by Amy McClung
As I was putting together my memories of the previous night I started pacing the cave. The only explanation was that they made a mistake and that he must have had a faint pulse. Quinn put his hand on my shoulder and I jumped in fright, not of him but just because I almost forgot he was there. “You are sure he was dead? Right? If that is the case, where is his body Quinn?”
He shrugged his shoulders, “I have no idea Parker, maybe we made a mistake, but I don’t think so. If it wasn’t a silver bullet he would have shown signs of life within an hour or two of being shot, we gave him at least 3-4 hours. Mitchell stayed here while I took you to the other cave to shift back. I came back here while you slept to help him close the opening. I don’t know what else to tell you. All I know is that we left him here wrapped in a sheet” He lifted his arm and pointed toward the spot where we came in, “and we blocked up that opening so that no one would get to him. I can’t give you the answers you need. But think about it, if Will is alive, why hasn’t he come to find us? We were all getting along great. He has no reason to run from us.” Picking the sheet up again I turned to Quinn, “I need to be alone, I can walk home…I just need to be with Will right now.” Quinn looked stung, “I’m not leaving you here, I wi…” I shook my head, “Please, just leave. I need to do this alone. I will call you later, I promise” He kissed my cheek and I turned away from him as he left.
Sitting in the cave alone all I could think about was our last night together and Will’s expression of agony as he watched me change. We had such an instantaneous bond of friendship that no one could match. It hurt that I didn’t get more time with him. Maybe he is still out there somewhere, maybe we will find him again. One reflection that I had was that, if I was this devastated by the death of a friend of just a few weeks, than how will I survive losing Jackie, or my parents. The general idea of it made me think maybe Will got the easy out. He doesn’t have to endure the pain of shifting anymore and he will not have to suffer through his sister's imminent death and his parents as well. Even though they couldn’t accept him as a wolf, they are still his parents and it would be hard. It’s sad to think death is easier than life. My thoughts kept me engulfed for over an hour. At last I said my goodbyes to him and made promises to avenge his death no matter what it took.
Feeling like I had said all I could, I stood up and folded the sheet laying it on the rock where he kept the lantern and I walked out ready to start my way home. When I stepped out of the cave, Quinn was sitting next to the entrance, which startled me. He stood up abruptly and put his hand up as I was about to speak. “Please don’t be mad. With the bod…sorry, with Will being gone I just couldn’t leave you alone here in case someone came back. You are too important to me.” How could I be mad at someone for caring so much about me? Without speaking I just put my hand out to him and he wound his fingers in mine as we started back to the car.
As we were walking I thought of something, “So did you guys take the lantern when you closed up the cave?” Quinn’s reply had me wondering further, “I didn’t grab any lantern, and I don’t remember Mitchell getting one either, it may still be in there, why?” That was weird, “It wasn’t in there, he put it on top of a rock up high so we couldn’t knock it over when we shifted and I placed the sheet on that rock before we left the cave and there was no lantern there.” Quinn shrugged again, “I don’t know sweetie, we can check with Mitchell though if it will make you feel better.” He pulled my hand up to his face and kissed it. He had a calming affect over me but now my head was swimming with all sorts of scenarios as to what happened to Will’s body.
When we got in I let him drive again but turned and said, “Take me to the waterfall, I just want to be at a place I love right now, with the man I love.” I ran my fingers through his hair as I gazed at him and his face seemed to light up, I knew that he needed to hear that because I had been so preoccupied with Will and because of the fight we had earlier. When we got to the waterfall spot, Quinn grabbed the blanket from the back seat and laid it out for us. He sat down and I lay with my head in his lap just enjoying the sound of the water and being with him. I closed my eyes as he stroked my hair. With my eyes closed I kept seeing memories of Will, hearing the gun shot, seeing him flying through the air, the memory of his body laying there motionless, so I opened my eyes and tried not to shut them again. I just wanted happiness right now.
Quinn was patting my hair and I sat up, his face looked worried at this sudden movement. “We need to do something fun, all of us, you me Jackie and Mitchell and we are going to start planning for it now. We have less than three weeks.” The look on his face was incomprehension at the moment; I guess I was being a bit vague. “Halloween…there is a costume dance at school that night and we should go. It would be fun and we can all use some fun.” His face kind of scrunched up as he said, “I don’t know, I’ve never been much into Halloween and the whole costume thing. And you know the last time I went to a high school dance was in the 50’s.” I pouted my lips at him, “Well, it would be the first dance I actually went to, and with a date. It would mean a lot to me.” He still had the scrunched up look on his face and was being stubborn about it. “Please, please please, it would make me so happy.” I batted my eyelashes at him put my hands together in a praying fashion. He started laughing and pulled me to him, “You play dirty,” he kissed me and then said, “I will do it, anything to make you happy.” I cheered and clapped, it did make me happy.
My text went off, it was Jackie I won’t be staying over tonight, feeling worse, sick to my stomach, and don’t want you to catch it. Have fun with Quinn—Jackie. I responded with Hope you feel better, make sure Mitchell takes care of you—Parker. I showed Quinn the texts, “hope it’s nothing serious,” I was disappointed that Jackie wasn’t coming over, I just needed my friends around me right now, “will you stay with me tonight? My parents won’t be home for a couple more days and I don’t want to be alone.” He smiled, “Of course, I will stay as long as you let me.”
Nightfall was nearing so we headed back to the house and when we got there the door was unlocked. I could have sworn I locked that but then again I wasn’t thinking straight when we left. Erring on the side of caution Quinn went first to make sure no one was in there. With lightning speed he ran up the stairs and then came back down and said he found nothing but the normal scents. It's possible I just walked out and forgot to lock it.
Quinn was working hard to keep me happy, he made us popcorn and grabbed some cokes and he popped in the movie Love Actually which is one of my favorites but slightly on the chick flick side. I think he secretly likes it though. This was definitely helping take my mind off things. He sat on the couch and I lay up against him. He fed me popcorn and rubbed my shoulders.
There was a knock on the door, we push pause on the movie and Quinn went to see who it was. It was Mitchell. He came in and apologized for interrupting but said he wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t important. He is worried about Jackie. “Ever since the first night of the full moon she has been acting strange, she has been pulling away from me. She and I have always been very affectionate and now she will barely hold my hand. Now she keeps saying she is sick to her stomach and doesn’t want me to come over because she is afraid of giving it to me. I tried to explain to her that I am a vampire and I can’t get sick. She just acted like she forgot and then made some other excuse about wanting to be alone. I don’t get it.” This was all news to me, but thinking about it, Jackie did seem less affectionate when she was here earlier, I just thought it was because of the situation at hand. “She told me she was sick too Mitchell, so she may be. Maybe a little space and things will be back to normal in no time. Some of her actions may be coming from Will’s death. He was her friend and we all feel bad that we couldn’t help him; I am sure she feels bad too. You know she feels inadequate because she is the only “normal” one,” I told him. Not knowing what else to do I walked over and leaned my head against his shoulder and rubbed his back as a sign of comfort. “Maybe you are
right, I will just be patient and give her some space, “he replied with sigh.
Mitchell and Quinn needed to talk so I excused myself and went to the kitchen to make him a drink. While I was in there I heard a noise outside, I looked toward the door to the living room expecting the guys to come running but they didn’t. I grabbed a flashlight from the kitchen drawer, quietly opened the back door and headed outside. I turned the flashlight on and saw that the top had come off the trashcan, could have been a raccoon or a stray dog but I kept looking. I was aiming around the yard and my light caught something as I passed over it, I went back over the spot and saw a set of eyes…wolf eyes in the woods. The wolf stepped forward and started slowly toward the house again, my heart was beating fast as I backed up trying to slowly make my way back to the house. We were staring each other down, it knew what I was…wait…I know those eyes…”Will?” I said, “Will is that you?” I started toward the wolf again and it growled and crouched into a position ready to pounce. This is crazy, Will is dead, I slowly backed up to the door and when I went to turn the knob it was flung open behind me and I was yanked inside.
“What the hell are you doing Parker?” Quinn exclaimed as he slammed the door and locked it. “You should not be outside by yourself, what were you thinking?” Letting out an exasperated breath I replied, “I heard a noise and went to check it out, I’m fine, nothing happened. Geez, you aren’t the only one with abilities around here. You have got to realize I am not that fragile.” I pushed past him and went back to the living room, no one was there. “Where did Mitchell go?” I asked him. “He went home and said he would check on Jackie tomorrow and then fill us in on if there was any change. Look, I am sorry I overreacted; I just don’t want anything to happen to you. You are safer on this side of the door because without an invitation…” I finished his sentence for him, “She can’t come in, I know the drill. It was a wolf out there though, not a vampire. I can handle myself with another wolf.” Quinn nodded, “I know, I know. I will try and be a little less overprotective.”
We headed upstairs to call it a night. Neither of us was having much success sleeping. Quinn turned on the lamp beside the bed and we sat up cuddled together. “I need to ask you something, it’s been bothering me a little since the day we were talking about changing Jackie.” I sat up thinking he was going to try and broach the subject again and I was prepared to argue when his question surprised me. “Do you want to have children?” A short laugh escaped me, “My goodness Quinn, it’s a little early to think about that isn’t it?” His expression didn’t change, he was being quite serious, so I responded, “Truthfully, I used to dream about being married and having kids, the whole shebang. But once I was changed to a werewolf, well I just figured it isn’t possible anymore. I am not even sure I could have children now.” I’m not great at hiding my emotions and he knew what I was feeling when my eyes fell away from his, he lifted my chin to face him, “It’s possible. I’ve seen it happen.” My mood lightened, “What? How? Would they be a werewolf too though?” He shrugged, “They might, it’s like a genetic disease, they could have the gene or they may be perfectly normal. Vampires can’t have children though…” He stopped at that and I understood where this concern was stemming from. If it was my dream to have children then he would be the gentleman as always and leave so that I could pursue that with someone who could give me a child. Well that was not what I wanted so I had to put a stop to his thinking, I leaned over and gently kissed his lips and then said, “I want you that is where my dreams are right now. There was a time I wanted children and it’s nice to know that it is possible, but if they are born with the werewolf gene then I have sentenced them to a life of terrible pain. If they do not have the gene, then I have sentenced myself to the agonizing pain of watching my children grow old and die in front of me. Neither of those scenarios sounds like a dream life to me. So I understand what you are thinking and that you just want the best for me…but you are what is best for me.” That must have been exactly what he needed to hear because he grabbed my face pulling me to him and kissed me with such enthusiasm.
Quinn spent the next few nights with me and then it was time for my parents to come home. Things were still the same with Jackie, she kept making excuses not to come around and she was being standoffish with Mitchell. All I got out of her were text messages with excuses why she couldn’t meet up with me. She wasn’t even showing up for school and when I tried to go to her house her mom would tell me that Jackie didn’t want to see anyone. It was getting a bit frustrating. I began spending more time with Mitchell because Quinn was searching for the female vamp and didn’t want me left alone. He only had my best interest in mind and I understood that, but it was a bit annoying at times. He wanted to look for the vamp on his own after the run-in Mitchell had with her because he didn’t want to take a chance at her overtaking him again.
Quinn and I hardly got alone time together because when he was around, Mitchell was hanging out too because he had nowhere else to go. It wasn’t bad that he was hanging out more, I like Mitch and we were becoming closer friends, but three can be a crowd. For everyone’s sake, I had to figure out a way to get him and Jackie back together and to get my best friend back and alone time with my sweetie too. The Halloween dance may be the answer to that. I needed to coordinate costumes for everyone and make sure this night went off just perfectly. There was only about a week to get things together.
Since my parents were home, Quinn had to stay at his house but he was texting me every few minutes to check in. I guess he felt better when I had a vampire babysitter instead of two normal humans. Spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread was the dinner I made for my parent’s first night back so we could catch up and I could hear all about their vacation. They had a great time in Seattle. They went to museums and they went up in the Space Needle, went the Pike Place fish market and did lots of shopping. They brought me home a t-shirt, and a shot glass which has become a tradition when they travel. They also brought me a Starbucks coffee cup, the first one was opened inside the Space Needle in Seattle. They took pictures of some of the spots around town that were featured in 10 Things I Hate About You which is another of my favorite movies. That was really cool to have those pictures. After hearing about their trip and thinking about my week, I wished I had gone with them after all. Maybe if I had, Will would still be alive.
They wanted to know about my time and what went on. Omitting all the dangerous stuff, I just said that Mitchell, Jackie and Quinn stayed here with me most of the time. I told them that Quinn insisted on staying after Christine was murdered which is why I invited the others too so that we could have safety in numbers. And I told them that I knew they would feel better about me having a boy over if there were other people around as well. They bought that and actually said they were glad to hear it. I think I just won Quinn even more brownie points. They even suggested I invite him over for dinner soon so they could get to know him better. At this point he would have to do something pretty bad to make them dislike him.
Being the wonderful daughter that I am, I offered to do the dishes while they unpacked. Standing at the kitchen sink I looked out the window and there was the wolf again, watching me from the edge of the woods. I dried my hands on a dish towel and grabbed a bag of trash out of the can to take it outside. When I opened the trash can and went to put the bag in, inside was a sheet, it had blood on it just like the sheet I left in the cave. My body turned to face the direction of the woods and my eyes met with the wolf. It was still standing there watching me. There is no way it could be Will, he hasn’t been a wolf long enough to be able to change whenever he wants, he barely could contain himself when shifting. A full moon or uncontrollable anger is the only thing that could change him so there is no way that could be Will. If it isn’t Will, then who is this wolf and why does it keep watching me?
Chapter Thirteen
It had been almost two weeks since Will died and Jackie was still avoiding everyone. The cold shoulder crap was really
starting to get to me, so I went to her house and Mrs. Martin answered the door. She started to tell me that Jackie didn’t want company but I stopped her, “I need to talk to Jackie, it’s important, and I am not leaving till I see her.” Mrs. Martin opened the door, backed up and motioned for me to come in. “Good luck sweetie, I hate to see you two girls fighting. Your mom and I have been worried about you both.” Turning to look at her I said, “Oh there has been no fight, just your daughter giving me the cold shoulder for some unknown reason…but it stops today.” Mrs. Martin gave me a silent thumbs up and an encouraging smile. Then I went straight to Jackie’s room and found her curled up on the bed staring at the wall. This is not what I expected at all. Jackie was not the type to be depressed or a shut-in. She has always been the one who wanted to get outside or the one that was cheering me up. She has never been someone who moped and felt sorry for herself. She has always been frustrated with those kinds of people.