The Longer I Live

Chapter 24: Yeah, Your Urge to Kill

With the full, scarlet moon rising in the evening sky. Victoria prepared for closing the shop as her daughter Allison sat on the lounge chair by the entrance to wait for her mother. Depositing the money into the safe, Victoria came out of the stock room holding a beautifully designed blouse.

"Allison, what do you think of this?" Victoria asked her daughter holding the blouse up for her to see.

"That's gorgeous, Mom!" Allison beamed. "What's the brand?"

"Betsey Johnson," answered her mother. "Do you like it? I'll buy it for you tomorrow."

"Could you, Mom?" Allison begged. "I have a pencil skirt that will go great with that!"

"Absolutely," Victoria nodded.

The popular teen hugged her mother to plant a kiss on her cheek. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!"

"Let me go into stock room and hold one in the back for you tomorrow." Victoria informed her. "I'll pull your size from the back."

Watching her mother disappear into the stockroom, Allison grabbed a magazine from the table and began reading. Loud rumblings from the back startled her as she dropped the publication and raced to the back to see what happened. Allison called out to her mother hoping to get a reply.

"Mom? You okay?" She voiced her concern. No answer. "Mom?"

Quietly she crept toward the end of the stockroom to see a figure slumped over. Getting closer, she noticed the short, red hair lying face down not moving.

"MOM!" Allison yelled. Running toward her mother, she turned her over as a small cut appeared on the woman's brow. Pressing her head against her chest, the dark-haired teen listened carefully and heard a heartbeat. Her panic quickly turns to fear.

Looking behind her shoulder she saw a red eyed man in black standing in front of her.

She screamed but large clawed hands gripped her by the throat and pressed her against the wall. Holding up her mother's cell phone, Peter Hale forced upon her his instructions.

"Call your father!"

Within ten minutes, Sheriff Argent's patrol car parked near the alley where the back entrance of the store. Cocking his gun, he carefully approached the open door and led himself inside. Dark shadows surrounded him as he searched the premises. Finding nothing, he called out for his wife first.

"Victoria?"

No response.

Next, he tried his daughter.

"Allison?"

A whimper came from the corner of the room. Two figures concealed in the shadows moved. Aiming him gun at the two individuals, he issued an order.

"Don't move or I'll shoot!" Sheriff Argent instructed. The silhouettes remained in place. "Now come out where I can see you!"

Slowly, the two figures stepped into the light. Sheriff Argent's eyes widened to see a man dressed in black clutching a crying Allison by the throat. The law enforcement officer aimed his weapon at the stranger.

"Let her go!" Sheriff Argent demanded.

"Of course," Peter Hale grinned. Striking the back of the girl's head with a hard fist, Allison fell down unconscious.

Without hesitation, Sheriff Argent fired. The first bullet struck Peter in the chest but did very little in effect. Red eyes followed him as the skin-walker skirted around the law enforcement officer.

Encircling the room in a quick blur, the sheriff tried to get a better shot but found himself no match for the beast. Pulling the trigger, a second time, the bullet missed Peter damaging the ceiling instead.

Enormous growls teased the law enforcement official before the beast grew bored and landed right in front of Sheriff Argent. The Argent patriarch finally saw the skin-walker for the first time.

Black hair, red eyes and canine teeth howled at the man before he continuously opened fired at the monster.

Four remaining bullets pierced his skin before falling off his flesh allowing the wound to heal completely.

Shocked by the creature's regenerative properties, the barrel of his gun emptied out leaving the skin-walker to grab the officer by the uniform and hurl him toward the wooden shelves at the far end of the store. Hitting the fixtures hard, Sheriff Argent collapsed to the floor knocked out cold by the impact.

Under the light of the blood moon, the skin-walker howled.

Lying on the couch munching on microwave popcorn, Stiles Argent flipped through several channels before settling on the local evening news. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he saw that it was 11:30 p.m. and that the rest of his family would be home soon. Turning up the volume, he listened to the news reporter discuss the phenomena of the blood moon.

"Many of you might be looking out your window and seeing the full moon looking bright red tonight. Have no fear, it is a natural phenomenon that happens every few decades known as the Blood Moon or Scarlet Moon. Scientists say that the cause for this colorization is due to the moon's retrograde during orbit where the sun's rays reflect off the moon's surface given it the illusion of a reddish or dark orange tint..."

Stiles threw popcorn at the television. "Liar! It's supernatural! Of course, no one's going to admit to that!"

Chewing on his snack, he heard his cell vibrate and picked it up. Seeing it was his father calling, he answered the line.

"Yeah Dad?"

"Guess again."

The sinister voice from the receiver caught his attention. Peter Hale had stolen his father's cell.

"What are you doing with my father's phone?" The teen demanded to know.

"There's someone who wishes to say hi," teased the skin-walker.

Loud noises shouted from the background that became too incoherent to hear. Finally, Sheriff Argent's voice became much clearer, through the receiver. He listened closely.

"Stiles! Don't listen to him! He's dangerous. He's..."

The voice stopped. Frightened for his father's life, the teen shot back at Peter.

"Don't you dare hurt him!" Stiles threatened.

"Oh, but I want too," cackled the skin-walker. "And they're not the only ones. I have the rest of your family with me for the reunion."

"Mom? Allison?"

The shaman was not playing around. He meant business.

"Not only them, but both your lover boys!" The evil shaman laughed.

"Derek...Danny..." Stiles whispered. "Please, Peter, don't hurt them! I'll do anything want!"

"I know you will!" The skin-walker emphasized. "Do you know where the Sutcliffe gold mine is?"

"Yes...it's three miles from the reservation," replied Stiles. "But...it's been abandoned since all the gold was mined out of it."

"It makes a nice spot to perform a ritual," teased the evil man. "You have thirty minutes to get here! Come alone or I'll start gutting everyone you love with my bare claws."

The line went dead. Stiles raced upstairs to change into his casual clothes, grabbed the car keys, and take his father's Lexus to the destination.

He just hoped he was not too late.