Staying Human

Thirty Four

“Well, don’t you look all cute with wet hair,” Charlie calmly said to me as I bolted into the kitchen and then he smiled as he saw the shocked expression on my face.

“Surprised to see me again so soon are you? I was unable to complete what I had planned earlier but I don’t give up without a fight Rach and I always get what I want in the end. By the time I leave here, I will have you eating out of my hand again. Just like your mother, here but first I need to teach you a lesson in manners and it will be a lesson that, unfortunately you are going to have to forget.”

“Manners?” I quizzed him.

He sighed and nodded.

“What do you mean by you need to teach me a lesson, what did I do?”

Charlie laughed at me and it was not a friendly laugh. I glanced at my mother; she was completely stone still and silent.

“How long have you been here?” I asked him trying to ignore his strange words and behaviour.

“Most of the day, apart from when I came to see you at Jason’s; your mother is quite the talker. I’ve learned even more interesting facts about you today and she quite likes me. She has even invited me and a few of my friends to your dinner tonight. I thought that was very kind and I must admit, I am very hungry, almost ravenous actually.”

“Is everything OK?” I sheepishly asked him because he was acting very odd and there was no way she had invited him to dinner. All the seating places were full and adding extra people a few hours before it was due to start would ruin her perfect plans, there was no way on earth she would rearrange the seating now. He was lying; again but why.

“I hear you have questions for me and I am quite in the mood to talk; so go ahead and ask me.”

“Why were you in my room? Did you take my pictures?”

He ignored me and he just continued to stare at my mother.

“Charlie?” I asked nervously because I could now detect clear tension in the air.

“What wolf,” he snarled back at me. “I do what I want when I want, so don’t bloody ask me obvious stupid questions or I will make you regret it; no you are going to regret it because I am becoming bored with this whole situation.”

I was lost for words. His answer actually startled me and the way that he spoke to me, without even looking at me, was very, very unnerving. He did not seem like someone that was sorry, it felt like he was deliberately trying to scare or intimidate me. He seemed again like a completely different person.

However I was not going to let him think he’d scared me and in actual fact, for the first time, I actually believed what Max had been trying to tell me and why Jason was so angry with me. Vampires cannot be trusted and it was appearing that vampires and werewolves did not, actually, mix well at all. There was always tension when I saw him either given to me by his friends or even Charlie himself. He always spoke in riddles and the riddles that he spoke in were usually lies. I needed to call Max, he would know what to do.

Charlie’s eyes shot over to me as I thought this and his lips curled back over his teeth and he snarled at me. My heart quickened as I looked at him, his pupils now looked as if they were growing in size, as if they were bleeding into his irises and they did not stop until they had completely taken over the whites of his eyes.

Now staring back at me, Charlie could only be described as what looked like a black eyed demon. Charlie’s skin had become almost alabaster; his tattoos almost transparent, I could see his veins pulsating under his skin and make out every bone in his body. Red rings now encircled his black eyes.; He had not moved an inch, yet he was still snarling and baring his fangs at me. His hands were clutching at the work top which and now began to creak and crack under the stress of his grip.