Old Flames

The Red Talons

The damn birds woke me up again and I didn't even need to wake up early today. My head was pounding and it caused me to groan in pain; I get really bad migraines every once in a while. After leaving the party last night, I came home and just stripped my clothes off before going to sleep. I slowly got out of bed and walked over to my window, ready to shut it before I noticed an unrecognizable car parked in front of my house. My eyebrows furrowed as I slowly shut my window before I walk into my bathroom. I looked in the mirror and my eyes slowly went over my body. I was wearing a sports bra and my underwear. I quickly brushed my teeth before going back into my room and slipping on a pair of basketball shorts.

As I open the door to leave my room, Caesar jumps at me and I smile as I catch him the second time he jumps up. I hold him like a baby as he tries to lick my face and I slowly walk down the stairs. I hear voices in the living room, but I ignore it as my head continues to hurt, it might be my father and his coworker anyways, and I walk into the kitchen; I have to eat something so I can take some Tylenol. The sound of footsteps come towards the kitchen and I open the fridge so the door can cover me while I stare at the hot pockets that's sitting at the top of the fridge. "Oh there she is, sleeping beauty." I hear my father say and I roll my eyes as I grab the box of hot pockets before closing the door. Turning to look at him, I immediately drop the box as I see Will standing behind him with a small smirk on his face. Will's eyes slowly scanned my body before he made eye contact with me and I can feel my face heating up. "Good morning." I mumble before bending down to pick up the box. "I have to go to work again.." Dad says before turning to Will. "It was nice seeing you again, I'm happy that you're back." He says before leaving Will and I alone in the kitchen.

Will stared at me as he slowly moved closer to me, that smirk still plastered on his face."Nervous?" he asked and I slowly shake my head as I turn to the counter next to me and place the box there. "I have a migraine." I mumble as I glance at him and his smirk quickly goes away. "You still get that?" He asks and I nod my head. "Not as much as I used to, but it comes every once in a while." I say softly. He moves closer to me and a chill goes down my spine as I take my bottom lip in between my teeth. "Don't eat hot pockets, let me take you to our favorite diner so we can eat breakfast and then you can take something for that headache." He says softly but he's stern with it which makes me nod my head and I begin to walk past him as he grabs my hand, forcing me to face him. He looks at my butterfly necklace and I notice a ring on his left hand but it's on the middle finger. It looked vintage and it's gold with a dark, round ruby stone in the middle. "Nice ring.." I say softly as I bring his hand closer to my face to get a better look at his ring. "When did you get it?" I asked as I turned my attention to his face. "A year ago, saw it while I was shopping with my... umm... ex-girlfriend... " He stopped speaking as my facial expression changed to sadness, but I quickly turned away from him. "I'm gonna go get changed." I said before walking away and heading to my room.

I quickly slipped on a mauve long sleeve shirt and changed my basketball shorts to black leggings that has lace on the bottom along with my black Timberland boots. At the corner of my eyes, I notice the jean jacket sitting on the chair to my desk and remembered that Will let me use it last night. I quickly grab it before going into my bathroom to grab the bottle of Tylenol and stuff it in my purse then head back downstairs and into the living room where Will is sitting on the couch with his eyes closed. 

A small smirk appears on my face as I open up the jean jacket and throw it onto his face, but my smirk immediately disappears as he catches the jacket before it even touches his face and he slowly opens his eyes. "Nice try, Butterfly." He says as a smirk appears on his face instead. "How did you even..." He stands up and chuckles. "My eyes weren't closed all the way, you were blurry, but I still saw you." He said as he wrapped the jacket around me. "It's windy outside, so you can use it until we come back." I keep my eyes on him as I slip my arms into the sleeves of the jacket. His smirk turns into a small smile as he begins to head towards the door. "Oh! Let me feed Caesar real quick." I say before I head into the kitchen. "Caesar is his name?" Will asked as he followed me into the kitchen. "What happened to Luna?" He asked and I frowned as he mentioned the dog I had before she died. "She got hit by a car after she gave birth to her puppies and died." I said softly as I pour puppy food into Caesar's bowl and refill his water bowl. "Oh.. I'm sorry, Butterfly." He frowns as he walks over to me and wraps his arms around my waist while he places his head on top of mine; perks of him being taller than me. I immediately wrap my arms around his waist as well and lay my head against his chest. It takes a minute before I hear his heart beat and a small smile appears on my face as he tightens his arms around me.

After a moment, we both pull away from each other and I follow him to his car which is a maroon 2018 Jeep Wrangler. My eyes widen in admiration and I get excited to even be near this car. "This Jeep is gorgeous!" I say a bit too loud and immediately regret it as my head hurts even more and I groan in pain. Will chuckles as he takes my hand and led me to the passenger side of the Jeep. I sat down and he jogged over to the driver's side, started the engine, and immediately began to drive to the diner. The radio was on, but it was so low that I barely heard what the artist was singing, just the music from the instruments. I kept head leaning against the headrest as I watched every sign go by and sooner than later we arrived at the diner. It's crazy how this place is still in business for so long, my parents used to eat here when they were around my age and they started bringing me as soon as I could eat solid foods. 

Will parked the Jeep and got out of the car. Before I could even reach the door handle, he was already on my side opening the door for me. My eyebrows furrowed at how quickly he got to my side, but I ignored it and got out of the car. I wrapped my arm around his as we walked into the diner and the bright lights made my head pound even more. I watched as Will whispered to the hostess and she nodded her head before she led us to a booth in the back where it is dimly lit. I sat on the darker side while Will sat on the other side. I didn't need to look at the menu because it hasn't changed in years. I guess Will remembers what's on the menu because he didn't even glance at it either, he just kept his eyes on me.

It seemed like he was just watching me..

Or studying me?

The door to the diner opened again and a group of people came. Immediately Will's expression changed to.. anger? But why? He can't even see who walked in because his back was facing the door, so how can he know he walked in. Does he even know them? He hasn't been here in seven years. The group of people looked like they were in a gang, wearing leather jackets with a weird symbol on the back. The symbols looked like red slash marks, four of them. I seen that symbol before, but I don't remember where. "Hey, remember when we were really into Greek mythology?" I asked and Will slowly nodded his head. "What are those symbols for?" I asked as I looked over at their leather jackets. He turned his head and glanced at the symbol before turning back to me. "Red Talons." He mumbled as he looked down at the menu and I remembered exactly what that was. The Red Talons were a myth; they were one of the tribes  found in the werewolf community. They are the only tribe among the race of werewolves  that is exclusively lupine, born and raised as wolves, in nature, shunning humanity completely as a blight on the Earth.