by R.A Cullison
Chapter Nine
Nightmare
I felt like I was on a boat on rough waters, the motion made alittle more alert.
I opened my eyes, the lights over my head loomed over me,
“Where am I? My voice was barely a whisper,
“She’s coming around!” I heard a women’s voice that was a little too loud,
“Nora!” I heard Corbin’s voice; I wanted him to hold me, to feel his warm embraces around me. Then I heard the same women tell him to wait outside.
“No Corbin!” I went to reach for him but my arm wouldn’t move.
“Easy Nora, your arm is broken.” A mans voice said, I turned in the direction of his voice and all I saw was a white blur and big black circles for eyes.
I felt a snap in my arm and it shot up my arm to my shoulder and it was awful, I let out a loud moan of pain, started to cry, the pain was excruciating.
“Shhh, Nora” It was Corbin’s voice, it was so calming and so comforting, I reached for him with my good arm, I felt his hand slide into mine.
“Corbin.” I whispered. The pain medication was starting to effect me, I felt myself drift into unconsciousness.
I woke up to the sound of someone talking, whoever it was, was mad. I opened my eyes blinking them to clear my vision. I could see white everywhere so I knew I was in the hospital. I looked around the room, there was my grandpa talking to a man in a white jacket, and he didn’t look too happy.
“Grandpa.” I sounded louder than I wanted to; he looked over at me,
“Nora, sweetie how do you feel?” He placed his hand on my forehead very gently but it still felt like a ton,
“A little sore, what happened?” I didn’t remember and I wanted answers.
“Well Nora you got hit by a car, lucky it was an off duty Paramedic or you may not be here, you suffered a concussion, a broken arm and a lot of cuts, you lost some blood.” He had deep line of worry across his face, “but the doctor said you will be back to your old self in no time.” I looked around the room to see if I could see Corbin, but he wasn’t there, “are you looking for Corbin, he went home, family emergency, he will be back, that boy really loves you and he is a hard worker.” I managed a smile. A nurse came in to check my iv and then my cuts with a smile she left. Grandpa ran his hand down my hair, “Oh before I forget, here this came for you yesterday, it’s from your mother.” I took the envelope from his hand and looked at it, Atlanta, Georgia.
I opened it up and a key dropped onto the blanket, I picked it up and studied it, Box 121, hmm I though.
I pulled out the letter and began reading it,
Nora,
We are ok, we are in Atlanta, and I know I owe you a lot of explaining but this is something we feel you shouldn’t know anything about at this moment. How is school? I bet the guys are drooling over you. Don’t go for anyone too soon make them wait. Your father sends his love to his baby girl. Your father got a job a respectable lab, his research will on mostly terminal illness. I hope to have you in my arms soon, I miss you so much, Tell your grandpa that we love him. You know how your dad is with Grandpa Travis; they are so much alike, you know like father like son. Please take care of yourself you are more precious then you know or will ever know. We will be calling your grandparents on Sun. so please be there I am dying to talk to you. And maybe we can explain a few things.. Maybe.
Love,
Mom and Dad
P.S. That Key is for a safe deposit box at the Arrow Head just north of town, love ya
I folded the letter up and placed it back into the envelope, and looked at grandpa, “What did your parents say?” He asked curiously,
“Nothing really, but they send their love, dad has a good job at a lab doing research on terminal illnesses.” I looked at grandpa and he just smiled. Grandpa and dad always seem to fight over something, mostly petty stuff. My dad always yelled at him to take his medication or to watch his driving, dad treated grandpa as if he was an invalid.
A nurse came in with a tray of food and I was happy I was starving; I thought my stomach was going to start eating me from the inside out. I looked at what I had, a sandwich, tomato soup, peaches and milk. I looked at grandpa after the nurse left. “Grandpa, could I have a soda instead.” He smiled,
“Sure sweetie, I will be right back.” He got up and walked out the door, I heard him greet someone in the hallway.
In walks Corbin, just as hot as ever and he had flowers,
“Wow, hello beautiful, you look good.” I rolled my eyes. “These are for you.” He handed them to me and he reached in and kissed me. He went to pull away but I grabbed his shirt. He looked down at it and smiled; he reached in and gave me another long passionate kiss.
“I missed you.” I said as I smelled the flowers, He walked over to the door and shut it, I was scared, “what's going on?” he sighed
“Its Matt, we found him this morning pretty mangled, but alive, he don’t look good, and he can’t change anymore.”
“Wait so he is normal?” I was shocked and I knew something would have happened to him, for helping.
“No, he may not make it, and we can’t take him to a doctor, so that makes it worse.” I lost my appetite.
“Corbin, he helped me escape. He is going to die because of me, and this is my entire fault.” I started to cry, Corbin sat on edge of the bed,
“No, this is my fault; he would have never even looked at you if you never met me. You have to understand Nora, we been fighting for years. We want to keep this in our bloodline, but with Noah, out there it’s just dangerous. He will change whoever he can and create an army. You, Nora, you were going to be the queen. Noah wants you so bad, he is lusting after you and will stop at nothing to have you. Matt told us a lot and he also said that you were very brave.” I smiled at him; I reached up and placed my hand on his cheek.
“Corbin, I was scared, I was sure I was going to lose…something dear to me to him but all I could think about was losing it to you…” I felt my face get red and hot. Corbin smiled,
“Are you talking about your virginity?” I shook my head, “Nora, that is something precious and that is the only gift we are giving when we are born and the thought you want to give it to me is well…grateful.. But I won’t do anything to you unless you’re completely ready.” I looked up at him,
“Corbin, do you still have…” I felt embarrassed to ask him,
“Are you asking if I am still a virgin?” I shook my head and he laughed, “Not for many years Nora.” I felt odd, “But it was only one time with someone I thought I was going to marry, but someone had other plans for me.” I could tell the memory was painful.
“Corbin, Noah told me about your last girlfriend, that she died because of you and she was pregnant, and…. She was his sister. Is that true?” the look on his face said everything, I touched his hand “we don’t have to talk about this; if it hurts you to think of.” I grabbed his hand and kissed it.
“Nora, I will tell you everything when the time is right, but right now you have to get your rest, and your grandfather is on his way back with your soda.” He sat on the recliner at the end of the bed. Sure enough, grandpa walked in holding a can of soda,
“They said clear fluids, so here is some Sprite.” He handed me the can and I opened it and took a big gulp of it., and belched…
“Excuse me.” I laughed.
“Nice one.” Corbin said with a smile, We all giggled but my grandpa rolled his eyes
The nurse came in to check my vital signs and my iv; she looked at me and smiled,
“Looking good Nora, you might get to go home tomorrow.” That was great I smiled, “I will be back with your antibiotic.” She left the room, ugh I thought, I hate medicine.
Corbin stood up and stretched, “I gotta get going, if you don’t get released tomorrow I will come and see you after school tomorrow, hey I’ll be nice and get all you assignments since graduation is in a few months.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead, �
�See you tomorrow beautiful.” He shook grandpa’s hand and walked out the door, I hated to see him leave because I felt lonely.
“Well sweetie, I better get back to grandma, Nikki is staying with her until I get home, and I will be back in the morning.” He kissed my cheek and then he left too, I was alone.
I clicked on the TV but there was nothing on, I couldn’t get up and if I moved to fast, my arm would hurt. So the best I could do was read the outdated magazines, which were lame. So decided to fall asleep, well try to but I couldn’t relax enough. My mind wondered like crazy to that underground place where Noah and the other pack was hiding. I didn’t remember where it was and I knew he would come back after me.
Then I was thinking about Corbin and that I finally had him to myself that he belonged to me now. I started to relax and drift off to sleep, then I heard some heavy breathing. I slowly opened my eyes and scanned the room, but no one was there. Am I losing my mind? I thought, then on the left side of the room was a shadow of a human, “Who is there?” I whispered, but no answer, “I know your there cause I can see you.” then it stood up and it was a female sillotte, “Ariel?” I asked then I heard a sigh,
“Yeah it’s me, so much for being unseen.” She stepped towards me, “Corbin got scared that someone might hurt you so here I am. TA DAH!” we chuckled together,
“I don’t need a sitter Ariel I am in the hospital.” She sat next to me on the bed,
“Corbin is just worried Nora, he loves you and don’t want you hurt.” I looked at her and shrugged my shoulders,
“I am in the hos-pi-tal, what does he need to be worried about?” I asked being as sarcastic as I could.
“Nora, don’t be so smug, Noah will stop at nothing to get what he wants, and its best if you remember that, and you wouldn’t win fighting him.” I shrugged my shoulders again and smiled,
“Noah isn’t that stupid to come to the hospital where everything is being watched.” I said pointed to the camera in the hall, Ariel smiled,
“True but I’m not leaving so, go back to sleep.” She went back to the corner.
I tried to get comfortable again, it was difficult with a huge plaster cast on my arm, but I managed.
I heard felt a tug on my arm, I looked down and there was Ariel,
“Nora, Noah is here, I can smell him, he is coming down the hall! I need you to get up and hide under the other bed. Hurry up!” I slid under the other bed, waited, sure enough about two minutes later in walks someone and they headed right for my bed, I heard a low growl of anger. I seen another set of feet,
“She isn’t here, we will have to come back later, let’s go.” I took a big sigh of relief when I seen them leave.
“That was close; we need to get you out of here.” It took her half a step to get to my clothes from the little closet behind the door.
“Hold on Ariel, I am getting released early this morning so I don’t need to sneak out.” Ariel threw my clothes at me.
“We don’t have time to wait, we got to get you out of here before Noah and his rabies infested dogs come back.” Ariel was persistent. I slid on my clothes, my shirt was shredded so I just wore my hoodie, slipped on my shoes, and followed Ariel out to the van where the others were waiting for us, with no Corbin.
“Where is Corbin?” I asked looking up at Josh.
“He is off doing some scouting. He is following Noah and his little pack, making sure they are behaving themselves. We are heading back to the hide-out, so no one can find you. Corbin will meet us there so, don’t fret little lady, you will be well protected.” I looked at Josh and smiled at his really bad John Wayne impersonation. Ariel looked at him,
“My God, Josh that was horrible.” We all laughed, we hit a bump and a pain shot up my arm and made me cringe,
Kyle looked at me, “Sorry Nora but these bumps are unavoidable.” I smiled,
“That’s ok Kyle I know you don’t mean to hit them all, my arm is very sensitive to any hard movement.” I held my arm tight to my body, hoping that the bumps would stop, and then the whole van stopped.
“We are here.” Ariel said as she opened the door, “and look who is here?” I looked there was Corbin in the doorway. Our eyes locked on each other, and we smiled.
I walked up to Corbin and we embraced, “I missed you so much Corbin.” He laughed alittle.
“I missed you too; let’s get inside so our scent isn't out here.” We walked in; this place was a lot nicer than Corbin’s apartment
“Do you need anything Nora?” Corbin asked.
“No, I'm fine.” I answered him. Corbin reached over and took my hand, and led me down the hallway into a bedroom with only a small lamp and a few candles lit the room. I was nervous what was he up to I thought.
“Nora, you can rest in here, I can’t believe how lucky I am to have you here with me.” I smiled at him,
“I thought I was going to die, lucky for Matt I am here, by the way, where is he? Is he here?” I asked hoping that Corbin would give me a straight answer or do what he normally does and avoid the whole question.
“No he is here, actually he is in the room on the other side of that wall, he is resting, Noah did a good job on him, but he is healing, as soon as he can change then he will heal a lot faster.” I was surprised he gave me a full answer and no run around.
“So do we just sit here and wait for Noah to try to find me or you going to go looking for him?” I said while sitting on the bed, my arm was throbbing terribly,
“Do you need something for pain?” Corbin asked with a concerned look on his face.
“No lets wait.” I said as I scooted back on the bed, “will you lay with me?” I asked sweetly, he smiled and slid on the bed with me. I put my leg over him, he looked at me and smiled.
“What are you up to?” he asked, he was on his side looking down at me. I rose up and kissed him, it was very passionate, I wanted to make sure he got my message, He pulled back.
“Are you sure?” he asked looking at me.
“Yes.” he started kissing me again, he reached up and began to unzip my hoodie exposing my breasts. He reached down and began to caress them. It felt good, sending chills down my body. I started to unbutton his shirt, his lips never left mine.
I slid off his shirt, exposing his well defined chest and abs. I rubbed his chest feeling his muscles
We laid there both sweaty and out of breath. Corbin rolled on his side and was looking at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Do you realize what just happened?” he asked with a huge smile on his face.
“Yes, Corbin, and it was wonderful.” I said ,making sure to smile big. He bent down and kissed me, a pain shot up my arm.
“Ouch!” I held my arm close to me.
“Need your medicine?” he asked.
“Yeah, can you give me one of my pills?” he got up and dressed. He got my pill bottle out of my bag, I took it with a big drink of water. He helped me get my pants on. “I want to talk to you about what Noah told me, tell me” I laid back on the bed, waiting for the medication to kick in,
“Yes, what he told is true, but I am sure he made me seem like a bad guy,“ He sighed, “Several years ago, I fell in love with a women named Claire, she was a beautiful person, sweet, kind, and looked a lot like you, we were dating for awhile, when she told me she was pregnant. My protective instincts kicked in I kept her safe as much as I could. Then I got into a fight with a rival pack, she heard I was in danger and went after me. When she got to the fight, it was pretty brutal, several of their members where dead, and we were pretty beaten up. I was nose to nose with their leader and she ran towards me when a rival pack member attacked and killed her, I…. I watched her die, I couldn’t get to her soon enough, she died in the mouth of a werewolf; she took her last breath in Noah’s jaws. I carried her home, I felt lost for years, and then I saw an angel at a train station.” I smiled then began to dose off, but was fighting it, “Its ok Nora,” Corbin whispered in my ear, “you can sleep,
you are safe here?” I smiled alittle and fell into a restful sleep.
I heard a howl and it scared me, then I thought I was in a house full of werewolves, my boyfriend was one, I had to remind myself over and over to slow my heart down, I thought it was going to jump through my chest. I heard heavy breathing from the other side of the room, and I could tell it was Corbin, “Corbin?” I asked and he stepped out of the shadows, he was in his wolf form, “Does this mean that Noah is close?” He took my hand, like telling me that I was going to be fine and that he was there to protect me. The door flung open and there was Kyle,
“Corbin, Noah is on the grounds, should we go in lock down?” Corbin looked at him and with unspoken words, he knew what Corbin wanted, “Ok, but you should be out here with us, she will be safe, there is no way he will be able to get to her.” Corbin gave me a mournful look and headed out the door, the door slammed behind him and I heard several clicks of the locks on my door. I was trapped inside, but thankful for being that way, I didn’t want to be in the same room as Noah or Shelby because she would kill me at the first chance she could get.
I looked around the room for something I could use as a weapon, just in case. I wasn’t going to be a sitting duck for Noah, so as I was searching. I found a coat of arms on the wall with 2 daggers in a shield, I pulled them out and put one in my pocket and the other in my boot. I sat on the bed waiting for anything to break through the door, if something did, I would be ready to stab them.
I heard howling and screaming there must have been a war going on outside my door. I then heard a big bang on my door and watched blood seep under it, a lot of blood. I stared at the puddle getting bigger and bigger. Then a hard thump on my door, heavy knocking, I hid behind the bed, and I prayed. “Owwwww!” I heard then tearing. Oh my God I thought. Then the locks unlocked, the door slowly opened and there was Matt, battered and bruised but looked able to fight, his shirt was blood stained.
“Nora, we got to get you out of here.” He reached for my hand and pulled me out in the hall way and out the back door through some trees to a waiting car, He opened the driver’s door and I jumped in “Drive, NOW!” He got into the passenger side of the car,
“Owwwwwwww!” I heard behind me,
“Nora, go that’s Noah, GO NOW!” I turned the key in the switch, threw it in drive and spun out, but Noah was close behind, I pushed down the gas pedal and began getting some distance on him then he was a mere speck in the rear view mirror. I sighed in relief but I was still on edge; Matt kept looking back like something was on our tail. “He’s gaining on us!” I looked in the rear view mirror he wasn’t in sight then I heard a loud bang on the roof of the car, “Shit he is on the roof!” I swerved and weaved in and out trying to get him loose from the roof. “Slam on the breaks!” Matt yelled. I slammed my foot down on the break and Noah went flying but to my shock, he landed on his feet. He turned around and looked at me, his eyes glowing crimson red.
He clicked his tongue, “Naughty, naughty Nora, trying to hurt me like that, shame, shame on you I am going to have to spank you.” His attention moved to Matt, “Mattie, and Mattie still alive I see pity that you survived all this and I am gonna have to make sure your dead this time.” A whoosh of air pasted by me and there was Ariel, Josh, Kyle and Corbin in attack formation,
“I don’t think so Noah!” Corbin growled at him, “No more killing anyone.” His eyes were black with fury.
“Corbin, I don’t want to kill anyone, I just want Nora and I will leave.” He was turning his looks towards me.
“No! Nora is mine, she is part of my pack now, and you are going to die tonight.” Corbin began to turn.
“A fight huh? Is that what you want? To fight me, well Corbin, then so be it.” Noah changed too, there I was in the middle of a huge pack of werewolves, who were ready to kill each other, I was scared and I knew it was written all over my face, I was terrified that Corbin or any of his pack was going to get killed. Then out of the woods behind Noah appeared the rest of his pack, growling and snarling. I could tell who Shelby was, she was on Noah’s left side and her eyes were directed towards me. Hate was in her eyes, she wanted to kill me but she knew she couldn’t because of Noah.
Then in a flash, I saw Corbin and Noah in a battle of blood and fur. Snarling broke out between everyone. Then I seen Shelby and Ariel entangled in a bloody fight. I heard their high pitch female whelps, they were far higher pitch then the males, and theirs low and deep.
“I gotta do something.” I told myself aloud. I got out of the car; I looked around to find a weapon. There was a rock just beside of my foot, I picked it up and headed over to Shelby who was winning against Ariel. I picked up the rock and hit Shelby over the head; the rock came down hard on the back of her head. Shelby slumped over. She was knocked out. Ariel pushed Shelby off her and stood up; she panted and gave me a thankful look. Shelby rose up and pushed me down; she was in her human form,
“You stupid bitch! Hit me in the head huh, I don’t give a shit what Noah says you will died.” She pushed me down, Ariel tried to help but it didn’t work, I remembered that I had a dagger in my boot, I reached down and held it tight in my hand and when Shelby leaped before I could think, Matt pulled me out of the way, “Matt you son of a bitch.”
“Back off Shelby, your jealousy is clouding your judgment, she will kill you, make no mistake on that.” Matt hid me behind him.
“That scrawny bitch, please.” I heard a howl of pain, Josh was standing over Paw, with blood dripping down is mouth, Josh has something hanging from his teeth, I looked at Paw and his throat was missing, I heard gurgling noises. He was transforming back to his human self as he laid dying. Then a horrible gasp came from Shelby, “Paw! NO!” She yelled, leaping towards Paw’s lifeless body. She bent down and kissed his head, her eyes turned towards me, her fiery red eye glowed with hatred, “BITCH YOUR GOING TO DIE!” She let out a loud growl and ran towards me, Ariel jumped in front of me, with one swoop of her arm, she had Shelby on the ground, “Let go of me you damn whore, I want her heart!” Shelby screamed, then with a flash of the eye Shelby was loose and gone disappearing in the woods, Corbin and Noah were still in a deadly battle. Their bodies were torn and bleeding. Then Noah was over top of Corbin, getting ready to take his victory, NO I thought I have to do something, and then I remembered that I still had the dagger in my boot. I reached down and pulled it out. I stared at the shiny blade,
“You can do this.” I told myself, I found my feet and made my way into the woods behind Noah, my footsteps were disguised by the sounds of the others fighting and Noah talking.
“You poor pathetic fool, thinking you can beat me, and destroy everything I worked so hard to achieve, HA! HA! I hope you will like watching me enjoy Nora from hell, because you are no effort!” Noah jumped on Corbin and began to tear at his flesh; blood began to pour profusely from Corbin. I could hear Corbin scream in pain.
“No!” I screamed, before I could stop myself I was in a full run with the dagger stretched out before me. I could feel the dagger pierce in Noah’s soft flesh and the sickening sounds of bones cracking as I stabbed him repeatedly. The whole woods got quiet not even birds sung. I could hear the sound of his heart slowing down and then stopping. Noah’s body fell to the ground. He was dead; I heard screaming, I felt Matt take the dagger from my hand then I realized that the screaming was me.
“Shhh Nora it’s ok.” I looked into Matt’s face and began to weep. I watched Kyle pick up his brothers limp body, I watched as the tears run down his scratched and bloodied face.
Matt held me as we walked to the car. Josh drove, I was in the backseat hanging on to Corbin’s lifeless body, and I could feel the warmness slipping from him,
“Corbin, please hold on, you can’t leave, just when we were free of everything, you can’t die on me please.” My words were shaky; I looked at Matt he was upset too.
We pulled into the hideout driveway. Kyle got out and opened the back door where I was holding Corbin; He reache
d under his body and paused. He gave me a look of dread; I knew that he was dead. I shook my head over and over,
“No! He isn't dead, NO!” I grabbed his body and pulled it towards me. I slowly took my finger and pulled the hair off his blood stained face, “I will love you forever…forever, my love.” I looked at Kyle who was crying.
“Little brother, I love you, man, tell mom and dad I love them too.” Kyle disappeared inside the house. I just sat there holding him for what seemed like hours. I kissed his head and slide out of the car. I looked back at the car and I see him laying on the backseat, he no longer resembled the copper colored man I loved, he was now just a shell
I walked into the house it was quiet, “I am going to go home.” I looked at Matt and at the rest. “I love you all.” I turned and walked back out the door and started to walk down the road. My thoughts were running around in my head, and the pain of losing Corbin was almost more than I could bare, I kept walking until I could see the lights of the city, then I just wanted to go home, to sleep, to cry.
It started to rain, I didn’t care, the rain hid my tears and washed away the blood. As I walked through the empty streets memories flooded back to me. I could see the handsome man at the train station, his wonderful smile and dark eyes. I then thought of the time where he transformed and he was naked, that actually made me smile alittle. My heartached to have that back, just one more moment to hold him to tell him I loved him.
I passed the school, then I thought of all the questions about him dying or would they even say he was dead. I am sure they would fake something. NO way would they have the truth be know. I then wondered what would they say happened to him. An accident or maybe someone beat him up or perhaps a animal attack. I shook my head to clear it, what was I doing? I asked myself. I don’t need to think of this right now.
The city was empty and the rain was cold and heavy. It pounded on my skin, it stung. I could see the sun peaking over the buildings. A new day, I thought, I would be home soon and I would sleep this day away.
My jeans were getting soaked and began to feel heavy, took all my effort to pick my legs up. I came around the corner and seen the house, a welcome site. I trudged up the steps of the porch. I walked into the house, it was warm and peaceful. I walked towards the stairs.
“Nora?” I looked towards the familiar voice; there she stood the best sight I could ever see,
“MOM!” I yelled, I ran to her, wrapping my arms around her waist, and I began to weep uncontrollably,
“Shhh baby, what's going on?” She tried console me, looking at my dad, then my dad wrapped his arms around me, and that’s what I wanted, to be in my mothers loving arms and that’s what I got after all these months.
She pulled back to look at me in the eyes, “Whats wrong baby?” I couldn’t talk or think. All I knew that Corbin was gone.
I looked at my mother; she knew that I needed to be alone. We made our way up to my room, taken one-step at a time.
We made it to my room, I sat heavily down on my bed, and my mom shut the door. “Whats wrong?” She asked sitting next to me. She started to take off my soaked shoes and sock.
“The guy I loved just died in my arms.” the tears just rolled down my face. “He died protecting me.” She pulled my hair back.
“Oh baby I am so sorry, did you call the police?” I could see the concern on her face.
“His brother is gonna handle it.” I took a deep breath; she stood up and held her hand out.
“Come on sweetie lets wash your face and get you in some dry clothes.” she helped me up then led me to the bathroom. She took a washcloth and held it under some warm water. After washing my face and getting in a pair of pajamas, I laid down.
“Mom, why did you and dad leave me like you did?” I looked at her.
“Well, that’s hard to explain.” she laid down beside me.
“Try, Mom.” I wasn’t gonna let her give me that lame answer.
“Well, your father found something strange about the lab he was working at so he quit. They were gonna send some guys after us because they thought your dad would talk about all their human experinments.” she smoothed my hair out. “We did the only thing we thought was right, and we couldn’t come to you until we cleared up everything, just in case we couldn’t that’s why we left you stuff in that security box.” she kissed my cheek. “Go to sleep baby girl, I will be here when you get up.” I closed my eyes and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.
