A fresh wave of guilt seized me. This too, this moment of horrific waiting, I’d caused. Suddenly the scent of death, more than blood, but a putrid rotting, a mix of a trash truck driving by and roadkill baked by the sun, lingered all around me. The air itself trembled with electricity. Even as the image of what Josh saw at the cabin greyed, went fuzzy, I wished to pass out, to be lost to this moment in time. Escape. It was all I could think of. I needed to get away from even myself. Maybe I could spell myself to sleep once tonight was over.
Finally though, the wolf by Daniel took a step forward, tentatively, as if testing out the land beneath him. After putting one paw in front of the other that way, he then merely sauntered, if a wolf could do that, back into the woods. The rest of the pack soon followed suit, moving slowly into a single file line that made them each disappear into the dark patch of trees. The night literally swallowed them up until just one last tail could be seen at the tree line.
This one paused. If legend held he would be the weakest of the pack, the one who followed, always took last place. So, strangely, he stopped to look over his shoulder at the Royal werewolves and vampires around the cabin. His head moved slowly as he scanned this crowd, finally ending looking at Daniel as not one of the others had done before turning back into the woods and simply walking away. The fact that they had turned their backs on those that they had seen as enemies just minutes before also puzzled me. They couldn’t have felt threatened to do so, and I’d no idea why. Had it been a sign of surrender, a waving of the proverbial white flag by showing your enemies your tail?
I wanted to know what was going through their heads, as much as I wanted someone to tell them of the help the Royals could offer them, to possibly break their curse. It would have to come at another time though. For now, for tonight, it was over. Right now, I forced myself to grow grateful for that fact alone, as I walked to the waiting line of vehicles. When I caught my reflection in the window of the SUV I noticed the squint of my eyes and the pursing of my lips that remained even as I rubbed my sore neck. The violent way my wolf had shook hers, the sound of Daniel’s snapping, made my suddenly rapid again breathing shallow.
I touched the image of myself, my fingers outstretched over the window. The comfort I sought though didn’t come with my frail attempt at it. My heart still hammered in my chest, as if it pounded away at the guilt, trying to crush it all to dust. Knowing my distress, as he would, Lex pried my fingers from the glass, taking them in his own, rubbing them until they relaxed in his before opening the door and helping me into the vehicle.
We could now return to the safe house and regroup. This stood out as my only source of hope to hold onto at the moment. By the time each of the groups had returned to the vehicles and had gotten in not a person spoke. I doubted they mourned Daniel, yet no one celebrated either. I figured that like me there was no reason to rejoice in a death even in victory. Though in a way, from this group, the silence had a strange feel to it, unnerving me even more if that were even possible at this point.
By the time we were situated, buckled in, and the SUV had begun to move, Lex leaned over and whispered into my ear, “You did great out there tonight, baby.”
There were a few grumbles of acknowledgement and agreement, but after that no one spoke again until we arrived where we parked the SUVs behind the safe house.
Chapter Eight
After again following the detailed plan it took to get us out of the vehicles and safely into the house without anyone in the neighborhood seeing a large group of people entering a residence all at once, we all settled around the living room. Walls with chipping paint or not, I didn’t need the elaborate trappings of the old loft or even a castle right now. Nothing like that mattered. What I needed from the people around me was for everyone to tell me what I had done was okay. As always, when I couldn’t find it in myself to justify my actions, I relied on others. Well, I’d always relied on Chloe. Who didn’t need at one time or another that person in their lives, the one that saw the best in them even when they couldn’t?
As each of them lingered about and settled in, many had tapped me on the shoulder giving me smiles. Some had even offered me congratulations and thanks, telling me I had done well. I smiled and answered gracefully, sucking it up as I did my best to act the part of being excited about it too, while inside there remained an empty hole outside of which my emotions remained unsettled.