[ Chapter Twenty One—the werewolf ]

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"Tahiti?" Felix suggested.

Both he and Demetri were crouched as was I. I was currently "werewolfed" out with my teeth on full display, hair wild, and eyes glowing. Hell, even my nails had turned into sharp claws. And my mind is rather jumbled at the moment — all I know is that I am ready to bite the heads off these crackers.

"You read my mind," Demetri nodded in approval at his best friend's words.

With that, I lunged at the two who immediately started screaming and releasing war cries.

"AHHHHHHH!"

There is no hesitation in the way that my claws swipe at them — their yelps and screams of pain echoing the room as we fight.

"Holy shit!" Demetri cries as I backflip, my foot sending him flying into the wall.

As soon as I land, I dodge out of the way of an attack that Felix attempts to do from behind me. He stumbles forward at super speed and I use his own momentum against him. Jumping in the air I literally drop-kick him into Demetri, the former groaning as the huge vampire lands on him.

I await them from my spot.

"Does she seem much stronger than usual to you?" Demetri asks Felix as they both stand with a groan.

Felix nods his head, "yep," he says before charging at me with a ferocious growl of his own.

I stand still until he is centimeters away. I sidestep at a speed that would be impossible without the magic of the impending full moon to aid my abilities. Felix yells as his own momentum is used against him, the guy accidentally launching himself to the side of the room.

"Stop attacking like a buffoon!" Demetri does not hesitate to hassle the poor guy.

With that, he is suddenly in front of me throwing a punch. Surprisingly it lands, but I do not waver and throw a punch to his balls. Demetri cries out in pain but is unable to even fall down as I waste no time in taking him by his arm to chuck him over my body.

At that moment the door opens and Caius comes storming in.

"What is the meaning of this—!?" He is cut off by a screaming Demetri as the vampire guard goes flying toward his master.

Caius's eyes widen, the blond vampire dodging out of the way as Demetri is tossed out of the room.

His head snaps around to face me with a sneer and I only roar in response no doubt looking feral with my wolfed-out face.

"Out," it is barely a whisper on Caius's part, and yet Felix hears it perfectly and does not hesitate in racing out of the room while closing the door behind him for good measure.

I stand tilting my head, my features become a bit more human losing the total beast edge. Although the teeth, the eyes, and the claws are still there.

I lick over my teeth staring at Caius. Has he always looked so handsome?

He reminds me of an angel with his fair complexion, a very very angry angel that is.

He is looking at me as though I am the problem of everything in the world. I don't like it, but I would never admit it out loud because what do I care about what Caius thinks of me? He certainly does not deserve anything but my hatred.

"Want some blondie?" I smirk my voice monstrous and nothing short of demonic.

Caius scoffs before shrugging off his suit jacket and tossing it behind him. His tie comes off next before he has rolled the cuffs of his nice white-collared shirt up. We circle each other while examining the other up and down. He looks at me as though he can see right through me.

"I would love some, you little bitch," Caius hisses his red eyes gleaming.

It would appear as though he had fed recently, I wonder who the unlucky soul was.

This is not the first time that I have been called a bitch and it certainly will not be the last. Of course, seeing as I am Jackie motherfucking Harvelle, I have a retort ready within seconds.

"You deserve nothing less than a bitch as a mate," I say it, and my voice does not come out monstrous this time, but rather as sweet as honey.

It is enough to set hotheaded Caius off, for he charges at me in the next second.

Now Caius is not Felix or Demetri, in fact, he is a better fighter than both of them combined. And sadly, he is still my mate or whatever, so I find myself not attacking to kill. Rather it is to maim or seriously injure.

The sidestepping trick does not work on him — I learn this very quickly for I attempt the same technique I had been using on his guard. When I attempt it, he somehow ends up behind me with my hands forced behind my back and my body shoved against the wall trapped by his own body.

Caius's front is pressed tightly to my behind and his mouth is suddenly next to my ear whispering a single phrase.

"Sloppy," his voice is almost playful, it's seductive in a way, and to top it off he bites the lobe of my ear.

A roar rips out of my mouth, pure rage filtering my vision as I throw my head back and hit him harshly. Caius groans from the sudden impact and I am able to wiggle out of his grasp before throwing punch after punch at him in a blind rage.

Some hit and he dodges others. I manage to use my excelled speed to swipe his legs out from under him and he is sent falling to the floor.

I laugh as the blond King hits the ground. He is growling — his own eyes showing his anger. Leaping in the air, I am perhaps a bit too cocky in my attempt to finish off the fight. Caius only needs to roll out of the way to avoid my fist, and a small crater is punched into the ground from where my fist hits.

My head snaps up quickly as I look around trying to spot Caius: the vampire has somehow disappeared from my sight. In a surprising turn, my form is tackled to the ground from the side and before I can comprehend what happened — we are sprawled over the ground in a rolling wrestle of power.

Caius gets on his knees first and I follow, the both of us battling in a pure show of strength. He does not even flinch as my claws dig into his marble skin from where our hands are clutched, both our forms attempting to push the other down.

Literally this shit looks like we're having a chicken fight but on the floor instead of on shoulders.

How Caius is even managing this with my strength at the moment is something that I will perhaps never know. But I suppose now it makes sense as to why he oversees the entire training of the Volturi guard. He is a more than formidable opponent in battle.

"You are the most ridiculous monster I have ever met," Caius is growling at me, his eyes now black instead of red.

"Back at you, boomer," I growl before pulling a risky move.

As we are on our knees, it is hard but with the extra strength on my side, I manage. Spinning my body, I essentially accomplish rolling us over and pinning his body under mine. Caius is hissing and roaring.

It is a struggle to keep him pinned as he is still much bigger than me. Attempting to ignore this feat, I lean down prepared to growl in his face. You know — really show him who's boss.

Alas, my mind has other plans.

Now, I am not going to lie. In this state my mind is hardly there — admittedly I turn into a pretty confusing and deranged person before the full moon. So it does not come as a surprise when a vision took over my mind.

With my distraction, Caius immediately rolled us over pinning me down with his hand tightly around my throat. But I was far too gone to take any true notice of this.

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HIS NAME was Tsar Lunar.

And Tsar Lunar was born as an unstoppable force nearly 20,000 years ago. The God of the Beasts laid with a mortal woman, and of their companionship came Tsar Lunar. Born on the night of a bright full moon came the half-man and half-beast Demi-god.

Tsar Lunar was stronger than any man who walked before him. He was faster than any known creature. He had the ability to transform into a giant beast at will. There was no force on Earth that could stop him — not even age.

For hundreds of years, Tsar Lunar plagued the Earth with his torment and rage.

For the greater good of humanity, the most powerful wizards and witches came together to cast an unbreakable curse on Tsar Lunar that would stop his tyranny. Together, on the night of the full moon the Council of Magic cast Tsar Lunar to the spirit realm of the moon where he would stay trapped for eternity.

What they did not realize was that Tsar Lunar had already spread his curse. In the victims who he did not kill, but ones who had been attacked by the beast laid dormant venom. When Tsar Lunar was banished to the moon — it took an immense amount of power from the Council of Magic.

A great enough power that when it touched Tsar Lunar, just before he was sent away, the magic activated the venom in the living creature that it resided in. As his last hurrah before imprisonment, Tsar Lunar cursed every individual with his venom to be hexed with the same fate as he.

They would taste some of his power. But on the night of the full moon — on the night that he had been born and banished, they would taste his rage. They would be cursed to transition into the same beast as he with no control over themselves.

These infected people became his Children of the Moon forever bound to him.

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TSAR LUNAR

The first thing that I took note of was the ear-piercing sound that met my ears. It was screaming, but who was screaming?

I was not sure — my mind was in scrambles... in ruins.

I could only focus on the coming power of Tsar Lunar. And like a switch, I suddenly understood.

I had known who Tsar Lunar was for a very long time, every transition to be exact. Alas, I tend to forget his story and my connection to his infection when the sun rises after the full moon.

Well, I forgot for about a month... until the next full moon.

"JACLYN!"

Now, that caught my attention, and suddenly I was aware that the screaming came from me. My own voice was being abused as I screamed bloody murder thrashing around on the floor as though I was having a fit.

But then I became aware of the weight on top of me... my eyes flew open with violent breaths leaving me and I was staring straight into crimson eyes. Familiar red eyes that were mere centimeters from my — angry red eyes.

So much anger in his gaze, much like a hurricane, but... wait is that concern? The slightest bit of concern as Caius held me down screaming my name trying to get my attention. It became apparent that the vampire was holding me down for my own good, so I did not hurt myself.

"Caius..." I sobbed brokenly, and my words took him so off-guard that he loosened his grip.

It allowed me to break free, but I broke free only to clutch him and dig my head into his cold chest as though he was all I had left in the world.

Since I had been turned into a werewolf the mate bond is something that truly confounded me. It is simply hard to wrap my head around: a person whom you cannot choose yourself, whom in a way you are forced to love, and someone who is incredibly hard to live without once you meet them.

It sounds terrible. And so far, my personal experience had not been the greatest. But my soul recognizes Caius as my mate, it causes me to cling to him and to yearn for him, and there is rarely ever going to be a time that I yearn more for him than during the period of Tsar Lunar's power.

Sometimes I wonder though, and I never will admit it out loud, but I wonder if the circumstances had been different. If Caius was a werewolf or me a vampire, would it work better? What if we were both humans?

Would Caius be so angry if he was a human? Was he this angry when he had been a human?

"What is the meaning of this — what is happening?!" Caius questioned rather frantically.

And it was then I realized I had been clutching onto him sobbing out the words, "please, please, please,"

If my head were clear then I would be shocked that Caius was reacting how he is. He quite literally allowed me to clutch onto him however tightly I needed, and not only that but he was actually stroking my hair and attempting to comfort me.

"ARO!" Caius bellowed but continued to hold me tightly. "It is okay, Jaclyn, you are okay, but I need you to tell me what is wrong. Did I truly wound during our brawl?"

"Well, most people don't take to physically rowing with their mate every other second," Aro drawled as he entered the room and Caius was glaring heatedly at him. "I believe people in this day and age would consider it a... ah what's that saying again? Oh yes! A toxic relationship..."

"Enough of your useless commentary! You are the reason this werewolf is here in the first place! I was perfectly content ignoring the mate bond!" Caius sneered at Aro who only shook his head.

"I think we both know that is perhaps the most bold lie you have ever told me—" Aro was cut off by Caius hissing at him.

His cold seeped into my being with every passing second, it was quite nice seeing as I was burning up.

"Brother, what is wrong with her? I demand you figure it out..." the blond vampire hissed menacingly, but Aro only shook his head in annoyance but came over nonetheless.

Aro crouched down on my other side, but I only clung to Caius tighter and pushed myself further against him while growling menacingly at the raven-haired king. Caius held me down and it was then that I realized that he was holding me still so that I could not thrash out at Aro.

He quickly placed his freezing hand on my arm, his eyes turning cloudy. Aro's eyebrows furrowed in concentrated thought, and it became obvious that he was having a hard time rummaging through my head.

I could not exactly blame him, after all, it was not be exactly the cleanest place at the moment.

"Caius," I mumbled against him and Caius only hummed in response.

Aro pulled away suddenly — his gaze morphed into that of deep concentration and excitement. Words were exchanged between the two, both speaking so fast and lowly that I had no hope of focusing on their words.

Not in my current state, at least.

"Caius," I once again said, pulling him away from Aro and causing his attention to be placed on me.

His passionate gaze fell on me.

"Jaclyn," he said back simply.

"The attack came out of nowhere, I just wanted to get back to my dorm... but perhaps I deserve it for everything that happened..."

"You are making no sense, woman, what do you speak about?" Caius snapped, stroking a hand down my cheek with furrowed brows.

"The night I was turned," my voice was raspy, I could feel myself truly losing it, "I just wanted to go home, I didn't want this," I said sadly.

This was perhaps the most honest I had been to even myself. Since I had been turned I looked at the positive side of things, all the good things that had come from it, but I also tried desperately to ignore the negatives.

Aro was listening intently as well from my other side.

Whispers seemed to speak in a frenzy in my ear. Whispers regarding Tsar Lunar — whispers reminding me to take my true form on the night that the moon is full, whispers to fulfill my role as a Child of the Moon.

Aro reached forward again, he grasped my arm and his eyes glazed over. I made it a point to remember what I could from the night that I had been turned.

The truth of the matter was that I lied when I said that I could not remember anything about the night I was turned. I may have been drunk but it was far too traumatizing to forget, rather I tried to block it out by telling myself I was too drunk.

I forced the memories of how scared I had been. How I had run but stood no chance. The growls of the predator in the night. The pain as the gigantic wolf pounced on me, how terrified I was, how I had thought I was going to die.

The way that the werewolf tore up my body.

The Cullens once described to me that the transition to being a vampire as the most painful thing in the world. The icy feeling of the venom spreading until it turns to flames that twist throughout your body.

When you are turned into a werewolf the painful part is being mauled by the beast until it decides if it is going to tear you limb from limb and eat you or leave you with the curse. There is no surviving the power of the werewolf without being turned.

It truly is terrifying.

For me, when the mauling was finally over and the werewolf chose to bite through my side deeply spreading its venom — the warm fluid came as a relief.

The venom of a vampire coursing through you is the truly painful part. For a werewolf that is the relief as the venom courses through you and heals everything in its path. It knocks you out, the pain is not there; only the relief of being healed and the warmth that it brings, the visions are perhaps the last part.

The true last transition as Tsar Lunar's infection forces your consciousness into the ancestral plane and suddenly you can see everything. The world as it was created by a titanic force, but it is more than that.

You see the lives of thousands as they go about their day. You see different worlds, different galaxies, and different planes of existence. And most of all you see Tsar Lunar with all his grace and beauty and chaos.

And you bow to him in that plane of existence as he becomes your deity and you swear your life in his name. In that moment of solid, it is peaceful before the bonds of Tsar Lunar become one with you. Before his power becomes your power.

To be strong, to be fast, to be unstoppable.

It is secretive, it is personal, and you will never remember it except in the times that you are closest to Tsar Lunar. In the time of the full moon when you take on the brunt of his power.

...Yet here I am showing this all to Aro.

And Aro is staring at me with nothing but unbridled shock. He once told me that the Children of the Moon, when we were great and many had been incredibly secretive. The Volturi had never known much about the intricacies of our kind.

Until now that is because here I am delivering what I know on a silver platter. However, these memories will fade with the full moon and will eventually come back the closer it gets.

"What is it, what is happening, Aro? What is she showing you?" Caius demanded, ever the impatient man and having a hatred for being left out.

Aro barely mumbled, "everything," he said, "she shows me how she was turned, the deity that created the Children of the Moon, but most of all..." Aro clutched my arm tighter and a remorseful look washed across his face, "her pain — she is showing me her pain," he said it sadly.

I was surprised that Aro actually appeared to care. I was even more surprised when Caius clutched me to him tighter and his own ferocious growl escaped him.

"Who did this to her — who is her creator?" He demanded an answer from his brother. But I was even more shocked when the angry angel looked down at me with fire in his eyes. "And you, my mate, I swear to you..." his words were clipped by his own anger, pitch-black eyes seemingly picking up fury with every second.

My eyes closed on their own accord and my body fell against Caius limply.