10 years later

~Alistair~

I picked up the small picture frame, which showed my foster parents smiling broadly. Dad’s hands were wrapped around mum’s waist, and they looked incredibly happy together. They had always loved each other; little wonder they had died while holding hands. None of them would have been able to survive without the other.

Dropping the picture frame on my desk, my eyes caught another frame hanging from a nail on the wall. I took calculated steps towards where it hung loosely from the nail, and was likely to fall in any given minute from now. It was a bigger frame, and it was a picture of myself, and my foster parents, who had died in a car accident exactly a year ago. I half-smiled as I stared longingly at the photograph, before adjusting it, so that it was firm on the wall.

We had taken the picture twenty-five years prior to now, when I was just seven years old, and on the very day they had taken me in as their son. After my biological parents' death, I had spent days just outside Mr and Mrs Duke's luxurious mansion in San Francisco. For some reason, I had been drawn to them, and one day, when driving out of their apartment, Mrs Caroline Duke looked upon me with affection, and had smiled lovingly at me. All I had told them was my name, and that I had woken up in their estate. I told them I didn’t know who I was and I couldn’t remember anything.

The police couldn’t find anyone or anything related to me, and Mrs Caroline Duke, a devout Christian, was sure that I had been sent by an angel to her. She and her husband had been skeptical about adopting a child after failing to have a child of their own, but when I had just showed up in front of their mansion, they decided it was time.

I heaved a sigh, and took my eyes off the picture, deciding to not think any more of the past, but of the present. Staring at that picture had brought about sweet old memories, but had also left a disturbing hole in my heart.

“Alistair?” I heard Jenny's voice call.

I turned around, and nodded at her, acknowledging her presence.

“Don’t think about it too much. You’ll be fine,” She said, with a concerned look plastered on her face.

“Think about what? Do you even know what’s on my mind?” I asked, feigning pretence.

“I may not know what’s on your mind, but I can sense that all is not well with you,” She said.

I bit my lower lip. “I just really wish that I had taken that family photograph that mum kept desiring. Anytime she’d ask, I’d just say I’m busy, and we still have all the time in the world to take as many pictures as she wanted. I was wrong, and now, the only family picture we ever took is this one...” I pointed at the frame on the wall. “...this one we took when I was seven years old.”

“It’s not your fault you thought you had all the time in the world, you know. Who thought you’d lose your parents just like that?”

I heaved a deep sigh again. “You’re right. I should stop beating myself up about it.”

“Exactly,” She said, with a smile, then walked closer to me.

“Do you think they’re proud of me though?” I asked, as she started helping me to button the white shirt I had on.

“They were always proud of you. They’d even be more proud of you in their graves. I mean, look at how well you’ve handled the company,” She said, licking her lips lustfully.

“You’re right, but you know something? I’ll never believe that the accident happened just like that. It seemed like it was planned,” I said.

She scoffed. “Here you again. Who do you think would have planned a car accident for your parents, who were loved by everyone?” She asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe-"

“Sweetheart, there’s no maybe. You either have proof to back up your allegation, or you keep it to yourself,” Jenny said, touching my lips with her fingers.

“You think I’m wrong?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I’m just saying. Methamphetamine was found in the driver’s blood if you recall, and of course, you do recall. We have the best memories after all,” She said, then crushed her lips on mine.

I kissed her back, then slowly slid my hands to her ass, groping it intensely, and kissing her longingly. She pushed me to the bed, unbuttoning the shirt she had just buttoned up less than a minute ago. I turned her over, making her lay beneath me, and I proceeded to kiss her neck, making her moan softly, pulling me closer. I was about to peel off her dress from her skin, when I felt claws, not nails, digging my back roughly.

I pushed her away, and stood to my feet hurriedly. I started buttoning my shirt all over again, as she looked at me apologetically, controlling her claws to be invisible once more.

“I’m sorry,” She said.

“It’s not your fault, Jenny. It’s just the stupid full moon,” I said, then reached out to her, planting a kiss on her forehead.

“But you remain the same, even during full moons as if nothing has changed,” She objected.

“You and I are not the same, Jenny. Besides, it also took me several years to fully control my emotions during the full moon. Back then, I’d chain myself in the attic, so my parents wouldn’t find out. However, I mastered it with time. All it takes is time. Soon, you’ll be in charge of who you are and what you want to do,” I told her.

“Sure?” She asked.

I nodded in the affirmative, shooting a small smile in her direction.

“Thanks,” She said, then sat up, adjusting her dress.

“I don’t think you should still come with me today though,” I told her, grabbing my black suit and jacket.

“Come on. I’ll be able to control myself, I promise,” Jenny said.

“Like how you controlled yourself when that good-for-nothing waitress mistakenly spilled milkshake on your dress?” I teased.

She chortled, and put her hands up in surrender. “Fine. You’ve made your point.”

“I always do make my point,” I said, with a wink.

She stood up, cupped my face in her palms, and drowned me in another one of her passionate kisses, and circling my hands around her waist, I responded to her kiss, inserting my tongue into her mouth, and pressing her chest to mine, arousing a deep sexual urge within her.

About five minutes later, she broke the kiss and looked me in the eyes, still with that same concerned look. “Just be safe, okay?”

“I will be safe,” I told her, nodded at her as some form of acknowledgement, then walked out of my living room.

“Let’s take the G-wagon,” I announced to the driver, immediately I stepped into the garage.

The poor man looked like he had been waiting for hours, and would have absconded and given up on waiting for me, if his salary wasn’t mouth-watering.

He nodded his head, then suddenly pointed at my collar, trying so hard to stifle a laugh.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, then looked at the collar of my shirt, only to find out that Jenny's strawberry-flavoured peach lipstick had stained it.

I rolled my eyes, super annoyed because I warned her all the time to avoid the use of lipsticks, whenever she knew she wanted to have sex with me.

“I’ll never understand women’s obsessiveness with makeup, will I?” I asked aloud.

The driver, Mr Coleman, gave a small smile. “Not all women apply makeup,” He said.

“Hopefully, I’ll find one someday,” I said, then entered into the car, whose door had been held by the driver.

It was the day of my parents’ remembrance, and I just wanted to drop off some flowers, and spend sometime at their graveside, in peace and serenity. That was why I was leaving around 5:30 in the evening, when no one would be around, and I could dwell in the serene environment and feel the presence of my parents.

However, when the car pulled over at the cemetery, I was surprised with the fact that a car was packed just at the entrance. Who the hell was still around and couldn’t just leave me alone to be with my parents?

Swallowing hard, I heaved a deep sigh, counselling myself to not think so much of the matter, and that everyone deserved to see their loved ones whenever they pleased. I’d have asked Mr Coleman to just turn around, so we could just be on our way, but it was a necessity for me to say hi to my parents today since it was the day of their remembrance.

Mr Coleman rushed to open the door, motioning for me to alight.

I picked up the flowers that Jenny had bought oh my behalf, and the bottle of whisky I had taken from the house, and stepped out of the car.

“I’ll be back soon. Just sit in the car and wait for me,” I told Mr Coleman, and took quick strides to where my parents' graves were located.

Perhaps, whoever had their car packed outside was just a worker in the cemetery. I was definitely going to pay the owner of the cemetery a huge sum of money to let me in after visitation hours, or probably just buy the cemetery, and set a day when no one could visit in order for me to visit on that day. I should have just buried my parents in the backyard of their mansion, and all these wouldn’t have happened. I was getting worked up just because I hated being around people I didn’t know, and I also didn’t want to show my emotional side to anyone, or respond to questions posed by inquisitive people that couldn’t just mind their business.

It was definitely not a worker's car that was packed outside, as my eyes caught her, sitting on a bench five steps away from where I stood, sipping a glass of what was definitely alcohol.

Her long brown hair fluttered in the wind, and my heart began to beat faster. It was as though my heart remembered who she was, as it raced fast, even before I got a chance to look at her.

It was impossible for someone to stare at you for sometime, without you knowing that someone’s eyes was definitely on you. I had forgotten about this fact, because I kept staring at her, and before I could dart my eyes away, she turned her head slowly, and her eyes rested on me.

It wasn’t the first time we were meeting as I could vividly remember she looked the same way as she did ten years ago, except that she was now an older version of the girl who had been struggling for her life back then, and was on the verge of giving up, until I had showed up and given her a second chance at life.

Her scent was still the same, and maybe that’s why my heart had raced the way it did. It was because I had come in contact with her after so many years.

She stood up, and while I was expecting her to throw an offended look in my way and scream that I was either a pervert or a stalker, she unexpectedly smiled broadly at me, her dimples sending a tingling sensation down my spine.

I swallowed hard. Was it possible that she remembered me? Why was she smiling instead of getting annoyed that a total stranger had been staring at her for no reason at all? Was she thankful that I had saved her life ten years ago?

The tension in the air built up as her adorable puppy-like brown eyes met my cold blue eyes, and for some reason, neither of us let go of holding each other's eyes.

Instead of dwelling in the awkward silence that bewitched the environment, I walked slowly towards her, and stretched out my hand for a handshake with her.

Her smile broadened, as she took my hand, thereby shaking hands with me. Her palm was soft, and felt warm.

“Hi. I’m Alistair Duke, and who’s this graceful lady I’ve been honoured to come across?” I asked, a mischievous smirk playing around my lips.

“I am Eliana Venator,” She said, with a smile that depicted innocence.

Eliana Venator... I had never ever thought in my wildest imagination that I would meet her again in this manner, or in a place that smelled so much like death. Although meeting her again was far from the timing I had had in mind, I was glad the universe had brought her along at the time I really wanted to pour out my anger on the whole world. She’d never know what hit her.

~Eliana~

Everyone said it was a miracle that I had survived the ghastly motor accident, as they’d like to put it. I knew for a fact, however, that what I had survived wasn’t just a motor accident. It had been a wild beast’s attack, but who was going to ever believe a teenager who had just lost her three closest friends, and had been high on alcohol and weed when she had been found lying in the woods? They all thought that whatever I thought I had seen was just a figment of my imagination, or that I was probably hallucinating, and going through a trauma.

It was for that reason that I had gone through therapy for a year, and when I didn’t change my story about what had happened, and how what I had finally agreed to be a werewolf had attacked my friends and I for no just cause, everyone assumed I was going crazy, and never even tried to believe a thing about what I said had happened ten years ago.

I took a sip of the glass of alcohol by my side, crossing my legs.

Ten whole years had gone by since the death of my friends. Candice and Nick had been buried side-by-side. As for Sam, his body was never found. That night, there had been a heavy rain, and many people agreed with the idea that his body had been washed away and carried off by the sea, instead of my theory that stated that the animal that had attacked us had possibly eaten him alive. Somehow, I didn’t believe that he had actually died, but I never voiced that thought out. An empty casket had been buried in his honour, and every year, I’d come to this same cemetery where I was, sitting on a cold hard bench, drinking alcohol and fighting off the pain that defined my everyday life.

Someone’s eyes were on me... I could feel it.

It was probably just another one of the spies my dad sent out to make sure I was safe from a far distance, even though I had told him countless times that I was fine on my own.

I turned my head slowly to make sure I caught his gaze just in time and without warning, before he could hide, and once again, make me question if I was sane and in my right senses.

When I caught his eyes though, it was quite obvious that he was no spy, because none of the spies my dad ever hired were good-looking like the one standing just five feet away from where I sat. He had fair skin, pink lips that I so badly wanted to kiss even though I didn’t know him, and straight jelled black hair. His sparkling blue eyes didn’t dart away, not even for a second, and he seemed awed by me.

It had been very long since a guy last got awestruck by me, or maybe not, but this was the one I had noticed in so many years. I didn’t know why, but my lips gave way to a smile. I should have yelled and asked why he was staring at me, but instead, I smiled at him. Was it my fault though? Was I wrong for being completely mesmerised by him? I mean, who wouldn’t be held spellbound by a guy that looked this good?

I stood to my feet, still smiling broadly as he made his way towards me, with fine calculated steps, that made my heart start racing fast, which was not usual in every sense of the word.

“Hi. I’m Alistair Duke, and who’s this graceful lady I’ve been honoured to come across?” He asked, extending his hand for a handshake, which I took gracefully.

“I am Eliana Venator,” I said, with the smile never leaving my lips.

He released my hand, and gave a half-smile. “What are you doing here all by yourself?” He asked.

I cleared my throat, trying not to be noisy in doing so. “I... um... I just came to say hello to my...” Pointing at their graves which were close to each other, I added, “...friends.”

“Friends?” He asked, looking confused.

I gave a nervous chuckle, nodding my head in the affirmative. “Surprised because there’s an ‘s’?” I asked.

“Yeah, I am,” He honestly said.

I swallowed, and stared at my feet for a while, before looking back at him. “I was involved in a car accident with my friends...three of them...and only I survived,” I explained.

“What the - Jeez! That must have been really hard for you,” He said, expressing a look of worry on his face.

“Yeah. I still think about it every single day. I can never get over it, Mr Duke. They were all I had in the whole world, and it’s been so unimaginably painful to live without them,” I said.

“I’m sorry about all you’ve been through, I really am,” He said.

I forced a smile. “It’s not your fault,” I said.

“So, how long has it been?” He asked.

“Today makes it ten years, but it still feels like it happened only just yesterday. I’ve never really been able to move on,” I told him.

“No one ever really moves on from shitty things like that. You know what’s surprising though?”

“What?”

He shrugged. “Today’s also my parents’ death anniversary,” He said.

“Oh my goodness! So, that’s what the flowers are for?” I rhetorically asked.

“No, they’re for you,” He responded, with a clear sarcasm.

I chuckled. “I’m so sorry about what happened with your parents. Has it been long?”

“No. It happened a year ago. Car accident,” He responded.

I shook my head, sadly. “Isn’t it funny how we all feel so happy when we get a car, but could reach the end of our lives in that same car?”

“It truly is funny. You strike me as a smart woman,” He said.

“I do?” I asked, wondering if there was another person present in the cemetery apart from me, who he could possibly be talking to.

“You do, or am I wrong?” He asked, giving me a look that sent butterflies dancing in my stomach.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Everyone around me just seems to have a different opinion,” I said, hinting that it was probably the first time someone said that I was smart.

He held me by the shoulders. “Well, everyone around you must be wrong,” He said, wearing a half-smile again.

“Thank you. You should go see your parents. I’ll just go home,” I said.

“You’re right, I can’t believe I almost forgot. Believe me when I say that I wish we didn’t have to part, but there’s nothing we could possibly do. I’ll see you around,” He said.

I gave him a small smile, then as quickly as he had come, I watched him walk away, and soon, he was out of my sight.

He’d see me around? Seriously? Where would he ever see me? He should have just asked for my number, goddammit!

A small feeling of anger surged through me and I just picked up my purse, then walked off, with many thoughts going on in my head as to why Mr Alistair Duke had just left when I had told him to, without so much as a kiss on the hand, and without bothering to ask for my number, because he obviously didn’t want to ever see me again.

Perhaps, he hadn’t enjoyed our conversation. I was just so bad at making long interesting conversations with people, but for once, I really tried to have one with him, because I felt he was worth the effort. I didn’t even tell him that a wild animal we had never seen again was the reason for my friends’ death; I had simply told him that we had been involved in a car accident, in order to be taken seriously for once.

“Shoot!” I exclaimed, upon getting outside and discovering that Davies, my driver was nowhere to be found.

I took out my phone to dial his number to order him to come back as quickly as he could from whatever tavern he had found himself in.

The message that greeted me as I turned on my phone, however, read:

“Received a call that my mother choked on something, and was rushed to the hospital. I’m sorry, ma’am."

I rolled my eyes, clenching my fists hard as the anger in me multiplied four times over, and tried my best to be calm. The idiot had practically left my keys on the driver’s seat. I mean, what if someone had stolen my precious baby? It was a White Maserati, and I had only just gotten it last year as a birthday present.

I sat in my car and touched the steering wheel, and my fingers trembled. It had been so long since I had touched a steering wheel, because I just couldn’t drive a car after that incident.

“You strike me as a smart woman,” Mr Duke’s voice echoed in my head.

A tear slid down my cheek as I remembered the only encouraging thing someone had said to me in a very long time.

“I can do it. I can do it.”

Those three words didn’t make a difference like it usually did in movies, as even though I tried to convince myself that I could actually pull off driving a car after ten long years, my hands failed me.

The memory of our car being tossed in the air like it was nothing filled my head. I was hyperventilating, and I was shaking all over. Tears formed in my eyes as I remembered trying to flee for my life with Sam, while Candice and Nick were getting burnt to ashes.

I heard a tap on my window, and fearfully turned around to see it was, with my heart beating rapidly, afraid that I may see the creature that had haunted me a decade ago.

“Are you fine?” He asked, staring deeply into my eyes, as if to make sure I was fine.

I wanted to nod my head as a positive response to his question. Instead, I shook my head profusely, as the tears that had been threatening to fall came rushing down in torrents.

In that moment, he opened the door to the driver’s seat, pulled me by the arm, and placed his hands on my shoulders, as a means of trying to calm my nerves down.

“Try to breathe,” He said.

I opened my mouth trying to get air, but I couldn’t stop myself from just shaking like a leaf being blown by a cold wind, as my heart pounded with fear.

“Inhale and exhale, please,” He said, expressing a look of concern, staring into my eyes.

I drew in deep breaths and exhaled three times, and I was beginning to get a grip of myself.

“You’ll be fine, okay?”

I nodded slowly.

“Er- do you need me to do anything for you?”

“Anything?” I managed to ask.

“Yes, anything. What should I do to make you feel better?” He asked.

Impulsively, I wrapped my arms around him, and just when my brain told me that I shouldn’t have done that, he pulled me closer into a tight embrace, and made sure my head was buried in his chest, then started patting my hair slowly.

With him, I felt safe, and I wanted to remain in his arms, comforted by his warm embrace. I really didn’t want to ruin his suit with my tears, but I couldn’t hold my tears back, and started sobbing quietly, while he held me close to him, like he was never going to let me go.

~Eliana~

Let it out. It’s okay to cry when you want to. Don’t keep your feelings bottled. Pain never truly goes away if it’s just stuck in your heart. When you give in to tears, you give out your pain. I’ll ne right here till you’re done with letting go of the pain that is making you cry this much, so, feel free to pour out your tears and soak my shirt. You’ll be just fine at the end,” He said.

As true as his words were, they were of no use to me at the time. I raised my head, and pulled back from him a little. His arms were still around my waist, and we stared deeply into each other’s eyes.

“Are you okay?”

I nodded. “Yes, I am. It’s just... I don’t think I’m ready to stop feeling this pain yet. If I let go of the pain that made me cry so much, maybe I’d forget about Candice, Nick and Sam, but I’m not ready to forget about them just yet. They died, which is way worse than the pain I’m feeling. People say I’m lucky I survived, but they also deserved to live as well. That’s why I bear the pain in my heart every single day, so I won’t feel like their lives didn’t matter,” I explained.

“Um...”

I let go of him, and shook my head nervously, then wiped my tears with the back of my palm. “You probably don’t get it. I’m sorry. I’m sure you think I’m crazy right now,” I said, trying to brush off what I had said.

He wore a half-smile again, and cupped my cheeks in his palms. “I don’t think you’re crazy at all. To me, you’re a really good friend with a good heart, and I get it. When you’re ready, let it go, and if you’re never ready, it still doesn’t make you crazy,” He said, his gaze never leaving mine even for one second.

I swallowed hard as I also continued to look into his eyes, unable to look elsewhere. Slowly, I reached out to him and placed my hand on his neck, a new emotion called passion, rushing through me.

He tilted his head, and slowly, brought his face closer to mine. Promptly, my eyes shut close, expecting a kiss from a total stranger.

A tingling sensation pricked my heart when his pink kissable lips finally came upon mine, fuelled by passion and an intense sensual desire. He moved his lips against mine, and his tongue found a way into my mouth, and I dug into his as well, touching; exploring the sweet savoury goodness that he had.

His hands slid down my ass and as he groped them, a moan escaped from my mouth, and it seemed to give him more confidence, as he held me tighter to him, kissing me harder with a burning desire I had never known before now. My breasts were pressed against his chest, and he found his way to my neck, kissing it like he was aware that was my turn-on spot, and I held his hair in my hands, drawing him closer to me, wanting him more and more as he did justice to making me aroused, and in desperate and urgent need of him.

I wanted him... I craved him like a drug I was addicted to, not until he bit my neck, and his nails dug into my ass.

I released a gasp from my mouth, but he was probably clueless as to what had happened, and why I still wanted him to continue with the good job he was performing, I couldn’t withstand the pain any much long, especially when I perceived blood, and felt it dripping from my neck, and from my ass unto my legs.

Immediately, I let go of him, fear taking over the initial emotion of sexual desire.

“Who are you? What have you done to me?” I asked, my heart pounding excessively with fear.

He bit his lower lip, looking like he was searching for answers.

“You’re not human, are you?” I asked, my psychic and inquisitive nature taking charge of the situation.

He spontaneously looked at me, and I could see him clench his fists, with a look that hinted that he was angry that he had been caught.

I folded my arms underneath my breasts, and scoffed, with a defiant look written all over my face, and a smirk playing around my lips, waiting to hear his explanation which I was sure would be a total lie, but how good of a liar was he? I’d like to know.