Hidden Realms

by Dean Murray

  The strength thing was new information to me. I cocked my head, thinking. “So how do you kill an experienced werewolf?”

  “It is no easy task,” he replied. “Brute force is the best method. The older the wolf, the more quickly it will regenerate. You literally have to tear them limb from limb.”

  I suddenly felt queasy again. “So a human wouldn’t be able to kill one?”

  Jason shook his head. “It has been done before, though it's usually a group of humans. One human would stand no chance, unless they were very lucky.”

  I nodded, my fear of Dan now increased ten-fold. I still had one more question that had been eating at me all day. Okay, more like three. “How did you just happen to show up in town shortly after Dan did, and how did you know to be on the trail when he attacked me and Lucy, and how do you know about werewolves?” I kept my eyes focused steadily on Jason, trying to keep myself distracted from the all too real wolf salivating across the room.

  Jason ran his hand through his hair, then returned it to his knee. I was beginning to understand that it was his nervous gesture, the ‘tell’ that gave him away. He took in a deep breath. “I’ve been following Dan.”

  “Why?” I prodded. I realized that I had scooted a little too near Jason in anticipation of his answer. His face was very close. I felt a blush heat my face, but held my ground.

  Jason either was comfortable with the closeness, or else he didn’t notice. “Most werewolves are able to fit into society. They form packs for protection and do their best to play human. Dan was a member of a pack, but then he attacked and killed a human. Pack law states that if any wolf kills a human, that wolf will be executed. Dan fled. His pack hired me to follow him. Once he entered an area with a local pack, I was to report to them and they would handle the execution. Dan has been very careful so far. Shelby does not have a local pack, so I was keeping an eye on him until he moved on.”

  I thought about what he’d said for a moment. “Why can’t you just, you know, take care of it?”

  He laughed and drew a little closer to me. “Trust me, I have considered it. First of all, it would be a close fight, Dan is very strong. Secondly, the wolves tend to keep these things within their society. I was only hired to follow him.”

  I asked, “So you’re like a bounty hunter?”

  The side of his mouth raised in a crooked smile. “Something like that.”

  Hmm, a real live bounty hunter. I tried to hide my morbid excitement. “So, if werewolves stay in packs, then why is Max in Shelby, where there is no pack?”

  Jason answered, “I have not asked him his story. He apparently changed on his own, so I would guess that he was attacked by a rogue wolf. It is rare for someone like that to not only survive the attack and the change, but to also not massacre his loved ones, but it happens. Any more questions?”

  “Yes,” I replied. “Who . . . or what, are you, and how did you become involved in all of this?”

  He pursed his lips. “That I will explain when this night is over, and you are not trapped alone in a dark room with me and a bloodthirsty wolf.”

  Ominous . . . very ominous. “Tomorrow?”

  He sighed, then looked down and nodded his head. “Tomorrow.”

  Jason looked over at Lucy and my eyes followed his. She had calmed down, and had now resorted to staring at us hungrily. It was hard to think of the wolf as my best friend. Usually best friends didn’t want to eat you. She kept her eyes on us, ears forward and alert.

  “Max is back,” Jason stated.

  The bay door lifted and Max called in that it was him, confirming what Jason had said, then drove Jason’s car through, casting bouncing shapes across the rubble against the walls of the warehouse with the headlights.

  “Is Allison okay?” I called as Max stepped out of the car.

  “She’s adjusting, I think. It’s a lot to take in.” Max said as he went to close the bay door. After an echoing clang, Max walked to where we were sitting and plunked down beside Jason. He turned to me. “There’re some blankets in the back seat if you want to get some rest, Xoe.”

  Come to think of it, I was exhausted. Max looked as annoyingly wide-awake as ever. I nodded and got up.

  Crawling into the backseat of the car, I found several blankets and a pillow waiting for me. Bonus points for Max, or Jason, depending on who had supplied me with the bedding. I considered giving Jason back his jacket, which was still wrapped around me, but greedily snuggled up with it. I awkwardly curled my legs up on the seat. Believe it or not, there are some downsides to being tall. I fell asleep about 30 seconds after my head hit the pillow.

  I had nightmares of werewolves, vampires, and my dad, who I somehow just knew was my dad, even though I’ve never seen him, turning into a gargantuan monster and telling me I’d grow up to be just like him.

  I woke to Jason gently shaking my shoulders. “Lucy’s starting to change back,” he informed me. He looked at me worriedly and placed his hand against my neck. “You have a fever.”

  I blinked at him, momentarily confused, and mumbled, “I’m fine, it’s nothing. I need to see Lucy.”

  I scooted out of the car in a hurry, but was instantly stopped by Max. He grabbed my arm to keep me from rushing to Lucy and pulled one of the blankets out of the car. He blushed, handing me the dark gray blanket, and said “She’s not going to, um, have any clothes when she changes back.”

  “Oh,” I replied, clutching the blanket in both hands, “er, thanks.”

  I gathered up the blanket so it wouldn’t drag on the floor and started walking to Lucy. I spared a glance back to Jason and Max, who were standing dutifully by the car with their backs turned to Lucy and me. I wished I could wait with them. I wondered if Lucy was going to be different, more like Dan. I hoped not.

  Lucy was almost back to human form by the time I reached her. She was lying on her side on the concrete, still in chains. Her body was back to normal, but her face was still . . . wrong. It was hard to tell what was wrong about it, it just was. She was panting and whimpering softly. I watched her worriedly, feeling sick again.

  I couldn’t make sense of the change, but her face slowly shifted back to normal. I wrapped the blanket around her, snuggling it up around her neck. Tears streamed down her delicate face as I called Jason over to unlock her chains. After letting the chains fall to the floor, Jason gently lifted Lucy in his arms. She was mostly covered by the blanket, only her bare feet and a few locks of her long black hair were visible. He carried her to the car, placing her in the back seat.

  I followed them and slid into the backseat beside Lucy, comforting her while Jason and Max loaded everything back into the trunk. She laid her head in my lap and I stroked her hair while she cried silent, tired tears. With a slam of the trunk, Jason and Max walked to the front of the car. I looked down at Lucy and realized that she’d fallen asleep in my lap.

  Jason slid into the driver’s seat as Max took the front seat next to him. Neither looked back at Lucy and me. Jason started the car, lighting up the clock on the dash. I spared a glance at it, 6:27 am. We were so not making school today. I put my seatbelt on and awkwardly wrapped the middle seatbelt around Lucy’s waist, snapping it in place.

  I directed Jason as he drove us to Lucy’s empty house. The warmth of the sun from the window pulsed against my skin. I propped Lucy up so I could take off Jason’s jacket. Lucy was still unconscious, her limbs limp like those of a corpse. Jason pulled into the circular gravel driveway and shut off the car. He got out and opened the door to the backseat while Max took Lucy’s keys to unlock the front door. Jason gently lifted Lucy out of the car and carried her inside with me tagging along behind him.

  I flipped on the lights as I walked through the doorway, then led everyone into the living room so that Jason could place the still unconscious Lucy gently on the pale beige couch. Everything about Lucy’s house is very . . . beige. It was a stark contrast to the colorful chaos that I was used to.

  We stood in the silence of the da
rk, nondescript living room until Max said, “She’ll be out for a while, TV?”

  I grabbed the remote from the plain oak coffee table, turning the TV on as I sat down next to Max on the loveseat. Jason had sat down by Lucy’s feet on the couch. I flipped through the channels, finally settling on Teen Wolf the movie. Seemed fitting.

  As we watched, I quizzed Max on the similarities between the movie and real werewolves. He seemed more than happy to talk about it. He chattered away while I half-listened to him. Jason appeared to be deep in thought, not watching the movie or listening to Max. I settled back on the loveseat and prepared to wait. Eventually Max ran out of material. After all, everything he knew about werewolves was what he had learned from personal experience, and I turned my focus back to the movie.

  When the movie ended, I pushed the guide button on the remote. Apparently there exists a second Teen Wolf movie, titled Teen Wolf Too, which was playing after the first one. Lucy was still out cold, so we decided to watch that one too. Eventually I curled up against the arm of the loveseat and let my eyes drift closed. My sleep was never restful when I had my fever-inducing dreams, so I still felt exhausted.

  I woke up to Max reaching across me to retrieve the remote. The credits were rolling on Teen Wolf Too, and Max quickly changed the channel to a soccer game. I looked at Jason to find him watching me, worry creasing his brow. Jason caught my eyes with his, then nodded to the backdoor. Interpreting his signal, I followed him out, leaving Max to watch Lucy.

  “I guess I can tell you what you want to know now,” Jason said with a sigh as I shut the backdoor behind us. “Dan is still in town, so the situation is far from over, but at least now you have a choice of whether or not you want to be around me.” He walked further through the grass to sit on a small iron bench near the white fence that surrounded Lucy's backyard. A large oak tree shaded the bench, its branches reaching hungrily toward the sun. He gestured for me to sit beside him. Sitting down, I watched him expectantly.

  “I’m what popular culture would view as a vampire,” he said.

  I blinked slowly at him. “Come again?”

  Instead of repeating himself, he looked down at his lap while I processed his answer.

  “Well I guess that makes sense.” I said after a few moments of silence.

  He looked up as a stunned expression crossed his face. “You’re not shocked? Horrified?”

  I smirked. “You’re talking to someone who found out that werewolves exist, had her best friend turned into a werewolf, not to mention finding out that I’m apparently not human, all in the last few days. Forgive me if I do not display the proper amount of awe. As for the horrified part, that all depends on my next few questions.” On the inside I was shaking, but it wasn't time to break down. Not yet.

  He looked at me, slightly confused, as if he could see right through to my soul. It was all too reminiscent of Dan’s looks during English. “Go on,” he prompted me, anxiety creeping into his normally controlled voice.

  “Do you drink blood?” I asked.

  He nodded. “I only drink animal blood now, or human blood from blood banks when I can manage it.”

  I hesitated on the now. “But you at one time drank directly from humans?”

  He nodded again.

  I continued. “So . . . you’ve killed people?”

  He looked at the ground, then answered me while focusing on the grass at our feet. “That was a long time ago. My bloodlust used to be much more difficult to control. I felt remorse for those I killed, but I could not stop.”

  My pulse sped, and I had to resist the overwhelming urge to scoot away from him. “So what changed?” I asked softly.

  Jason answered, very carefully avoiding my eyes, “One night, a child became my prey. He was alone, walking to his home at night. He must have only been seven or eight years old. I followed him, at war with myself . . . a war I always lost. It became too much, I approached him and knocked him to the ground. I was poised to go for his throat. Then I saw the look on his face. He seemed so shocked that someone would hurt him. He looked at me, not understanding what I intended, and I was somehow able to stop. That had never happened before. Until then, once I had spotted my prey, I would try to resist, but then my conscience would turn off, my mind would become entirely consumed by the hunt. After that night, I was able to stop it, I do not know why. Once I had a choice, I began to feed only on animals or on blood from humans after they had donated it.” He paused, staring at the ground. “Does that change things for you?” At my puzzled look he added, “Does it cause you think less of me?”

  Ooh, tricky. I thought for a moment, staring off into space while trying to ignore the sick feeling in my gut, then turned to find him staring at me intently, blue eyes unblinking. “I don’t know,” I answered. “I’ll need some time to think about it.”

  He looked back down and nodded, resigned.

  “Okay, next question, how are you out in the sun?” I asked.

  He laughed a slightly bitter laugh. “It is a myth that we burn in the sun. The sun hurts my eyes, and my vision is slightly less during the day. I suppose it is because of my increased night-vision.”

  I nodded. “How old are you?” I asked.

  “I was born in 1883,” He smiled. “Anything else?”

  I gulped. That made him . . . old. I took a deep breath and let it out. “I thought you talked kind of funny.”

  He smiled and tentatively took my hand. He was being honest with me, so I let him. He gripped a little harder. “Your hand is trembling.”

  Damn, and here I though I was acting all cool and collected. “So maybe I am a little shocked by the vampire thing,” I mumbled.

  He said nothing, but kept his hand in mine.

  I was reminded of a question I had meant to ask him last night. “Where are you staying while you’re here?”

  “I’m currently residing at the Holiday Inn in town.”

  I laughed. I couldn’t help it.

  “What?” he asked.

  “The Holiday Inn, it just seems so . . . normal.”

  “Would you rather I was staying at the local crypt perhaps? Or possibly you know of a cozy bat infested cave nearby?”

  Grinning, I answered, “At the very least you could have chosen a creepy abandoned building or something.”

  “I may be a creature of the night,” he wiggled the fingers of his free hand in the air in mock spookiness, “but I happen to enjoy running water and electricity.”

  I snapped my fingers in an aw shucks gesture and said mournfully, “You’ve shattered all of my illusions.”

  Jason laughed, but quickly took on a more somber tone. “I can track Dan on my own, leave you alone, but it would be safer if I stayed with you and Lucy.”

  It took me a moment to realize that he expected an answer. “Oh, stay, of course you should stay with us.”

  I sensed relief in his smile. I wasn’t sure why that surprised me.

  “Lucy’s up!” a call came from the house.

  I leapt up and went running inside with Jason following shortly behind me. Lucy was sitting up on the couch with her blanket wrapped tightly around her.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked her.

  She looked up to me. “Ok, I guess. My throat is killing me, from the screaming Max tells me. Other than that, I’m just tired.”

  I sat beside her and put my arm around her shoulders. “Do you remember anything?” I asked.

  “Not really,” she replied. “I remember arriving at the warehouse, then I remember this morning, changing back. I didn’t hurt anyone, did I? Where’s Al?” She looked from me to Max.

  “No, you didn’t hurt anyone,” I assured her. “Max took Allison home after you changed. She was a little shaken up.” I didn’t feel the need to mention that I had been rather shaken myself.

  Lucy looked down at her lap. “So, what now?”

  “We still have Dan to worry about,” Jason answered. “He’s going to come for you at some point, and we need to
be ready when he does.”

  Jason carefully avoided my eyes. Lucy looked back and forth between us, picking up on the awkwardness. Our banter seemed to have only temporarily softened the fact that I was unsure if I could deal with his past.

  “My parents are coming home tonight. They won’t let us all stay here.” Lucy stated. She looked up at me expectantly.

  “My mom will let you stay at my place, but we’ll have to sneak the boys in. Has anyone talked to Al yet?” I asked.

  Everyone shook their heads.

  “We’ll call her from my house. I need to get there and delete the message I’m sure the school has left because of my absence before my mom gets home.”

  Lucy’s eyes widened and Max added, “They already called here, message successfully erased.”

  Lucy let out a relieved breath. “Thanks.” She wrapped the blanket tightly around herself, then went upstairs to pack her stuff, walking a little unsteadily. As she left she said, “I’ll tell my parents we have to stay up late to finish a school project, so I need to stay at your place. It’ll work at least for tonight . . . I hope.”

  “Fingers crossed,” I said.

  Lucy paused on the stairs with a sour expression on her face. “Do you guys mind waiting while I take a quick shower?”

  “No, I was going to recommend that,” I answered with a smile.

  “Gee Xoe, you have such a way with words,” Lucy said as she turned to continue up the stairs.

  While we waited for Lucy to shower, I worried over Lucy’s new affliction. I also worried about the vampire sitting next to me on the sofa and the werewolf lounging on the love seat. Not to mention that tonight I had to sneak said vampire and werewolf into my house while we waited to be attacked by another werewolf.

  Since when was being a teenager so complicated?

  Don’t answer that.

  Chapter Twelve

  As soon as we arrived at my house, I got out of the car and unlocked the front door. Jason and Max went in first to make sure nothing was amiss around the house. I checked the messages and erased the one from the school. The other message was from Allison, saying to call her as soon as I got home. I picked up the phone and dialed her number.