Wolves among men (6 page)

The man at the bar let out a belch
that was as loud as it was sickening. Everyone in the restaurant
took notice. Even Cordillia had a disgusted look on her
face.

“
Jesus,” she whispered.
“Manners are free you know.” She groaned as she turned to face me.
My eyes were still on him. The smell was getting worse as he
grunted and spit into a napkin. He turned his head back in our
direction. His eyes were dark, that’s all I had time to notice
before he turned his face back toward the cup in front of him. He
couldn’t have heard her, I thought to myself. There was just no
way.

Turning back to Cordillia, I lifted a
finger to my lips and spoke quietly, “That may be true but that
doesn’t mean we need to be rude.” I took a sip of my quickly
cooling coffee. He grunted again and began to scratch at his head
vigorously. Probably fleas. I chuckled as the thought crossed my
mind. I smirked and turned back to Cordillia. Maybe if I didn’t
look, the smell wouldn’t be so bad.

Cordillia and I began to talk and not
long after, I heard Annie’s sweet voice as she placed a plate down
on the bar. “There you are, sir. I hope this one is to your
liking.” The way she said it, I was sure he’d sent his plate back
before. I could smell the steak from here. Like copper and salt, it
was rare and mouthwatering. I’d just hoped my order came back
smelling so good. We continued our conversation, Cordillia laughed
and smiled sweetly as she talked about school and the things she
would miss. I heard him take a sharp whiff of the air, there was a
short pause and that’s when everything went to hell.

A loud smash broke the silence of the
diner as his plate hit the floor and shattered followed by Annie
screaming as her feet were pulled around the counter. “Calm down,
sir,” I heard her yelp in a shaky voice. Instantly, I looked over
at them. He had her wrist in his massive hand, her fingers turning
white from the pressure.

“
You let me go now or I’ll
have the cops in here I swear-” she started but he cut her off in
mid-sentence.

“
And how do you plan to do
that?” his voice was barely more than a growl. He towered over the
poor girl, his face inches from hers. I remembered his smell and my
stomach turned at the thought of being so close to him. I
remembered Cordillia and hoped for Annie’s sake she couldn’t smell
him either. She yelped as he squeezed her wrist and I could see the
pain on her face from where I stood.

“
Stop it, you’re hurting
her!” Cordillia screamed and I jumped. Somehow I had forgotten she
was there. He turned to her, a sick satisfied smirk on his face as
his eyes flicked between us.

“
This doesn’t concern you,
sweetheart,” his voice was deep and raspy, almost like he hadn’t
used it in years. I caught myself wondering how someone could fall
out of the habit of speech but the thought didn’t last
long.

Annie yelped as he tossed her to the
ground where the plate had hit the floor and almost immediately I
could smell blood in the air. He bent down, grabbed a handful of
her hair and yanked her up onto her knees and that’s when I saw the
deep gash that ran the length of her arm.

“
Does that look like what
I ordered?” he demanded “Does it!?” he yelled.

“
I don’t know!” she yelled
back obviously unsure of what to do. I jumped out of the booth and
moved towards them, I wasn’t sure what I was doing but I had to do
something.

“
No, Ethan!” Cordillia
called as I moved. I glanced back for a second before the man
peered over his shoulder at me.

“
Listen to your sister,
Ethan,” he growled as he lifted Annie off of the floor. Before I
could think, my body reacted and I took the final few steps between
him and me. I reached out, wrapping my arm around his neck and
pulled back. With a groan he fell into me, struggling against me
before finally letting go of Annie and dropping to his knees. I
stepped back and watched as he got to his feet and my stomach
twisted itself in knots.

He took a step toward me and I braced
myself, ready to fight but I found myself a little more than
surprised when instead he spoke, “Watch it! You don’t know what
you’re getting yourself into.” He growled as he grabbed the collar
of my shirt and pulled me onto the tip of my toes. I yanked his
hand away and stared him down.

“
I think it’s time you
left.” I growled as he took a step toward me.

“
Or what?” He smirked as
he closed the space between us. I towered over him and yet I still
found myself intimidated by the look in his eyes and the growl in
his tone. He smirked before grunting loudly and spitting at my
feet. “You got nothing.” He sneered as he stepped away.

His smell wafted back toward me and
for a moment I felt like I was going to be sick. I took a deep
breath, never loosing eye contact with him in a tense silence that
seemed to go on forever.

“
I’m done with you.” He
smirked as he looked behind me, flashing a wink and a smile toward
Cordillia before storming out of the tiny restaurant.

I could hear Annie take a deep breath
behind me, we all did. It was over, he was gone and a sense of
relief surrounded us as we went back to our meals and tried to
forget him.

Before I moved back to the booth, I
helped Annie to her feet and took my seat. After a moment’s pause,
I pulled a pack of cigarettes out of my pocket and stood to go
outside but before I made it up, Annie was standing next to me with
a small ashtray and a smile.

“
I can’t thank you enough
for that, young man,” she spoke sweeter than someone who was just
attacked should. “I won’t tell on you.” She gave me a wink as she
placed the ashtray down in front of me.

“
Thank you,” was all I
could muster as I pulled one out and lit it, watching her as she
walked over to the counter, grabbed a broom and began to sweep up
the mess that he had left behind. Cordillia was still stunned. She
half stood on the booth and gawked at me, eyes wide. After a moment
had passed she sat and shook her head.

“
What the hell.” She
sneered looking down at the table. I took another deep pull off of
my cigarette and shook my head to answer. She looked up at me and
raised her eyebrow, I knew this was coming.

“
Since when do you smoke?”
she asked puzzled and a bit shocked. I laughed, it felt good to
smile.

“
Since my life went to
hell,” I answered. We passed the time in silence before Annie came
back with our meals. She sat the plates down in front of us and
placed a hand on my shoulder.

“
It’s on me, honey. What
you did back there…” she trailed off for a second. Her face stained
with shock. She shook herself back to reality and smiled again.
“Well it’s the least I can do. You eat here for free from now on,”
she added. I tried to protest but she just shook her
head.

I dug into my steak. Perfect, just
like I had hoped and it wasn’t until I began to shovel mouthfuls of
food into me that I remembered just how hungry I was only a few
moments ago. We finished our meals quickly and quietly, anything to
get out of there as fast as possible. I flashed Annie a wink with
the hope that it would make her day a little better before we
headed out toward the truck. We didn’t make it far before Cordillia
stopped me just and smiled.

“
I have to pee,” she said
as she handed me her bag and turned to run back inside.

“
Real lady like,” I
commented with a grin. “Hurry up, it’s nearly sunset and we have a
long drive.”

“
I just have to go to the
bathroom, it’s not like I’m running a marathon.” She laughed as she
pulled open the door and disappeared in to the diner once again. At
least I could be sure she was safe without him in there. I growled
at the thought of him anywhere near her and just as the thought
crossed my mind, I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder as I was pulled
off of my feet violently.

Chapter Five

He gripped me tight around the waist and the
next thing I knew I was being drug around the back of the diner and
away from prying eyes. Another shock of pain jolted through me as
my back was slammed into an oversized dumpster, knocking the air
out of my lungs and blinding me. It was open here, nothing to keep
us from being seen, except maybe the lack of cars or people passing
through. His hand found my face and I was forced to look into his
putrid yellow eyes.

“Let me go!” I growled trying to find my feet.
It was a moment before I realized they weren’t touching the ground
and all I could do was kick helplessly as his eyes narrowed and his
snarl turned into a smile.

“And why would I want to do that?” He smirked
as he held my head still in his massive hand. I struggled against
him but he held me as if it took no effort to keep me
still.

“My sister will find us, she’ll call the
police.” Almost immediately I regretted bringing her into this. His
fierceness changed to amusement as he dug his nails into my face
where he held me. I screamed as the sticky warmth of blood began to
trickle down my cheek.

I tried everything I could think of as fast as
it came. I kicked, I swung my arms, I thrashed against him but
nothing worked. The more I fought the more he smiled like he was
enjoying my futile struggle. I decided it was best not to give him
what he wanted and quickly went limp in his hold.

“That’s better,” he growled as his eyes locked
onto mine. My breathing became rapid, my heartbeat unbearable and I
felt my body burning under his tight hold. “What’s the matter,
sheep?” he asked with a grin as he inched his face closer to mine.
The smell coming off him was putrid. God, what I wouldn’t give to
never smell that again.

“Ethan?” Cordillia called out from the other
side of the little restaurant. I closed my eyes and offered a
silent frantic prayer
Please don’t come back here Please just go
back inside.
She called my name again and this time her voice
was closer.
Please God no
I begged but I never was so
lucky.

A moment later, her head popped around the
corner and all I could do was hope she wouldn’t see us. “Ethan!”
she screamed as she turned toward me, her eyes grew wide as she saw
who had me in his grip. He tightened his hold and clawed at my face
as I reached out to her.

“Run, Cordy! Go back inside!” It was too late.
He lifted me higher and threw me to the side, I flew like a rag
doll and cried out in pain as I bounced off the hard dirt ground
and felt my rib crack under the pressure.

Holding my side, I looked up as he began to
move toward her catching her just as she turned to run. He grabbed
her ponytail and pulled her back into seclusion. I tried to get my
footing but the world spun around me and I slipped back to the
ground with a shock. My vision went white as I was painfully
reminded of my broken rib.

I cried out as he pulled her closer to him,
his arm wrapped around her neck as he held her back tight against
him. He brushed her hair to the side and ran a finger down the side
of her throat. She elbowed him as hard as she could and I was proud
but as I tried to get my footing again he pulled her in
tighter.

“Now that’s not very polite.” He chuckled as
he leaned in and planted a kiss on her neck. “This is gonna be
fun.” He laughed as he threw her to the ground. She shouted as her
head bounced off the gravel a few feet from where I lay. He knelt
down on top of her and pinned her arms to her chest. I struggled to
get to my feet as he laughed loudly at her attempts to fight him
off. I got to my feet and just as I did his head reared back and
Cordillia screamed, staring up at something I couldn’t
see.

“No!” I yelled as I ran for her but it was too
late. He sunk his teeth into her shoulder and ripped his head back,
streaking the ground with blood and filling the air with her
screams.

I don’t know when it started but I felt the
tearing under my skin, the fire in my veins and the searing pain
that ripped through me as my body began to change. Cordillia opened
her eyes to me as I howled into the sky and stood, towering over
them. A roar escaped from my chest as I ran toward them, it was
like moving in slow motion and everything was clearer now. I could
hear the blood pumping in his veins, his heartbeat even the smell
of fear seeping off of Cordillia. He looked up at me and a sick
smile crossed his face as I swung for him. He dodged my attack,
rolling off of her and getting to his feet faster than any human
should.

“Now that’s more like it.” He laughed as he
began to change. I heard his clothes rip and his bones snap as he
became less and less human by the second. He shot up easily three
feet and doubled that in girth as I watched his body transform. I
was dumbstruck as thick patches of black fur began to sprout over
every inch of him, I knew the last thing I should be doing is
standing there watching but I had never seen the change from the
other side.