3 – What do you want

A few days passed – (Set S1EP5 Bitten)

Elena:

Not only have we now lost a close friend but we're being pestered and accused of doing something to this guys friend, whom I think was called Michael.

We had enough on our plates with dealing with the mutt problem and now some guy goes missing on the property. Not only that but Jeffrey is sending us out to help the soon to be arriving search party to help look for him.

I guess it's so we can hide any dead bodies if they show up, or keep any mutts off all the potential victims that'll be wandering the woods.

We'd barely finished our morning when all the cars started pulling into our driveway. I followed Jeffrey outside, alongside Clay and Nick. But the moment I stepped out the door an all too familiar scent burnt my nostrils.

This damn cologne is driving me insane, who the hell is this wolf and what do they want. But it seemed different this time, closer...like they were amongst the crowd, but I sure as hell didn't see any wolf and evidently no one else did, else they'd be a lot more screaming.

I tapped Jeffrey on the arm to let him know I was going, and I wandered off in the crowd, following the odd trail to find where this scent was coming from.

After shuffling through people's groups and what felt like circles, I came to a halt. Whoever was behind this scent was way too smart to be any old mutt. They wore thick cologne to mask their natural scent and wander around in circles, mixing their scent on others to confuse trackers.

I look around, my heart sank a little as I pondered what to do. Then I noticed a young man, stood by himself, his hand in his pockets. A loose thin scarf hung around his neck, seeming to match his denim jacket, cargo pants and leather high-tops. His curly brown hair reminded me of the wolf's fur colour, and fur style.

His attention turned to me and he smirked before looking away. I made my way cautiously over to him.

"Visit here often?" I ask casually to the boy, and pouts before looking at me with a smirk along my face.

"What, I'm not allowed to help look for a missing person?" He replied, his eyes watching the other civilians preparing themselves.

"That's not what I meant. I know your scent."

"Ah, yes, it's quite repugnant isn't it."

"What do you want?" I say, looking at him, but he seemed to out right refuse to look at me. "Why are you here?"

"To look for someone."

"I mean aside from this little scout, before you were here. Why?"

"To look for someone." He repeated, slower this time, and as he said it he stared into my eyes and I felt my limbs tense up. He moved away to join the others who had started to move out on the sheriff's word.

I sighed, wandering back over to Nick who became my 'neighbour' on this search party, along with Michael's annoying friend who seemed to be suspicious of me. But what worried me was that this wolf was on the other side of him, though he didn't seem remotely interested in anything.

Some time later

We'd been traipsing the woods for a fair while, with no real signs of anything. But I could smell the faint scent of blood and rotting flesh up ahead on our path. I'd barely met the guy but I recognised his...unpleasant smell, made worse but his now deceased body.

"You smell that? It's Braxton. He's dead." I whisper to Nick, who was only a few paces behind.

"You sure?" He whispered back to me, and I managed to resist the urge to nod in response.

"Positive." I force myself to say, the stench growing stronger, suddenly I was missing the burning sensation of Mr, Fashion two spaces over. "He's up ahead on our path. We have to throw a wrench in this or we're done." I add, trying to think of something to distract everyone from the path.

"You know, if this is a private conversation, mind talking a bit quieter." A familiar voice whispered down my ear, my head flicked to my right and saw scarf boy smirking at me, giving me a sly wink.

"How the hell can you hear?" I hiss back, and he responds with a raise of his eyebrows.

"Might want to work quick, the dead bodies getting close."

"Why don't you stay out of this?"

"I want to play nice. Someone told me it'd be more hassle to wander around you property as enemies, so I thought I'd try calling a truce."

"I don't feel like calling a truce with you. I don't know you, and you don't exactly make great first impressions."

"Can't we at least talk about this properly?"

"No, so if you don't mind, butt out."

"What if I help you, right now. Will you talk the truce then?"

"Well what's your ingenious plan, enlighten me?" I snarl, smirking back, hoping that he would be silent and allow me to think of plan before we reach the body only a few bushes away now.

"Simple..." He replies, and just as I was about to roll my eyes at him he added, "Poisonousness spores."

Before I can even consider processing that he suddenly collapsed to the ground, coughing and gasping for air. Others around him stopped and made their way over to him.

I looked around at the crowd gathering and turned to Nick who was waiting patiently and calmly behind me.

"Get the body out of here, I'll meet you back at the house." I whisper, and with a nod Nick scurries off ahead to shift the body. I go to join the crowd of people, by the time I'd made my way to the front the sheriff was already at his side.

"What happened? What's wrong?" She questioned, looking to me for answers.

"We have some exotic plants that can release some nasty spores into the air." I lie, using this guy's cover story, hoping it will work.

"I don't see any..."

"They're very small...like small. Very hard to see, nothing to panic about, it's like chicken pocks, affects you once then not again." My fake smile, seeming to calm the sheriff slightly.

"Where'd your friend go, the other one?" Braxton's friend hissed at me, as he looked around for Nick.

"I sent him back to the house to prepare some medicine, we have just the right herbal remedy to fix him right up. Let's get him back, so he can have some." I say, helping the surprisingly light boy to his feet, and guiding him through the crowd.

I have to say, the constant coughing down my neck, although fake, still very irritating and slightly discomforting.

"But what about Braxton?" Shouted his friend, yet again, causing a bigger scene than he needed to.

"We'll continue the search another day...or maybe I'll just do it by the book next time. Everyone, back to your cars." The sheriff instructs, everyone simply left in silence apart from the odd conversation between friends.

I manage to the boy back to the house, and take him inside after exchanging a few comforting words with the sheriff in order to get her to leave.

I close the front door and immediately I have Clay and Jeffrey in my face, staring at the stranger who was standing in front of them. Antonio also wandered into the room, looking at everyone.

"Where's Nick?" He asked, his voice slightly shaky.

"He's moving the body. Braxton's dead. This guy helped us deal with the situation." I reply, and I see Clay glaring at him, Jeffrey glaring at me.

"Elena, this place is..."

"He's the wolf that's been lurking around for the past few weeks. He wants to call a truce with us, that's why he helped us today."

"A truce?" Jeffrey queries, looking to the boy.

"Yes, I want to search freely wherever, without the fear of getting attacked by another wolf."

"Oh, well we're in the middle of something else, so could this maybe wait."

"Sure, I've got all the time in the world..." He smirked, giving off a slight vibe of sarcasm.

"Elena would you mind taking him up to one of the guest rooms to wait?"

"Alright." I reply, making my way towards the stairs, checking to see if the boy was following me.

"Elena, nice name." He says as we reach the second floor. I try to ignore him, I really didn't fancy a conversation with this guy right now. I take him to the closest guest room, I open the door and he wanders in a look around, picking up a few items and then putting them down before sitting on the end of the bed.

"I'll come back up to fetch you when we've taken care of business down here." I say, and he raises his eyebrows in response, his eyes flicking for the floor to the walls and eventually to me as I begin to close the door.

Just as it's about to click close, I push it open again and pause, both of us just staring at each other.

"Um..." I begin, looking at the ground for a few seconds before looking back to the boy. "What's you name?"

"I was wondering when you'd ask." He joked, biting the insides of his lips, before saying, "Isaac. My name is Isaac."

"Isaac." I say, nodding, and slowly closing the door. A smile runs across my face as I sarcastically whisper, "nice name." before the door clicked closed, and I made my way downstairs.