Ch 1: Try A Date

Cover art by Melody Simmons of bookcoverscre8tive.com. Story by Serena Walken of serena-walken.com

Hero was, in every sense of the word, a hero. A young hero at nineteen years old, but no one anyone would mess with. He existed by the sheer torture and curiosity of technology. His ancient ancestors were a clone of a normal person. A mad scientist running secret DNA projects involving humans and wolves. They bred, and he created more tests.

At least, that's the official story.

Decades later, the scientist's 'projects' had escaped. Many had become so primal, that they saw all of mankind as their enemy. Defiling, pillaging, and destroying anything they could, no one stood against them.

Except Hero. He was the last descendent. The fastest, strongest and smartest of the group. He was only five years old at the time when everything happened, but as he stopped more and more projects, people recognized his potential. He was brought more into the world, and no longer considered a project. He was considered a human being with super powers. With no name except a project number, the world had named him Hero.

He fought against the projects that escaped and showed evil colors, but he also fought for mankind. He stopped crime and won every battle he ever fought. Even natural disasters involved his help to get the world back to peace and prosperity.

He was paid and watched by each official territory, making sure that he did not go too wild in front of the public.

He was adored by every man, and loved by every woman. Few could ever say anything bad against their hero.

However, sometimes primal instinct was too much to fight.

It was simple. He had one project to fight. It was over in minutes, the blasted wolf coughing up blood on the ground. He wasn't even a challenge. Hero licked his white paw as he heard the large crowd around him cheer. It was nothing special, happened all of the time. Usually at this time, he would leave back to his private home.

But today, that would not happen. A scent on the air. Something wild, something intense, and something strange.

He looked above him. Hero had been fighting in a low area, but above him had been five bridges with thousands of people cheering. Somewhere in there, someone was giving off that scent.

His mind said he had better leave, but his mind was rarely in control. He jumped several feet in the air like a wild panther and stayed on the ledge. He sniffed, but didn't smell it coming from there. He jumped to the next set of bridges. There was nothing.

Nothing on the third either.

On the fourth though, he gave it one big whiff and almost fell backward. The scent alone, so close! What was it? A new attack? A new power?

No. It was a young woman, sipping on a drink. A strange woman, Hero realized. The smell was permeating from her like perfume smoke from its bottle. Hero jumped into the crowd. Some people were trying to talk to him, but his eyes were only set on one.

The one with the drink. People around her began to try and talk to him too, telling him how much they cared about him, or about a random time he saved them or someone they loved, or something they loved. It was always very jumbled.

She held her drink in her hand tightly as Hero approached her on all fours. She looked around, before meeting her eyes with his.

He couldn't stop staring at her. People mumbled in the background, but he couldn't even make it out. He was consumed by this ordinary girl. Who held the best but strangest smell in the world.

“Hello?” She waved at him politely, but without confidence. “Good job. You know, with the project. They can be a menace. I mean, some, not all. Not you. If you are one. Um.” She went quiet. “Can I help you?”

“Ladies and gentleman, please step back! Give room!” Someone was always near him somewhere, making sure he never got out of control. As enforcers began to push back the crowd, they made the one with the drink shift away.

Hero grabbed the nearest official with his fangs and held him by his clothing. “Don't do that!” He looked back, but lost sight of her. She had shifted because of the enforcers. “Name. Name, what was her name?”

“Roxie,” one of the people next to him said. “I go to school with her.”

As another enforcer tried to scoot the one who went to school with Roxie, he grabbed their shirt sleeve with his teeth and yanked their hand back. Hard. “No!” He was getting pissed. Why did they have to get up into his business today of all days? He moved to sitting in front of her as a sign of respect, and to learn more. “Where is Roxie? Where does she live? What is her last name?”

“Um, well I um, I only slightly know her.” She began to stumble on her words.

Slightly or not, she was his link.

***

Roxie returned to school the next day, her mind anxious to talk to her friends about what happened. One of her friends though, Alexandra, was surrounded by a large group of people. She was talking about how she had actually hung out with Hero in his human form. He had even taken her into a foreign district for supper.

“It was amazing,” Alexandra told everyone, “and I wish it could have lasted longer. Boy, does he have a chest up close too when he is human.” She sighed and grabbed her heart in a cheesy fashion. “I wish I could be―Roxie!”

Suddenly, everyone stopped to look at Roxie. Deja vu again. What was up with her being the center of attention the last two days? “Hello?”

“Roxie! You!” Alexandra ran up to her. “You, Hero wanted to know nothing except you. You, your family, your interests, and even your hobbies. He is so stuck on you. How did you do that?”

“Me?” Roxie looked around again and shrugged. “Nothing. I barely even saw the fight. He jumped the bridges and then, he was just there. Staring at me.”

“If I were you, and he was into me? I'd find any desperate way to contact him,” another one of her friends said.

“Not until she turns twenty two,” Alexandra reminded Roxie. “You can't do anything until twenty two, without permission from your parents.”

“Hero's the hero, defender of everything,” someone in the crowd shouted. “If he wants her, I bet he could get her.”

That 'her' was Roxie. She didn't like the sentiment, or the way the guy in the crowd said it. A date would be okay, and that would be easy to get by her parents. But, he made it sound like something else. It couldn't be any love at first sight, she couldn't even see him after the fight, there was a crowd in front of her watching the action. She only saw bits. So how could he see her?

His eyes. Those eyes disturbed her. They looked like a wild beast, ready to maim her. That way of thinking though was prejudice. He was still human too. His eyes, they weren't a bloodthirsty animals. Just his stare.

“It's romantic.”

“It's sweet.”

“It's pheromones.” A nerdy guy with glasses approached her. “You should be careful. He was busy fighting. There was no reason to notice you way up high, unless it's pheromones.”

“If it was pheromones, he would want everyone,” Alexandra disagreed. “Hero has never even shown interest in any women.”

“Not all, others are attracted more to certain smells. Hero isn't completely human we all know it.” He looked toward Roxie. “Just be careful. If it's your scent, he wants more than a date.”

“Oh, shove off.” Alexandra knocked him out of the way, but Roxie didn't forget his words.

Could he really smell her? Way up there? And, why her?

***

“I don't see what the problem is.” Hero kept his feet reclined back on a table from his chair. He had gathered all the territory officials to agree to a request. A simple request. “How much money have you saved since I've been saving people? Helping people come up with plans to protect and defend better?” He knocked his black boots together twice before standing up. His leather jacket fell off the chair as he strolled over to their round desk area. “I want one thing.”

“This is. . .this is not acceptable,” one of the territory leaders said. “We have certain laws in effect. Waiting until twenty two keeps things steady. Only those who violate the rules are given harsh punishments, and those who wait are often better off. Better schooling, better jobs, and a better economy for all.”

Hero wrinkled his nose. “I hardly ever request anything. I want this.”

“We can't do that,” another one said. “Mister Hero, perhaps we could raise what the government pays you for your annual salary?”

“Who are you?” Hero stared at this new man. A new representative obviously. “What do you think you pay me, huh?”

“I. . .I don't know off the top of my head,” he admitted.

“That's because it's nothing. I had over three billion dollars since I was twelve. I told everyone to stop paying me. I only save people because I can. Because if I didn't, they'd die, and I'd feel guilty.” Hero growled. “Don't even try and use money.”

“He's right,” a man to the left answered. “He's right. He's been defending our planet since he was just a child. He hasn't demanded much.”

“It's a girl,” another one said.

“It's a woman.”

“It's a woman still in school, and under her parents care.”

“Legal age used to be eighteen twenty years ago. She's already nineteen, Hero's age approximately.”

“No. The fact is, Hero, legally, there is no way we can do this.” Bose, the territory official he knew the most, spoke. “You need to forget this. I don't see good things coming of it.”

Hero moved over in front of Bose and leaned his arms against it, hiding his face. “I want the strange woman.”

“Hero, this fascination is some kind of primal lingering inside. It's not who you are anymore. You are a well-respected man who defends and helps.” Bose set his application in front of him. “I'm sorry. You cannot own her without her parents' permission. You aren't thinking straight, give it time. Maybe we could talk about setting a date through her parents, maybe for a fee?”

“I don't want a date.” Hero grunted. “It's one ordinary woman, just give her to me!”

“No. That's final.” Bose pushed the paper farther toward him. “Start a relationship. Move slow, and maybe when she and her parents see how you are, they may consider it.”

“Fine, give them five million,” Hero said meeting Bose's eyes.

“Five million is a large number. I think that a lower number may go over better,” Bose said. “We could haggle. However, I believe haggling for a date would be more beneficial than trying to outright buy their daughter. Think about it, Hero.”

Hero closed his eyes, banging his hand on to the desk. No one understood. No one could smell her, and no one could sense her. There was not a woman alive that stirred his blood like her, so there was something wrong.

That scent, he wanted it back. To touch that woman, to hold her, the instinct was driving him mad!

Too mad. “Try a date,” Hero agreed. There was only one way to find out the truth about the strange woman. He had to confront her.