Helena was being manhandled by Stephen and Shawn. She was loving it.
She liked playing rough during sex.
Stephen and Shawn traded places with practiced rhythm, one werewolf's hands replacing the other's with barely a pause, their movements synchronized like dancers who had rehearsed this performance countless times before, each knowing exactly when to advance and when to yield.
Helena usually noticed when she was about orgasm, but just then, she came so loudly that it woke up her roommate.
**
"Are you okay?" Holly asked.
Helena was panting but smiling at the same time.
"Sorry, I didn't realise I was having a dream." Helena apologised.
Holly giggled. "Seemed more like a wet dream than a bad dream."
**
The next morning.
The spacious dorm room that Helena and Holly called home had been their shared territory since freshman orientation.
Helena hugged her knees to her chest on her unmade bed, while Holly perched cross-legged on her own meticulously arranged duvet, both of them nursing steaming mugs of coffee as they dissected the merits of werewolf threesomes versus vampire seductions, their laughter punctuating each increasingly outlandish scenario they conjured from the depths of their romantasies.
Interestingly, Helena was still not aware if Holly actually knew the supernatural actually existed.
**
Sicily, Italy.
The Sicilian sun beat down mercilessly, casting sharp-edged shadows across the ancient cobblestones as Priya made her way down the narrow street.
The scent of salt air mingled with fresh-baked bread from a nearby bakery, while laundry fluttered like colorful flags from wrought-iron balconies overhead.
Her footsteps echoed in the mid-morning quiet, most locals having retreated indoors to escape the climbing heat.
Priya's witch senses kicked in when an arrow was about to hit her shoulder. She easily dodged it.
She picked up the arrow and noticed an AirPod attached to it. She put it on.
"Hello?"
"I was just checking if you're still a witch or not." It was Ray on the other end.
"Ray, so nice to hear from you!" Priya feigned interest.
She started looking around for any sign of him.
"Cut the crap, Priya." Ray warned. "I know you put me in Jenna in those simulations. What I want to know is why?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Priya lied. "Why don't you come down here and we can clear things out."
"The one good thing which came out of that strange fantasy." Ray continued. "Is that I have actually become a millionaire in real life."
Suddenly, black vans with tinted windows lined up near Priya.
Men and women wearing all-black and covering their faces with balaclavas got out of the vans.
They had assault rifles in their grasps.
Luckily for Priya, Ray did not know the full extent of her abilities. She was the Anti-Phoenix after all.
Crowds had first gathered to watch the scenario but when they saw armed assailants, they quickly started dispersing.
Two of the assailants shot their rifles. Priya emitted a shield from her palms, and not only stopped the bullets, but repelled them towards her attackers.
They died on the spot.
More male and female attackers were left.
But instead of bullets they shot a containment shield; a hologram prison.
Priya couldn't get out.
An SUV pulled up. And Ray got out.
He was dressed to the nines in a tailored sapphire-blue Armani suit that hugged his broad shoulders perfectly, paired with a crisp white shirt and a silk tie the color of midnight, the fabric catching the Sicilian sunlight with an almost liquid shimmer as he moved toward her with predatory confidence.
"This won't hold me." Priya warned Ray.
Police sirens started blowing there and then.
"I know." Ray smirked. "But the police will get here just in time to haul your ass off to jail. And then deport you back to America."
"Sir." One female guard said. "We need to leave. Now."
Ray nodded then left one parting message to Priya. "The hunt begins."
**
Helena and Holly strolled along the perimeter path that circled their university grounds, the afternoon sun casting their shadows long across the manicured lawn to their right while academic buildings loomed in the distance to their left.
"Oh, crap." Helena muttered.
It was Stephen. He was a different sight from when she first saw him in college as the new guy on campus. Here, he was uncharacteristically wearing a brown leather jacket, which was closer to Damien's fashion choices, although the latter preferred wearing a black one.
Stephen also unusually had sunglasses on.
"Is this is the sexy ex you've not been talking about?" Holly whispered then whistled.
Unfortunately, Stephen's enhanced hearing picked that up, and he waved to Helena.
Jake also appeared near one of the academic buildings on the opposite side of where Stephen was standing. He started waving to the girls.
Holly waved back and left Helena who was contemplating whether or not to greet her ex-boyfriend.