It was a wet and clare night, without any clouds in the sky. The night sky hugged the dry field that surrounded the road, the whitish mist floated above the ground like a ghost and tangled between her legs. Her feet hurt, she could barely feel her toes and her legs threatened to give up, the bag hanging in her shoulder numbed the area. The road was deserted, no trace of life peeked over the border either. She was tired and thirsty, the lights that illuminated the concrete path were reflected on its shiny and wet surface.
She gave up when a throbbing pain attacked her ankle. Whining, she dropped to the side of the road on the dry and dead grass. She looked where any vehicle should appear, she growled seeing nothing through the mist. She gently massaged her ankle as she took out her phone and looked at the screen on for signal… nothing.
"Awesome." She put the device in her bag and grunted.
She looked up to the sky, she was surprised to see no stars, just the daily dark and empty black cloak. Even so she recognized that there were two or three stars in Portland. And suddenly she remembered what Derek told her: "When there are no stars you will know you are close."
She sighed jaded, her ankle still hurt but she had to hurry or she would never make it to Hide House. She whished with all her might that a vehicle would pass by even if it's four in the morning. And just like that two luminous entities illuminated the dark cement, she took a step back and quickly raised her hand pointing her thumb back which was already a habit for her every time she saw something with wheels.
The car stopped by her side, the passenger window rolled down revealing the pilot's face. The guy's white hair was the first thing that called her attention besides his icy eyes.
"Are you Tabitha Fox?" He asked.
She nodded. "Just Tabby is fine."
"Okay," he leaned over to the passenger door and opened from the inside. "Get in. Cora sent me to pick you up."
Tabby looked at him cautious what made him laugh a little. "Don't tell me you are afraid of me."
"Should I?"
He shrugged. "Should I?" In the absence of an answer he smiled. "I think we have the same problem, don't you think?"
"Good point." Saying that she opened the door all the way and got in the car.
"I'm Dean Snow. Call me Snow." Tabby closed the door and Snow started the car.
Tabby carefully observed his face factions. He was a handsome guy, almost her age. She asked herself what sarcastic comment would Derek say at that moment, surely something about his eyes or his hair. She smiled at that idea.
"Why are you smiling?" The sudden question startled her. "Do I have something in my face?"
It wasn't that but she wasn't disposed to talk about it. "My ankle hurts."
"So you find that funny?"
She rolled her eyes.
"How did that happen?"
"I don't know. I'm just tired."
He sighed. "That's for walking here."
She didn't answer, he had a point. She could've done something about it but she didn't like using the influencia in humans, she promised Derek she'd never do that unless is an emergency and she didn't considered being stranded in the middle of nowhere an emergency, as long as she could walk everything would be fine.
Snow seemed a little uncomfortable, Tabby could tell.
"Why the fuck did it have to be me?" He said. "I hate days this wet."
Suddenly she could see a deflection into the field abandoning the road. Snow went there into the dark.
"How did you meet Cora?" He asked.
And Tabby started to think that making sudden questions was one of his habits.
"I don't know her."
He suddenly stopped the car and Tabby could feel his icy eyes on her, freezing her. "And why the fuck are you here? You can't get in if you don't know her."
Tabby looked back at him. "Cora is an acquaintance's friend. Is because of him I can get in the house."
"Acquaintance? Who?"
"Derek Holland." She felt certain satisfaction when she saw how his white eyes widened in surprise, she suppressed with all her might the smile that danced on her lips. "Now, can we go?"
He cleared his throat and continued on their wey.
Hide House was a refuge for Supernaturals, pretty usefull in this times of war. Since the existence of Supernaturals was discovered, humans reacted as it was obvious they would: they declared war to the ones that are different from them and massacred a lot of innocent people. The Supernaturals counterattacked and, as they are stronger than humans, they won that battle.
Humans couldn't stand the idea of Supernaturals walking on the same sidewalk as them while they were hiding in a "fake suit", that is, their human form. So the government implemented a little device called "detectors" that glowed every time a Supernatural was near by, and when that happened the military soldiers would arrived in seconds to neutralize the "threat" and destroy it.
Derek had warned Tabby to be careful with those things. He've seen a lot of them but these never worked well when he was close and the reason is so simple that some people thought it was a joke. But this is not his story.
In the distance, a very large barred door with unintelligible patterns could be seen, but they made it very creepy to look at. They got out of the car and went to the gate. Tabby put her hand on her hat to stop it from falling when she raised her head to the top of the dark and imponent door.
"Put your hand on the door handle," said Snow while pointing to the rusty handle. "If the gate opens, you are welcome."
"Only Supernaturals can get in the house." Derek's words echoed in her head. Maybe is some kind of acknowledgement.
She obeyed. She softly took the handle, as if she feared it would break thanks to the exaggerated rust destroying the metal. She tingled at the roughness of the dead metal, but her heart skipped a beat as the door rumbled and moved inward, slowly opening for her and giving her free passage into the ghostly inn.
She heard Snow's sigh behind her, he walked inside letting her behind. "Welcome to Hide House."
Tabby felt some kind of relief at being accepted but something told her that the worst was yet to come: her roommates. She sighed too and walked slowly inside, listening as the gigantic door closed behind her with a deafening creak.
To be continued...