Fangs and Fur

Chapter 23 - Scott

A/N: 2K READS!!! And to think, I was thrilled when I got to 30! Thank you so much for being awesome and reading!!

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The night of November 7th:

Scott volunteered for border patrol again and, in wolf form, bounded off through the forest towards the road separating vampire and werewolf territory.

By this time, he'd settled into a rhythm: every night, Scott spent the first few hours of the night in singing lessons with Mitch, Kirstie, and - when he could join them - Avi. If Chief Alex found Scott's sudden willingness to volunteer for patrols strange, he didn't show it. However, Scott thought it would appear suspicious if both he and Avi kept volunteering for border patrol, so Avi often did other activities and then snuck away to meet with the rest of the group.

When Scott arrived at the human car and transformed into human form, Mitch was already there. When he saw Scott, Mitch patted the roof of the car next to him. Scott moved over and sat down on Mitch's left.

"What are you eating?" Scott asked, tilting his head to the side. Mitch held a strange chunk of stale-smelling food in his hand.

"An energy bar," Mitch said, his mouth full.

"I thought vampires drank blood," Scott replied with a smile, raising an invisible eyebrow.

"Well, this one also eats energy bars," Mitch said, pointing to himself.

At this point Avi showed up, emerging from the woods in human form. Scott watched as the other werewolf wrinkled his nose at Mitch. "What's that?" the bass asked, referring to the energy bar.

"Energy bar," Mitch grunted around another mouthful. "Want some?"

Avi cautiously came forward. "I might as well try some. It's not poisonous, is it?"

"I hope not." Mitch broke off a small piece and handed it to Avi. Scott watched closely as Avi chewed, making some strange faces. Finally he swallowed.

"Well?" prompted Scott. "Did you like it?"

Avi superfrowned. "I think I'll stick with meat."

"Hi!" Kirstie announced her arrival. She sat down on the roof of the car on Mitch's right. "How is everyone tonight?"

"Normal," shrugged Scott.

"Decent," said Avi, also shrugging.

"Hungry," said Mitch, taking another bite of his energy bar.

Kirstie rolled her eyes. "Those things look gross. I don't know why you refuse to drink blood."

This comment piqued Scott's interest. Mitch refused to drink blood? Why was that?

Mitch finished the energy bar, leaned forward to throw the wrapper through the broken driverside window of the car, and straightened. He clapped his hands. "All right, y'all! Singing lessons time!"

Scott couldn't help but smile at the brunette's enthusiasm. He was adorable. "What are we learning today, O Skilled Teacher?" Scott teased.

Mitch bumped Scott's arm with his elbow. "I'll just teach you guys a song, and we'll figure out different harmonies and counter melodies." He started to teach the group a few lines.

Scott was surprised to find that after only twenty minutes, their small group was able to master one of the verses. Mitch had insisted that Scott sing the solo, while the vampires sang harmonizing parts and Avi provided the bass.

Mitch cut them off with an elaborate hand gesture. "Wow, that sounds amazing! Almost better than when I sang that with Kevin - " he cut himself off abruptly and looked down at his feet. Kirstie put an arm around him, her face sad.

Scott looked at Avi, confused, but the bass just shrugged. Clearly something had happened in Mitch's past that neither of the werewolves knew about. Who could this 'Kevin' be?

Scott fished around for something to say to fill the awkward silence. "Um...This is probably a stupid question, but what is this car doing here? In the middle of nowhere?"

Avi nodded. "Actually, that's a great question," he said.

Scott noticed a panicked look shoot into Kirstie's eyes. "The car!" she exclaimed. "I almost forgot! We have to move it off the road, so the human police don't find it. But we can't move it," she moaned. "Because now it would provoke war with the werewolves. That would be like claiming it as the property of the vampires, since right now it's on the border. Oh no!" Kirstie ran her hands through her hair.

Scott raised a nonexistent eyebrow. "That didn't really answer my question," he pointed out.

Kirstie and Mitch shared a glance. Mitch spoke this time: "Uh...it's been here a while. It's the property of a human who was converted into a vampire by the clan. We're just worried that after all this time, police might come looking for the human and the clan will be exposed."

Scott watched as Kirstie tried to catch Mitch's eye again, but he wouldn't look at her. What was going on?

Eventually, Kirstie gave up and nodded. "Yup. That's why it's here."

Now it was Avi and Scott's turn to share a glance. It was a plausible explanation, but why where Kirstie and Mitch acting so fishy? There was clearly something about Mitch that Scott didn't know. Well, there were a lot of things, but something important. What had happened in his past? Who was Kevin? And what was the deal with the car?

Just then, Scott heard a crack as a twig snapped in the forest. He whipped around and stared in that direction, craning his neck to find the source of the noise. There was movement in the trees, quickly receding, so Scott couldn't tell who or what had been there.

But there was no doubt about it: someone had seen their group of vampires and werewolves.

A/N: Ok, so this was a filler. But the action's coming, I promise. :)