CHAPTER 3
1934 Words
EMMA MORETTI
The late afternoon brings a strange stillness to the mansion.
I come back from school with a mix of exhaustion and curiosity pulsing in my head.
The class was a blur; I barely paid attention. My mind is still stuck on the events of the morning with Damon.
A heat rises in my face whenever the memories return, but I push them away quickly. Now, something more urgent occupies my thoughts: Elijah.
His car is parked in the garage. This means he is home. However, I don’t see him anywhere when I enter. Damon is in the studio, composing as usual.
Elijah must be in the office.
I walk down the hall to his office door. It’s ajar. I hesitate for a moment, but curiosity wins. I enter silently and look around.
The space is immaculate, with shelves full of books and a large polished wooden desk in the center. Papers and documents are organized on the desk, but what catches my attention are the photos.
Elijah is the big CEO of a network of companies, and Damon loves working with music.
I approach, grabbing one of the frames. It’s a picture of me with Elijah and Damon.
I must have been around 8 years old.
We’re in a park, all smiling. A tightness takes over my chest. Despite everything, they are my family. But what really unsettles me is another image.
An old photo. It shows me as a baby, in the arms of my biological parents.
“How is this possible?”, I murmur to myself.
The house I grew up in burned completely years ago. All the family albums, documents, memories, everything was destroyed.
So how do they have this photo?
I place the frame back, trying to ignore the chill that rises up my spine.
My eyes fall on scattered papers. One in particular catches my attention.
It’s a drawing of a mark a crescent moon surrounded by detailed arabesques.
“The Moon’s Mark…”, I murmur, frowning.
It’s identical to the one I’ve had on my hip for as long as I can remember. The drawing is surrounded by notes and diagrams.
It looks like an in-depth study.
“What are they doing?”
Before I can read more, footsteps echo down the hall.
My heart races. I drop the papers and quickly exit the office, closing the door behind me.
As I turn around, I see Damon walking across the hall with headphones around his neck. He waves, unsuspecting, and I force a smile.
Night falls, but I can’t relax.
The images of the notes and the photo dance in my mind. When I finally fall asleep, the dreams come like a whirlwind.
I’m back to the day of the fire. The heat of the flames, the sound of wood cracking, and my parents' screams surround me.
But something is different. Between the smoke and the flames, a creature appears.
Large, furry, with glowing eyes and sharp fangs.
A werewolf.
I wake up with a scream, my body sweating and trembling.
I feel a firm hand on my shoulder and turn to find Elijah by my side.
He’s kneeling beside the bed, his eyes full of concern.
“What did you see?”, he asks, his voice deep but soft.
I feel tears roll down my face.
“I… I saw a werewolf.", my voice is a whisper.
Elijah freezes for a moment, his expression changing to something I can’t decipher.
“It was just a nightmare, sweetheart.", he touches my face, wiping away a tear.
I blink, realizing how close we are.
His touch is warm and comforting, but something else pulses there.
I place my hand over his, holding it.
“Don’t leave me alone…”, I beg, my voice breaking.
Elijah blinks, clearly struggling with something inside him. I move closer, feeling a connection I can’t explain.
“Emma, what are you doing?”, he asks, but his voice is just a whisper.
“Please. Kiss me, please…”, I beg, sobbing.
His eyes widen, and for a moment, he seems ready to pull away.
But I lean in, shortening the distance. My lips meet his, and the sensation is different from anything I’ve ever experienced.
A deep heat envelops me, as if every part of my being is alive.
I moan against his lips, feeling Elijah’s strong arms hold me against him.
For a moment, he seems to give in, returning the kiss with intensity.
I lie back on the bed, pulling his body on top of mine.
I don’t want to stop.
But then, as if something awakens him, he abruptly pulls away, breathing heavily.
“This… can’t happen again. Sleep, Emma.", Elijah runs his hands through his hair, clearly agitated.
He quickly leaves the room, leaving me confused and with a racing heart.
I place my hand over my lips, still feeling the taste of the kiss. But before I can process, I hear voices outside.
“It’s happening, Damon. It’s happening with her…”, Elijah’s voice is tense.
I furrow my brow, leaning in to listen more closely.
Damon responds to something, but his voice is lower.
What are they hiding from me?
I wait until the mansion falls into complete silence before acting. Damon and Elijah have finally gone to their rooms, or at least that’s what I think.
My heart beats fast as I slowly descend the stairs. Each step seems to echo through the house, and I hold my breath, fearing one of them will hear me.
I reach Elijah’s office door and try the handle, but it’s locked. I let out a frustrated sigh. They don’t usually lock this door.
Something is definitely wrong. I press my forehead against the wood of the door, thinking about what to do next, when I see something through the glass walls of the living room that catches my attention.
Elijah and Damon are heading toward the forest.
It’s midnight, and they’re walking quickly, as if they know exactly where to go. My curiosity surges.
What are they doing in the middle of the night? I need to find out.
Without thinking twice, I follow them.
I grab a coat and silently exit the house, stepping lightly on the grass to avoid making noise.
The trees tower around me as I move deeper into the forest. The full moon illuminates the path, but it doesn’t ease the growing fear in my chest.
I lose sight of the two. It’s as if they’ve disappeared into the darkness.
My mind races with possibilities. Maybe I should go back, but something tells me I’m close to discovering something important. Then I hear it.
A low sound, like a growl. My body freezes, and I slowly turn my head.
My eyes meet something that makes my blood run cold.
A large, furry creature watches me between the trees. The glowing eyes and elongated snout are exactly like in my dream.
A werewolf.
“It can’t be...”, I whisper, but the sound is so quiet I’m not even sure I spoke. The creature tilts its head, as if studying me.
Then, without warning, it lets out a howl that almost makes my heart stop.
I scream, the sound ripping through the stillness of the forest, and I start to run.
My feet stumble over roots and rocks, but I don’t stop.
The werewolf is chasing me; the sound of its massive paws crushing the ground is terrifying.
I know it will catch me. It will kill me.
“Elijah! Damon!”, I scream desperately, but I hear nothing but the sound of my own breath and the werewolf drawing closer.
Suddenly, my foot catches on something, and I fall hard to the ground, the impact knocking the air from my lungs.
I feel the weight of the creature as it leaps over me.
The teeth are so close I can feel the heat of its breath. I cry out, trying to move away, but it’s futile.
The moon mark on my body begins to pulse, a hot, throbbing pain that spreads throughout my body. I scream again, but before the werewolf can do anything, something covers my head.
“No!”, I scream, struggling as I feel someone pull me away.
The cloth is thick, blocking my view, and my breathing becomes shallow. I panic, kicking and trying to break free, but whoever is holding me is too strong.
I hit the ground, the weight of my body finding something hard.
The pain pulses in my knee, but there’s no time to process.
More howls echo through the forest, loud and frightening.
I turn my head toward the sound, and through the small opening in the cloth covering my face, I see two large werewolves running toward me.
They attack the men holding me.
The fight is fierce, and I can barely keep up with the movements.
The werewolves are incredibly fast; their strikes are precise.
They take down the men with ease, as if they are nothing.
My heart races. I should be afraid of them, but something inside me tells me they won’t hurt me.
One of the men holds me again, a cold knife pressed to my neck.
He shouts something I can’t understand, but the werewolves stop, staring at us.
One of them turns to look at me, its golden eyes shining in the darkness.
I hold my breath.
“No...”, I whisper. Those eyes.
I know them.
Elijah. And the other... Damon? My world seems to spin. This isn’t possible.
The mark on my body pulses again, stronger this time, as if responding to something.
“We found you, girl...”, the man says, holding me tightly.
The knife at my neck is pressed a little harder, but before the man can do anything, one of the werewolves leaps forward, knocking him down with a swift movement.
I fall to the side, free, but still dazed.
The two werewolves fight with fury, quickly taking down the men.
When it’s over, they turn to me.
I’m sitting on the ground, trembling, unable to look away. The two werewolves approach slowly, and then, before my eyes, they begin to change.
The process is both terrifying and fascinating at the same time.
The fur recedes, their bodies shrink, and in a few seconds, Elijah and Damon are standing before me, naked, their breaths heavy.
My world collapses.
“Emma…”, Elijah begins, but I shake my head, standing up quickly.
“Don’t come near me!”, I shout, my voice trembling.
They stop, exchanging a glance.
“We can explain.", Damon says, but his words only add to my confusion.
“You... what are you?”, I ask, my voice barely a whisper.
My body trembles, but I don’t know if it’s from fear, shock, or something else.
Elijah steps forward, but Damon holds him back.
“Not now. She needs time.", he says, his blue eyes fixed on me.
“Time? I need answers!”, I exclaim, feeling my anger grow.
“You lied to me. All this time…”
“It’s not that simple.", Elijah responds, his voice filled with a pain I can’t understand.
“None of this is simple! You two… werewolves? And I… what am I?”, I scream, feeling the tears roll down my face.
The two exchange another glance, and something tells me that the answer to my last question is what they fear telling me.
- Writer
