Supernatural 1

"Dude-Dude-Duuude." A distant voice and someone poking him in the ribs brought Raymond out of his deep slumber as he trained his sensitive eyes to see his roommate.

"What- time is it?" he asked mid-yawn.

"A little over nine."

Raymond shot up, "shit! I'm late."

Charles laughed "kidding you. It's seven a.m. You still got an hour to prepare." He added. Groaning, he dropped his head back into the pillow and closed his eyes.

"Dude! Wake up. You shouldn't be missing classes this early during your semester."

Getting no response, he grabbed Raymond by the shoulders and raised him up to a sitting position.

"Is this some kind of a Centaur thing?" A slightly agitated Ray grumbled.

He could then feel Charles freeze and guessed he thought it was still a secret.

"Yeah! I know who you are, imagine my luck. I mean what are the odds of having a Centaur as a roommate out of all the creatures in mythology."

"Are you suggesting that I'm inadequate?" the Centaur folded his arms and glared at Ray.

"Hey sorry, I was just joking man, nothing serious." Raymond was rewarded by deep laughter, "Relax, just messing with you. You didn't think I was going to go all-Tyson on you? Poor Thunder-God."

"Don't call me that. The name's Raymond, and I'm no Thunder-God."

"For now." Charles grinned.

"Got to ask, how are…"

"Human?" Charles finished for him, "transformation magic. Something I learned a long time ago. It helps me blend in with the humans as one of them," he replied.

"Now enough of today's morning lessons, time for some real-life classes. You should get ready if you don't want to be late," he finished and left for his room. Leaving Ray to debate whether he felt like going to school or not.

In the end, going won and he lazily stood and marched to his room to freshen up. Taking a quick shower, he caught his reflection in the mirror as he walked out of their shared bathroom and was surprised to see a few drastic changes that happened to his body. He could see a few more muscles in his upper body than he had yesterday. His chest had widened a little bit. Taking a tape measure, he had gone from forty-six to forty-nine in one night.

He just hoped he wasn't going to get any bigger. Observing his facial features, he could see subtle signs of a stubble forming and had a smile planted on his face, at least one of the things was going on for him. While brushing his teeth, his mind went back to the male cop as he explained the zero effects of a stun gun one of their officers used on him.

By the time he was done brushing, he had made up his mind. Throwing caution to the wind, he quickly rinsed his mouth, picked a tester and went for his bedroom socket. Cautiously opening it, he located the live wire and carefully unscrewed it, taking good care not to touch the exposed part. Having set it free, he paused to look around as if expecting someone to stop him but found no one.

Slowly, he inched his dominant arm and wiggled his fingers closer to the exposed wire. With just a few centimeters left, a tendril of electricity quickly left the cable and latched onto his index finger. He quickly jerked his hand back in surprise but didn't feel any pain afterward. He expected someone to interrupt him at any moment, but all he heard was a fairly loud thumping in his chest as his heart raced.

Taking a few deep breaths, he tried to relax and wipe his sweaty hands. Bolder now, he grabbed the whole exposed wire and immediately felt a good amount of electricity rushing into him that made him slightly giddy, but it soon passed.

Unknown to him, the lights in his room began to dim and quickly spread to the whole apartment. Within seconds of his consumption, the whole block started experiencing a brownout. The door to his room was violently kicked open, the lock readily giving in to the inhuman force behind the kick made Raymond jump to face the door.

Charles initially had seen the slight flickering of light at first but ignored it. When the lights began dimming at long irregular intervals, he had only one person in mind and Charles was completely worried by what he could be doing. He rushed to his bedroom only to find him totally nude and his entire body bathed in electrical sparks.

"I see you've just discovered fire. Do you mind stopping before you rob us of any little power we've got left at the sub-station."

"You should've seen it. It was incredible. I can siphon freaking electricity."

"Yeah, yeah. I already know that and a lot other abilities you are capable of. Still won't make you early for classes, its seven twenty." He said and turned to leave. Unlike Ray, he was completely dressed anew.

"I'll be done in a sec." He quickly dressed, and the two walked out. …

Outside, the first thing that Ray noticed is how the world changed. He felt a connection to the very air he breathed. It was like an extension of his very own conscious. Yesterday his world was relatively normal to him, but now his senses were much sharper, and if he didn't know any better, he could've sworn he had acquired something akin to an extra sense.

The first thing that wafted past his nose was the smell of his friend's shampoo, Charles was a good ten feet ahead of him heading for his jeep. All around him smells of other perfumes mixed with all sorts of strange smells he couldn't piece together.

Deciding to ignore everything, he got to the other side of the jeep and jumped in. The campus was half a mile away, and he usually preferred walking with today being the exception as he was late.

"So, just how many supernatural creatures are out there?" Raymond asked after buckling up.

"A lot more than you could imagine," Charles replied before turning on the ignition.

"Are vampires real?"

"Not exactly." Charles chuckled.

"What about gods?"

"They are everywhere."

"What!"

"Well, some live among humans while others prefer their own places or dominions."

"What about Aphrodite?" Raymond asked, little excitement laced his voice.

"Don't go there bro, besides she's way out of your league."

"Can't blame me for trying?" he shrugged.

"I know, but I would start with the lower deities, Sprites, and Nymphs should do. Then go for the lesser gods, throw in a few titans—I hear they've got a lot of self-esteem issues— then the greater gods, within no time you should be smashing Zeus' record."

"I don't think I'm into that." Raymond's face had a bit of bewilderment in it.

"Giving up before you even start? I keep forgetting you were raised like a human. Don't be shy. If you want something, go for it. You'll be surprised by how many yeses you will get.

"Us supernatural aren't big on taboos and shaming. With the exception of those that are married. And even they are debatable."

"So, what, it's like a free for all?"

"In a way, yeah." Charles grinned while his eyes were glued to the road

"No thanks." Ray sighed and leaned back into his seat.

"You say that now."

They reached campus, and both got out.

"See you after class," Charles said before throwing his bag over his shoulder and left leaving Raymond behind to trot towards his block slowly. It was the Applied Sciences Department. His first lecture, Health Education. Taking the stairs, he stopped at his destination on the third floor. The first double doors were to the men's toilet situated at the end of the hall followed by a series of numbered rooms.

Reaching his, at room B112, he wasn't surprised to find a class already in progress. He politely knocked and entered, picking the furthest chair in the back and sat. Just a few feet to his right was another occupant. A short girl with flame hair.

She was busy typing on her phone, but as if on instinct she stopped to glance at him for about three seconds before continuing with whomever she was texting. Ray paid her no attention and got out his writing materials.

About three minutes to the end of class, the flame-haired girl turned to face him again. "What are you?"

"Ray." Raymond frowned without looking at her.

She rolled her eyes, "not that, I mean species?"

"Homo sapiens." He shrugged.

"Seriously?" The girl frowned.

"What else is there?" Ray turned to face her, this time raising both his eyebrows questioningly. "You're not human, that I'm a hundred percent sure. But I can't place you generally. Unless you are a Chimera."

"Huh! Is this how you normally introduce yourself to total strangers?" Ray asked a bit wearily.

"Tell you what, my friends and I are ditching the rest of our lectures. We're going to hang out on the beach. You can join if you want?"

"No thanks, I've been in enough trouble already," Ray replied before packing everything and getting out to go for his second lecture of the day. The last thing he wanted right now was to be a supernatural groupie.

"Hey! Wait up," the flame-haired girl lightly jogged after him. "I'm Emma by the way."

She caught up with him in the hallways.

"Raymond." He replied nonchalantly without slowing down for her. At his current pace, she could only keep up through jogging and it made the whole scene awkward.

"So, you're the first supernatural I've met since I joined campus and you're not going to tell me what you are?"

"I don't know you?"

"Really, I'm an Oceanid." She stated it proudly like it should mean something to him.

"How did you know I'm not—"

"Human?"

Raymond wanted to ask. It would better if he knew early on and find a way to hide it next time.

"Your aura, if you could call it that, but it's mostly a feeling."

"How come I can't feel you?" He asked while at the same time trying to find anything resembling an aura that he could read.

"I masked mine."

"I'm not sure what you meant by Oceanid."

"Mmmh! You're strange. Come with us, and I'll show you?" She grabbed Ray's hand, but he didn't follow.

"I can't." Ray sadly replied, swinging his bag over his shoulders and began descending the stairs, three at a time, and into the hallway on the second floor as he once again rushed for his lecture. "How about later tonight. Tomorrow is Saturday, so no excuses?"

Raymond was slightly startled. He thought he had left her a good distance behind him only for her to appear right by his side again. She didn't even look winded.

"I'll think about it."

"I'll take that as a yes. Can I have your number?" She asked triumphantly, causing to Raymond chuckle inwardly.

"I guess."