Journey into the shadow realm

3 Days have gone by quickly. It was already Wednesday morning and I couldn't sleep. Me and Eli headed to our first class together with Julius waiting for me to enter so that he can sit with us. I take my notes and try my hardest to pay attention. I sigh and look down. Julius was gripping my thigh while paying attention to the teacher. "Are you always this clingy?" I whisper to him. His grip on my tightens and I can see him smirk, while looking straight ahead. Confident jerk. I roll my eyes and lay my head on my hand from boredom.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. After my last class we all met up at my and Eli's dorm. They watch as we grab our bags and then we head out to the car. We had already grabbed our food, they were in boxes for us to eat on the way there. When Ron starts to drive, I look at the time. It was 8pm, we would get there around 9pm. Me, Eli and Julius we're sitting in the back with Ron and Jaime navigating in the front. Eli was in the middle and Julius was on the opposite side of me. I felt comfortable from all the werewolf heat. I cuddle up next to Eli and lay on her shoulder. "I'm gonna rest my eyes a bit." I whisper to her.

When I wake up I can hear Rons voice. My eyes were still closed. "...Then we can go if you'd like, but I'm saying it'll be better to find a hotel to stay at because it's dangerous in Nogales at night." He's saying to someone. "Then let's look for a hotel and we will continue to the realm in the morning." Julius's voice speaks this time. I yawn and sit up. "Ok I guess this is my time to shine." I say to myself. I look up a decent hotel for us to sleep at because I was a little scared of hotels. I've never been in one so I wanted to choose a clean and well recommended hotel. The Fairfield inn pops up and I book a superior king room it had a king and a double bed as well as a couch bed. I figured Me and Eli, could sleep in the double and 2 of the boys could sleep in the king and then another on the couch bed. The total for nightly price and fees was 131$. I think that's a fair price. "I just booked a room at the Fairfield inn so change your route." I tell Ron.

When we get there we all walk in and I head to the front desk and grab our hotel room card key. Our room was on the 4th floor, room 112. We take the elevator to our room with our bags in hand. I'm pretty sure the lady was judging us in her head. I mean who wouldn't? 3 huge muscly men and 2 small women. That's got to be odd to look at. I giggle. When we get to our room I gasp. It was really nice. All white comforters and a tv. The couch wasn't bad either. I open the bathroom door to take a peek. It was so nice, it reminded me of my own bathroom back at my house. It was visually pleasing. I head to the rest of our group who were already discussing bed options without me. "I'm taking June. We usually sleep together anyways." Eli tells them. I rest my chin on Eli's shoulder when I visit the group. "I'm fine with that." I say. I mean, it was my original plan. I look over at Julius who seemed to express slight disappointment. A wave of guilt washed over me. I look down from Eli's shoulder. "Then Ron and I can sleep in the king and Julius will take the couch." Jaime concluded. Well that was fast. "Well I'm gonna take a shower." I announced. I head into the bathroom and close the door behind me. When I get out everyone had already laid down. I decide to just wear my tank top and some shorts. It was starting to get a little hot. Eli was sitting up with her phone in her hand. When she sees me coming towards her she lifts the blanket up for me to cozy up inside of. "You might be to warm for me to cuddle with tonight." I tell her smiling as I climb into bed. "It's never to hot for cuddles." Eli pouts. I look over at Julius who was sleeping already. I sigh. "Eli do you think I was being rude when I didn't let him sleep with us?" I thought it would be weird and uncomfortable... the three of us in the same bed. I only ever slept with Eli. Eli shakes her head. "No I think it wouldn't be appropriate considering me and you have a habit of sleeping together. If I left you two to sleep together I think you would've been anxious." She explains. I raise my eyebrows. "How would you know? I mean can you tell I have no romantic experience?" I asked her. I was starting to feel embarrassed. Eli looks at me and squints her eyes. "I thought it was obvious." She tells me. I frown. I guess I didn't need to explain my whole situation about relationships to her then. I'm sure Eli has experience. "Have you ever dated?" I ask her. Eli chuckles. "Yea, a couple times but I'm not interested in my own pack. I like other entities." She explains. I see. So Eli is curious to date other outsiders and explores dating in the mundane world as well. When I had watched movies with relationships I have always loved the chemistry even though I was never really interested in dating myself. "Have you ever had sex?" I ask her. Eli chokes and clears her throat. "Um yea I have, why?" She asks me completely shocked. I laugh. My mom had explained to me that sex was a natural thing and was only meant to be done with someone you were intimate with, well I guess in my case now, if you were in love. I never really understood her when she said it but I guess things change. "I was just curious. I've never had sex, so I just wanna know someone who has done it." I tell her.

"Werewolves only have sex when they are attached to someone. In this case, you humans call it love. That's when we- oh.. um never mind." Eli stops herself frantically. I laugh. "Ok. You don't have to explain if you don't want to." I say. Eli's cheeks turn bright red. "I think we should sleep." She says as she lays down on her side, facing away from me. I guess she got embarrassed. I lay down and hug her from behind. "Goodnight Eli." I whisper, And fall asleep.

In the morning we go downstairs to grab breakfast and head out of the hotel. When we drive again we drive further into the city. It was a cute little city and there were tons of people outside. When we stop the car we are in a empty parking space by nothing but bushes and dirt. When we get out we start walking further away from the city.

"Are you guys lost?" A voice came from behind a tree. It sounded girly. We look over and find a female a little smaller then me walk out in front of us. She scrunches her nose. "Oh... lycanthrope. What's this? I can smell a vampire as well? Ugh!" She contorts her face in absolute disgust. "No need to get into peoples business. What is with you Fae and wanting to get involved with us. Do you have nothing better to do?" Jaime asks her. The little female crosses her arms and scoffs. "Don't talk to me like that, I'll never let you pass into the realm. You can sit here and rot for all I care. And I'm here on border duty, I help open the portal to the shadow realm genius. I thought you knew this." She complains. Jaime rolls his eyes. "I know how the shadow realm works lady. Are you gonna let us in or not?" He asks. I curiously move my way to the front to get a proper look at her. One of the Fae? She was absolutely beautiful. She had pointy ears and short black pixie cut hair and magnificent violet eyes. Her skin tone was fair and nearly transparent. "So you must be a nymph?" I ask completely engrossed in her character. She looks at me and widens her eyes. "Are you human?! Why do I smell the scent of a vampire off of you?" She yells. I flinch. They may be pretty but they sure do have a temper. "Yes I'm a hybrid. I'm half-vampire and half human. Do you guys also guard the forests inside of the realm to?" I ask, still focused on the fact that she's an actual nymph. The nymph smiles. "Why yes of course, our duties and responsibilities as part of the Fae are to protect the trees and the forests and doing that we have to also watch who goes in and out of the shadow realm. This is why we are able to open the portal as we please." She explains to me. "Although they are the least significant of the Fae they deem useful to our realms security." I hear Jaime say under his breath. The nymph goes over to him and stomps her foot. "What was that? We're you asking me to keep the portal closed? You dirty mut." I giggle, and look at Jaime. "Actually they are very significant. I admire all of the Fae folk." I say. The nymph sashays away from Jaime and back to me. "You know what I like you." She smiles. My heart does a flip. No way did she say that to me. I smile back at her. "I'm glad." I say.

The nymph backs up and and opens her arms wide. "Alright doggies and vampire hybrid, let's get you guys to the shadow realm. You have found me therefore you have found your border." She announces. "Well technically you walked up to us." Ron snickered. I see the atmosphere change and shift into a clear ripple. Almost like the scenery in-front of us had been liquified. I gasp. "There. It's done. Now hurry you only have so long before I'm able to keep it open." She complains. We start walking ahead and I follow behind Eli. When we finish walking everything around us changes. The place we were in no longer existed. "From this point on don't get lost." Ron says to us. A little past the forest is what looks to be a market. There were tons of people around and everyone looked unique. I look around me and I notice that the group has changed too. I wince and touch the roof of my mouth and look at Eli. "It's ok we all have our flaws in our human skin. I'm glad they only show up here. She says. But we can suppress our fangs and control our eyes at will. I can also keep my finger nails normal unless I'm ready to slash someone's throat open." She laughs. So I guess my fangs will only show if I'm ready to feed. That's a relief. We continued to walk for what seemed like forever until we stop at a mansion in the middle of nowhere. It was creepy looking. Ron lets us inside and we are greeted at the door by many others. Including what looked like their mom and dad.

"We're home." Ron says to everyone. The two oldest walk up first. "Eli? We haven't seen you since you were just a little cub, how are you?" They ask Eli. She smiles and hugs them. "I'm good how are my parents?" She asks. They continue to have a conversation. As I continue to look around I see various people talking to the rest of our group, 3 people were talking to Jaime and Ron, and I look over and see a girl that looked a little older than me, having a private conversation with Julius. I see her glance at me and I quickly look away. She looked pissed. I gulp and hide behind Eli. After their conversation the parents talk to me next.