Last two have been a bit short. :) This will change... but I wanted to keep this one short!
My suspicion that our instincts would go nuts in this city, with the fear and sickness, was confirmed as we walked down the street with Selene. I might have missed it, having driven to her bookstore, but now that we were actually walking around humans and the stench of fear and sickness rising around us was obvious, even as a human I felt this sense of being surrounded by prey and being hungry. From the look on Reece's face, he was going through the same thing, and Hope kept glancing at us two as if she half expected us to change right then and there.
But Selene was gushing at her, literally gushing, and it wasn't long before the two of them were walking ahead of us. It was kind of amusing- from the back, you might have mistaken them for sisters. Dark hair, warm skin, almost the same height. They got funny looks as they walked ahead, probably discussing something most humans would have thought was downright mad, but Hope had stopped looking at us and was actually looking interested in Selene. We trailed behind them, more like guards than additional members of the party, the streets along the beach still busy with people in the darkening night.
"Daniella's following." He murmured, wrapping an arm over my shoulder, and grinned. "Can't keep away from me."
I rolled my eyes and shoved him back. "Don't piss her off. We'll have to talk to her."
"Why?" He shrugged it off and hurried ahead as Hope and Selene found the place they were looking for.
We took a seat at the table and tugged our masks off. Daniella was there- I smelt her a moment- but she wasn't coming in. I had to guess she was keeping watch. Maybe Elena had ordered her to, I wasn't sure, I was tempted to take food out to her. But she could handle that. There were plenty of places to eat.
"So you guys think it was a skinwalker?" Selene asked when we were alone in the corner. When no one answered, she sat up straighter. "You do, don't you?"
"No accounts of that legend match what we saw." Hope said softly. "How did you get your information?"
"Books. There's only a few sentences here and there, only a few legends, most of them are about the ones that look like us." She sipped the water, eyes alive with energy, passion, Reece's eyes fixed on her. "But then I found one sentence about this skin-walker that looked like it was made out of a shadow with glowing eyes. I wanted to know more and I looked into it. Then it became part of my college paper."
Selene went quiet as the waiter came across and we ordered our dinner, her cheeks flushed, a content smile on her face.
"You believe this stuff?" She asked, eager, as her eyes met Hope's eyes. "The paranormal?"
Hope couldn't say no. I wondered what she did say normally, but in the face of such an enthusiastic young woman, who was flushed with excitement over the topic... "I believe it. There's a lot of false stories but some of them are evidence for something."
"Exactly." Selene grinned. "My brothers think I'm mad. They all do. They say it's just stories but … I see things and I think they don't."
"Like what?" Hope leaned closer.
"Owls." Selene's eyes went to Reece when he coughed, her cheeks going red, adding, "No, I mean, I see them. All the time. But no one in my family sees them. They took me to see a psychologist when I was younger and I learnt to stop talking about what I saw, to check if they saw it first." There was a flash of pain, of resentment, but she was back to her glowing smile again when Hope changed the subject to Yetis.
Reece and I tried to eat normally, like the humans, our plate of food probably a good amount for any human. For a werewolf? It was a snack. This was why we'd eaten earlier and we didn't need to throw food down our throats like crazy starving wolves... I could eat like a girl. Which apparently meant barely eating at all, from the looks of it, and letting Reece steal food off my plate. He got away with it a few times. The third time I nearly stabbed him with my fork.
He found easy prey in Selene though, she was very happy to offer him what she was too full to eat, barely touching her food. I had this urge to pile all my food onto her plate. She was thin. Maybe it was a natural thinness, I had to guess it was, but ...I had this urge to fatten the girl up. This was coming from me, who spent half the time wondering if I had to diet, because I wasn't light enough! It wasn't because she dieted either. It looked like she just got distracted. She'd spent half the night so busy talking with Hope about Yetis, ghosts, aliens, all sorts of things, that she forgot she had a glass held halfway up to her mouth for a good five minutes.
A banging on the glass made us all jump. Alan stood outside, face enraged, as he glared at his sister.
"Um." Selene stood up, in a hurry, her face draining. "I suppose this is it. Here." She slipped money onto the table, or tried to, but Reece blocked her.
"How old are you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nineteen." She didn't meet his eyes.
"You have any alcohol?" Reece added, glancing at the window as Alan banged on the door again.
"Of course not." Selene replied. Stood up. Alan was coming in, apparently. "Look, he's just protec-"
"I'll deal with it then." Reece stood up and pushed Alan outside.
I fumbled for money now. The last thing we needed was for Reece to get into some kind of stupid fight because he was bored. Hope seemed to get it as well and stood up.
"We can get some coffee." She suggested, eyes meeting Selene's eyes. "You aren't a child. You can decide."
"I need some coffee." Selene agreed, glancing back at where Reece and Alan were arguing, a deep sign. "He's been raising me since our parents died. He's a little protective."
"I noticed." I muttered. We headed outside as Reece and Alan argued, past them, drawing Selene down the street and away so fast that it took Reece a few seconds to realised we'd gone on ahead without him. I saw, just for a moment, Daniella move too, steam rising from a hot drink in her hands, her dark brown hair hidden under a hood.
Reece jogged after us after calling something to Daniella, receiving a sharp insult back, Alan falling back, stalking after us like some anxious father. He seemed less stressed now, maybe he'd not seen Hope and myself with her, maybe thought Reece was alone with her. That still kind of annoyed me. What was wrong with Reece? He was a bit cocky, tall, a bit muscular... but who wouldn't want him to date their sisters? You just had to get to know him a bit. But maybe I was a bit bias when it came to Reece.
"An hour to curfew." Hope informed us as she checked her watch. "Want to head back in half an hour? You could stay overnight with us. Give us time to talk more."
"That's a bad idea." Selene shook her head, a small smile. "I'd love to but if I did, Alan would break the curfew waiting for me to come out. We can meet after work tomorrow, if you like."
"That might work too." Hope agreed softly. I wondered if we'd even be here tomorrow. If Vi was getting her way, they'd be just about storming that house for babies right now, or at least hunting them down. This was a good distraction from that. "Tell me, did the legends ever speak about how skin-walkers were fought against?"
"Fought? There were some ways. You said their full name and they'd die three days later." Selene ordered a coffee. She glanced up as something flew overhead, then at us, checking. "You see it?"
"The owl?" Hope glanced up to it. "Why?"
"No one else does." She muttered. There was a curious look in her face as she looked at each of us now. We all gazed up to the owl, a reasonable sized one, Reece shuddering and muttering something about creepy ass eyes.
"Let's leave." He muttered, leading us away, down onto the beach. "Owls can't find mice on beaches."
No one argued with this. I had to agree. The owl creeped me out big time.
"Sorry, you were saying?" Hope sipped at the coffee in her hands.
Selene blinked and continued. "Sorry. Okay. So there's that. Or you would wound them then look for who had the wound as a human, then kill them the old fashioned way." Selene jumped as the owl flew past her, flew past so close that it grazed her head, jumping. "Maybe they eat crabs."
I glanced at my phone as it vibrated. Elena. Jamie says shut up. Shut up? That was unhelpful. Selene was speaking, but her voice was lower, and I felt it. The slight scent of fear coming from her. I glanced at her and she shrugged at me, sheepish.
"Scary stories at night. Like talking about aliens under the stars. It's scary and thrilling all at once." She admitted. "I don't usually talk about it at night. I'll be up all night in the lightest room I can find."
"Which is why you're coming with us." Reece decided. Crossed his arms. "We'll be up all night too. Scary stories, room service, and no big brother trying to protect you."
"I ..."
"Don't you have any fun?" He shot her that charming look again, that 'knees weak' look, and I saw all arguments disolve. I was tempted to hit him. She was just a few years younger than us, sure, but I had this urge to ...I didn't know. Protect her. Maybe it was because she was so tiny. Or maybe it was because I'd seen a similar look on Nick's face when he first me in New York and was trying to get me to have fun.
Daniella snorted, some distance away, over in an alley. Reece ignored her.
"Okay. I'll come." She agreed, glancing at us, a faint flush there. "Is there even room?"
"It's a big suite. We'll throw Reece into one of the bedrooms." I reassured her. "If he misbehaves he can talk through the door."
"Aw. Let me flirt in peace." He ducked my kick, frowning, and then froze. The look on his face now was not charming, or suggestive, or angry. It was fear, blind panic, I knew what was behind us.
Or I thought I did. I inhaled, smelt people, and turned to see it. But it wasn't alone. I backed up, against Selene, pushing her behind us. She stared past us and I heard a low fearful cry die in her throat, felt her slight 'thrill fear' go into full on panic fear, flooding our noses, our instincts, become something like prey. To me. To Reece, it was different, and I saw it. His head twitched, nostrils flaring, and the fear that'd been there turned into rage. Full on rage.
"Please tell me you see that." She stammered, her heart racing, Reece shoving her behind him.
"We see it." He growled, a low deep growl from deep in his chest, eyes narrowing. Reece's hand tried to pull me back too. "Same thing?"
I nodded. The rage increased. So it wasn't just her fear, it was mine, mine turning Reece's logic into something else. My heart was racing, fear freezing my body, my limbs, I couldn't speak. Hope, who had been fine just a second ago, was gone. She was on the ground, her eyes rolling back, fighting with something. I wasn't sure what and I didn't have the breath to ask.
It wasn't alone.
People, real people... Like, actual people, with knives and everything, behind it. People? I couldn't even make eye contact with them. I just stared at the shadows, eyes wide, suddenly sensing I was prey. Not a predator. Not even remotely close to it. The wolf in me whined, wanted to back up, wanted to piss all over myself in fear. Somehow I kept from that... but it wasn't going to take much to make it happen.
"Hey, you bastards." A yell came, cutting through the air heavy with fear, Daniella. She glared at them like they were a bunch of scary thugs, not a bunch of full on fearful monsters. Something flew at one. Her cup of hot coffee, right at it, falling right through it. I saw them turn, the humans going up for her, and she just stood her ground, glaring at them, probably making eye contact. She was pissed off. I didn't get how she couldn't be afraid of them. She yelled, "Bugger off," and Reece yelled something as one of the men suddenly attacked, knife flashing, flames reaching for her. Daniella's fist went right through the flames, the smell of burning skin, and hit the man in the face. He fell down the slope on the sand and didn't move. A fight broke out, Daniella's fists flying, and I saw flashes of things. Spells? This was not a fair fight.
"Shit." Reece raced up, running, only to freeze when that thing returned its gaze onto us. The effect was like being weighed down with fear, like it could paralyse us. Selene's terror increased, Hope struggled with her own mind, and I tried to move...
The fight backed up into the street and then into an alleyway. The thing vanished, Selene collapsing, Reece racing after them as I tried to hoist her and Hope up. Several of the people approached us. The ones that hadn't gone for Daniella.
I tried to fight, frustrated as spells struck me, knocking me sideways, or burning, or stinging, too busy trying to keep them safe to know or care which or who or what was coming. Fists and feet met skin, bone broke, but even though I outdid them in strength, they were outdoing me in numbers. The last two had got Reece in a similar problem- he couldn't go after Daniella. He was blocked into a corner. Bad place to block him in, they'd pay for it, but... it was delaying us.
It wasn't me they were after. It was Selene. I heard her shriek as oen of them grabbed her hair, spinning around, a blow to the head staggering me as they tried to drag her away by her hair. Something came flying at them. That owl. It was flying at them, trying to claw at their eyes, and for a moment I wondered suddenly if it really was as creepy as it looked. When I saw heard an unearthly scream from one of the women, an eyeball literally impaled on a claw, between strikes, saw the owl tug it out and throw it aside, I decided. Yes. It really was as creepy as it looked. It was defending Selene though. I turned, trying to deal with the last two, as it kept the injured woman at bay.
Something struck me hard across the head, staggering me, a flash of silver metal in the darkness slicing across my body and only just missing it and then Reece was back. A snap of the neck, a fist to a skull, and the two were limp in the sand. Not moving. He kicked the knife, disgusted, and headed for the woman.
"Call the Cabal." Hope spluttered, trying to stand, her eyes foggy, distant, unfocsued. "We can't clean this up."
She was right. I called Elena, as Reece dealt with the last woman, shaking, head pounding and body aching from the fight. She got straight onto it as Reece finished, breathing hard, reaching down to make sure Selene was fine.
"She's okay." Hope tried to focus. "Fainted. Too much. Human minds, spells, even sensitive ones can't take this much. Daniella."
"Shit." Reece swore, heading back up the beach, struggling in the soft sand as it gave way. We headed after him, Selene in my arms, seeing the flash of something in an alleyway. Daniella had taken it off the streets again- probably trying to keep it low key. As if that was possible. We heard a car roar down the alleyway, heard a shout, and then the fight was over. So suddenly, so quickly, and Daniella's breathing was irregular. Reece raced across the street, the two of us close behind, and we skidded into the dark alleyway.
"Dani!" Reece took about half a second to locate her, running, flinging himself across something in his way and at some slumped over further away, their breathing hard, bitter laughing. And coughing. Daniella. I smelt it. Blood, blood all over the place, and laughter mixed with the sound of ...bubbles?
"I've got her." Hope was carefully laying Selene down, throwing a jacket over her. "She's fine. Go."
I went, hurrying around the bin Reece had jumped over, and found him holding onto her as she lay there. Staring at him with the intensity I usually only saw coming from Reece, that anger, grief, blood bubbling out of her lips as she breathed in and out. Tried to. One of her lungs, I heard it, it wasn't doing anything. The other one was struggling.
"Hospital." Reece was trying to pick her up, ignoring her hands, ignoring her trying to pry him off her. "Anne, call one."
"We ..." What could I say? We couldn't? Her DNA was going to give us away? I pulled my phone out, hand shaking, trying to think. Would Elena say yes? I started to dial her, trying to get her, and her phone was engaged.
Reece's eyes came up to me, pleading, deathly afraid like I'd never seen him. Not even the monster got this expression, this mixture of grief and fear, the plea softer. "Please. Anne, please. Call one. Dani, come on. I can't wait for you there." Her head was slumping, the coppery smell of blood increasing in the damp air, Reece's plea softer, "I love you. Stay with me. I'll wait longer."
"You deserved better." Daniella muttered, shoving at him, even now trying to push him away. The laughter in her face was gone. Everything was gone. It was a shell, that was it, just an empty body.
Something in Reece face snapped when Daniella's heart stopped. He held her, shaking her, the glint of water in the darkness as he tried to shake her back, as if he expected it to make her heart start again.
I flopped down. Waited. They'd sent me back, those ghosts, what about her?
The blood was everywhere. All over her, all over Reece, all over the dark concrete, the mask around her neck blood red. Something glinted as he dropped to his knees, holding her harder against him, reflecting light.
A knife. I saw it, saw the handle of it, planted so perfectly in her chest, just a fraction to the left. Right above the heart.
She wasn't coming back. Her body couldn't repair that.
"Reece..."
"Fuck off." He growled at I reached for him, the feral expression, clutching to her harder, her head lolling back as he tried to wake her. "No, it's ...call one. Why haven't you called one?"
"Reece, she's gone." The words, the memory of it, and what she'd had to go through. It didn't seem fair. It didn't seem fair, after all she'd gone through, after all she'd tried to … and she'd died. In an alley. Not even in a fair fight.
"I don't deserve better. Come back. Don't do this. Dani." He was pleading, whispering, pulling her head into his shoulder, ignoring every sense in his body that told him that she was gone. "Dani, please."
There was a shuddering breath in, Reece's head against her neck, a low muffled moan of pain from him when she didn't answer. I reached for him, his body trying to throw me back, and slid back again. Hope coming over with Selene in her arms. She was struggling but …
"We have to get off the streets." She said, quietly. "Reece. We have to go back."
Reece didn't answer. He ignored her, clutching onto Daniella, his shoulders shaking as he whimpered. Soft ones, so soft I could barely hear them, the anguish in them breaking my heart. He kept repeating words, most of them I didn't catch, but 'I don't understand' I did catch... like he was a child.
"Reece, we have to get her inside. It's cold out." I heard my voice come, soft, as if he was an upset toddler. Reason with him.
"You can't take her." He didn't look up, he didn't look at us, just held onto the limp body harder, his arms shaking, his tears running down her bare neck. "Can't."
"We're not taking her. You have to bring her inside. Reece..." I reached out for him, and when he shoved me back, I felt it. His skin. Starting to ripple. He was going to change right here and now, a grieving wolf, and …
"Hope, get the car and bring it here." I glanced at her, through my own tears, trying to think. I had to stop him, it was too dangerous, he wouldn't... he was already out of control. Her face had drained of blood and she nodded, backing up, awkward with Selene in her arms. "You better hurry. Leave Selene here. I'll watch her."
Hope lowered her down as Reece's body started to contort, his whimpers turning into moans of pain, running now, her heels thrown to one side as they slowed her down. I stood up, legs shaking, trying to not slip in the slippery black puddle all over the ground. In Daniella's blood, I realised, so much of it...
I hoped this worked. His head swung back, the change starting to mutate his face, and I slammed my fist into his head hard. Reece fell backwards, eyes rolling back, and to my relief his body started to shift back to human, arms still tight around Daniella's body. The car skidded down the alley, Hope getting out, and I got Reece into the back seat with Daniella as she got Selene into the front seat. Blood covered everything, us, the seat, I didn't know what to do except get them in.
"We're going to have to get in through a different entrance." Hope said, her voice shaking, hands tight around the wheel. "Tie him up."
I was already doing it, reluctantly separating his arms from Daniella's body, tears running down my face as I lowered her gently into the other side of the car. For the first time since I'd met her, she looked peaceful, and I realised that she must have spent every day fighting. Battling her memories, ghosts, Reece's constant reminder... I didn't understand why she wanted to be seen as a bad person, why she never resisted that image, but I'd never seen her happy either. A low sob came from my throat as I reached over to pull her head into a better position. I just hoped it was my mum who got her. Who'd taken her away. I didn't know why I wanted that. I just wanted someone to care for her.
Reece groaned softly, tears still leaking down his cheeks, as I reached out and bound his hands so that he couldn't get free.
"I don't know how we'll get them up." I tried to speak, voice shaking, Hope's eyes meeting mine. She didn't know either. "One at a time. I guess."
"One at a time." She agreed.
That was how we did it. Daniella first, wrapped in a blanket, so that only her face showed. I hoped we could claim she'd fallen asleep, even though she was pale, even through she stank of blood. Then Selene, who had started to wake and Hope could lead up, with me carrying Reece over one shoulder.
I knew that I should have thought. Should have ...I didn't know. Sniff the alleyway for clues. Hunt. Do something. I couldn't do it. When I got Reece onto the couch, I struggled to breathe, the grief starting to crash down on my head. It was for him that I cleaned Daniella, stripped the bloody clothes off her, pulled the knife out carefully with a plastic bag- I didn't want to loose the scent- and knelt beside her in the bath as the shower poured down across her, cleaning her pale skin, her short rich brown hair, green eyes empty of anything that might have been her once. The water started to wash the blood off, my eyes going over scars that marked what she'd been through. The line down her stomach where they'd cut her open, taking her child and her hope for more children with it, cuts, bite marks, claw marks, long thin scars like the ones on my back. We'd survived so much torture and torment...
"Anne."
I met Reece's eyes through the tears in my own, mirroring his grief, and he flopped beside me, breathing in and out hard, leaning against my shoulder as he gazed down at her.
"I can't do it." He said, quietly, against my back. "I can't do it. This. I can't do this. She was it. I was waiting for her. I was fighting for her. It was ...it was always about her. I can't do it. She can't have done this."
"She didn't." I didn't turn around, I let him lean against my back, reaching down. It was just a tiny cut, just a few inches, nothing compared to the scars across her body. Such a tiny thing.
"Elena wants us to come home." Hope said softly from the door. "To Antonio's house. She's calling them. We'll have to drive."
"It's a day's drive." Reece said, quiet, his breathing hitching as I turned off the shower. "I can't drive."
"I can." Hope said softly.
"So can I." Another voice spoke up. My head swung up to see Selene standing there, her face pale, grasping onto the doorway as her eyes fixed on Daniella. "I can drive too."
She'd seen too much. I knew that. I knew what happened to humans who did. But she … couldn't we let her go? "If you don't tell anyone, you can go. Your brother..." I muttered. Ignored Hope's sharp inhale.
"No, I'm coming. I can't... you're taking me. I'm an expert. I saw it too." Selene protested. "I saw it and I have to come. Alan will have to get used to me having my own life sooner or later."
"I'll dry her and dress her." Reece ignored all of us. We watched as he gently lifted Daniella's body up in a towel, carrying it into the bedroom, his legs shaking. I squeezed my eyes shut, another wave of pain flooding over me at the tenderness there, the love. Damn it. Why wasn't life happy endings? It should have been. No one should suffer like that. Not Reece, not her, not anyone.
"I'll pack up things." Hope said quietly. "Selene, if you're coming, I'm going to need your help."
The two of them left. I sat there, surrounded by the blood, tears running down my face. I had to clean. I did it slowly, barely able to move, trying to think. Knife in bag- check. Bloody clothing in another bag. Check. Clean up all blood and bag anything that was too stained to clean. I worked on that, worked like I was a robot, vision blurry with the moisture that kept leaking out of my eyes. When Hope came for the bags, I told her we had to take them back with us, Elena needed them. She nodded without a word. Maybe Elena would just burn them. I didn't know.
"Car's waiting." Reece's voice came quietly from the door. I jumped, I'd been sitting there, his eyes fixed on me. I didn't know how long I'd been sitting on the bathroom floor. "We have to go. The rest will get their things when they're done in the morning and check."
"Okay." I stood up, glancing around me, and went out. Daniella was gone, the sheets with her, our bags downstairs. Curfew was about to start- we had to hurry. I didn't even bother with the mask.
Selene drove at first- she knew the city- and I sat with Reece in the back seat, Daniella wrapped up carefully in a sheet, a pillow against her head. It wasn't just in case we were pulled up, I knew that deep down, I knew Reece couldn't ...he couldn't do it. Put her in a boot. Leave her hidden like she was just some mutt we'd killed.
I felt hands grasp for mine, Reece's body shifting closer, his head hiding against my neck. He was shaking again, soft inhales the only hint that he was crying again, trying to hide it. It wasn't okay. I wrapped my arms around him, breathing in and out slowly, trying to stay calm. Strong. Tried to not do it all over again.
The image of when we'd first seen her, Nick and myself, naked, knife in hand, tortured, terrified, abused, and still full of energy, green eyes flashing with the wounded animal that was ready to kill anything to escape. "You better bloody well be the rescue party or you may as well leave me here." Those exact words. That did it. I started to cry again, grieving with Reece, because as much as she'd pissed me off... a lot... I couldn't be angry with her. Not when I'd been through what she had.
I would have liked to not cry for the trip. Truth was, at least for the first six or so hours until Hope swapped with Selene, I did. So did Reece, though he hid it against my shoulder, neither of us coping at all with this. At some point Reece fell asleep and I joined him not long after.
A screech of tires woke me, a horrible crashing sound, metal and glass shattering and contorting, my body flying forward only to be stopped by the seatbelt around my stomach burning into my skin, cutting and ripping it. Reece flew forward too, the seatbelt stopping him.
Then we were falling. Time seemed to slow. I saw it, saw the ground coming up to meet the front of the car, Hope's small frame outlined against a white airbag, Selene on the other side. Saw Daniella's limp body fly forward too, against her seatbelt, someone saying something and...
It. The skin-walker. Right at the bottom of the ravine, right there, arms wide open, as if it was waiting for us to crash. And there wasn't a thing we could do to stop it.
The ground met us.