A New Species

Chapter Five: I Deserve This

The past few days have been weird. Ever since that day Amara told us all about the Blood Rites thing, I haven't felt right. I keep getting the overwhelming feeling someone is watching me and to be honest, I'm starting to freak out a bit. Also I can't get that vampire from Saturday night out of my head. I wasn't scared of him, but something felt off.

I sighed as I thought about everything and put my hands on my face. It was Wednesday night and I hadn't eaten since Monday morning. I don't even know why, it's like food is the last thing on my mind right now and I just forget to eat.

The radio beside my bed buzzed.
12:00AM
'Great' I thought. I'm not even tired.
Every night since Monday I haven't sleep right. Partly because of everything on my mind and because of Lucas. He's been loosing his shit over the smallest things. Screaming and breaking things. I choose to stay in my room where it's safe then clean up mess in the morning and pretend like nothing happened.

I groaned and rubbed my face. "I just want to sleeeep." I huffed. I glanced at the time again.

12:01AM

"Ugh. That's it I'm leaving." I couldn't stand lying in this bed every night and staring at the ceiling. Slowly I got out of bed and made my way to the back door, being careful not to make any noise. The last thing I need is for Lucas to find me sneaking out at 12 am. I reached the back door and put my hand on the handle. I took a beep breath and slid it open.

The cold night breeze hit my face and I relaxed a bit as I stepped out the door and onto the grass. It was cool and damp on my bare feet, I couldn't help but wiggle my toes and smile just a bit.
My smile widened as I looked towards the forest, I didn't realise how long it had been since I was in wolf form and suddenly I couldn't contain it any longer.

I started running at the trees, gaining more and more speed as I went along. Just before I reached the tree line I leapt into the air and swung my arms out in front of me. Immediately my human body disappeared as my wolf took over and landed on the ground.

With my head pointed towards the sky, I took in a deep breath through my nose. I could smell everything. The pine trees, the grass and dirt, the moisture left in the air from the rain. For the first time in a long time, I felt free.

I trotted through the forest, brushing against trees and smelling the air. I was actually having fun and completely forgot about everything that was on my mind only minuets ago. In the distance I could hear the bubbling of the lake and realised I was further away than I thought. The lake was a 20 minute walk from home.

Suddenly everything came back to me and the fear stared to take over again. 'No.' I thought. 'No one knows I'm out here, I deserve this.' And with that I ran towards the lake, leaping in and making the biggest splash I could. I laughed as I wet my fur and chased the fish dancing around my paws.

I felt like a little kid at a pool party, no cares in the world, no worries. My splashing brought attention to me from some of the kangaroos in the forest.
I didn't care though, I was having fun. Eventually a couple of joeys joined me in the water which was a strange experience. As a predator normally the kangaroos don't come near me, maybe they thought I had some kind of brain damage...

As I was playing around, I sensed something and looked up toward the hill on the other side of the lake and saw a strange white figure. I stopped moving and focused more clearly on it, sniffing the air as I did. The figure stepped forward and suddenly a wave of terror swept over me. Lucas. I felt my heart drop. He was in wolf form and staring straight at me. Slowly his lips raised to show his teeth and he started creeping towards me. All I could do was stare at him until he started running. Then sirens started ringing in my head. 'RUN'.

Immediately I sprinted in the opposite direction, jumping out of the water and scaring the kangaroos. I fled through the forest as fast as I could, every few seconds I'd look back to see how close he was. Lucas was gaining quickly, his wolf was massive and powerful. I could hear the pounding of his paws behind me and tried to think of a way to out smart him. I realised that his size meant he couldn't be as agile as me, so I changed direction. A sharp turn took him by surprise and he skidded past. But it wasn't long before he was on my tail again. 'Damn it!' I thought. I turned again but this time he was more prepared and stayed right behind me.

My breathing was heavy and I knew I couldn't keep this up for much longer. And I didn't. Lucas leaped on to me, smashing me against the ground and we skidded to a halt. I laid on my side while Lucas stood over me, I could hear his breathing in my ear.

"Get up." He growled.

I continued to lay there, partly from exhaustion, partly from confusion.
"Get up!" He yelled.

Scared, I pulled my self from the ground, my legs shaking beneath me.

He paced in front of me and I could hear a low growl coming froth his throat.

"Did you really think you could get away with this?" His voice was low and gruff.

I didn't answer him, instead I just stared at him.

"Answer me!" Still I just starred and slightly barred my teeth.
That's when he leaped forward and buried his teeth into my neck. I yelped in pain and screamed for him to stop, but he continued to attack me mercilessly.

It felt like hours before he finally stopped tearing into my skin, leaving me bloodied and weak. I squeezed my eyes closed in pain. My human brain was crying while my wolf body wheezed in agony.

"Let the be a lesson to you." Lucas growled out before leaving me there.

When he left, slowly my human body came forth and the tears came with it. I just laid there in the middle of the forest, balling my eyes out, and I stayed there until the sun stared to rise. I realised at that time that I had to leave before someone saw me. 

I ran home as fast as I could, wincing in pain as I did. When I got to the back door, I hesitated. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door. I wasn't smart enough to leave clothes out for my self last night, so I had to sneak through the house naked. I guess it was in my favour though because it only made me quieter and quicker.

I reached my bedroom upstairs and shut the door. I took another deep breath before standing in front of the mirror standing in the corner of my room. Slowly, I looked up.

"Oh no." I groaned. I was completely battered. Bruising and scratches covered my entire body, the only way I could hide it was by wearing the most conservative clothing I could find and a shit-tonne of makeup. Luckily I still had my Wednesday Adams Halloween costume from last year. It was a long sleeved black dress, black stockings and some small healed black boots. I got dressed and saw exactly what I was expecting. I looked like a goth.

It wouldn't be so bad if my usual attire looked like this, but my closet consisted mainly of  jeans and t-shirts. The really horrible thought I had about it all, was the relentless teasing I would get from Brooke. Ugh. Lord help me.

I caked my face in makeup as an attempt to hide all the bruising and tried to add some freckles with my brow pencil so it didn't look so over done. It had the opposite effect.
'Oh well.' I thought. 'May as well rock it, as Brooke would say.' And with that, I looked at the time.
7:34AM
"Dang it!" I whisper yelled.
Lucas would be up by now for sure. I had to get out of here without him seeing me. I looked around my room and the only option I had was the window.
I sighed, grabbed my stuff and opened it up.

Looking down, I felt sick. I've never been a fan of heights. But the thought of facing Lucas made me feel sicker. So I climbed onto the window sill and turned so I could slide down on my stomach, like when you get out of a pool, except I was climbing out of a second story window. I slid down and tried to land in the small bit of roof below my window, over the front door. I was hanging on by my fingers and still couldn't reach the small roof.

Reluctantly I let go of the window sill and attempted to land without falling. Unfortunately me being me I did not stick the landing and bounced off the roof into the garden.

I let out a long painful groan before I untangled myself.
"Well that hurt." I said, brushing myself off. I stepped out of the garden and started making my way towards school.