, but the pains that I had everywhere else still lingered. I forced my eyes open and looked around. The sun was setting. Was I honestly not dead again? What is going on and what kind of sick nightmare is this? I pushed myself up as far as I could manage and looked around at the snow around me that wasn't snow anymore. Now, I was sitting in a puddle. I balanced myself onto my knees and it took me a few times to finally stand. There was something different about me. That was obvious, but I couldn't tell exactly what it was. I took my cell phone out of my pocket. It was ruined. I stuffed it back in my pocket and started walking.
I struggled to remember the path that I had taken last night. The snow crunched quietly under my feet. I looked down and realized that I was bleeding. I had cuts and bruises all over my legs and stomach. From what I could see, I was a wreck. I went back through the trees and recognized pieces of my shirt hanging from a few of the branches. Spots of red caught my attention across the white snow proving that last night really did happen. I crossed my arms as I kept walking. The breeze was actually comforting to me as the arena came into view. Luckily (and unluckily), there were people there. I ignored the stares and walked to the closest pay phone. I guess there was one good thing about buying that water before the concert, I had change left over. Dominic was the first person that I called.
"Hello?"
There was a nervous edge to his voice as I struggled to find my own.
"Dominic? Can you come and g-get me?"
It took the sound of me stuttering to realize that I was trembling.
"Chanelle! Where are you? What happened?"
"I'm back at the arena. Can you come get me please?"
"I'll be there in a second. Don't move!"
I hung up the phone and went back outside. I sat down on the sidewalk, the very same sidewalk that I had been attacked on the night before, just wondering what was the cause of last night. How is it possible that I'm here right now? I mean, I've never died before, but I think I know what it feels like to stop breathing. I hugged my knees to my chest, looking around. People were glancing in my direction, trying to figure out why there was a half-naked teenage girl sitting on a sidewalk in thirty degree weather, but none bothered to actually approach me and see if I needed help. The sleeves and the majority of the V-neck lining were back in the trees while the rest of the shirt was just missing patches here and there.
Dominic whipped into the parking lot with a satisfying screech of the tires. I stood up and he nearly tackled me while I just stood there. He picked me up, probably thinking that I was in too much shock to walk, and put me into the backseat of his truck so that I could lie down with the blanket that he wrapped around me. We rode in silence and I realized once again that I was shivering even in my newly gained warmth. He stopped at my house and sat with me in the backseat instead of getting out. He helped me up and stared into my eyes.
"What happened to you?" he asked quietly. I just stared at him for a second, looking at those hazel eyes, still confused. Finally, I opened my mouth to speak.
"I'm dead."
He stared at me and turned his head to the side.
"What are you talking about? You're sitting right here."
I shook my head slowly, not taking my eyes off of his. "I died last night. H-he… killed me."
He opened the door and picked me up. Obviously he still believed that I couldn't walk, and probably that I was delirious now too. He walked to the front door and rang the doorbell. My mom was there within seconds. She looked like she was about to faint. Dominic carried me in and finally sat me down on the couch. My mom was all over me instantly.
"Are you okay? Where does it hurt? Talk to me! What happened? Where have you been?"
"I'm fine," I managed to say once my mom had calmed down from her hysterics. Well that's not completely true. She never calmed down, but she did stop pounding me with questions long enough to breathe. I looked up as my dad walked in. His face was emotionless. He stepped over to me silently and touched the neckline of my shirt. He moved it to the side and looked truly disgusted. An angry grunt escaped from his mouth as he stormed out of the room. My mom watched him and her breathing sped up. She mimicked my father's movements and examined my neck.
"Thank you for bringing her home, Dominic."
Dominic looked away from me for the first time since we'd been there to stare at my mother. "Aren't you going to call the cops or something? Chanelle went missing and came back covered in cuts and bruises! You're not going to do anything about it?"
Still showing her unease she whispered, "We will take care of it and I'm sure Chanelle will let you know when she can."
My mom led the reluctant Dom through the door, locked it, and then came back to me looking even more worried than she had only seconds ago. She stared as if she was debating on what to say to me.
"Go change please," was all that she muttered.
And with that, I was confused all over again. Was there something on my face because they were acting like I had some kind of freakish monster on me somewhere? I walked to my room slowly and pulled off the remains of my shirt, noticing something strange in the mirror. I stepped to my dresser and the glass that sat on top of it, and touched my shoulder. Just below the base of my neck was a tattoo of a black rose that certainly hadn't been there yesterday. I turned, struggling to see more of it. The stem of the rose went from the top of my collarbone down to the edge of my armpit. That was definitely not there yesterday. I focused harder on the rose and it was…bleeding.
There were drops of red etched down from the petals to the tip of the stem and as realistic as it looked, I could tell that it wasn't my own blood.
"Chanelle, come here please."
Fighting the ache of my joints, I threw on a new shirt and a fresh pair of jeans and trudged back to the living room. Stepping into the room, it felt as if the walls were closing in on me with both of my parents looking at me the way they were. They were sitting beside each other at the end of the couch, so I instantly sat on the opposite end.
"We have to talk to you about something," my dad started.
"Um, okay."
"You're going to be going through some…changes over the next couple of days. That rose on your shoulder, it'll let you know when the change is done. Of course, there'll be other ways of telling too."
"I don't understand. You know what this is?"
I touched the rose.
"Yes. We do. That tattoo is going to change. When it blooms, you're going to be a new person. We would've said something to you sooner, but we didn't think that this would happen. It skipped my generation, but I guess it went on to you. This doesn't usually happen to the women in our family."
"I still have no idea of what you're talking about."
"You're going to be what you call a werewolf, or more specifically, a lycanthrope. I know that sounds weird, but there really isn't any other way to put it."
"Excuse me?"
Ha, that's great. I get attacked and he thinks that it's the perfect time to play a joke on me. What a great father I have!
"It's just like I said. That's what's happening to you. You feel really warm, right?"
I nodded. He kept going.
"That rose is bleeding, am I right?"
"Yea, it is."
"Then it's starting."
"Okay, so if this is all true then do all…werewolves…get a rose on their shoulder?" I asked.
"No. Everyone gets something different that displays their connection with nature. If I recall this correctly, you used to have quite an obsession with roses, did you not?"
"Even still, do you really expect me to believe this?"
"No I don't, but all it takes is time. You'll see soon enough."
I slept for the rest of the day and all I could see were those eyes and that face: the face of my killer. I was restless. I guess when he was actually still in my dream instead of trying to kill me, he was somewhat attractive in his own way, but there was something…unrealistic about him. Of course, I couldn't have imagined him, but he just seemed so inhuman, so fast, and so unnatural. All I had to do was blink and he was there, and his skin. It was freezing and so pale. It was practically white, making his eyes stand out even more. They were just so blue and almost hypnotic.
The sound of him growling at me echoed in my ears. His actions were all just so animal-like. He had been the predator and I had been his prey. This made me think of the last words that he had said to me.
And that's why I'm doing this, love, you may not know me, but I certainly know you.
His voice had been so ominous and almost seductive as if he was trying to comfort me before killing me. But what had he meant by that? It was pretty obvious to me that I had never seen him before. It would be impossible to forget a face like that. What could he have possibly wanted with me? I was just another girl at a Paramore concert with her boyfriend. And why did he just leave me there? Did he think that I had died, and then lost interest?
Those eyes were practically burning into me now, but I didn't wake up. That was when he disappeared from my nightmare and the rose took his place. That rose, that weird, mysterious rose. What my dad said couldn't be true. I was out pretty hard, maybe somebody drew it. I mean sure, that's pretty unbelievable, but it's just as unbelievable as me being a werewolf.
Red dripped from the rose just like my tattoo. My body jolted forward and my eyes shot open to a sight that I hadn't expected. My sheets were shredded and my mattress was so warm that for a second, I thought that it was on fire. My trembling feet found the floor and led me to my balcony. I leaned against the rail and looked at my hands. They looked perfectly normal. Maybe there was more to this whole werewolf thing than I thought.
"Chanelle, are you awake? Are you going back to school today?"
I could hear my mom's voice from outside of my room. I was still on the balcony. I had woken up on the wooden floor and I wasn't even sore. I stretched, cracking my back a few times. It was still early; the sun wasn't even fully up yet. I absolutely hate Monday mornings.
"I'll go," I called back once I was back in my room. I laid out my clothes before going to take a shower and brushing my teeth. The shower was the worst part of the entire process. The water was only lukewarm but it burned when it ran over my cuts.
I washed my face and stared at my reflection with my nose scrunched. I felt so different but I looked the same. I shrugged off my confusion and went back to getting ready. My hair was next on the morning prep list. I wasn't really concerned with it. I just brushed it out a few times and put it into a high ponytail, letting it hang just above my shoulders. I threw on my plain red shirt and jeans, grabbed my book bag and walked downstairs.
"Hey. Are you sure you want to go back today? You can stay home. I'll just write you a note."
My mom always looked older when she was worried. Any other time she looked younger than her age of thirty-nine. I've always thought that she was really pretty. She had bright, russet-colored skin and black hair that she kept cut just around her neck line. Her face was heart-shaped and I always loved her dark brown eyes. Since the day I was born, I've always been told that I look just like her. There was always that and the fact that, within my family, I was the one known to have the blackest hair and brightest eyes. Of course, my family members weren't the only ones who noticed these features. It always made me laugh when people asked me if I dyed my hair. They never really believed me when I told them that it was natural. And I never thought that my eyes were anything special, but I didn't have a problem with them.
"Do you want me to make you something? You have time."
"I'm just going to grab a bowl of cereal if that's ok."
"It's fine."
I guess I couldn't imagine what kind of effect this was having on her. Her daughter was going to be a monster and there was nothing that she could do to prevent it. I ate my cereal a little quicker than I had meant to and walked outside. The breeze felt amazing and there was even more snow out here now than there was yesterday. I turned to the sound of the door opening a few feet behind me.
"You left your coat. It's freezing out here."
"Thank you," I said. I gave her a hug, put on my coat and got into my car.
