Chapter 25

When I got back to the apartment Aldahir was much better and when he saw walk in bearing two bags filled with food he smiled from ear to ear and put some coffee for us. We sat down to eat and just as I had feared he immediately asked me if the hunters showed up, what they did, what they said and if they tried to go after me. I so had to explain pretty much everything that happened and I felt bad over being proud of myself, because I managed not to mention anything related to how badly mauled was the hunter he had attacked.

Aldahir’s attention, however, went straight to the reaction the hunters had when they saw me there, walking as if I hadn’t been attacked by a wolf hours prior.

-Officer Reyes had to intervene, for some reason they wanted to see the bandages overing the stitches – I said after taking a sip of coffee

Immediately Aldahir’s face went pale and he left the burger back on his plate, his reaction confused and I tried to explain nothing had happened but he cut me off.

- They suspect you are a werewolf Dhalia, they saw you injured, took you to the hospital and then saw you perfectly and in one piece a few hours later – he said concerned

-They were confused for sure, but they do not suspect I’m a werewolf, that doesn’t make any sense

-What did you tell them?

-I said it wasn’t as bad as they thought and the hospital let me go

-And did they believe it?

-They must have, what other explanation could there be for it? Besides officer Reyes said something about my tendency to not get hurt as easily as most people

-Why did he say that? – Asked Aldahir getting up from his chair and he started walking around holding his head with his hands

-Could you please explain your reaction? I’m very confused and you’re starting to scare me – I said to him standing in front of him and grabbing his hands

He took a deep breath and guided me back to the table, where we sat down again and he moved his chair close to mine, he then grabbed my legs and looked me in the eye.

-You’re scaring me

-Sorry… The reason why I’ve been so out of myself since everything that happened last night, and with you running into these hunters again is because they do suspect, or maybe already know that you’re a werewolf

-What are you talking about? Humans don’t believe werewolves are real, ever since we exist we have done a pretty good job at keeping it a secret, turning it into an idea for movies, shows and books, making it a myth and keeping it as nothing but a work of fiction, no one…

-There are hunters that know we are real! – He yelled out cutting me off suddenly

I looked at him in complete shock, still not believing him and getting more and more confused by the second.

-There is a certain group of hunters that know about werewolves, as far as I’m concerned years ago one of them had a run in with a werewolf who attacked the hunter, but they somehow survived the attack and decided to find out what had happened, years later the hunter started going around kind of recruiting other hunters and telling them about the werewolf…

-And nobody believed the hunter, called it crazy and that’s the end of the story – I said cutting Aldahir off

I didn’t know how to react, the rational part of my brain was telling me he had to be – for some ungodly reason – lying because none of what he was saying made sense, but the other part of my brain was starting to question whether or not he could have been telling the truth.

-Dhalia…

-You’re not making any sense Aldahir – I said cutting him off again

-I know, I know but you have to listen, I swear is true

-How do you know about them? About this group of hunters

-You’re not going to like the answer – he said barely loud enough for me to listen

-How do you know about them? If they really know about us why haven’t they gone after Loup Ville? Why don’t my parents know about them too?

-They just know that werewolves are real, they have no idea that there’s a whole town where they live – he said

-How do you know Aldahir? – I asked again starting to get frustrated with him

Aldahir sensed my frustration and he seemed to be about to answer me but his cellphone started ringing, to my annoyance – and his luck – it was officer Reyes, probably calling to check up on us. I tried to clear my mind while Aldahir talked on the phone and went back to the room to check mine thinking I had a missed call from officer Reyes too, but I didn’t.

-Dhalia – said Aldahir walking into the bedroom a few minutes later

-Are you ready to finally answer me now? – I asked looking at him as serious as I could be

-Actually, I have to go

I sighed heavily and rolled my eyes at him.

-Officer Reyes called to ask if I would be able to work the night shift, apparently the hunters they arrested are about to be released because someone is going to pay their bail

-What? – I asked surprised, worried and angry

-Officer Reyes wants my help finding more evidence to try and keep them locked up

-If he wants more evidence, I should be the one going then, after all I was the one who almost got attacked by one of them

-There were witnesses of that, Reyes said you were too emotionally invested in the case and it wouldn’t allow you to think rationally, he wants me to go because I also was at the forest and I could have heard or seen something

-Emotionally invested? – I asked growing angrier by the second – that’s what he said?

Aldahir shrugged his shoulders not knowing what to say.

-I promise we will resume the conversation when I get back, okay? I’m not running away from it

-I’ll believe it when you come back and actually answer my questions – I said folding my arms over my chest

-I’m so sorry, I love you – he said and kissed my lips

-I love you too – I said not being able to really stay mad at him

As soon as Aldahir left I decided to allow myself to disconnect from the world, I had just been through more than I had liked because of the full moon, the hunters and Aldahir, so I changed into one of my favorite pajamas, tied my hair into a half ponytail, grabbed my phone, plugged in my noise cancelling headphones and started playing music. Then I started going around the apartment collecting my art supplies and setting everything in the bedroom, once I had everything there I grabbed a pencil and started doodling around on the canvas while dancing – kind of – and enjoying the music and mental peace I had, after about twenty minutes I had drawn a tree, simply a big tree with tons of details in the wood which I intended to paint with a brown and red palette, so I grabbed a new paintbrush, the dark red paint tube, the paint palette and after putting some in there I dipped the brush getting ready to start painting it.

I stopped suddenly removing my headphones and started walking around looking everywhere feeling weird because I thought I had heard something, after a few seconds of complete silence, except for the music faintly coming out of the headphone, I decided to head back to the bedroom but before I could even react I felt a sharp pain in my neck and a few seconds later my vision started to get blurry, I tried to reach to my neck to check what had happened but I feel to the ground hitting my head on the corner of the table, I heard the paint palette and the brush clattering as they hit the floor and right before blacking out I saw a woman with red hair standing over me while talking, but I was unable to understand her words.