MARCELLO
It was at the darkest time of the night that she usually came out to swim in the river, and I would watch as her clothes would fall to the ground, exposing her skin like milk. The first time I saw her, I was high up in an oak tree, watching out for intruders as it was my turn that night. As soon as I sighted her, my first instinct was to attack, but the moon cast its silver glow on her face and I was stopped in my tracks. I had simply not seen anything like her before. Her grey eyes caught the moonlight beautifully and, at that moment, all I wanted to do was to watch her exist. Since then, I had taken it upon myself to be on the lookout every night. Not because, I wanted to be of service to the pack, no. It was just a silly excuse to come out and see her again. Plus, should any other wolf sight her here, she would be as good as dead. Now, there were two reasons I had not yet approached her. One, she was very obviously a vampire. It was easy to decode that given how pale her skin was and the fangs that she did not bother to hide whenever she thought she was bathing alone. Two, nobody from my pack was to be found anywhere near a vampire. They were considered enemies and were to be killed on sight. But this one was all too beautiful for me to touch a hair on her head. And if I was being honest with myself, I did not actually understand the basis of the hatred that my family had for vampires. All they ever told me since I was little was that they were bad and wicked. But as I grew, I began to question that. No vampire had ever harmed me in any way, that was largely because I had never crossed paths with them though. She was the first vampire I was in close proximity to and so far, she seemed peaceful. She would come to the river, bathe, swim for a while, and then disappear into the woods again. I had since been obsessed with watching her. And yes, I was definitely a creep for not looking away as she took off her clothes, but it was damn hard to do that. I decided that today was the day to leave the tree and follow her into the woods. Curiosity had gotten the best of me and I had given into finding out where she slept. This whole territory was off limits for vampires, so she was either a rogue or she was some kind of spy. From my thinking, the chances were leaning more towards the former. Quietly, I followed her through the woods, along so many turns that I was sure not going to remember. I was already thinking of giving up and turning back when I saw her stop in front of a blue tent under a tree. Outside it were dimly lit charcoals that only glowed red when a gust of wind touched them. When she went into the tent, I waited a while before I walked out of my hiding spot. But I should have known better, I should not have forgotten that she was a vampire with sharp senses. It had happened so fast, the way she flew out of the tent and tackled me to the ground. My hands were pinned on my chest across each other and she trapped my waist between her thighs. She had impeccable strength, that one was for sure. But if I had really wanted to free myself, I would have. But her grey eyes caught me again and I was just lost staring at her. Her lips too, they were full and red as blood. She was busy observing me, scrutinizing my face. Obviously, I had scared her because this place did not look like anybody was supposed to find it. "What are you?" She asked me in a rough tone. This girl was not asking me who I was, she was asking me what I was. It was funny to me, so I laughed. And then her face scrunched into a deep frown on seeing my amusement. "I do not think you are aware that I can snap your head off your neck in seconds." At that, I laughed again, harder than before. With all her vampire senses, she must have not yet figured it out yet that I was a werewolf. Now, she looked frustrated that I was still laughing even with her threat. "Tell me, what exactly is funny?" She gripped my hands tighter. "Do I look like a clown?" "No." I spoke to her for the first time. "You look like a goddess actually." "What are you doing here? Who sent you here?" She completely disregarded my compliment, almost like I never said it. "What's your mission here? Hm?" "Nothing." I told her. "I was walking in the woods and I just stumbled upon this place. Nice lodge by the way." She eyed me for a few seconds. Definitely, she was still suspicious as nobody just wonders around this deep into the woods. "If I let you go, do you promise to never come back?" She asked. "When I have discovered a beauty like you here?" I smiled at her. "I don't think so." She groaned in frustration and I was almost laughing again. The face she made was really amusing to me. "Come on, we can be friends." I continued. "My name is Marcello. You are?" "It's none of your business." She spat. "I just need you to leave here and never return." "And I already told you that I simply cannot do that." I told her plainly. "How do you expect me to just forget the lovely sight that you are." I was risking my life with this. If I had been found there with by anyone in the pack, pinned downed by a vampire, a female vampire... I did not want to imagine the things that my father would have done to me. But we were deep in the woods, and I was confident that nobody was going to find me there. "You're being stubborn." She looked at me with a hard gaze. "So you leave me with no other ch—" I easily freed my arms and turned her over so that I was now the one pinning her down. It only took one of my fists to hold both her wrists together. Now, I let myself laugh freely at the shock on her face. "You're strong." I admitted to her. "But not strong enough to hold me down. You really thought you were doing something with your tiny arms?" She mumbled some words that I did not bother to decipher under her breath as she struggled in vain to free herself from my hold. "Let me go!" She yelled at me. "Ugh!" "Not until you agree to be my friend." I offered. "Look around," She said to me. "Does it look like I am someone that is into friends?" "Well, everything has a beginning, right?" I shrugged. "So?" "Let me go first, then I'll consider." Was her reply to that. "No." I insisted. "Give me an answer first." She rolled her eyes at me and sighed heavily. "Fine! Now, let me go." I freed her and sat beside her on the ground. She eyed me as she rubbed her wrists that were only slightly red. "Sorry..." I apologized, feeling bad. "Whatever." She stood up and looked down at me with a grimace. "Now, leave." "This is no way to treat your friend." I stood up so that I was now the one looking down at her. "At least, try to be nice." "I said leave." She repeated, her tone getting harsher. I raised my hand in surrender, stepping back. "Okay, jeez." I chuckled. "But I'll be back." She did not respond to me, only continued to look at me with that hard gaze of hers. I turned around and began to run back to the river, glad that I was even able to remember where to go. And it was when I got to the oak tree that I usually watched her from that I remembered that she had still not told me her name. But, at that moment, I had bigger fish to fry, as my older brother had appeared out of nowhere. In his low, deep voice, he asked me, "where did you go?"MARCELLO It was implicating enough that I even left the tree that I was supposed to be stationed at. Then it was even worse that it was because I was out trying to befriend a freaking vampire. That was something I could not admit to my brother, even in a million years to come. "Where did you go?" He repeated, clearly growing impatient. "Um..." I cleared my throat, thinking of an appropriate lie. "I needed to stretch my legs so I went for a little walk." He raised a brow at me, not buying my lie. "Since when do you ever need to stretch your legs when you're here?" "I don't know, Bran." I shrugged. "I was bored too, so..." "You were bored?" "Yes." "And you quit looking out without calling for backup?" Bran was beginning to raise his voice. "It's not that serious, okay?" I rolled my eyes. "Besides, we've not had any intruders for months now. Nobody would dare trespass our land, they've learnt from the brutal examples we've set with the ones that have tried it in the past." "An
MARCELLO Her outburst had been disturbing my mind for a while now. And as my feet dangled from the tree branch, I began to recall everything that happened. How she had, somehow, realized that I was a werewolf. I was only trying to warn her. Bran had decided that we would now be two at every station, meaning I was no longer going to be alone at the tree. It was already three o'clock in the morning, around the time that she usually came to the river. And I was restless for her sake. Jay was with me today. And if there was anything I knew about him, it was that he hated vampires more than anybody that I knew. He had a huge scar on his left cheek and he claimed that he had gotten it from a vampire when he had unknowingly run into one in the mountains that were on the outskirts of town. I vividly remembered the day that he came home bleeding, holding his face that was covered in blood as he screamed. That night, his father dispatched about fifty wolves to go and comb the area but the
VALERIA My head began to bang once I opened my eyes. I had slept off in a very awkward position so it also hurt to move my neck. And as soon as I became fully aware of my surroundings, I recalled what I had discovered during the early hours of the morning, that the one that called himself Marcello was actually a werewolf. And what scared me the most was that he knew exactly where to find me. I have to leave here immediately, I thought to myself as I scurried to my feet and shoved the few clothes that I had into my backpack. I rolled up my sleeping mat and buckled it into my backpack too. I peeped outside and the sun was already out, but I was smart enough to have my tent under a tree with a canopy of thick leaves so the shade was enough for me to come out of the tent. But as soon as my feet touched the soil, it felt as if everything had gone still, like time itself had paused. Then I began to hear voices from my left, when I looked, I saw myself standing with that boy— Marcell
MARCELLO It was one o'clock in the morning and her face was all I could see when I closed my eyes. For a while, I tossed and turned in bed, trying to fall asleep, but that was futile. I could not even get a wink of sleep. I was torn between going to find her and giving her her space. And I was so confused as to why I felt so unsettled because of her. It was so bad that I could not think of nothing else at that moment. I had even opted out of border duty for the night because I was simply not in the mood, and it was because of her. So I decided to give into whatever was pushing me to her and go find her in the woods. I had to take a longer alternative route to her tent as the people that were manning the river were surely going to find me if I had gone through that path. When I found her, she was seated on a log of wood in front of her tent, fanning the fire under a roasting meat hoisted up by sticks. I was going to watch her in silence for a while, but I stepped on a freaking twig
MARCELLO My heart was beating erratically in my chest. And my brain racked for possible ways to get Valeria out of here fast. And as I stood there, still freaking out inside, he began to laugh, clutching his stomach. That caused my face to morph into a frown as I had become confused. "My goodness..." He breathed between his laughter. "You should see your face right now. You look like you have come in contact with the scariest thing on earth." I frowned, eyeing him suspiciously. He was the most cunning person I knew and the fact that he was amused got me even more afraid. "You're meeting a girl in the woods to hide from what exactly?" He chuckled and glanced at her for a second. "Be bold like me and flaunt her around town." I looked at my cousin in confusion. From the way he spoke, it sounded like he was not even aware that she was a vampire. Surely, his tone would not have been that mellow if he had been aware. So, just to be sure, I asked him, "how long have you been standi
VALERIA Immediately he left, I got busy with packing my things. It had been a while since I had felt fear at the intensity at which his cousin made me feel. There was some kind of mischief in his eyes that threw me off, something about him that did not just sit well with me. So I packed my backpack and collapsed my tent. I was going to move deeper into the woods. And as I walked deeper and deeper, with the hopes that he would never find me again, I ignored the part of me that wanted to turn back. Since my parents died, that was the only place that had felt like home to me. The river, the canopy trees, everything came together for my comfort, and the fact that I had to leave weighed me down. Now, I was in a bald patch of grass and, just to the right of the space, were trees that had thick shades underneath them. I took the opportunity to rest as I had already covered a reasonable distance and the sun was going to be out in an hour or two. But as soon as I sat down, I felt a pre
MARCELLO I did not keep my words. I went to look for her the following night. I was fooling myself when I thought that Iwas going to be able to stay away from her. And I only realized that when I tried to sleep that night. I closed my eyes and she was all I could see: her frown, the way her lips curled when she was irritated, how her eyebrows would come together. Her face haunted me and I could not go two minutes without thinking about her. If I did not know better, I would have concluded that she had cast a spell on me. Because she was supposed to be nothing but a stranger, so the pull I felt towards her was not even logical at all. So imagine my dilemma when I got to where I usually found her and it was completely empty. No tent, nothing. Just sticks and ash that was left in her wake. I was confused and utterly distraught. And I almost went into panic mode. Did she run away? Or was she kidnapped? Where the hell did she even go!? I breathed and forced myself to reason logically