Chapter Eight

Natalie made her way down to the rec hall as she searched for Rex. She could hear a lot of voices as she came to the doorway. Rex was sitting on a couch with his arm around Gigi and she stopped before entering the room. Rex was really happy there, she couldn't remember the last time she had seen him this way. How could she take this from him? Would she even be able to? She stood unnoticed at the door as she peered inside..

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you" she heard Johns voice and she spun around quick.."you pissed off a lot of people today, including your brother" he said coldly..

Natalie wanted to interject with something but the only thing on her mind at that moment was the image in her head of him.."Your a vampire" she blurted out and he looked a bit shocked.."I saw your fangs"

"i don't care what you think you saw, your obviously distressed" he said quickly. He had forgotten that she had seen him in his natural form. It wasn't a thing he let many people know about, besides Bo, Steele and Vange, no one knew who he really was and he liked it that way..

"i know what I saw, you had fangs" she said again.."what is like a secret or something" she said sarcastically and he shook his head.."it is, isn't it?" she said somewhat in shock now that he was hiding his true form from everyone..

"apparently you have too much time on your hands" he said quickly.."get your stuff together were leaving" he said as he turned from her..

"My stuff? What do you mean, where are we going?" she said as she ran up to him..

"don't worry about that, just be ready in five minutes" he said quickly as he kept walking..

"what are you gonna do drop me off in the woods like a dog or something" she said as she put her hands on her hips.

"Now thats an option" he said as he kept walking and she stood there for another moment. She glanced back at the door where Rex was and she sighed as she quickly walked towards the front door..

Cris was coming down the hall as she walked and he came over to her.."are you ok?" he asked with concern..

"i didn't mean for Ariana to get hurt" she said honestly..

"why would you take off like that" he asked with worry in his voice..Before she could answer him John got to the door..

"Lets go, come on" he barked at her..

"where are you going with him" Cris asked as he looked at her..

"I'll... I'll explain later" she said as she turned from him and headed to the door as John walked to the SUV."where are we going" she said as she neared the vehicle..

"just get inside" he snapped as he jumped in the truck and she huffed as she to got inside..he revved the engine as she looked at him..

"I know what you are" she said as he looked at her..

"You know nothing" he said and then he peeled out of there in a hurry..

Natalie sat in silence for a few minutes as he drove but the suspense was literally eating at her.."so are you going to tell me where we are going or not" she finally said as he looked at her now..

"a hunt" he said dryly and her eyes widen with shock..

"a hunt? Right now?" she said with disbelief..

"well since you cant seem to help yourself and wander off" he began as he kept his eyes on the road..

"and so your taking me on a hunt" she said again, not fully believing what she was hearing..

"trust me it wasn't my idea" he said dryly..

"Bo" she said as she looked at him and he just kept driving..

"fine, don't explain but tell me this how come Cris doesn't know your a vampire" she said as he kept staring at the road and then he flipped on the road loud to drown her out but she quickly shut it off.."why are you hiding?" she demanded and he looked at her hard now..

"anyone every tell you its rude to pry" he said dryly and then reached for the radio but she kept her hand on it...

"are you scared or ashamed" she continued to question him..

"Your really starting to piss me off" he said angrily..

"good then that makes two of us" she said sarcastically.."how old are you really, do you really drink blood of your victims, how come you can go out in the sunlight" she began to ask as he shook his head.."i know what I saw, you can deny it all you like"

"how about this, if I am a vampire don't you think it would be wise not to get me mad" he said with a devilish grin..

"im sure if you wanted to kill me you would of done it by now" she said back to him.."how come your friends with Steele, he is a werewolf, right?"

"where exactly are you getting all of this supposed information" he asked with annoyance..

"does it matter, its true, isn't it" she said quickly..

"do you want to go on this damn hunt or not" he finally snapped..

"actually im not really feeling a hunt at the moment" she said sarcastically..

"well too bad, you wanted one then your getting one" he kept his eyes on the road..

"so your a vampire" she began..

"enough with this vampire stuff" he snapped at her..

"I'm not stopping until you tell me" she stood her ground..

"you can think whatever you want" he refused to look at her..

"how come I beat you on the track, aren't you suppose to be like super fast or something" she said quickly.."i mean were you just holding back or"

"fine!" he yelled loudly now as he swerved the car onto the side of the road and she grabbed her seat belt as they came to a screeching halt.."You wanna know who I am, who I really am?" he yelled and now she was a bit scared as she looked at him.."I'm not someone to mess with, im your worst nightmare" he glared at her..

"if your trying to scare me, it isn't working" she kept her voice calm even though right about now she was a little more then scared..

"are you sure about that?" he grinned now and her eyes got wide as she saw fangs and she swallowed hard.."because right about now I can hear your heart beat speeding up, I can see the blood in your veins and if I wanted to I could drain you in less then ten seconds" he said menacingly."still wanna have this conversation?".. Natalie didn't know what to say as she quickly looked back out the window.."good, now maybe we can have some peace and quiet" he said as he put on the radio and blasted music as he drove off in a hurry...

They drove with the music on for quite sometime before Natalie couldn't take it anymore. His mood was bothering her and she just didn't get his attitude. Sure she had taken off but with good reason, she was a hunter, she wanted to hunt. The fact that she was in the truck right now with one of the things she had hunted in the past was a bit unnerving but more so it was his lack of speaking to her..She finally spoke.."how much longer are we going to drive, its getting dark out already" she said with a sigh. Her body was already exhausted with how the last few days had ended up and she was in serious need of sleep..He didn't answer her as he kept driving.."are you really planning on not speaking to me for the entire drive"

"are you planning on asking a million questions?" he said dryly as he kept driving..

"what is your deal" she snapped at him as he looked at her now..

"my deal? Whats your deal" he said sarcastically.."and for your information were almost there"

"almost where?" she said as she looked out the window, there was nothing in sight except long country barren roads..

"Haven't you ever heard the saying that patience is a virtue" he shook his head..

"patience? We've been driving for over an hour, I have a limit to my patience especially when I have no idea where we are going" she huffed just as he turned onto a dirt road and she stared out the window as they became surrounded by woods. An eerie feeling crept up on her as they drove.."whats down here" she couldn't help but ask..

"fine" he sighed now.."you remember those things before, the ones that tried to tear you into pieces, well this is their land"

"what? Why the hell are we heading there" she said as fear raced in her. She didn't have it in her to fight those things again and after the last experience she really didn't want to see another werewolf for a very long time..."do you really think this is a good idea"

"no time better then the present" he grinned but there was something behind it and then she saw a very large man step out into the road, he had to be almost seven feet tall..

"Umm I think we should turn around now" she said as her chest tightened and she looked around with paranoia. John on the other hand seemed completely calm.."John, im not kidding"

"maybe you should let me do all the talking then" he said quickly and she swallowed hard as she looked at him..

"your planning on talking to him?" she said in shock and he just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as he pulled right up to the large man who had his hands on his hips. John opened the car door as Natalie froze with fear..."john...wait" she began but he was already out of the car and closing the door as she watched him near the man. She quickly glanced at the car keys encase she would have to make a quick getaway. Seriously he had to be insane!

John couldn't help but smile to himself as he walked over to Tyler. See this wasn't the same wolves that had attacked earlier, actually it was a small group of rogues that Bo had already made an alliance with but they chose to live on their own land. He could tell how frightened Natalie was and it gave him some joy in knowing that even though it was a pretty cruel prank. He was still upset that she had taken off earlier and nearly got one of their own killed but what was actually bothering him more was the closeness she had formed with Cris not that John would admit that to anyone, hell he didn't even want to admit it to himself..

"whose the human girl?" Tyler asked as he continued to stand stoic like..

"Just another recruit, hey listen I was hoping you could help me out" john began.."i got some entail the other day about a large group of our kind going missing"

"listen we try not to get involved in the otherworldly doings, you know that john but I say maybe they aren't missing at all" he glanced at the truck again.."maybe you all should stop recruiting so many humans"

"they have been far too many missing to think that its the work of hunters plus you know we only go after those who disobey the rules" john began..

"yeah well I heard different" Tyler stared at John..

Natalie swallowed hard as she watched the two men have a quite intense conversation, thankfully no one was fighting but it definitely didn't look like a carefree conversation. The tall man stood still the entire time and a few times he had looked at her with a menacing glare that made her chest tighten.

John tilted his head.."I hope your not talking about earlier today" he began as the man raised his eyebrows.."Oh come on, they were totally out of territory and they attacked our people"

"technically all grounds can be feeding grounds and it was getting late" Tyler began..

"listen its been dealt with and I didn't come here to discuss that incident, I came to find out about" John began..

"I have no information for you John" Tyler said quickly..John sighed and spun from him, seeing immediately that he hit a brick wall with that conversation.."but" Tyler began as John stopped.."I may know who you can talk to" he said as John slowly turned and faced him.."for a price of course" he grinned wide and then glanced at Natalie.

Natalie watched as the man looked at her again, this time he smiled some and she felt her skin begin to crawl. It wasn't just a friendly smile, no there was definitely something else behind it and then John was walking up to him..

"her? Yeah I don't think so" John said quickly as Tyler looked at him..

"Oh come on John you could say there was an accident, they happen all the time you know" he smirked..

"Listen the girl is off limits ok" John began as Tyler laughed..

"since when is anyone off limits John, I remember back in the day when you were up for any kind of exchange" Tyler rolled his eyes.."but then again if the information isn't that important"

"I don't play by those rules anymore Tyler, if you have a name then tell me" John said seriously..

"Information isn't free anymore these days with the way things are and such" Tyler shrugged his shoulders.."I would be willing for just a small sample and then I can give her back to you" he grinned.

John smiled wide as he neared Tyler..."so let me get this straight, you just want to borrow her for a little bit and then just give her back" he said as he stood in front of Tyler...

"i think its a fair request considering" Tyler smiled and then looked back at the truck towards Natalie..

Natalie quickly looked at the keys once more as John got closer and closer to the tall man until they were nearly chest to chest. Even though she wasn't outside the tension was felt and she found herself quickly looking around as the men continued their talk. Just as it looked as though John was walking away, he turned swiftly, so quick that Natalie could barely make out his image and then he was grabbing the tall man by his throat as Natalie gasped in horror..Within in seconds John was moving them so fast that Natalie could barely register, it wasn't until she heard he crack of a tree that she saw the mans back pressed into it as John showed his fangs..

"Oh shit" Natalie said as she fumbled in her boots to get her knife and when she turned to open her car door, she heard a loud howl fill the air and seemingly out of no where a large golden blonde wolf jumped the length of the SUV and landed right in front of it as her eyes got wide with fear..

The growling got Johns attention as he turned his head some and saw the golden wolf, he knew exactly who it was. The elder of the pack, a woman by the name of Brianna. She growled at him and within seconds he let go of Tyler as Brianna came moving slowly over to him..

Natalie watched in pure shock as John let go of the man and the large golden wolf moved slowly towards John. She was almost positive that this was going to be a fight that wouldn't end well, especially since all she had was that damn knife but then something surprising happened. The golden wolf began to change form, it was a sight Natalie had never seen before and she froze in the truck as she watched the wolf turn into a blonde haired woman who now stood before John completely naked..

"why are you causing trouble John" Brianna said as she walked over to him and Tyler rubbed his neck..

"Just a mere misunderstanding Brianna, might I add that you are looking radiant tonight" John smiled big..

"Tyler go home" Brianna ordered to him as he glared at John.."I said go home" Brianna said again louder this time as he huffed and then stormed off but not before looking in Natalie's direction and giving her a sick smile. Her hand was already on the door knob as she watched the woman approach John.."so I ask you again John, what brings you to these parts"

"I was looking for information" He finally said as he looked at the woman who was at least a hundred years older then him even though her body resembled that of a forty year old.

"and you thought you would just choke it out of Tyler" Brianna raised an eyebrow..

"you know me, im impatient" John grinned as Brianna looked at the SUV and then back at him.."she's just a recruit" he added before she could say anything..

"Mmm hmm" she nodded her head.."now about this information, what are you looking for now"

"alright, alright im looking for some info into the missing situation, im sure you've heard about it" John said as she smiled softly..

"always trying to be the hero John" she grinned..

"what can I say I have a knack for it" he grinned back.."so about that, any ideas?"

"all the information I have is hearsay John, and we all know where that can lead to" she began.."but you may want to head to New Orleans, I think you can find some answers there"

"New Orleans? Whose there?" he asked a bit shocked, he hadn't been planning on traveling that far to get answers..

"well like I said John its all hearsay but from what I heard there seems to be a new guy in town, one with a lot of money and get this, he's human" she smiled..

"and you seem to believe that this human is somehow taking the missing?" John shook his head.."that doesn't make sense, he would be outnumbered not to mention weaker"

"im just telling you what I heard, if you go there you cant miss him, I heard he is staying in the French Quarter" she said and then glanced back at the SUV.."so a recruit huh?" he smirked at him..

"Thanks for your help Brianna" John avoided her stare as he turned from her.."oh and tell Tyler to ice that neck of his" he said as he came back over to the truck and got inside as Natalie looked at him in shock.."what?"

"what the hell was that all about, I was freaking out in here" she said quickly..

"yeah well it was fine" he said as he started the SUV...

"fine? Who the hell were they" she said loud as he looked at her now..

"just some acquaintances" he began to back up the truck..

"well I hate to see how you treat your friends" she said dryly...

"yeah well I don't have many of those" he said as he began to drive off..

"so thats it, thats all your gonna say?" she said in shock.."i thought we were in this together"

"lets get something straight right off the bat, the only reason your even in this truck with me is because Bo ordered it and I unlike other people around here keep my promises" he said coldly as he drove..

"so your still mad" she sighed heavily, she thought they were past this..

"Oh mad isn't even the word I would use" he said dryly..

"fine so now where are we going?" she asked as she looked at him..

He didn't answer for a moment and then he spoke.."New Orleans"

"what? Why?" she couldn't believe his words..

"do you always ask so many questions?" he sighed.."a hunt remember" he added with annoyance..

"In New Orleans?" she said with wide eyes..

"why not im in the mood for a good old fashion Mardi Gras" he said sarcastically as he kept driving.