Bitten

by Noelle Marie

  And of course she had. The warmer body temperature. The improved speed. The sudden skill in cheerleading. The way she had been devouring meat. The damn dreams.

  "For me, the change in diet was the worst. I was a vegetarian before... well, before," Caleb added in a sincere attempt to be helpful.

  But to Katherine, his words were like poison – proof that the changes her body had been experiencing weren't all in her imagination. And she just couldn’t accept the alternative that he – that each one of them – was offering her.

  "Werewolves aren't real," she finally managed to bite out. "They don't exist."

  Katherine ignored the hurt look that spread across Caleb's face and dismissed the ache in her chest that her own words seemed to cause her.

  She also refused to acknowledge how her current company tensed at her response. Markus seemed to be the least affected. He merely rolled his eyes. "She's a goner."

  "Shut up, Markus," Sophie immediately spat at the rude man. But Katherine found the driver's response – Blue Eyes, as she'd christened him – much scarier. His glare – though directed at Markus and not her –sent a thrill of chills though her body. Markus, catching sight of the look on Blue Eye's face, immediately bowed his head and shut his mouth.

  An uneasy silence descended upon the vehicle, but Katherine was far from satisfied with the answers these people had given her and was quick to break it. "Where are you taking me?"

  Blue Eyes, who Katherine had discerned was the leader of this pack – group, she corrected herself fiercely, he was the leader of this group – sighed at the question. As if answering it was somehow a huge bother. "Canada," he said shortly.

  Canada? Katherine blanched. Why were they going to Canada? She didn't want to go anywhere with these people. And besides, she'd never traveled out of the U.S. in her entire life and didn't have a passport.

  She quickly blurted this out, as if it would change their minds. Stop them from taking her.

  Right.

  Nameless merely glared and condescendingly explained that she wouldn't need one where they were going.

  "And where exactly is that?" she demanded. "And why are you taking me there?"

  "Why, to a werewolf colony, of course. Honestly, where else would we be taking you?" The dark eyed man's tone made it clear that she should have known that. This, of course, only served to make her angrier than she already was.

  "I thought I already said that I didn't believe in that garbage. Now take me home this instant!"

  Markus, apparently, couldn't keep his mouth shut for long. "Splendid idea. You heard the girl, Bastian."

  So that was Blue Eyes’s name. Katherine had been wondering what it could be.

  Bastian. The name fit him.

  Katherine quickly snapped herself out of such thoughts, annoyed with herself for even caring what his name was in the first place.

  "How can you possibly expect me to believe in something as crazy as werewolves?" she asked. "If such... creatures... existed, then how could people not know about them?"

  "People did used to know about us," Sophie explained from the passenger seat. "But during the seventeenth century there was a... misunderstanding of sorts... and let's be honest, communication between normal humans and werewolves had always been strained. They hunted and killed so many of us that we were forced into hiding."

  "Right." Katherine wouldn't have been able to keep the disbelief out of her voice even if she wanted to.

  "It's true," Nameless insisted. "Our existence has been reduced to inaccurate legends of monsters. And how else do you think stories of such beasts came to be? The people who lived in that time told of our existence to their children, and them to their own young, and so on."

  "What do you mean, inaccurate legends?" Katherine demanded, stuck on that phrase. "Do werewolves not turn into huge, hairy wolves on the full moon?"

  Not that they exist, she added inwardly.

  Nameless looked annoyed. "Yes," he agreed, "but that is perhaps one of the few grains of truth the legends still have."

  "So what are these nefarious legends so wrong about then?"

  "Well, the most important fact that they're missing," Sophie once again took over, "is that there are two types of werewolves. Born and changed."

  Caleb piped up from his seat next to Katherine. "Born werewolves are those who are born with the gene. It's recessive, so both parents must be werewolves for the child to be one as well. Changed werewolves are humans born without the gene, but who've exchanged fluids with a werewolf during a full moon."

  "Exchanged fluids?" Katherine questioned incredulously, a dark pink slowly covering her cheeks.

  "Being bitten," Caleb quickly explained, "is usually how it happens."

  Oh. Katherine fought the blush off her face.

  "People aren't changed often," Sophie immediately assured from her seat. She turned and Katherine met her cerulean eyes. "And even when someone is bitten, it usually-"

  "Stop," Bastian immediately demanded and the blonde did, but she continued to gaze at Katherine like she wanted to say more.

  Katherine glared at the man. Why was he denying her information? Not that it mattered, she assured herself. It wasn't like she believed them. Not really.

  "I still don't understand," Katherine muttered. "You say you're in hiding, whatever that means, but how is it that no one has ever seen you? It's not as if you can disappear." Katherine thought for a moment. "Can you?"

  Nameless snorted. "No, I'm afraid invisibility is not one of our many talents."

  "And besides," Markus added, sneering, "There are some people who know our own existence. Hunters."

  Katherine felt Caleb tense up next to her. She turned towards him. His hands were trembling. Katherine immediately turned her attention back to the brawny man.

  "Hunters?"

  "Those men at your house," he explained, ignoring the dirty looks he was getting from the rest of the vehicle's occupants, "are prime examples."

  Katherine could feel her lungs constrict and for a moment, oxygen was denied from her.

  Markus didn't seem to notice as he continued to talk. "Still don't know what hunters are? Here's a hint princess. Instead of out shooting pheasants in the fields, they're after us. You. And they don't kill clean."

  Katherine desperately wanted to punch the jerk, but was beaten to it when Sophie reached back and slapped him clear across the face.

  "What the hell, woman?"

  The blonde just glared. "You just be glad it was me who did it," she growled back and Katherine noticed her eyes flicker to Bastian. He looked furious. Markus must have gotten the hint as he shut his mouth. But Katherine was already getting a sense of his personality and knew without a doubt that he'd be back to harassing her soon enough.

  Sophie smiled apologetically. "Sorry, sweetie. We keep meaning to get him fixed."

  The glare she received from the man would have sent weaker folks running. But she just ignored him. "Hunters are one of the many reasons we keep to ourselves. Obviously, there aren't many of us or we wouldn't be able to hide like we do. In fact, there are only four werewolf colonies in all of North America. The one in Canada is the biggest. It's made up of a dozen or so packs and we're one of them."

  "So you're a pack?" she asked skeptically.

  Nameless sighed, clearly exasperated. "Didn't we already explain this?"

  Katherine glared. "Aren't you kind of... you know... small for a pack?"

  "A pack can be anywhere from two to a couple dozen wolves," he immediately insisted. "As long as, of course, they have an alpha. Bastian is our alpha." He nodded towards the blue eyed man. "Markus is our beta, or second-in-command," he pointed towards the man in question. "There’s also Sophie, who’s Bastian’s sister,” he gestured towards the blonde, “and Caleb, who you’re stuck sharing the backseat with.” He paused for a moment. “Oh, and my name's Zane by the way."

  Not so nameless after all then.

  "Well, if you're one of these packs, then wh
y aren't you at your so called colony in Canada?"

  "That is none of your business," Bastian immediately interjected from his place behind the wheel. His eyes met hers through the rearview mirror and the warning they contained made her want to claw his face.

  If she had claws.

  Which she didn't.

  "None of my business?" Katherine demanded. "I’m the one who was bitten!" And with that, realization dawned.

  "Which one of you did it? Which one of you bit me?" Judging by the nauseous feeling in her belly, she already knew.

  It was only quiet for a moment before he opened his mouth. "It was me."

  Bastian.

  Katherine wanted to throw up. But even more than that she wanted to yell – to scream at the man who had done this to her. "This is your entire fault," she managed to choke out. "You... how could you do this?" Her voice only increased in volume as she continued. "I hate you!"

  Katherine was vaguely aware of Markus rolling his eyes at what he probably thought was her being dramatic. But she was too caught up in her rage and devastation to even acknowledge him. "My parents…" she mumbled under her breath.

  And how could she have forgotten about them even for a moment?

  She didn't even know what those hunters had done to her mother. And her father. She had left him broken and bleeding in what had once been the dining room of her home. Brad too, she reminded herself. He was buried under a pile of rubble.

  "My parents," she repeated. "And Brad. They're hurt. And it's all because of you!"

  And then another realization hit her. And, oh God, how could she have forgotten it?

  "I never got them help," she whispered to herself.

  "It's too late for them," Bastian said softly.

  Katherine looked up at him, denial gleaming in her eyes. "What do you mean it's too late?" she shouted, spitting his words back at him. "It's not too late. What if no one knows that they're hurt? How long have I been out? Turn this car around. I need to get them help!"

  "I said that it's too late," Bastian barked, though his voice was devoid of anger. "They... when we left the house after you... they were already gone."

  "Gone? What do you mean gone? They were injured. It's not like they could've just gotten up and walked out of there!"

  "Katherine." Bastian's voice demanded her attention. Katherine numbly acknowledged that this was the first time any of them had said her name. She didn't want to think about how they knew it. And then, with finality, he said, "They're dead."

  Katherine could feel the tears gathering in her eyes even as she began chanting the mantra… he's lying, he's lying, he's lying... in her head. She wanted to scream those words at him, inform him that he was nothing but a dirty liar. But even in the midst of her despair, she couldn't deny his words and the conclusiveness in which he’d said them.

  "I'll never forgive you." She didn't recognize her own voice, thick with tears as it was.

  His eyes left hers as he looked away. "I know," he whispered.

  Katherine, who was usually embarrassed by tears, couldn't stop them from falling.

  "So you believe us then?" Markus asked callously, seemingly unaffected by her sorrow.

  "What choice do I have?" Katherine knew her words were bitter, but she couldn't find it in her to care.

  She curled herself up into a ball and using the blanket she had woken up with to hide her face, she sobbed. Though she was sure they could still hear her loud cries. Her parents. Brad. They were killed because of her.

  No, because of him.

  She didn't know how long she had been curled up when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but she immediately tensed. "If you need to talk," she heard Caleb's kind voice inform her, "I understand what you're going through."

  And that was it.

  Katherine whipped the blanket from her face, not caring that her cheeks were covered in tear tracks and her nose was red and running. "How could you possibly understand?" she shouted at him, ignoring the pang of guilt she felt as his face crumbled. "How in the hell could you know what I'm going through?"

  She didn't wait for a response. She wrapped the blanket around herself once more as uncontrollable sobs wracked her body. Right then and there she made a vow to get away from these people. These people who had ruined her life.

  And whether it was the anguish of losing her parents or just pure exhaustion, she slowly managed to cry herself to sleep.

  If she hadn't, perhaps she would have heard Sophie turn on the radio.

  "And this just in folks. It seems as if a small family living in Middletown, Iowa, was attacked in their own home yesterday evening. While Elaine and Benjamin Mayes were rushed to Hayfield Medical, it appears as if their teenage daughter, Katherine Mayes, is missing and has presumed to have been kidnapped by the home invaders. If anyone had any information on the girl's whereabouts, they are encouraged to contact the proper authorities. As for Brad Thompson, a teenage boy that was also in the home when the attack took place-"

  Bastian quickly cranked the knob of the radio, stopping the reporter mid-sentence.

  Four pairs of accusing eyes landed on him.

  Oddly, it was Markus who spoke up. "I still don’t think you should have told her-"

  "It was for her own good. Don't question it."

  Caleb wasn’t so sure. "But Bastian-"

  "Katherine's parents are dead. No one is to tell her otherwise."

  Sophie glared. "Brother-"

  "That's an order," Bastian interrupted, his voice stern and leaving no room for any arguing.

  No one did.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The next time Katherine woke up, daylight was shining through the car window her cheek was pressed against and through her blurry vision she could make out the sign welcoming them to River Valley, Minnesota. Population 937.

  The billboard was so similar to the one welcoming folks to Middletown that Katherine was almost able to convince herself that she’d never left. But she was seeing the sign through the window of an unfamiliar SUV. And after a subtle glance around the vehicle, could see she was surrounded by the same strange people from last night.

  Any remaining hope that yesterday had just been some terrible nightmare immediately dissipated.

  Katherine wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and pretend she'd never woken up – pretend that last night had never happened. So she did just that – closed her eyes. But her stomach gave her away with a very unladylike growl and though it seemed ridiculous to be concerned about something so trivial, she couldn't stop the involuntary blush from spreading across her cheeks and down her neck at the sound.

  "Good. The princess is awake. Now can we finally stop for some grub?"

  That was Markus, of course.

  Katherine's insides clenched at the thought of food. Although her stomach was rumbling like she was starved, it was impossible for her to feel anything but nauseous with the grotesque picture of her father lying in his own blood permanently etched in her brain.

  "I think I saw an advertisement for some sort of diner about a mile back."

  As soon as Katherine heard Sophie's suggestion, she knew she had to intervene.

  Ignoring the protests of her sore throat, she parted her dry lips and objected. "I'm not hungry."

  Markus snorted. "Yeah? Well, according to your stomach, you are."

  "I don't care," Katherine shot back – though she wasn't exactly sure what it was that she didn't care about. Being hungry. The crazy situation she had found herself in. Or just her life in general. What did it matter now that her parents... now that they... Oh God.

  "Well, I don't much care whether you eat either your majesty, but we had to wait hours for you to wake up just so the rest of us could. So suck it up and take one for the team. Or pack rather." He sneered at her, an infuriating smirk plastered to his face.

  Markus's words managed to pull Katherine from her quickly darkening thoughts. She didn't know if she had ever met such an aggravating person before. But
she was grateful for the distraction. "I wouldn't have cared if you had stopped," she insisted.

  The muscled man's smirk transformed into a sour frown. He glanced from her to Bastian, who was still occupying the driver's seat. Katherine's eyes followed his. "Bastian refused to stop for anything but gas until you had woken up," he informed her. "Said he didn't want to wake you up, or worse, have you wake up alone if the rest of us stopped to eat."

  It was obvious to her that Markus did not agree with the man's decision. And frankly, neither did she.

  If she would have woken up alone, she'd have bolted – taken a chance and tried to get away from these people who were trying to convince her of the impossible. Now, however, she'd have to wait it out – be patient until another opportunity for escape arose.

  The sound of Markus's voice once again forced Katherine to concentrate on the present moment. "Can we please stop somewhere to eat now?"

  Coming from his mouth, the "please" sounded more belligerent than polite.

  "I'm rather hungry myself," Zane added.

  Katherine's eyes once again wandered to Bastian’s. His forehead was creased in uncertainty, but when Katherine's stomach traitorously growled once more, he reluctantly agreed.

  "Fine, but we'll have to make it quick. We still have over a day’s worth travel before we reach Haven Falls."

  Haven Falls. It sounded too pleasant to be a werewolf colony or wherever it was they thought they were taking her.

  Sophie was proven correct about the advertisement she'd seen when within minutes they were pulling up to a brick building with the words Betty's Diner sprawled across the front. It was an establishment that apparently made "Minnesota's Best Fried Chicken."

  Katherine couldn't bring herself to be surprised that they'd already crossed state boundaries and were getting steadily closer to Canada. Katherine, we're not in Iowa anymore, she thought to herself ala Dorothy in Wizard of Oz.

  She'd always hated that movie.

  Once Bastian had parked, Markus and Zane practically flew out of the vehicle and Sophie wasn't far behind. Caleb started for the door, but hesitated and looked back at her with an inquisitive expression.