Forgotten (In The Shadows, Book One)

by Catherine Gardiner

  “There’s not much more to tell.”

  “Suzanne!”

  “Fine!” She shot Marcus a nervous smile. “Basically I’m getting changed into my cheerleading uniform, I look up and six feet away from me is the biggest wolf I’ve ever seen.”

  “You said she was a rogue?”

  Suzanne nodded. “And a mean one at that. Emily thinks that she might come after us.”

  “It’s possible. I’ll keep my eyes open and warn Jonathan. Is there anything else?”

  “She was a match for me and Emily combined. I don’t think I could have taken her out alone; I’d have tried if I had been able to transform but she was vicious. I’ve seen nothing like it before. When she changed back into a human, I saw her hair; it was blonde, with blue streaks. I didn’t get a good look at her face.”

  “Well, it’s a start, and if you or Emily see her again, in either of her guises, you tell me immediately because she sounds dangerous and needs to be controlled.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice. Why don’t you just put her down? That’s what people normally do to rabid dogs. If we hadn’t been at a school we’d have done it ourselves!”

  “In theory that’s true, and I do agree with you, but she’s also part human so if there’s any chance that we can save her then we’ve got to try.”

  “Marcus, she’s too feral!”

  “We’ll see.” He got up off the couch, went over to the desk, picked up his car keys, then headed toward the door.

  “Where are you going?” Suzanne asked, standing up.

  “I’m going to see if I can see her about anywhere. I’m just going to cruise around. The quicker she gets caught the better.”

  “You want me to come with you?”

  “No, it’s okay.” Marcus gave a weak smile.

  “Marcus?”

  “Yes?”

  “Is it okay if I go out hunting?”

  “Of course.” Marcus paused. “But only if you’re with someone else. I don’t want you to go out alone.”

  She nodded.

  Marcus reached for the door, but stopped when he heard Suzanne take in a sharp intake of breath. He turned. “What’s wrong?”

  “Flopsey!” Suzanne whispered. “I have to get him and bring him inside the house where he’ll be safe.”

  Before Marcus could reply, Suzanne had already passed him and was heading toward the kitchen. Marcus watched as she disappeared and heard the back door open. He gave a small shrug and headed for the hallway to leave and begin his search.

  In the backyard, Suzanne found the rabbit hutch open and empty. She scanned the backyard for any signs that her rabbit was around, but with her human eyesight, it was futile.

  She transformed into her wolf alter ego, shook herself and adjusted her eyes to the glare from the moon. She blinked, giving herself time to let her eyes focus. Closing them, she tried to focus on the rabbit’s heartbeat. She heard it, faint but familiar, and let out a long, mournful howl.

  Marcus was halfway down the drive when he stopped abruptly and rushed back to the house. He paused in the threshold of the back door.

  “Suzanne, don’t move! There’s something out here with you!” Then, telepathically: “Emily! Jonathan! Drop whatever you’re doing and get down to the backyard now; I need your help!”

  Suzanne turned her head at the sound of Marcus’ voice. “Marcus, Flopsey’s not in his hutch.”

  A movement in the shadows of the backyard made Suzanne whip her head back around and growl into the darkness.

  “Whoever you are, come out of the shadows and into the light so we can see you,” Marcus called.

  A girl stepped from the shadows and leant against the nearby trunk of an Oregon Ash tree. She looked about seventeen years old.

  “You!” Suzanne growled, recognizing the girl as the rogue werewolf.

  “I see that you remember me, Blondie!” The girl’s lips upturned wickedly.

  “I should have ripped your throat out when I had the chance!” Suzanne shouted.

  “So you’re the rogue wolf,” Marcus directed toward the girl.

  “Personally I prefer Starr, but yes, I’m the rogue wolf.”

  “What do you want?” Suzanne asked viciously.

  “Firstly, I want the girl that is on the roof to come down, and secondly, I thought I would have rabbit for dinner.”

  Emily jumped from the roof. Stooping, she retrieved from her boot her silver dagger, preparing herself to use it at a moment’s notice.

  Suzanne lurched forward, snarling, her fangs fully bared and ready to attack. “If you have touched my rabbit in any way, I swear to God that you’ll be sorry.”

  “Who sent you?” Marcus demanded, his hand on Suzanne’s head to stop her from attacking.

  Starr smiled and gave a low, malicious chuckle. “Impatient, aren’t you?”

  “Who sent you?” Marcus repeated icily.

  Starr arched her left eyebrow with an amused and satisfied look on her face. “I would tell you, but …”

  “But what?” Marcus crossed the distance between himself and Starr in seconds and roughly gripped her throat with his left hand, his eyes ablaze with fury.

  Marcus tightened his grip until Starr’s gray eyes changed to the orangey tint of a wolf’s.

  “You’re hurting me!” Starr choked.

  In the distance the roar of an engine signaled that a motorbike was approaching. Marcus smiled and lifted Starr a foot off the ground and slammed her roughly against the trunk of the Oregon Ash she had been leaning on just a few moments before. “It sounds like Jonathan is coming!” Despite her best efforts, he watched as she bit her lip to stop herself from screaming at the pain he had caused her spine.

  “Is that supposed to frighten me?” Starr spat.

  “It should!” Marcus retorted.

  “Why don’t you just snap her neck?” Suzanne interrupted.

  Emily smirked, her violet eyes glistening in the moonlight, as she held her dagger tighter in her hand. “What’s taking Jonathan so long?”

  As if on cue, Jonathan drove his 1998 Suzuki GSF1200S Bandit motorbike up the driveway and leapt from it, parking next to Marcus’ Lexus SUV. He scaled the eight-foot wooden gate to the backyard with a single jump, landing beside Suzanne as a fully transformed wolf.

  “Did I hear someone call my name?” Jonathan inquired casually.

  “I did,” Emily answered, giving Jonathan an impish grin, before leaping cat-like into the branches of an overhanging tree. She sat on one of the thick branches that she had often used to get in and out of her bedroom window, and that now loomed ominously above Jonathan.

  How does she do that? Jonathan thought in awe. And with one hand! If that had been me, I would have had to put the dagger in my mouth or pocket.

  “Welcome, Jonathan. I’m glad you could make it!” Marcus remarked, his voice was tinted with sarcasm, interrupting Jonathan’s thoughts.

  “My pleasure!” Jonathan replied, equally as sarcastic. “So, Marcus, who have you picked up now?” Jonathan gave a small chuckle at his own joke as Suzanne and Emily exchanged glances.

  “This is Starr!” Marcus snarled. He slowly began to crush her windpipe until her limbs became limp and lifeless; a sadistic smile danced on his lips as his eyes flashed an unnatural hue. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head from lack of oxygen and she started to fall into the abyss of unconsciousness.

  “Marcus! She’s turning blue!” Jonathan called, trying to distract his friend from doing something he would regret.

  For a brief moment Marcus had been lost in his own thoughts but, at Jonathan’s words, he slightly softened his grip.

  “Maybe you should let go of her?” Emily questioned. “You don’t want her to croak before you have a chance to interrogate her.”

  Marcus looked into Starr’s face; the color was starting to come back. “Starr?” Marcus whispered.

  Slowly regaining consciousness, she coughed, lungs filling once more with air and the oxidized
blood starting to flow to her brain again.

  Marcus hesitated for a moment, then tossed Starr to the ground like a rag doll. “Don’t come here again! If you dare return you’ll find yourself eight feet under in the local cemetery.”

  Starr coughed again. Her body ached, but she climbed to her feet, rubbing her neck where Marcus had held her. She looked up at Marcus and started to laugh maliciously. “If only your friends knew the truth!”

  “Just give me the word and I’ll rip the bitch’s throat out!” Suzanne snarled.

  Marcus looked over at Suzanne. “Thanks for the offer, but no. Leave her.”

  “We shouldn’t let her go …” Suzanne began, but stopped when she saw the look on Marcus’ face.

  “You’ll be hearing from me soon,” Starr announced before running toward the back fence and somersaulting over it, disappearing into the night.

  “Emily!” Marcus began. “Take Jonathan with you and follow her.”

  They nodded in acknowledgement and disappeared after Starr.

  “Why can’t I go and track Starr with Emily and Jonathan?” Suzanne asked, following Marcus back to the house, disappointment evident on her face.

  “Something strange is happening to hamper your ability to transform. I think it is best you stay here until we have figured this out.”

  “You’re grounding me? What happened earlier was just a blip, a paranormal crossing of wires. I’m completely fine – actually, I’m more than fine. This isn’t fair.”

  Marcus stopped to kneel in front of Suzanne and look into her wolfen eyes. “Have you finished your little tirade?”

  Suzanne sighed, “Yes.”

  “It’s for your own safety.” Marcus stood up and resumed walking toward the back door. “It is just until your shifting ability has stabilized.”

  “But …” Suzanne trailed off dejectedly. Inside she knew that Marcus had a point; she was in danger if she couldn’t shapeshift properly.

  “Besides, are you forgetting anyth–”

  Before Marcus could finish his question Suzanne had trotted over to Flopsey’s hutch and started to sniff around it. Picking up her rabbit’s scent and snapping out of her melancholy mood, Suzanne followed it and found her beloved pet, hunkered down, hiding under a thornless boysenberry bush, his normally white and tawny fur matted with mud. She gently picked up her rabbit in her mouth, as a mother would carry her young, then loped over to the kitchen door that Marcus was holding open for her.

  Once Suzanne and Marcus were back in the study, she placed her rabbit gently on the couch. “Can I quickly see if I can shift?” she asked Marcus.

  “Sure, take your time; I’ll keep an eye on Flopsey,” Marcus said.

  “Thank you,” Suzanne said, disappearing out of the room.

  Ten minutes later, Suzanne walked into the room wearing a plain light blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Sitting back down, she picked up Flopsey, placed him on her lap and began to groom him, cleaning the dirt from his paws and ears.

  “Marcus?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did Starr mean by that comment she made?”

  “Which comment?”

  “About knowing the truth.”

  “Oh, that. I was hoping you might have missed it.”

  Suzanne gave a little smile. “Well, you know me, I never miss a thing. So anyway, what’s the story?”

  “Story? There isn’t one.”

  Suzanne raised her eyebrows. “I don’t believe you. Tell me what’s going on.”

  Marcus smiled and leaned against his desk. “I’m not going to get any peace until I tell you, am I?”

  “That’s right! You know me so well! Besides, this is what you get for grounding a werewolf.”

  “There’s nothing to tell; Starr was lying to spread doubts amongst my friends. She’s a rogue; they do that sort of thing for their own amusement.” Besides, Marcus thought, sometimes the best lie is one with a hint of truth to it. To Suzanne he said, “There, are you satisfied now?”

  “I suppose so, but I thought it would be juicier.”

  “Well, I have heard rumors that vampires sometimes use rogue werewolves to do certain things on their behalf so they don’t have to do their own dirty work.”

  “So basically you’re saying that we could have a vampire after us?”

  “Exactly, and with Starr attacking you and Emily this afternoon, it looks like someone is planning something.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s going to be bad!”

  “So what do we do?”

  “We wait.”

  Realizing that the conversation with Marcus was over, Suzanne stood up and decided to go to bed taking Flopsey with her.

  Fourteen

  “Katrina?” Jessica knocked lightly on Katrina’s bedroom door.

  There came no reply, so Jessica knocked again, louder this time. When there was still no answer, Jessica opened the door and was greeted by darkness.

  “Are you in here?”

  “Yes, I’m here!” Katrina replied hoarsely.

  “Why are you sitting in the dark?” Jessica asked.

  “No reason.”

  Jessica switched on Katrina’s bedside lamp and saw Katrina sitting on her bed, hugging her knees close to her chest.

  “No reason, huh?” Jessica arched her right eyebrow.

  Katrina wiped away her tears. Crossing to her desk, she took her note and scrunched it into a ball, holding it tightly in her clenched fist, so that her foster sister wouldn’t see.

  “What was that?” Jessica asked.

  “What was what?”

  “That piece of card you just screwed up!”

  “Oh, this? It’s nothing.”

  “If it’s nothing then why hide it from me?”

  “Because I know what you’ll say.”

  Jessica held out her hand for the note.

  Sighing, Katrina reluctantly handed it over. Jessica unfurled it and began to read.

  When she had finished reading, the girl sunk onto the bed in shock. “When did you receive this?” she asked.

  “I found it in my bag earlier. I think someone must have slipped it in when I wasn’t looking.”

  “Have you told Mom and Dad yet?”

  “No, but that’s not all …”

  “Why? What else is there?”

  “I got a crank call!”

  “Who from?”

  “I don’t know. He – well, I’m pretty sure the caller was male – said something about Suzanne and me dying!”

  The color drained from Jessica’s cheeks. “Have you tried calling Caller ID?”

  “No; I was too scared to pick the phone back up.”

  Jessica picked up the phone and keyed in *69. After a few moments of listening, she slammed the phone down in frustration.

  “Damn,” she cursed, “the creep blocked their number. I bet the weirdo dialed *67 before calling you so we wouldn’t be able to trace it back.”

  “I’m probably just making too much out of nothing; it was just a stupid note and a crank call. I’m okay now, really.”

  “Katrina –”

  “It’s fine. I’m just overreacting.”

  “Have you forgotten that you were attacked? The police never found out who did it!”

  “No, I haven’t forgotten.” Starting to pace now, Katrina wrung her hands together, nervously. “What am I going to do?”

  “Firstly, we’re going to take a moment to calm down and then we’re going to go and tell Mom and Dad about the call and the note.”

  “I can’t!”

  “You have to! They’ll be able to help.”

  “Jessica, please?”

  “Katrina, you could be in danger. There’s no way I’m standing by while this psycho terrorizes you. Who knows what they have planned next!”

  “It was probably someone playing a cruel joke, so I’m in no more danger than you,” Katrina said dismissively.

  “I would rather let
Mom and Dad be the judges on whether we’re in danger or not,” Jessica replied stubbornly.

  “Jess, I overreacted. I shouldn’t have even said anything. You’ll just worry about me constantly now.”

  “Damn right I’ll worry! What if the person who attacked you last year has come back to finish the job?” Jessica protested. “I know that you want to handle this alone, but who knows who this is or what he’s capable of?”

  “Okay then, answer me this: Why now?”

  Jessica sighed, frustrated. “I don’t know.” She raked her slender fingers through her long blonde hair. “Maybe – and this is only me speculating – but maybe whoever thought that you wouldn’t remember anything because of your injuries somehow found out about the cheerleading try-outs today and thought that if you’re well enough to try-out to be a cheerleader then you might be well enough to be able to identify him.”

  “But I don’t remember anything!”

  “We know that, but obviously he or she doesn’t, and now that you’re going back to school and stuff, maybe you’ve got him or her running scared.”

  “Jess, I seriously doubt that.”

  Jessica stood and took Katrina by the shoulders to stop her from pacing and to turn her so they faced one another. “I really think we should tell Mom and Dad.”

  “No! Promise me that you won’t breathe a word of what we’ve talked about to another soul.”

  “Okay, if that’s really what you want then we’ll keep it between us. But I will be keeping a closer eye on you from now on,” Jessica replied reluctantly.

  Katrina’s posture relaxed, and some of the tenseness ran out of her. “Thank you. It means a lot to me.”

  “It’s getting late; we should really get some sleep.” Jessica let go of her foster sister and returned to the door. At the threshold, she turned and said, “I’m going to go now before I say something stupid that I’ll end up regretting. I just want what’s best for you, even if you can’t see that right now. Night, Katrina.” She left and closed the door.

  Katrina watched the door long after Jessica had gone, running through the past few days’ events: the nightmares, the threatening messages, and her general unease.

  Why is this happening to me? Katrina wondered.

  Katrina sat down at her dressing table and took off her heart-shaped pendant. Gripping it tightly in her hand, Katrina felt her eyes burn with tears.