Azrael

Fourteen

Roman wasn't hard to find and follow. Despite her senses being slightly more subdued in human form, Lisa had always been able to recognise him with her nose alone ever since the two began working together. His scent carried notes of soap and deodorant, but there were hints of urban life- gasoline, metal and concrete, which she knew came from his love for all things auto. Lisa kept her distance, just far enough that his carbon black Mustang was never too long out of her line of sight.

She lifted her nose to the sky and breathed in the morning as she ran, revelling in the smells of freshly baked bread, car exhaust, and fresh mountain air. Back at the Jupyter Academy, no one had wanted to take Kespen and it had only been offered to her because she was a newbie. At first, she'd dreaded it because of the dark whispers about it from her seniors, but two years down the road she had asked to be permanently posted here, a decision that her boss still never understood to this day.

Neither did Lisa.

"You coming or what?"

Lisa made a sound halfway between a whelp and a growl as she whipped around, leaping into the air. Roman stood behind her with a smirk on his face. He held a bag in one hand that smelled oddly familiar.

He chuckled softly, seemingly amused by the startled look in her amber eyes. "Didn't expect me to know you were here, did you?" he remarked, his voice carrying a hint of mischief. "You've been stealthier this time at least. I must say, I'm impressed."

Lisa only growled back in reply, a warning for him to keep his distance. Her instincts were on high alert, and getting spooked the way she had was not helping the situation.

How had she not heard him? Vampires could be quite fast when they wanted to, but Lisa was certain her senses were well within the range of tracking vampires.

"Not sure why you wanna go to such a wild place," he told her. "But where we are going I'd prefer not to be seen with a large wolf shadowing me. Get in the car. There's a change of clothes for you in the bag."

With a flick of her ears and a final piercing gaze at Roman, she turned away from him, her body beginning to tremble as she reversed the Change. Bones shifted, muscles contorted, and fur receded as she morphed back into her human form. He had turned away, but she was vaguely aware of the fact that she was naked, and quite literally revealing a side of her he'd never seen before.

Her heart was still racing from before, and her body was still steaming as a side effect of the transformation, but her face burned even hotter as she picked up the bag. She recognised it now, one of the many bags she left lying around in places she could access just in case she needed a quick transformation. One of those places had been Roman's car.

He was silent when she finally climbed into the passenger seat beside him. Something flowed into the silence between them, and Lisa was forced to fill that void before it swallowed her whole.

"Are we meeting someone in particular?" she asked.

"Yes. Someone who is better equipped to deal with a monster you're clearly afraid of," he said.

"Wait, what-"

Roman grunted and pulled away from the curb. "I saw the look in your eyes when you saw those claw marks."

"You're lucky I didn't rip your head off, sneaking up on me like that," she told him.

He pulled up at a traffic light and turned to her. Lisa could've sworn there was a smile lurking in those blue eyes of his. "For a six-foot-tall, two-hundred-pound werewolf, you easily get spooked."

Lisa bristled at the comment, her hands clenching into fists. "And for a centuries-old vampire, you sure enjoy pushing my buttons. How old are you by the way? You don't look a day over thirty."