Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“I have great faith in fools; self-confidence my friends call it.”

" Edgar Allan Poe

September 22^nd, 2010

“Kat,” Evelyn said looking at her sister who smiled in return.

“What?” Kat asked.

“Do you ever think about leaving?” she asked keeping her head down.

“Yes, it would be stupid though.”

“You think so?” She looked up.

“Picture life. Seeking things you can never obtain is a waste of time. Your life is laid before your feet and all you can do is move forward. The phrase ‘take one step at a time’ is a lie. Try running. The quicker things leave, the less time you have to feel or hurt or hate.” 

“Or love,” she spoke after a moment, staring at her older sister. “You and I both know that.”

¯�'¯

Evelyn woke, immensely bound by the path laid at her feet. The memory of her sister brought logic to her life for the past year. She was moving from place to place in order to feel nothing. She didn’t want any attachments or feelings. The only problem was, while running stops the pain for a bit, it’s tiring. She’d been draining herself of life for a year. It was time she would never get back and she realized that. What a waste.

She went down the hall to find Gavin drinking tea and reading a novel. Evelyn couldn’t help but picture how peaceful he looked. She envied the contentment he had. He seemed proud of his life, and who he was. She couldn’t say the same.

“Good morning,” she said sitting across from him. “You know, with the way these chairs look you wouldn’t think they’re comfortable…but they are.”

“I am glad you think so,” he said smiling. She had begun to like his contemporary furniture. Not because she would ever design her house that way, but because it was who he was. Simple, clean, and content.  “Did you sleep well?”

“Quite lovely, thank you,” she smiled at him.

Gavin closed his novel and got up, walking towards the kitchen. While taking a cup out of one of the cabinets he spoke.

“So you never really told me, but what are you running from?” He asked while pouring her a splash of tea.

“It’s sort of a long story,” she replied. She felt so comfortable around him but had only known the guy for little over a week. She kept that knowledge in the back of her mind as she continued. “Does it really matter?”

“So now that you have a job at the bar, what are you going to do? Go to college?” he asked, changing the subject. She liked that about him, if he knew she was uncomfortable, he would act like he never said anything.

“Um…I don’t know yet.”

Over the past week Evelyn had slowly developed her view of Gavin from ‘Owen Wyatt’s son’ to her dear friend. She couldn’t believe the ease that was put into their friendship. She felt like she had known him for years and had almost begun to forget the past months. She wasn’t dwelling on it like she should. It was almost easy to forget entirely.

Almost.

¯�'¯

Her lungs hurt. Evelyn still hadn’t developed a tolerance for altering forms. She hadn’t changed in almost a week, but could still feel it’s effects. She knowingly noticed a difference in her reflexes and senses. Sweat was sticking her shirt to her back. This new chapter in her life seemed to hold more cons than pros. All she could think of was things to complain about, nothing good had happened since she gained knowledge of this world.

Evelyn hadn’t particularly felt welcomed when she met her “pack.” The alpha, Kain, was nothing but nice to her, however the women were all preppy know-it-alls. Her mother and father were disappointed; one could see the sadness in their eyes due to current situations.

At her first meeting, the pack began filling her in on information relating to other mythical creatures. She felt interested but thought the words spoken were unfathomable. They sounded more like stories than documentaries. She began learning the history of “her people.” Which turned out to be nothing more than a dissatisfaction.

Lycanthrope had been here for centuries and obtained nothing but enemies. The werewolves’ nature was displeasing the others. It seemed, to Evelyn, that they really were the underdog, paradoxically to what they might think.

On top of the fact that they were nothing but objects to pity, Lycanthrope thought exceedingly highly of themselves. It’s like they were blind to the truth. Take this analogy: a person that isn’t good at something but thinks he’s the best. Same concept. Their egos were too large to observe properly what was right in front of them. Evelyn’s reality had turned into everything she was not, and it frightened her. Battles between packs was common but generally avoidable depending on the Alpha. Her Alpha, Kain, wasn’t one of the good ones.

He enjoyed taking over other packs"killing their leaders to gain more power. He was young, blood thirsty, and borderline psychotic in her book. He spent half of his time planning more attacks. The other half was used attempting to do something even more appalling: trying to get Evelyn.

At the time, though, he was rarely seen. Kain explained that he had affairs to attend to, but it didn’t seem like the usual business. Her thoughts about his jumpiness were confirmed a few days later when he came to her needing help.

“Evelyn, I need you to accompany me to New York tomorrow,” he had said, keeping his deep voice a little over a whisper. “Our plane leaves at seven.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because I cannot go alone and I trust you will do as I say, that is why. Also because you have a very trusting face.”

Her eyebrows pulled together as she stared at him. “What does my face have to do with anything? Especially since you already trust me.”

“We need to gain the confidence of Eversor Industries, alright?”

She could feel the blood draining from her trusting face. “Why do we have to do that?” she said almost inaudibly.

“Because we are trying to form an alliance with them again. Now that is all you need to know. I need you to come with me so they can see that they can trust us.”

“And if they don’t?”

He was silent for a moment. “Will you come or not?”

She knew she didn’t really have a choice in the matter. If she refused him, he would make her do it anyways. So she agreed to it and by six in the morning the next day they were off to the airport.

¯�'¯

“Do you want any milk?” Gavin said, bringing Evelyn out of her memories.

“What? Oh. Yeah, sure.”

After pouring in a pinch of milk, he handed her the cup, careful not to spill any of the dark substance on his white sofa. “What time do you work until tonight?” he wondered, sitting back down on his chair.

“I work until one.”

“I’ll be there to pick you up if you’d like.”

“That would be great,” she said with a smile which he returned. He went back to his book moments later leaving the room silent. Suddenly a rough shiver went down her back, a movement that she was all too familiar with.

“Gavin, when is the next full moon?”

“Why? Do I need to worry about PMS?” he asked, not looking up from his book.

“I'm just curious.”

“Tomorrow.”

Her body froze. She was scared to breathe. Unintentionally, her mouth slipped out a curse. Gavin looked up with his eyebrows pulled together.

“What?”

She opened her mouth, trying to come up with some excuse, but she couldn’t, so she closed it again. Gavin wasn’t impressed.

“Evelyn, why won’t you tell me what’s going on?”

“It’s complicated,” she finally slipped out after a moment.

“Everything is more complicated with women. You know you can tell me anything, right?”

She nodded. “I know. It’s just"I"uh…”

“You what? You don’t think you can trust me?”

“No it’s not that.”

Gavin waited for her to elaborate, putting down his book.

“It’s nothing, Gavin. Really.”

He stared at her for a moment, then gave up, shaking his head and returning to his tea and novel. “Is someone driving you to work or are you walking?”

“I like to walk.”

“In the middle of the woods? That hardly seems safe. I’ll drive you.”

“Gavin, will you stop worrying about me, please? Believe it or not I can take care of myself,” her tone was teasing but serious and the same time.

“You’re still young.”

She rolled her eyes, not wanting to argue about age once again. Instead she changed the subject. “So I have a question.” Gavin looked up, waiting. “Why do you like living in the middle of the woods?”

“Peace. I lived in cities for years when I was younger. When I finally got the money to get a place of my own, I wanted to be as far away from the city as possible"hence the woods.”

“Oh.” She didn’t know what else to say. It made sense, but there was something about his tone that made her think there was more to his explanation. She didn’t press him though. “Can I ask you something else?”

“Sure,” that was another thing she liked about Gavin, he didn’t seem to get annoyed too easily.

“Are you in some way related to Owen Wyatt?” she asked, drinking a sip of her tea in order to seem nonchalant.

He didn’t even hesitate. “Yes, he was my father… That sounded way more like I was making a mockery of Luke than I meant for it to.” He muttered.

“You like Star Wars?” she said, overwhelmed with joy, not meaning to change the subject.

“Of course, anyone who doesn’t is inexcusably ignorant to what the meaning of life is.” He smiled. “I think this adds to our loving relationship.”

“Okay, back to the point. What ever happened to him?” she pried.

“Did you not hear? It was all over the news: ‘Man attacked by animal,’ ‘Man murdered by savage beast.’ The list goes on and on.”

“Yeah, that’s just my point, there was never a set story. No one knows. I even heard one news show say that someone killed him with a pitch fork. I mean really? Really? That is stretching it just a bit, don’t you think? I didn’t know if they had actually told you what happened or not.”

“My father and I were never close. While the police didn’t know this, his company did. They hid all the information they could. Now if I had pressed for answers, they would have had no choice but to give them to me. After all, he left the company to me. I chose not to search for the killer but I did choose to sell the company. However, the things that I do know about the company, it was not surprise to me that he was murdered.”

“So what are you going to do with the rest of your life? Own a bar and live out in the woods?” She wanted to tell him never to sell the company, that it needed someone like him, a good person, to run it. She couldn’t say that without giving him more information than he needed about her though.

“I was going to wait a little longer to tell you this, but I guess it’s the perfect time now,” he said, putting his cup down.

“What is it?” she asked after a moment’s pause.

“I don’t know if you know this but I have a brother. He has been missing for a few years. I have been saving up money for a while now. Before I sell the company, I am going to the office in New York to look through my Dad’s files and see if he had any information on him. I’m pretty sure he does,” he said.

“So, what about your house? Just going to leave it for a while?” she asked. “Want me to house sit? I’m good at not throwing parties.”

“Actually, I was hoping you would go with me. I might need a companion if I get into some tight spots. You might be a bit of help with your ability, if you know what I mean.”

Her heart froze. Did he know? How could he know? There is no way that he could know…

“What ability are we talking about exactly?” she asked. “My ability to woo men with excessive accuracy?” She said sarcastically trying to hide her eagerness for an answer.

“That’s not what I was going to say. So do you want to come? Help a brother out?”

“Did you really just say that?” she asked, smiling at his lame attempt to talk like a gangster.

“I did.”

“Well I am quite amazing at moving from place to place"really good at hiding and keeping under the radar. So I vote yes. You’ve helped me more than I could ever thank you for. If this is all you want from me… I can be down with a brother.” She stated it more like a question. It didn’t sound quite right coming from her mouth.

“We both need to just abstain from talking like we are gangsters okay?” He said smiling.

“Right. So when do we leave?”

“Well, I was thinking about a three days, maybe less,” he said. “We will go to Eversor Industries first and then depending on what the information we find says we will go from there.”

The statement set her back for a moment. She blanked out. She couldn’t go to Eversor Industries. Not after what had happened. Not after the past year.

“Um… one: how long were you planning to wait to ask me? I mean less than three days is pretty soon. You need to figure out how to approach people better.” He stared at her blankly. Not wanting to offended him, she continued. “Are you sure? What are we going to be looking for?”

“Evidence. Anything that shows where my brother might be.” He paused watching her carefully. “You don’t have to come with me if you don’t want to.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. I just"started working at the bar and if I up and ask for time off already, then what will my boss think of me?” she tried to joke, since he was in fact her boss.

“Well, he may be a jerk sometimes but I'm sure he will let you off just this once.” Gavin grinned and raised an eyebrow. She was trapped into going. With a shrug, she nodded.

“Okay then. When are we leaving?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

“Okay, less than three days my foot. Please tell me that you aren’t going to wake me up at the crack of dawn,” she whined. He smiled.

“Come on. You’re going to be late for work.”

ù

“I haven’t seen you around these part before. Are you new in town?”

            Evelyn tried not to roll her eyes as she poured the man another drink. He was having a lovely time looking at her butt as she leaned over the table. His friends on the other hand had a great view of her chest. She hated the uniforms the waitresses had to wear. Short shorts, tight shirts. She wanted to punch Gavin in the face the first night she worked. The local men didn’t seem to have a problem of groping the waitresses whenever they walked by a little too close. She had to call security a few times on some of the drunken rednecks. Security turned out to be a big scary black man. She had to ask one of the other waitresses what his name was so he could throw people out numerous times.

“Lyon! Get this guy out of my face!” Evelyn had said on random occasions. “Lyon! Please escort this guy off the premises before I do it myself! Lyon! Lyon! Lyon!”

At one point he came up to her, put his hand on her shoulder and said, “Baby, what do you think my name is?”

She paused, her eyebrows pulling together. “Lyon?”

“It’s Pedro.” Evelyn’s cheeks pinked as she apologized profusely. He accepted it immediately and went on doing his job. She was about to call him again if the man looking at her rear even thought about slapping it. When she leaned back to walk away, she saw his hand raised for the kill. Evelyn whipped around fast and grabbed his wrist, he didn’t see her coming.

“You want to try that again?” she threatened. She stared at him, anger filling her eyes. Her shoulders were tense, she could feel a pulse in his wrist, and her skin was starting to quiver again.

“No,” he said quietly. “Sorry.” He pulled his wrist away after she loosened her grip and turned back to his buddies, who were careful not to look her in the eye. With a nod, she continued back to the bar where Ted was watching curiously.

“Well that was quite the show,” he said, trying not to smile.

“I'm sick of guys thinking they can do whatever they want, whenever they want. I decided to take action.”

“Next time, just call for Lyon"I mean Pedro.” He grinned as he made fun of her. She showed him a little birdie on her finger and continued on to her other tables.

By the time midnight came around, she started getting a headache. At first she thought it was from the constant cigarette smoke being blown in her face or the loud annoying music, but then a different thought came to her. And the recognition hit.

“Ted do you think you could let me off a little early tonight?” she asked, trying to make herself look tired. It wasn’t hard.

“Not feeling well?”

She shook her head.

“Yeah sure. Just do your side work and you can go. It’s not that busy tonight anyways.” He shrugged and went back to making drinks.

She left the bar about thirty minutes later, dead set on walking home. She took a breath of the cool Autumn air and wanted to run in it. It was a feeling she often had whenever she went outside. With a smile, she began running down the road, heading in the direction of the woods. Her senses began becoming sharper to the world around her. She could see trillions of stars in the sky, every blade of grass. She could hear the crickets chirping loudly, calling for one another. The woods were welcoming her, asking her to join them in their untamed ways. But she didn’t make it to the trees.

“Evelyn? What are you doing?” Gavin called from his car. He pulled up right next to where she stood motionless and confused. She turned and stared at him.

“What?”

“I thought you were supposed to be at work? I was on my way to pick you up.”

She walked over to the car and opened the passenger door, not sure of what else to do"how to explain. “I got cut early and want to go for a walk. That’s all.”

“Okay.” He didn’t seem to know what else to say. He started driving again once Evelyn put on her seatbelt. There was a part of her that was annoyed at Gavin for stopping her from going into the woods. But then she knew what would have happened if he hadn’t.

“What time are we leaving tomorrow?” she asked, trying to ignore the slight chills that continuously corrupted her spine.

“Our flight leaves at eight. So let’s say we leave home at six? I don’t like driving long distances with morning traffic.”

She nodded. “Does that mean we have to stay the night in New York?”

“If that is alright with you.” He pulled onto the road that led to his house.

Gavin liked to speed on the back road to his house. It was a dirt road with trees covering on both sides and curved treacherously. The first time she got into the car with him, she nearly had a heart attack and very seriously thought about taking up smoking in order to calm her nerves. As he weaved in between the surrounding trees, a small cat snuck out from behind a bush trying to cross the path. Gavin didn’t even touch the breaks; he flew past the animal without harming it. Evelyn breathed out a sigh of relief.

Once they were inside the house, she went straight to her room telling Gavin she was going to sleep. In actuality, she just didn’t want him to see her that way. Right when she closed the door another wave went down her spine making Evelyn hunch over onto the floor. She bit into her hand to stop from screaming when she heard the bones in her back breaking and reforming. Blood started welling up on her skin, dripping into her mouth. Then, in an instant, the bones shifted back to normal; breaking back into place. She took deep breaths, willing her body to stop trying to transform into the hideous creature she hated so much. The hate never escalated to self-loathing, but it was pretty close.

She looked at her bloody hand. The marks were canine. Swallowing back bile that was beginning to rise in her throat, she stood up and went into her bathroom. The cool water that ran over the wound stung at first, but after a moment it stopped. She took her hand away from the water and stared as the marks closed up and were replaced by thin pink scars that she knew would be gone within the hour. Only silver can truly mark a Lycanthrope.  There were many men and women in her pack that held the scars of battle. Evelyn’s skin was perfect though.

A knock at the door brought her out of her memories. “Evelyn? Are you okay in there?”

“Yeah. I'm fine. Don’t come in!” She heard the door knob rattle and started rinsing out the sink. She put her hair up into a ponytail and went to the door, taking a steadying breath in the process.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need anything?”

She opened the door to find him standing there leaning against the doorframe. “No. I'm fine.” She tried to look nonchalant, but it didn’t really work. He knew something was up. She could see it in his eyes.

“Alright well if you need anything, I’ll be in my room.”

“Okay mom,” she said with a bit of unnecessary sarcasm. He left her then, walking to his room and closing the door.

Closing her own door and going back into the bathroom, Evelyn looked in the mirror. Her grey eyes were bloodshot, her skin was blotchy and a little on the pale side, and in the right hand corner of her mouth was a tiny drop of blood that had smeared on her lip. Quickly, she wiped it off with some water, washing the rest of her face in the process. As she stared at her dripping appearance, guilt ran through her. Gavin would soon find out she was a Lycanthrope if she stayed with him, and that was something hard to wrap her brain around.