Chapter 4
I had actually waited around to see Clayton yesterday. I woke up early and everything. Alucard and I had gone downstairs together around noon and sat in the bar, away from the windows. Not many people were there, just a quiet pair of older men near the front who looked half asleep as they worked themselves into a thoroughly drunk state. Mel was yawning herself as she served us.
We had stayed in the bar until around five, being completely honest about why. When Mel inquired I mentioned that we were hoping to run into Clayton. With a quick nod and a small smile she had mentioned that it was probably a good idea before moving on with her work.
After several hours of playing solitaire Alucard decided that it wasn't worth waiting for. With the sun setting I had to agree. If Clay did show it would be too late for the tour he promised. So we got up and left, heading outside to go for a walk.
It was cold outside, to be sure, but neither Alucard nor I were affected by it. The sun was almost set, but most of the light was hidden by the surrounding trees so that Alucard was in no danger. We were still careful and stuck to deeper shadows as we strolled down the main road.
Taking our time, we walked the street, making sure to look over the school as we passed it. There wasn't anyone there at the moment, but I might be able to visit it a little earlier in the day when children were still around.
In the end we had circled around town, back to the Inn which was growing increasingly crowded. After not seeing a friendly face in the crowd we decided that for the second night we would retire to our room early in the evening.
Today had been down right boring. It was our fifth day in town and we knew almost nothing. No one wanted to talk to us, and while they were all politely helpful and accommodating no one provided us with anything we could use. With the exception of Mel I wasn't recognizing anyone who wondered through the inn, and only once had I dared to step outside by myself. After making it to our car and back I was completely content to wait around next time for Alucard's assistance.
Even though we had woken up early yesterday, and went to bed early because of it, today we slept in late. We normally woke up around three, and as if in response to us breaking that rule the day before we didn't get up until almost four. This came in handy, because the sun was setting just before five. We took our time getting ready to go out for the night. Both of us had had enough of this hotel, we needed to do something.
I was almost finished getting ready when Alucard walked out of the bathroom. "We need to ask for more soap," he said as he began to shuffle through drawers.
"Uh-huh," I murmured as I finished tying my shoe and switched feet.
"And probably shampoo," he murmured, more to himself. We both knew he would take care of that. Finishing with the drawer he was in, he shut it and started on the next. "You should wear a sweatshirt, too," he added.
With the shoe tied I stood up strait and stretched before answering. "Why? I feel just fine how I am."
Alucard shut the drawer and began getting dressed. "Well, as much as I like to see you scantily dressed, the people downstairs might consider it odd for a girl to wear a T-shirt in forty degree whether."
Grinning I shrugged. The reason I had to go out to the car today was to grab extra clothes. We only could carry so much with us while we traveled, and we had only bothered to bring so much inside with us. In the car I had grabbed the first outfit I could, leaving me with a pair of low-cut jeans and a very small, short, clingy T-shirt that ended well above where the pants began. While it's not quite "scantily dressed" I suppose it would leave a normal person cold in this weather.
"Let me borrow something, then," I said. "And tomorrow we're doing laundry."
Alucard laughed and threw something at me. I caught it, barely, and was tempted to throw it back at him. Instead I slipped into the baggy, oversized shirt, rolling the sleeves up a bit afterwards so that they didn't end inches past my hands, and so that they wouldn't get in the way of anything in case something came up to make me need my hands. In fact, the shirt created the perfect spot for hiding the long, thin piece of wood I ended up sliding up my sleeve. Alucard had given me two identical wooden daggers last year for Christmas, along with wrist sheathes to go with them. A must have on any Slayer's wish list.
"Not sure we'll really need weapons out here," I said. "If there were vampires around I'm sure someone would have realized it. There are just not that many people for one disappearing to go unnoticed."
"I'm not really worried about vampires," Alucard said as he slid into a light jacket, "but every town has its monsters, and I have a feeling that this one's trying very hard to hide theirs."
I paused a moment to think on that. "Just because they're not friendly doesn't mean they're hiding something."
I heard Alucard open his suitcase and knew that he was picking out some weapon of his own. Even if we were certain there wasn't any boogie man out there we'd go armed. "That's the thing," he said, "they seem to be very friendly. Everyone else who's shown up is greeted as old palls. We're singled out, though, pushed away from the pack and shunned. What are they pushing us away from?" He closed his suitcase and turned to me, his question already fading away to be forgotten or ignored. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah," I said, growing uneasy as I thought over what Alucard had been touching on. This wouldn't be the first time we had stepped unknowingly into the middle of some effort to hide a creature or enchantment from the common view.
He smiled reassuringly and walked to me to take my hand. I blinked and opened my eyes to see my face. It was always an uncanny feeling. "Hey, don't worry. I won't let the bad guys get you."
Blinking again I turned away and let his sight go out of focus. "Like I'd need your help," I jested
He grinned. "You know you do. Who else would slay all those demons when you don't have a slayer buddy around?"
"Well, after they've killed you I might have a go at it."
He feigned heart ache, "Ach! You'd let them slaughter me?"
I just shook my head and headed for the door, pulling him along behind me. Laughing he caught up just as we left the room, wrapping an arm around me to pull me close. He was about to say something when another door opened. We both turned to the sound and I let Alucard's eyes come back to me. A tall man walked out into the chilly hallway. He was dressed in slacks and a brown dress shirt and wore his graying blonde hair long and tied back. Immediately he noticed us, and took the chance to look us over for a moment, sizing us up, before giving us a friendly smile. "Hey darling, it's been awhile. Who's your friend?"
I didn't immediately recognize the voice, it took me a second or two to remember the southern drawl that had greeted me on the stairs. "Oh, hello," I said at last, "This is Al." Alucard nodded politely, his smooth smile being more authentic then mine. "I didn't catch your name."
"Friends call me Charley, nice to meet you," he offered out his hand. Alucard loosened his hold on me to accept it for the both of us. With Alucard I met Charley's eyes, and they looked just as keen and calculating as Alucard's ever had. He didn't trust us, either. When they'd finished sizing each other up, we just kind of all moved towards the stairs. As if to avoid an uncomfortable silence, Charley threw out a question in what I soon realized was his own amiable, carefree way, "How do you like Brunsee so far?"
I let myself smile softly so that I looked a little young and innocent. "Well, the folks around here seem quiet," I said.
Alucard nodded as he pulled me a little closer. "But it's been really nice, peaceful even. Unfortunately we haven't had the chance to see much outside of the hotel, and boy, are my legs growing stiff." He'd dropped back into his friendly-neighborhood-kid jargon.
Charley glanced over at us quickly. "Is that so?" He thought a moment, "Tomorrow we're throwing a big bash, you should come. It's always a lot of fun, kind of a winding down thing."
"Winding down from what?" I asked, all innocent curiosity.
Charley shrugged as he took a moment for serious thought. "From… life. Sometimes things just get to be too much so we throw a big bash and drink ourselves under the table." We had reached the stairs and started down.
I raised an eyebrow to him. "Just an excuse to get drunk?"
"For some of us," he answered merrily, the seriousness of his last comment disappeared as he flashed a grin at us. "Never no when you can use a good party." We got to the bottom of the stairs and he stopped for a moment. "So where are you two headed?"
"Just going out for a bit," Alucard answered. "We've been cooped up in here so long that it'll be nice to stretch our legs."
Charley seemed to lose some of his lightheartedness when he said, "Is that so? Huh." He paused to think on the idea. "Sounds like a swell idea. About how long would you be out?"
"Didn't think about it," I murmured as I wondered when was the last time I had heard someone actually use swell in a sentence. Returning to the question I turned my head to face Al to see if he had an estimate. Alucard didn't add onto my comment, he just maintained his easy smile and didn't break eye contact with Charley.
Charley took my answer in stride, not sparing a pause for it before he nodded and gave us one last smile. "Well, have a good time, don't do anything I wouldn't," he winked at Al in one of those ways. You know the way. "I'm gonna go meet some friends, you kids have fun now!" and with a parting wave he walked off towards the bar. Alucard waved goodbye, but Charley didn't turn round to see it.
Alucard watched him go for a moment. "He seems nice enough," he murmured to me. I nodded an agreement. He seemed genuinely friendly. It was odd after being all but shunned by everyone else in the inn. But without further comments I turned with Alucard towards the door. Out of the corner of his eyes I saw someone.
Alucard looked at the boy as if just noticing him. It was a surprise to me, however, and I dutifully looked confused when he paused to examine the kid. He was in his mid teens, kind of lanky, as if he'd started his growth spurt and hadn't quite caught up with himself yet. I didn't recognize him from anywhere but he was staring at us as if he knew who we were. He probably did, everybody else seemed to. However the oddest thing about him, I realized, was that he was the youngest person I'd seen in this town. That made sense, though, because this place was mainly the bar. It was just an unpleasant reminder of how little progress we'd made.
"Good evening," Alucard said cheerfully. The boy didn't answer, he just continued to stare, his face completely blank. Alucard only waited a second longer before shrugging and continuing on outside.
Outside the sun had set, leaving the buildings to be lit by houselights and a single lamp post. There wasn't any moonlight yet, but that could be because the sun wasn't as far down as we thought, or the moon just hadn't made its way over the trees yet. After walking down the porch's stairs I pulled away from Alucard a moment to stretch my arms. Something about being outside made it feel like there was simply more room around me. After the days spent inside I had begun to feel not just a little cramped.
Alucard looked around while I swung my arms back and forth, just to feel them move. "I don't know where to go," he admitted. "I know there's a side street at the end of the road we came from, and I saw a few paths yesterday as we walked around."
"The side road probably goes to houses," I pointed out. "There aren't many around here."
"That's what I was thinking," he said. "But there are a lot of woods around here, and several paths leading into it. Care to explore one?"
I didn't even have to think about it. "Sounds like fun. Let's go for a hike."
"You sound exited," he said, walking back over to me to take up my hand again.
Shrugging I replied. "I'm fond of the outdoors."
"Really? You've always seemed to be a big city person to me. More of the buildings, cars and shopping malls type of gal," Alucard stated.
"Yeah," I admitted, "But I'm like a chameleon, I mold to the surroundings."
With silent acceptance Al pulled me forward. He led the way to a worn path not far from the hotel. Without much talking we started down it. Alucard led the way, with me right behind him. He spent most of his time watching the ground to make sure I'd know when any twists, rocks or roots came up that I might want to be aware of.
"I'm not going to trip," I said with a sigh.
Alucard glanced over his shoulder at me, "I know."
"Then don't worry so much," I suggested.
He smiled back at me. "If you say so." Without warning he let go of my hand. I stumbled a little in surprise, but continued forward with determination. "Now keep up!" my eyes blinked as I heard his steps gain speed.
"Oh, that's cheating," I shouted after him.
His laughter came back to me. "I know you can run, Liz, I've seen you do it. And I know you want to run now. So do it. Keep up with me." He'd stopped moving not too far down the path.
I frowned at him. "I won't trip walking, but running's unpredictable."
"So is the middle of Los Angeles, but that didn't stop you then," he pointed out. "Liz, I know you can do this, and I know that the point of going out in the woods isn't to worry about tripping. If you really want to have some fun then why are you arguing?"
Hesitantly I took a step forward. Running around here would be stupid, I knew that, but he was right. It would be fun, and it would prove that he didn't need to baby me all the time. But hadn't I nearly fallen on my face walking to the car this morning? Nibbling my lip I continued to walk forward, considering the idea. Alucard hadn't moved from where he had stopped, he was silently waiting. Normally I only ran under pressure, enormous pressure; that was when my instincts were at their top. Would it work so well here? I wasn't too far from Alucard when I made up my mind. If for no other reason then to find out if I could, I dashed forward, running fast for Al, he jumped away quickly, avoiding my lunge, and took off down the path.
"Smart, but you won't catch me that easily," he yelled over his shoulder.
I grinned up at him. "But I will catch you!"
We raced through the woods, but not at top speed. Even when sticking to the path I had to occasionally duck or dodge unseen objects without even knowing what they were. I didn't have to know, though. My body moved without a thought to guide it, naturally speeding down the path with its own grace. Once or twice I jumped over something, or nearly twisted an ankle off a jutting root. But every footfall proved that I could handle the rough terrain. It really wasn't too difficult. I followed the sound of Alucard's footfalls, trying to shut out the image of him in my mind. I could have easily tracked him by that, but I didn't really want to. It felt so good just to run, to move, to be doing something. All the wasted energy of the last few days seemed to spill out of me as I rushed down the path. My breathing came smoothly no matter how hard I pushed myself, and I appreciated every ounce of slayer strength that let the human part of me do so much.
I wasn't sure how much later it was that Alucard began to slow down. The path had grown thicker and I had found myself dodging more bushes and branches. Now when Alucard was slowing to a stop, or at least to a slow walk, I finally caught up to him. Still running a little when I reached him I grabbed him by the shoulder and used him as both a stopper and a resting post as my body finally began to breathe hard.
"That was exhilarating," I gasped.
"Mmm-hmm," he agreed with a sort of groan. "Glad you enjoyed it."
"What, are you tired?" I asked.
He rolled his shoulders a little and stretched out his arms. "No, just needing to stretch a little."
"You're kinda supposed to stretch before you run. Does that matter with vampires?" I asked.
"No idea," Alucard answered. "Never really bugged me. I just haven't done that much in awhile."
I moved off of his shoulder as he stretched, wrapping myself around in front of him and wresting my arms around his neck. I walked backwards while he moved forward. "Come now, with all that mystical strength of yours you should be just as fine as me."
He smirked as his arms ended their stretching wrapped around me. "Slayers are made to be stronger than vampires, remember?"
"That's all hype," I said, "we're about the same. But vampires are kind of stupid, so we have the upper hand."
"Stupid?" he asked. I shrugged a response. He shook his head with a smirk before moving one of his hands to the back of my head as he leaned in to kiss me. I relaxed into him, my body molding itself to his, enjoying the moment. Pulling back from me he murmured, "Would you call me stupid when I have I have a slayer trapped so snuggly in my arms?"
"Nah, you're doing pretty good."
Grinning, he kissed me again, deeper and longer this time. Upon pulling back he surprised me, though. He pulled me with him as he took a step back, and then began to sit down. I moved with him and he guided me down beside him until I rested with me back against a tree. "Look," he murmured. I let myself fade back against him and found myself staring up at an almost full moon which had its reflection shining back up at us from the lake lying not twenty feet off. Alucard's eyes were made for the night, and picked up so many little details out of the darkness that would have been hidden from a human. Add into that the large amount of stars that were visible in a place like this that wasn't as close to a large city as I ever was, and the site was spectacular.
"Wow," was the first thing I managed to say.
"I thought you'd like it."
Snuggling into him I rested my head on his chest. "It's beautiful."
He looked down at me, "This really isn't a bad place to live," he confessed.
"It's too far from a mall," I mentioned. Alucard didn't spoil the moment by getting into a petty argument. Instead he ran a hand through my hair, still looking at me. "I thought we were looking at the moon," I murmured.
"We were," he agreed, still not looking back up.
Blinking off his eyes I lifted my head up to him. A hand slid under my chin and he guided my face to his. The kiss was soft, and we didn't pull away this time. One kiss led into a deeper one as his tongue slid into my mouth. Gradually I moved in closer to him until I sat on his lap, my hand on his chest and his slowly moving up my waste. He kissed my chin, then my neck. I tilted my head, letting him kiss it knowing that he wouldn't bite me.
My hands moved to his shoulders, pulling on his jacket. Alucard shrugged it off with my help and I threw it aside. He pulled back from me for a moment so I could slide my hands under his shirt then pulled it off over his head. My hands settled on his shoulders as I leaned down for a series of kisses. Before I knew it his hands were back under my shirt and he was taking his time exploring my body.
I had just gotten to the point where I was considering working on his pants when he stopped moving. Not just his mouth and hands, but his entire body seemed to freeze in place.
"Al?" I asked, pulling away from his body.
He shook his head to signal me to be quiet. Slowly his hands guided me off of his lap until I was once again sitting on the ground next to him. "Did you hear that?" he asked, his voice barely loud enough for me to hear him speak.
I forced myself to listen hard. My ears were very, very good at their job, but they weren't as good as Alucard's. I didn't hear anything above the wind in the trees. With a look back at Alucard I told him I didn't know what he was talking about.
I could sense his frustration. There had been something, he knew it. It hadn't been soft, either, he wouldn't have noticed something quiet while being quite so distracted. As he got to his feet Alucard looked around the area. I stayed out of his way as he scanned the forest behind us. We were right at its edge.
"It could have been anything," I said, "maybe something small."
His frown deepened. "I know," he said, but he didn't sound convinced. Alucard trusted his instincts almost as much as I trusted mine. You don't get to be a vampire over a thousand without developing an understanding with yourself about how to know when danger's near. He stood for several more minutes, using every sense he had to scan our surroundings. In the end he sighed. "Maybe it was nothing." He didn't sound sure.
I adjusted myself so that I was up against the tree again, sitting cross legged. "Well, this mysterious nothing sure did ruin the atmosphere."
Chuckling, Al nodded. He rubbed his face, as if trying to wake himself up. Taking himself forward he joined me against the tree. The fact that he wasn't sitting told me that he wasn't comfortable where we were. "That's true enough," he agreed. "But it happens for a reason."
"What's that?"
"You know, in all those horror movies, when the couple hears something, one person always says 'it's nothing.' Then they continue to make out, and something jumps out and attacks," Alucard explained.
I rolled my eyes behind glasses, not caring that he couldn't see it. "Life isn't a movie," I pointed out.
He smiled down at me, ruffling my hair. I swatted his hand away playfully. "Maybe we should head back to the hotel?" he suggested.
I wrinkled my nose, but accepted his hand when he offered it to climb to my feet. "Well, we do have a room," I mentioned halfheartedly.
Laughing, Alucard pulled me into a hug. "That disappointed?" he asked. "It's quite a compliment."
I pushed him away while he chuckled, then knelt down to find his shirt. "I wonder if there's a long way back. It's too early to go to bed." I found his shirt and handed it off to him.
He kissed me thanks before slipping it on. "It's not like we'd be sleeping," he pointed out.
"That's right, you're just afraid of the woods," I teased.
"I'm afraid that all the nice woodland creatures will make noises all night to keep me on edge," he explained. "For all I know I heard a squirrel, but that squirrel may be louder than some monster roaming around looking for dinner."
"Let's hope it feeds on the squirrel and leaves us to enjoy ourselves." I came up to him, hugging him around the waist.
He hugged me back. "You'd be tasty than the squirrel, the monster would get tempted."
With a sigh I pulled back, tugging him in the direction of the path. "No flirting if we're not allowed to stay out. In fact you've made me sad now. I was just starting to have fun and now I have to go back inside." Alucard fell into step beside me as I continued to pull him towards the woods. I couldn't blame him for playing it safe, we had been attacked when it wasn't expected before, but a little fun would have been nice for the night. I really didn't want to go back to the hotel.
I blinked back into Alucard's sight, relaxing against him as we walked back to the hotel. The trip took back from the lake took much longer than getting there, but we enjoyed it in silence. I think one of the reasons we let it take so long was so that we wouldn't reach our destination too soon.
We saw the light from the town before the buildings came into view. The town was silent when we returned to it. All of the houses had their lights turned off, leaving the town to be lighted by the lonely street light. But with the moon and stars helping there was no problem seeing anything around us.
"Must be late," I whispered, not wanting to disturb the town's silence.
Alucard nodded, "We should be getting back inside. If you're hungry maybe we could stop and see if someone's around to cook up some food."
"Doesn't sound like anyone's around," I pointed out, listening hard towards the inn. All I heard was some crackling from the woods, but no people inside. "Must be later than I thought. How long were we out?"
He pulled me close for a moment, whispering in my ear. "Not long enough." I smiled against him, leaning in for a kiss. He held me back before our lips could touch. Before I could ask what was wrong Alucard was suddenly gone.
I felt him move, my mind following him as he brushed past me to stand behind me before I could blink. I was just beginning to turn to face him again when Al moved once more. He jumped forward and to the left and I heard him hit… something. It was probably the same something that growled at him, deep and threatening. I took a step as what sounded like a big dog growled again. There was some struggling, some moving about, a lot of threatening noises and tussling, and the entire time I really had no idea what was going on, or even what we were facing. I just continued to back up step by step, trying to get some feel for what had appeared, seemingly out of no where.
All I could sense was Alucard. I knew every step he took, but even when he made contact with his opponent I couldn't sense what it was. Whether it was alive, undead, or otherworldly, I should have been able to see it in my mind. Sometimes it took a while to pinpoint the bad guy, but I always felt danger, and if I touched it I most certainty had it targeted. Right now all of my senses told me I was safe. They told me nothing else was around, no one but me or Alucard. But I heard something yelping and lunging and moving about. I'm thinking that something was seriously wrong. For some reason my gift was being glitchy. My stomach clinched. If I couldn't fell the bad guy I couldn't fight it. There was no other way for me to tell were something was.
This explained my complete surprise when something slammed into me from behind and I hit the ground hard.
For the second time this week the wind was knocked out of me. It left me lying on the ground with some creature on my back, unable to do anything useful. I struggled anyway, trying to push myself up. Whatever the thing on top of me was thrust me back into the ground so that I couldn't move. Out of ideas I tried to shout for Al, but all that came out was a rasping sound. I gave up and tried to suck in air instead.
To my luck, however, Alucard noticed that I was in trouble. I suppose it was rather obvious, something jumping on me and all. Anyone who wasn't blind would have seen it. But I heard him shout my name as the thing above me growled. I just stayed put, regaining my breath and squeezing my eyes closed as I waited for something, whether good or bad, to happen.
I heard Alucard's footsteps running towards me, then another set—or was it two sets?—running towards him. Alucard was intercepted and knocked to the ground, I heard him struggle with something while he tried to push forward.
Meanwhile, on my side of things, all was still. The creature on top of me wasn't moving. While this was unnerving as hell it meant that it wasn't trying to eat me. I didn't think it could actually kill me, but it wasn't playing by normal rules. Slowly I felt it shift position, and while doing so I realized it was like a dog. It had been laying on me as one big mass, but as it moved there were for distinct legs digging into my back and legs. So what was this, some dog monster? Evil creatures with rabies? Chances were more likely that it was a wolf. What would that make him, a werewolf?
I blinked at that. One of those surprised, nervous, very distinct blinks. This couldn't be a werewolf. I had no interest in dealing with werewolves. Besides, werewolves I could sense, I knew that for a fact having dealt with them in the past. I just didn't like having to face off with them. The idea of killing one… I knew you were really killing a person trapped in the body of a demon. It was a bad thought. Most people couldn't be held responsible for what their demon counterpart does those three nights a year. Most werewolves don't even remember anything. The night time wolf demons are vicious, and some would claim mad.
So of course these couldn't be werewolves. Whatever it was on top of me wasn't being vicious. It was just keeping me put. Or at least I thought that was it. He could just be waiting for his friends to kill Alucard. Then they might start on me. I had a sudden thought. Just how many of these things were there?
I focused very hard for a moment, listening closely. I couldn't feel things in my head but their feet made the same noise as any other. I sensed Alucard about twenty yards away. He was standing at the moment, waiting for something. I heard three sets of feet circling him, plus the one on top of me.
And no one in the town. No one was in the inn; I knew that without a doubt. I doubted we were gone that long but there was none of the normal noises that accompanied the bar. We'd left around five, maybe been gone an hour or two. People wouldn't all be at home and off the street at seven. Unless they knew that the street was dangerous.
"Oh shit," I murmured. Every time we talked to someone over the last few days they'd told us to get in early, for whatever reason. Some said it was cold out, others that there was nothing to do. One way or another we'd been warned to stay inside. "Oh shit," I repeated.
The creature on top of me growled. I felt the muzzle shove against my head, pushing it into the ground for a second. I think that was its way of saying "shut up." I growled back at it and it shoved against my head again. Going against my better judgment I pushed against the thing, using all of my strength to force myself off of the ground. With breath in my lungs I had a much larger amount of strength to call upon and managed to push it off a bit. The thing shoved against me again, pushing me almost completely back to where I started. It laid down on top of me, putting all of its weight on my body to hold me down. I used what room I had created between myself and the ground to elbow the thing hard. I felt my elbow hit ribs.
The creature grunted and backed off a little. I took my chance to climb to my knees, kicking at the creature before jumping to my feet. It dodged the kick, but stayed nearby. I could tell by its breathing.
"Alucard!" I shouted. "What's going on?"
Something was going on with him. I felt him get run into, heard him grunt at something hit him. He was rolling on the ground, then back on his feet, then meeting something in the air and throwing it to the ground. Whatever we were facing it was fast, but Alucard was faster. He had that speed that only came with age in a vampire. Naturally they knew how to fight, but he could do more than simple fighting.
Somewhere in the mess he managed to shout. "The hotel's right behind you. Get inside!"
Obeying I began to back up slowly. "What the hell is going on?"
Something tackled him to the ground from behind. The other two creatures around him began to dart in and nip at him. My shoulder felt a pinch as something bit into him. That was the end of my questions. He didn't need to answer me if he was in danger. I just wished that I could help somehow.
I heard the creature who had been on me follow me step for step. He placed himself between me and Alucard, so even if I wanted to pitch in and do something I'd have to get through it. The thing was stronger than I was, and I had every disadvantage. So I just kept backing up.
Just like this morning I stumbled over the first step and promptly fell on my ass. "Ouch!" I hissed and heard something from the creature. It was like a rush of air, heavy breathing, some sort of laugh. I glowered at it. If the thing could laugh it would understand the look.
Something in my stomach changed the look on my face. There was another stab of very minor pain, and I knew Al was hurt. Everything I felt was a shadow of what he was going through. I forced myself to my feet, standing to face this monster. Just when I was about to do something very stupid and run off to save Alucard from whatever was snacking on him I heard a howl. If it had been in the distance it wouldn't have fazed me, but the bloody thing wasn't ten yards away. It sounded like it was coming from the inn's porch, or somewhere in the inn, or somewhere really close to it. God, I didn't know where it was coming from. But it meant at least five creatures to face.
The beast in front of me growled again, but he had moved to face the cause of the howl. I heard a growl reply, and then another, and another. That meant seven. Seven things. Not all of which got along. My eyes widened in something close to shock. How many were there?
Another stab of pain hit my stomach, this one sharper. From here I heard Alucard cry out in pain. Forgetting the very deadly creatures surrounding me I just ran for him. I heard the monster move to block me and tried to get around him. Something else jumped for the creature who had been carefully guarding me, and my guard whimpered. He'd been hurt. "Oh shit," I said again as I ran pushed past them and ran. If they were fighting amongst themselves then at least I wouldn't be dealing with them.
Nothing intersected me as I continued running in Alucard's direction. I heard another howl in the distance, then several others echoing it. Subconsciously I counted every separate creature that I heard. It was over twelve now. The creature who had been on Alucard scratching or biting at his stomach jumped off as I approached. Its friends stayed close to him, but didn't get in my way. I paused right before reaching him, trying one last time to sense something from these things. But it didn't work. At least, for some unknown reason, no one stopped me from reaching Alucard. I dropped to his side and grabbed for his hand.
In an instant I felt what he was feeling and knew just what was wrong with him. They'd torn out his stomach and part of his shoulder. But the important things, the neck and the heart, were still there. He'd live, but it would hurt like hell as he waited to heal. He hadn't fed yet today, and without blood it would be hard to heal quickly. He had his eyes closed in concentration as he tried to piece himself together enough to defend himself. No, he was trying to defend me. I could feel that he was worried about me.
"Liz," Alucard said angrily. "You're supposed to be inside the damn building."
"And you're not supposed to be hurt," I replied with the same snappishness. "Can you walk?"
He cursed under his breath. "If I move they'll attack again." He slowly opened his eye and looked up at me. "You should go. For some reason they're not hurting you." He was serious.
"I can't make it by myself," I said, firmly believing it. "I don't even know what these fucking things are."
Alucard stared at me a second longer, than turned his head away from the inn. Standing not ten feet away was what appeared to be a giant, oddly humanoid wolf. He was almost as tall as I was while standing on all four legs, and I knew that they could often fight on just two. This one looked more like a wolf then other pictures I had seen. Some pictures had seemed almost apish. This was no ape. I could see how its body could maneuver more as a human, and its front paws had a hand like quality that allowed for claw like nails. Its face, above all things, was definitely a wolf. The long muzzle showed off large, white teeth. Its fur was so dark the teeth almost seemed to shine off of it.
"Oh god," I gasped. "There can't be that many," my voice held my disbelief. My mind had continued tallying. "There're more than twenty of them. How could one town have more than twenty werewolves?"
The wolf growled at us as Al answered. "Liz, don't worry about it. I know this sounds stupid, but try not to be scared."
I couldn't help but laugh nervously. Yeah, I was that scared. "That's right. Dogs smell fear." The wolf growled again, through Al's eyes I saw what I swear was a glare. "Sorry, wolves," I said to it. It could have been my imagination, but it stopped growling after I corrected myself. "Oh, god."
"Shh," Alucard murmured, he was looking at me again. "Please, calm down. You need to calm down." I think he was scared, too. But he hid it better than me.
"What else is happening?" I asked.
Alucard hesitated a moment, and I realized he didn't know. He hadn't been able to look, he'd been fighting off the nice wolves who were snacking on his stomach. We stared at each other for a second, except all I saw was my own face. Then Alucard turned towards the inn and we saw one of the scariest things I'd ever been up against.
There were more than twenty wolves. There were at least thirty. And they weren't all like the one behind us. Some of them were ape-ish, or more human, or more wolf. Some of them were almost completely wolves, some were almost completely humanoid. They were on two feet or four, but they were all werewolves. Every type I'd ever seen or read about in a book or in person. They were gathered in groups of three to five, standing around the inn and the ground nearby. They stood between cars and around the picnic table that was in the lawn of the house next door. Spread out amongst them were two larger groups. They didn't stand together, but I could see they moved as groups. The first stood near us, almost circling us, but only a few actually watched us. The others were carefully watching the crowds of wolves, who were dangerously watching us.
The second group stood on the inn porch, as if guarding it, or claiming it as it's own. They watched the first group like a hawk watches a shrew hiding in the over grown grass. Again, a small few watched us, but not closely. It seemed the two of us were only important to all of the spare wolves in between. They all looked confused, eager, and hungry. I gulped, not daring to say anything.
Alucard gripped my hand. He knew as well as I did that we were in trouble. I felt him begin to twitch and groan as he did what was both stupid and necessary, he used some of that saved up strength that let him do those impossible things like moving faster than you could watch to heal himself. In a matter of seconds his wounds were closed. There were still scabs and marks, but that took more effort to heal. Just closing the guts and covering everything with skin did what was necessary to allow Alucard to be able to get to his feet and move. Even when finished we stayed on the ground, though, neither of us moving. For the moment no one was attacking us, and we couldn't afford to provoke these creatures.
Then in the distance I heard a howl. To me it sounded the same as all the others, but this one made the restless wolves around us come to a stop. The circle around us and the wolves at the inn all turned towards the noise and stood deathly still. I focused my hearing in the direction of where this other wolf was, and Alucard used his sight the same way. We both watched the break in the trees were we had come from, but heard nothing until a second howl, much closer, sounded. It was still a way off, though. Seconds later what I guessed was the same wolf burst through the trees. How it had moved that quickly I didn't know, but it was here, a wolf that somehow dwarfed those around it without actually being any bigger.
This new arrival stood on all fours at the moment, but I could see how the joints could maneuver themselves into different positions. His entire body was rippling with muscle, and covered with scars. He was missing clumps of mud brown fur from scratches on his stomach and back legs. Fresh scratches ran across his shoulders. He looked somewhat like a very thin, wiry wolf, from this angle, but as he moved he looked broader. It seemed that at every angle I saw a different shape. But this creature was most definitely wolf.
He didn't growl or make any noises, he didn't even look at any one wolf. He just walked slowly and dangerously into the crowd of followers, all of which lowered their heads, tails and ears as they backed up and away from him. I knew enough about canines to see that they were showing submission. The inn wolves weren't so quick to bow heads, but they did. The circled wolves were quick, but they didn't bow as low. Everyone else cowered. After a quick circle to survey everything this new wolf turned to us. For the first time he focused clearly on one person: me.
I took a moment to be happy that I couldn't see. Because then I'd be meeting eyes with this thing. I didn't want to be staring into the eyes of the alpha wolf in a werewolf pack. I was scared shitless as it was. My heart beat faster as he started to walk towards the two of us. Its eyes stayed on me for most of his slow, steady trip. They glanced to Alucard once and he bared his teeth, then he looked back at me, a slightly different look on his face. I don't know how to understand wolf emotions, so it made no sense to me what he was thinking. The wolf continued forward until he stood so close to us I could feel his breath.
With the alpha's back to them the rest of the wolves had stood up again, looking restless once more. I had the feeling that all of the wolves were waiting for him to attack so that they could join in, or at least take some pleasure at seeing us ripped to shreds. There was a lump in my throat getting in the way of my breathing, and my eyes were wide. I didn't want this thing to attack.
The wolf took another step forward, putting him very, very close to me. I was too scared to move, but was very thankful when Alucard pulled me back and away from it. I hadn't noticed that he'd gotten to his feet and was kneeling so that he stayed close to the ground. I was still sitting on the ground, and couldn't move as easily as he could, but he helped me distance myself from the wolf.
The Alpha growled, turning his gaze to Alucard. I ended up meeting his eyes after all. There was a coldness in them. Something so lacking in feeling that it was worse than if he'd been radiating hunger or fury. Well, maybe not quite, but it was almost as bad. It still left me wondering if he'd kill me.
The wolf took another step forward, continuing to stair at Alucard instead of me. This time Alucard didn't move, but again he pulled me back, putting himself partially between me and the wolf. The wolf paused inches away from Al and sniffed the air. He sniffed Alucard for several seconds before baring his teeth in what looked like a grimace. Then he turned back to me. Alucard tensed but stayed still as the wolf turned to sniff me this time. If I'd been thinking I'd probably have done something. Maybe I would have run, or hid, or attacked, or something, but I wouldn't have sat there shivering as the alpha's nose sniffed my face, my hair, my shirt. He growled at the shirt for a moment, but finally pulled back. For a short moment he met Alucard's eyes again and I saw something that could have been confusion, but it didn't attack. In fact it turned its back on us.
I watched in amazement as the alpha nipped at the nearest in between wolf's heels. The wolf yelped and jumped back a few feet in confusion. The alpha nipped again and the wolf backed up further. After a few seconds the wolf had taken the hint and began to back away, leaving the area. The alpha turned to the next wolf and did the same thing. By the third in-between wolf's departure the rest got the idea and slowly everyone began to fade into the trees until only the porch wolves and the circle remained.
The alpha stared at the porch wolves for a long, hard moment. They stared back at him, defiant. The alpha growled deeply, shuffling his feet, and one of the wolves shook its head and backed down. That wolf left turned and walked off the porch before joining the others in the woods. With one of their own surrendering the others all followed suit. Slowly and sulking they left one by one until the porch was empty. Then it was only the alpha and the circle. The alpha turned to the others and just nodded his head, then the wolf who had been behind us came up and nudged Al in the back, pushing him forward. It did the same to me.
Together we got to our feet, watching these creatures who surrounded us as the one solitary wolf guided us forward towards the inn. The realization that we were being herded bothered me a little, but not as much as the idea of us being eaten did, so I didn't have the biggest problem with it. Actually, until a second wolf butted in and pushed itself between me and Alucard I actually had hopes that things would be okay. Then suddenly something was pushing me away form Al, and I was squeezing tighter to his hand, until it slipped from mine and I was left alone once again thrust into darkness.
"Alucard?" I tossed the question out, not sure what was going on.
The growling had started again, all of it coming from the direction Alucard had been pushed towards. Alucard's voice came through it all. "Just keep walking, I'll be okay."
I didn't believe him. Or rather, I didn't believe he thought it would actually turn out that way. I told myself that he was wrong, he would be fine. We would both be fine. The wolves hadn't killed us yet, they weren't going to kill us. A brief thought jumped through my mind saying that I couldn't die, so we wouldn't die. But Alucard alone might. I shivered again, not sure of what to do, but this time when the wolf tried to herd me I didn't move. It pushed against me again and I kept my ground. It growled at me in frustration, but I heard someone else lunge towards Alucard, and I heard him yelp and try to dodge it, and then the normal scrambling noises of some close quartered fight. The wolf's nose hit my chest as it tried to push me back.
"If you want me to move, let him go!" I shouted. In answer the wolf shoved its entire weight against me and I fell to the ground. I kicked at it, hitting it in the jaw. It growled and bit at me, catching my shoe in it's jaw. I tried to jerk it out but it held tight and shook his head back and forth hard. I yelped and tried to pull free again, but it was no use. Instead I felt myself being dragged in the direction the wolf had tried to guide me. Alucard cried out again behind me.
To my own annoyance I stopped struggling. I had pretty much figured that this wolf was stronger than me, and I wanted something left of my shoe after it was done dragging me about. I felt myself be dragged across dirt and over bumps, and a part of me didn't care. I was listening so hard for sounds of Alucard, and my mind was focusing on his every movement. I could hear the wolves around him and I wondered why I couldn't do any more than that.
Finally we stopped moving and the wolf dropped my leg. Groaning I rolled over onto my stomach, simply lying there for a few seconds as creatures walked around me. I gave it one last shot and tried to push myself up to dash back towards Alucard, but I was immediately pounced upon by one of the wolves guarding me.
Then Alucard stopped moving. My heart skipped a beat when I felt a sudden pain in my head, like getting hit really hard. Alucard had just dropped and he nowlaid, probably unconscious, on the ground. I climbed to my knees, focusing as hard as I could on him to see if there was anything else wrong, then on his surroundings, trying to see if anyone posed a threat. I couldn't tell. I almost moved forward again but a set of jaws bit down softly on my arm. I owe the sheath with the knife in it credit for the teeth not breaking skin. The wolf pulled me back over the stairs to the inn. I managed not to trip while climbing up the stairs and the wolf let me go. With one last push I took the hint and backed up all the way into the building.
Suddenly I felt very alone. Passing through the threshhold seemed to seperate me from everything outside, leaving me in a room that felt too still. And very quiet. Alucard's image was fuzzy in my mind. I could hardly feel him at all.
A soft, raspybreath could be heard from the door, but only barely. It took its time fading into the darkness,but it finally disapered. I could hear nothing but my own choaked breathing. My entire effort was focused on keeping track of where Alucard lay.
Then the door slammed shut, and I couldn't even feel him.
