Black Blood

Chapter 59

'No sorry madam, I don't know what that is,' replies the man from yet another shop I've stumbled into. The names on the woman's list are not only unpronounceable, they are completely impossible to find. I have visited dozens of shops but none of them can offer me an ingredient. They all called me crazy and I don't blame them.

'Okay, thanks for your help,' I reply to the man before turning around and leaving the shop. I close the wooden door behind me and let my eye slide over the busy streets of the pack.

Nobody seems to pay any attention to things outside their business. Dozens of wolves in human form, maybe more, walk the streets with various items in their hands. Chickens, baskets of food, cloth and many other products are carried through the busy streets.

My courage starts to sink in. I don't dare to visit any new shops anymore, the fear that I will be too conspicuous increases with every ''no''. My heels slide over the stone streets, hoping to find something that could help me in my search. I feel lost, searching and an idiot.

I walk through several streets without finding anything new. The shops change into small terraced houses, the streets become narrower and the roads worse. The stench of rotting food and excrement enters my nostrils here and there. You could say that I have lost my way. The more I get lost in the narrow streets the worse the conditions seem to get, the worse the people begin to look and the more the stench increases.

'You.' I turn around as soon as I hear a loud male voice behind me. I am standing face to face with the man I bumped into earlier when Novak and I arrived here, the man who treated his son the way Christiaan treated me. The man's face is anything but friendly, his eyes seem to wish me death.

It is only now that I see him in front of me that I notice how he looks. His brown trousers are stained, torn and he looks too big. His shirt is in the same condition as his trousers. His brownish-grey hair is tousled and has black patches. His hands are dirty, not to mention his shoes. The man looks unkempt and dirty, he fits right in with the street scene of these narrow streets.

I look at the man, not understanding, for the reason that he spoke to me. He reduces the few metres between us by taking a step in my direction. I automatically take a step back and feel the tension rise. Everything in the man radiates that he would rather have me gone than have a pleasant conversation.

'You meddling bitch,' he bites me. I am all too aware that the man is a wolf and certainly stronger than me. If he tried to attack me, I would have no chance. Besides, I am in a neighbourhood where I don't know where it is, I don't know anyone here who could help me and I am too far away to run to a familiar place. I don't stand a chance against this man. He takes another step in my direction, causing me to take another step back.

'I said I was going to get you. Here we are.' The man clenches his fists.

'I-I don't know what...you're talking about,' is my feeble defence. The man laughs mockingly as he takes another step in my direction.

'You know very well what I am talking about. Because of you, the neighbours are after me, my son is even more disobedient than he already was. You are an intruder, a meddler and an inferior bitch.' It shouldn't affect me anymore after the treatment Christiaan gave me but still his words make my heart beat faster with fear. I would like to shout so many dirty words at the man, tell him he is a dirty bastard but not a single word leaves my mouth.

'Where is that boyfriend of yours, I don't see him anywhere.' My way back is blocked by a pile of crates that have closed off the road. The man narrows the space between us until he is less than a metre from me and there is nothing I can do at the moment.

'He's not... my boyfriend.' Of all the things I could say, this is the only one that leaves my mouth. The man laughs.

'Not only are you a meddling bitch, you're also a whore.' He grabs me by the neck of my dress, pulls me towards him.