chapter i;
the sixteenth summer of the girl that never knew

“So Caden, how does it feel to be almost sixteen?” I glanced over at my intoxicated best friend. Although it was my birthday in less then an hour, she was far more wasted then myself. It was actually really funny to watch her eyelids carelessly drop so far down you could almost say she was asleep. Except for the fact she had the goofiest smile I had ever seen on her face.

“I don’t really feel anything actually…” I laid my head back on the soft grass. It was a disappointment. I had expected to feel… different at least. Older. Aimee, the drunkard next to me, had been sixteen for almost half a year now. Almost all of my friends were sixteen or seventeen already, which left me the one usually teased or left out of a conversation.

“Yea, turning sixteen is like any other birthday.” Aimee hiccupped. She giggled a little, like the hiccup was a special treat for being drunk. I rolled my eyes. Aimee was great and all but I wished some of my guy friends had came to celebrate my birthday with me, but they all had jobs in the morning or other plans that evening.

I looked at my half-empty vodka bottle. It really wasn’t what it had been cracked up to be. I thought it would have tasted better. I made a face at the bottle and gave it to Aimee. When she didn’t instantly grab it, I turned to look at her. Little droplets of saliva ran down her cheek and a small snore escaped her mouth. I rolled my eyes yet again. Aimee was a stupid drunk, but she was my best friend. I set down the vodka bottle and stood up shakily. I liked the buzz of getting drunk, but the after effect left much to be desired. I knew the ground was level, but I felt like I was walking up hill. When I tumbled face forward, I realized why it felt like I was walking up hill. I stumbled back up and walked forward a few more steps. When I thought I was going to fall again I closed my eyes tightly and took a few deep breaths. This is ridicules, I thought. Get a hold of yourself Caden! But it was hard. I had never been this drunk before.

For a split second I thought I saw something run across my peripheral vision. Although I was intoxicated, I still had some since to quickly – or slowly, as it was in my present state – turn towards what I thought I had seen. I scanned the valley, but it was completely empty. The few sounds there were, were the chirping coming from crickets.

“Must have been a bird,” I muttered, even though I wasn’t at all convinced that’s what it was. I turned back around the way I had come; back to Aimee. When I had gotten there, she was still plastered on the ground. I nudged her with my foot.

“Come on Aimee-poo, time to wake up,” I said in a voice that was not my own.

“Five more minutes, mom,” She said, pulling imaginary sheets over her head. I raised my eyebrows at this.

“God, Aimee. How old are you again? Twelve?” I found it sad that she still had her mom wake her up for school. I, being as mature as I was, had an alarm clock. I kicked her softly again and she grunted in response. I was still shaky from the alcohol, but I managed to bend down and help her up.

“Come. On. Aimee.” I said through clenched teeth. “I could use some help here.” I started to lift/drag her towards the car. Aimee’s head rolled towards mine and I got a good whiff of her breath.

“Dear Jesus, Aimee,” I gagged. Her breath was a mix of cheetos and vodka - not a good combination. She responded by rolling her head the other way.

I suddenly stumbled and dropped Aimee. There was a ‘whooshing’ noise, fallowed by a “oomph” when she landed on the ground. Aimee was now officially passed out - because if she had been awake, she would have certainly got her revenge for me dropping her.

“Sorry Aims,” I said and picked her up again. When we finally got to Aimee’s old, beat up truck, I reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her keys. After I got the door open, I placed her in and put her seatbelt on. Once I did that I hoped around to the other side and got in. My vision had cleared up a little, enough for me to drive home at least. I started up the engine and we were off. I had a while to drive before we actually got to my house, at least thirty minutes. Might as well listen to some music, I thought gloomily. I reached over to turn the radio on and noticed the time. The bright neon light read ‘twelve-oh-one ’. Good job, Caden. You managed to miss your own birthday.

“Happy birthday to me…” I sang moodily. I looked up from the clock and there suddenly saw something drop from the trees above to the hood of the truck.

“SHIT!” I said swerving, trying to avoid something that was already on the car. The something actually turned out to be a man. A man who was sitting in front of me hissing.
“What. The. FUCK?” I said trying to focus on the road but the guy in front of me, on the CAR, was kinda taking up most of my attention.

I looked at Aimee to see if she was watching any of this, but of course she wasn’t because she was a stupid passed out drunk.

I finally got the sense to stop the car. But the guy was apparently ready for this and dug his hands into the car to stop himself from being thrown off. I looked up after being thrashing about like a doll. The guy was staring at me with large pure black eyes. Even the parts that were supposed to be white were black. He smiled innocently at me and I finally noticed his teeth, or what I thought were teeth anyway. They were all sharp and slightly pointed. Except for two teeth where his canines were supposed to be, they were at least half an inch longer then the other ones. On his bald head were symbols – Latin maybe? – down to his back. He stood up slowly and noticed how he was able to stay on the truck; he had long black claws where his nails were supposed to be.

“What the hell?” I asked aloud, quietly. I nudged Aimee to try and wake her one last time – no such luck. I palms started to sweat as he looked down at me. I had never seen anything as… repulsive as this… monster. Then I realized something; he had nothing to hang on too. I slammed my foot on the gas peddle, and watched smugly as the thing was thrown over the hood. It wasn’t until I was a good five miles away when the shock hit. What was that thing? He looked like a mix between a man and some sort of animal. A wolfman maybe?

Wait, what!? What are you thinking, Caden? This isn’t some weird werewolf movie!

I looked over at Aimee. She had a thin line of saliva coming out of her mouth. Nothing could wake her up out of her drunken sleep, not even a crazy, claw wielding man. I tried to swallow the bile that was threatening to crawl up my throat, but couldn’t. In the end I had to stop the truck and heave out the door. I tried spitting the taste out but it stayed in my mouth until I pulled into my drive way twenty minutes later. I hauled Aimee’s ass out of the car and through the back door. She was making strange gurgling noises in her mouth that I chose to ignore.

“Come on, Aimee,” I whispered, trying to drag her up the stairs. My parents generally didn’t care if I snuck out, especially during the summer. But if they caught Aimee and me drunk, they would go ballistic. Not that we were drunk, but that we drove home drunk. I would have to wait until tomorrow to tell them what I saw, when I wasn’t drunk.

I was relieved when I was finally able to open my bedroom door. But as it swung open all the way, and saw who was on my bed, I wasn’t so relieved.

“You,” I said narrowing my eyes. I dropped Aimee on the floor. There was a loud ‘thunk’. Oops...

“Well, I’m glad that you’re happy to see me.” There was a rather lanky, nineteen year old sitting on my bed. I growled at him as I moved Aimee out of the way and closed the door.

“What do you want?” I said through clenched teeth.

“What any nineteen year old wants from a fifteen year old girl,” He said giving me a sly smile and standing up. I made a face at his insinuation. But when he started to walk closer, I could feel a flush rising to my cheeks.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, Blaise, but I’d rather date a pig,” I said sneering as he came even closer.

“Sure, you would, Caden. Suuure,” Blaise said, finally standing next – or, over, I should say – to me. I looked up at him. He was a good 7 inches taller then me, making him 6’1 and me a whopping 5’5.

I glared up at him as he traced his fingers along my exposed collar bone. “You know this could be considered rape, right?” I said smacking his hand away.

“Like you wouldn’t want it,” he said, a grin plastered on his face. When I didn’t smile back he coughed a little.

“Right, so, I came up here to make sure you got home. I saw you sneak out.” He added the last part quickly after I made a confused face.

He stepped to the side and started to open the door. But I stopped him with a hand on his arm. “There was something out there… when I was coming home,” I said, trying to remember it clearly, but I was still a little buzzed.

He closed the door and focused his ice blue as on me. “What do you mean?”

“There was a man. No, wait… a wolfman?” I said, not completely sure. Blaise kept looking at me, long enough that it eventually made me uncomfortable.

“What did it look like?” Blaise said grabbing my shoulders. He seemed to be getting very upset…

“It had huge black things for eyes, and claws that came out of its hands. It had these large, sharp teeth.” In the middle of when I was talking a looked past Blaise, trying to concentrate on every memory I had of the monster.

Blaise let go of me, eyebrows creased together. He finally looked up and opened his mouth, then closed it again. Then said, “I don’t know what it could have been. But maybe you should stop watching so many scary movies. You probably imagined the whole thing…” He said opening the door again. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“I did not imagine this, Blaise.” I said. I remembered when Blaise and I had been younger (Blaise had always lived with us, ever since his own parents had died) and had made up fantastic stories about monsters, and zombies. But this was not one of those times.

He just shook his head and left, closing the door behind him.

x.0.x

An emergency meeting had to be called. This was not expected at all. Not at all, the council head mused to himself. What had become of the things that called themselves the Immortals was slowly being revealed. Why had they finally come out of hiding? Was it because of her year? So many questions that needed answers.

The doors of the damp, poorly lit chambers opened. A cloistered man came walking in. He was dressed in a brown hood, as was everyone else.

He kneeled in front of the council head and dipped his head in reverence. The leader dipped his head quickly back. He wanted to hear the news the boy had brought. The kneeled figure took his hood off and stared up at the leader, icy blue eyes troubled.

“She knows, master. She’s seen one of the Immortals. It was a mere seven feet away from her, the spies say.” He said, moving the thick black hair away from his eyes.

“Does she know what they are?” The council head asked lightly.

“No, she was slightly intoxicated when it happened.”

“Good… very good. You’ve done well son.” He said approvingly.

“Thank you, father,” he said bowing his head, trying to hide the smile that had formed over his lips.