“We say it is,” Xavier says.

“And, you know, we do give some of it away. Maybe half,” Jake grins. I laugh, although still a little bewildered. “We auction off boyfriend for the week, which includes three dates, our phone number, three requests, and a bouquet of roses. We all sell for big cash, though Xavier is king,” Jake adds rather enviously.

“How much?” I ask curiously. I can understand rich women paying a lot of money for these handsome flirts.

“Around ten thousand to twenty thousand,” Jake laughs, “although one time Xavier did sell for fifty thousand. Two women were feeling rather competitive.”

“Fifty thousand!” I couldn’t imagine that number in my wildest daydreams. I haven’t even seen a fifty dollar bill in years.

“You don’t understand,” Wes starts in, “to get us for one week is the ultimate trophy. Our women get supreme bragging rights for the entire time they have us. Our looks are above ordinary, especially Xavier’s crazy hair, and we are famous among the Moonlight attendance. We are like what you would call ‘trophy wives’, but are temporary and also men, of course.”

“The trophy men…” I snicker quietly.

“I don’t know what we are going to do without Xavier… it’ll be an outrage among the women,” Jake shakes his head regretfully, “let’s hope none of us get mated as well.”

I scan the area for any hint of Ray, and then I lean in slowly. “Why do women even bid on Ray? He’s practically a monster, and so rude too!” I whisper, my voice lingering on the wind before reaching their ears. Wes bursts out into laughter, Xavier soon joining in. Jake is the only one managing to stay calm, answering my question smoothly.

“You haven’t seen him around the ladies… and he is practically a mirror image of Xavier, minus the hair and a few other details. Many women think of him as Xavier’s slightly less desirable double.”

“So he sells for a lot…”

“Well, pretty much. It usually goes in this order, from least amount of money to most; Yi, Me, Ray, Wes, and Xavier. We all sell really close together though, except for that one fifty thousand.”

“Wow,” I say, “this is amazing. Do you guys ever get attached to your women?”

“Never,” Wes says darkly, serious for the first time ever, “it’s not allowed.”

“But I’m sure they get attached to you,” I grin, crossing my arms, “maybe a few stalkers?” I pointedly stare at the blushing Xavier.

“That’s the fun part,” Wes smiles, “no one knows anything about us. They only know us by our first names. . In return for being their boyfriend for a week, we make them sign a contract of strict confidentiality. They are not allowed to ask us questions about our past, family, or even where we live. They are also required to only use our number during the week we are their boyfriends. After that week, if they use our number they will be fined $500 or more. For many, it is like a dream with a rough awakening at the end.”

“Harsh,” I shake slightly. They truly are the pack of players. Xavier looks at me, and I suddenly think of a question. “Are you going to still auction yourself off?” I ask him, trying to remain indifferent.

Xavier smiles. “Of course not, Mona. I’m all yours.”

I look away to hide my growing blush. Why is it that I always get red around him?

“You should have met Xavier before he got mated to you,” Wes laughs, “he was a bigger player than I am now.” I find that rather hard to imagine. Xavier… a player? Never.

“Twenty thousand dollars less every week,” Jake almost moans, “it’s very sad.”

“Don’t worry buddy,” Wes pats him on the back, “I’ll be your moneymaker from now on. Xavier, we got to find another job for you.”

“Why wouldn’t women want him?” I interrupt.

There is silence, then uncontrollable laughter. “I don’t think you understand, Mona,” Wes gasps, sputtering with chuckles, “they do want him. But wouldn’t that be unfair to you if he becomes some other girl’s boyfriend?”

“Hey Xavier,” Jake smiles, “you should be partying right now. Mona just indirectly admitted she was attracted to you.”

“Shut up!” I say angrily, and they eventually quiet down. Silence reigns in the room, each of us unsure of what to say. It seems to suit them; this glamorous lifestyle they hold. Their looks guarantee nothing less.

“Where is the person you guys almost killed?” I suddenly start up, remembering past events.

“In the guest bedroom,” Wes says dismissively. I look at him in bafflement, and he laughs. “It’s not like we have a dungeon to throw him in,” he points out.

“I don’t understand why you didn’t just let us kill him-” Jake begins.

“No!” I stand up, banging my hands on the table, “I think I can force the shifter out of him.”

They all stare at me, Xavier becoming rather distressed. “No, Mona, please,” he starts, and then stops abruptly.

“I could access his mind, and I was able to hear the two voices. If I can somehow… further this ability, then I know I can save him!” I say determinedly, “then you will never have to kill another human again!”

“You can’t think of them as humans, Mona,” Jake sighs, “once they’re possessed, their soul is as good as gone. We aren’t murderers.”

“But he was there!” I exclaim, and then my hand is fiercely grabbed by Xavier.

“We need to continue this conversation elsewhere,” he whispers into my ear, standing up.

“Let go!” I struggle as he forces me out of the room. I am whisked away, super speed taking over, air rushing past me like a tornado.

We end up back in the garden, Xavier standing right in front of me, still holding my hands. Skies as clear as can be hang above us, a slew of colors in the flowers below. Everything is so beautiful, although now a piece of yellow tape stretches from tree to tree of the entrance to the path I had traveled before. It says DANGER.

Wow. They must really think I’m stupid.

“Please, Mona, forget about the man,” he begs, “we’ll take care of him. Worry about… I don’t know… just don’t worry about anything. You don’t have to get into this.”

“But I do! I can’t just let you guys kill him while knowing I can save his life-”

“How, exactly?” Xavier says slowly, “How can you save his life?”

Time stops as I look to the floor, examining my shoes. “I don’t know much about being a Spier, but from what I heard, it seems as if I could really help you guys-”

“No!” he says agitatedly, “you’re helping us just fine by being right here.”

“But even if I wasn’t able to help you, rescuing that man… wouldn’t that be worth the risk?” In my head, it is perfectly simple. I can’t live with the fact that I could have saved a person and didn’t. Why can’t he get it?

“Nothing is worth you,” he says with pain, squeezing my hands tightly.

“Xavier…” I sigh, “Please understand.”

“I understand perfectly,” he says angrily, his voice dangerously low, “and I’m not letting you blow your life away for a lost cause.”

“You don’t believe I can do it?” my voice is sharp, shrill.

He pauses, drawing a little picture in the dirt with his foot. “Mona, it’s not like I think you can’t, but it does seem rather-”

“I get it, Xavier. You don’t want me to do it. You don’t believe I can,” my voice is low, defeated. I start walking towards the door, desperately trying to veil the determination bursting within.

“No, it’s not that! It’s just that there is a big chance you will die,” he yells after me, “I… don’t want that. Please, Mona…”

I reach the wooden door, turning the knob to swing it open. Without casting one glance behind my shoulder, I slip inside, closing it after me. It feels, strangely, as if I have shut him out forever.

I quickly banish that thought. Xavier will always be around for me, no matter what the situation is.

I hope.

Wandering through the hallways, I suddenly discover the faint outline of a man lingering against the stone wall. He turns, as if he is waiting for someone, slumping until he is sitting on the floor. There are a few moments of complete and utter stillness, and then he regally rises to his feet. The lights suddenly give out, dying against the overwhelming darkness, as he flicks a switch. He pauses, and then starts walking. Not knowing quite why, I follow him, almost hypnotized by the footsteps as they ring through my head.

At the end of the hallways, a faint light lingers, growing brighter with each fear-stuffed step. My heart seems to pound even more erratically as we walk, my steps mirroring his. As the light shines brighter on the man, the outline begins to be illuminated, and I know instantly who it is. He enters the room, deliberately leaving the door wide open, and I step inside.

“Ray,” I say softly as the man stands before me.

“This is the library. Sorry about the lights, by the way, I was afraid one of those idiots would follow us,” Ray wastes no time, getting directly to the point. He gestures to the piles and piles of books, stacking from the floor to the ceiling, the rows and rows of even more. It is a huge room, the books on either side, lounge chairs and a spectacular fireplace in the middle. Over our heads a truly stunning chandelier hangs, colossal with a ton of sparkling crystals, and a giant TV is mounted directly above the fireplace. It is on, the display of a computer showing up instead of TV shows. “That’s our computer,” he explains, “We just use a TV monitor.”

“Wow,” I gasp, awestruck, “this is absolutely amazing!” It is another dream of mine; a fantasy I never thought would be accomplished. It is the biggest collection of books I have ever seen. With joy I rush to the first aisle, marveling at their assembling of many encyclopedias, the informative books I have missed so much.

Back when I was a child, Dad used to have the most stunning library in the whole city. It wasn’t nearly as big as this one is, but was stacked with an incredible amount of books. When I had turned five, I vowed to Dad that I would read every single book in his library. But of course… my promise couldn’t be kept.

“We have the prophecy here,” a beautiful voice murmurs near my ear, and I straighten slightly.

“Where is it?” I question.

“Right this way,” he leads me into the aisles, skimming over each book like a searchlight. It is endless, the rows of books, my feet growing tired as our trek continues. They don’t have the prophecy in a better place other than these aisles? From what I have heard, they seem to esteem it very highly.

When he finally stops, I pause too over a particularly thick book labeled Werewolves, Spiers, and Shifters: Complete Edition. On the front is a picture of a menacing werewolf poised over devouring a human and a human battling a truly horrible looking Shifter with a strange looking spear. I slip it from the rest, hiding it behind me.

“It’s okay, we don’t mind if you read it,” he says, expressionless, without looking up from his task. He seems to be examining the spines of each book, looking for a certain title that belongs to the book he needs. I cross over to his side, noting now the true similarities between Ray and Xavier; their nearly identical looks except for the scar and the hair. All this time he hasn’t acted like a sourpuss, which is a plus, and also a side of him that is pleasantly new to me.

He smiles as he extracts the book we need, a dusty one that isn’t thick at all. The side reads Summer Kitchen: 100 Delicious Recipes and the cover is completely blank. I narrow my eyes at the slim cookbook, wondering if this is a joke.

“Trying to find some recipes?” I ask, crossing my arms. We aren’t getting any closer to finding the prophecy this way, and although it looks useful, it isn’t anything like what we really need.

His grin grows wider as he rubs his hand on the spine once, twice…

“What are you doing?” I ask, my anticipation subconsciously spiking as he does it again and again. He doesn’t answer me, taking his strong hands and rubbing it endlessly. After I know he isn’t going to answer me, I quiet down and just watch the slow, rhythmic movement, hoping for the best.

When he reaches the twentieth rub, he suddenly stops, and without looking at it, hands it to me. I take it, raising it to my gaze, and gasp as the spine now reads The Prophecy and the cover is adorned with a single green emerald.

Spellbound, I open to the first page, but it is empty. The second page is blank too, and as I leaf through the rest of the book, I find it is blank as well. I look to Ray, who smiles knowingly.

“Look closely,” he commands, his words strong as steel. I oblige him, glancing at the first page deeply. To my surprise, when I stare at it hard enough, words begin to appear, as if writing itself on the page.

“There will come a person equal to a werewolf and a Spier, who also possesses an ability like no other, leading a complete pack, bound together by loyalty and friendship. They will defeat the red-eyed wolf, not without losing one of their own on the journey, and another will come to take his place. Through discord and strife they will travel, friendships and relationships forgotten, but they will succeed, destroying the red stone and vanquishing Shifters once and for all. Then the werewolves will vanish into the mist, their purpose served, for one cannot exist without the other.”

“Is that all?” I ask, staring at the paragraph of craziness with disappointment, “I was hoping it would talk about a Spier being able to heal the people possessed by Shifters.”

“This is the reason why we exist,” Ray says softly, “we live for a purpose, and once that is completed, we die… and all you’re saying is is that all? Seriously, Mona.”

“I’m sorry Ray… I’m just a little disappointed that my question wasn’t answered,” I stare at the paragraph over and over, hoping for anything, but nothing is found. This has absolutely nothing to do with me.

“You know…” Ray lingers over my shoulder, and I get a whiff of his sweet-smelling cologne. “There have been very few cases of Spiers getting that ability. However, they profess it to be a very limited power, only able to use maybe once in a hundred years. I guess that time means nothing to them though, being immortal,” he notes slyly.

“Immortal?!” I exclaim.

“If you survive, of course,” he says darkly. We pause, suspended in silence. Being immortal… would that be a good thing? “You would be able to live with Xavier forever as a human instead of being converted to a werewolf,” he adds softly, “which means that you can have children. Crossbreeds, of course, but still…”

“Children? Oh no, we won’t…”

“That’s what you think,” he smiles evilly, plopping down in one of the chairs. I carry the book with me, sitting in the one opposite him.

“Why can’t two werewolves have children?” I wonder.

“Because our population would grow too large, obviously. We are all immortal, so every conversion must be approved by the council. Crossbreeds, however, are more loosely monitored because they are not immortal, with an average lifespan of around two hundred years,” he lazily kicks his feet onto the coffee table.

“Why did you show me the prophecy?” I finally ask, looking clearly into his eyes, “why are you telling me all this?” Xavier would never tell me what he is saying now.

“Because you asked,” he smiles, “and even though curiosity kills the cat, it is better to let the cat know instead of keeping it wondering forever.”

We sit in silence, I watching the huge computer screen, Ray absorbed in reading.

“I want to become one,” I finally think aloud, Ray’s head snapping up from the magazine, “a Spier… but Xavier doesn’t want me to.”

“It’s not exactly Xavier’s choice, don’t you think?” he scoffs, looking at the chandelier above us. A pause ensues, tension stretched between us, and then he speaks again. “We can do it tonight. Xavier and the others are going to be at Moonlight, and the full moon is coming out today.”

“You sure got it planned out, don’t you?” I narrow my eyes, and he grins.

“I knew, from the moment I set eyes on you, that you would want to help,” he shrugs, “and I prepared accordingly.”

I think about the pitiful boy locked up in the bedroom right now, his soul swallowed by the Shifter. My father, how he looked before he drove us to death. The men on the mural, with eyes like fire. I can’t just stay here and pretend like I can’t do anything. I have to at least try.

And if I die trying, so be it. I don’t have too much to live for anyway.

“I will,” my voice, barely above a whisper, emits. Ray grins, and stretches out one handsome hand. I feel, suddenly, as if I am making a pact with the devil.

A thunderclap rings through the air as my hand grasps his, rain slipping down the windows, then falling to its death.