Chapter 17

Cameron related the story of Raven’s capture to Wayne as they raced his motorcycle in the fading light. It was difficult to have a conversation over the noise of the bike but Wayne seemed to get the picture. Raven was gone, kidnapped by the same people that had tried to kill Cameron.

He had to be careful what he told Wayne. His joints still ached from nearly getting pulled out of their sockets by Wayne’s steel ropes, the same ropes he knew were coiled under Wayne’s jacket. Explaining that he was a werewolf was out of the question. Wayne was still getting used to his appearance as Cameron instead of Brandon. He’d had to compound his lies by claiming that the fire was a second assassination attempt against him, not just a freak accident, and Wayne was buying it. He felt bad for lying to Wayne about Benedict’s death, but Wayne had come close to strangling him. Nothing could bring Benedict back but they could still rescue Raven.

Wayne asked where they were going and Cameron said they were heading for the not-so-safe house he’d abandoned after being attacked there.

“Are you mental?” Wayne yelled over the din. “It’s not safe ... they already know about it ... they could be there right now!”

“Exactly,” Cameron said, trying to keep his voice level in the hopes that Wayne would calm down. “They don’t want Raven, they want me.” He paused. “Do you hear something ringing?”

As Cameron pulled over down the street from the house he could hear what sounded like a cell phone.

“It’s not my ringtone,” said Wayne, who pulled out his phone and looked at it anyway.

The noise seemed to be coming from the bike, from inside the small storage compartment in the seat. He opened it up and sure enough there was a small, cheap-looking phone inside. The ringing stopped. He looked at Wayne.

“I thought you didn’t have a phone,” Wayne said.

“I don’t own a motorcycle either. They must have planted it. They’ll call back.” Cameron pocketed the phone. “I hope.”

“You’ve got it all worked out, huh?” said Wayne. “This is so fucked.”

They approached the house cautiously, but there was no one around that they could see. They entered through the still-broken back door. The smell of garbage was much worse than when Cameron had last been here. They had to hold their noses as they made their way into the kitchen.

It looked like nothing had changed since Cameron’s encounter with Lana. They walked around collecting the stray knives that were still embedded in various surfaces. Having something to do seemed to help Wayne stay calm. They sat down in the dining room and closed the door to block the stench in the kitchen. As darkness fell outside, Cameron flicked the light switch on, but nothing happened. The power had finally been cut. He knew where to find matches and candles, though, and lit some before it got too dark.

“So, Cameron, what are you going to do when they call?” Wayne asked.

“See what they want. There’s always a demand, right?”

Wayne nodded. “And your theory is they want you for her?”

“Right.”

“Then what?”

“What do you mean, ‘then what’? I’ll do it!” Cameron didn’t really care what they wanted. It was his fault Raven was in trouble and he doubted they could hold him for long. He could defend himself from them much better than she could.

“OK, fine, so let’s suppose they have you pass each-other on a bridge.”

“A bridge?”

“Never mind. What are you going to do, let them kill you?”

“I can take them,” Cameron said. Wayne, not knowing what Cameron was capable of, gave him some major side-eye.

“Wrong,” said Wayne. “You did beat one assassin, somehow. You think they’re gonna send just one again? How about 5? How about those guys with guns?”

“I don’t care!” yelled Cameron, and he smacked one of the candles off the table. Wayne followed where it rolled to the wall and made sure it didn’t set the house on fire.

“You can’t take them alone, BUT,” he said, stomping his foot on the small flame in punctuation. “We can.”

“What, both of us?”

Wayne shook his head. “No. All three of us.”

“Who...”

“Us and my girlfriend, Sara. She was being trained by Benedict too. She can help.”

Cameron winced. Sara, the girl he’d fucked in the restaurant the first night he’d turned. Who knew what he looked like as Cameron. Who knew he was a werewolf. If she got involved it wouldn’t be long until he’d find a metal coil wrapped around his neck.

“Um, I really don’t think that’s a good idea...”

Wayne smiled. “That’s OK, I texted her a few minutes ago, she’ll be here soon. She lives close by, actually.”

“What?!” yelled Cameron.

“Man, what’s your problem? You need all the help you can get!”

“She ... I...” The lies had piled up too quickly and Cameron couldn’t make up a good excuse fast enough.

“Cameron took me on a date and it didn’t end well,” said Sara, choosing this moment to enter the room. Wayne nearly jumped out of his shoes when she spoke. She looked over at Cameron with a look of pure evil joy. “Hello Cameron, you don’t look dead at all.”

Sara was dressed for bad-assery. She had on her leather jacket and jeans that looked so starched Cameron was surprised she could bend her knees to walk. Her face had adopted a more serious shade since he last saw her. She didn’t look like a girl who couldn’t stop giggling.

“You know him? Dead? What are you talking about?” Wayne looked back and forth at Cameron and Sara.

“You may remember hearing that ‘Cameron Barnes’ was ‘killed’ a month ago by ‘a cougar’,” she said, making big, exaggerated air quotes as she circled slowly around Cameron. “Don’t you remember, Wayne?”

“Right, the candle-light vigil, I remember that, that was for him?” Wayne started hyperventilating.

“Nope,” said Sara, and now she chuckled to herself, but it was unsettling. “It wasn’t for him, it was because of him.”

Wayne looked blank.

“You know he’s a werewolf, right?”

“No, not like that’s an important detail or anything! For fuck’s sake!” Wayne yelled, and stormed out of the room.

Sara glared back at Cameron. “You didn’t tell him?!”

Cameron shrugged.

Sara groaned. “You really are an asshole, Cameron.”

“There isn’t any water here!” Wayne’s voice came from the kitchen. He kicked the door open, letting them all smell the trash Cameron had left rotting in the garbage bags. “Can we please get out of this shithole?”

“Ohhh, sweetie,” said Sara, giving Wayne a big hug. Cameron couldn’t help but watch as she squashed her breasts against him. Wayne definitely noticed it too and visibly relaxed. She had his number, that was for sure. “We can go to my house. Daddy’s away on business and Mom doesn’t mind.”

“You sure?” said Wayne, not pushing her away.

Sara released him. “I’ll tell her we’re doing Bible study, that usually works. She’ll be zonked out in her bedroom anyway. Come on let’s go.”

Wayne threw a glance at Cameron.

“If you say so,” Cameron said.

They walked the short distance to Sara’s house, Cameron pushing the bike behind the other two. They were deep in cutesy-couple whisper mode and the topic was most definitely him. If he had to guess, it sounded like Wayne was relaying Cameron’s tale as he knew it. Finally Wayne raised his voice a little so he could hear.

“So you trust him?” Wayne asked, jabbing a thumb in Cameron’s direction.

“Not really,” she said.

Wayne turned and gave Cameron a look up and down.

“So you’re a werewolf.”

“Yup.”

“Which means you eat people.”

“Used to.”

“Uh huh. And assassins are after you. Why again?”

“Maybe I ate someone important?” Cameron mumbled. Wayne looked a little sick. “It’s OK,” Cameron continued, “I won’t eat you.” It didn’t help.

“And you went out with my girlfriend.”

“Once.”

Wayne looked from Cameron to Sara and back again. “Any more I should know about that?”

“Nope.”

“Nope!” added Sara, too forcefully, and quickly changed the subject. “You guys wait here and I’ll explain that I’m having friends over for Bible study. If she asks what we’re working on just say ‘Corinthians.’”

As it happened, Sara’s mother didn’t even come to the door. Sara went upstairs to check on her and reported that she was fine. She explained that Mrs. Myers had slipped on an icy patch a the previous year and now spent most evenings relaxing with her prescriptions and reruns of Law and Order: SVU. Her frank explanation silenced any jokes the two boys might have made.

She led them to the finished basement, which was kept far less immaculately than the rest of the house. Every piece of slightly-broken-but-still-functional furniture that should have been discarded had found its way down there instead. A large L-shaped leather couch, which looked like it had been all white at some point in the distant past, dominated the space and was pointed at a TV on one wall and a dart board on the other. Sara explained that normally the basement was absolutely off limits to her and was reserved for her dad and his drinking buddies to watch football.