Anna stood in the water a little longer, and then turned her head to look back at Lucio sitting comfortably behind her. She furrowed her brows in thought, and wondered about the past day again. Anna wanted to ask more questions, but it was all making her rather sad. It's not that Anna had a hard life at all, but things changed rather abruptly. Her feelings being constricted for Lucio by the fear of her families secret. She had only known him a few days and was already beginning to feel something towards him. She realized it when she felt jealous over Verna and him just merely dancing.

"No," she finally said after a few minutes. She brought her hands to the brown corset that was tied around her waist and fidgeted with the strings. She walked back over to Lucio, and sat down in front of him, leaning on one arm as her legs and dress flowed out to the side. "I'm sorry - I just keep thinking and well. My mind has stopped since the other night". She was honest, she felt like she kept spacing out to reflect on things. Maybe if she hadn't cut herself Alphonse would have never attempted to kill her. Her eyes moved to Lucio, slowly taking in his calm composure in again. She began to wonder why he was still here in town, figuring he would have already left by now. Too many thoughts raced inside of her mind, A kind of rage welled up inside of her, she felt the hair rise on the back of her neck and heart beat faster.

Anna sat up right suddenly, and began to undo her corset. She felt something jolt inside of her, she couldn't sit on these hopeless feelings and thoughts anymore. Her life almost ended the other day, and well - she had a lot more to see and do in life. She stood up, dropping the corset and then stared at Lucio. Her face was solemn, as she slowly dropped her dress. Underneath, she wore only a white cotton piece of fabric for underwear. Her hands covering her breasts, she stepped out of the dress and walked towards the water. Dropping her hands as she walked away from Lucio.

She had swam in this pond plenty of times, it was very deep in the center - dropping off to 4 feet only a few feet from the shore. She continued walking in, and then dove under the surface of the water. A moment passed before she broke through the surface smiling. The water was cooling against her skin, and she felt herself relax more. She came back near the edge, standing up her right arm went across her chest covering it, and her left hand gestured to Lucio to come in.

Anna smiled at him widely, "it feels amazing!" She exclaimed and walked out of the water more, her feet barely being covered by the water. She stood there, her hair dropping and causing the water around her to ripple from the stray droplets. She stared at Lucio, waiting for his next move.

Lucio had laid back putting his hands on the ground watching her undo her corset. When her gaze met his all he could do was look back at her. He raised an eyebrow at her sudden act as she had walked away from him, her body slowly disappearing beneath the water the further she had walked in.

When she had turned around to him gesturing him to follow her in, he chuckled. “I’m sure it does.” He sat up without leaning on his hands, “I wasn’t expecting this.” A small feint blush appeared on his skin. He stood up and took off his shirt and trousers revealing several lifetimes of scars all over his body. He had looked down briefly looking at his scars before looking back at Anna. He hadn’t thought about revealing his body to her and didn’t want to scare her away with his ugliness. A white cloth had covered his groin area as he had walked into the water.

The cool water had hit his skin. It was cool but not cold. He walked towards Anna, “It does feel nice.” He said walking further into it, and diving into the water, soaking his head and hair. He came back up and combed his hair back with his hands looking at her, making a relieving ahh sound.

“You come here often?” He asked her as the water had dripped out of his hair, ignoring the fact that he had possessed tons of scars on his body, hoping that Anna would ignore it. He doubted she would, but it didn’t matter. Sadly it was just another lie he’d have to make to her.

Most of his wounds would heal with no scars, but since he had lived so long, he had been in numerous battles that weren’t against normal human beings or weapons.

“I wasn’t expecting to come for a swim.” He stated looking down at his soaking underwear. He looked up at as she had stood half naked. He naturally had looked her up and down. He slowly sank back into the water, naturally staying afloat.

Anna's smile widened as he began to unclothe himself, she took a few steps back. Crouching into the water, she pushed herself back swimming a little further. Keeping Herself afloat as she hit the deeper part where her feet didn't touch. She dipped under the water for a moment, and then reappeared on the surface running her hands over her hair, pushing it back so it wasn't clinging to the sides of her face. An irritation of hers.

Her attention turned back to Lucio as he commented on the water feeling nice, she hummed in agreence and laughed. "I do, me and Cassandra found this place," she chuckled again, "more like I chased her and we stumbled upon this place. I love coming here when I can to relax. But with the vampire attacks, I haven't been able to visit". She dipped her head back into the water closing her eyes, as Lucio adjusted himself in the water. Her eyes went from his face, that she was beginning to adore and down to his naked chest. Studying the scars, and marks that had accumulated over time. Slightly turning her head, she wondered if these were from his vampire fights - or maybe he lived a harsh life as a vagabond.

Anna began to swim towards him, and didn't say anything the closer she got. Her toes felt the connection with the bottom, and she was able to keep herself standing up right this way. She was within arms reach, as her hand moved to him. Her fingers touched one of the larger Scars on Lucio's chest, and she followed it down till it disappeared under the water. Biting her lip, she looked up at him. His black hair clung to the sides of his face, his eyes glimmered off the reflection of sun in the water. Anna moved closer, and placed her hands on each side of his face. Tucking some of the wet hair behind his ears. She wondered about his life and what he had been through. Maybe one day he'd tell her everything.

It was almost like some weird will that took over her, and she moved her face close to his. Slowly her lips planted on his, and her hands slid down to his chest, they were now so close their chests were touching. She pulled back, and blinked a few times laughing, her eyes concentrated on his chest in some nervous notion to not look him in the face, "I-I'm sor..." she began, and laughed again in a flustered nature, "I've been wanting to do that..."

Lucio chuckled when she had said she found it by chasing her sister into this place. He had felt bad that the vampires had stopped her from feeling safe to travel to this place, but they were all dead and it shouldn’t be an issue anymore, unless something else was going to happen in the future.

Lucio watched her as she swam closer to him, looking at her slim body. Lucio almost winced as she had touched him, but he was able to control it. It had been a long while since someone was so sentimental with him. Lucio closed his eyes when her hands had touched the sides of his face, taking in a small breath of air. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at her. When he had, she had moved her head closer to his and kissed his lips.

When she had pulled back her head and started to stammer, he cracked a smile small. He put his hand on her chin, gently lifting her head to look at him. “You have?” He asked softly, “I figured it was just me.” He whispered, leaning in and giving her a kiss of his own.

He brought his head back. “That was one of mine.” He said smirking. He let go of her, slowly moving into the deeper part of the water and started a slow back stroke looking up at the sky. “It’s quite nice here. I enjoy it. I wasn’t initially going to stay this long.” He said as his back had floated on top of the water. He looked over at her, then back up at the sky. “It’s been quite eventful to say the least.” He said giving a small smirk.

He figured this ordeal was more serious to her, than him. She had just lost a lover, learned that she was a werewolf, almost dying, meeting a new man that she was developing feelings for, and she doesn’t even know that her new lover is a vampire. His smiled faded as he looked up at the sky and thought about everything that had transpired in the last few days.

“I wonder what this council meeting is going to be about...” He trailed off.

She took in a sharp breath, as his fingers lifted her chin up. Her eyes met his, and she smiled wit her relief when she realized the feeling was mutual. The kiss back was warm, and tender. She didn't really know what to say, a little awestruck in the moment, she just laughed lightly - and dipped back under the water for a moment. She looked up towards the surface of the water, and slightly squealed with a schoolgirl squeal. And then resurfaced quickly, she heard him begin talking and turned to face him in the water. Wiping her face of droplets, and smoothing her hair back.

"You're welcome," she retorted and laughed, "maybe I should thank you in some weird way." She swam a little farther out towards he deeper bit, staying abput 20 feet away from him. "Ever since I met you, things have been interesting...to say the least," she laughed seeing her statement as a joke. Then again, an old wives tale says vampires bring misery - but Anna was unaware of that fact.

She enjoyed the moment of silence between them, and swam back towards the shallow end. Coming in far enough to be able to sit on her legs, and still be completely covered by the water. She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath and tilting her head up towards the sky. Anna genuinely had a love for life itself, the fact she was able to even experience these things amazed her. And it was beginning to make sense why she was more curious about the supernatural world than fearful. Especially because she was apart of it now, but that actually did freighter her. Her eyes slowly opened, and she turned her head to him, "A council meeting?" She pursed her lips, her eyebrows knitting in as she went into the thought "I forgot about the mayor that night....why are you going to a council meeting?"

Lucio continued to back stroke but had turned to meet up with Anna. He sat up and adjusted himself beside her. “No idea what this council meeting is about.” He paused for a moment looking at her, “Would you want to join me?” He asked. He figured it’d be okay with the mayor, and if it wasn’t then he’d make sure it’d end up being fine. Nothing was going to happen to Anna as long as he was around.

“I’m not really too sure about what I’m doing for the rest of the day.” He trailed off looking up at the sky again, “The meeting is going to take place in the evening.”

She shook her head no, "those council meetings are rather particular. I think if the mayor wanted me there, he would've asked." Of course she wanted to go, but she felt uncomfortable to attend those. Plus her father would be there, and she wasn't exactly ready for the introduction. She paused and then swam back out towards the deep end towards Lucio, "I don't have any plans either...." she smiled coyly and looked around them "but for now this is fine".



Anna and Lucio had spent the day in the lake, and she had unsuccessfully picked his brain. He always seemed vague on his answers, but answered them honestly. She was smitten with him, especially after their day together. The sun was beginning to set, gold and pink swirled together as it cast a warm golden hue over the town and land. The temperature was dropping, and Anna was weaving her way through the people that were out enjoying the last rays of sunlight. "Anna!"

She stopped and looked at an older gentleman standing in his porch. He was a frail man, his age clearly showed in his face. Balding, and a white beard, he had a mug in his hand, and waved at the girl to come closer. It was Alphonse's father. She felt her stomach drop, and her hands became clamy.

"Have you seen my boy? It's been a few days, last I know he was at that ball," she laced her fingers behind her back and shook her head.

"I saw him there," she began "Im not certain where he went unfortunately"

He stared at her and then shrugged, "well if you see him - tell him come home." She nodded and walked away quickly.

Her heart was beating out of its chest as she replayed that night again in her head. Anna began to breathe harshly. Lying wasn't her strong point. Thankfully her house was in sight. She darted to it, and up the steps only to run into a harsh force. Anna almost fell, catching herself on the railing - and she looked up frantically. It was Bertol.

"Why are hanging out with that stranger, sister?" He asked, his face wiped of any emotion. Anna gripped the railing, and knitted her brows together in anger and confusion.

"Excuse me?" She barked angrily.

"I know you were with him all day, and I don't think you should be spending your time with him," he walked forward to her getting closely yanking her arm up so he was face to face with her, "Itd be best to trust me on this one, sister". Anna's mouth hung open as she stared him in the eyes, unsure of what to say. She yanked herself back from him, "Were you following us?" She questioned. He just stared at her, his fists cleanching tightly.

"You're nobody to judge him, he's a gentleman and-"

"He's not who you think he is..." he cut her off, they were both distracted by a door opening.

"Bertol, you said you were going to play with me," it was Cassandra. Anna looked to her and instantly smiled, then back to Bertol angrily. He nodded at Cassandra and turned his gaze back to Annas. "I mean it" he uttered under his breath and stepped inside the house.

Anna was furious at this point, her emotions sending anxiety through her body crazily. She quickly left the porch, and ran behind the house. Passing the shed, and walking into the brush. The sun was still illuminating the earth enough for her to walk through the forest. She knew of a small clearing her and Cassandra would come to. After a few moments she made it, falling to the ground dramatically and she began crying. Crippled by anger, and self loathing for lying about the death of someone. She sat there for a few moments, and collected herself.

"What's a young lady doing allll alone out here?" A voice called out. She looked behind her to see a man standing rather close, she must have been too in her mind to notice him. She began to stand up, when he kicked her back down with his foot on her shoulder. He smiled meniaclly waving a knife up at her, his foot pressing more into her shoulder.

"I'm not a fan of when they're moving..." he mumbled. He was an older man, dirt, and sweat covered him, in older molded clothes that seemed to almost fall off his body due to their terrible condition. He sat down on her stomach, and held the knife up in the air before bringing it down to her cheek. Burping and wiping the spit from his lips, he smiled again this time she realized about every tooth had rotted out. Tears streaming from her face, as she fought to push him off of her. He then shoved her hands to the ground, pinning her further. He made a small mistake though and lifted himself up off her stomach, which gave a small moment to raise her knee and hit him successfully in the groin.

He toppled over to the side, cursing at her Anna and slowly trying to recover. Anna frantically sat up, sporadically breathing - gasping for the air. She saw the knife on the ground and quickly snagged it. She held it up to the guy, as he rolled over and stared at her angrily. He all of a sudden lurched forward, Anna held the knife out and screamed. Feeling the weight of him collapse into her. She cried, and kicked at the man, the knife seemed jammed almost. Anna slowly began to realize the man wasn't moving, and more weight had been set into her body. After a moment, she released the knife and pushed
The man over. Again gasping for air, she felt something warm on her hand that held the knife and looked down to see blood coating her.

"No, no, no, no..." she kept repeating, trying to wipe temblors off her dress only smearing it. She looked at her hands, and then to the crazy bastard that wanted to kill and rape her. Her life had drastically changed again. She ran over to the man, and tried to shake him. "Wake up, this can't be happening..." she cried, coming to terms with what was happening.

She sat back and stared at his bloodied body, and brought her hands to her face. Her breathing become erratic again. She stood up slowly, and stepped back a few steps. Suddenly, her arm cracked. She screamed out in pain and fell again, "no, this can't be happening" Anna cried out. She looked up towards the sky, seeing the flow of blues fade in and reclaim the day as night. Anna felt her other bones began to crack and continued screaming in pain.

This pain continued for the next 5 hours, as her first transformation began. Upon her full first turn, she disappeared into the woods. Her wolf instincts fully taking over, and leading her towards her first kill.

After Lucio and Anna had went separate ways he headed back to the inn. “Hey, welcome back.” Verna greeted him. Lucio put up a hand as he walked through the doorway in response to her. “Thank you.” He said walking over to her.

“How was your day? Did you spend it all with Anna?” She asked as if she was teasing him. Lucio smirked back at her, “Yeah.” He said leaning on the counter and looking up at her, “She kissed me too.”
Verna’s face almost appeared as if she had expressed jealously but hid it, “Did you want a drink?” She asked bending down to get a glass. “Sure. That’d be fantastic.” Lucio said standing back upright and sitting down on the stool. Verna filled up a glass of ale and passed it over to Luico.

“Here you are love bird.” She joked. Lucio scoffed lightly as she had said that, taking a sip of his drink. “What’d you do today?” He asked, putting his drink down. Verna opened both her arms motioning to the bar. “This.” She let out a breath, “My life isn’t all that exciting.” She said and shrugged doing her daily routine of cleaning glasses.

“Nothing has to keep you here forever.” Lucio said taking another sip of his drink. After another few minutes they had continued to talk, eventually leading to Lucio drinking her blood from her thigh once again. After he had finished and went back to the bar to continue drinking, a person had walked through the door.

It was Theo Walker, the mayor of the town. “Ah Lucio. I was hoping to find you here. Come join me.” He said motioning out of the door that he had just stepped through. Lucio nodded and stood up from his chair. “Very well.” They left the inn and headed deep into the woods.

Eventually they had come across a cabin. It was decent sized, nothing to big or small. Nothing too fancy either. A couple guards stood outside on the edge of the perimeter. They had almost drawn their weapons until they recognized Theo. “Good evening men.” He said as he walked past. The guards nodded their heads.

They came up to the door opening it and walking in revealing several men at a few tables. John Blackwood, Erwin DeRose, Vincent Kumar, Jaques Caldwell, Gernot Haas, and a man he had yet to meet, Nikhil Gomez.

The small crowd had quieted as they walked in. “Hello gentlemen.” He said giving a small wave to the small group. Several hello’s were said as well as small waves and nods. “This is Lucio, the newest member to our group.” He gestured over to Lucio. Lucio nodded politely. “Take a seat.” Theo said gesturing over to a chair, “Let’s get this started.” He said walking over to one of the center chairs clearly designated for him.

He had finished up work early that day, hadn't had any recent orders to fill. So he just reworked on some items he was selling, and cleaned up hisnwork space some. Erwin looked to the sky, realizing it was getting close to the meeting time, he walked inside - kissing his wife on the forehead, and moving past her to their room. He peeled off his dirtied work clothes, and placed on a fresh pair of pants, and a ivory tunic, lacing up his work boots - he departed his home. Erwin had been informed of a new council member, and had heard how he had saved his daughter from a vampire. He'd have to thank the gentleman for that.

He walked through town, waving, and nodding to some of the towns people - and departed into the woods. He walked at a earnest pace towards the cabin - John Blackwood standing at the entrance, speaking to the guards. The man was quiet a people person.

"Ah, good day Erwin - how is Anna?" John asked, shaking Erwin's hand.

"Well, she is well - everyone here?" Erwin moved past the question.

"Almost, waiting on Theo and Lucio," John motioned for Erwin to enter.

Erwin nodded, and followed through with the gesture, as he entered he saw everyone but the two missing. "Hello gentleman," He nodded to everyone of them. They all grumbled a hello back, and continued with the conversations they were holding. Erwin walked over to a table set with pitchers, bread, cheese, and seasonal fruit - he poured himself a mug of ale from a pitcher provided. He took a gulp, and let out a satisfied breath - ale always satiated his palate after a long day. It was then the mayor and Lucio walked through the door. He nodded at both, silent, as he observed the man that saved his daughters life.

Erwin took his seat, as the mayor began about the meeting. He took another sip of his ale, looking to Lucio and then zoning in on the mayor.

"We have experienced a recent death in town. Alphonse Fleur, Id say it is a tragedy," he paused for a moment and looked from Lucio to Erwin, "but Lucio here - saved Anna DeRose's life". He paused, adding a moment of dramatics. "I must say son, you're very skilled at killing a vampire. Which is why I asked you to become a member. You see. Some of us are getting on in age, and it's hard for us to be able to fight back, also - it's good to have an extra set of eyes. With Vampires about, that must mean Werewolves will show eventually..."

Erwin fidgeted at the word 'werewolves', he sipped his ale and stood up. Looking to Lucio, he cleared his throat. Erwin stood at about 6'2", a tall man - naturally muscular, with black short choppy hair, and a constant look of unamusement wore on his face.

"Lucio," he began, and held his cup slightly towards his direction, "I thank you - from the bottom of my heart sincerely.... for saving my dearest Anna." He nodded, and then looked to every council member - his cup raised as if for a toast. Those who had one raised it, and all grunted in an agreement.

Erwin took a sip of his mug, and then set it down in the arm of his chair. "I must ask though - how do you know of Vampires?" He crossed his arms behind his back, "No offense Mayor, I trust your judgement. But Lucio, you are a stranger - who happened to be knowledgeable of another side of this world we keep hidden from the majority of our towns folk here." Erwin paused and tapped his foot, "How are you aware that side?"