Leticia

  “I agree,” Tristan added.

  “The thing is,” Jackson continued. “We need to go looking for them, not just wait for them to call the shots, if he’s phoning you, if he always knows where you are, he must be close or have someone watching you twenty-four hours a day. If we find the watcher, we find him.”

  “I can’t really say I have the energy to start looking now. These hills are vast, he could be anywhere,” I said.

  “Nancy,” Tristan started. “When you turned into one of them for the night, the night of the summit fight, didn't they say anything that could have been of use?”

  “No, they spoke about Leticia a lot saying that they didn't understand why the boss wanted her captured. One of them wasn’t happy about attacking a woman, but he was in desperate need of money. He even said ‘God forgive me’ once he’d finished speaking. Other than that they just spoke about their own problems and what they’d do when they got the money off the boss.”

  “They didn't mention where the boss might be staying?”

  “No, sorry, I would have told you if they had, I never asked; I thought it might have looked suspicious, I’m really sorry.”

  “It’s OK,” I assured her. “I wouldn’t have asked either.”

  “I need some air,” Jackson muttered, walking out of the room.

  “Is he alright?” I asked.

  “He was worried about you,” Tristan told me. “When we were moving the bodies before; he lost his temper. He was shouting and swearing, I won’t repeat what he said, but I’ll tell you this, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so angry. He thought you were going to die after that guy stabbed you. He said he’s never been so frightened in his life.”

  “Oh I...”

  “Would you do something for me?” he asked.

  “Of course I would.”

  “Go outside, talk to him and don’t be cold with him. Before you say anything I know, I know he’s been cold with you,” he seemed to emphasize that. “But he cares about you a lot, in fact, I think he’s falling for you but for god’s sake do not, and I mean do not tell him I said that.”

  I didn't respond, I just walked out of the room, through the front door and looked around for him. I couldn’t see him anywhere. Even with my wolf eyes, he was nowhere to be seen. I walked around the side of the house and found him in the garage. He was throwing things out of one of the drawers in there, cursing as he went along.

  “Hey,” I said, standing in the doorway.

  “What is it?” he asked, turning to face me.

  “Can I come in?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t want to sit in there like a spare part with the loving couple,” I smiled, trying to make light of the situation for a moment.

  “Do what you want,” he said coldly, turning away from me again.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I sighed. I think my voice sounded more disappointed than anything really. “See ya later.”

  I turned to walk away and heard him take a deep breath.

  “I’m sorry, come in here,” he called after me.

  “It’s fine, I can see you’re busy...”

  “Leticia, please come in.”

  I faced him again; he was walking towards me now. I half smiled and made my way inside.

  “I don’t mean to sound rude or cold, I’m just pissed beyond belief,” he explained.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “Eh?”

  “You were rooting through the drawers for something.”

  “Oh yeah, sorry, bullets actually.”

  “Oh.”

  “Just checking I had plenty.”

  “And have you?”

  “Oh yeah,” he smirked. “More than enough to kill this bastard and his groupies.”

  “I don’t know if we should kill him, I mean....”

  “Are you serious?”

  “I’m just worried that it will come back to haunt me,” I sighed.

  He walked over and stood very close to me.

  “Can I ask you a personal question?” he said in a low voice.

  “Yeah,”

  “Be honest with me. I know we asked you before but... do you still love him?”

  “No,” I said without an ounce of hesitation. “Not in the slightest. Why do you ask?”

  “I just wondered because you seem to want to protect him.”

  “I stopped caring so much about him a long time ago, it upsets me, but then it wouldn’t matter who it was that was after me, it would still be upsetting. I’ve done nothing wrong and yet I get this. I don’t exactly want to protect him, I just feel funny about killing him. I knew him for a long time. I was so close to him... it just feels wrong, even though I know it isn’t.”

  “I understand what you mean.”

  “Why don’t you come and get some rest?” I asked. “If we’re gonna start searching we need to be prepared for the fact that it could take a while. It will be tiring; we could all do with a good night’s sleep.”

  “I couldn’t sleep yet, no matter how I tried.”

  “Yeah same here actually,” I agreed. “My mind is too busy running all over the place. Well, I’ll leave you in peace.”

  “No don’t,” he said quickly.

  “Well I’m not standing in the garage all night, the winds picking up and it’s not the warmest out here now.”

  “So let’s watch a movie or something together.”

  “Wow, I never thought I’d here you say that.”

  “What do you say?”

  “What about Nancy and...?.”

  “We have more than one living room in there Leticia. We don’t have to share one with them.”

  “I didn't mean that, I meant what if they hadn’t have wanted to watch a film?”

  “I had no intentions of even asking them, I meant only me and you,” he said lowering his head.

  “Come on then,” I smiled. “But no chick flicks, cheesy romances or war films please.”

  “Not a chance,” he laughed.

  We went back into the house and headed for the smaller living room. It was cozy in here and warm. He opened one of the large cabinet doors, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I don’t think I’d ever seen so many DVD’s in my life.

  “OK, we have horror, action....” he turned and smirked at me. “Chick flick.”

  “Piss off,” I laughed.

  “Suspense,” he said in an eerie voice. “Thriller.”

  “Get something funny, but not cheesy.”

  “OK, I think we could do with a laugh.”

  “It would be nice to actually see you laughing to be honest.”

  “I do laugh,” he said pulling a weird face at me. “Honest.”

  He put the DVD in the player and turned the TV on, before turning the lights off and sitting next to me on the sofa.

  “I’ve not seen this one yet, but I believe it’s hysterical,” he told me.

  He was right, the film had only been on about ten minutes and we were killing ourselves laughing. I actually had tears running down my face, I’d laughed that much. It was nice to see him like that, his whole face lit up when he was smiling and he had the cutest little dimples ever. He was gorgeous. There was one part of the film that tickled us both so much that we kept rewinding it just to see it happen again and again.

  Just over half way through the movie, Nancy and Tristan popped in to say they were calling it a night. Nancy couldn’t take the smile of her face. She kept looking at us both in turn, her smile getting bigger and bigger until Tristan finally dragged her out of the room. Jackson paused the movie and excused himself for a moment, then reappeared with two cans of Pepsi and some toffee popcorn.

  “See, who needs to go to the cinema, when we have these,” he smiled, passing me the popcorn.

  “You are my new favorite person.”

  We watched the rest of the movie, laughed until we were in pain again and ate every piece of popcorn in the packet.

  “I feel so fat,” Jackson m
oaned, rubbing his stomach slowly.

  “I know what you mean,” I giggled.

  “Can we do this again another night?”

  “Yeah I’d like that.”

  “Really?!” he asked.

  “Why do you sound so shocked?”

  “I don’t know, I guess I wasn’t expecting you to say yes.”

  “Jackson you know when you’re like this, I really like you, I’m sure anyone would; it’s when you change that I just want to slap you.”

  “I know,” he sighed, turning to face me. “I will try Leticia, but like I asked you before, please have patience with me.”

  “I can’t promise that, sometimes you’re so nasty, so cold.”

  “But you know I don’t mean it, you know why I’m like that I explained it all to you. You know I’m going to try and snap out of it and go back to the old me.”

  “I know and I do understand that, I really do, but try being the one on the receiving end of it, it’s not easy to ignore.”

  He didn’t respond, he just nodded and lowered his head.

  “Thanks for a nice night and taking my mind off things, I appreciate it,” I said sincerely.

  Again he nodded. I leaned forward and kissed him on his cheek. That made him look at me. I smiled at him before standing and making my way out of the room. I went up to my room; I was starting to feel tired now. I lay back on the bed, thinking back to the night I decided to go into exile.

  “Leticia,” I heard Jackson say. “May I come in a moment?”

  “Yeah.”

  He walked in the room closing the door quietly behind him. He sat on the end of my bed.

  “Tell me what happened to you next,” he almost whispered.

  “Jackson it’s late...”

  “Please, I’ll tell the others, you won’t have to talk about it again.”

  “It’s not some great story you know.”

  “I know. I just want to know more about you, I want to know everything that happened.”

  “OK,” I sighed. “I hope you’re sitting comfortably.”

  Chapter 21

  22nd February 2001

  Was this it? Was this to be my fate? Was I meant to spend the rest of my life in exile, isolation, never to interact with anyone ever again or risk losing my life? I stood there, on the edge of the deathly sharp bend in the back country road, the Devil’s Elbow, facing the crack in the hills where, according to the legend, the devil landed after being struck down by God himself; his elbow causing the gap in the hills. Behind me, the street lights of Tintwistle, Glossop and Mottram, shining so brightly that the darkening clouds above seemed to have a reddish tint to them. The towns would be full of life, people going about their business, most of them happily enjoying a night out with their families or friends, maybe both. How I wished I could join them.

  In front of me lay my fate, the steep climb to the top of the peak, then only the seemingly endless stretch of barren land. Their only decoration being old rocks, the odd stream, trees and wildflowers. Nobody would find me here. Not many people would walk up here. The land and weather could be perilous, unless people were incredibly fit and well prepared; I doubt they would tackle these hills. I would be safe and I would go un-noticed.

  I looked behind me once more and a tear fell down my cheek. I wiped it away quickly, looking at the water on my fingers in disgust, as though I were ashamed of it. I took a deep breath and started to climb. Loose rocks fell down the steep slope below me. I removed my jacket, folding it and placing it inside the little waterproof rucksack I had with me. When I finally reached the top, I looked around – nothing. I removed the rest of my clothes, placing them too in the bag, I pulled the zip, securing its contents, then, let it fall to the ground.

  I stood there naked, letting the cool crisp wind hit my skin. A light rain started to fall; I held my head back letting the raindrops hit my face. I took a deep breath and let myself slowly start to transform. My body started to change shape, my teeth grew. I dropped to my knees and watched as my fingernails turned into long, deadly sharp claws. There was no pain, no fear. Only sadness.

  It took a few minutes for me to change, I wanted to make the transformation last as long as I could so I could enjoy being in my human form for as long as possible.

  Eventually I took the handle of the rucksack in my mouth and started to wonder deeper into the barren lands. The rain became heavier and I looked around to see if there was anywhere I could take shelter for the night. Luckily, I saw some large rocks, as I got closer I found I was able to crawl underneath one and be somewhat protected from the elements. That provided some comfort. At first glance I didn’t think I would fit underneath, werewolves are a lot bigger than your normal wolves, we can range from between five and seven feet tall and that’s when we’re still on all fours.

  I think I must have fallen asleep for a few hours. When I woke, I found the rain had passed. I decided to move on and try to find somewhere I could call home. I needed to be able to bury my bag and keep my things safe. I needed a landmark, so I would always be able to find my way back to them. I found an old unused tunnel; I assumed it was from an old railway line that once ran through here. It was easy to find, provided shelter and above all, it was dark. I wouldn’t be seen in there. There was a little stream only a few hundred feet away which I would be able to use as my watering hole. This was perfect. I started to dig into the side of the hill, deep enough so that my bag would be completely covered. I didn’t want to simply leave it in the tunnel, just in case.

  I was starting to get hungry now, and couldn’t just pop into town to get something to eat. I knew I would have to hunt, to use the wildlife of the hills as my food supply. The thought of it made me feel nauseous, but I had to eat to keep my strength up. It was something I would simply have to get used to.

  The days that passed felt like weeks, and the weeks more like months. I was sad, cold at times, and alone. I would spend all day in the tunnel, silent and still, waiting for the cover of night to come so I would be able to go out and hunt. Night time was the only time I would eat. I got used to it in the end, I had no other choice. This was my life now, and I would have to adapt.

  Chapter 22

  I sat on the bed, my duvet pulled around me, staring at Jackson. His face was unreadable.

  “I can’t believe you spent eight years like that,” he finally spoke.

  “I did what I thought I had to.”

  “How did you feel after a few years?”

  “Not good, in fact I thought I was losing my mind.”

  “I’m not surprised,” he frowned. “What made you decide it was time to return to normality?”

  “I just couldn’t take it anymore; the only time I got to see people was on the odd occasion I turned human again. I only did that to go into the bank and move some money around; so that they didn’t think I’d done a disappearing act. I hadn’t held a proper conversation with anyone other than the bank manager since I left Colchester.”

  “I don’t know how you did it. You must have a strong mind. I mean, I wouldn’t be able to do that.”

  “I don’t think I could do it again,” I told him. “I would rather die than go through that again.”

  “You won’t have to, I promise, and please don’t say that, I don’t want you to die.”

  “I don’t either. You should get some sleep.”

  “I’m not tired, at all. Are you?”

  “I was, until someone decided to come and get me talking,” I smirked. “I’m wide awake now.”

  “Sorry,” he smiled. “I just... I just wanted to learn more about you.”

  “It’s OK. I forgive you. Why don’t you tell me a bit more about you?”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Anything.”

  “Erm, I was born in Devon on the 31st October 1865. I was the son of Richard and Emily Jackson...”

  “Wow, hang on a minute,” I interrupted. “Your surname is the same as your first?”

  ??
?No,” he laughed. “My name is actually Robert Jackson, but I’ve been known by my surname for about a hundred years.”

  “Why?”

  “I prefer it, I hate Robert.”

  “You don’t look like a Robert actually, anyway, carry on.”

  “We lived in a little house in the country. In 1872 my mother gave birth to Nancy and when Nancy was ten years old, our parents abandoned us. We woke up one morning in a field; neither of us knew how we got there. We found our way back to the house only to find everything had been cleared out.”

  “Why?”

  “My mother wasn’t a shape shifter, it was my father. They both thought Nancy and I would be human, but obviously we weren’t. My mother didn’t like us very much. She never loved us, and my father, well; he was just a drunken idiot.”

  “What happened to them?”

  “My mother died in her fifties and I killed my father.”

  “What!” I almost shouted.

  “He tracked me and Nancy down; we hadn’t seen or heard anything from him in over thirty years. He attacked Nancy, tried to kill her...”

  “Why?”

  “We don’t know,” he sighed. “But there was no way I was going to let him do that. So I killed him.”

  “I would have done the same thing.”

  “I’ve looked after Nancy since I was seventeen, I wasn’t about to let her down.”

  “It takes a special person to do what you did. To raise your sister when you were still so young yourself.”

  “She’s my blood, my little sister and I love her, I’d never let any harm come to her.”

  “She’s lucky to have you,” I smiled.

  “I don’t think so, even she doesn’t think that.”

  “Oh she thinks the world of you. She just wants the old you back, not this version.”

  “I know,” he nodded. “Leticia, when this is all over will you stay with us?”

  “Nancy asked me that too.”

  “It would be nice if you did.”

  “We’ll see, the way you and I are, we may have killed each other by then.”

  He didn’t respond, he just laughed a little.

  “We’ll see what happens,” I told him. “See how we feel then.”