A.N. Hey guys, sorry to tell you if this deters you from reading this or whatever, but I'm only putting this one chapter up for a while until I finish my other story which might take some time. I just wanted to get a feel of how you people would react to my own writing and not just on my twisting. But, by all means, read this, follow it, wait for me to update, if you wish. I don't know where it's gonna go but it should at least be pretty entertaining while it's getting there :D so yea, read it, check out my other story, and….yea that's it ^_^
"Run Brittany! Don't stand there, run!" Kate's face suddenly blocks my sight, light brown eyes meeting mine, as she grabs at me and pushes me towards the woods. I take a step back to balance myself but I don't move. I refuse to. It's as if my whole body has shut down. WHAM! My head whips to the side as a fire of pain shoots across my cheek.
"Brittany!" Kate yells again, she'd slapped me…the shock of that simple fact knocks me out of my stupor and I take a few tentative steps backward. "Brittany, please." Her voice is starting to break and she's stopped yelling, "Please, we have to go before they sense us."
Reality comes crashing down on me again. They killed him. Those men just murdered our father…no, not men. Werewolves. The very things my family are supposed to hunt down and destroy have found us first. Anger replaces my shock and I reach for the silver knife in the sheath strapped on to my thigh but another set of hands stop me.
"No" Kate breathes out, her eyes wide yet serious, "It's three on two. They took down dad so they're obviously experienced and we've never even seen a live wolf before today. Brittany, please, just run…" She looks back over her shoulder at the three men arguing with each other than back to me, "please…"
I look into dark eyes and see the determination in them, most likely to protect me. I also see the fear and this is what makes me turn and sprint. The hunting boots, my father insisted we always wear, barely leave a print or make a sound as I tear through the forest that surrounds my house. I hear the soft tread of Kate's feet behind me and it comforts me, at least she didn't stay behind. My comfort ends when I hear another set of footsteps and the thudding of huge paws. Two of the men are chasing us. One as a human, the other as a wolf, I briefly wonder where the other is but the thought soon leaves me.
"Faster" Kate urges me on from my shoulder and I kick it up another gear. Seeing as our job entitles us to have to be really fast and strong if we want to stand a chance, our dad started giving us some sort of drug at age three until thirteen that enhanced both of those attributes. Every protector has to take them if they want to survive their first battle.
I'm now going so fast that the trees are starting to blur. My breath is coming harder now and I know that if the wolves couldn't hear it a moment ago, they can now. Both sets of footsteps keep getting louder and louder, even without the hearing of a wolf I can hear them clearly and I know they're close. Kate's running at my side now, keeping in step even though she could easily surpass me. I don't know if it's the protector or the older sister in her that's keeping her from going faster. Her short brown hair is whipping back from her face and if we weren't running for our lives I'd joke that she looked like one of those Twilight vampires. I glance back and wish I hadn't.
The man in wolf form is about a hundred yards behind us and with a wolf's enhanced speed will surely be on us in ten seconds tops. I rip my gaze away from him and look ahead when I suddenly trip. I don't catch myself in time and I slide across the dirt on the forest before catching on something. A sharp pain rips briefly through my side as my body flips over twice from the momentum before finally coming to a stop. All of me lands hard against the ground. I can taste blood coming from my lip and feel more running down the side of my cheek.
I hear the sliding of dirt and feel a body above me, raising my face I see Kate crouched over me with her knife out, eyes narrowed, staring down the wolf that had jumped at and over us. My brain catches up faster than my body does and I realize Kate had tripped me so we wouldn't become puppy chow. A second later, Kate moves the leg she had straddled over me and I get up, pulling out my knife and copying her stance but facing the other way. Our father had taught us that it's not what's in front of you that you need to worry about, it's what's behind.
Sure enough, a teenager who looked nineteen came running into view and slid to a stop about ten yards away, covering his white shoes with a thin layer of dirt. He wore only long basketball shorts and his shoes. His body was perfectly sculpted and if I didn't know what he was, I would have called him cute. Brown hair fell into green eyes as he watched us. All of a sudden his intense gaze turned to one of disappointment and he relaxed out of his tense position.
"Hmm," his deep voice drips with disappointment. "Here I thought we'd be getting a good fight. Three protectors and three wolves." On the word wolves, I heard the wolf let out a growl and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. "And it turns out," the boy continued "that what we have is two children and an old man who's no longer protecting anything. Not even his…daughters." The last word came out questioningly, almost hesitantly, and I understood.
In front of him were two girls, one seventeen and one fourteen, who looked nothing alike. Kate was of average height, brown eyes, short brown hair, and the face of an angel. The spitting image of our late mother and father. I was tall, blonde, blue eyed, and looked nothing like either of my parents.
Kate's voice cut through my thoughts. "Trust me dog boy, you'll get a challenge". I could almost hear the smirk that came with her words.
The boy's answer was a laugh, mocking us, as one corner of his mouth pulled up in a smirk to match my sisters. "Oh I like you. Maybe this will be sort of fun. Don't you think, Sebastian?" The wolf behind me growled and I took it as affirmation to the boy's question.
"Get ready Britt" my sister whispers to me even though she knows the wolves can hear us. I turn to look at her quickly over my shoulder and she sends me a smile. It's the half smirk she sends me when we're about to do something mischievously fun. Just like that, the moment is over and Kate lets out a yell and rushes the wolf…
Brrrriiiiinnnnggg The bell cuts through my nightmare and I jerk awake in my desk. My only friend, Jessica, looks over at me from the desk next to mine. She laughs at the startled look on my face and jerks her head in the signal for me to follow. I stay seated and look around trying to get back the loose grip I had on reality. I go through my mental checklist, I'm not fourteen anymore, I'm not fighting for my life, Kate's gone. I shake my head and put on my mask of a smile for Jess as I grab my math book. She smiles again and starts scribbling on her message pad she carries everywhere.
Jess has been mute since she was born, no one knows why. I grab the back of her shirt and steer her around the people coming like cattle towards us through the hallway, playing with the hem of her soft gray shirt in habit as I do. She turns the pad around and I read it.
"Yea," I laugh "Math really was that boring."
She wrinkles her nose and quickly scribbles 'lucky, SOME of us actually have to pay attention to pass.'
I chuckle again and bump her shoulder "whatever, you have all A's, you could get away with falling asleep now and then."
She just smiles and shakes her head at me, light brown hair falling into her face as she turns to open her locker right next to mine.
She's been my best friend since I moved to Lima to live with my aunt three years ago. She was the first person to "talk" to me. She has two little brothers and a single mom who works way too hard. When their father left them 3 months after I was sent here, her mom was suddenly swamped with bills and couldn't afford to look after all her kids and work her two jobs at the same time. I talked to my aunt and, with her permission, helped them out by babysitting now twelve year old Jason and ten year old Jacob.
I realize I had gotten lost in thought again when Jess bumps my shoulder and looks at me than my locker with an expectant look on her face. Since I moved here I've learned to read Jess better than a book. I smile and quickly dial in the combo and replace Math books with Geography. We continue down the hallway and when we come to the end she goes left and I go right. I find room 203 and let out a breath, time to act.
When I moved here I decided to keep the "family business" alive and started looking for werewolves around here. I don't know if it's because I wanted vengeance or whether I just had killing in my blood, either way, I found them. You wouldn't believe the werewolf population of Ohio.
I've been after them for two years now and the last thing I need is to be found. I realized that when you look for a killer of highly dangerous, ferocious beasts, you aren't going to look at the dumb student twice. It takes an insane amount of intelligence to hunt werewolves. I have to know everything that I possibly can. From their schedules both at school and work, to how their family life is, and whether they'll be missed or not. Not to mention that if they're in wolf form I have to know a whole bunch of crap about wind speeds affecting smell, sound travelling, and how to get rid of a body with chemicals, when looking for somebody who can figure all this out you don't look at the dumb kids. And especially not the dimwitted blonde girl at McKinley High who thinks the square root of four is rainbows.
I enter the class and look up to see Ms. Hagberg writing something on the board. I ignore it to look around and find a seat. The only available one is next to Santana Lopez, cheerleader and co-HBIC to the rest of the school, to me, for some reason, she's a normal human being. I sigh and go to sit next to her and she smiles as I take the seat next to her. I smile back and she opens her mouth before Ms. Hagberg starts talking. Santana shoots her daggers that she misses and I lay out my stuff before looking towards the board.
As it quiets my super hearing kicks in so that I can hear Finn's breath even out as he starts to fall asleep behind us and it's only been ten minutes. I roll my eyes and catch Santana watching me, I quickly look away.
Suddenly my opportunity comes up to blend even farther in and I jump on it. Ms. Hagberg turns around and asks a question that even a 3rd grader who grew up in Ohio would know.
"What's the capital of Ohio?"
My hand shoots up into the air so fast I almost gave away just how fast I really am. A worried look flashes over my face so fast a normal human wouldn't process it and I quickly replace it with my "smug" look.
"Brittany," she calls.
Columbus. "O" I call out instead of the right answer. The class starts to laugh and I see Santana shoot me a confused look.
"What? Do you even know who the president is?" Ms. Hagberg asks as if I'm stupid, goal accomplished. Now to seal the deal.
"Will I Am." I continue proudly beaming and then dropping my smile as the class bursts into an uproar again, as if I'm ashamed at being laughed at. It hurts a little but I've gotten over it. Santana is shooting me that confused look still but it's mixed with anger now and I can tell she's close to "going all Lima Heights" on the class. I don't know if she senses how much she'll get in trouble or what but instead she just turns around to yell at an unsuspecting Finn.
"Hey, Whale Tits," she yells at him, turning in her seat. "Shut the hell up. Before I makes you."
A look I can't place crosses Santana's face and she turns her eyes away from me for the briefest of moments. Fear flashes across Finn's face at whatever he sees and he quickly quits laughing and looks down at his book.
Santana turns back to me and smiles that soft smile again. I return it and draw in my notebook for the rest of the hour. Playing up the dumb blonde part when every time Santana looks over I stop my drawing of a forest to turn the page and doodle a rainbow or unicorn somewhere before she can see it.
When the bell rings signaling the end of the day I sigh in relief. I pack up my stuff and am about to leave when Santana's hand on my arm makes me turn.
"You know," she starts, as if unsure, "if you need help I could probably, um, tutor you…sometime…if you want." She winces after she's done so fast that I almost miss it. Almost.
I smile, clutching my books to my chest as my brain momentarily short circuits. "Thanks Santana, I'd like that." I realize my mistake as soon as it leaves my mouth. There's a reason I don't have friends here. I stutter out something about a dentist appointment and exit the classroom, sure that she thinks I'm mental now.
I make it to my locker before Jessica, who arrives as I slam the door shut. "Bye Jess!" I yell back to her as I pull on my leather jacket and sling my backpack over my shoulder. I see her wave and give me a weird look but I ignore her.
Out in the parking lot I go over to the blue motocross bike in the corner and sling my leg over. I grab the matching helmet off the back and kick-start it to life. Exiting the parking lot I notice Santana and the other HBIC Quinn Fabray, exiting the school and walking over towards a red car. Santana glances at me as Quinn gets in the car and I wave slightly. She glances into the car before almost secretly waving back than jumping into the open passenger door.
As soon as I get away from the parking lot I gun the bike and my body goes on auto-pilot as I head out of town. I try to think of what to tell my aunt as to where I'll be tonight, seeing as Hey, Karen, I'm just going to go kill some 16-20 year olds tonight, maybe grab a pizza later. Don't wait up. Ok? Great, bye, love you! probably won't cut it.
After five minutes of thinking I've arrived at the turn off to my aunt's impossibly long driveway the, Pierce mailbox giving away the entrance into the thick trees. I stop halfway through and idle the bike as I drop my feet to support it and dig through my backpack. Finding the notebook I had used in Hagberg's class I flip it open to the doodle page. Holding up the book I critique my drawing of the forest on the page compared to the forest next to me. I've forgotten some things but most are spot on. Drawing is just another way to keep testing myself, it's the little details that matter not the big ones. In a fight, a wolf's not going to leave his whole side unprotected, he's going to leave the smallest of openings that he forgets about in a fight. That's what I need to see.
I close the notebook, put it back in my bag, and take off again. As dark blue house and barn come into view so does a large Australian shepherd. I rev my engine and the dog comes running over to me as I slow down to a stop. I reach over and pet him before revving my engine again. The dog jumps back happily and twirls in circles. It's about a football field away to the front yard and I crank the throttle spinning out on the gravel before shooting off towards the barn as the dog quickly catches up with me.
I laugh and shake my head at the sight of the dog running full board with my bike, his tongue lolling out of one side and his white fur flying back with his speed. I pull ahead and do a sliding stop in front of the barn as the dog sprints past before coming back to jump at me as I get off.
"Hey Caesar," I call out in a high pitched voice, taking off my helmet and holding it in one hand as I scratch the dog behind his ears. "Miss me bud?"
The dog barks and I laugh again as I get off and push my bike into the barn. Storing it in an empty stall in the back I head up to the house.
"Karen!" I call as I open the door and kick off my shoes in the porch.
"In here Brittany!" my aunt's voice calls from somewhere in the house.
Going through the door-less doorway into the kitchen I see her in the attached living room looking over the back of the couch towards me, a smile on her lips.
I smile back and lean against the peninsula as I swipe an apple. Taking a bite I start my plan. "Hey, Karen?" I ask, taking another bite. "Can I go to the movies with some friends tonight?"
She turns away from her Pretty Little Liars marathon to give me a questioning look, tucking a stray piece of blonde hair out of her face. "You don't have homework right?" her blue eyes bore into mine, it's odd how she's my father's sister yet seems to be as opposite as me when it comes to the looks department.
"Nope," I fake smile. "Got it all done in my study hall today." Lie. My aunt knows that I'm not smart, she sees my grades, but she truly thinks it's because I'm confused so often. I don't act dumb at home but that's the excuse I give her for my horrible grades and she buys it.
"I suppose," she smiles at me again, "make sure you guys stop to eat somewhere all right?"
My aunt's so happy that I actually have friends, even if I don't, that she doesn't even question who they are. When I first got here I didn't do anything for the first two months until my aunt deemed I'd had enough grieving time and literally dragged me to school. She did what my father would have done and that was enough to wake me up. I started going to school and starting my revenge plans the next four months, five months later I made my first kill and tonight, two years later, I'm about to make my tenth.
I walk over to her and give her a kiss on her forehead. "Of, course." I assure her, as I go back into the porch and tell her to not wait up as I slip on my shoes and head outside.
As soon as I'm out, Caesar comes running up and I throw a ball to get him to run off again. Going around the side of the house I climb in the black pickup truck my aunt bought me last year. A 1987 Chevy Silverado.
` I honk as I leave so that my aunt will know that I've gone and begin the drive to Grayson, the third town over. The hour and a half drive passes in a blur and I go to the towns limits before parking my truck in one of those 24/7 convenient store parking lots. By now the sun is setting and it should be dark in about 30 minutes.
Shutting my truck off I look around to notice that there's only an elderly woman with me in the parking lot and she's getting in her car to leave. I tie my hair back into a high ponytail and reach under the seat, feeling around for the little compartment I configured and pull on the string once I find it. My silver knife rolls into my hand and pull the sheath out next. Shoving both into my waistband for the moment, I look around and watch as the little old grandma leaves. I wait five more minutes until I've made sure no one else is coming and I pull out the keys and lock the doors as I slip out of my truck.
I glance around me as I walk towards the swampland before the forest surrounding the store to make sure I'm not followed.
Walking through the mini swamp is not the most satisfying of experiences. The mud and water seeps into my tennis shoes and I roll up my pants to keep them as dry as possible. After trudging through for about ten minutes the water level starts to drop down. In another five it's gone.
By now the convenience store is just a dot and no one from the road is able to see me. I breathe easier but know that my night is just starting. I reach the forest outline and count down seven trees and then in four. Grabbing the lowest branch I vault myself up into the massive maple tree, and start climbing.
Twenty feet up I find what I'm looking for, a brown bag. I untie it and take out what's inside setting the items in the crook to keep them in the tree. Black cargo pants, matching t-shirt and hunting jacket, my hunting boots, and another knife.
I straddle the tree branch and remove everything but my pants, shoving the items in the bag and putting the black ones on. Standing up my pants are swapped as well and I start lacing up my hunting boots. I attach my knife to my thigh, making sure it's secure. The second knife I take and trace the initials KP with my fingers before attaching it, and the matching chest sheath, to my body. I zip up my jacket, leaving enough room for me to stick my hand in and grasp the knife if I need to, before descending.
I drop the last five feet to the ground and look around. It's dark now and my eyes quickly adjust, the moon's just started waxing so there's not a lot of light but enough for me, and the wolves, to see just fine.
Not noticing any threat I take off running soundlessly towards my stakeout tree. It's about three miles into the woods but I won't tire before making it there, even at this pace.
I let my mind think about the upcoming task as I jog, making sure to keep most of my attention on my surroundings. The boy I'm after tonight is one I've been watching for a while, the only things I could find out were that his name was Noah, he was struggling with society, got in trouble a lot, and would only be slightly noticed if he "disappeared". I had already killed one wolf before I found Noah by accident. The boy, Jesse Something, hadn't had family, had flunked out of college, and had started attacking some show choir kids near Caramel High School, so I took him out.
The attack went off perfectly, except for the disposal. Before I could use the acid I had heard something crashing (for a wolf) through the trees. I took a risk and climbed the same tree I had just attacked from and watched as a black wolf came ripping through the trees sixty feet away. He stopped when he seen the dead boy and quickly looked around and tried to smell for me. Since I leave my clothes in the woods for a month and a half before hunting and shower with just water for the two weeks before, the only thing he could smell was the woods around him.
I watched as he deemed it safe enough and phased, stark naked he went over and checked the pulse of the equally naked boy I had just killed. He wasn't as mad as I thought he would be. He merely slammed a fist into the ground and cursed quite a lot. Calling the boy a dumbass and saying that it served him right but someone named Rachel was going to kill him. Looking around once more he lifted the boy like a sleeping child and took off. I watched until he was out of sight than waited another hour before going home that night. That was six months ago.
Rustling snaps me out of my thoughts and I dart behind the nearest tree. Holding my breath I watch as nothing moves or makes a sound except for the stream farther ahead until a squirrel jumps from a tree, grabs an acorn, and runs back up. I exhale slowly but stay there another five minutes, better safe than sorry.
I look around and notice I'm about fifty feet away from my decided stakeout tree. Jogging over I look up to check my drop point. It was clear and I smiled.
The only way to successfully attack a werewolf is by surprise, and what werewolf ever looks up? My father taught me this trick, since our bodies can withstand a lot more than a normal one, you find an extremely tall tree and make sure you can climb up at least thirteen feet so a wolf with a five foot shoulder height won't see you. When you get to at least ten feet you choose a spot that overlooks your pathway you're expecting the wolf to run on and clear a straight drop down to it. You do it right you have something to break your fall and a dead wolf to go with it. It's as simple as that.
I start the climb up and get to my vantage point easily. The branches I've left have leaves that cover me from eyes watching from far away and with the blackness that is tonight and my clothes, even a wolf would have a hard time seeing me.
I wrap my left arm around the tree trunk, relax my right near my knife, and do the only thing left to do, wait.
Scanning the forest every now and then something finally happens after about two hours. I get ready as I hear something step into the stream about a hundred yards from my tree, interrupting the rhythmic flow of the water just slightly. Unclipping the safety strap to hold my knife in I slowly pull it out and hold it fisted, against my leg, as I wait. My eyes scan the direction I know the stream is in when, sure enough, a tan boy walks out in nothing but camo cargo shorts. The mohawk on his head looking like a dead squirrel, and I smile slightly at the visual image.
He comes closer and closer to my tree not even bothering to look around. Stupid.
He's about seven feet away now.
Six
My fingers silently, unconsciously, tap down the handle.
Five
They stop, and my heart speeds up slightly as adrenaline courses through my body.
Four
I silently inhale through my nose and exhale through my mouth.
Three
I re-grip my knife raising it to shoulder height pointing at the ground now.
Two
I release the tree and step out farther from the trunk, balancing as if on a beam.
One
And I drop…
A.N. And that's it. I hope you guys liked it. If not review and tell me what I need to do better, it would help a lot. I'm not going to update this for a fairly long time, just warning you now, but that doesn't mean y'all can't follow the story at least if you like it or at least curious as to where it goes, and while you're waiting you can check out my other story if you like Twilight and Glee. But, yeah, that's it basically. So remember, review, criticize (nicely), check out my other story, and I'll see y'all some other time *heart*
