Chapter 21: Chapter 18

A.N.: Ugh, it's not much and uneventful and has a brusque ending, but it's something? I had wanted to write more, yeah...

My exams are coming up, so I won't be able to write next month. I'll make it up to you later! I promise! So here is already something for you, but it's not much and badly written because it's late and I have been studying maths the whole day :/

Hope you try to enjoy it anyway? thank you btw for all the AMAZING feedback, they make me smile so much :) xx

Btw check my new book cover!! Made by the lovely user 'sexycarrotclub'

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“Alright, I’ll tell you everything from the start.”

Zayn took a careful breath of air before starting his story.

“So this summer, my cousin from Pakistan decided to give us a visit,” Zayn slowly began, still trying to find the right words.

“It was really nice seeing Samir back. He had always been my favourite cousin as he was of my age and we used to get on real well when we were kids. I used to live very close to him, so we hung out almost every day. We had been like partners in crime, always playing pranks and being up to some mischief,”

Zayn smiled softly, thinking back at his fond childhood memories. A moment later his smile suddenly faltered. Face serious again, he continued.

“That is, until his parents decided to move back to Pakistan when we were twelve. My family and I would visit them a couple of times during the holidays, they even came back to England for a couple of days once. And nothing had changed, not really. I didn’t see him that much, but we got on just fine by doing the same things we’d always done.”

Zayn then took a cigarette out, interrupting his story to light it up. He inhaled the smoke, keeping it in for a while and then let go. Afterwards he continued narrating his story.

“Then after a while, we lost contact. From the age of fourteen, fifteen, we didn’t see each other anymore. I kind of missed Samir, but you know life is life. You lose friends, you make new ones. That’s just how it is.”

He was quiet once again, just slowly inhaling the cigarette smoke once every couple of seconds.

“So, uhm, that’s kind of a sad story but, uhm, why do you tell me this?”Harry asked confused, while absentmindedly pulling blades of grass out of the ground they were both seated on.

“Hold on,” Zayn smiled lightly, “I will get to the part you want to hear about. Be patient.”

“Sorry, continue please.”

“So, like I said. I didn’t see him for a while. I hadn’t really forgotten about him, but it wasn’t like I wondered what he might be up to. He didn’t often visit my thoughts,” Zayn said.

“That was, until last summer.” He took a dramatic pause.

“When I came back from boarding school last June, mum almost immediately started chattering about how my my cousin wanted to come back to England for the summer and would be staying with us. She had already agreed to it and we would get him from the airport the next day.”

Zayn coughed, interrupting his story once again.

Really, Harry thought irritated, Can’t he just get to the point instead of keeping me on edge the whole time?

“He had grown a lot and shaved his hair off. A couple of tattoos were inked on his skin, but besides that he was almost the same as the kid I used to play with all the time. The same humour, the same boldness, I had been used to. We hit off right away, hanging out like we used to. Visiting our old spots or going to my new ones. It was really cool. In the beginning, everything seemed alright.”

Zayn took yet another dramatic pause. Harry almost huffed out of annoyance. Why did Zayn have to be such a drama queen all the time? Harry just wanted to know what happened, for fucks sake!

“So, what happened then?” Harry buzzed with question marks filling his eyes.

“He kinda started to act weirdly,” Zayn answered, “He kept asking my weird questions about if I wouldn’t like to have power or be on the top of the world. At first I didn’t really take it serious, but then after a while he would keep talking about it. Saying he could give me that. That he could make me powerful and very, very strong. He said that I wouldn’t be alone, that there would be others like me too, that we would be one together.”

“I thought he was talking about drugs,” Zayn humourlessly laughed, “Boy was I wrong.”

“So I told him that I didn’t want to do hardcore drugs. I hate that I’m already dependent on smoking. But he kept saying that it wasn’t drugs, it was something much better. He said he was part of something amazing in his country and that they wanted me there too. I asked him to explain better of course, but he told me that he couldn’t do that. Not yet. Not if I hadn’t given in already.”

Zayn’s hazel eyes turned to Harry, letting him wordlessly know that the important part was to come.

“The day before he would leave again, he brought the topic on once again. We were sitting at a spot near the woods, a couple of kilometres from my home. It was evening and the sun had just started to set, letting a orange-pink hue painting the sky. This time I couldn’t make him drop it. I had told him multiple times that I didn’t want it, hell I didn’t even understand what he was talking about. But he kept going on about it, demanding me to say yes. He wasn’t even nice about it anymore. Eventually, just before the sun would leave the sky, he told me this: ‘Fine, then we’ll do it this way. You’ll come back afterwards. No matter if you want it now or not.’”

Zayn threw his cigarette butt on the ground.

“I was so confused of course, but it all made sense a moment later. The starry night had taken over with a full moon high at the sky, trying to light up the world just like the sun had done before. The change of day to night had been his cue. My cousin changed right in front of my eyes into a dark, gigantic creature. I was so shocked that I couldn’t move, standing motionless in front of him. I vividly remember his eyes. A screaming yellow seeming like they looked right through me. Then suddenly he howled, and I started to run. I wanted to get as far from it as I could.”

Harry nodded, linking Zayn’s story to the events of the previous day. Until now, the only difference between them of course that Zayn hadn’t wanted to attack anyone, while his cousin obviously did.

“Of course the wolf was much faster than I,” he continued softly, “Soon I was pushed to the ground. I think I turned on my back? But then the last thing I remember were white teeth, glistening in the moon light. Then all I felt was pain and I probably I blacked out afterwards.”

Harry gulped loudly because of the suspense, captivated by Zayn’s story.

“I woke up in my room,” Zayn spoke up again, “My stomach and chest hurt like hell and I soon noticed they were bandaged. Samir entered my room a couple of minutes later and started to explain what happened, what I would became and that I had to leave together with him in an hour. He told me I had to go live in Pakistan with him to join some kind of pack. I didn’t want to hear any of that of course,” Zayn grimaced.

“I started to scream that he had to stay away from him. Really, I was hysterical. I even stood up, even though me chest was screaming, to try to push him out. He eventually left after telling me that I would regret this. That was the last thing I had heard from him. I thought he was completely nuts! Because even though I had seen it with my own eyes and I had the gaping bite wound to prove it, I didn’t believe any of that bloody werewolf-bullshit.”

He snorted, “Basically I was a foul in denial. After all, I  surely should’ve accepted his help, although he had done this to me.”

“So, that’s how it happened? You got changed into a werewolf because another one bit you? Or what happened afterwards?”

“yes, basically” Zayn answered immediately, “But I wasn’t a full werewolf until the first change. the bite wound, for example didn’t really heal the first month. You’ve seen it a couple of weeks ago, remember? It only vanished after I changed for the first time, now it’s luckily all gone.”

“So what happened actually during your first change?”Harry buzzed.

Zayn’s eyes finally softened as his thoughts wandered to a certain blonde girl. A fond smile appeared on his face as he faced Harry.

“That’s actually quite a story,” he started.

“A week ago, a blond girl suddenly cornered me in the toilets. I just wanted to tell her that she was probably wrong, but then she started telling riddles about wolves and moons, all the time not even looking at me! Then after she was done talking, she just blinked a couple of times and gave me a weird look. She rolled her eyes and muttered to herself ‘not again’. Then out of the blue she asked me, no demanded that I told her what she had said a minute ago. I was so confused! Didn’t she remember what she had said herself? She then explained that she was some kind of witch and often made predictions. I didn’t really believe her, but I did repeat her words, or what I remembered of them.

To make a long story short: after a couple of discussions, she understood what I became and decided to help me. In which she did a great job, there probably would be a lot more victims if Perrie hadn’t been there for me. On top of it, she’s very funny and has become a great friend of mine.”

“Only a friend?” Harry chuckled, “the way that you’re making heart-eyes at the moment, it seems like she’s much more to you than just a friend.”

“No, no! She’s just a friend,” Zayn shook his head at him, but his cheeks turned a dark shade of red revealing his true emotions.

They were both silent for a while. While the pleasant autumn sun warmed their skin, thoughts were running at light speed through their head.

“I think I met Perrie yesterday,” Harry eventually broke the silence, “a girl came up to me in the hallway yesterday evening, mumbling things about full moons and changes to me, basically telling me to get back to my room, now that I think back of it.”

Zayn sighed, “You should’ve listened to her.”

A bit later, like it had just popped his mind he added, “So that’s why she didn’t make it on time.”

He turned his head back to Harry and explained, “Normally Perrie makes sure I don’t lose control. Yesterday, my wolf took over and brought you in a very dangerous situation, because she wasn’t there to keep me grounded.”

“Oh,” was all Harry said, not bothering coming up with a real answer.

They kept lying on the ground for a while. Happy with each other’s presence and not bothered to speak up again as they both had enough to think about again.

A ringing noise eventually made them sit up again, letting them know that it was finally lunch time.

“Wow, are the two hours already over?” Zayn wondered out loud. He then faced Harry again and asked, “Is it okay that Perrie joins us for lunch today? I already told her it was fine.”

“Sure,” Harry replied, “actually, I won’t even be there. I promised Louis we would sit outside so we could talk some more.

Zayn squinted his eyes, clearly not happy with Harry’s reply.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” He doubted.

“Yeah, why not?”

“I don’t think you should trust that Louis guy that much. After all he is a vampire, you do know that right?”

“Of course,” Harry replied bewilderedly, astonished by Zayn’s answer, “And why shouldn’t I trust him?”

“Vampires aren’t the most reliable persons. Before you know it, they rip your throat open and drain you.”

“Are you for real?” Harry responded defiantly, “Is this just some kind of weird ‘werewolves should hate vampires’-instinct? Because you don’t really have a right to speak up. After all, it was Louis, the vampire, who saved me from getting bitten by a werewolf yesterday, or did you already forgot about that?”

“But I’m not normally like that! Only during full moons. Besides, if Perrie had been there, nothing would have happened. And I have apologised like a thousand times already, didn’t I?”

“Yes,” Harry muttered, “And I have forgiven you. But you shouldn’t say things like that about Louis!”

“I just don’t trust him. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

Harry rolled his eyes out of irritation.

“You know what, I don’t have time for this. We’ll talk later, when you talk sense again,” he huffed as he started to stamp away, “Bye, Zayn,”

He clenched his hands, annoyed because of the hypocrisy of his friend. He kind of regretted his loss of temper as he was thinking back of their little fight. Zayn probably just didn't understand.

Luckily he could see Louis from afar, sitting nearby a small beech tree. As he watched how the vampire ran his hands through his hair, he was his little outburst almost forgotten. Thoughts taken over by the blue-eyed boy, and whispering Louis, Louis, Louis!

The whole day, he had been looking forward the moment he could finally talk to him again. This moment.