There were many advice that Luka received from his supernatural family regarding his enrollment in Erebus. Make friends with at least one incubus or succubus. Never try to prank a shaman. Respect a shapeshifter’s preferred shape. Don’t come to Aether Woods during the night. Always follow the full moon protocol. If can be helped, don’t fall in love with a mermaid. And so forth.

But there was one thing that everyone had kept repeating, including his mom and his aunts: stay away from the vampires. The enmity between werewolves and vampires was not just a myth nor a pop culture.

Luka stared back at the vampire in front of him. He just did the exact opposite of what everyone told him to. Now he understood why Mohan told him that race was the most important issue. And why the wounded guy kept trying to send him away. 

The vampire tightened his grip on Luka's neck. With just one hand, he was able to lift a fully grown 18-year-old boy off the ground. He must have been really strong. Maybe even stronger than Luka. 

The wounded guy rushed to the vampire while his bottom jaw swayed following his head. He forced his dislocated jaw back to its place to say, "C'est juste un accident, Raoul. Let him go." 

"Accident?" the vampire growled. 

"Je jouais juste au baseball," explained Luka. The vampire glared at him. He didn’t expect him to speak his mother tongue. "Je ne savais même pas que j'allais le frapper. Puis la balle l'a frappé. C'est le bordel, je connais. Je suis désolé." 

The wounded guy held his friend's shoulder. "Come on," he insisted in French. "You said you don't wanna do this. You don't wanna push people away."

"I never said that," snapped the vampire. "Now shut up, Bashar." 

"We have to go before they report this to the staffs," the wounded guy kept trying to convince him. "Look, you're killing him." 

The vampire turned to his friend with an even more irritated look, "Do you really think that werewolves are that wea..." 

Luka hit him in the face with his knee. The vampire let go of his grip and Luka fell to the ground, coughing and gasping. Then he was lifted again, this time on both shoulders, until he was level with the vampire. He knocked the vampire's nose with his head, hoping the vampire would lose his grip again. The vampire just had his head thrown backward, but he regained his consciousness. He hurled Luka two meters away, making the crowd ran for their lives. Luka landed with his face dragged on the ground. 

That's when the vampire realized that there was a crowd, watching them from a safe distance like the spectator of a cockfighting match. One of the watchers was the guy with red hair. This was bad. 

Ariane jumped from the crowd and ran to Luka. The wounded guy quickly held the vampire before he could strike again. This time, with a harsher voice and a healed jaw, he thundered, "Enough, Raoul! Let's go!" 

Ariane helped to get Luka up. They both stared at the vampire, waiting for his next move. 

The vampire scoffed. With a thick French accent, he dictated in English, "I better not see you again." 

Then the two of them left the scene. The crowd murmured as the fight ended. 

"Let me see," Ariane pushed Luka's shoulder so his face would show. Other than dirt, Luka was alright.

Castor emerged on Luka's side. "Come on," he helped him stand up. "Let's get away from this crowd." 

"I'm fine!" Luka yelled. Hearing himself, he was as shocked as both of them. "I'm sorry," his voice calmed down. "I didn't mean to yell. I'm just... okay, come on." 

The three of them went to a more breathable space where Luka could sit. He still couldn't fathom about what had happened. It all had gone down so quick. Their faces had even faded in his memory.

"Well, every publicity is a good publicity," Ariane broke the silence. "What a way to get a reputation." 

"It's okay," Castor appeased Luka. "Nobody's gonna remember what just happened." 

"It's a good thing it ended fast," Ariane put her hands on her hips. "Otherwise, you're gonna get in so much trouble. Man, Kjell just told us to take care of each other. I looked away three seconds and you're almost choked to death by a vampire." 

"I know," lamented Luka. "Is this what it's gonna be? I'm gonna have to get away from every vampire?" 

"Of course not," answered Castor. "As you said, it's just an accident." 

"Luka has never been in a fight before," Ariane held her giggle. "Please excuse him for being so shocked right now." 

"He could've asked nicely about what happened," Luka let out his anger. "No need to get all physical about it. His friend can even heal himself. It's not a big deal." 

"It was once he knows you're a werewolf," told Castor. 

"Wait, he attacked me because he knows I'm a werewolf?" Luka was baffled. "Not because his friend was hurt?" 

"You said so yourself," Castor tilted his head. "His friend can heal himself." 

"Shit," Luka cursed. "You're lucky nobody hates incubi." 

"Not hate, true, but more like blame," Castor dipped his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "You know, for sleep parasitic." 

"Sleep paralysis," Luka corrected him. 

"Incubi are more envied than hated," Ariane remarked. "I mean, they have wings, and they can teleport. I'd give all my thumbs to have either." 

"Says everyone who doesn't have wings," Castor spread his wings. They were almost 7 meters wide with a shape similar to those of bats. "Yeah, it's dope, but it's not like it doesn't have a down side. I keep breaking and destroying things when I'm not careful."

"Hmm... sounds like you're not meant to be in a physical world," Ariane raised her eyebrows.

"Haha, yeah," Castor smiled. "Man, I just can't wait to be able to retract them. And teleportation, hmph... you have no idea how many times I've reappeared in a wall."

Luka finally laughed imagining him stuck in a wall. Face in one room, wings in the other.  

"And it has limits too," Castor continued. "Like, for now, I can only carry one person. And, and... even my grandma can't go to the places she's never been." 

"I guess that's why you're here, man," encouraged Luka. "So you can learn how to do and not to do all that." 

"Yes, that is exactly why I'm here," Castor smiled. 

They strode together as the sky turned black. The other kids were going to the dining hall for dinner. Again, Castor went separate ways in Hemera Hall. While taking his food, Luka realized that there was no blood in any container whatsoever. That must mean the vampires were not there. Great!

After dinner, they were ushered to the main building. This time, the president and the deans gave out speeches for the first-year students. And then the student orientation began. Yes, student orientation began at 9 p.m. and it lasted until midnight. They put on fireworks show to end the event, then they went back to their rooms.

Before he went to bed, he had to help Castor unbuttoning the wing holes on his t-shirt after his wings almost obliterated the desks when he tried to do it on his own. When he finally woke up, Luka tiptoed to the door so he didn’t wake Castor up. As a nocturnal, Castor must sleep during the day. He would start his classes after the sun set.

Luka texted Ariane then went downstairs. Together, they followed the tree-lined Middle Path that connected one building to the other to get to Hemera Hall. The September wind carried the dead leaves away, creating rustling sounds as they went deeper into Middle Path where an open green space was found. There was this mini labyrinth circling the poignant fountain in the center of the park. Benches made of stone were seen inside the labyrinth. Luka just wanted to grab a book and sit there, reading and not caring about anything else in the world.

The architecture wasn't bad either. Most of the buildings had the similar Romanesque Revival style with careful round arches and meticulous ornaments. They even had this pretty gazebo in the middle of colorful flowers and plants where they could sit and hang around. But there were also buildings that had modern minimalistic looks, such as Philotes Center with its lime green paint and big windows or The Hub with its curved but simple shape.

Luka was surprised finding a building with an enormous cross on top of it. He didn't know that these supernatural beings still cared to attend religious rituals. And there wasn't even just a church. They found shrines of Shiva and Vishnu, Buddhist temple, Japanese styled Shinto shrine and a small but fully decorated Chinese temple. A mosque with exquisite gold dome was also seen near Nyx Hall. For people who were considered cursed, their state of being didn't seem to stop them from worshipping their True Maker.

After brunch, it's time for their first class. It’s WOLF 101: Power Generation. The class was all the way in Castlemaigne Hall, making them passing a Gothic styled tower that had almost 20 levels, complete with flying buttresses and detailed gargoyles. They gasped once they read the name of the building: Oizys Library. What a terrifying architecture for a place so important like a library.

Their classroom in Castlemaigne Hall was a large room with few chairs that were set a bit too close to each other, leaving the front of the class wide open. One by one the students came in. The cousins introduced themselves to the other students, making a dynamic conversation by riffing off with each other.

Not long after, the professor came into the wide open space and greeted his students. "Welcome, freshman werewolves," he beamed. "My name's Niels Viklund and this is power generation class. This is where you learn the science of your power and how to generate it. You don't have to say 'fang on' or 'werewolf, I choose you' to do that. You just have to focus on yourself."

The students giggled.

"As you already know, we, werewolves, don't have many abilities beside our inhuman strength," he continued as he unbuttoned his shirt one by one. 

He's gonna transform right now? 

"Our greatest ability is to transform," he took off his shirt, showing off his hard rock abdomen. Luka was going to argue about the animal communication being the greatest ability, but Ariane quickly shushed him.

"And that's where we get to be in our ultimate form," he unzipped his pants. Some girls took a deep breath, some others didn't even blink.

"Our werewolf form is our Avatar State," he took off his pants. Underneath, he was wearing some kind of cyclist shorts. It looked like the exact same shorts as Ariane's dad and brothers wore before they transformed during full moon when they gathered on Luka’s coming of age. The female version that his mom, aunts and Lenz’s wife had worn included a piece of bra.

"Therefore, it is essential that we are able to transform..." he effortlessly shifted into a golden coated werewolf, "at will."