"Where...did that come from?" she asked, fully composed as she wiped the rest of the tears from her eyes.
The panic passed almost as quickly as it came. He couldn't remember the last time that had happened to him. The fear of somehow actually losing Heather was almost too much for him. It was the first time he ever felt so helpless, and incapable of solving a problem.
"I don't know, Heather." He took her fully in his arms and squeezed her. At first she didn't respond, then he felt her arms wrap around him and tighten as she began to cry again. He listened to the sound of her as she did. The choking gasps as her body shook under her sobs. He held her there and smelled the fragrance of her hair as he shielded her from everyone and everything around her until she stopped. When she finally pulled away, he found her lips against his. Soft and moist, as he'd always imagined. The taste of her lips were only surpassed by the taste of her tongue as it darted into his mouth rolling and caressing his. He could feel her breath on his face, as his body began to come alive at the touch of her body pressed against his, and the smell that was uniquely hers filled his nose.
Bobby coughed. “Get a room, you two."
Heather pulled back from their embrace, but still held on to him, her crystal blue eyes searching his.
"Well, are we going to go?" Bobby asked and waved his hands back to his truck.
"You've saved me again." Heather smiled. "And all I do is treat you badly."
"No, Heather, you don't."
She placed a finger over his mouth silencing him. "You need to learn to let a girl apologize when she wants to." She smiled and took her finger away. Brian smiled, too.
"Oh come on, are we ready yet?"
"Bobby." She turned and said to him. "I think we're going to take your advice."
"What advice?" He took his baseball cap off, and scratched his head with the same hand.
"The room. Do you know of one nearby?" She answered him
"Heather, I don't know if that's a good idea." Brian said, but she then put a finger on his lips again
"I just want you to hold me is all. I need you to hold me and never let me go."
"I can't wait for you two, you know."
Brian spoke up. "We know Bobby, and we thank you for putting up with us.”
"Well...hell." Bobby put his hat back on. "Look, I'm only a couple of hours away from my drop." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "I'll take you to a little joint near here where you two can bunk down for the night, at least until I get back."
Brian nodded to him.
"You call me you hear? I don't care what it is, if you need something, you call me."
"How are we going to do that if we have your phone?" Brian asked as he started to walk arm in arm with Heather as they headed for the truck.
"That's my spare. My number is in there under Bobby."
"You call yourself much?” Brian asked, smiling.
"No one likes a smart ass, kid." Bobby said, bringing laughs from both Brian and Heather.
"I say something funny?"
"No, no..." Brian smiled and exchanged looks with Heather.
Twenty minutes later, they watched from their new motel room as Bobby pulled away, promising to return by tomorrow. Brian didn't even have to suggest the clerk, as Bobby insisted on paying for their stay. Two days, in fact, as he said he was going to need to get some sleep when he got back.
Until then, he and Heather were on their own
Chapter 14
True to her word, Heather did just as she said. Oh, there was some kisses exchanged here and there, but really all they did was hold each other for hours. Several times he thought he felt her shivering, but when he asked she shook her head, with her face buried in his side. It was possible he thought, that she had been crying, but he couldn't come up with a reason why. When she did talk to him and show her face, it was usually just to talk about the past, and the trip. Not the weird parts of it, only the good parts. The motels, the waitresses back at the cafe. She even commented that she had wished she had finished her egg Mcmuffin. Brian offered to go out and find her something to eat, but she had clung to him tighter, and told him that she would be fine.
At the moment, she was sleeping very quietly next to him, her arm hanging over him possessively. The room itself looked almost exactly like the last room they had been in, except that the bathroom was now on the opposite wall of the last one. really there was nothing peculiar about the place, and that made it extremely boring to be laying on the bed wide awake looking at nothing. He had intended to take a trip home while she slept, a plan he had shared with her. He would just pop out for a short minute and be right back, refreshed and stronger than ever. However she had refused to let him go, saying she didn't want to be left alone for even a minute. When he pushed to go so he could keep his strength up and quench his ever-growing hunger, she had begged him to go tomorrow. Easy for her to say after eating at least one and a half egg Mcmuffins.
In the end, he had agreed to stay and keep her happy. He had to admit, that the last time he had left her for similar reasons, she had somehow found a way to have herself captured. Which was something he kept forgetting to ask her about.
Well, he thought, the least she could have done was to allow me to turn the TV on for a bit. That would have definitely given him something to do while she slept. He considered entering her dreams, but he decided against that for two reasons. One being he wouldn't be on guard duty then, and thus he would be unable to protect her, and two...
Well, two was because that part of their relationship was past. Something he used to do before they were really together. He didn't doubt that later, when they were closer, he would reveal the ability to do that to her. Then they would both go on adventures together without ever leaving their home. That idea brought him a lot of pleasure for some reason. Of course, it would be a long time off before he told her about that. She already had way too many things to get used to with him around. He didn't need to complicate things more right now.
A dark shadow crossed over the closed curtain, completely blocking out the evening parking lot lights. It seemed strange to Brian that anyone could be so huge as to generate that large of a shadow. He almost yelled out at the top of his voice to lay off the hamburgers, but he thought better to not wake Heather. Besides, he didn't need one of the other motel residents complaining to the front desk about his rudeness. That wouldn't do at all, even if he could suggest the clerk to take his side. It was just that he was really bored doing nothing. Maybe he could travel after the big guy and just see what he was doing? It wasn't like he was really leaving Heather. He would be right outside the door. Practically. Why am I arguing with myself? I know what I'm doing. Besides, I can't take this any more. I've been here for an entire afternoon, she really can't really expect me to lay here all night, too. Nope, he was going to do it. It wouldn't hurt anything, and he really was curious about how big someone had to be to have such a large shadow. If he hurried, he should be able to catch up quickly.
It wasn't hard for Brian to shut his mind down. After all, he had been practicing most of the evening just to keep himself somewhat occupied. He had been itching for a reason to just step out, if only just for a few seconds and now he had an excuse. After all what if the guy was really an agent or something? A huge agent. He had to patrol the perimeter at least once in a while, just in case. He heard a familiar pop, and he found himself standing by the bed. That was somewhat surprising, he expected to travel straight to the guy with the big shadow. He supposed, since he didn't actually see the guy, or know where he was, that it might make it harder to just zoom in on him.
"Well that's going make this a bit more difficult," he said to himself. But at least he would get to wander around on his own power. He had to admit, as he walked through the still closed door, that he felt in this instance it was a bonus. The first thing he saw was the empty parking lot as he emerged from the other side of the door. A quick glance around the immediate area revealed nothing. No
t that he expected the big guy to hang around outside at whatever time of the night it was. After all, if it was another customer then he was here to sleep. Yeah, right after he eats another pizza, he thought, and laughed to himself.
That was when he heard it.
"Who goes there?" The voice was gravely, almost like a low guttural growl. At the same instant he noticed movement off to his left. He wasn't sure where the thing had been hiding when he first stepped out of the door, as he could not believe anything that big could have escaped his notice. It was huge and bulky and walked like a giant ape. Yet, no ape that he had ever seen had such a large wolf like snout, filled with rows of sharp teeth that he could see even from where he stood. The thing was covered in thick black fur, and its head seemed to be somewhere between the area of dog-like or wolf-like, yet not quite either. Two large red orbs sat in the place where its eyes should have been, while its pointed ears stood up straight and tall and pointed directly at him.
"Identify yourself!" It said in that guttural growl again. This time, Brian could see that its snout didn't move as he heard the words, instead, it sounded like it had come from inside his own head, despite the fact that he could clearly tell the direction and source of the voice.
Whatever the thing was, it could see him while he was in his traveling form. Nothing else ever had. And it wasn't in his realm, it threw a shadow against the motel building, so it had to be in the real world.
"Who are you, and why do you trespass here?" Brian answered, hoping that he sounded sure of himself, though he wasn't entirely certain it would hear him.
"I am Terrgoreith, and I have been authorized to hunt." Brian watched as it stepped out into the open parking lot and stood up to its full height. It was gigantic. It had to be as tall as the largest basketball player he had ever seen, but its shoulders were as wide and broad as Brian himself was tall. Now completely exposed in the parking light, Brian could see that he was mistaken about it being wolf like. Now he could plainly see that it could only be a werewolf, and the largest one he had ever seen in any movie.
"Answer me, why do you interrupt my sanctioned hunt? By what authority do you accost me?"
Here is the question... Brian asked himself. If he can see me and talk to me, does this mean he can hurt me as well? He would have to guess yes just to be on the safe side. Yet, what was he supposed to do? The thing clearly recognized Brian as something superior, that he asked for his authorization. And, based on the size of its shadow, he guessed this was the fat guy he was looking for. He had no choice but to play this to the end, because he had a deathly feeling that what it hunted was sleeping next to him just one small door away.
"You have no right to be here. Go back to wherever you're from." Brian said loud and firm, and he waved his arm to point out of the parking lot.
The werewolf sat back on its haunches, seeming confused, as its ears turned back and forth, following sounds Brian couldn't detect. A thin hope began to rise inside Brian, Perhaps werewolves took orders from vampires? He had seen movies where they served them before. If he were lucky, this would be the case. Then again, there were a lot of movies that werewolves and vampires were at war with each other, as well.
"Very well." It finally answered. "Give me the authorization code, and I will stop the hunt."
Authorization code? What authorization code. Why would a werewolf require an authorization code? This was insane! How was he supposed to deal with that?
But, the fact of the matter is, he deferred to me. That means he recognized me as a person in authority. Maybe I could bluff my way out of this. After all, I've seen it work before.
"Are you questioning my authority?" Brian mustered all the indignation he could. "You are in my territory, I do not answer to the likes of you. You will stand down and leave this place...now!"
The werewolf looked visibly shaken, and it looked as if it were tensing to leave, before it stopped itself then asked. "Which coven are you a member of.?"
Coven? Why wont this stupid dog just leave? Why does it keep making this harder and harder?
"Are you questioning me again?" Brian tried to look as fierce as he could, the thought of him holding a flaming blade came to mind as he pictured himself looking as fierce as possible. In answer to that thought, the blade appeared in his hand, which was a trick he had learned long ago in his traveling form. The reality was dream-like, after all, which was why he could enter Heather's dreams in it, and just as in dreams, here he could fly, or make weapons, or do anything else he chose to. Hopefully a nonexistent flaming sword would cow the werewolf and make him go on his way.
It produced the exact opposite reaction. The great beast stood up to its full height once more, and growled—no, it actually screamed--into his head.
"You dare to threaten me? I am Terrgoreith. I am the alpha of Warren pack. I answer directly to the Annunaki himself!"
Crap. This isn't going well.
"You invaded my territory--" Brian began to shout, but was quickly cut off.
"And for such a minor offense, you threaten an alpha of the Warren?" It roared. "For such an offense, you shall be clawed!"
Whatever that meant, Brian was sure it couldn't be good. He could see lights going on in various motel rooms, he even thought he heard someone behind him yelling "911! Get the police!"
Yeah, like the police were going to help with this. He would have told them to bring silver bullets but he was sure that even if the werewolf could hear him, the stranger behind him couldn't. Brian jumped to the right, as the Terrgoreith smashed down where he had been standing moments before, and pavement shattered and sprayed up into the air. The fact that he was traveling allowed Brian to move even faster than normal, otherwise he doubted he would have avoided that unannounced pounce.
"Show your real self, coward!" The werewolf snarled. "Are you afraid of a little clawing?”
"Here, I thought cats only clawed things. Dogs are supposed to bite, aren't they?" Brian quipped, at the same time looking for where he could go if the wolf should attack him again. At least he was leading it further away from Heather.
"Dog? Did you refer to me as a dog?" Again, the werewolf attempted to catch him with a quick leap to where he was standing, but avoiding him was as easy as a thought, as he realized that actually trying to run or jump was a mistake, given that he wasn't really standing there.
"You can't avoid me forever, Vampire."
"At least until the police arrive, though?" Brian smiled and leaned back against a light pole, crossing his arms while the flaming blade flickered near his face. He had to make sure that he didn't fall through the darn thing, as it really wasn't there for him.
"You would let the mortals fight for you?" The thing shook its head in disgust. "Your coven must be so proud of you."
"And your trainer must think highly of you as well. Too bad I don't have a doggy treat to reward you with. Oh, wait, reward you for what? Making a fool of yourself and being caught by the humans?"
The werewolf paused and looked around at all the faces that were now peering from windows and doors looking at it.
"You, too, will be held accountable." It said at a lower tone, as it looked as if it were trapped.
"Wrong. No one can see me, remember?"
The thing stopped, and its great red orbs bulged out of its head at him. Saliva poured out of one side of its mouth as the sounds of distant sirens could be now heard.
"Oops. Do you hear that? Here come the dog catchers now."
"Very well...you have bested me this time, little one. I shall not forget this slight you have brought to my pack and my name."
"Whatever." Brian said then pretended to yawn, while bringing up his free hand to pat his open mouth.
"One boon vampire.”
"Hurry up, Lassie, this is getting old fast."
"Your name." The thing growled. The sirens sounded as if they could be no more than a couple of blocks away.
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