The City of Wolves

Eunji Zonaras walked around her trashed and cheap apartment as she tied up her wild black hair into a low ponytail. She let out a sigh of relief as her ex-boyfriend wasn’t able to trash the bedroom before he was kicked out and she had the skills to change the locks on the door herself.

In the poor side of Mortem City, you learn a few important skills if you wish to survive in it and one is changing the lock on the door when you break up with a toxic partner. Eunji had found out her ex, Johnny Brown, was stealing money from her hidden money stash and that was the last straw that made her kick him out.

Eunji smoothed out the small black dress she was wearing and wisely had put on her matching heels in the bathroom as there were shards of broken glass and mirror on the ground. “This is going to be a nightmare to clean up…but that is for tomorrow.” Eunji muttered as walked towards the front door.

She stopped in front of a small hanging mirror in the entrance way and leaned in to do a last minute check on her make-up. She had bright green eyes, the only thing she got from her Greek father, and the rest of features came from her Korean mother.

In the middle of her examination there was a knock at the door and Eunji walked over to the peep hole to see a familiar face, her best friend Lucy Boucher.

“Just a moment!” Eunji called out while she grabbed a dark blue leather crop top coat and black long ladies wallet. She slipped on her coat as came out of her apartment and locked up both the deadlock and door knob.

“Good see you already swap out locks.” Lucy said as she noticed the new deadlock and she gently flipped her long blonde hair. “I suggested to Aaron he should come change the locks for you.”

“And I told you that she didn’t need my help.” Aaron said and Eunji finally noticed Aaron’s large frame leaning on the hallway wall. It wasn’t too surprising Lucy showed up with one of their male friends in this part of the city and picking the biggest would have been Eunji’s choice too.

Aaron was of African American descent and Eunji remembered he once said his mother’s family was from Ireland. He was just over six feet tall and built like a linebacker.

Lucy looked small compared to him and it didn’t help that she was at least five feet and six inches tall without her heels. Lucy was wearing a pair of heels and a cute yellow dress that looked amazing against her light peach skin tone and hugged her curves.

“Come on, Keith and Jax are waiting in the van.” Lucy chimed as she took out a set of keys from her black leather crop top jacket. “And I’ve got the keys.”

Aaron grabbed the keys from Lucy, “Stop picking my pockets.” Aaron gave Lucy a scowl but Eunji can easily see it wasn’t a real scowl as his brows didn’t match it.

“Don’t make it so easy, big guy~” Lucy cooed as she lightly patted the side of Aaron’s face before Lucy locked arms with Eunji. Eunji chuckled at the two and saw the two relax and smile while hearing her laughter.

“Didn’t you say that Jax and Keith are waiting for us?” Eunji pulled on Lucy’s arm to get them to start walking. Eunji knew if she didn’t get them walking, Lucy would try to talk them into checking out the rest of her apartment room.

“Right, let’s get going,” Aaron acknowledged Eunji’s words and started to walk with them. “Let’s go celebrate your new single life without that asshole.”

“If he was such an asshole, why did you keep letting him come with us?” Eunji asked though she already knew the answer as she felt Lucy light squeeze her arm.

Aaron opened the door to the stairwell before answering, “That simple, we liked hanging out with you, Eunji, and that was worth it to put up with him.”

“That’s right,” Lucy chimed in and slightly puffed out her chest from that fact. “Now we get Eunji time without Jackass Johnny time.”

The walk down the stairs was shorter than Eunji thought and her smile reached her eyes upon seeing Aaron’s old fashion vw camper van. It had a brand new paint job, probably done by Jax, the upper half was white and the lower half was pinup mermaid swimming in coral reef.

The side door opened up and Eunji saw it was Keith that had opened up the van. Eunji thought Keith was the poster child for the very average looking white guy with blue eyes and short brown hair.

“Who’s ready to hit the club tonight?!” He cheered as hopped out of the van and held the door open for Eunji and Lucy.

“Hello, Keith.” Eunji commented as she got in the van with Lucy and sat in the seats in the back. She looked forward to seeing Jax in the co-pilot seat and he was looking back with a big grin.

Jax was Aaron’s cousin and was built leaner and shorter than his linerbacker cousin. “What do you think of the new paintjob, Eunji?” Jax asked as Aaron got in the driver seat and Keith got back into the back of the van.

“Love it, and I see you freshen up your dye job on your dreads.” Eunji smirked at Jax’s bright red dreads. “Still going for the Knuckles look I see.”

“Nothing wrong with my boy Knuckles.” Jax joked back as Keith got in the single seat right behind the driver seat. The van started up with a loud rumble and Eunji could see Aaron bobbed his head in pride as it started.

“High ho, Silver!” Eunji playfully called out as Aaron shifted into drive and that got a chuckle out of Aaron. “So Aaron, how much closer are you to taking this beauty out on the road?”

“I can take it anytime now but I don’t want to go alone.” Aaron said as he lowered the radio so everyone didn’t have to talk over it. “Also I need to build up a fund for a cross country trip.”

“At least you have a head start because you don’t have someone stealing it from you.” Eunji chuckled and felt Lucy gently squeeze her hand. Eunji looked at Lucy and gave her a smile to reassure Lucy.

“Well tonight you don’t have to worry about paying,” Keith piped up and grinning. “I’ll be paying your bill tonight, Eunji.”

Eunji looked at Keith and felt off putting by that comment but kept smiling, “Thank you but no thanks, I’m not that poor that I can’t have one fun night with friends.”

Keith kept smiling but Eunji felt something was off with it, as if they didn’t reach his eyes, “Com-”

“What about paying for me tonight?” Jax interrupted Keith with a toothy grin and Eunji thought she saw a small nod from Jax to her before Jax and Keith started to banter.

Eunji just let the banter become white noise and watched out the window as the sun started to set on the city and the city night life started to bloom.

Getting in the club, Lunar Lounge, was easy enough due to Eunji past gigs at the club as a DJ. Once in the club their group found a booth and Eunji was sitting beside Lucy.

Keith did try to sit beside Eunji before, thankful Jax pulled Keith into the booth and Aaron helped box Keith in between the two of them.

A waitress came walking over to their booth and pulled out a notepad, “What can I get you?” She asked loud enough to be heard over the music booming.

“We will start off with three rounds of Silver Shots!” Lucy called out and held out three fingers before looking at everyone else. Eunji saw everyone nodded in agreement to the three rounds of the signature shot.

The waitress nodded and walked off to the bar to get their order filled out. Eunji looked out to the dance floor and closed her eyes to listen and feel the music in her chest.

Eunji tapped her finger on the table and sighed, “Tempo could be better…” She muttered and figured no one heard her over the music.

“What?” Lucy called out and Eunji opened her eyes to look at Lucy. Eunji motioned to the DJ table and kept tapping her finger on the table. “Not everyone is as good as you.”

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s good but it could be better.” Eunji said and noticed Jax was also tapping his finger on the table. “You noticed it too, Jax?”

“Oh ya,” Jax called out and bobbed his head to the beat. “But I still could dance to it without a problem.”

The waitress returned with a tray of shots and transferred them onto the table. Lucy would help with dividing up the shots and everyone had three shots in front of them. Once done the waitress walked off to deal with other tables and Aaron raised one shot.

“To new starts and happy futures!” He said and everyone joined him, raising a shot before everyone slamming down the first shot.

As the drink went down Eunji’s throat and felt it burn her throat. “WO! They are strong tonight!” Eunji yelled and grabbed her next shot. “To me for getting rid of that trash out of our life!”

The second shot burned stronger and felt like her veins were on fire. She coughed a bit more and looked around and noticed everyone coughing along with her.

“Damn, you’re right, there must be a new recipe or new bartender.” Jax coughed before picking the third shot. “But mama didn’t raise a quitter!”

Everyone chuckled before picking the third shot and slammed it down together. Eunji felt flush from the third shot and a rush of warmth down her body that made her jump up from her seat.

“I’m hitting the powder room,” Eunji called out and before anyone could do anything, she started walking towards the bathroom. She could barely hear what Aaron and Jax said before she left but in the corner of her eye could see them heading off onto the dance floor.

Eunji walked into the bathroom and couldn’t hear or see anyone in there, which made her relieved for some reason. She stumbled to one of the sinks and gripped the rim.

She felt a sickening rush of warmth over her whole body and her knees barely keeping her up. ‘Something was wrong with those shots,’ Eunji thought as she lifted her head to look in the mirror.

Her eyes widened as she didn’t see her green eyes, instead a pair of bright amber eyes. Before she could process this information she was hit with a sharp pain running through her brain that sent her to the ground and clutching her head.

The pain spread from her brain down every bone and felt like someone was starting to stretch her skin. She wanted to scream but nothing could come out and she only could curl up in a ball of pain.

She thought she felt her nails were being pulled out and all she could hear was popping and creaking of bone, her bones reshaping into something else.

She wanted to vomit blood as it rushed through her body and her heart was pounding harder and faster in her chest. It felt like it wanted to jump out of her chest and it felt like it too was growing bigger.

Over the popping and creaking of her bones Eunji heard screams of panic and fear coming outside before everything faded to black and the taste of iron filled her mouth.

Eunji slowly opened her eyes and in full panic she tried to bolt up. “Wo there, not so fast, sunshine.” A quiet and gentle female voice said as a warm hand rested on her shoulder.

Eunji lay back down and started to look around where she was. The room looked to be a hospital room and had a strong smell of strong disinfect and antiseptic.

“Wh-” Eunji stopped and hissed as a splitting headache bolted in her head and tried to touch her head but she felt restraints on her wrists. She started to breath fast and her mind raced with many questions raced through her panicking mind.

“Hey, look at me, focus on me.” The female voice once more and Eunji finally whipped her head to the voice. Eunji was stunned by the beautiful raven-haired woman standing beside her bed.

Eunji thought she could be Hispanic but with how her skin tone was she wanted to say some native american was there too. The most stunning was her calming blue eyes.

“You’re safe here, sunshine.” She cooed and Eunji started to breathe slowly. “That’s right, slow breaths.” Eunji started to take a closer look at the woman.

She wasn’t in nurse scrubs, she was wearing a bright blue off the shoulder dress with a ruffle trim and stopped just half down her thigh. She had a scar running down her right cheek, a knife-like scar on her right side of her chest and three bullet scars on the left side of collar bone.

“I’m Rose Cain,” She finally said and Eunji could clearly see she knew Eunji was looking her over. “Can you remember your name, sunshine?”

“I’m Eunji Zonaras,” Eunji said calmly and noticed Rose made a small smile with a nod. “I live in an apartment on 34th street, I just broke up with my jackass boyfriend finally…and I have a splitting headache.”

Eunji saw Rose’s smile grow with more information. “Good, your memory is still there, that means I can take these off you.” Rose said and undid the cuffs on Eunji’s wrist.

Once out of the cuff Eunji rubbed her wrists but paused in seeing bandages around her left wrist. “Here, drink.” Rose handed Eunji a plastic cup of water and Eunji took it as she noticed her throat was a bit dry.

Eunji watched Rose walk to the foot of her bed and Eunji could hear her heels clicking on the title floor. Eunji would guess Rose was around six feet tall and four inches without those heels and Rose put two hands on the footboard of the bed.

Rose took in a deep breath, “Sun-Eunji, this is going be hard to bel-”

The door opened up and a different voice loudly interrupted Rose, “Hey Rose, is the new Lycan awake yet? The doc said she should awaken by now…” The woman who entered the room trailed off and Eunji figured it was from the murderous stare Rose was giving her.

Eunji could tell this new woman was of Greek descent by the color of her bronze skin, manner, and brown eyes. She was dressed up like she was the lead singer of a metal or rock band. The most eye-catching was her short bobbed hair was colored like it was fire and clearly professionally done.

“Maria Blackwater Rockwell,” Eunji heard Rose hiss and saw the full Hispanic heritage rise up on her face while she glared at Maria. “She just woke up and I-”

“That’s good, Juno wants to talk to you.” Maria seemed unbothered by Rose’s rage and Rose paused from the words Maria said. Maria walked over to stand closer to Rose and Eunji noticed Maria would have been four inches shorter than Rose, if Rose didn’t wear heels.

Eunji saw that Rose’s rage simmered down and started to think about her choices before taking a deep breath before sighing. “Alright but you ne-”

“Rose, I think I’m better equipped in dealing with a new pup,” Maria gave Rose a cocky smile but softened it and gently touched Rose’s hand. Maria said something in Greek and Eunji knew it as her father would say it to her mother, “Trust me, Love.”

Rose nodded before smoothing out her dress before looking towards Eunji. “Eunji, this is Maria Rockwell, she will explain everything to you to the best of her ability.”

“A-Alright.” Eunji said and tightened her hands around her plastic cup. Rose walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. “W-What do yo-”

“You’re no longer human, you are a Lycan.” Maria walked over to a pitcher of water that was sitting on a small table beside the bed and grabbed it to pour more water into Eunji’s cup. “Drink, you’ve been out for three days now. Couldn’t put an IV in your arm in case you shifted.”

Eunji lifted the cup to her lips and started to think of the questions she wanted to ask. She looked at her wrist that was wrapped up and she stopped drinking her water.

Before Eunji could ask, Maria spoke up, “You weren’t bitten and it takes more than just a simple bite to turn someone into a Lycan.” Maria poured more water into Eunji’s cup. “To turn one…it’s a lot bloodier and edges one to death’s door step.”

“How do I know you’re not just lying to me or playing a prank?” Eunji asked after finishing the third cup of water and stared into Maria’s eyes. Maria put the pitcher back down and crutched down a bit so her chest was level with Eunji’s face.

“Focus on my chest,” Maria pointed to her chest and Eunji noticed the centre scar on Maria’s chest. Eunji paused at the scar before returning focusing and she started to hear something.

It took a second before Eunji realized that it was Maria’s heart beat and Eunji’s nose started to smell something. She couldn’t fully explain the smell but something in the back of mind told her it was Maria’s emotion.

“Eunji Zonaras, you are a Lycan because someone spiked your group’s shots. You will no longer have a normal human life but we are here to help you.” Maria said firmly and calmly. Eunji could smell and hear the truth of her words. “I’m sorry.”

Eunji started to shake and felt her eyes start to water. She dropped her cup and without thinking went to hug Maria. Maria didn’t flinch and gently hugged her back.

Eunji could feel Maria gently patting her back and whispering something but Eunji couldn’t process the soothing words. Maria did start to rock Eunji and her words became a lullaby as Eunji started to black out once more.