My memory is becoming foggy...
Sorry to dump this on you...
Fidgeting, I played with my hair, locked in my chair. I twirled the strand dividing a single thread by itself noticing it was thicker than the others. Possibly out of nervousness I plucked it out and let it fall to the ground silent as a feather.
I remembered the beast in my barn and how it looked at me with hunger, with pure hatred and lust.
At the time I thought it was a mutated wolf but now I know better.
Now I know what it truly was, and when it was brought to my attention at first it didn't make sense but then I started to notice the signs, the subtle changes in their movements and how behind their eyes they were alert and held another soul, the beast within...
I had trusted them. I had given my all to them.
When I discovered it was they who tried to kill me...I couldn't stand it...
I couldn't be with them but I wanted to with all my heart...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The next morning, after staying in my barn all night with my gun clutched in my hands and my two loyal dogs nearby I protected my animals.
I didn't budge from where the large beast had left me and my eyes were glued onto the broken entrance, blood smeared and drying on the walls.
When I was given the chance to see into the light, safe from the monsters that plagued the night I went to my old farm pick-up and started it up.
I kept the keys in the glove-box since no one would consider even stealing this piece of junk and plunged it into the ignition.
Turning it with difficulty, it revved wanting to turn over then it finally flipped and roared reminding me of the beast who had pierced my soul the previous night.
Sighing to calm my nerves I recalled I had set the shotgun behind the bales of hay, all I would have to do is race back and hold it in defense if the beast showed his face again...
I had a feeling last night wouldn't be the last time.
Driving slowly, pulling and pushing the clutch as I fumbled with the stick shift, the truck roughly took me to the large opening of the barn. Slipping out, while keeping the engine on, I walked back to the rear of the truck and let the tailgate fly down.
I groaned, looking once again at Jekyll's corpse. Most of his body was gone, ravaged and consumed by something inhumane. His stall was scratched, chipped, and nothing but in ruins as blood caked almost every surface.
The hay, doors to the stalls, even the ceiling--everything was stained.
It would take weeks to get the blood out.
I fought back tears as I gazed at Jekyll's body, lying there in his own pool of blood and other innards.
If only I was quicker. If only I wasn't asleep. If only I wasn't so weak I could've stopped the beast and saved Jekyll. My poor Jekyll..
<i>My Jekyll...</i>
My best friend was gone...forever...
I had difficulty lifting Jekyll onto the bed of the truck but with how I angled the vehicle where the tailgate met the slope of the hill, I drug his body through the mud and finally onto the tip of the tail.
I was panting heavily, over half of his body was gone so he didn't weigh too much like a full grown horse would, but it was still heavy enough.
I paused in my work, the frosty morning air biting at my nose, and looked down at my hands--bloodied and dirty.
I wiped them on my pants and created more of a mess, blind in my vision of tears.
Shaking my head I stopped myself and continued to haul him into the bed of the truck.
Once he was in, I slammed it shut and got into the driver's seat reminding myself at every second to not cry, to never cry, to never be weak.
But damn...it was so hard to hold it back...
I knew exactly where to bury Jekyll and that's what I did. I drove down the pasture to the creek, where I recalled I had first made a bond with Jekyll when I first got him. It was a sunny and bright day, birds were chirping and he was shy. I had a handful of sugar cubes, his favorite, and teased him. I ran across the pasture as he chased me trying to get the sweets from my hands. When we arrived at the creek I had accidentally slipped into the creek and he followed, sugar cubes floating along. After he had eaten all that he could before the rest were swept with the current I stood in the water laughing lightly. I then walked up to him and stroked his muzzle, he gently blew on my hands, such a warm sensation and there we made a bond.
A friendship that couldn't be broken.
The creek was his favorite place. I could always find him there.
I'll spare you the details of burying my best friend and skip to where I was done.
I was patting down the earth and thought of marking it as Jekyll's grave but I couldn't afford a tombstone and a simple stick wouldn't suffice. Jekyll was more than that. So I left it plain and sat beside it. I don't know how long I sat beside his grave, curled up with my knees drawn up to my chin as I continued to wage war against the tears. But I lost track of time, I didn't care about work. This was more important.
However I must've sat there a while because I heard footsteps behind me. I suddenly realized I left my shotgun back at the barn.
<i>Dammit!</i>
What if it was the beast? To finish what he started? I searched around me, keeping myself still as my eyes were the only ones darting around. I still had my shovel, it wasn't a gun but it would stall for me to escape to my truck. I grabbed onto its handle when I felt something warm on my hand around the shovel.
I looked and saw it was another hand.
Nicholas?
I gazed closer, taking in the detail and noticed it was smaller than his and more refined. No..this was someone else...
"Don't worry. I mean you no threat," came a voice behind me, cold and collective.
I turned to be confronted with Adam's dark and dull eyes.
"A-Adam?" I stuttered. He was the last person I expected, but then again my expectations have been out of whack this week.
I couldn't help it, I was so used to how our friendship was broken so long ago and kept replaying in my head of how it went,it was complicated for me to accept he was here. Wanting to be here.
"I know what it was," he stated backing away but didn't take his hand off from mine. He noticed my bewildered expression for he nodded towards the grave and said, "I know <i>who</i> did it."
"Adam,please.." I said the tears starting another battle, stinging my eyes.
"Listen Ebs," his hand squeezed mine a little rougher than how Nicholas does it. My heart gasped when he used the nickname I was given as a child. "I know what I did in high school was wrong. I see that now. I never wanted to ruin our friendship, even after we broke up, I still wanted to be friends."
Why was he telling me this now? Why couldn't he tell me then?
Still, I was taught to fight tooth and claw to the end and that's what I would do.
"Then why didn't you?" I asked him, scooting a few inches away from him.
His hand was still on mine. "I am part of an ancient lineage. Ever since the Egyptian times my family has been around, fighting and slaying to protect people we care about. It is a tradition that has lasted for thousands of years; the firstborn to become a Bounty Hunter."
I gawked. "For...wolves?"
"I'll get to that," he said closing the couple of inches I had set between us slowly. "It is a rule in my family--more like law--that when the firstborn turns eighteen they are to become Bounty Hunters, to learn how to fight and defend and sever all ties to society. They are put through rigorous training day and night.I'm still in training but ever since I started I have been tracking this certain..creature. Ive been following him for years now, I didn't expect him to come here and..." He stared solemnly again at the grave. "I'm sorry for your loss, Ebs."
I loved it when everyone called me that, it brought me to safer days. Days back when there were no worries and everyone was on the same level.
I thought about what Adam had just explained. He was an only child, and his presence did sort of disappear towards the end of high school after his birthday. He attended classes but he faded into the wall, quiet and kept to himself.
"So..back in high school you were put through this 'rigorous training'?" I asked. I wanted answers even though my voice was soft and shaken.
He looked down at my hands and noticed the blood. Finally taking his hand off mine he reached into his pocket and pulled out a rag. He got up and went to the creek, soaking it then held his hand out to me. I gave him one of my hands and he began to cleanse the blood away. I wondered if he could wipe it from my memory too.
"Yes," he answered after a few more moments of silence. "I wanted to be friends, I knew who you liked more than me in high school but I was thankful you at least wanted to be friends. So I tried, but my parents cornered me. They forced me--along with every other member in my family."
"Why didn't you tell me this then, so I would've understood?" I suddenly demanded whisking my hand away and glaring at him. I stood abruptly, rage thinning my blood and sending it in race through my body. "Why didn't you tell me this <i>at all?!</i> So I wouldn't have blamed myself for almost ten years. For ten years I thought you hated me, Adam. How could you do that to me? If you wanted to keep our friendship...why didn't you tell me?"
I was emotional, I snapped and felt on edge. Why? Why? <i>Why?</i>
Adam looked down at his pale hands, closed his eyes as if he was trying to cage something. To hold something in.
"I'm not even supposed to tell you now," he said in a tone I had to strain to hear. "This is a secret. No one other than my family is supposed to know."
My blood settled as I felt my control falter. I wanted to let loose and bawl but rose against it.
"But that's aside from the point," he promptly said rising to his feet and clasping onto my hand. He stared intently into my eyes and I saw the old blue color I had recognized, life and power when he met my eyes. "Eboni, you are not safe. The beast, what you saw last night, will be back again. This time he may try to kill you. I will stay here, setting up traps and keeping an eye on things. Okay? I promise I'll kill him you won't get hurt, I swear my life on it. I will keep you safe--I promise."
"What are you going to do?" I asked him. "Have you seen this thing?"
He nodded. "Many times. Don't worry I have plenty of ammo, I know how to kill him."
"How?" I asked.
"Silver bullets," he replied simply, budging closer to me.
<i>Silver...silver...that sounded familiar</i>. It registered.
"Wait a minute, don't those old movies use those for--"
"Werewolves? Yes."
I laughed once. "Are you telling me we're against a werewolf? Those are just from stories. They aren't really--"
He came into my face, his nose almost brushing mine. I lost the life in his eyes, they had disappeared and the dark and dead color returned. It frightened me and brought chills to my spine.
"Trust me the beast you saw last night was no large wolf. There is no such thing. They hide in shadows because they know they don't want to be hunted by the military. Their numbers would be gone instantly. However, there are some of us believers. We track them and kill them. We cannot tell the military, how crazy would that sound? We would be locked away, so we have to do it ourselves. Its just usually we're too good that these things can be waved off and forgotten as a freak accident. Except..you needed to know, I couldn't lie to you.."
It was then I was brought into a believer. The urgency in his eyes made me believe him. What he spoke was the truth.
"Why?" I questioned him, feeling my spine begin to curl into myself as I cringed away.
"Because I couldn't let you get hurt...not with <i>him</i> around."
I paused and thought. "Nicholas?"
He didn't answer, his simple and yet vivid gaze was all I needed.
"No no no.." I refused. "He's not..he can't be..."
"Think about it Ebs. Everything was going perfect until he showed up. Now your horse is dead, your barn is all tore up, and you lost your trust in this world," he told me.
"How I know it's not you?" I growled glaring at him, stepping back and folding my arms across my chest.
"Would I have the nerve to come to you after I just killed your horse and ruined your property? I'm the only one you can trust. Where is he, by the way?"
I gasped as my hand flew to my chest.
<i>What if he was right..? Where was Nicholas?</i> I haven't heard anything from him since last night when he walked home.
He walked back to hotel, not wanting a ride. He walked in the moonlight. He was a little hairier than usual yesterday. And his eyes--when we ran in the pasture, they changed. They flashed yellow. It was no illusion.
Adam was right.
Nicholas was a werewolf.
I was in <i>love</i> with a werewolf.
What was I going to do?
I wanted Nicholas, I wanted to be with him; but what if he killed me? He had no problem killing Jekyll...
"Eboni," said Adam recapturing my attention. "I'm gonna go back to my place where I've been staying at. I'm going to get my traps and guns. I will be back before the sun sets. If he comes here anytime during the day, please keep him here. Lock him up. Whatever you must do to <i>keep him here</i>.
With that, he delicately kissed the top of my forehead and vanished in the forest leaving me standing next to a grave where I had a feeling I would soon be in myself.
Oh Nicholas...
TO BE CONTINUED..
Tue Mar 12, 2013 6:21 am by mianmani
Subject: Who Cried Wolf? Page 7 
