The Monsters In Our Town

25 // NAGUAL

I woke with a start as I heard a bang. I stayed silent for a few moments just waiting to see if I'd imagined it or not. When I heard a scream, I knew I wasn't.

I dragged myself out of my bed and started sneaking up the stairs. I knew that there was something about Eve that Lilith was trying to keep a secret, and I had a habit of sticking my nose in places they didn't belong.

I was almost on all fours as I crawled up the stairs as silently as I could.I could hear Eve as she banged around in her room, which had been mine until I turned fifteen. My current room was bigger and had an actual wardrobe.

When I got to the top of the stairs, I could see that Eve's door was already open. It was almost pitch black in the room, but I could see Eve standing on the other side of her room. If you could call it standing, she looked so unbelievably tall, and strangely a lot bigger.

I heard her making groaning noises, and it was as though she was growling. I crept closer, and as I did Eve only seemed to get bigger. It wasn't until I was all but in her room that I saw what was happening. 

There was a bear in Eve's room. I went to scream, but as I did someone covered my mouth with their hand. I tried to look at who it was, but they had already turned me around and was steering me back down the stairs. 

"You had to go snooping," they huffed and I immediately recognized Lilith's voice. I figured that she would shove me back into my room, but instead she threw me out of the front door.

"She's a bear," I breathed. "Eve... Eve is a bear."

"She's not a bear." Lilith snapped. "She's a Nagual."

"Nagual." I repeated. Blue was a Nagual, but he told me that he was a Cursed Nagual. "Is she Cursed or Purebred?" 

Lilith looked at me in some sort of awe. As though she expected me to be disgusted by Eve's secret. 

"Eve is... Eve is Purebred," Lilith mumbled. 

"But that means that Eve's dad would of had to be-" I started.

"Remember how I told you that I'd killed a thousand year old Nagual?" Lilith said. "His name was Paolo. We met while I was hunting a Werewolf Pack in Italy and I fell in love with him. I didn't know that he was a Nagual and when I found out it was too late. I was pregnant with Eve and I didn't know if Eve would be a Nagual. I'd decided from the minute I knew that if I ever found out that Eve was a Nagual, I would kill her. But... But I couldn't." 

"Does Eve know what she is?" I checked.

"I told her that she is Cursed," Lilith answered, "because I know my daughter, and if she knows the truth then she will go looking into it." 

"What is there to look into Lilith?" I demanded,

"Paolo was part of one of the three original Nagual families, the Abandonato Naguals." she sighed, "and Eve is the heir to one of the branches. I can't let that happen to her Alex."

"You dated a guy named Paolo?" I teased and she glared at me. "Don't worry Lilith, I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you Alex, that means a lot to me," she smiled. 

"I mean, obviously, but you might want to keep her away from Blue," I warned. "He's a Cursed Nagual, and he's weirdly perceptive so he will find out if they spend too much time with each other."

"I wouldn't let my daughter lower herself by talking to such filth," Lilith scoffed and I rose an eyebrow at her. "I mean, not that you... Go to sleep Alex." 

***

It felt like I had only been asleep for ten minutes when I was being shaken. It was only when I opened my eyes and looked at the time on my alarm clock did I realize that that wasn't too far from the truth.