{{THIS IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE STORY I'M WRITING. THE MAIN CHARACTER IS ARTEM THE HUMAN/WOLF HYBRID AND TOBIAS IS THE VAMPIRE WHO HELPS HIM OUT....LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF IT}}
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“The first thing you need to know, Artem, is that I lied about my age.”
I cocked my head. “Why?”
He sighed. “I do not know the year I was born in. I was born before numbering years was invented.” He paused. “My people, we called the years summers and the months moons.”
“Moons and Summers…..” I mumbled. “Cool.”
He chuckled. “Yes, very.”
“But, why moons and summers?”
“I do not know, Artem.”
“Where were you born?”
“I was born in what is now Europe. It was a very different Europe though. For it was covered in dense forests and the people were not separated into cities but into clans. Each clan had a different animal or plant they represented. Such as the Lynx Clan and the Willow Tree Clan.”
I stared at him. So absorbed in his story. A different world.
Toby continued. “Another thing you must know, Artem. Is that my name is not Toby.”
“Its not?”
“No. Toby will never be my name. My birth name is Tobias of the Mountain Lion Clan.”
“Tobias.” I repeated.
“Yes, my skin was a lot darker then it is now. The color of a grizzly’s fur. Dark brown. I had black hair and I still do. My mother…..” He paused. “My mother was of the Red Deer Clan and my father of The Wolf Clan.” He sighed. “I never got to know my mother. She died giving birth to me. Now,you must understand Artem, that back then if a child’s mother died while giving birth the father was to kill the child. For it could not survive without the mothers’ milk. But my father couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead he placed me in the den of a mother puma. Where I nursed from her warm milk. Once I turned a year old my father took me back. We lived in the forest. My father did not want to live with any of the clans. I had asked him why and he simply smiled and said he’d tell once I was old enough.
“He died when I was 12 summers old. Killed by a bear.”
I noticed that his smooth voice wavered at the end.
“I didn’t know what to do then. I was alone. Alone in that cold and cruel world where only the strong survived.” He paused. “So I ran. I ran as far as my feet could take me and met up with a man. He looked to be about 20 or so summers. He had very dark hair. It contrasted dangerously yet beautifully with his snow white skin. His eyes where a dark shade of yellow. Almost gold, like a mountain lions.” He paused. “He took me in. He fed me and he clothed me and for a while I was happy. Until I was turned.” He looked out the window. “I remember that I was outside playing with my friend, Lynx. I’d met him as a sub. Practically saved his life. Anyway Lynx and I were playing tackle. The problem was that we were close to a Cliffside. It was my favorite place to play and I was surefooted. So I knew I wouldn’t lose my footing. Or so I thought. Lynx tackled me and I fell. I guess Lynx got worried when I didn’t come back up the mountainside and went to fetch Inuk. That was the name of the man who took me in. Anyway all I remember is waking up in the cave where we slept and that I was hungry. Very hungry. After that Inuk trained me in the ways of the vampire. After a few summers I wanted to go my own way. I said good-bye to Inuk and Lynx. It was hard to do so, and went off. I met Michelangelo a few years later.” He smiled. “And that’s my story.”
I shook my head. Dumb-founded. “Wow.”
He looked at me. “Mike took me in. I’ve been looking for a family ever since.”
“Why won’t anyone adopt you?”
He shrugged. “I guess it’s because I’m different. Pale skin, dark hair, gold eyes. I don’t fit in, Artem.”
I nodded. “I know what you mean. Being the only hybrid thats alive and not brainwashed….”
He looked at curiously. “Hybrid?”
I nodded. “I was born in an Animal Experimentation Facility.” I paused. “The thing was that those twisted psychos were also using humans for their gains.I was thie first test tube baby that lived past infancy.There were other kids there though.But they'd been kidnapped from their families and even those never lasted long.Those that did were brainwashed and turned into slaves to the scientists dirty work”
He frowned. “Thats inhuman and immoral.”
