Six months have passed.
During this time Loren and Amanda proved to be great friends.
Loren especially gained my admiration.
I had almost forgotten about Theodore, all the bad things I had been through, Lou, and Lucca.
The only person I constantly remember is Sammy. We keep in touch but I never say where I am.
I know I'm running away again, refusing to face things head on and burning my head in the sand. I just… I don't know.
I think Loren reminds me of Sammy sometimes.
I go to his house to hang out almost every day.
He taught me how to shoot arrows with perfect accuracy from any type of bow. I'm not exactly wasting all my time, I'm learning how to be stronger.
I also learned jiu-jitsu, tae-kwon-do, muay-thai, kick boxing and I don't remember how it is not to be in pain everyday. Loren isn't gentle and refined like I thought, he's ruthless in training. I barely have time to gasp for air.
I've learned survival skills in all kinds of places, from deserts to underground. I feel like Lara Croft sometimes.
Although the idea of running away for the rest of my life doesn't appeal to me at all.
Now I'm so different from before, I'm strong (in the physical sense - I almost have defined muscles - and in the spiritual sense), I've almost completely overcome my losses, I know how to defend myself and how to fight back, I'm as silent as the night, I almost don't cry anymore for anything (I used to cry in pain when I was training with Loren), Loren taught me how to block the pain, my feelings don't get in the way of making decisions anymore.
I'm not the hopeless weakling who could only run away in panic and pray the big bad wolf wasn't chasing.
I never want to be like that ever again.
Just letting things happen.
It's been hell mode training, but it's so much worth it. I may still not be on par with all the demons I have to fight, but I will give them a fight worth remembering.
Each day I feel something in me changing, inside out, healing faster. If I was a completely ordinary person I don't think I'd get this far, without the fast reflexes and healing Loren would have killed me long ago. He does know what measure force means.
Sinuhe is also different, he now hits my thigh, he is sneakier than ever (to take my food when I'm not paying attention), his fur is still long and thick, glossy and healthy, our connection grows every day, a bond so strong sometimes I feel like it's the only thing keeping me coming right back up after going down.
Amanda is still with Rod, once I even caught them making out on the sofa. We don't talk about it.
The accent I had noticed before it's because they are both Brazilian. Crazy to think about how right now in all countries there's things larger than imagination mingling into people's daily lives without anyone noticing.
Loren and Amanda threw a party just for friends (they invited about a hundred people, I didn't know any of them, but they all seemed like they'd known me since kindergarten).
Well now I'm seventeen, I was in so much stress I forgot my birthday, which happened when I was running away from Theodore the last time, the day I met Loren. In a few months I'll be eighteen.
If someone had told me ten months ago that my life was going to change so drastically, I wouldn't have believed it.
I spend practically all my free time with Loren (that is, the time I'm not eating, listening to music, reading, and watching a movie at the same time).
He has become an integral part of my life.
Sammy would love to meet him.
I learned so many new things, read about so many things, even tried exotic foods. Sometimes I feel like I'm a new person, shedding the old self and constantly growing the new one.
Loren has been helping me how to get a proper income, I can't depend on others forever.
I only found out his last name after two months of knowing him.
It's Drake, Loren Drake.
He no longer has any family, they were all wiped out, and he doesn't like to talk about it.
He taught me that when a chosen one is caught, according to his abilities and temperament, he is given a new surname according to the "great families" (founders of the races, and the strongest living member of these families is a member of the Council).
So it's like having several supernaturals with the same last name and not being related.
Loren was never caught, but he was one of the "special Seekers" (they only go after those who have a potential that might interest the Council, few know about this type of Seeker), he managed to get away with everything, but he can never again step foot near the Council or it's tentacles under risk of death.
And by chance of my unfortunate fate Theodore is also a "Special Seeker", who has a reputation for being relentless, to this day none of them have let their prey escape other than Loren.
I've learnt what his gift is. He can generate a forcefield around him that makes him invisible and cuts off any device in a 10km radius. He said his gift level is already maxed out. That's how he's been doing so well for so long.
***
"Alex, well, there's something I was supposed to tell you a while ago, but I was a little unsure."
"You know, this is strange for the steel straight person who taught me to be forthright."
He laughs briefly.
Loren is squatting in the training ground facing me. I'm trying to pretend my lungs don't want to run out of my chest, sprawled on the ground like a boneless chicken. I'm sweaty and miserable. Loren is perfectly composed, his training clothes with barely any perspiration. Life is truly unfair.
"And what is it? Just tell me, I can take it." I try not to wheeze.
"I know Lucca, I was the one who helped him escape from the sorority."
This doesn't make sense.
"Wait, he said he took advantage of a moment of distraction from the guard to escape."
Loren laughs.
"I was in charge of taking him to the council, I was the guard, I was distracted on purpose."
My god, how stupid I am!
"So, were you the one who killed his family?" My voice is almost inaudible.
My blood runs cold.
Please say no.
"No, it wasn't me, it was someone else, I was just in charge of escorting him."
His expression is serious.
Phew!
For a second my heart stopped beating.
"And why did you tell me this now?"
"It's just that, uh, Lucca called me." He says awkwardly.
"You said I was here?"
"Yes." He says guiltily.
"You shouldn't have done that!"
I'm a little too panicky but I'm not ready to see Lucca again.
I get up and so does he.
"But I thought you would be happy, why don't you want him to know where you are?"
"My instincts tell me to stay away from him right now, the last time he called me he tried to track me! Theodore is on my tail, if he catches us both, I won't forgive myself."
"You're being a little paranoid…"
"Paranoid?"
"Wait, I'm sorry, I don't mean that, it came out wrongly. I need to tell you something else."
"Say it already."
I open the door.
"He's coming this way."
Lucca is standing in front of me.
"I think I warned you too late." Says Loren.
Undoubtedly.
***
I think I passed out, because when I wake up I'm in my bed in Amanda's apartment.
Or it was all a dream.
Or not.
Why is Lucca sitting next to me?
I immediately stand up on the bed.
But my head spins 360 degrees.
"Where's Amanda? And Loren?"
I lean on the nightstand.
"Amanda is with Rod, and Loren is at his house."
Lucca looks hurt.
"How did I get here?"
"You fainted from your training and I brought you." His voice is calm.
"Why did you come?" I ask quietly.
He's silent for a moment. His firsts tighten like he's controlling himself.
"Why? Because I love you, and I couldn't stay away from you anymore. Why are you running from me?"
The moon shines through the window.
A bright spot in the darkness. Serene and impassive.
"Why didn't you call me?" He tries again when I don't answer.
"I couldn't take the risk."
"Loren told me what you went through."
'Sinuhe' I call.
He appears beside me and licks my hand.
I rest my forehead against Sinuhe's.
"You don't love me anymore?" Lucca asks softly.
His voice is hoarse.
'What do I do?'
'Follow your heart' Sinuhe answers me.
What does my heart say?
I look at Lucca.
He's watching me.
My Lucca, so beautiful.
"No." I say.
He relaxes his shoulders and softens his expression.
He is obviously relieved.
"Then why did you run away from me?"
"I can't risk losing you too."
"You will never lose me, there wasn't a single day, a single minute that I didn't think about you, I will always be with you."
I get up and walk towards him.
Lucca takes me in his arms and kisses me. It feels comfortable. I feel my eyes getting hot.
Still, it's like something's missing.
"I promise." He says without taking his lips off mine.
His kiss becomes intense, like he wants to make up for all this time apart.
Memories of the first time we kissed come flooding back.
His hands trace a path inside my blouse.
I take off his shirt.
I run my hands over his defined muscles (I've wanted to do that for so long).
A small white scar in the shape of a figure eight (the symbol for infinity) catches my eye. It's in the exact spot where Lucca's heart is.
He squeezes me and I forget what I was thinking.
I missed his warm, hot skin against mine, his familiar smell, his comforting kisses.
His lips move from my mouth to my neck.
"I want you to do something." He whispers softly in my ear.
I feel shivers rising.
"What?"
He straightens, takes my face in his hands and looks me in the eye.
"Bite me." he says.
"Why bite you?"
I feel my heart pounding.
"If you have to taste someone's blood, I want it to be mine."
He puts his neck very close to my mouth.
I don't know why, but I want to do this.
I want to bite him.
My teeth sink into the soft part of his neck without any resistance. Without a second though.
His blood floods my mouth. Hot and with a little bitter aftertaste, it's not bad.
A storm of sensations takes hold of me.
Ecstasy. Joy. Fear. Courage. Love. And pleasure.
I taste his blood, which is replenishing all my strength and taking away my humanity.
Me too, I feel what he's feeling, I feel his surrender.
***
I wake up with my head on Lucca's chest.
I see his scar, it was definitely intentional.
Lucca wakes up.
He smiles at me.
Now I'm like him.
Supernatural.
"Look in the mirror." He says.
"Why?"
My voice sounds strange, more alluring than I ever heard before.
"Come on, look how different you are." His voice has a hint of surprise.
I go to the closet mirror.
The reflected image is not mine.
She is a girl with a little disheveled ebony hip length hair, looking silky and full. Cascading down framing her face and neck, skin fair and creamy like nothing I ever felt before, as if the slightest bump could break it. Capri blue fox eyes stare back at me. Bewitching and playful, making my own heart race.
I touch my face but the face I'm touching is the one in the mirror. The feel so dewy and tender it makes me gape in astonishment.
Even my mouth took a shade of red, the lips plump and pouty like asking for a kiss.
The training clothes that used to be loose in certain parts are all filled out now, the shape making me blush lightly. Just now I noticed I actually slept in the same clothes I was in yesterday, all sweaty.
It can't be me, I'm not like that.
For a few seconds I am in shock.
Lucca's blood.
When I tasted it, it must have changed me.
This isn't even like plastic surgery. It's a whole different person, all my features changed.
"My blood brought out your true image." Lucca says.
He comes up behind me, his arms circling me and his chin resting on the top of my head.
"What do you mean?"
Lucca hugs me from behind.
My height didn't change though. Tsk.
"Your human image was just a shell. When you stopped being human, your true image revealed itself. This means you were always like this, just hidden. Your parents probably used someone's gift to hide you, it made you safer."
"Not safe enough." I murmur.
"A chosen one like you can only become their full selves when they taste the blood of another supernatural, in this case, you tasted mine. It must have been stipulated by the one who used their gift on you to adhere to this."
"Although, by your smell you are… different."
"In what sense?"
"Everyone has their unique scent mark, it makes it easier to identify what you are, but yours is… uh blended? I thought you were special the moment I saw you, but it seems there's much more. Try and see if you have any gift, or… wings?" The last part sounds more like he's talking to himself.
"Does that mean I'm part Neefilin?" My voice gets sharper.
"Yes, you are a hybrid, now all that remains is to know which is your other part. Hybrids aren't common though, I don't know if your parents were hybrids too."
"Wait, wait. My parents weren't normal people caught up in all this?"
A fleeting emotion passes through Lucca's eyes but soon he smiles at me sheepshy.
"Uh, actually, although Seekers find suitable people between normal people, Theodore don't go after normal people, your parents should have been mixed or full supernaturals. I had an inkling before but after you changed it became clearer."
Lucca hugs me tighter.
I don't know how to feel about it.
***
After I take a shower and change clothes we stay silent for a long time.
There are not enough words to express what we are going through.
"So, are you going back with me?" Lucca breaks the silence.
"I don't know, I feel strange going there."
"Don't you miss your sister?"
What a question.
"Of course."
"So, she's also missing you terribly. I know it was a bit of a bad start, but Pietro is willing to stop bothering you. I promise. Please come back with me."
Lucca makes such a cute pout that it would be mean to say no.
"Okay, I'll be back, you play dirty."
He gives me a long kiss.
"When are we going?" I ask.
"In three days. I need to do some things while I'm here, it won't take long."
He takes my hand and kisses it.
"Alex, before we go, I want to show you a place, if you promise to keep it a secret, that's kind of sacred to me. It's where I meditate and where I forget about bad things. I call it my 'personal paradise.'"
"Sure, but where is it?"
"On an island, it is protected by magic and does not appear on the map.
"Okayy… but how do we get there?"
"The same way Loren brought you."
How did he know?
Lucca holds me in his arms from behind and carries me to the balcony beyond the window wall.
He climbs the wall and jumps.
For a second I think we're going to die.
But then he unfurls powerful white wings, which in a flash take us to the sky.
It's like I'm flying instead of Lucca.
When I flew with Loren it was cool, but I was trapped by his arms.
But now, I'm practically floating.
The feeling is indescribable. After a brief time my anxiety decreases a little and I don't feel afraid I'll fall anymore.
I see cities and forests pass by me in a blur, then the immense, endless sea.
The sun's rays are already close to the horizon painting the sky in a myriad of shades of yellow, pink and orange. It's breathtaking.
I spot a small green island in the distance.
Lucca stops flapping his wings and closes them behind his back.
We are in free fall.
"Do you trust me?" He asks in my ear.
My answer is an undignified shriek.
He reopens his wings and we glide.
The smell of the sea fills my nostrils.
Lucca glides until he's near the edge of an abyss, exactly the same one he showed me months ago.
It's all so beautiful.
He makes a perfect atterrissage and my feet finally touch the ground. This time I'm not trembling like a sieve.
"My little piece of heaven." He whispers.
The grass, the exotic flowers that exude a delicious perfume, the valley below, the ancient trees, the sound of water gushing from a waterfall in the distance, the birds flying.
It's so calming and tranquil.
As if we're the last ones on earth.