Chapter Four:

Questions

I felt extremely full as if I'd shoved 10 Thanksgiving-sized turkeys down my throat and was going to explode; it was an appealing dinner. I started to clean my blood-spattered muzzle. Miraculously, we had finished eating a full sized, bull moose in just a few hours.

I looked towards the brightening sky and groaned; it was time to face my parent's wrath. Chase looked at me and said in a sympathetic tone, that turned into a straightforward tone "Don't worry; they won't be too awful...In fact it will be like it never happened."

"That's what you think, because I'd beg to differ..." I muttered knowing all to well how they'd react as the saw me enter our vast kitchen for breakfast. They'd find out everything and wouldn't stop until it was all over. And I had no secrets left…But they couldn't know about this, they'd flip out and haul me off to an 'insane asylum' or something very similar to a 'Disturbed Teens Facility'. We then started going back towards town, with a nonchalant pace.

We reached my house at around 5:45 A.M. I only had a couple minutes until my parents would get up for coffee and begin their persistent and unrelenting inquiry. I wasn't ready for that just yet; not as a wolf, realistically, they'd probably start shooting at me cause of what I'd look like to them…a vicious and bloodthirsty creature.

Chase seemed to hear my thoughts and let a trace of humor color his tone, "I don't believe that's what they' d think of you…Sorry… you were thinking aloud, and I couldn't help myself to reply to your thoughts." He gave a little ashamed smirk as he finished. "It won't be too hard, changing back; I mean it wasn't exactly easy for me at first because I didn't know what to do… You kind of have to picture yourself as a human and calm down, taking deep breaths as you do… Oh and if you're feeling brave, look at yourself in the mirror as you change back. The good thing is that it won't hurt anymore when you change into a wolf, unless you have an allergy to silver on that is." He laughed a barking laugh which sounded strange, but curiously familiar.

"Alright, so I just have to picture myself as a human?" He nodded.

"Oh, before I forget…I got you something, it'll help you calm down." He handed me a small decorated leather case containing an intricate and fairly elaborate Celtic Knot necklace.

"Thank you, for both of them! They're very beautiful" I thanked him generously. He nodded once more and launched himself out of sight.

I placed the necklace around my neck and climbed back through my still-open window. I walked to my mirror; I looked at my wolf-like reflection curiously and subconsciously thought about watching myself change back into my normal human self. As I did my features became distorted and shifted back into a more human face. I heard my mom call my name from downstairs.

Breathlessly I called back, "I'll be right down!" As I rushed down to meet my parents.

I practically flew down the stairs and ran into our much abused, medium sized dining room table, we'd gotten 4 years after I was born; I side-stepped around it hurriedly in order to get to the cupboard. I automatically reached up and grabbed a bowl as if I was going to eat cereal, but stopped, realizing my stomach was still full from my previous meal; I hastily put the bowl back in its cupboard.

"Not hungry?" my dad asked in a relaxed voice. I shook my head and replied in a nonchalant attitude, "I'm just…not in the mood to eat." I wondered why they weren't already quizzing me about last night's little unpleasant event of my parents knowing that Chase walked me home.

My mother came around the corner with an oddly calm smile on her face… but in her hand was her 'pink cherry blossoms' themed cup of coffee. Her short strawberry-blonde hair was curled and was pinned up in the front with bobby-pins.

"I'm going to get ready…I need to talk to Candace about something, It's kind of nerve-racking, not knowing the answer." I said worriedly.

"What is it?" my dad asked, seeming all too curious.

"Nothing really…I just wanted to see how the dance-thing went with Angel."

My parents' eyes narrowed as I said Angel's name. They really didn't like Angel, but I never could completely understand why, except from the obvious…He was tall, had long, very Dark brown (nearly black) hair, he was completely free of parents and had a very open-minded attitude about the world in short… He was the exact opposite of what my parents would deem to be a perfect guy.

As I walked to my room I thought about what I would do. Chase'd said a few times (declared really), that they were vampires…but I felt that it didn't quite fit…

One, they both loved to be out in the warm sun. Two they both wore silver rings and crosses. Thirdly they absolutely love garlic! How odd…

I chewed over what I'd say, how I'd start, and how I would tell Candace how I found out. I decided to call her. Couldn't reach her but asked her to meet me by the old elm-tree at the park when she got the message, because it was urgent. It seemed to me that werewolves and vampires were mortal enemies. The way Chase had depicted the vampires, as blood-thirsty, vicious, and uncontrollable…It seemed that he absolutely despised them for being what they were, but I didn't want that to happen between me and Candace; we were like sisters in a way.

I started coming out my unruly hair. Exasperated, I irritably pulled my hair into a simple pony-tail. I put the brush away in its drawer and grabbed my toothbrush from the cup behind the bathroom sink. I brushed my teeth in a hasty manner. When I finally spat for the last time and rinsed my toothbrush, I noticed my eyes. They were a triadic combination of silvery blue and steel-grey on the outer edges of the Iris, and emerald green near my pupil.

I stared at the odd colorations and noticed something new in my left eye. As I got closer, the shape became more pronounced…It was a black crescent moon, facing towards my other eye, and with a similar black star in the open area on its right.

I turned away, as I placed the toothbrush back into the cup, and I pawed through my wardrobe, looking for my blue sweater. Once I found it, I threw that on with some dark navy jeans; rushing so I could be at the park before Candace.

I rushed past my talking parents in order to skip their impending questionnaire… I hoped Candace would get my message and I would hopefully beat her there.

I pushed our heavy door and its thin screen door out of my way. The sun was bright, it temporarily impaired my eyes for a moment; but they kept on stinging as If I got something in them. Squinting against the harsh glare, I began a brisk jog to the same park I was at yesterday evening. I passed the familiar neighborhood houses, and began to wonder to myself. "I wonder which house Chase lives in…from last night it sounded like he lived really close to me." Shrugging it off, I picked up my pace.

***********

I finally reached the park, hopefully beating Candace…But luck was against me, she was there. I paused. And worse yet, Angel was there as well…but I knew had a small feeling in the back of my mind that he would be there.

I regained consciousness of my limbs and strode over to them. They arose from the ground and walked cautiously towards me. I noticed a worried look in Candace's eye…I wonder if it was my expression.

I tried to smile in a friendly way but it probably looked like a grimace. "Hey Candace! How are you?" I called as we got close.

She smiled and called back "Hey Selena! I've been pretty good…How 'bout you?" her tone was light but I knew it well enough to hear the wary edge to it.

I shrugged, "Okay I guess… Here let's sit down in the shade; it's pretty hot in the sun." I didn't want to mention how the sun was irritating my eyes near to the point of pain. They sat down in perfect synchronization as if it'd been choreographed at least 50 times. Angel closed his eyes as I began Candace and my conversation, which is what he normally does when we start talking.

"So…how was the dance last night? I'm glad we have till Thursday off for PTC and Teacher Work Day… aren't you?" I asked enthusiastically.

She nodded, "Heck yeah! It's awesome that we don't have school…" she trailed off in harmony to my question. I noticed that she didn't answer my first question, as if she was hoping to skip the conversation. "So what did you do last night? Tear apart another cheerleader? " She tried to divert the question to me.

"Not much…I just kind of walked around last night."

"Like you normally do..." She added with a small giggle, "You know you really should stay in at night…If your parents found out, you'd be under house-arrest!"

I laughed with her. It would be just like my parents to put one of those ankle bracelets on me just to make sure I couldn't leave even if I tried. I heard a rustling in the branches above us.

I looked up and saw Chase balanced on a fairly thin branch (about the size of an adult human's wrist…whoa--that was weird-- now I'm speaking differently). He was staring at me with an anxious look and horrified eyes.

I look at Candace and happened to notice that Angel's eyes are open and glaring at Chase's general direction. I turned away from Angel, and called out to Chase.

"Hey Chase…What are you doing here? Here come down for a minute; I want you to meet my friends." I cautioned him with my eyes as I said this. But a small voice in my head was demanding 'what if this turns into a fight? Who will you fight with or against? Chase: the one who saved your life? Candace and Angel: your best-friends who stood up for you when you couldn't for yourself?'

His eyes flickered to my sitting friends and back to me. He nodded and jumped down from the limb gracefully; landing at my side nearly inaudibly.

"Candace…Angel, This is Chase, he's a friend I met the other day." I introduced them, hoping to cool the sudden hostility that had presented itself. Candace looked at Angel and they shared a brief look, as if speaking an unspoken conversation.

"N-Nice to meet you…" Candace said; completely confused and trying to be sincere.

Chase nodded, "Same to you." After he finished, his eyes locked with Angel's.

"Hey…Can I talk to you?" I asked Candace, "It's important that we both need to know." She nodded, standing up as I did.

We walked over to the shaded and fairly small bubbling stream about six meters away. We walked in silence along its shallow banks. I took a deep breath, wondering how to begin this conversation.

"Hey so how was the dance? You never really said anything about it…" I began. She shrugged nonchalantly.

"We didn't really dance…Angel got pretty sick so we left, then I kind of got a little under the weather as well myself afterwards." She said peacefully.

"Oohhh…that's too bad! That must have been terrible." I added with liberal empathy. She just nodded with a slight grimace on her face.

"So what happened to you last night? You said you met this 'Chase' guy the other day? How did you meet?"

"Long story…" I trailed off. I progressed to tell her how I'd gone to this very park yesterday to relax for a while. I told her how I saw the storm coming and decided to get home…but found out I was being followed by some of the football players then cornered me in the barren, enclosed alley.

Candace sucked in a deep breath of horror as I told her my thoughts of being in that alleyway…How I didn't think I was going to live through it; there'd be no possible way to escape. I told how two had restrained me and I had kicked one and pretty much strangled the other to get him to let go of my arm… I didn't feel the need to tell her about the eyes…I think it would've freaked her out.

I paused, "Then Chase came out of nowhere, and he seemed to appear out of thin air. He took out the other four as they'd rushed at me with bars and a chain…It was freaky."

"I'll bet!" Candace exclaimed in shock, "What happened next?"

I hesitated, not wanting to go through the whole 'werewolf and vampires are real' conversation so I said, "He walked me home but my parent's saw him."

"Ohh, well that's nice, but jeesh…did they freak?"

"Not as bad as I thought they would… Chase smoothed things over before it got heated."

Candace nodded in approval, "Hey, they still let you out though. They must like him."

"Probably. But my dad looked like he didn't though."

I did not feel ready to ask this, but we were alone and I wouldn't have another chance like this again.

"Hey Candace…I have a question only you can answer…would you be honest with me when I ask you?"

She seemed to shift uneasily as if in eagerness to answer my question. "Yeah…anything!"

"Okay…what would you do if you heard your friend was a vampire or a werewolf, and just found out just recently?"

"Uh-oh…Let me guess… you've been reading the Twilight series again haven't you?" She teased.

I blushed, "That's beside the point… so what would you do?"

"Me? Well, I'd ask first, and then if I'm right or wrong, I'll tell them why or where I got the idea or I thought that." I murmured, "Oh…"

"Are you trying to say something Selena?" A teasing edge entering her voice.

"Kind of…but I think you're going to laugh."

"I won't laugh!" She promised earnestly.

"Okay, here it goes," I took a deep breath. "When Chase was walking me home, he said some things…"

"Like what?" Candace pressed.

I took another deep breath, "He said that you and Angel were…vampires." Her face seemed to turn pale as I said this, all the blood rushed out of her face…

"It doesn't fit, I told him that I knew you both very well and I know if you were vampires…He didn't believe me."

She bit her lip in hesitation, looking back towards our sitting friends. I recognized the look in her eyes as she looked back at me.

"It doesn't matter what Angel thinks…you can tell me." I said understandingly, an impatient voice in my head was making me annoyed; the fact is that she would stop in reaction to Angel, in order to tell me the truth.

"Umm… Once I tell you this will promise me that it won't change anything between us…as friends, I mean." Candace said nervously.

"Of Course… I'll promise anything." I promised, all too eager to hear what she would say next. She took a few deep breaths, and continued in a small voice, "Your friend…he was…right about us. I could not, tell you because, I thought you wouldn't want to be around me or think I'm a freak or something like that." She frowned and hung her head as if she was embarrassed.

"I would never think that… besides you were here for me when I was labeled as a 'freak' and all those vindictive words those other people had called me." I stated in a composed voice. "And I have something to tell you…I, well…I'm a werewolf."

Her eyes widened, "So that's why Angel didn't want me to come…" She muttered to herself, and asked much louder, "Is Chase a…a werewolf too?"

I nodded, "Yeah he actually helped me out last night…When I changed…I guess."

"Wow."

"I know…" I replied. "Let's get back to them before something happens. I feel there's something going to go wrong…but I'm not sure."

We walked back a bit faster than we had before; reaching them much quicker than necessary. They were still seated in the same position we had left them in.

Their heads turned away from each other, towards us as we approached.

"When we were talking… we both found out about each other… and they already know so it's all right." Candace told Angel soothingly.

"Now that it's all settled; lets relax for a bit." I said serenely.

We sat in the shade of our Elm, Chase never leaving my side and Angel never leaving Candace's. We sat in a half-circle, Candace and me together since Angel and Chase were still too wary of each other to be next to one another.

I heard a familiar noise, an old truck ambling along the street and to a stop. I could hear the trucks door open and shut as a voice called my name.

I turned and saw my dad, who looked really pissed about something, that probably wasn't my fault, but I got up anyways. I said in an exasperated tone, "Great… see you guys later then." My eyes lingered on Candace then finally Chase's tense figure as I dolefully strode back to my dad. I got in his old beat up Chevy truck, hoping for his lecture to be over very soon.

We drove by our familiar neighborhood and pulled into our drive…This wasn't going to go well at all I could tell.

I got out and went inside…hopefully to my room but my mom was waiting for me in the living room, just to make sure I wouldn't lock myself in my room I bet.

"Sit down over here…We need to talk." She said in a dictatorial attitude. I complied, not wanting to set her off. My dad sat in the loveseat across from me, my mother stayed standing.

"Where did you go last night? When we went to check on you…you weren't there! Were you with that 'Chase Evans' boy?" My mother demanded.

"If you don't tell us you will be grounded for the rest of the year." My father added in severe agreement.

"I just went out on a walk...to the park. But I was alone." I lied effortlessly, but my parents eyes seemed to tighten when I added the last part..

"I don't believe you." A spiteful voice said. I turned to see my twelve-year-old sister who thinks she's-all-that and is oh-so-popular. Because she has never had to work for anything in her life because my parents spoil her since she's the baby of the family and is popular at school, unlike me.

"Why not? It's the Truth." I said aggressively and irritably... It was true, in a sense; it may not have been true about last night though…

My parents shared the brief look that I knew well. It was when they believed my 'perfect' sister, their real daughter, was always right, while I never was. As if she was unable to do any wrong. I knew what was about to come…and I was not going to like it, one bit.

"You know what I'm sick and tired of you making my life a living nightmare! You don't know anything about me so don't say you do…you'll only be lying to yourself. And don't think about rebuking me… She knows exactly what I'm talking about, the lies, the many times she made me cover for her, and yet she still spits in my face " I furiously spat at them.

I could feel the anger engulfing me like fire. I had an errant thought, to make them feel the absolute hatred and rage like a raging inferno. The same feeling that I felt all too often, that I had tried to contain for a dreadfully long time… but this time, I couldn't restrain it any longer. It burned like having someone holding your bare hand in an open flame, holding it there, and you're never going to be able to take it out again.

Their faces were the same…masks of horror they opened their mouths' as if to speak, but instead screamed in horror and trepidation. I looked at them, confused… I stepped toward them, trying to understand what's with them.

I kept moving forward until my 'sister' shrieked, "Stay away from us, Freak!" I paused at her lashing words—glaring at her with loathing eyes and a murderous glower. Unthinkingly I growled at her and slowly curled my lips from my partially-exposed teeth in a threatening snarl.

A small voice in my head kept shrieking at me, "Stop! Stop! Stop! Think about this!" I minutely listened to the voice and raised my left hand to rub my forehead. I just about screamed myself; the entire arm was covered in vibrant blue, glowing flames.

I tried to shake it off, panicked I looked at my adopted family for an idea—but to my absolute dismay I saw my 'parents' grab Angelina and bolt to the front-door. Panic quickly became overcome by hurt and the sudden realization of the obvious truth…That I was not a daughter to them… they'd rather save themselves and let me burn alive.

That was then I decided that it was too much to bear—if it was going to end like this…they're going down with me; It seemed to me that since they had 'lived like saints', the sacrifice of my life was nothing to them.

I noticed that the fire began to spread quickly throughout the house—surrounding us on the walls and part of the floor. My 'Dad' grabbed the doorknob only to release it just as quickly, howling in pain. They turned back looking for an escape route, but only found me with a flame-covered body, which seemed not to burn like the furniture around me. Panicked they each began to scream in pure fear. It was only seconds until the flames cut off my view from my flighty adoptee family. Their screams soon died down with my sight.

I began to feel light headed as the fire raged on; I couldn't control the overwhelming blackness that crept over me as I fell to the floor. The smell of smoke was beginning to kill my eyes, and was making breathing hard…I could tell that I was going down with the mutinous people that for many years I had called my family. I only had one wish…that if I were to die…let it be when I'm unconscious or asleep. I could feel myself slipping into nothingness as my home fell into ruins around me. I heard a faint yet familiar voice call my name—I don't remember who it was…but I became vaguely aware of someone pulling at my arms and dragging me across the floor.