by A. D. Duling
As for a plan, nothing specific was set, just an overall goal; to succeed. Evie would use everything she had to protect herself, even from Nathan if she had too. During her research, she had also come across information on breaking curses and found one that spoke of killing the one who had scratched her. She didn’t expect it to work, but felt that too, was worth a shot.
Evie finished chewing the last bite of her sandwich and grabbed the loaf of rye bread and opened it.
She held it in her hands for a good while, but nothing seemed to happen to her. Nothing smelt weird and nothing burned. Evie threw it aside and assumed it to be a bogus tip. She then grabbed the mistletoe and opened the package, immediately the smell was nauseating to her, but she held it as long as she could to see how long she could endure it, but less than five minutes later, the mistletoe was shoved into a Ziploc baggie and zipped closed.
The smell lingered in the room for a while, but soon receded and her stomach was able to settle. Evie figured, pulling it out at the last possible minute would be best, if sooner it would end up being a giveaway. If her sense of smell was already at such a heightened peak and she had not even changed yet, Evie could only hope the stuff would be even more unbearable to the others. She hoped for her sake, impossibly unbearable.
Evie grabbed her old book bag she had dug form her closet last night and started loading the rest of her things inside of it, omitting two items: A baggie filled with the small silver beads she had molded last night and the eight sterling silver knives she had borrowed from her mother’s holiday set, that had been sharpened as lethal as she could get them.
She didn’t know exactly how she would use the silver beads, but had played around with a few ideas already; one was stuffing a bunch down Jonas’s throat. Evie opened the baggie and grabbed a few out and stuffed them into the fingered slots of her gloves. She then put on her mother’s dark coat she had borrowed and zipped it up, stuffing a few in its pockets as well. The remainder ones, she stuffed inside her jeans; the front and the back pockets.
Evie then grabbed the medical tape from her pile and started wrapping her fingers with it, to protect them from the silver beads inside the gloves. When she finished doing that she carefully slipped the gloves on and then proceeded to separate the silver knives into even stacks before she wrapped them in hand towels and placed them into her bag. She then grabbed the last of her gathered things, her father’s old ski mask, some rope and her wallet and zipped the bag up. She looped it on shoulders and headed to the front door; grabbing the house key off of the foyer table along the way. Once outside, Evie dead bolted the front door behind her and hid the key inside one of her mother’s flower pots, burying it deep. She walked around back and headed towards the spot where Jonas seemed to visit often, the place she knew they would come to, looking for her.
Evie watched around herself, as she made her way there, making sure she was not being followed. When she reached it, no smells came her way that seemed out of place and no one seemed to be around; needing every possible advantage she could get, for tonight. She looked around the perimeter and studied it, looking for the perfect places to set up her defenses. She took her book bag off and sat it down on the ground and opened the bag. She started with the knife wrapped towels and tactfully hid them next to random trees and burying them under pine needles or leaves. She had also placed a wooden stake at each spot as well.
From there, she then marked the trees they were close to with orange spray paint she had brought. Marking x’s on the trees where her weapons were and then marking random trees around them with orange dots, to hopefully make them look like markers for trees removal.
“Well… I hope this works!” she whispered and threw the can back into her bag. She grabbed the baggie of the mistletoe and stuffed it into her coat pocket before she zipped her bag back up and looked at her watch. It was almost four o’clock now and it had taken her two hours to plan and set up. Her stomach had already started to hurt again and she knew she needed to get something to eat, Evie turned towards the direction of town and headed for the local Subway to get her lunch.
After eating a whole twelve inch sub, Evie then walked over to the IGA and purchased some snacks to refuel with later. She bought a box of granola bars, some pre-made hoagies and a pack of bottled water before she headed back up to her spot in the woods. When she got there, she picked out tree and took her book bag off. She pulled out the rope she had brought from inside it and tied it to a thick broken branch she had found on the ground.
Evie then took a few steps back and threw it up into the air at the lowest branch that was seven feet above her and missed it. It took quite a few tries after that, before she finally hooked it. When she did, she pulled on her end to ensure it held and the branch did. She then put the book bag back on and climbed up, using the system of pulling up her upper body with her arms on the rope and walking up the trunk of the tree for her bottom half. When she reached the top, Evie grabbed onto the branch and pulled herself up to sit on it. She then untied the rope and threw the branch a ways from her back onto the ground. She stuffed the rope into her bag and proceeded to climb higher in the tree.
When she felt high enough, Evie sat down and leaned up against the trunk and looked at her watch; it read seven- thirty. Evie knew it would be dark before anyone showed up and she knew she was going to a long wait. Her only entertainment through those hours would be her thoughts and she did a lot of thinking during that time. At first she did a lot of thinking about her parents and about how things were, how they had been and how she planned to make things better after she rescued them.
After that, she then thought about Nathan and about how she exactly felt about him. To say she loved him was an overstatement; Evie knew she felt something for Nathan, but love didn’t seem possible yet, perhaps the statement of she really liked him would be more appropriate. As for Jonas, she wanted to hate him, but there was something about him and his situation that wouldn’t let her. One moment he could be cruel and violent and then another moment; loving and gentle.
Evie didn’t dare think about what would happen tonight and kept her thoughts on everything else except that. She was too afraid if she did, she would sabotage herself and all the hard work she had put into this. Somehow the hours flew by during her thinking and not long after the sun disappeared behind the lake, Evie heard the first crunch of her approaching predators.
She held her breath and listened as they approached, spotting Nathan first and then seeing his father and Michael come up on other sides of him. Each were cautious in their approach, spreading out and looking around themselves as they went; Evie about fell out of her tree, when Michael stepped too close to one of her marked spots and waited in apprehension to his reaction. He noticed the orange marking and stared at it for a moment, but then continued on and she hoped he plan had worked.
They looked around and above, to ensure they were still alone and for a moment when Nathan scanned the area where she sat hidden, Evie thought he had discovered her. She almost believed he was staring straight at her and felt her heart quicken in her chest, as she waited for his reaction. But after another moment staring in her direction, he looked away and never looked back up again. A few hours earlier she had put on the black ski mask she had brought to camouflage her more and felt pretty confident she was well hidden, even though her skin itched and she was sweating profusely under it.
A few minutes later, new crunching sounds from underfoot came along and Evie sniffed the air to test her senses. She could smell eight different scents, four she quickly identified, but the other four she could only assume who they belonged to. Jonas, Ted Thatcher and her parents came from the opposite end from where the vampires stood. Her mother was blind folded and gagged, but her father was left undone. Jonas gently guided her over to a tree and helped her sit down, making it apparent he had spent the week kindly caring for his prisoner and she was thankful for that.
He left her bound and joined his father, standing by his side
, who stood staring at the vampires in front of them. Each party eyed each with leeriness, as they waited for Evie to show herself. Ted Thatcher spoke softly to his son and Evie watched the teen separate from him and walk a few a feet away to his left. Evie checked again on her mother and found her still sitting where Jonas had left her; her father still remained at Ted Thatcher’s other side, looking around himself.
He too as like Nathan, stopped and stared where she was hidden, but more briefly and then looked away.
“Evangeline, they know you’re here, my dear. I think you need to come down now!” Michael called out to her.
Evie sighed and climbed down, So much for sneak and attack… she thought. Regardless of no rope this time, Evie descended the trunk with ease and walked towards them. As she neared, she could see every man’s chest heaving in anticipation and could hear every heavy breath that left their anxious bodies. Her stomach began to churn and the familiar pain returned, but she ignored it. Ted Thatcher, her father and Jonas all looked up to the sky and howled at her approach. Her eyes darted to the vampires and saw devilish grins form on their faces in reaction; their white skin glowed brightly under the uncovering moonlight as they stared hard at the werewolves they planned to kill.
Evie looked up and found the last of the moon slipping free from behind the clouds and then, ever so quickly, the hairs stood up on her arms and chills ran down her body. The pain in her stomach increased tenfold right after and she yanked the mask from her sweaty face to catch her breath. Her body began to tremble and without warning or control, her head jerked up and a wolf like howl slipped past her lips. Four howls synchronized with hers and she quickly looked back to the groups below and saw the three men start to shift and the three vampires scream and charge at them.
Her father shifted quickly into the wolf and sent Michael, attacking him, flying back away from him. The other two were slower in their shifting, pain evident in their eyes and in the noise they made as their bodies bent and cracked into their foreign positions. Their attackers leaped at them, but were quickly sent flying back by the shifting men who were still able to protect themselves. Then within a blink, Evie found herself watching the same scene play out again that ended in the same way. She wondered if what she had just witnessed had been their “bending” and wondered why she had been able to see it.
The trembling of her body increased and then she felt a ripple go up the bones of her spine and heat swarmed into her head. She closed her eyes as a ringing came to her ears and grew louder, she felt her eyes do something and opened them. As if switching to a different lens during an optometry appointment, Evie watched as her vision went from clear to clearer and the forest ahead of her went into a three dimensional depth she had never seen before. Her fingers began to burn and she looked to her gloved hands, nails had protruded through the tape and glove and the burning she assumed was from the silver beads that now touched her skin.
She would have to endure it… she thought, her last intelligent one as her body began to shake uncontrollably and she fell to one knee. A hand came down and took her arm and she looked up; it was Nathan. He picked her up and carried her away from the battle beyond her; the other two werewolves had finished their shifting and were in full conflict with his companions.
“You need to make your decision now Evie…your shift will be slow and painfully intense from here,” he told her, “What is your choice?!” he asked her loudly.
But, before she could answer his question, something large slammed into them and knocked them over. Nathan’s hands somehow wrapped themselves around the delicate parts of her now ever fragile body as the fell and padded her landing. He instantly rolled off of her and leapt at the werewolf who had knocked them down. Its glowing green eyes, gave away is identity, Jonas…! She though, as she lay there watching their conflict.
Evie rolled away from their struggle and slowly climbed to her feet. Her pain continued to intensify, as she looked around herself, looking for her father. She saw Michael and Ted Thatcher deep in combat, the werewolf snarling and swatting its clawed paws at the vampire, while the pale skin kept him at bay with his supernatural strength. She thankfully found her mother still safe in her place; her apparent distress her only problem.
Evie scanned the area again, looking for her father, but couldn’t find him. She looked back at Nathan and Jonas and found them still wrestling a ways from her on the ground. Another ripple went up her spine and the fiery heat that came at the end, crippled her thoughts and functions and she screamed her pain. Just as the heat gave leniency, something tackled her from behind and grabbed onto her collar and dragged her. She screamed and twisted herself free, but the animal quickly reached down and grabbed hold of her again, but this time grabbing her by the front of her jacket, giving Evie full view of her attacker; it was a she wolf and she knew who it was, Natasha. Evie quickly reached her hand up and gouged at the animal’s eye with her thumb, until she released her.
The she-wolf’s piercing blue eyes stared at her and then it gave a great howl and charged her. Just as the she wolf jumped into the air, a large wolf leapt in front of her and slammed its paw into her face, sending her sliding back, yards away from them. The large wolf turned its head, revealing the familiar blue eyes she had stared into the other night on the deck. The animal whimpered and Evie knew who he was, her father.
She also realized then what her human eyes had not differentiated before; her father did not look exactly like the others, his features took on more of the wolf rather than of the monster. He almost passed for a dog, except for his size, which was two times larger. He also did not stand erect as she had seen Rachel and Jonas do and where their paws looked more like fury, clawed fingers, his had remained canine. He whimpered and approached her, bringing his snout to her hand, “Dad?” She choked out, tears forming and the animal gave a nod in acknowledgement.
“Oh dad…” she cried and then doubled over as another wave of pain hit her. She clutched her belly as the pain engulfed her and she returned to her knees. Above her down turned head, she heard her father leap and intercept something just behind her; snarls and the clicking of canine teeth followed and then retreating steps echoing each other as they moved away.
Evie knew she could not lie there, she knew she had to stay at her feet and not allow herself to become vulnerable. Enduring the pain, she clambered to her feet and looked around herself. She looked for her father and found him battling with Jonas; Nathan however was nowhere to be found. A familiar scent filled her nostrils and she saw movement from the corner of her eye, the she wolf was returning for her. Keeping her head straight, Evie waited until it leapt at her and then with quick reaction, she turned towards it and caught her midair. Evie dug her fingers into the she wolf’s chest and it screamed in reaction to the silver tipped gloves and writhed away from her. The fur in where she had wounded her was singed and revealing the tender skin also burnt underneath. The animal growled and jumped up to its feet.
The beads! Evie remembered and reached her hand into her pocket for them, grabbing as many of the loose beads as she could, before the charging she wolf reached her. And just as the she wolf leapt into the air, Evie’s hands came up and grabbed her by the neck and stuffed the silver beads from her other hand, into its open mouth. Instantly the she wolf fell back and clawed at its throat, coughing. Evie ran from it and quickly hid herself behind one of her marked trees. The adrenaline that had kept her functioning was now almost depleted; with the last bit of her energy, Evie uncovered the hidden towel filled with her weapons and grabbed one of her silver knives.
She looked back where she had last seen her father and Jonas and found them still in conflict. She looked again for Nathan, but still did not find him; she found Michael lying still on the ground just beyond her and she quickly looked around for Ted Thatcher. Something sharp cut into the skin of her arm and she screamed in pain. She looked and found Ted Thatcher, he reared back and swiped at her again, but
Evie jumped and landed on his
back.
He shook violently underneath her grip, trying to shake her off, but Evie held tight and brought the blade of the silver knife in her other hand down and sank it into his flesh. He howled in pain and arched his back. Evie jumped and ran away from him and tripping over the naked, lifeless Rachel just beyond. Evie quickly caught herself and went to the nearest of her marked trees and dug up another towel and unwrapped it. Just as she grabbed a hold of one of the silver knives, clawed fingers grabbed onto her jacket and pulled her back away from them.
Evie landed on the frozen ground, still holding tight to the silver knife. She jumped up and turned to the awaiting beast, which snarled in anger and displayed his razor teeth to her. He stood tall on his hind legs and growled again at her as she charged him. When less than a foot away, Evie dived down and slid past his grasping arms and came up underneath him, she then stabbed the knife into his underbelly and he roared and fell back, pulling her along with him and landing on his chest. As he writhed in pain, she pulled the knife out and plunged it again into his body; this time in the heart and he dropped still.
Evie climbed down from the dead werewolf and staggered away from it. The pain that consumed every bit of her had finally won and she fell down to her knees and clutched her belly. Nausea overwhelmed her and she bent over and dry heaved, but nothing came up. Behind her, the man Ted Thatcher once was came to form. Crying, Evie rolled onto her side and shakily ripped her gloves off of her hands. The pounding in her head tuned out the noises around her and she lay defenseless, in the fetal position on the wintery floor.
Beyond her, Jonas had discovered the death of his father, at her doing and retreated in devastation. Michael had survived his attack and was already checking the fallen female for life. With one of Evie’s silver knives, he then separated the woman’s head from her body and did the same to Ted Thatcher. Her father, still in form, came to her and nuzzled his head near hers, whimpering his worry.
