Chapter 2

[Lucien’s POV]

Loud hip-hop music wafted through the air and everyone in the club cheered loudly, moving their bodies to the rhythm of the beat. Every Friday in Club Ravine was a blast. It was mainly a party for vampires, but witches, werewolves, elves and even fairies could also be found partying hard. Humans being present was a necessity, how else were we going to feed?

Aside from the fact that I needed to get my mind off things, human blood was the main reason I was always present at the club every Friday night. I had a full storeroom of it, but I always longed for something fresh… something satisfying, and perhaps, at the back of my mind, I wanted something that tasted like her.

A young human in her twenties whom I had spotted checking me out as she giggled with her friends locked eyes with me. I knew how piercing my gaze could be, and I held her eyes in mine. She soon looked away shyly, then looked back at me. With a hand gesture, I beckoned for her to come, then looked away as I calmly took another sip of my alcohol.

It wasn’t up to a minute later that she found her way to where I sat all alone by the counter. She smiled then licked her lips seductively.

“You called for me,” she said.

I gazed deeply at her. “Yes, I did. Care to dance?” I asked, keeping the glass back on the table and stretching out my hand to her.

She gave a shy smile as she accepted my hand. I winked, then took her to the dance floor. With my hands around her waist, I pulled her closer to me and she smiled even more, wrapping her arms around my neck as she swayed her hips.

Eloise would be surprised to see how well I danced. She was the dancer, I never was, but when you find yourself on earth for four hundred and seventy three years, you’d get bored to the point of learning things you said you’d never have an interest for.

I was starving, really hungry, but nothing actually satisfied me and I knew it. I only drank blood to remain alive… not that I wanted it, not that I cared for it.

“What’s your name?” I asked the young girl, who had undoubtedly been already enchanted by my charm.

“Amelia,” she said sweetly.

“You smell nice, Amelia,” I whispered into her ear as I tilted my head, holding her even closer to me as my lips found its way to her neck.

“Thank you,” she gasped, wrapping me in her fragrance.

It was why I had chosen her specifically in the first place. She smelled of berries and grapes, just like Eloise. I also hoped that she tasted similar to her or just like her. Celeste already said she might be reborn with a different face, so it was up to me to keep my options open, and even after four centuries had passed, I still had faith that I would see her again… that I would hold her in my arms someday.

I nuzzled against her neck for sometime just to get her in the mood, and when I was sure that she was deeply lost, my fangs sprouted from my mouth and I bit her softly which made a moan escape from her mouth and I began to suck her blood while stroking her hair.

It tasted nothing like Eloise and the more I sucked, the hungrier I became. I wanted to taste it, I wanted to feel it again, and I sucked her harder till the point where I could feel her shrinking.

“Snap out of it, Lucien,” my subconscious mind said.

I immediately withdrew from her and when I did, she staggered, almost falling to the floor.

“What did you do to me?” she asked weakly, almost drained of her life.

To compel her to do as I said, I cupped her face in my hands and looked directly into her eyes. “You’ll go home now and have a goodnight sleep. Once you wake up tomorrow, all you’d remember is being at the club and getting drunk. You’ll forget about me and ask no questions about the bite marks on your neck,” I said to her.

Her brown eyes darkened and she nodded her head. “Whatever you say,” she said.

I smiled at her, then let her go and turned around, leaving her behind.

Once again, my hope had been shattered or so I thought until the unforgettable scent of Eloise’s blood filled the air. I pinched myself.

Was I imagining things? No, it couldn’t be.

I sniffed the air. It was no doubt her scent. It wasn’t that I missed her so much to the point of me now making things up in my head. It was her blood. It was her scent. It was Eloise.

My eyes narrowed, quickly moving from one person to the next. I could hear the voices in my head. It was her, but she wasn’t here. She was somewhere else, and my vision got clearer the more my eyes narrowed. A girl sat on the floor in front of a temple in another dimension far from where I was, and when she looked up, I saw her face. As blurry and hazy as it was, I knew it was her. She was alive. Eloise was alive.

My heart leapt for joy as I came back to reality.

With the vision engraved in my heart, I moved to the side of the club where I was sure no one was watching and with my set destination in mind, I disappeared from the club, teleporting to the dimension where my senses had pictured her.

The leaves clearly showed it was still in New Orleans. However, it was different and when I perceived the undeniable smell of fur and wolfsbane, I knew I was in a werewolf pack.

The hope I had earlier felt began to diminish. If I was in werewolf territory, it meant my vision was wrong. Eloise was to be reborn as a human being, and certainly not as the same thing that had taken her life.

I turned away sadly, knowing now that my longing had gotten the best of me. However, as I turned, I saw I was standing in front of a temple… the same one I had clearly seen, and on the floor, she sat down sobbing hard.

She must have noticed someone was staring at her, because she looked up at me in that moment, meeting my sharp blue eyes with her green eyes. I had feared I would forget how I had loved her, but my heart certainly remembered as it tingled then melted softly.

When she saw me, she got up and dusted the sand off her dress. She wiped her tears with the back of her palm. “Who are you and why are you staring at me in that manner?” she asked, throwing me a cold look.

I hadn’t even realised it, but I was staring at her with an opened mouth with my eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. Her voice still sounded the same way; like music to my ears.

“Eloise, it really is you,” I muttered, then took one giant step and appeared in front of her.

She seemed to be befuddled, and before she could get a grasp of what was going on, I pulled her into my embrace and hugged her tightly like I was never going to let her go ever again.

For a moment, she just stood there and let me hug her. “I missed you terribly, Eloise. I missed you so much,” I whispered into her ear.

It wasn’t until seconds later before she eased her way out of my embrace, wearing a dumbfounded expression. “I think you’re mistaken. I’m not Eloise, and I don’t know who you are either,” she said, taking more than a few steps backwards.

“You… you don’t know who I am?“ I asked.

She shook her head politely. “No. I don’t.”

I shook off the disappointment I felt. “If you’re not Eloise, who are you?” I asked, curiously.

“My name is Nivera. I’m the famous cursed and possessed Omega who was abandoned in the Crescent Pack as soon as I was born,” she introduced.

I chuckled. “That’s a weird way to introduce yourself,” I said.

She ran her eyes all over me. “Why are you standing there? Aren’t you going to run away?” she asked.

“Why should I run?” I retorted.

She shrugged, then with a sad look, she said: “Everyone leaves when they find out who I am.”

I moved closer to her and lifted her chin, so her eyes met mine. “Not me, Eloise… I’m sorry, Nivera. I’m not going to leave you. Never ever,” I promised.

“Why? You don’t even know me. Are you even from this part of town?” she retorted.

“No, I’m not, but I…”

I was interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching, and she quickly led me to the back of the temple, pushing me against the wall.

“You should go. If anyone sees you here, they’ll take you to Alpha Tyler, and you’d be good as dead,” she said.

“Alpha Tyler should be the one to run from me,” I said.

“Everyone says that before they die. You’re not from here, so you should hide. I’ll leave first,” she said, and proceeded to go, but I stopped her from going by holding her by the hand.

“What do you think you’re doing? Do you seriously have a death wish?” she inquired.

“I need to speak to you. Please, stay a little longer,” I said.

“I’m already in so much trouble as it is. I don’t even know who you are. What if you’re a spy from another Pack? I’ll be accused of treason and I’ll be beheaded. I know my life is shitty already, but I have no intention of dying anytime soon,” she said with fear in her eyes.

“Then, tell me something. When can I see you again?” I asked her.

“What?”

“Please, give me an answer or I won’t let you go. I only just found you, I can’t afford to lose you again,” I told her.

She appeared confused, but as the footsteps drew nearer, she didn’t have an option. “I’ll be at the cleansing river in three days. You’d meet me if you come around 7pm,” she said, and with that, I let go of her hand and she quickly hurried away without looking back.

I leaned back against the wall. I had waited for four centuries, and she had been reincarnated finally, but why did she have to be reborn as a werewolf, and most importantly, how had she forgotten completely about me? I had never stopped to think that unlike me who still lived in the present, that was her past life and I might as well be past tense to her.