The City Of Hellius

Natasha

The sunlight shone through my window, gently heating my face as I opened my eyes, blinking wildly. The light hurt my eyes, and I turned, pushing my face into my pillow to help ease the pain that was slowly building.

I sighed to myself. I hadn’t slept all night. It was my 25th birthday today, and I was miserable. My so-called boyfriend Ryan blew me off last night again because of work. Unfortunately, the type of work he was talking about was a 5ft 8 blonde werewolf named Katrina, who happened to be my friend.

I’d been hanging around with Katrina for about a year now. I met her at my local bar The Zone when I was finshing with my last boyfriend a werewolf named TJ. I found him snogging the face off a curvy redhead in the corner. In all fairness to him, she was his ‘mate’ so there was no hard feelings, but it still stung. She was the redhead’s friend and wasn’t impressed by the PDA they were showing. We bonded over tales of bad dates and vodka that evening. I thought she was a good friend.

I thought I would be the dedicated girlfriend and surprise him at work with a late-night takeaway. He has been working so hard lately. I entered his office tower south of the city where he worked. He was an engineer for his pack, The Blue Moon pack, and was working on a new waterway system for Hellius. Instead of working, I found him working on Katrina. They were in his office in a very intimate position, which I can’t erase from my memory.

I replayed it over in my head; I remember watching them from the half opened door, both utterly engrossed with each other that they didn’t sense me arriving. Werewolves have excellent senses, so I don’t understand why they didn’t hear or smell me coming. I was frozen in place just watching from his office door, it was left ajar.

Ryan’s trousers were down by his ankles, Katrina spread out on his desk with him thrusting deeper into her. Katrina’s moans and Ryan’s grunts were slowly getting louder and louder.

My face heated up with embarrassment and something deep inside me shifted like a lock coming loose. My heart felt like it was being stabbed over and over again and I had a physical pain in my chest. I started to hyperventilate and needed to get out of here

As I turned to walk away, I dropped the bag of Chinese food, which was Ryan’s favorite, on the dirty office floor, and bolted to the elevator. With tears in my eyes and an intense pain in my chest, I pressed the button as the office door flew open. As I stepped into the elevator I saw Ryan’s shocked face go pale, gripping his discarded trousers; he started to walk towards me calling my name. Behind him stood Katrina with an annoyed look; she looked up and saw me, and as she caught my stare she grinned at me.

What the fuck! I screamed in my head. Ryan didn’t reach me in time. As the elevator doors closed, I felt my face crumple. I sobbed into my hands and grabbed my chest tightly. When the doors opened, I rushed into the street, searching for the nearest cab.

I ended up back at my aunt’s house just on the city’s outskirts; it was a small house with stone brick walls and bright blue window frames; in the dark they just looked black. I walked into the front garden, closing the small wooden gate trying not to make a sound. Walking up the pebbled path to the porch, I felt the house shudder and take a deep breath. I have lived here with my aunts since I was a baby and I love it here. I ran my hand lovingly over the wooden deep blue door and smiled. I leaned my head on the door frame, and felt an incredible sense of calm wash over me. The house was welcoming me home. I didn’t want to have to deal with Ryan turning up at my apartment; I wanted comfort, and I wanted home. I chanted under my breath and the door opened; I stepped into the warm, welcoming hallway.

Coming out of my memory, I managed to get myself up from my bed and dragged myself to the small ensuite bathroom in my old bedroom. Turning on the bathroom light I looked into the mirror and stared at the face looking back. I didn’t recognise her.

My long strawberry blonde hair hung limply down my shoulders, looking like it needed a good wash. My usual bright green eyes were dull, puffy and red from all the crying and lack of sleep. The makeup that I didn’t wash off last night was still attached to my cheeks and flaking off my lashes. I didn’t look my best.

The light was still hurting my eyes but I ignored the pain and turned on the shower.

I stepped into the hot shower and immediately felt my body relax. The sensation of the water hitting my face and spreading through my hair was so soothing, I started to wash my hair and body. After what felt like an hour I decided to face the world and get dressed. It was my birthday after all and I knew my Aunts would be awake and already downstairs.

I walked back to my bedroom and started to get dressed. I knew that I had spare clothes left in my old wardrobe and drawers. I pulled out an old blue t-shirt, jeans and underwear. This will have to do until I get back to my apartment. It was a Saturday and I didn’t have to worry about getting to work on time and looking smart.

I slumped back onto my bed and looked around my old bedroom. My room looked the same as it did when I left it a year ago. My old bed still had the same yellow pattern sheets on and my old artwork still plastered the pale blue walls. I still had on my cork notice board pictures of me and my friends including Katrina and Ryan. The good times before last night, I sighed and picked up the photo of us messing around by the beach.

Fucking pricks, I thought. How long has it been going on? Why did I not realise sooner? Was it because I hadn’t taken the next step with Ryan?

I had a lot of questions rolling around in my head.

I was 25 and had only been intimate with one person. The experience didn’t go well, so I didn’t think it was worth repeating until I felt it was right. I had been with Ryan for 6 months now and it was going well, so I thought. Tonight after my ceremony, I was going to surprise him.

Why did I always have to pick the bad boy? I need to stay away from werewolves, I muttered to myself. I have this unique ability to always attract bad boys, notably werewolves. The last 2 boys that I have dated have also been werewolves. Don’t get me wrong; its hard to find a regular guy in a city full of supernatural beings, but I just don’t seem to find normal humans attractive even warlocks, and witches like myself just don’t give me that spark. It’s something I need to work on I mumble to myself. “At least if I dated a warlock I wouldn’t have to worry about them thinking with their dick” I said out loud. They were too busy stressing about their magic.

I threw the picture in my old tatty bin and finished getting ready. I finished drying my hair, and applied minimal makeup; I’m lucky to have good skin and don’t like wearing too much. I get up from my dressing table and walk to my door, I slowly open it. I look back in to my room and sigh, I left my curtains half-opened and the room is in a mess, I hadn’t even made my bed. My aunts wouldn’t be happy about me not cleaning up after myself. I focused on what I wanted to happen and snapped my fingers. Instantly, the curtains slid back, exposing the window. The towel I had used flipped up and flew back into the bathroom, and my bed sheets worked their way back up the bed. I smiled, at least I was good at something.