-A well Deserved Rest
Serana had taken Skylar to an inn in an small nearby village. What seemed like minutes to Skylar turned out to be hours. She woke up in a fairly big room on a soft mattress. She sighed and looked up out a window to see that it was dark outside. When they had left the castle it was still daytime. She must have fallen asleep in the boat on the way back to the land. She breathed in and yawned as she turned over. She was surprised to find Serana sleeping soundly facing her.
Not only was she surprised to find the vampire beside her, she was surprised by the fact that she was sleeping. Skylar half thought that Vampires lacked the need for sleep being that they were undead. But then she remembered Serana telling her that Vampires needed sleep it was just that they didn't need it as much as humans. Meaning they could probably go an entire week without sleep before they got tired.
She smiled gently and moved a black strand of hair out of her face as she slept. One hand was curled under her head like it was a pillow, while her other rested just in front of her body. It actually looked like at some point it was draped over Skylar's body. Probably disturbed when Skylar decided to change her position.
Skylar laid there for a while not wanting to move but then she got the feeling of being watched. She suppressed a groan as she slowly sat up and looked over her shoulder to find Dash sitting on the near the window watching them.
She looked around slowly at first. She checked the door to make sure it was shut before she mouthed the words.
"What do you think you are doing?" He didn't quite catch what she was trying to say so he just smiled and waved.
Skylar rubbed her forehead and sighed as she carefully stood. When she did she made sure that she did not wake Serana. She motioned to Dash to meet her outside the room. He nodded and walked straight through the door.
She shook her head and quietly opened the door to allow herself to exit. When she closed the door behind her she turned to Dash. Making sure that no one was in the hall before she spoke. Didn't want anyone thinking that she was insane.
"What do you think you were doing?" She asked him with a brow furrowed.
He shrugged. "Waiting for you to get up." He said with an innocent smile.
She sighed and ran a hand over her face before she looked up at him again. "Ok Dash..." She whispered carefully. "I don't know if you lost some of your common sense when you died but in this day and age people don't like to be watched when they sleep... Especially when they are in bed with their..." Skylar stopped before she finished as a mad blush appeared on her face. "Um... Yeah." She said as she scratched the back of her neck out of embarrassment.
Dash smiled from ear to ear when he noticed her face. "Awe..." He laughed. "Is someone embarrassed?" He said in a baby voice. She lashed out her fist to try and punch him but for her hand to only go straight through him.
"I am not embarrassed." She said firmly.
"Yeah right." He said as he crossed his arms over his chest.
She huffed and shook her head. "Well anyways. Don't watch us like that... It's kind of scary." She said quietly.
Dash chucked but nodded. "Sure I'll find something else to watch instead, I actually heard some interesting commotion from your neighbours in the next room." He said with a grin. "It sounded like they were certainly having a lot of fun." He laughed as he began to walk down the hall.
Another mad blush appeared on Skylar's face when what he just said processed in her brain. "Ok." She said shaking her head as she turned back towards her room. "That works, as long as it's not us." She finished as she reached for the door knob. But she froze and turned her head as her brow furrowed.
She sniffed the air, she heard something from the outside. The sent was familiar... But she just could not seem to place it.
Without thinking she made her way to the dark outside world. Only when she was yards away from the inn did she realize that she had no weapons with her. She swallowed nervously before her neck snapped to the side when she heard the leaves on a bush rustle. It was on the edge of a forest not far from where she was standing.
She shifted her weight from one foot to another nervously as she thought of what do to. She could run back to the inn and fetch her weapons but risk being chased by whatever that was, or take it head on.
She decided to investigate the bush. Once she was closer she sniffed the air again, this time she was able to place it. Another werewolf was close. She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Ok, you can come out. And don't worry I know what you are." She said clearly before she waited.
It only took a few seconds for a stark naked red headed women to step out of the trees. "Skylar." She greeted with a smile.
Skylar could not believe her eyes. "Aela?" She whispered.
"Indeed I am." Was Aela's response. "It has been far too long." She continued as she stepped closer. It was only then that Skylar realized that the woman that was walking closer to her was completely naked. And when the red head wrapped her arms around the smaller girl Skylar could not help but to blush.
"What have you been doing all this time? I thought that one day you would come and join me at the companions but you never did." Aela said as she pulled away obviously not noticing Skylar's mad blush.
Skylar shrugged and scratched the back of her neck. "Honestly, just surviving." She replied not really knowing what to say.
Aela's brow furrowed and she held her hand up to silence her for a quick moment. "There's a vampire nearby." She said as she looked around.
But Skylar shook her head and smiled. "Don't worry, she's with me." Skylar was quickly.
Aela turned to her with question in her eyes. "A Werewolf and a Vampire traveling together...? Now that is something that one does not hear every day." She said with an amused smile.
"It is a long story." Skylar said when she realized just how out of the normal it did sound.
A werewolf, a species that has for many centuries been nothing but slaves and pets to Vampires traveling with one as if it was a companion. It was something that was very unheard of.
"Are you it's pet or something?" Aela said as she scrunched her nose up. "If that's the case then I think I can rid you of that leach with my claws." Aela said with anger in her voice.
"No! No it's nothing like that!" Skylar said alarmed as she blocked Aela's way as a precaution in case she decided to go werewolf and hunt her.
"It's not? Trust me Skylar that is what it looks like, you know the history, Vampires and Werewolves cannot be friends." Aela said as she stepped closer to Skylar. Skylar breathed in and her eyes fell to the snow covered ground. What Aela had just said had been true for so long, but what about now. Skylar knew that Serana and her were friends... And now they were more than just friends.
Just thinking about it gave Skylar courage. She looked up again and met Aela's eyes with her own serious ones. It was enough to make Aela take a step back. That and Skylar took a step towards her as she glared at the red head.
"You know, Aela, a lot has happen since we have parted ways, I have seen things that should not be real and I have earned my scars. So if I want to be friends with a Vampire... I. Will. Be. Friends with a Vampire." She said in a hard voice. "Oh and by the way we are more than friends." She said as she glared as Aela.
Aela stared back at Skylar with wide eyes. "Now that, Is something I have never even heard of." Aela said breathless. "Very different." She said quietly.
"I know." Skyar said honestly. "But since when have I been the normal kind of werewolf, hell I just recently found out I can see dead people." Skylar said with a shrug.
Aela looked at her with a brow raised. "True, You know, it's like you said you have earned your scars... So I think you have earned the right to make your own choices." Aela said as she ran her hand through her hair. "And the consequences that comes with those choices." She finished. Aela shrugged. "And whether they are good or bad, it looks like you can handle it." She said with a nod.
"So... Why did you never come to the companions?" Aela said calmly.
Skylar shrugged and looked around in search for a short answer. "Stuff happened and I got caught up in life." Skylar said honestly. "Honestly, the thought of joining the companions completely slipped my mind because compared to everything else I somehow got tangled up in, it seemed so small." Skylar said as she tried to explain.
"Ah." Aela breathed. "That can happen in life." Aela said with a smile. "There is always room there, you know?" Aela said with a smile as she hinted.
Skylar laughed. "One day." Was her answer. "Right now I am caught up in a little bit of a war between vampires and vampire hunters." She said with a shrug.
This made Aela throw her hands up and groan. "Just when I think I have everything figured out!" She dropped her hands and sighed. "Ok, you are a werewolf and a vampire hunter and you still choose to travel with a vampire, and become more than friends with it at that!" Aela breathed. "Honestly Skylar you are definitely something." She laughed. Skylar smiled.
But the look of humor disappeared from Aela's face. "But seriously, if you happen to need something to do come to the companions... We could really use you... Something is going on, Skylar, Something big." Aela said as she glanced back towards the trees.
"How so?" Skylar said as she began to feel tension in the air, mixed with... Fear... Something that she thought Aela was incapable of feeling.
"Someone or something is hunting werewolves." Aela explained. "It's not human, it's not vampires even though most of the other Werewolves believe it is... it's something bigger, stronger." Aela said as she turned back to Skylar.
"How do you know this?" Skylar said with a little sigh.
There have always been werewolf hunters, for as long as werewolves have walked on this world there has always been a hunter to match it. "Maybe it's just a hunter that is really good at what they do, I mean it is possible for a human to kill a werewolf, Aela." Skylar said as her brow furrowed. She took a step closer to Aela when she could literally sense the redhead growing restless. "Skylar, I know something is out there... Look..." Aela said as her eyes fell to the ground, in shame.
Skylar watched her confused but when Aela turned so that her back was facing her Skylar's eyes went wide and she covered her mouth as she gasped in horror. Aela's entire back was completely scared from the neck down. Claws made those marks. Skylar thought to herself. Bit claws.
It looked like some crazy creature high on a furious adrenalin rush just kept racking her back until something finally forcefully pulled it off her.
"I barely survived." Aela said quietly. "My friend gave his life so that I could escape. It just kept mauling him like it had done me, the only difference was it killed him." Aela said as she turned back to Skylar. "I've seen it, I've faced it head on as you can see." Aela said as she motioned to her back with her head. "It is at least three times bigger than a werewolf... It looked like it was made just for the soul purpose of exterminating our kind, Skylar." Aela said as she dropped her hand.
Skylar shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she felt chills run up and down her spine. "Be careful out there Skylar." She said as she back up back into the forest. "I have to go now, but I am sure we will meet again. Watch your back ok?" She said looking at Skylar waiting for an answer.
"Yeah." Skylar said with a quick nod before she looked over her shoulder feeling very paranoid at the moment. When she turned back around she saw the familiar shape of a large werewolf staring back at her before it broke into a run towards the forests body.
Skylar breathed and rubbed her arms as the fear sunk in. Something was out there, and it obviously hated werewolves. Skylar looked around one last time before she made her way back into the hotel. She was greeted by Dash.
"Hey went for a walk?" He asked her. But his smile quickly faded when he saw Skylar's pale face. "What's wrong?" He asked her suddenly alarmed.
"Nothing." She said quickly as she glanced back over her shoulder. "I um..." She began as she played with her finger nails not wanting to meet his eyes.
"You're scared." He pressed.
She looked up at him as her body began to shake. "Do you believe in horror stories? Cause I suddenly feel like I am part of one." She said quietly.