The Wolf's Tempest

4. A Message

Chapter Four

A Message

Tempest's POV

I mentally groaned and rolled over as a loud ear piercing beeps sounded only inches form my head signaling that I have a missed call. My eyes, slightly swollen from crying, cracked open and I squinted at the bright flashing screen of my cheap disposable phone. I glared at the offending device and wondered if it would be overly dramatic if I threw it against the wall for disrupting a very rare dreamless sleep but instead, let out a resigned sigh as who ever had called felt it was important enough to leave me a message.

I huffed and sat up, grabbing the phone off of my pillow and flipping it open to see the stores number flashing under missed calls. The clock in the top corner of the screen read 5:45 A.M. in bright backlit black print.

What the hell is Lars doing calling me at almost six in the morning? A text would have been more effective seeing as how I had a lack of verbal communication skills.

Pressing down on the green button and putting the phone to my ear I listened as the message was relayed back to me.

"Tempest, It's Lars. Look, I know it's early but I need you to come to the shop as soon as you get this. The alarm was triggered early this morning and the store was broken into. Uhh....Just....Please get here as soon as you can. "

Lars's voice on the other end of the line was his usual odd baritone plus a mixture of exhaustion coupled with worry and fear. That alone had me nearly falling on my face and I scrambled to get out of my bed. It took a minute of struggling to get the sheets unwrapped from around my legs but I eventually succeeded.

Hurrying to my dresser, I quickly grabbed some jeans and a dark gray long sleeved shirt, threw them on and darted toward Cane's room.

I gave two loud bangs on his door before opening it, rushing in and grabbing some clothes for him to wear. Clothes in hand, I ran to his bed where he was trying to cover his head with his pillow and I grabbed hold of his arm, yanking him out of the bed and onto the floor.

He hit the floor with a loud thump and I tossed the clothes into his pouting face.

"Ouch! Em, what's the-" His voice cut off as our eyes met.

His eyes caught the panicked look in mine and without asking questions, He started changing. I knew the questions would come later but I felt thankful that I didn't have to stop and explain now.

Rather than sit there and wait for him, I ran to the living room and pulled on my black tennis shoes and grabbed my jacket keys and wallet. Cane wasn't far behind me and by the time I was at the door, he was behind me sliding into his coat.

"You couldn't have picked an outfit that was more my style?" He huffed as he buttoned the coat over the plain black shirt I had picked for him.

Instead of replying, I smacked the back of his head and ignored him. Him being fashionable is the least of my worries at the moment. Lars had sounded generally frightened in the voicemail and I wanted to know why.

I flipped the lock on the door knob as we were heading out and nearly slammed the door shut in my rush to leave. I honestly couldn't care if the neighbors had been woken up but apparently Cane did. He caught it just before it slammed and shut it gently.

My friend turned to me with a questioning look as we practically jogged out of the building. Without slowing, I pulled my phone out and opened it, hitting the replay option before handing it to him so that he could listen.

I watched him from the corner of my eyes, noting that his facial expression turned from curious to worried and then he looked downright panicked. It was only there for a split second but I caught a flash of it in the depths of his eyes before he covered it and handed the phone back to me. He let out a few profanities, so low I almost didn't catch it, and picked up speed. I followed suit and eventually we were sprinting toward the book store.

Panel after panel of the sidewalk passed under me as I ran as fast as I could to keep up with Cane who seemed to be moving at an almost inhuman speed. I knew he was fast but damn, he ran like Sonic on steroids.

Buy the time we got there, my legs felt like jello and I was panting to catch my breath. My body feeling like it was going to collapse was the least of my worries though as I took in the sight of the store as we approached.

The shop was in tatters, torn apart in an inhuman manner. The door lay on the ground with large gouges torn out of the wood and the glass window shattered and lying around it in pieces. Both of the display windows were gone, and the shards of glass cracked underneath my feet as I slowly walked into the horror scene.

Police tape was scattered everywhere, some even littering the floor where it had been left laying around. Seriously, can you say messy job? But the bright yellow tape wasn't what caught my attention, it was the several shelves of toppled books and the large blood red writing along the back wall.

My heart lept into my throat and stopped beating for a few seconds as I took in the oddly familiar writing. Sharp pains shot through my head as I read the words painted there and an odd sick feeling filled my stomach. Bile rose from my throat and spilled into my mouth, leaving a bitter taste and I bent and attempted to keep from vomiting.

Flickers of pictures played through my mind like an old fashioned movie reel, coming and going. All of them bloody. All of them painful. All of them me. As the images passed by,the floor started to spin and I stumbled, trying to stay on my feet.

Worthless, The word echoed around me, striking me like a snake does it's prey. The familiar and terrifying voice, repeating in my ears in an unrelenting, harsh tone.

"Tempest?" Cane called out to me in a worried voice that sounded like it was a million miles away.

I wanted to call out to him, to ask him what was happening but I couldn't focus long enough to get the words out. The grip on my throat was too tight to allow it.

I felt something gripping my shoulder and shaking and without thinking I spun and slapped the hand away. Stumbling back a bit, I clutched my head as the pain continued and spread, causing my vision to blur. My throat felt like it was being squeezed and I clawed at it, trying to get the invisible grip to loosen so that I could breathe.

Past approaching footsteps echoed in the distance before someone screamed out, "No don't touch him! You'll only make it worse!"

I groaned, feeling my breath leave me as black dots danced around my eyes. My lungs protested as I tried to force air into my body and I fell to my knees, unable to stay standing any longer as my body began to feel like jelly.

I wanted to scream for help, but in my own panic I forgot and simply fell forward as the dark spots took over and everything turned black.

A/N: 

Hey there, sorry for the short and long awaited update. I've had this sitting around unedited for a while. I was going to add on to it but I'm blanking right now so I figured I might as well post it. This just means that the next chapter will be in Em's POV as well, so I hope you enjoy. Be sure to let me know what y'all think!