Dawn to Dark

by Halston James

  Lily stormed out of the front door, slamming it hard. "That woman is intolerable!" Rose looked up and shrugged at Lily's uncharacteristic outburst. Rose was usually the more volatile of the two, and reacted a little more fatalistically. "Lil, ma won't understand. She hasn't seen what we have. It's not like we can tell her about the magical wolf and bear, is it? Just be glad she is letting us go back for one last week before we come back; we tried. Also, we have a week, let’s see what we can work out, maybe there's something we can do to help Beau and Caine."

  That was the crux of Lily's problem, she wanted to help, No, she had to help. She had a connection to Beau. It was strange; she knew almost nothing about him, but it was like magnetism drawing her to him somehow. Now that she knew he wasn't really a bear, her need to help him multiplied tenfold.

  Lily felt desperate to return and was frustrated with their mother for not agreeing with their plan, even though she knew there was no reason for her mother to agree or understand why. Lily knew that she was being unreasonable, but she didn't care. She stomped over to her car, got in, slammed the door shut and huffed, muttering to herself while she waited for Rose to be ready to leave.

  Rose walked inside and saw her mom standing red-faced in the kitchen. "What has gotten into your sister, Rose?" she demanded "I just don't understand."

  "I'll sort her out mom, it's okay, she's a bit on edge." Rose then laughed suddenly.

  Her mom looked at her in shock, and after a moment, a small smile appeared on her face. "This is usually the conversation I have with her about you," she said sheepishly. "Just bring her home, Rosie. In a week, I'll see you both."

  Rose hugged her mother and nodded, still giggling. She turned around, grabbed Lily’s and her bags, and walked out to the car. She noticed Lily was letting her drive–a good move, considering how angry she still appeared to be. Deciding to remain silent for now, Rose slipped into the driver's seat and started the car, turning on the music and deliberately choosing songs she knew Lily hated to get some sort of response from her sister.

  After about forty-five minutes, Lily huffed loudly, and she sounded so much like Caine and his whuff that Rose started laughing. Lily looked like she was about to explode when she realized what she sounded like. She, too, started laughing. She picked up her music player and changed the song to one Rose hated with a passion. "If I weren't driving right now, I'd kill you for that," Rose stated.

  "Payback." Lily growled, and they chose music while bantering back and forth for about half of the trip. Lily eventually relaxed and began to enjoy herself, even offering to drive as the day progressed.

  Finally arriving back at the cabin, the girls shucked off their backpacks and unpacked the supplies they’d bought. There was no sign of the animals, so they decided to go for a walk as it was too early to start dinner, choosing to stay close to the cabin after what had happened the last time. They had only been walking for half an hour when Lily started to whimper quietly. Rose stopped in her tracks and swore under her breath. They had started to feel that overwhelming menace again; it was faint, but there.

  Lily started saying, "Oh, God, oh, God" under her breath, sounding very panicked, her voice getting louder with every repeated utterance. Rose gripped her hand tightly thinking she might start to run again, which would only make things worse for them both. The feeling came closer, slowly but surely. It felt as though the girls had some sort of tracking device placed on them. Lily became more panicked as the feeling grew stronger, causing Rose to tighten her grip. Rose was getting desperate to hold on to Lily when the dangerous man walked in to the clearing where they were standing.

  Comprehension dawned on Rose as she realized the presence they felt was being controlled by the psychopath in front of them. She stood straighter and whispered to Lily who stopped chanting “Oh, God” and also stood straighter. Knowing that while terrifying, they didn't have to fear an attack from a different direction. This made the man in front of them look less threatening to them. Somehow, knowing he needed to engender fear in order to get what he wanted made him smaller and less significant to the girls. "I guess he had to find some way to make himself look big. He's got nothing else going for him," Lily stated. The man stopped and scowled, clearly very affected by what was said. He then smiled and continued toward them as if to say, ‘you obviously are lying, look how amazing I am.’ His strut was full of confidence and arrogance.

  Lily spoke up. "Listen, you self-important, puffed up, arrogant arsehole! You need to back the hell up and leave us alone. You have been terrorizing and stalking us for a while now, and I, for one, have had it! Back the hell off and leave us alone or–"

  "Or what?" The man sneered "You'll do what exactly? You don't even know who I am, what I'm capable of, where I live. All you know is I show up randomly in the woods. How do you even know I am real?"

  "I . . ." Lily closed her mouth, he was right. She lowered her eyes, about to admit defeat. Rose, however, had let go of Lily's arm and edged herself around the side of the man while his attention was on Lily. Choosing that moment to attack, she launched herself at the man with an inelegant tackle, driving him to the ground. Not wanting to take any chances, she rolled away once she hit the ground, and managed to flip back onto her feet, spinning to face him again. He looked shocked for a moment, a look of consternation crossing his face, making him appear scarred and misshapen. The girls realized this was his true face, the only things which were the same were his shocking blue eyes. Rose didn't want to risk being caught, so she raced across to where Lily was standing, grabbed her wrist, and ran. Immediately, they knew he was sending the whatever-it-was after them. Rationally, they knew it wasn't real, but they couldn't let go of the fear, allowing it to herd them back to where the man was. Rose let out a cry that was Caine's name. Lily moaned in fear and whispered Beau's name, more regret than asking for help.

  They arrived back in the clearing having traveled a wide circle around it. The beautiful face was back, the benevolent, arrogant smile ever present. "Yeah, you probably shouldn't have done that, Red, my shirt has a tear; you know how I hate having my things ruined." His smile changed to a cruel sneer. "Now I'm going to have to kill you. Pity, I had other plans." His smile widened as he advanced on them, and kept widening until it spread from one side of his face to the other. He then opened his mouth further than humanly possible revealing rows of pointed, extremely sharp, and jagged teeth. Lily thought that they were a lot like a shark’s teeth. His face was frightening enough to terrify the burliest of men. Then panic set in. Rose gripped Lily's arm tightly again, but this time it was more for reassurance than support.

  Sudden growling from behind the girls had them both awash with relief, recognizing Caine’s growl immediately. The thing froze. His mouth did not change, but his eyes widened in fear–at least what they thought was fear, the face was so distorted. Shockingly, the creature, that's how they thought of him now, turned and ran, attempting to flee. Something in Caine's growl must have frightened him. Caine ran to the side and pivoted, blocking the creature and herding him. He went from side-to-side pivoting, darting forward, feinting. He appeared to be playing with it. The creature screamed in protest, Caine let loose a powerful howl that reverberated through the air.

  Deciding he'd had enough play, Caine darted in behind the creature and tore into the flesh in its calves, his teeth and claws hamstringing it. The thing dropped to the ground, howling in agony. Caine started toward it again when he was distracted by a sound in the bushes. Rose cried out in horror as the creature suddenly stopped screaming and reached out toward Caine, something flashing in its hand. Caine yelped and whimpered.

  There was loud crashing in the wood, Beau suddenly appeared, rushing toward the creature who flinched back and retreated, crawling away. Lily gasped as she noticed its wounds had began to close over. It was self-healing.

  Caine crawled to Rose who was crying uncontrollably, and collapsed at her side. Rose cried harder when she saw all the blood and the long gash up his side. Su
rprisingly, Lily took over at this point, instinct and practicality taking over. "Beau!" she snapped at the bear who was menacing the creature still as it retreated. "Get over here, Caine is hurt bad." Startled, Beau approached Lily, looked down at Caine and back at Lily, concern in his eyes. "He will be fine. Rose take this and hold it over the wound." Lily removed her cardigan and passed it to her sister.

  "Beau, can you carry them?” Rose asked, “He needs to not walk, so I can stem the blood flow." Beau assumed the position (as he had done before in order to carry the girls.) Lily and Rose awkwardly lifted Caine onto Beau's back. Rose clambered up behind him, whispering in Caine's ear and stroking his neck. Lily tapped Beau on the shoulder, and he gently rose. They started the walk back to the cabin. Lily was glad they hadn't gone too far this time, Caine had lost a lot of blood.

  5

  At the cabin, Lily took charge, putting soft blankets in front of the fireplace, directing Beau to lay there, so she and Rose could slide Caine gently to the floor, not wanting to move him too much. Once there, she looked at the wound, "Not as deep as I thought and no organs pierced. Rose, water and cloths, please? I need to clean it. Beau, out! I need space, and, Rose, where is my sewing kit?" Her no-nonsense tone calmed both Rose and Caine, so she could work. Caine barely flinched as she first cleaned, then sutured the wound. Once done, she arched her back with her hands supporting her spine as she stretched the kinks out. Her hands were cramping, so she flexed her fingers using her other hand to bend them far enough to release the strain.

  Satisfied with her work, she looked at Rose "Stay with him, don't let him move." She looked at Caine and a cheeky smile appeared on her face "Stay!" A strange sound came from behind her, and she turned and saw Beau, "Was that a laugh?" Quirking her eyebrow, she pointed at him. "You, come with me, I've had it with this thing. Time to end it." Rose started to protest, Caine tried to move, but Rose leaned on him hard. Beau growled. "No, listen I'm going. So is Beau. I'm bait. Beau, we need to finish it. I'm doing this." She moved to the door and through it. Turning at the last moment, she asked, "Coming?" Beau growled, but he rose and followed her.

  They reached the clearing faster than Lily thought they'd be able to. Beau wasn't lumbering so much as he was keeping pace with her. She had often wondered why he was always a way behind Caine but figured wolves were just a lot faster. There was no sign of the creature, so she told Beau to hang back; she needed to appear alone. "But not too far," she whispered. Beau was still not happy with her plan, but unable to articulate himself, he settled for the grunt.

  Lily walked on her own for some time, aware of Beau's presence never far from her but far enough that she would hopefully, appear alone. She became impatient. "Come on out, you coward! You stupid pitiful excuse for anything, afraid to face a girl?" Flinching inwardly at her false bravado and feeling like she had just sounded like a complete idiot, she tried to straighten her back more. A small sound from behind made her glance over her shoulder. It sounded suspiciously like a growl. No, she supposed he wouldn't be happy with her making herself an even bigger target drawing attention to herself.

  The oppressive, scary feeling came back. Lily was still so angry she almost smiled at it, wanting to confront the blue-eyed freak once and for all. She allowed it to herd her. Still frightened but knowing Beau was somewhere nearby meant she could remain strong, no matter what happened. She stopped in an area she knew well. It was defensible and there were plenty of places for Beau to be concealed in and maneuver undetected. She waited.

  Sure enough, she hadn't even stopped for three minutes when he came striding into the clearing with his handsome face back on and the cocky smile. "Well, looky what we have here, and all alone–" His speech was cut short, Beau appeared out of nowhere, swiping his massive claws across the throat of Blue-eyes. Blood spurted on the ground, Lily gasped as she saw the wounds immediately begin to close, healing. Beau roared, lunging forward, hiding what he was doing from Lily, which in hindsight she found endearing, but a little redundant as in the next second he stood, blood spraying everywhere, and he held in his paws the severed head of the beast. Lily’s stomach lurched. The beast no longer resembled anything like what she and Rose had seen, in either incarnation. The head was misshapen and hideous, looking like some kind of demon from old gothic paintings, albeit a dead demon. She looked at Beau, "Wait here. Keep that away from the body."

  As she neared the cabin, she could hear Rose yelling very loudly, although she couldn't quite understand what was being said. She started sprinting to the cabin, actually grateful for all the fleeing she had been doing, she was almost in great shape from running. Slamming open the cabin door, she ran straight into Rose who had stopped yelling and was just standing in the room. "Rose, what the–" Lily began

  "Man, human man, naked human man . . .," Rose interrupted her "Hot, naked human man."

  Lily put her hand over Rose’s mouth. "Stop saying naked! What the hell are you . . .," she trailed off as Rose directed her gaze toward the fireplace. Right where Caine had been laying was a semi-conscious man, definitely naked and very hot. Lily's jaw fell to her chest. "B-Blanket, get him a bloody blanket. Now!" Rose looked at her strangely, and Lily sighed in irritation. "Rose, have you lost all your wits? It's obviously Caine, and I don't think he'd want us finding him here naked, get a freaking blanket," she paused, "make that two. I have to go back to Beau!" She searched the cabin, found matches and some lighter fluid, snatched a blanket off Rose as she came out with a few, then headed for the door.

  "Wait . . . what do I do if he wakes?" Rose asked

  "Ask him if he is hungry and check that his stitches didn't break with the change. Talk to him, dammit, I'm sure you have a million questions; ask them." She walked out of the cabin briskly before Rose could stop her again; anxious and worried. Anxious because Beau may have changed and worried that the change rendered him unconscious. Unsure if the head might somehow reattach to the body and hurt him, she picked up her pace, wanting to do what she had to before she lost her nerve. Approaching the clearing, she heard groaning, definitely human. Lily picked up her pace throwing caution to the wind. Entering the area, she stopped dead. Yep, definitely naked guy, mmm. Lily shook herself out of staring and coughed politely.

  The effect was immediate, unfortunately for Beau, he reacted instinctively and spun to face Lily. Yep naked man, very naked man, must not look down. Lily's eyes would not obey her brain, however, and they strayed. Deciding to roll with it, her eyes took their time, and Lily smiled slowly. "Well, I see why you’re the bear.” Beau's face went red, and so did Lily's; she couldn't believe she had said that. "Umm, blanket." she tossed it at him. He caught it deftly and immediately wrapped it–towel-like–around his waist, allowing them both to breathe easier.

  "We need to burn that," she said, nodding to the head he had dropped when he spun to face her.

  Nodding, he replied, "I'll get wood." His velvety voice was almost her undoing. It was better than she remembered, and she almost melted. He smiled tentatively at her and turned to get firewood. She approached the head and grimaced in revulsion. She looked up as Beau returned and piled wood around and over the head.

  Lily rolled her eyes and rearranged the pieces, so they would actually burn. She poured lighter fluid over it all, lit a match, grinned at Beau, and said, "Stand back." After throwing the match on the mini pyre, they watched as it ignited and waited until the head was consumed in flames, watching for another half hour in companionable silence before turning and heading back to the cabin.

  As they walked back to the cabin, Lily noticed Beau stealing glances at her from the corner of her eyes. She smiled a little, secretly pleased that he was eyeing her. She couldn't stop stealing looks. He was easily six-foot-five with chocolate-brown colored eyes, muscled, but not overly so, and extremely well-proportioned. She had definitely taken a peek pre-blanket. His hair was shaggy and long. It was dirty like the rest of him, but it seemed to be a beautiful chestnut colour under the dirt. Seeing him glance over again s
he smiled and tentatively reached out and took hold of his hand. His hand seemed to spasm as she did, as if he was surprised, then he gripped tighter. It occurred to Lily then that she had no clue how long it had been since he had any kind of human contact apart from the pats she and Rose had given him as a bear. She tightened her grip reassuringly, and they approached the cabin.

  Lily laughed as she heard Rose's voice raised in panic. She made Beau pause at the door as she listened to her sister berate and question Caine, giving him the third degree and managing to sound like the Spanish Inquisition at the same time. Lily laughed even harder and almost fell through the door as she opened it.

  Rose's tirade stopped abruptly at Lily's dramatic entrance. Lily straightened up and looked at everyone, "I think we need to talk," she said simply, spoiling the effect by giggling at the end. Rose looked so angry. Lily knew her enough to know that she didn't like out of control situations; they scared Rose, and this was about as out of control as you could get. Rose's face softened a little, and she nodded curtly. Sitting down on a chair at the table, she looked around expectantly. Lily sighed and looked at the men, nodded, and sat at the table opposite her. Caine looked like he was sitting next to a venomous snake and tried not to make any big movements that might set Rose off. Beau laughed, startling Lily a little at the velvety texture of his voice, they hadn't spoken really at all since the mutual destruction of the creepy guy. His tone was sexy, even more than she remembered from her hearing them half asleep, and she wanted him to speak more.

  "Okay!" Rose's voice snapped her out of her reverie, "Who goes first? How ‘bout what the hell was all that? Maybe who was that guy? Who are you? Why the fuck were you animals?" Rose's voice became louder and more shrill with each question. Caine just sat in his chair, shaking his head. He kept glancing at Rose as if he was worried if he said a word she might explode. His charcoal hair covered startlingly green eyes, he also was very muscled, but more lean than brawny, easily six-foot-four, not quite as tall as Beau. She couldn't help but compare.