28.- Decision

TW:  death, mention of transphobia.

Why were there rouges here?

Lupita quickly ran to a tree and climbed. Just as she reached the top she saw the figures appear beneath her. Tall men with scraps for clothes, deep infected wounds, seemingly permanently dirty skin, and matted hair.

"Is a terrible idea," one of them slurred as they staggered around the spot.

"No, isn't. Could save us," the other said. Lupita almost felt bad for the two, but the small tingling in her shoulder and face made her rethink where to place her empathy.

"Gentlemen."

That voice. Lupita almost fell off the tree. That hissing almost whisper. It couldn't be. Oh, but it was. He came out of the shadows with his mask and cane. He smelled the same and Lupita felt the hair on her neck rise as the smell reached her nose.

"Thank you for waiting. I had a meeting before this and was sadly delayed," he said his voice snaking around in Lupita's head.

"S'alright," one of the rouges said. "Ye got it?"

"I do," he said, pulling out a big syringe with a strangely thick end. Lupita recognized the end, she found one on the football pitch, she had thought it was a nail. It looked gruesome.

"S'what does it do?" the other rouge asked as he looked at the syringe.

"Oh, well," the man said. Lupita could feel the grin under his mask as he slowly approached one of them. He jabbed the syringe into his shoulder and injected him with the serum. The rouge fell to the floor and began shaking violently. "I should tell you that this is experimental. Thank you for volunteering." The other rouge just stared at his friend, unable to speak. After a while the, shaking stopped and the rouge lay there, unmoving. The man poked his side with his cane and hummed. "It needs improvement."

"Ya killed 'im!" the other rouge shouted and his stench grew. "You said we wou be cured! No killed!"

"Don't fret my friend," the man hissed. He slowly walked towards the other rouge who was shaking in anger. "If you come with me you could be saved. Se this as a sacrifice for you."

The rouge looked at the other laying on the ground. It looked like he was thinking.

"I guess," he said and looked toward the vampire. "So you still help me?"

"Of course," the man hissed in a low tone. "Come with me and I'll see it done."

"Ok," the rouge said and nodded aggressively.

"Excellent," the man said and Lupita could feel the evil in his voice. He put out his hand, Lupita blinked, and they were gone.

The girl shook in the tree, her claws rooted deeply into the tree. She felt the tiny creature in her hair shake as well and his small hands hold onto her hair. He was here. He was alive. He was doing something to rouges. Saving them? Lupita took a deep breath and thanked the goddess that the man hadn't seen her. To her surprise, nothing peculiar about her past came to her, something which frightened her even more than the memories showing up. Was she forgetting? No, she could feel the memories now, but the calming presence of her wolves helped her calm down. They were pushing them down, as they usually did. She could only remember the feeling of those times, not the details. But that man was burnt in her mind.

"Takk," she mumbled and took a deep breath. She had felt a tug. A small one but it was still there. Didn't she break the curse the last time? Or, was it only temporary? She looked down at her palm where her old wound lay. She knew her answer now.

A whistle sounded in the distance and Lupita quickly pulled her other hand out of the tree and jumped down. She sped across the forest, lost in thought and fear as the rotten smell of rouges and the clean smell of the man still clouded her mind. The world was blurry but she was knocked back into her senses as she fell on top of someone.

"Was wondering where you were," North groaned. Lupita immediately hugged the other wolf tight and took in her smell. It calmed her and she started breathing normally again. She hadn't realized how fast her breathing had been. "You good?" North asked.

Lupita wondered for a moment if she should tell the girl. Would she understand? Would she hate her for what she had done?

"I'm fine," Lupita whispered in a shaky voice while gripping North tighter.

"I don't believe you, but I won't pry," the shifter said and Lupita felt a kiss in the top of her head. "You are shaking... And your mate is looking mighty mad."

Lupita slowly moved away from North to catch a glimpse of Ambrosia giving North a death stare before quickly looking away as soon as she caught Lupita's eyes. She smiled slightly before moving back to look at North. The shifter was looking at her with her eyebrows drawn together and her head slightly tilted.

"How can you run so fast and not seem tired?" she asked with a laugh.

"Run?" Lupita said, trying to seem convincing but knowing she wasn't.

"Guess you're right," North said and laughed. Lupita hadn't tried to be funny but was glad the topic was avoided. "But man. I'm exhausted," North said and laid back down on the grass.

Lupita smiled and moved away from the wolf. She never truly understood how different she was from other shifters. It felt strange to be surrounded by so many "normal" people. As she looked around she realized many if not all the werewolves were lying in the grass while breathing heavily. The vampires were either sitting or standing, seemingly unaffected. Except for Ambrosia who was slightly sweating, but standing nonetheless.

"Hey guys," Jazmyn said as she slowly made her way toward them with three bottles of water. "Good to see you come back. I thought you were lost."

"I'm fine," Lupita said and forced a smile as she accepted the water bottle. She was glad her body had calmed down, the last thing she wanted to do was for Jazmyn to worry and tell Elizabeth.

"Good," Jazmyn said and sat down with them. "This was brutal," she said as she took a big gulp of her water.

"You didn't push yourself too hard right?" North asked while also taking a sip of her water.

"Of course not," Jazmyn said and lay down on the grass with her arms outstretched. "I barely surpass an above-average human man in everything at the moment. Give me a week and I can keep up with some of the waker werewolves." North chuckled and Lupita joined, not completely understanding what was being said, but she didn't want to feel left out.

The sun was beating down on them as they walked into the school building to shower or just get their stuff before going home. Lupita decided she wouldn't shower here. Insecurities weren't something she usually thought about before coming to this place. Now she would take any opportunity to hide her scars from the world.

"I'll meet you guys tomorrow," Lupita said as she picked up her stuff from the locker room and kept her eyes fixated on North to not make anyone uncomfortable. She had heard a few girls whisper about it before and she didn't want to be the cause of someone's discomfort.

"Be safe," North said and hugged her as she hurried out of the room. Once on the outside, she took a deep breath. All the perfume and sounds in the cramped room were suffocating and overwhelming. How was anyone surviving in there?

Lupita scratched her nose and started walking down the hall. She passed another locker room and stopped. There was a sound coming from inside. She placed her ear to the door and heard it. Jagged breaths and sniffling. Lupita looked up at the door and saw the sign: "Vampire, girls". Would it be against the rules if she went in? Her body reacted without her consent and she opened the door. In the room, she found someone sitting on the floor with their arms wrapped around their knees, which were brought up to their chest while their head was hidden in their arms.

"Go away," they said in a muffled voice.

Lupita felt her collar tighten at the command but stood still.

"Are you ok?" she asked in a strained voice while taking a small step forward, noticing the collar didn't tighten.

"I don't want to talk right now," Ambrosia whispered and turned her back to Lupita. "And especially not to you."

"Please?" Lupita said and continued to walk toward the vampire while feeling the collar tighten around her neck.

"You'll hurt yourself if you continue that," she said as Lupita kept taking slow steps toward her.

"I know," Lupita strained as she sat down next to her mate and smiled. She was starting to feel lightheaded and leaned her head against the wall behind her. They stayed like this for a little while, the collar tightened around Lupita's neck as they sat in silence. Her breathing slowly became jagged and uneven and her mind became cloudy.

"You can stay," Ambrosia suddenly said and the relief was instantaneous.

"Thank you," Lupita breathed out as she took in big gulps of air while her mind slowly cleared up.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Ambrosia said, still with her back turned to her.

"Yeah," Lupita said, carefully rubbing her neck around the collar careful not to scratch it. "Are you ok?" she asked while giving Ambrosia a concerned look while fighting her instinct to touch the girl.

"I'm fine," she said in a harsh tone and Lupita saw her shrink more into herself and her voice got more muffled. "People here are jerks."

"They are," Lupita said with a nod. It had been a surprise to enter this environment. People were relentless in their teasing, especially the ones with more wealth or status. She didn't fully understand, but then again, she didn't understand a lot of things.

"Why are you here?" Ambrosia suddenly asked and turned to her. Her eyes and nose were red, but what Lupita noticed was the dark red bruise on her cheek.

Lupita felt her hands fly to the girl's cheeks and slowly began tracing her thumb over the bruise. "Who did that?" she said in a low voice while staring into her mate's dark grey eyes.

"W-Wa-?" Ambrosia stammered and Lupita could see her eyes well with tears. Her eyes grew big and Lupita saw her bottom lip tremble as she leaned slightly into her touch. Lupita felt her heart ache at the state her mate was in. Hurt, sad, and... confused, mad. "No one. I'm fine," she said and abruptly pulled away. "Just some transphobic prics. I'm fine, it will heal."

Transphobic? That was a new word. But with the little social skills Lupita had she understood that this maybe wasn't the time to ask. Though with how Ambrosia's teeth grew and the slight snarl in her voice she could guess it wasn't a good word.

"To answer your question," Lupita said in a soft voice to try and lighten the sad atmosphere in the room. "I heard some noise and my body just... reacted. And I'm glad it did."

Ambrosia scoffed and Lupita felt her heart crack. She tried not to let it get to her as she slightly moved away from the vampire so she didn't make her uncomfortable or mad.

"I really do care about you," Lupita whispered and glanced at Ambrosia who had detangled herself and had her legs stretched out in front of her.

"And I really don't care," Ambrosia said and stood up. "MJ needs her answer about the memory spell thing. She plans on doing it this weekend. She and Rowan are probably outside listening to this whole bullshit either way."

"You know me too well," MJ said and entered the room. Lupita smiled, went up to the girl, and hugged her. "She's an idiot at the moment, just be patient," MJ whispered before they pulled back. "Sooo..." she said when Ambrosia moved to stand behind her. "Will you do it?"

Lupita stayed silent for a while and thought about her answer. Her wolves trotted around in her mind growling and murmuring among themselves. They had agreed on the answer, but none of them liked it. None of them knew what would happen or if they were strong enough. When she looked up at the three of them standing in front of her, she felt incredibly intimidated. All of them expected her to say yes. MJ was the one that seemed the least threatening with her soft eyes and reassuring smile as Lupita played with her fingers.

After taking a deep breath and briefly closing her eyes, feeling the wolves in her mind as they finally felt somewhat comfortable with their decision.

"I'll do it."

AN: I'm a little sick right now. So I hope the chapter at least makes a little sense.

Important tests and work are coming up so writing will be scarce, but I'll still write cause I love this story and you guys. And it is almost finished as well. (I think).

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and if you see any spelling mistakes it would be lovely if you pointed them out (kindly please).

Hope you are all taking care of yourselves both mentally and physically. Make sure to eat and drink something.

If no one has said it to you yet: I am incredibly proud of you!!

Hope you have a lovely day/night/evening.

Love you all and thank you for reading. Leave a vote or comment, they are very appreciated! ❤💖❤💖❤💖❤💖❤💖