Chasing Shadows

Chapter 7 Old Sins

~ Silver ~

Silence hung heavy in the car as Aden drove us out of the gravel lot and hung a left following the road as it wove into the more populated part of town. Aden kept sneaking glances at me but I stared strait ahead, keeping my face carefully blank.

How long had it been since I’d seen Madeline? Years. The last day she was there probably, there was a time when they had been the best of friends. Maddie was one of those kids that when you met the you could tell, home was not always a fun place to be. She had a serious air to her, even as a small child that made it clear she didn’t lead a charmed life. And it had drawn me in. For years the two of us had been thick as thieves, sharing secrets and getting into mischief whenever the opportunity arose.

In my minds eye I could still remember sneaking Maddie into the basement on nights when her mom and dad were fighting. I never knew the whole story but often heard the adults whispering about the mess that was Diana’s home and how she was was fighting her fate. And then that night happened.

My mind rolled back five years, back to when I was fifteen and my biggest concern was trying to convince my dad to let me drive. It had seemed like any other day. School then work, studying with Maddie in the evening. Nothing all that interesting, nothing to indicated such a mundane day would lead to such a dramatic shift.

I, like everyone one else in the pack was roused in the early morning hours by the anguished howls of our Luna. When I managed to stumble outside with my parents I was quickly shuttled back into the house and away from the scene. It was only later I learned the whole story.

Maddie’s mother Diana wasn’t married, which for pack life was an oddity, there weren’t many single parents where one wasn’t just dead. Broken families were exceedingly rare. But Diana was raising Maddie alone. Maddie’s father was a wolf from another pack, a cousin of our Luna Erin, Dante’s fathers wife. His name was Max. I didn’t know anything about their relationship beside idle gossip and Maddie’s second hand accounts but it sounded contemptuous and strained. Maddie often spoke of the screaming arguments and crashing sounds, the fear she felt that drove her to my house in late night hours. I had pitied her often as a kid, wondering what it must be like to not feel safe, even at home.

Max was a familiar face when they were kids but as Maddie grew up he was around less and less. By the time she was eight he only ever showed up at the larger pack gatherings and then I could never remember him doing more then harassing Diana. His interest in his daughter, lukewarm at the best of times seemed to become nonexistent at that point. Maddie never talked about it but I knew, it bothered her, being rejected by the man who sired her.

But years passed and mostly Max faded to the background. Maddie never mentioned him unless he showed up for something, usually harassing her mom about something and beside the occasional greeting at pack celebrations he was just another face in the crowd. That is until he wasn’t.

The cold September night, our Luna found her cousin slain on the floor of Diana kitchen. The house was vacant and Diana and Maddie were gone. At first no one knew what happened. The house was as a mess of broken and overturned furniture, it was clear there was been a struggle but there were too many scents to be sure who had done it. But it took only a couple hours to figure out Diana was running with Maddie and that made everyone sure of her guilt.

I remember when it happened, thinking it would all be over quickly. We were taught from the moment we could walk, how fast and strong, smart we were. That we were special. But as days stretching into weeks, into months, the grief settles in and with it the reality that I had lost my best friend. After the first couple months of rife speculation the tempo of the gossip slowed down. Our Luna hated hearing of her slain kin and soon Diana was only ever mentioned when it was unavoidable and Maddie seemed to be all but forgotten. Everyone moved on with their lives, even me.

I found new friends and the memory of my once dear friends greyed with age and slipped to the back of my mind. But now she was all I could think about. I could smell her lingering scent warm and familiar clinging to my jacket and recalled what Mark had said about her practically being in heat. The flash of rage i felt in that moment was wholly unlike myself and I wasn’t sure I was ready to figure out that particular emotion or the reasons behind it.

Adens voice broke my thoughts and I blinked, seeing the road in front of me for the first time in long minutes. “Earth to Silver, are you listening to me man?”

“Mmhmm” I remarked absently, eyes tracing the tangled trees under the bridge they were crossing that went over the creek Maddie as had run through.

“Sure man, sure.” Aden replied obviously not believing me but not pushing either, “I was saying you and Maddie were friend back in the day, do you think she’d trust you?” He asked and I felt my eyebrows draw together in thought, considering the question.

Memories of hugging her against my side as she shook with fear from the things she’d heard at home and nodded slowly, “unless she’s changed quite a bit then yes, I think she will.” I said slowly, weighing the words as I spoke them.

Aden nodded as he took another turn bringing them into a run down neighborhood. A car all but hit them pulling around a corner recklessly and Aden had to swerve to avoid hitting it. But they both saw the driver and Aden slammed on the breaks. I didn’t bother to speak, I didn’t need to, one look at Aden’s drawn together eyes brows, the cold determination on his face, and I knew, he was chasing Diana. But I was more focused on Maddie. Opening the door of the truck I jumped out even as Aden spun the wheel bringing the heavy vehicle around with a roar of the engine to chase after the fleeing car. The cloud of dust and exhaust smothered all the scents in the area but it wasn’t hard from the fresh rubber in the road to tell which direction the car had come from.

Walking softly in the shadows of empty street I rounded the corner, noting one apartment where the door stood open, the soft breeze making itself at home. For a moment I felt cold fear grip my insides. Maddie hadn’t been in that car. What I’d Diana killed her too? I almost rushed the door but thankfully I did not, because it wasn’t but a moment later I saw her, for a flash of a movement, Maddie, closing the door.

The relief was instant and intense and I sighed, feeling the sudden tension leave my body. Stepping back into the deep shadows of the trees I circled around to watch the apartment as I opened my phone and called Dante, “I have eyes on Maddie, Aden is chasing Diana is her car.”

I could hear Mark in the background whistling and realized I was on speaker phone, “Where are you?” Dante’s deep voice asked.

“Third and Washington.” I said glancing up at the street sign to confirm, “Aden it driving north up Washington, or at least was last I knew.”

“Stay put and we’ll meet you there.” Dante’s dark voice said before the line went dead. I could feel my jaw tighten in annoyance as I shoved the phone in my pocket and closed my eyes to the darkness, letting my eyes adjust.

When I opened them there was one apartment lit from within. A shadow moved across one of the illuminated windows facing me and then there she was, a slender silhouette. For a long moment she stood there unmoving, seemingly looking out the window. I watched her from the shadows wondering if she was probing the shadows with her own gaze, looking for him. Then she started to move, seeming to start to undress and I averted my gaze, heat crawling up the back of my neck.

I waited a few minutes and when I looked back up she was gone and I sighed, leaning back against a tree to settle in and wait. I was unsurprised when a moment later Dante’s thick leather and tobacco scent tinged with Marks sea salt and birch wood scent announced their arrival a moment before Dante and Mark joined him on either side, gazes both fixed to the lit window.

“She up there?” Dante asked and I nodded gaze never leaving the empty window. He seemed to think for a moment before shrugging off his bag and handing it to mark, “stay here” he commanded, before melting away into the dark, leaving me burning with irritation.