Sophia sat perched on the roof's edge of the old run down house her and her sisters were now holding up in. Inside, she could make out the faint sounds of the girls laughing and debating as they often did in the evening. She could easily picture them spread around what was now the common area, what she imagined might have once been a family room for the previous occupants. Even now with the six other girls so close, closer than any family, she couldn't shake the loneliness welling up inside of her chest. She took a deep breath and leaned back on her hands, ignoring the feeling of the rough shingles pressing into her soft flesh.
The roof was the one place she could escape to to collect her thoughts, which lately had been plagued with too many 'what ifs' to handle on her own. Below her she could hear the dutiful footsteps of Vincent, pacing in circles on his never ending watch. She let out a soft whistle to let him know that he could let his guard down and smiled at the sound of the leaves rustling as he curled up and laid down.
She picked up the journal beside her, old and tattered from years of service, and flipped open to a new page.
My sleepless nights seem to be piling up since I've found out what has become of Pascal after the shift. I had begun to fear that the shadows had taken him, perhaps were finding their way back to me or the others, but poor Pascal has lost his faith in the old ways...
It was Vincent who found the boy while he was out on a hunt, I could sense it the moment he picked up the scent. My dear Pascal, how could you let such a fate befall you?
Her eyes began to sting and she blinked back the tears, she was finished crying. She had cried more than her share of tears in this lifetime and she promised herself she wouldn't spare anymore, especially not for some silly boy.
Still, as the ever present moon peered through the clouds she could feel her will waning as if some invisible force was pulling her towards where she could now sense him. It was a fool's errand, but Sophia couldn't take it any longer, she had to know for sure.
She slid her journal and pen back into her knapsack and shimmied down the lattice on the side of the house, landing softly beside her loyal friend. Vincent raised his head to look up at her, cocking it to the side in question. If the dog had words, she knew he would be giving her an earful now.
"Show me him," she demanded, more sternly than she liked to be. Vincent groaned as he rose up and shook out his silvery white coat. He glanced around them and sniffed the air for a moment before trotting off towards the edge of the yard and over the safety barrier.
The hour was so dismal that trouble would be hard pressed to find her, but still Sophia knew the risk she was taking leaving alone and she knew her time was limited before one of the other realized she was gone and would come looking for her. "Faster, Vincent," she softly commanded.
The pair quietly weaved their way through the thickets, dodging back and forth, not daring to stay out of the moon's light for too long until they reached a break in the trees and came to an open field. Vincent paused and crouched low to the ground, his ears laid back in alert. After a moment he relaxed and took a couple tentative steps towards the center.
Sophia reached into her bag and pulled out the wolf mask hidden inside. She couldn't risk being spotted here. All it took was one person to identify her and she was as good as dead. She slid the mask on and dropped her bag next to Vincent, who had returned to his weary and watchful state, clearly on edge in the presence of the moon worshippers ahead.
Pulling up her hood she carefully crept closer, scanning the faces in the crowd as they shifted around. She picked him out almost immediately, his face too round and too young to be a part of this mess. Even in the darkness she could see the laugh lines, see the tiredness in his eyes. There was no mistaking him, and yet there was something very different about him. Something that made her stomach turn and knot.
She crouched down and moved her gaze over their camp, taking note of the layout. She knew she couldn't tell the others, they wouldn't risk the safety of the coven to save this one man. No, this was something Sophia would have to do on her own.
As if sensing the cogs turning in her mind, Vincent appears at her side to place his head on her shoulder. "I know," she sighed as she stood back up and walked back to where she'd left her bag.
"People need something to believe in," she defended out loud. "We will give Pascal reason to believe once more.
