Misbehaving

Ugh, my head hurts. Where am I? Just then, my phone pings with notifications. “Sleeping Beauty, it is time to wake up. I am texting you, just in case you wake before I get back. Don’t panic. You are at my home, Dark Moon Ranch. You are safe in my guest room. No one will bother you either.”

“What happened?”

“Oh, good, you’re awake. I hope that you rested well.” There’s a pause. “You have a knack for finding trouble. Who would have thought? Because you are too cute and innocent for this lifestyle. What do you remember?”

“Texting you about a photo is the last thing I remember. I took it out of the frame and put it in my jacket pocket. Wait! Where are my clothes? Why am I naked?!?!”

“Lol. Good, you didn’t hit your head too hard then. Relax, sweetheart. I saved our ass. Your clothes got filthy, and they are being laundered. I couldn’t let you rest like that. So yes, I took off your clothes and put you to bed. Do you remember anything else?”

“I remember the guy mumbling something about a scared little mouse looking for some cheese, only to find a hungry cat instead. I think he thought that I was a burglar.”

“Maybe. Because you did break into the house.”

“I did what I had to; besides, he attacked me. I fought back, I think. Yeah, I did because my muscles hurt.”

“I bet you thought that you were dead meat sack, too.”

“Oddly, no. Yeah, I was scared, but as I fought, I felt power…this inner strength that I could hold my own at least against him.” The more I talk to Frank, the more I start to remember. That guy from the house moved fast, but not as fast as that guy from the alley. “I held him off for a while, but the strength that I had felt started to dissipate, and my vision began to tunnel. I saw you, and then I must have passed out.”

“You got lucky that I got there when I did, or you would be dead. See what happens when you don’t listen to me, sugar.”

“Yeah…yeah. Why is everyone trying to kill me? Is there a bounty on my head or something?”

“No, you are just new meat, and they couldn’t resist the temptation. We don’t get a lot of new folk. Do you know now what kind of town Darkness Falls is?” he asks.

“One full of crazy fuckers that have watched one too many Dracula movies. I suggest that they tone down that aggression and watch something more along the lines of Twilight.”

“Sweetheart, they aren’t roleplaying. They are a clan of vampires.”

“I know that I am in Louisiana, but you have to be kidding me. Vampires don’t exist, at least anymore, if they even did.”

“Fine, little pet. If you don’t like calling them vampires, then try immortals or supernaturals.”

“Ha, ha. If that guy was a vampire, then what does that make you? I saw you move with agility and added strength, but you look far more human than those pale guys do.”

“I am an alpha werewolf, and I think you might be a werewolf too.”

Is this what my father meant by blood in his note? Do I have some weird genetic disorder like hypertrichosis that just hasn’t manifested yet? “I might be what? No, you are just messing with me, right?”

“Sugar, you need to read more carefully. I am not joking with you. There are no emojis. When I first locked eyes with you, I felt something familiar, but knew that you would think I was nuts. Then you told me about your dad possibly being from here, which made me suspicious. Then I have seen you fight. Any doubts I had about what you are have faded away. I know what I feel and see, sugar.”

“I only landed a few good hits, and they barely did anything.”

“Sweetheart, you did more than some young wolves would. I saw the rage in you. I saw the wolf in your eyes. You just need some training. There’s wolf blood in your veins. You are one of us.”

“I doubt that. I would remember if I turned into a wolf. Also, why are the vampires after me?”

“It is likely because there might be some human blood in you, too. Human and Fae blood are desired by vampires to the point they will risk revealing themselves to get it.”

“How soon can you get here?”

“I will be there soon. I have some business to finish, and then I will try to answer your questions, sweetheart. Just hang tight.”

Hang tight, he says. You have a werewolf in you, he says. Vampires are real, and you are candy to them, he says. If all of that is true, am I safe anywhere?