by R.A Cullison
Written by R.A Cullison
Pack- The Awakening
By R.A Cullison
Copyright © R.A Cullison 2013
Look for more book by R.A Cullison
For Grandma Helen……. I Love you!
It has been awhile since Corbin died. I thought about him once in awhile since then. He even haunts my dreams now and then. It was hard to let go and move on but I managed.
I am thankful for Matt and the rest of the pack for helping me cope, but deep down inside I had an odd feeling that Corbin wasn’t gone.
It started last week when I was walking a back from the library. I was low on gas so I didn’t take my car and the doctor said that walking was good for the baby. I was walking down the street by myself holding a stack of parenting magazines I got free from the library. I wasn’t scared because I have walked this street 1000 times. Then from out of no where I heard my name being called, it startled me. When I looked in the direction of the voice there was nothing there. At first, I thought maybe I was going crazy, you know they say the first thing of going crazy is hearing voices.
I shook it off as my mind playing tricks on me, pregnancy hormones and then I heard it again. This time it sounded a lot like Corbin’s voice. I knew that was impossible because he was gone. But still I knew his voice and it was his. I scanned the poorly lit city street for anything unusual, but nothing was there not even a car.
I listened but the only thing I heard was a dog barking in the distance and crickets. ‘Wow, I really must be losing it ’ I told myself. Then I heard footsteps coming up from behind me. I Thought for sure I was going to I was going to have to fight. I remembered the stun gun that Matt gave me. I reached in my bag and grabbed it. ‘Ok punk mess with me and get your ass fried!’ I thought.
I started walking alittle faster, and then I heard a voice. “Nora are you out to get kidnapped or something?” I turned and looked to my relief it was Matt.
I took in a deep breath. “Matt! Are you following me?” I waited for him to catch up to me.
“Umm Yeah! I’m your husband remember? I was suppose to meet you at 10 at Jones Diner remember? Not to mention your carrying my baby.” I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, I forgot. what time is it now?” I went to look at my cell phone.
“It’s around 11:30.” he answered before I could even flip the phone open. “After waiting an hour I decided to come looking for you. You know you shouldn’t be out this late alone.” he said with concern.
“Yes, hon I know.” I wrapped my arm around his. “Now you can walk me home. You can protect me and your baby from the big bad wolves.” I teased. We walked down the quiet street together. I heard that voice again, this time I pretended not to hear it until Matt’s jerked around. I knew he heard it confirming I wasn’t going crazy.
“Matt, what’s wrong?” I asked.
Matt just looked at me and gave me a weak smile. “I thought I heard something.” he had a weird look on his face. I could see his muscles flexing and his jaw becoming tight. I smiled at him and before I could say anything.
At the other end of the sidewalk a dark figure was standing, looking at us. The street light was behind him making his face very dark. It began to slowly stalked towards us. It moved with such grace it was creepy looking. In a deep male voice he spoke. “I smell something ..mmmmm… savory.” I took in a rigid breath. I was gripping Matt’s arm so tight it was turning purple.
There was something terrifying about his voice and movements that made my hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I looked at Matt, he didn’t look scared. I was terrified to the point of fainting or running.
From behind us another person spoke. “Aww, the humans are scared?” he laughed. I turned slowly around to looked to see who it was. I tried to stay calm for the sake of the baby. At first he was standing in the shadows. He walked under the street light causing his ghostly white skin give off a faint glow against his all black clothes and his dark hair. What got me was his glowing red eyes. “Marcus, maybe we shouldn’t waste this very beautiful human woman. I might wanna play with her.” he smiled at me his white fangs glisten in the streetlight.
The figure in front of us growled making my head snap around. “Shut up Troy! We need them! We have to feed!” The first dark figure was now in view. He looked almost angelic with short spiky blonde hair and like the other one he had pale skin. He was wearing tattered jeans and a red shirt. Matt gave me a look like he was ready to fight and I was going to have to run.
Then from out of nowhere a female voice interrupted their attack. “Marcus…Troy stop!” I looked around to see the female that was speaking, but nothing. “No hunting humans you know this!”
They growled in disappointment. “You got lucky humans.” the blonde glared at us both and disappeared into the night the other one was soon behind him.
I looked at Matt stunned, “Did that just happen?” I said with a shaky voice. I looked at Matt who was more worried than scared.
He looked down at me. “Nora, we got to get to you home and fast.” He grabbed my arm and started dragging me down the sidewalk.
“Matt, you’re hurting me!” I yelled. I heard a growing and some rustle of some leaves.
“Let go of her!” It was Corbin’s voice and this time it was close. Matt let go of my arm and looked at each other.
“Corbin?” I choked out. “Is that you?” I was hoping to hear no but that wasn’t what I heard.
“Nora.” a sigh, “Yes its me. I been following your for along time.” I looked towards the sound of his voice.
“Show yourself!” I ordered. I watched a figure appeared from behind a bush and walked towards me. My mouth dropped, it was Corbin but he looked strange. “Corbin? Your alive!” I gasped.
“Yes, I am alive.” He looked at me and smiled. “I see you are happy and that you two are together.” His eyes dropped to my belly and his face began to look depressed. “your pregnant too, I see.”
“Corbin, how?” Matt asked. I turned around and looked up at him in shock.
“I‘m not sure if I can explain it.” he took a few steps closer.
“Try?” I demanded. I waited for him to continue. This is the man who I thought died in my arms and I cried over many nights. I didn’t know what I was feeling, well I guess I felt alittle betrayed.
“I didn’t die, I….well ah it’s hard to explain exactly what happened.” He looked down at the ground looking guilty.
“So are you still a …?” I stopped because I caught Matt’s expression, he looked uneasy. “Matt!” his head mechanically turned to look at me.
“Yeah?” he answered me with his eyes still fixed on Corbin.
“You ok? You look funny.” I asked looking in his eyes.
“NO! Corbin is alive and standing in front of us! Doesn’t that seem weird to you?” his voice sounding stressed. A weird noise echoed from the right, Corbin’s head spun towards it. He crotched and sprung into the thickness of the tree tops. I looked at Matt, we both had this shocked look on our faces, not sure what to say.
I turned to look at him. “Can you believe that just happened?” I said finally coming to. Matt didn’t say anything he just shook his head. I reached into my pocket and grabbed my cell phone and called Kyle. He needed to know his brother was alive.
I didn’t bother looking for his number in my address book, I just dialed it. After three rings, he picked up.
“Yeah?” he sounded groggy. “Who is this?”
“It’s Nora. I have news for you. Guess who I ran into?” I tried to hide the shock in my voice.
“I don’t know.. Ah… the tooth fairy?” he chuckled.
“Noooo, Corbin.” I said this time unable to hide the shock in my voice.
“What? Are you smoking crack or something?” he said jokingly.
“No, but he is alive.” I said again. Kyle was quiet for a minute.
“OK….. Corbin is alive huh? I think you need more sleep.” I heard running water.
“Did you know he was.. alive?” I asked
“Umm. No, but it’s possible I guess. I heard of stories, when my kind sacrifices themselves for someone they love, they well return. I don’t know how the whole legend goes. But maybe you should catch me when my brain is actually working.” he sounded like he was hiding something.
“Why do I even bother with trying to figure this stuff out.” I looked at Matt who was staring at the ground. “Oh Kyle, I also think we might of ran into ..um vampires.” it sounded weird to say that aloud.
“Vampires aren’t real Nora.” he chuckled.
“Oh really? Just like werewolves aren’t real?” I teased.
He got quiet for a moment. “You have a point there. We will check it out, Good Night.” He hung up.
We got back to the apartment as fast as we could with Matt practically carrying me. I felt much safer to be at home where I was at least sheltered. It took Matt kicked off his shoes and plopped down on the couch. He grabbed the remote off the coffee table and began channel surfing.
I decided to order pizza for dinner, I didn’t want to cook. I dialed our favorite pizza place, Tizzy’s Pizza Palace and ordered the usual.
“Tizzy Pizza Palace.” someone answered.
“Hi, this is Nora Hanson, I want to order my usual.”
“Hey Nora, its Dirk. The usual huh? Alrighty.” he rung up my order. “It will be there in 35 minutes, we are pretty busy tonight.” he informed me.
“Thanks Dirk.” I hung up. I looked over at Matt he looked up at me and smiled.
“Yes?” He said softly and he gently pulled me down on the couch with him. He leaned over and kissed me gently. I rose up and we began kissing. His lips were soft on mine, his sweet hot breath in my mouth. It made every nerve ending kick in full speed. He began to unbutton my shirt and began to rub my bare pregnant belly. I began kissing his neck while he began to take my shirt the rest of the way off. I began kissing on his chest and neck some more. His breathing began to get faster and deep, I could tell excited.
I climbed on him to face him and he began kissing my chest and neck, sending chills down my body. He gently laid me on the couch. He was on top of me, trying not to squash the baby.
He ran his finger down my chest to my button on my jeans. He started to pull them down when a knock on the door interrupted us. We both looked at each other disappointed.
“Who is it?” Matt growled.
“It’s Kyle, Open the door!” He demanded. I quickly slipped on my shirt. I ran to the door and I opened it. Kyle, Ariel, and Nikki were standing there with worried looks on their face.
“Hey guys, come in.” I opened the door wider and motioned for them to come in. They walked in looking worried or scared. I could tell something was wrong. Everyone greeted Matt as they stepped in front of the couch. I shut the door and joined them in the living room. “Whats up guys?” I asked looking at Kyle. Nikki had this huge smile on her face as if she knew what was going on. She rubbed my swollen belly making the baby start kicking.
“Awww she kicked!” Nikki said with excitement.
“Yeah she is becoming very active.” I rubbed my belly alittle more.
“Well, we did a scan of the city and there is something strange going on. There have been several killings and some missing teenagers.” Ariel informed us.
Kyle was scanning the room with his eyes. “Whats wrong?” I asked scanning the room for anything out of place.
“I smell Corbin in here and its strong.” he said flatly.
“I thought you didn’t believe me?” I teased, then it hit me that he was in here. “Wait! He’s been in my apartment?” I asked looking at all their faces. I could tell that something was wrong. “What are you guys not telling me?” I noticed Nikki’s face she was avoiding looking at me. “Nikki? Whats going on?” She turned to look at Kyle, he gave a nod.
“Corbin came to see us, the night before he showed himself to you.” she said.
I turned and looked at Kyle. “You lied to me!” I was pissed.
She continued. “He said that he was on the trail of odd creature. He never seen before. They weren’t vampires, they were something no one has seen before. So Josh went out with Corbin but Josh never came back.” That was the look everyone had, Josh was missing.
I looked at Kyle. “Where is he?” I asked.
“We don’t know. We lost his trail just outside of town. But we aren’t giving up.” His head turned towards Matt. “Matt, I know that you have come to love not being like us, but we need you. Whatever these creatures are, we are largely out numbered. So we were wondering if you would consider being changed back into one?” Kyle watched Matt’s face, as we all were.
“I don’t know,” he answered, “it has its advantages, but it’s also a curse. I would be scared of hurting Nora and the baby. I would have to think about it.” He answered.
“Fair enough, but please contact me as soon as you can.” Kyle half smiled at us. “We better go guys.” They all said their good-byes and left the apartment,
I looked at Matt who was deep in thought, I could tell by the look on his face. “What are you thinking of?” like I had to ask, I knew what he was thinking of.
He was rubbing his forehead. “I was thinking of Kyle’s offer. I think I should do it, we need a lot of protection in this city and now with them other things out there.” he paused. “Nora, I…think…I…am… gonna do it. I can protect you and the baby better as a werewolf then as a human.” I stared at him.
“Are you sure?” Was I ready to have my husband be a werewolf? I had to admit it was intriguing to say the least. I had to support him in his decision. “Ok, do you wanna call Kyle before he gets too far away?” all he did was shake his head. I handed him the cell phone and he disappeared into the next room. The baby began to kick up a storm. I wondered if she knew what was going on. If she knew her daddy was going change into something that scary stories were made of.
A knock on the door, “Pizza!” I opened the door; a young teenage boy around 17 was at the door. “Tizzy’s Pizza.” he said and went to hand the pizza boxes to me. I turned to set the pizza on the table but Matt was standing right there. I handed them to him and counted out thirty bucks into the pizza boys hand. “Thanks for the tip, enjoy your pies.” he turned and headed back to the stairs. The pizza’s smelled amazing.
I got out some plates from the cabinet, while Matt got the cups and napkins. I opened up one of the boxed and grabbed a hot slice of pizza and two breadsticks along with some sauce. Matt poured sodas for the both of us. I made his plate, three slices, four breadsticks. We both headed to the couch to watch TV. I sat my plate on my tummy, hoping that she didn’t kick my plate off again, which Matt thought was hilarious.
We finished eating, I was supper full. “Ugh, I ate too much!” I said patting my tummy. We both laughed.
Another knock, “Who is it?” Matt asked
“Kyle and Nikki!” Kyle answered from the other side of the door.
I opened the door and let them in, “Matt, you ready for this?” Kyle asked. Matt just took a deep breath.
“I guess I am as ready as I will ever be.” he walked back into the other bedroom with Kyle. Nikki put her arm around me.
“This is gonna suck for Matt.” I turned and looked at her when I heard Matt screaming in pain. The baby began kicking, I had no doubt she could hear her him.
“Its ok baby girl
, daddy will be ok.” I laid my hand on my belly.
“Its ok, this is normal. It’s the bite that hurts the most.” I didn’t like the idea of Matt being hurt; the thought reminded me of losing Corbin and the pain.
Kyle came out of the bedroom with alittle blood on his shirt. “He is asleep, go check on him in a couple of hours.” they left. I paced the floor, keeping myself from walking in the bedroom door. I had to keep myself calm. Being pregnant, I needed to think of her.
3 am I woke up to the sound of static on the TV. I must have fallen to sleep on the couch. I decided to go check in on him. I opened the door, and he was sitting on the bed looking out the window. I could see he was starting to change. “Matt? Are you ok?” I asked softly, he turned his head.
“Please leave me alone, Babe. Please.” I slowly backed out of the room. I shut the door and laid back on the couch, I fell back to asleep.
*3 Days later*
I left food on the nightstand for him everyday hoping he would eat. But when I went in, it wasn’t touched. “You gotta eat, babe.” He never looked at me; he ignored me most of the time. I picked up the tray and left the room.
That night I was watching TV when I heard him groaning and crying in pain. I jumped up and listened, he sounded like he was in real agony. I knocked on the bedroom door. I heard stuff being knocked around.
“Matt? Are you ok?” I pressed my ear against the door. Then it got quiet. I opened the door to peek my head inside. The lamp was knocked over and so was nightstand it sat on, I didn’t see him. “Matt?” I called out. I heard a noise in the back of the room. I strained to see what it was. He growled. “Matt?” He stepped closer to me, I back away at first.
I reached out to touched him, he reached his hand out too. I ran my hands over his fingers and up his arm. His body was covered in thick coarse fur, his eyes were still bright blue. His limbs were longer and he was much taller. I ran my hands up to his face, along his brows. He closed his eyes as I ran my fingers along his head up to his ears. He let out a low growl like sound almost like a purr. He opened his eyes and looked at me, I could see my Matt behind them, which made it not so scary to me.
He then backed away from me, back into the shadows. I could hear him changing back. He came out of the shadows human and much bigger, taller and muscular. “Are you ok?” I asked.
He gave me a wide smile. “Yeah I am fine, a little hungry.” he looked down at his hands, opening and closing his fists. He was checking out his new/old body.
I stood up. “I’ll go make you something to eat.” I left the room, went to make him some sandwiches with chips and a soda. I took him a tray back to the bedroom where he sat ate the whole thing.
He looked over to me then stood up and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around him. “I was so scared for you. I am so glad your ok.” I began to tear up.
“Shhh. Everything is ok. I’m alright.” he patted my tummy, he followed me out into the living room but he went straight to our bedroom to get a change of clothes from closet. He seemed normal, like his old self. He came out of the bedroom, sliding his shirt over his head. I stared at him, “What?” he said kind of chuckling.
“You look different, Bigger, MUCH bigger.” I looked at him up and down.
“I am the same person I have always been. When we first met I was a werewolf so this shouldn’t be a big surprise to you.” He slid on a pair of socks.
“I know but we weren’t a couple then.” I felt alittle embarrassed to be staring at him at him I was.
He smiled catching me staring at him. “I know. But I am still the same person, remember that.” He said while giving me a wink.
