Werewolf Love Story (18 page)

“Well, you’re in luck,” I said, jokingly. “We just happen to have a cage right smack in the middle of our living room.”

“We?” Sasha said.

“Yeah. We.” I said, plainly.

“We is good,” Sasha said, smiling. “I am happy for you guys.”

“Well Sasha, in a weird way I would never have met Maya if I hadn’t met you.” I said.

Maya sat down and the three of us ate like starving children. I had thirds and both girls had seconds. It was nearing nighttime and Patrick hadn't woken up yet. His door was shut and I figured he must have been wiped out from the night before.

Sasha got into the cage and I locked her into with chains.

Eventually the full moon came out, and she turned and hooted and hollered and screamed bloody murder at us.

Maya and I decided to go in my bedroom, so maybe Sasha would shut up. We put a movie on and eventually we both fell asleep.

A couple hours later, Maya woke me up. “Tommy, Tommy” she said.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Feel my face. I think I'm getting a fever.”

I sat up and felt her face, and she was very hot. “You’re hot,” I said.

“Do you have any Tylenol?”

“I have aspirin.”

“I need something stronger.”

“There's a Walgreen's that's open 24 hours down the street. I can go down and pick some up for you.”

“Could you?”

“Sure.” I said.  I would have gone to downtown London for her.

“Could you also get something for a sore throat, my throat is scratchy!”

“No problem.” I got up and put my shoes on and grabbed my keys. It was 5:00 am so Sasha had about an hour left to be a werewolf. She was amazingly quiet as I left the apartment.  I don’t think she saw me.

I got into my car and headed to the store. I decided to pick up a few items while I was there. It had been awhile since I'd been to a convenience store so I needed some things.  I took about a half an hour going over the aisles shopping. I brought my stuff to the register. It was two baskets filled to the rim. I guess I did go a little crazy.

It came out to $140.37. That was officially the most money I had ever spent at a Walgreen or any other convenience store.

I got back to my apartment right as the sun came up. I entered my apartment holding two big plastic bags filled with everything from cough syrup to toothpaste.

I put the bags on the kitchen table and watched as the werewolf turned back into Sasha. She was drenched and she layed in the middle of the floor shivering. I opened the gate and unlocked all of her chains. She looked up at me like she had just got done running a Marathon.

I went and got a couple of towels from the bathroom and came back and wiped her down and dried her off.

“Thanks, Tommy.” She said, in a hoarse voice.

“No problem, what are friends for.”

“You really are a good friend. You have a great heart.”

I smiled at Sasha. “You do too when you allow yourself to be honest with yourself.”

“I was being honest with myself. That's why I had to leave. I saw how happy Maya made you.  I saw how perfect she was and how she is everything I'm not. I knew I couldn't handle being around you two.”

“How do you feel now?”

“I'll be okay. She's a lucky girl, and I'll make sure she knows it.”

“It's okay; you don't have to do that. Let me grab a couple of Maya's things so you can change your clothes.” They were about the same size and I knew Maya wouldn't mind.

I walked into my bedroom to grab the clothes and I thought my eyes had deceived me. Maya was gone! Not only was she gone, my bedroom window was wide open!

“Maya!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. I stuck my head out of the window and could see footprints below in the dirt. My heart fell out of my chest. “No! No! Patrick!” I screamed.

I ran to Patrick's room, it was locked. I yelled for him to open it.

“What's wrong?” Sasha ran over to me.

“Patrick! Open the fucking door!” There was no response. I took a step back and kicked the door open.  Patrick wasn’t there and his window was wide open too, with cardboard and masking tape ripped off the wall, with pieces hanging out the window.

“What the hell is going on?” I screamed. “What the fuck!”

“Tommy, calm down. There's got to be a clear reason why this happened.”

I looked at Sasha with disdain, “Yeah, there's a clear reason! You and Patrick have cursed me! What the fuck did you do, Sasha?” I pinned Sasha up against the wall.” “Did you lead some Carni… or Mani to my apartment? Huh? Answer me!”

“I don't know what you're talking about!” Sasha looked horrified. 

I couldn’t tell if she knew anything or not. “You must know something, Sasha! This is your fucking world! You must have led someone here and they took Maya!” I looked at the two empty rooms from the hallway, “And have probably have killed Patrick.” I was horrified. What just happened? Why did I leave Maya by herself? Why? I was only gone for an hour. How long has Patrick been gone? I only assumed he was sleeping. He could have been gone since yesterday.  I fell to my knees. “What am I going to do? I don't know what to do.”

Sasha dropped to the floor next to me. “Tommy, you need to believe me when I say I have nothing to do with this!”

“I don't care. That's not going to make anything better. I need to find Maya.”

“Just try to relax. Let's piece this together.”

“What's there to piece together? They came in and killed Patrick, and then took Maya.” 

“But they came into two different windows. That means they had to come at different times.”

“No, they could have come in through one and left through the other.”

“Then why was Patrick’s door locked? Why isn't there any kind of mess by either door? They only came in and out of the same windows.”

“Okay, what difference does that make?”

“I bet they got Patrick the night before, not last night. They must have been waiting for you to leave Maya's side so they could get her.”

Just the thought of someone touching Maya against her will made me want to throw up. “Why? Why would they want Maya?”

“Because they want you, Tommy. It is obvious that Mani have done this. It must be that brotherhood crew from the other night.”

I looked at Sasha and she seemed real certain about what she was saying. “Why do they want me?” I asked.

“Because they know how tough you are. You beat the crap out of three of them down and you’re a human. They can only imagine how insanely powerful you'd be as a vampire.”

“So they kidnapped Maya so I come after them?”

“They don't want to hurt Maya. They can have any human they want. They hand picked her to get to you.”

“Well, if they intentionally wanted me to come to them, why aren’t there any clues about where they went?”

Sasha thought for a minute. “Well, there's one huge clue.”

“What is it?”

“They left me alive. They didn't find the need to kill me.”

“Would they just have killed you for sport?”

“Oh, they would had killed me and not batted an eye. They left me alive for a reason. They knew I could lead you to them.”

“Can you?”

Sasha was quiet.

“Can you?” I shouted.

“I'm thinking.”

Sasha and I picked ourselves off the floor and went into the kitchen. “Okay, let’s start here,” I said. “Where have you been the last two weeks?”

“I was staying with a friend in Arrowhead.”

“Arrowhead? In the mountains?”

“Is there another?”

“Do you know of any Mani hot spots up there?”

“Yeah, there's the biggest one. It's called Flatlands. All Mani and future Mani hang out there. It’s like their hang out.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a gravel parking lot, Sometime they set up bonfires and hang out all night.”

“What about during the day?”

“Mani can't function during the day unless they transition into birds.”

“Then who's watching Maya?” I yelled.

“Probably future Mani.”

“What does that mean? Who the fuck is future Mani?”

“They usually are teenagers who are waiting to be fully developed until they turn. They want to have maximum height and muscle mass before they become vampires.

“It makes sense, “I said. “So, some of these teenagers might be keeping Maya hostage?”

“I would bet on it,” Sasha said, confidently. “They are going to stay hidden till tonight and more than likely meet up with whoever originally took Maya at the flatlands.”

“So I have to sit around all day and not know what to do?” I knew I was going to lose my mind waiting around all day.

“I know it's going to be hard, but from everything I know there is no way they would harm her in any way. They want you on board with them happy, not looking for revenge. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't treating her like a queen.”

“I swear to God if anyone of those guys lays a hand on her in any way, I'll kill the whole lot of them.”

“Trust me Tommy. They know that. They are just using her as bait.”

This was the longest day of my life. I felt so guilty not calling Maya's parents and telling them that Maya might be in some kind of danger. I even debated getting Josiah involved. I knew he could kick as much ass as I can.  And that was what I needed was another ass-kicking machine.  But there was no way I could put a sixteen year old in that kind of jeopardy. I knew he would jump at the chance, especially for his sister, but I couldn't do it.

Sasha wanted to come. She said she would take off into the woods once she became a werewolf. I told her to stay, but she insisted on coming because she knew exactly where to go.

We got in my Mustang and headed to Arrowhead Mountains. It was nearing dark, and as we got closer to the Flatlands my adrenalin was off the map. I had no idea how I was going to control myself. All I knew was I needed to make sure Maya was okay.

I pulled into a rocky parking lot. “This piece of shit area is Flatlands?” I asked.

“It's not exactly Central Park, but it's a pretty popular area up here.”

There was no one in the parking lot. Not one body, not one car. “Do you think you made a mistake?”

“I'm sure I haven't,” Sasha said. “There is still a little bit of light and the Mani can't transition yet.” Sasha looked at me. “Tommy, I'm going to need to go. I'm going to turn at any moment.” She opened the door, and left my Mustang.

“Sasha!” I yelled out.

She turned around, “Yeah,”

“Thank You. Be safe.”

“You too,” I watched as she went into the woods.  The sun had set and the moon was in full view. I had to admit; whenever the full moon came out I got an extra boost of energy like I had just downed six red bulls.

I looked on as I saw Sasha turn into a werewolf. She took off running into the woods. I felt my face and my beard was as long as ever. I decided to get back in my car and wait. About ten minutes went by and then all hell broke loose. Four vehicles whizzed into the parking lot. A couple of black ravens and red hawks landed in the middle of the ground. I looked on and watched as the two raven transitioned into two Mani men. One of them was seven feet tall and looked like the guy from the desert that killed that enormous werewolf. The other was about my size. The red hawk transitioned into a beautiful red-headed woman.  She was the same person who was finishing off Carni after they were injured from the other night.

She walked over and got into one of the cars and sat next to a blonde woman.
That had to be Maya!
I jumped out of my car at the sight of her. I stood in front of my Mustang all by myself and on the other side of this gravel yard they called Flatlands were four cars filled with God knows what and Maya. One by one the car doors opened and people got out. I wasn't sure if they were all Mani, but that question was soon answered for me.

Monty, the main vampire from the other night made his way to the middle of the group. I wasn't sure who was in charge. I scanned the group and then I saw Patrick. Two Mani men had him by his arms.
Thank God he’s alive!

I noticed that Maya was still in the car with a red-headed woman. Our eyes made contact. She appeared shaken up and worried.

“Let her go,” I yelled. Someone laughed from the back. He made his way to the front and the asshole had green-hair.  He had obviously died it to look menacing, but he looked more like Kermit the frog than some intimidating vampire.

“Who are you?” I yelled out

“Me?” the green-haired man said, “Monty, I thought you said this strapping young man would make a great addition to our brotherhood?”

Monty made room for the green-hair man to have center stage. “Trust me, he will,” Monty said.

“How can I ask anyone to join my Brotherhood when he doesn't even know who I am?”

“Get over it, Kermie, I said. “I'm not exactly keen to your world! It's nothing personal. Why don’t you let Maya go, she has nothing to do with this.”

“We plan on letting her go in due time, but first you and I need to have a little chat.” This guy was really feminine. It was really throwing me off. “When you say that this isn’t personal, that’s where you’re wrong.  This whole meeting is personal. We have your girl and your friend. If we didn't make this personal, then we didn't do our job.”

I looked at this guy and he was trying to get a rise out of me and if he persisted, he just might.

If I wanted Maya back safe I knew I needed to play ball with this guy. “What do want to chat about?” I asked.

“You can say you’re our number one draft pick. We’re here to make sure you sign with us. You can also say we’re the Notre Dame of the paranormal world.”

“You have an interesting way of trying to persuade me, by kidnapping my girlfriend and taking my friend,” I said.

“We do have a case of the dramatics don't we?” he turned around and laughed.  The others saw him laughing and joined in.

“So tell me exactly what do you want?” I asked, looking over at Maya as I asked my question. In my mind, this wasn’t about him or me. This was only about keeping Maya safe.

“We want you to join our Brotherhood!” The green-haired man said.

I looked at everyone.  “Is everyone here part of the Brotherhood?”