Cursed by Fate (COMPLETE)

Chapter Seven

I really did not want to get up out of bed the next morning. My eyes felt like they were glued shut, my neck and head ached from the position I slept in. And the blankets were tangled so tightly and so thoroughly around me I groaned at the effort it would take to get out of them. 

I huffed harshly, throwing myself back onto the bed on my back. Today was not going to be a very good day. And by how Mathias’s and my conversation went last night I had a feeling it was only going to get worse. Did I really want to face that right now? No, the answer was a firm, hell no. I was in no mood to hear any kind of bad or unsettling news. Something told me it wouldn’t do anything but set me off. I haven’t had one of my outbursts in years, and I had no intention of having one now. 

But when the smell of coffee hit my nose I jerked upright fully alert. Coffee was my weakness, and there was no way I couldn’t get up now. I hastily tried to untangle the covers and jump out of bed, not realizing they were still tangled around my feet and hit the floor with a hard thud. Thankfully I caught myself before I face planted but my knees didn’t get so lucky. 

Mathias burst in the room, scanning it as if there was some kind of threat there before his eyes landed on me. I could see how he bit the inside of his mouth to keep from smiling but it didn’t work. “What are you doing on the floor?” He asked with a chuckle. 

“What do you think I’m doing down here. Dusting?” I snapped. 

The amusement faded from his face as he offered me his hand to help me up. “I’m sorry Nicole, I didn’t mean anything by it.” He said pulling me to my feet. 

I dusted my legs off willing myself not to glare at him. “I know.” I huffed. “I’m sorry for snapping. I’m not in a very good mood.” I bit out. 

Mathias studied me curiously. “I can see that.” He said cautiously. 

I just shook my head at him and stomped passed him towards the kitchen. I really needed to calm myself down before this got out of control. I can’t have an outburst here, not in front of Mathias and certainly not in the penthouse suit of a hotel. They were not fun to experience on my side and by what I’ve been told, not pretty from anyone's outside perspective either. 

“Nicole?” Mathias’s questioning voice said as he walked up to me. “Do you ever have unexplained mood swings? Like awful anger spells? Deep depressions? Extreme bursts of happiness or giddiness?” 

His questions seemed odd but also terribly familiar, and far too close to home for comfort. How could he know this? I didn’t meet him until a little over a week ago, and now he is asking questions as if he has known me my whole life? Something wasn’t adding up. 

 I poured my coffee, adding my cream and sugar. “Why are you asking me this?” I asked him cautiously. Keeping my eyes on his over the brim of my coffee mug as I took a drink. 

"It will make more sense why once I explain everything. But first I need to know about you. Do you have these mood swings? And did they start around the age of fifteen?” 

My eyes widened, panic gripping my chest. I put my mug down and moved to the other side of the bar, keeping a safe distance between Mathias and myself. “Mathias, I don’t know what game you’re playing. And I don’t know how long you’ve been watching me to know that, but you need to go, now. You need to stay away from me.” My voice wavered as I spoke. 

“Nicole, no.” He said hastily. “I haven’t been spying on you, I swear.” He defended. “I know because it happened to me. It stopped when I turned twenty, when I cha…. Well let's just say it stopped when I turned twenty. I wanted to know so I could know if you were like me, that’s all.”

“What do you mean like you?” I asked with narrowed eyes. 

“Finish your coffee and eat first.” Mathias instructed. “I will do my best to explain it all afterwards the best I can.” 

I didn’t want to listen to him, I wanted to demand he explain everything to me right then and there. But my stomach decided it wanted to gurgle at that exact moment making my face heat up all the way to my ears. “Like I said, eat.” Mathias smirked. I just glared at him as I dropped myself into the chair mumbling, crossing my arms over my chest. I knew I was acting like a child, but at the moment I didn’t know what else to do. He was just so damn infuriating with his smugness and know-it all attitude. Even if he did seem unsure and even nervous over it. 

After Mathias ordered our breakfast we sat in silence. It wasn’t awkward, but it wasn’t comfortable either, it was more of a nervous silence. And the longer we sat like that the more suffocating the air became. Nervous energy crackled in the air like electricity making my nerves quiver and ball into knots. 

I jumped, sloshing my coffee all over the bar when a loud knock banged on the door. Mathias gave me an apologetic look before he got up and answered the door, thanking whoever it was as he closed the door and brought in our food. 

I couldn’t manage a thank you as he put the tray in front of me. My voice froze in my throat whenever I tried, so I gave up and just gave him a weak smile. This whole situation was getting out of hand. This nervousness and unease wasn’t something I wanted around Mathias. I wanted the comfort back, I wanted the easiness and the warmth I usually felt around him. I was beginning to think I was going mad to be honest. 

When I sneaked a peak up at Mathias I noticed the creases in his brow, the pensive look that marred his usual care free features. His eyes looked strained and guarded as he stared blankly down at his food picking and pushing it around the plate absentmindedly. Maybe he was even more unsure than I was, but why? Shouldn’t it be me who was more nervous? Who was more unsure and hesitant? But then again who am I to decide that. Maybe what he has to tell me is a secret he has never had to share before, maybe it is something he never thought he would have to share. And if that is the case who am I to force him to do so just because I am uncomfortable? 

I dropped my fork and sighed, holding my head in my hands over my plate as I contemplated whether or not I should insist he tell me. I didn’t want him to resent me for making him tell me. I wanted Mathias to like me, I wanted him to want to be around me like I wanted to be around him. But maybe that was too much to ask. Maybe that was me just hoping and seeing something that wasn’t there. 

“Nicole, are you alright?” Mathias asked from across the bar. 

“Yeah, I’m fine I guess. Just worried I suppose.” I answered. 

“You have no reason to be worried Nicole.” Mathias assured me. 

“Mathias. What you have to tell me. Have you ever had to tell anyone else? Is it something I shouldn’t know? Something that could make you resent me for having to tell me?” I asked. 

Mathias walked across the bar to my side and sat on the bar stool beside me. He grasped my hands in between his and smiled. “No. I’ve never had to tell anyone before, no one who didn’t already know at least. And you should know, you have just as much right to know as I do because it involves you. Also, nothing, and I mean nothing could make me resent you Nicole, do you hear me?” 

He sounded so sincere. He was being honest and genuine, something no one other than my best friends had ever been with me. And even with them sometimes I saw that they, though they loved me and were there for me, they also loved my money. I saw none of that in Mathias’s eyes right now. I was dumbfounded by what I saw in him. I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Thank you Mathias.” I breathed into the crook of his neck. “What you’re doing means a lot to me.” 

“Come on.” Mathias said, pulling me to my feet. “Let’s go sit on the couch for our talk.” He suggested. I followed him wordlessly as he led me to the white leather sectional that sat in the center of the large living room. 

Mathias never let go of my hand as we sat down. I could tell he was still working things out in his head on how to tell me. I waited patiently, not knowing what else to do. I must admit whatever he had to tell me had me curious and scared at the same time. 

“Nicole, what I have to tell you. It, well it won’t be easy to take in, you might even think I’m crazy. But bare with me, alright?” He asked. I nodded hesitantly. “Okay here goes. The people in that town. Elias, Levi, Darla, Tristan, Nicholas, Leo, Ryan all of them. They are, well they are all vampires.” He said in a rush. 

Did he? Did he just say vampires? As in blood sucking, coffin dwelling, vampires? That can’t be right. He couldn’t possibly expect me to believe that. Anyway, vampires can’t walk in the sun. Right?. “They can’t be.” I said, shaking my head in denial. “If they are, how can they walk in the sun?” 

Mathias laughed. “The stories the humans tell are just that, stories. They may hold some truth but very little. Vampires can walk in the sun, though they prefer the night over the day. They do have to drink blood to survive which is why only the town are vampires and not the county. It gives the vampires free reign over the entire county to hunt. They are very strong and fast, some, only the oldest and most powerful can control the human mind. 

But as for why you were brought here, into this clan I still can’t figure out. Elias is the clan leader and he seems to have claimed you. No clan has ever accepted anyone other than another vampire. Speaking of you. You Nicole, you are not mortal, you’re not human. Your severe mood swings and your surname tell me that.” 

I gaped at him. Vampires, the entire town of wolfsburg were vampires, ironic given the name of the town. But what gives the vampires the right to hunt anyone they want in the county? That didn’t seem right. And something in me stirred with anger at the thought of all the innocent lives being taken advantage of or even being killed by these vampires. 

However none of that compared to the fact that he just told me that I wasn’t human. I had to suppress the urge to laugh at him. But I guessed I owed him at least the option of hearing him out. What else did I have to lose other than a piece of my sanity. 

“Okay, I’ll indulge you. How am I not human?” I asked. 

Mathias quirked his brow and the corner of his mouth twitched as if he was trying not to smile. “Do you remember your first extreme mood swing when you turned fifteen?” He asked. 

I nodded. “Yes, it was awful. I don’t remember what it was but something made me mad. I usually was really good at suppressing my anger but this time it was like it exploded out of me. Things were thrown, windows got shattered, walls ended up with holes from where I punched them. My room was basically destroyed. It took the people my parents hired a month to get my room back to the way it was before.” I shuddered at the memory. 

That day was awful for me, but my parents didn’t bat an eye. I didn’t get in trouble, I didn’t get yelled at or grounded. They just waited for me to calm down, pulled me into their arms and told me everything was going to be okay. They soothed me. Any other parent would have been going crazy, would have medicated their child, or punished them, but not mine. 

Mathias sighed. “Nicole. Your mood swings come from what you are. Our species have heightened emotions. We feel things more intensely than humans. You Nicole are a hybrid. Not many of us exist to be honest, maybe a few hundred. But you’re half vampire and half werewolf. Your abilities will awaken when you turn twenty. Both your wolf and vampire side will help you to balance out your heightened emotions. They will only get worse once you turn ” 

“A hybrid?” I asked in disbelief. “Are you joking? Please tell me you’re joking.” I pleaded. 

Mathias shook his head. “No, I’m sorry Nicole I’m not joking. I’m a hybrid as well and I can prove it if you’d like.” He said. 

“Yes, please do.” 

Mathias nodded and stood. He pushed all the furniture away from the couch leaving a large open space in front of the couch. It was when he started stripping that I gasped and covered my eyes.

 “What are you doing?” I shouted. 

Mathias laughed. “I have to strip in order to show you Nicole. You will have to get used to nudity after you turn twenty.” He told me nonchalantly. 

I peeked through my fingers, unable to stop myself. My breath caught in my throat at the sight of him. He was nothing but perfect lean muscle. He was firmly sculpted, his abs rippled down to the V that dove into his boxers. The muscles in his arms bulged as he removed the last of his clothes leaving him bare before me. 

Before I could admire his firm back side the awful sound of breaking bones split in the air. I shot to my feet in alarm, my eyes wide as I watched Mathias drop to his knees, his bones continuing to break. My hands covered my mouth in shock and horror, as his face transformed into a elongated snout, large paws replaced his hands as his legs bent and formed into the shape of a dog's hind legs, and a bushy tail pushed from his backside. Red fur sprouted all over his body until it was over, and a very large red wolf stood before me. 

I stumbled backwards, falling back onto the couch. How was this possible? How did he just do that? Oh, God, he’s telling the truth. He’s a werewolf. The town is full of vampires, he’s a vampire too. What the hell is happening? How is this happening? 

The wolf Mathias lowered his head and whined as he slowly walked towards me. I froze, my body tensing as he closed in on me. But all he did was place his head on my lap. This is Mathias. I had to remind myself. He won’t hurt me. I repeated this over and over until my body finally relaxed and I tentatively ran my hand over the large wolf's head. His fur was soft, with a hit of coarseness to it that I assumed offered a hint of protection from weather. 

“Mathias, how is this possible?” I whispered. “How is this who I am as well? How did I never know?” 

Wolf Mathias whined before the snapping of bones echoed in the room. I gasped, squeezing my eyes shut and covering my ears with my hands, not willing to hear that awful sound now or ever again.