A story.

Meryl scurried away from behind the hedge and walked out of the garden in an alarming pace. The sun was slowly making its way out of the thick cold clouds so she perceived it was afternoon already. She was busily basking in the beauty of the garden and at the same time nursing her pain and anger that she lost track of the time. She couldn't believe she was so stupidly brave back there. The thought that everything could have gone sideways if indeed someone or something was lurking behind that hedge occurred to her as she made her way inside the castle.

She only realized now that it could have been that wolf who almost tore her apart the other night or even worse that other creature. A tinge of sweat broke down her spine by the thought of it. The halls of the castle were now lighted when she stepped inside. Which was surprising to her since it had been dark in all the times that she had passed here.

The lone gloomy and cold walls of the hall that gave out a hunted house vibe were now lighted with the brightest lights and had the most gracious decorations. She was struck anew by how stunning the looked now. Meryl wondered how crazily fast they could pull off all of this transformation in that short amount of time she was in the garden.

Meryl almost crushed into one of the one of the workers who had a tray raised up high in his left hand because she was so lost in her admiration of the now transformed hall. The man though, dressed in a well ironed all black uniform, was far too swift in his movement, he was able to sway out of the way quick enough to avoid a fall. She readily apologized to him and made her way up the stairs.

"Oh God I'm so sorry," she said apologetically to the man, who looked like he was about about to assure her everything was fine judging from the smile that was plastered on his face. But he seemed to have decided against it because his smile was gone and his radiant face suddenly looked pale like he was out of air for holding his breath for too long. And Meryl frowned when he murmured "human," under his breath as if he just realized something disastrous. the man excused himself to get back to his job leaving her with questions running through her mind. She had a sneaky suspicion about the man's behavior as she climbed the stairs to her room. For some reason, she felt he didn't just mean it literally which got her so confused since no one questioned her humanity before because everyone she knew since childhood was human.

What did this even mean? That the were something else? The horror on the man's face when his eyes met hers came flashing in her mind's eyes. one memory she was bound to remember forever though was the encounter she had the previous night.

Meryl hurried up the stairs with the other man's reaction and words still lingering on her mind. How all the color went from his face and he turned pale blue within seconds as if all the air in his lungs were taken out bothered her so much.

Everything from the last couple of minutes was quickly forgotten as she came face to face with the now decorated hallway. The were flowers everywhere, well patched and perfectly lined up on the usually dull wall; and the smelled so good she found herself breathing in so hard, she only came out for air when she felt she'd had enough of the sweet aroma.

The whole hallway was properly lit now, giving a positive vibe to it.

Meryl began walking again, looking around with keen fascination at the paintings engraved on the long walls of the hallway. It was the first time she had allowed herself to pay attention to it, maybe because of the presence of the light which the place previously lacked. Everything was dim before, but Meryl saw it clearly now and she subconsciously walked towards the direction where the paintings begin, taking by surprise how vivid and….and…. clear everything looked from up close.

They seemed to be telling a story, a compelling one, which raised her curiosity level over the bar. The first painting about a man clad in a robe under a full moon, followed by darkness and people being chased by wolves…? Like the one she saw yesterday?

Meryl moved to the next, which had scattered dead bodies of women and kids with naked men covered in blood standing over them. Under that painting was a pile of the dead people set aflame by people who seemed to be weeping. In the next set of painting, a group of men who seemed to be travelling through came across the women and kids who were weeping over their dead relatives or friends as the burned.

The new members settled in with the women and kids left and they seemed to live peacefully until another massacre occurred. Only this time the number of people who ended up dead were few compared to the previous ones since the men on the women's side put up a fierce fight against the wolves.

The story progressed with a ritual, the oldest of the women among the set, prepared what seemed to be concoctions for the men to drink. Meryl wondered what it was and what it was supposed to do. Her questions were answered in the next set of painting.

The concoction was a some sort of boost in strength and speed for the men as they fought unstoppably against the wolves. Fights like those continued until the wolf never appeared again.

The paintings that followed were less hostile and somehow peaceful. The men seemed to be accepted by the women and they built caves for themselves like the women had. The peaceful neighborhood slowly turned into a community as both species started breeding with each other.

In the next painting that she studied, a different set of female species arrived in the growing town and settled in as well. They were more slender and looked more like the males.

Meryl was so lost she didn't notice she had taken a turn towards a different hallway, away from hers. Her mind was working ten times faster to interpret what was painted on the wall. It was not until the paintings ended and she came face to face with a giant door that she was able to break out of the hold the paintings had on her. She looked around, completely stunned by how far she had come and became so confused when she didn't recognize where she was. She looked suspiciously at the grand door, the size of which matched that of a church door. This was certainly not the ending she was expecting.

God, talk of a cliff hanger, Meryl was sure she was near the end of the story or whatever it was. She wanted to know the end of the alliance. She wondered what happened after the alliance was broken. Were the new comers evicted together with their men all would the continue to live in peace.

Meryl was so close to opening the door to find out what happened next but weighed her options and quickly decided against it. She had no idea what was going to come after her once the door was opened and she had zero plans of finding out. She had done enough finding outs to last her a lifetime. So, she took her hands off the door and walked away.

~~~

Somewhere in his deeply engrossed mind, a smell of rain mixed with earth he took a whiff of the most intoxicating scent he had smelled thus far. He became confused by the smell that was oddly unfamiliar to his nose, so he got out of where he stood in his chamber keeping an eye on the workers, curious to know where the scent came from and who it belonged to. His feet carried him to the door and outside his chamber into the hallway where the scent got stronger. His highly sharp hearing caught on the soft footsteps that was slowly approaching where he stood and seemed to be pausing in between steps.

Another wave of that rain mixed with earth scent came crushing into his nose waking his long-buried hunger together with his deeply suppressed senses. What was this feeling, he thought begrudgingly; he was not ready for it. Upon a second whiff, his whole body broke into a frenzied scream…..Human.

Just then, the source of his newly awoken hunger came into sight, dressed in a tightly fit gown, cut up a few inches above her milky white knee that hugged her very delicate figure and seemingly strong legs. His fangs forced their way out, his claws following suit like a predator ready to pounce on its prey. But his innocent prey was so lost in her admiration of the stupid paintings on the walls to notice she had company.