Chapter Two
He says hello and jumps into details of doing it. The sex. And about doing it again after doing it. Ugh. Us he seriously trying to have phone sex? Ew.
That was the longest three minutes of my life. I shouldn't have called to begin with.
I' m shocked when I wake up at a quarter to eight. My shift started at seven this morning. I’m not a morning person, I can sleep like the dead. I'm sure I make them jealous anyway. I always have to get at least ten hours of sleep, each night. I’m such a deep sleeper that I wouldn’t wake up even if the house was on fire, even if I was on fire. Somehow, I still want to make it to work before seven a.m which is impossible because, well, I’ve run out of excuses an employee can use in their entire work life. You tend to run out of excuses quicker if your employer lives with you, and knows your quirk when you lie, faster still if he's your older brother.
Mrs. Jones, as always, is cranning her giraffe neck over her fence. She’s spying on our neighbour who has a human for a mate. For us, sex is better when in wolf form and I’ve heard she nearly killed him when she shifted during sex. A mistake that his scars tell everytime you look at him. Their sex innuendos are the town's most talked about topic. Anyone who's everyone is curious. Isn't she eager to ask the Alpha's to turn him? How does her wolf release if she can't shift? And what the hell does he eat?
I don’t know how Mrs. Jones does it, but she wakes up before anybody else, and sleeps well after everyone has gone to bed. It’s like she keeps a fulltime job. She’s the town certified gossip. Better than any newspaper, reliable too.
“Morning dear,” she says.
I smile and wave at her.
“Oh, and Danielle, do bring me your brother’s mean lasagne, will, you darling?”
“Yes ma’am.” I say and walk past her as quickly as I can. I like her, but her stories not so much.
The bus stop is a few paces from my house but of course I get there just as one is disappearing around the corner.
I inhale sharply.
There’s a dragon terrifying people off the streets. Its eyes are fixed on me. Creepy.
It studies me. I can't help but be drawn to it. I cran my neck to the side in order to get a better view.
Bloodshot eyes sit graciously within the creature's angular, bony skull, which gives the creature a rather menacing looking appearance.
One enormous central horn sits atop its head, just above its enormous, round ears. Several rows of small horns run down the sides of each of its jaw lines.
Its nose is stubby and has two enormous, warped nostrils and there are horns on its chin. Several huge teeth poke out from the side of its mouth and reveal only a fraction of the terror hiding inside.
A short neck runs down from its head and into a slim body. The top is covered in wide scales and rows of small fan-like growths run down its spine.
Its bottom is covered in scale-like skin and is colored differently than the rest of its body. Four huge limbs carry its body and allow the creature to stand tall and elegantly. Each limb has six digits, each of which end in massive claws seemingly made of crystal.
Delicate wings grow starting from just below its shoulders and end at the middle of its back. The wings are scythe-shaped, a specialised layer of seemingly colour-changing skin makes up most of the wing and each bone structure ends in a curved, yet blunt tip.
Its thick tail ends in a curled tip and is covered in the same wide scales as its body. Creepy.
As I stand as far away from the creature as the bus stop shield allows me, the creature lowers and I hear a deep voice say, “I’m waiting to take you to work.”
Oh, Fuck, it’s that Pinocchio dude again.
I nervously look at the street, they’re practically deserted. Fuck.
I desperately search for Mrs. Jones. Good, she’s still there but this time she’s peering through my front lawn. I wonder what she’s hoping to find. My brother and I have nothing to hide. But at least if I scream she’ll be the first to hear me, and if this fool kills me, the town will know about it by mid morning.
“Go away,” I say, looking at anything but him.
“I would never hurt you,” he says. “I’m not some creep. I promise.”
I swiftly check my surroundings again. Jesus, this can’t be happening to me. I’ve heard about naive women who get swept off their feet by handsome strangers and are later found dead in some garbage bag, with a poor attempt to hide the evidence.
I wasn’t born so I could end up another statistic. I hear it was a difficult labour for my mother.
Phew. The nine a.m bus arrives, I jump in.
The driver nods at Pinocchio and quickly turns back around to search through the passengers until his eyes find me. He then nods in agreement to the third prince. I know they just used their mind link to communicate but I don't have time to ponder what that was about. Frankly. I don’t care. I’m safe. That's all that matters.
The dragon disappears suddenly. I thought he'd never leave.
Thirty minutes later I arrive at work and by the look on my brother’s face I know I’m in trouble. I wish he would say something here, instead of waiting until we get home, where my big brother will be disciplining me, not my employer.
I’m stuck serving some stuck up, rich kids from the pack. They’re people shaming, until they talk about Olga, the grandma who recently found a mate in a boy a year younger than me, at just sixteen. It turns out to be a good story, word is the boy is also seeing one of their friends, Rebecca, from the second richest family in the quarter. The boy is using Becca for money, which he then spends on his too-old-to-work true love. Not that anybody needs to go to school to know the basics for economics. Stanford for what?
The things people do for love sometimes!
They aren't just good for gossip, they are generous with tips as well, and even give me their credit card and smugly instruct me to buy myself something to eat as well. Of course, I order myself the most expensive meal on the menu: human flesh.
The Alpha has a deal with the human hospital in town. For our continuous donation of millions of rands, the hospital brings us bodies on life support. Of course we pay for them even from the families, usually families that deem the funeral too expensive and would like to get rid of the body one way or another.
I’m also sure to add a glass of vampire blood, which makes us stronger. With vampires on the brink of extinction, the few left are under our protection. After centuries of being terrorised by witches, running to hide was their only option.
I’m dead on my feet and by four p.m I’ve shrugged out my work scrubs and am ready to go home. I first give my brother, Scott, Mrs. Jones lasagne, better he take it to her. After he lost his heavily pregnant mate, Genevieve to hunters six months ago, the only thing he does is work, sleep, and more work. It's like he's lost his will to live, and I'm always afraid he'll turn out like our father.
I walk out with a bunch of my colleagues. We’re chatting away when I notice they’ve all stopped walking and talking. They're transfixed on something and I follow their gaze to see the crazy ass, creepy dragon from this morning, waiting, looking directly at me. Now I'm not scared, I'm beyond furious.
I furiously walk to the dragon before he can climb down.
"I should report you for stalking," I say. "Have you arrested."
"To the Seventh Son?" He asks with a smile. "My brother would have a fit. I'd like you try regardless."
"Fuck you."
"Oh," he says, eyes shifting. He's partly wolf. "Don't fucken tempt me, princess. I will take you right here, right now."
My stomach tightens.
I deflect. “Why are you here?”
“Allow me to take me home, please.”
“No!”
He smiles. A dimple graces his check. "Please…?"
I stare him down. He doesn't back down so Naturally I give in and look away. For some odd reasons he makes me nervous.
I ball my fists. Fuming.
"Oh…?" he says, taken aback for some reason, he smiles wider.
Ugh. I'm so done with him.
I storm away, pissed.