Bane Woods
Kissing her and leaning to get more, was just the beginning of what Brody Huffins had in mind for Mikaela Volenbard. He wanted to strip her of all her virtues and take the news to his friends, and maybe have them try to get with her too, if they could pull it off.
Mikaela had always had a soft spot for Brody, and he knew. He hadn't been surprised that she'd agreed to go out with him, and he could see by the way she kissed him, that she wanted him, just not the same way he wanted her.
Although her intentions were very pure, his weren't. All he wanted was to fuck her, and then brag about it with his friends. He had even considered taping the whole thing for later, so he could watch it any time he wanted to get off, but he suspected she would have caught on then and there, and he didn't want to miss the opportunity. To him, it was a once in a lifetime thing, seeing as Mikaela Volenbard had never opened her legs to anyone else before.
Her small fingers were buried in his hair as he kissed her roughly, like any hormonal teenager would, he could already feel the bulge pushing at his jeans, and he wanted her so damn bad.
His lips moved to her neck, trailing hot kisses that forced a moan out of her.
That boosted his ego a lot, pushing him to do even more, slotting his leg between hers confidently.
Although Mikaela was getting into it, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with their surroundings. She had heard a lot about the Bane woods. Although she didn't believe in the silly myths about werewolves and vampires, she knew they weren't supposed to be here. Afterall, Dottie's car was found near where they were, and she didn't want to go missing too. Her parents would freak out, and her best friend would know of the escapade she had been trying to hide for weeks.
The silence was very creepy and it was currently responsible for the goosebumps rising from her skin.
"Brody..." She tried to push him off, but he was far too into this moment to be pushed off so easily. "Brody-- wait just... a moment." She tried to make out, her voice ragged.
He pulled away, cupping her face tenderly in his hand. "What is it baby? Tell me."
"I don't feel comfortable here... can't we go to a motel or something? It's too dark and eerie here." She let out.
"Come on Mikaela, nothing is going to happen, this is the safest place we can go. And the closest motel is on the other side of Westbane, we can't travel that far babe... I want you now."
Mikaela, still unsure about the whole ordeal, nodded as Brody's head came down to suck hickeys on her neck.
Her mind still unsettled, her eyes were wide open, staring out the window through Brody's side of the car.
It was so dark, so sinister, so quiet that it sent repeated chills down her spine. She could feel it in her bones... they weren't alone.
It was the moment she heard the rustling in the woods, that she pushed Brody off her, her heart almost flying off her chest.
"What the fuck?" He asked, shocked.
"There's something out there Brody." She said, her voice shaky.
"What?"
"I saw it, in the bushes."
Brody groaned, looking back at the window himself, annoyed and impatient. "There's nothing out there, Mikeala." He said looking back at her.
"What did it look like? The thing you saw." He asked, a look of indifference on his face.
"Um... I didn't exactly see anything. I- I just heard a noise in the bushes." she said, sounding not entirely sure.
"Did it ever occur to you that it might have been the wind?"
She swallowed. "I-'
"Are you just making these excuses cause you don't want to be with me?"
She shook her head... "No Brody, that's not it. If I didn't want to be with you, I wouldn't be here right now, you know that very well."
His hand came up to her arm, over to cup the side of her face. "So just relax and let me take care of you, baby."
She sighed, hesitating before she answered. "Fine..." He moved in towards her. "But--" she stopped him. "You have to go make sure nothing's outside first."
He raised his brows. "You're kidding right?"
She shook her head.
He groaned. "Fine... fine I'll go." He got out, shutting the door behind him as Mikeala watched.
He stood there under the cold, starless night. The air was still and unwelcoming, but still he saw nothing, heard nothing... it was so silent, and it wouldn't take a genius to realize that him and Mikaela were the only ones present around the area.
He raised his hands, dropping them back. "Vampires! Hello werewolves! Anyone home?" He yelled out at the silent night. His voice did not make a single echo. He chuckled, turning back towards the car. "See, nothing here Mikaela..."
Mikaela's eyes widened as she shrunk back into her seat in the car, her whole body shaking at the huge beast she saw behind Brody. She couldn't even speak, her lips trembled.
"There's absolutely nothing to worry ab-" He froze when he heard something growling behind him.
He suddenly felt chills run through him, goosebumps rising up against his skin in a way that had him turning slowly to see if what his imagination came up with, was actually true.
His eyes widened, bulging out of their sockets. The beast was huge, standing on its hind legs, it towered mightily over Brody. You could smell the wrath of death seeping from the body of the wolf. If you could call it that. Its fur moved to the silent wind its presence commanded. The only thing Brody could make out was the name of the creature, or what they called creatures like this in silly fictional books they read... this was not just a wolf, it was a creature made to be seen at night.. a shadow fit perfectly for the monstrous shapes you could only see at the darkest of hours.
Brody's lips trembled. His whole form shook in fear. "We-we-WEREWOLF!"
The voice of the creature had the ground rumbling. "Not quite."
Brody screamed.
Mikaela just watched with tears streaming down her face.
The creature's hand moved swiftly and sharply, claws and fangs elongating as it did. Brody's screams were cut short as dagger-like teeth connected with flesh, his blood splattering against the window of his car, blocking Mikaela's view.
Then everything was back to the way it was. A deafening silence rang in her ears once more.
Her heart pounding against her chest had her whole body moving with the rhythm.
Softly and quietly, Mikaela opened her side door, getting out of the car. "B-brody?" She called softly out into the silence, which was the only response she got back.
She moved softly to the other side of the car, her legs shaky and her hand slapped unto her chest as if to calm her raging heart.
Finally at the other side, her eyes gingerly went down to the ground, covered with blood. Trailing upwards to the ground where he laid. All that was supposed to be inside his body, now outside. A gruesome sight to her eyes. She couldn't hold it in anymore, as fear rushed through her.
A scream of terror escaped her.
* * *
Elfrida
The moment I got the call this morning, I was a little bit confused. A mutilated body had been found just outside of the Bane woods. Rhett had told me it was being taken care of, and I briefly wondered what he meant by that. It was so early in the morning, and I couldn't help but wonder why he sounded like it was normal for cases like these to pop up once in a while.
The moment I had hung up the call, I quickly moved to get prepared in order not to miss them.
On the ride to the Bridge, I wondered what could have caused this unforeseen incident, who the victim was and why he was murdered... what even was he doing there by that time of the night. Was I right all along? Was this town not as simple and safe as it seems? First it was Dottie Palmwater's mysterious disappearance, now it was a mutilated body, all in the same general area.
I found the chaos up ahead, as I slowed down on the highway. Police cars were parked all around, an ambulance and some other officials I recognized.
Killing the engine, I got down from the car, my gaze finding Rhett's back beside the car which seemed to have been covered with blood. My heart hammered against my chest.
With the looks of terror on everyone's face, I was certain they knew the victim. I could just tell that this was going to take a toll on the whole town.
Why? Why did this have to happen after my arrival? I had always suspected that wherever I went, I took away the peace and serenity... there's always chaos and death. All my life it had been the same story over and over again.
No no... Now is not the time to think of this... you don't have any bad luck Elfrida... this is all just a mere coincidence... this isn't because of you... this isn't because of you.
I took in a deep breath, swallowing the lump in my throat, and calming myself as I walked up to Rhett. Almost like he sensed my presence, his head turned towards my direction as I reached him. "You're fast." He commended, although the look in his eyes told me that he would have preferred it if I was as far away from the scene as possible.
I had to stop myself from wondering why.
"You sounded like you needed all the eyes you could get on this." I said, looking at the bagged body on the ground, odd stains of dried blood all around the area where the body laid. "What are we looking at?" I asked, even though I already got the picture.
"Claw marks to the throat and a stab to the stomach, could have been a knife or a single claw, can't be easily guessed with the nature of the wound." Rhett informed, handing me files of pictures that had been taken of the body.
It was gruesome. His body was pale from most of his blood being poured onto the ground, and the wounds were really deep, eyes still wide open in death. Stomach torn open with that single stab wound.
I closed the file. "I thought there weren't any wild animals in Westbane?"
Rhett's forest green eyes met mine, they were hard and stern with worry and anger. "There aren't."
"Do we have an identity on the body?"
"Brody Huffins, 18. Senior at Westbane high." Carly's voice sounded from behind us as she held up his file. "Just scored himself a job at a coffee store nearby... He was friends with all the cool people."
"A teenager." I said quietly to myself, feeling completely sick to the stomach.
"Not exactly a warm welcome case for you-" Carly was saying but was cut off by the sound of someone hurling their guts out.
We all looked back to see a girl doubling over at the edge of the woods, throwing up. The camera hanging on her neck told me she was probably a reporter or something, but she did look like a kid.
Considering the look on Rhett's and Carly's face, I could tell they knew exactly who she was.
She rose to her full height, wiping her mouth with her sweater.
"What's a kid doing in a crime scene?" I asked, only for the blonde haired girl to turn around, facing us as she walked over to our direction.
"I'm a Patridge, you're going to see me wherever the story's at." She said, extending her hand to me in a handshake. "You must be the new deputy sheriff. I'm Picklewood, I handle the town's newspaper when my dad's passed out on the couch." She grinned.
I took her hand in mine, accepting the handshake. "Elfrida Stevenson."
"Nice to meet you, Elfie." She smirked.
I ignored the fact that she had been the second person to refer to me by that odd nickname.
Taking her hand back to her side, she looked around. "Aside from the fact that one of you is buying me lunch, since I just puked my insides right out to the werewolves and vamps, we should go inside the woods to see if we find something useful for the case." She said.
"Werewolf-" I was beginning to ask as Rhett cut me off.
"No one's going into the woods. The body was found here, all clues are here." He said.
I looked inside the car, seeing a small purse at the foot of the seat. "How about that purse? Someone had to have been here with Brody, that doesn't look like something he'd carry around."
Carly nodded. "The purse is empty, we checked for any information we could get. We'll be taking it back to forensics to run the prints."
"This is crazy really? Brody should have known better than to do literally what every dumb character does in horror movies... if this is indeed how it all played out, the other person... the girl should be around here somewhere." Picklewood said. "We have to find her."
"She's right Rhett... it wouldn't hurt to check." Carly spoke up.
"Awn baby, thanks for backing me up." Picklewood shot an affectionate smile towards Carly, who rolled her eyes at her.
"Come on, Carly and I would go check it out--"
"No... I alone will check it out." Rhett said.
I furrowed my brows at him.
"What? There's no chance I'm letting you get all the fun, sheriff... I'm gonna go check it out with the deputy here, and you will tag along for the manly power we might need." Picklewood chipped in.
Rhett frowned. "But it's dangerous."
Picklewood rolled her eyes at him. "Haven't you heard? These things only go bump in the night. Look around you, it's daylight... a free safe pass to adventure."
An unimpressed look fell on Rhett's eyes. "You're only saying this because you want to go into the Bane woods, aren't you?"
She grinned. "Oh yes, yes I am."
"Fine."
The girl threw a punch in the air. "Come on guys, adventure awaits."