Lexy’s POV.
I watched how my father shook his hand and how the young woman behind him came up, her hands behind her as she watched my father like he was their savior Jesus. I stood behind watching.
“Hello Alexa?” The woman said to me, a warm smile on her lips.
She took me by surprise. She’d greeted me like she knew me. Shouldn’t she have said “is this your daughter?” Or something? Oh well, my father’s a popular man, and many of his friends and colleagues ought to know he has a daughter.
I beamed a smile back.
I saw how the said Diego dragged a look from me back to my father. With a smile, he said to him “she has grown so well, Bronte. It’s been forever since I saw her”
I just stood there while he talked about me and for some eerie reasons I felt very uncomfortable.
“You have to hurry doctor,” the woman says to my father, fear in her words and eyes ” we don’t have much time”
Was some so seriously ill or injured?
My father turns to me and said “come on, Lexy”
He proceeds to open the door and grab our bags. Draco comes over and takes the bag from him while my father helped me with mine. The woman turns around first and I paid a close attention to see which way she went exactly. We followed them both through a Rusty metal door which led us into a dark bunk. It wasn’t really a bunk, it’s just a really large abandoned metal building. At the far end, there’s a break through. Like something had forced or reaped a large part of the door area open a long time ago.
The moment I stepped out of the bunk and onto the gree grasses, I felt the cold morning air brush my face. This place looked completely different from back where we started from and we’ve only walked for like . . . . . Twenty minutes. Where is this place?
“Come on” Drako said more to me, turning left. I turned left to see a black estate car parked at the corner, a big side of it covered in black trampoline.
I wanted to ask my father where we were going but when I looked at him, he walked like he knew exactly where he was going. He’s been here more often.
We reached the car and Drako pumped the trunk, throwing in our bags. Dad puts in mine too before walking over the back door. The woman and Drako sits at the front seats, while dad sat at the back, and I sat beside him too.
“Where are we going, Dad?” I asked tenderly as the car went into motion, taking an old road set out west.
He looks at me, like he didn’t wanna say it, looked forward, and turned to look at me again before replying “Lexy. . . . . . This camp is for. . . . Special people. It’s. . . Kind of a secret or rather, seclusive from the other world but it’s not a bad thing, I promise, okay? And many a times they need my help on one thing or the other”
I stared at him, not knowing exactly what to say to him. What was hard in that? Why didn’t he just say that before? What the hell was he hiding from me?
I just turned away, peered out through the window and watched the trees we passed as Drako drove us through a light woods, his hand firmly on the wheel. A couple of times, I caught his eyes watching me through the rearview mirror and if I wasn’t mistaken and wasn’t still so paranoid, I’d say he wasn’t pleased with having me there in that car. Did I perhaps ruin anything? I knew I should’ve just stayed home like my father said. Why did I have to be so stubborn sometimes?
I just sat back there, these bad feelings enveloping me as the car drove along slowly. After a while, it came to a stop and I sprang up to look out the window.
I don’t see anything out of the ordinary and especially no special camp. The duo starts to step out of the car and my father pushed the door open too. I stepped out too, before turning towards the direction my Dad faced. All I saw were mountains of tall trees.
“Come on” Drako says to us before proceeding towards the tall bushes. I stalked behind, my father reaching for my wrist before guiding me along behind Drako, the lady coming behind us.
I could barely see past the branches and large leaves of the forest and had no idea how we came out in front of a large camp. It’s more of a settlement with houses. Tall, huge houses. The first thing I saw was the tall houses protruding from the long, seemingly endless fence. It looked like an ancient building, one you’d only find in the Greek mythologies or during the Vikings era or stuffs like that. I also noticed that the once brightly lit cloud was now casted by shadowy clouds, making the day seem like an early dusky evening.
I turned away from Drako and the woman who were proceeding towards the dark gate to look at my father questioningly.
His lips goes into a liplined smile and he started following them before I could ask the obvious question. Talk about rude!
I sulked in breath and reluctantly followed them through the gate and behold, I got the greatest shock of my life.
I’m faced with houses of different sizes. It looked like those big royal villages in ancient movies. People moved around, some kids running and screaming boisterously as they played, young women dressed in silky dresses stood around, either buying one or two things from salesmen who stood to the sides of the narrow entrance.
It looked like I’d just woke up from my bed this morning and walked into a show that I totally didn’t belong to. Pff, of course I couldn’t belong to any show!
I thought my eyes were about to pop from it’s sockets and I didn’t know when I voiced my thoughts. “What is this place?”
“Bronte didn’t tell you?” The woman’s voice took me off my thoughts.
“Cilia” Drako called in what seemed like a warning voice.
“Let’s go!” The said Cilia said before hurrying ahead, Drako following suit. My eyes met with my father’s and just like that I felt terribly irritated. I’m standing in this god-damned place and I don’t even have an idea where this is and he seems okay with that. Before he could say something, I walked away, following Drako behind.
We bursted out into a more quieter side of the place after rounding a tall building. I stopped instantly, reluctant to lift another leg to take a step as I saw what’s before me. I couldn’t care less about the heads that snapped towards me and the eyes that watched me in surprise.
On the wide space were women on their knees, tending to some men seated on the floor, their body bruised all over, some sides of their heads plastered. They weren’t very much and I counted them to be eight men. They didn’t look badly injured, just scratches here and there. What the hell happened here?
I was quick to notice the entrance leading out of the seclusion, into the forest that was visible from here. And I wondered, what in the world happens out there, right this moment?
“This happens these days, Lexy” I didn’t know when Cilia stepped back beside me until I heard her voice.
Unconsciously, I asked “what does?”
“I’ll be right back, Lexy” my father said, interrupting us. I nodded and watched him walk away with Drako.
I looked back at Cilia, locked eyes with her and saw her beckon her head to the side, gesturing for me to follow her. I saw her turn away to the left side and reluctantly, I followed.
She takes a few turns till we came across a small house with a couple of sagging old roofing, windows shielded with white silk curtains.
Cilia walks in. I stopped for a while at the door, trying to find a more creepier meaning to this. I wanted to get an unsettling feeling about this and turn right back but this just felt so right. I didn’t even know this woman and yet I’m following her into this house. Nobody knew where I was right now, not even my father. The thought of my father causes my heart to go light. Meh, somehow I was still mad at him for some strange reasons. How could he not tell me about this place before? Those people out there looked like they needed our help!
“Are you coming Lexy?” I heard Cilia’s voice call from the inside.
“Yeah. . . . . . I am” I stammered before quickly stepping inside.
The room is stuffy and barely leaving enough room for air. There’s a couple of old couches with old looking throw pillows on them, an old center table bearing assorted bottles and string basket full of cards.
The walls are old and rankly. On the far end of the wall ahead stood a long spear, meant to lean against the wall so it doesn’t go rolling away. This is so ancient, I couldn’t believe this was actually. . . . . real.
I found Cilia standing beside the window, her eyes trained firmly on me as I stepped in. But I’m quick to notice somebody else’s presence in the room.
At the far up front of the room sat a woman. She’s dressed in an armless pale green gown, her blond hair made into waves cascading down her back. She looked older than Cilia but they looked to be in the same range. While Cilia was black haired, with a petite face and body that fitted well into her leather outfits, This woman actually looked more slimmer and a bit shorter. They didn’t looked any younger than 30.
And what’s more creepy? She kept looking at me.
What was I supposed to do with that?
Cilia walks towards Melissa and said to her, her eyes not leaving me even for a split second “Melissa, that’s Lexy Bronte. Bronte’s daughter”
“I knew that when I laid eyes on her” Melissa replied creepily, her eyes fixated on me. “You look just like her” she added, adding fuel to my confusion.
I was gonna ask what she meant by that but Cilia beat me to it when she said, “Lexy, ” pointing at this other woman “this is Melisa. She’s one of us”
Melissa stands up just before I could ask what the fuck she meant by one of us and starts walking closer to me.
“It is an honor to welcome you here, Alexa” Melissa said seriously, a smile on her lips.
“Here?” I asked “what is this place?”
I noticed how her eyes went from smiling to surprise before she replied “your father didn’t tell you?”
Slowly, I nodded negatively.
Melissa turns back to make eye contact with Cilia, then looks back at me and said “This place is for werewolves, Lexy. We are werewolves. All of us”
Wait, what?
I stood for what seemed like forever, trying to understand what I just thought I heard her say.
Werewolves? Here? Is she joking with me right now or what? But the more I stared into her eyes, the more seriousness I saw.
Fuck.