THIRTY-SEVEN| HUNTED

"Room for one, please." I tell the receptionist when I finally make it to my next destination. I've been traveling by public bus lately, from town to town for as long as I can. Though I've only been on the road for the sum of a day since I've changed my appearance, I'm so tired I'm nearly delirious. The receptionist asks for the usual ID and payment information before passing me a key. I nod to her in thanks and hurry off to my room, desperately wanting nothing more than to shower and sleep.

But the second I walk into the room, I smell it. Pungent, clogging my senses, wolfsbane. I immediately bolt. My pack seems to weigh a ton as I haul ass back down the corridor and out of the motel. When I glance at the receptionist's desk, I note the woman who gave me the room key is on the phone. Probably alerting her Hunter buddies of the stupid Wolven who didn't see this trap coming.

I manage to make it down the street and into the nearest forest I can find before the itching begins. When I get to the sheltered darkness of the trees, I use my senses to find the closest body of water. Now a bath is mandatory. Whatever form of wolfsbane they used has got to be aerosolized. The stuff's probably all in my hair and everything in my pack by now, despite the brief exposure.

It's freezing, but I prefer the bite of cold to the burning from the wolfsbane. Once I've cleaned everything in the little stream, I recalculate my original plan. Hunters are dangerous not only because they know how to track their prey, but because we can't sense them. They're humans. Not something special aside from the skills and training they have. It's why hiding from them is so hard.

After that, I decide it's too dangerous to get any more motel rooms. I'll just have to risk empty looking buildings. Time has begun to move around me again, spurting irregularly - sometimes too fast and other too slowly. So I take more precautions. I hunt during the day, trying to use normal, human means to do it since there are just way too many Hunters out here. A few towns away from my last night of sleep, I notice something odd about the mountain I'm hunting in.

A sort of presence. A shifter sort of presence, though it doesn't feel like any kind of shifter I've ever been exposed to...but my mind automatically corrects me. The feel of it vaguely reminds me of one person: Cole Azure. But only when he had those creepy eyes that one time. My memory reminds me of the odd scales and the way he was able to control Blue.

Uneasiness trickles through me.

Claw marks, thick and deep, carve through trees at the base of the mountain. Not bear, but similar. *Larger. Way* larger. Whatever kind of shifter Pack it is, I definitely wouldn't want to meet them.

I leave that area the same day.

After that, the distance is playing with my mind more and the weird time lapse isn't helping either. A few times, I swear I see flashes of blood-red hair in town. Though I know it's probably all in my head, I leave the towns when I see them. Better safe than sorry.

- - -

I've officially lost track of the days. Snippets of past and present have thoroughly fucked with me to the point I'm starting to question when I'm awake and when I'm sleeping. My nightmares have become day-mares, merging with my delirium to haunt me twenty-four-seven. I begin to avoid all interaction with others, unable to trust if I'm really talking to a person or the figments of my imagination.

I choose yet another crappy, run down building to squat for the night. By now, I'm starting to feel the bond tugging at my mind, trying to force me back east. It's like an itch I can't scratch, slowly driving me insane. Not to mention the physical throbbing of my scars - well, the deeper ones that hadn't healed. I swear, I have scars on my internal organs or something by the way they feel right now.

I braid my hair tight to my skull, twisting the dyed reddish-brown locks as close together as possible. The good thing about the west coast, I'm realizing, is the wide open spaces. All along the east, there were more cities, more people crowded together. I've been running in as random a pattern as I can for the last five days, only stopping to rest a few hours here and there.

Twice now, I think I've almost been caught. Once by a Hunter, and the other by Ryker. Luckily, neither saw me first and I was able to get away. Either it was real or I've been hallucinating...I really have no way of knowing for sure at this point, so I treat each perceived threat as real - just in case. But the farther west I go, the more difficult it is for me to blend in with the humans. That asides, I've run out of money and have resorted to stealing what I can to get by.

I don't dare try to hunt out here. There aren't any Wolven around, but I can smell other shifters, the feral mix to the air - but it's not the type I recognize. Last thing I need is to get into a territory dispute for hunting, so I make do with the last of a bag of corn chips for dinner.

I've just about forgotten what a hot meal tastes like and life back in Kiwina seems years ago, though it probably hasn't been more than two weeks since I left. Definitely not more than a month since the bruises I had have only just healed. I did start wearing that necklace Hale gave me again, though. The added warmth from the blue-green crystal gives me some comfort when I start thinking I'm going crazy.

Sometimes when my thoughts begin to wander back to the east, I find myself fiddling with the chain. It happens unconsciously, now a habit I can't seem to break. The uncomfortable tug of the bond has lessened enough to where I can actually get through the day without the desire to jump on the next train back home. So that's nice. If only the hurt of leaving my friends behind was as easy to alleviate.

I've stopped crying over the pain. I guess, in it's own way, that's in improvement, but I still have that stabbing ache in my chest when I think about them. I don't have anything to distract myself anymore, and each day it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid wondering what they're doing.

I'm sure they've noticed I'm gone by now. Mom's probably already searching Florida. Maybe Hale went with her. Or maybe he convinced her to stay put? That it's best I leave for a while while they keep the Azures safe. Not for the first time, I wonder about my father's connection to the Azures and his own Coven. I don't know how that would work out - an alliance between Wolven and vamps - but it can't be easy. The two species are opposites. I don't see how they can get along so well. But, then again, there's a lot I don't understand about the Azures.

I'm sure Mom's been inducted into the Azure Pack by now. The thought gives me the slightest spark of hope. She'll be happy with them, I'm sure of it. Happy to be closer to Hale, too. I know I'd be ecstatic if I were in the same pack as Blue.

Every time I think about him, my chest hurts. I can't help but wonder if he misses me. If I'd left sooner, I'm sure he would have...but after all the issues my prolonged presence caused, I'm not sure. Before, he told me not to run. He said he'd track me down if I did. And I'd be lying if I said I'm glad I haven't seen him. I wish he was here now, despite our issues, I'm really starting to miss him. I just can't tell if that's just because I haven't spoke to another person in a few days or if I really do miss him.

The aching in me argues for the latter, but my mind seems to enjoy throwing wrenches in my emotional logic.

I can't help but think maybe he's glad I left. Maybe even just a little. Maybe he's even forgotten all about me. Maybe he's moved on. Maybe...

I let out a discontented sigh, playing with the hem of my shirt before giving up on trying to avoid thinking of the now dark turn my thoughts have taken. I close my eyes for a second, letting the setting sun do it's thing by darkening the room of the shop I'm camping out in tonight.

Tomorrow I'll have to find a new place, probably in another town. I'm getting tired of running. The irony isn't lost on me that I was running for seven years before this, five of those years went well enough. Now after only a month in one place, I'm sick of running less than three weeks. Something's clearly wrong with me.

*Or maybe I just found something I never knew I was looking for?*

I look back up at the ruined ceiling, searching the rotting wooden rafters for the answer I already know. I did find something in Kiwina. And maybe, if I wasn't so scared, things would have been different for me and Blue. I wince as guilt takes it turn twisting my gut.

The sound of metal on concrete makes me jump to my feet, adrenaline shooting through me. I wince, black dots clouding my vision as I get up too fast. I stumble forward, my heart thrumming too quickly in my chest as the dizziness subsides and my vision clears. I blink a few times, looking around the dirty room for the source of the sound I'd heard before.

There's a flash of crimson in the window before I go flying. My head connects with the wall, denting the plaster and raining debris from above. I cough and sputter as dust and some foul tasting stuff coats the back of my throat.

"Lovely new home you have here, Scarlett. Really suits you." Paris sneers down at me. I groan a response, only getting another lungful of dust she kicks up.

"Let's get this over with, Parri," Ryker appears suddenly by her side, looking around the enclosed space. "This isn't the smartest place to hide, cousin." He directs that little tidbit towards me, his eyes never leaving the door in the far corner. The only way out of the room. One of the only good things about this crumby building. One way in, one way out. Or so I thought.

"Pretty stupid place to hide." Paris agrees and hauls me up, gripping my neck with one hand and my hair with the other. "Any idiot would know to have multiple escape routes. This place is like a one-way trap-"

"Well, well, what have we here?" A raspy southern drawl echoes around the room. A woman, clad in black leather and crisscrossing chains, steps into the light. Human. No doubt about it...but those chains... They're shinier than the classic stainless steel that would be ideal for fashion - or chrome...they're silver. A sickening sense of *déjà vu* hits me. But despite knowing what's about to happen, my body doesn't comply with my wish to run.