Prologue

(Los Angeles, California).

11:24 PM, 2012.

~Eliana~

I turned up the volume of the music, “Teenage dream", which was used as an excuse to have teen sex and just feel good without feeling any iota of guilt, like every other wild sex-driven teenager in America, as I drove my Mercedes Benz, which was a 1990 model, and was passed on from my sister, through the streets of Los Angeles, high on alcohol and weed.

Candice was in the backseat with her dumbass boyfriend, Nick, making out aggressively. I looked over at them with my side eye, watching the poor guy who could only boast of having two shirts, tear off her pink panties and descend his tongue on her vagina, making her moan out loud, pleading for more of what she was feeling.

“Eyes on the road, Eliana,” Sam, who was in the passenger seat, said.

“My eyes are on the road, Sam. Where else?” I asked rhetorically, as I continued to speed up the aging car, like I was anchoring it into its demise and final exit from the earth.

It was the night of our high school graduation, and all we just wanted was to have some fun. I had already been accepted into Yale, and I was going to be off for college in a few weeks time. It was hard to admit, but soon, I wasn’t going to be seeing much of my friends anymore. We were all going to different colleges, getting to meet new people, and inasmuch as neither of us wanted to say it out loud, we knew deep down that things were not going to ever be the same with us after this night. That was why we were drinking our livers out, smoking without caring how badly our lungs got damaged, and practically having wild sex, because we may never get to do all those things again or experience it again.

“You only live once" and “Life is short", were the popular phrases my friends and I lived by. We were just focused on living in the moment, and living our lives to the fullest, and in several years from now, I’d come to appreciate that we had lived the way we did, because not all of us got the chance to live that life again.

“Wanna make out?” Sam asked.

I shot a look in his direction, and I could see his penis pointing out, and I giggled at the sight of that. Candice and Nick were making him horny apparently, and if I were being honest, I also was in the mood to feel sexual pleasure.

While my brain told me to tell him no, my body wanted something else. Hence; my car screeched to a halt, and I bit my lower lip flirtatiously, and with a wink, drew Sam by his collar to myself.

“Now, that’s the spirit,” Candice said with a chuckle, before going back to moaning and screaming off our ears.

Sam crushed his lips on mine. It was warm; inviting, and I responded, with my lips telling him not to stop. He slid his tongue into my mouth, and one by one, I unbuttoned his shirt, pulling myself closer to him.

For as long as I could remember, Sam and I had been friends. His father had one of the biggest Petroleum companies in Los Angeles, and my father was a multimillionaire car dealer, famous in California and in other significant states in America. Our parents had introduced us to each other when we were toddlers, and we had become friends. I had my first kiss with him; even my first sex...but we had never dated, even though everyone was convinced that we were in a relationship. We had no deep feelings for each other, and were just the typical friends with benefits.

He unzipped the dress that I had worn to prom and undid my bra. I helped him unhook his belt, and enclosed my palm on his manhood, about to give him the naughtiest blowjob ever. He trembled before me, and began moaning, while stroking my hair, whispering a lot of sweet-nothings.

“You’re truly the best,” He said.

I giggled. “It’s not like you’ve had any except me,” I said in response.

“Whatever. I’m sure no one could ever beat you in this, he said, sliding my satin panties down, circling his finger around my vagina, sending my heart racing faster, as I moaned softly. He thrust his index finger into it, and brought it out, and while I was maintaining my cool since he was doing it so slowly, I couldn’t help but start moaning louder, as he began to repeat the process more rapidly, making me wet all over.

I wanted him...in me.

Spreading my legs wider; one on the car's glove compartment, and the other on the passenger seat, I begged him to give me an orgasm as I couldn’t wait anymore. He smiled like he had accomplished a big victory, and stroked his penis, then as the tension in the car built up gradually, he inserted his dick into my vagina, and began riding me better than he had ever done in the past.

I moaned, savouring the ecstasy he had given to me on a platter of gold, begging him to go harder and faster on me, because I really wanted him.

“I swear to God, Eliana, I love you,” He said.

“What did you say?” I inquired, making sure he hadn’t said what I thought I heard.

“I said I love you,” He said.

From the look of things, Candice and Nick had also stopped grinding, and were eager to know what would happen next. They were the only ones who acknowledged the fact that Sam and I had no boyfriend and girlfriend relationship whatsoever with each other.

“You’re saying that because the sex is good, right?” I asked.

He heaved a deep sigh. “Actually, I’ve always wanted to tell you that...”

“Stop! Stop, okay? I don’t want to hear any more of it,” I thundered.

Sam licked his lips. “I’m sorry. It’s just that in a few weeks from now, we’d all be off to college and I wanted you to know how I feel before then,” He said.

“Well, you chose the wrong time to bring it up,” I said.

“Eliana-"

“Get off me,” I said.

“You can’t be serious,” He said.

“Well, I am serious. Get the fuck off me,” I requested harshly.

He put his hands up in surrender, and got away from me, just as I had requested.

I didn’t feel horny anymore. I just wanted to get the hell out of here, go home and crawl up in my sheets, wondering why I was scared of being loved by anyone.

Ten minutes later, I had successfully managed to put on my dress and had begun driving off again. Initially, we had wanted to go to the club behind the motel, but after what had happened, Candice had decided that it was best if we all just went home. I’m sure they were all angry at me and hated me for being such a bitch, but I didn’t care.

I was going to stop by at Candice’s house first. I had saved her from a bully in the fifth grade, and we had become best of friends after then. She didn’t get me most of the time, but she loved me either way. The next stop was going to be Nick's rat-infested bungalow. The guy was a nerd and acted like the bourgeoisies were the reasons for his family’s poverty, and I never had anything to do with him, until Candice introduced him to me as her boyfriend on a certain sunny day when we were sophomores. I didn’t like him at first, but I got used to having him around because he helped with my homework, and listening to his conspiracy theories was funny.

As for Sam, he was going to be spending the night in a guest room at my place, as he usually did. We were really cool friends, more like relatives, and I couldn’t understand why he suddenly had feelings for me after many years of being just friends and sharing each other’s secrets. It just didn’t make sense, and aside from his confession being a hard thing to process, it was probably going to destroy our friendship.

As the car sped in the cold dark lonely road, no one said a word and probably just had several things going through their minds. Suddenly and without warning, a huge man popped out in the streets, in front of my car, and I managed to step on the brakes as quickly as I could, but not without knocking him off the road.

“Oh my god!” I screamed out, panicking.

“Good Lord! What have you done?” Nick asked.

“I...Did I just kill somebody?” I asked, trembling with my heart beating ten times faster than it usually did.

“Hey, stay calm. Let’s just get out of the car and see what happened,” Sam said, squeezing my hand, helping me calm down a bit.

“Guys, look!” Candice said with a spark of fear in her voice, pointing at the windshield.

Slowly, we all looked in the direction in which she had pointed, and to our greatest dismay, saw a gorilla-like human standing on his two feet, partly covered in black fur, with eyes that had a white glow. His mouth widened and his teeth shot out, looking like he wanted to eat us all up.

“Please, tell me I’m dreaming,” Candice said, in a shaky voice.

My lips quivered and I swallowed hard. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Sam prick his arm, apparently praying for what we were seeing to be just one of those nightmares you couldn’t wait to wake up from.

“What do you think it is?” Nick asked, somehow managing to remain calm, even during a crisis, such as this one.

“I don’t know. A gorilla?” I responded, very unsure of my suggestion.

He scoffed. “Looks like a werewolf to me,” He said.

“Werewolves aren’t real,” Sam and I said in unison, throwing his idea under the bus.

Candice was too stunned to speak, and just kept shivering like someone who was suffering from a bad cold.

The animal remained there panting, and staring at us with cold eyes. I knew it was only a matter of time before it ate us up alive, but I was soon going to find out that it didn’t want us to be his supper. He just wanted to end us.

I took out my phone, and dialled my dad’s number, just as the beast took up the car in his bare hands, leaving us hanging in the air for a moment.

Our high-pitched screams filled the air and we yelled our lungs out.

“Ellie?” My dad’s voice came over the phone's speaker.

“Dad, it’s a gorilla,” I yelled.

“You fool. It’s a werewolf!” Nick voiced out loud.

“What are you kids saying? Is this another one of your pranks?” My dad hollered.

Before any of us could give him a response, the beast threw the car in the North, sending the car landing with a thud.

My car was still intact. It was the oldest car alive, but hadn’t yet been ripped apart, despite all that it had been through.

“What are you waiting for, Eliana? Drive!” Sam yelled.

Luckily, the car had landed on all four wheels, and I stepped on the brakes, turning the key in the ignition, and started driving. How the car managed to still move is something I’d never know, but at the time, I was grateful it did.

We heard the heavy footsteps of the beast approach us, and I shook my head, even as I drove as speedily as I could, knowing in my heart that we were all done for.

“Hey, about what you said earlier...” I started, casting a brief glance on Sam, before focusing once again on the road.

“Now’s not the time, Eliana,” He yelled.

A tear slid down my cheek. “We may never get a chance again. I love you, too. I always have,” I said.

He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, the animal that had attacked us for no just cause, held the trunk of the car, and started pushing it.

I was in a state of panic, and I had no control over the car again.

“Let’s just get out, and run for our lives,” Sam said, unfastening his seat belt.

“What?”

“I agree with Sam. It’s better than being driven into that big tree, because that’s where I think we’re headed,” Nick said.

“Okay, then. Let’s go,” I said, and immediately, Sam and I opened our respective doors, and ran out of the car.

Candice and Nick probably thought we’d never make it out alive, and while they were giving their goodbye kisses to each other whereas Sam and I were already out of the car, the beast successfully drove the car into the tree, and I think something in the car came loose, because it caught fire and in a matter of two seconds, the car exploded.

“Candice!” I screamed out loud, unable to believe my eyes.

I decided to run back to the car in order to save my best friend and her boyfriend, but Sam stopped me.

“It’s already too late. We need to go,” He said, pulling my hand.

“No, you don’t understand,” I said to him.

“Then, make me understand...After we get out of here!” He thundered, and reluctantly, I began to run away with him.

The beast's heavy footsteps sounded heavily behind us, and in a split second, he drew me by the ankle, lifted me high in the air, tightened his hand around my neck, strangling me and digging his claws into my throat, then shoved me into the woods by the east. I hit the stump of a tree, and I began to bleed from my head, coupled with the amount of blood I was losing from my neck.

I gasped for air, but it felt like I was choking, and slowly, my spirit was leaving my body. It was like I was being pulled away from the realms of the earth, but even though I was weak, something in me didn’t want to just watch it all fall apart.

A tear slid down my face, as my breath slowed down, despite my body’s will to live.

Someone, anyone, save me. If I’m to die, let me do so after I’ve lived.

That day, I think someone heard the prayer of my weak heart, as a tall muscular person towered above me, just right at that moment.

I was awake, but with a hazy vision. I wanted to tell him to help me out, but I couldn’t speak, so I let my tears flow freely instead.

He crouched to his knees, and let out a sigh, then clasped his hands around my neck. Maybe he had come to finish me off, I wondered, but then, a warm soothing feeling embraced my body, and I didn’t feel like I was dying anymore... I felt alive.

I saw him stagger backwards, and he seemed weak. What had he done to me? Why wasn’t I dying anymore? Had I made him weak?

“Why’d you save her life?” I heard a female voice ask.

“Because she’s the key,” He responded.

I wanted to make sense out of what I had heard, but couldn’t, because as soon as I saw what was definitely a smirk playing around his lips, my eyes gave way to sleep.