Back to You (Don't Forget Me Book 2)

by Sia Wales

  I try to hide my discomfort and sit up straight.

  “Maybe it would be better if…”

  “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” he reassures me. “You know loads of things that could be useful to us and you’re not the usual dumb human who can’t understand. You’re like a neutral territory, something like that.”

  I hadn’t even noticed that he increased the speed as we shot along the New Hampshire highway. Through the windshield I see the trees go from a dull olive color to a bright shade of yellow. I’m confused. Is Vuk after secret information that would help them destroy their arch enemy? I don’t want to be some kind of Trojan horse. And I haven’t been gathering information, like some kind of double-agent working across enemy lines, but his words are enough to make me feel like a traitor.

  “For example, knowing about the bloodsucker that can read minds. That is the sort of information that is useful to us,” he continues point blank, ignoring my perplexed expression. “I’ve heard a lot of stories about that sort of thing… I don’t know if I’ll ever get my head around the fact that they’re true! It’s disgusting! That’s the sort of thing that we all thought were just urban legends! Is he really in your head all the time?” he asks inquisitively.

  “No!” I exclaim. “Donn is not always in my head. He’d like to be, but he can’t.”

  It’s Vuk’s turn to look perplexed. “He can’t hear my thoughts if he’s not next to me,” I clarify, somewhat pleased with myself. Or maybe relieved would be the better word. “And I’m the only one he can hear, but we’re not really sure why.”

  “Weird.” Vuk shakes his head, his expression a mix of disgust and wonderment.

  “Yeah…” My self-satisfied tone vanishes. “I hate it when it happens. He just has to, like, tune in to my frequency, which means no privacy, no secrets. All my most shameful thoughts are there on show for him to see.”

  “That does seem horrible,” he agrees.

  “Maybe there’s something wrong with my mind’s workings…”

  “What do you mean?! We all know there’s something wrong with the brain of that bloodsucker,” he points out defensively.

  “Please, Vuk, he has a name.”

  “Oh right, Donn… I’ve heard of vampires with special powers, but I thought it was just a legend, just talk.” He seems unpleasantly surprised.

  “Are there things that are only legend?” I ask gloomily, not sure I want to know. “I hate it that these legends turn out to be true. Sorry, maybe you don’t wanna talk about him.”

  I tense up automatically, crossing my arms in front of me, almost protectively.

  “I don’t, to be honest.”

  “Sorry I brought him up.”

  “Don’t worry about it. In any other situation, it would be nice to finally be able to talk to someone about this stuff…”

  “Has he done something else to upset you?”

  “In the library,” I nod, staring out the windshield at the road cutting a path through the forest. I suddenly realize we’ve arrived to the lake; I see a mirror of blue water, speckled with azure, between the greenery of the trees. It is vast, motionless, and beautiful.

  “You know me so well…”.

  “We’ve been inseparable for about a year, and we’ve been through a lot together.”

  “Yeah, but at times, it seems like you can read my mind, too.”

  “No, I just pay attention to how you’re feeling,” he smiles.

  As soon as we get off the interstate, we go over the Lake

  Winnisquam bridge and follow the curves of the road that heads north-east.

  The houses that line the road are becoming less frequent, and they’re much grander. When we pass the last homes, we find ourselves in a thick forest, damp and misty. The road becomes narrower, cutting through centuries-old trees. Suddenly Vuk veers off onto a dirt road, barely visible in the dense vegetation. I look back at the other lane, which seems to be less of a road, more of a mountain path.

  “Don’t worry, this is the right road,” Vuk reassures me. “We’re almost there.”

  “Where does the other road lead?”

  “To a clearing twice the size of a football field. That’s where we go to play, when humans are watching their games on the TV.”

  “What do you play?”

  “We play Wolf’s Hunger,” explains Vuk, bursting with enthusiasm.

  “Wolf’s Hunger?” I can’t help but ask, after seeing his obvious excitement about the game. Plus, I’m actually dying to know.

  “It’s our version of one of America’s favorite pastimes. Football,” he replies solemnly.

  “Wolves play football?”

  “American wolves do,” he underlines with a half-smile.

  “Can I come watch?” I ask enthusiastically. Vuk’s face lights up, but it darkens a second later. “If you like, sure…“To tell the truth, maybe sometime in the future. For now, I think it’s safer if you don’t come watch.” He stiffens for a second. “At the edge of the clearing, amongst the trees, maybe you’d be safe. But when we play… we really let ourselves go, our instincts take over.” He smiles, almost against his will. “And you could be in danger,” he adds, pulling me into his chest.

  The forest is thickening, we can barely see a few feet ahead as the road curves around bushes and dense trees.

  I can’t decide whether or not to keep questioning him, when we find ourselves in a small clearing, which could even be a garden.

  Vuk’s pickup is the only vehicle in sight. I can hear the delicate lapping of the waves of the lake in the near distance, hidden by the vegetation. I spot the house, in a dell at the edge of the forest. Made entirely of dark wood, it is grandiose, magnificent… of a timeless beauty.

  “Jeez, real olde-worlde charm!” I exclaim in admiration.

  “So you like it,” observes Vuk.

  “It’s amazing.”

  “It’s the house of our founding fathers,” he explains, proudly. “It’s two centuries old. Well, actually it’s even older. It was built in the mid-18th century, in 1759, to be exact.”

  “Wolfeboro…” I reason aloud.

  “Exactly,” confirms Vuk. “Originally, the town was called Wolfeboro in honor of William Wolf, my great-grandfather’s grandfather, the oldest of the four young… men who founded it.”

  “The same initials as your father, Wilhelm Wolf.”

  Vuk nods, pleased I’m paying so much attention. “Since then, New Hampshire became wolf territory, and my family was the closest thing you could get to a royal clan,” he declares proudly, as I hear the echoes of Donn’s words ringing through my head.

  “A very ancient and powerful family” he had said in reference to the Council. “The closest thing we have to a ruling class.” In a flash, I see the distinct and important difference between these two legendary grand clans––vampires and wolves. In both cases the monarchy or the ruling class makes political or social decisions regarding their mythological society, assuming a dominant intellectual and moral role.

  We cross the small clearing, but the crisscrossed branches of the forest cast such dark shadows on the whole lot that I still can’t visualize the setting clearly. The trees reach right up to the back wall of the house, which faces north.

  He pulls up and turns off the engine. “Here we are.”

  The entrance is still a little ways away, but at least I can stretch my legs walking after having been cooped up in the car for so long. I look at the long porch that circles the first floor.

  “Are you sure? Maybe I shouldn’t be here…” My hands shake, just like Vuk’s did in the library, but my shaking is due to fear, not rage. He notices.

  “He’ll get over it,” he laughs. “Who’s afraid of the big, bad wolf?” he sings.

  I chuckle ironically, then gather my courage as I lean on Vuk while I avoid falling over the loose dirt and stray roots. I recall having seen this same color of dirt on his pickup the night of my party. And I also remember how he talked about his b
rother that night. The look in his eyes right now doesn’t bode well. I know he can sense my tension, his fingers comfortingly stroking the back of my hand as I stumble along.

  I almost huddle up behind him as we wait for his brother to appear at the door, but when his tall figure does show up, it’s not what I was expecting. That face, that body. I know Drake. I would never have expected to find myself before the man, his chestnut-colored eyes flecked with green, which had hunted me before the night of the full moon with his friends Ian and Nathan. There’s no trace of them by his side.

  The grim image of those terrible young men in the forest is impressed on my mind. But before me is an innocuous young man, dressed only in running shorts. Or maybe he seems harmless because Vuk has taken a protective step forward to cover me.

  His brother looks taller than when I last saw him in the woods in the foothills of Green Mountain in Vermont, but Vuk is almost the same height as him. He has thick, long, bronze-colored hair with a few flaming red streaks breaking up the contracted arch of his forehead. The piercings he had on his face have disappeared, like rotten apples fallen from a tree. Maybe he removed them to remove a part of his past, a closed chapter. Perhaps the part of his life between the battle in which he lost his father and the hunt for his prey––me. Only now do I understand the significance of the tattoo on his shoulder: the W. The initial of his father and the family surname, Wolf. A family that is the closest thing wolves have to a royal family, as Vuk said.

  His brother is the first to speak: “Vuk, what happened?”

  I look at him, petrified, shaking to my very bones. He doesn’t exactly look like a kindly college kid, like Vuk. His scrawny face is that of an adult, already corroded by the trials and tribulations of life. He has no wrinkles, bags under his eyes or actual signs of aging, but there’s a maturity and awareness his face expresses.

  “Drake, allow me to introduce Stella,” Vuk finally says, cool and collected. “Stella, this is Drake, my brother.”

  Neither of us says a word, we just stare openmouthed at each other. I, because I finally understand the truth. He, because obviously was not expecting to come face to face with me at the threshold of his own home. I look him up and down, trying to size him up objectively. But I feel like a fawn knocking on the door of a grizzly bear. And the image seems to fit like a glove.

  “I remember you well. You’re the vampire girl.”

  “Yes,” I say, my body stiff as an ironing board. “And you’re the wolf boy.”

  Drake stands still just staring at Vuk, keeping his eyes firmly away from my gaze. At first when he saw me hiding behind his brother, he seemed surprised, but that feeling soon gave way to rage.

  Now I can see the likeness. They move in the same manner, like two members of the same pack, their muscles are toned, their complexions light, the same tawny-colored hair, even their expressions are strangely similar. And the way their moods swing…well, if I had any doubts about a blood tie, their temperaments leave little room for doubt.

  I take a tentative step back, trying to shake off the feeling of sickness, of confusion. Vuk places his free hand on my cheek, turning it so my eyes meet his, he brings his face to within inches of my own. His hand burns feverishly.

  But his eyes are clear, his gaze wide open. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before.”

  I feel uncomfortable having my face so close to his, with his hot hand on my bare skin. It feels like a hot iron pressing into my cheek. And I can feel his warm breath wash over me. I move my face back, casually, but tighten my grip on his hand so as not to offend him. He smiles and straightens up; my playing it cool hasn’t fooled him, he can tell how seeing Drake again has shaken me. His arms start to shake uncontrollably.

  “Damn it, Drake,” says Vuk prudently. “Just calm down.”

  Drake takes a menacing step towards Vuk, his face just a hair’s breadth from his brother’s. “Calm down?! Yeah, sure! I bet your little bloodsuckers’ friend was just dying to meet us!” The plural did not escape my notice. I hope there are no other wolves close by, these two are enough for now.

  “Just watch what you’re saying!” warns my best friend, stung by his brother’s sarcasm.

  “Ok, Vuk, you calm down too.”

  “Yeah, ‘cause we’re not used to seeing you lose your cool, are we?!”

  “You lose it at least once a day,” retorts Drake, furious again. He seems to remember I’m present and he looks me up and down disdainfully. He grins at my dumbfounded expression.

  The blood drains from my face, my stomach is churning as he studies me in silence. “Just don’t throw up, ok?”

  “I’ll try,” I pant.

  “Or faint,” he adds.

  “I don’t think I will. Why?”

  “You’re not looking your best, Stella.”

  “Well, remember that I have just seen you again for the first time since…”

  “That’s not why.” He shakes his head. “You look like crap.”

  “Well, if you think I’ve been spending my time skipping around, carefree and happy-go-lucky, then I obviously am not the only delusional one here.” I shiver. “Anyway, I’m doing my best,” I add, more brazenly.

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s not easy. I’m trying.”

  “Ah,” is the best reply he can muster. “Sure, sure.”

  “Drake,” I sigh, forcing myself to say his name.

  “So what were you expecting to find? Assuming of course, that you got here alive…”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t even know I was coming here. And it’s none of my business.” He looks at Vuk, sneers and turns to me again.

  “I know what he’s like. And he’s sure not the big bad wolf he likes to make out he is.”

  “Oh, really?” roars Vuk.

  “Come on, boys!” I vaguely remember that petulant, quick-tempered look on both their faces. “You could hurt yourselves!”

  They both burst into derisive laughter, but Drake won’t let it go; he turns to Vuk again, scowling.

  My instinct tells me I’m in danger – that Vuk is not kidding around and that his brother is out of his mind about my being there – but good sense gets the better of me, so I stay there and again try to break the tension. “Please!” I plead.

  Drake glances at me nervously, and Vuk instinctively stands between us to shield me from him, throwing daggers at his brother.

  “That’s right, protect the little bloodsuckers’ friend,” he mocks, baring his teeth before letting out a howl.

  “Drake! Don’t you see she can help us?”

  “Oh yeah? A big help!” he retorts, shaking violently. “She’s already got us into trouble once! And I’m the one who’s still got the penalty on my head!”

  “I’ve almost sorted it out,” snaps back Vuk. Maybe that’s why he went to the library today at lunch time, skipping the first class in the afternoon.

  “Hmm,” glares his brother, his hands tightly balled into fists. “It was our final burden, Vuk! Damn it!”

  “She is no less important to me than the rest of the family!” roars Vuk furiously, shaking violently from head to toe.

  And the situation worsens. Another spasm rocks his brother’s body, he looks like he might collapse.

  “Drake!” Vuk and I cry simultaneously, as he pushes me back with one arm towards the steps of the porch. He senses trouble and wants me out of there.

  As Drake tumbles forward, he explodes as if a bomb has gone off inside him. A violent cracking sound reverberates through the air as his body morphs, lengthens and expands. A light reddish fur sprouts from his skin. He keeps growing uncontrollably, about five times his normal size. The air fills with scraps of black cloth – the shorts he was wearing – and they fall to the ground like feathers carried by the soft mountain breeze.

  Vuk shoves me backwards and I collapse onto the grass so quickly, I barely even realize why I’m on the ground. I feel Vuk’s massive, trembling hands pick me up and his longs legs run forwa
rd without stopping to the pickup, never losing sight of his brother as he does so. A roar – his imitation of humans – echoes in his rock-hard chest. He shifts me around in his arms to balance me better, but I almost slip out of his grip.

  “Vuk! I cry out, clinging on for dear life to his shoulders.

  “Lock yourself in the car,” he growls, as Drake emits another massive roar. His glowing chestnut-green eyes are fixed on me, full of hatred.

  “Good idea,” I snap. Vuk releases me and makes a dash towards his brother to keep him away from me.

  “No, Vuk! Come back!” I exclaim, and take a hazardous step toward the brothers.

  “Stay where you are!” he orders. His eyes, now two sharp, luminous yellow blades, warning me that this instruction is not under discussion.

  “But where’s the key?” I cry in desperation.

  “Inside the pickup!” It’s not easy to make out what he’s saying through the wolf growls which echo off the trees like thunder off a mountaintop.

  I watch Vuk cross the clearing at inhuman speed, and try to keep my panic in check, the chasm gaping precipitously in front of me. He goes so fast, his feet barely seem to touch the ground, the sleeves of his white t-shirt inflating like wings. He only slows down as he approaches the porch.

  In an instant, the irate gigantic wolf bares his teeth, and with a lightning-fast leap bounds down onto the grass, crouching, ready to pounce, so massive I can’t even begin to imagine how that mass of muscle was contained in Drake’s human form.

  Vuk is also prey to debilitating convulsions. His human form remains, but he still somehow manages to hurl his brother through the wooden door leading into the house.

  I watch enraptured, this clash of the titans, peppered with deafening crashes and thunderous roars, until Vuk, with a quick-fire leap, slams the door shut behind them. The visuals may be obscured, but the infuriated growls echo through the walls of the house, as if they were paper-thin. Walls crashing down, doors falling, glass shattering; the impact of their massive bodies is causing untold damage to the ancient house.