Chasing Wolves (completed)

Chapter 10 Isadora

Chapter 10

Isadora

"Do you smell any trace of them yet?" Eli walks up beside me, his pinky wound with Meg's as my hand is with Lin's.

All in all... this plan wasn't the most thought out. We have no definitive way of finding the Weres beyond me sniffing them out. The Shifters can smell them too (obviously) but they have to be much more close range. And what do we do once we find one? Wait until it's dark and lure it away to kill it, or kill it while it's still human? Yeah, who knows.

The one part that we do know for sure is how we're going to kill them. Romulus and Kate, preferring to fight as Wolves, are currently pretending to be our pet dogs as Eli "leads them around" on rope leashes. We're in the middle of town so they have to be on the leashes for appearances, even though we're getting plenty of nervous glances anyway (it's kind of useless trying to pass off Wolves as regular freakishly large dogs).

I've got my corset (I'd stopped wearing it constantly while we were living with Vlain but I've taken it back up now that we've left) and my dagger holster (it's fastened around my waist and tucked under my corset so it's hard to see, as to not raise suspicion). Lin has one of my daggers hidden in his waistband, Meg has her katana (big surprise there) strapped to her back under a light sweater to hide it. Rob has one of the practice daggers wrapped in a sock in his sneaker and Eli has the other practice dagger in his combat boot.

"I can smell them everywhere but it's so faint I can't pinpoint a direction." I pretend to look at the shops around me, noticing the kids a little ways down the street from us, as I try to pick up a stronger trail. Wallace, Brad, and Em are together, actually being able to check out the town as they don't have to be on high alert. They won't be fighting (much to Wallace's annoyance; he's only a year older than Lanny was, sixteen, and he's a good fighter for his age- but we can't leave the kids alone.

Taking another step to complete my turn, I barely keep myself from gagging at the stench as I face an alley between a bakery and a florist's shop. "This way." Instantly everyone around me is on high alert, hands poised over their weapons as we quietly make our way down the alley.

It's a dead end after it curves behind the florist and at first glance I'd think it was empty- if the stench hadn't intensified exponentially. There's only a few garbage cans at the end and as I near them I realize they're set back from the wall a ways, allowing a sheltered space behind them. Before I can take another step forward one of the cans moves and before anyone can even palm their weapons Romulus lunges forward. He pulls his rope from Eli's grip and jumps, snarling, behind the cans.

There's a blood-curdling scream and then everything's silent. A moment later Romulus appears again, some blood shining off his black muzzle in the faint light of the setting sun. There's an almost... excited glint in his eyes and I can't help but wonder what just happened. I try to ask him through the comms but, as usual, he isn't answering.

Eli must have been thinking the same thing because he walks over and leans over the cans, quickly jumping back before turning to us with surprise thickly written on his features. "What is it?" I ask, stepping forward to see also, but just as I reach him he holds out his hand and stops me.

"You don't want to see that." I push past him, thinking it can't be that bad, but am instantly assailed by the rancid blood smell and it nearly overwhelms me as I plug my nose and peer around the cans.

What I see is definitely not what I was expecting. There's a little girl- she can't be more than thirteen- and she stares at the sky blankly as her blood continues to pool around her from the gaping, eviscerated hole in her throat. I recoil, stepping back into someone's hard chest, and I can barely identify them as Lin through the stench. Images keep blinking behind my eyes, mostly only of three things: Lanny as she bleeds to death, the vampire woman from V Amps, and Walter from the dream I had all those months ago, when I dreamed I'd not had enough restraint and had actually killed him.

I turn in Lin's arms, welcoming the comforting support of his arms as I breathe in and concentrate only on his scent.

Once I've composed myself I turn back to everyone, "she was definitely what I was smelling. She hadn't turned yet so... no one needs to see that, trust me." Luckily, everyone's more obedient than I was with Eli's warning and stays away.

After an hour or so more of walking around the town and not picking up any more traces of them, we all meet up with the kids and make our way back to the car. Everyone piles in and we drive away from town, Romulus and Kate running along beside the car so they don't have to get dressed, and we find a nice area off the side of the road to set up the tents.