The Blood Talisman (8 page)

“
Did you forget to shave
when you took your shower?” she asked.

“
Didn’t think about it,” he
shrugged as he scooted closer to the driver’s side door.

He leaned against the window and she
placed her hand back into her lap. She stared down, embarrassed.
She couldn’t quit touching him, or wanting to touch him. She knew
it made him nervous but she kept pushing.

“
We need to make a stop at
the next station,” Alex told her.

“
Okay,” she said, still
looking down at her hands. She was twisting them back and forth
nervously. She hated making him feel uncomfortable but couldn’t
resist. She glared back out towards the passing trees and gave one
more sigh of disgust at herself.

Alex slowed the car and veered into a
gas station that had one pump taped off. A black and red car stood
at it. There were blood stains around a couple of bodies where
detectives and a few sheriff’s deputies were walking around the
car. They were talking amongst themselves.

Alex pulled his car up at the next
pump over. He got out of the car, watching them all carefully. He
didn’t want to attract any attention but the blood in the air was
overwhelming.

Alex took a deep breath and the smell
took him away to the scene. He leaned back against the Toyota as he
pumped gas and watched it all unfold as the visions appeared in his
mind. He watched the redhead get drained and the blonde’s punch to
the car. The blood from her fist was still present on the hood. He
opened his eyes and noticed one of the deputies looking strangely
at him. The deputy casually excused himself from the scene and
walked over to Alex.

“
You okay, boy?” the deputy
asked.

“
Yes sir. Just sleepy is
all.”

The deputy leaned in closer to Alex
and whispered into his ear, “We can sense our own kind, you
know.”

Alex looked shocked at him. “What do
you mean?” he asked.

“
You see what happen here?
That diseased little bitch killed those people. I can’t tell them
that but…”

He stopped as the other Toyota’s
passenger door slammed shut.

“
Marcus Richman?” Selene
said aloud.

“
Selene! I haven’t seen you
in ages. How’s the family?”

Marcus walked around the car to hug
her. He was short and round. He was what you would expect from a
typical donut-eating deputy sheriff.

“
Dad’s great, but you know
Mom died years ago,” she answered.

“
What are you doing around
these parts?”

“
Helping a
friend.”

“
Well, any friend of
Selene’s is a friend of mine. If ya’ll need any help, just lemme
know.”

“
I think we got it under
control.”

Alex got back into the car and slammed
the door, hoping Selene would notice his urgency.

“
Think you’d better go. He
seems a bit eager,” Marcus smiled.

“
Yea, it was good seeing
you, Marcus. May take you up on the help soon.” She
winked.

Selene got into the car and shut the
door. Marcus leaned down to her and Alex. “Anything you need,
Selene. Ya’ll drive safely.”

They were quickly back onto the
highway. Marcus waved goodbye and Selene watched him in the
rearview mirror until he was out of sight.

“
Well, that was strange.”
Alex broke the silence between them.

“
What’s strange? The fact
that I have a friend or that he’s a werewolf like you?”

Alex looked at her confused. He still
hadn’t gotten used to the idea that he was a werewolf or that these
creatures were even real.

“
How can any of this be
real?” he groaned.

“
People walk around all the
time with diseases like diabetes, cancer and heart disease but
you’d never guess to look at them. Most people read a book by its
cover. Vampires and werewolves, they walk around in broad daylight
and you never would know that they are any different from anyone
else. Until one of them wolfs out or bleeds you dry, that
is.”

“
I never thought of this as
a disease. How did you get involved and caught up in all of
this?”

“
My reclusive parents were
witches. I know a thing or two. Witches are the reason these
diseased creatures were created. Well, one particular witch anyway.
A long time ago there was a witch considered to be a necromancer or
a master of death. He got bored with the normal herbs and curses
and decided to experiment. The experiments weren’t successful,
obviously. Instead of creating cures and conducting peace-loving
health spells, they turned darker. Most witches believe it was
nature’s way of saying ‘you shouldn’t mess with what’s already
perfect’. I try to stay out of witchcraft these days. Sometimes I
find myself drifting back though, for one reason or
another.”

“
You mean me being the
reason this time?”

“
Something like that,
yeah,” she said, punching him in the arm, playfully.

“
Hey, hey. Don’t want
me
wolfing out
now, do you?”

“
Speaking of that, are you
not ‘feeling the need to feed’, as they say?”

“
Yes, but I’m avoiding
it.”

“
You can’t do that. It
makes you unstable.”

“
You don’t understand. It’s
not exactly pleasurable to change. It feels like every bone in my
body is breaking and fire is running through my veins. It’s not
something I really want to do.”

“
Do you think people who
take chemo for cancer want to do that either? No, but it treats the
disease. You don’t have a choice. You could die, Alex. Then you
wouldn’t be any good to Amalia or me. Pull over here at the edge of
the road. Right near those trees.”

“
We don’t have time for
this.”

“
No arguments or I will
pull us over myself,” Selene warned, reaching for the steering
wheel.

Alex grabbed her hand just shy of the
leather-bound wheel.

“
I’m stopping, calm
down.”

The Toyota pulled slowly to the edge
of the road as the cars that were following behind them zipped past
in hurried fury. They both got out of the car and approached the
woods a short way from the road. Selene walked a few steps ahead of
him and Alex grabbed her arm forcefully.

“
Your not going in there,
are you? It’s getting dark and there’s no telling where we are,”
Alex said, stopping them both by the first big pine
tree.

“
We’re only going in a
little way so nobody can see you change.”

“
I don’t want to do this,
Selene. What if I hurt you?”

“
Just trust me,
okay?”

They walked a short distance into the
woods until they were elbow to elbow in trees. The dry grass below
them crunched under their feet and the only dim light came from the
setting sun which shone from where they entered from the road. They
stood looking out into darkness.

“
We’re here, but what am I
supposed to feed on? Are the forest animals supposed to just walk
right up to me?” Alex whispered.

Selene turned to look at him. She
smiled and put one finger over her lips. Alex sighed and
reluctantly complied with the request to be quiet.

She sat on the grass, moving her hands
up and down along it, as if she were calming it. The wind began to
blow softly at first and then harder from within the forest.
Selene’s long hair whipped Alex’s face behind her. He started to
worry from not understanding what was happening. Suddenly the wind
stopped and she stood and whistled. The whistle carried throughout
the forest in the opposite direction of the wind. There was a
moment of silence and then the sounds of tiny footsteps filled the
forest. Alex took hold of Selene’s arm once again in a protective
manner, and pulled her closer to him. He watched the forest and she
watched him.

“
You can have your pick
now,” she whispered into his ear.

He stared in amazement as animals
appeared in the distance. There were deer and rabbits and birds and
squirrels, all out in the open for them to see. Selene leaned
closer to his lips. His breathing was heavy against hers. The wolf
began to take over his body slowly. He laid his head on her
shoulder but she pushed him away so that he would turn quicker. He
stumbled back into the leaves and grass. Bushes hid his change from
her. She backed away slowly, waiting for him to appear and jump out
at any moment. Her heart was racing and her pores were bucketing
her with sweat.

She walked backwards into a tree and
rubbed her hands up the bark. The soft moss covering it made a nice
contrast from the dark, hard tree bark. She rounded the tree, never
turning her back or eyes away from the bushes that Alex had fallen
into. With a quick leap, he was released from his human bonds and
the wolf ran free, chasing the animals that she had summoned for
him. She watched until she couldn’t see him anymore. A few moments
passed, and she finally felt comfortable enough to leave the tree
that was hiding her.

She stroked the tall grass through her
fingers, feeling their need for darkness as the sun set completely
behind her. She thought about Alex, and felt pity for him and what
he was going through. She wanted to make things easier for him and
wished that she could make it all go away, but knew that would
never happen. She could only teach him to deal with his
circumstances and embrace who he now was. She’d such a hard time
embracing who she was when she was younger that it only made sense
to pay it forward to someone that she had admired for
years.

She heard a rustling in the distant
dark forest. Alex showed himself, still in wolf form. Selene
gasped. She didn’t have time to scatter back to the big, mossy
tree. She ducked behind a small dying bush that didn’t hide much of
her.

He stopped and sniffed the air, taking
in the sweet, human scent of Selene. He inched closer to the smell,
not seeing her yet. She was hidden to him until he got to the dying
bush and there she stood suddenly, surprising him. He stumbled
back, the blood of the animals he had chased and fed upon, clung to
him.

“
Alex, it’s me… Selene,”
she said.

The voice sounded familiar and he
lunged towards her. Her hands were out in front of her to try and
stop him. He fell over on top of her, throwing her flat onto the
grass and dead leaves. His paw-like hands held her arms down on the
dirty ground. He could feel her bones begin to weaken beneath him
as she stopped struggling. He watched as tears streamed from her
mesmerizing eyes. They sparkled in the moonlight and he admired
their glow. The tears made them look glassy and dead. Then he could
feel himself changing back into the real him. He howled from the
pain and eventually collapsed on top of her, back in human
form.

She breathed in and out deeply from
the fear and pain and emotion as he lay there naked atop of her.
His hands encased her arms, still holding her flush to the ground.
His nose nestled into her neck. She reveled in the moment briefly.
She stared at the moon as it judged her. She had wished for a
moment like this, but under different circumstances. His breathing
finally calmed and hers fell into unison with his. She looked down
at his face and noticed his lips were just inches from her
collarbone. She could feel his breath and it felt moist and warm.
She closed her eyes and made a few unspoken wishes.

“
Selene?” he said
shakily.

The movement of his lips on her
clavicle sent shivers down her spine.

“
Yes?” she answered, full
of hope.

He leaned up, hands still on her arms.
He looked into her eyes.

“
Are you okay?” he asked,
his eyes flitting anxiously across her face.

“
Yea, except my arms. They
kinda hurt.”

“
Oh!” he said suddenly,
removing his hands from her arms. He slid them to either side of
her on the ground, supporting his body.

She reached up to rub his face with
both free hands and asked, “Are you okay?”

“
Never better,” he said and
smiled.

She pulled his face gently down to
kiss him but he rolled away reluctantly and sat steady on the
ground beside her. She sighed resentfully. Her wishes hadn’t come
true.

“
I’m sorry,” she
said.

“
Please, don’t be. You have
helped me more today than some people have my whole life. You have
absolutely nothing to apologize for.” He grabbed her hand and
caressed it in his. His eyes pierced hers, looking for
answers.

“
I care about you. More
than I think you know.”

“
What you’ve done for me, I
can never thank you enough. I felt so alone when this first
happened. I only wanted Amalia. I needed her to care for me in the
way that she only could. I want to thank you for being there for me
when she couldn’t be.”

“
Here’s your shirt.” she
said, handing it to him.

She stood up and began to walk away.
He put it on in a hurry and followed her.