DRAFTED Into Chaos

CHAPTER ELEVEN

It wasn't until a few days later that Elinor "borrowed" me again. The pen had been worked on, made larger, and now, instead of a chicken, a gray-brown squirrel sniffed at the sandy edges of the pen, staring at me with wide eyes when I approached. He scampered to the other side of the pen, running up the wire wall, and I peeled back the same panel as before to get in. I needed no instruction. I knew they wanted me to catch the squirrel, which would be a huge step up from the chicken. I sighed, shaking my arms and stretching a bit. The squirrel remained motionless, as they often do.

I took a slow step forward. Unlike the chicken, I knew a slow approach was necessary for catching the squirrel. I'm not sure how I knew...Something just clicked, I guess. I took another step, and the squirrel moved to the right along the wall, closer to the corner. I brought my arms out to the sides slowly, but lost my focus when I saw two figures come around the side of the house, from the back. It was Jeremy and Lori, who showed mild interest in me for a moment, then continued walking. They split up after a moment, and I directed my attention back to the squirrel.

I sighed, aware of the futility of trying to catch a squirrel, but decided not to question the goal of the exercise. I took a few more steps, cornering it. I reached my left hand up, hoping to scare it down. It fell for it, for a moment, but just before reaching the ground, it turned, scampering up above my head in a grayish blur, across the ceiling of the pen, and to the other side. I could clearly see how this would go. Unlike the chicken, the squirrel was smaller, faster, and much more agile. There must be a quick enough way. I finally decided that predators don't always hunt. They wait. So, that's what I did. Sitting down in the light sand, facing a corner, I sat very, very still. My eyes and thoughts wandered elsewhere, of course. Jeremy and Lori were still in the woods, and I could see Lori's outline in the forest, as she walked slowly, making no noise. She passed my line of vision, and not long afterwards, I saw the other shadow; Jeremy's. He would walk a few steps, then crouch down for a few minutes, turning his head one way, then the other. Then he would get up again. I had no doubt that Jeremy was the oddest of the rest of them. He didn't seem as...suave as the others; He carried with him a mis-placed awkwardness that even my human senses could pick up whenever he was in the room with another vampire.

This thought passed as I heard the walls of the wire pen shake metallically, though slightly. My eyes strained to the right, trying not to move my head. After a minute, the squirrel moved into view, sniffing at me from his fly-like position on the wire fencing. He moved closer, then away, then closer, as squirrels will often do. I had been sitting cross-legged, so my legs almost formed a diamond with the corner of the pen. As he moved almost to the center of the diamond, I grew impatient. My arms snapped forward, but he was too quick. I used the sudden jerk of my arms to stand, reaching up to where he had scampered; Just out of reach over my head. He moved across the ceiling as before, his tail flicking wildly as he jumped to the opposite wall. I had obviously scared him; he moved in an erratic line, like a moth, and I chased after him quickly, hoping I could use his panic to my advantage.

I had him in the other corner when he ran between my legs, like the chicken had done, but I wasn't going to start over. I had been sitting in the sand for nearly an hour, and one will grow frustrated at this; Such frustration can come in handy. I spun and dove after the rodent, my fingers brushing the end of his tail, but nothing more. I scrambled after him, growling with frustration. In this moment, I thought of how seductively terrifying a vampire's growl must sound. To imagine it coming from my own throat was a delightful thought indeed. I had sand wedged up under my fingernails, and the uncomfortable feeling made a thought occur to me.

I paused, watching the squirrel flick it's bushy tail spastically at me. Crouching, I grabbed a handful of the loose, white sand and flung it with all the force my arm would allow. It ran, jumping to the ground, and made several squiggled lines in it's blindness. I used this opportunity to jump on it, and both my hands wrapped around it's skinny, sandy, wiggling body. It tried to bite me, but my right hand held it's head straight. As the sand settled, I stood shakily, spitting the sand I had inhaled in the attempt to catch the squirrel. He was putting up quite a fight, but I saw that someone had taken the time to file down the claws of this squirrel, and I smiled through my panting.

Just as I expected, as I turned, I saw Elinor leaning against the house with an approving look in her dark eyes. I moved to the edge of the pen, pushed open the panel, and let go of the squirrel, who went running off wildly into the woods, glad to have escaped what would probably be the most traumatic time of it's life. Dusting the sand off my hands, I went up to Elinor. "Now tell me about the werewolves."