by R A Watt
My jaw dropped and my heart stopped at the sight.
Sybil screamed.
Suzanne was also screaming now, scrambling away from the sheriff on all fours in the dusty gravel. As he let go of Mrs. Leclair, he jumped forward and grabbed Suzanne’s ankle, yanking her back to the edge. “Back off!” he hollered again, as I was in mid-stride toward him.
“You killed her!” I yelled, still not believing as Mrs. Leclair’s body lay motionless on the ground, her face looking in the wrong direction.
“That was for Grayson,” he said through clenched teeth.
I felt like I was going to be sick looking down at her lifeless body. Only seconds earlier she’d offered herself for Suzanne. Now she was dead.
Suzanne was on the ground, sobbing, as the sheriff held one of her ankles up. I looked back at Jermaine. He was on his knees with his hands covering his face. Tears streaked down Sybil’s cheeks, but she stood just behind me, trembling and staring open-mouthed in disbelief.
In my peripheral vision, to the far left along the ledge of the quarry, I saw movement. Something creeping along, closing in on Suzanne and Vincent. A creature on four legs. As it got closer, it rocketed into a sprint and jumped up in the air toward the sheriff.
It was Honey.
In mid-air, she let loose a snarl just before her canine jaws locked onto the man’s shoulder, catching everyone by surprise. Using his free arm, he tried to block her, but she got him and they went down.
This was our chance.
Running forward, I first wanted to pull Suzanne clear. “Get back!” I yelled at Sybil louder than I meant to. I didn't want him to get hold of anyone else and have more leverage against me.
The sheriff was struggling on the ground with Honey, but he still held Suzanne with one arm as I grabbed her hand. “Pull free!” I yelled to her. She kicked at his grip with her other foot, but he wasn’t letting go.
Suddenly, I heard a sharp whine and Honey went rolling off the sheriff to the ledge and started slipping over, doing her best to scramble back.
“Honey!” I let go of Suzanne and jumped over to reach out for her collar, grabbing it just in time. The extra help was enough for her to find her footing and get back up.
The sheriff used the opportunity and was already up and dragging Suzanne by her ankle in the other direction.
His eyes met mine, and for one instant I knew his real intentions. There was to be no negotiation.
He grimaced as his other arm grabbed for her same foot. With both arms gripping her ankle, like an Olympian swinging the hammer, he spun around and pulled her up, letting her go in mid throw.
Suzanne’s writhing figure went flying up and over the ledge. Her screams echoed off the quarry walls as she hurtled the hundred feet to the bottom. Then the sickening thud of her body landing on the granite floor reached us.
“Enough!” he cried as he turned to me with his eyes glowing red.
Chapter 46
My body went stiff.
This wasn’t happening. The impossible echoes of Suzanne’s screams filled the quarry until they were silenced just seconds later. Honey was up and barking, running at the sheriff as I looked over the edge.
In the faint crimson light, I could see her body far below. Her legs were bent under her at a sickening angle.
Sybil was yelling.
My vision turned red, almost like a calmness poured over me. Sheriff Vincent tossed Honey away from him with an easy effort and then looked at me for a reaction.
It felt surreal.
My fists clenched, my face twisted, and then the most intense fury I’d ever known took over. I leapt and transformed instantly in mid-air. By the look on his face I could tell he was shocked. By the time I reached out to him my hands were already claws, and they gripped his shoulders with my nails digging into him. He hollered in pain.
I threw the sheriff twenty feet across the open area. His body crashed through the rotting wall of the empty trailer, creating a hole where he disappeared inside.
There was yelling all around me, but none of it mattered now.
Only his death by my hands.
I ran on my two hind two legs to the trailer. Just as I was about to jump into the hole another werewolf jumped out—bigger than me. It wore his shredded pants.
His arms reached up, and as he leaned backward he let out a bloodthirsty cry. I jumped at his open torso, using the opportunity. We both went thudding into the side of the trailer, rolling and swiping at each other. I knew right away he was stronger than Bruno, and bigger. Primal instinct told me to run, but my anger wouldn’t let me. I scrambled up to his neck, trying to get my jaws around it just like I did to Bruno, but he easily dodged and pushed me aside.
We stood and circled each other. He was taller and wider than his son, with more brown fur than black. His stance was surer, more steady.
Leaping forward, I attacked again, picking him up and running him backward like a linebacker holding a running back. He used the chance to sink his teeth into my shoulder, the pain flooding my upper body and neck. Stumbling, I let go and fell to my knees, grasping my bloody shoulder. Before I could look up, he had my head in his claws, twisting it with immense power, trying to break my neck. I gritted my teeth, reaching up to pull his arms free, but he was so strong. Against my will, my neck was slowly turning the wrong way . . .
BANG!
A gunshot thundered through the air, so close it was deafening to my sensitive ears.
BANG!
Again.
The tension on my neck eased just enough to pull his vise-like claws off my head so I could stand.
BANG!
His arms shuddered with each shot. I spun around to face him, a look of agony on his lycan snout. His eyes were glossy and unfocused, his outstretched arms swinging wildly.
Behind him, Sybil was running the other way with the pistol. She’d used the last three bullets.
Which weren’t silver.
This time, I reached for his face. I clawed it, trying to gouge his eyes out with my sharp and powerful nails. His cheek ripped open, but I couldn’t quite get to his eyes before he regained his composure and tried to defend himself, blindly pushing me back. His strength grew again as the gunshots healed, and his eyes straightened out and found mine as we struggled. Our arms were locked. I used the claws on my leg to try to eviscerate him, but he brought his knee up in defense, and we both went rolling to the ground again.
This time, he ended up on top, pinning me. My strength was waning; he was too big. I turned to see Honey lying motionless in the distance. Jermaine and Sybil were throwing something—rocks—but they bounced harmlessly off my enemy. There was victory in his eyes, defeat in my soul. He let loose a final roar, his putrid, hot breath blowing in my face, and then he locked his impressive jaw onto my neck despite my struggles.
One of my last thoughts was that he would do to me as I had done to his son.
Chapter 47
Stinging pain shot out in every direction from my neck, and once his grip was locked he pulled hard. Holding him with everything I had, my neck started to give, and my grip started to loosen.
Just as my vision had almost gone dark, something strange happened. Abruptly, a dark figure came flying from nowhere, and grabbed the lycan’s face. Clearly, he hadn’t been expecting it, and the new intruder’s claws dug into the sheriff’s undefended eyes. He howled and let his jaw go loose, letting go of my throat. The smell of my blood was overwhelming, its heat spreading to the ground beneath me.
The other lycan figure was on top of the sheriff, its claws digging into his face.
The sheriff twisted and yelped before finally knocking the intruder off. My throat stung, but it was still intact as I tried to get up.
Our enemy was standing and shrieking with his hands to his face. As they came down, I could see that both eye sockets were bloody and damaged. The other lycan attacked the sheriff’s midsection, knocking him to the ground.
I dove toward his top half,
his own throat now exposed.
Working together, it only took us a few seconds time to finish him off for good this time.
Panting and weak, I stood, facing the new lycan. The intruder.
My rescuer.
He stood tall, though not as tall as I. We both eyed each other with uncertainty.
Sybil and Jermaine remained at a safe distance, watching. They backed farther away.
My anger was dissipating; I felt he meant no harm, and my defenses were weakening as I fell to my knees in exhaustion. The other one stepped closer, his head cocked to the side.
Right before I blacked out, his scent stirred a memory in me.
It was not immediately clear what was happening when I woke up. It was cool, my only clothing was the shorts, and the only light was the red moon that had shifted almost to the horizon.
Someone was lying right beside me. Before even looking, I knew who it was from the mango scent. She was shaking.
I startled her as I attempted to sit up. “Sybil?”
She quickly skittered away so our bodies no longer touched. “Hey . . .”
“What happened? Where is everyone?”
A shadow crossed her face in the low light. “There is no everyone. It’s just Jermaine now, and he’s gone to get food, keys, and supplies.”
Sheriff Vincent. I turned and saw his naked body twenty feet away, lifeless and bloody. Then I remembered Mrs. Leclair, also dead. Honey must not have been too badly hurt, as she was curled up a few feet away.
Then I remembered Suzanne. Her death.
Tears sprang to my eyes. I didn’t bother to blink them away. As if she could see everything was coming back to me, Sybil shuffled closer and laid her palm on my cheek, just staring at me as the tears rolled down.
“I’m so sorry, Teavan,” she said, her body trembling. Her bare arms and legs had gooseflesh, and I realized it was the cold she was shaking from. Or at least I assumed.
I reached up and pulled her frigid hand off my cheek, but held it in my warm hands. “You’re freezing.”
She shrugged. “I’m fine.”
Pulling her closer, she came in reluctantly and I did my best to wrap myself around her. “I g-guess I should have dressed warmer,” she stuttered.
She pulled away at first, but the heat I provided must have proved too necessary because she eventually sank in, letting me wrap her in it. In the pocket of my shorts, I could feel the medallion in there squeezed between us. It gave me an unexplained relief at knowing it was still safe.
“You are so warm,” she said. “I was lying against you, worried about you but also needing your heat. Waiting for Jermaine.”
I didn’t want to think about Suzanne. I couldn’t. I tried to block it out.
“He’s getting supplies? What supplies?”
She was quiet at first. “We talked, you were hurt, your . . . throat and all. We need to do something with the bodies, and thought maybe the quarry water? He’s getting ropes, some food for you, and hopefully another set of keys for Mrs. Leclair’s truck.”
Suzanne had the other set. She was gone. Tears continued to stream down my face.
“He might be a while, since he had to walk. I didn’t want to leave you here alone, so I stayed back to watch over you.”
Suzanne died to save us.
A distant memory triggered. “Wait!” I was racking my brain, going over the foggy events. The memories weren’t clear, but they were coming back. The other wolf. It helped me. It saved me.
I know that wolf.
It couldn’t be.
Jumping up, I ran over to the ledge of the quarry, searching the dark bottom with my eyes.
Suzanne’s crumpled body was gone.
“Look!” I pointed down as Sybil came up beside me, squinting.
“I can’t see anything?”
“Exactly,” Adrenaline pumped through me. “She’s gone!”
“Who? I mean, I can’t see anything, it’s too dark? What are you looking at?”
I smiled. “Suzanne, her body, it’s gone. That other werewolf—that was her!”
Sybil’s jaw dropped and her eyes sparkled. “That wolf was Suzanne? Are you sure? After you passed out, it transformed into a full four-legged wolf. I thought it was going to kill us, but then it ran off. Are you sure?”
Once again, my eyes welled up, but in joy this time. She was alive.
I nodded fast, unable to speak; worried I’d break down sobbing. Not only was she alive and well, she was like me. I grabbed the shivering Sybil and pulled her in close, and she once again futilely tried to resist, then gave in with her cold cheek resting on my bare chest. Her arms folded up between us to keep warm. She felt so tiny and vulnerable in my grip, not like the Sybil I usually knew.
An unbelievable joy filled me, like a bubble of happiness. My sister was alive. The flip from excruciating sadness to an unbelievable joy took over, and I laughed.
Less gently than intended, I grabbed Sybil’s face, turned it to mine, and grinned. She had a confused look as we stared at each other. I can’t explain why, but this overwhelming urge to kiss her took over. I leaned in and kissed her cold lips.
Her body went even more rigid than it had been, and she pushed me back, wide-eyed. “What the hell are you doing?”
I don’t know, I thought, unable to contain my joy.
My unwavering gaze continued, though I said nothing. Her angry grimace softened as she tilted her head and searched my eyes. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but she seemed less upset. Her body relaxed, and she stopped pushing me away. Her head tilted a little more, and she reached up to me this time. Leaning down, our mouths connected again, but the feelings mutual.
Starting gently, but then becoming frantic. Like an insatiable need.
Her arms wrapped around me, and mine around her. She was cold and trembling, her body pressed tightly against mine. I’m not sure how long we kissed, but thoughts of all else disappeared while we did. Energy flowed back and forth between us, and she kissed me even more aggressively. Her tongue reached out and explored my lips, and I did the same.
In time, our mouths parted, and she nuzzled into my neck. We both remained quiet. Sybil’s shivering stopped, and her grip on me tightened. It felt so natural. So right. Thinking of Sybil romantically had never occurred to me before. I didn’t even think she liked me, let alone had feelings for me. I couldn’t picture her having feelings for any guy; she pushed everyone away.
But for this moment, she was completely mine. We felt like one, with an unspoken bond and understanding.
My eyes were closed and I savored that moment for what seemed like forever.
Until I heard footsteps in the distance—shoes in the gravel. Over Sybil’s head and through the dark I could see Jermaine. I could tell from his walk.
As soon as Sybil heard the footsteps, she went rigid again and pushed away. “Jermaine?” she called out, distancing herself from me.
“Yeah,” he answered, holding up a duffel bag as he approached. “You okay? How you feelin’?” he asked me quietly.
Smiling again, I answered, “Great.”
“Great?” he asked, appearing surprised.
Nodding to him. “It’s Suzanne—she’s alive. She was the other werewolf, the one that saved me.”
One of his eyebrows shot up. “Wha? Are you messin’?”
I shook my head. “No. It was her.”
“Wow, well, that’s good. Dude, I’m happy to hear that, that’s the best news I’ve had all day,” he said, dropping the bag down and leaning in to hug me. “Where is she?”
“Out,” I said. “She’ll be back.”
“I brought a bunch of ropes and ties, and there is a tarp already in the truck. I brought every keychain I could find in Mrs. Leclair’s house. Hopefully one is for the pickup,” he said, looking at both of us.
I shook my head. “I don't think we should sink him in that water. The sheriff—that is. Things will get complicated, and Bruno’s mom will already have to
deal with her son’s death, then for her husband to just go missing . . . I think we leave him, let the cops deal with it. It’s over. But we should bring Mrs. Leclair home; we can’t leave her body here.”
After some discussion they agreed, and we carefully put Mrs. Leclair’s body in the back of the truck. Jermaine attempted to drive us as best he could, since none of us had a license. I stayed with Mrs. Leclair, making sure she didn’t roll around.
She deserved so much more. She was only trying to help us, to mediate the situation. And now she was dead.
I’d never get all the answers she promised me.
It was still dark when we got to her house, ultimately deciding to leave Bruno as he was, all mangled in her yard. But we put Mrs. Leclair carefully on her porch. The cops could try to piece together whatever happened here.
As we cleaned out our stuff from around the house, in case they looked for evidence, I heard a rustling in the bushes. I stiffened.
“Hey!” someone whispered through the trees.
A smile came to my face, and I ran through the yard to the source.
“Don’t come any closer!!”
It was Suzanne, hiding in the shrubs.
Still smiling, I asked, “Let me guess, you need something to cover yourself with?”
Her milky white face peaked through the green leaves. “Please.”
Chapter 48
As I darted past the truck, I could see Jermaine inside, wiping the steering wheel and everything down with bathroom and tub cleaner we found in the house. We weren’t sure, but we hoped it would get rid of our fingerprints.
The sun was almost coming up as I ran into the house in search of something for Suzanne to wear. In the kitchen, Sybil was washing dishes. We thought it would be best if the kitchen was clean and that it not look like she had been entertaining or feeding people that night.
Sybil didn’t hear me as I came in softly, looking around for Suzanne’s bag. She stood scrubbing, face turned away and toward the sink. Her scruffy jean shorts revealed her scratched legs and bare feet. She looked cute and almost domestic standing there with an apron on.