Serpentine (Randall Carpio)

Chapter 1 - Serpentine

"Why?" Yvette Perry's voice broke. This was not the scenario that she had in mind today. She had never imagined that her boyfriend for almost three years would dump her for that freshman Accountancy student, Emily Geller. The worst part was that he was dumping her in front of the Belgrave Hall, where there were a lot of students passing by.

"I—I don't know, Eve," Andy Fields called his ex-girlfriend by her nickname. "It's probably because I started to see how weird you really are. At first—you were fucking hot and don't get me wrong, you still are...but sometimes, you act like you're not human. You also whisper to yourself, move like a freaking ghost...and you like it when someone's afraid,"

Yvette was unable to answer back. A part of her knew that what Andy said was true—she was weird, fucking weird. Even Yvette was weirded out by herself these past few days. "Sorry," the brown-haired girl with forest green eyes mumbled. "I'm sorry that I wasn't good enough for you,"

"I don't want to say those cliché movie lines because what I'm feeling right now is far from that," Andy sighed. "It's not me, Eve. It's you. Y—You're the reason of why this didn't work out," with those last few words, Andy walked away from Yvette. Now, he could now breathe easily whilst being in a relationship with Emily. He and Yvette had now broken up, which meant that he was not cheating anymore.

Yvette was left standing there. She was trying her hardest to stop the tears from falling out of her eyes. It felt like she had wasted years of her life by being with Andy. She wanted to cry but knew that outside was not the right place to do that.

"That was...harsh," someone commented a few distance away from Yvette. "I never thought that Andy would dump you. He was pretty obsessed with you when we were in high school,"

Yvette glared at the owner of the voice. The last time that she had talked to him was in high school. "I thought that this day wouldn't get any worse...but there's you. Such great timing. Are you here to mock me, Randall? Because if you are, your presence is working enough,"

Yvette and Randall had known each other since middle school...but the two of them hated each other's guts. "Are you still mad about that time that I put gum in your hair?" Randall reminded Yvette. "Or that time when I put a frog inside your school bag?"

"Shut up," Yvette started to walk away from Randall. "You can tease or mock me anytime, Randall—just not today,"

Randall found himself walking beside Yvette. "So...why did he dump you?"

"He's with someone else..." Yvette responded flatly. "...and he found me weird,"

"You've been weird ever since we were in middle school," Randall scoffed. "I find it hard to believe that Andy just figured it out now," unlike Randall's relationship with Yvette, his relationship with Andy was way worse. His arguments with Andy when they were in high school were out of spite whilst his arguments with Yvette was for pure enjoyment alone. Ever since Andy and Yvette got into a relationship, Randall stopped teasing the girl and talking to her now made him realize how much he had missed it.

"It's a different kind of weird," Yvette admitted. "Even if I tell you, you won't believe me...and I know that if I tell you, you're just going to tease me about it,"

"Try me," Randall offered and that made Yvette stop walking. "What? I'm serious,"

"You? Serious? In what world, Randall?"

"Why don't I tell you a secret then you can tell me yours?" Randall smiled. "What do you think?"

"...Fine."

***

Yvette and Randall went to the university's bar named 'The Blade and Chalice'. Randall bought two beers and handed one to Yvette. The two were sitting at the back of the bar so no one would be able to hear them.

"So...what's the secret?" Yvette started the conversation.

"Have you heard of the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose?" Randall asked and he had noticed that Yvette squirmed on her seat for a second. "You know of the Order?"

"I have received invitations plenty of times," Yvette shrugged like it was not a big deal. "It's a secret society with magic practitioners,"

"Wow. This makes it easier to explain," Randall nodded in approval. "So...back to the story. I'm in the rival secret society called the Knights of Saint Christopher. However, the former Grand Magus—the previous leader of the Order—was so twisted that the knights needed to team up with several members of the Order to take down him down,"

Randall paused for a moment to ensure that Yvette was keeping up with the story. "Go on. I get the story," the girl assured.

"However, this newly elected Grand Magus, which was one of the people that we helped before, decided to erase the knights' memories! Now, all of us had forgotten each other and the fact that we're werewolves,"

"Erase your memories?" Yvette repeated. "Then...how do you remember?"

"That's your take away on that? You really are weird," Randall frowned. He was sure that he had told the story with the best for last. "I just told you that I'm a werewolf and you're asking me how I remembered that I'm a knight?"

"You didn't answer the question," Yvette gulped down her beer.

"I—I honestly don't know. I'm the only one who remembers. I'm probably immune to that powder that they used," Randall exasperatedly sigh. He wanted to tell Jack Morton, Hamish Duke, and Lilith Bathory the truth but he was afraid that they would just think that he was insane. "Even my supposed-to-be girlfriend had forgotten me,"

"That sucks...but on the brightside, at least you didn't get dumped."

"Wait a minute..." Randall eyed Yvette. "Why aren't you in the least surprised about what I had said? Don't you believe me?"

"It's not that hard to believe,"

"Why is that?"

Yvette sighed. "Because I'm a shapeshifter as well, Randall. I'm a serpent or a wereserpent—whatever. Now, can you please get me another beer?"