The Wolves of Cain

Freeze Tag

Date: 2-17-17

Chapter 15: Freeze Tag

Lucas arrives at his house and goes to his room, flopping onto his bed and falling asleep immediately.

He gets a couple of hours of sleep before going into the woods that night. He doesn't mean to, but he's in the woods before he knows it.

Lucas is close enough to the house to still see it through the trees in the dark. Wow, has his sight gotten better?

But he suddenly feels like he needs to go deeper into the woods, and so he does. Lucas hears a noise after running for a minute on an unknown path. On instinct, he takes a deep breath to get a scent, knowing it's a person because the noise is too big to be an animal.

Lucas stands indecisive, alone in the woods, wondering if he should follow the person or not. But the desire to run in familiar territory overcomes any fear he could have.

"Wait, when did the woods become familiar territory?" Lucas wonders to himself but doesn't find an answer.

The wind whipping in his face feels too good to waste time on thinking, so he doesn't think at all. He relies on something deep and primal to follow the intruder. Yes, they intruded on his land. And Lucas couldn't have that. He suddenly became caught up in the hunt.

When Lucas passes an area of the woods that looks very familiar, he slows down and forces himself to think. Lucas draws in a sharp breath as he realizes that he's been going in circles. That can only mean that this is a trap.

Lucas is knocked flat on his back, the air rushing out of him with a hiss. It isn't a big surprise because he saw it coming, but that doesn't mean it felt good.

He jumps up and spins around, looking for his attacker. Too late, Lucas glances down to see vines shoot for his feet and pull him down. Of course it's vine girl.

Lucas finds his instincts vanish and panic sets in as he wonders why he was so stupid to come out here.

The vines wrap around his ankles as they drag him along the ground at a slow but sure pace. He manages to struggle to a sitting position as he pulls at the vines to free himself. With a low growl deep in his throat, he rips the vines in half.

Lucas hears a girl cry out in pain. Thinking vine girl might be hurting someone, he runs to help the girl. It's too weird to think of her as Ivie, so he's decided to keep calling her vine girl instead.

He allows his heightened senses to lead him to the girl. "Are you okay?" Lucas asks, seeing her shining green hair in the dark.

Lucas backs away a few steps when he feels his eyes burning again. This time his eyes changing feels natural, like his eyes are supposed to be like this.

He actually sees his vision becoming even sharper, noticing more details than he ever could before. The burning is no longer irritating, it's exciting. But he shakes off his discoveries to focus back on the girl.

Her smile is cunning with bright white teeth, eyes greener than the leaves and grass around them. Not that there's a lot of grass in the woods.

"That's the same thing you said to me last time." Vine girl practically teases him. And Lucas realizes she's right. Maybe he should stop asking people if they're okay. Or maybe he should just not ask strange girls in the woods that question.

"You're doing it again." Lucas tells her vaguely.

"Doing what?" She asks over her shoulder at him, batting her eyelashes.

"Making my eyes burn!" He raises his voice slightly at her. He doesn't want to attract too much attention, but he's getting angry and wants to express that.

She laughs at Lucas. "I told you before, I'm not doing that."

"You said it was the full moon." He responds knowing that at least that part is true. During his research, he read that werewolf eyes change color on the full moon. "But tonight's not the full moon!" He says accusingly, waiting for an answer that makes more sense.

Vine girl stares at him intently. "Last time it was because of the full moon. Tonight, it's a warning."

"What warning?" Lucas can't help but ask vine girl.

"Something near you is potentially a danger to you. That's what golden eyes like yours mean."

"You-!" Lucas starts, but she interrupts him.

"Want to play a game?" I love games!" She enthuses with a tilted smile.

"No, I don't want to-" He tries to say.

But vine girl jumps in again. "Let's play freeze tag! We'll be it! If we tag you then you have to stay there." She turns to fully face him.

He can guess who "we" is when he sees dead looking vines sitting in her lap.

Lucas knows he should run, but he stands frozen in place, his golden eyes blazing in confusion and anger.

"I'll count!" She announces excitedly. "One!"

Lucas takes off running then, towards the house.

"Two!" She calls out, making him suddenly realize that he won't make it to the house in time. But he still runs like the devil's chasing him. Which technically...

"Three!" Vine girl yells, too close for comfort.

Lucas runs hard and fast, faster than he has in his whole life. He makes a hard turn away from the house to avoid vines that reach for him from a nearby tree.

He makes it around a mile into the woods, feeling very proud of himself, until the vines get him. He doesn't recognize his surroundings anymore, which makes him feel like he's at a disadvantage.

The vines pull on his feet and he falls ungracefully on his face in the dirt. "Good game! But I caught you!" She calls out, but Lucas doesn't see her.

He rolls onto his back and starts prying the dead greenery off of his ankles. With a laugh from vine girl, a vine stabs Lucas in the leg just above his knee.

He grunts in pain as he puts a hand over the now bleeding wound.

~*~

Mason is jerked awake by a very distant yell, immediately recognizing it as Lucas. As he quickly pulls on a pair of jeans, he thinks it would be cool if he had some kind of pack connection to his twin. It seems like a likely ability of a couple of werewolves.

He hurries out the front door as he listens for any more signs of Lucas. When Mason hears a shout, still very distant, he sprints faster than ever into the woods to find and help his injured brother.