Chapter Nine....Scene Three

Upstairs, Eric was in Tristan’s bedroom, waiting for him to come out of the shower. He now knew something was wrong. His mother was acting very strange. He knew she had been about to tell him that they were probably moving again but why the sudden decision, especially after what happened last night?

Eric suddenly had a niggling feeling that his mother was hiding something. No scratch that. He’d known she was hiding something ever since she’d told them about their real parents. Tristan and he had just never pinned her down before. But this time was different, he had to know.

“Ladies and gentlemen, he lives!” Tristan said dramatically as he came out of the shower. His blond mane was stuck to his forehead and water was still dripping down his body. “You had us worried for a minute there cowboy.”

“You mean I had mom worried. You’d sooner celebrate being the only child she could pamper to death than mourn me.”

“I’ll let that slide….simply because it’s true.”

Eric turned serious. “Listen there’s something I gotta talk to you about.”

“Would that something have anything to do with what happened in the woods last night?”

Eric was dumbstruck. “You know about that?”

Tristan guffawed. “Do I know about that? Dude I was right there.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “What the hell was that thing?”

Eric could only shake his head. “I have no idea.”

“Well I do.” Checking to make sure that his door was locked, he came back and sat down, clicking the computer into life. “I did a little search last night and this is what turned up.”

Eric looked at the screen. On it was an image of the same wolf-like creature that had attacked them. The caption under the image read “werewolf on a full moon”.

“That’s right my friend. That thing was a werewolf, or what is sometimes referred to as a lycan. It says here that in Greek mythology, Lycaon displeased the deity Zeus, who turned him into a wolf. That’s where the term lycanthropy originates from.”

Eric sat down slowly, a blank look on his face. “No fucking way! You’re telling me those things actually exist?”

“There’s more where that came from. Did you notice anything strange about Ramona last night?”

“You mean beside the blinding speed?”

“Check it out.”

This time there was an image of an astonishingly beautiful woman but her entire chin was covered in blood dripping from her mouth, two sharp fangs protruding from it.

He should have known. The surprising strength, the death looks Ramona always gave him that he mistook for seduction, Raven’s pale flawless skin.

The signs had all been there and yet he’d needed to almost die to see them. Just what would have happened if that scream hadn’t disturbed them? Would he even be here right now?

“Wait. You said you were in the woods. How did you get there?”

“Jade and I were coming over for the party. When we heard a scream, we rushed over to investigate.”

“We heard it too but Ramona and Raven decided to head back to the beach for help. That’s when we saw that—the werewolf.”

“But how did you manage to get away?”

“Ramona distracted it. She ran off and it followed her. Then I was left with Raven, she wanted to get out of there, I refused and the next thing I see is her knocking me out and me waking up in my bed this morning.”

“Wow. She actually knocked you out? Can’t say I’m surprised though. You always see them in the movies hurling things and uprooting tree trunks like they were nothing.”

“So what happened to you?”

“We came upon Ramona and the werewolf when they were just about to tear each other to pieces. And get this, Jade actually communicated with it. She kept calling it Bryce.”

“Wait. Bryce? Like her boyfriend Bryce?”

“Well I can only assume. I mean he didn’t really look like Bryce now did he?”

They both sat in silence for a while. Each one was contemplating their unfortunate discovery or fortunate depending on how you saw it. They had both been hanging out with supernatural entities, evil and deadly to the very core. How much longer would they have survived? Vampires survived on blood of which Eric had plenty and werewolves were uncontrollable and destroyed everything in their paths and Tristan had been firmly on one of those paths.

“I always wondered how Bella felt that way when she discovered Edward was a vampire,” Eric said.

“Yeah but dude that was a movie based on a book and great though it was, she was supposed to feel that way. This shit is as real as it gets. I mean I almost wet myself last night. That’s not really something you see every day.”

“But what strikes me odd is that nobody in this town really seems to care.” Then it dawned on him. “It’s because they don’t know.”

“Either that or everybody in this whole bloody town is werewolf or vampire.”

“I sincerely hope you’re joking because I’m getting goose bumps about how I’m gonna sleep tonight.”

“But just think about it for a minute. Werewolves are just like ordinary humans when they’re not changed and vampires are likewise. You couldn’t know who was who even if you were looking! Case in point!” He indicated them both.

They heard muffled voices downstairs and Eric remembered.

“How does mom fit into all this?” he asked.

Tristan was surprised. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t you find it strange she wants us to leave town immediately following last night’s events?”

“Maybe she’s just trying to protect us. Wait we’re leaving town?” Evidently his mouth was way ahead of his brain.

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about! She’s not one to make rash decisions and she’s never made a decision about moving before talking it over with us. This time, it seems she’s already packed our bags.”

Tristan was silent for a minute, a frown written on his face. “But why would you think Mom has anything to do with this? Last time we checked, she was neither a vampire nor werewolf. All she did was bring you home.”

“She brought me home?” Eric asked incredulously. “I can’t believe she lied to my face like that! She told me I came home with that guy Eddie from our class!”

“No mate. Raven told me she met Mom out in the woods and she brought you here.”

“I’m I really that light? How are women finding it so easy to carry me?”

“She has a car dude. There are a couple of wide paths where a car could pass.”

“I don’t know Tristan. Something sure smells fishy around here.”

“So what if she really does want to move? Are we gonna do it?”

Eric flopped back onto the bed. “Well it’s not like we have much choice do we? Go with the woman who’s our mother, who has a job, who pays for the bills and most importantly is human. Or remain here and work tables at The Arena so we can pay the bills while our neighbors lay out glasses on their dinner tables so we can drop by and offer them a vein to tap. Now let me see…..”

Tristan clicked his tongue and said, “Sarcasm was never your strong suit Eric.”