Awakening (Awakening, #1)

Chapter 7

Violet leads the way up the concrete stairs of the dank basement, and I follow behind her. There's a wooden door right at the top of the staircase with a big, elaborate lock on the front. I don't ask any questions; it's not really my business. She removes a key from her pocked and proceeds to unlock and open the door. But then I do start to wonder why she would lock herself down here with me; what if I was some crazy psycho killer?

I know the lock was to keep me down here, but what if I were to get loose and hurt her? No, I think. I would never hurt her. But then again, I would never really hurt anyone. But she...she's special. She's like fine china; you can look and admire, but if you disturb it, it'll shatter right before your eyes and there's nothing you can do about it. 

But in the grand scheme of things, I know absolutely nothing about this girl. But that doesn't mean I don't want to. It doesn't mean I won't try to.

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Once we're through the door, we're in what appears to be a living room. The house is huge, and smells of pumpkin and some sort of spice. A small corner of my face lifts, because this home smells familiar; like I've either been here before or I've smelled this scent before. Perhaps in my own home, wherever that might have been.

I look to my right, and Elijah is right there against the wall by the door leading to the basement with his arms crossed, of course. He looks from Violet to me, then back to her again. For some reason, I feel so out of place and on the defensive. I seem to let my guard down and relax when I'm around Violet and her alone. Elijah makes me vibrate with this new found...hatred. But I've never hated anyone before.

He just doesn't seem like a good guy.

I smell that sour, sweaty smell again then I hear alot of whoops and hollers. They're deep voices, presumably male voices. I can distinguish about four different ones, so it must be a group. Violet looks to me, seemingly reassuring me that there's nothing to worry about although I get vibes that say otherwise from Elijah.

The front door bursts open and they all come through to the living room, shaking and smoothing hair out of their faces. And they aren't wearing clothing above their waists. 

Violet looks a little embarrassed as she says, "Where are your damn shirts, guys?"

The guy with the blonde hair and green eyes the color of fresh cut grass, smiles broadly. "Just went for a run, Vi. Who's this?" He gestures to me. I picked up on a slight speech impediment in his dialect, but it's hardly noticeable. 

So how did I notice it.

The rest of the group of unidentified males grunt, and make other various noises of agreement, and stare at me like I'm some unknown specimen of person. Am I?

Violet puts her hand on my forearm, and I just look at it as she speaks. "This is Jonah. He's partially Awakened."

She says this with a hint of curiosity and uncertainty. I have no idea what she means by "Awakened". Whatever it is, I'm only partially it. The group of guys sigh, and gasp.

"No shit? Are you sure about that, Vi?" A guy with an extremely thick Irish accent and jet black hair says.

"Yeah." she sighs. "I'm positive, actually. But he's in the third stage, he doesn't remember much. He doesn't know what's going on."

"Has he-," blonde guy starts.

"No," Violet finishes. "He hasn't fed. Hence the partially Awakened aspect."

They continually talk like I'm not here, which is fine since I have no idea how I would respond to anything they're saying.

"So, the incident at Wayview Memorial. Think it was an enemy?" Irish accent says.

"Believe so. I found him there," Violet gestures to me. "but I know it wasn't him."

Elijah was quiet this whole time, until now. "We haven't quite ruled that out yet," he says as he stares holes right through me.

Violet stares back, only twice as hard. "Yes we have. There was an entirely different scent coating that place. It's definitely a newbie; not even two week old Pup. She's definitely high off of the Change. The first one is always the most exhilarating. It's tragic what happened to the people there at the hospital. But there's nothing we can do now. Place is swarming with Feds."

My stomach makes this weird, out of this world noise. 

"He's staying with us until further notice," Violet says. By the looks of things, and how all of the guys listen to every word she says like she's spilling secrets to the universe, she's in charge of whatever this is. She's the leader. She's the boss.

They're all silent for a moment and then they slowly smile and start laughing, whooping, and hollering. They all ruffle my hair and mutter welcomes, and nice to meet yous. All except for Elijah, which is fine. I feel welcome. I feel like I could potentially belong here.

"Alright, alright," Violet chuckles. "Let's go get you some food."