Chapter 2 Dominic
I am at the front gate of Moonlit High. It’s a normal school in a not so normal town. But what I am seeking is not normal at all.
It had been forever since I last participated in any form of formal education. I still remember it vividly, attending school like a normal boy. I was in the top of my class. My grades were perfect. I was good at every subject, even football. School was never hard for me, instead, I thought it was fun. Before graduation, I got offers from every top universities. But I declined them all and disappeared into the affairs of my family’s business. I cherished every single day of school, being a normal mortal boy. Because I’ve known since day one, on the very day of my graduation, the day of my eighteenth birthday, everything would change for me, and there would be no turning back.
It’s my fate. I have accepted it since I was a child.
Today is a cloudy day. The sun is determined to stay behind the heavy cotton clouds. I walk inside the school yard, and I see a few teenagers, and nerds looking down at books; A girl with dyed pink hair is talking to a boy with dyed green hair, probably about music or the location of their next body piercing. Behind a circle of provocative cheerleaders, good-looking and well-built boys are playing sports and showing off. Their fresh and naive eyes scream youth.
Nothing seems to change about high school. What has changed is me.
I walk inside the main building and come to the third floor where the Principal is waiting. I find a door with a copper plate, labeled “Principal Grace Simon’s Office”. I knock on the door with three monotonous raps. A woman replies “Come in.”
I go in, and a woman aged around forty is sitting behind piles of immaculate books and folders. There is an air of knowledge about her. Without a significant movement, her eyes scour me from my head to my feet, and a rose color bursts out onto her cheeks. I am used to this fondness at first sight from all kinds of women, as my appearance is usually, somehow, very attractive to them. But I do not like it. I don’t need any extra attention. Any sort of special attention should be avoided. I need to be particularly careful and keep my head down from now on.
“Hi Ms. Simon.” I reach out my right hand, “My name is Dominic Burton, I came to register, and tomorrow will be my first day at Moonlit High.”
“Yes, yes of course.” Ms. Simon nods and pulls herself back together, as a respectful principal should. “These are some booklets that you will find very useful. I spoke with your father just now on the phone, and expressed my gratitude for such a generous donation to Moonlit High,” she continued, “and according to your previous impressive experience, Mr. Burton, I believe you will indeed have a bright future. You will not regret choosing to transfer to our school,” she said. “Your first class will start tomorrow. The teachers here are easy to reach out to if you have any sorts of issues adjusting, and you can also come to see me, if needed.” She glanced at me with a blush again and cleared her voice, “Now, do you have any questions?”
“Thank you Ms. Simon. Nothing in particular for now, except please always keep in mind, that my true identity is top secret, and should not be revealed to anyone.” I grab the booklets, thanking her again, then walk out of the office. Even though I am a century old, my body and face is frozen at the age of 18. And, if nothing goes wrong, I will continue to look like this for an infinite amount of time. The same goes for my entire family.
We are not vampires, we do not drink and live on blood. We are the enhanced version of humans. According to my father, Nicolas Burton, our family is blessed by his God with longevity, intolerable good looks, prestigious wealth, physical prowess and exceptional intelligence. It is our family honor and calling to guard and work for his God, becoming loyal servants to him. In return, his God promises undying prosperity to our family. Our claws certainly have a tight grip on major aspects of human affairs. The Burton family is behind almost every major decision in world economics, internal politics and world affairs.
The honor of my family is always my priority. I was brought up with this strict rule. As a child, since my earliest memory, I already knew that my family was not ordinary in the least. As the eldest son, I naturally needed to take on more responsibility and be in charge of more family affairs. To help my father run an empire like Burton Enterprise was not an easy task. Everything is not black and white. The foundation and essence of our businesses is in the gray area. There’s always murky shades behind a dark truth. I am used to seeing the dark side of human nature. It was necessary to utilize this darkness and manipulate it for the purpose of benefiting the family. But deep down, I was disgusted by it, by everything we have, by the monster of what we truly are. I believe I am cursed by the blood on my hands. It is beyond redemption.
I walk along the long and narrow hall. Classrooms are full with students. I will be one of them again tomorrow. I wonder what it’s like to be a young and innocent student in this era. Would it still be as fun as before? I don’t doubt the excitement of school life, but I doubt my own ability to truly live as a high school student. I can’t help but shake my head, laughing at my own ridiculous thought. What am I thinking, having fun as a normal student. That was my past life; the old me had already died. And now, behind this alluring body and charming face, is a ruthless monster. I need to focus on the mission and stop fantasizing.
As the crisp sound of the school bell rings, students rush out. The quiet hallway is suddenly alive with energized teenagers. Moonlit High will be my main place to be this year. What I am about to do is crucial to the core of our family legacy. In order to accomplish it, my whole family moved here, to the town of Moonlit. Everything we did over the years was solely for this purpose. Not one single mistake would be allowed. I have promised my family to oversee its completion.
I hear a crowd laughing loudly at downstairs as I’m approaching to the front door of the building. Dozens of students were crowding around a corner and blocking the corridor like a wall. Most of them are excited about something. Some of them are just curious about what is happening. A few of them are intimidated by it and are standing far away from the agitated crowd. I’m familiar with this scenario. It’s high school bullying. It happened a lot back when I was in high school too. It’s usually not my business, and meddling with other people’s behaviour is not my thing. Or should I say, I never really care. Nothing can make me care enough take any impulsive action, unless it has something to do with my family. I believe everything has its own logical pattern. Other people have their own way of living. How they choose to live and to behave is never my concern. I never took any interest in other people’s personal lives. I try to be polite and reasonable enough to keep my distance, yet rarely are people able to penetrate the invisible wall wrapping around my inner world.
The crowd is becoming louder and louder. The more excited they became, the more ruthless the words they uttered became. It seems that they are bullying someone at the center of the crowd, some poor girl. A Barbie-ish blond is patronizing her powerless prey. She demands her prey to kneel. How arrogant and stupid these underdeveloped creatures can be. But I cannot see clearly who is at the center of the vile situation. Why is no one helping her? I know students can be easily affected by their peers’ actions, especially by an intimidating influence; that’s what the herd behavior indicates. But why is a single person not willing to reach out a hand or express a look of sympathy? It seems that everyone hates this girl and finds satisfying to watch her suffer. Now is the first week of the school term, so the poor girl will certainly have a tough year ahead of her. It’s getting me curious.
I walk towards them, slowly approaching the center of the crowd. I see a girl with dark skin curling up in the corner. She buries her face in her knees, gripping tightly onto her torn blue dress. She has beautiful long and silver hair, draping down to the floor like shimmering silk. Her arms are so thin and fragile, and her whole body is trembling with fear and pain. My heart tightens.
“Are you deaf? I said kneel!” The blond demands again. I fix my eyes on the silver haired girl. She is still looking down and pretends that she hears nothing. There is a strange urge rising from the bottom of my heart. I don’t recognize this feeling. It has never happened to me before. It makes me want to use my whole body to block her from the crowd as a shield. I want the whole crowd to vanish, and to bring her to a safe shelter.
As I am figuring out the meaning of my feel and trying my best to constrain the urge to leap forward in order to save her, I hear the blond shout out again, “Aren’t you the princess? So the legendary werewolves have a deaf princess?”
PRINCESS. Werewolves’ princess!
My mind goes blank from the shock.
She is exactly the one I am looking for.