Ten minutes later, Tony and I were sitting at a local McDonald’s stuffing a double quarter pounder and some fries down our throats in silence. I knew the questions he wanted to ask, and knew that I would be a little reluctant to answer them, but he proceeded anyway.

 

“How did you come across Declan?” he asked casually.

 

“I was going to a party someone near Pilsen, and it ended up being a bust. It was in some industrial area, and then I was attacked by a huge werewolf…”

 

“Which turned out to be Declan,” he stated matter-of-factly.

 

“Yes. I didn’t know that until earlier, but I thought it was all a dream up until he followed me.”

 

“And now you’re his mate.” He said.

 

“Yep. I have no idea how to tell Andrew.”

 

“You can’t. He’d kill you for it, but maybe I-”

 

“Don’t. Declan may kill you if he ends up questioning your loyalty. I would not want your death on my conscience.”

 

“I know, but Andrew is one of my closest friends. I can’t not tell him, you know.”

 

“It puts both of us in a pretty bad space. I know. My life is fucked for sure. What about you?” I say while stuffing a salty fry in my mouth.

 

“Me?”

 

“Yea, you. How did you become…a monster of the night?”

 

He chuckled before answering, “Declan. He turned me a few years back. I was at some frat party with a couple people from another university that I knew. It was around Halloween and we all decided to dress up. Guess what I was?”

 

“A werewolf.”

“Nope! A vampire. Turns out that Declan absolutely hates vampires with a passion. He tries to kill every one that he encounters. Even though I was human, I was of no exception. It was a little after two in the morning when I decided to walk home from the party alone. I was wasted and didn’t want to drive. Plus the walk was only for twenty minutes.”

 

“How responsible of you,” I reply sarcastically.

 

Tony grunted a laugh before continuing, “During the walk, I’d notice footsteps behind me, but paid them no mind. Not until the growling started. I tried to walk a little faster, but ended up falling on my ass a few times due to my drunken state. At one point, the growling sounded like it was directly behind me. I turned so fast that I landed on my ass again just to look up into Declan’s warped face. His eyes were red, his teeth were extended, and he was a little hairier than most. I screamed like a little girl even though I thought it was a damn costume.”

 

“This would be a damn funny story if I didn’t feel like something bad is going to come out of your mouth next,” I interrupt.

 

“Yea. I called him an asshole, and told him that it was not cool to walk up behind people looking like that. The bastard laughed at me, and told me that he wouldn’t kill me since I was so funny. He actually helped me to my feet. He told me that he saw me at the party, had gotten upset at my costume, and decided to follow me.”

 

“Ok, that’s not weird at all,” I scoff.

 

“No, what he asks next is weird. He asked what I did for a living, and I told him I’m in the technology field and work with a large corporation as a programming specialist. He then proceeded to tell me about his business, and offered me a job without telling me what it is that I would be doing all while offering me three times what I was already making.”

 

“Sounds like a dream come true to me. I can only imagine what you were being paid.”

 

“Yea. I was making seventy thousand a year with my old job.”

 

“How much did Declan offer you?” I ask out of curiosity.

 

“One hundred thousand a year.”

 

I almost spit out the Sprite I was downing in that very moment. That’s a lot of money to offer someone out of nowhere.

 

“It gets weirder Kayla. He actually walked me home, and I invited him in. I was already sober by the time we got to my place. We had a cup of coffee as he went over everything he wanted me to do from programming to hacking to developing other projects for his company. Then he offered me something else to sweeten the deal.’

 

“And what was that?”

“A family.”

 

“The pack?”

 

“Yes, but I didn’t know it in that moment. I grew up in the foster system, and always long to have something similar to a family. I didn’t realize how much I longed for that until that moment. Then he proposed another thing.”

 

“About becoming a werewolf?”

 

“Yes. He made the offer, and I took it. I haven’t regretted it since.”

 

“Well thank you for that story. Doesn’t do me much help other than knowing he hates vampires…wait. Vampires exist too?” I almost yell.

 

“Yes. So does demons, angels, ghouls, and other monsters.”

 

“Great. Just great.”

 

“I think I’ll tell Andrew. Although I am loyal to Declan, I feel like it would be shitty of me to keep him in the dark. I know how Declan works, and that man stays true to his word.” He says as he stands. “Let’s get you home to pack. We’ll figure things out as we go.”

 

“Thanks, Tony. I don’t know what I should do. It is all a lot to take in, and now I have to deal with a psycho murdering pervert werewolf. I must have some bad juju in my system.”

 

“That you do.”

 

We threw away our trash before a brief walk to his parked black BMW. The ride home was a silent one. What was I going to tell me friends and family? What about Andrew? My heart broke as I thought about how I’d have to end our relationship. Part of me could not help but wonder what Andrew would think of Tony’s explanation as to why he would no longer have me in his life. We were just getting to the point in our relationship where marriage and kids were talked about casually between us. God, what would Andrew do once he found out about Declan? He would for sure try to attack him.

 

We pulled up to my apartment as I tried to find solutions in my head to get me out of the mess I placed myself. There was no one to blame, so I blamed myself. As we were walking to the front gate, Andrew hopped out of his car. I stopped trying to open the door to the gate as he briskly walked up to Tony and I. Before Tony could get a word out, Andrew hit him square in the jaw.

 

“Andrew!” I yelled.

 

Tony slowly stood back to his feet to face Andrew. Andrew stood only one inch shorter, but was a lot leaner in body. His chocolate skin glistened with sweat as he stood facing Tony with an angry expression on his face. With a glance towards me, I could see the hurt in his chestnut eyes. I quickly glanced away as I knew that the pain is only going to get worst.

 

“I have been calling you non-stop and looking everywhere for you Kayla!” he yelled.

 

“She’s been with me Andrew. Calm down,” said Tony.

 

“Calm down? Why the fuck are you two together?”

 

“Well Tony, looks like that conversation is going to happen sooner than later, don’t you think?” I ask sarcastically.

 

“Gee, thanks for pointing out the obvious,” he replies while staring at Andrew.

 

His eyes kept darting back and forth between Tony and I. He balled up his fist as he kept glancing at us with contempt. “Someone needs to explain why I haven’t been able to reach Kayla, and why the two of you are here together. Last time I checked, you all haven’t seen each other in years.”

 

“I’ll go back my bags while you explain things to Andrew,” I say before walking through the gate of my building. I’m not sure which hit me first, the pain of the heartbreak we both would be going through in a moment, or the anger from the situation at hand.

 

Thirty minutes later, I came down with a few bags and a suitcase in hand. Frantically, I looked around searching for Andrew, but he and his car was nowhere in sight. Tony approached me with open hands, taking all of the bags from me, and putting them in the trunk of his car. He was silent for most of the drive back to Declan’s place. Abruptly, he turned towards me and turned off the car.

 

“I have good and bad news,” he says dejectedly.

 

“Shit. Lay it on me.”

 

“I told him about why he hasn’t been able to reach you. I told him about why you were with me. I showed him,” he says as he looks away.

 

“What exactly was said, Tony?” I whisper.

 

“Let’s just say Andrew didn’t smell like himself when he approached us, and he was surprised to smell what we both were.”

 

“What the fuck does that mean?”

 

“He’s a demon. He wasn’t one when we met a couple weeks ago. He said he knew what we were when we were walking towards the gate. He thought that you were cheating on him with me because we were together, and smelled of the same species. He thought I turned you since you were human a few days ago when you both saw each other last. After I explained what happened to you, and why he needed to let you go he flipped out on me. We got into a little bit of a scuffle before I could tell him you were forced into this life. I mean, he calmed down after I explained things in detail, but didn’t fare well to the thought of you never being in his life again.”

 

“He’s a demon?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“How? How the fuck did he become a demon? He still looks human. When did this happen? Why didn’t he tell me?” I spat out. Confusion, fear, and betrayal hit me all at once relentlessly as my brain tried to process everything being told.

 

“He’s going to have to sit down, and talk to you about that,” he says grimly. “I told him to stay away from you until I contact him. We’ll have to find a way to meet with him so you both can talk. Good thing he is a demon, and a strong one at that.”

 

“Why do you say that?” I ask with a frown.

 

“If Declan finds out, he’ll have to go through a helluva lot of trouble to kill him.”

 

“That’s just great.”

 

“Yea.”

 

 

Previously: The Change: Part 7

Other Series: