House of Wolves
Where Do We Go From Here?
Gerard’s P.O.V.
“Okay, okay, so you’d rather Sorrow be killed than stay here?”
“…She’s not going to get killed.”
“I hate to be so blunt with you Mikey, but yes, yes she will.”
“SHE WON’T!” Mikey screamed, getting up and storming out of the room. I wanted to follow him, to go after him and comfort him. I hated seeing my baby brother cry, I had always felt that as his older brother I should keep him happy, keep him away from harm, and I’d failed. I was a horrible brother…
Chloe leaned face first against the wall, head in her arms, sighing and mumbling to herself. “I can’t believe…he could be so stupid.” She shook her head and turned around to face me.
“H-he’s…he’s not stupid, Chloe, he’s in love…love makes you do crazy things…” I said, not exactly paying attention to what I was saying.
“Yeah, well…he really fucked up this time. We’ve got to get her back…” I looked up at her, puzzled.
“Why? What do you care if she’s alive or not? It’s not like she’s a good friend of ours.”
“I don’t know…” Chloe sighed, staring off into space, “She was just so…nice, y’know? She was just an innocent young girl whose car just happened to collide with ours.” We sat in silence for a bit. I thought about the car crash, how if only we hadn’t been speeding to get home, we would’ve never hit them.
“Hey, Chloe?” I asked. She nodded for me to continue. “Why did we take them with us anyway? Couldn’t we have just taken them to the hospital…and left them there, to find there own way? Or couldn’t we have just fed on them, or just left them there to die?” Chloe thought for a minute, and then shook her head.
“You know, I really don’t know. All I know is we were driving like hell to get home before the sun came out, then we hit them, and then Mikey told me that he wanted them. He told me that he thought the “younger one” was pretty. He didn’t give me any more than that. I said that we couldn’t just leave the other one, so we took them both…I really don’t know why Mikey wanted her so much…”
“Maybe he just sensed that he loved her, you know? They say…that you know your true love at first sight…” I said, struggling to find my words, wishing that Chloe would understand what I was getting on to. But she wouldn’t. As intuitive as she was, she never did understand love. Even after all those years…
“Yeah…that could be it…all I know, is we have to get her back. Even if she has to die anyway, if it’s in our hands it won’t be painful. It’ll be as…natural as possible. And the guilt of it all will be somewhat gone.” I nodded, she nodded, and we were in agreement. Whether Mikey liked it or not, we were going out to get Sorrow, the only question now was how.
[the next night]
Neither Chloe nor I had gotten much sleep. We had gone down to my bedroom at about three in the afternoon, but it was another two hours or more before we finally fell asleep. Chloe kept coming up with new plans on how to find and bring back Sorrow, writing them down, filling in every loophole possible. Finally she fell asleep on the floor, leaning against the bed, pen in hand. With all my strength I had moved her up onto the bed, making sure she’d be comfortable, before laying down and catching some Z’s myself.
When I woke up Chloe was already awake. She was staring at the ceiling with a vacancy in her eyes that was almost depressing. “You okay?” I blurted out mindlessly, scaring the hell out of her.
“Shit, Gerard!” She laughed, blushing. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just running through the latest plan.”
“Oh?” I asked, sitting up.
“Well, I was thinking that we, you, me, and whoever else cares to help, could sneak out of the house tonight, to “feed”. We go off in different directions, and search the entire countryside for her. If we’re lucky, she won’t be with any Wolf-Keepers. Now i-”
“Wolf-Keepers?” I interrupted. Chloe stared at me like I had two heads or something.
“After all of the years of living here you don’t know what a Wolf-Keeper is.” I shook my head. Chloe sighed and thought for a minute.
“Basically they are Vampires that lost their way. Vampires that were abandoned and found comfort in the arms of the Wolves. They learn the Wolven language and eventually become their leaders, their advisers if you will. They prey on humans, just like normal Vampires, but they hate us. Because they were abandoned they have some sort of a grudge against the rest of the Vampire world, and it doesn’t help that the Wolves whisper in their ears either. As you know, Wolves are sly creatures, they’re incredibly smart, and know how to manipulate us humanoids. Eventually these former Vampires become so involved with the Wolves that they begin to think they are one. So if Sorrow’s been captured by one, and is still alive, we’ll have a hell of a time getting to her. The Wolf-Keepers don’t give up their prey so easily, and they usually have an army of Wolves to sick on any intruders. So we’ve just got to hope that she hasn’t been found by one, and is roaming the forests alive.”
“That’s incredible…” Was all I could say. Thinking of what the Wolf-Keepers could possibly look like. Thinking about what it would be like to be abandoned.
“It really is very interesting. I’m still confused as to why you hadn’t been told about them, but that’s another matter. But what I was thinking was that if we do find Sorrow, minus out the Wolf-Keepers, we’d just have to try to talk her into coming back. And if she refuses, we bring along some rope. If she’s with a Wolf-Keeper or with some humans we’d better bring two bats, some guns, rope, and some muscle with us, just in case.” I nodded slowly. It sounded like a pretty simple plan to me.
“What if we don’t find her?” I asked. Chloe grinned.
“Oh, we’ll find her.”
“Okay, okay, so you’d rather Sorrow be killed than stay here?”
“…She’s not going to get killed.”
“I hate to be so blunt with you Mikey, but yes, yes she will.”
“SHE WON’T!” Mikey screamed, getting up and storming out of the room. I wanted to follow him, to go after him and comfort him. I hated seeing my baby brother cry, I had always felt that as his older brother I should keep him happy, keep him away from harm, and I’d failed. I was a horrible brother…
Chloe leaned face first against the wall, head in her arms, sighing and mumbling to herself. “I can’t believe…he could be so stupid.” She shook her head and turned around to face me.
“H-he’s…he’s not stupid, Chloe, he’s in love…love makes you do crazy things…” I said, not exactly paying attention to what I was saying.
“Yeah, well…he really fucked up this time. We’ve got to get her back…” I looked up at her, puzzled.
“Why? What do you care if she’s alive or not? It’s not like she’s a good friend of ours.”
“I don’t know…” Chloe sighed, staring off into space, “She was just so…nice, y’know? She was just an innocent young girl whose car just happened to collide with ours.” We sat in silence for a bit. I thought about the car crash, how if only we hadn’t been speeding to get home, we would’ve never hit them.
“Hey, Chloe?” I asked. She nodded for me to continue. “Why did we take them with us anyway? Couldn’t we have just taken them to the hospital…and left them there, to find there own way? Or couldn’t we have just fed on them, or just left them there to die?” Chloe thought for a minute, and then shook her head.
“You know, I really don’t know. All I know is we were driving like hell to get home before the sun came out, then we hit them, and then Mikey told me that he wanted them. He told me that he thought the “younger one” was pretty. He didn’t give me any more than that. I said that we couldn’t just leave the other one, so we took them both…I really don’t know why Mikey wanted her so much…”
“Maybe he just sensed that he loved her, you know? They say…that you know your true love at first sight…” I said, struggling to find my words, wishing that Chloe would understand what I was getting on to. But she wouldn’t. As intuitive as she was, she never did understand love. Even after all those years…
“Yeah…that could be it…all I know, is we have to get her back. Even if she has to die anyway, if it’s in our hands it won’t be painful. It’ll be as…natural as possible. And the guilt of it all will be somewhat gone.” I nodded, she nodded, and we were in agreement. Whether Mikey liked it or not, we were going out to get Sorrow, the only question now was how.
[the next night]
Neither Chloe nor I had gotten much sleep. We had gone down to my bedroom at about three in the afternoon, but it was another two hours or more before we finally fell asleep. Chloe kept coming up with new plans on how to find and bring back Sorrow, writing them down, filling in every loophole possible. Finally she fell asleep on the floor, leaning against the bed, pen in hand. With all my strength I had moved her up onto the bed, making sure she’d be comfortable, before laying down and catching some Z’s myself.
When I woke up Chloe was already awake. She was staring at the ceiling with a vacancy in her eyes that was almost depressing. “You okay?” I blurted out mindlessly, scaring the hell out of her.
“Shit, Gerard!” She laughed, blushing. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just running through the latest plan.”
“Oh?” I asked, sitting up.
“Well, I was thinking that we, you, me, and whoever else cares to help, could sneak out of the house tonight, to “feed”. We go off in different directions, and search the entire countryside for her. If we’re lucky, she won’t be with any Wolf-Keepers. Now i-”
“Wolf-Keepers?” I interrupted. Chloe stared at me like I had two heads or something.
“After all of the years of living here you don’t know what a Wolf-Keeper is.” I shook my head. Chloe sighed and thought for a minute.
“Basically they are Vampires that lost their way. Vampires that were abandoned and found comfort in the arms of the Wolves. They learn the Wolven language and eventually become their leaders, their advisers if you will. They prey on humans, just like normal Vampires, but they hate us. Because they were abandoned they have some sort of a grudge against the rest of the Vampire world, and it doesn’t help that the Wolves whisper in their ears either. As you know, Wolves are sly creatures, they’re incredibly smart, and know how to manipulate us humanoids. Eventually these former Vampires become so involved with the Wolves that they begin to think they are one. So if Sorrow’s been captured by one, and is still alive, we’ll have a hell of a time getting to her. The Wolf-Keepers don’t give up their prey so easily, and they usually have an army of Wolves to sick on any intruders. So we’ve just got to hope that she hasn’t been found by one, and is roaming the forests alive.”
“That’s incredible…” Was all I could say. Thinking of what the Wolf-Keepers could possibly look like. Thinking about what it would be like to be abandoned.
“It really is very interesting. I’m still confused as to why you hadn’t been told about them, but that’s another matter. But what I was thinking was that if we do find Sorrow, minus out the Wolf-Keepers, we’d just have to try to talk her into coming back. And if she refuses, we bring along some rope. If she’s with a Wolf-Keeper or with some humans we’d better bring two bats, some guns, rope, and some muscle with us, just in case.” I nodded slowly. It sounded like a pretty simple plan to me.
“What if we don’t find her?” I asked. Chloe grinned.
“Oh, we’ll find her.”