Artemis Lupine- The Complete Series

by Catherine Banks

  “I’m sorry we had to leave so early,” I said to Bret.

  Bret shrugged as he settled himself next to me. “It’s not your fault, Artemis.”

  I rolled over and laid my head on his chest. We had been sleeping like this for so long that I barely thought about it. I focused on the beat of his heart and closed my eyes. Bret softly rubbed my back, and I fell asleep.

  The rain poured like a giant waterfall down my face as I scanned the forest. I swiped at my face, but nothing helped. I put my hands over my eyes and screamed in frustration. I tensed as a wolf howled nearby, answering my scream. I walked backwards into the cave, pressing my back against the wall. My heart hammered against my chest, threatening to break through as I wiped the water from my eyes, and stared at the black opening of the cave. Lightning flashed, allowing me to see outside, and my entire body stilled. A large black wolf stood in the cavern’s mouth, smelling the ground. The wolf turned its head towards me and sniffed three times quickly. I tried to slow my breathing, but my adrenaline was pumping too quickly to allow it. The wolf walked into the cave and whimpered. I shook my head and closed my eyes. The sound of bones snapping and popping echoed in the cave. I hugged myself tighter, fear consuming my rational thought. A familiar male voice whispered, “It’s alright. I won’t hurt you. I’m Ares.”

  I sat up in bed and focused on slowing my breathing down. I looked around the room and realized I was in my bedroom, not a forest, and Bret was sleeping soundly beside me. I crawled over the top of him and walked into the bathroom. After I flipped on the light, I stared at the blank wall where a normal household would have a mirror. I opened the wooden medicine cabinet and took out my nighttime contacts. I forgot to put them in, in my hurry to get to sleep. I took out the ones already in and threw them in the garbage. I let my eyes rest for a minute without any contacts in, and then put eye drops in to refresh my eyes. A sigh escaped me as I slowly put in the nighttime contacts.

  It took me a while to be able to put contacts in since we didn’t have a mirror, but I learned to do a lot of things without mirrors. So much so, that I never even look at one when away from home. Bret thought it was weird that I didn’t have a mirror, but to me it was just how I was raised, like the kids who didn’t have televisions. I closed the medicine cabinet and walked out into the living room. The TV was turned to the news, but Darren wasn’t there. Gunfire in the distance let me know he was out target shooting or coyote hunting. I sat down and turned the news up so I could hear it.

  Chapter Two

  The news reporter frowned, and he spoke in a sad, monotone voice. “Just two hours ago, devastation wrought the town of South Lake Tahoe.”

  I gasped.

  “So far, no survivors have been found within a ten-mile radius.” I blinked at the television channel, shaking, not wanting to believe the report.

  Bret walked out of the bedroom rubbing his eyes. “What are you doing?”

  I shushed him and pointed at the television. “Everyone is dead in Tahoe.”

  He stared at me, his brows furrowed. “What?”

  I patted the seat beside me and said, “Watch.”

  He sat down next to me and stared at the television.

  The reporter continued, “At full dark, something began to kill people. We do not know what it was, but the bodies were found exactly like those in Japan and Russia. Their throats torn out and—”

  Darren ran into the house and turned off the television. Bret jumped up. “What the hell are you doing?”

  Darren pointed his finger at us. “I said no television!”

  “Now you are being stupid, Dad. Something is happening, and we need to know. Why aren’t you letting us watch the news?”

  Darren shook his head. “I can’t tell you. Just trust me that you do not want to watch the news.”

  I snarled at him. “I do want to watch the news. I want to know what is going on.”

  “It’s not safe, especially not after tonight. Now go to bed,” Darren said in his no back talk allowed tone. He was mad at me, but I hadn’t done anything that bad. I knew I wasn’t supposed to talk back to him, but he had never been this angry before. I wanted to argue more and find out what had happened in Tahoe, but Darren was not someone I liked to see mad.

  I groaned at him and stomped to my room. I thought at times like this it was perfectly normal to act bratty. Bret followed me in and laid back down and stayed silent.

  Something is going on and I am going to find out what. Whether Darren likes it or not, I need to know what is going on.

  Bret hummed softly and rubbed my back lulling me to sleep before I wanted to.

  The sun shining in my room woke me up. I stretched and yawned, feeling refreshed. I looked beside me and realized Bret was gone. I smelled bacon cooking which let me know that Bret and Darren were in the kitchen. I hurried to the bathroom and changed my contacts to the daytime prescription. Apparently, my eyes were so bad that I needed two different sets of prescriptions. I rushed to the kitchen and found Bret sitting at the kitchen table. I sat down next to him and started sipping the hot chocolate that was on the table for me. Darren finished the bacon and set it on a plate in the middle of the table. I started to reach for a piece and he smacked my hand. “You wait for the rest of us.”

  I groaned. “But it smells so good!”

  He smiled and started making scrambled eggs. I bounced my leg as I waited impatiently for my food. Darren scraped the eggs into a bowl then placed it on the table. Before I could move, he smacked my shoulder. “Wait!”

  I groaned and started bouncing both my legs at the same time. Darren opened the fridge and tossed Bret the butter tray and then the bottle of syrup. Darren then opened the freezer, which was on the bottom of the fridge, unlike most refrigerators, and took out frozen waffles.

  I started bouncing on my chair. “Come on. Hurry!”

  Darren rolled his eyes at me as he put ten frozen waffles in the microwave. I watched anxiously as the microwave table spun in small, slow circles. I felt my mouth watering as the eggs and bacon sat waiting on the table. The microwave dinged and I jumped up. Darren growled at me, and I sat back down, sipping my hot chocolate. Bret laughed at me as I waited until Darren gave us each a waffle before he smiled. “Go on.”

  I grabbed four pieces of bacon from the plate and spooned two large portions of eggs next to the bacon. Bret held the butter tray and spread the butter on his waffles slowly. I groaned and started bouncing my legs again. He handed me the butter with an exaggerated slowness. I yanked it from his hand and slapped butter on my waffle then took the syrup and poured it all over my plate dousing the waffle, eggs and bacon. Then I set the syrup bottle down and looked up to find Darren and Bret staring at me. I giggled nervously, and then started eating. I shoveled the food in my mouth as fast as I could chew. The delicious food elicited a groan of happiness from me, and I ate without any more noises until my plate was empty. Once finished, I sat back and sighed in contentment, resting my hands on my full stomach.

  Darren rolled his eyes at me and continued to slowly eat his food. I picked up my hot chocolate and sipped it like a dessert. I tried to think of a way to broach the subject with Darren when Bret did it for me. “Darren, what the fuck is going on?”

  Darren blinked at Bret. “Well Bret, I think that is the first time I have heard you cuss.”

  Bret frowned. “It won’t be the last time if you don’t answer my question.”

  Darren sighed. “There is a lot of bad stuff going on in the world, and I am trying to keep you two out of it so that you can enjoy your last week together.”

  I stared at Darren, and for some reason, knew he was lying. It was like a punch in the gut. I started to say something, but Bret interrupted me. “Well, if it might interfere with our safety, I think you should tell us.”

  Darren said, “You’re fine for now. I promise that I will tell you, if it gets to that point. Now go enjoy the day.”

  I stood and walked past Darren and out the back door. Br
et followed me, and together we walked out to the open fields that lay behind my house. This is the one place of countryside I still had. On TV, they always showed the industrialized parts of the world. None of that interested me. Just give me open fields or forests and I’m happy. I was about to head towards the forest when Darren called to us, “Don’t go to the forest. I saw a group of wolf tracks in that area this morning. I’m not sure if they are passing through or not, but just don’t go that way.”

  I nodded and walked the opposite direction, farther into the open fields. Bret followed me, staying silent, but close. Our cattle mooed in the distance and my horses neighed. I started running through the open fields just enjoying the feel of the early morning sun and wind on my face. Bret ran beside me. I smiled at him and increased my speed. He easily caught up with me, and we ran for a few more minutes. When I felt I’d run enough, I collapsed to the ground and closed my eyes.

  Bret laid down next to me and asked, “What do you think is really going on with Darren? Why would he want to keep this all hidden from us?”

  I shrugged. “How should I know?”

  Bret stroked the side of my face with his hand. “If anything does come, I’ll protect you.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Shut up Bret. Nothing is going to come.”

  A high pitched voice yelled from the road near the field. “Bret! Bret, what are you doing?!”

  I groaned and opened my eyes. “Skankzilla is calling you.”

  Bret rolled his eyes at me. “Yeah, I hear her.” He sat up more so that she could see him and waved. “Hey guys.”

  Guys? I sat up and the two guys and two girls that had been smiling and waving at Bret from a lifted Chevy Blazer frowned at me. I smiled at them knowing they hated that Bret spent so much time with me.

  “Oh, you’re busy I see,” said the girl whom I call “Skankzilla”. I could hear the discontent in her voice.

  I smiled wider “Actually, we’re just hanging out. Shouldn’t you be getting back to your corner? Wouldn’t want some other skank to take it.”

  She flipped her blonde hair behind her back and turned away from me.

  Bret sighed. “She was just kidding! What are you guys up to?”

  J.D., one of Bret’s best friends spoke up. “We’re going to the lake. You two wanna come?”

  Skankzilla sighed and asked, “Why did you invite her?”

  I stood and put my hand on my hip and flipped my hair behind my shoulder in an imitation of her. “Because if you don’t invite me, Bret won’t come, Skankzilla. And we all know how bad you want Bret’s balls in your mouth.”

  The skank frowned at me. “That’s just disgusting, Artemis.”

  I shrugged. “You’re the one who does it.” I wasn’t usually so abrasive, but she rubbed me the wrong way.

  J.D. and the other three people in the truck laughed loudly at Skankzilla. She screamed in frustration and turned away from me. Bret sighed and whispered, “Do you always have to get her all riled up?”

  “It wouldn’t be any fun if I didn’t. Besides, what did I say that wasn’t true?” I walked towards the truck and smiled up at the two boys in it. “Hey J.D. Hey Billy. One of you strong boys wanna give me a boost?”

  They both started to reach towards me, but Bret grabbed me. “I got her guys.”

  J.D. rolled his eyes. “Yeah, Bret. You’ve always got her.”

  In reality all of the kids just put up with me because Bret was my friend. If they had their choice, I would be the biggest loner ever. Billy smiled kindly at me and moved over so I could sit in the front beside him. Bret started to sit beside me and I shook my head. “Go sit in the back with Skankzilla. I’m sure she needs some consoling after my insults.”

  Bret rolled his eyes at me, but did what I asked. J.D.’s girlfriend, Jessica, smiled at me. “Hey. Chicky.” Chicky was Bret’s nickname for me, not sure where he got it from, but it stuck.

  I smiled back at her knowing she was just being polite. “Hey, Jess.”

  Billy started the truck and drove off towards the lake. I put my seat belt on and watched the landscape go by as we drove. Billy turned country music on the radio and everyone started singing along except me. I ignored the rowdy teens and watched the fields. Billy asked, “So, how was your trip?”

  I shrugged. “It was alright. We gambled and drank and had fun. And Bret tried to get in a fight in Las Vegas.”

  J.D. asked, “What happened?”

  I turned to Bret and nodded. “You can tell them.”

  “When we were in Vegas, these older guys were trying to proposition Artemis.” Bret said without hesitation.

  Billy kept looking at me out of the corner of his eye. All of them did this, like they couldn’t let me out of their sight. Like they were scared of me. I didn’t understand it, because I had never done anything to any of them, but I was used to it by now. Bret continued telling them all about our adventures. The lake started to become visible and I got excited. I loved the water and couldn’t wait to get in it.

  Billy parked the truck, and I hopped out before anyone else and ran down to the new dock the townspeople had built. I threw off my shirt and pants and ran straight off the dock and into the lake without making the dock squeak. As I went under the surface I swam farther out, pushing against the water and loving the feel of it on my skin. I could hear the rest of them jumping into the water and surfaced when I knew I was far enough away that none of them could jump on me.

  I turned around and gasped as Billy splashed me in the face. I splashed him back and we started a girls versus boys splashing war. Of course, the boys always won, but I liked to think that we let them win. Boys had very sensitive egos. Billy splashed me again, and I launched myself at him, pushing him under the water. He pulled me down with him and I went willingly, glad that, for once, one of them was treating me like a friend. I started to swim up when Billy pulled me against him and kissed me under the water. I froze in shock as he went up for air. I sat under the water not comprehending what had happened when Bret pulled me up. I gasped and stared at Billy.

  Bret yelled, “What the hell did you do to her?!”

  I shook my head and put my hands on Bret’s chest. “No, Bret. It’s okay. He didn’t do anything. I was just seeing how long I could hold my breath.” And wondering why Billy had kissed me and why it had felt so strange.

  Bret frowned at me and then shrugged. “Sorry, Billy.”

  Billy smiled. “No prob. We know you are protective of her. Just like a big brother.”

  Bret flinched at the words, and I ignored him. I dove under the water as far down as I could go. I swam right to Billy’s legs and pulled him under. His arms flailed as he tried to stay up, but I tugged harder, surfaced before he did, and swam a few feet away. Billy came up, sputtering, and smiled at me. Bret glared at me, and I shrugged at him trying to look innocent. The girls started fighting with individual boys and, as I suspected, Skankzilla went to Bret. I floated on my back, enjoying the sun on my face. I heard the water moving and turned my head to see Billy floating next to me. He spoke softly, “Hey.”

  “Hey Billy. Nice day, huh?”

  He nodded and then turned serious. “I’m sorry Bret’s leaving.”

  I shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s great for him.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, but bad for you.”

  I stopped floating and treaded water so I could look at him better. “What do you mean?”

  He dropped down too and smiled. “Artemis, we know how you feel about him.”

  I shook my head. “No, you don’t.”

  He rolled his eyes. “So, you’re trying to tell me that you don’t like him?”

  I frowned. “Of course I like him, but not like J.D. and Jess like each other. You said it right. He’s like my big brother.”

  Billy flinched. “Don’t tell that to Bret. You’ll kill him.”

  I shrugged. “I’ve never told him any different.”

  He frowned. “So, you’ve never done anything with him?”

>   I laughed. “No! I’ve never done anything with anyone.” I suddenly felt embarrassed and turned away.

  “It’s okay, Artemis. I know it’s hard for you here since everyone treats you bad,” Billy said softly.

  I shrugged. “I’m used to it.”

  Billy moved closer to me and said, “When Bret leaves, you can spend time with me, if you want to.”

  I turned around and stared at him. “You’re not afraid of me?”

  He smiled. “A little, but I’m tougher than Bret and he can handle you so, I figure I shouldn’t be too scared.”

  Skankzilla screamed and pointed behind me. “Oh my God, do you guys see those bears?”

  I turned and looked in the direction she was pointing and gasped. “Those aren’t bears, they’re huge wolves!”

  Two gray wolves and one beautiful black wolf were standing on the sandy edge of the lake drinking. They looked up when they heard her, and I felt drawn to them.

  I started swimming towards them and they turned to stare at me. The black wolf in the middle took a step forward and the other two snarled at him. He stopped moving and they all started to turn away. I called to them, “Wait! Don’t leave!”

  Billy grabbed me. “What are you doing, Artemis?”

  I shook free of him and swam faster towards them. “Please! Wait!” I recognized the middle one and knew where I had seen him before. He was the wolf in my dream last night. He was Ares, the mystery man in my dreams and the man at the casino. The wolves ignored my pleas, running into the fields before disappearing into the forest. I sighed and Bret grabbed me in his arms.

  I growled, “Put me down.”

  “What were you thinking?” He shouted at me.

  “You wouldn’t understand.” I pushed off of him and swam towards the shore. The girls were already dressed and headed towards the truck. I put my clothes back on and my shoes and started walking.

  Billy caught up to me. “Where are you going? Come on, I’ll give you a ride home.”

  I shook my head. “No thanks. I’ll talk to you later, Billy.”