Chapter 28

We began our search for the vampire and the wolf Tuesday morning. We went to Harvard and waited in the parking lot. Phoenix was sure he would feel them if they were on campus. And sure enough, he did. We thought we were looking for a female wolf and a male vampire. Instead, we found a female vampire and a male wolf. We watched them to make sure they were the ones we were looking for. Phoenix felt the pull in two directions, so we needed to know if it was the wolf or vampire he was feeling here. All of a sudden the girl was gone. Phoenix said she was the one. She was the vampire we were looking for. Now we just needed to find the wolf.

“Wait, I thought vampires couldn’t have babies,” I said.

“As far as I know, they can’t. But if she is a half-breed, it’s possible she could.” he said.

“Half-breed?”

“Right, you are behind on supernatural things. Male vampires can get female humans pregnant, the resulting child is half and half. The mothers usually die if they are not turned. They get some weird illness or something.”

“Oh, that sucks for them.”

“Yeah.”

We followed the pull to find the wolf. Oddly, it seemed we were following the first wolf.

“Hey, Shawn!” the wolf yelled.

“Hey, Kyle,” he said as the wolf approached him.

“We have to talk. It’s important, man!” Kyle said.

“Okay. What is it?”

“It’s about Strix.”

“What happened?”

“She smelled someone or rather two someones. She said they smelled so delicious and then she took off like a bat out of hell. I’m worried.”

“Let’s go find her.”

We learned that the vampire we were looking for was Strix and that she was struggling with her hunger. She must be a Barnette, they said they had a kid struggling. We also learned that the wolf we were looking for was Shawn and that he and Strix have some kind of bond. She obviously avoids him. Kyle seems to watch out for her though. The two look almost identical, which makes me wonder if they are brothers. One of them is obviously Alpha Jacob’s son, maybe both. We continued to watch them waiting for a moment we could introduce ourselves.

It was lunch time, the perfect time to introduce ourselves. Strix was having lunch with Kyle and Shawn and a few others. We approached them. They were eating with some humans, so we just gave our names.

“Hi, I’m Taylor and this is Phoenix. Do you mind if we join you?” As I asked my question, Strix covered her mouth.

“I’m Ben. Sure, we have room,” he said as Shawn and Kyle left with Strix.

“We didn’t mean to scare them away.” Phoenix said.

“You didn’t scare them, my sister just isn’t feeling well and Shawn and Kyle are really protective of her.”

“Are they her boyfriends?” I asked.

“No, nothing like that, not yet anyway. I’m Chris.”

“And I’m Alice. Strix has stomach issues from time to time, she’s not pregnant. I already asked. She freaked out when I did. Just certain smells turn her stomach, she said.”

“Yeah, my sister has a weak stomach.” Ben stated with a half smile, because he knew we knew what he meant, she was hungry and not for food.

“That’s okay. Everyone has some issue they aren’t super proud of.” Phoenix said.

“We haven’t seen you around before, are you in school here?” Chris asked.

“No, actually we were looking for Strix and Shawn. Their parents let it slip that they went to school here.” I lied.

“Oh, sorry. Strix’s stomach is unpredictable.” Alice said.

“No worries, we will catch up with them later.”

We ate lunch with Ben and his friends. It was a nice experience but it made me miss my friends back in Tecumseh. I still call them and post on Facebook. It’s just not the same as hanging out with them.

After lunch, Phoenix and I went home. We needed to figure out how to help Strix so she didn’t run every time we were around.

I talked it over with Phoenix. He said he could mask his scent and that he might beagle to mask mine as well. We would try it later when we went back to the Barnette house. Until then, we just watched TV. Ben told us that they usually get home around five, so we had some time to kill.

When we arrived at the Barnette home, Ben and Shawn were waiting outside. We greeted them and spoke about why we were here and the importance of speaking with and forming an alliance with them. Then we went inside and spoke with everyone. Alpha Jacob was there as well, as was his witch Aria. Strix didn’t seem to be having any issues, so I guess the masking of our scents worked. We spoke for hours getting to know each other. And then the conversation got serious. We spoke about the coming war and the roles we would all play in it. We also talked about the missing pups and other disappearances. Those, we would need to take care of before the war.