Lula, The Ice Luna

Chapter One

Sunset was about to set when Lula walked out from the school grounds. Books were wrapped with her arms as she took small steps while the other students were walking past at her. One person bumped into her shoulders that made her stopped and adjusted the positioning of her eyeglasses.

"Sorry, weirdo!" She heard the girl said and it followed snickering with her friends. People around the school called her by that nickname because of her natural white platinum straight hair, which she was the only person who has that kind of color. She tried coloring it but nothing changes. It was weird and annoying to Lula, even if her father see it beautiful.

Her eyes darted on her nails and she noticed that it was growing faster than before. Tomorrow is her sixteenth birthday and her body features were developing oddly. Her father would say that it was just part of her puberty. She wanted to confirm this to anyone but never got a chance to ask around since nobody in school likes her.

She got in the bus and like the usual, she sits alone at the back. People would took side glances at her while whispering at each other. She got used to it and would always stare through the window, pretending that they don't exist.

The house that she grew up in is a large house owned by her foster father which was located at the corner part of the city where only a few houses were around and forests were a few feet away from it.

When she arrived, she greeted her mother who was placing the purple flower inside the small pot. She was wearing a layered short sleeve shift dress, a beach hat on her head, and leather gloves.

"Hey honey! How's school?" she asked with a sweet tone and smile.

"Same everyday," she said with a bored tone then she noticed the purple flower. "What's that, Mom?"

"Oh this." Her mother stood up after she patted the small shovel on the ground, removing some of the soil. "I got this from a man who sells flowers. And since I like purple, I bought it."

Lula kneeled in front of the plant and took a closer look at it. Her pulse raced and she could feel her sweat sliding down her forehead. Her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. The color drained out of her face.

"Lula?" her mother exclaimed then she kneeled in front of her daughter, cupped her face with her hands, and looked at her in the eyes. "What's going on with you? Are you sick?" Her father came out of the door and saw the commotion.

"Honey! I don't know what's going on with her!" Her mother said with a worried tone.

He kneeled in front of them and checked her pulse. Then he noticed Lula was staring at the purple flower. His forehead creased and he wondered why she was staring at it.

He picked up Lula and brought her inside the house, placed her on the couch. To their relief, Lula's breathing slowed down but her face was still pale. The mother brought her a glass of water as her father stepped outside and stared at the purple flower.

"Tom!" her mother called him.

But the man didn't even took a glance at his wife and daughter, he inspected the purple flower while caressing his chin with his fingers. "Interesting."

The woman sighed while Lula was taking deep breaths as she slumped her back on the couch, trying to calm herself. The father took the shovel and carefully buried it to pick up the soil and the flower then transferred it to the other vase.

Lula's mother came out from the door. "Lula just had a breakdown and you're here outside?"

"Where did you get this?" Tom said as he glanced to his wife and pointed at the flower.

"Oh god," the mother cursed as she took a sigh. "You're more curious about the flower instead of your daughter's health? Are you seriously going to ignore your daughter even if something's going on with her?"

"I told you too many times, Fatima. What I'm doing is for her!" he said then he stood up with the flower.

"What are you doing? I just bought that flower!" Fatima said as her hands were placed on her hips.

"Experiment."

Fatima scoffed. "Seriously, Tom? I can't believe this!" Then she crossed her arms. "You've been working with experiments that I don't know what it was all about. Plus, you don't give enough time to us anymore! You act like you don't have a family!"

But Tom ignored his wife and walked past at her, stepping inside the house. "Tom! Oh, for f**k's sake!"

Lula finally calmed down then she saw her father walking across the house with the plant on his hand. Her mother was tailing him while continuously asking him questions. They both entered the laboratory where her father did his research and experiments. The door was shut behind them and she could still hear her mother nagging her father.

She thought that this was just another day for them to fight about adult stuff. So she went upstairs and entered her room. She went to the bathroom, took off her baggy clothes and washed her skinny body figure. She took the shave and cleaned the white skin hairs growing all over her body. Afterwards, she stepped out of the shower room and looked at herself through the mirror. Staring at her icy blue eyes, her white platinum hair falling over her shoulders, her pinkish lips, then she wondered, "Who Am I?"

She glanced at her nails again and noticed that it was getting longer again. She took the nail cutter and shortened them.

After throwing herself on the bed, she turned off the lamp on the bedside table and closed her eyes. She could still hear the muffled voices from her foster parents downstairs. Then she found herself walking in the middle of the forest.

Her bare feet followed the narrow strip of snowy earth among the giants of root and leaf. The trees would be black trunks against a bluish charcoal sky, she began to breathe the cool air slowly. No sign of life to be found anywhere. There were only small sounds of rustling bushes and the howl of the wind.

The silvery moonlight was slowed to a trickle by the full branches. The cold wind lingered through her bared skin and she didn't felt coldness despite wearing a silky nightgown. She heard a wolf's howl that made her head turned. In a quick second, she was surrounded with wolves.

They were staring at her while walking around in circles. Her breaths quickened as her heart raced. A large wolf emerged from the shadows and it walked towards her. Its black fur has white stripes on its side and its natural silver eyes were fixed on her.

She took steps back as the wolf went closer to her. Her foot tripped over to a tree branch that made her fell on the snowy ground. She crawled backwards until her back reached to a flat surface that made her stopped. The wolf stared at her in a close range and unexpectedly, it bit the side of her neck.

She woke up sweaty with quick sharpened breaths then she realized that she just woken up by a dream. A weird dream. It was the first time that she dreamt about the dark forest and the wolves, which she found it odd.

She took her eyeglasses on the side table and wore it. Then she heard gunshots downstairs. She gasped and covered herself with a blanket. Her body trembled and was wondering if she really heard those gunshots.

What is going on?!

The gunshots sounded again and it followed loud footsteps emerging from the stairs. Panicking and didn't know what to do, she crawled under the bed and covered her mouth with her hands to reduce the sound of her breathing.

A few moments later, the door was slammed opened and she heard footsteps coming inside her room. She shut her eyes and her whole body was trembling. According to the sounds of their feet, she guessed that there were three people walking around the room.

A few minutes later, the noise finally descended then she heard the engine of the car started. After taking a deep breath, she rolled herself out of the bed. Went downstairs and saw the laboratory's door left open. Her heart was beating fast as she took slow steps towards the room. Opening the door slowly, she saw her parents lifelessly lying on the ground, covered with blood.

____

The Police came and Lula talked to social services, discussing about her future. She didn't understand most of its details since the image of her parents' death was stuck in her mind. She couldn't think of a reason for them to be murdered because she knows that they were good people to begin with.

Lula was forced to get out of her father's house and ended up working different jobs while attending school. It was difficult for her to handle everything, since she was left alone with no parents and no friends around.

Until she finally graduated high school. Still, she couldn't tell it was an achievement because she was still feeling uneasy and depressed. She began taking pills and drinking alcohol when she turned seventeen. Hopelessly living alone in this world.

"It's not good for a young woman like you to drink alone in places like this." A tall man approached her while she was drinking alone at the bar.

"f**k off," she hissed at him.

The man sat beside her and ordered a drink. His gray hair was almost covering his eyes then he made a lopsided grin. "A heart lack of love and contentment is a hurting one."

"What the f**k do you want?" she asked, irritation in her tone.

"Come with me if you want to avenge your parents."

She narrowed her eyes on him but in the end, she followed him. They stopped at the cliff where the way through the woods was located. They could see the city lights from the distance and it was a beautiful sight to see.

"If you want to kill me, just make it quick," she said.

"I didn't bring you here to kill you."

The man faced her and the moonlight shone a light on his face, revealing his beautiful facial features. He have close set black eyes that made his nose bridge taller, and a downward-turned lips.

Lula was surprised when he stripped off his clothes, revealing his muscular abdomen. She couldn't help but get attracted by the beautiful sight of it since it was her first time seeing a naked man standing in front of her.

The man groaned in pain while gritting through his teeth. Lula's eyes widened as she took a step backward while the man fell his hands on the ground, his fingers buried the soil as she could hear his bones cracking. His brawny arms enlarged and thick gray coat of fur came out from his almond-colored skin. His hands and feet turned into large paws. He completely turned himself into a gray wolf.

"Oh my god!" she gasped, her hands covering her mouth. She couldn't believed what she just saw. The man just turned himself into a wolf!

He took a deep breath as the full moon behind him illuminated his figure. "It was the perfect time of the year," he said.

"W-what?" she exclaimed, looking confused.

"My name's Nicholas. And I'm here to bring you to our Alpha King, Kai."