Chapter 1 - Paths Crossed
Hours ago, Aylin Stone did the most humiliating thing in the world.
For what was more humiliating than dropping to your knees to beg for forgiveness for slapping your sister and hurting your ex-fiancé in the process, just after you had caught them being intimate with each other in the bathroom?
Oh, that wasn't all.
This had all happened on what day?
On your birthday that doubled as the night of your engagement party. In the same restaurant that your fiancé— now ex-finance– had proposed to you.
And what response did Aylin get?
"You really hurt us, Aylin. My husband and I will need some time to think about this."
Yeah! They were married! Barely a month after she broke off her engagement with Elio, he got together with her sister - Mestri, and they got married!
Laughter rippled through Aylin's throat.
That was two years ago. Now, they had kids. But her life had remained stagnant ever since. The betrayal had thrown her into such a deep depression that she wasn't sure there was a way to ever make it out of this feeling.
Her family cutting her off for Mestri had also wrecked her. It was a misery to watch all her financial accounts become inaccessible, to watch her small flower business go down the drain, and to find out that the diamond ring she had been proposed to wasn't really a diamond ring.
When a big, rich family, like hers, was against you, well, they made it very obvious.
"Do you know how heartbreaking it had been for me not to be able to invite you to our wedding? I really need time to get around to forgiving you."
Aylin laughed again.
The memory was still vivid, and as Aylin continued walking, she wondered why the alcohol in her system hadn't blurred her mind of it yet. The furious lashing of the rain on her wasn't helping either. The street was lonely, and only the streetlight lit the way; of course, everyone had sought shelter from the harsh weather.
Not Aylin.
She wasn't in any hurry to get home. She knew the loan sharks would be waiting for her by the door. She had been left with no choice but to turn to them many months ago; they were the only ones who would loan her anything without collateral.
Now that she was thinking about it, she had been the collateral all along, and she was about to pay dearly for it.
Why?
Why her?!
For all her pride that she had shoved down her throat tonight, her family had still not spared her some change. She had just been humiliated for nothing.
Fucking penniless!
There was no doubt about it that whatever her fate would be tonight, the loan sharks would be the ones to decide.
She might as well take her long, sweet time walking to her judgment.
This time around, when she laughed, someone had a problem with it.
"Something funny, uh." A gruff voice said to her. She ignored it and kept on walking.
"I said," a hand yanked her arm roughly, so she came face to face with the man who had stopped her. "Something funny, uh?"
Horror spilt through her veins at the sight of his fangs. Although the hood of his raincoat covered his head, she could see how pale his skin was, which made the faint red glimmering symbol on his forehead very obvious. It didn't take her long to put two and two together.
Ever since the government of Vastlan had signed that treaty with supernatural creatures 15 years ago, they had been everywhere like pests.
Rage boiled in her chest as she reached her free hand for her necklace, her finger hovering over the needed button. "If you don't let go of me right now, I will call the SC unit."
SC - Supernatural Creatures.
One of the things that had been in the treaty was that the SC had their own government, their everything. They claimed to be bound by a form of magic that kept them on good behaviour. Then they made it mandatory for everyone to have their alert necklace so that if a SC ever disturbs a human, they could click on the button and the unit would appear in seconds.
Aylin had heard that the punishment they melted out of their defying members was horrifying.
The man flinched and let her go. The red symbol vanished as fear poured into his face. Then he turned and began to walk away from her.
Maybe it was indeed horrifying.
Maybe there was magic binding them after all.
No matter how much the SC government seemed to have control over its members, though, Aylin would never trust a monster. She always had this feeling around them, like they had ulterior motives, like what they really wanted was to turn all humans into their slaves.
Many called it a conspiracy theory, but it was stupid to deny their abilities.
They clearly could dominate them if they wanted. Why would anyone be so stupid as to trust a monster?
It was because of this distrust that Aylin had only turned her back once she confirmed that he was a good distance away. Only then did she continue to walk away.
But then she felt a gush of wind, and heard his voice again, but this time something felt horribly wrong.
She broke into a race, her finger jamming against the necklace as she ran. The vampire reached for the piece of jewellery and cried out in devastating pain when he had touched it.
"Help me!" Aylin screamed as she ran. "HELP ME! A SC wants to—"
Her voice was muffled by the hand that was pressed against her mouth as claws neddled her face.
Her body trembled with terror, and tears welled up in her eyes.
"Fuck the SC unit! You — humans are below us." He grabbed her by her neck, his breath even colder against her neck, his hand trembling in their grip. "You smell—- deli—-delicious."
She felt his fangs graze her skin, but that was as far as it went.
His hand suddenly let her go. She staggered forward. Stunned by the head that rolled to the side of her feet. The man's face looked up at her, the red symbol now prominent on his forehead, his eyes emptied of life.
"Well, that was inconvenient." A cold voice said behind her, and Aylin spun around in shock to the towering presence that cast a shadow over her.
What she had noticed first was his green snake-like eyes and bloodied claws.
Then the fact that he wasn't wearing the SC vest, but instead, was formally dressed like a man returning from a business meeting.
At this hour of the night?
"Are you alright, Miss?"
He was a monster too, and emerging from the darkness behind him, there were two others; blue-eyed, silver-eyed, all snake-like, and dressed in the same way. The former had a blatant smile on his face while the other seemed to be bored out of his mind.
None of them had on the SC vests! Who were these monsters?!
She didn't know why, but her knees felt too weak, and her head felt too heavy at that moment.
So that unconsciousness took her at the worst moment possible.
When she was alone with three monsters she knew nothing about.
Just her luck!