Young Writers Society

Chapter Four

It was nine and Silas still hadn’t returned. Aubrey knew it was only his nerves playing with him, but the shadows cast along the walls seemed darker and longer than usual. He jerked toward the door, certain he’d heard a scrambling sound, and mentally berated himself for being so jumpy. The Werewolf had assured him that it took time for the Werewolves to fully Turn under the influence on the moon and they would be long gone before any of the action happened. Still, the teen couldn’t help the pangs of tension as he glanced once more at the clock.

Bang!

Aubrey jumped a few inches off the couch and shook his head. He walked to the door and grabbed the knob, pausing for a moment to take a deep breath. Come on, get a grip on yourself. He opened the door and took a hasty step back from the other boy. Silas raised an eyebrow, pausing over the threshold.

“What?”

The teen hesitated, hazarding another step back from Silas. Clearly, he hadn't been entirely accurate about the Wolves' Turning timeline. It was a pair of amber, not brown, eyes that stared him; and they were remote, almost vacant in their appraisal. There the unexplainable feeling of aggression radiating off the Werewolf and he could sense the other boy’s restlessness tainting the air between them.

“N-nothing, you sure took your damn time.”

“It’s alright, the coast is clear for us,” the Werewolf countered, his expression turning sly as he stared at his charge. “Or are you chicken all of a sudden?”

Aubrey scowled and crossed his arms, “screw you man,” only to flinch and step back again with the other boy shifted his weight. Silas caught this and frowned.

“What’s up with you? Why are you so jumpy?”

“Dude, let’s just get out of here.”

The teen realized that Silas couldn’t see the changes he saw and it was beginning to make him question the wisdom of going anywhere with his handler.

They started for the stairs while the werewolf detailed the plan. “So the main thing is to get up, cross the hall way and make it through the gates as quickly as possible. Then, we have to walk a few minutes to where I parked my bike and then head off to my folks. I called to tell them about you, so they’ll be prepared. It’s okay,” he added, seeing the guarded expression on the human’s face. “They’ll be roaming miles away and you’ll be the only one in the house. Just lock up when I leave. We only have to make sure you’re back in your room by the time people start moving around tomorrow.”

Aubrey nodded, taking the stairs two at a time. “So where’s everyone else?”

“Probably sleeping off the Turning – it makes us mellow at first, but then we get really hyper once the moon is at full strength.”

Silas said this with a slow smile and he felt another onslaught of jitters rock through his stomach.

“Right.”

They were almost at the door to the hall way when Silas suddenly jerked him back, a tense expression on his face. “Wait, something isn’t right. I’m hearing voices upstairs.”

Aubrey’s human ears didn’t catch any sound but he knew better than to second guess the person with superior senses. “What’s going on?”

The other boy frowned and shook his head. “They are arguing, it’s coming from the backyard. Dammit, it’s Zander and Bruce.”

The teen forced out a gust of air between his teeth in frustration at the face of their derailed plans. Obviously the blond had chosen not to hold off with his confrontation until the Big moon had fully risen.

“Okay we’ve got to hustle out of here ASAP…” Silas paused and began unbuttoning his shirt while his charge gawked at him.

“What are you doing?”

He ignored the question and quickly pulled off the checkered short-sleeves, revealing the smaller white tank top underneath. “Take off your shirt and wear this.”

Aubrey’s eyebrows shot into the air. “Why?”

“Cos we’re trying to hide, idiot, and your scent is like a frickin flare.”

“My scent?”

The Werewolf rolled his eyes exaggeratedly and waved the extended shirt. “Yes your scent – you’ve got one, I’ve got one. Now put the damn shirt on.” He watched as understanding dawned in the other boy’s eyes and he quickly obeyed.

“Damn man, you sweat a lot!”

“All the better to hide your stink,” he retorted and opened the door, cautiously looking around. “Come on, let’s go.”

They’d made it halfway across the large hall when the yelling carried from the back. Aubrey recognized the Alpha’s voice, as well as a feminine one he knew to be Anita’s. They were punctuated by a harsh laugh and a threatening growl.

“Stop, Bruce!”

There was a loud crash, followed by the sound of shattering glass.

“Shit,” Silas swore and roughly shoved his charge to the wall, backing up just in time as a large blur swept past. It happened almost too fast for the eye to see, but Aubrey realized that the blur was not one but two figures. He jumped back as the larger one slammed whatever it was carrying to the ground and stepped back, snarling. It looked like a cross between a German shepherd and a grizzly bear, with silvery white fur streaked here and there with black. It circled the form on the ground and the teen realized with a clench in his gut, that the thing on the ground was Zander.

The Alpha was stuck in the Turning phase. His spine and limbs were the wrong length and angles to be human, dog-like ears stood cocked above his head while his hands tapered into sharp looking claws. He looked up and the boy swallowed back the surge of bile that almost escaped him. Zander’s face was a twisted visage; there was a short muzzle where his nose should have been, and fangs jutting through his distended jaws and split lips. Despite this, it was the intelligence in his eyes that was particularly unsettling, the all too human expression of anger and calculation as he followed the wolf’s movements. Aubrey knew then that Bruce had the Bone on his person, and that was why he had gone through the Turning quicker than his opponent.

Zander leapt at the wolf with a growl and both crashed into the opposite wall. The teen watched with morbid fascination as they slashed and lunged for each other ferociously, fangs bared with fury. Their movements were almost too fast to catch, but there was no denying the curdling tension in the air as the wolf gained more and more ground.

“Oh shit,” he distantly heard Silas mutter when the Alpha went careening into the pillars and pained whimpers filled the air. Somehow he knew it was over. Bruce had every advantage in this fight and it didn’t matter whatever Zander did. Nevertheless, he couldn’t have predicted what happened next. The wolf dragged the kicking and fighting Alpha back toward the light and struck: there was a crunching sound and a geyser of blood suddenly flew into the air, staining the white walls and floor red.

“No!”

Aubrey heard the screams through a fog, only now aware of the others’ presence around them. All he could see was the Alpha lying on the floor, his severed arteries pumping blood all around him, limbs twitching erratically as he fruitlessly clung to life. And then, it was over. A wave of nausea hit him and he felt his knees buckle.

“Shit, oh fucking shit!”

“Shut up Aubrey,” Silas urgently whispered but he was too far gone and kept on chanting the expletives like a mantra.

“Shut the fuck up!”

The human felt something jab him in the stomach and nearly doubled over, pain firing up all his synapses and breaking through the shock. He realized with a shudder that the wolf’s attention was on them, its golden green eyes gleaming malevolently. It took a step closer and Silas backed further into the wall, tension radiating from his rigid stance.

“Aubrey, listen to what I say: Bruce is far too gone to be reached now. He’s being controlled by the Bone and he’s coming for you. Now here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to distract him, hold him off for as long as possible and you are going to run. You hear that? Haul ass out of here until you get outside the compound and get to my bike. You got everything I just said?”

He was utterly calm, almost casual about it all. He could have been discussing the weather outlook or the options for lunch, and not the life and death situation they both faced.

“You want me to leave you here to face that thing, run past the others and make it to your bike without someone getting me from behind.” Aubrey knew his voice rose a few octaves to match his growing hysteria and the absurdity of the situation.

Silas shook his head slightly, shifting to the left and closer to the door while pulling the other boy along with one hand. “He’s the Alpha now and I’m about to challenge him. So one moves until that is settled. When I say go, you get the hell out of here.”

“You’re gonna die,” the other teen murmured matter of factly and he killed the urge to roll his eyes.

“I can handle myself. Now!”

He barreled toward the wolf while shoving Aubrey to the door at the same time. The human ran for the door and yanked it open, hesitated and turned around just in time to catch the transformation. A boy charged for the wolf but it was a large, doglike creature that hit it. Aubrey had seen enough. He shot through the doors and into the cool air, making blindly for the compound gates, his head filled with the blood curdling snarls that still carried through the night. Sure enough, the motorcycle was parked just beyond the gate, with the key in ignition. He hurriedly climbed atop and started the engine, forgetting that he had little experience with bikes.

The machine roared to to life and the teen hung on for dear life as they sped down the road, wondering distantly whether werewolves could outrun bikes. He did not get very far when a lone howl rent the air, the eerily mournful sound sending the hairs on the back of his neck standing upright. It was followed by another and yet another and Aubrey came to the dread realization that by leaving the compound without Silas' relative protection, he’d put himself in the path of the remaining population of the House of Tae.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

The worrisome thought was still in his mind when the collision occurred. One moment, the bike was making its shaky way down the road and the next, Aubrey hit something very large and solid. The motorcycle shot off the road, sending the teen in the opposite direction in a confusing jumble of movement and sensation. He finally came to a stop several feet away on the hard tarmac, bruised and completely disoriented. Aubrey slowly became aware of the looming shape above his head and the green eyes bearing down on him. He gasped and jerked upright, triggering a starburst of light between his eyes that finally dissipated into blissful oblivion.

***

“Take care of yourself now Aubrey, and remember everything I have told you about the locals.”

It was impossible to take Flitchling seriously with the larger than life grin on his face and casual demeanor, as though he was talking about a simple weekend vacation. Aubrey took a calming breath and bit back the nervous slurry threatening to gush out of his lips. All he had of his personal effects were the clothes he wore and the hidden necklace the Ylf had given him in the privacy of their office. That, and whatever instructions he’d remembered from working the case with his boss.

“Whatever man, just hurry the hell up and solve this damn thing.”

He crossed the room to stand with the werewolves, the smallest of whom dwarfed him by at least a foot. They all turned in unison to stare and though he quailed internally, Aubrey managed to keep a blank face. Flitchling cleared his throat stridently and four pairs of eyes swiveled his way. “I entrust my assistant to you and fully expect him returned to me in one piece. Until then, however, I shall do my best to ascertain the whereabouts of the Bone totem and place it back into the appropriate hands.”

“I’ll relay that to Leland. Don’t forget, Mr. Flitchling, that you are running against time.”

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Pleasant shadows danced beyond his eyes and a soft breeze blew from somewhere above his head. It felt so nice, so quiet and peaceful, that he was tempted to let go and slip back into that pleasant state.

“Oh no you don’t! Come on, up with you.”

Calloused fingers began tapping his cheek and he frowned, shifting away from them.

“Gerroff me.”

They only intensified their actions until he could take no more and cracked open an eye, intending to give whoever it was disturbing his peace a piece of his mind.

“Get the hell off me!”

Clarity returned in a rush of light and sound and Aubrey became immediately aware of three things. First, there was a roaring sound in his ears to match the dull pounding between his eyes; second, his mouth was as dry as a desert and third, he was on an unfamiliar bed. He gasped and jolted upright, regretting the action as it only intensified the pounding and made him dizzy.

“Whoa, slow down there. You shouldn’t be making any quick movement son, not after the doozy of a concussion you were hit with.”

He looked up to the man standing next to the bed bemusedly. “Wha?”

“Well you sort of had an accident and were blown clear off your bike. Don't you remember any of this?”

Aubrey blinked slowly and began to shake his head, when the floodgates opened and it all came rushing back. Escaping the mayhem in the compound on Silas’s bike, slamming into something in the middle of the road … Zander – Silas!

He stiffened and looked around, wondering where he was and trying to get his bearings.

“Relax son, you’re safe here.”

The door swung open and they both turned to the man who walked in. Though his face was lined with wrinkles and dark hair peppered with silver streaks, Aubrey could not forget the familiar expression of arrogance he’d long associated with a certain Alpha. This had to be Zander’s father.

Leland returned his gaze without any expression, stepping aside from the door to give way to the person behind.

“Flitchling!”

“Hello Aubrey, you gave us all quite a scare these past two days.”

The teen gaped as the Ylf walked in and gave him a small smile. “Wait a minute, I was out for two days?”

The man who still stood next to him, presumably a doctor, nodded. “Like I said, you took a nasty tumble. What do you remember of that night?”

Aubrey frowned through the headache and swallowed. “There was a fight. This guy Bruce knew about the totem and he wanted to be Alpha. He challenged Zander…” The words trailed away as the vivid image of the Alpha crumpled on the floor, in a pool of his own blood, flashed in his head. “Oh shit, I think he killed Zander.”

His eyes flicked over to Leland; the older Werewolf seemed to be rooted to the spot, eyes staring straight ahead to some point above the bed. “I got out and ran for it. Silas distracted Bruce – the wolf – and bought me time. But there was something in the road. I hit it, got thrown off the bike…and that’s all I remember.”

The silence following his words swelled and hung heavy between them, until the doctor released a breath of air. “Well, I believe that about sums up the events. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have other people to look after. Please keep this visit short; he still needs time to recover.”

No one said nothing as he walked out and shut the door. After a long moment, Leland wordlessly followed, leaving the other two looking at each other.

Aubrey cast about for something to say and finally shook his head. “Great timing you’ve got there, Flitch.”

Flitchling pulled a wry face. “I suppose one can put it that way. I arrived too late to avert the unfortunate events you witnessed and yet just in time to prevent the situation from becoming a true catastrophe.”

“What happened while I was out?”

“Several things, Aubrey, and all at once. The medallions I gave you were glamoried to be attuned to your energy – you can call it a locator of some sorts – in case the House of Tae reneged on their word. I was on the back roads to the Mansion when I sensed the medallions and followed them, only to find you in the middle of the road.”

Aubrey remembered the last moments before he lost consciousness. “All I remember was riding into something.”

Flitchling nodded, parking himself unto the lone chair next to the bed. “My only option was to bring you back to the mansion, where it was relatively safe. The battle for dominance was over but the Alpha was going berserk, thanks to the power of the Bone totem. I had to defend myself from his subordinates, and remove the Bone from him. Neither was an easy task. With you unconscious and the Werewolves in no shape to respond, the best I could do was find a room and guard the door.”

His assistant heaved a sigh and leaned back against the pillows. “Did Zander make it?”

“I am afraid not. His wounds were very serious.”

Deep down, the teen was not surprised to hear this. He gritted his teeth, shaking his head against the memory of crunching sound and the metallic smell of blood that rushed up his throat. Werewolf or not, there was no way the Alpha could have survived having his throat ripped out. Still, there was a more pressing question, the answer to which he dreaded even more. “W-what about Silas?”

“Who?” Flitchling’s eyebrows narrowed askance and he elaborated.

“Silas, the guy I said saved my life. He created a diversion so I could escape…did he make it?”

The Ylf’s expression remained puzzled. “I do not know who this Silas is and I therefore cannot confirm or deny his existence. However, I only saw two bodies in the hall. It is possible that he survived.”

Aubrey nodded woodenly, fighting back the growing panic in his midsection. There were only two bodies, one was definitely Zander. He thought back to the massive form of the Bone powered wolf. If the strongest in the pack hadn’t stood a chance, what where the odds for Silas?

He needed to turn his thoughts away from this morbid direction and opened his mouth, speaking the first thing that came to mind. “How did you know where to find the Bone?”

His boss looked up and made a weary sound. “I went back to Joey Clearwater to convince him about the importance of the Spirit walk.”

Their first three attempts to do so had failed. The teen had initially baulked at the idea out of anger and outrage. He refused to believe their words, calling the whole thing a farfetched con game. Two days later, much to their surprise, he sought them out looking distraught and harried. He was beset by strange dreams and visions too vivid to be just hallucinations.He resisted the idea of taking up his grandfather’s responsibility, citing his lack of experience and the dangers of walking blind into unfamiliar territory, but Flitchling set about persuading him.

By the fifth day, just when it seemed they were making headway, Joey suddenly vanished and they were confronted by his father, who told them in no uncertain terms what he thought of their efforts to ruin the teen’s life and the consequences of involving themselves with his son. It became clear that Roland had a hand in his disappearance and Flitchling decided it was time they pursued other leads. They left South Dakota that day and returned home, only to be visited by the House of Tae.

“What did you do this time?”

“Nothing, Joey himself reached out to me again. He could no longer deny the credibility of my words and agreed to perform the Spirit walk for his grandfather. We were in the middle of that when Roland barged in with the police and took custody of his still comatose son.”

Aubrey visualized the scene and shook his head. “Damn, I bet he set the cops on you.”

Flitchling bared his teeth in response; they were small and neat, and looked very sharp. “Well he did try. Nonetheless, I had almost given up hope and began contemplating seeking the Bone totem out with magic. It is an exhaustive and unpredictable option, but something I had to consider since time was running out. However, Joey took on to his new abilities faster than either his father or I expected. I was considering my first ritual when he projected his form to me and told me where to go in search of the Bone.”

He paused and slightly shook his head, the fierceness bleeding out of his expression to be replaced by confusion. “I also asked about the werewolf who killed his grandfather but he wouldn’t say. Joey saw the events of that night through the eyes of the spirit and it was clear that the death was no random attack. Joseph knew the werewolf who killed him; he knew him or her well enough to lose his guard and open his doors.”

His words confirmed some of what the teen already knew and he made a sound of assent. “Bruce did not act alone. Someone outside the compound had the Bone until yester – the evening of the Big full moon. I walked in on them talking on the phone and Bruce was going on about how he would use the Bone to bring down the power Leland’s family had over the House.”

This left the Ylf with an uneasy expression. “This person could be from one of the other families the House, or even an rogue outsider. However, I can say that he or she would have to be much older than your Bruce. One requires a strong will and focus to force a Turning in the absence of the full moon, a feat that takes decades to master. This is troubling news indeed.”

Aubrey frowned, remembering what he’d seen the night of the moon. Silas had turned into a wolf before his very eyes, and yet his boss was saying it should be impossible. “But Silas did it. I saw him right before I left the compound, and the moon wasn’t out by then.”

Flitchling seemed to contemplate this for a long moment, head inclined slightly in a gesture that was now familiar to his assistant. “That is…interesting. Nevertheless, it could either mean that the competition between families has become even worse or there is a greater betrayal in stock for the House of Tae.”

Neither option looked favorable for the new Alpha, who would certainly be facing rocky roads ahead. The teen felt a twinge of sympathy, until he remembered what Bruce had done and the people he killed. “Good, the bastard deserves all the trouble he can get. He’s the one who wanted to be on top dog in the first place, now I hope he chokes on the bone.”

The Ylf seemed to be startled by the venom behind his words, but said nothing as he rose to his feet and made for the door. “Be that as it may, our part in this debacle is over. The Bone totem has been recovered and returned where it should be. I can personally guarantee that it won’t be falling in the wrong hands yet. The investigation has been closed, with all parties satisfied…more or less,” he added as an afterthought, raising a questioning eyebrow when Aubrey shook his head.

“What about Zander a-and Silas? Don’t the people that are dead because of this deserve justice?”

The Ylf paused at the door and walked back to the bed, his expression both sad and gentle. “Aubrey, you must understand that your concept of justice is far different from the ways of the Werewolf clans. It is true that people have died but death is a force they reckon with constantly. Each full moon brings the possibility that someone will not live to see the next. They accept this and when it comes, they face it without hesitation. However, you and I may not comprehend this mentality.”

“Because we are outsiders,” Aubrey finished for him tonelessly.

“Because our natures give us different perspective on the subject of mortality,” Flitchling enjoined and the teen sighed.

“Looks like we both lost someone to this case.”

“I suppose losing is a part of living, but I will be very glad to put these past few weeks behind me. Now you must rest, while I make arrangements for our departure.”