“Fine,” He met my gaze. “There is a small road out back that runs through the forest. If you’re careful, it will take you off of reservation land. After that the cops can’t touch you,” he didn’t sound like he wanted to tell me this but I appreciated the fact that he did.
“What about the other ones? The ones like me?” I added. I couldn’t help but feel that they would come after me or worse, come after Robert and Marcus. I wanted to know that they would be okay but it wasn’t looking like there was any way I could be sure.
“Don’t worry about them. We can take care of ourselves and I am sure the same could be said for you,” Robert spoke with sincerity. His assurance would have to be enough.
Marcus stayed in the house as Robert walked Cordillia and me out to the road where we had hidden our only means of escape. We walked through the clearing and it pained me as I remembered Maura. I’d only just met her the night before but I couldn’t believe that she was gone. It didn’t seem right and it didn’t seem fair that such a beautiful woman would be ended like this.
We walked in silence as my thoughts raced from the shining beautiful face of the woman now dead, to the sense of fear that polluted the air around us. I felt bad for this town, couldn’t help but wonder if they would have been better off had I never come. Robert had done so much for Cordillia and I and all I brought in return was danger.
When I left California, I left to keep people safe, to protect the ones I loved. But it was turning out to have the opposite effect and there was nothing I could do about that.
“Ethan?” I felt her hand on my shoulder, pulling me back to reality. “It’s not your fault.”
“I know.” I nodded. She patted my back before turning to leave me there with my thoughts and not long after I followed the sound of her footsteps into the wooded clearing where I had hidden our means of escape
“The hell?” I called as I moved past Cordillia toward the front of my truck. The hood was lifted open and my stomach dropped as I realized quickly that someone had done a number on the old girl, someone didn’t want me to leave.
“Oh my God, Ethan,” Cordillia spoke softly as she came around to stand beside me.
“They slashed my fucking tires!” I yelled as I knelt down to survey the damage.
“I’m so sorry,” Cordillia offered.
“Don’t.” I barked. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate it but don’t.” I appreciated her sympathy and later I would have to tell her that but for the moment I was locked on to the sickening smell that lingered where I stood. I knew what did this and in a way I was related to the monster but there was still a part of me that needed to be sure. I looked into the cab and saw the destruction inside. It was beyond repair and yet the only thing I could bring myself to pay attention to was the smell.
My heart began to race and my body grew hot. That smell was all I needed. The rot and decay that surrounded the monster from California. I could hear a growl escape from my chest and for a moment I thought I would change but I felt Robert’s cool hand on my shoulder.
“Calm down, Ethan. Changing now won’t help either of you,” I heard him speak from somewhere far away. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. The smell, the smell the smell… I had to move away from it. I stomped to the back of my truck and sat on the bumper taking deep breaths as I needed them.
“Can I ask you something?” I sighed as the fire in me subsided. Robert nodded as he stopped just in front of me. “Do you smell that?” He took a whiff of the air and looked back at me. There was a moment of silence as if he was trying to decide.
“Faintly but I can imagine it would be worse for you.” He noticed my confused look and began to speak again. “You smell it so strong because it is a creature like you. It would be the equivalent of me smelling a human’s rather bad body odor. But I cannot tell when the deer need a bath as well as another deer can. Does that help?” I nodded before I fully thought it through.
“What about Cordillia though?” I pointed my head toward her as she leaned against the truck next to me. “She can’t smell it at all.”
“That’s easy. She’s never run into a creature of myth. Humans tend to overlook what they don’t understand. Did you know that when the pilgrims landed on the shores the natives didn’t see them right away?” I shook my head. They came in massive boats. I couldn’t believe it was possible to miss that.
“They had never seen anything as big as the ships of London, until the pilgrims came out all the Natives saw was a large black cloud. It is the same thing with your sister. Until you teach her the subtle differences in appearance and odor, she won’t know them. She will see a homeless man while you see a wolf in sheep’s clothes.” I looked down at my feet. I guess that made sense but that didn’t help me to figure a way out of here.
The sound of the back door swinging shut rang through the air and I reached out to stop Robert as he moved toward the source of the sound.
“It’s not Marcus.” I growled as my eyes fixed on the creatures direction. I could smell him from here, sickly and dirty. I listened as he growled softly and sniffed the air, he knew we were here and I had to act quickly.
“Is there somewhere safe around here?” I whispered. His face went white as he shook his head. “Get in the truck.”
“Ethan, I really don’t thinks that’s going to help,” Cordillia spoke sharply.
“At least I’ll hear the glass break if they come after you now go,” I barked. Robert took her by the arm and quickly led her to the truck. I watched them as they climbed in and took a deep breath as he closed the door gently, careful not to make a sound. I had a plan, I was sure it wouldn’t work but it was worth a try. I walked out into the clearing, my stomach twisting and contorting as I moved toward the fire pit and looked up as if I hadn’t expected him.
A growl escaped him as he met my eyes and took a whiff of the air.
“What are you doing here, brother?” though he smiled his voice sounded raspy and tired. He waited for me to answer as two smaller men came around and stopped at his either side.
I took a moment to look him over before I spoke. He was actually handsome to a point. Not as disheveled as the last one. He had short blond hair and a chiseled face. His clothes were a bit torn and dirty but aside from that he looked like he’d just stepped out of the cover of a cheesy romance novel.
He was big, bigger than me and had a stance that was relaxed. Not what I had expected. He was young looking, I wouldn’t have thought any older that twenty and the two behind him were even younger still. The one to the left looked like he was straight out of high school and his dark eyes held a sort of feral gaze. His long brown hair was knotted and littered with leaves and other debris, the other wasn’t much different.
Aside from the shorter light brown hair and calmer eyes, they all but mirrored each other. I couldn’t understand however why nether of them were wearing shirts but only donned blue jeans and hiking boots. I relaxed my stance and thought I would try my hand at deception even though I knew that it was truly Cordillia’s forte.
“I was just passing through, I know someone here. What about you?” I spoke, trying to remain calm. Instead of answering my question he turned to the boys at his side.
“It’s okay, he’s one of us.” He looked at each of them. They relaxed at his assurance and turned their eyes back to me. “We were just looking for someone. But it doesn’t seem that she is here. Who is it you are looking for, perhaps we could help,” he spoke kindly. I was impressed with how well put together he seemed to be, he spoke almost as if from another time and a part of me felt hopeful at the idea of speaking to one of my own kind.
“A woman named Maura,” I lied. Maybe he could tell me what happened. I almost hoped Marcus was listening. Perhaps this stranger could clear my name in this mess. He was silent and thought for a moment before answering.
“Yes I knew of her. I’m sorry to inform you that she is dead.”
“I know,” I cut him off. He looked a bit
uneasy at this. “It’s caused a bit of trouble for me here. They think I had a hand in it.”
“I assure you it was an accident.” He looked at the two next to him. “This is my pack as I am sure you have gathered. They are new, only a couple of days old and well brother you of all people should know that it is hard to control the hunger in these first few months.” I had noticed a change in my appetite, the mountain of food I had devoured at the diner was proof enough of that but venturing into cannibalism was something I had never once considered.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” I spoke nervously. I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable but I was curious now. He walked closer to me leaving the younger two behind. His eyes were questioning as he peered into mine. “I’ve never wanted to harm anyone,” I tried my best at an explanation. Despite his youth, he was threatening and I was beginning to feel nervous. I hoped like hell I didn’t just say the wrong thing.
“I don’t understand either if you are like me which I am sure of then you must know of the need for blood, the desire for it so to speak.” I nodded at him. I did understand that but the idea of a steak was more appetizing than hunting a creature myself, human or otherwise.
“I guess you’re right,” I shrugged. “But all in all I think I prefer steak.” He smiled and began to laugh nearly uncontrollably. I was at least glad he found that to be funny.
“Dear brother,” he spoke as he put his arm around me. “That is all fine and well but you are missing something succulent and indescribable if that is how you choose to satiate it.” He led me slowly to the other two boys who were smiling and chuckling to themselves. “Tell me, do you not smell how wonderful these sheep are? Does it not tempt you?” he asked me with a grin on his face. “Or have you never hunted?” There was a silence as I realized I had no idea what to say. I had noticed a difference in the way they smiled but I had never related it with food before.
I just shook my head and looked back at him. Only now did I realize that this man had at least three feet on me. I all but had to look up to meet his face.
He threw his head back and began laughing again, the other two joined in the chorus quickly. He patted me on the back and walked around placing himself in between me and his pack. “Well then I was right. You are sorely missing the greatest pleasure we have. I would take you in myself but I have other matters to attend to. Before I leave can I ask have you seen a young woman around here by the name of Cordillia? Yes I believe that is her name.”
My stomach dropped and my pulse began to race. What did he want with her? More than that how did he know her name? I shook my head trying to stay as calm as possible. “What do you want with her?” I spoke as soon as I was sure my voice wouldn’t give me away.
“I’m afraid that that is none of your business, brother, at least not as far as I can tell.” He turned to leave but I moved in front of him blocking his way.
“I just think it might make it easier to find her if I know what she did to have a search party sent out.” The young man thought for a moment and finally shrugged.
“Okay you’ve made your point. See my orders come from higher up, I’m just a hunter doing his job. One of ours was killed not too long ago and my boss seems to think that this was an attack from the other side.” I stepped back. “Have I lost you again? Don’t you know about the treaty?” I shook my head. I was screaming internally trying to make sense of this. What the hell was going on?
“Huh.” He crossed his arms at his chest as he looked me over. “You must be new. Did your sire not teach you?” I was silent for a moment before I remembered the woman, the wolf that attacked me before. I shook my head. I figured the less I spoke, the less chance there was for my voice to betray me. “I see this might take a while. Well I’m in no rush. I can teach you the basics of the treaty. At least that way you won’t go getting yourself into trouble.” He led me over to the back steps of the house and motioned for me to sit. The younger ones knelt on the ground on either side of me.
“First thing I think I should properly introduce myself. My name is Jonathan.” He held his hand to me. I didn’t want to touch him but I took it anyway.
“I’m Mason.” I lied and hoped like hell it would work. If he knew Cordillia’s name then I couldn’t be sure that he didn’t know mine. He smiled at me and placed his hands in his pockets. He stared at me intently for a moment before continuing.
“It goes like this. All of us come from the same bloodline give or take. We,” he said pointing to his chest. “Hunt people. We don’t see the problem with that after all it’s what we were made to do.” He sounded militant about his belief. I tilted my head and gave him a puzzled look, I wanted him to explain and it worked. He knelt down to meet my face. “We are the top of the food chain, brother, please don’t tell me you don’t know that. We were built to hunt. We are the superior species.” It was starting to sound like this man was speaking to an army and not just me. I’d wondered if he had given this speech before.
“Humans are weak. They’re frail and more important than that they are mouthwatering.” He stood as the younger ones nodded. Devilish grins crossed their faces as he spoke, “They are sheep, brother. But there are some that don’t see it that way. I suppose every species has their hippies,” he spoke with disgust. I was beginning to wonder what this had to do with Cordillia and the diner.
“They want us to stop. They want us to live like they do, like you do. They want us to live on the flesh of our fellow animals. It’s no better than cannibalism.” He shook his head with a growl. “Why should we when we are Gods among men. They are the flock and we are the Sheppard’s. We have the right to take what is ours,” he spoke with such fierceness, such passion that I was almost drawn in by the beauty of his words. I took a moment, allowing them so sink in as he looked at his pack with a proud smile before turning back to me.
“So after years of our kind being picked off by those mongrels, we made a deal. If they leave us alone we keep our hunting to a minimum.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” I added quietly and he sneered.
“It’s torture and not to mention degrading.” He shook his head and sighed. “But I digress. One of ours was killed as I said. A waitress at the diner where he was killed was nice enough to tell us who were last with him, after we forced it out of her.” I did the best I could to stifle my shock. Even though I had only met her once it hurt me to think that the poor woman had suffered for my mistake.
“She told us a woman named Cordillia was with him and she left in this direction in a truck that looked a lot like the one in the back there.” He pointed to the trail and my heart stopped for a moment. How in the hell was I going to explain that.
“Tell me, brother, do you know who owns that vehicle?” he asked me. I paused and thought for a moment. Why was Cordillia the one with the gift for fallacy?
I couldn’t think of anything to say but before I could gain control of myself, I spoke against my own wishes, “Why do you want her? You never did answer my question.” His stance hardened and I was sure I had given myself away.
“A human can’t kill one of us, not without help. If she is one of them, the treaty is broken and we have the right to attack. I will ask you again, brother, and it is in your best interest to be honest with me. Who owns that truck?” I stood and without even thinking, began to pull my shirt over my head.
This was it and I wasn’t even sure of what I was doing. His gaze met mine and I saw an intensity burning behind his eyes. The younger pups stood and moved behind him never taking their eyes off of me. I didn’t even have to speak to be sure that he knew who I was.
“Where is she?” He growled as my shirt hit the ground. I shook my head and began to prepare myself for the change. His face grew angrier and the pups seemed to pick up on his temper. “I was wrong. You are not my brother, dog. Who are you?” I smirked and hardened my stance, shaking my head as I smiled up at him.
“I am afraid that is none of your business, at least not
as far as I can tell,” there was a small voice telling me that making fun of the man who you were about to fight to the death with was not exactly the best idea. But the small sense of satisfaction it brought me seemed to be well worth the danger.
Wolves among men Page 12
