5 Werewolf

(From Demetrius's Perspective)

I was amused by the girl's embarrassment at uttering a lot of things all at once. I was quite taken aback by the way she spoke. She had read a lot of books and learned a lot, and she wanted to share that with others, but she was not sure if others would like to hear that.

She was afraid of me, I could sense that. I could not do anything about it, at least not yet. But I was determined to make her feel better.

Her tiny hand shook slightly in mine. She was looking away, possibly because she thought I had become angry because of her talking.

"You know a lot of things," I said, smiling at her. It was difficult for me to smile, but I did my best. I was not in the habit of smiling or speaking in a friendly manner, but I was determined to try because of her.

She smiled shyly but did not look at me. I had a feeling that she did not want to see what my face was holding. Perhaps she was afraid of seeing what kind of emotion it would hold.

I chuckled and turned to face the trunk of the tree. She was in for a rude awakening right now. I needed to make sure she did not flinch away from me out of fear.

"Blue?"

"Yes?" she asked as she returned my gaze, her wide eyes expressing the depth of her heart.

"You need to trust me, okay? I won't hurt you," I said.

She looked perplexed because I had said the same thing to her before. She had no idea what I was going to do at this moment.

"Just don't run. Watch and then I'll explain everything to you," I said, holding her gaze.

She nodded, strands of her wet brunette hair falling on her cheeks. I was tempted to tuck them behind her ear, but I restrained myself. There would be plenty of time for that once she had fully trusted me. Then there would be no restrictions. But now, I needed to have patience. I needed to give her time and I would not mind waiting, even though it was going to be hard.

I took a sharp breath and as I brought my right hand in front of the tree, it was not just a hand. There were claws, sharp nails, and a bit of blackish fur.

She widened her eyes, not looking away from my hand as her heart rate increased noticeably. I had held her hand in my other one, so she could not get away.

"What... What's that?" she asked, her voice shaky.

"I'll explain later," I said. "Don't fear, Blue. I won't hurt you. Calm down and take deep breaths. One... two... yes, like that."

She looked very fragile, but her eyes were full of determination. She was brave, I knew it. She was everything my world needed and mostly, I needed.

When I pressed my claw against the trunk of the tree, a bright light began to shine from beneath my claw. The light went black, as if it were ink, in an instant, and a gap appeared. The gap widened until it took on the shape of a door.

She was staring at it all, too stunned to say anything. She clutched my hand tightly as if she was terrified and needed me to save her. I reassured her by tapping her hand, and she glanced at me.

"Come on in," I said, leading her through the door. Her steps were shaky as if she was about to fall at any moment.

As soon as we stepped inside the door, we were in a forest, but it was not nighttime there. The gentle breeze along with the charming morning light fell on her face, which was saturated with water.

She turned around in time to see the door vanish in the same way it had appeared, leaving an ash tree in its wake. She exhaled deeply and gripped my hand even more tightly.

"Welcome to my world, my bride," I said.

"What... Okay, you said you'd explain everything. Please tell me everything right away. I'm feeling bad. I think I'm going to faint," she said quickly.

"Let's go to my place first. Then you're free to ask me whatever you want."

"Why not right now?"

"We're in the middle of a forest, after all. I imagined it would be cozy in a room "I stated.

"Everything is weird. You better tell me everything now, in this place. I'm... it's hard to understand. Please tell me," she said, almost pleading.

"Alright. Let's sit down there," I said and took her under the mango tree. She sat down, a bit hesitantly feeling me close to her. I smiled in my head and sat down beside her, her hand still in mine, and I had no intention of letting go.

"Tell me now."

"Ask me what you want to know."

"Alright...um... What are you?" she asked.

"I'm a werewolf," I replied.

"But there is nothing like a werewolf in this world."

"Yes, there is. First, tell me everything you know about werewolves. Do you know what they are or what they can do?"

She started again, saying all she knew about werewolves. It was amusing, to say the least. Besides, I was curious about what her world thought about my kind. 

She stopped suddenly. "I'm talking too much again. I'm sorry," she murmured.

"No, I want to hear it. Go ahead," I urged. It was not a lie. I wanted to hear everything she had to say and I would never get tired of hearing her voice.

I wanted to know more genuinly, especially because she was talking so excitedly. It was good to see her not afraid and just simply enjoying talking about something. 

"You know a lot I have to say. You talk like you memorized book lines," I said gently.

"Well, I read a lot of books about almost everything. I read about this on the internet. I have this weird ability that I can remember almost everything that I read once. Line by line," she said.

"That's strange but great."

"It's useless. I mean, people don't listen to me. So, it's pointless to have this kind of ability," she muttered, clear sadness in her voice. But it was not the sadness that clenched my heart painfully, but the acceptance of the sadness in her voice. I promised myself to make her so happy that she was going to forget what sadness was.

"People are stupid, that's why. Don't worry. I'll listen to you. You can tell me anything, you know."

She smiled and nodded. "So, am I right? About werewolves?"

"It's how your world describes werewolves, right?"

"Yes. I mean, there are these myths, no one knows if they are true or not."

"They are not right in all cases. Well, let me tell you about werewolves then. You need to know that as well living here."

"There are more werewolves here?" she asked, surprised.

"This is an exact replica of your world, with three doors leading to the other world. This was one of the entrances that we used to get here. Even though this world appears to be similar to yours, there are numerous differences. This world lacks the technologies that your world possesses. It's more laid back here, but much more privileged than your world. And this world only has..."

"Werewolves," she finished for me.