I decided to stay a bit with Peter while Roman went out to get what we needed. It was a bit selfish to say but I wanted some time away from all this madness. Talking about everything and nothing felt good, almost ... normal. We didn't talk about a werewolf or a crazy killer on the loose and I felt like a teenager again. Soon enough Roman came back and we came back to reality: people were dying, this was not the time to relax.
"Is that the bacon grease ?" asked Peter. Roman threw him with 3 jars full of it. " Oh good, you did well."
"What are you gonna do with that stuff ?" Roman said. I mean he had just filled bacon grease into 3 jugs, of course, he was curious.
Peter avoided the question and asked another one. " What's that ?" he said pointing to the big black holder Roman was carrying.
Godfrey put it on the ground and opened it. A huge and beautiful axe was laid there in all its ancient glory.
"It's a weapon, from my mother," explained Roman. "We have her blessing for what it's worth." He then took it in his hands. " You have your spells, she has hers."
Peter was softly chuckling at the sight of the axe. " Just try not to poke your eye out with it." I laughed a bit and so did Roman but not for long.
"So .. how are you gonna find it ?" I asked Peter. He may have the bacon grease, for whatever he needs it for, and now Roman has his weapon but the vargulf has to come forward.
"It'll find me. I asked how to do what it did -- to turn on the wrong moon. I'm closer to it now, I can feel it. And I can feel it feel me." I quickly peeked at Roman's face and he was as serious as Peter was. " When I go out there tonight, I won't have to go far. It'll be waiting for me."
"Well ... that is not creeping me out .. " I said. Roman was about to add something when his phone rang.
"It's not really the best time right now." He said then paused for a few seconds. "I'll be right there."
"What's wrong ?"
"I gotta go. Letha needs my help with something important."
"Well, what is it ?" Peter asked him, worried for her.
"I don't know."
"I'm going."
Peter took his jacket and was heading to the door.
"Hey !" Roman called after him. " Do you really think that's the best idea right now ? With everyone looking for you ?"
"I'll hide in the fucking trunk. I'm going."
We knew nothing would change his mind so we just followed him outside.
--
When we arrived at Letha's house, Roman didn't bother to knock on the door and got in right away.
"Letha? Are you ok? What's going on ?"
"I'm really sorry. I was on my way to meet you guys when ... something came up." She said. She wasn't hurt physically but was a bit nervous.
"Well, who's here ?" Peter asked.
"Don't freak out, ok ?" Letha tried to smooth the boys before saying anything else.
"Who's here ?" Roman echoed Peter's question.
"Please, can you just stay here ?" And she went to the living room. We heard her talk to someone out there and as I expected, Roman didn't wait and went into the room as well. Peter and I followed only to discover Christina. She was looking rather scared and ... very different. She has always been a little weird but not like this. Her hair turned white and she had this constantly worried expression plastered on her face.
"This isn't a good idea," Roman said looking at her.
I was always down to help people in need but being this close to her made me feel uneasy. Not only mentally but physically. She quickly looked at me and I felt a faint burning sensation in my back. It wasn't hurting me enough for me to scream but enough for me to readjust my tee shirt a few times.
"Roman, she's really scared." Letha tried to persuade her cousin.
"Well, we're not just gonna --"
"It's fine." Peter interrupted.
"What ?" I whispered next to him.
"It's fine." He repeated, still staring at Christina. She smiled and waved at him. What a terrible idea...
--
In the car, I asked Peter if he would mind sitting next to Christina. I was still feeling this burning sensation in my back and I knew that sit next to her would no make things better.
Letha was in the front seat and she took Roman's cigarette out of his mouth before he had any time to light it up.
"Yo, baby on board. " She then turned her head and talked to Christina. " You know I won't let anyone hurt you, right? "
"I know."
"Nothing's gonna go wrong now. Right ?"
She nodded. "I'm sorry I told everyone you're a werewolf." She apologized to Peter.
"Don't mention it. I know you're scared. I am too. But why do you think he's coming after you ?"
"It's hard to explain." She simply said.
"I know the feeling." He looked out by the window. " Oh, pull ... pull over there," he said to Roman.
"What, the convenience store? Why ?"
"I gotta take a piss. Just do it will you ?"
Roman parked on the convenience store parking lot before turning off the engine. "Yes, ma'am."
I got out of the car to let Peter through but he grabbed my arm and dragged me inside the store with Roman.
"Alright, what the fuck's going on ?" Roman asked.
"I think Christina's right," Peter explained.
"About what ?"
"I think he's after her next ?"
"How could you possibly know that ?" I asked.
"It's just a feeling. He may even know her." He stopped in front of some electric supplies." He may come before sundown so we need to be ready."
"What are we looking for ?"
Peter took an orange extension cord off the shelf and handed it to Roman." Fuck, that'll do."
Roman and I walked toward the cashier while Peter stayed a bit behind, hiding his face. I mean, he is still a wanted man.
Roman took out his card and gave it to the guy but the cashier threw it on the counter.
"Card declined." He said with a heavy accent. That's when I looked up to see his face. Unfortunately for us, his face was a familiar one. He was the guy who was threatening Roman at the bar a while ago. Roman was being a prick and the guy didn't seem to have forgotten it.
"Uh .." Roman took out some dollar bills out of his pocket. " I got some cash."
"Want me to call your mother ?"
"No thanks, I'm fine." We walked back to Peter.
"What the fuck did you do to this guy ?"
"We had a ... misunderstanding."
"Jesus, I've seen your misunderstanding. You too Rose ?"
I just nodded.
Roman and I stayed behind and Peter tried to talk to the guy.
"Hi, I'm sorry about him. No one knows he's a bigger asshole than I do, and I'm also sorry for whatever she did wrong, but we really need this and I'm broke until payday."
"Lots of people are broke because of this asshole's family and the whores like her who follow them around."
I had to stop Roman from going up to the guy. We had to play smart.
"Roman" I whispered. " Go and apologized for what happened last time at the bar."
"Why would I want to do that ?"
"Because if you don't, we won't have what we want and also because you were a bit of a cunt that day."
Peter was still trying to convince the cashier but he wasn't having any luck. "How about an IOU? I'm good for it."
"I-O fuck you. Rumancek."
I softly punched Roman in the ribs with my elbow. It was now or never.
"Look, I'm sorry, " he said walking over the counter. "I haven't said that much in my life but I am. I insulted a lot of people, and, uh, you would have been right to kick my ass. I'm a spoiled prick and I would have deserved it. Look, if you wanna take a swing at me now, I won't stop you." I've never seen Roman apologize like this and he seemed to be honest about it. We are making some progress.
---
We finally got back to the car before driving back to the old church. Once we were in, Christina got a bit worried but who could blame her?
"Are you sure we're safe here ?"
"As safe as we're gonna be" Peter answered her. "Hey, nothing's gonna hurt you. I won't let it."
I sat on an old box and was still readjusting my shirt.
"Hey," Roman said, sitting next to me. "You're ok ?"
"Yeah, why ?"
"I don't know ... You're a little pale."
How was I supposed to tell him ever since Christina was with us, I had this burning sensation in my back, where my tattoo is. It would sound crazy giving the fact probably nothing was visible on my skin and the fact we didn't have the time to deal with another problem.
"Probably the lack of sleep. I'll feel better once all of this will be over."
"Yeah .. I totally agree." He was lightening his fag when Christina started talking to Peter.
"You know ... I kissed you once." She said giggling like a little girl." It was right when you moved here. It was my first. I never told anybody that, not even the twins. They lost their virginity the summer before. It was all they ever talked about. I wanted to experience. You know, it's what writers do. That's why I researched how to turn." At first, I didn't react because I wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying but the last sentence echoed through my mind.
"What do mean turn ?" Peter asked, stopping everything he was dong to listen to her story.
"Like I said: Experience is a writer's material. And you had so many stories, and I wanted my own. I wanted to be free like you. I wasn't optimistic. I mean, who thinks something like that is gonna work? I drank water from a wolf print. I felt pretty silly." She stopped and looked up at the ceiling. "And then it came -- the harvest moon."
"Jesus Christ" was all Peter could say. It was her. It was her all along. All those murders. She was the vargulf all this time.
"Get them out of here." Roman listened to Peter's advice and grab my hand. We got to Letha but she had no idea what was happening.
"What's going on? Roman? "
"Come on, you need to get out of here. Stay back. You need to let Peter do this."
"Do what ? Where is he taking her?" I turn around and saw Peter guiding Christina somewhere. I couldn't help it, I had to follow them.
"Get on your knees." Christina listened and Peter took the extension cord and made a loop around her neck.
Behind us, Letha was still screaming for Roman to let her go but he wasn't listening.
"Can you control it? Last night, was it something that happened or did you make it happen ?" Peter asked but Christina wasn't answering.
"Did you make yourself turn or did you hear? -- did you hear your other name? Answer me or I'll choke the life out of you !"
"I decided to, I wanted to."
"If you decide to turn tonight, you're gonna die."
"Are you gonna kill me, Peter ?
Peter looked at me and I slowly nodded.
"Yes"
Weirdly, Christina asked him if he hated her.
"No, I don't hate you. But ... Why her? Why did you go to her ?" He asked talking about Letha.
"At first I wanted to get to you." She said looking at me. Me? Why me?
"But you were always with Roman .." She then looked back at Peter. "I knew you were in here. I saw you at the clinic window, so I went to look. But when I saw you in here with your ugly fucking thing in that whore !"
Letha was still trying to break free from Roman but he explained to her that she was the killer. Letha didn't listen and kept wriggling.
"I wanted more than anything to feel her fear on my tongue." Christina continued. ".. Her bones crunch beneath my teeth and her blood run down the fur on my neck. It's ok. You can kill me as long as you don't hate me. And you should do it now while you still can. It's already happening. You haven't got a lot of time. I can't turn it around any more than you can turn night and day. You do what you have to while it's still day. You made me. I'm yours."
I could see the guilt on Peter's face when he looked up. " God help me."
"I can feel it coming 'cause I'm getting wet." She said throwing her head back. "So this must be like what it feels like to cum."
When she looked back at us, a weird and distorted voice came out of her mouth. "I've never heard my other name." She was getting really agitated but her voice was getting back to normal. "In the summer, that place came back to haunt her dreams. All their dirty little stories, all the things they did." Alright ... talking about herself in the third person, not creepy at all .. "Those fucking cunts. All the things they expected of her but filled her with so much fear she couldn't even dream about them! She hid it all away in a hole. But the more she filled it, the more she hid from this whispers, the stronger they became. That's the thing with whispers. You know you put a thousand of them together and you get a howl. And so the night before the harvest moon ... She made a choice. She went down the hole. She didn't know. She was very, very, very sorry for everything that happened."
When she finished her little speech, she let out a scream and her bones started to make some weird noise. They started to break and Peter and I had to back away from her.
"Rose leave !" Peter screamed at me. He took the jar and applied some bacon grease on his face. I ran to Letha and Roman when Christina in her wolf form appeared in front of Peter. She jumped on him and started to bite his face off. I was so shocked that I was petrified but Letha wasn't. She was screaming and Roman was having a hard time holding her. After what felt like an eternity, the white wolf lets go of Peter and his body fell to the floor, faceless. Christina turned to us and started to groan. Roman yelled at us to leave and when I saw Letha's state, I knew I had to be quick. I grabbed her hand and ran to the back doors. It was locked and a lot of chains were keeping the door closed. We were trapped inside this chapel and Roman had taken the axe and was ready for a fight. It was either Christina or us.