But of course, I didn't die that day instead I woke up at the infirmary with Rivs and Levi sitting at the foot of my bed playing with PSPs. Alexa and Sarrah are at the door talking to the nurse. Yusuf was lounging at the sofa and reading an adult magazine. I can hear the nurse saying I had a small concussion in the head and that I would be okay if I have enough rest. I pretended to be asleep only after the nurse had gone on. I opened my eyes and said, "Well that was refreshing." Alexa jumped at the sound of my voice.
"OMG, Laurence will you stop doing that?" Alexa jokingly snapped.
"Haha, sorry Alexa." I apologised "What happened."
"You tell us." Rivs said as a matter of fact.
"Hmm." I tried to remember. "I remembered running from a--" I thought it might stay as a secret yet. "-- a wolf. Then I knew outrunning it would be impossible so I grabbed a branch and stood my ground. That's the last thing I remembered."
"Oww. I didn't know they had wolves here. Man, they should remove all those wolves before someone gets really hurt." Rivs said.
"Yeah. Absolutely. Imagine if it was me who found the wolf." Alexa cried.
"You would probably be eaten. Your flesh stripped from your bones." Levi said jokingly. Everyone except Yusuf laughed at the sarcastic comment. I wonder why didn't the wolf eat me. I voiced out that comment aloud. "I wonder why didn't the wolf eat me or anything."
"Maybe you taste disgusting." Yusuf joked. Everyone looked at Yusuf as though he did something which he never do. "What are you looking me for?" Yusuf cried. A few moments later, everyone laughed.
KNOCK KNOCK. Someone was at the door. Sarrah stood up and opened the door. It was Renee. She brought me a basket full of white lilies. Alexa stood up and asked the rest for some help for something. I think she wanted me to be by myself when with Renee.
She put the basket on the table beside my bed and sat at the bed.
"Thanks." I said shortly.
"I heard you were found at the edge of the woods and you were brought here at the infirmary."
"I guess so. It was too dark for me to see where I was." I retorted.
"Did you see what it was?" Was being the one which attacked me. I'll just tell her the same alibi.
"It was just a wolf."
"No it isn't." she corrected. "It's a loup-garou."
"A what?"
"A werewolf." She said.
How did she know? She wasn't there. Even though I asked myself, I knew already the answer. She was attacked by the same thing. The same hulking beast I saw running after me.
"Does that mean I'll become like it?" I asked.
"It depends." She shrugged.
"Depends? On what?"
"To tell you the truth, I still don't quite understand it. All I know is that after a werewolf bit you, the venom mutates our genes. That what makes us grow fur, and enhancesour strength, speed, agility and the like. It depends on our genes. Once I heard someone who was a son of a werewolf got bitten by another werewolf. his transformation was far more superior than his father. In short the more werewolf blood in you the better the chances of being a superior wolf or also called as an Alpha. The person who bit you was our founder, Emmanuel Blackbourn."
"How do you know all this?"
"Research and I asked him." She shrugged.
"Wait a minute. Aren't you mad that he gave you this curse?" I asked.
"A little. But to think of it, he gave me an opportunity to become a better person."
"Yeah, you can be right about that. Perhaps being a werewolf isn't a bad thing."
***
My conversation with Renee gave me a lot to think about. Researches were made. Questions were asked. Only the restricted section holds the secrets I need to know. I now knew that in myths, werewolves hunt in packs. That there is always a leader, an Alpha could be one but if all wolves are Alphas, a fight could break out. Great. More fighting. I'm not even the type who would fight over some position. My family didn't say anything about Emmanuel being my relative. I guess if I have questions, I now know who to ask.
Emmanuel Blackbourn. But where to find him? I guess I can start at his office. After class I headed there to finally talk to the person who bit me. I knocked.
"Come in." a throaty voice answered.
I went inside to find myself in chamber occupied by the secretary on one side and a sofa opposite the secretary. She gestured at the sofa and said, "Sit there and wait for your turn." I seated myself at the sofa besides two other boys.
Minutes passed, still I'm waiting.
Finally Emmanuel himself and let out a girl. "Next." The boys went insde for a sermon maybe. I waited and waited for what seemed like hours. When it's finally my turn, I went inside and found Emmanuel sitting with his feet on the table. I took the chair opposite him.
"Well?"
"Oh sorry. I was wondering--er uhmm-- why did you bite me?"
He put his feet down and leaned forward and he laced his fingers. "Don't you know?"
"Know what?" I asked.
"Why I bit you? Your father ordered me to." He said that as though it's the sensible thing.
"My father? Why would he order you to infect me?". I emphasized on the word "infect" since that day he bit me i'm having headaches. Everything was enhanced, hearing, eyesight, even my sense of smell. Because of that, I can smell the bathroom on the other side of the corridor.
"Infect? Don't you realize what I've done?"
"No, sir."
"Because of your pure blood heritage adding more venom makes your loup garou blood stronger." There's that word again.
Loup-garou.
"We've been doing it for centuries. You see it's a plan to make our kin more superior than the other races." He continued.
"Wait, there's more like us." I stood up from my seat.
"Seat down, Laurent. Yes and no." He said. "There are other races but they are unlike us loup-garous. There are incubi, mummies, et cetera. Of course there are our allies the vampires."
"Vampires are our allies? I thought they're supposed to be our enemies."
"Really, who told you that?" He sounded amused.
"The --er moves and other novels. They always depict were- loup-garous and vampires fighting."
He stared at me and suddenly he emitted a deep laugh that probably have been heard through out the school. He wiped a tear and said, "Sorry. They got that right, but that was a long time ago. Way before our time. The two races had a blood feud but it was resolved by Vlad the Impaler."
"Isn't he the bloke who impaled people and defended his empire against the Ottoman empire."
"Correct. You must be good at history. As you know he impaled thousands of people, our people to be exact.Since you know the entire story I won't tell you anymore. In doing so, he scared the Ottoman armies. So he killed our people to protect us."
"So you're really my uncle. And you bit me just to strenghthen our blood. One other thing, how does Renee fit into this?"
"Oh her? She's just in the wrong place at the wrong time." I could tell he's holding some information back and that he's lying but I didn't push him.
"Oh would you look at that. It's past 5. You would miss dinner. Now off you go."
