Monsters Don't Always Snarl
1103 Words
Ethan didn’t go to the police.
He went to the woods.
The air was still thick with the memory of violence...charred earth, broken branches, the copper-sweet scent of blood long gone cold. To the human sense, it was nothing more than a crime scene already fading.
To him, it screamed.
Ethan crouched beside the scorched ground and pressed his fingers into the soil.
Not claws. Never claws.
The body hadn’t been torn apart.
That was the first thing that hit him.
No claw marks. No bite wounds. No signs of a frenzy. The bones were intact. The burn marks were precise and controlled, deliberate, almost ritualistic.
“This wasn’t her,” he murmured.
He followed the trail farther in, moving too fast for human eyes, stopping where the forest dipped unnaturally quiet. They etched into tree-deep gouges in the bark, high and dominant.
A territorial mark.
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“An alpha,” he muttered. “And not a patient one.”
The scent confirmed its old power, soaked in arrogance and blood. A wolf who didn’t hide. One who wanted to be noticed.
And then the final realization settled cold in his chest.
The kill wasn’t about hunger.
It was a message.
He got home just before sunset.
The house was dark and almost too quiet.
Now Alisa is at Ethan's apartment because she was still scared of what might happen if she went home alone. She sat on the couch, knees drawn to her chest, eyes locked on the door like she’d been holding herself together by sheer will.
“You are back.” she said flatly.
Ethan froze. “I am.”
“ What did you find? She replied impatiently.
He set his keys down slowly.
You didn't hurt anyone, it wasn't you.
Relief flashed across her face quickly, desperate, then faded into curiosity just as fast.
“So who was it ?” she asked. “How did you even find out I'm not the one?”
He opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
“That wasn’t an answer," her suspicion started to rise.
“There’s more,” he said carefully.
She laughed, I almost thought otherwise. “There’s always more."
“Someone else is responsible. A werewolf. An alpha.”
Her breath hitched. “Another… like me?”
“No,” he said quietly. “Not like you.”
She took a step back. “What does that mean?”
“It means he kills for dominance,” Ethan said. “He doesn’t lose control. He chooses.”
The room felt colder.
“And?” Alisa pressed. “Why does that matter to me?”
Ethan hesitated.
Too long.
Her eyes narrowed.
“He knows about you,” Ethan said.
The words landed heavy.
“What?” Her voice cracked. “How?”
“He felt your awakening,” Ethan said. “Strong first turns echoes. He’s moving closer.”
Her chest tightened. “Why?”
Ethan met her eyes.
“He might want to claim you as his mate .”
Silence exploded.
“No,” she said immediately. “No. That’s not...no..no one gets to claim me.”
“I know,” Ethan said quickly. “I won’t let him near you.”
She stared at him. “You keep saying that like you can actually stop things like this.”
Her voice rose, anger spilling over fear. “You think you can fight against monsters when you are just a weak human pretending to know monsters.”
That one hit.
Ethan went very still.
"Or…wait a minute, how do you even conveniently explain this?"
“You keep talking like you know the rules,” she continued. “Like you’ve seen this before. You knew about werewolves. You knew about turns. You knew how to calm me down.”
She spun at him. “What are you not telling me?”
“Alisa”
“No,” she snapped. “Enough.”
Her eyes glowed faintly at the edges, emotion pulling out the wolf beneath her skin. “You don’t get to stand there and play protector while lying to my face.”
Her voice shook, furious and raw. “You told me I wasn’t the only monster in the room.”
He hadn’t meant to say it.
But the words slipped anyway.
“That’s because you’re not.”
The air shifted.
Alisa froze. “What did you say?”
Ethan swallowed.
He didn’t bare fangs. Didn’t snarl. Didn’t dramatize it.
His eyes simply darkened…deepening into something unnaturally red,catching the light in a way that made her stomach drop. His lips curled in, revealing a menacing dental work.
“I’m…a vampire,” he said quietly.
The world tilted. She quickly moved back, then froze.
“… You’re what?”
Her laugh came out hollow. “Stop.”
“I’m not human,” he continued. “I haven’t been for a long time.”
She backed away slowly and shook her head. “No. No, you don’t get to tell me monsters are real and then turn out to be one of the next minute... Ohh God tell me I'm just dreaming.”
He stepped back too, giving her space. “I never wanted you to find out like this.”
“Oh, really?” she said bitterly. “How long have you been lying to me?”
“I never lied,” he said. “I just didn’t tell you.”
“That’s the same thing!” she shouted.
Her chest heaved. “You watched me lose my mind. You watched me cry and beg you for answers.”
“And I stayed,” he said softly. “I didn’t run.”
She flinched.
“I stayed because I know what it’s like to wake up and realize you’re not human anymore,” Ethan said. “And because you are my best friend and I will never let you be alone in this world in times like this, no matter how much it feels like it.”
Tears burned her eyes, anger mixing with something dangerously close to betrayal.
“So what now?” she whispered. “Do I trust you? Or am I just surrounded by monsters pretending to care?”
The word monster cut deeper now that she understood it.
Ethan’s voice was steady, but pain threaded through it. “You don’t have to trust me tonight.”
She hugged her arms around herself. “Good. Because I don’t know if I do.”
Silence settled between them.
Outside, the night deepened.
And somewhere beyond the trees, an alpha lifted his head… and smiled.
- Writer
