The Problem Read online

  "Why don't you just punch me right in the gut while you're at it? Do you not understand the meaning of the word rare, because that's what that is or at least was,” I exclaim. His facial expression remains unchanging.

  He pulls out the arrows, all black with silver arrowheads. Taking one of the arrows into his hands he examines it, "Don't even think about,” I urge before in one quick move he snaps the arrow, "You're a monster,” I harshly gaze at him.

  He smiles with a glint in his eye before reaching for another arrow, "Stop right there, don't make one more move,” I yell before he snaps another one making sure to use eye contact. Looking away from him, I pull against my restraints by now I know I will have bruised wrists at this rate, "You know I've got some nice knives in there for you to play with.”

  He looks at me indifferently grabbing for another arrow, "Fine, I'll talk just ask me anything stop snapping my arrows.”

  "G", Quincy exclaims.

  "What it's like he's breaking my fingers with each arrow he breaks. They were each hand carved personally by me,” I argue.

  Still the man gives no reply, "Hello do you speak?" I ask, frustrated.

  He throws the remainder of my arrows onto the floor, hard, making me wince at the sight, he continues ignoring me which is really getting on my nerves.

  Going into my bag he stumbles across some very personal items, my limited edition sequin mermaid shirt, I only brought it along for good luck, not expecting anyone to see it. He raises an eyebrow holding it up, "That's not mine,” my cheeks flush.

  Quincy laughs knowing that it is in fact mine, she's really the only one who knows about my obsession for mermaids, "That is a hideous shirt,” Beatrice fake gags.

  "Mermaids really,” Savanna cackles.

  I glare, "There is nothing wrong with Mermaids.”

  "Yeah if you're seven,” Dante chimes, making everyone laugh.

  "Why are you laughing, don't you collect antique tea sets Rick?" Quincy intercedes sticking up for me.

  "Hey those are expensive collectables,” Rick objects.

  "I can actually attest to that I've acquired some costly china for him,” Dmitri speaks for the first time in a while.

  "No one was talking to you,” Quincy shouts, still angry.

  Dmitri looks away, saddened, but quickly covers it up, "Well fine,” he pouts.

  "Fine,” she shouts back.

  The man continues to go through my bag as everyone quiets down, when he finds nothing else of use he sets the bag aside just as the others come in, "Well we've decided to kill you all,” the girl, Rose smiles as she skips into the room.

  My blood runs cold, "No we didn't. Rose really must you?" Ward argues.

  "We're letting you out of your bonds, but you'll all be monitored by one of us. Before that though we're going to explain how things are,” Ward declares.

  "Ooh can I be in charge of the rugged handsome one?” A girl our age asks as she barges into the room looking at Fletcher. She's wearing a bright yellow dress, and has blond hair and green eyes. Her hair has flowers in it and she's wearing dark green gloves that go up to her elbows.

  "Seraphina I thought I told you to keep Effie away from this,” the man Ward hisses finally giving a name to the mysterious woman that looks Fletcher’s age.

  Seraphina smiles, "Please this is not my doing. She has a knack for getting into trouble as you very well know.”

  "Effie go back to the flower shop immediately,” Ward orders.

  "Oh common Fitz you never let me have any fun. What's your name?" She asks, still looking at Fletcher gigilly.

  "Edward Reece Fletcher,” he answers, unable to stop himself.

  "Oh my I almost forgot,” Sandy chimes lifting her staff and chants a few words, ending the curse on Fletcher.

  "EFFIE GO HOME,” Ward yells.

  She stomps her foot, "Ugh you're such an annoying vampire,” she groans stomping away.

  "Why did you have to go and tell her?" Scarlett glares at Rose.

  Rose smirks, "It's good for her to be yelled at sometimes especially by him. I won't have my little sister becoming acquainted with a vampire even if he is the Mayor.”

  Ward hisses, "Stay out of it, what happens between your sister and I is none of your business. Seraphina control your daughters before they make me do something they'll regret.”

  "It does concern us if it involves her falling in love with you, so bring it on fangs,” Rose takes a step towards Ward.

  Geez this is like watching some messed up soap opera. Quincy and I share a knowing look , she mouth, "Oh my gosh.”

  "Rose enough,” Seraphina orders.

  With difficulty she steps back from Ward. "Can we get back to the matter at hand please?" Edmond, my Dad asks, trying to bring control back to the room.

  "Yes that would probably be for the best,” Alice, my Mother agrees.

  "I don't know I was kind of enjoying the reaction that Ward gave Rose in response to him loving Effie,” Golden eyes teases leaning up against the wall.

  Ward hisses, "Keep your comments to yourself Lycan.”

  He smirks, holding up his hands in surrender, "I meant no offense it's just funny that a vampire of five hundred years could get riled so easily.”

  Ward shoots him an annoyed look, "Back to the matter at hand, you've all been lied to, vampires are not all bad. This town is full of plenty of examples of that, myself included. Something else you've probably discovered is that vampires aren't the only other ones out there. This town has Casters, witches, fairies, gargoyles and more. We all live here in somewhat peace, there are humans who also live here and they're here by choice. I hope as you travel around with your guide that you will all learn that what I've said is true.”

  Sandy steps forward, hands full of silver bracelets, "As you can imagine we don't trust you all yet so you'll have one of these, if you go more than fifty feet away from your guide you will get a nasty shock and if you attempt to attack them you will get an even worse jolt, now who wants to pair with who?" Ward inquires looking around.

  "I'll take the runner,” my Golden Eyed Nemesis glances towards me, his arms crossed with a smirk on his face. This is going to be oh so interesting.

  TEN

  "Absolutely not,” the outrage is clear, but someone beats me to it. "She's not going anywhere with that creature. None of them are, they are my responsibility and they aren't leaving my sight,” Fletcher insists.

  Golden eyes stands up approaching Fletcher aggressively. "Oh really where was that protective side when you were bringing us all here and leaving out the truth about this town?" I chime, stopping Golden Eyes from inflicting serious damage on Fletcher.

  He sighs, "I was just trying to protect you.”

  "Protect me, I can take care of myself, you know that better than most and frankly look around you’re not exactly doing your job.”

  Quincy laughs, "G I know we're in a tight spot here, but can I just say I'm loving this angry, don't care what I say, you.”

  Fletcher turns, looking annoyed, "You got me when I wasn't paying attention it hardly counts and furthermore that was an unprovoked moment.”

  "Unprovoked, maybe you should learn to ask a girl before you try and force her into some non consensual kissing,” I steam.

  "We were on a date,” he exclaims.

  “Oh so that gives you permission to stick your tongue down my throat? I don’t think so” I glare, looking away.

  "Wait a second he's your teacher right?" Alice asks, looking around for confirmation.

  Quincy seeing where this is headed nods, "Yeah they went on a date when she was a freshman, he was a senior. He tried to kiss her on their first date and she kneed him in the balls. They only just reunited this week and it seemed like things were on the path to reconciliation, but now he's a lying liar and she's not having it,” she explains to our audience.

  "This just seems like bad parenting,” Edmond interludes.

  Quincy bursts out laughing, no one else saying anything,
but they all fight a smile.

  "Alright enough Shepard you get your girl, Scarlett, Rose you take these two,” Ward gestures towards Rick and Dante.

  "Finally something interesting happens,” Rose says smiling seductively at the boys.

  "We're both in love,” Rick chimes, trying to shut her down easily.

  "We like a challenge,” Scarlett smiles, taking her place beside her sister.

  "With each other,” Dante clarifies.

  An annoyed look replaces Rose's seductive one, "Of course you are.”

  Scarlett laughs, "It's alright sister maybe we'll meet someone at the ball.”

  "We'll take the interesting one,” Alice says looking at Quincy.

  "Not without me,” Dimitri declares looking at Quincy protectively.

  "Is that alright with you Edmond?" Ward inquires.

  Edmond takes a moment to inspect Dimitri as if looking for something, "Yes he can come with us.”

  "I want the big one,” Chimes Sandy, looking at Hudson. We all turn to her questioningly, "I have tall shelves that need stocking.”

  "Fine, Seraphina will you take the last two?" Ward asks, referring to Savanna and Beatrice.

  "Alright, but my daughters are right, stay away from Effie. I don't want her going through the pain of heartbreak, not like last time,” Seraphina looks at him calmly, yet, pointedly.

  Ward steps forward an annoyed look on his face, "I may never admit to any affection, but your daughter will never be harmed by me or anyone else, in anyway, I would rather drive a stake through my heart, then to ever mere her face with a look of anything but a smile,” his face turns serious.

  "If you want a stake in your heart I'll happily oblige,” Savanna whispers, having the usual annoyed look on her face. Despite us severely disliking each other I can't help the small flash of a smile that strikes my face.

  Ward and Seraphina remain silent with their eyes locked having a silent conversation, "Very well, but if you do hurt her you'll have more than a stake to the heart to worry about,” she gestures for him to let Beatrice and Savanna out.

  He nods, placing a silver band around each of their wrists before letting them out of the chains.

  He moves letting me out next, the silver band clips around my wrist firmly. I waste no time bending down to gather the remnants of my bow and bag, shoving the mermaid shirt to the bottom and zipping it up. Quincy and Dmitri, followed by Rick, Dante, and Hudson are each let out one by one after me.

  Quincy quickly comes to my side hugging me tightly before I can say anything. I awkwardly pat her back, "Oh G are you alright, are you okay with this?" She looks around, referring to her going with Alice and Edmond.

  Golden Eyes wastes no time coming to stand beside me, he holds out his hand for my bag, "Come on what am I going to do I have this on,” I gesture towards the bracelet. He gives me an unrelenting look.

  "Fine but don't break anything else,” I hand it to him looking back at Quincy.

  "I'm fine, let's just hope we can survive whatever these people want with us,” I mutter looking around distrustfully.

  Edmond steps forward, "Listen I know you don't trust us, but none of us want to hurt you or your friends. We went to Huntington, we know what they teach, we believed it for a long time.”

  "What he's trying to say is that we just want to show you all that we're normal and that we aren't any threat,” Alice tries to clarify.

  "We'll see,” I interject looking away and cross my arms.

  Alice clears her throat glancing at Edmond, "We were also wondering if any of you know Henrietta Knightly, she's our daughter and we haven't seen her for many years.”

  Everyone stays silent like I had asked of them, surprisingly even Savanna. "We know her, she's pretty good with a bow herself,” I say uncrossing my arms.

  Edmond smiles warmly at that, "She was always loved when we would shoot targets together.”

  Alice warmly reaches over to take Edmond's hand, "So she's okay,” Alice mutters releasing a relieved breath.

  "I don't know all that much about her, but Quincy I think you have a few classes with her, right?" I ask trying to move the attention off myself.

  Quincy and I lock eyes, "Oh yes I do, she's a very nice girl. I can tell you more later if you want," she kindly volunteers.

  "I'd like that,” Alice looks at her warmly. I give Quincy a look telling her that she can talk about me to my parents, but not reveal who I am. She nods, understanding my wishes.

  I know this seems strange, keeping myself hidden from them. I know that, but I'm just so overwhelmed. I have no idea what to do, my life consisted of being trained to hunt vampires. Now, I find out that my parents are vampires, this makes things difficult, I don't know if I can kill or even hunt vampires anymore, do I even really want to?

  "Do you have human snacks at your house?" Quincy asks looking between Alice and Edmond neither being able to tell if she is being serious. I smile, knowing that she is in fact being very serious, then remember Fletcher turning towards him.

  "What're you going to do with him?"

  "He's going to stay in here, until we decide what to do with him,” Ward answers looking at Fletcher as if analyzing him.

  "Time to go,” Golden Eyes gestures for me to follow him out.

  "Don't trust him, don't trust any of them,” Fletcher shouts, his voice following and haunting me as I leave the room that used to be my prison.

  TEN

  "So what do they call you?" Golden Eyes asks, opening the passenger door to his truck for me.

  "Well THEY call me Gemma, what do THEY call you? Mr. Rude that breaks all my stuff,” I reply getting into the truck.

  He laughs, shutting the door and throws my backpack into the bed of the truck, I cringe hearing it hit, he moves getting into the front seat, starting the truck and driving, "THEY call me Shepard Greybane.”

  "Shepard Greybane?” I laugh, "Are you serious? And you're supposed to be a werewolf.”

  He turns to me looking serious, "I'm a lycan, not a werewolf and I didn't get to choose the name, unfortunately mine was decided a few hundred years back.”

  I cough, "A few, a few hundred years, you're two hundred years old,” I exclaim slightly unbelieving.

  "Plus a few more years, but yeah basically,” he answers calmly as if telling me about the weather.

  I recover quickly, "Fine what exactly is the difference between a werewolf and a lycan?" I ask matter of factly.

  "Well werewolves are cursed and Lycans are pure,” he explains.

  Upon seeing my confused look he continues, "The first werewolf was once a man. He fell in love with a witch and she loved him in return, but tradition wanted her to be with someone of our world. So she sought a way to bring him into our world, to make him of our world to be exact. She asked a lycan to bite him, but Lycans can only turn one person in their entire existence and normally they use that one turn for someone special. So when she couldn't find anyone willing she decided to create her own concoction to turn him into a lycan, she poisoned him. He had no idea that the woman he loved was a witch and had no idea what was in store for him.

  When he took the poison and changed, he was in agony, feeling betrayed by the one he loved most, so he left her. Over the years he turned others so that he wouldn't have to be alone and eventually that led to more and more werewolves being created and born, but they originated from a cursed potion. Lycans, we're an old species, born at the very beginning. We can control the change, and when we do it, while most werewolves are confined to the full moon and savage especially the newly turned. For Lycans changing is like becoming our whole selves and we have a few different stages of change, once the change begins for a werewolf they're forced to go through with it till the end,” he explains.

  Listening carefully to his story I can't help being fascinated by it, "What do you mean by Lycans can only turn one person in their whole existence?"

  He smiles, "Lycans are all born men, but we live for a very, very, very long time.
So we have the capability to bond with one person, to give one person immortality like ours, they become part of our clan. Of course, it's risky and the person has to be strong enough to survive the change, but it's very rare for someone changed to pass on. So us Lycans wait until we find that one special person we want to spend the rest of our lives with and then we change them so that our existence doesn't have to be so lonely anymore.”

  "And how may I ask, Do you find this special person?"

  "Well Lycans that have found their partner have described it as a painful, and sick filled experience,” he answers, making me look at him confused.

  "Sick feeling, painful, that doesn't sound very pleasant. I mean if you had told me a happy, joy filled moment I may have believed you, but how could something that sounds weirdly beautiful be painful and sickening?” I question.