Chapter 11

Skai sat on the couch eating chicken noodles. Every few minutes she'd pick up the remote and flip the channel on the television. She sat cross legged, contentedly slurping up her food when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," she said through her slurps. The door opened. Jason came walking into the living room. "Hey," Skai slurped up more noodles. Jason laughed. "What's so funny?" she snapped.

"Nothing. You just…you look weird like that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's a cute weird though," he said gently. She blushed and continued eating her noodles and flipping the TV channel. "Do you wanna go for a walk?"

Skai looked at him. "What?"

"Do you want to go for a walk?" he repeated slowly.

"Sure. Just let me finish my noodles and get my jacket."

Minutes later, the headed out, Skai making sure to pick up a heavier jacket than the one she had worn while walking with Eric.

October winds weren't too bad outside. In fact, considering how far north they were it was rather warm for October. Skai broke the silence with a question. "Why'd you wanna go for a walk?"

"Oh, just to talk."

She had an off feeling that there was something specific he wanted to talk about.

"Talk? I thought you said I talk too much," she grinned at him.

"Only sometimes," he replied softly. "Skai, look. I wanna tell you something." He stopped walking.

"Yeah?" She looked somewhat worried.

"Uh…" he tried to find where to start. "Here, sit down." She sat on a nearby bench. "Skai, you know how I growl under my breath sometimes? Or how I never leave the house on a full moon?"

She nodded.

"Do you know why?"

She shook her head this time, looking up at him with the most wide, innocent, and curious eyes that she could manage. "No," she said quietly.

Jason turned away from her. His fists clenched.

"It's because…I'm," he sighed and finished very quietly without facing her. "A wolf."

Skai watched him, confused. A wolf? Obviously he's joking. He's a human, not a wolf.

"A wolf?" she asked, innocent and confused. "How can you be a wolf? You're perfectly human."

He still didn't face her. "Werewolf."

"No you're not! Stop kidding!"

"No! I am, really! Have you ever once seen me under a full moon's light? No. I did my best to avoid that." He's spun around to face her. He looked angry. It almost scared her. He opened his mouth. "Skai, look at me. Look at my teeth." She looked, and gasped. His teeth were pointed and razor sharp. She noticed his nails doing the same thing. "It's true. That's one of the reason's we've been trying to protect you."

Skai was more than scared now. She was terrified. Who was this? Why did he look like Jason? It wasn't Jason though. She had never met this person, no. She had never met this creature before.

"Skai?" he asked. She took a deep breath.

"Explain, please. How are you a…wolf? What are you protecting me from?"

He sat down beside her.

"I was born one. Mum's the wolf in the family. And I'm supposed to protect you from anything you can't protect yourself from."

Skai stared blankly.

"Why me?" she asked. "Why is it so important to protect me?"

"You have mixed blood. You can be bitten by a wolf or a vampire and live, while retaining the powers of both."

"Vampire?"

"Yes. There are vampires around here. Eric, for instance."

Her breath caught in her throat. Her whole body went numb. Her heart dropped to her stomach.

"Eric?" her voice sounded hoarse. Jason nodded solemnly.

"I'm sorry but I had to tell you. Eric knows about your blood. If he bit you…you'd change and be just like him, except stronger."

"And Matt?"

He nodded again. "We're brothers."

She couldn't breathe. She felt dizzy. All this was like some story she read. Her breathing became heavy. Then without warning, everything went black.

She woke up a few hours later. She was in her room and the lights were off. How'd I end up back here? She thought. Where's Jase? Jase!! The whole conversation came back to her in a flash.

"Are you okay?" a familiar voice cut through the darkness.

She looked up, scanned the blackness of her room. Finally she spotted a pale figure in the moonlight. Her eyes focused in on it. Eric.

"Skai, are you okay?" he repeated soothingly. She nodded. In the moonlight he looked paler than usual. Almost ghostly. She remembered what Jason had said about him earlier.

"He's a vampire. He knows about your blood. If he bit you…you'd change and be like him…" His voice echoed through her mind as if he had just said it. He was crazy, surely he was. Werewolves and vampires? What is this, some bad horror movie? Maybe he was joking. Halloween spirit or something like that. It wasn't exactly funny…

She snapped out of her reverie. She looked around her room for Eric's pale moonlit figure. He was gone.

"Eric?" she called quietly. "Are you there?" No response.

It was a dream. She told herself. I was just sleeping. Still…I've never had that talk with Jason…and Eric. Eric was never here. She settled her mind on that, then glanced at the clock. 12:02. She woke up in the middle of the night….from a nightmare? Definitely a nightmare, it was too scary to accept as reality. Skai lay back in bed and tried to sleep. It wouldn't come. She groaned and rolled over, staring at the clock, she thought it al through again.

It was a dream. Jason. Eric. And that stupid talk. All just figments of my imagination. Why did it sound like such a lie? It wasn't! It had been a dream! She tried to think reasonably. That would explain a lot though, she thought. Why he's never here during a full moon or why Eric was so pale and seemed older than he looked. That would explain Jason growling a lot. WHAT am I thinking? That's crazy!

Skai rolled over and threw her head into the pillow. Jason has to prove it, she decided. Proof. What was proof? Fur, claws, a howl, anything. No offense to him, but this was just a bit difficult to believe. Closing her eyes she fell asleep.