Burning Desires

Chapter 2

 A few minutes of complaints from Anastasia later, the car parked in front of a small but cozy house on the outskirt of town. Anastasia eyed the new house critically but finally nodded towards Alexander.

“I like it. So why Creekview?” she mused, suspicion making its way into her mind. There was always a motive behind every decision, heck, every breath her brother took. Alexander simply got out of the car, ignored Anastasia’s question and began unloading the few items they brought.

“So that’s it? No answers? Do you really expect me to just sit here and let you take me to some middle-of-nowhere town and not have questions on why the hell we’re here?” Anastasia demanded, her voice rising with each sentence. She loved her brother but sometimes he was one of the most irritating people on the planet. Anastasia blinked in surprise when Alexander suddenly turned around. His dark eyes seemed to darken slightly as the wolf blood in him began to dominate his features.  Any normal person would back down immediately, but of course Anastasia wanted to show her brother that nothing could intimidate her.

“Do you really want to know what I expect of you? Huh?!” Alexander challenged, “I expect you to listen to me, your brother, and cooperate while I try to take care of us. Is that OK with you, Anastasia? Or should I just turn around and leave you at some foster care?” Anastasia could not help flinching to his words. Her brother never used her full name and the only person who ever did was their father when he was pissed.

 Without answering, Anastasia turned and stormed down the streets towards the woods. Ignoring Alexander’s frustrated attempts at calling her back, she kept  making her way through the woods. Trekking through the woods was almost second nature to Anastasia as it was how she and her family followed the beasts to wherever they were keeping base.

Since she normally had to navigate the woods during the night, avoiding dead limbs and roots during the day was simple. Pushing through a few overgrown bushes, Anastasia found a muddy creek. Slopping her way, fairly ungracefully, Anastasia wadded through the creek to a small rock jutting out.

“Of course, in all the stories, the lovely hiding spot is a magical meadow with waterfalls and little deer,” Anastasia muttered to herself as she looked over her new discovery. Once the area passed inspection, Anastasia moved a few dead leaves and made herself at home. It wasn’t the most beautiful resting place, but in a way it fit Anastasia. 

After calming down, wiping a way a few pesky tears, and figuring out how the hell to get back, Anastasia sighed and trekked back to where she was sure Alexander would be having a cow about her disappearing act.

A slight snap of a branch to her left brought Anastasia to a stand still. The slight noise could be nothing, simply a small squirrel or rabbit. Being paranoid as she was, however, Anastasia’s mind immediately flashed to one thing. Werewolf.

Glancing up, Anastasia noted her wonderful luck in having the sun begin to set lower and lower. Of course, just like every stupid horror movie, Anastasia thought to herself.  Anastasia immediately crouched lower as a second snap echoed through the trees. Flickering her fingers and making sure not to light the whole forest on fire, Anastasia used her flames to illuminate the darkening scene.

Although her vision was much better than the vision of any normal human, Anastasia’s vision still could not compare to a werewolf’s incredible sight. Levitating the small orb of flames, Anastasia guided it through the maze of branches and leaves to where the sound came from. Come on out you little monster, Anastasia thought, snickering to herself at the image of a small rabbit or squirrel being the culprit.

“Ana! Ana you better come back her NOW!” a voice suddenly roared form the opposite direction. Quickly quenching her flame, Anastasia stood, gave one last fleeting glance towards the sound, and left.

“Where have you been?” came Alexander’s furious voice as Anastasia broke through the tree line only to be enveloped in two strong arms. Frozen in shock, Anastasia opened and closed her mouth like a fish. Alexander never showed such concern, especially not out in the open where anyone passing by could see.

“I-I was just in the woods. I found a quiet place to calm down, I didn’t mean to stay out so late,” Anastasia murmured into her brother’s protective hold. “What- why are you so worried,” she finally asked, breaking away and searching those dark eyes that contrasted her seemingly golden eyes.  Alexander sighed, running his fingers through his already tousled and pulled hair.

“The reason we moved here is that there is a pack of rogue werewolves that are said to be coming this way. I knew that Dad would want us to go immediately to head them off and keep them from taking anymore lives,” Alexander finally admitted and Anastasia smirked slightly at the sheepish look on his face.

“Why didn’t you just say so before? Anyways, I’m fine, OK?” Anastasia cooed before dragging her brother’s arm towards the house. Alexander chuckled and Anastasia could feel his callused hand mush her hair playfully. “Yeah, yeah OK. Well let’s get inside before it gets too dark,” he sighed, throwing an arm around Anastasia and leading her towards the soft glow coming from their new house.

Anastasia debated in her head on whether or not to mention the sounds she heard in the woods. Finally, she decided against it when the rational part of her mind argued that is was probably a small animal and it would only make Alexander even more overprotective. For only being five minutes older, he is waaay too overprotective, Anastasia thought to herself with a quiet snicker earning her a questioning glance form Alexander. Shaking her head, she ignored his she-must-be-going-crazy look and entered the house without a second glance towards the woods.

**

Just inside the tree line, a grey form larger than any dog crouched watching the two receding figures. A low snarl erupted from it’s chest but it quickly pushed it down. The two hunters must not know it had spotted and overheard them or it would be disastrous for the others.

Stepping back into the shadows, the form turned and pounded through the familiar trees where the others would be waiting for a report on the borders. It knew that the sooner the others knew about the two hunters, the better. A small, toothy grin stretched across its’ muzzle at the thought of ripping the hunter-girl’s hands off. The same hands that pulled triggers, ending the lives of millions of the beasts’ kind.  They won’t know what hit them, it thought. 

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Thank you so much to everyone who commented or voted on my last chapter! Your support is greatly appreciated!

 I'm glad you guys seem to like my idea so here is the second chapter already the next day! TADAAA! 

Haha, well I hope you like it and if so please vote and/or comment on this so that I know you enjoyed it :) 

Hopefully you want to read more and I know that I definitely want to write more. Still trying to keep this original and unique so tell me how I'm doing! 

Happy Holidays (Ahh it's Christmas Eve!!)  and thank you so much for all of your support, every vote, comment, and read means the world to me!