What an Odd Alliance

AN UNWELCOME GUEST OF HONOR

Zoya arrived after an 11-hour-something flight. It was the longest that she had experienced, but she loved it regardless. If Zoya was passionate about anything besides hunting werewolves, it was the freedom of flight. It's those few moments when the airplane speeds up and that second where it takes flight, and her stomach falls to hug her guts for comfort, those few moments is when Zoya feels most alive. That freedom that flight provides becomes addictive, and beautiful, and makes her feel her most self.

Her father, she suspected, was behind all the smoothness of passport process and passport control. It annoyed her how influential her father was, even when he wasn't around her. The moment she stepped out of the airport, the view took her breath. From the bright colors of the cafes, to the vast greenery and spread nature all throughout. She knew she was in her element, and that things will be okay. Zoya arrived safely and was escorted to her room, understanding that she was to be in a mixed-room. According to the brochure, she was to rest for the day and prepare to attend an orientation the next morning on time. After thanking her RA, resident assistant, she nears to her assigned dorm room.

Once she arrived, her stomach tied into a knot. She scented a familiar yet unpleasant smell. One of a dog, or maybe an unhygienic human, perhaps? She knocked absent-mindedly on the dorm room, when the hair at the back of her neck stood after she scented something off. It could have been her tension, so she shook the feeling and opened the door. Zoya was met by a chubby average-looking guy with brown hair and wore glasses that ate half his cheeks. He was sitting in front of his computer, and he was a mess with McDonald's sauce splattered all over.

"Hello! Welcome," he said as he eagerly stood up and advanced.

He reached out to shake her hands when a mark caught Zoya's attention. A mark she understood all too well, and understood why she was disgusted by his human smell. He wasn't fully human, he was that of a mystical beast, a monster that should be eradicated from the face of the Earth.

Instinctively, she took him down with a sidekick, sat on him for security, then summoned her sword and hovered over him. Zoya helped Amir, her sword, a few inches away threateningly from the boy's chest.

"You're a werewolf," Zoya shouted and spat on the floor, disgusted by his sight.

He surrendered his hands beside his face, and was first to speak.

"Woo! Hey Lady! Yes, I'm a werewolf, but it doesn't mean I'm going to eat you," he tried to joke.

"Any last words, beast?" She snarled, cringing her face, and ready to pierce her perfectly-shaped sword into this monster.

"Yes, if you kill me, you won't be able to pass this semester," he explained calmly, unaffected by her threat.

She was taken aback momentarily, unable to think, "What?" was all she could hear herself say.

"You are my assigned partner. So if I die, you won't pass this year." he said as he held Zoya's physique and placed her safely on the fluffy carpet as if she weighed nothing, stood up, looked at her with his welcoming eyes.

"In this school," he continued, we stay partners till we graduate. That means the better we work together, the faster we can pass courses and win house points."

"House points?" she repeated, unable to comprehend him.

"You don't think I don't smell you, too?" He gazed at her. "I know you're a hunter, though you aren't subtle in hiding it," he looked at her sword mesmerized by its details.

"But you are a student, too. So, if you want to survive here, then we need to work as a team," he reasoned, as though it was the simplest thing in the world.