*18+ Sexual/Violence Content Warning - Read At Own Discretion*
A vicious smile touches his lips as he seems to read my intentions.
"I knew it was you. I knew you belonged to me."
***
For centuries an ancient treaty has kept werewolves out of A...
My fingers tap against the steering wheel, watching the familiar swell of trees that part for the road I travel along.
Music softly streams from my speakers, accompanied by a steady buzz of static. It's an old playlist — one I listened to the day I drove away from this town, never to return.
Or so I thought.
My sister is missing. Her neighbour and my friend Lilith text me a day ago saying Belle has been gone for a week.
Naturally, I've come to investigate.
One hand holds my wheel steady as I travel along the straight, my other elbow braced on the door as I skim my fingers through my hair.
Clouds hang low and thick over the trees, the dark splotches of grey signalling how deep autumns claws are in. Heaped clumps of decaying leaves are scattered along the roadside, cutting through the ever-present green pines.
The town sign stands tall and wide, welcoming me past the border. It's white lettering and chipped green paint slathered across ancient wood couldn't be less inviting.
Vihnlock. The town was named after the pack which resided here three centuries ago...
The pack that is returning in less than a week. Hopefully by then, I will be long gone.
I glance over at my boyfriend. His body is slumped with sleep, his cheek pressed against the window. I smirk silently, reaching over to jab him in the ribs.
"El..." I prompt. "Eldon wake up."
He jerks up, blinking his dark eyes blearily. We've been on the road for hours, and he fell asleep about thirty minutes into our travels.
Him joining me on this trip to conduct a personal welfare check on my twin sister is an act of loyalty I demanded on him.
If he didn't prove to me he was truly in this relationship, then I wouldn't be coming back to him when I returned from the city.
"Oh shit." He rubs his eyes before looking out the passenger window. "Where are we?"
"We're here," I murmur.
A dull ache settles beneath my ribs as uncanny sense of déjà vu drapes over me.
Every sloping corner, every unfixed pothole and gnarled tree bent too close to the road is painfully familiar. This is home. Well, was home.
Driveways here are spread far apart. They weave through trees, disappearing into shadow and undergrowth. Now most are blocked by sprawling wrought iron gates.
As if anything could keep werewolves out when they return.
The first sprinkling of commercial buildings appear along the main road. Aged brick, cracked sidewalks and faded paint remind me this is a throughfare town. Nothing special.
"So..." Eldon thrums his fingers against his thigh. "This it?"
"I told you it was small," I tell him, turning off down a familiar road. "You have the town centre here, where the forest breaks. Up the mountain is where most people live."
The mountain isn't impressively large, but the lookout at the top encourages the occasional tourist. In a car parked at the top parking lot was where I lost my virginity...
Eldon shudders. "It's kind of creepy."
He's not wrong. The trees are uncannily tall with thick trunks. Smaller trees fill the gaps, making the forest a brutal landscape not worth much exploration.
The dark, almost haunted aura this town is cursed with is largely to do with the shadows the treetops cast over everything.
The road curves through the trees. "Why werewolves would want to return to reclaim this land, I have no idea."
"If I need to stay longer than anticipated, you should leave," I warn.
My plan is to show up to Belle's and find the report that she is missing to be wrong. Lilith can be an overzealous neighbour, and may have contacting me without realising Belle was home.
I get the feeling, however, that I'm being optimistic. It's not rational, necessarily. It's a cold feeling tracing my skin, digging beneath the surface, warning me that something is wrong.
Regardless, once I find her my plan is to return home before the werewolves return.
"We will both leave." Eldon pins me with a look.
"I'm not going anywhere until Belle is found. I've made that clear," I respond tightly, taking a sip from my energy drink that lost its carbonation hours ago.
"She's estranged from you for a reason," he reminds me. "Maybe she just left, or chances are, she's home and that neighbour of yours has lost it."
"I trust Lilith. She's always kept an eye on Belle for me," I mumble.
I should probably stop consuming caffeine. I'm jittery with anxiety, scared I'm going to find my sister isn't home...or worse.
Belle and I haven't spoken in over a year. She didn't take me leaving well, and so much of our past has pushed us apart. That doesn't mean I love her any less, though.
"Are you going to tell me why you two don't talk anymore?" Eldon shakes a hand through his shaggy hair. It's so long it brushes against his shoulders.
I sigh through my nose. "Nope."
The road begins the slope upward as we start up the mountain. My old childhood home is seated near the bottom, which means we are nearly there.
"Any other dark secrets I should know about?" From the corner of my eye I can see Eldon scanning my face.
I readjust my fingers as they grip the steering wheel. I'm not sure about secrets, but there is much of my childhood I haven't divulged to him.
It seems pointless to drudge up such a miserable past.
And then there's some thing I left behind here that I don't want Eldon digging into.
Venn.
There has never been a compelling reason to share the details of my encounter with the man. It was one just one, slightly drunken night. I mean, Venn told me he never wanted to see me again. It's not exactly worth sharing.
And yet, a year has passed and there hasn't been a day he hasn't haunted my thoughts.
Hopefully Venn remains out of our path during our stay. He never sort out my number, or for me for that matter. I assume he has remained in this sleepy town since.
"No, but there are plenty of embarrassing stories for you to dig up while we are here," I joke breathily, stretching my aching neck. I've been driving for far too long.
Eldon's grin turns wry. "Well, this was the place of all your firsts, huh?"
"Firsts, seconds, thirds, etc." That life seems so far away now.
"Damn. How many lovers are here that I should know about?" He raises his light blond eyebrows playfully.
I'm not sure why but my mind immediately envisions Venn. That was hardly a notable sexual experience.
Well, that's what I tell myself so I don't go insane.
Shamefully, I haven't experienced anything like that since. It's not that Eldon isn't good in bed, it's just that my experience with Venn transcended any pleasure I thought I could attain.
And that was just his fingers...the thought of anything more makes me feel faint.
"Not many," I tell him carefully, an uneasy feeling coasting through me as I acknowledge the emptiness of the road. "When you grow up with people, you don't fuck them. It feels far too incestuous."
Most of the town has left by now. All those people I grew up around have spread out by now.
Except Venn and Belle, of course.
The familiar driveway comes into view as I turn the corner. The same wooden posts stand at the entrance, painted dark purple by Belle and I years ago. The paint is now chipped and faded, but the memory has my heart launching into my throat.
Gravel crunches under tires as I pull off down the driveway. It sweeps down a short hill before we reach my small family home.
Fuck.
"We're here," I murmur, yanking my handbrake up.
The home is worse for wear. The wood boards could do with a coat of paint and the roof is mossy with gutters harbouring their own ecosystem. The old front porch has one end entirely caved in, but at least the door is still the same blue we painted it.
"It's...cute." Eldon blinks slowly, as if waiting for the house to transform into its true state.
"Crap," I deadpan. "It's crap, and yet Belle swore she never wanted to move out."
Tugging the keys from the ignition, I lean back in my seat, letting myself breathe.
I hate this place. Yet, I missed it...
Pine trees surround it, dropping their needles all across the roof and driveway. The scent greets me as I step out of the car, along with a brisk mid autumn breeze.
"Why?" Eldon asks as he struggles to close my cars passenger door. Old piece of shit.
"It was our parents, before they died." I stretch, feeling a few cracks and pops as my muscles ease. "She was so attached she never renovated. She wouldn't even fix anything that broke."
We venture up to the porch. The two steps leading onto it sag in the middle so I take a massive step up, bracing my hands on the railing. Part of it comes apart in my hands, crumpling into a dusty mist.
I knock firmly on the door. It cracks open, making a dull creaking sound.
Weird. She didn't even lock it?
"Belle?" I press the door all the way open, letting my name echo through the home. "It's me, Al."
My nose turns up at the sight that greets me as I step inside.
Piles of things...everywhere.
Not a single surface isn't piled with all sorts of miscellaneous items. The couch, the coffee table, the kitchen bench, even the top of the fridge. All Belle's things are strewn about and it makes my stomach turn uncomfortably.
She's allowed herself to get a lot worse since I left.
"Fuck, this place is messy." Eldon scratches his jaw, a grimace tainting his handsome features.
"Shh," I hush. "Belle? Give us a shout if you're home. I don't want to go through your shit if you are."
There's not much space to walk. How she managed to navigate through here, I'm not sure. All I do know is this is a depiction of her state of mind, of how she was before she went missing.
No response greets us.
The home layout is compact. On the right side is two bedrooms. One Belle and I shared growing up and the other belonged to our parents. That door remained closed after they died.
In the centre is the living room which melts into the small corner kitchen. A dining table was tucked in somewhere, although we never ate family meals together. On the far left is a bathroom, and a semi-outside area attached to the home for the washing machine and dryer.
"She's not here," Eldon notes, picking up an apple core by its stem, his nose scrunched up. It's mostly rotted away.
I stuff my hands into my hair, which desperately needs a wash. "She wouldn't leave. Not without telling Lilith."
"Maybe you don't know her anymore."
Eldon's look is pitying. With all my worry about my sister I forgot to care that he would be seeing my childhood home. He grew up comfortable, while my family didn't. Poverty was all I ever knew, and still kind of do.
"I don't have a very good feeling." I rest my hand on my stomach. "You search that room, I'll take this one."
I purposefully make him check my parents room so I don't have to look. I wade through the mountains of stuff, heading into my sisters room.
My stomach twists. Damn.
My old single cot is gone. Belle has replaced it with a double bed that is shockingly removed of belongings. Her comforter is her favourite colour - green. Dark like the forest, like our eyes.
Belle isn't just my sister, but my twin. We look almost exactly the same, yet act entirely different.
I take in the unmade bed, and her phone on the bedside table. It's precariously balanced near her salt lamp. Picking it up I see it's dead. I wouldn't know her code anyway.
Why leave her phone, though? Is she out for a bit? Her car is missing from the driveway, but Lilith said it has been gone all week...none of this makes any sense.
Her wallet is missing, but all her clothes remain in her wardrobe and all across the floor. I take my time scanning the space without digging too deep.
I step from her room to see Eldon has left my parents one.
"This isn't good." I wrap my arms around myself, a cold wave of dread rolling over me.
"Nothing in there except a ton of useless shit," Eldon informs me, pointing at the door that he mercifully closed.
"She never could part with anything. Not this house, not what's in it." I shake my head, dropping my gaze. "Except me, I suppose."
"Did you find anything?"
"All her shit is still there." I gesture hopelessly toward her room. "She wouldn't leave her phone. Not for a whole week. She always told me she would stick around, even after the wolves came. Apparently she would rather die in our family home then leave it behind."
Something has happened to her. Something bad.
"Okay, I admit that something fucked up is going on," Eldon admits. When he, a chronic optimist, admits things are array, we are really in trouble.
"It's late and I'm tired." I rest my hand against my forehead, feeling a wave of exhaustion. "I say we clean a spot on the floor and in the morning we go around and ask questions."
Nothing can be achieved now. Dusk will settle soon, meaning our search will have to begin tomorrow. We may as well rest while we can.
"Has the police come?" Eldon heads to the couch, deciding to start there.
"No." I take the box he hands me, setting against the wall near the front door. "Lilith reported it, but most of the sheriffs have left town. Those still here are preparing for next week."
There are some towns folk who have known us since birth that have been looking. Nothing has turned up yet, though.
"Alright...so sleeping on the couch then?" He asks as he grabs a pile of clothing in his arms, tossing it into a heap nearby.
I glance at the rooms. No chance I'll stay in my parents room, and being in Belle's right now feels...wrong.
"I suppose we clean off what's on the couches and call it a night," I mumble. I aim for the other couch that faces it, quickly flicking Belle's underwear from Eldon's view. This process feels like a bad enough breach of her privacy.
"Yeah okay. You finish these off, and I'll clear out the bathroom so we can access everything easily."
"Don't throw anything out," I warn, watching him hop over a particularly gruesome pile of discarded rubbish. "Anything could tell us where she is."
"I won't."
We work in silence. I can hear Eldon's constant cursing and the occasional gag. It tells me everything I need to know about the state of that room. Thankfully I manage to clear the couches off quickly, finding only clothing, abandoned craft items and a few boxes of old kitchen items. I set everything against the wall, the damp layer of sweat on my skin making my clothing stick.
There's a few suspicious stains, but nothing we can't handle for now.
The sound of tires crunching on gravel has me freezing. The house has darkened as night draws near, headlights shining vibrant beams through the windows.
I wince, dashing to press myself against the wall.
The car doesn't sound like Belle's. The fanbelt isn't squealing and the exhaust doesn't have a leak. This is someone else.
The car falls silent, the light vanishing. I lean tentatively over, trying to take a glance out the window.
My heart launches into my throat as the door opens, a tall figure stepping out.
Holy fuck.
It's Venn. I can tell despite the low lighting.
He's changed. A lot.
I watch, breathless and stunned as he paces in front of his car for a moment, delving his hands into his thick mass of dark brown hair.
"Belle?" he calls out.
I frown. He's here for Belle? As far as I knew, the two never interacted while I was town, but it's been over a year. So much can change.
Which is apparent considering Venn's sudden change in physique. He is still outlandishly tall, of course. However, he always maintained a relatively slim build. It seems in two years he's packed on a fair amount of muscle that has my mouth drying.
What am I doing?
Shaking my head, I reach for the door. I can't just stand around stupidly and admire him until he eventually leaves.
I step out onto the porch, making sure my leg doesn't go through the rotting wood.
"Belle's not here," I muse, crossing my arms over my chest. "But I am."
🤎••🤎
Hey everyone, thank you so much for deciding the read this story, it means a lot!
If you want to read ahead at any point, you can read this story 10 chapters ahead on Radish and 15 chapters ahead on Inkitt (:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
