Celia woke up on the bleachers. Her head felt heavy and she was chilled down to her bones. She had felt so tired and had fallen asleep in the open. It was so cold. She knew she should’ve just walked back to the dorm to sleep but she couldn’t help herself. Kind of a stupid move, but whatever, Celia already knew she had a knack for doing stupid things.
Celia walked back to the Girls’ Dorm, eager to take a hot shower and wash away the cold on her skin.
***
Ash gathered her hair and tied it up in a nice high ponytail. Isabelle had told her once that she looked pretty with her hair pulled high and back.
”You have a lovely jawline and a graceful neck, Boots,” she had said to Ash. At the time, Ash had laughed at the phrase “graceful neck.” How can a neck in itself be graceful? She had joked about several stupid ways for a disembodied neck to move to be considered “graceful.”Now that she wanted to
On the night before her birthday, Ash wanted to go to bed early. While Celia and Isabelle ate dinner at the cafeteria, Ash packed a duffel bag with clothes for the two-week holiday. She had already decided that she was going to spend the holidays with Hunter getting to know his parents and learning more about their shared werewolf heritage.The problem was, she had no idea how to tell her friends about her decision. With the awkward way things had been going with the three of them lately, telling them she was staying with Hunter out of the blue sounded like the premise for an elaborate prank.No one at school would have believed it. But then again, no one would believe that living monsters in human form walked the halls at Saint Blaise’s either. Staying with Hunter for the holidays was far more believable. It seemed improbable, but at the least it was possible. As it was, it was definitely happening.She stared at her hands on the unfolded shirt in her lap
Hunter and Ash rode quietly in the back of a rented silver SUV. A hired driver came with the rental and he was paid to drive them for the day. It struck Ash that he didn’t look much older than they were. He looked like he was in his early 20s. He wore plain dark clothes and had curly brown hair. She stared at the silver earring on his left earlobe as he drove on.“You like guys with earrings?” Hunter asked. He grabbed her hand on the seat as he asked.Ash turned to look at him, but his face was turned toward the window, staring at nothing.[He’s jealous,] Ash thought.It was an easy enough guess to make, but Ash didn’t guess it as much as felt it inhis grip on her hand.He squeezed her hand just enough for her to notice, but not hard enough for it to hurt. It was the kind of grip that said, “Don’t forget, I’m here.”Ash inched closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder. She rubbe
The maître d’lead the group to their table. Isabelle had earlierreserved a booth at the restaurantbutthe table was only set for three. The maître d’ subtly eyed Hunter and signaled for the server to set a place for him next to Ash. When the server had left, Isabelle went straight into the conversation. “So, tell us how this came to be,” she asked, referring to Ash and Hunter. Isabelle could hear herself and she cringed at her own formal way of speaking. It was a habit, the formal training from her house was deeply ingrained and hard to shake. She sometimes had to play hostess at some of her father’s dinner parties. It was the hostess’s job to keep the conversation going and make sure everyone was entertained. She didn’t particularly enjoy the chore when she had to do it for her father’s casual functions, but she was eager to take on the role at Ash’s birthday. She was particularly interested in hearing about the birthday girl’s new rel
Ash stared at the fresh red wound on her right arm. It was a thin red line, about three or four inches long. She held her left hand up to her arm and hovered over the wound: it was just small enough that she could cover it with her palm. Her hand was shaking as she held it over her arm. Both of her hands were shaking. She balled her hands into fists, forcing them down on her lap.She couldn’t stop staring at the cut.The violent mark on her skin looked almost delicate.If she stared at it just long enough for her eyes to lose focus, her vision would blur and the wound would look almost like a stray red thread from her shirt had just clung to her skin. But when she blinked and her vision would focus again, the red thread would be gone, and in its place would be an angry red line---a knife cut from her best friend.“It was an accident,” she said.Hunter pretended not to hear. The young driver kept his eyes forward on the road and hi
Isabelle and Celia stood facing each other under the awning at a pathway inside of their mostly-empty campus. It was a Saturday afternoon and most of the students had already left campus that morning for their flights home. Celia had been screaming, but there was no one other than Isabelle who was around to hear it.“I was hearing voices in my head while I was eating a steak,and suddenly I was knifing my friend. I don’t know what happened, Isabelle,” Celia screamed.Angry tears streamed down Celia’s face. She wiped them away roughly using the back of her hands. Isabelle stood quietly, measuring her words,holding back the ones that would send Celia over the edge.“You said something about a Master. Do you remember that?” Isabelle asked.“ . . . I don’t remember,” Celia said. Her green eyes were angry slits staring in Isabelle’s direction. She wasn’t angry at Isabelle, but she was
A man in a black suit was waiting for Ash and Hunter when they got out of the airport. He was a burly man in his late 30s, with wide shoulders, dark eyes, and short, dark hair. He looked like a spy sans the earpiece or some kind of formally dressed bouncer.The man raised his hand in the air, palm out, fingers straight, as Ash and Hunter approached. Ash wondered if it were a signal of some kind and her eyes darted from side to side, quickly scanning the road to see if anyone else was approaching. [Am I in danger? Is this some kind of safety signal?] Ash felt a little anxious but she kept her cool.When Hunter was within arm’s reach from the black-suited man, he raised his own hand in the air and heartily slapped palms with the older man. They were just giving each other a high five; Ash felt relieved.The man introduced himself to Ash as “Fernan.” He was their driver. Ash glanced at his hands and saw that he had tattoos on his knuckles: hearts,
The drive up to the main house from the imposing gate took about seven minutes: the pathway wound around a hill surrounded by vast open fields of grass before it snaked up a slope onto a carved stone pathway. It felt like the longest seven minutes of Ash’s life. She felt butterflies in her stomach, and even the butterflies were feeling dizzy. When they got out of the car, Ash stood in front of the doors of the largest house she had seen in her life. The driver peeled away and Hunter ushered her inside. Hunter carried Ash’s duffel bag on his shoulder as they walked through the main house, and she followed closely behind him. Up to that point, the largest house Ash had ever been in was the State Orphanage. "The House," as the residents had called it, had belonged to a wealthy couple who had left their estate as a donation to the government. The estate had included the family home, which the couple expressly provided in their Last Will and Testament was to be turned into a childcare in
Ash and Hunter lay beside each other on the soft guestroom bed.They kissed softly, quietly. Their kisses were gentle breaths and butterfly wings, soothing and delicate. The white bed was warm and safe, and as long as they lay together they could float away, kissing cool slow kisses.Hunter traced his thumb along Ash’s lips: her eyes were closed and she breathed softly. For a moment it looked as if she had fallen asleep, tired perhaps from jet lag. But then she opened her eyes and looked up at him.He bent toward her and kissed a corner of her mouth.“I’ve never been here before,” he said.“You’ve never been in your own guesthouse before?” Ash raised an eyebrow.Hunter laughed. “No, I mean, I’ve never been in this position before.”"Oh really?" Ash's voice went up just a little, one octave of jealousy singing in the silent room. You've never laid down in bed with a girl,