Six months ter

  Maria sat in the library, completely absorbed in her book. Her finger no longer needed to trace each word as she read—a small accomplishment that filled her with pride. Six months of daily practice had transformed her from someone who couldn't read a single sentence to someone who could understand simple books and even parts of Gabriel's more complex texts.

  The window beside her was open, letting in the spring breeze. Birds sang in the garden outside—a sound Maria had never heard in the blood farms. Here, nature seemed alive in a way she'd never experienced before.

  A knock on the library door broke her concentration. Gabriel appeared in the doorway, his expression more formal than usual.

  "Maria," he said. "We have visitors. From Baron Cassian's territory."

  Maria's stomach tightened. Baron Cassian's territory—where she had been sent after her outburst at the blood farm. The memories were still uncomfortable.

  "Do I have to see them?" she asked, marking her pce in the book.

  "I believe you should," Gabriel replied carefully. "They've come specifically to see you. Including someone named Nara."

  Maria vaguely remembered a woman with unusual amber eyes and an air of authority. "The one who tried to tell me about the curse?"

  Gabriel nodded. "She may have information that will help you understand... certain things about yourself."

  Maria reluctantly followed Gabriel to the main sitting room. Three visitors stood as they entered—two men and a woman. The woman stepped forward, and Maria immediately recognized her as Nara.

  "Hello, Maria," Nara said with a small smile. "You look well. Better than when we st met."

  Maria nodded stiffly. "Father Gabriel has been teaching me to read."

  "Has he?" Nara looked impressed, gncing at Gabriel. "That's excellent. How much has he taught you about... other things?"

  "Many things," Maria replied cautiously. "About vampires. About the world before."

  Nara exchanged a gnce with Gabriel, who nodded almost imperceptibly. "But not about yourself, I'm guessing?"

  Maria frowned. "What do you mean?"

  Nara gestured to the chairs. "May we sit? This may take some time."

  Once they were all seated, Nara leaned forward, her unusual amber eyes focused intently on Maria. "We've come to check on your adjustment, but also to expin something important—something about what you call your 'curse.'"

  Maria tensed. The monthly transformations were still a source of shame and confusion, though Gabriel had been respectful enough to provide private space and never mention them.

  "It's not a curse," Nara said firmly. "It's what we call being a wereanimal."

  "A what?" Maria's brow furrowed.

  "Wereanimal. In your case, a werewolf." Nara looked at her companions, then back to Maria. "Let me expin how it began."

  Nara settled back in her chair. "In the early days after Subject 23 created the first vampires, some of those vampires went into the wilderness to hide. Some were bitten by wild animals—wolves, bears, rge cats. Those animals, with vampire blood now in their systems, then bit humans shortly afterward."

  Maria listened intently, trying to understand.

  "The mixture of vampire blood and animal saliva did something unusual to those humans," Nara continued. "It transformed them into something neither human nor vampire. They became the first wereanimals—people who could change form between human and animal."

  To Maria's shock, Nara extended her hand. Before her eyes, the hand changed—fingers shortening, nails lengthening into cws, fur sprouting across the skin. After a moment, it returned to a normal human hand.

  "This is what you call a curse," Nara said gently. "It's what we call being a wereanimal."

  Maria stared, speechless.

  "I was changed this way," Nara expined. "Bitten by a wolf that had previously bitten a vampire. But you, Maria, were born this way."

  "Born?" Maria whispered.

  Nara nodded. "You are the daughter of two wereanimals—wolf-strain, like me. They once belonged to the same vampire who owned you."

  "My parents?" Maria whispered. She had never known them - all she knew was that she had been in the blood farm for as long as she could remember. The older workers had told her she had arrived as a newborn baby, but nothing more.

  "Yes," Nara said, her voice gentling. "You were separated from them at birth. Your former owner - the vampire lord who owned your blood farm - grew bored with his wereanimal 'pets' and sent them to Cassian's territory. He had no interest in raising a wereanimal cub, so he sent you to the blood farm."

  Maria stared at her, stunned. "I have parents? Alive?"

  Nara nodded, her eyes fshing with momentary anger. "That's how most vampires treat us - like property to be discarded when no longer entertaining. But your parents survived, and they've been asking about you."

  Tears welled in Maria's eyes. "They're alive?" The concept of having parents was almost too much to comprehend after a lifetime of isotion.

  "Very much alive," Nara confirmed with a gentle smile. "And they would very much like to see you someday, when you're ready."

  Maria wiped at her tears, trying to process this information. "But what does this mean about... about what happens to me during the full moon?"

  "During the full moon, you transform into a wolf," Nara expined. "It's not a curse from the Light. It's your natural state as a wereanimal. The reason you don't remember it clearly is probably due to childhood trauma coupled with suppressing your natural instincts."

  Gabriel, who had been silent until now, spoke gently. "The transformation rooms I prepared for you—they weren't just for privacy, Maria. They were designed for wereanimals specifically."

  Maria looked at him, feeling a sense of betrayal. "You knew? All this time?"

  "I knew you were a wereanimal, yes," Gabriel admitted. "But I thought it best for you to learn about vampires first, to adjust to one truth before confronting another."

  Maria turned back to Nara, still struggling to comprehend. "So every month when I... change... I'm turning into a wolf? A real wolf?"

  "Yes," Nara replied. "And with time and training, you'll be able to remain conscious during the transformation. Eventually, you may even learn to control when you change, rather than being forced to transform only during the full moon."

  "Control it?" Maria couldn't imagine controlling something that had always felt like a terrible force taking over her body.

  "Yes. I can change at will now," Nara demonstrated by partially transforming her hand again. "It takes practice and acceptance of your dual nature, but it's possible."

  Maria tried to process everything she was hearing. According to Nara, she wasn't cursed by the Light. She was something called a wereanimal—a werewolf. She had parents who were alive. The monthly changes she experienced weren't punishment for sins but something natural.

  It was too much to take in all at once.

  "I need... I need to think," Maria said, rising abruptly from her chair.

  "Of course," Gabriel said, rising as well. "Take all the time you need."

  "I'll be here for three days," Nara added. "If you have questions or want to learn more about what you are—what we are—I'm happy to teach you."

  Maria nodded stiffly and left the room. She walked quickly to her bedroom and closed the door, leaning against it as tears streamed down her face.

  Everything she knew about herself had been a lie. She wasn't cursed by the Light. She wasn't being punished for unknown sins. She wasn't even fully human.

  She was a werewolf—born, not made. Her parents were alive. And somewhere inside her was an animal nature she had been taught to fear and hate.

  Maria moved to the window, looking out at the afternoon sun filtering through the trees. She tried to imagine herself running through the forest as a wolf, but the image wouldn't come. All she could picture was the small, dark room where she had hidden each month in the blood farms, praying for the "curse" to pass quickly.

  She touched her face, ran her fingers through her hair, examined her hands. Somewhere within this body was a wolf. Not a curse, not a punishment—a natural part of who she was.

  Maria sat on her bed, feeling lost. Learning that vampires weren't demons had been difficult enough. Now she learned that she herself wasn't what she had always believed.

  In a strange way, this revetion felt more shattering than learning the truth about vampires. That had changed her understanding of the world. This changed her understanding of herself.

  A soft knock came at her door. Maria didn't answer, but the door opened slightly, and Gabriel peered in.

  "May I come in?" he asked quietly.

  Maria nodded, wiping away her tears.

  Gabriel entered and sat beside her on the bed, maintaining a respectful distance. "I'm sorry you had to learn this way. I should have prepared you better."

  "Why didn't you tell me?" Maria asked, unable to keep the hurt from her voice.

  "I wanted to," Gabriel admitted. "Many times. But each revetion seemed to shake your world so deeply. First learning about vampires, then learning to read and discovering how much of what you believed needed reconsideration. I was waiting for the right moment to expin about wereanimals—about what you are."

  "So all this time, when I locked myself away during the full moon, you knew exactly what was happening to me?"

  Gabriel nodded solemnly. "Yes. I knew you were transforming into a wolf. I made sure the rooms were comfortable for both forms and that you would have privacy during the vulnerable moments of change."

  Maria considered this. Despite her sense of betrayal, she had to admit that Gabriel had always been respectful of her privacy during those times. He had never made her feel ashamed or afraid.

  "What happens now?" she asked quietly.

  "That's entirely up to you," Gabriel replied. "Nara can teach you about your wereanimal nature, if you wish to learn. She can show you how to remain conscious during transformation, even how to control it eventually."

  "And if I don't want to learn? If I just want to keep... locking myself away?"

  Gabriel's expression was sad but understanding. "Then that remains your choice. But Maria, from what I've observed of wereanimals who embrace their dual nature, there can be freedom in acceptance—more freedom than in fear and denial."

  Maria stared out the window again. "I need time."

  "Of course." Gabriel stood. "When you're ready—whether it's ter today, tomorrow, or never—Nara will be here to answer your questions."

  He moved to the door, then paused. "For what it's worth, Maria, learning this truth doesn't change who you are. It only helps expin why you experience certain things. You're still the same person who created hope in the blood farms, who learned to read with remarkable determination, who questions everything with such courage."

  After he left, Maria y on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Wereanimal. Werewolf. The words felt strange, foreign. Yet something about them resonated with a part of her she had always suppressed—the part that emerged with the full moon.

  Maybe, she thought as she drifted into an exhausted sleep, there were more truths to learn about herself—truths that the blood farms and their limited teaching had kept from her. Maybe being a werewolf wasn't a curse to fear but a nature to understand.

  For the first time, she allowed herself to wonder what it might feel like to run through the forest on four legs, to feel the earth beneath paws instead of feet, to see the world through a wolf's eyes—not as a shameful curse, but as another way of being alive.