A Trip In The Woods With Fools

Thomas and I stayed on the ground, unsure what this group would do if we stood up. A low growl emanated from the group of injured wolves. I had forgotten they were still there. Looking back at them, the few that lost their teeth had hunched forward, ready to attack. I turned back to the group of burly men. I counted 5, we were clearly outnumbered. Not only that, but I didn’t even know how to fight. Thomas, I wasn’t even sure, could harm them.

The odds against us were huge, if only Elaine could choose this moment to arrive back. The leader, whom I assume was Earl, walked a little closer. Grinning very wide at us. It seemed the wolves were no threat to him. He clearly thought so. Strange enough, while they continued to growl, none came closer.

“Well, would you take a look at that group of dogs.” He said, laughing when they snapped their jaws at him, causing him to roar with new-found mirth. One of the other men, walking beside Earl, turned to him to whisper something.

“They look familiar…” he mused.

“Who? These guys?” Earl took another look at us.

“No, boss, them wolves… I reckon they are Elaine’s.” The young man said, emphasising on Elaine’s name. Earl looked confused.

“What do you mean they belong to her? She should have left the town by now…NO!” Earl shouted. Smacking the man in the face. I winced at how badly that must have stung.

“You imbecile! Don’t tell me the carriage you targeted was Elaine's!” Earl asked the youth on the verge of a meltdown.

“Boss, you said there should be a carriage with wolves. Last time, I reckon these are wolves.” The man said, rubbing the offended cheek. He tried very hard to keep the glare from his face.

“Wolves, you idiot, not werewolves!” Earl reprimanded him.

“I don’t see the difference…” The man trailed off when he saw the murderous look on Earl’s face.

“Are you smoked?” When he didn’t reply, Earl asked him louder. “Are you smoked!” The other men moved a step back, fear plastered on their faces.

“Boss, I reckon…” He was cut off when a kick landed on his knee. I was too nervous to find the scene funny.

“Enough with the reckon crap! I reckon you are too smoked to see the stupid difference!” Earl shouted enough to make the wolves cower.

“Uh, boss, I think these two might be with her, I didn't see any footprints, only wheel tracks on our way here.” The second man consulted Earl. His group looked on edge. It would appear Elaine had quite the reputation. No wonder she was so egotistical. I winced when Thomas accidentally pressed closer to the wound.

I looked up at him when I heard him softly clearing his throat. He was studying the group of men. His eyes darted around our surroundings after he was sure the men were preoccupied with an argument. I never saw him like this. It stirred something inside of me. Whether it was desire or respect, I wouldn’t know.  The current situation didn’t really allow me to analyse my emotions.

I saw his lips moving and realised he had said something while I was in deep thought.

“Can you do it?” He asked me. I blinked like an owl, causing him to frown. I could tell he knew I had no idea what he had just been referring to.

“Do you think you could distract them so that I can send Elaine a message?” He repeated. Distract them? Message? He saw my confusion and let out a frustrated sigh. I didn’t blame him. Considering the current situation, I should be concentrating. Although, why was I feeling woozy? I could swear we weren’t on anything that should be turning.

Thomas shook me a little, causing my stomach to do somersaults. I tried to stop him but found my arm unresponsive.

Hey, hey, Love, stay with me.” He said, urging me awake with a few shakes. This helped a little bit. I shook my head to try to get rid of the foggy feeling. It also helped, but it caused my stomach to feel worse.

When my eyes finally felt like I could open them again, I saw Thomas leaning over me, very worried. He tried lifting me up to a seated position, I didn’t even know I was lying down.

“What happened?” I asked him, sounding a little slurred. My mouth was dry, and I had a headache coming on. A sudden shout of anger caused me to twitch from the fright I got.

“Do something! I can not have Elaine find out about this!” Earl was still busy yelling at his crew for the mistake they made.

“Can’t let me find out about what?” Elaine asked. I have never felt this relieved to see the witch. All the energy I had mustered up melted away at the sight of her carrying what appeared to be bags filled with…blood?

Earl saw the tall woman leaning more to one side, shifting the heavy bags around. She had answered, so I guess he figured this must be Elaine. His eyes said it all. The last person he expected to be the witch was the same woman who called him over just earlier that same day.

“Head Elaine, wait, you’re Elaine?” Earl asked, looking ghostly pale, his weird eyes bulging out of his head. Elaine raised her eyebrows, questioning him without speaking. Her curiosity turned into a harsh stare.

Earl moved his head away from her. Every time she tried looking at his face, he would turn away. She got fed up with his constant dodging and transferred all the bags to one hand, grabbing his chin roughly with the freed one. Now able to look at him closely, she hissed and dropped his chin.

“You’re cursed!”  Elaine shrieked, reaching in her clothing for something. She waved a necklace, and from my view, I couldn’t really see what it looked like, I just saw it’s shiny and sounded like chimes every time she would wave it.

“No, wait, wait…please!” Earl pleaded with her. She had stopped, surprisingly. The man put his head in his hands, near sobbing. “I, we don’t know what happened, but suddenly, many of us have been turning.”

Thomas muttered something I couldn’t hear before he lifted me up and walked us over to Elaine. Elaine was scowling, urging the man to tell her what was happening. Setting me down on the ground, we listened to what the older man had to say.

“It was the last full moon when a group came to visit the town. They handed out some fruit, saying that it had enhancing properties.” Earl started explaining.

“Obviously it takes some energy to sustain this town, what with the Islands being limited so often.” He said, tugging at his collar. Elaine was listening but did not face him with a kind expression. I had no idea what she meant by cursed.

“After this group left, poor Sarah was the first to turn. We only heard of it in tales. We didn’t even know what it was until it was too late.” Elaine’s expression changed at the mention of this woman.

“What do you mean Sarah turned?” Elaine sounded weird. Her tone had a hint of sadness in it.

“She turned.” Earl repeated, hesitantly. “Her skin turned white, eyes black, and she leashed out and attacked someone. Cleared his head right off.” The men behind her agreed to his testimony.

“After her, a few more turned, and before we knew it, most of us were in different stages.” Elaine had lowered her guard. Earl, seeing this, took it as a good sign and continued.

“We’ve been coming out at night looking for spirits to feed from. We’ve managed to stop the urge to feed on humans.” Earl said. He sighed and continued to tell her what had happened.

“We created groups to stop carriages for money to get ingredients that might help us nullify whatever this is.” Earl had the sense to look guilty.

“So you decided to ruin my carriage and hurt my wolves?” Elaine asked him, sounding very angry.

“It was a mistake from a rookie.” Earl motioned to the young man who was slapped earlier.

“Gustav!” Elaine shouted incredulously. “What are you doing here?”

Gustav was trying to hide behind the other men, but Earl, having singled him out, brought him closer. Gustav fought him the entire way. I studied Elaine's face, and her disappointment in the youth was very obvious.

Thomas and I remained still, watching the drama unfold. It could have been my imagination, but Thomas looked thrilled at the spectacle taking place.

“Hi, Elaine…” Gustav greeted solemnly. Earl smacked him behind the head and told him to greet her properly.

“What did you just call me?” Elaine gritted through her teeth. Poor Earl was waving at the imaginary heat. While the others were too scared to say anything. I must have been hurt very badly to be sympathizing with someone who had the intentions of feeding from me a few minutes ago.

“Sorry.” Gustav apologised. “Hi ma, how are you?” Ma! I tipped to the side, and Thomas, who was smiling from ear to ear, held me.

Earl paled as did the rest of them, while Elaine, not looking any older than her son, stood there menacingly. Gustav hid behind the stout, man. Who shoved him forward, clearly upset that he most likely offended the son of a very high witch.

“What are you doing here?” Elaine asked. Each word was said with anger waving off them.

“I can explain…” Gustav pleaded, waving his hands in different hand motions to calm her down. This didn’t help at all, Elaine’s eyes were slits.

“Are you also turned? Come here!” The boy rushed over to his mother’s side. She inspected his eyes, having to look up at him due to the height difference.

“No, ma, I’m fine.” Gustav tried convincing her.

“You’re not turned, it seems. Good.” Everyone sighed in relief, including Thomas and me.

“We didn’t know he was your son, Mistress. If we did, we would not allow him to do stuff-” Earl got cut-off by Elaine.

“Oh, you all are going to need to explain your works in detail, including this useless brat.” The men’s eyes widened. “But first, take me to see Sarah.” Elaine instructed.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.” One of the other men said to her.

“What do you mean, Karl?” Earl asked the lanky man, who had the same beady eyes.

“Sarah…she didn’t make it.” A moment of silence followed that felt like forever, until the other man hit Karl on his back.

“What he means to say is that her transportation back here was delayed. A couple of the witches that took her to see Sandy were badly injured.

“What did I tell you about choosing your words wisely!” Earl erupted. “You’re all idiots…uh, except you, Leroy, I mean Gustav.” Earl said that while looking at the young man’s mother.

“Oh no, he’s the biggest idiot of them all.” Elaine told him. This caused Gustav to wince. “Wait till your father hears about this.”

The young man looked fearfully at his mother, trying to plead with her through his eyes. Elaine simply walked past them all until she reached the wolves. She dumped the contents of the bloody bags onto the floor near the wolves. The site of it made my queasy stomach feel worse.

“Hare blood, the closest thing I could find to rabbits.” Elaine told the creatures, who wined. Unsure if they understood, I found their interaction quite amusing, especially when one nudged Elaine to give it more.

Gustav moved closer to Thomas and I, watching us closely. Darting worried eyes his mother’s way, he whispered a question.

“You’re not held against your will, are you?” He asked Thomas. I frowned at the boy.

“Huh?” Thomas let out. The odd question was getting in the way of any logical response.

“That’s how she got my father to have us all…” He was interrupted before he could gossip any further.

“Gustav! A word with you, now.” Elaine called him over, tapping her feet, clearly annoyed. He moved to her slowly, wincing when she grabbed his ear and tugged him away to talk somewhere private.

“I thought you were joking about the kids, didn’t know she had any.” I spoke to Thomas, who grinned mischievously.

“Oh, you could say they are a collection of fascinating individuals.” His amused expression made me wonder how much of Elaine he knew. Last time I checked, I officially introduced them. So why does it feel like they have known each other more than he lets on.

“You sound like you know more about her life than I do.” I tested him. His smile dropped, replaced by a fake one.

“I’ve been around for a long time, I heard some rumours from other spirits.” I frowned at his explanation.

There was clearly something off. One, I could not envision spirits having tea time and sharing stories. And two, Elaine was the type not to have her personal life laid out that open, well aside from her accomplishments, that is.

“Right, you should invite me to one of your tea parties. I’m eager to hear the gossip.” I told him. I could see he found my answer sarcastic, but avoided answering me back.

We had another moment of awkward silence. I wasn’t sure what was happening to me. My plan was to make him fall for me, so why is it that I was feeling annoyed, like some teen hitting puberty!

Elaine had returned and called our group over. We started forward to reach her when I heard a low human like growl behind me. My instinct was to freeze, which I did. The growl became more animalistic, so I turned around, curiosity getting the best of me.

Thomas had a hand steadying my good arm and brought me behind him slowly. I looked at the direction I thought I heard the sound coming from. Earl and lanky guy, whose name I forgot, were both hunched over. Their heaving brought some saliva dripping onto the ground.

“Are you guys… okay?” I asked in a whisper. That was the wrong time to say anything. They both looked up sharply at me. Their blackened eyes and elongated mouths were not what I had hoped to see at all.

A smell so foul came from them suddenly, that I actually puked. My stomach had still not settled. Thomas muttered something I could not hear, and the next moment, mayhem broke out. Elaine shouted at us to get away. The last two guys with the crew were shouting in fear to one side. Gustav let out a chant as Thomas and I were both knocked over by the inhuman creatures.

If someone told me, I’d be seeing mythical creatures that I saw from a book just earlier that day. I would laugh and call them ignorant. But no, I was just attacked and landed on the same injured arm, with two salivating monsters, who from the book were referred to as Vampires.

Great. Two fully fledged witches turned vampires, and they were now trying to eat me. Just a wonderful start to what I now see will be a dangerous trip. No wonder we were told to stay away from witches. With them, luck fell out the window.

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