2 Chapter 1: Part 2

¤Natasha¤

"I can't hold my hunger," I tell Odessa as we walk through the forest. The forest was so dark, yet I could still see everything as if it was the day. My throat burns, craving something, but I have no idea what. My stomach grumbles and I bite down on my lips, trying not to let out a groan.

Odessa turns and looks at. She eyes me for a moment, before rolling her eyes. "We are literally seconds away from your village." She says. "Hold it in, because after tonight I don't know when you'll eat again."

I frown. "You're going to starve me!" I exclaim.

Odessa smirks. "Yes, but not willingly. It's to train you to not always rely on food." She takes a step back. "It will also help you in learning how to use your abilities."

"Abilities?" I repeat the word. "What does that mean?"

"Abilities are another word for powers." Odessa answers. "Remind me to give you a knowledge test when we get back home. It doesn't seem like you know much."

Was that an insult?

"Anyways, your abilities will come to you fast. You'll be able to use them by the time we get to the underworld. But you won't be able to unlock your full potential until you have proper training."

My feet stop moving, as I hear something. My eyes snap to where the noise comes from and they dilate. I sniff the air, catching the scent of something sweet. The savory aroma wafted through the cool air. My stomach clenches with hunger. All I see is red. "Food." It's the only thing that comes out of my mouth, as I walk to the source of the noise. Pushing a branch out of the way, I spotted a child. I frown. "Why does he smell so good?" I asked Odessa.

Odessa chuckles. "It's not him that smells good, it's his blood."

"How do I get his blood?"

She smiles at me. "It's simple really, you just have to kill him."

I gasp. "But he's just a mtoto."

Odessa pinches the bridge of her nose. "So what if he's just a child? He's food. And when it comes down to food, you don't discriminate. You just drink and kill."

I gulp. "Must I really kill him?"

She nods. "Yes." She looks down at her nails. "You need to kill everyone you bite because then they'll be more like you. We don't want that, you're one of a kind."

The burning in my throat gets worse. My eyes go from the little boy to Odessa. I let out a breath. I can't starve myself. "How do I do it?"

Odessa smirks. "You just calm yourself and think about him. Think about the taste of his blood. The feeling of it going down your throat, satisfying your thirst." She tells me. "After that, your body will do the rest."

My eyes train in on the little boy. I can hear his heart pounding in his chest and blood flowing through his body. My eyes closed and before I knew it, I was standing right next to the boy. He gasps and takes a step back. "Shh, I'm not going to hurt you," I tell him. He doesn't listen, he takes a step back, ready to run. My eyes darken, and I attack him, going for his neck.

At first, he struggles, but he stops once I hold his hands down. My teeth enlarged, and I sank them into his soft flesh. My fangs find themselves drawn to the jugular vein. The sweet blood flows into my mouth like a river flowing down the rocks. For a few seconds, I was lost in the rich, beautiful blood. The boy's body goes limp, but I still continue to drink from him. After a few minutes, I pushed his dead body away from me.

Odessa stares at me and starts clapping. "That was wonderful, you did better than I expected." She says, proudly. "I thought you'd use the Lycan way to kill him, but the vampire way works too."

"I'm still hungry," I state.

"Good." She says. "You can finish in your village and then you'll be full." Odessa moves her hair out of her face. "Take a deep breath and focus on where you want to go. Your speed will get you to the village. I'll meet you there." And with that, she disappears.

My eyes widened in amazement. I've never seen anything like that. I let out a breath, focusing on my village. I close my eyes and feel my body start to move. The wind blows in my face as I move fast through the woods. Once I feel myself stop moving, I open my eyes.

"Amazing, ain't it?" Odessa asks.

I nod my head. "Very, never felt like that before." The sound of drums makes itself known. The people of my village started to chant, calling on the Gods.

"What are they doing?" Odessa asks, confused.

"Celebrating." My eyes look down at the ground. "The new chief has found a wife."

Odessa scoffs. "Marriage is for fools." She smiles at me. "Let's go crash it." Odessa doesn't wait for my response; she latches onto my arm and pulls me forward. We walked into the ceremony, catching looks from the people of my village. The music goes silent, and everyone turns to us in disgust.

"What is the meaning of this?" Damian Nadir's father asks. "And why is this woman here?" I didn't even answer him. My eyes are trained on Nadir and his new wife, Asha... My sister. I glared at them both, wanting to rip their heads off. "Answer me!" Damian yells.

My eyes snap to him, glaring deep in his soul. "I will answer to no one! I take orders from no one!" I yelled furiously.

My mother walks towards me angrily. "How is she still alive?" I hear her whispering to herself. "You will stop this right now you foolish girl!" She yells. "You will apologize to the chief and his son, then you will go home."

"No," I said, standing my ground. "All my years on this earth have been terrible because of all of you! You all curse at me, treat me differently because of my skin!" I yell. "I've been beaten and spit on! And today, I was almost killed by the hands of my own mother. I will not take any more of this." People gasp at the last part, covering their mouths.

My father, Tadeas, looked at my mother in shock. "Is this true Hedvika?"

My mother's eyes go from me, then onto my father. "Of course not. She's a liar!" She shouts. "Do not let this girl fool you all. All she is is evil! Just pure evil!"

Ignoring her, I turned to my father. "Father you once said to me, that power is the source of respect. That if you have power, then you're the luckiest person in this lifetime."

"What does that have to do with this situation Natasha?" He asks, frowning.

My eyes darken a bit. "I have the power to make you all worship me, but I don't want that. I just want respect. Respect is all I've ever wanted from the people of this village."

"We do not respect peasants!" Damian steps towards me. "I am the chief of this village and only I deem who gets respect around here. The skin you wear is despicable and because of that, you will never get respect. You should be lucky I let you live for this long." He says. "Now Natasha stop this crazy talk and apologize to your village, or you will be beheaded."

I look him in the eyes, then smirk. "Behead me then." I sneer. The Warriors pointed their spears at me, stepping closer to me. I focus on my surroundings, opening the palm of my hands. I lift it up and point it at the warriors. My fingers tingle as I feel a surge of power erupt in my body. Whips of blue light extend from my fingertips, and I close my hands, throwing every warrior to the ground.

Everyone gasps. "She's a witch!" My sister yells. "Kill her!" She orders. "She's sold her soul to the devil."

Odessa gasps dramatically, holding onto her chest. "I'm offended." She says angrily. "I've met the devil and he is nowhere near like me. For Christ's sake, the man is hideous." She points at herself. "I'm way too beautiful to be compared to that man. And Natasha didn't sell her soul, she sold her humanity. There's a difference, get it right."

Nadir speaks for the first time. "Kill them both!" He yells, his voice not sounding the same. I turned to him inspecting him. My fist ball up.

I'm going to kill them, I'm going to kill them all!

"How do I use the lycan power?" I asked Odessa.

She looks at me shocked. "You need to get the command from the person who turned you." She says, looking at the warriors who got up," They were circling us, trying to keep us surrounded.

My eyes stay glued to Nadir's. "We'll then command me."

Odessa chuckles. "I've got to admit it kid, you have some big cojones. This is going to hurt like hell." She cracks her fingers. "As your creator, I command you to shift!" She yells, loud enough for everyone to hear. A sudden heat flashes in my body.

Pain rushes through my bloodstream, creating intense agony. My bones outstretched, my jawbone dislocates and develops into a vicious fanged mouth. My entire face structure transforms. The hair on my head spurts all over, my eyes turning blood-red. My fingernails grew at an alarming rate into razor-sharp claws as I was forced onto all fours. I was freaking out as I saw the horror. I let out an ear-bursting howl.

I was no longer the girl I had once been.

I was now something else.

Everyone gasps as they see what I've become. I turn to the warriors and snarl at them ominously as sweat begins to bead on their foreheads and their hearts pound hard in their chest. I leap at them with a gaping mouth filled with sharp teeth and dripping hot saliva. Screams break out and everyone begins to panic, but it doesn't matter to me. I've already got a taste of their blood and them running only becomes a challenge to me. Half of the people in my village are dead, and it excites me.

I take full pride in being the one that killed them.

My canine was dripping with blood as I ran towards my next victim. It's a mother holding on tightly to her children. I bare my teeth at them, suddenly questioning myself on whether I should kill them.

"Don't you dare give them mercy!" Odessa yells. "You kill them. You kill all of them."

I snarled at her.

I wasn't the old Natasha, therefore I take orders from no one anymore. Not even my creator.

Backing away from the humans, I shift back to my normal self. I ignore the looks I get from being naked and walk over to Odessa. "I'm not going to kill them," I state. "I'm going to do much worse."

Odessa scoffs. "And what's that?"

I grin at her. "One thing that my people hate, are things that are not natural. Therefore, I'm going to turn them into something so that they can live forever in suffering."

Odessa smiles at me clapping. "So you're going to do a curse?"

I nod. "Yes." I turned to Nadir's father, Damian. "Everyone will have a curse, except you." I look at Nadir. "I want you to remember this day my love. I want you to know that this is all your fault."

He steps forward, worried. "Natasha, please don't do this." He gets down on his knees. "I'm begging you."

I chuckle humorously. "Well, you can keep begging." I lift my hands up, and the familiar power rushes through my hands. Blue light consumes Damian as he screams in pain. His body was nothing more, but ash now. Nadir cries and some people join him. My mother and sister only look at me with hatred, while my father only sees fear.

Odessa snaps her fingers, and a big book appears in her hands. She hands it to me. "Find a spell and say it."

I inspect the book and frown. "I cannot read this language."

Odessa sighs. "My bad, I forgot." She looks down at the book. "When you choose a spell, I'll read it and you just repeat after me."

"Why can't you just cast the spell?"

Odessa pinches the bridge of her nose. "Because I'm not a witch. Just because I'm the queen of the underworld, doesn't mean I have the same powers as those I create.

I sigh, not even bothering to say anything. I flipped through the ancient book until I found something that caught my eye. "I wanna do this spell."

Odessa laughs when she sees what I've chosen. "You want to turn them into Ghouls?"

"Yes."

She shrugs. "Alright then, repeat after me." She takes the book. "Avertat deus naturam divinam in his maxime cupio."

I repeat her exact words. "Avertat deus naturam divinam in his maxime cupio."

Thunder roars in the sky, causing me to look up. The agonizing screams of my people bring joy to my face. I watch in amazement how each and every single one of them turns into the creature I wanted them to be. I smile once the transformation is done. "The people of Jambiani you have failed this village. You are all sentenced to 2018 years of living like Ghouls. I'll be back in the year of 3836 to free you all."

"You look kind of sexy when you're doing spells," Odessa says as we walk away.

"Sexy?" I question. "I've never heard of such a thing."

"It means you look good." She looks down at my nude body. "Every bit of you looks good."

I look at her weirdly. "Thanks?" I say, but it comes out more like a question. "What do we do now?"

Odessa grins. "Now, we make the rest of the world know your name."

And just like that, my life would change forever.

Let the adventures begin.