Chapter 4

David constantly glanced over his shoulder. Being followed was always something he had been paranoid about, even as a teenager. On the rare occasions David and his old friends hadn't been doing something illegal, David had still gotten the sense someone was watching them. That had been utter nonsense, of course, but there was still that odd prickling on the back of neck that said something wasn't quite right.
David dismissed it as being worried that someone saw him dump the bag or that Melissa or Charles were there. There was no reason for the concern, he told himself. They didn't find the lair, they'll probably assume soon that Irv had gone completely crazy and leave soon. Then everything could go back to normal, warring families and other hunters trying to kill the supernatural creatures for no reason other than existing.
David glanced towards the guardhouse as he walked up the steps. There wasn't any light in the windows, so he assumed Rick was out doing something. No matter, there were things he needed to look into anyway. David headed upstairs. Margo's room was locked, but he had expected that, so he had brought along the key he had made many years ago. It was a precautionary key; David had one for every room in the house. He didn't not trust his family, but that didn't mean he completely trusted them.
The doorbell rang, echoing through the house. David frowned; there was no reason for anyone to be coming over. No one else was in the house; no one to invite anyone over. He pocketed Margo's key, glaring at the door. "I'll be right back," he muttered.
David hurried down the stairs and opened the door. Instantly, he froze. Drew was standing on the front porch. "What are you doing here?" David asked.
Drew frowned. "Well, is that anyway to greet a friend?"
"We're not friends," David said shortly. The key felt heavy in his pocket, his hands itched to slam the door and go see what secrets his sister had been hiding.
"Ah, well," Drew shrugged. "I want to talk to you."
David shook his head. "Sorry, this isn't a good time. Perhaps-?"
"I know what you are," Drew moved forward. David stayed where he was, completely still. "What?" he asked.
"I know you're a shifter," Drew breathed, eyes widening maniacally.
David shifted his weight uncomfortably. All thoughts of Margo's room were completely fled. "I don't know what you're talking about," he began.
"Don't lie to me!" Drew shouted. "You're a monster, and just like the rest of them, you need to be put down."
David threw the door closed, but Drew had hunter's instincts. He grabbed the door and pushed it open. David scrambled backward, avoiding furniture and reaching for anything that might serve as a weapon. Drew walked forward casually, mocking David. There was a fireplace in the corner and the poker was as good of a weapon as any. David grabbed it and held it out in front of him, desperately wishing he had taken some sort of self-defense class as a child.
Drew chuckled when he saw the poker. He then slowly reached into his pocket and drew out a knife. It glinted in the sunlight from the window, and David had no doubt it was made of silver. Drew held it up, looking at it with an odd sense of longing. "It's funny," he said. "When you start out in this job, there's the human part of you that says 'killing things is wrong'. You feel guilty at first, because you monsters look like people. But then that voice is replaced by a different voice. A voice that says 'they're not human, look at them. It's a disguise'. That voice that told you not to enjoy this disappears and slowly, very slowly, is replaced by one that does enjoy it."
"That's kind of sick," David said.
Wrong choice of words. Drew's eyes flared in anger, something dark growing in them. "No," he spat. "You are sick. You are monsters, you feed on innocent people. Where is the wrong in me taking pleasure in my job?"
"We do it to survive," David returned. "Those that do kill humans do it to live. You do it for fun. Which ones sounds worse to you?"
Drew raised his knife, pointing it at David's chest. "You miss my point," he hissed. "You aren't human."
"And by some descriptions of complete psychopaths," David whispered in return. "Neither are you."
Drew snarled in anger. His face was lit up in anger; completely out of control. He rushed forward, slamming the poker out of David's hand. David was pushed back up against the wall against the fireplace. Drew placed the knife against David's throat. "What I wouldn't go to slit your throat," he murmured. David tried to back away, hissing as the silver burned his skin.
Suddenly, Drew stepped away. His manner was all calm, no hint of the anger that had been there moments before. "Unfortunately, there is use for you," he said. "You could be useful. Or at least, so says my brother. He thinks you can help us understand what happened to our friend, as you were there that night."
"So," Drew continued, stepping away and putting his knife back where he had pulled it out from. "You survive another day, David Lassiter." Drew turned back to him, looking David in the eyes. In Drew's eyes a trace of the darkness that had been there beforehand returned before vanishing completely. "But always watch your back," he said softly. Then Drew turned away and walked out the door, slamming it behind him.
The sound echoed in the empty house. David rubbed his throat gently. This was the second time in the same day that someone had held a knife to him. "I've got to stop letting that happen," he whispered to himself.
Drew was a madman. A fact which didn't separate him from the rest of the hunter community in the slightest. David groaned, rubbing his forehead. And a madman didn't rest until he got what he wanted. Which meant that if he knew that David had been there when Irv was killed, that meant that they must know that Ennis was there. And Ennis had already said that they had been to his house. Which meant they knew where he lived. This was going to be very bad.
David hesitated for a moment, then grabbed his jacket. "I'm going to regret this," he muttered to himself. David quickly ran upstairs to his bedroom and ran to the bedside table, grabbing the knife he always kept their as a precaution.
David went out of the back door, cautious that Drew might still be around the corner. Who knows what insane men do when they forget their sanity? David hurried his pace, taking the back fastest back roads he knew. When he caught sight of Ennis' house, David broke into a run. As he ran up the steps onto the porch, David quickly glanced around. At first he didn't see anything, but as he turned away a shadow stepped out from the house across the way.
"God," David breathed. He knocked rapidly on the door. "Ennis!" he called as loud as he dared. "Ennis! Open up now!"
David rapped again, internally damning the man for not opening the door faster. The shadow across the way began to walk towards him slowly. David increased the pounding on the door. "Damnit, Ennis, open this door now!" he yelled.
Suddenly the door was no longer supporting him. Ennis stood in its place, a look of anger on his face. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he roared.
David pushed him out of the way and slammed the door shut, looking at the lock system. "The hell..." he muttered. "Paranoid, aren't we?"
"Because of events like this, yeah," Ennis said sarcastically. "Now, what the hell are you doing?"
David turned around to face him. "The gang," he said. "They're after us."
Ennis looked at him. "What?"
David sigh exasperatedly. "Drew," he hissed. "Drew and the rest of his psychopaths, they know we were there. They somehow knew where I lived, and Drew almost killed me. They know we were involved and they'll do anything to get answers."
Ennis turned away, running a hand over his head. "God," he muttered. "Why the hell did you come here then?"
David blinked. "What?" he asked.
Ennis turned to him, anger flaring in his eyes. "Why did you come here?" he repeated, his voice rising in anger. "You led them straight here, they might not have known we were there together!"
David opened his mouth, this hesitated. Ennis noted. "Yeah," he said. "You didn't even think of that. Well, thanks, for telling them."
"Hey!" David snapped, storming up to him. "I could have left your sorry ass to rot. I was attacked in my own home, probably was going to be killed if it weren't for the fact they don't know shit about what's going on. The thought to run didn't occur to me. Instead, I thought to come here and save your ass from getting killed. I'm sorry, next time I'll be a little less considerate and just save my own hide."
Ennis was silent. Then: "...thanks," he muttered, barely loud enough for David to hear.
"Don't mention it," David said.
Ennis moved over to the window. "We have a problem," he said, gesturing for David to join him.
David moved over the window, taking Ennis' place. "Crap," he murmured.
Drew and the rest of his gang was standing across the road, just barely in the light of the streetlights. From what David could see, all three of them were loaded with all kinds of weapons. While silver ones were the only ones able to affect David, all of them were lethal to Ennis.
"Is there a back door?" David asked.
Ennis nodded. "I know a place to hide out," he said. "No connection to me, paper or electronically."
"Perfect," David said. "How far away is it?"
Ennis frowned. "That's the problem. It's about a mile or two out from this house."
A shout came from outside the house. "Come out and no one gets hurt," Charles called. "We're happy to wait as long as you need."
Ennis ran up the stairs, calling over his shoulder: "Distract them!"
"It shouldn't be too long, though," Drew added. "Some of us are more impatient than others."
David went up to the window. "And if I'd rather stay in here?" he called out.
There was a note of unmistakable glee in Drew's voice as he responded. "Then I guess we'll have to come in and show you your mistake."
"Naturally," David said, walking away.
"You have ten minutes," Melissa finally called.
David turned as Ennis came pounding down the stairs. "Come on," he said, throwing a bag at David. He caught up, noting it was surprisingly light for its size. "All the supplies we'd need getting there," Ennis explained.
David nodded, shrugging it over his shoulder. "We have ten, let's go," he said.
Ennis nodded in return. He waved a hand to indicate David should follow him, then moved towards the back of the house. Ennis glanced out the window on the back door, then opened it as quietly as he could. "Go," he whispered.
David walked out quietly. He stepped down the porch steps and hid in the shadows while Ennis closed the door. Then Ennis moved down the stairs. They froze as the wood creaked, the sound seeming to echo in the darkness. There was a small shout from the front of the house. "Run!" Ennis hissed.
David and Ennis ran. Not caring for stealth, they ran as fast as they could. The sounds of pursuit came from behind them. They were crossing the boundary of Ennis' yard when a shape came out from the shadows. It hurled itself into Ennis, tackling him to the ground. They wrestled on the ground while another shape came roaring in David. Prepared, he dropped onto the ground and rolled out of the way. He ended up to where Ennis was whoever he was wrestling were. David pulled out his knife and prayed he wouldn't miss. Ennis was on the bottom and David stabbed where the person on top would be.
As he did so, the shape that had come at David appeared again, knocking his arm. The blade slipped, landing away from the intended area of target. There was a gasp of pain that sounded feminine. Relief took a moment to go through David; that meant it wasn't Ennis he had accidentally hit. The relief was short lived as David's attacker made himself known again.
The attacker threw himself on top of David, his hands surprisingly empty. Those hands made their way to David's neck. David grinned for a moment, relishing the moment. Then he shifted. The teenager he shifted into was very skinny, very lanky. So lanky that the hands suddenly found themselves not holding anything at all. David forced his head out of the grip, then resumed his normal shape. He stood up, looking down at the confused person beneath him. David slammed his foot down on his back, causing the person to collapse on the ground. In the dim moonlight, he could make out that it was Drew. "How about that, bastard," he whispered. Ennis was struggling to his feet as well, his assailant, Melissa, clutching her side.
There was the sound of two gun reports through the night. David felt pain explode in his side. Ennis hit the ground as well, yelling in pain. Charles. There was a third hunter. In the chaos, David had forgotten all about him. Charles shouted something in the night, probably his brother's name, or maybe Melissa's. It was hard to tell through the agony.
David forced himself to his feet. Ennis was doing the same, clutching his arm to his chest. There was a gun in Ennis' hand, presumably from Melissa. Ennis fired a shot in the direction that the two previous shots had come from. There was a shout. David moved forward, Ennis grabbing his arm. "Can you run?" Ennis shouted in his ear.
"As if my life depended on it, can you?" David responded.
"Of course," Ennis responded wryly.
The pair took off running. This time, there were no random shadows coming out from the darkness. There was a strangled out shout of "follow them!" from behind David, but the voice was unrecognizable. There was nothing to do but run.
David wasn't sure how long they were running for, but it was a while. Long enough for the neighborhood to fade into a new one that was even more obscure. There were only houses every ten yards or so, much more spread out than the neighborhood before. Eventually, they began to slow down.
"Are you all right?" David asked, looking at Ennis' arm.
"I'll be fine," Ennis muttered.
"Ever been shot before?" David pressed. Ennis glanced at him incredulously. "Didn't think so."
"Your side doesn't look too good," Ennis said, looking at David's wound. "It looks pretty serious, actually."
David shrugged. "It was a normal bullet," he explained. "Not silver, so I'll be fine. It just hurts like hell."
"Well, that's good," Ennis said.
"Yeah." They fell silent for several more minutes.
It was a nice night, relatively speaking. It was a bit cold, but the wind wasn't blowing so it wasn't anything that was hard to deal with. "How far out are we?" David asked.
"Not long now," Ennis said, checking his watch. "We made good time."
"I was on the track team in middle school," David commented.
"Same," Ennis said.
"Only sport that didn't get your ass kicked in the middle of it," David said lightly.
He was surprised to hear a small chuckle coming from Ennis. David grinned slightly in return, then they fell silent. They continued the silence for the rest of the walk. There was nothing much to say.
It was another half hour or so before Ennis pointed out the house they were going to stay in it. The first word that came to David's mind upon seeing it was small. There was no other way to describe it. It looked like a one room house with no yard to be spoken off. The rest of it was just woods for miles and miles. "Home sweet home," Ennis commented.
"Did you ever live here?" David asked.
"When I was a kid. When my younger sister was born we had to move out, but my mother never sold the house. Her last name is different from mind, though, no one would think to connect her to me. Don't worry, people have tried," Ennis added.
"Huh. Troublemaker as a child?" David asked.
"Something like that."
David followed Ennis up the stairs. He glanced around. There was something eerie about being in the middle of the woods, without out any outside contact. Even though, according to certain parties, he was the monster that hunted those alone in the woods.
David shook his head, banishing the thought. Ennis was reaching into his bag and pulling out what looked like a lock picking kit. "Don't have a key?" David asked.
Ennis shook his head. "Was never any need for one, I hated this place."
"And now you're back," David said.
"And now I'm back," Ennis agreed.
The door creaked open, surprisingly quiet in the night. Another surprise was the fact the electricity still worked. "Huh," Ennis muttered. "Mom must have been coming up here on those weekends she disappeared, or something."
"Do you think she'll still be coming?" David asked.
"Doubt it, she's gotten way older now, rarely leaves the house," Ennis said.
"Well, that's good at least," David said. "Wouldn't want her getting dragged into this mess."
"That's for sure," Ennis muttered.
David looked around the room. There was a small room off the main one that wasn't visible from the front, which turned out to be a bedroom. There was an even smaller room off of that that was the bathroom. In the main room there was a small kitchen area on the side of the wall. The paint was in good shape, not peeling or anything. The entire room was covered in dust, however. It was clear that while the room had been taken care of for a while, no one had been here in a long time.
"It's quaint," he said.
"If that's how you want to describe it," Ennis said. He dragged his bag over to opposite wall and dumped it down. "Might as well get some sleep, we can use it," he said.
"Still need to take care of your arm," David pointed out.
Ennis merely grunted in return. Looking in his own bag and finding a hunter's first aid kit, David grabbed the tools needed. "Luckily, the bullet went all the way through," he said.
"Just give me the damn bandages," Ennis said.
David handed him the bandages. Ennis bound his wound, occasionally hissing in pain. "I'd offer some alcohol, but there doesn't appear to be anything here," David said, glancing at the refrigerator.
Ennis shook his head. "I don't drink," he said.
"Huh," David said. "I didn't think you would be the type."
Ennis grunted. "You'd be surprised."
David nodded. "I'll bet."
There came a creaking sound from outside. David shot to his feet, gesturing for Ennis to stay down. David crept over to the window, pulling back the curtain. There was a figure standing on the porch, holding what appeared to be a duffel bag. A bag that could carry all kinds of weapons. "Crap," David muttered.
"What is it?" Ennis whispered.
"There's a man out there," David whispered, moving to crouch beside Ennis. "He has a duffel, but I don't know what's in it."
Ennis reached into his bag and pulled out a gun. He handed it to David, then pulled out another. "We're going to have to fight," he murmured.
David nodded, accepting the gun. "It's only one guy, should be all right," he said half-heartedly.
"Definitely," Ennis whispered.
The door began to open slowly. David and Ennis moved as far back as they could and readied their guns. The man walked it, his back to them. Just from his posture, they could tell it wasn't Drew or Charles. It was someone else entirely. The man muttered to himself as he put the bag down by the door. Then he turned around.
Instantly there was a gun in his hand. Ennis moved forward. "You're outnumbered," he said.
The man looked at him, a look of shock coming across his face as if he hadn't heard him. "Ennis?" he gasped.
Ennis frowned. David looked at him. "Do you know this guy?" he asked.
Ennis shook his head. "Never seen him before in my life," he said slowly.
"Ennis, it's me," the man said, pleading. "I know I look different, but it's still me, son."
Ennis froze. David watched as the color drained from his face. "Dad?" he whispered. "You're supposed to be dead."
"Yeah, that's not entirely true," the man said.