Prologue-Blood

A new life is never comfortable. A new life is never genuinely new to someone like me. This journal is a fresh start for me, but I am haunted by the sins of my past, my own and the ones that have been done to me and mine. Everyone is shaped by the past. You can never not be formed by your history for good or for ill.

I was born as a princess, but I will die as a peasant.

My life was never just normal. I started my journals at a young age, and I write in them when I need to. I can go years in between entries. This is a new journal to show the new part of my life. I haven’t decided what I want to do with this life yet. I move around my new world, and I wait. Something will come to me.

Something did come to me just not what I thought.

There are so many humans around me, the first time the scent of an unchanged wolf wafts on the air towards me. The smell of crushed leaves is not something that is found in December in the North East of the Colonies. It is a scent that hasn’t passed through my nose in a very long time. I tend not to consort with wolves anymore. There is nothing to gain from them anymore. There is barely anything to gain from any of the Mystics anymore.

I turn the corner around the building, and the scent intensifies. I catch another smell mixed in. I stop in my tracks and the humans around me disappear. For a few seconds, I am home, and I don’t want to be there. Home can’t do me any good now.

That smell should not be in the wind. That smell should only be in my dreams. Aching dreams where I am not alone.

I look around to see if I can see anyone that I know, but there is no one. I don’t know why I look around, it isn’t like I would know what the wolf looks like. I close my eyes and inhale. I try to take in as many smells as possible. I smell the overwhelming scent of decay and perfume, the smell of humans. Underneath that is the smell of crushed leaves and water. It is strong. It’s not a remnant of the past, it has a pulse to it. The family lives.

The urge to run after the smell is strong but I know that I need to calm down first. I can feel the poke of my teeth against my lips, any more and blood will be running down my face. I’ve not made that mistake around humans in a few hundred years. I haven’t hunted for a long while, and I could lose myself if I am not careful. There are hints of other things in the blood. He is older. In his twenties, the smell of puberty is all gone. The moon wouldn’t rule him if he changed. That he still smells of crushed leaves means that he is a virgin. He can still turn. That gives me hope but dread as well.

His trail has been crossed too many times by humans. I won’t be able to track him. The school is full of students both college age and high school. Today, the high schools from the area brought their college perspectives to view what they could be going to. I could spend the rest of my life tracking him. I’ll have to wait to find him.

I turn to head to my house. I can walk there in minutes. Before I enter, I take another smell of the air. I can only smell the scent of the city. There are no wolves and no vampires. For a second, I can think that we are alone. That the world won’t crash around us.

I held the smell of redemption in my nose, and it got away. I’ll search the world over for him. I’ll find him. I’ll find my redemption. It’s my time to shine and my time to step out of the darkness. I will save him and his family line.

Chapter One-Dreams

Washington State Community College hadn’t changed since he visited it when he had moved to Belpre. Elian Coats knew where he was and he knew why he was there. That he had never actually gone to the college hadn’t affected his dreams at all. He had always thought that location was the reason that he had chosen the places of his dreams. Before moving to Belpre, he had always had the dreams at his high school and at college at Ohio State University.

Would this be the time that he escaped her? Would this be the time? Probably not.

The dream that he was in was a regular one. He had it nearly monthly if not more. He knew what was going to happen and that he couldn’t stop it. He felt that he was going crazy. Wasn’t doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result the definition of insanity? Still, as long as he came to dreams like he was, he was always going to try and escape the nightmare.

Washington State Community College had been a place he had thought about going to when he had moved to Belpre, but he had chosen to go to Marietta College to finish his degrees and then not go to school for a few years.

The college campus was always packed with students and prospective students. It was the same set of people as the day he had visited the school. He tried to go left instead of right, but still, he ended up in the middle of the same area. All sound disappeared, and he tried to close his eyes, but the vision was still there, painted on his eyelids.

Pinching himself never got him out of his dreams. He had even broken his finger in his dream, and it had never got him out of it. He’d just woke up with a hurt finger. The silence was getting to him. Then the smells hit. The smells always got to him. He was immersed so much in the smell, but when he woke, he could never remember the smells.

Giving in, Elian moved to the edge of the campus near the main entrance. Taking several deep breaths, he prepared for what was to come. He knew that no matter what, there was no escape. He could never escape. Turning right would just lead back to where he would end up anyway. He wanted out of the dream, so turning left was his best option.

Elian watched as the cars disappeared with every single step that he took. The house disappeared. Everything disappeared except the trees and the sidewalk. He knew as soon as he cleared the tree in front of him she would be there. She was always there.

The voices were loud in his ears. The screams and the shouts of fear and pain. Too loud and yet too soft at the same time. He could never make out what was being said. The voices made him think that he was going crazy, but it wasn’t even the worst of what was to come.

The woman looked as she always did. She was in a dress of white. It wasn’t a wedding dress; just a fancy party dress that Elian knew was popular several hundred years before. It stood out because of her hair. Her pitch black hair hung in long tresses down her back. It stopped several inches above the swell of her butt. It whipped around in the breeze that was licking at Elian’s bare arms. It was summer in real life, but this was December in the nightmare. As she started to turn, slowly, the voices started up again and swelled louder than before. Covering his ears blocked nothing out, so he stopped trying to cover them.

There was no way to block the sounds, sights, or smells. Thankfully there was no touch or taste to go with the nightmare, Elian wasn’t sure what he would do if the nightmares came with touch or taste. At this point, the nightmare would wait on him if he closed his eyes. She would stand there and wait for him to watch before she turned to face him. It was innocent enough to start, but Elian knew what was coming. Her dress was clean and perfect. From the back.

The woman started to turn to face him. Even knowing what was coming, Elian couldn’t look away from the dress. He wanted to see her face, he wanted to see her legs, but the blood that was drenching the front of her dress pulled his sight in. The first time he had seen the dress he had thought it was black but when it dripped, he had figured out what it was. There was blood dripping from her mouth and down her throat and neck. It started to puddle at her feet.

It wasn’t until he had taken in the sight of all of her blood that he was able to look away from it and into her eyes. Her purple eyes stared at him like she was his salvation. He had never been looked at like that before. He wasn’t sure he ever wanted to be looked at like that again.

The trigger wasn’t present, so Elian had to just stare at her. Hidden behind her back on the right side was an arm, not just her arm but another arm as well. Severed at just above the elbow. Her eyes twitched, and Elian saw movement and then there was the arm.

Jerking awake in his bed, Elian took a few deep breaths. He was covered in sweat so bad that it ran down his back and pooled at the swell of his ass. He was used to this. This was normal. This was his life, and he wasn’t in that nightmare anymore. His basement bedroom was comforting in a way that few things were after the nightmares. He was glad he hadn’t woke screaming this time. Sometimes he did, and it drew the attention of his parents on the second floor of the home. Listening to the sounds of the house he knew that it was still very dark outside. It was so silent in the house.

The clock at his bedside was bright in the otherwise total darkness of the room. It read that it was almost three in the morning and therefore was still blissfully dark outside. It had been an early night for him. He usually woke around four after the nightmare. He had always woke at that time before. Ever since the dream had started at the age of five. Back then he would drift off to sleep again in his parents’ bed, but that comfort source was long gone.

At the age of five the location of the dream had always been his elementary school, and as he had changed schools through the years, the location changed as well. He had anticipated it to change to Marietta College when he moved to Belpre but instead it had been Washington State Community College. He wasn’t sure what that meant. Some days he didn’t want to know and some he did.

The silence of the house was thick, and Elian’s skin was starting to crawl. Throwing the covers off himself, Elian stripped off his soaked boxers and threw on a clean pair before donning his running pants and a t-shirt. His hoodie, as well as socks and shoes, were next. Inside the pocket of his hoodie was his MP3 player with headphones wrapped around it. He always left if there in anticipation of the nightmare. Flicking the power button, Elian left his bedroom and crept up the stairs before slipping out the side door. He was the only one who used the door, and he knew that it wouldn’t squeak or make any noise at all. He had made sure of that long before.

It was spring in the Mid-Ohio Valley but in the dead of night there was such a chill that just running in a t-shirt would be stupid. A few steps and he was opening the gate on the fence to slip outside and onto the sidewalk. This was the only way to banish the thoughts of the nightmare and the antsiness in his body.

Running for nearly two hours and even then not feeling tired, Elian finally turned towards home. The run cleared his head, and he entered the house again. It was after five by the time that he got out of the shower. He had his own full bath in the basement, his parents had installed it when they had bought the house, to give him privacy.

Soon both of his parents would be getting up to get ready for work. Edward, his father, worked at Kraton, a local plant. Gail, his mother, worked at the small coffee shop that she had purchased in Parkersburg after moving to Belpre. Elian had no job at the moment but was looking for one that he thought he would be able to stand to work at. He had two degrees, one in education and the other in library sciences. He was not going to the college for the class he was taking. He was just taking a for fun class on dreams. He was only taking it to help with all the dreams that he was having. He wanted to know what the dreams meant and how to get rid of them. The nightmare was the main one, but there were others that were not as unpleasant.

Grabbing the sketchbook, Elian sat down and started to sketch out the house from his dreams. Even when he didn’t have the dream with the house, it was always there in his mind. He wasn’t sure if it was a house or not because he never saw exactly how big it was. Always it looked the same, blood dripped down the walls of the rooms that he was able to see. The room that he always saw was the room with the man with the ripped out throat who was draped over a cradle.

Another sheet of paper and Elian was drawing the clearing that he always ended up in after fleeing the house. He always entered the clearing at a level as if he was running on four legs. The change always felt weird as he shifted from the four legs to two. This dream upset him for different reasons than the dream with the girl in it.

Elian had gone to therapy for years to try and find the cause of the dreams. He had even been on pills, but nothing stopped the dreams. The dreams endured through it all and his doctors had been perplexed. His parents had given up, and it became something that they just never talked about. It was never discussed, and he had learned that bringing any part of his weirdness up was terrible. He had learned to cope with the dreams and their aftermath. He figured it all out by the time that puberty had rolled around. Before he had just run around the backyard as even where he lived in Columbus, it wasn’t a good idea to run around at night. Now that he was in Belpre, no one really stopped him. The cops had been intrigued by him at first, but now they just flashed their lights at him in greeting. He was coming to enjoy small-town life. He was happier here than he ever was in Columbus.

“Good morning, Elian!” His mother called as she entered the kitchen, he didn’t know that much time had actually passed, but he knew that his father would be down soon. Elian jerked his eyes up to look at her. She looked at the drawings as he closed the sketchbook and then at him in slightly veiled anger. Such a sudden change in her was normal. She hated reminders that her only child was not normal. She especially hated the reminders of the dreams. If there was one thing she had wanted was a normal child. He was an only child. His parents had never been able to have any others. He never really asked why his mother barely talked about it and his father never did. “What are your plans today?”

“I’m going to go to the library, order some books, and maybe head into Marietta. I’m caught up on my online class work. It’s almost the end of the semester. It’s easy work.”

“Have you put any thought into what you want to do? Any jobs in the area?” There was a threat in her words. It was the same threat that he heard in her words since he had started college. He wasn’t that worried about finding a job. He was worried about finding the right job. His parents loved what they did, and Elian wanted to as well. He had a nice cushion to be able to figure out what he wanted to do.

Elian sighed as he stood up. He picked up the sketchbook and left the kitchen without answering her. He walked down the stairs and entered his bedroom and shut the door, locking it before dropping onto his bed. It was a sore subject. It was always going to be a sore subject. He had two degrees, one in early childhood education and one in library sciences. Neither one of his parents had been happy with his choices. They had even gone as far as telling him that they wouldn’t pay for his college when he had been in high school, not as long as he was taking those kinds of classes. He had scrounged around and got several scholarships and worked his way through college for the first three years. Then his life had changed.

The only reason he had followed his parents to Belpre was because of a letter he had received from a relative had mentioned Belpre and it had intrigued him. With the letter had come access to a trust fund when he turned twenty-one. His parents didn’t know of the money. Elian had been surprised when he had gone to the bank in Columbus and found out how much the trust had been for. The letter said nothing of the amount of the trust. He knew the content of the letter by heart at this point.

Dear One,

I understand that you will not understand a great deal of this letter. There is a lot in my own life that took me years to understand. I know that you will not know me. My name has been lost to the ravages of time. Your own connection to me is lost.

Your life will be spectacular. Belpre will save you.

You love your parents as all children should, but they will bring you down. You need to live on your own, and you need to get an education. I know that this letter will cause you to want to rebel against my wishes but know that any time you choose to leave their clutches is the right moment.

To that end, I do not know the exact amount of money that will be in the trust in your name, but there will be enough to get a good education and find a place to live on your own.

To a Long Life,

D.D.

The letter was tucked away in the safety deposit box at Belpre Savings Bank. It’s where his bank statements were as well. He had a P.O. Box in his name where most of his mail went. It wasn’t going to be much longer until he was in a place of his own. He just needed to find a house that he would be willing to live in. An apartment didn’t feel right.

“Elian, come up and have breakfast with us.” His father’s voice was just soft enough to carry through the door but not loud enough to where his mother would hear him from upstairs. His father on some days found that he hated the tension in the house, but he did nothing to stop it from happening. Elian didn’t like that about his father.

“I will later,” Elian called back through the door, looking at it and hoping that his father wouldn’t open it. “I don’t want to fight. I just want to do things my way.” Elian heard the shuffling of feet away from the basement door and knew that his father had given up. His father tried to keep the peace, but his mother wanted Elian to do what she wanted, not what he wanted. His father always gave into her.

Pulling out his phone, Elian looked at the photo he had snapped the day before. It was of a property that was on the other end of town, 1811 Washington Boulevard was up for sale, and Elian really wanted to buy it. He closed the photo out and set down his phone. It was nearly two hours before the library was going to be open. Standing, Elian changed out of his around the house clothes and into a pair of jeans and a plain t-shirt. He had a stop at the bank to make. He’d seen the grounds of the house two days before and had fallen in love. The house was huge, and it was away from his parents. His parents wouldn’t be happy, but he didn’t care. He had moved down with them to make them happy, but in the end, their happiness was not worth his. He was an adult. He had to do what he needed to make him happy. It was time to get away from them.

More and more he was questioning why he had come down with them to Belpre. He’d felt the urge that he had to stay with them or at least come to Belpre. He hadn’t questioned it too much until the last few days. He’d only felt the urge a few times before. The first and second he did what the urge wanted. The third time he hadn’t. The first time’s good things happened. The last time though, he had almost died. He trusted the urge now. His mother was getting worse in her quest to make him into what he wasn’t and what she wanted. He just wanted to be what he wanted to be, and he wasn’t sure what that was just yet. His degrees in early childhood education and library sciences were both ready for him to take a job in either field; even though he didn’t have to work with the money in his trust.

“We are leaving, Elian!” His mother called from upstairs.

“Okay!” Elian called back as he grabbed the keys to his car and grabbed his phone. He’d stop and get breakfast at the restaurant across the street from his hopefully future house. He’d be able to kill an hour there before the Belpre Savings Bank opened around eight am. His book was on his dresser right next to the door. He grabbed it as he pulled his door shut. He made sure to give his parents time to get off the street before he got into his car. It was a used car. He’d bought it after moving down to Belpre. In Columbus, he had used the buses to get everywhere or walked where he needed on campus. His parents had tried to talk him into taking the classes they wanted by tempting him with a new car up in Columbus. He had turned them down then, and he would continue to turn them down. He had no want of a new car. His car had character, and it ran just fine.

The drive to the restaurant was quick; it was a little too late for him to get caught in the going to work traffic. He parked on the side of the building that was in the Save-A-Lot parking lot. The restaurant was not overly packed, but it had just opened up as well. There was one woman, she smiled at him and quickly set down a menu in front of him. He looked at the name of the restaurant: Belrock Diner.

“Hi, Sweetie. What can I get you to drink?” it was the typical waitress that was there when he arrived for breakfast.

“Do you have hot tea?” Elian asked looking at the menu. She smiled, nodded, and walked away. Elian looked over the menu, trying to figure out something on the menu that fit his hunger. On the top of the page past the numbered specials was something called a Hungry Man. It had two eggs, meat, hash browns or home fries, and bread. The waitress came back and took his order while setting down a cup of hot water and a tea bag. Elian dropped the bag in and picked up his book. He flipped through to find the place where he left off. It wasn’t very long before his food arrived. He ate it slowly while reading his book. When he was finished, he looked over at the house he was thinking of buying. There was an open house in just a few hours. He wanted to see about how long it would take to get the money to buy the house. If he got a good look inside and liked it, he was going to buy it. The waitress came and took his empty plates and got him more hot water and a new bag. He poured the water in and dropped the new bag, taking out the first.

“The place is for sale,” the waitress volunteered as she stopped at the table.

“I know. I’ll be going to the open house later. What do you know about it?” Elian looked at her. She smiled.

“It’s been in the hands of two state troopers for a while. It’s in wonderful condition. There have not been many looking at it.”

Elian nodded as she wandered off. He went back to his book, sipping his drink. He wished for a few minutes that he had brought his drawing things with him. He was itching to draw something, but he wasn’t sure what he wanted to draw. It was near eight thirty when he got up to pay his bill, leaving a generous tip for the waitress since the place was seemingly dead. He got into his car and drove to the bank that was at what could be called the center of town. He wanted to meet with them and then run home for his drawing pad and MP3 player.

The visit to the bank was quick, and he knew the process needed to buy a house whenever he wanted. The trip to the house was fast. As he entered the house, his cell phone went off. He pulled it from his pocket and found that it was his mother. He stopped and put his phone back in his pocket as he grimaced. He could feel his phone continue to vibrate, but he didn’t care. Running into his room, he grabbed his sketchbook and shoved it in a bag before he grabbed his MP3 player as well. He was back to the library just a few minutes after it opened. Instead of the ladies that he was used to seeing at the opening, there was a young redheaded girl. She smiled at him as she stepped back from getting books from the outside book drop. She passed him quickly, and the smell of cinnamon overcame him. He had never smelled anyone that had such a strong scent. It wasn’t perfume, he could tell that. It was something natural to her, it was her scent. She took the books to the stand-up computer that Elian had learned was mainly used for book drop check-ins and the occasional check-out when the regular stations were busy. Elian moved over to the big table in the Young Adult fiction section. It received a good bit of morning sun but not too much for his drawing. He quickly popped his headphones on and started up his music. He didn’t pay attention to the patrons that moved around him as he drew. He looked up at one point to see the young librarian putting away books in the Juvenile fiction section that was right next to where he was.

Shaking his head to clear it, Elian went back to his drawing. When he was done a while later, there was a beautiful tree on the page. It was a dead tree, but it spoke of beauty. Elian had never taken an art class in high school or even college. Drawing just came to him naturally. He looked at the time and saw it was nearly time for the open house. He put away his things and moved to the card catalog computer at the front of the library. Quickly, he entered his card number that he had memorized his first time using it and then his pin. He placed the few books he wanted on hold and then logged off. He could do it at home, but he was afraid of his parents getting the information. His mother was really good with computers and the less she knew of his habits, the better he felt. He did all of his ordering at the library. He called to renew his books. He knew that he was being stupid about it, but she never liked the things that he read, so it was easier to just hide it all from her.

The desk was being manned by the regular lady. Elian smiled at her, and he waved as he left. The red-haired girl had been nowhere to be seen. The town was coming alive as Elian drove the block to the house. There were several other cars there. He closed up his car, locking the doors as he did. Belpre was not a big town, but he had a great deal of money in the things he bought. All it took was one hooligan, and he would be out a good deal of money. There were only about ten thousand residents, but he was used to Columbus. The stairs to the house were solid, and Elian rushed up to them. He wanted to see the inside of the house so bad. It was beautiful as he crossed the threshold. It was a massive house. The garage connected to the house and Elian adored it. There was a horseshoe driveway and a white picket fence that ran around the property where the driveway entrances and exits weren’t.

Paying little attention to the other people in the house and even the Realtor took little of his attention. He wandered around the house taking it all in. He found the master bedroom and the second he entered it his vision darkened. Stopping, Elian waited for it to pass.

“Run, Elian!” a voice screamed. It was female, Elian could tell that. He saw nothing, just heard the woman breathing hard and the sound of running feet. The sound of a shattering window jerked Elian out of his fugue. The bedroom looked the same as it had when he had entered, there was no broken glass anywhere. There was a smell of rotten milk in the room, but it passed as quick as it came. Elian stumbled backward from the room. Someone grabbed his arm to stop him from falling. Elian looked at the man. He was dressed in what Elian had learned was the uniform for the Ohio State Troopers.

“Are you alright?” the man asked, concern on his face.

“Yes. I just got dizzy for a few seconds. It happens when I don’t sleep well.” It was the excuse when he tripped or did anything. Elian looked around to see if anyone else was there. “I love your house.”

“Thank you,” the man smiled as he talked. It was the smile of an adult that was humoring a child.

“What are you asking for it?” Elian tried his best to keep his voice even, the voice he had heard had upset him more than he wanted to think it should have.

The man looked at him shocked. Elian was sure that the man wasn’t expecting him to make an offer.

“We are asking for two hundred and twenty thousand.” The man’s face changed a little to something close to certainty. Elian was sure that the man thought that Elian couldn’t have that money. If he were any other young adult of the same age, Elian would agree. Elian had done his research on the house. The townsfolk were more than happy to talk about the house and updates done to it. Elian was sure that the house and grounds were worth close to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The house looked to be in excellent condition.

“Had any offers today?”

“My wife told me that someone offered two hundred.”

Elian nodded and waved for the man to follow. The man cocked an at eyebrow at him but followed. Elian went down and found the Realtor who was talking to a woman. The man moved over to her and whispered in her ear. It had to be his wife.

“This is my wife, Sunny. My name is Orrville Harris. This is Amber.” The man pointed at the Realtor as he spoke.

“I am prepared to make an offer of two hundred and fifty thousand on the house. I have a statement here from my bank that I have the money in my account.” Elian pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it over to the Realtor. She took the paper and unfolded it to look at it. Her eyes widened, and she handed it over to the owners. “My cell phone number is at the bottom of that sheet of paper. Call if you have any questions. At current, I am searching for a job, and I have a lot of free time. We can meet whenever if you don’t get a better offer.”

Elian smiled at the threesome as he gave them a small bow and then left. Others were arriving as he left; the horseshoe was a little congested. He waited patiently to leave. He had places to go, but he wasn’t in any sort of rush to get there. He had all day to do the few errands that he had to do. As he turned towards the bridge that would take him over to Vienna, Elian turned on his radio and hit the button to roll down his windows. It was starting to get warmer outside, and he enjoyed weather like this. He loved the smell of the river. All of Belpre smelled like the river.

Crafts2000 was directly across the river from Belpre. It was the best place he found for getting his drawing supplies. He wasn’t ever going to do anything with the art he made, so he didn’t need to go to a high-end art store. Instead, he just got a nice middle priced set of pencils and paper. He wanted to get a set of colored pencils this time. His dreams were becoming more and more vivid. The woman in his dreams was getting more and more visible, and he could make out her face now. His dreams were coming more and more, and he didn’t know what to do. His classes hadn’t offered him any solace. He had never been able to apply any of the dreams he had to the models of other dreams.

The dreams had been good for one thing. Elian got a lot of classwork done in the early morning after his runs. That was back when school was entirely in session. Now that he little to no homework to do, he found he was reading and drawing more. Wandering around the store, Elian saw a good bit of things that he wanted to put around his new house if he got it. He was sure that he was, but he wasn’t going to buy a thing until he knew for sure. He would get boxes, which he knew that they sold there. He was moving out of his parents’ home no matter what. It was just a matter of when. If he didn’t get the house, he was going to find an apartment. Elian had a few that he liked by what he saw of the outside and the ads for the apartments but he would never pick one without actually getting a tour of the place. He was young, but he wasn’t stupid.

The boxes were easy to find, and the colored pencils were just as easy to pick out. Once Elian had them loaded in his cart, he wandered the aisles again, keeping an eye out for anything he missed while looking the first time. Reaching out to a display, Elian picked up a book. His vision went dark but lightened up quickly, and he saw the inside of a bookstore. It was the same bookstore that he had dreams of. Just as quick as it came, it went away. He didn’t have to close his eyes to see the bookstore. It had haunted him in his dreams for nearly ten years. He was happy that the dream went away long before the books in the store started to seep blood from the pages.

Elian hated his dreams more and more. He was afraid they were never going to go away. He was afraid they were going to make him so insane.

I spend my nights wandering around the towns. I find that I can go without sleep for months at a time now. I knew that this was possible as I get older. There is a reason that the age of adults is so high. I wander the towns and keep an eye on things. I keep an eye out for the traitors who destroyed the noblest bloodline I have ever known. I catch whiffs of the smells, but I can never trace them for long. There is a cell somewhere near to where I am now, but I’ve searched for several years for them. I don’t think they know that I am here. They are just hiding to hide. They have to be planning something.

There is a reason that he is here now, where we have been locked in a game of cat and mouse for the past several years. He is the reason they are here. They knew he was coming.

The smell of water hits my nose, and I stop. It’s faint like the one I hunted had been there nearly a day before. I try to follow the scent, but too many have crossed it before I found it. I will find him when it’s time, and he will find me. I will save him, and he will save me. As it should have been.