A Wolf's Oath

by Alli, Jennifer T.

  “It isn’t your job to think,” David snapped, turning from his position in the driver’s seat to fix Dominic with a deadly glare. “That task is reserved for our leader. It’s our job to simply follow his orders.”

  “Thank you David. I can deal with this. He should understand some basics of strategy if he’s to be of any use to our branch. I don’t know what they were teaching you in that branch of yours if you can’t even grasp this simple situation.”

  Dominic averted his eyes, embarrassed by his new leader’s words. “I apologise for my incompetence sir.”

  “It’s something that we can work on from now on. Let me explain why we don’t simple barge into the house guns blazing and try to capture them. To take on a fully grown werewolf when they aren’t already ensnared in some sort of trap requires a great deal of skill and man power. Unfortunately most of the experienced members of our branch were slaughtered in the last attack. We don’t have enough skilled personnel to take them on directly. There are three of us correct?”

  “Yes sir,” Dominic agreed hurriedly.

  “When confronting a werewolf the odds should never be one on one, it’s suicide to try and do so. Ideally there should be at least five of us for every one of them and even then two of them should be hidden so that they can disable the wolf with a shot from a silver bullet.”

  “If that’s the case sir, then why don’t we just call in some additional members from the branch?”

  “Like I said we need skilled people and at the moment we don’t have them. Besides you were sat here yesterday just like me. You saw that there were people coming and going at random hours of the day. We don’t know when they’ll come back so we can’t adequately prepare for them. No, it’s best for us if we try and use their weaknesses in our favour. If what you’ve told me about the woman having amnesia is true then we won’t have to engage in a costly direct confrontation. She’ll deliver them all up to us on a silver platter.”

  “They’re moving sir,” David commented from his seat beside Vincent, his dark eyes were trained on the small group of four as they left the safety of the house and entered the car in the driveway.

  “Follow them from a distance,” Vincent ordered.

  As soon as the words had left his lips, David sprung into action, starting the car and waiting until the vehicle they were tracking was a sufficient distance away from them that its passengers wouldn’t be aware of anything suspicious in the dark truck that was following their journey. The blue car driven by their prey was heading down the path towards the town, but they had expected this, there was nowhere else to go in this area. The car stopped, pulling over at the side of the main street, his car slowed correspondingly. Vincent watched, his eyes intense, as a familiar woman jumped out of the car. The glimpses that he had managed to attain through the long lens of their camera hadn’t confirmed the woman’s identity, but his own two eyes couldn’t deny what was in front of him. The wolf was indeed here, alive and breathing and he hoped memory less.

  The woman, Erica, his mind corrected. If he were to pull this off, then he would have to appear as though he knew her; his plan wouldn’t work if he continued to refer to her as ‘woman’. Erica moved around the car and proceeded to open the rear doors. Two small children exited and a sinister smile appeared on Vincent’s face. Leverage, he instantaneously thought, watching the protective manner that Erica was exhibiting around the small children. She took each child by the hand and proceeded to walk away from the car, which immediately took off and continued to move down the street.

  “I’m getting out here,” Vincent said quietly, turning to face David. “I want you and Dominic to keep an eye on the male. She might have amnesia but he definitely doesn’t and will probably recognise my scent, which will give everything away. I’m going to follow her, if he looks like he’s coming back tell me immediately.”

  “Yes sir.” The order was accepted instantaneously and Vincent smiled, glad that Dominic was finally showing some potential for being the man that he hoped to mould him into. He stepped out of the car, his briefcase firmly in hand, his eyes fixed firmly on Erica's movements and his body falling into step with hers. She was laughing and giggling with the two small children at either side of her body as they walked into the town’s supermarket and his gaze was instantly drawn to them.

  That must be the family she was so determined to protect. They look very innocent for monsters, he mused as he leaned against a building opposite the supermarket. There’s no point me trying to corner her in there, I won’t be able to get her alone, those two children looked like they wouldn’t willingly leave her side, he pondered remembering the way that they had tightly gripped Erica's hands as though afraid to let her go. If I can’t do that then I doubt this will work.

  His posture against the wall was relaxed belying the nervous energy that filled him as he waited, anticipation building at the thought of rectifying his last mistake. Anyone who walked past would think that he was merely waiting for a friend who was running late. No one would think that he was harbouring ill intentions towards a woman with no memory and two small children and that was what he wanted. His mind wandered once again to the two children that had walked beside her.

  Vincent didn’t have any children and he would never have had the patience to spend time around them should he have had any. He’d never seen the attraction in starting a family; his job was more than enough. His lack of contact with children meant that he wasn’t an expert in the subject but from his initial glimpse of them he supposed that they were, for a lack of a better word, cute. Their seeming innocence might have made a lesser man reluctant to go through with this plan, but Vincent wasn’t a lesser man. He was well aware of the reason behind their innocent façade. Their cuteness was a genetic trait to ensure the survival of a race of monsters and he wasn’t fooled by it. Most humans would find it difficult to attack a child who appeared so innocent and that was what allowed their race to continue to grow despite the organisation’s best attempts to usher them into extinction. If the child was left to continue it’s growth, it would inevitably become one of the monsters they later had so much difficulty disposing of. Vincent thus felt no remorse in his plan that would likely lead to the deaths of those children, it was for the good of mankind after all.

  Erica left the supermarket with a triumphant smile plastered across her face as she revelled in the accompanying feelings of pride and accomplishment. Another memory had returned to her. If someone had told her when she and Sebastian had first moved to this little town in the mountains that she would be grinning like an idiot over recalling something as simple as an ingredient for a cake, she would have laughed in their faces without remorse. Things had apparently changed in the relatively short time they had been here. The memory had been simple and short. She had been following her sibling’s lead as they dragged her through the supermarket when the flashback had occurred. She had seen herself in a different kitchen to the one in their current place of residence, her face was contorted into a mask of concentration as she single mindedly went about her task of crushing hazelnuts into a fine powder for her cake. The memory was gone almost as soon as it came and as soon as it left the forefront of her mind she had rushed to find the ingredient within the limited selection of the store leaving both Dylan and Wyatt staring after her confused. She had been pleasantly surprised when she had found them and even happier when her brother and sister had instigated a quick round of applause for her achievement.

  She was unsure when exactly she had made the transition from frantic attempts to regain her lost memories to her current state of calm acceptance at her lack of them. Despite not knowing when it had happened, she knew that it had and she had made her peace with it. In fact, the longer she thought about it, the more she became convinced that this was a positive thing. She couldn’t allow her amnesia to continue to dictate not only her life, but the lives of those around her and if she kept pining over her lost memories then that was exactly what she was allowing to h
appen. Sebastian had a life that didn’t revolve around her and he was disrupting it for her sake. He had a job and family and friends that missed him, he couldn’t afford to be on indefinite leave from them because of her accident. It wasn’t just him that she was affecting either; both Dylan and Wyatt were suffering too. It had been selfish of her to ask for Sebastian to bring them to her when he did, they were in the middle of a school term and she had taken them away from that without a second thought. None of their lives could continue like this forever.

  The longer she spent with her family, the more she became convinced that she could live without her memories before the accident. It was so easy to interact with them that at times she even forgot that there was a large chunk of her life missing. It had dawned on her that the time that she had forgotten, in the grand scheme of things, wasn’t actually all that much. She wasn’t very old and had her entire life ahead of her in which to develop new memories. In fact it could be seen as a blessing that she had forgotten the likely uncomfortable teenage years of her life and the years before that she probably hadn’t been able to recall even before her accident. In that light she had only lost a few years worth of memories, nothing that she couldn’t live without. She wanted to go home, and soon. Let those who knew her from before the accident tell her of her life before it, it was no longer important. Her true friends would understand that she was unaware of their history and would be willing to forge one afresh and those that couldn’t accept the change were probably not the best friends to have around anyway.

  The tranquillity that came with having made an active decision for the direction of her life enabled her to smile as she and her siblings left the supermarket and made their way across the road to the town’s diner. She and Sebastian had agreed to meet up there so that they could all have something to eat for breakfast. He’d told her he wasn’t sure how long he’d be trying to acquire a new generator so she should start without him and judging from the increasingly audible growls that her brother and sister’s stomach were making, it had been a wise decision on his part. As she approached the diner’s door, she became aware of a large man leading against the side of the building. Their eyes met, locking for a moment and she hesitated unsure of whether she should continue her walk towards him so that she could reach the diner’s interior. Though the man had made no attempt to approach her, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she knew him from somewhere.

  Would you listen to yourself? her mind snapped. One minute you decide that you’ve accepted that this is your life and it doesn’t include memories of the past and the next second you seem intent on discovering the identity of someone you may or may not know. You can’t have it both ways; it’s one or the other. Just leave him alone. Don’t go near him, leave him for Sebastian. There’s no need to go looking for trouble.

  Erica quickly conceded that the voice was right, she couldn’t have it all. I can’t keep disrupting the lives of my family like this, she decided. He hasn’t introduced himself so I’m just going to let it go. I clearly don’t know him. Her decision made, she walked past the man into the warmth of the diner, briefly flashing him a smile as she passed him. The past is the past and I’m not going to worry about it anymore. All that matters is here and now.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  She doesn’t remember. The single thought refused to leave Vincent’s mind. Erica had walked straight past him as though there was no history between them, let alone the violent one that they shared. He had experienced a moment of concern when she had stopped her advance towards the diner but then she’d carried on as though nothing were amiss. It was true; the woman did have amnesia and that meant that he had to begin to put his plan into action.

  His plan rested on his ability to take advantage of Erica's unfortunate lack of memories and if Dominic’s information had been incorrect, the plan would have failed. He wasn’t sure what he could have done if that had been the case. He had only succeeded in capturing her the first time because of a trap and there was a distinct lack of other people in the area. It wasn’t as though he could simply throw her over his shoulder and carry her away, this location wasn’t conducive to that option. He had to admit that the wolf had chosen well, the organisation tried its best not to harm innocent humans, they weren’t the enemy after all, but Vincent didn’t doubt that the citizens of the town would come to Erica's defense should he attempt to abduct her. He was well aware of the limitations that had been placed on him and was now prepared to work within them.

  He pushed himself off the side of the wall and reached down for his briefcase before walking to the diner’s window. He watched as Erica and the two children sat down in one of the diner’s booths and waited to be served. I’ll wait for them to get settled, he thought, the cogs in his mind beginning to work as he thought of the best way to initiate contact with the woman. I doubt she’ll be willing to pay attention to me if her two brats are fussing. Hopefully that shouldn’t take long and then I’ll make my move. With any luck the male will take a long time doing whatever it is he’s doing and I’ll have enough time to convince her.

  *****

  Within seconds of entering the diner both Dylan and Wyatt were seated within the red vinyl seats of the diner’s booths, menus in hand. Clearly the prospect of food was a good motivator for these two. She stored the information away in the back of her mind. Having reached the decision to give up on her lost memories, she knew that she had to start afresh with all her relationships and so it was in her best interests to gather as much information as possible.

  “Hello Erica.” A familiar voice called from above her head. She turned to find the waitress that had served them the last time she and Sebastian had entered the diner. Her eyes wandered to the name tag on the woman’s chest, confirming her name.

  “Hiya Claire, how are you?”

  “I’m fine thanks, you?”

  “As good as I can be considering my situation.”

  “Yeah, I heard about that. Amnesia?” Erica nodded in response. “That must be hard, to not remember a single thing about your life.”

  “I would prefer not to talk about it.” I’ve decided that I’m not going to let it control my life so I can’t afford to have everyone treating me differently because of it.

  “Fair enough,” Claire responded. “If you ever need anyone to talk to then you know where to find me.”

  “It’s nice of you to offer,” Erica admitted.

  “So who are these two cuties? Are they yours? They seem to have taken after the best that both you and Sebastian have to offer. Speaking of which, where is Sebastian?”

  None of your business. The voice within Erica's mind growled at scenting Claire’s attraction to Sebastian.

  Though Erica found that she agreed with the voice’s sentiment, she forced her lips into a smile and folded her hands tightly in her lap so that she wouldn’t leap from the seat and try to wrap them around Claire's throat. “Dylan, Wyatt say hello to Claire.”

  “Hi.” They grinned, waving at the waitress.

  Maybe I should let her think that they’re ours. It might put a damper on her inappropriate thoughts towards Sebastian. The idea came to her mind unbidden but was quickly dismissed as she realised the flaws in that plan. News spreads quickly in this town and the twins would just get confused as to why people thought I was their mom and Sebastian was their dad. “Sebastian and I don’t have any children, yet,” she added, staking her claim on him. “This is my brother and that’s my sister. They’ve just come to visit me.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Claire spluttered. “It’s just that they look so much like you and they have brown eyes like Sebastian, I just assumed…”

  “They’re my siblings, of course they’re going to look like me.”

  “Well yes, that’s obvious. I just meant…Oh.” Claire groaned loudly covering her face with her hands. “Just pretend that I didn’t say anything. Have you decided what you want to order?” she asked, her tone all business.

  “I’m goi
ng to have the pancakes. You were right, they’re very good. Dylan? Wyatt? Do you know what you want to eat?”

  Dylan put the menu down on the table and turned to face Claire. “I want pancakes too and I want bacon and toast as well.”

  “That’s a lot of food for such a little girl, are you sure you can eat it all?”

  “Of course I can,” Dylan beamed.

  Claire opened her mouth to contradict her but then remembered the easy way that Erica and Sebastian had ploughed through the contents of their entire menu and thought better of it. Perhaps the ability to eat enormous amounts of food is genetic, she thought before turning her attention to the little boy sat beside Dylan. “And what do you want?”

  “I want scrambled eggs, toast, beans and sausages, lots of sausages. Oh and hash browns, I like them.”

  “I want hash browns too,” Dylan added.

  She jotted down the order. “Anything to drink?”

  “Apple juice.” The simultaneous reply from the two children brought a smile to Claire’s face. “And anything for you Erica?”

  “I’ll have the same.”

  “Right, I’ll be back with your food as soon as possible.” Claire turned from the table and began making her way back to the kitchen.

  “She seemed nice,” Dylan commented.

  “I suppose,” Erica conceded, eying Claire’s back as she retreated. She was well aware that the level of her jealousy was unreasonable. She shouldn’t hate the woman for simply finding Sebastian attractive, he was a handsome man after all. Reason and emotion didn’t mix well and the knowledge behind Claire's reaction to him didn’t lessen the ugly emotion in the slightest.

  Dylan turned to talk to her brother and the two soon became embroiled in a childish discussion over what game they would play once they returned home. Erica's gaze wandered the breadth of the diner absentmindedly but a deep voice calling to her from above her head had her snapping to attention.