Wolves in the Shadows

by Sharon McLaughlin

  “Not anymore you don’t,” Elizabeth gave him a little wink. Her good spirits were returning quickly now that things were making a bit more sense. “Unless they deserve it, of course.”

  “Look at you,” Chase said, glad to see Elizabeth smile again. “Next you’ll tell me that you want to learn how to hunt.”

  Elizabeth’s smile broadened.

  Chase’s eyes widened. “I was kidding.”

  Elizabeth raised her eyebrows in response.

  Chase realized that she could probably see exactly what he was thinking. He shook his head and chuckled. “You know that basically as of last night, we’re both part of a vampire clan. The Council will have a bounty on both of our heads and no hunt-”

  Elizabeth cut him off with an impatient wave of her hand. “I know that no Hunter Clan would accept me, considering my bloodline, but I would never want to be part of a hunter clan. I want to learn so that I can protect myself and others from vampires like Demetrius and other hunters like Michael and Josh.”

  “I don’t think you have to worry about other hunters too much,” Chase said with a wry smile.

  “But what about if Romulus isn’t around? I don’t want to have to always depend on others to protect me.” Elizabeth’s eyes took on a steely glint. “I am absolutely determined to never allow myself to get captured ever again, and I figure that since we’re going to be traveling together, you might as well teach me a few things.”

  “Who said anything about traveling?”

  Elizabeth let out a little chuckle. “Don’t act like I’m that naïve. You and I both know that we’re going to have to go on the run, and I know you well enough to know that you won’t leave me.”

  “Why not just go with Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus?”

  Elizabeth ran her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath before replying. “Because I’m human, Chase,” she said with some effort.

  Chase frowned and looked perplexed.

  “I feel like sometimes they forget that I’m not a vampire.” Elizabeth said. “I know in time I’ll get used to it, but there are so many things about them that make me feel so weak and ignorant. I need someone who I can actually talk to about, I guess, human things. I don’t know if that makes sense.”

  “It makes sense,” Chase said. “You’re doing well for someone who just found out about the existence of vampires and hunters and shape shifters and the like.”

  “I feel like I barely know anything,” Elizabeth said. “But I do know that I trust you, and I want you to teach me everything you know.”

  Chase’s teeth flashed as he gave Elizabeth a crooked grin. “I’ll teach you everything I know on three conditions.”

  “Name them,” Elizabeth’s eyes glinted dangerously.

  “We have to get permission from Lord Reginald.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “You have to keep your ‘uncle’ and Romulus from trying to kill me.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “What’s the third?”

  Chase’s eyes narrowed as he answered. “Stay out of my head.”

  Elizabeth became serious. “I promise to do my best.”

  “Thank you, Elizabeth” Chase said with a sigh. “It’s nothing personal. I just don’t think you’d like what you would find in there.”

  Chapter 10

  You’re get more and more interesting every minute, Lizzy,” Chase said with a smirk. “How the heck did you convince that guy to give you this car with an IOU?”

  “And he’s taking back your rental too,” Elizabeth said. “He was very helpful.”

  Chase shook his head in amazement. He had just watched her sneak into three different clothing stores and emerge with enough new clothes to last fill her new suitcase without anyone noticing. Now she had just finished sweet talking a used car salesman into parting with a beautiful silver Ford Mustang with only the promise of payment.

  “I have every intention of sending ‘Honest Abe’ the money when I get the chance though I don’t know when I’ll be able to,” Elizabeth said. She settled into the passenger seat and sighed in contentment.” “I figure we can hang on to this for a few days and then exchange it for something less flashy.”

  Chase slid into the driver’s seat and chuckled. “That guy was one of the oiliest car salesmen I’ve ever seen.”

  “It seems to be getting easier the later it gets,” Elizabeth said with smile. “My head doesn’t hurt as much, but I’m trying to hold myself back. I don’t want to lose control.”

  “That’s probably a good idea,” Chase said. “I’m just glad you’re not planning on messing with my head.”

  “I won’t deny that I’m tempted, but I said I’d stay out.”

  Chase started the car and nodded approvingly at the rumble of the engine. He pulled out of the used car lot and drove down the street. “I could get used to a car like this,” he said. “Feel like using your burgeoning new mind control powers to get us some free dinner?”

  “No thanks.”

  Chase looked at Elizabeth in surprise. “You’re not hungry?”

  “Oh, I’m starving,” Elizabeth replied with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. “I’d just rather make you pay.” She grimaced and started to massage her temples.

  “Are you okay?” Chase asked.

  “Yeah,” Elizabeth said, her breath becoming slightly labored. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “It’s Romulus. He’s waiting for us at a cabin about a two hour drive from here.”

  “That wolf gets around fast,” Chase said. “We’ll have to get our dinner to go.”

  Chapter 11

  “Are you sure this is the place?” Chase asked as they reached the end of the long winding dirt road. The last glow of dusk had faded, leaving them isolated on a heavily wooded mountainside.

  “Yeah, I can see the cabin,” Elizabeth said, pointing into the woods. “See that light?”

  Chase squinted into the darkness. “I can’t see anything,” he said. “But I trust you. I know your night vision is much better than mine.”

  “Romulus is there with someone,” Elizabeth said with a frown. “But I can’t tell who it is.”

  “He must be powerful if you can’t see who it is,” Chase said. “Could it be a trap?”

  Elizabeth shook her head. “I don’t think so. He must be very powerful, but I think he’s friendly. We outnumber him anyway.”

  “Numbers don’t guarantee safety,” Chase said.

  “We’ll be fine,” Elizabeth said as she opened the door and stepped out of the car.

  Chase looked troubled, but got out of the car without further comment. He opened the trunk and slung his two swords over his shoulders.

  “No trench coat tonight?” Elizabeth said with a slight smirk. She touched the hilt of Demetrius’ knife that was sheathed at her side. There was something strangely comforting about the feel of the weight against her hip.

  “We’re not hunting tonight,” Chase said. He gave her a little wink. “But I’m not about to go anywhere unarmed.”

  “Here’s Romy,” Elizabeth hurried forward towards a dark shape moving through the trees.

  The wolf trotted up to her and nudged her leg affectionately.

  Elizabeth patted him on the head in greeting and started to follow him towards the cabin.

  “Hey, wait,” Chase said. “Aren’t you going to ask him who’s in there?”

  “Oh, sorry,” Elizabeth said turning to him. “He’s too powerful for Romulus to be able to even tell to me, but I think that he’s a shape-shifter of some kind. Apparently he was passing through, and he caught Romulus’ scent.”

  “Seems a little too coincidental,” Chase said. “This cabin is pretty far out of the way.”

  “Romulus seems to trust him,” Elizabeth said with a shrug. “And Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus will be here soo
n.”

  #

  After a few minutes of stumbling around in the dark after Romulus and Elizabeth, Chase breathed a sigh of relief as the rundown cabin came into view. It looked more like a shack than a cabin, but the light that shone from the small windows set on either side of door looked inviting enough.

  “Can Romulus at least tell you what clan this shape shifter is a part of?” He whispered to Elizabeth, catching her by the arm before she could knock on the door.

  “He’s not a part of any clan,” she whispered in reply.

  Chase gnawed on his lower lip. “He’s a rogue?”

  Before Elizabeth could reply, the door flew open and a burly man with thick red hair and a bushy beard stepped out to meet them.

  “Welcome, welcome,” he said in a friendly voice that did not match his gruff lumberjack appearance. “You must be Elizabeth, good to meet you.” He offered her his large calloused hand. “You’re certainly an oddity aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question.

  Elizabeth was not exactly sure how to respond. “Hello, sir,” she said tentatively, shaking his hand.

  “Call me Donny.” He looked over her head and smiled. “And this is Chase.”

  Chase jerked his head in a stiff nod.

  “Yon Slayer doesn’t seem to like rogues.” Donny said. He seemed to be talking to himself more than to them, but he didn’t bother to lower his voice. “But he’s more of a rogue than I will ever be.”

  “You have us at a disadvantage,” Chase said. His eyes narrowed as he began to toy idly with the hilt of the sword over his left shoulder. “You know our names, but won’t tell us your real name.”

  Donny let go of Elizabeth hand and laughed a deep booming laugh that echoed in the quiet evening. “Aye, it’s true,” he said. “I have not spoken my true name, but it is hardly of any consequence to one such as you.”

  “Then why conceal it?” Chase asked darkly. There was something about Donny that just got under his skin.

  “Stop it you two,” Elizabeth said. She could tell that Chase was spoiling for a fight, but she couldn’t tell why. Donny’s presence felt strangely familiar, like he was an old forgotten friend. “It’s good to meet you, Donny,” she said before shooting Chase a dirty look. “Forgive my friend; he’s very protective and suspicious of everyone.”

  “As well he should be,” Donny said with a slight bow. “Come inside and rest while you wait for your comrades.”

  Chapter 12

  Donny ushered them into a tiny room with a roaring fire and roughly hewn furniture. It was clear from the thick layer of grime over the wood floor that no one had stayed here for years.

  “There’s not much here,” he said, handing them two steaming mugs of hot tea. “Years ago it belonged to a crazy old hermit who built it with his bare hands. He told me that I could stay here whenever I passed through.”

  Elizabeth and Chase exchanged glances but did not reply. They sat and drank their tea while Donny reminisced about his old friend.

  Donny started to pace restlessly in front of the fire while he spoke, leaving Elizabeth and Chase sitting side by side on a low wooden bench. Romulus sat stiffly at Elizabeth’s side, without making a sound.

  “Tell me,” Donny said after a while. “How did a Slayer and a-” He paused and seemed to struggle to think of the words. “Well, and one such as yourself, come to be allies?”

  “I would think if Romulus told you who we are, you would understand why we chose to become allies,” Elizabeth said.

  Donny rubbed his beard and frowned back at her. “Romulus. Interesting name,” he said. “Is that what he’s calling himself? Interesting. No, I actually couldn’t get anything out of him other than your names and the fact that you’re meeting with the rest of the Wolf Clan here tonight.”

  Elizabeth glanced down at Romulus frowned. He was sitting as still as a statue. She reached out to him with her mind but couldn’t feel him. “What have you done?” She demanded, looking back to Donny.

  “He’ll be fine,” Donny said. His voice had become slightly menacing.

  Elizabeth turned to Chase and saw that he too sat rigid and unmoving. “Chase?” she said. She touched his shoulder; it was stone cold. She leapt to her feet and drew her knife, “What the fuck did you do!” she yelled furiously.

  Donny stopped pacing and stared at her.

  Elizabeth realized for the first time that his eyes looked wrong. The pupils were strangely oval, almost like a cat’s.

  “What are you?” she asked in a hushed voice.

  “I am a traveler,” Donny said calmly, as if people regularly pulled knives on him. “An ancient one at that.” He returned to his pacing, though it was less energetic now. “I have seen many things, and consequently know many things. For example, I knew that Chase was a Slayer the moment I laid eyes on him. It’s in his eyes and voice. But you, Elizabeth, you are so much more.”

  Elizabeth’s knuckles turned white as she gripped the hilt of her knife.

  “I can feel your power crawling along my skin,” Donny continued. His voice had become a low growl.

  “Then perhaps you should let my friends go,” Elizabeth said. She sounded much more serene than she actually felt. “Unless you want to make me angry. It’s harder for me to control myself when I get emotional.”

  “In good time,” Donny said. “There’s something that I wanted to tell you, and I didn’t want them interfering. When I release them, they won’t even realize that any time has passed.”

  “Then tell me,” Elizabeth said. “Donny, or whatever your name is; tell me what you want.”

  “What I really want,” Donny said sadly. “Is something that you cannot give me, at least not yet.” He stared at her; his catlike eyes searched her face for something.

  The sound of an owl hooting loudly somewhere outside the cabin seemed to shake him from his silent thoughts.

  “Do you know why you have suddenly become so powerful?” He asked.

  “I don’t know,” Elizabeth answered.

  “Does it scare you, not knowing?”

  “A little.”

  “It should scare you a great deal.”

  Elizabeth swallowed nervously.

  Donny’s beard tickled Elizabeth’s ear as he whispered. “Do you know what you have inside you?”

  Elizabeth jerked away from him and blinked in surprise when she realized that he was on the opposite side of the room.

  Donny smiled at her reaction and walked slowly across the room. “Put away that knife, Elizabeth,” he said. “It still belongs to Demetrius.”

  “Demetrius is dead,” Elizabeth said, but she did slip the knife back into its sheath. She knew instinctively that Donny was no threat to her.

  “Is he?” Donny rubbed his beard pensively. “Are you sure?”

  Elizabeth did not reply.

  “Your Clan is approaching faster than I anticipated,” Donny said. “Take this.” He handed her a small gray coin. “You need to find Philippe the Alchemist and give him this. He’ll know what it’s for.”

  Elizabeth looked down at the coin. It was so old and worn that whatever had once been etched into it had become blurred and distorted. “Where will I find him?” she asked, putting the coin in her pocket.

  “I do not know,” Donny said. “But you must not tell anyone about the coin. Don’t even let anyone look at it.”

  “What is it?”

  Donny shook his head. “Philippe will tell you when you find him,” he said. “I must go.”

  “But-” Elizabeth stopped and looked around. Donny seemed to have melted into thin air.

  “What happened?” Chase said groggily, rubbing his eyes.

  On Elizabeth’s other side, Romulus let out a confused grunt.

  “I don’t know,” Elizabeth said with a sigh.

  “Where’s Donny?�
�

  “He’s gone.”

  “Gone where?”

  Before Elizabeth could reply, the low rumble of an approaching vehicle reached her ears.

  Romulus whined cheerfully and trotted to the door.

  “They brought a truck?” Chase looked at Elizabeth in surprise. “How did they manage to get it up here so quickly?”

  Elizabeth glanced at her watch. It was already approaching midnight. “It was just after sunset that we got here,” she said. “How could all that time have passed?”

  “I don’t know,” Chase said. “It had to have something to do with Donny.”

  Elizabeth fingered the coin in her pocket and bit her lip. “At least Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus are here now. They might know what happened.”

  “Not likely,” Chase replied. “That Donny was unlike anything I’ve ever encountered.”

  Chapter 13

  “The Coyote Clan had accepted your generous gift of territory and has sworn friendship to us, young Elizabeth,” Lord Reginald said after he and Marcus had greeted her warmly.

  “Of course they would,” Sir Marcus said. “They are our natural allies, but the Desert Clan was not too thrilled.

  “The Desert Clan is more powerful at present, but only because the Coyotes are spread so thinly across the country while the Desert Clan in concentrated on a few large metropolis areas.”

  “Of course, of course,” Chase said pretentiously, winking at Elizabeth. “Quite right, indeed.”

  Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus stared at him.

  Chase shrugged, but Elizabeth said, “He means that we really have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “He could have just said that,” Lord Reginald said.

  “But where’s the fun in that?” Chase asked with a crooked smile.

  “There is no point in us trying to explain the politics of the clans with this creature, father,” Sir Marcus said. He shot Chase a dirty look before he continued. “He has served his purpose. I say we send him on his way.”

  “No, Marcus,” Elizabeth said.

  Sir Marcus looked at her and frowned.

  “I’d like Chase to stay with me,” she said. She told him about the two hunters that had come for her in the hotel room and about the conversation that she had had with Chase about learning to be a hunter.

  Lord Reginald looked thoughtful but said nothing.

  Marcus on the other hand, looked livid. He glared at Chase. “You’re going to teach her to go against her own kind? Who do you think you are?” He bore down on Chase, his eyes flashing.