The Animals Have Come to Play (Completed) (unedited)

Eyeballing

(Chapter 15: Eyeballing)

It was like any other town. They had neighborhoods with subdivisions of people. Each house having a different quirk than the last. The center was the business area. It held a few stores for shopping purposes like clothing or entertainment. There was a restaurant called The Lucky Dog. In each Cardinal direction, there was a branching street lined with houses. Surrounding the smaller town was a large forest of which I could see Wolves weaving in and out of. There were large cubby structures that held clothing inside them for the shifted.

"Where to, Young Master?" John asked as he approached the center of the town. By now, people were coming from the houses or stopping on the streets to investigate the new arrival to their secluded town.

"Just drop us off in the center, John. You can take a break at the bar until we are ready to go again," Leander said, leaning forward and patting John's shoulder. John smiled, nodding over at Leander. He pulled over to the shoulder, hitting the breaks for us to get out. We piled out Cynric's side. I looked around, seeing people whispering to each other as they looked at us.

"Why are we getting so much attention?" I whispered over at Cynric. "The Wolves at school don't act like this."

"The Wolves that live in communities out in the middle of no where do not get a lot of interaction with those outside. So, when Purebloods come visit, it is like humans meeting their celebrities," Cynric explained. I glanced over at the whispering spectators, nodding at his explanation. I turned to Leander. He was a little ways away, flirting with a few awestruck girls. I looked over to Cynric, and we shared a look. I gestured for Cynric to get him, but he raised his hands like 'No, I'm not doing it.'. I rolled my eyes at him, walking forward to grab Leander by the back of the collar of his shirt.

"Hey! Ariadne!" he complained, looking at me over his shoulder. I looked back to Cynric and started on my way, dragging him back with me. The girls started protesting, spewing insults at me that I didn't listen to. "Call me!" he yelled at them.

"Leander!" I hissed. "We came here for a reason."

"Naw, no reason to get jealous, Ari. I'll be all your's soon enough," he said sarcastically with a bit of bitterness. I glanced back at him, but made no comment.

"So, where does your friend live?" Cynric asked as we approached him. Leander pointed down the right branch off from the town center.

"That way is where he lives." We started down the way Leander pointed. We stopped in front of an apartment complex, closer to the center than the individual houses more so down the street. Leander gestured us to go inside, holding the door open for me. I walked in, hearing him let go of the door to try to get Cynric to slam into the door. Cynric gracefully slipped through the closing door, raising a challenging eyebrow at Leander. I back handed Leander's chest.

"You two need to behave. We are here to talk to Theo," I reminded them, heading towards the elevator. "What floor is he on?"

"Fourth floor," Leander muttered behind me. I pressed the up button for the elevator, the doors sliding open to greet us into the small room. We piled in, and I pressed the button marked with the number four. The elevator made a slight dinging noise as the automatic doors slid shut silently.

Within a few short moments, the elevator opened once again, revealing to us a carpeted hallway. We were making our way down the bare hallway, when Leander suddenly cursed loudly. He bolted towards a room with the door ajar. Cynric and I exchanged a confused look before rushing after him.

By the time we caught up to Leander, he had already pushed the door open, and was standing inside the trashed apartment. Furniture was turned upright; cushions on couches strewn around the room and torn apart. The TV's screen was shattered, the ground littered with glass. As we moved from room to room, we found everything completely destroyed. All drawers were yanked from their main pieces, the contents carelessly scattered about and ripped.

The refrigerator was opened the light casting an almost eerie glow in the apartment. I was the first one in the kitchen, making my way towards the fridge. I was careful to not step on anything as I made my way. I grabbed the open door, peeking inside and instantly regretted it. I spun around into the sink, throwing up what contents were left in my stomach. Both boys came rushing in, Cynric grabbing my hair from my hold, and Leander checking the refrigerator.

"Holy shit!" Leander cursed in disgust.

"What is it?" Cynric asked. I felt a slight tug on my hair, telling me Cynric was turning around to see what was in the appliance. I finished vomiting, grabbing a nearby towel and wiping my mouth. I didn't need to turn around to see the eye that had been shish-kebabbed onto a toothpick, piercing through the middle of the pupil. Blood had leaked out onto the glass shelf and the tendon had been delicately wrapped around the remaining pick.

"It's Theo's eye," Leander stated. I turned towards them, making my way behind the half door, so I didn't have to see it. Leander took out his phone, snapping a quick picture of it.

"What are you doing?" I cried out. Leander's eyes flicked up to mine, a grim look on his face.

"If there's anyone that will know about this, it's going to be his girlfriend. I want to show her this, and maybe she'll tell us what is happened here." I nodded to his explanation, glancing away from the room to elsewhere.

"Okay, where can we find her?" Cynric asked. Leander huffed in response standing up and pocketing his phone.

"She's up in Maine at the family property. She always visits every month or so." Leander scratched his head before closing the fridge door. "We should probably head back to my estate. I'll call Circe when we get back." We all picked our way back to the front door. I was mulling over who would have done this in my head. I could only assume that it was another dealer.

We exited the apartment building, making our way back to the car we arrived in. John was still stationed inside the car, a newspaper covering his face as he waited in the front seat. Leander opened the back door, getting in and scooting across the seat. John jumped at the noise. He turned around in his seat in surprise, his face masked in horror.

"Young Master! I didn't expect you three back so soon. Please, forgive me for not being more aware." I plopped down next to Leander as he waved his hand dismissively at John. Cynric slid in gracefully next to me, closing the door with a solid thud.

"Don't worry about it, John. We are perfectly capable of opening and closing a door by ourselves. Take us back home." John sent one more grimace over to us in apology before whirling around and starting the car. The gates parted as we approached. It almost felt like they were ushering our departure, relieved that we were leaving. I was back to staring at the beautiful scenery once again.