Chapter Nine: Regrets
All blood filled anger,
She ran to the only place
she ran away from.
Erika Ramirez was counting down the minutes until sunset. She did her best to ignore everything and find a way to pass the time. This must have been the slowest Halloween evening that she had ever experienced. It seemed like the sun knew exactly what she was going through and decided to taunt her freedom. Her only bit of luck was that the light didn’t hit anywhere near the desk she was hiding under. On top of having the door blown off of its hinges, she didn’t want to deal with spontaneous combustion.
Finally, the room was dark enough where Erika could tell that there wasn’t a trace of sunlight left in the air. She cautiously stepped out of her room, hoping not to be met by Halloween pranksters; with the mood I’m in, she though deviously, I would really feast on anybody. I was a fool to go after someone that well connected with a mutt like her.
Erika hustled to her car, frustrated with the car door and the engine as well. Nothing seemed to be going quite her way today. She let out a small sigh of relief when the car engine revved up. Speeding past unsafe trick-or-treaters, Erika hurried to the one place that she swore she would never be visiting again.
“How can I face them, especially Alexander,” Erika pondered to herself on the drive up there.
She remembered the days of where she lived in a small family, their leader named Alexander. They each made sure the others needs were met, and they all lived in a comfortable apartment. However, earlier in the summer days of this year, she had a disagreement with their leader. He would always protest how she would go out into the daylight and have a job and that she would be tempted into feeding off of innocent, young humans. The last thing that she wanted to do was prove him right.
She was reluctant to remember the way to the hide out. She had honestly hoped that her mind would have erased the memory of the place completely from her mind. She couldn’t face any of them the way she was now. And she knew that she would have to be facing the werewolves sooner or later. All of this for some great smelling blood that I couldn’t even get to sample, Erika groaned.
Finally, she reached her old home. Much like a vampire’s body, it didn’t appear to have even aged a single day. She didn’t need to break down the door or perform some kind of trick on the lock. She knew that the door was always left wide open, mostly because there was no need for any other person to come inside. It was their personal secluded place away from the humans. She pushed in the door, just like she used to, and walked straight to the elevator. Pressing the button for the top floor gave her the feeling of cold feet, instructing her that this was a much worse idea than going after the werewolf’s boyfriend. Before she could continue her protest, the doors closed around her, taking her right to the heart of her ex-family.
As the elevator rose in altitude, she couldn’t help but feel this odd lingering feeling of change. It wasn’t the kind of change that she had been expecting to experience. Although it seemed like a contradiction of Erika’s own lifestyle, it felt like there was no more “life” within this place. Something vital had been missing for a long time now, she just couldn’t pin point exactly what it was.
The doors had opened; Erika was completely surprised that she wasn’t greeted by anybody. She at least expected Alexis, who was always watching television, to have noticed the elevator ascending. Part of her guessed that her family had evacuated this place a long time ago, probably a while after she left. That though was shattered when she was struck right in the back.
“Oomph!”
Erika’s body fell straight to the ground, collapsing all across the floor, her body now in a star shape. She felt like crying, but crying was simply impossible for a vampire. She moved her entire body to the left, dodging her foes next attack. For the longest time, Erika believed that her super speed was completely useless. Erika was able to catch a good glimpse of her attacker. The young man looked the same age as her students. His hair was short and dark and he was completely dressed in plead. He cocked a devilish smile at her, seemingly ready to laugh on the spot.
“I guess Drake was right when he said that we would be having intruders after all,” The young man commented. “He figured that it would be a bunch of pranksters wanting to explore an ‘abandoned complex’, thinking it was a haunted house or some crap like that. I’m surprised that it’s another vampire tough; I never thought that this day would come.”
“What day,” Erika asked, trying to regain her balance.
“He always warned us that another vampire may want to attack and break up our little party here,” The young man spat back at her. “He said that it was supposed to be some old guy, but Drake didn’t put it passed him to want to recruit some new members.”
“Why is Drake giving out orders?” Erika tried to keep up her guard and to have this guy talking. She was less worried about actually beating him and just wanted to get out of there.
The young man let out a loud chuckle, almost as if he found true amusement in the situation. Erika’s body began to shake. She couldn’t imagine what was going on in the head of this little psycho.
“Stop talking,” The boy ordered Erika.
Erika tried to run, but there was nothing she could do. Sure, she was fast, but this young man was much faster. Before she could even move a centimeter, he had his fist right in the middle of her gut. In the middle of his strike, he grabbed a hold her head. The force was so great, that it had completely decapitated her. Her skull was beginning to crack as her body was flopping to the other side of the room. Erika could feel every single bit of pain in her skull. As she screamed out in agony and mercy, the young man was having a jolly laugh. His face distorted as he let out each chuckle.
“Calm down, Light,” spoke a soft voice in the distance.
From the darkness emerged a very slender young, blonde woman who looked similar to the young man. She wasn’t smiling the same way Light was; her face appeared to be as hard as stone. She grabbed Erika’s skull, which was letting out an inaudible wail, and tossed it in the direction of her body.
“Aw, calm down Maka,” Light said in a relaxed tone. “You take things too seriously. Plus, he told us to make sure to execute anyone vampire that sided with that Alexander guy.”
“Well, how do you know if she was a part of his group,” Maka questioned, walking towards Erika’s body.
“Instinct,” Light laughed.
Maka didn’t really enjoy the fact that she was going to have to spend the rest of eternity with her twin brother. On most days, she found him extremely annoying, but today was one of those days where she wished she could put him on fire. She poured gasoline all over Erika’s corpse, as if she was pouring it over her annoying brother’s. She then lit a pack of matches, watching the body go up in flames. It didn’t scream or cry out in pain. The only thing that Erika could wish for was that she had the power to cry. Fate had always been cruel to her while she was alive; there’s no reason why it would ever be fair to her in the end. The final thing she saw before she was engulfed into the flames was Light chuckling at her misery. The perfect miserable ending to a nothing like me.
Luis didn’t feel too comfortable with Chelsea driving his car. She seemed to be handling the turns miserably as she listened to Luna spitting out directions to her house. In all honest, none of them wished to go visit her family. It had actually been suggested a couple of times that the three of them run away. Luis was still trying to adjust to what was happening in his life. Everything seemed to be linking together, one-by-one, but he was still refusing to listen to what was going on and believe the reasoning he had been taught to trust in all these years. But he had seen Luna in her wolf form with her very eyes, and he was certain that he wasn’t stuck in another one of his insane dreams.
“Luna,” Chelsea said in a pleading voice, “are you really sure that you want to bring me with you? I can always wait outside until you’re done with your talk.”
/> “I’m sure,” Luna answered in a rough voice. “I need both of you there. I want to show Victor that he can’t treat me like a little girl anymore.”
“It’s not your father that I’m afraid of,” Chelsea returned, pulling up to Luna’s house. “It’s your mother that worries me. I’m probably not her favorite person in the world, am I?”
Luna paused. Neither of them could escape the fact that Chelsea was considered, to both of Luna’s parents, a mistake in their relationship. No one was quite sure if Emily had completely forgiven Victor for what he did, but she probably didn’t want to be reminded of his infidelities. Luis had been filled in on Chelsea’s identity during his period in her apartment only a little while ago. He could never see himself in that kind of situation, cheating on someone that he was supposed to care about. Of course, now, the stakes were raised much higher than anyone could guess. Luis knew that he was now with Luna for the long haul, and he didn’t want her to do anything to him in her wolf form. Of course, it also begged the question: Does Luis really love Luna?
It was almost completely nightfall. Small children were lining the streets, dressed up in tiny costumes, pretending to be what they were not. The trio snuck their way out of the car and to the front door of Luna’s house. Before they even reached the front door, the entrance way opened for them. Standing there was Luna’s brother, Phil, with a very confused look on his face. There was no way to read his emotions; she couldn’t tell if he was anxious, worried, or just plain scared out of his wit!
“Mom and dad are fighting,” Phil said in a solemn voice. “Kara’s out trick-or-treating with her babysitter. We had to call her in at the last minute so she doesn’t hear what’s going on.”
“I-I’m sorry,” Luna told him, ducking her head inside her robe.
“Save it,” Phil told her. He examined the three of them, giving off an obvious look of surprise when he saw Chelsea was with them. His eyes quickly darted to Luis, who tried to give off as little eye contact as possible. “This is the boy; the one that’s so important that you’d risk your whole family’s life for?!”
All three of them flinched at Phil’s harsh sounding words. Chelsea knew that this was a terrible idea from the very start. Part of her wanted to run away from the situation, but Luna had a firm grip of her hand. She did her best not to stare at Phil in the eye as they passed through the threshold. As they entered the living room area, they could hear Victor and Emily verbally combating what seemed to sound like complete nonsense. Their presence was immediately known while both Rick and Phil plotted a seat on the couch, hoping get a good view of the sparks.
“Luna, where in God’s name have you been,” Victor hollered at his daughter.
Before anyone else could speak, Emily had cut in between the two of them. Emily appeared to be weak, but being married for many years meant that she knew how to hold back her husband when he is hot tempered. Chelsea did her best to hide between her two friends, although she knew that it would be to no avail.
“Why are they here,” Emily asked her daughter, pointing out Luis and Chelsea.
“Because they have a right to be here,” Luna protested, keeping her feet firm on the ground. “Chelsea is my friend, my best friend, and I welcome her into this house with open arms. Luis is here because he was attacked by Erika, your friend, dad.”
“We’ve had Ms. Ramirez before,” Rick added to the conversation. “I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have done such a thing.”
“Well, she did!” Luna exclaimed. She hated the feeling of being treated like a liar.
“Was he bitten,” Phil chimed in.
“No, I got to him just in time,” Luna asserted. “If I wasn’t there to help him, he’d probably be dead by now. Isn’t that what we’re here to prevent?”
“Why didn’t she go after you,” Phil interrupted, eager to hear the story.
“I trapped her with the sunlight,” Luna answered. “She’s probably left by now if she knew what was good for her.”
Victor’s attention seemed to completely change. He pointed right at the twins, who were goofing around on the couch. “The both of you; drive out to where no one can see you and patrol as much of the city as you can.”
Normally, the twins would protest, but they knew not to turn on their father’s orders today. They quickly made their way out of the house, knowing full well that it was going to be a rough couple of nights ahead of them. Oddly, the tension in the room seemed to weaken with the twin’s absence, although every one of them remained standing. Chelsea wasn’t hiding behind her friends either, but standing firm with them.
“Am I allowed to say something,” Luis said, wishing to get a word in edgewise. Everyone turned to look at him. Everyone seemed to appear confused by Luis’s words. To Luis, the silence meant that he was free to say what he wanted to say. “I promise not to go around blabbing your secret. It’s not like anyone’s going to believe me anyway, even if I did. And if there is any way that I could help you guys, I’d be willing to do it.”
“There is nothing you can do, boy,” Victor exclaimed.
“A-actually, there i-is,” Chelsea chimed in to the conversation. The sound of her voice seemed to turn a number of heads. The fact that even she was speaking at a time like this must have meant something. “I did a bit of reading into it, and it turns out that he can become a werewolf, simply by being bit.”
“That is absolutely out of the question!” Victor bellowed, causing Luna to cringe for a second.
“I believe that it’s my choice if I wish to become one of you or not.” Luis fired out at Victor.
Everyone became quiet. Not even Luna or Chelsea could imagine Luis saying that. If they hadn’t seen Luis’s lips move as he spoke, then they would never had believe that Luis really said what he said. Victor appeared beyond angry now. Luna knew this look; she quickly grabbed both Chelsea and Luis’s hands and ran out of the house. The sound of objects being destroyed and glass breaking could be heard from the outside of the house. She threw both of her friends inside the car, trying to keep the two of them safe from Victor’s wrath.
Most of the time, werewolves were able to keep control of the balance between their human form and werewolf form. However, when one experience high emotions, no matter which emotion they express, their hormones start to go out of control. Suddenly, they involuntarily transform into their wolf forms and cannot decide on when they can change back into their human form. Luna saw it coming a mile away, making sure that the safety of those closest to her were top priority. Luis jumped into the driver’s seat, jumbling the keys within his hand. The three of them breathe a sigh of relief once they heard the car engine start. It was still early in the night, meaning that young ones were still out and about. If anything, it gave the three of them a head start on escaping.
“Where am I going,” Luis asked the two girls sitting in the back seat.
“Somewhere, anywhere,” Luna begged! “Let’s run away to California for all I care, just get me the hell away from that place!”
Running away wasn’t something that Luis felt like doing, not now. He thought about his family; his over bearing mother, his cheating father, and his sister who just wouldn’t mind her own damn business. They all had flaws, but Luis felt that he couldn’t leave his family behind, but he doesn’t want Luna to feel unsafe. No matter what, he was going to stay with her tonight. He couldn’t admit it to anyone else, but he was in love with Luna Estrella. That much was proven true when he told her father that he was willing to become a werewolf in order to keep her secret. He wasn’t sure what all the risks were, but he was ready to do anything for Luna. He was even prepared to die for her if he had to.