Chapter Six

EVE - 2020

I sat in my car, picking absentmindedly at the shreds of airbag that littered the car. The rain was beginning to let up now, which meant that I would soon be greeted by the Quileute shifters. Not more than five minutes passed before I looked up through my windshield to find a group of young men surrounding my car. Though they were young, they had the physique of Greek statues, I was amazed at the size of some of them. Moving slowly, I rolled down my window and placed both of my hands outside of the car to show that I wasn't harbouring any weapons. Before I could speak the smallest of the group called out, "it's a leech!"

I laughed at this, but my smile dimmed as the group began to close in. "I come in peace," I called out, trying to keep a calming demeanor, but I knew they weren't interested in listening to 'leech.'

The largest of the group took a large step in my direction, his voice boomed over the sound of the rain that had finally slowed to a drizzle. "What are you doing here? This is Quileute land."

I nodded my head, "I know," I called out, making my voice heard to all of the men whowere watching me. "I came to help, I promise I mean no harm."

The larger man rolled his eyes and laughed, "we don't need, or want your help, bloodsucker." His voice was commanding, but not cruel, I took this to be a good sign.

"If you give me a moment to explain, perhaps I could change your minds?" I reached for the door handle on the outside of the car, planning on opening it in full view of everyone, so as not to spook them. However, at the first sign of movement I noticed some of the younger men beginning to shake and puff up, ready to defend their land at any cost. "Okay, okay," I said, raising my hands again. I tried to appear as nonchalant as possible, "I am going to open the door and step out, is that okay?"

The larger man motioned for me to do so slowly. I opened the door, and moved at a speed slower than a human, to get out of the car. I kept my hands visible at all times and eventually came to stand in front of them, the car door still open behind me. Again, I was motioned to take a few steps forward, drawing me away from my safe haven. I obliged as one of the younger boys slipped past me and into the driver's seat. "What happened?" He laughed picking up a few pieces of the shredded airbag.

"Long story," I shrugged, keeping my eyes on the leader of the pack. We remained silent as the boy in my car riffled through the few belongings I had in there. Mostly books on shifting, and some bagged herbs and loose crystals. "Like I said…"

I trailed off when the leader held up his hand, silencing me in a second. "What is all that stuff for?"

I cleared my throat, "Like I said…" this time my voice took on a slight defensive tone. "I am here to help. I have been studying supernatural creatures for a very long time now, I travel all over the world to offer my help. There's no cure, but I can make transitioning simpler, help to strengthen your connection even when you're not in animal form."

This drew in everyone's attention, the boy in the car spoke out again, "the book says some people can transform into different animals, think I could be dragon?"

"I'm sure it says real animals, Seth…" someone from the back chipped in.

"They were real once, right Miss?" Seth asked, looking up at me.

"I don't think so," I said, looking at the young boy with confusion. "I'm not that old."

This caused the group to laugh, the leader cleared his throat. "You can really help?" He seemed skeptical, but hopeful at the same time. I nodded and looked around at the rest of the men, the group seemed to buzz with excitement. "My name is Sam Uley, you and I can talk about this matter privately." Sam motioned for me to follow him down the road. We walked together in silence as we left the rest of pack to rifle through my things and theorize about what I could do for them.

"Why would you want to help us?" Sam finally broke the silence as we neared a beach, the sand nearly pulled us in as it was damp and recently trampled on.

I pulled my shoes off and cuffed the bottoms of my jeans before following Sam the rest of the way to an old piece of driftwood that had become a sort of makeshift bench. "Before I was turned I studied herbal healing, I helped a lot of people. I didn't do much good in the next few hundred years, I actually did a lot of bad, but I don't want to be that person anymore. I have the power to help… I want to help." Something about me must have seemed sincere enough because I watched Sam relax a little next to me.

"These boys have had their lives ripped away from them in a split second, I just want them to feel normal." He looked exhausted, I couldn't imagine taking care of that group of boys all by myself.

"Look, Sam, right?" I waited for a nod of approval before continuing on. "These boys, they will never be normal, they're not human, neither are you, nor I. I can't change that, but I can help them, and you, figure out this new normal together."

Sam nodded, "I'd like that. I hope you know what you're doing…" Sam trailed off, looking me over critically.

"Eve," I said, reaching out my hand. "You have my word that I am here to do good, I won't hunt on your land, and I won't get in the way."

Sam reached out and took my hand in his. It felt like fire, but in a good way. We shook on my promise and sat there, watching the tumultuous waves for a long while.

After some explaining Sam agreed to give me a makeshift work area in his garage, where I could set up shop and begin working with the group to help them hone in on their skills. He promised to have the shop up and running by the end of the week, I wasn't permitted to stay on the reservation when I wasn't working, so he gave me some numbers for hotels, motels, and bed-and-breakfasts that weren't too far out of the way. I walked back to my car by myself and was surprised to see that the boys had cleaned it up a little. I made a mental note to thank them later. One of the boys, Jacob, left a note on the inside promising to fix the airbag if I brought the car by his house sometime next week.

I slipped the note into the back pocket of my jeans and threw my shoes into the passenger seat. I retrieved my cell phone from the center console and noticed five new missed calls from Alice. I listened to one of her voicemails: "EVE, I swear to God if you don't answer this phone I am going to hunt you down…" I hit delete before listening to the rest.

I sent a quick text saying that I was making good on my promise to help the Quileute and that I would get back to her when I had the chance. Not two seconds after hitting send did I get another phone call, this time I answered, "Alice, how can I help you?"

The voice that answered back shocked me. I wasn't prepared to talk to him right now, I needed sometime to figure everything out, but it seemed that for once in my life, time was not something I had...