THREE WEEKS EARLIER.

Divina was having a party with her new found friends, most of them who were acquaintances except Melissa. She was a neighbor and all Divina could say about her, was that they were really close. For a reason she couldn’t point out. They had been friends since toddlers and always kept in touch by social media.  Pa had decided to leave town for a few days. Some kind of hunting club trip, Divina just hoped he didn’t bring home any more stuffed heads to mount on the walls, they gave her the creeps. Their blank eyes seemed to follow her every movement.

She wore a tight pair of jean/trouser which didn’t succeed in hiding her curvaceous figure and a pink top.

The sitting room had lights similar to that of a night club and the sound theatre system was at its peak booming hard core rock music.

Still she couldn’t believe her luck when she had found the high tech speakers. Who would have thought that her strange old Pa would own such items?

Conversation had to be made with your mouth across the listener’s ears. The puff aficionados occupied the couch with steaming cigarettes and weed. Across the room on the dining table, a drinking competition was going on, with one person winning repeatedly for three consecutive rounds. Divina was on the dance floor with a guy she had just met briefly who insisted that he could beat her with the most outrageous dance moves.

“My Pa dances better than you!” she bellowed over his ears. The guy who introduced himself as Kyle leaned close to give a reply. Divina’s words sounded more like a challenge and he was ready to do all he could to make a good first impression.

“I doubt that, watch this move!” he said as he stylishly made a quick rhythmic spin to the left, he took three steps back and wanted to make a back flip but landed leveled on the ground. Divina couldn’t stop giggling while others burst into laughter especially the puffers. Divina helped him up trying to act natural and hide the smile that threatened to leak onto her face.

The look of utter embarrassment on Kyle’s face was only making it harder for her to hold in her laughter.

“Sorry! Are you hurt?” she asked in a squeak.

“No, thank you”

“Truly, my Pa got more moves than you, especially that one you just showed me,”

Divina could see the anger in his eyes, but he tried to conceal it. Guys would do anything just to get a girl. One thing they hated was to be mocked. It was something that Divina loved to do. It wasn’t that she was mean. She had just seen too many guys who thought they were all that and could get what they wanted when they wanted. It had just become a habit for Divina to put a guy in their place. She had sworn to herself she wouldn’t be a weak girl who fell at a man’s feet.

“I wanna go get a drink” Kyle managed to say. He did succeed in making a good impression which would last for a while. After all he did make her laugh.

“Divina! Divina!!” Melissa’s voice reached her from behind the puffers-dominated couch.

“Melissa! Melissa!!” Divina called back, and then she made a left turn tracing her voice. She found her within the microcosm of the bunch watching the drinking competition.

“What ya doing here?” Divina asked, giving her a wink. It wasn’t like she needed to ask. She knew Melissa too well.

“What do you think am doing here?” Melissa answered with a grin.

Divina traced her gaze to a handsome dark haired guy taking a gulp of strong liquor down his throat. He leaned against the kitchen counter looking out of place amongst the drunks. His hair was a little tussled and his body language screamed dangerous.  Divina had seen the type often living in the city.

“Since when did you become a fan of alcohol?” Divina asked.

“Alcohol! Not at all” Mellissa replied without taking her eyes of the guy.

Divina nodded slowly, “you like him?”

“Like-No! I love him, his name is Kane Steel! Suits him well don’t ya think?”

Divina took a critical look at the guy Kane Steel, she was sure that under that shirt, perfect biceps and broad shoulders existed and his lips looked kissable that was all. But she hated the dipsomaniac in him.

“Yeah, yeah, he is cute nothing really striking,” it was true she had seen better looking men. He was handsome in the bad boy kind of way.

“You think so?” Melissa gave Dvina a can’t-you-see-he-is-hot Look.

“Yeah, I know so,”

“Whatever, I am going to get him,” Melissa spoke with so much determination in her voice.

“For God sake Melissa guys are not properties,”

“Well, this is my belonging, my possession,”

“If you keep throwing yourself at them, they won’t value you. Let them chase you, play hard to get,” Divina tried to give her little advice.

She had been there. She had given everything to her high school crush who had dropped her like a bomb just mere days later. Since then she swore she would never be that needy girl again.

“Tell that to the girl who has no boyfriend because guys here are not of her class,” Melissa retorted. That hit Divina hard.

“I don’t want to have a boyfriend here. Guys here aren’t of my standard” Divina answered defensively. Plus she was only there for the summer. If it was up to her she wouldn’t be there at all. Melissa would have spent the summer in the city with her instead of the dead beat town she had found herself in.

“Unlike you, this is where I live. I don’t have a boyfriend waiting for me in another city,”

“Go ahead! But don’t come to me crying after the usual happens.” She sighed as Melissa gave her a sideways glance. Sometimes her bold personality caused her problems. It was just who she was and changing wasn’t something she was willing to do. Lucky for her Mellissa knew her well enough to know that she didn’t mean anything bad by her words. Brutal and honest was her way.

Divina wanted to get some air, so she walked to the kitchen but met a girl and a guy making out. Oh, that’s nice sex predating guys she thought. As she was about to leave, she heard the distant ring of the phone. Wondering how she was going to hear the caller within this noise, she picked up the receiver.

“Hello,” She answered. The voice from the other side was masculine, but sounded so distant from her Pa’s voice.

“What?”

“Where,”

“Okay, I will be there,”

Quickly, she had to get the keys to Pa’s car. But before that she had to tell Melissa to call off the party, the sitting room needed to be litter free with no evidence at all. She found Melissa smiling at her property. This was an emergency and she didn’t care.

“Melissa, I need to get to the hospital, call off the party. Pa is in the hospital,”

“What?”

“You’ve heard me,”

“Can I drive you?” Melissa’s property offered his help pushing himself off the kitchen counter. Divina already saw the reply to such a request in Melissa’s eyes.

“No thank you!”

She rushed out, got into the car and drove off to the town hospital.

Fifteen minutes later, she was discussing with the doctor.

“He was brought in by a good Samaritan who saw him rocking backwards and forwards in the middle of the road with his clothes shredded and his body covered in scratches.” The doctor explained.

“Is he alright,”

“We have been able to care for the minor injuries since there are no major ones except a nasty animal bite beside his left eye which he has prevented us from treating,”

“Can I see him?”

“Of course, but I would advise that you should be careful,”

“You told me nothing was wrong,”

“Our diagnoses has spotted a brain tumor. One of its kind, I have never seen anything like it,”

“Oh no, not Pa,” Divina let out a moan.

Divina walked into the hospital room, she was surprised to see the Octogenarian fastened to the bed with firm restraints. His skin was sheer white. If wasn’t for his fierce eyes she would have thought she was staring at a corpse. His thin legs were exposed beneath the hospital wear, sporting large scratches and the beginning of bruising. Her dry eyes didn’t last for five seconds until they flooded in streams of tears, when he saw her, he became erratic and began shouting on the top of his voice.

“BEHOLD THE LYCAN GOD-MOTHER! THE LYCAN GOD MOTHER! MY GRAND DAUGHTER-THE LYCAN GOD MOTHER! I WORSHIP YOU LYCAN GOD MOTHER! LYCAN GOD MOTHER!!!”

Divina couldn’t hold it any longer. She walked out of the room into the walkway full of tears. Taking a deep breath to settle her sobs, she reached for her cell phone and dialed her mother’s number.

The phone kept ringing. She had no choice but to leave a message.

“Mum, you need to get here as soon as possible, Pa isn’t himself anymore,” She left the voice message, not sure what to actually tell her. Her legs were shaking and she felt a little dizzy. Divina sat in one of the plush blue seats in the waiting area. She propped her legs up on the coffee table that held a bunch of out of date magazines. All of a sudden she felt exhausted her body drained of energy. Her eyes stung and drooped shut, she blinked a few times. She had to stay awake. She couldn’t sleep at a time like this. It was no use, she was too weak to fight the sleepiness that had taken over her.