Battle of the Elements
Chapter 5 Melanie

The night was filled with silence as blood trickled down my pale chin. On the floor lay two bodies, one a priest and the other a villager, both were drenched in their own blood that spilled from the bites on their necks. I didn’t scream as I sat there, drenched in blood and pale as a ghost. My innocence had been stripped away at only ten years old. I had killed two people in cold blood, in the middle of the night without thinking. It was like mother had said, I was an animal who acted only on instinct. The sentence bounced around in my head until I couldn’t take it anymore, until my scream echoed through the village…

It had been a month since that night, no one had found out what happened to me or what happened to those men. They had said it had been an animal attack – they were right – my teeth had left deep bite marks on their skin. My father – the lord of the town – had found out who the culprit was but hadn’t told anyone. Since I was little, the villagers had discarded me and called me things like ‘demon’ or ‘satanic’ because of my ears and powers, even my own mother hated me and wouldn’t be near me in public but my father was one of the few people who truly loved me.

I hadn’t said a word to anyone for a month until one night when I decided to end it. I went to my balcony and climbed onto the railing, there was nothing but emptiness as my grief consumed me and pulled me over the railings. That’s when I heard her.

“What the hell are you doing?” a girl’s voice whispered from behind me. I turned around to see two, blazing gold eyes shining in pitch-black darkness.

“Who are you?” I said almost unwillingly.

“Bridgette. You are?”

“A monster.” I said without expression.

“Bit harsh. Why are you up on the railing?”

“Because I’m a monster who deserves to die.”

“Why do you deserve to die?” She asked.

“Because I killed them.” I felt the anger well up inside my throat.

“So? Why does that make you a monster?”

“Because I killed them!” there were tears in my eyes. Damn this girl! She doesn’t understand! How could she say that I’m not a monster after what I had done?

“You did what you had to do to stay alive. No one can blame you for that. Those people were trying to kill you Melanie!” The girl stepped out of the darkness to reveal herself. She was slender and pale like me, but that was the only thing we had in common. Her hair was a colour that resembled orange – but it was a more blonde than anything – and went down to her shoulders. Her face was freckled, I had thought freckles made a person look childish, I was beyond wrong. This girl, while looking around seventeen, had the eyes of an elder who had seen the worst of the world.

I started to cry “Who are you? What do you want with me?!”

“I already told you who I am! My name is Bridgette. As for what I want? I want you to stop being a nuisance.”

I froze. I had nothing to say. Many people had spoken to me with hatred but none had said it to me the way this girl had, she didn’t say it with hatred, she wasn’t trying to be mean but trying to reason with me.

“So what if you killed them? So what if you’re part wolf? You did it and that’s all that matters.”

“But-“

“You’re a monster? Yeah, I get it! You’re terrible. But you know what Little wolf? You have the skills and intelligence of one of the smartest animals known to man and yet you cry like a toddler! You want to make up for killing those men? Killing yourself won’t do jack shit! How about instead of dying, you suck it up, get off your ass and do something! I’m sick of seeing your potential go to waste, Little wolf. So are you going to do something or cry like a child and wait for it all to get better?”

That’s what got to me. The word ‘potential.’ I had been called many names over my life ‘animal’, ‘beast’, ‘monstrosity’ and ’ even ‘demon’ but never ‘potential.’ Someone had finally saw something in me that was useful. I could almost feel my heart flutter as she said that word.

Bridgette took my hand in hers “What do you want to do Little Wolf?”

I looked her in the eyes. All of my fear, sadness and doubt vanished within those few seconds on that balcony. I finally felt like I was a part of something, that I was valued and needed, and I would never, ever let that feeling slip away “I’m with you.”

A wolfish grin spread across her face “How does apprentice sound to you? Or maybe companion?”

I felt my own face turn into a smile “That sounds great.”

Then, I heard her laugh slightly before she pulled me over the balcony and put me on her back before she landed gracefully on the pavement and we disappeared into the woods and never turned back…