To Fly Away

Chapter Four

No one notices when I leave before the party ends.

Not Char, who’s flirting with the bartender, or Sebastien, still coughing up the same spiel about leadership. I slip out the open door unnoticed and make a beeline for the nearest exit. Door, window, roof, anything.

Being around these people, being in that room, is almost physically painful. I just need to escape. 

I stumble into the fresh air and pause for a moment to gather my wits. I’m at the back of the house. There's no one out here. The silence and the cold wash over me as  I look up at the night sky, sighing. The stars are still there. That's something, at least.

I make my way across the lawn, wet from the sprinklers. My shoes slip over the slick, perfectly cut grass. It's cold. My hands are freezing. I try to shove them in my pockets before I realize that I have none. I'm wearing the stupid dress.

Kenji starts to bark at me as I near near the poolhouse and I smile, jogging toward him. Finaly, a friendly face.

Most werewolves don’t like dogs; they think it’s an insult to our kind to keep one. I’ve never had this problem, and when I found Kenji on the streets a couple years back I couldn’t just leave him. He’s been a loyal companion ever since.

I bend down to rub his head when he runs up to me, wagging his tail.

“Hey boy,” I whisper. “Miss me?"

He barks in something that I take as agreement.

Usually I have to keep him inside, because I’m not sure what the others would do if they found out I had him. They might hurt him. Dogs are the lowest of the low. A pathetic sub species, dependant on human attention and affection. Wannabes. They would definitely hurt him.

Sometimes I think he’s my only real friend, and I couldn’t deal with losing him.

Kenji looks so happy to be outside for once, in the fresh, open air. I have to admit that I like it, too. Being indoors for too long is soffocating. The air is to think, to compact. I can't stand it. So, I decide not to go inside right away. I sit at the edge of the pool with my dog, letting my legs dangle into the water. The only light comes from the upstairs windows of the mansion and it doesn’t reach quite far enough to illuminate the space around me.

The dark is peaceful. Stars on the water. They’re pretty.

***

I must have fallen asleep, because I’m waking up to the sound of whimpering. The lights in the mansion are off. Clouds cover the stars.  

I hear voices. They’re to my left, muffled, a little ways away.

“What the hell is it doing in your yard, man?”

“Fucking thing’s probably a stray.” More whimpering.

I stand up groggily, but the yelp that echoes across the grass snaps me to attention instantly.  

I’m running, arms swinging, feet hitting the ground in quick succession. The moon illuminates three figures across the lawn, and one other, cowering below them.

Shit! Kenji.  

One of them, who I recognize as Jacob, lashes out, his boot coming into contact with Kenji’s ribs. I barrel forward, throwing myself in between them. Crouching down to wrap my arms around Kenji’s shaking body, I hug him close to me.

“Hey!” Jacob says.

I look up to glare at him fiercely. “Don’t hurt him!”

Jacob opens his mouth angrilly to answer, but it's a  different voice that answers me. It’s deeper but clear, precise. Unmistakably Sebastian.