Interviews and Introductions
Chapter #3:
Evangeline's POV
I couldn't believe this. They had to be hunters. Just from the way Sam spoke I could tell.
But isn't it only an animal attack?
You wish.
And his smile. That knowing smile. Not one that a person would show if they were confused or creeped out, but a reaction that exhibits the wisdom and knowledge behind every word I said. Like those two words spoke an entire story.
You wish.
He challenged me because he knew; he knew that this wasn't a normal animal attack. That means Dean must know too which all leads up to the fact that I have to be careful. This is my first werewolf case alone since the death of my mom. She was brutally murdered by one only 6 months ago. And I'd be damned if I wasn't going to take these things down on my own. I wasn't going to do nothing. Not like last time.
It was night, no, it was pitch black darkness when we decided to check under the bridge. The witness, whose boyfriend was killed, claimed to have seen it lurch under the bridge by the path they were walking on, after it tore out his heart of course. There was only one, that's what each witness claimed. They all had similar experiences to the first. She knew we had to go at night, but I never thought how dark it could be under a bridge with no street lights in sight. The only sound we could collectively hear was the wind whooshing through the underside of the bridge, and of course the occasional car driving by on it. The only reason I wasn't dead right then and there was because I forgot to put fresh batteries in my flashlight.
"What did I say?!" My mother whisper screamed. "You always replace the batteries before we even set foot outside of the room!"
"I'm sorry," I breathed. "I will next time I promise."
She sighed disapprovingly. "We have to stick together now," she seethed.
Then there was a noise, similar to the sound of a pebble falling into a puddle. We spun around in the direction of it. It was quiet, so eerily soft, a type of silence that would make your ears want to make a ringing sound.
Then it appeared like lightning.
It pounced on her, with its claws and feet first, and tore her to shreds. I fell to the side and scooted away as I heard her scream the most guttural shriek I had ever heard in my years of hunting. My elbows were my only support to keep me upright, my legs felt too numb from raw horror.
And I just watched it all play out.
I was too scared to stop it, too terrified that I would make it all worse. She clawed at it with her long fingernails, ripping the hair from its arms in the process while her legs were flailing. Then her wails fell silent as her arms weakly fell to her sides and her legs stopped kicking. Her head fell to the side, her eyes wide open in fear.
She was looking right at me.
I froze and soon realized that she wasn't trying to find me. Her head fell loose to her side because she didn't have the strength to keep it up. I watched the light die from her eyes, her head lie unmoving and unaware. But it kept ripping the flesh off her bones, making her neck jerk with every pry. Her screaming had masked the gruesome sound of her meat being clawed out of her. It sounded like duct tape being ripped off a box but it was her tendons being wrenched apart. It fell on deaf ears until mine started to work again.
But I wish they hadn't.
I whimpered while my head spun as I sat scared out of my mind.
Wrong move.
Its head spun around to me as a sickly smile spread across its face. My breath hitched as I fumbled for my Desert Eagle that was stuck in my waistband. The monster launched at me as a snarl escaped its mouth, its blood ridden claws at the ready. I finally got a hand on my gun until it slipped from my grimy hands and slid away from me. With all my might I dived towards the weapon and away from the beast.
"Ms. Jenkins?"
I was behind it now, my gun in hand as it turned towards me and snickered. It bared its blood covered teeth at me while it belted out a sinister howl.
"Ms. Jenkins?"
I aimed at its heart and as I laid on my back, I pulled the trigger. It struck the werewolf mid attack and with one last whine it fell to the ground with a thud. A much-needed breath escaped my lips.
"Ms. Jenkins!"
My head whipped up from the desk I was staring at. I looked at Mr. O'Connell whose eyebrows were knitted together in concern.
"Are you alright, Miss Jenkins," he questioned.
The entirety of the class was staring solely at me. I had made it to 4th period, all while thinking about my past, unnoticed.
"Yeah," I shakily breathed with a tattered smile. "I'm fine."
He raised his hand with his index finger pointing at me and opened his mouth as if he was about to speak but I never found out because the bell rang just then.
Lunch, I thought. It was time to figure out who these werewolves were and kick their sorry asses. Mom, please forgive me.
Dean's POV
"And you don't know if she had any enemies?" Sam asked evidently frustrated.
"No," Macey sighed. "She was a great teacher. All her students loved her."
She paused for a moment before looking up to the ceiling and wiping her glossed over eyes with the back of her hand. We were interviewing Macey, a petite woman with silky black hair that reached down to her waist. Her blue skirt and black blouse added to the already colorful hallway we stood in. She was an assistant teacher to Susan Kingsley, the second victim.
"I thought this was just an animal attack. Isn't that what the police said?" She asked as she held her arms to her chest for dear life.
"Yes ma'am, but we are checking everything just to be sure." I said in my most authoritative voice.
She nodded quickly as she looked at the ground, rubbing her arm in the process as if the hallway was cold. Then suddenly her head snapped up with her eyes alight and mouth ajar like a fish.
"There is one thing," she said scratching her chin. "She told me a few days ago that she going to see someone last night but she wouldn't tell me who."
"Did she say anything about him?" I asked.
She shook her head while shrugging her shoulders. Her eyes dotted between us and the floor.
"Well I think that's all we need for now," Sam smiled softly.
She nodded quickly and scurried away down the hall like a mouse only to disappear around the corner.
"Ok who's next on our list?" I said turning to Sam.
"Well we've already interviewed a few people about victim number two but we still have nothing on number one yet."
"That's because her parents wouldn't even let us in the house."
"They're mourning, Dean. It's not easy for people to talk about their dead loved ones."
"Well that was what, yesterday when we got into town? Maybe there up for it now."
"What's with you, Dean. All day you have been trying to make up excuses to get out of this school. What's the problem?" Sam's puppy dog eyes faded onto his face.
I sighed in defeat, "look Sammy, this girl, Evange- whatever, looks to have this under control. I think she's here because she's looking for who this damn thing is!"
"And you want to find out what it is," Sam whispered to himself.
"Yes." I admitted, "we didn't even do much research on the area yet. Why don't we use the rest of the day to do that?"
A smirk crawled onto Sam's face, "you, research?"
"Shut up, Sammy," I said as I turned and walked towards the front doors.
I heard him chuckle lightly behind me. I never would opt out of the action and here I was doing it for this mystery girl I met only yesterday.
Evangeline's POV
"Hey Evan!" Someone called from behind me. My brain didn't register the name at first. "Evan!" It called again. "Evan?"
I felt someone tap my shoulder and I spun around. There stood Anna with her contrasted clothing and bright smile.
"Hey," I said calmly grinning.
"Hey, why didn't you answer when I called your name?" She asked, her smile faltering on her lips as her head cocked to the side in curiosity.
"Uh, I didn't hear you. Sorry," I said softly chuckled.
"Oh, no problem." She said as her face beamed in a matter of seconds.
"So…." I began, "where do we sit?"
I looked around the cafeteria and quickly deduced that it was absolutely crawling with students. They sat on the seats and tables and stood by the radiators against the wall. The only space I thought was open was the one I was standing in, the doorway. Some kids were texting on their phone or playing ping pong on a spare table. Wait, they were playing ping pong on a spare table! Man, I've been missing out on public school.
"Anywhere silly!" She exclaimed before a light hearted laugh escaped her mouth.
"Um, define anywhere," she had to be kidding.
She giggled again, "man, you are funny!"
I sighed, "look, Anna, this is my first day and I have no idea what I am supposed to be doing. Guide me please."
"Ok, I'm just messing with you, Evan."
"I know, I'm just on edge."
"Alright, well I'll introduce you to a few of my friends how about that?"
"Sure."
"Ok, come on." She said grabbing my arm and started sifting through the crowd.
I never thought that people could be so pushy. Every time Anna and I bumped into someone they just glared at us and kept walking like they had more important things to do. A few people stepped on my feet while others brushed past me all of them either extremely tired or abnormally peppy. It was like a slow stampede of hormonal giants. Then I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. A break in the blob of moving people. Anna and I looked at each other before nodding and charging through the mess giggling the whole way through. We emerged, tripping over our feet, on the other side. We couldn't help but grasp at our own stomachs as we laughed enough to make us cry. I noticed a table full of kids that looked at us in awe, as if they were studying us.
"Evan," she said as she got her final chuckles out. "These are my friends." She said pointing to the people in awe.
The company responded with a mixture of "hi's" and "hello's." Some smiled while others were still engrossed in their phones but no one dared to individually introduce themselves. Except for one.
"My name's Arthur," said a boy who stood up at the end of the table before reaching out his hand to greet me.
I took it gladly. "I'm Evan," I grinned.
"Well, Evan. You can share my seat with me if you'd like?" He asked politely.
"Sure, but what about, Anna."
"I usually sit on the table," Anna said from beside me. "Come on, go be sociable," she said as she jokingly pushed me over to Arthur.
A few kids at the table laughed as I slowly sank into one side of Arthur's chair. Once they all got back to their usual conversations, I propped up my elbows on the table and studied each student as I asked myself who to question first.
"So, where are you from?" Arthur asked as he shuffled a little to face me.
Why don't you ask the kid right next to you, Dummy!
"Um, Oregon," sounds legit?
"Nice," he said nodding. "So, what brought you here, Evan?"
"The family business," well that's not totally lying. Hunting was technically what my family did.
"Really?" he said intrigued. "What do you guys do?"
"Uh…we study bird migrations," I said as I mentally face palmed myself.
"Bird migrations?" He questioned as his eyebrows stitched together.
"Yeah, we love birds." I had to hold my breath so I wouldn't break out into laughter.
"Cool, I guess." He said as his eyes slowly looked away from me.
Great, now I've scared him off.
"So, I heard about what happened a few days back," I pressed.
"Hm?" he questioned as he raised his eyebrows at me.
"The murders," I clarified, "I heard there was another one just last night."
"Oh, yeah. It's horrible."
"I mean who could have done something like this to those poor women?!" I exclaimed.
"They say it was just an animal attack."
"Really? That doesn't sound right." I said trying to pry something out of him.
"Well that's what the cops say. But there are some other claims."
"Say again?"
"They aren't true though."
"What are they?"
"I don't know."
"Then how do you know they aren't true!" I laughed.
He smiled, "because the junkies of this school claim to know something that apparently 'nobody else knows'" he said, using his hands as air quotes.
I rolled my eyes, "and you weren't even curious about what they thought."
"Yeah, well the things you have to go through to get something out of them isn't worth it."
"How so?"
"No matter how high they are they know and won't tell you anything unless you get high with them." he chuckled as he stretched and stared up at the ceiling above him.
"They sound like a cult." I commented.
He laughed, "far from it. You see, it's mostly their main guys who are like that. The rest of them are pretty chill."
"Good to know."
A ringing filled the air as students filed out to get to class. Lunch was over and I was at least one step closer to figuring this thing out. The downside, I have to get high to get more information on my only lead so far. Great, just great. Anna would probably kill me if I asked her to make sure I didn't accidentally kill myself after I talked to them, being high on drugs and all. Looks like I'm gonna have to rely on myself. My very high self. I'm so screwed.
