"Come on!" Sophie begs me while we wait outside the coffee shop, "You have to come Andi!"
"Yeah!" Natali adds in as she walks up to us with our coffees in hand, her short strawberry blonde curls bounce along her shoulders reminding me of Shirley Temple. "It'll be so boring if you don't come with us. Jacob is funny, but I can only take him in small amounts. I need you to come! Plus, Soph's parents aren't even staying!"
"They have business in the city, so they plan on just dropping us off at the cabin before they head into Denver," Sophie confirms, nodding her head which makes her auburn hair sway in her ponytail.
"I don't know…" I say, not sure if I should.
It has only been two months since I moved to LA and these two girls have been really nice and sweet to me. Far more than I deserve, really. But two months is already a month too long for me. I've had to bounce from state to state for five years now, not staying any longer than I had too. Though I felt safe in LA due to the rising population. Places with a larger populace tend to dull His senses, making it harder for Him to track me down.
"Please!" They say in unison, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Well…" 'it would steer him away from LA for a bit.' "Okay, I'll come."
They both squeal in excitement as they jump a couple times before gathering me up in a hug.
"We'll come pick you up at seven tomorrow morning!" Sophie hollers over her shoulder as we part ways.
"See you then," I reply before heading to my apartment which is just up the block.
Once there, I quickly begin to pack knowing that if I didn't do it now it won't get done. It might be summer but I still pack a few pairs of pants and sweaters. Seeing as how not only is Colorado's weather unpredictable but so is mountain weather. They had informed me that the cabin is by a lake so I also grab a couple of my swimming suits and a couple of Joggers.
After an hour of stuffing the suitcase closed and wrestling with the zipper, I was finally packed. 'Now I just have to figure out what to tell my boss.' I swapped out my workout clothes for faded gray skinny jeans and a couple of spaghetti strap tank tops. I quickly shot my boss a text saying that I had a family emergency pop up and that I have to leave the state for a little bit. Not really caring that I'm technically lying to him, but I really don't want to have to try to get off early from work just to end up missing it. I put the suitcase by the front door as I flip on the T.V. to an episode of "The Walking Dead".
My boss slightly blew up my phone while I was in the middle of the first episode. Since no one knows about my past, because I've been going by a fake name. I tell him that my mom had gotten into a car accident back in my hometown. And that I need to go since my parents are divorced and my brother wants nothing to do with her. He apologizes and wishes me luck before he tells me that he will make these next few days sick leave that way I still have a paycheck this week. With that handled, I decide to call for some takeout while my phone is still in my hand.
After a heartfelt cry from watching Lori die during childbirth, while I try to finish the rest of my chicken lo mein before I decide to go to bed around ten o'clock. Though sleep seems to be the last thing on my mind right now, so I end up tossing and turning throughout the night. Eventually, I am able to fall asleep, even though to me it only felt like five minutes, I had slept for nine hours. Which meant I had slept through my alarm at six, cause I am being woken up by knocking on my door. Quickly, I get up to answer it but Natali just walks right in making herself at home.
"Hey girl, I hope you're ready?" She asks though it feels more like a statement than a question.
"Yeah," I peek my head out my bedroom door, pointing to the suitcase next to the door. "I just have to get dressed real fast," I say, shutting the door. I quickly pull on my skinny jeans that I had only worn for two hours yesterday and work my bra back on from outside my shirts. 'God, I should've just taken off my shirts.' As I walk out of my room, I notice that Natali has already gathered my purse and jacket for me.
"Good, you're done," she smiles at me. "Marc?"
Just then a tall muscular man steps through my door. If he had been any taller he would've had to bend over to enter the tiny doorway. He has ocean blue eyes that dance with excitement as he looks at Natali. He was rather handsome and looked like a young business man based on his attire and the slight fuqboi hairstyle, which is giving off Harvey Spector from "Suits" vibes to me.
"Can you take her bag to the car?" Natali snaps my attention away from the man with her question reminding me that we were leaving. "Thank you, honey."
"Honey?" I ask, trying to hide my surprise as I grab my keys.
"Oh, fuck, I'm so sorry," she blushes in embarrassment as we step into the hall. "I forgot you haven't met Marc yet. Well he's my ma- husband."
"That's great! I didn't know you were married," I say, locking my apartment door.
As we head downstairs she tells me of their honeymoon and how they swam with sharks in Hawaii. Opening the door to the street, I see Marc putting my suitcase in the back of a black SUV. Beside him is a slightly shorter man that seems to be trying to have a conversation with him. But Sophie keeps interrupting him, though it looks like she is just doing it to annoy him. He has dirty blonde hair cut short and tossed to have a slight bounce to it.
"Sophie! Will you shut up?" the guy snaps. "I have an important question to ask about your friend." He looks back at Marc, "Is she hot?"
"Wow, Jacob." Natali shakes her head as she descends the stairs in front of me. "Such a great first impression."
Jacob looks completely embarrassed and shocked as he stumbles for a comeback. We all laugh at his expressions as he tries to dig himself out of this hole he dug. In the end, he doesn't regret anything and then proceeds to start hitting on me as a joke. Which makes his baby blue eyes dance with amusement as he makes everyone laugh with his corny jokes. I can plainly see that all he wants out of this trip is to make sure everyone is happy and having fun. Though I do sense that he does have a sincere side and I hope we won't have to see it this trip.
Once we all shuffle into the SUV, Sophie informs me that we'll be flying in their small private jet to the mountains. So we won't have to worry about security, because we will just be driving on to the tarmac. I am skeptical at first but that feeling fades as we step into the jet. I realize that I should just relax and stop freaking myself out. It is quite spacious for its size and smoother than I had first anticipated, I barely feel the plane take off. I only notice when I glance out the window and see the top of the airport tower fly past.
The next couple of hours fly by as we swap stories. Though I do have to admit that most of mine are either made up or exaggerations of truthfully dull stories. Most of Jacob's stories are naturally funny and have us rolling with laughter. Natali and Marc told us of how they met, sparing no detail from not being told. Sophie wouldn't have it any other way. The girls even went out of their way to tell me how they became friends in high school. Then Jacob asked how we met and the girls went crazy telling that hilariously embarrassing story.
"So one day after yoga class we decided to get some drinks at the coffee shop we always go to." Natali says, pointing that last part at Marc. "And we notice this girl that had just recently started going to our class in front of us in line almost to the counter."
"When this royal douche-bag comes out of nowhere, cutting in front of her as she was about to place her order." Sophie cuts Natali off. "He completely ignores her as she calmly tells him three times that he needed to get to the back of the line."
"But the dude made the mistake of calling her a bitch as he pushed past her with his scalding hot coffee in his hand. Because the moment he tried to shoulder check her, she sidestepped causing him to stumble a little which led him to trip over her foot." Natali starts laughing in anticipation of the rest of the story.
"He fell face first onto the floor with the coffee clenched to his chest." Sophie starts laughing along with everyone else which leaves me to finish telling the story.
"The dude forgot to catch himself. He ended up drenched in black coffee with second degree burns on his chest and a broken nose for being a jackass." I say. "No one took his side when the authorities showed up, so I didn't get into any trouble, but I did get two new friends out of the whole situation."
Landing at the airport in the small valley had a lot less turbulence than I had expected, probably due to the size of the jet. Walking out, I notice just how much colder it is here in the Rockies than it is in LA. Sliding my jacket on, I quickly make my way over to the others who had gathered in a small circle next to a big truck. They seem to be whispering about something, so I linger back a little ways staring off into the trees.
For a second I swear that I see a giant wolf chasing after something, but when I blink it is gone. Just pushing it off as my overactive imagination and worries, I get into the backseat of the truck with Natali. Sophie says bye to her parents before joining us in the back.
About an hours drive from the airport, we pull up to a cute little two-story wood cabin. Mid- afternoon sunlight reflects off the lake in an inviting way, which sits off to the left behind the house. Even though there is a slight nip in the air, we all decide to take a dip in the lake. Natali and Marc stake claim to the master bedroom upstairs. Sophie and Jacob start fighting over who gets the bigger of the remaining two rooms upstairs.
"Where should I stay?" I ask as uncertainty sets in.
"So, the only other room upstairs is my dad's office, so that is a no-go," Sophie stops arguing with Jacob to say, "but there is a room in the back of the house. If you want to stay in that or there is a guest house outside. It's connected to the patio out back, but be careful of the pool."
"The back door is through the kitchen?" I ask pointing past the stairs down the hall.
"Yeah, and the door to the room is just the opposite of the kitchen," Natali clarifies.
"Thanks but I'd rather not have the chance of being kept awake because those two are getting naughty," I state, pointing up the stairs where Natali and Marc are.
I laugh at them as I start heading down the hall as they run upstairs. As I walk out the sliding glass door, I pull my pack of cigarettes out of my purse. I'm not an avid smoker but here and there I do really need one to calm myself down. And after the sight I had seen at the airport, I think I need one. Smoking on it as I walk past the decent sized pool to the guest house, which is just a smaller version of the main house.
Putting the cigarette out and sitting it on the window seal, I walk through the door. I quickly put my clothes in the dresser that is by the king sized bed. The style of the room was quite cozy but it doesn't look like Sophie's mom decorated it. Quickly, I change into my teal bikini with a bedazzled skull on the left tit and another on the ass. Stepping back outside with my towel to finish my cigarette, I notice that it's not on the window anymore. A slight breeze catches my hair and blows into my face.
'The wind must have caught it,' I think to myself.
I quickly meet up with everyone on the side of the house, so we make our way towards the bank. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves as we splash around in the lake for a little while. Once the water starts to get a bit colder, the girls and I decide to sunbathe before we lose the sunlight. From my spot on my towel, I can hear Sophie and Natali whispering about something. I pull off my sunglasses as I sit up, leaning on my elbow, I glance over at them only to find the pointing in between Jacob and me.
"Excuse me?" I say, scaring them. "If you're going to talk about me, you don't have to whisper."
"Sorry," Natali looks guilty as she turns towards me.
Sophie, on the other hand, didn't care as she says, "We were just wondering if you and Jacob-"
"No!" I cut her off before she could even finish the thought. "No offense to him, but I'm not looking for a relationship." I start rolling over to tan my back. "Maybe a fun night, not a long ride."
"Though, a long ride can be a fun night," Sophie states as Natali starts to blush a bright red.
We continue to pick on Natali about her shyness about sex, even though she's married for a little while longer. Everyone eventually decides it is time to eat, so Natali and Marc start to make the food while the rest of us take a quick shower. When Sophie and I are done, we take over making dinner, which happens to be spaghetti, so Natali and Marc can have their turn in the shower. All of us enjoy the food then decide to call it a night. Though I'm not tired quite yet, so I decide to go for a jog along the lake.
I quickly go into the guest house to change into my thickest jogging set, which is a loose fitting light purple soft cotton fabric pants and jacket. While I only have on a black workout bra underneath the jacket. I pull my hair up into a messy ponytail while stepping out of the door. Making my way to the lake, I notice a trail that seems to lead around it. I follow it a little ways until it veers off into the woods. Not wanting to get myself lost, I stick to the outer path along the shoreline.
I get about a quarter way around the lake when a shadow steps out of the trees in front of me. A shiver runs down my spine as the clouds part letting the moonlight reveal what the shadow is. Or I should say who. His blood red eyes glare at me through the dark. Without thinking, I high-tail it into the forest praying to whatever higher power that's out there for protection.
I run as fast as I can through the trees with only the moonlight guiding me. I'm about to duck under a broken branch when He grabs me from behind. Heaving, he throws me into a tree that is about five feet to the right of where I was. I twist around the tree taking most of the blow in the gut. Landing hard on my side, I try to quickly crawl away while also trying to catch my breath. I crawl into a meadow that was blocked by thick brush as an earth shattering scream erupts from my lips. He has managed to slice open my calf with one of his long claws as he tries to grab me before I slip through the brush.
Which only delays him for a second as I make my way to my feet as I get to the middle of the meadow. His blood red eyes lock on me as I try to limp my way over to the opposite side of the meadow. He's on top of me in a blink of an eye, holding me up by my ponytail. Another scream escapes me, as the pain in my head intensifies as my feet are lifted off the ground. Grabbing a hold of his arm, I try to loosen his hold of my hair. Screaming in pain, He throws me away from himself. Wind rushes past me as I fly through the air about three feet away and right into a rock. My back is the first thing that erupts in pain, though I do have to say that would much rather have been preferred compared to the pain in my head.
As my head makes contact with the rough surface of the ground, growling erupts throughout the small meadow as four giant wolves step out of the trees where we had come from the east. Even though my head starts to spin I can slightly make out two of the wolves were smaller than the other two but were still much larger than the average wolf. Each wolf had their own different shade of brown fur along with different markings.
Slightly dazed, I watch as five more wolves appear; four of them were on the west side of the clearing looking similar to the first four. While the biggest out of the nine was right across from me, in the south. The huge black wolf's bright gold eyes are staring right at me somehow reassuring me that I was safe. Movement to the left of me tells me otherwise, He steps towards me which caught the big black wolf's attention. The black wolf lets out a deathly growl that causes the other eight wolves to stumble slightly.
"Well," He says, taking another step towards me giving me an evil smirk revealing his fangs, "until next time."
With that He disappears in a cloud of black smoke just as the black wolf roars while trying to pounce on him. Panic sinks in slightly as I realize that now I'm surrounded by a pack of giant wolves. Unexpectedly, the large black wolf lowers itself to the ground and crawls its way over to me trying to show submission. Just as I lift my hand slightly to let the wolf sniff me, the pain in my head becomes too much causing me to pass out.
~⛥§⛥~
Light blinds me as I open my eyes, though nothing looks familiar to me when my eyes finally adjust. Everything looks like a different world. The trees and flowers were oddly shaped and colored which makes me think that I'm dreaming. I start walking down a path that is cut through the trees and leads me towards a hill. At the top of the hill stands a slim, feminine figure that is using the sunrise to shield her face. Her presence is not threatening and slightly familiar so I continue up the path towards her.
Reaching her hand out to offer me help on the last couple of steps which I appreciate greatly. Since apparently my dream-self decided to wear a long flowy teal gown to go hiking. The mystery woman is wearing a similar dress to mine but it is more of a silvery-blue color. She reminds me of the descriptions of the Greek Goddess Selene from a book I read in high school. But why would I be dreaming of a Goddess that I haven't thought of in years?
"I was hoping this would've been avoided," her soft yet very sharp tone brings me out of my thoughts. "But they didn't want to listen to me."
"Who?" I subconsciously ask.
"Your parents, of course," she says, taking my hands in her's. "I warned them that this would happen if they took you to that world."
I am confused by what she is saying and I'm pretty sure my face is displaying that clearly. "How do you know my parents?"
"Your mother comes from my realm so naturally I watched her grow up. As for your father, I'll just say that I did not know the man before he met your mother. But he was very kind and caring to your mom and she made him a better person." She sighs, "That's why I had to warn them that you would forever be in danger no matter where they took you."
"Danger? You mean Him?" I am confused by what she is saying.
"Him?" She's confused for a second then recognition flashes across her perfectly sculpted face. "Oh, you mean Phenex. Yes, but he's not the only one who poses a threat to you. He's just the start of a very long list of people who want to hurt you."
"What do you mean?" I can feel my sense of panic start to rise but the feelings themselves are nowhere to be seen. "A long list? Why would anyone want to hurt me? I haven't done anything!"
"I am well aware of that, my dear," She rests one of her hands on my shoulder, "that is why I sent my best wolf to you. He will protect you from any dangers that you will have to face. He will always support you, even when you are apart." That last part seems more like a warning than a statement.
"Wolf," I say right before the picture of the midnight black wolf with the hypnotic golden eyes flash to mind.
"Yes, he will be your warrior." She turns around to leave.
"Wait!" I call out after her. "I have more questions like… Who are you?"
"I highly doubt that you will remember this conversation, but you already know my name." She states as she begins to fade into the darkness surrounding and swallowing me whole.
'Selene.'