Hello again, sorry for the delay posting, family and home life got a bit hectic there for a while!

Chapter 14
-oOo-

Years before, Joel had built himself a shelter in the forest using sturdy tree branches to form the structure then covering and disguising it using what he cut or foraged or cut. Over the years Joel had maintained that original shelter, encouraging the forest flora to grow up, around and over it until it was so well protected that the inside remained virtually dry in all but exceptionally severe and lengthy rainfall, and hiding it so well it was virtually impossible to spot even when walking directly past it's location. Come the nights of a full moon he, and eventually he and Hope, came to the shelter before dusk. Once there, with their backs to one another they both shed their clothes and would then sit, patiently waiting for the night and the full moon to bring about the change in them. There had been very few times that a full moon was due but the shelter remained unused.

Joel raised his hand to knock on Hope's room door, at the same time the door swung open and Hope stalked past him, leaving Joel having to talk to her retreating back.
"Hope, I'm asking you one last time..."
"NO!"
She kept on walking, strutting actually, through the house, out the front door and was stood by Joel's less than pristine car with an impatient scowl on her face for some time before Joel himself finally left the house and unlocked the car doors.

As ever, the drive to their normal parking spot, off road and out of sight, was conducted in silence. On foot, Hope remained in front of Joel throughout their hike to the shelter. Once at the shelter however, she stood to one side, letting Joel enter first. After she had waited a while, Joel reappeared with one hand fisted. He threw whatever he held away from the area of the shelter.
"It's clear."
Hope was a werewolf, but she spent the majority of the time as a teenage human and, as such, Hope hated spiders that were over an inch long. It was routine for Joel to have to check the inside of the shelter and clear out any obvious spiders before Hope would set foot inside. She acknowledged his action with a single nod and entered the rough shelter.

As thickly overgrown as the shelter was, very little light made it through to the inside. The inner area itself contained one lidded chest made of wood that sat centrally against the back wall. There were no other furnishings and the flooring was bare earth. The space certainly wasn't set up to live out of. Opening the chest, Hope grabbed the few items she wanted. Moving to one end of the space, she placed a small rug on the floor. Next to it she dropped an old wool blanket, a bottle of water and a small, plain, empty plastic container. Joel also pulled a blanket out from the box before going to the opposite end of the shelter from Hope. As was their routine, Joel and Hope turned their backs to one another and removed their clothing, including shoes, each then wrapped their blanket around themselves. Their human clothing was then folded neatly and put inside the chest. That done, Hope sat herself down on her rug and began removing the jewellery she was wearing. Everything, her earrings, her two finger rings and a wrist bracelet were dropped into the plastic container for safekeeping. The only thing she didn't remove was her moonstone pendant. Neither she nor Joel would ever willingly take those off, they represented who, and what, they were. Hope drank some of her water then, leaning her back up against the side wall of the shelter, she settled in to wait. Across from her, blending into the shadowed dark, Joel mirrored her position.

Whether it was to distract herself from her anxiety and dread regarding the coming nightmare process of transformation Hope didn't know but, during these periods of waiting she would respond to Joel, one way or another, if he spoke to her; though she herself never instigated any conversation. Knowing this, Joel gazed at the dark wall and at the even darker patch that was the still figure of Hope.
"Hope?...Just how long are you planning on continuing to hate me?"
It wasn't a question her uncle had ever asked before. Surprised by it, Hope gave his query some genuine thought, before answering him in a voice that was flat and emotionless.
"My guess? Until I feel nothing for you at all."

Joel was glad of the darkness inside the shelter, it meant Hope couldn't see just how badly her words had hurt him, she couldn't see the damn tears of sadness and regret that, unwanted, filled his eyes. Silence again descended while Joel took the time to gather himself, before whispering back into the dark;
"I'm sorry."

Sam watched with resignation while Dean paused to pat the Impala's roof affectionately.
"We'll see you later baby. Behave yourself while we're gone, you hear me?"
"Dean, really?"
"You know she listens dude, you just won't admit it...After you, Map Man."
Having already identified a camping spot and hurriedly put up their tent, it wasn't hard for Sam to re-locate it, which was just as well.

The rain began as a barely there spit-spot of a shower, but it soon decided to make it's presence known, becoming heavier and heavier to the point at which the idea of making a small fire turned to nothing but a happy little dream. The Hunters quickly took refuge inside the small tent. Dean gazed out unhappily while the teaming rain soaked the forest, forming impromptu pools and puddles in patches where the ground was bare and uneven. Unscrewing the vacuum flask and pouring himself a coffee, Sam tried cheering his increasingly sour faced older brother up.
"All this rain could be helpful. I mean, anythin' wanderin' round is gonna leave tracks in the mud, it could make huntin' this thing easier...Hey! We might even get back to the hotel before daybreak, job done!"
Taking Sam's coffee from him, Dean scowled.
"In this rain any tracks're gonna fill up with water, so I'm not seein' much benefit there."
Retrieving his coffee back off Dean, Sam smiled.
"How about this then? I figure we'll catch it's scent waaay before it scents us. I mean...Wet dog stinks bad enough, so imagine what wet werewolf 's gonna smell like!"
Glaring at his smiling brother, Dean reached for the vacuum flask.
"Who went an' voted you in as Captain Cheery?"

Joel tilted his head left then right, trying to ease a repeating short, sharp pain that had begun in his neck.
"Hope?"
"I know."

Hope was also feeling the intermittent stabbing pain at the back of her neck; the familiar signal that forewarned Hope that her body was getting set to transform. She instigated the breathing techniques that Joel had taught her, using them to calm her own instinctive fear response toward the pain that was to come. At the same time, she began to work on stretching and relaxing her muscles. The exercises didn't stop the agony of her physical change, but they did seem to help ease the onset a little and Hope was grateful for whatever minuscule amount of relief she could get. A low, drawn out groan from the opposite end of the shelter told her that Joel's total transformation had started.

Panic made Hope's heart begin to race and, not for the first time, she wished she could just reach inside and rip the monster out of herself; wished she could do anything to stop what she was about to go through. Instead she drew one long breath and held it. Closing her eyes, she braced herself.
"Here we go..."

Crawling out of the tent after the relatively short downpour, Dean stood upright and stretched the kinks out of his back before turning the collar of his jacket up against what was now light but persistent rain. He gazed up at the night sky. There was no sign of either stars or moon, the sky above being covered by thick clouds. Dean smiled to himself. In horror films, if the moon was hidden behind clouds, then the werewolf would return to, or stay in, it's human guise. Dean loved the image of some poor werewolf guy strolling along on a night when the sky was full of patchy clouds so the full moon was constantly being covered, uncovered, covered, uncovered...

Every Hunter knew the truth; that it really didn't matter if the whole sky was a blanket of thick cloud and fog. High above it all, a full moon was still a full moon. The tides continued turning, and so did werewolves.

-oOo-
Chick xxxx
Till next time :)