In the end the snow had not been kind enough to show up when it had made its threat a few days earlier. ‘That’s actually a good thing’, thought Sofia as she ran alone along the dirt road. No matter how good the cinanthrope was at hiding his steps, if he was still in the vicinity his footprints would be visible on the white blanket. Even an inexperienced person would soon figure out where he moved. As long as the only thing covering the ground was a thin layer of frost, he would have a better chance of going unnoticed.
That night Sofia had not taken Kas with her. Not only was she going to do her usual exercise routines, but she also wanted to look around in the forest and it could be dangerous for him. She had no idea what the rancher had planned, but knowing them it could be anything. Also, many of the townspeople had hunting licenses and few scruples when it came to shooting a dog, and the presence of a cinanthrope could always attract other types of hunters, whether her mother was there or not.
Besides, if she wasn't able to find him, her own mother would dispatch him. The only thing that reassured her was that he didn't seem to have been around for a while. It wasn’t so weird. Many cinanthropes lived as humans for the whole month and went out only on the night when the full moon forced them to change. Sofía didn't think that was the case with this one, he was a born predator, a hunter. There was a good chance that he was still around, but he had had the good sense to hide better.
“This looks like a good place,” Sofia said to herself when she stopped by the trees and bushes that lined the path.
Although the crescent moon shone bright in the sky, the thick forest was quiet dark to anyone with human eyes. However, the pale argent light was enough for Sofia's pupils to see her surroundings with absolute clarity. Thin rays penetrated through the branches and reflected off the frost that covered the ground, making it glow like quartz dust. The winter cold had its own aroma, one reminiscent of glaciers and ice that softened all the others.
She was close to where she saw the cinanthrope trying to hunt down a deer. There was no reason to think that he would still be there, but the forest was huge and it was the best place to start looking. Just as she was about to plunge into the shadows she heard a sound of footsteps approaching. A part of her shuddered with an instinctive fear that was too deep-rooted to just shake off. However, far from the full moon and without feeling that her body was going to change at any moment, her rational part did not find it difficult to put aside those fears. This was no hunter. Hunters were quiet and they didn't go jogging along a forest trail.
The runner appeared from around a bend in the road and Sofia wanted to kick herself for her bad luck.
“Hey, hi,” Dave stopped when he reached her. “What are you doing here? I thought you weren't working out today. Where's Kas?”
“I didn't bring him, and I didn't really come to exercise. I have something to do,” she commented in a weak voice and fought back the urge to lick her lips.
“Do you want me to give you a hand?” asked the boy, tilting his head to the side.
Sofia bit her lip. Yes, she did want a hand because she felt very lonely with her own problems, but she couldn't involve him in this. To do so would involve telling him things about herself and her relationship with the shadow world, and she didn't have the courage to do that. She wasn't sure how much Dave knew about what was hidden beyond the veil, but she was beginning to dread the thought of him discovering her past as a huntress.
“It's fine if you don't want to, but I've noticed that you've been a little distracted lately. You don't need to tell me anything if you don't feel like it, but if I can help you with anything, don't hesitate to count on me,” he said before she could answer.
“Is it that obvious?” asked Sofia in a whisper.
“We sit next to each other. It's hard not to notice.”
Sofia licked her lips and gazed at the forest depths. Talking was a lot easier if she didn’t look at those blue eyes that could read her body language as if she was an open book.
“This is a very rural town, and there are a lot of ranchers and hunters. A dog has killed a lamb and wounded a deer. Some boys in class were commenting that there are already plans to kill him. It's his natural behavior but the father of one of the boys, the farmer who lost the lamb, is not going to risk him attacking again.”
“And you want to find him and help him,” the boy commented.
Sofia twisted her lips in a little smile and she turned back to him.
“You must think I'm a fool for coming out here at night to look for a dog,” she said, blushing a little.
“Not at all. I think that makes you a good person. What will you do if you find him?”
“I don't know. I've only seen him a couple of times. He seems very elusive, and that's a good thing. I'd like to try to keep him away from the ranchers and hunters but I don't know how I'm going to do that,” confessed Sofia who, as it was obvious, couldn't reveal that the dog had human intelligence and her actual plan was to try to talk to him.
“If you want me to help you, I will, but if he's as elusive as you say he is, he may not let himself be seen,” Dave commented, and ran his tongue over his lips.
“I know, but I want to see if they have set traps or something. Miguel said his father was preparing a little surprise for him, and that could be anything.”
“Then let's go take a look.” With an encouraging smile on his lips, Dave took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
That small gesture made Sofia smile, and a pleasant warmth began to well up in her belly. It was a simple, brief caress, but the touch of his skin against her own hand helped her feel less alone.
Together, they entered the forest. The pale frost-covered grass crunched under their feet. They walked for at least an hour during which time they found multiple boot prints, but no sign that the cinanthrope was still around. It was autumn so he had to be shedding. If he had stayed in the area, Sofia would have seen some tuft of white undercoat, but she saw nothing.
“They're so sure nature belongs to them that they leave their tracks everywhere,” spat Dave in a voice that was a bit deeper than usual.
“You don’t like hunting?”
“I accept hunting for food, but this trophy hunting...” he bent down and picked up a discarded shell casing that was on the ground. “This just litters the wilderness and adds nothing. Wanting to kill a... an animal just because it bothers you, because it made the mistake of touching what it wasn't supposed to touch, is despicable.”
Dave snapped his head away and clenched his jaw hard. A muffled rumble that matched the bristled hair on the back of his neck echoed in his throat. Sofia bit her lip and a knot tightened in her stomach. It was just another detail that didn't have to mean anything, but it didn't change the fact that he growled when he got angry.
A gust of winter wind rose and blew towards them a smell so repulsive that they both wrinkled their noses. It was a rather noticeable stench, one reminiscent of meat that had been forgotten for too long in some tupperware. After exchanging a brief glance, they started walking through the forest trying to make as little noise as possible. Sofia had learned something from her mother, but the way her friend molded himself to the ground didn’t cease to surprise her. Biting her lip she stole him a furtive glance, and again she thought she saw a fleeting greenish glow reflecting on his pupils as the moon fell upon them.
They had a hard time finding the source of the stench as it was quite well hidden, tucked away in an area of dense undergrowth. It was a lamb resting right at the foot of a holly tree, but not just any lamb. This one had a powerful bite in its neck, and it was in such an advanced state of decomposition that it smelled awful, even in that icy cold that dulled the odors.
“What do they think, that the... the dog is going to come back and claim the lamb as if he thinks it belongs to him?” spat Dave, reaching out to the body after kneeling in front of it.
“Don't touch it!” Sofia dropped to her knees beside him and grabbed him by the wrist.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Dave hadn't seen it but Sofia had. It wasn’t only because her eyes gave her a certain advantage that allowed her to see a slight metallic glint, she also knew that kind of trap. The ranchers acted like that when they got angry with the wild fauna. With great care, Sofia disabled the mechanism that activated the snare placed between the holly’s branches, at the perfect height for a scavenger to stick its head in and strangle itself. She then unraveled the wire and, after rolling it into a ball, put it in her pocket to throw it in the trash as soon as she got back home.
“A snare!” Dave gasped, and the color drained from his face.
“It's a cruel trap, but it's not the cruelest thing I've seen them do. It wouldn't have done much to you, not like a foothold trap, but it's not the most pleasant thing to have a snare close around your wrist either.”
A little embarrassed at his carelessness, the boy looked away. Sofia checked the surrounding area for more traps but found nothing else. That was to be expected. A normal dog would fall into a snare with ease. A cinanthrope would think much harder, especially since the meat they consumed had to be fresh. No cinanthrope fed on rotting carrion, their stomachs couldn't handle it and they could get sick just like humans. That's why she found the smell so unpleasant, when Kas would have found it most interesting.
The frozen grass crunched not too far away with the rhythmic cadence of footsteps. Both teenagers turned at the same time towards the forest to gaze at its depths, yet a couple of seconds later Dave raised and eyebrow and looked at his friend with his head tilted to the side. Puzzled by the questioning look she could read on his face, Sofia mimicked his gesture and opened her lips with the intention of asking him what was wrong. However, before any words could come out of them, the footsteps stopped and another sound burst into the night, one that chilled her blood. It was the bloodcurdling click of a rifle bolt.
With her mouth open in a mute gasp and her heart in her throat, Sofia leapt towards her friend and pushed him hard enough to send him crashing to the ground. An unmistakable, deafening roar echoed through the forest, and a rain of splinters and bark fell over them. Sofia flinched and buried her face in the boy's chest, who hugged her tightly in a protective embrace that she found soothing. ‘Fuck...’ a shudder shook her as she realized how close the projectile had hit.
Silence returned to the forest again. Trembling and breathing in quick gasps, the two teenagers dared to pull away just enough for their eyes to meet. In their gazes was a silent question to which they both responded with a nervous nod. As careful as if their lives depended on it, which was not far from the truth, they peered out from behind a nearby tree and scanned their surroundings.
Although Sofia was able to see in the dark, they were in a forest, a forest that was full of bushes, trees, rocks and slopes where a hunter could hide. Nothing was in sight but she knew that they were being stalked. The hair on the back of her neck bristled and the energy in her chest began to stir uneasily, so much so that she started to pant. Perhaps she should have been concerned about her new friend seeing her behaving like a dog, but they had far more serious problems. There would be time to talk to him, if he even asked.
There was a hunter out there, one who had set out to kill them and Sofia didn't understand why. It didn't make any sense, she hadn't changed yet, and the people in her old guild were interested in furs and fangs, not pups that hadn't gone through their first change. None of that made any sense.
Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps and she remained as still as a rabbit being stalked by a hound. That didn't make sense either. Hunters were silent, that's why they were so lethal, because they could stalk even a cinanthrope without being noticed. This guy walked through the woods as if he couldn't see what was in front of him. His feet trampled the grass and made it crunch, he tripped over the roots sticking out of the earth, and he kicked the stones such that they rolled on the ground and collided with each other. If he had set out to scare away all the animals in the forest, he could not have done a better job. Either he was playing with them, or he was an absolute rookie.
A deep growl rumbled in her friend's chest, and this time the boy did nothing to hold it back. When Sofia looked up at him, she saw that the expression on his face had changed. The fear had given way to a frown and tight lips, as if he was fighting a grimace that threatened to break out. Sofia was quite sure of what kind of grimace he was trying to contain. The list of things that probably meant nothing was getting a bit too long.
“Stay here. I'm going to try to get him away from you,” Dave said in a quiet whisper that sounded as harsh as his growl.
“No. What are you going to do?” Sofia asked, her voice trembling.
“Trust me,” he replied with a pleading look that did nothing to mitigate the icy cold she felt inside.
Before Sofia could say anything, Dave jumped to his feet and started to run. Her blood ran cold and the hair on the back of her neck bristled when she realized what her friend was doing. Dave was able to move in absolute silence, but his feet were hitting the ground strong enough for his steps to be heard all throughout the forest. As he ran, he traced a circle around the hunter to get his attention.
The roar of another shot broke through the silence of the night. This time, however, the bullet did not fly towards her, but ricocheted off a rock very close to the boy and disappeared into the darkness. Maybe the hunter was an amateur, but he knew how to aim and shoot. What was worse, he was shooting at bulk, without first identifying what was the creature moving in front of him. Such irresponsible hunters were the most dangerous.
“Fuck, Dave!”
After letting out a growl that she didn’t even try to hold back, Sofía jumped to her feet and ran to hide behind a tree trunk. Taking advantage of the fact that the hunter seemed to have his attention on her friend, she peeked out and scanned the night forest again. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Dave in the distance, running through trees and bushes that he used to confuse the hunter. For an instant she thought she saw again a fleeting greenish glow right in his path, just a couple of reflections in the night, and again the booming sound of a rifle being fired echoed in the darkness.
Sofia bit her lip. Dave was agile and fast, there was no denying that, but the hunter only had to get lucky once. She needed to find him, and fast, so, using stealth to her advantage, she ran towards where the shot had come from. When she found him, she didn't know whether to be relieved or pissed off.
It was a guy about her height but he wasn't wearing typical hunter's attire. In fact, he was wearing jeans, a thick jacket and a wool beanie. He was holding a bolt-action rifle that was very popular hunters – the wildlife ones, not the supernatural creature ones. Sofia growled again. It was someone from the village and he had come to hunt the dog in revenge for the damned lamb.
The growl in her throat went silent when she saw her friend stagger and fall to his knees. Dave, who was breathing very hard and his lips were clenched in a grimace of pain, raised a trembling hand to his chest. It was too dark for a mere human to see anything but undefined shapes, but there was no doubt that the hunter had seen movement around where he had heard the boy fall, since he raised his rifle and took aim. Sofia's blood froze. ‘No, I won’t allow it. Not him!’
With the energy in her chest flaring and a dull rage burning in her belly, Sofia ran towards the hunter and pulled the rifle upwards to deflect the shot. The roar of the detonation deafened her for a moment, but she was experienced enough that it didn't slow her down. Before the hunter could turn to face her, she pulled his beanie down until it covered his entire face and thrust her foot between his legs to trip him with a push. As he fell, the boy shouted in a familiar voice and dropped the rifle. Sofia used the opportunity to kick the weapon away and then ran towards her friend.
“Let's go!” she exclaimed as she grabbed him from his arm to pull him up.
Dave stood up as best he could, though his legs seemed to be shaking a little, and broke into a run. With their hands locked, for Sofia had no intention of letting go of him again, they crossed the dark forest and left the hunter behind. They didn’t stop until they reached the dirt road, where they knew they would be safer. Once there, they both dropped to the ground and remained seated for a long time, panting.
Sofia could feel the energy in her chest shaking and her muscles trembling due to fear. It hadn't been a real hunter, just some asshole who was out hunting a feral dog, but had started shooting without seeing what he was aiming at. That didn't change the fact that the hunters from her guild were a very real thing, and he might as well have been one.
Beside her, Dave was panting as hard as she was, but he seemed to be trying to control the rhythm of his breathing. One trembling hand rested against his chest and an expression of pain crossed his face. Between his tight lips he held a restrained moan. That should have been enough to calm Sofia, but it did not. Fear turned to blind rage, and she pounced on him, grabbed him by the pullover, and locked her eyes in his gaze. It was at that precise moment that she saw it, and her heart skipped a beat as all doubts dissipated.
“Have you gone mad? How could you do something like that? He could have killed you!” she shouted, a note of desperation creeping into her voice.
“I... I just wanted to help you...”
“I don't care!” she cried, and tears began to stream down her cheeks. “I don't care...” She buried her face in his pullover.
Dave let out a long sigh and wrapped his arms around her to hold her close to his chest. When Sofia felt his warmth, his smell, when she knew he was still there and that he wasn't hurt, her integrity collapsed and relief washed over her like a flood to feed her tears. She hated herself for it, because she knew this was going to happen and now there was no turning back. This boy who smelled like forest had become her friend and she didn't want to lose him. The problem was that this fear was becoming far too real for her liking.
Shaken by panic, Sofia pulled away from his embrace and wiped her tears with the sleeve of her sweater. With her gaze still clouded by her crying she saw the worried expression on his face, and a doglike whimper ascended to her throat.
“Sofia...”
“I'm going home,” she said, her voice strangled.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
That suggestion sent a shiver down her spine and the hair on the back of her head bristled.
“No!”
“Sofia, is something wrong?” Dave licked his lips and took a doubtful step toward her, almost fearful that his friend was going to flinch.
“My mother is there and... I don't want you to come near my house when she's there,” she whimpered, her voice trembling with panic. “Please, don't follow me.”
Before Dave could say anything else, Sofia turned and ran. As she dashed down the dirt road toward the village lights, tears ran down her cheeks again. This time they were icy tears, born of the fear she felt, because now she was sure that she hadn't just imagined it. His pupils reflected the light like the eyes of a nocturnal predator, a trait only found in those who carried the blood of the children of the moon in their veins. There was no doubt about it, he was a cinanthrope.