by Sia Wales
My head begins to spin, I can barely breathe. I open the door of the pickup to get some air. My lungs can’t seem to function. I look down, wanting to fix my eyes on something, anything. The steering wheel! I hold my hands over my ears to block out the sound. I curl up into a tight ball, my head nestling between my knees. I don’t know how much time passes, but the uproar seems to stop within seconds. Silence ensues.
The front door swings open. Vuk and Drake exit. I stiffen, I don’t dare watch. But they are laughing, and loudly too. They both seem to be in one piece. As I watch them openmouthed, I see Vuk give his brother a friendly punch on the shoulder, followed by another laugh.
His emerald eyes search the clearing, coming to a rest on me, awkward and ill at ease, balled up on the front seat of his pickup.
I look nervously at Drake, now wearing another pair of shorts. He is watching me with curiosity, and I suddenly loose all sense of security. In no time at all, Vuk casually strolls over to the pickup and throws open the door.
“Hey, Stella!” He sounds happy enough, but his eyes, hooded by heavy eyebrows, are dark.
But just having him near alleviates the pain in my chest.
“I’ll take you home now. Don’t be offended if I don’t invite you in today, we’ll save it for some other time,” he whispers, cheerily, as he jumps into the driver’s seat.
My heart is still racing, but I manage to mutter, “No, sure… I was, um, worried…”
Vuk laughs, but when I try to put my arm around him, he stiffens. His face is dripping with sweat and his breathing, which had been regular, now starts to accelerate.
“Oops, sorry,” I exclaim, looking at him, worried. I slide away from him. “If you’re not up to giving me a ride, I can take the bus back…” I say, waving an arm in the direction of the road we came here by, struck by the jade yellow of his eyes.
“You’d have to walk fifteen miles to get to Moultonborough, then take the bus to Boston from there…” he murmurs.
I open my mouth to reply, but he tenderly caresses my cheek, then down to my arm. “Just let me get my breath back before we head off, ok?” His voice is even huskier than usual.
“Right… sure,” I reply. I feel nauseous again. “But I need to keep the window open.” I lower it, gulping in the fresh air and glancing back at the house. “Is it like that every time you guys fight?” The words come out before I can stop them.
“No, hardly ever, to be honest. Otherwise we wouldn’t have a place to live!” he jokes. “But when it does happen in other situations, it can be bothersome, like when we’re hunting, for example,” he laughs. He suddenly sniffs the air and turns sharply to peer out the open window behind me.
“The girl has a weak stomach, I wouldn’t want to be next to her when she explodes,” says a hoarse voice, the family resemblance instantly recognizable.
“And she wouldn’t want you next to her,” replies Vuk calmly.
“She really should take a chill pill… Or she might faint again…” He stifles a laugh, and I realize that it’s his brother.
I now feel his eyes piercing into me; I turn to look at him and Drake is there, immobile, staring at me from the side of the pickup.
I jolt, terrified. Vuk quickly wraps a comforting arm around me, pulling me close to him.
“Aw, how sickly sweet,” observes Drake, mockingly.
With incredible speed, Vuk grabs the keys and throws them at his head. With a lightning speed movement, Drake catches them a millisecond before being struck. He tosses them casually back into Vuk’s hand.
“Then don’t watch,” suggests my friend, hugging me even closer.
Hanging around with folks with special powers can give a girl anxiety…
Drake laughs, looking at Vuk’s arm. “I left you a nice souvenir of our little scuffle,” he comments.
Only now do I notice a fading graze on Vuk’s arm, just under his shoulder. It looks like it’s about an hour old.
“Stella, if you don’t stop biting your lips, you’re gonna’ start bleeding too,” Vuk says.
“Don’t worry, it’s just a scratch.” I quickly stop nibbling on them.
“I barely touched him,” says Drake ironically. “It’ll be gone before nightfall.”
“Vuk squirms uncomfortably. “Yeah, healing fast is one of the most positive aspects. Wanna’ see how it happens, it’s so cool.” He stretches out his arm to fish something out of the dashboard.
“No, I don’t want to see!” I cry, as soon as I realize what he wants to do. “Put your arm back where it was.”
“Ok,” laughs Vuk.
My eyes go back and forth between Vuk and Drake; they seem to be taking this whole thing very lightly. “Aren’t you guys worried?” I demand.
“Worried? Why?”
“You risked killing each other!”
Vuk and his brother snigger.
“As you have just witnessed, hanging out with wolves can prove risky,” warns Drake.
I keep my mouth shut, so as not to appear a fool. “And you?” I ask Drake in a whisper, “Are you ok?”
“Not even a scratch,” he replies politely. “But, Stella, you have to weigh up the risks of the decisions you make. It won’t take much for the situation to become dangerous. You yourself saw this afternoon that it doesn’t take much for things to get out of hand. It’s up to you, but if you decide to come back here, I can’t guarantee your safety.”
Vuk stiffens, his arms and shoulder muscles are tense to the max. “I’d never hurt her,” he says, point blank.
I shiver, wondering what he feels every time he sees the worried expression on my face.
“Everything is fine when we’re together,” I add, saying the words aloud as to comfort myself.
“Stella, haven’t you ever noticed that Vuk has this tendency to get carried away… at time?” asks Drake, casually.
Vuk grimaces. “I just hope I get my teeth into you next time.”
“I bet you ten dollars that I leave another mark on you!”
“You’re not fast enough.”
“Come on, I feel almost bad about taking your money.”
I nod, smiling, resigned. I take comfort in how relaxed they seem now, even though I can’t get the brutality of their clash out of my head. My stomach is still churning, my head thumping from the memory of their violent screams.
“Really, though, Vuk, you should have warned us about bringing her.”
“Why? So you could try to put it off again?” He tries to smile, but his lips tremble.
“You shouldn’t get your little girlfriend involved,” retorts Drake, nodding his head towards me, half-closing his eyes to block out the blinding light now filtering through the trees.
“That was a risky move! You’ve got a lot to learn, kiddo.” Maybe he’s referring to learning how to handle his transformation.
It’s a relief to get out of the clearing, leaving the big brown house behind us. Vuk drives in contemplative silence, not even turning on the radio. The hush in the car is like a heavy weight that keeps us glued still in our seats.
As we head for Medford, the road glistening silvery under the sunset, I go over the information I gleaned from Vuk, trying to make some kind of sense out of it. And despite the overload of data, I feel that part of the weight has been lifted off my mind. Seeing Drake again, finding out odds and ends about their secret life… It’s not perfect, but I certainly feel a little better. I’m glad I went. Vuk needs me and I obviously need him, and I’m pretty sure he poses no threat to me. But just as I’m thinking this thought, he swerves onto the interstate at breakneck speed.
“Jeez, I hate to admit it, but my brother’s right! What was I thinking, putting you in danger? Drake’s right: hanging out with wolves can put your life in peril,” he reasons aloud.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” I mumble, but the silence that follows drives me half crazy. I pause, but my morbid curiosity always wins the day.
“What’s the most difficult part? Is it the
feeling…of losing control?”
“The hardest part is the fear that I won’t know when to stop,” He swallows hard as he says the words. “That I can’t trust myself. So how can you trust me?”
“Well I do.”
“Why? I’m a kind of monster that can wreak havoc at any given moment. I can become a living nightmare. Remember the factory? I lost my self-control for a second and you were there, next to me. I’m still tormented by your screams at night. If I had caught you, it would have been impossible to stop me. Irreversible damage. The feeling of not being able to get too close to you, or anyone else, drives me crazy!”
“And I’d go crazy without my friend Vuk.”
“Yes, but the fact that I transform into this anthropomorphic creature, this gigantic thing with super-human strength, makes me, weirdly enough, even more dangerous than Drake.”
“That’s not true,” I insist.
Vuk doesn’t hear, or he acts as if he doesn’t. “Sometimes I’m scared I won’t return to my human form. It was hard getting back the first time. And almost impossible the last time,” he confesses. “It takes some training to learn how to control yourself and to morph at will. At least the bloodsuckers don’t have to deal with the problem of transformation.”
“Will he be really mad at you?”
“If he finds out, yep. He hates me doing things that he thinks are risky, like going to the house of a werewolf, for example. But that’s not going to stop me. What a mess we’re in!”
“You’re not wrong there. There’s a lot going on at the moment, that’s for sure!”
“Do you ever think that your life would be easier if I wasn’t your friend?”
“Maybe… But it wouldn’t be as exciting.” He shrugs, then his face changes expression. “If Donn really gets upset, maybe you shouldn’t come back. You know, we’re only obliged to keep our territory under check. In Wolfeboro and White Mountain, you’re safe. In New Hampshire, our turf. But beyond that, I can’t protect you.”
“Great! That way he’ll be right over to look for me!” I whisper disconcerted.
Vuk stiffens, his jaws clenched. “Really?” His eyes narrow, taking on a wolf’s form.
“If he feared I was in danger, I think he would.”
”Well, just remember to play on his more protective, obsessive side next time you see him.”
“Can’t you all just behave like adults?” I stare.
“You really think I should be all understanding with him, like you are?”
“This conversation is starting to irritate me, Vuk,” I warn him, before launching into a tirade. “I hate it that the two of you are always ready to kill each other. You more than him! So far, he’s been the pacifist here. You don’t seem bothered about what happens to him!”
“You’re not wrong there! But you know, at least he’s mature, he’s got a few more years of experience behind him…” he mocks.
“At least he knows that hurting you would hurt me, so he’d never dare.”
“Do you really believe that?! Because his maturity didn’t stop the battle taking place! And we can’t all be saints and martyrs,” he snaps. He’s silent for a moment, then he shifts in his seat to come closer to me, nudging my shoulder with his elbow.
I push it away gently.
“Sorry,” he says, more composed now. “I’ll try to behave myself.”
“Good. But now, as soon as you drop me off, go get a good night’s sleep.” I don’t like to see those dark circles around his eyes. “You don’t seem to be getting enough rest just lately.”
He doesn’t reply. We soon pull up in front of the bar. I jump out of the car and he does the same, taking my hand to accompany me to the entrance.
I smile. “Vuk, I have to go. Jeff will be home soon, and I’ve still got some stuff to do here before I go back.”
“Despite… getting off on the wrong foot back there, I hope you’ll be able to come back to Wolfeboro. “His expression changes, his face darkens.
“I will soon,” I promise, and his face lights up again.
I hug him tight and run into the bar, going over the day’s events in my head; meeting Vuk in the parking lot, seeing Drake at the Wolf house… the fight, obviously, the conversation with Drake. And the words Vuk spoke on the long drive back.
Family
I grab my apron and expect to see Tyler loitering in front of the storeroom door, his keen ears alerted to the sound of Vuk’s pickup. When I don’t see him, I guess he must be out back washing Scott’s Jeep. I wait for him, to give him a well-deserved break from work. But I see Scott, who tells me he’s resting in the cot. He needs to catch up on his sleep, as he’s been working overtime as a forest ranger in the park near Cape Cod, the one that covers the woods, the golden beaches and the cliffs by Scott’s house.
That’s a shame, I think to myself; Tyler and I will only be able to talk over our day near closing time; as it is so packed with customers now, we barely have time to think. But when things start to wind down, we finally get a moment to ourselves.
“Scott told me he saw you coming in tonight with that guy… Are you sure Vuk Wolf is your best buddy?” he asks.
I nod vaguely, alarmed by the skeptical expression in his golden eyes. I wonder what else Scott might have said to him. “Yeah, why?” I reply firmly.
“He’s not exactly an angel, is he?”
“He sure is an angel!”
This wipes the smile clean off his face.
“Well, that would explain the smell…” he murmurs, sniffing the air near my hair.
He looks at me darkly, as if he recognizes the damp, earthy smell of the lake. His eyes take on… a feline shape, wild, almost dangerous. “How long have you two been buddies?” he asks, more circumspect now.
“Not long. I met him about a year ago,” I say defensively.
“Scott was right about you: you’re a walking disaster that attracts catastrophes!”
That could be one of the excuses Scott used to make him move to the coast from the Rockies.
“Look, I don’t know what Scott told you, but…”
“Shouldn’t you be staying away from trouble?” He interrupts.
“Vuk’s not trouble,” I mumble, annoyed by his criticism of my friend.
“Until he loses his cool,” he says, trying to transmit with his eyes what he won’t say with words.
I don’t add anything, reflecting for a few moments. But talking about Scott has brought back my guilt. “Am I ruining your plans? About returning to Jackson, in Wyoming, I mean.”
“No. I had no set date to leave. I’m ok here for a while. And I like spending time on the coast.” His contagious smile spreads across his face, and I can’t help but join in.
“One of these days, I’m gonna’ ask for a half-day off. Scott can do without me. We could go out and have some fun.”
“What do you mean by ‘have some fun’?”
“I think you need to let your hair down…” He peers intensely at the tall, green trees outside the window. Inspiration seems to hit him as he stares out at the horizon.
“I know!” he exclaims. “It’ll be cold, and a bit difficult. But it’ll be fun!”
“What will?” I ask, full of curiosity.
“I know you’ve tried jogging…” I don’t think I ever told him that… “But maybe you’d like to try trekking!”
“Why not?” I reply. “Sounds like fun.”
That evening, Jeff and Ronald join Tyler, Scott and me at the bar for some dessert. Dora brings along such a mouth-watering a cake that the conversation spontaneously revolves around her superior talent in the kitchen. My father’s worries about Vuk and Jason seem to thaw like snow in the sun, when we’re in the company of Fergus and the rest of Tyler’s family, all sitting round the table amicably chatting about sports and the great forests of the west.
Amelia and Locke are there too, taking part in the conversation, savoring the delicious cake covered in sugar icing.
For the first
time in I don’t know how long, I find myself really relaxing, and feel the tension slipping away from my body as I enjoy both the company and the sweet scent that fills the air. I feel better, all of a sudden. Fergus entertains us with a tale, his soft voice so soothing to my ears. I actually find myself wanting to stay, instead of my usual desire to get the hell out when I’m surrounded by people just lately.
Jeff and I stay at the bar until the last slice of cake has been devoured; Tyler even saw to it that the marzipan decoration was consumed. Then we say our goodbyes and make for the exit.
When we get to door, a golden light flashes before my eyes like a meteor. It’s Tyler, blocking my path in front of the door, as still as a statue. His eyes pierce mine, and a sunny smile spreads on his lips.
“”I’ve got a promise I need to keep,” he finally says, breathlessly.
“What are you talking about?”
“Remember I promised that I wanted you to get to know my family? Are you up for it? His smile widens even further.
I stare at him, my mind going back to when he had told me about Fergus and the rest of the clan. At this point in my life, the offer to get to know someone’s family seems somewhat bizarre. But I just smile back gently. “Ok,” I say, mesmerized by the liquid jade of his eyes. “Any plans for tomorrow?”
I see him searching for a reply. “Amelia wants to go climbing on the cliffs, and there’s supposed to be a thunderstorm from hell. Wanna’ join us?”
“Sure, why not!”
“They can be a bit stand-offish with people they don’t know, they don’t open up easily. Apart from little Locke, of course.”
“Don’t they trust me?”
“You have to be patient. They’ll take you to heart once they get to know you. At first, they keep their distance, they look and learn. It’s in their nature, you know? Don’t let it get to you. You’ll have to make do with Dora’s brother, he’s the friendliest in the family. Other than me, obviously.”
“You’re enough for me… Lucky you haven’t taught them how to use a slingshot.” We look at each other an instant before bursting into laughter, as Jeff waits impatiently outside for me to hurry up.
“Great, see you on the coast, then.” He steps out of the way to let me pass.
