Chapter One: Decisions

The whole place reeked of stale alcohol and cigarette fumes, causing Torin to question why she was here in the first place. This was going to be a long night.

She walked through the darkened building, neon beams of light passing over her every now and then to the beat of the music that seemed to shake the ground of the entire world. Catcalls rose in the distance, whether or not they were for her, she didn’t want to know. Even if they were directed towards the redhead, she didn’t care. She’d kill anybody before they got to do anything to her. She paused by a window to look out into the dark night sky, and it wasn’t long before she felt hot breath on the back of her neck.

“Why all alone, darling?” came a heavy voice as its owner twirled her hair with an alcohol-soaked finger.

“I don’t think that’s really any of your business, is it now?” she replied hotly, turning around to face him.

The boy threw his hands up as a beam of light passed over them both. “No need to get defensive, cupcake.” He winked, a hazel eye gleaming in the light.

“Don’t call me cupcake. And if you would so kindly get out of my face...” she stared at him hard, seeming to bore a tunnel into his brain. He was going to have a terrible time later if she had any say in it.

“Your loss,” he replied, winking again as he walked away.

“Yeah,” she whispered quietly. “I’m the one being punished here.”

The smell of alcohol was really beginning to get to her, and she tried in vain to find a backdoor to get out of. She eventually had to ask a tall, dark looking girl who sat on the kitchen counter sipping something out of a bottle. By the time she had made it to the door, she wasn’t allowed out before somebody pushed a drink into her hand with an unnerving smile.

The crisp night air was incredibly refreshing against her skin, and a slight wind blew her hair back from her face. It wasn’t much, just a small stone balcony overlooking a grove of trees far below. She walked to the edge and casually dumped the alcohol over the edge, setting the glass on the ledge.

“Not one for alcohol, are you?”

Torin whirled around, half expecting to see the horrors of her past come back to confront her. She was exceptionally wrong.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” a boy around her own age apologized, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“It’s all right,” Torin answered, trying unsuccessfully to get her heart to stop racing.

“You sure?”

“I’m sure. No big deal.”

“I’m Kye, by the way,” he said, smiling timidly.

“Torin,” she replied as she looked at him up close. It wasn’t until he smiled that she noticed he had fangs. Not vampire fangs, these were smaller, and on all four canine teeth. It was kind of adorable, really.

“So Torin,” he wiggled his eyebrows, all past embarrassment seeming to have disappeared. “What brings you to Dritton City?”

She swallowed nervously and stared out over the balcony. It would be pointless to lie to him; all the lies she had told in the past ended up coming back to bite her.

“My parents were murdered when I was young. I moved in with my grandfather after that, but he passed two years ago. I didn’t really know where to go, so I stayed in different cities for a while. Somebody told me about Dritton, and I figured that since I’m old enough to live by myself now, that I’d come check it out. A city of mutants sounded like what I needed for myself, you know? It’s new and exciting. But being on my own, it’s just so…”

“Different,” Kye finished quietly.

“Yeah. I figured I’d come to this party and ‘mingle’, but the people here are a little odd.”

“You think I’m odd?” Kye asked with a sly smile.

“In a good way,” she teased.

“Good. Normal is overrated.” He leaned back into the side of the building and slid down into a sitting position. Much to his surprise, Torin came and sat next to him.

“So what are you?” she asked, looking towards his fangs.

He laughed. “First rule if you’re going to survive here. Don’t ask that question.”

“Oh,” she blushed. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m lycan. It’s kind of what most people call a werewolf, except scarier.” He wiggled his ears, and Torin first noticed that they were pointed. His dark hair had been covering them earlier.

“You don’t look scary,” she teased.

“Not yet,” he replied. With the lack of light, Torin couldn’t tell if he was being serious or just teasing her back. “So what’s your curse?”

“What?”

“What kind of ‘mutant’ are you? They wouldn’t let a human in this building.”

She hugged her knees to her chest. “I thought that question was forbidden.”

“You asked me, so it’s only fair.”

“I’ll tell you later.”
            He smiled, feeling his heart skip. “There’s going to be a later?”

Torin thanked the heavens that the darkness was hiding her blush. “Yeah, I mean, only if you want to.”

“Of course I want to see you again.” Now it was his turn to blush.

There was a long pause in which both teenagers became lost in their own thoughts, each about the other of course. The silence was broken minutes later when Torin yawned sleepily, her breath becoming visible in the chill night air.

“It’s getting late, isn’t it?” Kye spoke up, answering her yawn as if she had questioned him with it. She only nodded in reply. “Where do you live?”

She turned to look at him, raising one eyebrow.

His emerald eyes grew wide as he realized what he had just said. “Not like that! I’m not going to stalk you or anything, I just wanted to walk you home.” He looked away, trying to stop the blood rushing into his face.

Torin giggled. He was so awkward it was almost cute. “I’m on Severn Lane.”

“You’re kidding,” he said, turning to face her. “What number?”

“Four-seventeen. Why?”

“You’re my neighbor.”

“Really?” he nodded, and she tried to hide a growing smile.

Kye got to his feet and offered Torin help up. “May I be your escort home this fine evening?” he asked with a slight bow.

“I would be honored.” She replied in the same fashion. “But first…” she reached over and took the glass she had set on the railing of the balcony, then linked her arm with his. “A souvenir.”

He smiled and led her indoors, weaving nimbly through the crowded hallways. Calls rose up above the crowd, most of them directed towards Kye for ‘getting’ a girl. Both of them tried to ignore it, but it was clear to Torin that he was trying not to show the growing color coming into his face. This only encouraged her to pull him in closer, their elbows still linked together.

Once outside again, they released each other, both feeling a mixture of happiness and something else that couldn’t be described. They walked most of the way in silence, only speaking up a few times to talk about family and such. From this, Torin learned that he had a twin brother, who was also at the party.

“Is he anything like you?” she asked.

Kye shook his head. “Rill’s about the exact opposite. Except for the lycan thing, we pretty much have nothing in common.”

“Rill?” she questioned.

“His given name is Kyrill. I just use Rill because I know it ticks him off.” He laughed. “What about you? Any siblings?”

Torin looked at the ground. “Yes and no. My mother was pregnant when she died, so I suppose I could have.”

“I’m sorry,” he replied quietly.

“Stop apologizing,” she joked, hitting his arm playfully. “That’s the second time this night.”

“And there’s more to come in the future. So don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He winked.

Torin shook her head with a smile as they continued the way to their homes. He wasn’t lying when he said he was her neighbor. There was less than ten feet between the sides of their tiny houses.

“I’ll see you soon, neighbor.” He said as they reached her door.

“How about tomorrow?” she replied with a smile.

“Tomorrow it is,” he beamed back before turning towards his home for the night.

Torin smiled to herself as she closed the door. Maybe Dritton City wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Author's Note

Any suggestions would be great. If you have questions, let me know so I can answer them in the following chapter(s).

Reviews

[Lindsay T]

This was really good. I was a bit hesitant at first, but after finding out about the mutant plot of the story, I thought it was a great twist. My only suggestion is for Torin/Kyle's relationship to progress a bit slower, because I think they got too friendly too quickly. Torin seems like the kind of person to be really hesitant/skeptical about Dritton city, especially in a strange bar, so I think she should take a few chapters to warm up to Kyle.

That being said, though, I thought the dialogue between the two was great. Honest teenager conversations, minus the whole werewolf thing of course. Anyways, fantastic start! Can't wait to read onward :)

[T. Logan]

Thanks! Kye and Torin's relationship won't really start until a third of the way through, maybe more. It's going to be one of those things were they both like each other, and everybody knows except for them. Suggestions for the plot would be great, though i have some ideas. I'll put up more soon!