Clan Nemesis

Chapter 2: The Truth

The bell signalling the end of the day rang and I jumped up from my seat. I handed my test paper to my teacher and ran to my locker without waiting for her reply. I eagerly ran outside to wait for my mom, but I waited for two hours before realizing that she wasn't going to come.

She was probably dealing with whatever happened this morning. I started walking home.

*~*

When I got to my house, it was eerily quiet. I walked to Mitchel's bedroom, but he wasn't there, and neither were my parents.

I changed into black skinny jeans and a black hoodie, then took a muffin from the kitchen and walked to the front door. I peeked out the window, then put on my black combat boots and stepped outside. I texted Sabrina and asked her to meet me at the park near my house. She came dressed in black as well, as if she read my mind.

"Faye, what's going on?" She asked when she saw me.

"I don't know, but I plan to find out," I told her. "Follow me."

We walked out of the park and down the road towards the East until I could smell blood again.

The scent hung in the air, taunting me.

"Do you smell that?" I asked Sabrina.

"Smell what?" She replied. I didn't think so.

"Blood," I told her flatly.

"Oh."

We continued walking towards the source of the smell, then ducked into an alley between two houses. I heard the sound of two people approaching down the road, and waited as the smell got closer.

"What's going on?" Sabrina whispered to me.

"Shh! Someone's coming!" We hid behind a garbage can and waited. The footsteps stopped at the mouth of the alley and someone sniffed the air deeply.

"You can come out now, Faye," my mother's voice said. I peered over the lid of the garbage can and saw my mother supporting a young man on her shoulder. He looked about my age, but had already shifted.

I stepped out and walked towards her slowly. I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me off.

"Faye, what are you doing? I told you to let me handle it. And Sabrina, does your mom know where you are?"

Sabrina stepped out and walked towards us, eyeing the man warily.

"No, I told her I was going to your house for a few hours."

My mother shook her head and clicked her tongue. "Let's go."

"Where are we going?" I asked incredulously.

My mother gave me a cold look and said, "Home. Where else?"

I sighed and bowed my head. Sabrina and I walked behind my mother and the limping man until we reached Sabrina's house. She ran inside and my mother turned to me.

For the first time I noticed how disheveled she looked. Her dark brown hair stuck out of its high pony-tail in all directions, and she had dark red mud smeared down her face in one clean line on either cheek. Her eyes looked exhausted and were rimmed with red. The front of her white T-shirt was ripped near the neck, and the jacket she had been wearing this morning was gone. Her dark brown pants were covered in blood and the same red mud that was on her face. She regarded me with the same scrutiny I was looking at her with, but she was probably wondering why I was dressed in all black.

"Listen, Faye. I know you were just trying to help, but its not safe for you out there. We have a situation, and until you are able to shift, you won't be able to help us. I need you to go back to the house and lock all the doors. Don't leave under any circumstance. I'm taking this man to my clinic and I'm going to treat his wounds. Please, Faye, I'm begging you, just please stay home. Mitchel should be home soon, he will know what to do. Go home, I can't have you wandering the city when its not safe, okay?"

I nodded and she smiled and put her hand on my cheek. I gave her a reassuring smile, and she turned to walk away.

I watched her walk away and wondered.

I wondered what was happening, who that man was, and what she had meant when she said the city wasn't safe.

But mostly I wondered if I would ever see her again.

*~*

I waited at home for an hour before Mitchel came home. He slammed the door shut and stomped to the kitchen. I heard him put something down on the table as I was walking down the stairs.

"Faye," he yelled from the kitchen.

"What's happening?" I asked him as I entered the kitchen.

"The Ralley's are attacking. They want control of the city," he stated blatantly, rifling through the bag he had set on the table. He pulled out a revolver and held it out to me.

I hesitated and he shook the gun in my direction, signaling for me to take it.

I took it gingerly and looked at it. "Mitchel, what's going on?" I asked again.

"Look here, press this to fill it, then load the bullets in these slots and close it up, then you can fire it again. It holds six bullets; keep track so you know when to refill," Mitchel explained to me in a rushed tone.

"Mitchel. What's going on?" I asked once more, starting to panic.

"Oh, and by the way, flip this switch towards you to turn off the safety. It won't fire if its forwards. But keep the safety on when you aren't shooting, otherwise you could shoot yourself or someone else. Come with me." He walked out the back door into the yard before I could say anything else.

I followed him to find him putting a broomstick into the partially frozen ground and tying a square piece of plywood near the top so it was facing me. I recognized that it was for target practice.

"Okay, now raise the gun and aim for the plywood. In real life, you would aim for an enemy's head or chest to kill them. Okay aim."

"Mitchel," I spoke quietly. He looked at me. "Why would I need to kill someone?"

"Mom didn't tell you?"

"She said the city wasn't safe, but nothing else."

He rubbed his chin and regarded me with serious eyes. "Faye, the city's under attack. The Ralley clan is declaring war on us. They want Mom and all our land, including our houses. I have no idea why they would want Mom, but they do. We have to defend ourselves, Faye. You need to learn how to shoot. The Ralley's are going to attack our house first, since Dad is chief, and if you can't shoot, you'll die or get taken hostage. Now aim for the God damned target, Faye."

I hesitated before raising the gun up to look at the target. My bottom lip trembled and I quickly bit down on it.

"Close your left eye and exhale slowly. When you've exhaled all your breath, squeeze the trigger. Don't pull, squeeze."

I felt Mitchel's breath on my shoulder, then I pulled the safety off and stared at the target. I did as he said and exhaled slowly.

I squeezed the trigger.

The bullet landed neatly in the middle of the plywood, going straight through the broomstick and lodging itself in the fence behind the target.

"Jesus, Faye. Your a natural," Mitchel told me and clapped his hand on my shoulder. I shrugged him off and turned away from him, thinking I may puke from nerves.

Mitchel disappeared into the house and came back with a sniper rifle. This time he drew three red circles on the plywood, a bull's eye.

He handed me the sniper rifle and set up a perch beside the door.

"Sit," he commanded me. I sat down and took aim.

I fired the gun and once again it landed in the center of the target. Mitchel stared shocked, but eventually congratulated me.
"Faye, you're even better than I was when I started shooting. This is incredible. Oh, okay, right. The shotgun next." He hurried inside and returned with a shotgun. He showed me how to load and shoot it, then gave it to me to try and shoot.

This time when I squeezed the trigger, the pellets went everywhere, and not a singe one hit the center of the bull's eye. I looked in disbelief as Mitchel laughed.

"Thank goodness," he exclaimed. "I was really hoping you weren't going to be better than me."