by S Bolanos
David barked out a laugh. “Eventually, the wolf brings out the mettle in all of us. You can go ahead and shut your mouth, Michael. Your dreams of a meek partner are gone.” Shaking his head, David made his way down the hall past us, shouting back, “Clothing, food, and then plans.”
In silent agreement, Michael and I made our way back to his bedroom. With each step, the tension between us increased. Between our conversation last night and all of David’s strange comments, not to mention Michael’s even stranger reactions, I was more lost than ever.
“I’ve never had dreams of a meek partner, nor have I once thought of you as meek,” Michael said as my head popped through a fresh shirt.
“I didn’t say anything,” I responded as neutrally as I could. David’s words had cut a little too close to home.
Michael sighed. “It’s written all over your face, etched in your body language, and edging your scent. Stop looking at me like that, it’s called paying attention. I may be half dead, but I’m perfectly capable of being observant.”
“We should have enough food for breakfast,” I said, ignoring his comment. “We might need to get a little creative though, you’re due to go to the store.” I made an exaggerated show of looking for my shoes.
“Sara, look at me.”
I kept searching.
“Sara, please.”
I dragged my gaze up to meet his.
“You’re not meek, you’re reserved.”
“Then what was that surprise for?” I asked a tad aggressively.
It took him a moment, then a smile spread across his face. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you curse.”
“What do you mean? I curse all of the time.”
“Not around me.” He finished dressing and walked over. “I always knew you could be bold. Honestly, I’ve been waiting for you to trust me enough to show me that side of yourself.” He moved a loose strand of hair out of my face. “It’s nice to see you finally do.”
21
Charline's Big Play
I didn’t even jump when Charline’s voice materialized out of thin air in my cubicle. “Are you planning to sit here all night or are you coming to the store?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m going to the store with you.”
I looked at her blankly, the words not registering.
“David called,” she prompted. “Apparently, you two have eaten Michael out of house and home.”
“You’re coming?” I echoed.
Her sigh of exasperation could have won an Oscar. “Obviously. It’s not like all of you are up to the task of carrying things.” She quickly hurried on before my face could crumble much further. “Besides, I told David I’d cook for everyone tonight.”
And there it was—her big play. I dared David not to fall madly in love with her after one of her all-out home cooked dinners. His werewolf stomach didn’t stand a chance.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“How am I looking at you?” I tried not to laugh, but my humor covered the words.
“Quite frankly, you have an evil grin. It’s almost like you’re implying that I’m up to something.”
“Aren’t you?” I elbowed her gently.
“Oh hush.” She waved away my subtle nudge. “Now, are you guarding the office tonight or can we go?”
I looked at the clock for the first time in what must’ve been hours and shot straight out of my seat.
“Wow, you’re fast.” Charline’s note of awe was wasted on me as I scrambled to get the hell out of there before they really did lock us in.
We were virtually the last cars left at the office and trailed each other back to Michael’s. Once there, we switched cars and all piled into David’s truck.
“Are you sure you’re going to be alright?” I asked Michael for probably the hundredth time in as many seconds.
“Would you quit your worrying? If I didn’t feel up to it, then I would sit out.” David and I looked at him, not buying it.
Charline intervened, preventing me from asking yet again. “If we don’t get going, then there won’t be enough time for dinner.” The threat of no dinner at all proved sufficient motivation to get all our tails into gear.
Michael gave David directions to the store he had in mind. As he navigated the streets, I couldn’t help but wonder how one smuggled out such exorbitant quantities of food on a regular basis without raising suspicion. I’d never have considered a trip to the grocery an eventful outing, but that was before I needed to buy enough rations for a zombie apocalypse.
As it turned out, the trick to not looking like an apocalypse prepper when you went shopping for mass quantities of food was to have more than one grocery store. The solution was so simple.
In his defense, Michael managed fairly well for the majority of the excursion, though he didn’t pick up much. Time was helping, but I worried it wasn’t enough. I remembered my own healing process and realized how much I'd started to take for granted.
“Does anyone have a meat preference?” Charline’s head popped up at the end of the aisle.
I'd been so absorbed in not watching Michael that I had no idea what aisle we were on, though the fullness of the cart suggested we’d been down quite a few. Michael shook his head in answer to her question.
“No? Okay then,” she said and disappeared again.
I was no more prepared when she instantly popped back up. “Jesus Christ, Charline, quite doing that. You’re going to give me a heart attack.”
She gave me a face. “Don’t be so dramatic. Has anyone seen David? I want to make sure he doesn’t have any allergies either.” Abruptly someone hoisted her in the air from behind.
“None that I’m aware of,” David said and Charline gave a squeal of delight at realizing who had hold of her.
“She seems to be feeling better at least,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Please don’t make me laugh,” Michael whispered back after a strained laugh.
“But I wasn’t trying to.”
“What are you two lovebirds whispering about over there?” David asked, setting Charline back down. She immediately began straightening her dress, the picture of propriety.
“About how much we’re looking forward to dinner,” Michael responded casually. You almost couldn’t hear the edge to his voice. I glanced from him to David, but David made no indication that he’d heard anything out of the ordinary.
“In that case, I have everything I need,” Charline declared. With that, we made our way to the checkout.
“Looks like quite the party,” the young attendant commented, his eyes completely riveted on Charline.
“Gotta feed the hungry masses,” she replied flippantly.
The young man smiled then noticed David staring directly at him. His smile faltered and he picked up the pace. We loaded the groceries in the truck without further fuss and began the drive back.
While Charline became a one-woman cyclone in Michael’s kitchen, the rest of us put our minds to the task of how to hunt the hunter.
“What I don’t understand is how we’re supposed to get the jump on someone who seems to always be three steps ahead of us,” I said, more than a little exasperated with our lack of progress.
“You’d been trying to sniff out where he was staying. Did you ever get close?” David asked Michael.
“Maybe, but I feel like I was being led by the nose instead. I’m not even sure if he was staying in one place. As far as we know, he was living a nomadic lifestyle when he was turned. We don’t know how deep those habits go. Were they a product of situation or choice?”
“You told me that he’d probably killed people long before he was bitten,” I said. Michael gave a slow nod, obviously not sure where I was going with this. “I’m assuming that no one found any traces of him near his previous killings. I feel like we should err towards choice,” I finished.
“I don’t follow,” David said, then drained the last of his wine.
“He chooses to be
homeless. Why would he risk someone eventually identifying him? Roughing it would be a breeze, especially, now that he’s a were. He could stop in an alley or side street and no one would think anything of it.”
“Maybe,” David interjected, “but Michael’s scented him before. Wouldn’t he have stumbled across our guy’s trail by now if that was the case?” David’s logic took all the wind out of my sails.
I wracked my brain for anything to explain how neither of us had picked up on his scent around the office or in the parking garage. Then it hit me. “Perfume.” The two men turned to face me with curious expressions. “I mean cologne. He’s hiding his scent.”
Michael made a face. “It would have to be some pretty potent stuff,” he said with a defined note of skepticism.
“What if he’s not using a man-made smell?” David suggested. My face screwed up in confusion.
“Rosemary.”
“What?” I asked, twisting to look at Charline. She had a smudge of flour on her nose and impatience shone in her eyes.
“Do you have any more rosemary, Michael?” she asked again.
Oh, right. Dinner.
“The refill is on the top shelf of the cabinet by the fridge,” Michael responded before returning to the conversation. She gave a distinct sound of satisfaction and resumed her chaos of cooking.
“He must be doing something, otherwise Michael would’ve ferreted him out by now,” David concluded.
“He has to sleep sometime,” Michael said. “Anything he would use to mask his scent would eventually wear off. I think Sara’s onto something. The creature we’ve seen in the past doesn’t exactly have stellar hygiene and what clothes he wore, looked beyond ratty,” he added. His vote of confidence made my heart swell.
“Then that’s how we’ll find him. We’ll use his own vagabond habits and routines to ferret him out,” I said, finally daring to hope.
“We can check popular haunts, and hell, unpopular haunts. The places most people try to avoid,” David contributed, now fully on board.
“I know you’re not talking about my cooking. You haven’t even had it yet.” Charline’s statement edged dangerously on a dare. “At any rate, dinner is ready.” There wasn’t even the pretense of preamble before we rushed the table.
“This looks incredible, Char.” David looked up at Charline with something akin to wonder. I’d never heard anyone call her that, at least not on purpose, but she didn’t seem to mind.
She clapped her hands together to get our attention. “Tonight, we have roast beef, with onions, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, fried okra, lemon-pepper grilled corn and for dessert, a blueberry cobbler with fresh whipped cream.” I’m pretty sure all three of us were salivating before she got to the corn.
David clearly missed the challenge in her eyes as he was too busy staring at the extravagance before him. I gave Michael a sidelong look and was pleased to see that he too was trying to keep quiet laughter to himself.
David is doomed.
Dinner didn’t contain much talk beyond satisfied eating sounds. By the time we were ready for the cobbler, Charline already had cups ready to go with coffee. It wasn’t even her house and yet, she was the quintessential hostess. Without a word, both of the men got up to clear the table then started cleaning the dishes. Charline and I decided to take our ease on the sofa while they finished.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” I whispered to Charline as we watched the two make short work of the mess.
“I know. That’s definitely something I could get used to.”
I gave her a look and she shrugged. I shook my head and returned to my coffee.
When the guys were done, they joined us in the living room. Once they sat down with their own cups, our earlier conversation resumed as if it had never stopped.
“The real question is, how are we going to canvas all of the rundown places in the city without arousing suspicion or having him get the jump on us again?” David asked as he looked at the bottom of his empty cup. When he returned, it smelled of something a bit stronger than coffee.
“We could always leverage our lunch breaks to take ‘casual’ strolls,” Michael proffered.
“Yes, but that would limit you to within range of the office. And what if the weather decides to be uncooperative?” Charline asked.
This was all well and good, but I'd been mulling something over in my mind throughout dinner. “I know we all want to pounce on this right away. Trust me, I’m more than eager to be done with this whole mess once and for all, but let’s face it, none of us are really up to taking him on right now. David is still getting the lay of the city, I’m exhausted, and Michael is in no condition to be tackling anything right now. We need a chance to recharge.” I held up my hands to stall the building arguments. “I know, I know. We were talking about not running around anymore, but I’m not suggesting we run away. I think we should use the weekend to regroup.” I looked pointedly at Michael who clearly wanted to argue.
“And what are you suggesting we do? Here is obviously not the safest place anymore.” David’s words rang out a truth no one wanted to admit.
“Exactly,” I agreed. “We should get away. At least give Michael a chance to heal in peace without being worried that a rabid werewolf could come barreling in through the sliding doors at any minute.” Charline shot the glass a furtive glance. No one had mentioned to her that he’d already been here once before.
“My parents live a few hours away. They’ve been asking to come see me since I got out of the hospital.” I thought of the last few voicemails. “I’m worried they might show up to verify I’m alright for themselves. I thought it might be nice to go see them instead. It would give us a chance to relax and I could ease their concerns. Not the best plan, I know, but you need rest,” I said, giving Michael another pointed look. “And I won’t risk their lives because they decide my excuses aren’t good enough and show up like bait at my currently unoccupied house.”
Charline’s look said it all. She hadn’t even met my parents.
“This has potential,” David said.
“What do you mean?” Michael asked, giving no hint as to how he felt about the idea.
“We could make it look like we’ve called it quits and skipped town. It’d give me a chance to scope out more of the city and you a chance to recover. Plus, if he doesn’t think you’re here, he basically has to start at square one. Sara, can you take back roads to your parents’?”
I snorted then nodded. The whole way was basically back roads.
“Good. I already have a place to stay for the job I’m working he couldn’t possibly know about. To be safe, I’ll check in on Char to make sure he doesn’t get any ideas.”
Charline positively radiated delight at the prospect. I looked at Michael. Everyone else seemed to be on board and he still hadn’t said a word for or against.
“What do you think? I know it’s a bit soon to be doing the whole meet-the-parents thing, but I really think this is for the best. You need more time,” I said with all the confidence I could muster.
His smile crinkled his eyes. “I would love to meet your parents.”
22
Running Away
I’d never been so anxious to call my dads in my life. The phone rang harsh and metallic in my ear. I turned the volume down, then had to do it again.
“Sara?” The man’s voice on the other end of the line held warmth and love as well as an edge of concern.
“Hi, Dad.” My voice warbled and I struggled not to burst into tears.
Keep it together.
“Sara, sweetie, is that you?” Another voice came on the line. “We’ve been worried sick. Why won’t you let us come see you? I swear to all things holy in this world, if you don’t give us a better reason than last time, I’m getting in the car before you hang up.”
“Easy, Tom. Calm down. Let the poor girl speak.” A disgruntled huff drifted through the static-filled line.
“Hi, Daddy. Before
you two have go at me, I wanted to ask a favor.”
“Anything, love,” they chimed together.
“I was hoping I could come home for the weekend. There’s a lot I need to catch y’all up on and I think it would be easier in person.”
“Love, you don’t ever have to ask if you can come home.” Peter’s voice held all of the gentleness and understanding a daughter could want, or at least, I hoped that was understanding.
I swallowed. Now for the hard part. “I’ll be bringing someone with me. His name is Michael.”
The line went eerily quiet and I immediately saw how werewolf hearing could be a burden. Majority of the room was painfully aware of the dead silence dominating the line. I could practically hear my parents exchanging looks miles away.
Peter’s voice finally broke the awkward silence, “We would be happy to have you and your guest. I’ll make Tom put in a little extra effort into straightening this place up.” I made out a faint thump through the line. No doubt, Tom had taken offense to the implication that his cleaning was sub-par. “When should we expect you?”
“We’ll be leaving first thing after work tomorrow. If we don’t run into any traffic, we should be there by dinner.”
“We’ll be ready. Can’t wait to see you, honey. And Sara, please be careful.”
“Yes, Daddy.” The call ended and I stared down at the blank screen. I let out a breath of air. Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy. I’d never brought anyone home before and their reaction to my inclusion of a man on this trip was telling.
“This is perfect. You two can pack tonight and be ready to go without ever coming back to the house. I’ll pack my things as well in order to solidify the illusion.” David’s confidence strengthened my conviction that this was the right play.
I gave Charline a hug and thanked her for the glorious meal before following Michael down the hall. Michael gave me space to be lost in my thoughts as we gathered our things. He silently tossed me the same duffel I'd used when we last changed.
I checked my sigh and scooted clothes make room, then reached down to grab my shoes. When my hand didn’t immediately meet the expected resistance, I looked down.
