ItM - Simon - 42

Me and My Girl

The years in the Arbour House were something I’d like to forget, with the exceptions of the times I had with my real parents, my sister, and my Erin. Those were the only people I wanted to keep memories of when I lived in a house that was reminiscent of a dull museum.

It’s possible that there were good times with the people that pretended to be my parents, but they were hard to remember because of the years upon years of continuous lies and nondisclosure.

I suppose there were certain days when life wasn’t sucked into a never ending vacuum of false affection and forced happiness, but I couldn’t think of any off the top of my head, besides the day I found out what was really going on in the house.

Okay, enough with the big words. There’s a vampire I have to beat the blood out of.

~*~*~*~

I lost track of how long my wolf had been running through the forest. When the sun rose I started panicking, worrying about Erin getting burned, but I didn’t think the vampires would leave her outside. They seemed to like her, or need her for something important.

After a while, all the trees looked familiar, but I wasn’t in charge of which direction we ran in. I was just along for the ride, and my wolf was at the driver’s seat, shifting all the way to sixth gear to go as fast as he could.

I was surprised there was even a fifth gear.

Exhausted, I grabbed hold of the reins and changed back to the human side of me, collapsing at the base of a large oak tree, the grass slightly prickly against my naked skin. “Okay, we have to stop before I black out from lack of rest, water and food.”

We ate that family of rabbits a couple of hours ago.

“No, you ate that family of rabbits a couple of hours ago. I, somehow, resisted the urge to throw up and lick dirt to get the taste of blood out of my mouth.” My chest was heaving with how hard I was trying to catch my breath. “Don’t you ever stop and take a break?”

You don’t let me run around a whole lot, pup. I’ve been well-rested for weeks.

“Well, I’m not.” Leaning back against the tree trunk, I looked out at the forest in front of me, wondering where the house I was searching for was. “How far are we from the house?”

I don’t know. You’re the human, you use miles and all that measurement crap. All I know is we’re going east, we lost the vampires’ scent half an hour ago, and you’re sitting on a pinecone.

Growling, I reached for the pinecone and tossed it into the trees, getting frustrated. Everything was starting to look the same, every tree the identical twin of the one next to it. For all I knew, we’d been running around in circles for hours, getting no closer to Erin than we’d been when we ran away from the house last night.

I sighed deeply, and slowly crawled over to the nearby stream, gulping down handfuls of water until my stomach ached from lack of food. Groaning, I laid down on the grass, breathing slowly to try and settle my stomach. I didn’t want to be sick, because I knew I’d bring up some rabbit remains, so I stayed where I was, practically curled up in the fetal position.

I know you’re not feeling well, but our Erin might be feeling the same. They might be starving her, keeping her locked up in a cage. He growled inside of my head, not enjoying even the thought of Erin in a cage. We have to find her. Quickly.

“I know, dude, I know, but I’m no good to Erin tired and starving, ready to puke because you gobbled up those rabbits like they were pieces of candy.”

They were. I could kill for a raw steak right about now.

I burst out laughing, rolling to my back. It felt good to laugh, because I knew I wasn’t stuck in a ‘beat the snot out of Oliver and maybe shove his sister a little bit’ frame of mind. I still needed to find them so I could get Erin back, but I didn’t want to become a bitter and bloodthirsty whack job.

“Jeez, Simon. How about you not lie around naked where anyone can see you?”

A blanket landed on top of me with a whooshing sound, and I turned to see Mick standing over me, her hands on her very pregnant belly. “What are you doing here?”

“Trying to keep you from getting arrested for being naked in the woods?”

“No, I mean, what are you doing here?” I sat up slowly, covering myself with the blanket. “Have I really been going around in circles? Am I close to the house?”

“Not really. I got Louise to drive around once the sun came up so we could find you. You’re like, 15, 20 miles from the house.” She reached into the bag she was carrying and handed me a hamburger. “I thought you’d be hungry.”

I wolfed it down in seconds, and she handed me another three. As I ate them, I watched her, wondering if something was different about her. She looked peaceful, but it was something more than that. “How did you find me if I’m 20 miles from the house and no where near the road?”

She looked down at her feet, scuffing her shoes against the grass, and never really met my eyes when she raised her head. “Just a lucky guess. We’ve been driving around for a while.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Michaela.”

“I just stuck my head out of the car window and sniffed around, okay? We were getting worried about you. You ran out of the house so fast last night, and then you left your car with the door open when you got back, and you never made it inside. First we thought someone had kidnapped you, but when you were the only scent outside the house, we figured you were off looking for Erin.”

Standing up, I wrapped the blanket around my waist and hugged her carefully. “Thanks, Mick. You’re a great sister.” I knew that she’d never been all that comfortable with the idea of part of her being an animal with different instincts, so her using that heightened sense of smell was a big gift she’d given me.

“Yeah, yeah. Now how about you don’t hug me when you’re not wearing a whole lot of clothing? It’s creepy and just a little sick.”

Chuckling, I moved away and slid a hand down her hair. “Deal. So, have you been able to pick up anything from the car besides me?”

“I can’t tell. There were a lot of different smells on the air. A lot was different cars and trucks going past us. It took me about an hour to sort them all out and find your scent. I just had to keep focusing on the one that smelled like pine trees and oranges and that stinky film developing fluid.”

Snorting, I shook my head at her. “I’m sorry. Next time I’ll take a shower so I don’t smell like film. What else did you pick up? Did you find Erin or those other vampires?”

“There was a strange cold smell, like sour ice or something.”

My eyes went wide. Finally. “That’s the vampires’ scent. I lost that about half an hour ago. Where is it?”

Her arm reached out behind her and to the side. “Near the road. They must’ve had a window down while they were driving.”

I started running in the direction Mick was pointing, and my nose was flooded with the ice cold rotten lemon scent of Oliver and his sister. I followed it, running on bare feet through bushes and across dry grass, and stopped when I hit a rocky driveway. I turned my head in the direction it went and inhaled deeply, my wolf growling when he caught the scent. There they are, pup. Now we go down there and rip them to shreds.

“Yeah, right, and after that I’ll bathe in their blood and burn the pieces of them that are left.”

Now you’re talking, pup.

Groaning, I shook my head. “No, you idiot. If they’ve got Erin locked up, then running in there ready to kill them isn’t a good idea. How about we get dressed, slowly creep down there, check the windows, then try and break in and tie them up? If Erin isn’t there or she’s locked away, then they’re alive to answer our questions.”

Hrmm. He didn’t say anything for a few minutes. I guess, but where are we going to get clothes? You want to go all the way back to the house?

“I’m sure Mick brought some along.”

She had, smart enough to pack a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, and sneakers into the trunk before getting into the car with Louisa.

Once I was dressed, I headed down the driveway hidden in the trees until I reached the house. When I saw it my wolf went insane, snarling inside of my head. I had to dig my fingers into a tree trunk to keep from rushing at the house.

After I’d caught my breath, and calmed down my wolf, I wandered around the outside of the house. At one side I caught Erin’s scent and lost control of my wolf. He took control of my body, and before I knew it I was sprawled on my stomach in front of an open but barred window with Erin’s coat sticking out of it.

She was here.

I could hear people arguing inside, and I could smell the dull scent of a vampire’s blood coming from the other side of the house. I walked around, ducking under the windows, moving slowly, and ended up at the back door where I could hear Oliver arguing with a voice I didn’t recognize and with Erin.

Erin.

She was there.

Right on the other side of the door.

Figuring I had nothing to lose, I raced up the steps and slammed my shoulder into the door, knocking it right off the hinges. Once I was inside everyone turned to stare at me, including Oliver with a bloody nose, an older woman, and Erin with some ice pressed to her knuckles.

Erin was hurt.

I rushed to her and gathered her up in my arms, sighing in relief when she hugged me back, her hands grabbing onto my shirt, her face buried in my neck. “I’ve got you, my Erin.” I could feel her smile against my skin and squeezed her tight before I tipped her face up. “Are you okay?”

She nodded and I quickly kissed her since we weren’t alone and I couldn’t kiss her the way I wanted. Her hands moved to play with the ends of my hair and I almost purred. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, Simon.” She drew in a shaky breath and tried to smile, and pressed her face to my shoulder. “Simon, it’s my mother.”

I was confused, wondering what she was talking about, until I remembered the older woman in the room. She smelled like a vampire, and maybe she looked like Erin, but I wasn’t so sure, considering what we’d been through with my ‘parents,’ so I looked at the woman and said the only thing I could.

“Prove it.”