Page 15 of Red (Everdark Tales #1)

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Julia is still in shock, I believe.

Perhaps even completely petrified with fear. I wouldn’t know. Being around death as much as I have, it doesn’t move me anymore.

Had it ever, though?

It’s not the first time I’ve killed a human. Surely, not the last one, either.

I only wish she didn’t have to see it.

“Are you okay?” I know she isn’t but I need her to react in any way. “Use your words, Julia!”

She opens her watery eyes and finally looks at me, shaking her head.

As I slowly approach her, she stays in place without flinching. I take her in my arms, trying to soothe her with the closeness of my body.

“He’s dead, isn’t he?” she speaks at last, her voice weak and hoarse.

“I was hoping it wouldn’t have to come to this.” But he decided to be a fucking idiot.

“You don’t understand!” she whines. “He’s the Governor’s son. Oh, my God! This is really, really bad.” She’s about to have a panic attack.

“Baby, focus on me.” As I firmly grip her shoulders, I catch her attention and guide her through her breathing.

Eventually, her heartbeat slows down and I release her. I want to tell her how remorseful I feel, but I really don’t. It was a quick death, he didn’t suffer like I wanted him to. It was almost charitable. And so unsatisfying for me.

“I have to go take care of the body and his vehicle now. Stay home and try to keep yourself calm. I’ll explain when I get back.”

A group of white birds with black background Description automatically generated

I return not long after; my hands are covered in dirt from digging, his smell and blood still on me. The odor is utterly foul to my nose—alcohol with too much fragrance, and well, a roadkill. But a faint note of something else is also present, which I can’t quite place, yet it keeps bothering me.

I buried him deep off the hiking trail in the woods and sank his truck in the lake. It’s good enough to give us some time. We won’t be here when he’s found, anyways.

She’s wrapped up in a blanket on the couch, shivering, her eyes swollen from crying.

“I’ll go wash up,” I tell her before heading to the bathroom.

I decide to take a shower to fully rinse off. The cabin is tight and uncomfortable, but still bigger than most I’ve seen before. I can’t wait to be out of this damn place in the comfort of my own space with her.

I towel dry my fur afterwards, and I’m then ready to tell her everything—for the most part. With the tail between my legs, I move back into the living room.

“Was this really necessary?” Her voice still raspy.

“That’s the fate of everyone who puts their hands on you!” I growl.

“Uh, Alex, that’s not how humans deal with the problems.”

“Well, I’m not one.”

She softens, nodding for me to come closer.

I approach and crouch down in front of her on the floor by her bare feet, leveling our eyes.

“You were in pain.” She pets my head with an affection that gives me reassurance nothing has changed from her side.

“Wolfsbane. It burns but doesn’t do much damage in such small quantity.”

“And the knife?”

“Silver is extremely toxic to my kind.”

“Then you’re a lucky guy that I’m allergic and can’t wear any silver jewelry.”

I open my mouth to speak but close it right back. How do I even begin this conversation?

“Could it kill you?” She sounds worried.

“Not this little tool he whipped out. Makes you wonder where else was he lacking, doesn’t it?”

“Now’s the right time for this?” I can see her holding back laughter.

“I’m sorry, but you must admit I did you a favor there!” I joke and her eyes narrow, though still slightly humored. “Too soon?”

“You think?!”

Alright, his body isn’t even cold yet.

I then admit, candidly, “If he was a better hunter and not led by his emotions and pride, perhaps.”

“A what?”

“You already know there are supernatural beings like me. And there are also humans who hunt us… like him.”

“No. No!” She is in denial. “He graduated from Yale. And joined the Marines. He wanted to become a politician and change the world.”

I wait for her to catch on. But she’s silent, only staring at me with a stunned look on her pretty face.

“The government and the elites know about our existence, they always have. There are many reasons as to why, mostly so they can remain in control, but they’ve collectively concluded the public couldn’t handle the truth. The ancient knowledge was hidden away as they started re-writing history, erasing pagan beliefs, instilling fear with various religions, convincing people we are just legends and delusions. Meanwhile, they’re hunting us down for their own benefit. To heal themselves with the werewolves’ saliva, enhance their beauty and longevity with the vampires’ blood, to use the magic spells of the same witches they once persecuted to be burned at the stake. The ones who are no longer of any use to them, they force into fighting against one another in the gladiator type matches for their entertainment, betting on us with zero regard to our existence. But what they really want is our power. They constantly study and experiment on us to design their own hybrids.”

Silence fills the room as she buries her face in her hands. I only run my palms up and down her naked legs, trying to comfort her.

“So you’re telling me there’s a secret society of government monster hunters?”

“Me being a monster.”

“That’s not what I meant.” She squeezes my arm. “Alex, he recognized you specifically.”

“My family tree is… popular,” I respond simply. She’s not in the right headspace for that one now. “I’ll tell you all about it when we’re in a safer place. No more secrets, I promise. But we need to leave right away.”

“I can’t just leave.” There she goes again.

“I’m sorry, I must insist now. I’ve made him disappear only temporarily.”

“And you don’t think it will be even more suspicious if I disappear at the same time? It’s a small town, everyone knows him, and they also know we were seeing each other.”

“That’s exactly why I don’t want you here to be questioned and potentially in danger!”

“It will be worse if I run.”

Oh, they will never find you, silly.

“Why are you so stubborn?”

“Because unlike you, I am a human. I have certain responsibilities. Before I can leave I need to deal with my job first, and the house, and the rest of my shit.”

I don’t tell her how unimportant all of it is. She has enough to process already.

“Oh God! And what about my parents?”

“We have to go.” I remain firm.

“But… but I can’t live in the wilderness! I’m not build for this!” She breaks down.

“Ah, so that’s what this is about?”

“I want to be with you,” she tells me, gazing deeply into my eyes as if she could reach my soul. “Yet, this doesn’t change how terrifying it is for me.”

“Sweetie, trust me, the place I’m taking you to has everything you’ll ever need.”

“You are all that I need.” Oh, my heart! “It shouldn’t be this difficult, I know it. But I guess, for a second, I believed that I could have a life here. Like, the other day I was thinking about getting some chickens so I could always have fresh eggs to bake. And I don’t even like birds! They scare the crap out of me!”

I try to hide my amusement. “Julia, you are nesting.”

“I what now?”

“Well, you’re in heat and you’re nesting. It’s quite adorable actually. But you only like it here because of me.”

“Don’t flatter yourself or anything!”

“Just like you can’t control that, I’m not able to shut down my instinct. The need to protect you is my prime concern right now. We’ve lost enough time in this fucking place. Quit sassing me.”

She arches her brow, challenging. “Or?”

I don’t have nerves for her games. My hand wraps around her throat and I pin her down to the back of the couch as I growl, “Or I will make you do as I say.”

Her pupils are fully blown out and the air gets saturated with the scent of her arousal. I can practically taste her deliciousness on the tip of my tongue.

“Is that a promise?”

“Keep arguing and you’ll find out.” I lean over her and attack her mouth.

She reciprocates, much more enthusiastic than I deserve after dodging the truth.

As much as I hate it, and would rather take her mind off everything, it’s time to tell her.

“Baby, I can’t let you stay here. Dean wasn’t exactly after me.”

“Wait, what are you saying?”

I take a sharp breath in preparation. “Your biological father—”

She stops me immediately. “NO!” And she bursts out crying.

“I truly wish you didn’t have to find out like this.” I cradle her in my arms as I sit down on the couch and pull her onto my lap.

“My whole life is a sham…” Her eyes fill with more tears, and I can’t stand looking at her in such sadness. There’s a long pause before she asks, “But females don’t shift, right? Then why me?”

“Well, in short, they want your offspring.”

She blinks a few times, rather confused.

“Whenever they capture one of my kind, he refuses to breed and they can’t enforce it in any way. Neither can they extract the semen. They have tried to replicate our DNA and play gods themselves, yet with no luck. Only live cover works. So they use the bitten ones, but that’s just a tragedy. I was born with a beast inside, and it’s still near impossible for me to be gentle with you. To offer a human woman to someone who was suddenly overtaken by the beast and only follows the survival instincts, unaware of their own strength, is nothing but a sacrifice. All the werewolves created for this purpose alone, all these poor women killed, and only one child that came to be this way.”

“Me,” she whispers to herself, her tone has no emotions.

“But you were born a girl. Can you imagine the disappointment? Though, that gave them an opportunity for even more babies to be born and without any of the risk since you already carry a wolf gene and human partner is sufficient.”

“Enter Dean.” She weeps. “A broodmare! That’s what they want me to be!”

“That’s absolutely despicable and I can’t tell you how sorry I am this is happening to you.”

“Why do they even want babies?”

“To raise the perfect soldiers. The younger they can start the indoctrination and training, the better chances of the alliance. The bitten are terrible at following the orders since they aren’t fully coherent. There’s no controlling them. But they want to build an indestructible army to go to the wars they create themselves, disrupting the peace and balance of the Earth. All for what? More power.”

“This makes me sick.”

“Now you know who the real monster is,” I tell her, still a bit sour about her words earlier. “Worst part about all of it is that there’s been a time in history when we worked with humans willingly. However, they got threatened by our abilities and growing numbers, so there began a genocide of my kind and others alike. We were forced to go into hiding, to live in constant fear, to become the wild creatures of the night we were perceived as. So many magical beings are already extinct, like minotaurs or centaurs, for example.”

She nuzzles into my chest. “I’m sorry, that’s awful.”

“As the technology continues to advance, the government obtains more access to genetic data. They can trace everyone with the mutation gene. We also keep track on our own. With men it’s much easier because of the wolf telepathy, we can contact them even before the first shift. But we can locate women only through magic, and some slip that way. It’s very unfortunate that females don’t have the same capabilities to protect themselves as shifted males. Some are terrified to the point they go voluntarily, the rest gets taken captive and… I’m sure you can figure out what happens to them next. We know of a few that are currently expecting and a handful of babies born already who we’re attempting to rescue. But it’s not an easy task in the least. It’s a global operation, they’ve got multiple highly secured military bases with the main operation center in Antarctica.”

She takes a beat as the new information is sinking in. I’m sure she feels overwhelmed. Her voice strangled when she finally speaks, “That’s what you do?”

“I try. We all try to save as many as we can. My aunt has some vision powers and thanks to her we can often act faster than the government. She saw you, too, of course. I came here to warn you. But as soon as I got into your proximity, this craze began. And I couldn’t do anything as I was unable to handle myself around you. All I could do was to watch you with him from the shadows like a creep. You don’t even know the half of shit he's done. I wanted to exterminate this motherfucker so badly. To see him with you was the worst kind of torture I’ve ever had to endure in my entire life.”

“Oh, Alex!” She tosses her arms around my neck, crying into my fur.

“Baby, I wanted to tell you sooner. I’m so sorry it took this long. I hope you can forgive for the stalking… and everything.”

She sniffles. “It was kinda hot.”

“You’re messed up! You might want to ease on these naughty little books of yours.” I laugh.

“You even had to check my books?”

“Obviously.” Can’t just keep groping you the entire night.

“I probably should be, but I’m not upset. I actually want to thank you… for watching over me. I mean, who knows where I’d be right now if it wasn’t for you.”

“I’ll always protect you.”

She begins to cry harder, trying to deal with all her feelings. So I carry her to bed, whispering that she’s safe with me, and how I won’t ever let any harm come near her.

She only mutters, “Please, never leave me.”