Castiel leads me into the woods. Joe and my father lead us to the trail I had found before, when Mitch first went missing. We cat across the loops, Castiel and I trailing behind. He smiles, and ince we have gone hundrreds of yards past James' house, they all come to a complete stop.
I look at the three men, and they all grin back like fools.
"What?" I am thouroughly puzzled on what I am supposed to be excited about. THe trail was lost ages ago and the remnants of the trail I had found before were already nearly gone.
"Your fisrt big hunt!" my dad cheers.
"I don't see a trail anywhere. Have you even confirmed that it was a werewolf? It could have been a-"
"We will take a portal with Castiel's assistance over to where the trail picks back up. It is a werewolf. Unless you don't trust the prince of the Fey." Joe looks at me, approving of Castiel as he finishes speaking. No wonder Castiel is being allowed to hunt with us. He is being used for transportation. Great Dad, just go aead and use my best friend like a GPS.
"Who wants to go first?" Castiel asks politely.
"I'll go. MIght as well get it over with," Dad offers, exchanging a look with Joe. "Ellen will go second, to be on the safe side."
When Castiel returns, we link arms, like a chain, and I ask, "Why can you only take one person across at a time?"
"I am not sure. But the lighter the person the better," at which point he winks, reminding me of when he caught me, saving me from that werewolf.
"Hmm-" and with that, I am brought back to the bright lights that sting my eyes, as I am transported to another place. An unfamiliar place.
"Would you please give me a warning next time?!" I exclaim.
"Well, I kind of thought you would remember from less than half an hour ago . . ."
"Nope," my eyes slowly adjust to the landscape. Still in the forest. BUt this forest seems different. It looks alot like the ones surrounding my house, but somehow different. It seems darker, even though there is no difference between the times between the place we have just come from and wherever it is we have just arrived. It seems colder, too, like when a ghost passes through you. Trust me, ghosts are nnot a very welcome feeling when it comes to having things go through you.
A few seconds later, Castiel reappears with Joe, before I had even realized he had gone.
"WHere are we?" I ask.
"We are in a reserve . . ." Joe started to inform me.
"What kind of a reserve is this?!" It was unlike anything I had ever seen, or more accurately, felt.
"Well-" Dad looked at Joe meaningfully, but Castiel took over nforming me.
"It is an illegal paranormal reserve. As you know, the Fey have a few preserves, but we only keep creatures that won't harm humans, or other paranormal creatures and beings. This one is run by an unknown organization."
"We are here to exterminate the werewolf, and any of the supernatural filth that gets in the way," Castiel winces at hte terms my father uses here. "This reserve is made up of creatures of the dark side, though. LIke demons, wood nymphs, and our qaurry, being the werewolf."
We walk for about one hundred and fifty yards. The three men walked ahead of me, giving me a minute to myself, so that I could gather any evidence they may have missed for our case. That is when I see it. Enormous slash marks criss cross the lone, ancient oak. The fresh scores stand out against the pale bark. The claw marks had to be at least fifteen feet off of the cold, damp ground. Judging by the angles, whatever made it was probably jumping. Whatever made it, had to be huge and immeasurably strong. Whatever made it, was right behind me.
