“Had to my ass, Logan. She became one of them and she didn’t have to.” Matt stood his ground and stared him down, a fire burning behind his eyes.
“You have to let it go,” Logan spoke calmly. “We’ll find her, we’ll help her,” he tried to reason with the angry giant.
“Killing them is the only way to help them!” he screamed, moving forward and breaking the small gap between the two of them. Matt began to shake and his skin was turning red as the sound of the door opening behind us broke the tension.
“Enough!” a voice barked from behind me. A small dark haired woman walked around the couch and placed her hand on Matt’s shoulder. She looked into his eyes and he began to calm. “Sit down or I will take you down,” she spoke calm but assured. Matt did as she said and Logan followed suit before she spoke to him. She turned to me, a smile crossed her face. She was young and fair skinned her black hair tied back at the nape of her neck. She was tall and thin but something about her told me she wasn’t someone to be messed with regardless of her size. Her blue eyes sparkled and shone a kindness I hadn’t seen in a very long time. I caught myself staring into them, almost unable to look away for even the slightest of seconds.
She held her hand out to me and I took it gently. Her skin was soft, almost fragile and the smell of strawberry’s drifted off of her as she squeezed in between Cordillia and me.
“Hello, Ethan,” her voice was softer this time, kinder. “My name’s Samantha but everyone calls me Sam if you prefer.” She smiled at me. I assumed she was waiting for me to speak but I couldn’t. I was lost in her eyes. She was beautiful and all I could do was smile in response. The silence was broken by the sound of Logan laughing from below us.
“I think someone’s in love,” he chimed as she shot him a nasty look. “Ethan,” I heard him call but as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. “Yeah he’s a goner.” He laughed again as he stood and walked to the kitchen. I shook myself out of it and I could feel my face turning red as she smiled at me.
“How are you feeling?” she asked softly. I smiled.
“I’m fine, really.” She nodded and looked over at Cordillia.
“She’s been waiting for you to wake up,” She looked back over to me. “Are you two really close?” She asked with an almost worried tone. I nodded.
“Is that a problem?” I spoke as Logan walked back into the living room and handed me another glass of water.
“No not at all. Actually it’s quite the good thing.” I gave her a questioning look as I took a drink. “I think the reason that you didn’t go feral like so many new pups do is because you had something,” She looked over at my sister and smiled. “something to keep you grounded.” Cordillia smiled and I could feel my face going red again. She was right, Cordillia was my reason for everything that I do, that I did. That would never change.
There was a long silence in the room but it wasn’t the kind of silence you want to get away from, it was something pleasant. Smiling, I scanned the faces in the room and for the first time in all of this I felt normal. There were others like me, others that I could learn from and others that could help me.
“So tell me, Ethan,” Sam broke the silence and in a way I was glad she did. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions and I’m curious. What’s the most pressing thing on your mind?” she asked with a smile. I thought for a moment and was surprised that the first thing to come to mind had nothing to do with them at all.
“Marcus, Robert...” I stammered. “Are they okay?”
She looked down at the floor and spoke softly, “I’m afraid not.” I closed my eyes and shook my head.
“What happened?” was all I could muster.
She thought for a moment before answering me, “Marcus was dead when we got here, it was quick. But after you went down, Jonathan went after Cordillia. Robert gave his life to protect her.” It took a while for everything to sink in and eventually all I was left with was the unmistakable feeling of failure.
“Ethan, it wasn’t your fault,” she spoke softly, I felt her hand on my shoulder and I shrugged it away.
“Yes it is,” I barked as I stood and stormed out of the house and into the familiar clearing where we spent our last moments in peace. I heard the door shut gently behind me as she followed me outside. I didn’t want to talk but what choice was there.
“Ethan,” she started to speak.
“Go away,” I barked again, my back to her. She didn’t move and I wasn’t sure if I actually wanted her to.
“I’m not leaving until you understand that this wasn’t your fault and I mean that.”
“What do you know?” I growled as I turned to face her. I could feel the heat in my body growing and tears forming behind my eyes. We were face to face and despite the sweetness in her eyes I was angry. No, I was pissed off. “None of this was supposed to happen. Cordillia wasn’t supposed to come with me. I was never supposed to meet Robert. A lot of people died because of me, because I screwed up,” I almost screamed at her
“No you didn’t, Ethan, and being a martyr isn’t going to help anyone. Not you, not your sister.” I scoffed and turned away from her. “Listen to me.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me around to face her. “People got hurt, it happens but you couldn’t have known. If you want to blame anyone blame the wolf that turned you. She should have stayed with you, explained what was going on, taught you but she didn’t and that’s her fault not yours. All these deaths are on her hands.” I paused.
“How did you know it was a girl?” She bit her lip and shook her head.
“Lucky guess.” She shrugged. “Look it doesn’t matter. It is what it is and we’re here to help you now.”
“You know,” I interrupted her. “The one thing I can’t figure out is why that thing even changed me. I didn’t ask for this, I didn’t want this and I don’t want this now. I really,” I paused. “I just wish that thing let me die.”
“Ethan, don’t say that.”
“Why?” I barked. “It’s true, what was the point of what it did? Huh?” She looked down at the ground, escaping my angry gaze. “It changed me into a monster for no reason at all, it left me to figure everything out on my own and now a lot of good people are dead, my sister will never be the same. What was the point? Why?” I screamed. Her eyes turned black as she stared into my face.
“Why? Ethan, that’s all this is about? What does it matter anymore, what’s done is done.”
“That doesn’t explain anything! Why me?!” I screamed as my anger getting the best of me.
“Because I couldn’t just let you die!” She screamed back. I stood there stunned and stared into her angry doll like face. There was a long pause between us and I didn’t know what to say.
“You did this?” I asked in quiet disbelief.
“I’m sorry, Ethan. What I did was wrong.”
“Really, Sam? I hope that’s an apology.”
“It is.” She whimpered. “It is.” She turned her eyes to the ground. There was a long silence between us as I stared at the woman that made me what I am. I didn’t know what to think, how to move on from here. Forgiveness? Anger? What was I supposed to feel? I took a deep breath and sighed as I shook my head.
“Why?” It was nearly impossible to keep my voice from wavering as she took a step back and stared down at the ground. “Just tell me that much.” She shook her head and crossed her arms at her chest, holding onto herself tightly as she closed her eyes.
“You were going to die.”
“I’m well aware of that,” I spoke through clenched teeth.
“You told me you didn’t want to die.” She looked up at me, her eyes stained with tears as she silently begged my forgiveness but I wasn’t quite ready to give it.
“Well I sure as hell didn’t want this!” I bellowed as I closed the distance between us.
“What do you want me to say? I know I can’t apologize enough for what I did to you.” She sucked in a sharp breath and closed her eyes as she gat
hered herself.
“I’m not going to be mad that you saved my life,” I muttered after a long silence. “Thank you.” She looked up at me and I hoped that she could see the sincerity in my words.
“I should have been there for you.”
“That would have been nice.” I nodded and crossed my arms over my chest. “So what now?” I asked her as my body began to calm. She just smiled weakly and shrugged.
“I don’t know, I guess...” Pausing, she looked into my eyes. “I guess if you’ll let me, I’d like to try and make up for leaving you alone like that. I’m proud of you.” She turned her eyes to the ground.
“For what?” I asked quietly.
“Honestly, I was expecting to find you dead or worse but somehow you managed to hold your own.” She smirked as she shoved her hands deep into her pockets and looked up at me.
“Yeah?” I asked with a smile.
“Yeah, you did.” There was another pause as we stood only inches from each other. I couldn’t be angry at her, despite what she did. She saved my life and for that I at least had to be a little bit grateful.
“So where do we go from here?” I shrugged. She smiled and took my hand in hers.
“Wherever you want. I’m sure what it is that you want most is answers and I promise,” She let go of my hand and looked into my eyes. “We can give that to you.” I smirked and shook my head.
“Do we age?” I smiled.
“No.” She shook her head slowly and smiled up at me.
“Is there a cure?”
“No,” she answered quietly.
“Do vampires exist too?” Her laugh was sweet and the mood seemed to lighten. I was starting to feel better about the situation. At least I had friends now. At least we weren’t alone anymore.
“Hey, how did you find us?” I asked as we began to walk back up to the house slowly. She smiled and met my eyes again. I could get lost in hers easily and in some ways I wanted to.
“I made you, Ethan, like it or not.” She laughed. “We’re connected for life. Wherever you go, I’ll find you.” She winked and turned to walk into the old cabin. I followed her in and as the night pressed on I began to feel like finally, everything was going to be okay. And from Cordillia’s glowing face and happy smile it wasn’t hard to see that she felt the same.
Chapter Twelve
Sam pressed us to stay put until we found a place to go and luckily for us that was easy to do. The news of Maura’s death spread like wildfire throughout the tiny reservation. The official cause of death was listed as a rouge animal attack and there was no way of really knowing how many people believed that. No one came looking and Jonathan never came back. We were safe, and as long as we stayed quiet we remained that way.
The days pressed on peacefully as we got to know one another and I got answers to the questions that burned in my mind for so long. From what I could tell it seemed that Sam was a sort of gatherer of lost pups and I was her latest find. Matt was first, a Russian soldier from Stalingrad left to rot after taking a shot to the stomach. She saved him just as she saved me only he seemed to be more than grateful for his new life. In a way I hoped I would share his enthusiasm one day.
James came next. He was a grad student at Harvard who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He didn’t seem to mind what had happened and if he did, he never talked about it. He was quiet, always involved in his books or research. But one thing I would give him, the kid had a way around finding any piece of information you could ever need.
Logan was the last to be found but he wasn’t the youngest by any means. He was turned in 1813 by his sister after a particularly nasty fight and according to him he hadn’t seen her since. Logan didn’t have the benefit of a teacher and according to Sam went feral for quite a long time before she found him wondering the streets of Memphis. She took him in as she did the rest and after a lot of work managed to bring him around to a more peaceful way of life.
Sam told me that there were others, not of her pack but there were others that they had lived with that helped them to keep the peace and soon we would be headed to see them.
“So what’s all this about a treaty between the wolves?” I asked as they finished their stories and I started in on my fourth helping of Sheppard’s pie.
“Well,” she began as she finished her meal and placed her plate on the table beside the couch. “You know that there are two kinds of wolves, the ones who hunt people and the ones who don’t.” I nodded. “I’m not saying that those are the only ones out there, it’s just that they make up the majority.” I nodded and leaned back against the couch as she gathered her words.
“Well the ones who hunt people, they tend to cause trouble for us and the people around them. They don’t just hunt, they slaughter entire towns and not just people. Other wolves get caught in the process. You’ve heard of the Great Evil as they call him here?” She asked me as I forced a large spoonful of food into my mouth. I remembered Robert talking about him, the man with the yellow eyes. I nodded and looked up at her. “His name is Malik, he’s been around for God knows how long and he kind of started the whole ‘we’re the top of the food chain’ crap.”
“What do we know about him?” I asked with a full mouth. She giggled and James looked up from one of his many books to meet her eyes. She nodded at him and smiled. He placed his book on his lap and looked over to me.
“We don’t know much other than he’s been around for a very long time. I’ve traced him as far back as I can but after the French revolution the trail goes cold. There are stories though about a wolf with yellow eyes originating from the black forest of Germany. Legend has it that this wolf was well known for destroying entire towns of people for no reason at all. After that there are stories about a yellow eyed man torturing people in various settings royal and otherwise. I can pin him in the civil war, the slave trades and even world war two as a Nazi general in charge of the experiments in some camps. The last record of him though and I’m talking photographic proof was out in Mexico.”
“When was that?” I asked placing my plate on the floor. I was too interested to eat now. I wanted to know everything I could about him.
“This small town was slaughtered overnight a few months back. Newspapers say it was an animal attack but there are pictures of him wondering around for a few days beforehand. See he did things like that a lot here and it quite frankly was making a problem for us so we tried to make a deal with him.”
“We tried to convince him to stop or at least slow down.” Sam took over for James. “But he didn’t want anything to do with it so we went after his kids so to speak. If one of them got out of hand we killed it and it was done. After his numbers went down he made the treaty with us. He wouldn’t attack in areas where we lived and he would keep the fact that we exist under the radar.”
“Why would he want to be known, isn’t that dangerous?” Cordillia asked from the floor in front of me. I jumped at the sound of her voice forgetting she was there after being so engrossed in Sam’s story.
“You’re right.” She sighed with a smile. “There was a time when it was dangerous to be known. We used to be hunted but now people don’t believe in things like werewolves. And we like it that way. But we had our own rules to follow. We had to stop hunting his kids. If one of them gets killed by one of us then the treaty is over.”
“That’s why Jonathan showed up,” I spoke quietly. Matt nodded from the chair opposite us and smiled.
“Thanks to you its war now.” He chuckled. Sam shot him a disapproving glance and returned her gaze to me.
“It’s not your fault, Ethan. You didn’t know. And you did the right thing to protect your sister.”
“No, don’t worry I get that now,” I interrupted her with a smile.
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