Chapter Four
1725 Words
Chapter Four
In his room, Hayden was flipping through channels, looking for something to watch. On occasion, he glanced over to Eliza’s window to see how she was faring. For most of the morning, she was on her laptop.
He got up to stretch and unfold his muscles from the prone position he had been in watching TV. As he stretched, he caught sight of Eliza diving across her bed and snapping up her phone. That was a bit curious. He watched as she talked on the cell phone and paced the room. For over an hour, she paced in front of the window and stayed on the phone with whoever she had been talking to. Then she disappeared from sight for a few minutes.
When she reappeared, there were two people behind her. Before he could see who they were clearly, she snapped the curtains closed.
He started to pace his own room, trying to figure out who had come into the room and why she had snapped the curtains closed so quickly. She hadn’t done so when room service came, and the maid had already been there when she was at the pool. He was worried and curious about what was going on.
He thought of the only thing he could do to discover who it was. He grabbed his keycard and left his room. He took the stairs down the few floors onto her floor, where he could smell her in the stairwell. He followed her scent to her room and suddenly caught two familiar scents mixed with her own.
Melissa and Naomi.
Eliza had been so secretive about her location, not answering calls or texts from him. His hearing was sharper than normal, but not anywhere near what it would be if he had been in werewolf form. He stealthily moved down the hall. Other rooms came into earshot, and he dismissed them, focusing on Eliza’s voice. He crept nearer and nearer to her door. He was almost right to it when a door nearby clicked. He quickly walked toward the ice machines, jingling the coins in his pocket. The door clicked closed as the occupant exited the room and headed in the opposite direction.
He peeked down the hall to be sure no one else was around and turned back to Eliza’s door, creeping forward, focusing again on the voices within. He was almost pressed to the door, his hand cupped and his head leaning to the door, struggling to listen through the thick wood. He only heard a few words. They spoke in hushed tones, like they knew someone might be eavesdropping, though they probably didn’t want the neighbors to hear.
He scowled and padded away from the door, not having heard anything useful. He skulked down the hallway and back to the stairwell where he headed back to his room. He was upset he hadn’t been able to glean anything about why Melissa and Naomi were with her. He debated on whether to text Theo and let him know they were there or if he should do some more surveillance first.
He entered his room and locked the door. He angled the TV so he could see it from the desk; keeping the lights off, he watched both the TV and Eliza’s room. He could see the movement of the girls behind the curtains, the shadows casting from the light. One of the girls was sitting, another was standing and so was the other, but a bit further away. Hayden was not a professional spy, so he didn’t have fancy equipment to point at the room to pick up their voices. He was dead in the water with nothing to do but observe.
Had Eliza called the two of them there during that long phone call, or did they go there on their own? Maybe Theo sent them there to warn Eliza that she was in danger?
No, he doubted that Theo would have told Melissa anything about what was going on. It would have been too difficult to explain without revealing what they were. Not to mention, Theo knew that Hayden was there watching Eliza so Theo could have just texted him to let him know trouble was coming.
After coming to the conclusion that it may not be anything other than a gathering of support for Eliza, he let himself relax just a little. Theo would have texted him if something was up.
>>
As soon as Naomi and Melissa had arrived, Eliza ran to the window and snapped the curtains closed. She turned to the two women, who looked puzzled and perplexed. Melissa sat down on the bed and Naomi continued to stand.
“What is going on, Eliza? I don’t understand,” Melissa questioned, with a touch of fear in her voice.
“Okay, here goes. Naomi, do you remember anything from 1994? Twenty-three years ago?” Eliza glanced between Naomi and Melissa.
Naomi looked confused, her brows furrowed in thought. Eliza didn’t like to push the subject of Naomi with Melissa. Naomi’s mental state seemed to be stabilizing, but it was still precarious.
“There were murders...” Naomi finally answered. “In the woods, the same woods as Freddie... two people.”
“What is this about, Eliza? Why are you asking her about it?” Melissa glanced at Eliza. Eliza got up and went to Melissa, putting an arm around her. Naomi sank onto the couch just beyond them.
“You were four years old, Melissa. Naomi was still a beautiful vibrant young single mother, and she was an easy target. Alonso Freelander hired Naomi for a particular job.” Eliza glanced to Naomi. “Do you recall any of that, Naomi?”
Naomi c****d her head to the side and squinted her eyes. “Yes, I recall something like that. Alonso had hired me, not for the factory, but for another job. It was a lot of money, enough money to set me and Melissa up for a very long time. Melissa would not want for anything, he promised me.” Naomi’s eyes glittered for a single moment, but then the spark went out.
“Andrew’s great-grandfather hired my mom for a job?” Melissa asked. “I didn’t know that. What was the job?”
“In order to answer that question, you need to understand something. In 1994, two people were killed in the woods and it was deemed a wolf attack.” Eliza took a big breath and released it slowly.
“Right, and twenty-three years later, Freddie is found dead in the woods, in the same manner. What does it have to do with Naomi?” Melissa gave Eliza a bewildered look.
“I’m getting to that. Something else was happening at the same time, a pattern my dad had found and one I stumbled across as well. In 1994, the firearms factory and the mines were in a hiring frenzy. There was more going on under the surface than a simple rivalry between two of the biggest businesses... it was a rivalry between families. This has to do with Naomi, because of the two people who were attacked that night which reports say, by wolves,” Eliza explained.
“Are you saying my mom controls wolves and orchestrated a wolf attack on those two people in the woods in 1994 because Alonso paid her to do it?” Melissa asked in a sarcastic tone.
Eliza looked at Melissa, surprised she had caught on so quickly, but then she realized Melissa was not expecting the answer to be yes. She had pulled out an impossible situation and threw it out there to make it sound ridiculous.
“Yes, that is exactly what I am saying... though they were not ordinary wolves,” Eliza replied.
Naomi c****d her head like a curious dog soaking in the information about herself.
“Whatever, Eliza. What is this really about?” Melissa scoffed and stood.
“Werewolves...” Naomi said to her daughter.
“Exactly what she said... werewolves,” Eliza confirmed.
Melissa looked at the two of them like they had both grown three heads.
“Melissa, I discovered the information about the feud between the two industries and went to talk to Hayden about it. He gave me the real story on what is going on around here. Theo and Hayden’s family was one of the first to settle in Birkbridge, along with the Freelanders. To make a long story short, the Freelanders are a family of hunters - supernatural hunters whose main target of prey are werewolves. In 1994, Theo and Hayden’s parents arrived in Birkbridge to be hired at the mines. Alonso hired Naomi, who had a special set of skills, to lure Theo and Hayden’s parents into the woods where Alonso was waiting.” Eliza paused for a moment to let the information she had plagued them with set in. Melissa was shaking her head, looking unconvinced.
“When Naomi got the couple into the woods, she went to stand by Alonso’s side, feeling safe, since Alonso was armed with his anti-werewolf weaponry,” Eliza continued. “What Naomi didn’t know was that the weaponry was still ineffective against the werewolves. Theo and Hayden’s parents noticed the guns and the set-up. They shape-shifted and charged to attack, but the hunters didn’t fire. Naomi had to act quickly. With the same skill set she had used to lure them to the woods, she used to turn the werewolves on each other.” Eliza paused again.
Naomi was lucid and listening to the story. Melissa looked at them both with a blank stare.
“Naomi forced the attacking werewolves to turn on each other. They fought to the death and killed themselves. When a werewolf dies, it takes on its natural human form. The two people they found attacked in the woods by wolves were actually the werewolves themselves.” Eliza summed it up.
“Are you telling me that my mother had a hand in the murder of Theo and Hayden’s parents?” Melissa’s eyes widened, tears suddenly streaming down her face.
“Yes, Melissa. Naomi didn’t know she was capable of such a thing. It broke her and made her what you see today because of the guilt and grief. She is broken and battered. Look at what this has cost her.”
Melissa broke down sobbing even more and ran to her mother, throwing her arms around her. She engulfed Naomi in a huge hug. Naomi lifted her arms to hug Melissa back.
“Oh, Mom... oh my God, Mom. I had no idea, I didn’t know... and I brought him to you. I brought him to meet you. He was in your room. Oh God, the horror you must have felt, the guilt when you saw him,” Melissa wailed softly and hugged Naomi tight.
- Writer
