Chapter Two
Maggie Grey
The buzzing noise interrupted the quiet den of a bedroom as one eye slowly peeled open. It was ice cold to the point where if one toe slipped out of the layered covers, I was bound to catch hypothermia.
Bzzzz
Bzzzz
I snuggled my head deeper into the covers, refusing to get up and eventually the phone stopped.
Feeling my body sink deeper into the sheets, I could feel the overgrowth of thick fur against my leg as my boyfriend, Namir shifted.
What a crazy turn of events. In a year, I learn I am a part of this black ancient vampire family.
I sometimes channel energy from the moon herself…
There is a whole other mythical and magical world where black people reside just beneath Atlanta and well…
the country. My parents don’t know who I am in person because they think their daughter has died and have slowly forgotten about me like a disease of the brain instead of a rotten curse.
Which?! By the way?! My dear old grandfather had placed on them for fear of everyone finding out how terrible of a person he really is to the people he calls family.
Now here I am, north of Atlanta in a house I’ve been staying in while the mess from last year blows over.
Something about the explosion of a church, and me possibly being responsible for almost exposing the black underworld of magic or whatnot.
I don’t know anymore. That funeral was a blur.
I’m Maggie. I’ll be 31 this year, and I am simply just trying to make it to the next day without my world being turned upside down.
Did I mention my boyfriend is a werewolf as well?
Me, vampire moon lady freak, him big bad wolf.
We were laying in the same bed after a wonderful night of well…
You get the picture. This guy beside me is mine so when I felt his fur lift and fall with each inhale and exhale, I snuggled closer to keep warm.
The tips of his fur slowly curled against my skin as if it was knowingly trying to keep me warm.
Bzzzzz
Bzzzzz
The phone on the nightstand that was connected to the charger went off again as both eyes shot open.
I yanked the covers back to peek my head over, seeing bits of my stark white hair laying about like a bad matted wig.
As I said, last night was wonderful. There was no time for a scarf or wrap.
Alcohol was involved somewhere in the mix and things went left.
Namir’s arm stretched out from the covers. His thick coated fur that usually came out when he was cold suddenly disappeared back into his skin. His growing ability to partially shift and control every aspect of his body was amazing to see. Frightening at first but amazing once you get used to it.
“Hello?” Namir answered, voice deep and groggy. I could hear him cracking his neck and bones snap in place from his jawline as he pressed the phone against the side of his face.
This message is for faculty and staff of The Drew Collins University. Home of the Ancestral Mythical and Magical Mighty Trojan Warriors…
Namir started to groan while I turned over to close my eyes. The strict female tone was new but obviously prerecorded.
“Good Morning Drew Collins faculty and administrators. A new academic year begins, welcoming the largest incoming class in our history. Each student arrives on a journey of growth, discovery, and becoming. Drew Collins exists to prepare those who must travel beyond familiar paths in order to find themselves. Stand firm in….”
“Pleaaaase turn it off,” I groaned. Namir grumbled before ending the call as silence filled the quiet den once more. I felt him turn over as he wrapped his arms around my body and buried his face in my neck for a quick scent check, something I’ve grown accustomed to.
He likes to smell me, even when he claims I smell like nothing, he still has his nostrils somewhere on me.
Where his fur once covered his body, was now just smooth soft leather like skin that was coated in oil and sweat from hours ago.
I could feel his muscles constricting with each breath until his teeth began nibbling at my shoulder until he fell back asleep.
I’ve gotten so used to the licking, biting, sniffing that I could sleep through it while my body was being assaulted by his mouth.
Good Morning Drew Collins faculty and administrators.
“Ahh what the hell?” I groaned as I sat up. Namir picked his head up to grab his phone, seeing the message was going to play regardless of answering or not.
A new academic year begins, welcoming the largest incoming class in our history.
Each student arrives on a journey of growth, discovery, and becoming.
Drew Collins exists to prepare those who must travel beyond familiar parts…
Drew Collins exists to prepare those who must travel beyond familiar parts in order to find themselves.
Drew Collins exists to prepare those who must travel beyond familiar parts in order to find themselves.
Drew Collins exists to prepare those who must travel beyond familiar parts in order to–––
I turned over just as Namir grabbed the phone to toss it on the floor, shutting off the skipping message.
“The fuck was that?” He grunted before wrapping his arm back around me. He let out a low growl as he began kissing and nibbling the back of my shoulder.
“Do wolves hibernate?” I innocently asked.
“No, they do not.”
“You’re saying it like you’re not one of them,” I said as I turned over to meet him in the dark. I pushed my white hair back from my face as Namir laid comfortably against me.
“I am lycanthrope, Maggie. I am not the same as a wolf on four legs. That would be my brother, Seth or my sister Maze. I am not the same as them, and you know this.”
“Hmmm,” I hummed as I felt myself drifting off. “I always think about what I would say to my mother when you finally meet her.”
Namir became uncomfortably quiet any time I mentioned my family. I tried not to let it bother me and continue on with our relationship because maybe… We will finally do something about what Marvin Holmes did besides just waiting around for my brother to figure it out. Wherever he might be.
“If I’d say mom, I fell for a lycanthrope,” I muttered. “Or…hey, this man dog creature is my boyfriend. What am I to say to her?”
“I dunno Maggie,” he finally replied.
“What time is it?”
“Too early.”
“Too early to talk about my parents?”
“You know what I mean,” he growled. It became silent for a moment as I felt his body rise and fall against mine in the opposite direction. Even if I tried to catch up to his breaths, there were moments where he would inhale for so long, I started to think he might be suffocating mid sleep.
I could hear him snore as he snuggled deeper against my body until the buzzing noise returned on my end.
Lazily, I reached for the phone to see Clementine Harold.
Her bright-eyed picture on the screen held a green and white wooden paddle like a dictator staring back at me.
She slapped it one time in her hand before I turned the phone over.
School hasn’t even begun and already, sorority nonsense.
As much as I enjoy school, seeing as I’m over thirty trying to finish a graduate degree before moving on to my doctorate, I found myself realizing I am a little too old to be bossed around by some old tweeny bopper who sat on her high horse about Beta Nu Pi Sorority drama.
The bedroom was quiet once again until we heard a random knock on the front door.
Namir sat up, alert before flipping the covers back as he turned the light on.
I turned over to see him reaching for his shorts to pull over his muscular frame while he rubbed his face down with his hands to wake himself up.
He looked like a man in his mid-thirties, scraggly beard, bags under his eyes, and a curved spine that looked more like onset arthritis instead of his natural form attempting to step back and let his human side take a stand.
The knocking persisted as he yanked the bedroom door open and stormed out ready to charge at anyone like a guard dog while I laid like a sleeping princess knowing I was safe in my castle.
“Had she answered her phone, I wouldn’t have to come all this way!” Clementine Harold declared.
Whatever fantasy I had of delicately sleeping in my fortress with my beast of a prince protecting me, shattered when Clementine charged into the bedroom like a ball of energy.
“First of all,” she declared with her arms crossed over her chest and her nose high in the air.
She’s always been a snooty little brat of a woman, but she’s smart and quick on her feet.
Resourceful as hell if given a task but damn she could be obsessive.
The green sweater wrapped around her shoulders like a proper preppy girl ready to take charge.
“You were supposed to check in. Every Beta sister is supposed to check in for their assignment for Drew Collins Academic Orientation Preparatory. It’s mandatory–––”
“Pullleaseeee, Clem,” I groaned. “It’s not even morning yet.”
“It is, in fact, 11:32 AM. Get up, get dressed and let’s go. We don’t have all day. You have been assigned on recruitment duty. Let’s go! Get up! Drew Collins University awaits! What a glorious day to be a Beta Nu!” She sang as she charged out of the bedroom. “Rooted loooooow! Rising hiiiiigh!”
“We don’t ask…” I grumbled with an annoyed tone as I sat up.
“We arrrrriiiiiveeeeee!” Clementine finished. “Hurry up, Maggie Grey! A Beta Nu is never late!”
I flipped my white hair back from my face as I felt the strands curl up against my skin like shrinking vines. Namir stood in the doorway, amused while looking me over.
“She really just barged right in,” he said with a helpless shrug. “It couldn’t be stopped.”
“Uh huh. Sure.”
…