Sorry

eleven

abia kamin

I woke up alone with the other side of the bed empty. Spending the night with Mateo was nice. I was exhausted but I still attempted at conversation like a child who refused to asleep. He laughed and continued on conversation with my sleepy self. I don't remember the last thing we talked about, but I remember smiling and feeling comfortable in his arms.

My phone would not stop buzzing and I realized I forget to tell my parents of my whereabouts. As far as they knew, I was at a small get together by the lake and would be home by 1AM. Not sleeping in the same bed as the one person in the world I am prohibited from dating.

I reached for my phone, my eyes struggling to adjust to the bright light coming into the room. The window for a wall was nice, but first thing in the morning was blinding.

mom: abia, where are you?

dad: you need to come home now

mom: do you know what time it is? you were supposed to be home two hours ago

My parents must have contacted my older sisters. Because they felt the need to bombard my phone with texts too. They moved away from home long ago considering I'm the youngest. My two sisters and brother were all so close in age, and I showed up late to the party. They always did their best to involve me in things, but considering I'm seven years apart from them, there was never enough room for me.

jemmy: why are mom and dad freaking out about you not coming home? where the fuck are you?

luna: i just told mom and dad that you stayed the night at my place. you have some fucking explaining to do

I sighed, happy to have an older sister who covered for me when necessary. Getting out of bed, I searched Mateo's drawers for the shorts I put in here that I could slide on. Nudged in his underwear drawer was a small notebook. I did not want to me nosy, but opened the first page out of curiosity.

The page was filled with a heart felt journal entry. Mateo is far from an emotional person, and has struggled opening up to me about things. It made me assume that he just bottles all of it up, but clearly he expresses his feelings in other ways. Knowing I had no business reading it, I put it back and went to down the stairs. It was far from quiet. All I could hear was Hadlee screaming in pain. I arrived in the living room and they had all went silent.

All the blinds were closed, preventing the sunlight from coming into the house. Hadlee's eyes were red, fangs striking out of her mouth. A full vampire.

"Hey, you're awake," Mateo held me from behind, bringing me into the kitchen where I could not see them. "She's transitioning. Half way between vampire and human. She needs human blood," he answered my questions before I could even ask them. My best friend was transitioning.

"Don't you have those blood bags?" I sat on the stool. He went in the fridge, getting orange juice to pour in a glass.

"To fully transition it has to be from the vein."

Hadlee was expected to drink human blood or she'd die. My hand went into my hair, shaking it. I didn't know what to think of the matter. "How is she gonna be able to go outside during the day?" I sipped his orange juice. Him and his family have daylight rings, but he made it clear they were only made by witches.

"I'll have to find a witch to make her a ring."

"I can do it. I am a witch and all," I shrugged, not seeing why I couldn't be an option. I wanted to help anyway possible. I also wanted an excuse to ask my mother to begin teaching me magic. But Mateo was not fond of the idea. Me making her a daylight ring meant me being more and more apart of this new world. But, it was no longer in his control and there was nothing he could do. "I know you're against me doing magic because you feel like it'll be your fault if something bad happens to me. But I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me."

I put my glass in the sink, Mateo immediately picking me up to put on the counter. The back of my legs were chilled against the cold marble. His eyes took me in until he was please enough to speak up. Seated on the counter I was now nearly the same height as him.

"You look beautiful first thing in the morning," Mateo whispered, kissing along my face with a growl. I hid my smile, putting my head in his chest as I hugged him. I never wanted to leave his arms—my cocoon. I wanted to stay like this until we were ripped apart. He shielded me from everything, not out of secrecy or control, but because he cared. "I better get you home," he gently rubbed my back to comfort me.

I held onto him tighter, showing I had no interest in leaving just yet. Everything with him was always up in the air. Whether I was going to see him the next day at school, or whether he'd continue to show interest in me after being apart for a couple of hours. Everything with him always a rollercoaster. I savoured moments
like this because I wasn't sure when I'd get another one

"Abia," he laughed, forcing my head up to look at him. His hair was growing and I wondered if he was letting it grow out or if he planned on cutting it again. The stubble on his jaw was noticeable with the kitchen light hitting the side of his face—I liked it like that. "I think you might be the death of me, Kamin," he muttered to himself, going back to hugging me. I couldn't laugh because his statement was true.

Mateo ended up taking me home where I was surprised to see my parents more worried than angry. They had heard about the attack at the lake and although the town was ruling it as an animal attack, my parents knew better.

"They're just openly feeding on teenagers with no remorse. It's not safe here," my mother argued, panic all over the air. Her face was filled with distress. I bit the insides of my cheeks, hating to see how afraid my mother was that something would happen to me.

"I'll meet with the council and make sure this is addressed," my father assured her. But I didn't understand what he meant. My mother was the one involved in the supernatural world, so why would he be the one meeting with them?

"Council?" I expressed my confusion. They looked at each other in unison before looking back at me. I thought the secrets were now behind us, so why were they being so weird?

"Like I told you, we're on treaty land created between werewolves and vampires. There is a council that ensures everything remains in order. It includes 2 werewolves, 2 vampires and 2 witches who act as mediators. Most towns have a council and there is a larger one, the delegation, that ensures all the towns and councils act accordingly to the treaties set in place. Issues never go to them unless there is a serious imbalance in power. Your father is apart of our town's council," my mother explained slowly, knowing this would be a big pill for me to swallow. Leaning back a bit, I examined my father. If he's apart of the council, that meant he must not be human. They quickly caught onto my confusion.

"I'm a werewolf," he cleared my confusion by adding more confusion. I could not breathe. Why did it feel like I could never get a break? Every time things started to add up, more numbers were added to the equation to throw me off even more.

"So that makes me..."

"Half werewolf, half witch," my mother finished my sentence when my words became jammed. "That's why we moved here as soon as we had Jemmy. Because it's safe for you guys here. Usually when a child is born of werewolf and witch parents, their link to the ancestors is broken and they're no longer witch, leaving them simply a werewolf. But for you and your siblings, that link never broke. You guys are very special and amongst few of your kind. Others see that as dangerous."

This was getting more and more scary. I walked around my whole life not knowing I had this big target on my back. Anyone who felt threatened by me could've easily killed me and I never had a clue.

"Every full moon, werewolves transition. But you don't need to worry about that happening to you. The curse is only activated when you've taken a life—when you've killed someone. And I can hope that's something you never plan on doing." There was a threat in my father's voice, almost like he was warning me to begin walking with caution. But I had nothing to worry about. As long as I didn't kill anyone, I was just a witch with a human father.