Call Wolf

Chapter Two

FiltH

The sun had risen once again on the desolate cabin. All of the windows were wide open, allowing little breeze to invite the curtains to dance. They jumped in and out past the sill, almost fooling the eye to think they were more than dusty old cloth. In a sense, the cabin looked peaceful; dead, almost.
Charles was beginning his fifth consecutive hour of keeping watch of the human in his bed. He sat in a chair situated at the far corner of the room, just the way he liked it, and brooded. By then someone had visited the front door of the cabin thrice, someone in quite the hurry judging by their harsh treatment of the oak wood. Charles hadn't let them in.
Now they were back.
The knocking hadn't begun yet but he could smell them exiting the treeline; cheap liqour and old sweat. Two of them, both too loud for his already aggrevated state, were definitely readying for a fourth round of assault to the door. This time they wouldn't leave without what they wanted.
And Charles suspected he was staring right at her.

Charles got up and exited the bedroom. On his way to the front door he allowed his beast to play just beneath his skin, granting him an advantage should things become violent.
He threw open the door at the same time two men stepped onto his porch. He instantly noted the rifles strapped to their backs and closed the door behind him.
"Oh, well howdy there, fella," one said, clearly caught off guard. Human. He was a scrawny thing, both thin and dirty. In his eyes was a spark telling he held more intelligence than he wanted to share.
Charles crossed his arms. Nodded once but nothing more.
The thin man forced a laugh and ran his tongue across his teeth. "My name's Buck and this here is Neal - we are the closest thing you have to neighbors, I'm guessin'."
"That's the reason you have been assaulting my door since this morning," Charles said shortly.
Buck gave another weasel-like laugh and shared a brief look with his partner before tipping his straw-hat. "No, sir. Our business is more... pressing. You see, we work with the police on occasion - missing cases here in the woods and stuff like that. Ain't nobody know these grounds like us."
Charles suspected Buck wanted an answer but he didn't supply one, mostly because he enjoyed the uncertain glances exchanged between the two men - they were bordering on fearful.
"Anyway, there's gone a girl missing right around here," Buck continued, poorly concealing how badly he cared about the case by pausing to spit just below the porch. "The coppers told us she's delusional and if anyone sees her it should be reported instantly."
"You're wondering if I've seen her?"
"Have you?" Neal interjected for the first time, his urgent tone earning a glare from his partner.
"No," Charles said finally, leaning against the doorframe. "No, I haven't seen anything. If I do I'll make sure to call the... coppers."
"No," Buck said a little too quickly. He attempted to downplay his response by scratching his chin, letting his eyes roam the meadow. "No, you can call us instead. We'll take good care of her until the coppers come I promise you. Here, our number's on there."
Charles took the extended note with an almost unnoticeable grimace. Filthy.
"Call us if you see anything. Anything at all. She's delusional, maybe even dangerous."
"I will," he lied and enclosed his fist around the paper, inheretly making Buck frown. "Now I have some coffee waiting for me inside so..."
"Yes, of course, don't let us disturb you any longer. Thank you for your time, sir."

Charles sighed as he closed the door behind him. He instantly threw the note aside and began making his way back to the bedroom. His mind was so preoccupied with the meeting that he didn't notice how the scent coming from the room housing the human had changed.
He entered to a pair of wide eyes.
"That was them, wasn't it?" the woman asked without wasting any time, holding the sheets close to her chest. Her voice was a ball of fear and broken glass.
Charles slowly closed the door. "Two men."
"Dirty, holding rifles?"
He nodded. "They claimed to be working with the police."
The woman's eyes dimmed as her mind went elsewhere. "That cannot be true," she thought aloud. "You didn't tell them I was here, did you?"
Charles sat himself down on the foot of the bed, observed the red stain left on the pillow after the woman's head. "No."
She exhaled, leant back against the headboard. She looked endlessly tired. "Thank god."
"Those men, are they the ones who did this to you?"
To Charles surprise, the woman laughed slightly. It was a wheezing sound, interrupted by a trail of coughs, but a laugh nonetheless. Hooded eyes fixated him. "What, I'm not pretty anymore?"
"Until a few minutes ago, I wasn't certain you were alive anymore," he lied. Of course he'd kept close watch of her condition all night and day.
"I don't die quite that easily," she murmured but couldn't hide how his words affected her. "But thank you, you saved my life."
He didn't respond.
"My name is Sara," she continued on, not deterred by his silence.
"No it isn't."
"No." She looked down to her hands, then back at him. Her eyes looked almost pitch black behind her soiled bangs. "I'm Maria."
"Charles."
"I-is there something wrong?"
He hadn't even realized he was grimacing before she commented on it, but even then he couldn't stop. He put a hand over his mouth and nose and stood up so suddenly it made Maria jump.
"You smell."
She frowned and took a whiff of her armpit before whipping her head to the side as if she could somehow escape her own odor. "Yeah, I do."
"You need to wash."
"I need to do a lot of things."
He ignored her comment and continued, "There is a lake near here, big enough to not have been taken by the heat."
"But the men..."
"They're nothing I can't handle."
With a single once-over Maria decided she believed him. But she remained under the covers still. "Don't you want to know why they're after me? Who I am?"
"I do not want to get involved further. My morals are the only things keeping me from kicking you out. Now come."

Maria threw the covers off in a single swift motion. She watched his reaction closely as she put her feet on the floor. Her eyebrows rose suggestively. "And that's all?"
"Yes."
"Do I have your word? Because if you intend to rape me then I'd like to know."
Charles' only response was opening the door. His eyes descended to her trembling legs; the human woman was most likely not as tough as she'd like to be. "You're going to fall if you stand too quickly," he warned. "I don't want to have to bury you so take your time."
Maria nodded but didn't seem to know what it entailed to be careful. She began walking much too fast and only managed a couple steps towards the door before falling forward.
Charles was immediately there to hold her upright.
"Thank you," she murmured, each word clearly straining her. Charles began feeling like a child who'd brought in a dying bird. "I'll be better in no time, just have to... stretch my legs a little. Do you have food?"
"No."
"Really?"
"I'm on a spiritual journey. I do not need food."
Maria quieted for a second, fell into his pace as he lead her out the door. She watched him through her bangs. "You're a good man, Charles."

Charles only nodded, didn't bother correcting her despite knowing he wasn't a man - and definitely not good.

A/n
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