She tossed and turned in her sleep. The ominous words repeating in her head "Who Is Your Enemy?" Flashes of faces, of things passed to quickly for her to catch. People and things she knew she should know, but as fast as they came they were gone. She was left alone in a perpetual fog yet again.
Laura nearly sat straight up when a hand touched her mouth. Awake instantly, her killing instincts in full gear. The hand leads to an arm, where she gripped and heaved over her body with surprising strength. Jake landed over the edge of the cot with a grunt. His arm-twisted in her grip. She let go quickly backing away from him. He had surprised her, and she had hurt him. After a year you'd think I'd have understood this strength, she thought to herself.
"Are you okay?" she asked in a tiny voice. It seemed so easy to shake here these days.
"Yeah," he groaned, rubbing his shoulder. "You were mumbling in your sleep, too much noise."
She blushed. She'd been talking? She wondered what she'd said but didn't dare ask at this point. Jake was still having trouble accepting his new role in life. The rage filled him almost constantly, and her inability to answer his questions had only fuelled that. He knew better than react out toward her, he had once. Within seconds he had found himself painfully pinned to the ground until the rage passed. Sometimes she was very much like a mother wolf taking care of her child, and others a lost child herself.
"What time is it?" she asked rising quietly. The amount of times they had given each other minor injuries in the last few days had made apologising pointless. She had told him that they would get used to each other, and he would get used to his new 'state'.
"Sunset." He replied rising and going to the window. "Explain to me again why were avoiding lycans and vampires."
"Why do you keep asking?" she growled joining him at the window. They were on the second floor of a cheap hotel overlooking the docks. Somehow she instinctively kept near the docks and industrial areas, as if they attracted her.
"I figure if I ask enough that foggy little mind of yours will give something up." He replied.
"I wish it would." She said softly. "All I know is what I keep telling you. Part of me says they're all enemies, and part says only some. Until we know for sure, we avoid all."
He nodded, as if the answer was acceptable. "I'm hungry...again."
She smiled. "No surprise. So far you've tracked down a lame dog in a park. How about we take the night off and go for a real challenge."
He regarded her in surprise. They had spent the last several nights watching the club. Laura was not supposed to have killed Rigel right off. Only corner him and drill the information out of him. Something inside of her had acted instead, and he was dead. So they had been watching the club and the other vampires. They had swarmed the place after that. They were not afraid to hide their presence. It looked like the mafia had taken over the place.
"What do you have in mind?"
She smiled. "My eyes keep being drawn to the woods on the south. I say we take a little visit."
He frowned, not sure what she meant totally. Was she honestly expecting him to hunt down a live meal? Somehow that was not as repulsive as he thought it should be.
Within an hour they were walking easily through the crowds towards the edge of town. As the people became scarcer, Laura became more edgy. She didn't like being out alone, it felt so exposed. The last leg of the trip, down one deserted road, they ran. Jake followed, she was the one with the paranoid ego, and he didn't see it as bad as she did. Though the scent of the trees and dew was invigorating.
She stopped not far within the lines of the trees, her breath still even. The run had not taken anything out of either of them. "Take off your coat and shirt, and your guns will be of no use. We'll hide them for the time being."
He worried about someone finding his or her things, and following. That is until she climbed a tree. She used his trench coat to tie it up into a bundle and hung it. Not that easy to find.
Climbing back down she began to change. Her lycan form was golden silver skin/fur. Startling blue eyes watched patiently as he tried, and tried. He could not change. This seemed to amuse her as she took one hard long look at him, and then took off into the woods. He was left to follow, but she had size and strength on him.
Rage seethed in his ears. She was leaving him behind. She would kill and eat without him. The idea of her taunting him made him run faster, the rage thrummed in his ears as he chased her. Her scent filled his nose easily as he roared. He could see her now; she was darting from side to side. He roared again, and then spotted it. She was zigzagging like a herder beast, chasing a deer. The stag was being lead in whatever direction she chooses.
A sudden idea hit him. His rage at her suddenly forgotten as he veered to the right. Just as he thought, she began to herd the beast his way. All he had to do was wait for it. His muscles tensed as he watched the majestic beast come his way, its nostrils were flaring with its nightly run. At the last minute he leaped out, his claws wrapped around its neck as his fangs sank into the muscled jaw. The effect was for the stag to roll forward onto him, but it wasn't enough to do more than jar him. Laura came up quickly from behind and bit at its neck, instantly killing it.
Not once did it really occur to him, that during this incident, he had changed. He had become a raging monster and killed another life. His teeth sank into the flesh as he began to eat messily, not releasing his hold on it until then. Laura ate from the flank.
It was a while before both were sated. The minute the bloodlust left him, he returned to his human form again. Covered in blood and dirt. Laura changed back, clean as a whistle. This irked him, and annoyed him further her light taunts on the matter.
"Feel better?" she asked with a friendly smile.
"Strangely, yes." He answered. Standing he looked at the dead animal. What was left of its corpse was on display for them.
"Let us leave the rest to the scavengers and find you a bath." Her words were followed with her wrapping an arm around his and leading him way.
"Explain what just happened to me?" he asked softly, letting her guide him.
"What? That I could change and you could not? Or that we both instinctively could hunt together? Or that the feeding felt so good and seemed to really help?" she replied, her voice still light.
She had found a small stream and followed it to a little river. Sitting on a log she waited for him to bath.
"All of it," he growled obediently entering the cold water. "What you can of it."
She smiled sadly and shrugged. "My guess is that its nature. We're part wolf, so hunting is part of our nature. To hold ourselves back from it would only serve to make us feel inhibited."
"Wouldn't that lead to lycans eating humans?" he asked logically washing himself fully. He didn't want o admit how good it had really felt to do what they had just done. He was a killer, and now he was a monster. And yet somehow it seemed natural.
"I don't know." She said softly, her voice somewhat sad.
He rose from the water clean, and soaking wet. He hadn't bothered to remove his pants before entering. The cold air not bothering him a bit. "Better?"
"Much." She said with a smile, rising.
He grinned wickedly as he boldly grabbed her arm and threw her in. She let out a startled scream as she hit the cold water. Coming up, she sputtered for a moment before turning a warning eye on him. "I suggest you start running."
With a mischievous laugh he took off up the nearest hill. He knew she's been right behind him. She was small but fast. He only reached the crest of the hill when she tackled him. Her small body hitting his to the ground.
Both lost their playful edge when they're eyes cast down the hill. A fire was visible, a bon fire. There were all kinds of people around it drinking and partying. If he had not known better he would have sworn it was powwow or something. Only several of the people on one end were fighting...in lycan form. It was some sort of lycan party.
Jake found himself absolutely fascinated. These creatures were upon first look completely at ease. Talking, drinking, singing, dancing. It was as if they were at one with what they were and enjoying it. Upon a second look he could spot glimpses of people hidden with heavy arms. They could afford to be jovial cause they were heavily protected.
Laura tugged at his arm. An indecisive look on her face. She wants to be there, he thought, but she scared of them at the same time. What could do this to a girl like her? "W-we should go." She whispered slowly, her voice shaking, "we should go before the see us."
With a nod he wraps a comforting arm about her and starts to walk the opposite way. She shook in his arms; the conflicting urges obviously tore at her. "What do those words mean?' she asked softly. He knew which ones. The same ones that had been haunting her since they met. "Who is your enemy?' He'd like to know that too. Who was their enemy and who hurt her enough to confuse her like this.
An idea began to form in his head. Not one he'd share, but one of his own. She could not identify why she was afraid of her own kind, but it was clear she wanted to be with them. The thoughts of a traitor getting her crossed his mind. Betrayal hurts. But would it cause you to loose your mind? It would be some time before he could act on his plan so he instead cared for his sire in her child-like moment.
They walked some while before she seemed to snap out of it. In that time he thought about it. She seemed to only really go into states like this when dealing with her own nature or her own kind. She had no troubles dealing with and killing vampires. Something terrible must have happened to her.
"I know this place." She whispered. He blinked and looked around. At first it looked like just a clearing. Then he noticed regular shapes about it. Some sort of ruins. She wandered from him in almost a daze. "Houses.... this used to be a village..." her voice seemed distant.
Jake watched her closely as she moved, walking further into the opening. She clearly was entranced; otherwise she would have never done that without looking and listening.
"A village...a home..." her voice continued as she paused and looked at what appeared to be a stump. Closer it appeared more to be a bass of a house or something. He stayed close to her as she mused. "A family.... small...just us...a ...noise...a fight..." suddenly she whimpered and jumped back, right into his arms.
"What is it?" he asked in her ear, holding her comforting.
"A fight, they were fighting...they were throwing themselves around.... towards me.... I got hit...no...bit..." she curled her body around to bury her face in his shoulder. She was remembering her change. She was remembering how she had become a lycan. He held her comfortingly. It didn't sound like pleasant experience to him. An innocent bystander getting caught up in a fight.
Suddenly as the spell had hit her, she was free of it. In a cold voice she stated, "lets leave here." Standing she started walking in a new direction, only what he could assume was Harbourview. His limited guess was that she was hiding from the memory that just came to her. Did acceptance come that fast?