As soon as she loaded her clothes in the washer, she went to the bathroom with Sam's clothes and took a shower.
After being in the cold for so long, the warm water felt really good against her skin. She washed her hair thoroughly and let the water run down her face a while. She really did feel bad about leaving Ghost back there with a really angry wolf under the basement.
Since it was in the middle of the day, Brigitte figured that the wolf was returning to full health and would soon be back out on the prowl looking for her again.
But maybe her being on the run from the beast would be different this time. Now that She had Sam to accompany her and help her find a long-awaited cure. At this time, she decided to stop thinking so hard. She was curious to know how the rest of her life would play out. She just hoped it would be better than it was in the last four years. Especially the last weeks she endured at the clinic.
Once she finished her shower, she stepped out in a steam-filled bathroom and wrapped herself with a towel hanging from the rack. When she was dry enough, she put on Sam's shirt which stopped at her mid thighs. The jacket was a little longer.
She wiped some of the steam off of the mirror so she could see her face. When she did, her face wasn't the only one in the mirror. Ginger's apparition had appeared again.
"You know for once, I'm going to have to agree with Sam. I wouldn't want to go back there either. Even if I did, it would be to see that girl getting ripped to shreds." Ginger grinned.
"I wouldn't doubt it since you enjoyed ripping things to shred when you were alive." Brigitte shot back.
"I hope you know that Sam is doing the same thing he tried to do four years ago." Ginger said in a warning tone.
"You mean finding a cure?" Brigitte asked, not really knowing what Ginger was thinking.
"I'm talking about him trying to get in your pants. He'll do anything that perv!" Ginger said disgustedly.
"Sam is not trying to get into my pants! I can see that he's too busy trying to find a cure to even have things like that on his mind! Besides, you infected him so he's just as determined as I am." Brigitte defended him.
"Don't try to save him Brigitte, he isn't worth saving." She spoke in a normal, yet upset tone. She continued in a different tone, "I hope you both know that you're kidding yourselves. Just like that monkshood, one day that stuff's not going to work. And then what will you do? Huh?"
"Well I guess we'll just have to keep trying. Now will you please go away?" Brigitte demanded.
"I don't take orders from you Brigitte. I'll leave whenever I want to." Ginger made it clear.
Brigitte rolled her eyes. Ginger spoke again before leaving. "Just so you know, Sam is a male wolf too and you're female. You'll really have to watch your backs this time." With that she disappeared.
Brigitte wanted to ask her what she meant by that, but she was already gone. She took a deep breath and tried to figure it out for herself. Just when she wanted to take a minute from thinking too hard, she ends right back up thinking harder than usual.
She would be more than happy to ask Sam's opinion on it, but the absurdity of hearing it from her dead sister would make her come off as being crazy. So she decided to keep that to herself.
Brigitte walked out of the bathroom and got a little light-headed. She felt as if she was about to faint so she held onto the knob of the bathroom door in case she lost her footing. Fortunately, she didn't. But she was still woozy from the effects from the dosage she got.
She returned to the bedroom and lied back down in the bed. She covered herself in the covers. Her sense of smell was so strong that she couldn't help but smell Sam's scent within the covers. It was almost as if she was drowning in his scent and his scent alone. For some odd reason, she liked it a lot.
Sam came back and didn't see Brigitte around. It was quiet except for the sound of the washer machine going. The bathroom door was opened so she wouldn't be in there. The only place that made since to look was the bedroom.
He tapped on the door lightly so he wouldn't disturb her. "Brigitte?" he said lowly. She didn't answer. He opened the door and pushed softly.
When he came in, he saw her lying on the bed. She wasn't asleep, just resting. Sam placed her cup of coffee next to her on a nightstand.
Sam spoke soon after his hands were empty and he was seated in a chair beside the bed. "Hey um, I'm about to get started on making the solution. If you wanna stay here, by all means."
Brigitte lifted from her resting position to a sitting position. "My clothes are done." She said while sliding out of the bed.
Once she was from under the covers, Sam couldn't help but notice that scars were on her legs as well. He thought of asking about it again, but he didn't think that she would give him answer. He'd just have to find out in due time.
Brigitte took her clothes from the washer and loaded them into the dryer. Once she started those up, she began to walk toward the living room part of the Rambler. "Are you coming?" She asked, breaking Sam from his world of wondering.
He went along quietly. Once they were both sitting down at the table, Sam opened the transparent box with breathing holes in them and took out the materials.
He got up for a minute to get the leeches he just bought. Brigitte was watching curiously. "You know you can help by making a batch of the first solution." Sam told Brigitte.
That part of the solution Brigitte knew very well how to make. She poured the alcohol into a small metal pan and put in the dry monkshood leaves. She held it over the fire and paused for a second. Sam had gotten her attention when he put a glove on his hand and laid a leech on his arm.
Brigitte watched as the leech grew big, hairy and grotesque. Sam winced in pain while he allowed the leech to grow to be as big as his hand and three fingers thick. The leech was moving viciously just like the ones that had bitten into Brigitte when she was in the woods a few feet from Ghost's house.
It was now infected with Lycanthropy and looked just as blood-thirsty as ever. Sam took a bit of salt and put it on the leech in order to make it loosen its grip from his skin. He took his gloved hand and pulled it carefully off of himself.
He held down on the monstrosity with a very tight grip. He took the container with the tan rubber seal and held his bleeding arm over it. His blood was spread atop of the container. After he did that, he placed the leech on the lid.
The leech bit down into the thin rubber, thinking it was skin because of the blood. Once it bit down, liquids started to drip from the leech and into the container.
"This is a painful process, but it all counts in the end." he assured Brigitte. Brigitte nodded her head and took the brewing monkshood from the Bunsen burner and set it on the table.
All in that time, Sam placed the wereleech in the container with holes. He took another leech from the cup and did the same thing again. Brigitte could clearly see that he was having the leeches bite down on the rubber to release anti-coagulants.
"The bigger the leech gets, the more anti-coagulant it releases. But you can't let them get too big or else you won't be able to handle them." he lectured. Brigitte nodded, indicating that she understood what he was saying.
Once he drew some more anti-coagulant from the leech, he placed it inside with the other leech. He held the container up to visually measure if he had enough anti-coagulant. He was pleased with what he had.
Next, he grabbed the bag filled with sunflower seeds, shell and all. The seat he was sitting on had a drawer at the bottom on the side. He pulled it out and took out silver machine parts.
He connected them together piece by piece. Brigitte wanted to wait until he was done to ask him what it was. Then again, he was teaching her how to make it so he would probably tell her what it was anyway.
After he put it together, he began to explain what it was just as Brigitte suspected. "This thing here helps me extract my own oil whenever I need it. The oil is pure and pure has a better effect than anything else."
The machine was a rectangular contraption with a funnel-like part at the top. Sam turned the machine on. "You have to let this thing run a while to give it a good start. The temperature has to be just right." He explained more.
Brigitte was taking mental notes the entire time. While the machine was starting up, Sam went over to the kitchen area a brought out a small clear glass bottle and a funnel small enough for it. He sat it next to the machine and used a small metal slide to bridge the machine and the bottle together to make an alluvial sediment.
After the machine had run a while, Sam poured the seeds into the funnel at the top of the machine. The seeds went down the hole via a rotating screw on the inside. The machine crushed the oil out of them and the oil that was extracted went down the alluvial sediment.
The solid waste of the seeds came out another end and into a small container. It looked really cool to Brigitte. She sat and watched silently. The oil was gray-looking and had a funny smell. There were a few small chunks of solid sunflower seed pieces in it but Sam would take care of that.
After the first load of seeds went through, he poured in some more. Afterward, he went into the refrigerator and pulled a bag of black leaved flower petal outs. "These things here are the black orchids. Vampira Orchids to be exact.
They're very hard to grow so that's why I have some growing in all kinds of areas in Canada. I actually have to head back west to pick out some more." he told.
Sam took the Bunsen burner Brigitte used a short while ago and emptied the monkshood into a separate bowl before he placed the Orchid Vampire petals into the dish. He then placed a lid over the bowl and watched as it steamed up quickly.
Brigitte already knew what he was doing so he didn't have to explain that much. Sam took the bowl off of the burner a few minutes later. When he took the lid off, he tilted it on the side over the bowl that held the monkshood to let the precipitated liquid fall back into the bowl.
The flower petals were soggy. He pressed down on them with a spoon and let the liquids flow to one side of the bowl and into the other bowl. The color of the liquid was a really dark purple. A tad darker than the last.
The color outcome of the combination was a deep magenta. He took a cotton ball and placed in in the really dark liquid. Then he took a syringe and gathered the solution, leaving any solid substances left behind in the mixture.
When that was finished, he added in the anti-coagulant he collected from the leeches. The mixture was lightened a bit, giving it the same color as the last batch. "So, this is how you make it. It's a tedious procedure but it's worth it."
Sam put the combination on the table and then began to break the machine back apart. He took the parts over to the sink and washed them clean. He left them there to dry.
"I'm guessing that you're some kind of neat freak, right?" Brigitte asked Sam.
"What makes you say that?" he asked.
"I think you know why." she looked at him seriously.
Sam took a minute before speaking. "Yeah, so what if I'm a neat freak, is that bad?" he asked, not because he was offended, but because subconsciously, he didn't want to turn her off in any way.
"I didn't say anything was wrong with that. I just wanted to know, that's all." she said plain and simple. Sam took a deep breath and blew softly and took a seat.
He took the oil from the oil pressing machine. He went back into the drawer where Brigitte was sitting and took a sifter with fine holes. He ran the oil through there to pick out the rough pieces that were still there.
As soon as they were out, He took the oil and put it in the refrigerator. "So I have one more question for you." Sam insinuated.
"What?" Brigitte asked.
Sam answered her question with a question, "Are you alright to come along with me? I think I could use some of your expertise in finding a cure." he ended.
"You came closer to finding a cure than I did. How can I possibly help?" She doubted.
"I know you've heard this saying 'you can know some of the things some of the times but not all of the things all of the time', right?" Sam asked.
Brigitte nodded. "See, I can know these things. But there might be something that I'm over-looking. Something I can't see, that maybe you can see. We need to know more about these things in order to get rid of them or at least tell what their next move is going to be, so to speak." he explained. " For instance, is there anything about Lycanthropy that you know that I may not?" he asked.
Brigitte thought that maybe this was the right time to tell him why she had all of those scares on her legs and arm. "You know the scars on my arm? I wasn't trying to commit suicide, I was using myself to figure out how far the werewolf was away from me." she told.
"How does cutting yourself help?" he asked with wonder.
"Because the slower I heal, that means he's far away. The faster I heal, that means he's close. I don't know if it works with the same gender, but I'm speculating that it doesn't. If it did, then I would have healed much quicker when that other wolf attacked me."
"Wow. I've never thought about that. The only way I could really tell was if I could feel it in my veins or pick up a scent or either find out if someone's been mutilated by an unknown animal." Sam said with much satisfaction.
"And another thing. It's better to move away at night and rest during the day because that's the way they move. They stalk in the day time and make a kill at night." Brigitte added. Sam obviously hadn't thought about it that way either. Judging by the look on his face.
"So, do we stay here and rest now and then carry on tonight?" Sam asked.
"That would be the best way." she assured him.
"Well that makes me feel a lot better."Sam said with a bit of excitement. "You can go ahead and get your things from the dryer and I'll be pumping the gas." Sam said while swiftly heading for the door.
"Could you bring me back some pants?!" Brigitte called out to him. Sam was already outside, but he humped his shoulder, letting her know that he heard her. She went back to the dryer and got out her under clothes and put them on.
Once again, Ginger's apparition appeared on the side of her. "You know he couldn't keep his eyes off of your legs." she started.
"He just wanted to know why I had the scars, so I told him. There's nothing more to it." Brigitte admonished.
"Stop lying to yourself B! You know there's more to it as well as I do. And there's probably more going on in that thick head of his than you think." Ginger instigated.
Brigitte blew her off and changed the subject. "You said you knew why that other wolf back there tried to kill me. Can you tell me why?" she asked firmly.
"I can. And I would. But I won't. Not right now. I wanna know if you can figure it out for yourself. I'll give you a day. And if you can't, I'll tell you."
"Damn it Ginger If it's something I need to know, then I need to know it now!" she yelled. "I need to know if she's going to try to come for me again with everything she's got. Please Ginger! Tell me!" Brigitte yelled anxiously.
"You sound scared B. Are you scared?" she said snidely. Brigitte knew Ginger wanted her to cower before her for an answer so she wasn't going to give her the satisfaction.
"You know what, you're right. I'm going to see if I can figure this out for myself."
Ginger was somewhat disappointed. "Alright fine, I'll give you a hint. It's all about you and Sam." After that, she left again.
Brigitte was getting tired of Ginger's sudden appearances. She wished there was a way to block her out of her mind. She missed her sister true enough, but she was also very annoying at times.
She went back to the back room and put on her underclothes before grabbing her coffee off of the dresser. It cooled down a lot so she warmed it back up in the microwave. She walked over to the couch and sat down. She took a good look around.
To be in an RV of that size was more comfortable than the motels she had been staying. It was warm and cozy just like home. She took a moment and looked outside the window behind her. It was getting dark. Only a few more hours and it would be time to leave.
She laid her head back against the couch and drank her coffee sparingly. She was hungry, but she was going to wait until Sam brought back some pants for her. The quietness was so alluring and soothing for her that she dozed off unintentionally.
Some time later, she was awakened by Sam coming back inside. "I didn't know your size, so I just guessed. You don't look that big anyway." he said handing the black pants over to her. He turned around so he wouldn't invade her privacy.
"Don't you think it's a little too late for that?" she told him while putting on the pants.
"Too late for what?"
Brigitte didn't answer his question. The pants were a tad bit big, but it was just fine. Sam turned back around once she was finished. "Are you going to answer my question?" he asked curiously. Brigitte shook her head before retrieving her shoes.
She walked out of the RV without telling or even motioning to Sam that she was leaving. He just followed her silently.
Sam and Brigitte ordered food that didn't contain any kind of meat. They noticed, and they both tried to decide whether or not to ask. They may have had the same reason, but there might be a slight chance that they had different reasons.
Sam was the first to ask. "Have you always been a vegetarian?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing." Brigitte admitted.
"No." Sam answered first.
"Neither have I." Brigitte said next.
"What made you go vegetarian all of sudden?" he asked.
"Take a wild guess." she said without cracking one smile.
"Well then your reason is mine. Not to mention the fact that it does increase your testosterone. But I also have to say, if you had been eating meat in the last four years, then the monkshood would have rejected you years ago. I guess that's a contributing factor as to why you were able to hold off the transformation as long as you did." he commended her subtly.
"If testosterone didn't have anything to do with the transformation, would you have gone vegetarian?" Brigitte asked.
"Yeah. The testosterone part is just the first part. The second part is your same reason. You don't want your cravings for red meat to be so bad that you kill someone just to get it. I don't think I would be able to forgive myself for that." Brigitte nodded her head to show that she agreed. "You haven't cracked a smile since I've seen you. Are the nerves in your lips dead or something? Or maybe the nerves aren't connected to the right part of your brain any more" he joked.
It was kind of funny to Brigitte so she cracked a small smile. "Maybe that counts for something." Sam said, seeing that she still had nerves in the side of her lips.
"Is it not embarrassing for you to keep dropping your testosterone level?" Brigitte asked.
"Why? Because I'm a guy?" Sam wanted to be clear. Brigitte nodded. "Sometimes. But if it means me not turning into one of those snarling smelly things then I have no choice but to be fine with it."
All of a sudden, Sam froze as if he was stone. He had a look on his face that concerned Brigitte. "What?" she asked, feeling anxiety rushing through her heart.
Sam tuned his head swiftly to the window of the restaurant and looked across to the truck stop. "You can't be serious." He said in a whisper.
"What?" Brigitte asked in a frightened whisper.
"She's gotten closer. She's never moved that fast before."He turned his attention to Brigitte.
"How close is she?" Brigitte asked in the same terrified whisper.
"Not too close, but still close." he said.
"How can you tell?" she asked.
"I can feel my blood getting warmer and rushing through my veins." he said a little above a whisper.
Both of them looked out at the darkening skies. "I think we should go now." Brigitte advised. Sam paid for the food and he and Brigitte returned to the RV. They remained calm the whole time. Mainly because they didn't want to cause a scene.
Brigitte sat in the passenger's seat and Sam started up the RV. He got back on the highway and headed west. "I don't understand," Brigitte started off, "you said that she had never moved this quick before. What does that mean?"
"I don't know. The only thing I know is that she had never moved this quick before. She was always hot on my trail but not like this." Sam said while trying to figure it out for himself.
Brigitte began to think about what Ginger said. When she said that she and Sam had better watch their backs this time. She wanted so badly to tell Sam to see if that piece of the puzzle might help. But she knew that he would think she was out of her mind if she told him Ginger told her.
That was a real nail-biter. She thought harder and harder. The wolf moving quicker than usual, Ginger telling her they needed to watch their back, the wolf chasing after Sam trying to kill her for some apparent reason.
None of it was really making since. She could understand why she would have to watch her back, but she couldn't understand why Sam would have to watch his. After all, the wolf was not going to kill Sam if she wanted to mate with him.
"Looks like you're really thinking about something." Sam called over to her.
"Am I that obvious?" she asked in her usual dull tone.
"You just have really distinct facial expressions. That lets me know that you've been using your expressions to do the talking for you for a long time." he summed up.
That made since she hadn't really talked to anyone for a while. Other than Ginger and Ghost. Apart from that, in that moment in time, she really wished that she would have given in and begged Ginger for an answer.
The only thing she could hope for was for Ginger to pop back up again. She didn't know when, but she hoped it would be really soon because she needed some answers.