Waiting For August

Part 18~Henry

Even over the smell of greasy fish, I'd immediately picked up his scent.

I'd spent Sunday online once more apartment hunting, surfing from one realtor website to the next. Truly, my heart wasn't into it, and I'd found myself wasting time on youtube instead. After yesterday's text message from Caleb, I wasn't sure how I felt about anything anymore. It was late afternoon and I needed to clear my head.

Closing the laptop, I headed to the bedroom to dig through my suitcase. The simple fact that I hadn't unpacked yet spoke volumes about how I felt about things. The idea of staying put still felt foreign to me. I was ready to book it at a moments notice.

I found my running shorts and a moisture wicking shirt and dressed before slipping on my runners. I slipped the room keycard into my zippered pocket and grabbed my phone and earbuds.

On the elevator ride down, I stretched. Once outside I referred to my phone. I had an app that could find running paths in every city, for every type of runner. I preferred forest trails, the kind that often ran along city parks or the waterfront, as I liked the shade and smell of the trees. Perhaps it was the wolf in me. I also preferred a relatively flat terrain. I didn't mind the gradual hills that most parks provided, the scenery was usually nice, and they often had public facilities that included drinking fountains.

I chose a nearby park and my app immediately gave me directions. It estimated a twenty-minute walk to the park, and I pulled up my playlist and popped in my earbuds. I wanted to drown out my thoughts and completely forget about everything.

I returned to my hotel room just after dark, but still in time to order a late dinner. Tonight's special was beer battered fish with chips and I'd given in and ordered it despite the carbs before heading to the bedroom to shower.

Hours later the oily aroma still hung in the air, and I'd propped open the balcony door to try to diffuse the smell. I was streaming a movie on the laptop when a familiar yet decidedly unpleasant odour reached me. It was the subtle smell of rot and decay, undetectable by most, but to a wolf's nose it was the faint, yet unmistakable smell associated with death.

I got up and stepped out onto the balcony and into the night. He had cloaked himself in darkness and while I couldn't see him, I could feel his presence. In order to locate him I had to look for the area that was completely void of light; a shadowy silhouette that appeared even deeper than black.

He was by the wall, to the left of the doorway, and I turned my back to him to gaze out over the carpark instead. "I thought you'd have come before now," I said quietly. I had no doubt that even if I'd whispered, he would hear me. He was the ultimate predator and tonight he was being particularly careful to remain in the shadows, so I decided to go along with the ruse.

"I wanted to give you time to get settled." Henry's voice was but a whisper on the wind. "How are you finding things?"

Unexpected came to mind. I was thinking of Caleb of course, however, it wasn't something that I anticipated sharing with Henry. "Uneventful." I said instead.

"Have you familiarized yourself with the locals?"

"Denae has accounts with three separate packs. I have already made contact with one and am currently working for them."

"It seems you didn't waste any time."

I shrugged. "Actually, it sorta fell into my lap. Now how do you suggest we get the attention of the others?"

"We are literally going to put you out on display."

"And how do you propose to do that?"

"Our firm is going to want to show off it's newest acquisition with a black-tie event, wouldn't you agree?"