by A. D. Duling
As she headed to the stairs to go to her bedroom, she noticed the lights coming from her mother’s art studio where the door had been left cracked open.
Every light was on in this room as well; her mother had been in here. Her mother had not entered in that room for almost a year now. Evie pushed the door further open and looked around the room from the doorway. Resting on her mother’s easel was a fresh canvas that had been painted on. Evie rushed over to it and found dark clouds and trees painted around the outside; the middle had been left untouched. This was not her mother’s usual work; her mother’s always reflected bright, vibrant landscapes. This one was dark. But she figured anything was better than nothing and hoped even if dark, this was a good sign. After turning off every light in the room, she left the studio and shut the door behind her.
Upstairs, the clock in her bedroom revealed it a few minutes after nine and she was surprised that is wasn’t much later. She felt like it was and as much as her aching body needed a soak, she opted to pull her shoes off and climb into bed instead. She was too tired and could shower in the morning; her body would just have to deal with it. Nathan instantly crept into her thoughts again and she pulled the collar of his t-shirt up and inhaled another steal of his scent. She was attracted to him and she knew it was probably based on the excitement and allure that came with him. Vampire… she thought. Ok, so he was a vampire… so what? Big deal! Her mind made light of it.
Werewolf… followed after. That was a monstrosity out there, far from the gentle hero’s from her recent read. Maybe this wasn’t real; maybe she had really been reading one of those books and had fallen asleep to it, conjuring this. Maybe tomorrow she would wake up to find no scratch, no Nathan and no vampires and thankfully no werewolf’s. The sharp throb down her back argued that conviction and she turned a little more on her side to ease her suffering. Ok, realistically this did happen and her little town was now plagued with vampires and man eating werewolves.
How horrible! The thought quickly followed. This werewolf that attacked her and almost killed her was still loose and probably would attack again. Something had to be done about this, but what could she do? If she told anyone else, she would get laughed at or even considered crazy and find herself locked up in an asylum. Going to the local authorities and reporting it made her feel stupid for even considering it.
Nathan could stop these attacks. She thought.
Why had he only knocked the animal out? Why had he and his family not stopped this already if they knew?
They could stop this… she thought as she lay there waiting for sleep.
Evie’s thoughts eventually calmed to one final one… she was going to make sure they did stop them before another victim was claimed.
Chapter Two-
The werewolf…
The beep of the alarm clock woke Evie and brought her back to her reality, the one filled with the same monsters from her nightmares. With little energy, she reached her arm over and turned it off, sending a fiery burn down the length of her back; reminding her of her trophy from last night. Every muscle in her body ached as she painfully rolled over onto her stomach and slid down the side of her bed until her feet touched the ground. Standing up was no easy feat, the muscles of her legs protested on the way up, stiff and in shock. Standing up without manipulating the muscles in her back, was unavoidable; every taunt pull, tugged on her wound, intensifying the burn. Motivation from there was temporarily lost to her; keeping her conviction of going to school was almost lost as well.
A shower… her thoughts gave a last try…would help. They convinced her.
Walking the ten feet over to her dresser hurt and every movement thereafter was a regrettable one. Every bend to grab her clothing from the drawers made her wish that morphine was an over the counter drug. Getting to the bathroom was slow, the dead calm silence in the house meant her mother was still asleep. It was like this every morning; a newfound habit that followed after her father’s departure. It was learned quickly too, not to wake her mother after drinking the night before. Her mother drank every night, so every morning was a quite one for Evie.
She plopped her clothes down on top of the hamper and walked over to the shower. The task of reaching up to turn the knobs to start it was a painful one; it stretched the skin on her back and pulled at the wound. Evie grabbed the ibuprofen bottle from out of the medicine cabinet and swallowed down four pills before she stepped into the tub. She hoped the medicine would work quickly from the inside while she let the hot liquid work on her from the outer. The hot shower did wonders for the aching parts of her body she could submerge under the water and by the time she finished her shower, the medicine had kicked in and life seemed livable again.
Evie angled the hand mirror and looked at the predicament of her back thru the medicine cabinet one. Nathan’s bandage covered the worst parts of the wound, so only the thinner sections were shown to judge by. Four lines marked her back, starting from between her shoulder blades and stretched down to beginning of her nape. Remarkably they seemed to be healing up quickly and she hoped scarring would be minimal for even the worse parts. The bandage still looked fairly decent, but looked like it would need to be changed again. The thought of keeping it hidden from her mother seemed impossible.
Dressing was bearable, more so because she thankfully didn’t wear bras. Try knocking my t shirt now… her thoughts spoke to Nathan. Downstairs, she found her mother still asleep where she left her and headed towards the kitchen. A banana off the counter, a pop tart and a Sunny D from the fridge was the makeup of her breakfast. She peeled the banana back and took a bite from it as she walked back past her snoring mother towards the front door. She finished her banana and sat the peel down on the bench next to her as she put on her boots; this task was a little tricky, but thankfully did not cause too much discomfort.
She looked out the window of the front door and noticed the fresh coat of powder covering the neighborhood, revealing it had snowed during her slumber.
When she grabbed her coat from the peg, a couple puffs of goose feathers and polyester stuffing fell out and down to the hardwood floor. Evie awkwardly squatted down and picked up the piles and stuffed them into her coat. She rolled it up and took it to the kitchen. Underneath the sink, she grabbed a trash bag and stuffed the jacket and innards into it. She tied it closed and carried it back with her to the door and plopped it down on the bench. In the hall closet, she found the hot pink puffer coat her mother had bought for her at the start of school and pulled it off its hanger. She hated pink, hence the reason why it hung had hung there since her mother first proudly showed it to her; the tags still intact.
She yanked them off before she put it on and stuffed them into her pocket to throw away later. She grabbed the garbage bag and went for her book bag that normally sat on the bench and realized it was not there. An icy cold fear crept into her when she remembered where it was. She would have to find Nathan to help her get it and hoped it was still there. If this werewolf was in fact a person, her wallet inside of it would direct them right to her. The icy cold wall of air that hit her on the way out only added to the chill that was already there.
She turned the lock on the door knob to lock it and grabbed her banana peel before closing the door. She went over to the garbage cans and threw the kitchen bag and peel into one and rolled it down to the curb for trash collection.
Cass’s jeep wrangler pulled up just as Evie finished slipping on her gloves and she walked around the front to the passenger side and climbed in.
“Nice coat!” Cass teased her as soon as her butt touched the seat.
“My other one got ripped.” She gave her excuse.
“Hey, you know me, pink is the new black I say!” her friend teased again as she backed out of the driveway.
Evie was thankful that Cass didn’t notice her lack of enthusiasm in conversation that morning as her friend excitedly chattered about the perfect dress she had found for the upcoming winter dance. The occasional “wow” or
“cool” seemed to suffice and her friend then moved on to fill her ears with her hopes of Chad Dillard asking her to it and any other kind of gossip that came to her busy mind. By the time they pulled up into the school parking lot, if Evie had wanted to talk, the opportunity would have never came.
“So have you decided if you’re going to go yet?” Cass asked her as she turned off the engine. Evie nodded, but then quickly shook her head.
“Well, which is it silly!” Cass laughed.
She looked to her friend and shrugged. “I don’t know Cass…I can’t dance and no one has asked me.”
“Yet...” Cass threw in, “…Not yet.” She added, smiling.
Evie had to grin at her friend’s optimism. “Ok, not yet.” She allowed.
Her friend smiled again and flashed a beautiful row of perfectly white teeth. Three years of braces in middle school made sure of that. Evie loved her friend; they had been friends since almost birth. How they remained was a wonderment to her; they could not have been more of an awkward couple than the Odd couple. Cass was two inches taller, tan all year round and had a vibrant personality.
Her big blue doe eyes and long blonde locks that always seemed to stay properly in place won her the hearts of many boys and brought much jealousy and envy from a few of her own gender. Yet Cass never played on both and remained the genuine good article she was today. Cassie’s chatter continued on down the sidewalk as they made their way towards the front steps of the school and only stopped when Evie’s name was called out.
Both girls looked back and found Nathan Bender walking up to them. Cass’s eyes popped wide and her full row of perfect white teeth made their entrance, as he walked up. Evie stifled a laugh, already imagining what thoughts were already churning inside her friend’s mind.
“I need to talk to you.” He spoke, looking only at her. She was relieved to see her book bag hooked on his arm.
“Hi! I’m Cassie, Evie’s best friend…and who are you?” the girl jumped in.
“Nathan,” He answered and looked to her, his serious demeanor quickly faded. “I am a friend of Evie’s and I must speak to her privately…if you could spare a moment, I promise to return her to you quickly.” His voice sweetly oozed its spellbinding charm and the girl giggled in surrender.
She turned to Evie with a grin. “I’ll see you in home room.” She told her and quickly looked back to Nathan. “It was very nice to meet you Nathan!” She gushed and gave an exaggerated wave to the both of them before rushing off, up the concrete steps.
Evie rolled her eyes. “Wow! Quiet the charmer you are!” she teased him.
“My mother always taught me to be a polite gentleman.” He told her as his smile faded and his expression became serious. “I need to talk to you about something very important, Evie. Something happened last night after you left and I think you should know…” he started to explain, but the loud blare of the school bell interrupted him and he waited for it to finish.
“Can it wait until after school?” She asked him when it stopped and pulled her book bag down off his arm. “I am so glad you found this by the way, I was so worried!” she yelled over her shoulder, already climbing the steps. When she reached the door, she gave another look back and waved at him before disappearing inside. Nathan sighed as he watched the door close behind the stubborn girl.
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The minutes ticked slowly as the droning voice of her teacher slowly put her in a hypnotic state, almost lulling her to sleep. The growling of her stomach was what kept her awake; the only energetic part of her body. Twenty minutes later when the bell finally sounded, she groggily gathered her things and stuffed them into her book bag. The fiery burn had returned and Evie could not wait to get to get some Motrin inside of her again.
At the nearest water fountain, she deposited her book bag on the floor next to it and pulled the pills she had stuffed in her pocket this morning and popped them into her mouth. She took a big swig from the water and swallowed them down. Her belly gave another loud grumble and sent an ache throughout her abdomen; Evie skipped going to her locker and followed the flow of teenagers towards the cafeteria.
She was one of the first in line and actually found herself enjoying the aroma of the lunch waiting for her as she made her way along. Surprisingly because it was sloppy Joes and they had never been a favorite of hers until today, which she ordered double. As she grabbed for a cup of cherry cobbler, her hand grazed her neighbors and she glanced up. Staring back at her was the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen. The face behind them she recognized, but his name was lost to her. She had seen him in the halls from time to time, but in passing. He had always seemed to keep to himself. He smiled at her and she quickly looked away in embarrassment, realizing how long she had stared at him.
She could feel his eyes on her back as the line crept along and when she finally reached the register, she quickly paid the lady behind it and mumbled” keep the change” as she jetted towards her table. She sat her tray down and slid into her claimed spot on the bench just as a tray sat down across from her. She looked up and found the guy from line standing in front of her. He smiled and sat down.
“Hello Evie.” He spoke, his voice smooth; alluring.
“Do we know each other?” she asked him.
He smiled. “We’ve briefly met.” He told her and laid her cell phone down on the table in front of her. Evie stared at it as her heart jumped in her chest and she struggled to swallow the dry lump that had suddenly formed in her throat. She looked up at him and found him still smiling. His face seemed too innocent to hide such a hideous secret. His hair was black; dark like oil and he was attractive, very attractive. His natural Hispanic tan skin was almost flawless, except for one small scar near the base of his jaw; an imperfection that only added to the allure. Evie had always assumed werewolves had kept their battle wounds and thought he would have had more than the one tiny scar being so violent the other night.
“What do you want?” she asked him, trying to hide her nervousness.
“Nothing big; just a date…” He toyed with her, noticing.
“A date?” she asked, giving him a suspicious look.
He nodded.
“But last night you tried to kill me... “She whispered as she looked around for Pete or Cass to save her.
“I wasn’t trying to kill you.” He corrected her; his smile grew larger.
“Really..? Because the large scratch down my back seems to say otherwise.” She snapped back at him; keeping her voice down.
“I was just trying to scare you off; you’re a very nosey girl, Evie Patterson.” He returned the jab.
He knew her name. “So you’re aware during your change?” she asked him, wishing she knew who he was.
His eyes lit up. “Yes, very aware.” He informed her and she thought his eyes seemed to be glowing now.
The voraciousness of his tone fumed. “So you purposely killed those people?” She boldly hissed at him.
“So… about that date…” He started again, ignoring her question.
“Stop killing and I’ll consider.” She demanded, staring hard into his emerald green eyes.
A predatory look came over him. “I cannot make a promise I do not intend to keep Evie.” He answered, his grin faded.
She hated the way he said her name; just for the simple fact that it gave him pleasure in using it.
“So you’re gonna kill again?” she asked him, feeling disgusted.
His eyes darted up and looked past her. “I’ll tell you what…. You stay away from the vampire and I’ll see what I can do about stopping these attacks.” He bartered.
“Why do you want me to stay away from him?” she asked him.
His eyes remained focused on something behind her and he stood up. “They are a disgusting breed and persistent meddlers.” He gave for an explanation. “Think about it.” He added and walked away, leaving his lunch.
&
nbsp; Evie turned around to see what had caught his attention and found Nathan standing a few yards away from her, his eyes locked on the departing werewolf. He sensed her discovery and averted his eyes to hers. His deep black ones were a far comparison to the werewolf’s mesmerizing green ones; yet somehow when they looked upon her; the reaction they brought was noteworthy. A smile peeked at the corner of his mouth as if he knew her thoughts and she quickly turned around to hide the blush that was forming. A moment later he sat down next to her.
She looked at him and found him still smiling. “What are you doing here? “She asked him.
“Taking my lunch break…”
“But, you don’t eat food.” She leaned in and whispered.
He laughed. “I can still take a break, can’t I?” he teased her; amused.
She eyed him. “Nathan, can you read minds?” She asked nonchalantly, making him laugh again.
“No, but somehow it’s not too hard for me to guess at yours.” He teased her again.
“Ok… so tell me what I was thinking then.” She challenged him, slightly offended.
He smiled. “You like my eyes over the wolf’s.” he told her.
“So you know what he is?” she asked him, changing the subject; making him smile again.
“So what did he want?” he asked her.
“Why didn’t you tell me last night?” she asked him.
“I was trying to tell you this morning…” he went to defended himself, but two trays plopped down in front of them, ending the conversation.
Evie’s friends sat down behind them; Cass had a huge grin on her face and Pete was eyeing Nathan. “Who is this, Evie?” He asked her, but kept staring at Nathan.
“That is Nathan, Evie’s new friend.” Cass happily informed him.
Pete raised a brow which made Evie laugh. “Its ok Pete, he won’t bite!” She teased her friend.
