"Come on." My voice evaporated into the void around us, tangling in my throat.
Steve whined a funny sound and shrank back on his hind legs, edging himself under the cover of trees. The hair on his back rose as if brushed with static.
"Steve, what are you doing?"
He whimpered, retreating further.
"We need to find Ty," I said. "Come on. You're the big werewolf. What are you afraid of?"
Steve grunted and motioned with his head for me to back away with him. I stood my ground. "No. I'm not leaving without my friend, Steve. I'll go alone." I turned from him and started across the lawn toward the barn.
"Wait," Steve said. I spun around to see the human version of Steve, hopping after me as he tried to pull on his jeans. The rude change was almost comical given different circumstances, but I was relieved that he decided to join me. "Charlotte, something's not right here. I can smell it."
I groaned. "What can you smell, Steve?"
"Death," he said.
"Death?" I asked. My mind went to Ty and panic flooded over me. I couldn't breathe right.
The ground tipped and Steve caught my shoulder, steadying me.
"Charlotte," he said, trying to focus me. "It doesn't smell like Ty. I don't think it's your friend." I started to shake. "Charlotte, can you hear me? It's not Ty."
I nodded and swallowed hard.
"Look, I know your friend's in there, but something's not right. I don't know Aaron, but wolves don't leave dead bodies around their dens. The scent is human. I think we should go back and wait for Liam and the others."
"Ty is in there," I said. "If she's not dead now, she could be next. She said she thought someone was following her. Oh, my God." My eyes went wide. "It could be too late." Despite the fear rampaging through my body, I knew what I had to do. "I have to go in there."
"Charlotte," Steve said. His palm gripped my shoulder. "Think about what you're saying. We don't know what the hell is in there. We could all die. You could get killed."
"I have to take that chance." Part of me couldn't believe the words coming from me, but I knew I had to.
"Why?" he asked.
"She's my best friend."
The pause following my words felt deafening.
"Then I'm coming with you," he said, dropping his hold on me.
"You don't have to." I didn't want to put his life at stake. I just needed to get Ty back.
Steve groaned. "I'm dead if I don't. I might as well take my odds in there."
"Sorry," I said.
He shrugged, and pulled a warn gray tee shirt over his head. "A pack member needs help. That's the same as if my right arm needed stitching. The pack is a part of who I am. We stick together."
"You really view me as a part of the pack?" I asked. A strange warm feeling knotted in my chest.
Steve grinned. "Always have. Come on." He lifted his nose in the air and started to the barn. I quickly followed.
He moved the sagging door to the side with little effort. A gust of moldy dust brushed the air, making me cough. I couldn't make anything out through the illuminated pixies dancing against the incoming light from the door. I blinked, letting it settle, before trying to see.
Steve stepped around me, his bare feet enlivening the creaky floor. He could probably see fine.
"I don't smell Ty," Steve said. His voice sounded odd in the tight stale air. "Are you sure she said she was at the barn?"
"You heard the call as well as I did."
"Yeah," he said with a grumble. He leaned over a stall door, sniffing. The air had settled and I could see his ears shifting along his head, following sounds too low for humans to detect. "Seriously though," he said. "This is weird. There's not a trace of her."
Stepping through the doorway, I entered the main hull. "She said she was somewhere in a basement," I said. "Do you see anything that looks like it would lead us down?" I wanted to ask him more about smelling blood, but couldn't muster the nerve.
Steve made a low grunt, which I took as a no, so I went to investigate myself. I contemplated trying to pick up Ty's scent in the same way I had heard her heartbeat in the car that afternoon, but chickened out. I didn't want that awful feeling of losing myself to happen again. I shivered at the thought. I needed to stay focused. I needed to stay me.
Trailing my hand along the dusty cow stanchions lining the east side of the barn, the rough coppery layer of rust scratched at my skin. I couldn't imagine how long ago this place had been occupied, werewolves excluded.
I followed the row of milking stanchions down to the far end, when I realized I could see a small hidden area behind them. Stretching my neck through the equipment, I called out. "Ty? Are you in there?"
"What are you doing?" Steve asked.
"Come here," I said, ushering him over with my hand. "I think I see something." I carefully stepped through, pushing the heavy stanchion bars to the side on their chain. The floor boards groaned under my feet.
"What is it?"
I jumped. "Jeeze, Steve. Don't do that. You nearly gave me a heart attack."
He chuckled. "You told me to join you over here."
I shook my head. "I know, I just didn't think you'd sneak up on me."
"Sorry," he said with a little smile. "So what is this?" he asked, climbing in behind me.
"I don't know. Look," I said. "There's a hidden area back here."
The grin disappeared from Steve's face as I lifted my leg over the far side of the stanchion, into the dark passageway. Steve followed my lead and we started making our way down the corridor.
"Wait," Steve said, pausing me. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. A tremor rippled and rolled under his shirt. I swallowed hard.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
His hand silenced me and I strained to see what he could be referring to, but I couldn't.
Why couldn't Liam be here?
I knew Steve could protect me from most things, considering what he was, but something about Liam made me feel the safest. I missed him. I felt torn, not knowing the whereabouts and safety of either him, or Ty.
"The scent of blood is thick here," Steve said, pulling me from my thoughts. "Werewolf too. It's faint, further down." Steve shook his head. "I still don't smell your friend, only blood and wolf. This isn't good, Charlotte. Aaron must have left one of his pack mates to watch after Ty."
"I think I'm going to throw up," I said, leaning over to steady myself, my hands on my knees. "Ty was right. She is being followed." I tried to slow my breathing. My head spun. "Some killer is down here with her."
"We don't know that, Charlotte."
I glared at Steve from my position. "You smell death, blood and death."
Steve didn't answer, his face looking pale.
I stood up. "We better hurry." I said, moving forward. I couldn't stop to think about everything. I had to find her.
Steve caught up to me. Parts of his body had shifted. His iris' burned gold and the tips of his ears had slipped upward on his head. Crouching over, he walked, his nostrils flaring, and then his arm stopped my path.
"Let me go first," he said, his voice lower in range than normal.
I nodded, but he didn't pay attention. His amber gaze fixated on the dark path in front of us. He moved again, more wolf-like that human. A strong aura rolled from his shoulders, and something in me responded. I could feel it scratching under my skin. Lifting my arm, I watched a ripple thread across my wrist. I couldn't breathe.
I bit my lip to stop the trembling and caught up with Steve. He had rounded a small corner exposing a large, half crumbled-down, stone stairwell. He turned to me, and light flooded my vision. The entire place became vivid, every nodule distinct and clear.
Steve stared at me.
"What?" I asked.
He shook his head with a funny expression and started down the steps. "Nothing," he said.
I wasn't stupid.
I touched my eyes with the tips of my fingers. I didn't need to see them. Dropping my hand, I followed Steve, just grateful for the heightened vision.
The stairs opened into an expansive basement constructed from large crude rocks of all shapes and sizes. On one wall a large shelf made of wood had been drilled into the stone. Various items I didn't know had been placed on it, mostly farming supplies, although I could smell turpentine and paint.
"Charlotte," Steve whispered, making me jump. I cursed myself for being so edgy.
Steve waved me over to some make shift wooden door that had been bolted into the rock. An eerie falling sensation washed over me as he tried to pull it free. Something told me I didn't want to know what was on the other side.
With a grunt, Steve ripped the door from its place, tossing it to the side. The putrid, revolting scent of rotting animal escaped, knocking me back.
"Ah, god!" Steve said. He pulled the edge of his shirt over his nose. Stumbling away from the door, he glanced over his shoulder.
I didn't dare ask what he saw, but two steps to the right, and my lovely new vision answered for me. The horror buckled me. I tried to scream, to move, but nothing seemed to work.
"It's okay, Charlotte. Stand back."
Steve's words felt distant. Everything around me had become engulfed in a warm murky cloud of surrealism.
I couldn't tell if the bodies had been male or female. Shredded and torn, they leaned on each other in a haphazard hump, vacantly staring at us. Blood covered them in thick, blackened layers. Gashes and open wounds wreaked with rot.
"She's not in here," Steve said, although it sounded like he spoke through water. "I don't smell Aaron either, but it was definitely a wolf. I don't like this, Charlotte. I think we should go back. Why don't you try your cell?"
"What?" I asked.
"Your cell," Steve said. He lifted the large wooden door and placed it back against the cold stone. At least it helped muffle the scent. With the bodies out of view, reality came back. My mouth felt dry and pasty. Reaching into my jean pocket, I retrieved my phone, opening it.
Nothing.
"It's dea..." I couldn't say the word as I felt my body flush cold
"Look, let's head back and try the farmhouse," Steve said. "We might be able to find a phone there. I think we need to call the cops."
I knew he was right, but my insides twitched. Ty could be close. The police could take an hour.
Steve twitched and his shifted ears perked toward the far doorway just as a loud scream hit the air. Steve took off towards it.
"Ty!" I hollered.
I somehow got my legs to work, and ran after him. I realized in my immobilizing moment with the bodies, my vision had gone back to normal. I couldn't see a thing through the doorway.
The hall had a cold swallowing affect as I headed aimless down. I stretched my hands out in front of me, hoping to find a wall, and not a dead best friend. I cringed at the thought.
"Ty? Where are you?" A hand slipped around my arm, making me almost die on the spot.
"It's okay. It's me," Steve said.
I sighed with relief, holding my chest.
No answer came from Ty.
"You sure that was her?" Steve asked.
I assumed Steve could see me in the dark, so I gave him a death glare.
"Right," he said. "Come on, this way."
His hand remained gripped on my arm as we wove down several corridors. The ground sloped, bringing us deeper into the Earth. The air around us cooled with a damp, moldy smell.
The sound of dripping water echoed within the cold stonewalls. I begged to be able to see. In the darkness, it reminded me too much of drowning in a tomb. I also wished I didn't have such a vast imagination.
A faint mumbling sound came from up ahead and I moved away from Steve's firm hold, going toward it.
"Wait," Steve whispered, pulling me back.
"What are you doing, Steve? I hear her."
"Shh," he said. I still couldn't see, but his hand covered my mouth, the move surprising me. "I don't think it's your friend, Charlotte. I still don't smell Ty."
I shoved his hand away and glared at him. "Well, maybe you aren't remembering her smell correctly, Steve. You only met her once for like ten minutes."
I heard him clear his throat. "Good point, except for one minor detail."
"What?"
"I don't smell anything human. Period."
I froze. "That's not even funny, Steve."
"I'm not joking. Whatever just screamed isn't human. It's werewolf."
"Just stop it!" I said. Tears stung my eyes. "You know that was Ty. Why would you say such a thing? Why?"
"Charlotte, if it's her...I don't know. Maybe Aaron changed her, or..."
"Or what? What, Steve?" I took a step back from him. A tremor rose up and down my spine and the hall filled with light.
"Charlotte, please. Just calm down." His lanky, too long arms reached for me.
"Stay away from me, Steve," I said, backing away. "What? Are you saying that Ty is now some raging werewolf who...who killed those people?" My voice broke and tears roll down my cheeks.
"Charlotte, I didn't say that."
"Well then don't say anything. Just don't. Ty needs me. She needs my help, and you can't stop me. So just stay away from me."
"Please, Charlotte. It's dangerous. If she is a werewolf she could be scared and changing uncontrollably. Remember what I told you about my mother? She might not know it's you. Liam..."
"Isn't here," I said. My chest hurt. I wanted Liam so much.
"How long have you known?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" Steve asked, his face a little pale.
I took a deep breath. "I'm not stupid. How long ago did you realize that her screams were only in the proximity of the werewolf scent? When did you suspect that it was her Steve?"
Steve looked destroyed, but at the moment I didn't care. I felt betrayed, not only by him, but life itself.
"The thought crossed my mind the first time we entered the barn," he said in a defeated voice. "I thought it was odd that I couldn't pick up her scent anywhere, yet werewolf was strong." His gaze hardened and then turned down. "I also knew it was female."
"You bastard!"
I punched him in the chest, yet he didn't move.
"I didn't know for sure until now. There was no way Ty could have screamed from this close of a distance and still smell only of werewolf. I'm sorry, Charlotte. I just didn't want to say anything. I wanted to be wrong. I was hoping I would find out I was wrong."
"Yeah, well you didn't." I knew my words hurt, but I didn't care. "I'm going to get Ty. Don't follow me." I turned from Steve and started in the direction of the scream.
"Charlotte, please. Just let me help."
I turned around and felt a faint rumble in my chest.
"Then go get Liam."