Instincts - c.h.

Chapter 2

Wet ground. Water. Full moon. Forests. A cool breeze washed over us as I crouched down in the damp soil, sprinkling and mixing, chanting softly the incantation I had scribbled onto a sticky note before we left the house. Brody stood beside me, twirling his pocket knife between his fingers.

I huffed, annoyed. “Don’t just stand there, help me.”

“Alright, alright” he grumbled.

            Reaching down into his boot, he pulled a black flask out. I watched in complete shock that he actually had the decency to do this now of all times. He looked at me after taking a swig.

“Don’t worry, it’s just vodka.”

“Damn it, Brody, we don’t have time for this” I sighed.

            A sharp howl stopped me from finishing my work. We both turned around only to be met with glowing yellow eyes glaring at us from the shadow of the trees. I tensed, searching for my ring, but not finding it where I left it. A growl echoed across the lake and a scream broke out around us. My scream.

“Selena!”

 

“Selena! Sel, wake up!”

            Jolting awake and sitting up quickly, I almost hit Brody in the head. He fell back and cursed loudly before sitting up, glaring at me with messy hair and groggy eyes. I sighed, realizing the dream had finally come around. Not again. Of all the things to dream about, my stupid psychic powers had to show me that. I hated dreaming about near death experiences. They always made me anxious.

            Throwing the covers off me, I shuffled out of bed and straight into the bathroom. I needed to splash some water on my face to clear my head. Dreams like that always felt so real, shaking me to the core every time. I hated them, but at the same time felt grateful that they came to me in such detail. For months we’ve been tracking the wolf that’s been killing off our kind and each time we get close, he seems to vanish before I can get anything off him to use for tracking. Not only does he kill people like Brody and I, he doesn’t hesitate to tear through any mortal who gets in his way.

            It seems like we’ve crossed the country, starting up north in Washington and slowly making our way to Maine only to turn back around and chase him across the south through South Carolina, Louisiana, the south of Texas, and the north of New Mexico.

            Emerging from the bathroom I found Brody playing with his pocket knife as he laid in bed. Shaking my head I began gathering my things.  

“So where we going now?” Brody yawned, picking up his pants from the floor and pulling them over his boxers.

“Oregon” I sighed, pulling a clean shirt on “Harlow, Oregon.”

“Great” he mumbled sarcastically.

“I’ll start the car, you go check out” I grumbled, sliding my ring on and starting to gather my things.

“Twenty minutes” he nodded, grabbing a shirt and heading to the lobby.

            We’ve been doing this long enough that twenty minutes was more than enough time for me to gather our bags, toss them into the trunk of our car and pick a radio station before Brody even stepped out of the elevator. He climbed in and pulled out of the parking lot without a word.

“Oregon” he mumbled, picking up his pack of smokes.

 “Do my dreams terrify you?” I suddenly asked, realizing yet again at the most random time what we were doing was insane and dangerous.

“No” he mumbled around the cigarette in his mouth as he lit it with the lighter in his free hand “, but they sure as hell piss me off.”