Sahar's Party

“Do you guys know Sahar?” Deion asked us.

Deion was a demigod of Dionysus, he had tattoos covering one of his arms. Tattoos of course, made him stand out amongst the other students. Even though he was a year below me I had always been just a little interested in him.

“Yes of course we know Sahar, she’s in our year after all,” Yami snapped back at him.

Modesta giggled.

The day had ended and we were walking towards the front gate of the school when Deion had approached us.

“Well if you’re going to be like that I won’t tell you,” Deion retorted playfully.

I pushed Yami to the side, “Oh don’t worry about her, what is it Deion?”

He smiled at me, such a sweet smile, but a hint of playfulness twinged at the corners of his lips, “Sahar is throwing a welcome back party at her place.”

“Oh,” I smiled back, “We will be there.”

Deion nodded at us and ran off, probably to go tell some more students.

“I actually can’t go I have-” Modesta started to say but Yami cut her off.

“Cancel it, we are all going, Modesta. This is important. Varinia you better not ditch us for those wolves,” Yami whirled to face me after her attack on Modesta.

Behind Yami I could see Modesta texting trying to organise her night. Yami looked at me intensely and I matched her stare, “I can’t make any promises.”

We approached the gates and the car was already waiting for me.

“See you two there,” I waved at them and drifted off.

Luna Racheal was disappointed to hear that I was going to a party as always. But I had the best defence to it, I was at the school to make connections, to socialise. So what could she say? The disapproval lingered in her eyes though her lips were closed.

Truth be told, I was nervous about the party. Last year I had spent so much time with the third years it seemed that so few of my friends were even left. I guessed it was my own fault though. I had gotten so tangled up in them that I had neglected my friends.

I picked a dress out of my closet. It was low cut and very short. All in all not much fabric nor much left to the imagination. But I thought it looked adorable on me.

I was just about to leave for the party when Luna Racheal caught eye of what I was wearing in the hall, “You’ll bring shame on your future mate wearing that.”

She kept walking but I froze in place.

My future mate, the requirement that I must fulfil. Love that was all changing, love that changed you. Love that made you unrecognisable.

This is what I was truly running from, becoming Luna didn’t scare me. In fact I was excited about leading but in order to lead, I needed a mate. That is what scared me. More than anything ever could, more than any myth hunter. I wanted to remain myself. I had seen so many of my friends, wolves that were older than me, find their mates and change. Become someone so far from themselves. Yet I was friends with the old version of them. Every fibre of my being resisted this. I even had nightmares about abusive mates.

The first nightmare came to me the night I was to start at the Full Moon Academy. I was being beaten by a man I was in love with. Left broken and hurt yet there was this part of me that still wanted the monster’s approval. I reached out for him and he stomped on my hand. The nightmare had shaken me so much. So began my spiral. I wanted to prove to myself that romance, kissing and beyond could be done without love, it didn’t need love. In the passing years I certainly proved it to myself but I had become reliant on it. Addicted. This was my last year before I was to find my mate and even though I had proven it to myself it didn’t mean anything.

The Luna’s words still cut deep.

I glared in her direction and pulled the dress down further as I went on my way.

Sahar’s house was on the pack’s territory. They were under our protection from the myth hunters, as were a lot of the students from the Full Moon Academy. So, it wasn’t far to get to her house and I could hear the music thumping as I got out of the car.

The house was decorated in fairy lights which twinkled in the night. Her house was small compared to the places I lived but it looked nice enough.

There was already a dragon curled up out the front of the house, which meant those from the Hirasawa mansion were already there.

As I stepped into the house Yami found me straight away, “Took you long enough.”

“Sorry it was hard to convince the Luna.”

“Excuses, anyway come on,” Yami grabbed my arm and pulled me further into the house.

We passed two first years that I didn’t recognise. Their scents filled my nose. One slayer/vampire and the other - that’s what stopped me. The almost mortal scent of a myth hunter. Fear flooded my body and acid filled my mouth.

“Yami… who is that?”

The first years were talking like nothing was strange. Yet that boy was talking to his greatest enemy.

“Varinia chill that’s just Damadara Meer, her family rejected the myth hunters and she is on our side,” Yami struggled against my strength to pull me away.

I studied this girl’s face. She had dark skin, eyes that were almost black that was practically the same as her hair. She seemed shy but I couldn’t trust someone like her.

Katsu Hirasawa, Ephvangeline’s brother, approached her, “Hey umm… I don’t know if this is too rude or something but today we learnt about myth hunter weapons in class and….”

I recalled the lesson, Myth Hunter weapons were something mysterious and completely unique to a myth hunter. They were bonded to the myth hunter and their blade could change at their owner’s will. That is what made them so deadly to myths. In a moment’s notice the blade could be silver to kill a werewolf, iron for the Fae or fire for the Nymphs.

“Oh ummm yeah,” Damadara held out her hand and a circular sword appeared in it, my heart skipped a beat, “this is mine.”

“Oh you’re being dramatic Varinia,” Yami scolded and yanked on my arm again. I let her pull me along this time wanting to put a little distance between myself and Damadara.

“Am I really?” I mumbled.

Yami pulled me into the living room. Almost everyone was there, some were dancing, others were standing around talking. Modesta stood there quietly in a green dress, she looked beautiful. Yami pushed me up to her.

“You stay here with Modesta, I’ll get us some drinks,” Yami darted off.

“You look nice tonight Modesta,” I offered.

“You too,” Yet Modesta’s eyes had drifted beyond me.

Curious, I followed her gaze. All the way to Prince Caelestis. Maybe Modesta wasn’t so stupid after all. The Prince looked sexy, the top buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned showing his pale skin and a glimpse of a well defined collarbone.

My eyes followed him as he walked across the room over to the far shorter figure of Shizuka Lo. Shizuka was also in our year. She and her family were a big point of contention amongst the vampires. They were half vampire and half Phoenix otherwise known as vampire slayers. The Phoenix were a myth that was designed for killing vampires and demons, they were Apollo’s creation and drove the darkness out of the world. Or at least that is what they always said. Shizuka and her brother’s existence was a miracle but it was Shizuka who bothered the vampires the most. Unlike her brothers, she could use her powers, which meant she was potentially deadly to the vampires despite being one of them. Prince Caelestis had made it very clear over the years that he didn’t like Shizuka. Tonight Shizuka was wearing a long blue dress that covered most of her skin. It was an eyesore.

Caelestis found this very amusing, as he walked up to her his foot grazed the hem of her dress, “You could have chosen much better, you let yourself down.”

Shizuka jumped out of his path, “And why should you care?”

Caelestis looked down at the girl, “Because whether you like it or not, you’re still a vampire representative.”

Ephvangeline Hirasawa stepped in, approaching the Prince. Shizuka was one of the points that fuelled their argument. Ephvangeline was one of Shizuka’s closest friends. The Los and the Hirasawas were very close in fact.

“You’d have them all dressing like your slutty little sister. She’s half vampire slayer. Don’t forget it.”

Shizuka added, “I’m proud to be half, so I’m not going to blindly follow you.”

The Prince was not pleased, “Don’t speak like that.”

“Shizuka ignore that idiot he only knows pureblood things,” Ephvangeline glared at him, “nothing else.”

“Be quiet annoying werecat,” Caelestis snapped and Ephvangeline looked away giving up so easily.

The Prince laughed and walked off.

After that Yami returned with some beers supplied by Deion, alcohol was kind of his thing being the son of Dionysus and all. Yami noticed my staring at Caelestis.

As she handed me a beer she commented, “Is that who you are going after tonight?”

I laughed and opened the beer, “Have you ever seen him show interest in anyone?”

She thought for a second, “Yeah no.”

Yami, Modesta and I drank and danced until later in the night Yami turned to me.

“I’ve got a challenge for you.”

I met her gaze, “I’m listening.”

“You have to get a kiss from him,” she pointed at a boy running around like a headless chook. He was Jun Lo, Shizuka’s feral younger brother, a second year.

I shrugged, “Done.”

I strode over to him, a tipsy haze hanging over me, “Hey.”

He turned around to look at me, “Heyyy do I know you?”

I gave him a drunken smile, “I’m a third year so you should.”

“... I see how it is.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” he took a sip of his beer.

I could see the challenge aspect now. Yami was friends with a lot of the second year boys so she set this up for sure. I would rise to the challenge and prove her wrong!

“I’m Jun Lo.”

“I know,” I gave him another smile.

“You’re cute.”

“Thanks.”

He smiled at me and downed his drink. Even though we were all technically underage, it seemed that he of all people shouldn’t be drinking. I supposed that was hypocritical of me.

“You look like you’re having a good time,” I told him.

“I’m having a great time!” he suddenly jumped up.

“Yeah?”

“What about you? You seem chill.”

I looked out across the party, “It’s nice to be away from the pack.”

“Ooooh you have a pack?”

Did this kid not learn anything in school, day one of learning about werewolves should be they live in packs. Would he be surprised that I can turn into a wolf?

“I was born into it.”

“Awesome, awesome.”

I eyed him carefully, definitely a challenge. I took a deep swig from my beer and suddenly he just took off. Running further into the party.

“Wha…” I watched him go.

He was weaving in and around the guests like an excited dog. Wasn’t I supposed to be the werewolf? As he ran past Yami and Modesta I saw them laughing.

“What the fuck,” I muttered as I made my way back to them, a loser.

Yami poked me in the forehead as a trudged back, “Loser.”

I slapped her hand away, “He acts like a little boy I’d like to see you try!”

Modesta giggled.

“I will then,” Yami turned to locate Jun in the crowd.

I always had the feeling that Yami had a thing for Jun. Maybe he felt the same way about her and that’s why he rejected me. Or he was just a little pup.

Finally Jun stopped running and started dancing. Yami went in for the kill. Modesta and I watched from the sidelines. Yami seemed to be pretty successful, able to get close to the boy through dance.

I felt a tug at my elbow.

Rome Amane.

He smiled down at me, his blue eyes wanting.

Rome, I always felt, was the most normal of the Amanes. I felt as if he would transition into being in a wolf pack really well. But aside from that he was the best kisser. And I knew what those blue eyes wanted.

I took one last look at the unattainable Prince before giving into Rome.

He pulled me away from Modesta and into a hallway, then a bathroom. Before I knew it his lips were pressed against mine and his hands roaming my body. This is what trying to deny my fate got me, being dragged away by a sleazy wolf into a bathroom.

I closed my eyes and before I knew it, I was kissing back.