The Vampire's Witch

Temporary Shelter: Early Morning Chats

From the living room, Zane sat controller barely a second away from being crushed in hand trying his best not to hear what was going on in the master bedroom, killing things in game did little to help his wolf. He played Call of Duty well into the early morning making sure to listen well to everything outside of the house, all was eerily too quiet..

Will came out after a few hours, giving the wolf a much-needed break. Zane had closed all the curtains for the bleached-haired vampire, "I need to shift, I'll stay close." The wolf headed towards the door stripping his shirt off before closing the door, barely able getting out of the rest of his clothing before he felt his bones cracking and fur sprouting as his beast took over.

Running down the residential roads was a new feeling for the wolf, he knew one thing, his paws didn't like the rough cement of the sidewalk. The late morning sun felt wonderful as it glinted off of his copper-colored fur, it matched his normal hair color when he didn't color it. Sniffing the air the wolf realized that he didn't hear any of the normal sounds he would normally hear at this time of day. No cars going by, no kids playing in the street, none of the normal sounds you would hear in a normal suburban neighborhood. He did smell people around the houses and in a few it was a fresh scent, but no one was out and that left him feeling thankful.

He couldn't really explain why a large copper colored wolf would be sitting in their front yard. He ran about letting his beast take the reins but still staying close, not straying too far from the fragile safety of the house.

Tired he headed back towards the house shifting on the porch, he grabbed his jeans and slid them on, he sat in the rocking chair and let the sun warm his body. It was a peaceful moment for the taciturn wolf, his pack was safe and he had felt free for a short time. After watching the road for some time he headed into the house, walking past the vampire he noticed the blonde had a vampire movie on and popcorn in a green bowl beside him on the couch.

Heading into the kitchen he opened the fridge grabbing all the makings for a sandwich, he fixed himself two turkey sandwiches with all the fixings and grabbed a soda when he placed everything back into the fridge. Heading back to the couch to enjoy his meal he sat down just as a vampire on screen bit into the damsel's neck on the screen, Will busted out laughing, "Its really nothing like that, bloody joke is what they make us seem like."

The wolf dug into his turkey sandwich popping open the can of coke as he chewed, "I know, they got werewolves wrong as well." The wolf smiled at the vampire, Will leaned in and breathed in his scent, "You smell like sunshine."

"That is not awkward at all, I thought only wolves were into scents." He wolf finished his first sandwich eyebrow raised at the blonde before he took a long drink of his coke.

"Everyone's got a unique smell and it'll help me to keep up with you if I know the different ones you both have. Your beast should know that you were the first to realize Star was claimed by her scent after I marked her. Her brother didn't even notice the change in her magics." Will grabbed a piece of popcorn tossing it into the air before catching it in his mouth.

Both men sat watching the television neither talking about the moment, Zane not wanting to remember when his heart broke almost nine years ago.

***Flashback***

Zane woke up, it was his birthday today. Sixteen was such an important time in a wolf's life at sixteen he would finally be able to finally find his mate.

He had cleared out half his closet in the pack house the night before knowing without a doubt he would find her quickly. He dragged a brush through his red and orange unruly hair, slid on a band t-shirt, jeans and his vans quickly. Headed outside, he excitedly drove to school in his old red truck. The drive quicker than normal, parking he saw his friend Jesse sitting in the parking lot flirting with some girl he had liked at the time. His red-brown hair spiked and messy, his orange shirt clashing with his pale skin.

The smell hit him instantly like a tidal wave, strawberries. Freshly picked and sun-ripened like he used to eat at his grandmother's house fresh from her garden, she hopped out of her brother's car and smiled at him and his world stopped.

It was like he was truly seeing his best friend's twin sister for the first time, she was thin but not overly so and curved in all the right places. They were the same height at 5 foot 6 inches tall, she had her red hair in two french braids, she was wearing jean overalls and a brightly colored hand knit sweater, her arms adorned with crystal bracelets. How could he have never noticed the dimple on her left cheek when she smiled or the freckles on her face as if the sun had barely kissed her. Sonnet and song lyrics could be written about the fairy-like girl in front of him.

His wolf was ecstatic at the thought that this lovely girl was his mate. He pictured them growing old together in that moment, her stomach swelling with his child, her cradling a small red-headed newborn to her breast to nurse. He felt it all at that moment, she already knew he was a wolf just like he knew that she and her twin were witches. He wouldn't need to worry about her rejecting him, she was like him human but not. He did know one thing though, he would have to woo her slowly. Although he already knew her and was often at her house to game with her brother, he didn't want her to get the wrong idea about why he was around more often, it wasn't like he was a player or anything. He just knew that he wanted her to know that he loved her even without the mate bond, although that intensified the feelings within him when it came to the magical redhead.

***One Week Later***

Her smell was different and his wolf wanted to howl in pain and rage, how could this have happened? At first, Zane didn't understand what was going on, he had seen her at the end of the hallway and felt a smile of pure joy beginning to spread across his lips, just the mere sight of her making him giddy. As she got closer, her smell hit him full force.

She smelled like that leech that he had seen hanging around her uncle's bookstore, she worked there in the evenings and he had seen them talking far too often for his liking, but didn't realize that things had progressed with the two of them farther than the young wolf had realized or could bare at that moment. He didn't realize he was out of the race for her heart before the race had even begun.

He felt his heartbreak as she smiled at him and told him shyly about her date the night before with Will. She didn't realize his heart was breaking as she spoke, the first glimmers of love for the vampire lighting up her eyes. Beth collided into them in the hallway with David right behind her and he excused himself to get to class, he left the school that day and headed into the woods to let his wolf grieve the loss of its mate, he felt within his heart down in his soul. It had taken him several days to shift back after the pain he had felt, how could the moon goddess do that to him?

***End Flashback***

Zane stole a handful of popcorn from the vampire, "Stop eating the human food, we need it you don't."

Will looked at him, "It's popcorn it's like eating nothing, you hungry still? Grab some strawberries from the fridge, I saw a whole pint of them." He c****d his eyebrow at the wolf waiting for him to say something, knowing how his mate smelled to the wolf with his heightened senses.

The wolf met his stare with one of his own, "I'm headed to bed. Wake me up later." He shoved off the couch leaving the room, too tired to fight with the blonde bloodsucker.

Will went back to the cheesy inaccurate vampire movie he was watching, munching the popcorn and stealing the wolf's soda. He mumbled at the screen, "We don't glitter for f**k sake."