“Explain,” I say once we are all seated.
“As I said earlier, I am a witch, and I am here to help you enter vampire territory,” Ekaterina says.
“I got that part well, but I don’t understand why you would. If anything, you wouldn’t want to help the werewolf King’s mate find her mother.”
“I know a witch won’t, but I am not just any witch. I am a witch who is alive because of the werewolf king.”
“Please explain how that is possible.”
“I saved her from a near-death situation,” Theo says
“Really, you saved a witch,” I ask, surprised he did. His mom hated witches, so I assumed she must have passed down the hatred before she died. I can’t believe he saved a witch from dying.
“It’s surprising, right,” Ekaterina says, smiling.
“Yes, it’s shocking given the fact that his mom is the reason witches and werewolves don’t like each other anymore.”
“Yeah, it is, but Theodore does not hate witches or did not by the time he met me.”
“So he hates witches, but he does not hate you. You just called him by his name. You guys must be really close.”
“Yes, we are,” Ekaterina says, smiling at Theo, and he returns the smile.
“Are you guys past lovers?” I ask, seeing the way he smiled back at her.
“No, we aren’t. I could never date Theodore ,” Ekaterina says,
“Why, what is wrong with Theo,” I say, coming to Theo’s defense. I am even drifting from the main topic at hand.
“I didn’t mean it in that way. I meant I see Theodore as a brother.”
“Oh, and how is that possible.”
“I will tell you the story of how we met so that you can understand everything.”
“Thank you, that would really be helpful.”
“I was on the run because my queen wanted to kill me for the special abilities I had. While running for my life, I stumbled into werewolf territory. By then, Theo’s mother was dead, and werewolves and witches were no longer friends, but Theodore did not care. All he saw was a little girl barely alive, and he wanted to do anything to save her, and he did. That’s why I am forever in debt to him”
“To say I am surprised would be an understatement” I don’t even have words to describe how shocked I am by what Theo did. If he could be so kind as to save a witch, I wonder why he can’t be nice to me.
“I understand how you feel and since we have cleared that up. I can now explain how I am going to help you guys enter vampire territory.”
“Please do,” Theo says
“Like werewolves, vampires can smell other species. I am going to create a spell to make you guys look and smell like vampires.”
“Wow, you can do that” I know witches can do a lot of things, but I didn’t think they could do that.
“Yes, I can, but there is a little problem. The spell only lasts for 6 hours.”
“Oh, I don’t think that would be a problem. We should be out of vampire territory by then.”
“Actually, we won’t,” Theo says
“Why,” I ask, confused with why he says we won’t. I don’t see why 6 hours won’t be enough every day to search for mom inside vampire territory.
“We are not going in through the right way. We will have to go in unnoticed, so it would take us about half a day before we enter vampire territory talk more of searching the city inside.” Theo replies,
“Really, half a day before we enter into vampire territory. Why would we have to go through that way? Won’t Ekaterina spell be enough to make us look and smell like vampires and help us go in unnoticed?”
“My spell is good but not perfect. It’s safer to do things this way.”
“Oh, I understand.”
I wish to find mom soon, but at the same time, I don’t want to die while doing it. I can’t believe it will take us half a day before we even enter their territory talk more of searching around the city.
A few days later, all three of us set out for our trip into vampire territory. We packed enough things to last us a few days in case we spend more time on our way.
“Did you pack everything you needed?” Theo asks, adjusting his bag pack on his back. We are about to leave the cabin.
“Yes, I did, and you?”
“I did. Ekaterina, we are ready,” Theo says
“May the Lord be with us,” Ekaterina says and starts speaking a foreign language.
She draws water out from a water bottle she had Theo hold for her. She chants words while keeping the water in the air. The color of the water changes from clear to serval colors the more she chants. The minute her eyes become blue as the sea, she splashes the water on Theo and I. The water spreads everywhere on our bodies, and our skin starts to become pale. I quickly fetch out my phone and check myself out.
“I really look like a vampire,” I say, touching the pale and dead-looking skin on my face.
“I made you look like a vampire as I said I would,” Ekaterina says smiling, feeling proud of the spell she casted
“You also smell like one,” Theo growls. Even looking like a vampire, he still can’t pretend he is one.
“Yeah, and you too,” The same awful smell I scented the day I was attacked. I can now smell it on Theo instead of his amazing scent.
“Let’s go,” Ekaterina says, walking out of the cabin. She is the one leading the way.
I don’t know how many hours we have walked, but I know I am beyond exhausted. The sun is setting, and I can’t believe we haven’t arrived in vampire territory yet. We set off in the morning, but we still hadn’t arrived. I even feel like we are walking in circles at this point.
“Ekaterina, are you sure we are going the right way,” I ask, taking a rest on a rock to calm my breathing down. I feel like I am climbing a hill right now. I am so exhausted from walking.
“We should be, but I am starting to think we might be lost.”
“Really, you think, or we are,” Theo snaps.
“Hey, don’t talk to me like that. It’s been ages since I went into vampire territory,” Ekaterina snaps back.
“If you didn’t remember the way, why did you say you did?”
“I thought I did, but it seems I might have forgotten.”
“Just wonderful, and It looks like it is going to rain soon,” Theo says, looking at the sky.
“Yeah, it does, and please stop arguing. It won’t help our situation. If it’s going to rain, we need to find shelter.” I say, checking the weather on my phone that is almost about to go off. The battery is low.
“There should be a cave not far from here, up that way,” Ekaterina says, pointing up ahead.
“Are you sure?” Theo asks.
“I am not sure, but there are a lot of caves around the vampire territory, so I am sure we will find one soon.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“Why are you guys certain we will find a cave soon,” I ask, finding it a bit strange how sure they both are that we will find shelter soon
“Vampire stay close to areas with a lot of caves because they need them in case they stay out late at night. They need the cave to stay and wait till it becomes dark again,” Ekaterina replies to me.
“Oh, that’s smart.”
“Yes, it is, stand up. We need to continue walking if we want to find shelter before the rain starts,” Theo says,
“Do you mind if we take a little break? I am hungry and tired.”
“We all are, but we need to keep moving, so get up.”
“Alright,” I say, havening a sigh.
“Forgive Theodore for his rude attitude. It’s all the queen’s fault,” Ekaterina says, walking beside me.
“Your queen’s fault. What does the queen of witches have to do with the King of werewolves been rude to his mate” I ask, confused
Ekaterina is about to reply, but Theo cuts her off.
“Ekaterina, I think its best you hold your tongue and not say things that are not supposed to be said,” He warns her.
“Sorry, I forgot. It won’t happen again” Ekaterina apologizes
“What is it you don’t want me to know about?” I ask Theo in particular
“I like the way you said. I don’t want you to know about it. It means I am not going to tell you about it.”
“Why, what are you hiding from me, Theo,” I ask, and Theo is about to reply to me when the sky suddenly opens down on us.
“It’s not supposed to start raining for another hour,” Theo says, irritated.
“Yeah, I wonder why it started now,” I say, using my hand to shield the rain from pouring down on me.
“It happens sometimes but don’t worry, I have us covered,” Ekaterina says, and like the first time, she casts a spell. She starts saying words known only to her.
The rain stops pouring on me, and I wonder if it has stopped. I look up and notice Ekaterina has created a bubble-like thing above our heads like a big umbrella. It prevents the rain from falling on us.
“You wow me every time you cast a spell.”
“I know,” She says, smiling.
Ekaterina moves the bubble as we walk until we find a cave to take shelter.
Inside, the cave is dark. I am about to bring out my phone to switch on the flashlight when Ekaterina takes care of our darkness problem. She created a ball of fire above her hand. It has lit up the cave enough for us to walk inside properly. While walking into the cave, I notice her hair is shining more than usual. She is a redhead, so her hair stands out, but it seems more than usual right now.
“Your hair is glowing,” I say, realizing that it was glowing, which is why it is shining.
“That happens when I cast fire spells.”
“That’s cool.”
“So you say, but others don’t believe so.”
“How can someone say glowing hair is not cool?”
“I am not talking about my hair glowing. I am talking about the fact that I can get cast fire spells.”
“I am a little confused. Aren’t spells just spells” I don’t understand why she keeps specifying fire spells.
“No, every witch is born with one of the four elements, and she can only cast spells with that element.”
“Four elements”
“Water, earth, air and fire”
“I was born with two elements, fire, and water. It’s even the reason why I almost lost my life.”
“Why”
“My queen was worried I would grow up and become too powerful and over throne her one day. She had people sent to kill me at the age of ten, so that would never happen. I had just discovered I was gifted with two elements.”
“You were ten when Theo saved your life.”
“Yes, I was”
“Wow, and you said you were barely alive when he found you.”
“Yes”
“Why would someone harm a ten years old child,” I ask, thinking about the horrors she must have faced at a young age.
“I don’t know, but enough about my sad past. Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”
“There is not much to say about me, but here it goes,” I say and give her a brief history of my life.
We get to the middle of the cave. Ekaterina creates a fire on the ground with woods that are already piled up together. I can bet it hasn’t been long since someone visited here. Ekaterina and I walk away from Theo to take off our wet clothes to change into dry ones. It’s a good thing we carried extra clothes.
We walk back to Theo once we are done, but he is not done changing. He is still drying himself. I watch as his back muscles flex as he squeezes the water out of his shirt. He turns around to use the light to clean his body. He uses a little handkerchief to wipe his body, and I wish right now I was that handkerchief touching his abs.
“Anastasia, stop it. I can smell you,” Theo, says ruining my imagination of what I would love to do with his gorgeous body.
Sometimes I hate that werewolves can smell arousal. I am always getting caught by Theo every time I feel hot for him. It’s not fair, and I have never smelt arousal on Theo before.
“Sorry, it’s the mate bond.”
“I don’t care, stop it,” He says, putting on a dry shirt.
“Okay”
“You say okay, but I doubt you can,” Ekaterina
“You doubt what,” I ask Ekaterina
“I doubt the mate bond has anything to do with the fact that you want to have sex with Theo.”
“It does”
“The mate bond might have something to do with why you will always be drawn to Theo, but I know even if it was not there, you would still want to jump Theo’s bones.”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
“You don’t have to lie to me. I can see the lust in your eyes, and that has nothing to do with the mate bond,” She says before walking away from me and closer to the fire.
As she walks away, I can’t help and wonder if she is right. If I have feelings for Theo without the mate bond playing a factor, it could only mean something. That I am starting to have feelings for Theo, and I don’t want to believe that.