Chapter 1

10 years later

~Alistair~

I picked up the small picture frame, which showed my foster parents smiling broadly. Dad’s hands were wrapped around mum’s waist, and they looked incredibly happy together. They had always loved each other; little wonder they had died while holding hands. None of them would have been able to survive without the other.

Dropping the picture frame on my desk, my eyes caught another frame hanging from a nail on the wall. I took calculated steps towards where it hung loosely from the nail, and was likely to fall in any given minute from now. It was a bigger frame, and it was a picture of myself, and my foster parents, who had died in a car accident exactly a year ago. I half-smiled as I stared longingly at the photograph, before adjusting it, so that it was firm on the wall.

We had taken the picture twenty-five years prior to now, when I was just seven years old, and on the very day they had taken me in as their son. After my biological parents' death, I had spent days just outside Mr and Mrs Duke's luxurious mansion in San Francisco. For some reason, I had been drawn to them, and one day, when driving out of their apartment, Mrs Caroline Duke looked upon me with affection, and had smiled lovingly at me. All I had told them was my name, and that I had woken up in their estate. I told them I didn’t know who I was and I couldn’t remember anything.

The police couldn’t find anyone or anything related to me, and Mrs Caroline Duke, a devout Christian, was sure that I had been sent by an angel to her. She and her husband had been skeptical about adopting a child after failing to have a child of their own, but when I had just showed up in front of their mansion, they decided it was time.

I heaved a sigh, and took my eyes off the picture, deciding to not think any more of the past, but of the present. Staring at that picture had brought about sweet old memories, but had also left a disturbing hole in my heart.

“Alistair?” I heard Jenny's voice call.

I turned around, and nodded at her, acknowledging her presence.

“Don’t think about it too much. You’ll be fine,” She said, with a concerned look plastered on her face.

“Think about what? Do you even know what’s on my mind?” I asked, feigning pretence.

“I may not know what’s on your mind, but I can sense that all is not well with you,” She said.

I bit my lower lip. “I just really wish that I had taken that family photograph that mum kept desiring. Anytime she’d ask, I’d just say I’m busy, and we still have all the time in the world to take as many pictures as she wanted. I was wrong, and now, the only family picture we ever took is this one...” I pointed at the frame on the wall. “...this one we took when I was seven years old.”

“It’s not your fault you thought you had all the time in the world, you know. Who thought you’d lose your parents just like that?”

I heaved a deep sigh again. “You’re right. I should stop beating myself up about it.”

“Exactly,” She said, with a smile, then walked closer to me.

“Do you think they’re proud of me though?” I asked, as she started helping me to button the white shirt I had on.

“They were always proud of you. They’d even be more proud of you in their graves. I mean, look at how well you’ve handled the company,” She said, licking her lips lustfully.

“You’re right, but you know something? I’ll never believe that the accident happened just like that. It seemed like it was planned,” I said.

She scoffed. “Here you again. Who do you think would have planned a car accident for your parents, who were loved by everyone?” She asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe-"

“Sweetheart, there’s no maybe. You either have proof to back up your allegation, or you keep it to yourself,” Jenny said, touching my lips with her fingers.

“You think I’m wrong?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I’m just saying. Methamphetamine was found in the driver’s blood if you recall, and of course, you do recall. We have the best memories after all,” She said, then crushed her lips on mine.

I kissed her back, then slowly slid my hands to her ass, groping it intensely, and kissing her longingly. She pushed me to the bed, unbuttoning the shirt she had just buttoned up less than a minute ago. I turned her over, making her lay beneath me, and I proceeded to kiss her neck, making her moan softly, pulling me closer. I was about to peel off her dress from her skin, when I felt claws, not nails, digging my back roughly.

I pushed her away, and stood to my feet hurriedly. I started buttoning my shirt all over again, as she looked at me apologetically, controlling her claws to be invisible once more.

“I’m sorry,” She said.

“It’s not your fault, Jenny. It’s just the stupid full moon,” I said, then reached out to her, planting a kiss on her forehead.

“But you remain the same, even during full moons as if nothing has changed,” She objected.

“You and I are not the same, Jenny. Besides, it also took me several years to fully control my emotions during the full moon. Back then, I’d chain myself in the attic, so my parents wouldn’t find out. However, I mastered it with time. All it takes is time. Soon, you’ll be in charge of who you are and what you want to do,” I told her.

“Sure?” She asked.

I nodded in the affirmative, shooting a small smile in her direction.

“Thanks,” She said, then sat up, adjusting her dress.

“I don’t think you should still come with me today though,” I told her, grabbing my black suit and jacket.

“Come on. I’ll be able to control myself, I promise,” Jenny said.

“Like how you controlled yourself when that good-for-nothing waitress mistakenly spilled milkshake on your dress?” I teased.

She chortled, and put her hands up in surrender. “Fine. You’ve made your point.”

“I always do make my point,” I said, with a wink.

She stood up, cupped my face in her palms, and drowned me in another one of her passionate kisses, and circling my hands around her waist, I responded to her kiss, inserting my tongue into her mouth, and pressing her chest to mine, arousing a deep sexual urge within her.

About five minutes later, she broke the kiss and looked me in the eyes, still with that same concerned look. “Just be safe, okay?”

“I will be safe,” I told her, nodded at her as some form of acknowledgement, then walked out of my living room.

“Let’s take the G-wagon,” I announced to the driver, immediately I stepped into the garage.

The poor man looked like he had been waiting for hours, and would have absconded and given up on waiting for me, if his salary wasn’t mouth-watering.

He nodded his head, then suddenly pointed at my collar, trying so hard to stifle a laugh.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, then looked at the collar of my shirt, only to find out that Jenny's strawberry-flavoured peach lipstick had stained it.

I rolled my eyes, super annoyed because I warned her all the time to avoid the use of lipsticks, whenever she knew she wanted to have sex with me.

“I’ll never understand women’s obsessiveness with makeup, will I?” I asked aloud.

The driver, Mr Coleman, gave a small smile. “Not all women apply makeup,” He said.

“Hopefully, I’ll find one someday,” I said, then entered into the car, whose door had been held by the driver.

It was the day of my parents’ remembrance, and I just wanted to drop off some flowers, and spend sometime at their graveside, in peace and serenity. That was why I was leaving around 5:30 in the evening, when no one would be around, and I could dwell in the serene environment and feel the presence of my parents.

However, when the car pulled over at the cemetery, I was surprised with the fact that a car was packed just at the entrance. Who the hell was still around and couldn’t just leave me alone to be with my parents?

Swallowing hard, I heaved a deep sigh, counselling myself to not think so much of the matter, and that everyone deserved to see their loved ones whenever they pleased. I’d have asked Mr Coleman to just turn around, so we could just be on our way, but it was a necessity for me to say hi to my parents today since it was the day of their remembrance.

Mr Coleman rushed to open the door, motioning for me to alight.

I picked up the flowers that Jenny had bought oh my behalf, and the bottle of whisky I had taken from the house, and stepped out of the car.

“I’ll be back soon. Just sit in the car and wait for me,” I told Mr Coleman, and took quick strides to where my parents' graves were located.

Perhaps, whoever had their car packed outside was just a worker in the cemetery. I was definitely going to pay the owner of the cemetery a huge sum of money to let me in after visitation hours, or probably just buy the cemetery, and set a day when no one could visit in order for me to visit on that day. I should have just buried my parents in the backyard of their mansion, and all these wouldn’t have happened. I was getting worked up just because I hated being around people I didn’t know, and I also didn’t want to show my emotional side to anyone, or respond to questions posed by inquisitive people that couldn’t just mind their business.

It was definitely not a worker's car that was packed outside, as my eyes caught her, sitting on a bench five steps away from where I stood, sipping a glass of what was definitely alcohol.

Her long brown hair fluttered in the wind, and my heart began to beat faster. It was as though my heart remembered who she was, as it raced fast, even before I got a chance to look at her.

It was impossible for someone to stare at you for sometime, without you knowing that someone’s eyes was definitely on you. I had forgotten about this fact, because I kept staring at her, and before I could dart my eyes away, she turned her head slowly, and her eyes rested on me.

It wasn’t the first time we were meeting as I could vividly remember she looked the same way as she did ten years ago, except that she was now an older version of the girl who had been struggling for her life back then, and was on the verge of giving up, until I had showed up and given her a second chance at life.

Her scent was still the same, and maybe that’s why my heart had raced the way it did. It was because I had come in contact with her after so many years.

She stood up, and while I was expecting her to throw an offended look in my way and scream that I was either a pervert or a stalker, she unexpectedly smiled broadly at me, her dimples sending a tingling sensation down my spine.

I swallowed hard. Was it possible that she remembered me? Why was she smiling instead of getting annoyed that a total stranger had been staring at her for no reason at all? Was she thankful that I had saved her life ten years ago?

The tension in the air built up as her adorable puppy-like brown eyes met my cold blue eyes, and for some reason, neither of us let go of holding each other's eyes.

Instead of dwelling in the awkward silence that bewitched the environment, I walked slowly towards her, and stretched out my hand for a handshake with her.

Her smile broadened, as she took my hand, thereby shaking hands with me. Her palm was soft, and felt warm.

“Hi. I’m Alistair Duke, and who’s this graceful lady I’ve been honoured to come across?” I asked, a mischievous smirk playing around my lips.

“I am Eliana Venator,” She said, with a smile that depicted innocence.

Eliana Venator... I had never ever thought in my wildest imagination that I would meet her again in this manner, or in a place that smelled so much like death. Although meeting her again was far from the timing I had had in mind, I was glad the universe had brought her along at the time I really wanted to pour out my anger on the whole world. She’d never know what hit her.