Autumn Equinox

Photo by Jack Taylor on Unsplash

Chapter 6

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I told myself that it was best that Joseph came by to stock the coolers on Monday. I’d have to face him anyway and best to get it over with right away. The sooner the better. My stomach didn’t quite agree with that philosophy, though, and it kept threatening to revolt. The worst part was not knowing what to say. It wasn’t as bad as not knowing what to say to Quil on Saturday – and somehow I’d managed to survive that. With Quil I had started with an apology, and it occurred to me that was a good way to start with Joseph, too. I did owe him an apology, so it made the most sense. Having made that plan calmed my stomach down a bit, but I still couldn’t stop watching the clock. I both wanted him to come, and I wanted the day to be over. Then I could spend an evening with Quil. Alone. At his place. That was definitely worth waiting for. The thought also made me smile – probably bigger and sillier than was safe in public – but that was okay too. Being in love was the best reason so smile, I decided. And I didn’t care who knew about it.

That thought made me wonder about how the patrol went last night. If Quil had been successful at keeping our lovemaking from the rest of the pack. Part of me didn’t care what the guys knew, but the rest of me worried about Quil. He wasn’t as used to major embarrassment as I was, and he was a very private person, so I knew this would be hard on him. The patrol must have taken it out of him because he hadn’t called me before I left for work this morning. He was likely dead asleep by now, so I couldn’t call him even though I was dying to know how it went.

I was deep in that thought when I noticed the back door had been opened and Joseph was wheeling in cases of juice on a dolly. We had established something of a routine. I’d always managed to find myself ‘needing’ to be in the back room right about the time Joseph was finishing stocking. Then we’d hang out for a few minutes and talk. And, more recently, flirt. It had never felt weird watching him work before, but now it did, and I hoped he wouldn’t catch me in the act.

Finally, he brought in what I knew would be the last load of drinks. I finished ringing up the customer I was helping and then signaled to the manager, Howard, that I was taking a break. I went to the back room and waited, feeling a bit like the proverbial fish in the barrel waiting to be shot. Joseph came in and gave me a pleasant enough look – like how you’d look at an aunt or someone you just planned on being polite to. Not like someone you were really happy to see. But at least he didn’t shoot visual daggers at me.

“Joseph, I’m really sorry about Friday night,” I started, but he didn’t let me finish.

“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” He tried to maneuver past me to get to the back door, but I managed to block him.

“It’s not fine. Look, you were right. There is someone else.”

“Quil,” he said. It wasn’t a question.

“But honestly, I didn’t know I felt anything but friendship for him until … until you kissed me.”

“So, I turned you on to another guy. That’s got to be a first,” he said darkly.

“I’m really sorry. I wouldn’t have gone out with you if I’d known.”

He thought about this for a moment. “Just out of curiosity … how is it that you didn’t know you were attracted to this guy? It was obvious to me that he’s in love with you. That time he came into the store he looked absolutely gutted to see the two of us together – and we were just talking.”

So Emily had been right – Quil’s feelings for me were clear to everyone except me. “I don’t know,” I confessed to Joseph. “Maybe because I’ve known him for so long? Or I was just being dense? Or stupid?”

He finally cracked a bit of a smile. “You’re not stupid. Dense … maybe.”

I smiled back. “Anyway, you didn’t deserve that and I’m really sorry.”

“It’s not like we’d been dating for a long time or anything. I’ll survive.” He paused. “Actually, being called by another guy’s name wasn’t even the worst part of the whole evening.”

“It wasn’t?”

“No. The worst part was that I ran into my uncle when I got home – he was on his way out – and he could tell I was unhappy about something, and he would not stop bugging me until I told him.”

“I didn’t know your uncle lived with you.”

“He doesn’t. He’s just here visiting.” Joseph had a bleak look.

“And he wasn’t the one you wanted to spill your guts to?”

“Not by a long shot. But, also, he wanted every detail – I guess because I’d told him a little bit about you. Honestly, I never got the impression he cared a whole lot about me, so it was an odd thing for him to fixate on. The worst thing is that he’s kind of weird and totally full of himself. I really hope he doesn’t stick around long.”

“Sorry.” Sorry?! Would I ever come up with something less lame to say? But I had nothing else to say and we were clearly done so I stepped aside. “I’ll see you around.”

“Yep,” he said on his way out the door.

I felt relief that the moment I’d been dreading was over and that it hadn’t been ugly or even too uncomfortable. But my relief was soon quashed when I saw that Howard was talking to Sheriff Charlie Swan. The sheriff came into the store all the time, so that wasn’t odd. What was odd – and a little disturbing – was the look on Howard’s face. Clearly, they were talking about something very serious. Something Howard wasn’t happy to hear. Finally, the sheriff left, and I approached Howard with what I hoped looked like normal, everyday curiosity.

“What did Sheriff Swan want?”

Howard’s not a big talker, so I didn’t expect a detailed answer. But I didn’t expect a brush-off either.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” he said, his eyes far away. He turned suddenly and bolted for the back of the store as if he had some very compelling reason to go there – or to get away from me. I decided to shrug it off and I probably could have. But then Howard started telling customers as they left to “be safe out there.” It wasn’t just an unusual thing to say, but he also said it with a look that telegraphed the message ‘you know what I mean’ – like being ‘safe out there’ was code for something much more serious and very specific.

Aside from Howard’s weird charades, the rest of the day went by pretty much as usual. Quil came in just before my shift was over.

“This is a nice surprise,” I said with a smile. Quil didn’t look terribly happy to see me and that made my stomach drop.

“Wanted to give you a ride home,” he said with just enough forced nonchalance that I knew he was worried about something.

“Great! But don’t feel like you have to take me home,” I said with a what I hoped was a flirty smile. “We could go to your place.”

“I can’t tell you how much I like the sound of that,” he replied with a sigh. Well, that was a relief! “But there’s something I need to talk to you and your family about.” I must have looked disappointed because he added, “maybe we can go to my place after.”

Quil didn’t have much to say as he drove me home. I had no idea what it was he wanted to talk to my family about. He clearly wasn’t in the mood to drop down on one knee and propose to me. This was obviously something serious, but not in a good way. I wondered if it had anything to do with the question that was foremost in my mind: whether – or, more likely, how – the pack had responded to the news about us. I immediately brushed that off as a highly unlikely subject for a discussion that was going to involve my parents and my brother Karl. I’d have asked in the truck, but I didn’t want to get into it until I knew we’d have time alone together in case it had made him sad or uncomfortable. I wanted to be able to cheer him up in ways that I couldn’t if we were in the living room with my entire family in attendance.

We all gathered together, but not until after Karl tried to convince my parents that he was old enough to hear whatever this important news was. Mom promised she’d fill him in later and then told him to go up to his room and play games on the computer. With Karl out of earshot, Quil told us a camper had been killed in the forest and that it had been the work of a vampire. That the pack had been able to track his scent for a while but then it petered out. That until they found the scent again – or were convinced it had been completely gone long enough to be sure the perpetrator had left the area – we were to be cautious.

“Just, please be very careful,” he said like it was a personal favor to him. “Stay alert. Don’t go into the woods at all. Don’t go anywhere alone. Stick around the house as much as you can. And if you see or hear anything odd, let me know or tell any of the other guys. Or tell Sheriff Swan.”

So that explained what the sheriff and Howard had been talking about today. Although he was a white guy, Sheriff Swan was in on the whole werewolf thing. Story was, Jacob had clued him in long ago right after Charlie’s daughter Bella had been turned into a vampire. I didn’t know if anyone ever told him about the whole vampire thing, but since he’d gotten married to Sue Clearwater, who’s a member of the tribe, it’s likely that he either found out or had figured it out. At any rate, the pack would be coordinating with him until the problem was resolved.

My parents thanked Quil, and he gave me a meaningful look and got up to leave. I followed him out to his truck.

He turned to me. “I wish I could always be with you to make sure you’re safe.”

“Me too. But we can be together tonight …” I wasn’t sure if I should phrase it as a statement or a question. He sighed as if that reminded him of something unpleasant.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that before. Sam wants us doing some fight practice tonight. It’s been a while, and this is no time for us to be out of practice.” He was at the driver’s side door, about to open it.

“Of course,” I said with some resignation. “But Quil?”

“Yeah?”

“Kiss me goodnight?”

He seemed caught by surprise a little. Like he’d been so distracted all day, he’d forgotten that I was now more than just a friend. He broke into a big grin, took me in his arms and kissed me. Then he murmured playfully in my ear, “think your folks are watching us through the front window?”

“I don’t care if they are,” I answered.

We kissed again, then he got into his truck. “You be careful, too,” I said, which made him smile.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

With less than two weeks before high school started again, I had to privately curse this vampire for his terrible timing. This was going to take up all of Quil’s time and energy until the monster was either found or had most definitely vanished. It was going to eat into our limited time for being alone together. But it couldn’t be helped. With any luck the vampire was long gone by now and I’d have Quil to myself in a couple of days.

*        *       *

I’d already arranged for Tuesday afternoon off from work so I could go register for the fall semester. I wasn’t thrilled when Mom hit me with the news first thing in the morning that I was going to have to give up the rest of my afternoon to take my kid brother to his soccer game.

“There’s just no other way. I have a doctor’s appointment today, so I’ll have to catch a ride into town with your dad when he leaves for work so that you’ll have my car to get to the store and the high school. I’ll need you to take Karl to the ball field after, since it’s not safe for either of you to walk anywhere with this …” She checked to see if Karl was around. He was. “This weirdo lurking about.” She had told Karl that we all needed to keep safe because there was some crazy guy roaming the area.

I couldn’t argue with her logic about the game, but it still didn’t make me want to spend any time watching Karl play soccer. Not when I could be slipping over to Quil’s place instead.

*        *       *

Karl’s game was going pretty well. It was the last of the summer series until school started and the teams regrouped under the grade school coach. No one had scored, but Karl had made some good plays. Then a whistle blew and while the coach and referee had a quick conflab on the field, Karl came running over.

“I’m gonna stay at Conroy’s house tonight, so I don’t need a ride home.”

“Did you clear that with Mom?”

“Yeah. I called her at the last time out.”

“Okay.” I felt like I should stay and watch the rest of the game – that would be the big sisterly thing to do. But I really wanted to spend some time with Quil if he wasn’t on patrol. “Have fun tonight,” I hollered as I gathered my stuff.

I walked off the sidelines toward the parking area. It didn’t even occur to me that the tree line along the edge of the field made it impossible to see the parking area from there. I was too focused on hoping Quil was home and would be pleased to see me. I didn’t realize my mistake until I’d gotten about halfway to the car, but I figured, by then, there wasn’t much point in going back. I’d just gotten to the car, opened the door, and tossed my purse in when I felt something rush up behind me – like a breeze, even though the air had been still all afternoon. I started to turn around. Then everything went black.

*        *       *

I woke up with a wicked headache. At first I was completely disoriented and couldn’t figure out where I was or how I’d gotten there. As I came to, I realized I was sitting on a hard chair, but I couldn’t move. Then I realized my hands were tied behind my back and my ankles seemed to be tied to the legs of the chair. My vision was blurry, and it took a while for my surroundings to come into focus. It looked like I was in some sort of cabin. It was pretty run-down, looking like it hadn’t been lived in for a long time. And it was dark – the only light seemed to be coming from a small window. It wasn’t much light – that meant it was probably dusk. I must have been here – and unconscious – for at least a couple of hours if the sun was setting.

I was still too out of it to be scared. Mostly I was just curious about what was going on – like I’d walked into a movie that had already started and was trying to catch up on whatever exposition I’d missed. I was about to try to stand up when I saw them – a pair of red eyes pointed right at me, glowing from one corner of the room. I was startled, then completely unnerved. I screamed. Even through my scream, I could hear the laughter. It was the kind of laughter you hear when a villain in a movie is letting another character know that they’ve been beaten. I stopped screaming. I was speechless for a minute as I tried to figure out what was going on. How I could have woken up in this strange place. Had I been kidnapped? I tried to think back to what I’d been doing before all this, but I couldn’t place it.

The red eyes were still focused on me and unblinking.

“Who are you?” Nothing. “And what am I doing here?” When he didn’t answer again, I let out another scream.

“Scream all you want to – there’s no one to hear you for miles,” he said with a sinister smile. God, he even sounded like a movie villain. He must have decided that I wasn’t going to scream anymore because he went on. “Let’s start with introductions, shall we?”

There was no way in hell I was going to tell him who I was, so I just gave him a nasty look.

“My, my. That’s no way to meet a new person, Claire.”

Okay – the fact that he called me by my name was freaky scary. “How do you know my name?” Then it occurred to me that he’d probably looked at my driver’s license.

“Oh, I know a lot about you Claire. For example, your boyfriend is Quil. Isn’t that right?” I kept silent. He couldn’t know that from a driver’s license. “The one who looks at you with puppy-dog eyes?”

“How do you know that?”

“My nephew filled me in. He’s been quite handy that way.”

His nephew? Who did I know who had a creepy uncle? Then it hit me.

“You’re Joseph’s uncle.”

“One in the same,” he said with a smile. “But you may call me Gary.”

It was steadily getting brighter in the room as the sky lightened. That meant it was dawn and I’d been here all night. As disturbing as that was, I realized it also meant that people would be looking for me – if not already then very soon. Not just people – Quil and maybe the whole pack. The growing light allowed me to get a better look at this guy. He seemed pretty old, although he was probably just middle aged. He had salt-and-pepper hair, a mustache and a goatee, and was thin as a broom stick. His skin was papery and pale, and he had a look of death about him – like he’d just climbed out of a casket.

Then it clicked. He wasn’t just Joseph’s uncle – he was the vampire that had killed the camper. I wanted to scream again, but I kept it down. He hadn’t killed me yet, so maybe he was after something different. I didn’t know what that could be. Did vampires rape people? I didn’t want him to see my panic, so I decided to try and play this as cool as I possibly could and kept quiet.

“You were out for a very long time,” he finally said. “I was afraid I’d lost you at one point. I’m sure you’ll have one enormous knot on the back of your head.”

“My boyfriend is going to find you and kill you,” I said with what I hoped was convincingly calm assurance.

“Oh he is, is he? I suppose he’s very strong.”

“Yeah. He’s a weightlifter.” Well, he looked like a weightlifter.

“I’ve noticed that several of the young men in the area appear to be weightlifters. Must be a good gym nearby,” he said with a laugh.

“What do you want from me?” He just smiled in reply. “Is this some kind of revenge for Joseph because I hurt his feelings?” That actually made him laugh.

“Revenge is such a useless currency. And I’d have to care so much more about Joseph than I do. No, I’m looking for something much bigger.”

“So, what does that have to do with me?”

“You might be useful for a little information.” He paused. “Or maybe not.”

“I’m sure I don’t know anything that would be of interest to you.”

“Oh really? From what I gather you Quileute are a very unique people. You have a rich history of lore. For some time now, I’ve been hearing such fascinating rumors about this place. Particularly about the deep, dark woods. Tales of bloodsucking ‘cold ones.’ Even werewolves.” The way he said that last word made my skin crawl. But I wasn’t going to play his game.

“Don’t forget about the little green men from Mars and Sasquatch,” I shot back.

“Aren’t you the clever one?” He smiled, then got up and looked out the window. “Sun’s almost up. I’m sure your boyfriend and his pack of buddies will be out looking for you very soon. Don’t worry. I left your car fairly close to the highway so it’s not too hard to spot.”

So, he wanted me to be found? That made no sense. “If you want them to find me, why don’t you just untie me and let me go?”

“Now that wouldn’t be very sporting, would it?”

My panic was slowly giving way to anger. This guy was full of himself, and he was treating me like I was a mouse, and he was a bored cat who was mindlessly playing a game with my life. A game that gave him a great deal of satisfaction and amusement.

“I don’t think tying someone up in an old shack is very sporting to begin with.”

“Don’t worry – I won’t just leave you here to starve to death. I’ll be keeping my eye on you. If they don’t find you in a day or two … well … let’s just say I’ll take care of you myself.” He smiled and looked at me like I was a juicy steak. Then he turned to the door and left, closing it behind him.

I was glad I didn’t have to see him or talk to him anymore. At least for a while. That was fine by me. I knew Quil would find me before long. He was a good tracker, and I knew he’d move heaven and earth to find me. I tried to loosen whatever my hands were tied with, but it was too tight and the more I struggled the tighter it seemed to get. I tried scooching the chair toward the door, but my ankles were tied to the chair legs so tightly I couldn’t get any leverage against the floor. I thought about trying to tip the chair over on its side to see if I could free my legs by pulling the bindings loose over the ends of the chair legs. I didn’t relish the idea of tipping myself over when I had no way to break my fall. My head already hurt like I’d been hit with a baseball bat. Probably had been. I didn’t want to risk banging my head against the floor as well. Besides, if I did manage to get myself free, then what? If he was watching me there’d be no way I’d get very far. Plus, I had no idea where I was. I didn’t even know which direction to go in to look for the car. Or if I could drive it if I found it – I hadn’t seen my purse in the cabin and who knows what that creep did with the car keys.

Part of me wanted to cry. And part of me was still so scared and angry I wanted to scream again. I decided that the best course of action was to sit still and listen for any sounds outside. On their own, each of the guys could move almost silently. But when they ran as a pack, I was pretty sure they must make some noise. And their howls were distinct. That’s it: I’d wait until I heard some howling and then I’d start yelling.

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