Hailey woke up to the sound of car horns and to hear Ryan cursing. Apparently, a car had overtaken him in a way he didn't approve of. She watched him swear through clenched teeth that released a couple of unsavoury and vulgar words. He might have noticed her staring as he turned to look at her. "Hey there, sleepy head", he said with a bright smile. The other person who had been cursing and swearing was gone in an instant. The man was quite a specimen. "Did you sleep okay?" "Yeah", Hailey barely mumbled out. Now that it was morning, she could see his features more clearly. He had sky blue eyes that crinkled when he smiled. The long hair looked unkept but had a sheen to it. His sideburns also were untrimmed as were the hairs beneath his jaw. He had a scar running from the line of his jaw onto his neck. He was an attractive man, Hailey thought, although an unkept one. "So, what do you think?". Ryan's voice broke into her thoughts without warning. "Think of what?", She asked wonderin
Hailey felt like apologizing for having asked that question but on second thoughts decided it was best to not mention it again. No need poking in a sore spot. "So, the wolves live in packs just like the movies right?", she asked. Ryan was quiet for the better part of a minute, obviously considering whether to continue the conversation or just ignore her. Eventually, he made up his mind and replied with a monosyllable."Yeah""Cool. Like how many are there?"He laughed all of a sudden. Was her question that stupid? But at least he was laughing and maybe that was a good thing.Was the question that dumb?” She eventually asked him.“Not really, He said still laughing, given that you don’t know much about the Supernatural World.”Hailey just nodded, his reassurance having the opposite effect of making her feel incredibly stupid. She didn’t know what let him on but Ryan seemed to know how she felt and tried to make up for it. He launched into an essay trying to explain why he laughed.
Somehow it felt as if the World around her was swimming. Hailey at first wondered if she had heard him correctly. Then when what he had said sank in, she felt her new found strength dissipate and fizzle away. She stared down at her shoes trying to gain control of the chaotic thoughts that now plagued her. “Is this a joke or what?”, She didn’t even know when the words sputtered out of her mouth. But even before Ryan answered with a nod and a grim look on his face, she knew the answer to that question. He was not joking. Now that she thought about it, everything made sense. She was a pretty ordinary girl and nothing could have connected her to things like this except her scientist Father. Her dead father. The one who was never really around even when he was alive.“You do know my Father’s dead right?”“Yeah. Car crash, fifteen years ago”.It seemed like everyone in this world knew everything about her. Was she that important or was it what they hoped she knew that made her a valuab
It had only been a few hours since Ryan left her with Trey in a little clearing not far off from the highway. He hadn’t said much to her since he mentioned the poison. He hadn’t explained why he finally chose this clearing after they had been on the road for a while. He had driven them to the clearing with a speed that an F1 racer would definitely enjoy. He then mumbled something about an antidote, a tent and coming right back before driving off. He had left them with a camping back pack and some blankets. Not knowing how to go about building a tent in the backpack, she was seated now on one of the blankets spread on the grass cradling Trey. His convulsions had stopped but when she mentioned it to Ryan on their way here, he had stared at Trey grimly ,said it was worsening and then stepped on the pedal. Trey’s labored breathing snapped her out of the reverie and she looked down at him. The poison's effect was visible on his body, dark green lines making it’s way through his body. W
Exhausted and worn out from the day’s exertions and drama, sleep had come easily to Hailey. As soon as Ryan had set up the tent properly and the now recuperating Trey was comfortably settled, she had snuggled into one of the sleeping bags. Briefly, her mind wandered over the things she had learnt in the past few days. The existence of a super natural world, her father’s role and also her expected role in it. It was truly overwhelming and even if she hadn’t been completely wiped, contemplating things as complicated as that was sure to lull her to sleep. So, she slept. Hours later, she woke up from a nightmare. For a moment, she was disoriented and wondered where she was. She took one look at the figure still sleeping beside her and things started coming back. Trey was still unconscious from the look of things but he seemed better now. The bleak light in the tent revealed that his pallor was now normal. She stared at him as he slept wondering what it would be like feel that
Dawn came with a majestic brilliance. The sun dispersing golden and blinding rays to a still waking world. It was a beautiful sight. Hailey sat there observing the sun as it made it’s slow progression across the sky. She felt herself warm up with a contented feeling, a feeling she hadn’t known since the event of that tragic night. The fire had eventually died and still there was no sign of Ryan. As she suspected, he had simply wanted to be alone with his thoughts. Or away from her prying eyes and questions a mocking voice said to her. Hailey felt like going back into the tent to check up on Trey but she was afraid of what she might do. As things stood, she couldn’t trust herself around him. So, she sat there staring at the smoke wisps from the embers of their camp fire. Occasionally, she flung a dead leaf or twig into it and watched it flare up before turning to ashes. That was exactly how Ryan found her when he returned. He was carrying an armful of dead tree branches and parts
“Wait! You knew Trey as a boy?”, She asked with an incredulous look. It seemed like couldn’t really believe that he had said that barely seconds ago.“Yeah. We basically grew up together”, Ryan confirmed.“Wow. That must have been....well, fun.”“ It was, at least for a while.”“Was he a …you know.. a wolf then?”“No. The arche werewolves turn at the age of sixteen.”Hailey looked puzzled. “Arche? What does that mean?”“it’s original in greek. Refers to those who descended from the werewolf bloodline”.“Nice. What about those not from that bloodline?”“They are called the gifted.”“Why the gifted?”Ryan smiled at the question. He remembered asking Father the same question years ago. He gave her the exact same answer he had gotten.“The wolves believe that the bite is a blessing and that whoever is bitten has been gifted. Hence, the name”Her mouth formed a huge ‘o’ at the end of his explanation. He wondered if he had that same look after Father Hugh explanation. He doubted that beca
HAILEY’S POV“Are you serious?”. This was what she found herself saying after hearing what Ryan had said. He merely nodded his affirmation. The atrocities that the father she never really knew committed felt like arrows through her heart. How could he have done things like this? It almost seemed like fiction but the look on Ryan’s face showed that he meant every word. He was trying so hard to mask the pain he felt, occasionally he would flash a smile to make it seem like he was okay. It played over and over in her head, her father had turned a little girl into a monster. Then sent the poor girl after her birth parents. How fucked up could things get? She couldn’t really tell.“Anyways, Katerina was so pissed that she went after Trey and i. We never really got to figure out what made her so angry, the Kristovs had to fight their own daughter to protect us. We fled to my house across the street leaving them to deal with Katerina. We could barely form coherent words to explain what