Payne's Hollow

I2I The Night time Visitor

"Are you insane?" He said, glaring down at her. "You could have taken my head off."

"That's the general idea." She retorted through gritted teeth, wrenching the bat free of his grip and taking a few steps back.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my house, specifically in my room?"

The stranger held up his hands in surrender, keen not to make further noise and awake the rest of the household, which surprisingly was still sound asleep.

"I mean no harm, really. I came to talk to you." He assured. "See? No weapons.Now put the bat down and let's talk this out like civilized people."

"Sure, why don't I get tea and crumpets and we can have a tea party while we're at it." The girl suggested drily. He raised a brow at the sarcasm in her tone. Damn, this will be harder than expected. Why did she have to have a smart mouth? He thought, running a hand through his hair and making it stand on end.

"Fine, keep the bat; just don't make any more noise." He hissed warningly. The girl pointed to a corner.

"Not so fast, you have to move into that corner before anything else." She ordered, jabbing at the air to indicate where he should stand. "You'll stay there, as far away from me as possible, or I'll cause such a commotion the whole town will come running."

"Fine." He muttered, grudgingly walking over to the corner and leaning against the wall. He knew he could stop her if she really did try to call anyone,holding her down easily with a firm hand planted over her mouth. But he needed her in a co-operative move and while the kick from earlier hadn't been hard enough to harm him, his midsection ached a bit nevertheless. He did not want to see what the girl could do with a bat.

She nodded, pleased to see that he was complying with her demands. "Okay start talking. Are you some sort of thief? Or maybe a kidnapper, or pedophile?"

He snorted in amusement. "Okay, thief, maybe. Kidnapper perhaps. But pedophile?I'm only a year or two older than you."
She scoffed. "Yeah well that's what they all say."

He stared at her, head cocked to one side. She certainly wasn't turning out to be the type of girl he had first thought her to be. Standing there with her short black hair sticking out at odd angles, dressed in an oversized Smurf shirt and baggy grey pajamas, she seemed strangely at ease, unafraid of dealing with a stranger on her own, unlike before. The girl was either brave or crazy,but he found he didn't mind either way.

"My name is Ian Payne." He introduced himself. "We met in the woods earlier this evening."

She frowned, brow furrowing with confusion. "I think I'd remember that." She scowled, crossing her arms. She gave him a once over and Ian noticed her gaze linger on his hair and then his eyes

"Not in human form." He informed her with a shake of his head. "Remember that wolf? Yeah I'm that wolf."

The girl's frown deepened as she stared at his disbelievingly. Ian had no doubt that she was questioning his sanity, which she did. She openly voiced her opinion.
"You're crazy." She stated matter-of-factly. "Hell, why did a mental asylum escapee have to barge into my house of all places?"

Ian gave a weary sigh, smacking his forehead with his palm. "I'm not crazy. I didn't want to do this, but you won't believe me otherwise." With this, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to change, his skin rippling and prickling with the growth of hair. He hunched his body like a wizened man, feeling his fingers shoot back towards his hand and fatten while his nails elongated simultaneously. Something swished behind him and he knew it was his tail. The transformation took only seconds and was completely painless, almost as easy as changing ones clothes. He looked up at the sound of a strangles gasp, watching as the girl leapt back onto her bed, gawking at him as though unwilling to believe her eyes.

Mentally, he smirked while his wolf face remained impassive. He gave her a full minute to stare at him before shifting back, relieved to be back in human form.His human clothes had both clung and hung off him oddly and he now realized why animals didn't wear clothing.

"T-the wolf." He looked around to see the girl still staring wide eyed. She seemed to have monetarily lost some of her earlier confidence, looking unsure of herself. "Holy crap! You were that wolf; you were the one who–." Her exclamation was abruptly cut off as she lifted her hand to her neck, touching the spot where he had licked her earlier. Ian smirked cheekily when she cringed.

Taking advantage of her confusion, Ian padded over and crouched in front of her so that they were at eye level. "Yeah, that was me." He said softly, cocking his head to one side and studying the grey of her eyes. "You see,I'm a werewolf."