By the Pale Moonlight Ch. 01

It must have been 2am. Her back ached and her eyes strained. How long had she been staring at that stupid computer screen, reading and re-reading the same lines over and over again? She sat back with a sigh, her head hitting the edge of the chair. She picked up her phone from the desk; 3:45am. Shit, it was worse than she thought.

Now the real question, she mused to herself. Should I get some coffee or try to get an astounding two and a half hours of sleep and be late for class? She quietly cursed herself. Why did she have to take a 7am class. It was her most idiotic decision yet this semester.

It was the last available class with the teacher she wanted. The woman was a literal visionary. She practically re-wrote the book for most of the, what Dr. Miller called, Hollywood horrors. With degrees in archeology, theology, and even history she was the leading expert in anything mythology. She had been able to search through history connecting the dots from one era to the next. Dr. Debora Miller believed that vampires, werewolves, even witches not only existed but have been ruling our world since before written history.

Tara became infatuated with Dr. Miller the first time she heard her speak. She was only a junior when her high school invited her to speak for their Halloween "spook week". She wasn't sure if they invited the good doctor to get young minds running or as a joke, but either way Tara became instantly hooked into the realm of mythology. She had borrowed every book the school library had to offer, which unsurprisingly wasn't all that helpful. The public library had more information and a broader range of books, but everything was still "movie monsters".

It wasn't until she 'borrowed' her mother credit card and bought some of Dr Millers books that she found exactly what she was looking for. Dr Miller theorized that nearly all people in power, in the entire world, were a Hollywood horror, consisting mostly of vampires and werewolves, along with the other were varieties. She remembered a skeptical classmate of hers scoffing halfway through the presentation, he mentioned how people in office change constantly, their lives being a public show.

"Exactly, "Dr Miller responded to him, "They need humans to take on the public roll. As many mythological creatures had a way of controlling humans, they just needed a human face for the masses to concentrate on. Though the Were and Vampire population far outweigh the human population, a revolt is possible with their true discovery. I can almost guarantee to you that the creatures currently running our world, have been doing so for the past hundred, maybe even thousand years depending on their species."

Tara looked at her phone again; 4am. She might as well just stay awake, there was no real point in sleeping anyways. She rubbed her eyes again and stretched as she stood up slowly, her body was stiff. She stumbled slightly as her vision darkened, she shook her head and grabbed the desk. She hated when that happened, blood rushing to her head, her mother told her that happened when little girls didn't do what they were told, when they wanted to play instead of study like they should. Her mother was a real bitch.

She grabbed her phone and threw It in her back pocket looking around her dorm. Double room, though her roommate was never there, Barbie slut was probably at a kegger or bouncing around on top of some guy whos name she wouldn't remember the next day. Her dorm had two beds and two desks, it was divided in half by an invisible line. Barbies' side was pink and purple, posters of rappers on her walls and pictures of friends taped to the mirror. She looked in the mirror at herself.

She wasn't terrible looking under the right circumstances, but unlike Barbie, who seemed perfectly put together all of the time, her black hair never did what it was told, it was always a tangled frizzy mess. She tried to run her fingers through her hair with no success.

She looked at the rest of her body, she was of average American build thicker than she "should be", a large ass and breasts that made pretty bras impossible to find. She was hourglass shaped and tall which made her look thinner than she really was. But then again when did she really care about her appearance? Her usual attire either consisted of jeans and a t-shirt or a black skirt with bright tights if she felt like making an impression. Tara's face was pleasantly heart shaped and her lips plump. That mixed with dark brown eyes made nothing utterly special about her. She wasn't a cheerleader in high school like Barbie was, with her blond hair and bright blue eyes.

In all honesty she was pretty boring until her obsession started. Her mother raised her by herself, Her bastard father ran off before he even knew her mother was pregnant. He was apparently some one night stand her mother had while in college.

She knew practically nothing about her sperm donor. All her mother could remember was tequila shots and a wolf tattoo on his shoulder. Tara sighed looking away from the mirror, she must look like her father. She didn't look anything like her perfect mother, that must be why the woman hated her so much. She blamed Tara for not being able to finish college and being stuck in a dead end reception job. Oh well, no use worrying over the past.

She grabbed her coat off of the back of her chair and headed for the door. She'll just go get some coffee, maybe the cool air will calm her down. She locked the door and walked down the hallway, it was eerily silent except for the occasional jock screaming about a video game. She heard the term Fucking Noob about 4 times before she made it to the stairs. How simple life seemed in moments like this.

She quickly ran down the two sets of stairs, she hated being alone in stare wells, she had seen far to many horror movies. She opened the emergency exit door at the bottom of the stairs, it was never hooked up to the alarm it seemed and students used it as a quick way in and out bypassing the lobby. Inhaling deeply she plunged her hands into her pocket and started walking. There was a twenty four hour coffee shop in the center of campus that should only take five minutes to walk to.

She thought about her assignment as she started her walk. Dr Miller asked the class to write a paper on specific were-creatures. What animals could have a were counterpart. She wanted them to look through history for references. Could the big bad wolf of red riding hoods nightmare really be a werewolf? Could the Egyptian god RA really be a were-falcon?

This was the third class of Dr. Millers' Tara had taken, The first was introductory, a little bit of everything and only confirmed that this was the life Tara wanted to emerge herself into. The second class was more of a history lesson. It was here where most other students dropped out. The class was a hardcore lecture compared to anything else. If you weren't interested in the topic, as Tara was, you would get lost in the monotony. This class was quickly becoming her favorite, they talked about their theories, tracked fairy tales and mythology about gods and deities.

Suddenly she was on the ground, Hands and knees covered in dirt . She picked her head up and looked behind her. A large root lay under her leg. Serves her right for getting lost in thought, she was such a cluts. Tara pushed herself up onto her knees and wiped the dirt off of her hands onto her jeans, through the darkness she could see that she had cut her hands on the concrete.

Sighing at her obvious lack of grace she willed herself up and into the coffee shop right in front of her. She hoped no one saw her fall, that's all she needed. Not only would she be known as the weird witch bitch, but dirt eater would be a great addition.

She pushed the glass door open and looked around as she walked in, there was a couple of students sitting scattered, coffee in one hand, laptop on a table in front of them. She wondered if they were studying or on some social networking site. There was also a couple quite close to each other occupying a side table, with the dim lighting it was hard to see who exactly they were, but they were most definitely not studying.

She wished she had a boyfriend, or even just a friend in general. Since moving here she wasn't the most popular girl. She hadn't even been on a date, a few guys had asked her out, but once they found out she wouldn't put out on the first date they were far gone.

"Hello?" A hand waved in front of her face. Tara blinked and focused in front of her. A pissed off looking girl with a high ponytail, open mouth chewed her gum and rolled her eyes. "I said what do you want."

"Sorry." Tara said, she had lost herself in thought again. I'll have a spice chi latte please." The chewing cow rolled her eyes again and turned around, grabbing a cup. Tara waited patiently trying not to lose herself in thought again. The girl finally handed the chi to her; she paid and looked for a place to sit.

The coffee shop was pretty small, and the only open table seemed to be near the close couple. She hoped this wasn't going to be awkward. She said down at the table next to their booth and shifted her chair so that it was as far away as it could be without looking weird. They were whispering something to each other very quietly.

If only her mother could see her now, sitting in a coffee shop at 4am trying to listen to a couples private moment. The words perverted voyeuristic bitch would probably come out of her mouth once or twice.

"Tara?" She snapped out of her stupor and looked at the couple

"Dr. Miller?" Tara couldn't believe one of the people was Dr. Miller. What was she doing out at this time of night?

"Tara, what brings you out tonight?" Dr. Miller asked turning away from her male companion.

"Oh, I was studying and couldn't sleep, I tend to get lost in thought and all of a sudden its 3am." Tara gave a small nervous laugh, out of all the classes she had taken with Dr. Miller she had never been in a public place with her, it made her seem like a normal person, and not the legendary mentor she imagined her to be. "Why are you out so late, or well early I guess, your class starts in a few hours"

"Well, I don't sleep much these days. I had a meeting actually. Tara this is Mr. Lupus." Dr. Millers male companion turned around.

He was incredible. Long brown hair in a tight pony tail at the nape of his neck, his features were strong and sharp, dark eyes and a strong chin covered with course red hair. His body was thick and strong, not overly done like a body builder but natural like someone who worked outside doing manual labor.

"Call me James." His voice was deep and masculine. He shot a hand out. It was hard and callous; dirt rest under his fingernails. His handshake felt like sandpaper. There was something about his gruff demeanor that sent shivers down Taras' spine. She could imagine him running those jagged fingers down her spine. She could feel his beard scratchy against her stomach as his mouth left hard kisses down her hips.

"Your bleeding." Tara looked down at their hands. Joined together still with blood dripping out of the bottom. She grabbed her hand away horrified and stared at him, his hand was covered in her blood, and he didn't look disgusted; He looked confused. Tara looked down at her hands they were both covered in blood, as were her jeans. How had she not noticed this before, how had the barista not noticed? She must have given her bloody money.

James jumped up and ran over to the counter. He was tall, incredibly tall. He must have been well over six foot. It seemed impossible how agilely he moved for his size. He ran back over to Tara with a wet rag.

"Give me your hands." He said this as he grabbed her crimson soaked hand. He placed the rag over them, blotting.

"What did you do to yourself?" His voice sounded concerned. How could he be concerned for her, he should be disgusted. Some girl he didn't even know bled all over him.

"I fell on my way here. I'm pretty clumsy, I guess I didn't notice how bad it was. God, I'm sorry this is so embarrassing." She could feel her cheeks getting hot, she knew her face must be bright red. She pulled away from him. "I'm sorry to ruin your meeting I have to go."

"Wait." Tara heard James's rough voice. She didn't want to talk anymore, she just wanted to leave.

She turned to run but felt his large hand grip her wrist. She turned back to him. His eyes were darker than they had been before. His face was inches away from her hand. He took his other hand and slid it across her palm. He ran his fingers under his nose.

"You're not human, what are you?"

Tara ripped her hand out of his and ran. She ran as fast as she could.

---------

Thank you for taking the time to read my first chapter. I know there wasn't any eroticism in this chapter but I wanted to write a good start up. This is my first attempt at writing again after an almost 5 year hiatus, hence why it's a bit rough. I always welcome constructive criticism. If you have something negative to say please follow it up with a way you think I can improve. I already know that my grammar needs some serious help! Thanks! - Cheshirehair-