Chapter Six
Alice
“He’s a werewolf. A human that can change into a wolf,” I repeat, laying flat on the bed as I try to remember the way his body shifted. The way his bones cracked and his body filled with brown-coated fur, the only thing that remained the same were his eyes. They were as brown as ever with a slight tint of yellow, the same tint I saw when we first met.
It wasn’t my mind playing tricks. I was seeing things clearly despite of the drug.
“Oh my god, Alice. How is this even possible?” I mouth, closing my eyes as I try to remove the images of his body—the way he growled as he changed. No matter how hard I try to forget about what happened or convince myself it was not real, it will never change the fact that it happened. He is truly a werewolf.
“Alice?” My eyes open wide before sitting up straight, seeing Damon standing near the door. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you. Were you sleeping?”
I blink a few times, shaking my head. “No, I was just thinking.”
“Okay, please don’t think too much about what happened. I can explain more if you’re curious,”
“I have a lot on my mind,” I admit, knowing well enough I would not feel at ease until I get rid of these questions in my head. “I just, I can’t believe that everything you told me about you is real. I can’t stop thinking about it no matter how hard I try.”
He keeps quiet as he takes a few steps towards me, sitting at the edge of the bed. The distance we have between us is enough to respect our boundaries as he grabs onto my hand, making me feel a rush of spark through my body but it went away as soon as it came. However, the moment our hands touched, he seems to be at ease, he looks calmer.
“I know it’s a lot to take in,” He replies, “One of the reasons why we prefer to stay hidden.”
“What are the other reasons?”
“Being tracked down. Sold off at an auction. Any possibilities,”
“Sold off at an auction? No way.” I scoff, “I saw what you did last night. You fought off more than ten men. You were incredibly strong! Let’s not forget about your size. You alone, you’re bigger than at least three of the men you killed.”
Killed. Killed. My eyes blink a few times at the word.
The man in front of me had killed the men who kidnapped me. I saw the way he ripped their throats out with his paws and the way they screamed in pain, they begged for mercy but he didn’t surrender. All I saw was a beast, a dangerous beast without boundaries. Then again, it feels weird to be sitting here next to a man that I barely even know. How can I trust him?
“You killed those men,” I mutter under my breath, almost inaudible.
But, I know he heard me.
“Alice . . .”
“No, you saved my life. If you didn’t kill them, they could’ve gotten away and the exact thing can happen to any other girls out there. You didn’t just save me, you have already saved a lot of other lives.” I respond.
He slowly let go of my hand, “I can tell you one thing.”
A sudden sip of coldness appears as soon as his warm hand leaves mine. If only he could hold my hand a little longer because I didn’t even realise how comfortable it felt until he let go. Now, everything just feels a little chilly and cold—his hand is warm, comfortably warm.
“What is it?”
“I’m not a good man. I’ve done many unforgivable things and nothing I do will erase what I did.” Our eyes meet as he speaks, the way his brown eyes pierce deeply into my own; it fills with sincerity and regret. “If we had met in different terms, different times even, it wasn’t as easy as this. I did everything I could to survive and I am where I am because of everything I did in the past,”
‘I’m not a good man.’
‘I’ve done many unforgivable things.’
‘Nothing I do will erase what I did.’
“What do you mean?” I ask, slightly confused.
“What I mean is that, if you met me in the past, you would’ve run for your life.”
The words slip out of his mouth smoothly as it send shivers down my spine. Indeed, this man is a stranger, the only thing I know is about his true form and his name. He has lived longer than anyone I have ever known, he went through two centuries of change and it’s not a surprise he would say that about himself.
A low rumble interrupts our thoughts as I clear my throat, trying to hide the sound.
He chuckles, “You must be starving. Let’s go downstairs,”
“I’m sorry. I haven’t eaten,”
“Of course you haven’t. I should’ve been more aware,”
“It’s not a big deal. I was too occupied in my own thoughts,”
“Come on, let’s head downstairs. You’re just in time for lunch,”
Damon stands up, holding his hand out for me to grab. I immediately reach out for his hand as we walk out of the room, trailing behind him like a lost dog.
We walk down the corridor and I can’t help myself from looking around, falling madly in love with the interior design. Everything is nicely decorated with a hint of minimalist architecture, the glass windows giving enough sunlight to brighten up the place.
I walk down the stairs behind him, hearing a few people talking and laughing.
The noises slow down as we reach the final step. My cheeks heat up immediately at the stares coming from the kitchen but the smell of fried rice seems to be catching my attention. As we continue to walk into the kitchen, one of the boys elbow the other, “Quit it, Leo.”
“Don’t do that, she’s our Luna.”
My eyes meet his as he looks down, ignoring how the words have slipped his mouth.
Luna? A familar word.
Damon clears his throat, “I thought you guys were in the woods.”
“Leo here, said he wanted some steak.” One of them replies, taking a bite of his toast while the rest of them chuckle, making me realise in the group of boys, there is a really beautiful woman sitting in between. Both of her eyes are hazel in colour which matches her light brown hair, she seems to be out of place, she looks mesmerising.
“Mm, right.”
A woman that appears to be in her mid-fifties shows up from the back of the kitchen with two glass of juice in her hands as she places them on the kitchen counter. As soon as she sees Damon, her eyes light up and her lips curve up into a small smile before landing onto me, “You must be starving. Damon told me you were resting,”
I smile. “Hi, I’m Alice.”
“Sam,” We shake hands, “Sit down, Alice.”
“It’s okay, we’ll eat at the porch.” Damon interrupts, glancing at the three boys.
“Of course, don’t want these kids to eavesdrop.” Sam adds.
“We’re not even kids!”
“Then, quit acting like one.”
Damon places his hand on my lower back before showing me the way out, taking a seat at the porch. It’s just the two of us as we sit down, facing each other with the table separating us. The chatters and the laughters have calmed down a bit and it feels as if we’re all alone.
“I’m sorry. They’re just kids,” He says, running his fingers through his hair. “They love it when Sam cooks. They always come here for food,”
“Are you close with them?”
“Yeah, I watched them grow. Their parents are an old friend,”
I nod, playing with my fingers. “About Sam . . .”
“What about Sam?”
“Is she like . . . a couple of more centuries older than you?”
A soft chuckle escapes his lips as he continues to look at me, “Sam is just fifty-three.”
“But, you’re like two hundred? I’m sorry, I know this is funny to you.”
“These people, they weren’t bitten. When a werewolf is born, they age normally as any other human being. They can shapeshift, as you called it, when they reach a certain age—sixteen to eighteen is when they usually get the ability to do so.” He replies, his face is being hit with direct sunlight. “I don’t get that blessing.”
“What do you mean? You get to live for as long as you like,”
“And, you think it’s a good thing?”
“It’s not? You get to experience a lot of things. You don’t have an age limit,”
He looks down at my fingers as his expression changes, “It does sound fun, doesn’t it? Being able to go anywhere I want to go and experience history myself but it gets terrible. I, myself, think it’s a curse. Imagine this, Alice, when you get to live as an immortal, you age slower, you don’t have to worry about wasting time or about dying anytime soon, but the others around you, they continue on their lives. They don’t wait for you. As you stay the same, they grow older, they get sick and they die.”
I keep quiet, listening to him as he speaks.
“You get to watch the world. You get to watch as humans come up with different inventions. It’s a beautiful thing to experience but it comes at a price.” He adds, “You will always feel the pain of losing someone dear and there’s no running away from it. You will always lose someone. You will always be there to watch a friend die as you just . . . live.”
“When you say it that way . . .”
“I’ve known Sam her whole life. Her grandmother was my best friend,”
“I’m really sorry, Damon.”
“It’s okay, Alice. I got used to it after awhile,”
“You ever felt like running away? Leaving everything behind and just be on your own?”
“I’ve done that. Lasted a couple of decades but it was a waste of time because if I’m going to live for a really long time, I might as well make memories. There’s no point in dwelling,”
Damon stands, as I keep quiet; trying to process everything. Everyone has always wanted to live forever, to experience new things as we go but the way he explained things, the way he added his pain, immortality is nowhere near a beautiful thing. “I’ll go get our food.”
I nod, smiling. “Okay,”
My eyes wander around the porch, enjoying the view as the wind blows onto my skin. Everything moves slower here which proves a point—it’s peaceful, as if nothing can bother you as you relax, forgetting about the real world. Being able to have a meal out here at the porch is an experience for me, I don’t get this back in New York unless I’m home. Then again, it’s always a busy city.
“Hey, you!” Someone shouts.
I blink a few times, trying to find the source of the voice before landing onto a man with light brown hair which almost seems golden under the sun. Even his eyes are somehow yellow but they’re just actually light hazel. This man, out of nowhere, just came up to me when he seems like he had just appeared out of a Vogue magazine.
“Hey, you!”
“Me?” I point at myself.
“Yes, you. Who else?” He rolls his eyes.
I frown, realising that I’m the only person here.
“Can you hand my jacket over there?” He points out at something behind him in which I respond by grabbing his leather jacket before handing it over to him.
Both of his eyes focus on something behind me as his lips curve up into a smirk, “She’s kinda cute.”
I turn around to find Damon nearing me, his jaw clenching as if he didn’t like the way I was complimented but he covers it up almost immediately by smiling. “Where are you heading to?”
“Town. I’ll be back before three,” He replies before walking away.
Damon places two plates on the table, a well-cooked steak in each.
“Don’t mind him, Alice.” He says, breaking the silence.
“Who was he?”
“My friend. A really close friend,”
I nod, “Is he also a werewolf?”
“Born and raised.” He replies.
“Well, he seems . . . nice.”
He chuckles, “He’s not nice.”
“I mean, I don’t know him. He doesn’t know me,”
“Jared’s not really fond with strangers. Once you get to know him well, he’s a lot different than you might think,” He replies before taking a bite of his food.
It doesn’t take me long to cut it into a small piece and taste the savouring flavour. My eyes widen at the taste before shaking my shoulders in joy, somehow dancing. It takes me awhile to realise that Damon has been eyeing my every movement with a smile.
“Sorry,” I look down, blushing. “It’s a habit,”
He smiles, “Dancing when you get good food?”
“Dancing whenever I get food.”
“Cute,” He mutters under his breath, almost inaudible.
“This is a really good steak,” I change the topic.
“Sam’s a great cook,”
“You must be good too.”
He takes a sip of his drink, “In cooking?”
“Uh-huh, you got decades to learn. You must be really great in the kitchen,”
“I can cook for you whenever you want,” He smiles.
“Sounds promising,” I chuckle.
Both of his eyes continue to pierce into mine, “You do know, that we’re going to keep seeing each other, right? I want to take you out on a proper date.”
Date. If things were somehow different last night, we would’ve had a proper date. We would get to know each other better, talk about our likes and dislikes. Then again, I wouldn’t be able to know the truth about him, his other identity, his wolf form. He would be keeping that a secret for weeks, months or even years—if we ever make it that far.
A proper date sounds just nice.
“You’re too old for me,” I jokingly say.
We both laugh, knowing how much of a joke, it’s actually the truth.
“A proper date sounds nice,” I add. “So, you’ll be in New York more often?”
“After what happened, yes.” He looks at me, “After you, definitely.”
My heart starts to beat unknowingly fast as my cheeks heat up, not realising how much his words meant to me. The way it slipped out of his lips as if it wasn’t even his intention but it gave me a warm feeling. It made me feel special in some kind of way.
I take a big bite of my steak before chewing it, trying to hide my already red cheeks.