Alone: My Cursed Fate

Revelations

*Matteo*

We arrive at our destination, parking on the side of the road and head out into the forest. The warriors spread out behind us, scanning the forest floor for anything unusual. The snowfall would cover up a lot of things though, so that isn't too promising.

After about an hour of searching, we reach the clearing in the middle of the dark forest. The first thing I see is a body covered partially by the falling snow. I freeze in my spot at the sight of it. No, no, no. Please goddess, let her be okay, I pray. I take off in a sprint towards her, Vienna's dad right on my heels. I grab her shoulders, freeing her from the snow. "Aghh!", I let out a scream in surprise as her head falls backward, hardly attached to the rest of her.

"Oh thank goddess", Patrick says. It isn't Vienna. I let out a huge sigh of relief seeing the long red hair and an unfamiliar face. I set the woman's corpse back down and look towards the center of the clearing. Everyone hangs back, letting me proceed on my own. I walk towards the center, knowing what I am going to find there. I stare down at the red stains in the snow, already partially covered up by the snow that continues to fall from the sky. Kneeling down in the snow, I touch the blood and bring my fingers to my nose, confirming Vienna's scent. I swallow the lump that is starting to form in my throat, hot tears prick my eyes. This is a lot of blood. Too much blood, I note. I feel a hand on my shoulder, my father stands over me. Patrick kneels down next to me, also brushing his hand over the blood in the snow, looking shocked.

The warriors get to work around me, but I just remain there, kneeling in the snow with my father by my side. A warrior comes over handing a backpack to Patrick. "Beta Patrick, you might want to take a look at this", he says. Patrick grabs hold of the backpack and inhales deeply, silent tears fall down his cheeks as he nods, confirming our suspicions that it is hers. "We will take a look at everything inside when we get home", Patrick says. I nod in response.

My father gives me one last pat on the back before he stands and goes to inspect the other lady's body. He returns and says, "Vampires".

"Do you think Vienna killed her?"

"Unlikely. Vienna is a good fighter, but without her wolf yet, no way would she be able to do that kind of damage. My best guess is that either the vampires turned on each other or a wolf was here too."

My thoughts immediately go to the golden wolf. That wolf we saw wasn't too far from here now that I think about it. Maybe the golden wolf came across the vampires and Vienna and tried to protect her.

"Can you track the other two?"

"Vampires don't have much of a scent. One of the warriors was able to track them by following the smell of Vienna's blood, but it was a dead end. The snow doesn't make it any easier, all tracks are gone by now."

I exhale in frustration, "They can't just get away with something like this."

"Unfortantely, we just don't have much to work on here, son. But, you know what one of them looks like from your dream, so maybe we can find them off of that. For now, lets just go home and get some rest. It's almost morning, and Vienna isn't going to be here, she would've been gone by midnight."

"Your right. Let's go.", I say as I take one last look at the blood in the snow and then turn to leave.

...

Later on back at the packhouse, I didn't even bother trying to sleep. We arrived around dawn. I went straight to my room and laid down on my bed, just staring at the ceiling. Flashbacks of my dream keep invading my mind. I keep seeing her laying in the snow surrounded by blood. My thoughts take me to dark places, worrying about whether or not she died out there. Would her body continue to teleport at midnight even after she died? - Ugh, I can't think like that, it will drive me crazy.

A knock sounds on my door and Patrick and Lena enter shortly after carrying Vienna's bag. It's a beat-up old black backpack. There is a tag on the inside with the name, "Dela", written in purple sharpie with a heart drawn next to it. The first thing that I pull out from inside is my sweatshirt. It is neatly folded on top as though it was the most recent thing she had worn. This makes me smile, imagining her cherishing my old hoodie. The rest is mostly survival gear- water, food, toiletries, clothes, and a winter jacket. A small black watch was strapped to the handle of the back pack with an alarm set to always go off at 11:55pm. In one of the smaller front pockets, I find my wallet. I guess I won't need to apply for a new license after all. It is empty except for my ID and the photo I have of us in there. The photo now shows signs of wear, as though she had frequently taken it out and held it. The last thing I find in the front most pocket is a small black journal and a pen. I fan through the pages and find that it is about half full.

"We will let you read through that if you want to. I am sure Vienna wouldn't mind if you read it, you two shared everything together.", Lena gives my hand a comforting squeeze.

"Thank you, both of you.", I nod as they both leave the room.

Opening up the journal, its first page reads, "Dear Diary, I stole you today from a Walmart in Des Moines, Iowa. Sorry." I laugh out loud at this line because I can picture Vienna saying this with her sarcastic sense of humor. That page is dated about a week after her disappearance. The next couple of pages she recounts all that has happened that first week. She writes about sleeping in the rain the first night on a mountain and about a woman named Mama Junie from Texas who gave her this backpack and clothes. She writes about lonely forests and busy cities. Every page represents a day, with the journal entry starting with a date and a location. Sometimes the location is the specific name of a town, other times it is just a vague description of a place so far in the middle of nowhere that she never found out where she was.

I read about her learning how to surf from a stranger in California and how she swam in a lake to wash her hair and ended up covered in leeches. I read about how she one day sat at the edge of a cliff with her feet dangling over, wondering if she should just jump, that was dated four days ago. And, I read about me- how she misses my laugh and our tree house talks, all of the jokes she has thought of to tell me in the future, and how she prays every day to the moon goddess that we are not mates so that I am not put through the pain of having a mate that I can never have a future with. That one cuts pretty deep. Tears stream down my face, I wipe them away with the back of my sleeve. I never used to be one to cry. I chuckle quietly at myself, thinking of how much I have cried lately. I just can't stand to think of Vienna in that much pain and loneliness to the point she has debated jumping off of a cliff.

I continue reading and notice that she keeps mentioning someone called, "K". Who is K? She is alone out there, is she not?

I flip to the next page and find a drawing in the upper left margin of the paper. A drawing outlined in black ink of a little wolf.

She colored in the wolf with what appears to be mud that she diluted with water to make into a paint, but she left the little paws and belly white. I gasp and pull the journal closer to get a better look, "My golden wolf?", I think out loud.

It is all starting to make sense. I saw that wolf in my dreams for the first time right after Vienna disappeared. The wolf was just seen within a mile of that clearing Vienna was in. And, that dead vampire lady. The wolf didn't just run into Vienna and protect her, the wolf IS Vienna!