Chapter 4: Lux

My eyes open slowly to take in a room that isn't mine, which disturbs me.  The walls are painted a sort of medium purple.  The nightstand is made of mahogany with a simple gold painted metal lamp sitting on it.   The dresser is also mahogany with knobs of polished brass.  Black curtains are drawn across the windows, making the room dark as pitch save for the light peeking through the space between the curtains.

I barely sit up before the door opens, revealing Selene who gasps at the sight of me.

"Lux!" she exclaims, rushing to my side.  Selene throws her arms around me.  She smells like soap and minty shampoo and her hair is damp.  I can't help but smile and struggle to hug her back right.

"Are you okay?" she asked, pulling away.

"I feel fine." I replied, looking at her.

"You're welcome." a familiar voice put in.  

I sat up and looked around Selene.

In the doorway stood the guy who'd stepped in to save me last night.

"What'd you do to me last night?" I demanded.  "How'd you save me? Where's Dante and Rayonna?"

"Slow down.  Can I get a 'thank you' first?" the guy told me.

I looked at Selene who was smiling slightly.  Looking back at the guy, I thanked him.  He smiled and nodded once, opening his mouth to answer my questions.

I interrupted him, thinking of one more question to ask him. "Wait.  First, who are you?"

"A warlock." Selene answered. "His name is Arias."

"You know him?" I raised my eyebrows at her.

"No.  I just asked him the same question not too long ago.  I figured he wouldn't want to answer it again."

"Everyone done interrupting?" Arias snapped.

I smiled a little and nodded.

Arias closed his eyes and took a slow breath. "Your friends are fine.  They're in my guest rooms.  Everything I did for you last night was magic.I cast a little spell on each of you to knock you out.  Then, I pulled Dante off you while he was out.  When I got you all here, I used a healing spell to fix you, even though healing is not my specialty." Arias explained.  "I'd normally ask for payment, but you're all kids.  I can't rob kids."

"How much would it cost?" Selene asked before I could.

"A few hundred up to a thousand or so." the warlock replied with a shrug.

My eyes widened. "Holy - "

"You do magic for money?" Selene asked him, her eyes narrowed a little.

"Obviously.  What else would I do?" 

"I thought that you might have taught magic or something like that since you offered to teach me for free." Selene crossed her arms over her chest.

"I teach sometimes.  I offered to teach you because you don't use your powers at all.  You need a teacher."

"Accept the offer, Sel." I told her.

Selene looked at me and then said to Arias, "I have reasons for not using my magic."

"Magic is a pretty easy business.  You make good money.  It's like a warlock's chosen profession.  You might decide to do it one day."

"Try it out, Selene." I whispered.  "It's worth a try."

Selene looked at me again, her lips pressed tightly together. "Can you give us a minute, Arias?"

Arias nodded once and stepped out, closing the door behind him.

Selene turned to me, her arms crossed over her chest again.  "What are you trying to do?!"

"Help you." I replied simply.

"Really?" She asked sarcastically, her eyebrows shooting up.

"Yes." I replied.

"Whose side are you on here?"

"As far as who I agree with?" I slipped out of the bed. "Him."

"Really?" she said again. "How is that helping me?"

"It is helping you.  I'm supporting the idea of you discovering your warlock side.  You can't go through life not accepting who you really are, Sel.  You can't deny that other half.  It's a big part of who you are and what you're meant to be."

In an instant, her true self appeared, her purple eyes seemingly alive with lightning.  "You see this, Lux?" she snapped.  "I want to delete this.  This is the reason I never knew my parents.  This is the reason my parents are dead."

"It doesn't matter, though.  You have a family.  You have Dante and Ray and her family.  You have me." I told her.

"I wanted a normal family, Lux.  Not werewolves and faeries twenty-four/seven." she said softly.  "A family of normal people.  A mom, a dad, a sister.  No powers and strange things all around me that I can see and humans can't.  I didn't want to be surrounded by a world that only a certain percent of people know about.  A world so terrifying that people go mad seeing."  Her normal self came back, her wings dissolving under her clothes and skin, the purple in her eyes drowning in the blue that rose around it.  

I sighed.  "You can't have everything."

"I know." She sounded defeated.

"I still think you should take Arias up on his offer.  You might like it."

My warlock friend looked at me, exhaustion in her blue eyes. "I'll think about it."

"I guess that'll do." I offered her a smile.

*****

Selene went to check on Ray while I went for a shower.  As the water warmed up, I looked at the scars left behind from Dante's bite.  There were six ragged scars lining both sides of my neck in a nearly perfectly straight line.  They didn't hurt at all.  They didn't even feel bruised.

I couldn't wrap my head around it.  How could I go from lying on the asphalt with my best friend's jaws clamped down on my throat, and my blood pouring out of me like water, to painless scars?  Then, there was the issue of becoming a werewolf...

I looked in the mirror and focused on my eyes.  Surely enough, a ring of gold shimmered at the very center of my eyes.  The only thing I found strange was that I didn't feel any different or look any different.  I thought I'd feel stronger or more powerful.  I thought I'd have a constant, restless urge to change into the best I've become and hunt and kill.  Was this the same way Dante had felt three years ago?  Were these the same thoughts he'd had once he knew he'd become a werewolf?  Or was it worse?  Did he tell anyone right when he'd been bitten?  How does he feel now, knowing that he'd made me like him?  What will he do now?  Will he help me learn the things he'd learned from the pack Ray and Selene had sent him to?

My brain began to hurt with the flood of questions.  But, I knew that right now, my friends would be a little emotionally sensitive from the death scare last night.  I'd probably have to wait a little to have my questions answered.