Oh, she bites!

Mad times, mad rides

The class was crowded. Professor Clark was moving around the tables to pass everyone exam sheets. When he finished, there was still one sheet in his hands. Old man sighed.

"When will mister George finally take his studies seriously? How can.."

"I am, Professor!" a young man raised his hand. Mister Clark raised his brow. "Then who is missing…".

Silence consumed the classroom, until one student named Sam loudly cleared his throat.

"Um, Professor? Well.. I think we miss Jenny."

***

Hannah was crying. Everyone else kept silent. Young man, named Michael, was driving ahead with, apparently, no destination.

What Jenny heard terrified her. She had so many questions in her head, at the same time she was not able to say a word.

"We could go to your aunt's house. We should go there. We should tell them everything." Michael tried to figure out what to do.

"Why the f**k would they do this? They were clearly pure-bloods." Hannah sobbed.

"They will pay. We go to your aunt and tell them all what happened."

"Who will pay, Michael?! I don't f*****g know them! My parents didn't know them!.."

"Hey, Hannah, we cannot solve this now. We need help. But they will pay, ok?"

"They f*****g killed my parents, Michael! And Gods know what happened to Alice!"

Hannah was furious. Michael grabbed her hand.

"I'm sorry… I don't know where to go Hannah. Can you put her address to navigate?"

"I f*****g hate her, Michael…"

"Put it aside. They need to know what happened" he said, handing her over his phone.

Jenny felt like this is not a good time to interrupt the discussion, but she really wanted to escape this situation.

"I don't want to bother you guys, not in this kind of moment. Maybe you can just, I don't know, drive me to Concord, we are heading this way anyway, I have friends there…" Jenny started.

"This is not a good idea.. Jenny, right?" Michael said.

"I don't think Blondie follows what is happening" Hannah said sarcastically. "I don't even think she knows who she is!"

Tall girl laughed through her tears.

"Did your parents hide it from you, Blondie?"

Jenny was not sure about anything. She was driving god knows where with total strangers (who - she just remembered - had a gun!), because guys looking like super-agents were going for them, for who-knows-what reason. And there was this dog, this weird looking, huge dog.

"What do you mean, she doesn't know?" Michael seemed even more confused.

"Why don't we go to the police, guys? I'm sorry about what happened to your family, Hannah, but it seems like it's something that we should not try to solve. And I am not sure how I am even involved in this situation? Are you…"

"Police!" Hannah started laughing "That is a great idea! Let's go to the police station, Michael. We will tell them that a bunch of pure-bloods attacked us, they will handle it for sure!"

"You keep saying pure bloods, what does it even mean?"

Michael looked at Hannah with confusion.

"Oh fuck.. Is this even possible?" he asked. Hannah shrugged.

"Okay guys, could you maybe be more specific? This is getting…"

"Wolfs, Blondie. Like werewolves. Like children of the night." Hannah said loudly, with irritation. "We are half-blood. Not sure about you. What about your family?"

Jenny was staring at the window. The last question didn't really reach her. She blinked twice and laughed.

"Werewolves", she said.

"Yeah. Well, I am not technically a wolf, my mother is. Was.." said Hannah, and tears welled up on her eyes again. She shook her head.

"Werewolves", Jenny whispered.

"Girl, what about your parents? They could not keep it from you.. I mean.." said Michael.

Jenny looked at the two of them. They are not kidding, she thought. They think they are werewolves. This is bad.

"Okay, you got me. Please, drive me to Concord. I'm sorry about your loss Hannah. I really suggest.."

"Ha! She thinks we are crazy!" Hannah laughed again. "She thinks we are f*****g nutheads!"

"Easy, girl! What would you think? It's a lot…" Michael started, but lost his voice after looking at Hannah.

"NUTHEADS! f**k it, you know sweetie, we are almost at Concord, so why don't we leave you there and wish you luck?"

"Hun, this is not…" he started, but then the phone rang.

Hannah looked at her phone and then at Michael.

"I wrote to her”, he said. “Answer it!"

Girl breathed heavily.

"Good morning. Yes we are fine".

She paused for a second. Jenny could hear a female voice. She was clearly worried.

"No. In an hour I think… Yeah. Ok. Bye".

"What did she say?"

"She only asked if I recognized them."

They entered the city. Jenny felt like she did not want to continue like this. After a few minutes, she decided it’s her time.

"Ok. You can leave me somewhere here. I'll manage".

Michael pulled over a general store station. "Are you sure?"

Jenny looked at Hannah. She was angry.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm sure" she said, trying to smile nicely. "I just need to find a police station and tell them everything", she thought. She opened the door and hesitated. The air smelled like 'you should not leave them'. Suddenly, for some reason, she was not so sure anymore. Why would she even think how the air smelled?

"Wait!" Hannah turned to her, and grabbed her arm. "What about you? You could help us! Maybe you could smell them, Blondie!"

"I can smell coffee, Hannah, not men…".

"What about this morning? You could tell they are close! Come on, help us! If you happen to be pure blood, you will be able to identify them. If not, we drive you back to Concord, Manchester or wherever you want." Hannah looked at her with determination. "I saved you. They were looking for two girls, and we are the only wolf-blooded students on the campus. If not for me, you don't want to know what could happen." Her voice cracked. "Please..".

***

The ball bounced off the wall and hit the ceramic figure of the goddess which stood nearby. It fell to the floor and crashed. The man looked at it with no emotion.

“I didn’t like you anyway” he said to the head which remained whole. He could swear it looked at him with anger.

She wasn’t even a true goddess, he thought. She was just a human being with a pretty face, that’s it. She did not need to put any work in it, and yet - for a second, she had it all! It was, of course, only a legend. But even legends were painfully remanding him that he seems to be the only one who needs to put in an effort all the time. Not like the rest of his family. He sighed and looked at the documents describing the new product project. The review needed to wait. It was five in the morning and he could not yet focus on any documents before he knew all went well. That was supposed to be the last time. And she did not have much time left.

Suddenly, the phone rang. He picked up and smiled.

“Good morning! All good to finalize the project?” he said with a little too much enthusiasm. But then his smile faded. His face seemed to become a little bit more red than it was. He tapped his fingers on the table and smiled again nervously.

“Well, I’m sure you can handle it,” he said. “Handle it. I will check with the lab if that is enough.”

As he hung up, the door opened. He quickly hid the phone in one of the lockable drawers.

“Ah, Claire, my dearest!”

A young woman, wearing an expensive, silk robe, looked at the remains of the goddess laying on the floor. She made a sad face.

“Oh, I liked that statue. She had nice hair” she said silently. A man got up and approached her with care.

“Don’t worry about that, dear. We can buy another one if you like,” he said.

A woman stared at him.

“Did you talk with someone? I thought I heard a phone call…”

“Oh, yes! Those stupid marketers try to sell me things, as always, you know..” he laughed. The woman nodded her head slowly but with no certainty. He looked at her and could tell something was puzzling her poor, little mind.

“At five am?” she asked, surprised. The man seemed confused for a second but then he smiled even wider.

“You know, you are right! This is unacceptable. I will definitely file a complaint!” he said. “But don’t trouble yourself, dear. You know when you think you frown, and that can cause wrinkles.”

She looked at him scared.

“Can you see any?!” she asked, putting her forehead closer to his eyes. He blink twice. Sometimes talking to his dearest wife would make him wonder.

“Of course not!” he said and kissed her. “I need to work now. Go finish your beauty sleep”.

She smiled and left the room. He waited to hear her steps move away and run to his desk. He took his phone again from the drawer and searched for a number. “Plan B...” he whispered and made a call.