A/N: My longest chapter yet! R&R please.
Chapter Twelve
I didn't think that this trip was a good idea, but I had to go along to protect my Pack. Tori was happy and chattering away to Aaron and Simon and Chloe were being quiet. Briefly, I considered asking her what was wrong but figured she wouldn't answer or she would be mad.
The walk to town took about twenty long minutes. I have to say that the town was not at all like I expected. There were lots of people and a lot of stores. And in the edge of the town, there was a bulletin board and I saw a picture of Chloe on it. Crap, I thought and quickly pulled Chloe next to me.
"Hey!" she exclaimed. Simon looked at me and I nodded. Tori sighed, already figuring out what was going on,
"Guess we're going to have to dye your hair again." Poor Aaron looked confused as we hurried into the nearest store which just happened to be Wal-Mart. Immediately, we went to the hair products aisle.
"No black this time," Chloe said firmly, remembering the last time we were forced to dye her hair. I winced and pulled a reddish color off the shelf. Tori frowned and pulled off a different red, then compared the two colors. After careful consideration that took forever, she and Chloe decided on the red Tori had chosen. I was hopeless when it came to dye.
Without a word, Simon took the dye and went to check out. He pulled out some money that Andrew had given him. Quickly, he paid and came back.
"Aaron, take Tori and Simon shopping. I'll take Chloe to change," I ordered. "And if anything happens to them, I hold you responsible." With my warning given, but angry that I have to leave Simon- and Tori- with Aaron, I grabbed Chloe's arm and pulled her out of the store, looking for a place to dye her hair.
Conveniently, there was a swim shack with showers.
"Derek!" Chloe whispered furiously, trying to discreetly yank her arm out of my grip without attracting attention. Loosening my grip slightly, I led her to the showers, choosing the one labeled 'Family'.
"Derek!" she repeated and I finally let go of her.
"Come on; lets get your hair taken care of," I said, taking the dye from her and walking over to the sink.
"N-not until you a-apologize." Stubbornly, Chloe didn't move and I snapped,
"Get over here. I'm not letting our safety be compromised because you're being stupidly stubborn." Her eyes widened in hurt and immediately, I felt bad, but I had to protect her.
"Come here… please," I repeated softer and gentler. Quietly, she walked over to me and stood in front of the sink. I ripped the package open, put the protective gloves on, and started working the dye into her hair.
Time was lost as I just kept adding the color and massaging it in. Eventually, I reluctantly stopped and leaned against the wall, peeling off my gloves. She put a plastic hair net on, so the dye wouldn't get everywhere and jumped on the counter, resting against the mirror.
"I'm sorry," I muttered, two minutes later. Chloe sighed wearily.
"It's okay." All of a sudden, I remembered she was going to tell me about her dreams.
"You said you would tell me about your dream-" I started to remind her, but she interrupted me,
"I know." I waited impatiently for her to continue and after a brief hesitation, she did.
"It started the same both times. There was fire everywhere and it was really hot. I moved around and eventually came to this room. You w-were ch-chained in the m-middle of the r-room. A fireball came shooting out of the c-corner and y-you d-d-died." Her voice broke and she quickly continued, rushing and tripping through her sentences. "But also in the s-second- I knew w-what was g-going to- and then wh-when I l-looked- he kn-knew m-me."
I cut her off by hugging her close.
"Shh…" I murmured as she started to cry.
"It was so horrible," she whispered hoarsely.
"Come on," I said unenthusiastically. "Lets get the dye out of your hair." Against me, she nodded in agreement. I turned around and held her clothes- don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it- as she rinsed the dye out.
Twenty minutes later, we stepped out of the family shower and went to go find Tori, Simon, and Andrew. She was wearing my sweater, to kind of hide her face. We found them at the CITGO gas station, getting some food. Just then, Chloe's stomach rumbled and I snorted.
Tori pulled Chloe's hood down and smiled in appreciation at the change. It didn't look as bad as the black did and seemed more natural. Aaron was less confused than before; it seemed like neither Simon nor Tori had filled him in. Simon motioned for us to follow him as he headed out of the store. Chloe hesitated next to me, then quickly gave me a light kiss on the cheek- me resisting the urge to turn around and kiss her on the lips- and she skipped off, following Simon and the others.
We went out close to the forest to eat. Aaron, Tori, and Simon were telling Chloe what they had gotten when we had been off. They had five bags of stuff, all clothes- and deodorant for me. For the first time in a while, we were all happy and content. Nobody was chasing us and it was nice. It gave us a chance to relax, before we had to go again.
Suddenly, the wind shifted and I smelled something peculiar. I started to growl. The scent was bad. Next to me, Chloe looked up at me, a question in her eyes.
"Is he doing that smelling thing again?" Tori asked. Simon rolled his eyes and I ignored them both, answered Chloe's unspoken question.
"Something's out there. I'm going to go check it out." With that, I left. A vicious snarl came from my left and a wolf came tearing out of the forest, heading for my Pack and Aaron. I reacted quickly, racing for the wolf, preparing to knock him over. To their credit, they all reacted quickly. My Pack and Aaron jumped up and Tori's hand flashed. There was a bang and a bright light knocking the wolf over.
Undeterred, the wolf stood up and came forward, more warily now. I saw a bird fly from the forest and come towards us. When it started attacking the wolf's eyes, I noticed it's death-ridden smell and recognized Chloe's work. Fire then exploded from Aaron and raced towards the wolf, who narrowly dodged it, but still being stung.
What could we do? I wondered, staring at the wolf. Finally, I decided on the best course of action.
"Run for the trees. Climb them. Then attack him!" I shouted, catching their attention. I reached the trees first, shoving Tori, Simon, and Aaron up. Chloe came a little slower and the wolf right behind her. He was just about to reach her when fury rippled over me. He would never touch Chloe.
I ran as fast as I could and tackled the wolf, ignoring his claws, which scratched me. Then two new- dead- scents entered the fray. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chloe staring in horror at us, then she snapped out of it, looking up at Tori. Tori threw something to Chloe. Chloe threw it to me and I somehow managed to catch it. The switchblade.
Without thinking twice about it, I snapped the blade open and re-entered the fight, stabbing at the wolf. When he saw the blade, the wolf jumped away, with the two dead dogs following. Giving us a glare, which looked odd on a wolf, he sprinted away. The dogs looked at Chloe, who nodded, and they slinked away. I turned around to my Pack and Aaron and barely had enough time to catch Chloe before she fainted. Her leg was bleeding from a scratch mark. Thankfully, just a scratch mark. But it was bleeding heavily. No…
A/N: I briefly considered having Derek change and then was like, nah. It wouldn't have worked. Darn. I'm looking for to him changing.
