Hi everyone! Here's a longer chapter for you. Hope you enjoy! Let me know.
A Better Guy
John Kanin was securing his travel bags with his few belongings onto his motorcycle when the Sheriff approached him. He had mixed feelings about this man whom he had worked with for over a year now. There were many things about Mathew Donner that caused John to mistrust him at times. But on a personal level, the Sheriff had always been a pretty decent guy.
"So this is it huh? You really are leaving?" Matthew asked.
John spared him a glance as he tightened down the straps. "You know the reason I came here in the first place Sheriff. Now that I know Ruby is not here I figure there is no reason for me to be here either."
"I'm sorry it never worked out for the two of you. It's too bad you had to go through all this," Mathew said. John said nothing so Mathew continued, "You going back to Seattle? I can give them a good word for you if you need me too."
"Don't worry about it," John said, "I still have lots of connections there. They'll let me back into the fold again." John now stood straight and strapped his helmet on. Then he held out his hand to Matt. "Well Sheriff, you're a good man and I have been glad to know you. Thanks for giving me a chance."
Matthew took his hand and shook it saying, "I'm the one who should be thanking you. You've been a great asset to our team. You'll be missed."
"I'll send you a Christmas card," John said as he sat down and turned on his bike. He raised one hand up in farewell and then he left.
Matthew watched him ride away until John was no longer in sight. Then his eye caught the sight of Tyler Creed coming out of the diner, making his way over to where Matthew stood. The Sheriff should have known that Tyler would not want to miss this moment.
"Oh happy day," Tyler said as he approached. "My dreams have come true."
"I guess I should thank you Tyler," Matt said.
"What's this?" Tyler said in surprise. "Sheriff Donner thanking Tyler Creed? This day just gets better and better. You should really thank Vivian though, it was her brain child."
"Yeah, I know that. But I was referring to the restraint you have shown while John was here. I really did not think you'd be so patient. I was sure this could only end violently," Mathew explained.
"You have no idea how close I've come to ripping his head off on many occasions," Tyler said.
"What stopped you?"
"Ruby of course," Tyler said. "I made a promise to her that I wouldn't harm Kanin. She said she'd no longer try to run away and she'd stay out of sight as long as Kanin was healthy."
"And don't forget how many people in law enforcement Kanin kept in contact with. If he disappeared, more would come searching for him," Mathew added. "This was the best way to do it."
Tyler sighed and smiled. "Well Sheriff got to get going. I think I'll take Ruby to see how the renovations are coming along on the club. It's time for my wife to get out more." Tyler turned to leave.
"Tyler?" Matt said. "What's preventing Ruby from going after him now?"
Tyler turned back around slowly and looked at Matt. "Oh, I think she doesn't want history to repeat itself. Besides, things aren't all that strained between us anymore. Time has a funny way of mending things."
"Let's hope so," Matt said.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
John Kanin pulled over on the top of the hill and turned his head back to take one last look at Wolf Lake. They really think they had him fooled with that letter and that photo, he thought. But he knew they were just trying to get rid of him. Get him out of their hair.
He knew Ruby was still there somewhere. He remembered the last words of Lenore before she ran under the burning house.
She's here John. Ruby is here. You have to help her.
Well, he thought, let them believe that they had succeeded to drive him away. Let them get comfortable for awhile, enough to put their guard down. And when they least expected it, he'd be back.
"See you soon," he said out loud to the Town of Wolf Lake visible below him.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Sophia and Lucas walked through the back door of the mansion and into the kitchen after school. They had noticed that the principal's car had been parked out front when they pulled up and were wondering what was going on.
Lucas opened the refrigerator and got two cans of soda out and handed one to Sophia.
"Do you think it's about us?" Sophia asked with a worried frown.
Lucas shrugged, "I don't know baby. Let's find out." He took her hand and led her down to his mom's home office. As they approached they noticed that Vivian and the principal had become quiet. They heard Lucas and Sophia arrive.
The two teens entered the office, Sophia looking worried and Lucas looking challenged. "What's this all about Calder?" Lucas asked straight out.
Vivian sighed, "Sit down Luke. You too Sophia." They both sat down on the sofa across from the principal. "Luke, Mr. Calder has brought me some disturbing news."
Lucas's stare now turned into a glare. "Did he now?" Luke said in a threatening voice.
Vivian stood up and walked around her desk towards the sofa. "Not about you," Vivian said. Lucas immediately assumed that it must be about Sophia if it wasn't about him. He let out a warning growl. "Not about Sophia either," Vivian quickly reassured.
Lucas now looked at his mom for more explanation.
"Last night a student was caught in the office after hours when the office staff had left for the evening. He was on the computer accessing other student's files. Your file in particular Lucas," Vivian said.
"Who?" asked Lucas.
"A human boy by the name of Scott Nichols," Principal Calder answered. "He had your records pulled up and was reading them when the janitor came in."
"Scott?" Sophia said. "Do you think he found anything?" Sophia had always wondered if Scott suspected anything after Lucas had thrown him across the parking lot on that terrible date she had with him.
The principal shook his head. "I don't think so. I double checked all the records stored on the computer myself this morning. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary put on them."
Vivian breathed a sigh of relief. "Why do you think this boy suspects anything Lucas? Do you even know him?"
Lucas laid his head back on the sofa and closed his eyes. "We've had a few confrontations before. " He turned his head and glanced over at Sophia who was wondering if Lucas was going to tell his mom about her date with Scott.
He looked back at his mom and said, "He may have seen some things that he shouldn't have."
"Like what?" Vivian said, growing impatient at how Lucas seemed to be holding back information.
"Well… certain displays of anger and strength," Lucas said.
"Go on," Vivian said. "I know when you're holding things back. Spill it all out Lucas."
Lucas did not really want to go into this in front of Sophia but he could tell by the look on his mate's face that she would demand to know later if he did not tell all now.
"He thinks I'm responsible for the missing ungulate boys and he's playing detective. He's accused me of killing them to keep the Hill Kids afraid of me," he laughed.
"How many people do you think he's told this to?" Vivian questioned with a concerned face.
Lucas shrugged. "Who knows," he said.
"Well, we can't let him continue his prying and prodding," said Vivian. "He'll have to be dealt with."
Sophia gasped. "No! Scott was a friend of mine! He's a nice guy. Please don't hurt him."
Lucas put his arm around her. "Calm down baby. That's the reason I haven't done anything to him in the first place. I knew that it would upset you."
Sophia wiped a tear off her face with her palm. "It's one thing to put people to death that you don't know. And believe me that is hard enough to live with. But I can't have it done to people I know and like!"
"Sophia, sweetie," said Vivian, "I'm sorry, but something has to be done one way or the other. He doesn't have to be put to death. There are other things we could do."
"Oh, like stick him in a mental institute for the rest of his life?" Sophia yelled. "What a choice! I think I'd rather be dead then locked up like that!"
"Shhh baby," Lucas tried to calm her. He pulled her closer to his side and placed kisses on her cheek. "We don't have to do that either." Sophia looked at him with pleading eyes.
"Lucas do you think you can put enough fear in this kid?" Vivian asked. "That is the only other alternative I can see. There are humans in this town that know about us to some degree. But we allow them to live because we were able to put enough fear into them.
Lucas looked at Sophia's worried face. "It's the only way, Sophia. If they don't fear us, they become a danger to us. Who knows what he's planning on doing with this evidence he's gathering? We can't ignore it baby."
Sophia put her face in her hands and groaned. "I hate this."
"We all do," he said. "But even though we are physically stronger than them, the world of humans have us vastly outnumbered. We have to keep knowledge of our existence contained."
"I know, I know," Sophia moaned in frustration. "Fine! Do what you have to do. But don't hurt him, o.k.?"
"Don't worry baby, I know what to do," he reassured her. Lucas just hoped that threatening Scott would work. It hadn't seemed to help so far. Well next time, it's going to have to hit home a little more, Lucas decided.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
The Hill kids were hanging out at the diner, playing pool, eating, and socializing when the Greyhound bus pulled up in front and let one passenger off with a large backpack in tow. Waving goodbye to the friends he had made on the bus, he looked about at the small town of Wolf Lake on this last day of October.
Feeling his stomach rumble he headed towards the diner. When he stepped through the door he called out happily with an Italian accent, "Happy Halloween everyone."
Everyone stopped and stared at the foreign human that just stepped through the door.
"You do celebrate Halloween here in America, don't you?" he asked.
Everyone shook their heads at the strange boldness of this ungulate and went on with what they were doing before. The newcomer just sighed at the cold reception and looked around for a place to sit. There was an empty booth towards the back by the pool tables so he made his way over to it.
Some of the teen females looked at him with interest. "Hmm… a drifter."
Wolf Lake certainly didn't welcome drifters. It was kind of an unspoken law that drifters were fair game. They usually did not have people that cared much or knew about where they were. You didn't have to have permission to hunt a drifter as long as you first made sure that they didn't know anyone here in Wolf Lake.
Brenda looked at her friends. "I think he's kind of cute, for a human. Wouldn't mind playing with my food first."
Dawn, Presley and Krissy came out of the restroom. They had heard the buzz of excitement about the human in the diner and came to have a look for themselves.
"Yum," said Dawn. "Young and cute." The other females in the room sighed in disappointment. They could tell that the dominant females would hog this one to theirselves.
Adam and Brian were playing pool and watching the females react. The presence of dominant males in the room made the females more cautious of their actions.
After the waitress had taken the drifter's order, Dawn sauntered over to his table and sat down across from him. The Italian boy smiled a warm and friendly smile. "Hello," he said.
Dawn smiled a sexy smile at him while her friends watched from across the room. "Hello," she breathed out. "I'm Dawn."
"I'm Paulo," he smiled at her. "It's nice to finally meet a friendly person. I was starting to feel that no one wanted me in here."
"Where are you from Paulo? You have an accent," Dawn gushed.
"I'm from Florence, Italy," Paulo said proudly. "Say, you don't happen to know where the house of Matthew Donner is, do you?"
Dawn's face fell. He knew someone in town! Damn! And it was a skin walker no less!
"How do you know Matthew Donner?" Dawn asked, dropping the flirting act.
"He's my uncle!" Paulo smiled. "So you do know him?"
Dawn was confused. "Your… uncle?" She sniffed at the air carefully. No, he was definitely human. Then the memory of Sophia going to Florence, Italy came to her. Of course, this was her cousin from her mother's side.
Presley and Krissy now approached the table as they had heard the whole conversation as well. Krissy sat next to Dawn and Presley squeezed in next to Paulo. Paulo looked at the three girls in amazement. When his gaze fell on Presley, his eyes opened wide.
"You… you are one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen," he said in awe of her. Presley was struck with shock. She was just about to treat him to her special brand of bitchiness. Now she seemed to loose all her thoughts with this compliment. She glanced at Krissy and Dawn who were smirking at her. Then she looked back at Paulo.
"Uh… thank you," she said. No one had ever looked at her in that way. No one had ever made her feel like a goddess to be worshiped. Her normally bitchy tone seemed to be gone, and in its place was a more cordial voice when she said, "You must be Sophia's cousin."
Paulo nodded at her, a dazed look on his face. Then he found his voice. "Uh… yes, I am. They don't know I'm here. It's a surprise. I have the address, but I don't know where everything is yet."
"Of course you couldn't know," smiled Presley. Dawn and Krissy looked at each other in wonder. They couldn't believe that this ungulate had affected Presley enough to make her friendly.
"Actually, the Sheriff's station is closer to here and Matthew Donner is there right now. I could show you the way," Presley offered.
"You would?" Paulo said amazed. "That would be very kind of you. But how do you know he is there?"
"Well… I…" Presley did not what to say. She could not tell him that she could hear him there if she focused.
Paulo's eyes opened in amazement again. "Oh… I know." He looked around and then spoke in a lower voice. "Are you…?"
Presley looked at him in question. "Am I what?"
"Well, you know… don't you?" Paulo asked. He couldn't be sure who was skin walker or not. He didn't have the senses that they did.
Somehow the presence of Adam standing next to her, startled her out of her confusion. She looked at Adam and spoke to him silently.
What?
He already knows. He helped Sophia with her first flip remember.
Now Presley's face filled with understanding. She did remember that Sophia was aided by her Italian relatives and that Vivian had been assured that they could be trusted.
Adam stuck out his hand, "Hey Paulo, I'm Adam. Welcome to Wolf Lake."
"Hello Adam," Paulo shook his hand and smiled. "So you all know Sophia?"
"Oh yeah, we all know Sophia," Adam said. "She used to work here as a waitress you know."
"Aw, so that was here!" Paulo exclaimed. "I remember she said she was a waitress."
"Well not anymore," said Dawn. "Now she's the…"
"Girl who would like to see her cousin again," Adam finished the sentence for Dawn. Dawn just rolled her eyes at him.
Presley stood up and said, "Come on Paulo, I'll walk you to the police station." She wanted to get to know Paulo better without everyone else hanging around. She was flattered by his attention but she was also curious about this human who was so accepting of skin walkers. Paulo seemed to have absolutely no fear of them and no disdain. In fact, he seemed to feel just the opposite. He seemed to admire them.
Paulo blushed as he rose and looked at everyone else. "Well, I'm going to let this pretty girl show me where to go," he smiled at them. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you all again soon."
"How long are you staying?" asked Dawn.
Paulo shrugged and smiled, "I don't know yet. Until I've worn out my welcome I suppose. Well, Ciao."
"Ciao," waved Krissy and Dawn as Presley turned to lead him out of the diner.
When they were gone, Adam shook his head. "I don't believe you girls are all gaga over an ungulate," he said.
"Yeah, but he's so cute!" exclaimed Dawn.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Scott Nichols was throwing his annual Halloween Bash at his house and everyone seemed to be having a good time so far. He almost didn't do a party this year in light of all the recent troubles, but he figured that he and his friends needed a night of fun more than ever. He convinced his girlfriend, Amy, to come as well, even though she was still very depressed and worried about her missing brother. Scott was trying extra hard to be attentive to her. He had hoped that she could set aside her worries for just one evening.
The main room of the farm house was crowded with human teens in costume and the kitchen was as well. That was until the teens from the kitchen came fleeing into the main room, looks of confusion on their faces. Scott looked at everyone piling into the room. "What's wrong?" he asked.
But then he saw what the problem was. Behind the crowd came Sean and at about the same time the front door to the house opened and Lucas and Randy came walking in. Sean remained stationed at the kitchen exit, his arms crossed as he leaned against the door to prevent anyone from leaving.
Randy was standing in a similar way against the inside of the front door.
The room grew quiet except for the CD that was blaring from the stereo. All the teens looked at the three boys in fear. But out of the three it was Lucas that drew the most attention as he walked over to the middle of the room and glared around at the humans. His eyes stopped when he reached Scott, standing off to the side in a Roman Gladiator costume. "Well Nichols," Lucas began, "it wasn't very nice of you not to invite us."
Scott didn't say anything. He had no idea what Lucas was up to and he didn't want to piss the guy off with all his friends here. He decided he would try to remain calm. Who knew what the beast was capable of?
Some of the girls were beginning to weep in fear.
Lucas strode over to the stereo and took the CD out. "This is crap," he said. Then he turned to the stack of CD's and started looking through them. He tossed each one over his shoulder and they crashed hard into the wall as he said, "Crap, crap, crap, damn Nichols are you deaf as well as dumb. You assholes have no taste in music."
Everyone just stood there in silence as the CD's crashed broken to the floor. Randy and Sean let out little laughs from their posts.
Then, stepping on the CD's on the floor, Lucas strode over to the food table. There was a large punch bowl in the center with floating plastic body parts in it. Lucas laughed at what these ungulates thought were spooky Halloween decorations. He plucked out a rubber finger from the punch and held it up. "Hey Sean, look at this. Body parts in the punch! Not a bad idea. Course fingers aren't really my favorite. They're mostly bone." He threw the rubber finger at a boy dressed as a cowboy and it hit him hard on the forehead.
"Let's see," said Lucas as he fished around in the punch bowl. He pulled out a rubber eyeball. "Hmm juicy, but not as tasty as it looks," he told a girl who was standing across the table from him. He tossed the eyeball up against the ceiling and let it bounce down.
Fishing around some more he said, "Ah, now this is my favorite." He pulled out a rubber heart. "Tender, tasty and oh so juicy." He tossed the heart to Scott but Scott made no move to catch it and it bounced off his chest.
Then Lucas looked at all the food on the table and said, "You know, something is wrong here. I always thought you farm animals liked your slop all mixed together in one trough. Here, I'll fix it for you." Lucas began throwing the food items into the punch bowl while Randy and Sean laughed.
Lucas turned back to face towards Scott. Most of the girls were weeping and many boys were shaking as well. Lucas then said, "Randy, which zoo bitch should we take outside for a little game of chase?"
"Hmm…" said Randy. "You pick Lucas. They all look the same to me."
"Yeah, you're right," said Lucas. He looked around and spotted Scott's girlfriend, Amy, sitting on the sofa weeping. He began to walk over to her. "I pick you."
Scott could no longer remain calm. He stepped in front of Lucas before he could get to Amy. "That's enough Cates! Point taken!" Scott stated.
"Is it?" Lucas sneered at him. He looked at Scott dressed as a Roman Gladiator and laughed. "You know Nichols, the Romans enjoyed watching lions tear up people for sport."
Lucas walked a few steps away from him and then turned around to speak once more. "Alright Spartacus, but just remember this. You'll lead no slave revolt here in Wolf Lake. The lions here aren't kept in cages."
"Understood," said Scott. He wanted to placate Lucas somehow so that he'd leave. His friends and Amy were terrified.
Lucas looked around once more at the party goers and said, "Happy Halloween." Randy and Sean laughed as all three of them made their way out the front door.
As soon as they were gone, one boy said, "Should we call the police?"
"Don't bother," said Scott morosely. "They won't do a thing."
Just then a loud thump was heard against the side of the house and the sound of tires skidding away. Scott went outside followed by his friends. When he saw a large blood stain against the house he frantically looked around for the cause. When he saw what it was he slumped down on the porch and put his head in his hands. Six feet away lay the headless body of his dog, George.
No dogs were harmed in the writing of this fiction. LOL
Phew! That was a long one for me to write. I hope you enjoyed it. Please send me a review and brighten my day! Thanks