When she wakes up it’s late. There’s a momentary panic before Olivia remembers that it’s Saturday and she doesn’t need to be anywhere, although it doesn’t mean she’s going to stay at home. She gets ready quickly and grabs her coat before leaving, hastily pulling the door shut behind her and briskly walking without lending much thought to where her feet take her.
She’s made this journey so many times that at this point it’s muscle memory. She will keep her promise to Alaric and stay away from the graveyard, but she still needs to know if it is true. She walks to the old mining hill; walking around it she sees nothing. There is no-one there. Sitting on the ground she relaxes, waiting in the quiet morning air.
Someone must come soon, and then she’ll finally be able to prove that either vampires are real or that Alaric was lying. She hears the snapping of a branch, her head twisting to the direction of the noise as a figure moves too quickly for her to see. She tries to follow it but her eyes aren’t fast enough.
“You must be a stupid little girl.” The voice sends chills down her spine and she nods. The voice is right, she must be. “I thought the other night would have scared you away, but instead, you come back for more?”
She stands up, trying to see the person as they keep moving, just out of her vision’s reach every time.
“Who are you?” She steps forward, before a menacing laugh makes her stumble a few steps backwards.
“No-one. My name, who I am, that doesn’t matter. Such information is irrelevant and will be no comfort in your death.”
He’s right, it won’t be. She watches as the man steps out of the trees, her eyes this time able to see him. He looks- actually, he looks hot, but his silver eyes are scaring her. The other night she froze, there was no warning he was going to appear; tonight she was prepared, and she can’t stop her eyes raking over his body.
“You have questions? Ask away.” He steps closer slightly. Am I crazy? She has to be to still be stood there right now.
“I’m looking for someone. I need to know if he’s still alive.”
The man laughs, his body moving fast as he stops a distance behind her, she turns and looks at him.
“And who would this someone be? A friend? A parent, maybe?”
She shakes her head at him.
“My boyfriend. His name is Dan.” He laughs at her words, shaking his head.
“You’re merely a child. He wasn’t a partner, just something you were obsessed by. I did you a favour.”
“You killed him?”
He moves fast again, stopping right behind her, his breath oddly cold on her ear.
“And by God did he taste delicious.”
Her body shakes from the core with fright at his words.
“No, no, I don’t believe that.” She squeezes her eyes tight, shakes her head, but she still feels a hot tear fall. He can’t be dead. The man moves again, her body shivering involuntarily at the cold air whooshing around her from his speed. His face is now in front of hers.
“Either way, he is not the man you loved; that man is long gone. Maybe I should stop teasing and let you join him?” His hand wraps around her throat, his nails digging in as she whimpers. He smirks, his hand dropping away. Olivia gulps down the welcome air.
“You will taste fantastic, I can just tell. And yet there is something there, something telling me that spilling your blood would be a waste, that you would suit immortality rather well.” She swallows loudly; why did she come here? She was a fool for believing that she would get answers and be able to leave without getting hurt.
She hears a loud growl, the man being pulled back as a loud screeching sound from his lips pierces the silence, watching helplessly as his body falls to the floor, and the wolf drags him off into the trees. What just happened?
“What the hell did I say about staying away?”
She jumps and turns to see Alaric, stood there in nothing but a pair of worn jeans. Her breath catches as her eyes skim across his chest.
“Wh- what are you doing here?” She stutters. He isn’t meant to be here.
“I caught your scent; I should have known you’d do whatever you wanted.”
Olivia stares back at him, shocked.
“My scent? You’re one of them?” She steps back. She should have known he was one of them: why else was he always out at night, stopping her from coming to these places?
“No, Olivia, I’m not a vampire, come on. Do I look like I’m a vampire?” How is she even supposed to know? She’s only ever seen one vampire; they could all look different for all she knows. All the films she’s seen were different, most of them unbelievable, so how on earth does Alaric expect her to know?
“I’m a werewolf, Olivia. Why do you keep coming to these places? Are you actually trying to get yourself killed or are you just plain damn stupid?”
“Maybe I am just stupid, but you’re right, maybe I am hoping for death, so that I can find out if Dan is alive or not.” Her head falls before looking back up at him. “You’re a werewolf?” She stares at him. “Th-that was you?”
He nods silently.
“I-” She stops, unsure of what to say.
“Look, Olivia, you can’t keep doing this. You’ll either die, get hurt, or worse, be turned into one of them; is that what you want for yourself? Your family asking the same questions about you that you're asking about Dan?” He looks at her praying she listens, but he knows she won’t.
“My family wouldn’t even realise for months that I was missing. Actually, they haven’t.”
He looks at her, confused.
“What do you mean?” Of course her family would realise; all families notice when someone goes missing.
“I haven’t spoken to my mum in over three months, or my sister, or my friends. Since Dan disappeared I’ve hidden away; not one of them has tried asking if I’m alive.”
He nods. Maybe they’re just giving her space she needs to grieve, or whatever it is people do when someone they love disappears.
“Look, I’m sure if you disappeared they would be worried. By the way, I found this.” He holds out a hand with what looks like an extremely damaged phone swinging from his fingertips. “It must have gotten knocked onto the floor the other night and one of us obviously stood on it. I’m sorry; I knew I couldn’t fix it so I didn’t even try.”
She nods, taking the piece of warped metal from his hand.
“Let’s get you home.” She shakes her head, she doesn’t want to go back home. It feels too empty without Dan.
“Well, let’s get breakfast, then?” He would rather stay with her if she isn’t going home. At least that way he knows she isn’t wandering around looking for Dan and getting herself into fatal situations with vampires.
He walks ahead as she begins following him; they get to a small café and he turns, looking at her to check it’s okay before he pushes the door open and they both enter. They sit down and order, Alaric rolling his eyes as he looks at her. He knew that she was stubborn and wouldn’t listen to his warnings.
“So, you’re a werewolf?”
He nods, smiling at her.
“What happened to that man?”
“The vampire? Someone else sorted it while I checked you were okay.”
She’s satisfied with that. He gave her the answer she needed, he told her that he had killed Dan, but part of her still feels like he’s alive somewhere, somehow.
“So, vampires can’t come out during the day?”
“Yes and no. There are three types of vampires, Olivia: Ceprimora, Morgelantous, and Monventla.”
She nods. “What’s the difference?”
“Let’s start with Morgelantous. These vampires are born. If a mortal woman conceives with a vampire, the baby will always be a Morgelantous. They can go out in the light and they don’t need blood; so many live just like you.”
She nods, so the ones who do wander around during the day are not bad.
“Ceprimora are the ones created through being turned. They can only come out at night and again they don’t kill to feed; they just feed enough to stay strong and then let the victims go.”
Neither of the vampires Alaric described seemed like that guy she met, so she deduces he must be the other one; a Montalia? Monventous? Mon-something, she thinks.
“Then there’s Monventla, which is what that guy was. Monventla were once Morgelantous, only they’ve killed someone. Most vampires don’t kill, they just feed and let the victim go, but Monventla are the devil's work. They get pleasure from killing people. They’re full, they don’t need the extra blood to survive; they kill for fun. That’s what your friend was.”
“So, if a vampire is created by a Monventla, what do they become?” She looks at him, waiting.
“A vampire can only change a person into a Ceprimora, and then it’s up to that person whether they stay like that and feed without killing or whether they become Monventla. Most end up following the same path as whoever turned them, though, which means they kill eventually.”
“And you? What about you?” He nods; he knew she would have this question.
“I am what’s known as a Clasiayn: we are the ones who are born, we have werewolf blood running through us from our ancestors. Then there is Dralious, the ones who turned evil, didn’t stick to hunting vampires but started hunting humans as well.”
“Both can go out whenever and look normal like you?”
“No. Killing a human merely for pleasure means a lifetime being a werewolf and Dralious know that. The only way out of the werewolf form is death.”
Olivia nods to him. It’s a lot of information but she thinks she’s starting to understand.
“We can come out at day or night, sunlight doesn’t bother us. A vampire bite does not hurt us, however if we’re forced to drink vampire blood we would die.”
She doesn’t answer, just sits looking at the blank palette of her now-empty plate. She still wants to laugh and call him crazy, but how can she? She saw that man and how fast he moved, it was almost like he’d teleported. She saw where the wolf had bitten the vampire; there had been no blood, just a weird colour liquid seeping out.
“You need to stay away from those places, Olivia, and me as well. Both bring trouble and are too risky; I can’t protect you all the time, and I can’t protect you if you’re near me.”
She understands why she needs to stay away from the graveyard but not why she can’t be near Alaric. She wants to be near him, something about him is making her want to see him.
“Why are you so dangerous?” She can’t see him hurting her, especially because he’s tried to save her so many times.
“Vampires know me, Olivia; if they see us together they’ll target you. I’m not good company anyway; I’m far too old for you. You need to find people your own age.” He looks at her. Dan was too old for her too; he remembers Dan well.
“You’re like two years older than me at most,” she huffs, “and Dan was 25, he was a lot older than you and I was fine with him.”
“I may look young, but I’m not.”
She looks at him, confused.
“Look, I stopped aging at twenty. For me to start aging again I need to stop shifting; stop becoming a werewolf.”
Now she has questions: a lot of them.
“So exactly how old are you, Alaric? And how old was that vampire?”
“I was born in 1895,” he murmurs, his head bowed. Her fingers move as she works it out and he snickers slightly at the sight, causing her to lose count. She rolls her eyes and starts again, her head snapping up.
“You’re 123 years old?”
“I guess I am, technically. That guy, I don’t know, based on the colour of his eyes I’d say he’s older than me. Most vampires have normal-looking eyes but the older they get, the more their irises turn red, and then slowly silver. That guy’s whole eye was silver.”
She nods, trying to examine Alaric’s eyes; she can’t see any signs of him aging at all. She tries forcing herself to see something, even just one line spoiling his pale complexion, but there’s nothing.
“So when you stop shifting and stay like this, what then? Do you just age really quickly to your actual age? Like would you be an old man?”
He laughs, shaking his head.
“No, I’ll age just like normal humans, and probably a bit more gracefully at that.” He winks. “Promise me you’re going to leave the Dan thing alone? Forget about him, say goodbye and move on?”
She knows she should.
“I want to.”
He nods.
“I know, even the vampire telling you he killed him doesn’t seem real, but what do you need to believe it? His body?” Olivia’s mouth opens to answer but Alaric’s phone rings, interrupting her. He pulls it out of his pocket and pushes a button before pressing the phone to his ear.
“Lucas?” He says in a hushed tone, silent while listening to his friend’s response. “How the hell did that happen? You should have had it sorted.” He rubs his head in frustration with his free hand. He needs to get Olivia home now.
“Well, let me know as soon as you can. This shouldn’t have been possible.” He hangs up, a dark look taking over his face. Olivia needs to stay away from him.
“Look, you’d best get home, I have an issue to sort out. It was nice knowing you, Olivia. Stay away from me.”
When Alaric gets home an incredibly short while after, the first thing he sees is Lucas standing there covered in blood.“I swear I had no idea, he jumped on me from behind and while I was trying to get free that twat fixed himself up and ran.”“The other guy?”Lucas shakes his head. “Didn’t get a look.” They sit and talk, Alaric annoyed that the vampire somehow got away.Meanwhile at the café, Olivia gives up waiting to see if he comes back and starts her walk home. It was nice knowing her? That isn’t what normal people say to someone. She arrives home and drops straight onto the sofa, letting her head fall back against the cushions. She likes Alaric, she isn’t sure why, but for some reason, she just does.
“Now I understand what was so important. She just doesn’t give up, does she?”Olivia nods, not finding it very funny.“My mum doesn’t care, as long as I’m alive. It’s Mel who can’t leave things alone.”Alaric nods. “She’s just worried – overly worried, yes – but at least you have someone to worry about you.”Olivia laughs. “Trust me, it’s overrated. Sometimes I think it would be better to not have a family.” She looks at Alaric guiltily, realising what she had just said. It was inconsiderate of her; he had lost his family decades ago.“Sorry, I didn’t think. I doubt not having a family for so long is much of a good thing.”He laughs, shaking his head.“As I said, Olivia, it runs in my bloodline, so my family are there, just none from when I was born. I do see family from time to time. Most stop shifting after a
The week passes by quickly and Olivia finds herself giving up on trying to find Dan. She gathers all the newspapers and cut-out articles from the floor and stuffs them in the bin where they should have been for a long time. She takes the opportunity to tidy the rest of the house, too; all of Dan’s stuff goes into a cupboard where she doesn’t have to look at it every day, watching her go about her life and constantly confronting her with what now seem like distant memories. She forces herself to work as much as possible, spending any free time she has finding friends and, in a way, trying to forget Alaric. Since he left, she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about him.Something inside her craves him, craves to be near him, and she can’t seem to work out why. Sure, she likes him. She’d even go as far to say he’s hot, but there’s something else there; something else
Glancing back at the empty, moon-lit street behind her she continues to run, but as she turns to look forwards again she comes face-to-face with a figure, running straight into the person. She screams and jumps back, her eyes glancing up to see Alaric holding his hands up.“Hey, don’t worry, it’s me. You okay?” He looks worried at her frightened reaction. What happened to her?“Was that you back there?” She stares at him, her body trembling violently.“No, I walked my cousin home and I was just on my way back to the club. Here.” He shrugs his jacket off and wraps it around her. “I’ll walk you home, Olivia. What happened?”She shakes her head as she steps forward, offering a small grateful smile for the jacket draped over her shoulders.
Alaric follows, staying at a distance so she doesn’t notice him in the shadows. It’s clear she isn’t in control, but what – or who – is making her go there?Vampires can manipulate if that’s their power, but they never leave the victim alive. The problem is that he doesn’t know what else it could be. He stops, as he sees Olivia come to a halt; watches as she sits down, his eyes widening as he sees a man walking to her. Olivia stands up and hugs the man, who the moonlight reveals to be… Dan? She must have been right earlier, it was Dan she saw, but the fact just renders Alaric more uncomfortable. He watches knowing he can’t do anything even though he wants to: there’s a reason Dan keeps pulling her in and Alaric needs to know it. Why would he taunt her by getting her to come here every night then making her forget she saw him? He’s fascinated by Dan’s behaviour. It isn’t exactly typical. He watches
“Why do I see Dan and I together?” Olivia demands. “What the hell is going on? And who the hell is this guy, how did he do that?” She remembers nothing from her nights for days and suddenly with his help she remembers so much: Dan is alive! Or at least, he’s kind of alive. She’s seen him every night this week, every night. Her hand moves to her shoulder and neck, tugging on her collar to run her fingers over the raised marks from him feeding off her like she’s some kind of thing.“I’m Gwenael,” he says. “My mother was French.” Olivia nods a response and Gwenael continues, this time to Alaric. “I’ll grab a drink, she needs one.”He walks out, Alaric sitting down on a chair not too far from Olivia’s. She looks puzzled as she realises Alaric’s size compared to the chair.
Alaric walks through his front door and sits down at the table, his head falling forward in sorrow. Why did he have to kiss her back? Why did she have to kiss him?“Well?”He doesn’t even bother to look at Gwenael. He already knows he’s in trouble, even though Gwenael’s only said one word.“You saw it for yourself, her parents were Depraysie. No-one has seen any of that bloodline since Celestia and Elwin were turned. They weren’t even from this country. Do you understand what this means?”He does. If she is indeed their daughter, he dreads to think what would happen. If anyone knew she was a Depraysie it would create an all-out war.“You should have walked away once she was safely at home, not pushed and poked her into wanting to know her family. She’s right, Alaric, no good can come from her knowing. Yes, she could unlock her powers and be one of the strongest witches around, but at what
Walking to the counter, she sees the guy sat back with his flat cap tilted to cover his face. Olivia clears her throat.“It’s about time,” he huffs, clearly not happy to have been kept late. He scans the items, a methodical beep as each one passes through the red light, and Olivia pays then walks out. Glancing at her watch she realises that, okay, he’d been right to be annoyed with her: her five minutes buying paint had turned into an hour, and she wouldn’t have blamed him if he’d just given up and thrown her out. Then again, she’d probably bought more than most of his other customers had today. Choosing a colour apparently wasn’t as easy as she had hoped. Had she really spent a whole hour there?Walking home she smiles, bags swinging from her hands. She will find a place she fits. She doesn’t fit in with her mum and siste