Isabel wanted to scream again, but she didn’t have enough air. It was as if she’d been punched in the solar plexus. Her breath came in shallow gasps. The Wolf had gone and she was alone in bed, curled into a ball, the sheets pulled up to her chin. And she had no idea what had just happened. She’d been having amazing sex, that part, at least, wasn’t in doubt. The blindfold had slipped, and she’d opened her eyes. Peter h
ad warned her not to, but she couldn’t help it. It was a reflex action. Then something absolutely terrifying had been looking down at her. She’d squeezed her eyes shut, and when she opened them again, Peter was back, but his face was full of anguish. Then he’d been standing across the room, calling her name. But, for one crazy moment, she had hallucinated that there had been a wolf, a huge, pure black wolf, with amber eyes, by the door. It had lowered its head and whined, pawing the ground. And then it had slipped out of the room. There was a scrabbling sound, and her front door opened and slammed shut. And there was silence.

Was she alone now? Had Peter left? Was the wolf still there, hiding somewhere in the house?
It was like one of those nightmares, where one thing spontaneously turns into something else. In the dream, it seems normal. But this was not normal. There was Peter; there was a wolf. And there was a moment when there was something that looked like Peter and a wolf, all at the same time. The thought was too enormous for her mind to process.

The shadows in the room seemed to be hanging over her. As she stretched her arm out of the bed, they jumped and frolicked like demons. Clinging to her sheets in terror, she flicked the light switch on. The shadows fled and she forced her breathing to slow down.

Isabel lay in bed for a long time, not daring to move. Slowly, she began to gather her thoughts. The first thing was to make sure that she was alone. At last, she wrapped a sheet around her still sex-damp body and crept out into the hallway. She went to the front door. It was locked. Peter’s leathers were in the living room, along with their empty margarita glasses. She pushed the blinds aside. His bike was still in the driveway.
So he’s left without his clothes, and on foot?
She looked into the kitchen and the bathroom. He wasn’t hiding somewhere in the house, playing a bizarre practical joke on her. She broke out in gooseflesh.
What the hell did this mean?
She ran to the door, bolted it and put the security chain on, and retreated to her bed again, her mind reeling. The memory of opening her eyes in the middle of having sex, and seeing something – something like a beast – staring down at her played over and over in her head, blocking out any other thought.
Is that why he won’t let me see him when we have sex? Does that happen every time? Oh, god!
She shuddered and broke out into helpless sobbing.

Isabel cried for a long time, until she was drained. Her head hurt. Nothing made any sense, and she couldn’t deal with it by herself. Wiping her face on her comforter, she retrieved her laptop from a corner table and opened it up. A little green dot was next to Kara’s photo on Skype.

“Please answer!” she muttered.

“What’s up, chica?” came Kara’s confident tone, and Isabel’s heartbeat slowed a little.

“Kara! Something unbelievably freaky has happened!”

“Hey, hey!” Kara’s voice instantly softened. “Calm down, take a deep breath and explain.”

“It’s Peter!”

“What’s he done to you?” she demanded.

“We were having sex,” Isabel stammered. “And he made me cover my eyes, like he does when we do it missionary style, but the blindfold slipped off and – ” She gave in to more sobs. Kara waited quietly until she was done.

“And what?”

“Kara, you know how I said that sometimes his face kind of changes, and he kind of looks like an animal? Well, this time it was way worse: for a second, I was fully looking at a beast!”

“A beast – what?”

“Like a wolf. It mostly looked like a wolf, staring down at me on the bed. Or someone wearing a wolf mask.” Kara was rendered speechless for some time.

“And then what happened?”

“Peter jumped off the bed and ran out of my house.”

“Did he look like a beast when he was running?”

“I don’t know!” Isabel wailed. “I can’t remember! I was so scared and shocked that I thought my heart was going to stop beating!”

“Oh, babe. I wish I was here to give you a hug.”

“Me too.” She blew her nose. “You believe me, right?” she said in a small voice.

“Babe, of course I believe you! And I want you out of there. You’re coming home.” Kara started typing furiously on her computer, her brow wrinkled in concentration. “There’s a flight leaving from Tucson at midday tomorrow, and I’m booking you on it.”

“But – ” Isabel thought of all the work she had to do in the next few days.

“No buts. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m not leaving you there by yourself!”

“Ok, thank you,” Isabel said, too dazed to argue.

“The flight’s direct, so I’ll pick you up in Chicago at 3:30. Will you be ok getting to Tucson?”

“Yes, totally,” Isabel said, full of gratitude for her friend.

“Do you have an Ambien?”

“Yes.”

“Take it. Get some sleep and forget about everything, and we’ll talk tomorrow.” Kara chatted to her for a while longer, calming her down. After she’d said goodnight, Isabel put a movie on, not expecting to sleep. But, without the aid of a sleeping pill, she fell into a heavy, yet broken slumber, and was awakened by her alarm at 7am, ready for the drive to the airport.

The sun hadn’t long risen and the sky was pale gray, casting the landscape in a bleak light. As Isabel drove, the same thoughts came again and again, alternately numbing and horrifying, and every time the nightmare image came back to her, her stomach lurched. Not long after the plane took off, she fell asleep, and didn’t wake up until it was coming in to land.

“You’re home now, don’t worry about anything,” Kara said, sweeping her into a hug in the arrivals area.

“Kara, do you honestly believe me? You don’t think I’m going crazy?” Isabel asked, as soon as they were in Kara’s car.

“Of course I believe you. It’s not like you could have imagined the whole thing, is it?”

“But what if I did? What if I was so caught up in the moment, that my brain created something weird?”

“Peter wouldn’t have left if he didn’t know exactly why you were upset, would he?” Isabel considered for a moment.

“No, he wouldn’t. He would have asked me very calmly why I was screaming my head off! And he left without his clothes. Or his bike.”

“He ran through your neighborhood naked and on foot? Wow. That’s pretty amazing, even by his standards.” They fell silent for a moment. Isabel glanced at her. Her eyes were narrowed, and her lips were pursed.

“What are you thinking?” Isabel asked.

“Oh I was just doing a nerdy run through of transformation stories throughout history. They’re actually pretty consistent. In the same way that monotheistic religions are consistent.”

“You know Bill, who we had coffee with that day in Silver City?” Isabel asked.

“Yeah – the hippy!” Isabel allowed herself a small smile.

“That’s the one. I just remembered a conversation we had. He was talking about shapeshifting. He said that almost every culture has transformation myths, and Native Americans believe that there are people who can turn themselves into animals.”

“Mmm, that’s true.” Kara nodded thoughtfully.

“I felt like he really believed in it.”

“People believe in all kinds of stuff that have no basis in fact.”

“True. I don’t know. Silver City is such an old Native American place. Maybe it’s not a complete coincidence.”

“What, that a man from a faraway country is living there, and sometimes becomes a beast?”

“I know it sounds silly.”

“Well, I don’t have anything better to offer,” Kara said.

Isabel put off all of her upcoming commissions, citing a family bereavement. It did feel like a bereavement. She and Peter had been getting so close, pretty much boyfriend and girlfriend, and, suddenly, he was gone. But it wasn’t just loss she was experiencing. It was something else, which chilled her to the bone, twisting her stomach and making her retch. She rarely checked her phone, feeling sick at the thought of being in contact with him. He didn’t call or message her though. Instead, she and Kara talked and talked, endlessly discussing possibilities. Kara searched the Internet obsessively, looking for references to people transforming into wolves, and coming up with a huge number. Every time she muttered “wow”, or “that’s interesting”, Isabel put a cushion over her head and tuned out. Eventually, Kara conceded that there were no convincing occurrences in the last hundred or so years.

When Isabel had been in Chicago for four days, Josie called, inviting her to a party.

“You sound far away. You’re not in Silver City, are you?” Josie said.

“No, I just had to visit my family up in Chicago,” she explained.
Did Josie know what had happened?
From Peter’s anger at the recent mention of her name, she strongly doubted it, but still, she wasn’t about to give anything away.

“You don’t know what you’re missing,” Josie said. “Everyone’s going mental over here!”

“Why? What’s happening?” Isabel asked, suspecting she wouldn’t like the answer.

“Seems someone spotted one of Rob’s giant wolves, right in town. It was nighttime, but it was running around, not far from people’s houses. Rob says that’s unheard of.” Josie’s voice was staccato, strung tight with excitement, and it burned into Isabel’s eardrums.

“When was that?” Isabel asked weakly.

“Oh, about five days ago, but people are still totally freaking out. I don’t know why. It wasn’t hurting anybody. Apparently it was running at full pelt, like it was trying to escape something.” Isabel sank to the floor, her stomach knotting, and leaned against her bed.

“Shame I’m not around to see the drama,” she managed to say. “Hey, Josie, I’ve got to go. My mom’s calling me to help out in the kitchen. It’s been really nice talking to you though.”

“Sure thing, Bella.” They said goodbye and hung up, and Isabel flicked the TV on to distract herself until Kara came home.

“So you’re not the only one who saw Peter in his
alternative
form,” Kara said later.

“At least I wasn’t going crazy. But, in this situation, I think I’d prefer it if I was.” Isabel covered her face with her hands. “Peter turns into a wolf sometimes. The man I’ve been having sex with is only half human. How could I have been so stupid? When I think about it now, there were so many clues.”

“What, like the fact he liked to do it doggy style, and was a bit strange? Don’t be so hard on yourself. You had no experience of this. It’s not like you were some dumb chick who didn’t realize her boyfriend was cheating on her. This is on a whole other level! I mean, what frame of reference did you have?”

“His internet profile name was something wolf-related. I even nicknamed him The Wolf. How dumb is that?”

“I think it’s what you’d call ironic.”

“It’s pretty much the definition of irony. If you looked it up in the dictionary, there would be a picture of a wolf there, along with my pathetic story.” She stared into space. “How am I ever going to get over this?”

“If it’s any consolation, I’ve been with men who are assholes half the time. At least a wolf is a pretty cool alter ego.”

“Kara!” Isabel laughed, despite her misery. “How would you feel in my situation?”

“In all honesty, I don’t know, babe. I can’t deny that this is as freaky as fuck. I’d probably be having a complete meltdown. So I’d say you’re doing pretty well. You used protection, right?”

“Of course.”

“That’s good. I’d say, try to put it past you, as you’re doing now. Process it and put it down to – a very weird – experience
. You’re moving back to Chicago, yes?” Isabel shook her head.

“Silver City was my dream for so long. I don’t want to give it up because of one freaky guy.”

“But there are other places in the world that are equally arty and fun. You tried it and it didn’t work out. Come back here, and then you can take some time to work out your next step.”

“I have to go back, Kara. It’s important to me that I don’t quit on things so easily.”

Kara nodded, understanding, if not agreeing.

BOOK: Isabel and the Wolf: (Part 4)

13.43Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Read Book Download Book

ads