Tessa began her morning like she always did, eating off another unidentified corpse, dreading every bite. This particular body had a bit of decent flesh to it so it wasn't that bad. The taste of flesh became more common to her as she became more of a stranger to normal food. Her knees kissed the cold ground as she knelt over the grave for her meal. Tessa hated being a ghoul, it was no way to live. She wouldn't have wished this on anyone. She never slept, she never ate anything besides another person or an apple and, she constantly felt cold. The only good parts of being ghoul was that, she didn't undergo what most girls her age and ladies went through every month. Of course that also meant she could never have a family of her own.
Of all the constant things that lay on her mind there was one that always lingered the most that, if she made the right decision staying alive. Tessa didn't know too much about being a ghoul but, she knew enough to know that it wasn't the life for her. She wondered if it would've been better if she'd have been killed by Rose along with her family. To spare her of the existence that followed. It's been three months since her family was killed. From what she remembers, her family loved being ghouls except for her.
The greatest pain she felt during her time with them was how much her brother Alex changed. He was sweet and talkative for his age but, after he was turned he became a real monster. Too young to know the effects of what he was doing, a lot of the orphaned children that went missing was his doing. He'd befriend lost children and lure them home and kill them, as if he was a real predator. Her parents grew to like the tactic and followed his lead. Alex was the furthest from the sweet little brother she once had and it was destroying Tessa, she felt as if she had failed him. If Rose had not killed him that night, Tessa would have eventually. He had lost his humanity long before everyone else. On the dreadful day her father came home with a man who then turned them all. The same man Tessa will never forgive that, she swore she would kill.
Where she lost a family, she found another in Liam. She had to live for him. She wasn't going to fail him, not like she did for Alex. Which meant her staying alive and being his family. That being said, she decided to address the forest eyes that have been watching her eat from the grave for a while now. Tessa could smell an animal although, it was very unfamiliar to the other forest creatures.
She stood up and gazed directly were she felt the pair of eyes were coming from, "I can smell you and I know you've been watching me, there's no reason to hide." There was a short silence and a white animal began to emerge from behind a tree. It was large with eyes that were a bright orange. Slowly it made its way into the graveyard with its eyes locked onto Tessa. As it moved it kept it's head very low as if it was ready to attack if need be. "If you were planning on hurting me I think you would have done so already wouldn't you? Well I'm leaving now. Feel free to help yourself to what's left If you'd like."
Tessa turned and started to walk towards home trying to look as casual as she could, she wanted to give the beast the impression that she wasn't intimidated by it at all. Maybe that way it wouldn't look for a fight. In her mind turning your back on most wild animals is a sign of strength. She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a voice call her from behind.
"Wait. What's your name?"
Tessa turned to see a naked boy who had his hands over his privates. He looked Native American., with brown eyes and short black hair. He stood awkwardly in the open field as his scrawny body shivered against the morning cold. She couldn't help it, Tessa began to laugh hysterically. The boy himself managed a smile as he realized his own antics. She walked back over to him and removed her jacket and handed it to him, he then wrapped it around his waist as a skirt.
"I'm going to need you to clean that afterwards, my name is Tessa by the way. You were the white animal from before?"
"Yes, I can change back to normal as well. My name is Anoki." He then reached out his hand to shake Tessa's.
"It's a pleasure Anoki. Don't you know that it's rude to stare?"
"Well, I didn't mean to. You have really nice eyes is all." Tessa took a hard look at him and replied.
"I meant while I was eating... It's rude Anoki."
Anoki's face lit up and he ran his hand through his hair in embarrassment. "Oh, I wasn't sure what you were doing. I didn't mean to stare."
Tessa gave him a smile. "Don't lie. You know what I am don't you?"
"Of course. You're a ghoul, you are very young for a ghoul though probably the youngest I've ever seen."
"And you are not afraid of ghouls?"
"No. I can tell you aren't a bad ghoul. You eat from the dead. You don't kill others, also it's nice to see someone as young as myself. I don't have any friends here in the forest."
"You know what Anoki. I have a younger brother that you may like, would you like to meet him?"
"He's a ghoul as well?"
"No. He's a human but he doesn't mind."
Anoki smiled, "Of course. Is your house far?"
"It's some ways out. I need to make sure no one from Silverlake sees me. So I visit these graves here deep in the forest."
"You can climb on my back and I'll take us there." He then tossed Tessa's jacket over her face briefly covering her eyes and by the time she took it off, she was looking at the white beast again. This time it kept its head higher and was more inviting. Anoki walked up to Tessa. She started the stroke his fur, it was soft to the touch and dense. She then jumped onto his back, he was very sturdy under her weight.
"Okay Anoki. Start running down this path and I'll show you the way. Remember to stick close to the forest road. No one can see us." She then lay on his back and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm ready. Go." Anoki took off down the forest path on the way to the Barrett farmhouse.