Andria's POV
The rattle of leaves and the chirping of birds accompanied me through the quiet night in the woods.
My fangs were tearing out from my gums to replace my ordinary teeth, and I could feel my wolf battling for dominance.
Pain coursed through my body, and my vision blurred; I could only detect objects in red and black silhouettes.
In this painful moment, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I was startled in that instant, and I didn't want to turn. I could smell blood, and I could devour it, but I could also sense a strange aura around it.
'No, no one can see me like this.'
"Excuse me," The deep, baritone voice called out from behind. My reflexes were fast, and I disappeared behind him.
There was a pool of water in the wet grass, so it served as a reflection. The being I saw in the reflection was a complete monster; my pupils were red and exaggerated, my fangs were long, my nose grew longer, and my skin looked paler.
And the man I was holding by the neck about to consume was like a man in his twenties, he smelled like expensive perfume, and he didn't seem to be afraid.
"I eat monsters like you for breakfast."
He suddenly began to shift. I've not seen such an offensive-looking white wolf.
'Come to me, I just want to feed,' I tried compelling the wolf, but it didn't. I suddenly remembered why Father hated me so much.
Maybe I was a monster that killed his kind, because I'm here about to compel a wolf and with the starvation I feel, I might drain him.
But this wolf looked more like a monster than a wolf. I've seen this type of werewolf before, maybe in a book.
Then I remembered the film that Miss Clara had played yesterday, and it occurred to me that this was no ordinary wolf. It was a Dravari.
He rushed towards me with enormous strength and was about to snap me in two. My reflexes failed me at this point when I needed them the most.
It seemed the Dravari used a slow-motion effect on me because my reflexes were lagging.
"Athena, where are you?" I called on my wolf. Maybe she will be my savior that moment from the Dravari, and then I remembered that I hadn't put on the witch's potion.
'My scent will be all over the place if Athena wakes up.' I needed to act fast or be killed by the Dravari, whether a wolf or a vampire, I'm still their prey.
I mustered the last strength in me to pick up speed from his grasp to the other end of the forest.
"You think you can run away from me, little vampire?" his voice echoed throughout the forest. I was hiding behind the tree.
I entered the forest looking for prey and ended up being prey. How ironic?. My vampire senses and powers weren't so practical because I hadn't fed, and a Dravari can even kill a well-fed vampire.
In that instant, a scapegoat appeared; it was a deer. 'How pleasant, ' I muttered under my breath.
I had to take as blood as I needed to survive this night before the Dravari find me. I tried compelling the deer, but I still needed a lot of energy for that, too.
'Come to me, sweet one' The deer walked slowly to me, and in that moment, I hated the monster I was, but I needed to feed, I needed to survive, so I had to do what I must.
As I drained the life from the deer, a tear slipped from my eye. I didn't know taking the blood from an animal could affect me this way.
"You can't hide for too long." I could see him from a distance; he was drawing closer. I was contemplating taking a risk and calling out Athena.
But as soon as my craving was satisfied, I started to shift back to my normal state. The process was painful, but not as painful as the former; my canines snapped back into shape, and the bones in my face returned to normal.
I felt the pain run through my face to my feet, and I slowly settled onto the grass, gliding my back on the tree.
"Aria, you can pass out now, your enemy is near," the tender voice of Athena called me out of my drowsy state, adrenaline pushing me off the ground where I had almost passed out.
I ran through the thick forest until I could see the Ashwood fence, and I could see my dorm window. I ran as fast as adrenaline could carry me, scaled the wall and jumped back into my room.
I saw him stop just as he neared the Academy's fence, looked me straight into my window, and, as if he was giving me a silent threat, "I'm coming for you," then walked away.
I silently thanked the moon goddess that he didn't get to see my proper form so that he could walk out with my vampire image.
What a horrible night. My only solace was that I fed well.
I sank into my bed, heaving a sigh of relief, then drifted into a deep sleep.
***************
I slowly woke up to my surroundings, my head spinning from the events of last night. 'A Dravari?' I muttered to myself. How many more lived in that thick wood? I really can't tell, or maybe he is a stray or the only bloodline like me, who knows, but what does that matter?.
The room looked relatively too small, and my head seemed very heavy; I couldn't lift myself from the bed for some time.
I could hear distorted sounds as if I had passed out, and then a loud bang on my door.
"Aria, are you ok?" That was Mel's voice, but it sounded somewhat distant.
The bang came again, louder this time, and Larissa's voice echoed strongly in my head, jolting me to consciousness.
"You have been indoors since yesterday. I might just call the medic team to your room if you don't respond now."
"I'm not dead, you all can disappear now."
Today was a lecture-free day, and I may just make good use of it in the library or somewhere else..