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‘When Legal Advice Gets Hairy’
“I object!”
I rolled my eyes, leaning my forehead against my arm as once again the other team caption and my best guy friend, Ollie, tried to break down the defense I’d built up for the character I was playing despite the evidence against them. Mock trial, though I loved it dearly, could be quite tedious at times as it was proving in that very second. Our team advisor, an actual practicing lawyer by the name of Chet Danvers, rattled on and on with the senior girl posing as my attorney while I lazily gazed around.
Today was one of our notorious late practices – all of us locked up together in the high school library from after school until ten p.m. at the very earliest – and, just my luck, it was raining outside. The weather man had called it a torrential downpour too, my very favorite kind of weather, and yet I was stuck inside on the witness stand instead of outside dancing through the raindrops in my raincoat like I longed to do. Ollie could sense my distress, shooting me what was probably supposed to be a comforting look, but nothing was going to make sitting in a stiff backed chair until I could get through my testimony without Mona, my ‘attorney’, letting anything be sustained. The fact was, Ollie – who planned on going to college to be a real lawyer one day – was just too good of an attorney to even think of letting a small slip up, no matter how miniscule, escape his notice if it could help his side of the case.
Most of the team had already been allowed to head for home having already finished their testimony. I was the last witness to take the stand tonight for some reason. Only a fraction of our total team remained.
I knew I was never going to get off the damn witness stand at this rate.
Still, there was more than enough pizza to keep me distracted while the legal councils bickered back and forth and talked strategy for competition day, and several of my friends were on the team to keep me thoroughly entertained – our breaks were always a riot, no questions asked. Devin, the closest thing to a big brother figure I’d ever had, poking me with the bendy straw from his drink as he made his way to the copier to make extra copies of the exhibits we were using in this year’s case. Arietta, one of my closest gal pals, sighed overdramatically at our childish behavior, trying to make a mature point neither of us cared to listen to. Several people chatted animatedly, everyone taking advantage of the fact that our advisor was busy dealing with one specific person so that we could have a little break.
Just as Mona turned to face me with the next question, a light chipping sound reached my ears making it impossible for me to even think of paying attention to what she was saying, my head whipping around to face the direction the noise was coming from. It sounded as though someone were tapping on one of the windows with something sharp, almost like they were trying to break the glass. Peering across the room towards the wall the windows were set into I scowled, seeing nothing but the black void of night and the rain beating against the panes.
The next second was full of confusion, the ear splitting racket of screams and the shattering of glass filling my ears as Devin tackled me to the ground from behind, shards of window flying all around us as he attempted to cover both of us. As we all shakily gained our feet again, every head turned to stare at the empty space in the wall that had once been one of the windows. Now all that remained were a few jagged edges of glass and some scraps of wood from its frame, rain pelting into the room soaking the carpet.
No one made a sound.
No one moved forward.
No one, that is, but me.
Pulling away from Devin’s restraining, protective grip on my shoulders and shuffling passed Mr. Danvers’s confused expression, I carefully maneuvered my way through the mangled destruction over to the gap in the wall, bone-chillingly cold water spraying over my face and clothes as I peered out into the darkness beyond it. All was silent and still, save the crackle of lightning overheard.
“Juniper, don’t! It could be dangerous...”
About the same time Ollie shouted his warning, the power line overhead snapped, sparking and fizzing through the night air. The library was pitched headfirst into complete darkness, the other girls on the team that had remained this late into the night crying out in fear and shock. Staggering back into the room I turned around, quickly checking to make sure they were all unharmed.
It was the dumbest thing I could ever have done, turning my back on the blackness swirling just outside.
When I turned back around to face that swirling vortex of the night, when lightning flashed the sky again, I knew we were all doomed. Impossibly tall and larger than life, the howl it echoed forcing me to smash my hands over my ears in pain, the lithe and agile beast bounded into the room, its wet fur matted to its body as it bared its fangs. This was the thing of Hollywood horror films and the nightmares of little girls everywhere, and yet, it should be impossible that it actually existed as anything more than a myth made up to scare children and the faint of heart.
It was an honest-to-God werewolf... and its gaze was resting solely on me.
The monster took a prowling step towards me as I took a hasty one back away from it, snapping its teeth in anger as Ollie made to rush to my aid. That small distraction gave me just the time I needed to turn and bolt in the opposite direction, bewildered shrieks ringing off the walls after me as people darted this way and that, lunging under tables and dashing for the door that led to the empty safety of the hallway as I streaked passed them into the whirling labyrinth of shelves. Running pell-mell through the twisted isles of carefully categorized books I struggled to control my racing heart, aware of the menace just behind me still right on my tail. Stumbling over a fold in the carpet I fell into a shelf and cried out, frantically shoving rows upon rows of books off their shelves trying desperately to slow my pursuer in any way I could. In that moment I would have given almost anything to put even the smallest amount of space between me and the thing chasing me, even if that entailed damaging the novels I loved most.
It was in considerable panic that I ran into the dead end of the back wall, three shelves of books separating me and the rest of the library and any hope of escape I might have had. Knowing I didn’t have much time left I turned to flee back out the only entrance to the cubby I was trapped in, whimpering low in my throat at the sight that greeted me. Standing in the only entrance, that gap that separated me from the twisted maze of furniture and published manuscripts, was the very wolf I had come to fear.
I was trapped.
I was really wishing right then that I hadn’t left my cell phone on the kitchen table when I walked out of the house that morning.
Its growl of smug triumph cut right through me, the sight of it as it licked it lips, stalking towards me with its own sort of methodically calm air about it, making me feel faint. I’d never been the swooning type, and yet, faced with the sort of thing people only saw on television or in their comic books, I could suddenly sympathize with the girls I’d always rolled my eyes at for losing consciousness at the first sign of danger.
At least if I was unconscious, I didn’t have to witness whatever it was it planned on doing to me.
Backing up into the wall of novels behind me, my hands scrambled feebly against the spines trying to find something to hold onto. I waited in horror, watching in suppressed horror and anguish as the beast slowly made its way towards me. Its yellowed talons clicked slightly on the polished floorboards as it closed the small space between us.
Suddenly feeling weaker than I ever had in my life I looked away, scrunching up my eyes against the horrendous pain I knew I was no doubt seconds away from feeling course throughout my entire body. In my mind’s eye I could just image his glee as he ripped me to shreds, his claws and fangs sharp as daggers as he tore through my flesh, my blood coating him entirely as he feasted on my rotting corpse. Dread washed over me the same instant the reek of wet fur overwhelmed me making me gag in disgust even through the fear. Judging by the oppressive silence coming from the rest of the room I was sure the other members of the team had abandoned me for safety, something I was internally thankful for – if I couldn’t get away, I was glad the rest of them had. Still, in that moment, the idea of death was not any more pleasant than it would have been given other circumstances. As relieved as I was for my friends, what sense of self-preservation I had was screaming at the agony of being the only one to die when they had made their escapes to freedom. There was, I thought, no use agonizing over the past – I was going to have something a lot more frightening causing me pain shortly. I had just began to tremble when I heard the clicking of paws stop, the werewolf’s warm, rank breath hitting the side of my face as I let one small sob loose from my throat. Tears began to stream down my face against my will, a few of them falling onto my collar as well on into the monster’s already mattered fur.
A clawed hand touched my cheek, the tip of the nail barely pressing into the skin there as I tried to flinch away from it, thought surprisingly the pressure was not enough to break the skin and draw blood. Several seconds passed in absolute silence, neither of us daring to move. Still, no attack came; no bone crushing pain overwhelmed me. Opening my eyes I stared back into the pair of bulbous gold and teal streaked eyes that peered back at me from merely a few inches away, that hound-like nose sniffing at my hair as I attempted to shudder away into the darkened corner. It hissed at me as though studying me, the sound more like the whine of a dog than anything else, its long slobbery tongue darting out before I could protest licking up the side of my face.
As strange as it sounds...
...the monster was actually tasting my tears.
For some reason, that made me scream the way nothing else so far that night had. It whined as though my cry had thoroughly upset it, nudging my cheek with its snout. Suddenly it pricked up its ears, turning its head to snarl.
“Let her go, you big brute!”
“No Ollie, run for it!” I cried out imploringly, his stiff shake of the head making my heart sink – I would rather he have abandoned me to save his own life than come back only for me to have to watch him be eaten alive. Throwing caution to the winds I attempted to sprint passed the wolf towards my friend, hoping it would be distracted enough by his sudden appearance for me to succeed. Once again, I was defeated in my attempt to flee – as soon as I gained a level with its side, its snout whipped around to face me, its roar of anger and rage cutting through the still air like a knife. Before I could do anything more than flinch it swiped at me with a large clawed hand sending me spiraling back into a bookshelf before toppling to the ground. Pain blossomed in my side and, looking down through the tears springing up behind my eyes, I saw a momentary glimpse of freely flowing crimson before the animalistic shadow looming over me blocked out everything except my terror.
All hope seemed lost.
I screamed again.
Ollie ran forward, the flag pole that had been standing behind the librarian’s desk held in his grip like a jousting pole, swinging it as hard as he could into my oppressor. The wolf was knocked backwards, skittering across the floor into the wall. Smiling weakly through the pain and blood loss I tried to skitter to my feet, whimpering in pain from the movement and sliding back down the shelf to rest at its base once again. My savoir ran to my side, helping my slip my arm over his shoulder so that he could lift and help me lock – neither of us, I could tell, liked the idea of him relinquishing his highly effective improvised weapon just yet.
As we started to shuffle off towards the door, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Looking sideways at the way Ollie’s jaw was set I knew he suspected the same thing I did, that he wasn’t really naïve enough to believe such a beast could be taken out with one swing of a flag pole.
Something just wasn’t right.
This was far too easy.
“Alright, listen carefully. When we close enough to the door, I’m going to let you go. All you need to do is get out into the hall – Devin should be there waiting for us, and Arietta has the car already running and waiting ready to make our getaway. The others were heading to the police station.” His hoarse whisper in my ear distracted me momentarily from the threat lurking just out of sight at our backs. Letting go of my side I grabbed onto his shirt, shaking my head fiercely. There was no way I could even think of leaving him behind after all he’s done to save me, after he’d come back to rescue me. “There’s no time for argument Juniper – go, NOW!”
About the same moment he pulled away leaving me to stand on my own wobbling legs a giant, dark blur of damp fur slammed into the pair of us, Ollie and me falling to the ground in a tangle of limbs. I felt enormous pressure on my leg followed by a loud snap that sent pain shooting through my entire body, the werewolf gnashing its fangs at both of us from atop our sprawled, fallen forms. My companion brandished the flag pole once again, but this time the monster was having none of it, grabbing the weapon up in its jaws and biting down, hard. The sound of forcibly splintered wood reverberated around my brain as the pole was snapped cleanly in half, both pieces lying helplessly at the beast’s sides as it reared up, ready for the final fight. Just as it moved to strike, Ollie shoved me hurriedly aside out of harms way, his strangled shout of pain wringing a sob from my own throat.
Looking up I found him wrestling fiercely with the monster, thankfully not the sight of carnage I had expected by any means. The only damage I could see was a set of shallow claw marks scratched across one side of his face. He was, for the moment, mainly unharmed on the whole. Still, I could see there was no way he was going to be able to win this fight without help or some kind.
Forcing myself to grit my teeth through my own injury I struggled to crawl over to his side, almost immediately receiving a blow to the stomach form one of the flailing limbs that had become their battle. Picking up one of the discarded lengths of wood I smacked the monster over the head with it, but the beast didn’t even appear to feel my attack much to my dismay. Tightening my grip I tried again, this time getting a sharp howl in response, but still it refused to divert its attention to where I knelt beside it.
“Get out of here, hurry!” Ollie snapped at me in frustration, barely dodging a snap that had been aimed right for his face. Just as the library door burst open, Devin sprinting inside, the werewolf’s aim succeeded, the boy under him crying out in pain as the strong set of fangs snapped into his shoulder. The flesh tore easily, blood spurting outwards from the wound, splattering everything around him in the red liquid, including hitting me in the face. His pain only seemed to spur the beast to savor greater carnage.
“Devin, do something, please!” I screamed, panicked. Our new comrade ran forward, the wolf quickly tossing him aside with a swipe of his massive talons, Devin clutching at his injured arm as he tried to find a safer route of attack, the ever calculating one coming up blank by the worried look flitting across his face. When the grand schemer couldn’t come up with a plan, you knew everything you had hoped for was utterly doomed.
It was beginning to look like game over.
“Let him go, please!” The werewolf howled once again, seeing his victory was in sight. Devin attempted a head on attack, once again claws ripping into him like blades, the swipe from the third attack throwing him back so hard into the wall that he lost consciousness. Ollie was ash-white under his paws, all the struggle seeing to have left him from the loss of blood and the physical fatigue of fighting something made for battle.
I could tell it was a losing battle...
The monster raised his mighty claw, ready for the last attack that would finish off my best friend for good.
...but if I was going to lose, I was going to help the other players along first.
“No, Ollie!” Gathering the last of my strength I launched myself onto beast’s back, latching my arms around its neck in the tightest grip I could possible muster within myself. The beast faltered slightly slipping sideways, the pair of us tumbling off of Ollie in a heap at his side. Scrambling up before the beast could even figure out quite what was happening I flung myself over my best friend’s wronged, nearly lifeless body, tears coating his face as I turned to look back over my shoulder at the predator even now stalking towards us once again, apparently not quite ready to give up the fight just yet. “Please, don’t kill him, don’t kill Ollie! Take me instead, but don’t hurt him anymore! Anything but that, please, I’ll do anything!”
Strangely enough at my words the monster fell oddly still, its head cocked to one side in a rather harmless-looking sort of way, its expression one of suppressed rage and intense puzzlement. The animal strode slowly forward towards me, sniffing at my hair again. This time when it approached me, I still trembled, but held my ground nonetheless. The wolf’s eyes gleamed menacingly as it pulled back, barking once shortly before opening its gigantic jaws.
Flinching away I closed my eyes, completely unprepared for the feeling of the wolf pulling me almost gently away from my fallen friend’s body when I’d fully expected to be eaten instead. Snapping my eyes open I looked up, shocked to see that I was being dragged by its hold on the back of my jacket of all things. Ollie’s hands groped for mine through the darkness, his face growing pale from the exertion of keeping a grip on my hands as I was pulled away from him, our hold on each other far too feeble to stop such an opponent. Once I had been dragged over to the window the werewolf set me back upon the rug, nudging me with its nose until it managed to maneuver me limply up onto his back, Ollie calling after me from where he lay immobile on the library floor, Devin’s unconscious body lying nearby him.
It was an inexplicable sensation.
It felt like I was never going to see them again.
“JUNIPER!” Arietta’s voice shrieked, her face pale as thought she’d just seen a ghost as the wolf bounded right over her car in one leap, somehow managing not to drop me where I lay slung over his broad shoulders. As the beast raced off into the night my panic settled slightly into an eroding sense of dread of what was to come, the feeling eating away at me more than I cared to show such a beast. For all I knew and suspected, the monster was taking me back to its lair to feast on my soon to be lifeless body to its heart’s content. In the privacy of its den I would be completely at its mercy. Praying that Arietta would be smart enough to go see what had become of Devin and Ollie rather than follow after the beast in her car, I tried not to think about my own fate, silent tears slipping down my face as the wolf carried me farther and farther into the night.
If I lived, and found that either of my friends had died...
Just as suddenly as the wolf’s flight from the high school had started it stopped, the animal slowing to a walk just outside of the mouth of a system of caves I knew from previous childhood adventures where right outside the edge of my hometown, though slightly more up to the north than most people cared to travel.
I felt myself begin to lose consciousness as the wolf carried me into his lair. I wasn’t sure which was more dense, the darkness of the den, the night, or the black void corroding away at my soul.
The last thing I was aware of...
...was that the monster was once again licking away my tears.
* * *
“...Are you alright?”
I struggled to open my eyes, vaguely aware as I did so of how strange my body felt all over – sort of heavy and unresponsive, like I couldn’t move it even if I’d tried. Shaking my head slightly I groaned, the swimming pain if caused in my head making me feel sick. A pair of gentle hands grasped onto my shoulders to hold me down, thought not in an oppressive way by any means.
“Shh darling, don’t strain yourself, just lie still.” The voice was unfamiliar, but the way it spoke was comforting to me. For some reason I felt comforted, soothed you could say by the mere sound of it. Coaxing my eyes open I hissed, the bright lights that met them sending another sharp pain straight through me. “Hold on, I’ll dim the lanterns for you... There, that should be a little easier for your eyes to adjust to. Try it now and see.”
Blinking slightly I opened my eyes once more, and this time I was about to look around me at what appeared to be the inside of a log cabin or cottage of some sort. I appeared to be lying on some sort of comfy army cot resting close to the floor near the roaring fireplace, its heat washing over my body making me comfortable and content. It was homey and relaxed, the sort of place I associated with vacation skiing trips and hot chocolate in the winter time. There were only two things that were bothering the strange sense of peace I felt...
How had I gotten here?
And, who was had been talking to me?
Glancing around me, my eyes fell almost immediately upon the tall, thin figure of the lone man standing just before the only window in sight. It was almost funny, really, but I couldn’t remember the feeling of when his hands had released my shoulders from their grip. I could tell instantly that he was like no other male I’d ever met before, and yet somehow he was almost familiar to me. As I watched him he turned around as though he had merely been waiting for my eyes to rest upon him before he showed himself to me fully, gracing me with my first view of his face. Dark, chestnut hair fell in twisting, bouncing curls around his long, thin face, eyes hidden behind the darkest part of sunglasses I had ever seen. I thought he looked recognizable to some memory of mine, perhaps still partially buried in the proverbial thicket of all the experiences in my life I remembered. Regardless of whether or not I actually knew him, the way he looked was so comfortable I couldn’t help but feel calm around him. As soon as he saw I was awake he moved over to my side to kneel beside my head.
“Does anything hurt at all? Can you speak?” I cleared my throat, prepared to answer him and ask my questions about what had happened when I was unconscious, completely shocked when nothing came out except a strangled moan of pain. He took my hand when I tried to sit up gently cooing at me in a way I suppose was supposed to be comforting to me. It worked rather well. “Don’t push yourself too hard, you’ve been through a lot by a look of things when I found you in that cave. It looked like you had been attacked by some kind of vicious animal. You looked half dead when I found you, all covered in blood and alone like that. For a minute there I thought I lost you... you stopped breathing.”
Hearing him speak about how near to death I had truly been sent shivers down my spine, my companion stroking my hair tenderly to calm me. Deep down though, I knew something was off. I never trusted people so explicitly, especially not right away. It was strange how comfortable I was with him, especially after what I’d been through recently. With a twinge of guilt I realized I didn’t even know for sure whether or not Ollie had lived or died.
“Normally I would have taken you straight to the hospital or called an ambulance, but that storm knocked out power and phone lines all over town. Even my cell phone isn’t getting a signal strong enough to get through, so we’re basically stuck up here until the power comes back on or I get a decent signal, whichever comes first. This side of the cliffs was hit really badly, and the roads can’t be driven on because of all the down tress.” The hand stroking my hair paused at my shiver of fear, the face looming over me smiling encouragingly down in my direction. Once again I felt myself being filled with an unnatural sense of calm I didn’t have the energy to protest. “Don’t worry, there’s plenty of food and water stored here in the cabin, and I’m studying to be a doctor. I’ll take good care of you until we can get you to some professional help.”
I never really stood a chance.
“...My name’s Alexander by the way.”
I couldn’t help but adore him right from the start.
* * *
Ollie...
My parents...
Everyone I’d ever known and loved...
It was almost comical, really, how long it took me to remember there was another world outside of the one Alexander and I had built up for ourselves in our little secluded cabin. No power, no television, no contact with the outside world for almost two whole weeks before the thought of school even crept back into my mind. It was almost like there wasn’t anything else out there that we were missing. Almost...
“Alexander, can I ask you something?” He nodded for me to continue in that gentle sort of way of his, the firelight bouncing back at me off his sunglasses. Propping myself up on elbows I idly twirled a finger in a lock of his hair, his rumbling bark of a laugh making a small smile split across my own face. “Is... is there any way to get word to my parents so that they know that I’m alive and well? And Ollie, my best friend – is there any way to find out if he’s alright? He was attacked the same time I was...”
“I wish I could say it was, but you know I can’t. And it wouldn’t feel right to offer you empty promises; it would feel too much like lying.” It was hard for me to control the sorrow I felt at his words, but the comforting hand resting in the small of my back helped a little and certainly more than I was willing to admit.
“Can I ask something else?” I smiled, giggling slightly at the way he rolled his eyes. He nodded, distractedly checking the gauze and spikes he’s used to set my leg. He really did take good care of me, much better than I’d ever been cared for before. “Why were you down in the caves anyways? And why are you staying here, in this old cabin, on the hunting off season?”
“Well I – wait, ‘the off season’? Do you hunt too, along with wrestling big, dangerous dogs that bite back?” He asked, his voice half laughing as he ran a hand up my arm, fiddling with one of the larger holes in my sleeve. I flinched openly on instinct, remembering that it the fangs that put it there. He immediately tensed, a worried frown slipping onto his face. “Are you alright Juniper? Where does it hurt?”
“No, it’s not that... it’s nothing, just memories I’d rather not have.” Sighing I tried to calm down, wiggling closer to the warmth of his body. Alexander always seemed to give off a strange, comforting kind of heat whereas I felt like it was the dead of winter whenever he wasn’t sitting beside me. Being here, alone, with his man I was just beginning to know – it made it seem impossible that there had ever been a monster in my life, a beast I now feared to name even in my mind. I couldn’t help but feel that the mere second I named it, it would return for me. “So, are you going to answer my question or not?”
“Well, as I told you I’m studying medicine, but due to a family crisis I was told to take it easy and just relax. I fancy myself a bit of an adventurer, so when I was passing through and heard there was a system of caves and cabins available for rent on the cliffs, I came straight here.” He grinned, tapping my lightly on the end of the nose with his finger. Everything he did made me smile somehow, though I felt I would never quite understand how someone could make me so effortlessly happy. “Just out of curiosity, are you really only thinking about all this now?”
“Well... yeah, I am.” His laugh cut through the sudden rush of embarrassment I felt coursing through me, a sickening heat of shame pooling low in my stomach at the sound. Alexander ruffled my hair lightly, the smile on his face as he looked down on me not the least bit patronizing. “I don't know, what with everything going on, it just wasn’t what I was thinking about. You just have that kind of effect on me I guess.”
“What kind of effect is that, exactly?” His voice was held low and soft in the usual tone he used when speaking to me, the way he seemed to stare right through me without showing me his eyes confusing me almost as much as it amused me. The innocent nature of the conversation changed within the course of a few seconds as Alexander leaned over me, leaning my shoulder back into the mattress gently. His warm breath hit my face in gentle coils made me shutter in a good way. “Tell me Juniper, how do I honestly make you feel?”
I didn’t know what to say to something like that.
I didn’t know how to respond verbally...
...So I didn’t.
“What do you think?” Without another word I leaned up under him, one arm coiling around his neck as I pressed my lips to his. For a moment Alexander didn’t seem to respond, and then with a roughly intimidating growl he moved to smother me. Highly muscular arms coiled tightly around my body dragging me closer, his mouth demanding over mine as our tongues danced together in a quickstep as old as the dawn of time.
It didn’t matter to me that I barely knew him. I didn’t care that I had no idea where this strange relationship we seemed to have fallen into was going. It was irrelevant that I wasn’t sure quite why I trusted him so explicitly. It didn’t matter that I knew I would probably never see him again after we left this cabin and the sanctuary of our secret little world so shut off from everyone else. All I knew for sure was that I cared about him in a way I’d never have thought was possible.
My mind had completely left me.
I had to be crazy.
I knew I was beginning to fall in love him.
* * *
“Are you sure you need to do this?” Alexander smiled lightly down at me, kissing my forehead before pulling away to grab his travel backpack from where it sat on the floor at my feet. Something about watching him pull away – maybe the way the moonlight was streaming into the room, or the sound of the wind howling wolfishly just outside the cabin door – made my blood run still in my veins. The gnarled old oak outside the window ran its twisted knuckled branches down the glass sounded so familiar to that stormy night a little over a month previous was so terrible it was all I could manage to stop the shiver that wanted so badly to shoot down my spine. Panicked I latched onto the lapels of his coat, the muscles in his neck flexing slightly as my skin brushed his Adam’s apple. That movement of vulnerability on his part calmed me slightly – only the day before he’d told me just how powerless he felt under my touch. And yet, as much as I felt empowered by the fact that such a strong man turned to puddle and trembled under the tips of my fingers, that fact did nothing to quench the fears coursing through me. “Please don’t go, stay here with me instead.”
“Juniper, you know I have to go see if the roads have been cleared yet. I promise you, nothings going to happen while I’m gone, and I swear I’ll be back for you as soon as I can. Don’t you want to get off this cliff sometime soon?” He asked laughingly, his smile fading a moment later when I continued to stay silent. Cupping my face in his hand he knelt down in front of me, the worried look and the warmth of his flesh shooting right through me like a heroin injection. I could see my own stark-white face reflected back at me in the lenses of his sunglasses. “Look, I’m not exactly sure what to say at a time like this, so the truth is going to have to suffice. I’ve never been in this kind of situation before...”
“What do you mean?” I asked softly, sure we must not have been on the same page. Or, at least, I hoped he wasn’t always getting himself stuck in cabins with terrified werewolf-attack victims. Especially not if he went around kissing all of them, the jealousy would absolutely kill me. “What kind of situation?”
“I mean I’ve never been in love before now, that’s all.” He said simply. Immediately all the fear flew out of me, joy flooding through me at his words. Pulling me off the cot and into his arms he held me close, the hands that grasped me shaking slightly we struggled to press closer to one another. I could feel his heart beating through my bones, matching mine exactly. “I love you so much Juniper. If you’re worried once we get off this cliff I’ll leave and you never see me again, you’re wrong – I plan on sticking around as long as you’ll let me. Somehow, someway, we’ll be together, I promise. Of course... if you love me back that is...”
“How could I feel any other way?” Smiling we shared a hurried kiss, one of his hands slipping his college ring off his finger and onto mine as I struggled to hold back happy tears. Alexander picked me up and placed me back on the bed, grabbing his backpack up once again as he headed off for the night. At the door he glanced back from across the cabin at me, the firelight bouncing back into my eyes off his lenses. It was almost heartbreaking watching him leave me behind. The door swung shut behind him, shutting down my emotions for the time being as I stretched out across the bed intent on taking a little nap. Uneasy thoughts, however, floated around my head making it impossible for me to get any sleep.
For some reason...
My blood ran cold at fierce howl that slashed through the silence.
...I felt like the Alexander I knew didn’t exist beyond these cabin walls.
Shooting up I stumbled to my feet, hissing slightly at the unnatural stiffness in the once-mangled leg. Ignoring it as best I could, I set my mind on the fact that I knew I didn’t have much time. Rushing over to the cabin window I searched for some sign of my lover’s face between the streaming, dull moonbeams.
What I saw nearly killed me on the spot.
What I saw was Alexander and the wolf from my past...
Well, in a manner of speaking anyways.
I’m not sure why I would even think of doing what I did. Rushing in my stumbling sort of way out of the cabin and into the moonlit twilight of the night, I stopped just short of the spot where he stood, breathing rapidly through the pain shooting up my leg.
But my almost-healed injuries were the least of my worries at the moment.
My eyes raked over him slowly, mouthing hanging open in a silent scream of protest at what I saw before me. There Alexander stood staring up into the sky at the clouded moon, his shirt hanging off his shoulders and the bends of his elbows in ripped tatters, hands and his now bare feet elongated slightly taking on the appearance of half-transformed claws, a long bushy tail sticking almost comically out of the hole in the back pocket of his jeans. Only then, as the fear of my memories washed over me, did it finally occur to me to scream as loud as I possibly could. He rounded on me slowly, almost as if he didn’t believe what he was seeing but had expected me to follow all the same, his sunglasses slipping down off his nose falling to the ground at his feet almost as if we were stuck in slow motion...
I knew I’d seen those eyes before.
Those eyes I’d never seen before, always hidden from me.
Alexander’s eyes were streaked gold and teal...
Without thinking about what I was doing I ran forward, throwing myself into his arms, tears streaming down my face as disbelief and disgust of my so easily bought trust washed over me. It was all I could do to embrace him as I shuddered, sure it must have been a horrid dream in place of reality. For a moment his arms enclosed around me, comforting me through my heartbreak as he always had before – and then they fell away as he howled in agony, the sound a fiercely animalistic one. Falling to the ground I hid my face in my hands, much too terrified of what I would see if I dared glance up to check whose breath it was that was hitting my hands. When I finally dared to look, it was to find myself face to face with the monster of my very worst realized nightmares.
With a shaking hand I picked up the sunglasses I had seen all day everyday over the last month, the wolf watching me almost passively as I placed on over my own eyes to hide the tears I felt springing up there. Standing on shaking legs I backed away slowly, slightly surprised when – instead of attacking me as I’d feared it would – the beast turned and bolted off in the other direction, out away from me into the forest and down the mountain. For a moment I stood perfectly still, mind racing, trying to decide what the best course of action was.
Turning on my heel, the moon at my back, I headed into the cabin.
* * *
“Juniper, are you awake?” Reluctantly I flipped over onto my side to face him, pulling my hand away as he reached to take it. I could see the pain written on his face, those damn sunglasses once again perched on his nose – he’d evidently pulled them out of the fireplace where I’d thrown them – hiding those eyes that would be burned into my fragile mentality for the rest of my days. “...I guess I have some explaining to do, don’t I?”
“Yeah, I’d say so.” I said softly as I looked away into the firelight, ashamed at the way my voice trembled as I spoke. Reaching up I pulled the sunglasses from his face, snapping them in half. If I was going to have to remember those eyes, I wanted to be able to see where they were staring at all times. “So, you’re a... you’re a...”
“A werewolf,” His voice cracked slightly, tone laden with disgust. Glancing back at his face I bit my lip, the glimmer of tears visible in his eyes making me feel like I was the monster in all of this, not him. “I’m so sorry Juniper; I never meant to put you through all of this. I didn’t ask for this life, didn’t ask to be a monster. Please believe me when I saw I would never do anything to hurt you on purpose.”
“You were the one who attacked me and my friends...” Alexander flinched, shooting me a pleading, apologetic look I was far from immune from. As much as I hated to admit it even to myself, an internal battle was raging within me – reason telling me to run for the hills while I still could, love forcing me to stay rooted at his side. “I just have one question for you. Out of everyone there, out of everyone you could have gone after, why did it have to be me?”
“Attacking you wasn’t my original intent, I swear. What happened... it was a mistake. When I’m in my other form, I cease to think rationally for the most part unless I keep a close hold on my emotions.” He sighed softly, hands lying limply on the bedspread as he spoke. Holding my breath I moved to take one of them in my own, stopping halfway, still unsure if I could ever go back to trusting him as blindly as I had before. “When I saw you, I’d already lost control to my rage and agony. I let animal instinct take over, let my other nature flow freely on its quest for blood.”
“Why were you out for carnage at my mock trial practice in the first place?” The hesitation I was feeling was evident in my voice and the way his eyes clouded over momentarily as he looked at me. For a moment he appeared to study me critically, finally dropping his guard once again. Neither of us appeared to be good at keeping the other out of our private thoughts or feelings for very long.
“Do you remember when I told you I was taking some time out from college because of a family problem?” He asked slowly, looking a little uncomfortable when I nodded. Taking a deep breath he looked away, appearing to be in great pain. “I used to have a little sister, about a year or two younger than me...”
“What do you mean you used to have a little sister?” I dreaded the answer, but asked regardless. His haunted look of pain branded into my brain as he took my hand, a single tear slipping down his face. Reaching up I brushed it away instinctively, a sad smile flitting onto his face at my action of tenderness.
“She was killed, the night I met you as a matter of fact.” He said softly, sniffing. Mouth hanging open I didn’t dare to look away, my eyes glued to his face as he unfolded his history before me. “My sister and I were both afflicted, our inner monsters only making us that much closer to one another. She was the only one in our family that understood me, even counting our own parents – we were the first in the family since our great-grandfather to have a wolf’s blood within our veins, something that made us stick all the more closer to one another for support. That night we had been searching for new hunting grounds when a car came out of nowhere speeding twenty miles over the speed limit on a narrow bend in the road. I’d been lagging behind her slightly and it was coming up on us too fast for me to dart out of the way. My sister shoved me out of the line of fire but... she was hit in my place. She died to save my life – so I followed the tire tracks in the dark to your high school, my animal half thoroughly bend on extracting the revenge for blood I felt I had to have to let my sister’s memory rest in peace.”
“Oh Alexander, I’m so sorry...” I couldn’t help myself, pulling him down into my arms so that I could comfort him the same way he had me so many times during my first few nights in the cabin. Back then I had been so afraid that the monster would come back for me I couldn’t sleep without him beside me whispering that he would protect me. If I had known then I was laying next to the very same wolf... And then, out of nowhere, I understood why he had shown up when he did, and who he must have been after all along. “Oh my God... I know who hit your sister. One of the girls on the team, my best friend Arietta, showed up in a tizzy, freaking out about how she had hit a dog on her way to practice. She was so upset, showing up late and hitting an animal all in one go. She hadn’t been paying attention to what she was doing that night. It was her and her boyfriend’s anniversary, and he’d forgotten again for the second year running. I know it’s no excuse, but still, she didn’t do it maliciously.”
“Well, regardless of why she wasn’t watching where she was going, she was why I came to your practice in the first place... and you were the reason no one was killed.” Glancing up into his face I frowned, more than a little confused by such a statement. Smiling softly, he pecked my forehead, running his sleeve over his damp eyes as he started to explain. “When I burst through that window, I meant to kill every single one of you to avenge my sister’s death – but when I saw you standing there, you completely floored me and drove revenge out of my mind. The look in your eyes was the same as the one I had seen in my sisters just before she pushed me out of the way of that speeding car. I knew you were willing to do anything to give your classmates a chance at escape, and it drew me towards you, but not to hurt you.”
“You really didn’t want to hurt me, did you?” I asked softly, the pieces clicking together slowly: the slow stalking, the way he hadn’t attacked me when I was cornered, the way he had licked at my tears. “...What made you follow me if you didn’t want to kill me? And why did you try to kill Ollie?”
“When I had you cornered, you look so scared and yet so defiant. I could tell you were terrified. I just wanted to comfort you and tell you everything was going to be alright, but how could I? I was a wolf from Hollywood nightmares, and you were the young beautiful girl everyone expected me to eat alive. Seeing you like that, it was enough to give me some sense of self again so that I could gain control of my mind once more.” Alexander said slowly, brushing my hair back out of my eyes as he spoke. Somehow, even if I knew it was probably crazy, I knew I could trust his words. Things like this, like the look in his eyes when they were locked on my face, were impossible to fake. “But... when that boy showed up, I lost control. He was so angry, so irrational in his protection of you, and when you tried to run to him... I just snapped. I don’t know what made me do it. The moment you tried to run away, I felt an overwhelming surge of possessiveness to make you mine. I knew I couldn’t let you go, that it was going to have to be a fight to the death over you if necessary. The wolf in me wanted you too badly to watch him walk away with you and still live.”
“So let me see if I’ve got this straight. You attacked Ollie trying to win me away from him... and regained your senses again when I offered myself up to you in exchange for sparing his life.” I said in a low voice, heat flooding my face at his nod. Looking down I watched his fingers lace with mine, as confused by the feelings of warmth flooding through me as I was thrilled by it.
“The animal in me loved you right from the start before I even knew your name.” He said with a smile, leaning down so that we were on the same eye level, brown locking with teal and gold. As he captured my lips with his I couldn’t help but feel a surge of affection for the boy before me, slipping my arms around his neck pulling him closer against me. Everything suddenly seemed right in the world once again, except for a few of the stranger thoughts bouncing around my head.
Part of me was worried I was making a mistake.
Another part of me said everyone deserved a second chance.
It was impossible for all of me not to forgive him.
“What about the man?” I asked with a grin, his appreciative chuckle as he pulled me into his arms telling me quite plainly everything was going to be just fine between us from now on. No matter what had happened in the past, our future was going to be just fine. “Well Alexander, what does your human side have to say about me?
“He loves you even more than the mutt does.”
 YukiRiiku18 · Wed Jul 15, 2009 @ 08:25pm · 0 Comments |
