Look for me by moonlight.

Chapter 1

         At this very moment my entire world was reduced to only the erratic beating of my own heart and the harsh burning in my lungs with every draw of breath as raced I through the dark undergrowth in a forest.
         With each shuttering breath a new flash of my surroundings came through the dark as if lighting up in my path, it hurt to breathe as I weaved between trees and under branches. Behind me I could hear the low ominous thumps of feet hitting the ground in pursuit. Moonlight sliced between leaves blinding me at every turn and just as I cleared a tree root and bound into a clearing in the trees something solid slammed into my shoulders and threw me to the ground. I could hear it now, breathing over me and blocking the moonlight above me, it placed its large paw into my back and pushed my face into the rotting leaves beneath me, its sharp claws dug into my skin like knives.
         The pain was unbearable. It pushed me harder into the ground, suffocated me. Out of the darkness I heard a monstrous rumbling growl from above me, moments later a searing pain exploded from my hip. I could feel its teeth scraping against my bones as it let go and bit down again on with the most unearthly grotesque sound I had ever heard. The rotting leaves smothered my screams and it gave one last lingering nip and lowered muzzle close to my face, its drool and my blood dripped thickly onto my face.
         The last thing I saw was the beady eyes of a giant black wolf before it melted into the darkness.
#
         One of the most peaceful ways I imagine waking up is to the sound of birds and the gentle whisper of wind between trees, along with the smell of pine cones and fresh grass wafting over you, maybe the smell of some pancakes cooking nearby. At least I imagined it as being peaceful when I lay in bed before school trying to picture a better way of waking up instead of my usual blaring alarm clock from my bedside table.
         But this morning was different, I could tell that and I hadn't even opened my eyes yet. I knew because I was lying in the warmth of the sun and birds were chirping overheard at a painfully loud pitch. I could even see the sunlight through my eye lids and the shadows of swaying branches above me. This would have been a lovely way to wake up, if I had any idea why I was outside.
         Slowly I opened my eyes and squinted into the light surrounding me, I was in a small clearing in a forest. Around me were pine trees and bushes as far as I could see, it smelt of decay and mildew. It was eerily quiet as I sat up, the whole forest seemed to holds its breath as I surveyed where I lay. I wiped leaves, dirt and my own drool off my face.
         Where was I?
         Standing up I stretched and tried to think about my night before, it was a house party for the end of senior year with just the usual underage drinking, loud music and sneaking off into bushes. At that I looked around and expected to see some other partygoers slumped behind bushes half-dressed and wrapped around each other, no one seemed to have made it into my little clearing for their questionably adventures.
         That didn't explain why I was in the forest by myself though, I am not known for my partying reputation, and I'm the last to arrive and the first to leave, and preferably by myself.
         As I stretched I noticed some sore spots on my body, mostly my thighs and lower back. My dress was shredded on my waist from possibly tree branches catching it during my wanderings out here in the dark, there was also a nasty looking bruise over my hip bone and lower back. Sighing I walked in a small circle and peered around the trees and started to panic.
         How the heck do I get out of here?
         My head was throbbing with a hangover that I had no memory of earning and the sun was starting to become unnaturally bright.
         A gust of wind past over me, along with it was voices and the faint smell of coffee. The voices sounded close enough to me that I should have been able to see them, so perhaps I wasn't as far in as I had thought. The house from the party was in the middle of the forest itself and the perfect location for a party, so perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised at how alone I felt. I started walking in the direction of the voices and kept an eye out for the clearing the house sat in. I couldn't even make out the outline of the house in the distance, which was quite a feat considering it was a 3 story mansion.
         I soldiered on into the trees in hunt of the voices, I walked for over 15 minutes in the morning sun and yet the voices just got louder and louder but no more visible. Who knew the sound could travel so far on the wind. Another hundred meters and I could make out the house in the tree line and with it I could see some vans and cars parked around the driveway, around it was people all talking to each other over take away coffees cups and paper bags of what smelt like fresh pasties. This was all ordinary enough, but the people were not the teenagers I partied with last night but instead it was adults all looking alarmingly serious. Something clearly went wrong last night, maybe we ran into the woods drunker than expected before parents started arriving. The closer I got to the house I stronger I started to feel as if I had to avoid being seen and not the step out of the protective tree line. I stood back in the shadows and watched for a moment. People were getting in cars then leaving and more cars were arriving in their place and yet not a single person I recognize showed up.
         My car was parked among the rest of the cars and since I never woke with my bag besides me I had no clue where my car keys were. Taking a deep breath in and practically tasting the coffee on the wind, my stomach grumbled painfully and my head starting pounding which made my decision to walk home instantaneous, I was starving.
         The party house may be in the middle of nowhere, but it wasn't that far from town, a half an hour walk on a bad day, which today was starting to look like a very bad day.
         On my walk home within the shadows I passed many more cars, a police van and an ambulance heading towards the party house.
         I'll find out what happened soon enough, I'm sure that social media is buzzing with the news. All I needed right now though is breakfast, a change of clothes and a long hot shower. As I cut through another clearing in the trees which opened up near the dead end street where I lived I caught another string of voices on the wind. These voices sounded frantic and agitated compared to the eerily quiet murmurs of the party house visitors.
         Cautiously I stepped out the trees and crept towards a neighbour's fence line, I peered around the side to look down the street. In front of my house were cars, vans and a large crowd of people. Among these people I could make out cameras from the local TV news station. Clearly I had missed something while camping in the forest. Why were they at my house? Had something happened to Tiffany? Tiffany is my best friend and has been my best friend for the last 8 years. She was at the party with me last night and hooked up with a cute footballer from one of the neighbouring high schools. Last I saw of her she was sneaking off into the bushes with his arm around her waist. Well there was no way I was going to find out what happened standing around out here but there is also no way I am walking up to all these people to listen to their most likely exaggerated side of the story before hearing it from my family first, if it was about Tiffany then there was no way I'm getting misinformation from strangers about her.
         I backed around the side of the house and slipped through the unlocked side gate into the back yard. On the clothes line were the owners teenage sons clothing out drying. Looking down at my ruined party dress and mudded up boots, I opted for a outfite change and pulled down a hoodie and sweat pants. I pulled them over the top of my dress and put my boots back on. I swept my long blonde hair back into the neck line before I pulled the hood low over my brow.
         I checked over the side fence into the backyard the the house that stood between me and my own home, looking back at me was their large mean dog which then started to pace the fence line while watching me. Dismissing being eaten alive as an option of getting home I walked back to the side gate and snuck down the side of the house and peered into the street one more time. Everyone looked preoccupied talking to the News crew and huddled around their cell phones and whispering to each other. Stepping onto the footpath I slowly walked towards the crowd with my head bowed down low. I started to catch snippets of conversations the closer I got.
         "Missing for 3 days..."
         "..bear attack.."
         "No body found..."
         Well at least it wasn't Tiffany, I saw her last night along with half my senior class. So who has been missing for 3 days and why are they at my house looking for them?
         The closer I got I started to see printed signs on the lawn, on the front of our house there was a picture pinned and around it was teddy bears and flowers. I recognized the person in that photo, it was a 12th grade year book photo with a usual sky blue backdrop and above it in big pink letters was London Ashgrove, and the part that didn't make sense was that the girl in the photo was me.
         I stood in shock a couple meters away from the crowd just staring at the photo of myself. I'm not missing. I'm right here and I was here last night getting ready with Tiffany, Mum was helping pin my hair back in one of the pretty braids she was so incredibly good at.
         From the distance I could hear sobbing from somewhere near the house and my name being muttered over and over again. In the crowd were some of the people I had partied with last night, their eyes and cheeks damp from crying. Some of them were talking to the cameras saying how kind, nice and beautiful I was. How I hadn't been seen since the party.
         I turned my back to the crowd and took a calming breath in, this didn't add up.
         I could still hear them repeating the same words, missing for 3 days. I could hear the words echoing in my mind over and over again, the crying from the house got louder and I could tell it was on the edge of turning into uncontrollable sobbing.
         Sudden movement ahead of me caught my attention, Standing in the tree line was a man and he was staring straight at me. I didn't know if I should run or stand still, did he recognized me as the missing girl, was I in trouble? Would everyone just laugh it off as a mistake? I didn't get time to wonder this because a moment later I felt a heavy hand being placed on my shoulder and start to turn me around. I watched the anonymous man step backwards into the shadows of the forest; he turned as if to walk away but his eyes lingered on me as if waiting for something to happen.
         "Hey kid, have you seen London Ashgrove?" The voice over my shoulder practically shouted at me causing a violent involuntary flinch from me. As the hand kept pulling me towards them I glimpsed the man in the shadows hold his hand out to me the same way a father would beckon to a toddler. Before I knew it was I face to face with a reported that towered over me. For a moment he seemed confused before the recognition hit him. "London Ashgove?"
         Over his shoulder a camera was already pointed at me and the camera man seemed frozen in place with its lens focused solely on my face. I froze for moment and then someone shouted my name, instantly I was on the move and backing away from the reporter who tried his hardest to keep a vice like grip of my sleeve. Something wasn't right. People started turning in our direction and shouting my name, some were yelling asking where I had been and moving towards me and it was suddenly extremely claustrophobic for me. I had to leave. There was a hot feeling at the back of my neck that begged me to run, it was nauseating. In the crowd I made out my mums tear streaked face which seemed frozen mid yell, my name on her lips. But time seemed to freeze and wait for my final decision. I glanced over my shoulder towards the trees, the man still stood half turned away and looking at me with his hand extended in my direction.
         That was my choice.
         The noise all came crashing down on me at one, it was unbearable. I twisted out of the reporters grip and took one last look at my mother's face as it started to fall with the realization of what I was about to do. Then I ran.
         I ran towards the strange man in the shadows and before I could reach him he too started running. As I followed he ran into the trees, then the clearing and then out the other side into the thick forest. He seemed to dodge the roots as if he had done this a million times and made a path towards the road on the other side of the woods. I wasn't as graceful as him, thorns and branches tore at my skin and clothes, I fell at least once during the run and it was completely exhilarating. Suddenly I ran into something solid and fell backwards onto my bottom. The man had stopped running so suddenly that I had crashed into him, he didn't even glance back as I got up off the ground and brushed leaves of dirt off me for the second time today. Behind me I could hear people running through the trees, yelling my name and searching. There was no turning back now. They seemed far away but they could catch up any moment.
         "Why did we stop?" I panted.
Without answering a silver sedan with tinted windows pulled up in front of us. He made to the back door and opened in, then opening the front passenger door and slid in.
         "Get in!" He bellowed just before slamming his door shut.
I hesitated for a moment, why was I actually doing this? Why was I running? It was only misunderstanding that I was missing; surly I wouldn't be in any trouble? Behind me I could hear the yelling getting closer, I could make out Tiffany's voice in the crowd, she was the closest to me. I heard a window roll down in the car and turned back towards it.
         "Get in London" He said, He had light brown hair tied back off his face and a few days stubble growing on a pointed jaw, what was peculiar was his ice blue eyes. He starred at me evenly from the front passenger seat of the car. Before I even realized what I had did I was half sliding into the back seat, I paused for a moment and hear him huff in annoyance from the front seat.
         I glance back into the trees and made out the shadows of people passing between trees.
         "London, close the door before they see us" he demanded over his shoulder at me. I hesitated when I caught his reflection staring at me in the side mirror of the car. I instantly pulled my feet into the car and slammed the door after me. The car started and took off down the road leaving town. I buckled my seat belt and noted a chilling sweat was lingering on the back of neck, I swept my hair out of my collar and tried to wipe away the moisture, my hand came away dry but the feeling lingered a little longer before edging away. Ignoring it I started pulling twigs out of my hair and practised yoga breaths to calm my nerves. Was I being abducted?
         Behind the steering wheel was a woman with bright red hair that was cropped short and smoothed back behind her ears, her skin was a beautiful caramel and seemed to glow in the sun light.
         "Who are you?" I asked while gripping the cool leather seats under me still trying to maintain my panic, my voice came out even and demanding which was surprising for both my captors and I, if their raised eyebrows meant anything.
         "I am Rom and this is Kali, we have been looking for you" Rom glanced over his shoulder at me while giving me a once over and turned back towards the road. Kali made no indication of hearing her name mentioned; instead she stared intently at the road ahead. A road which appeared to pass by extraordinarily fast. Sensing me looking over her shoulder at the speedometer she slowed the car a fraction and shuffled over in her seat to block my view the best she could. I slumped back into the seats and closed my eyes.
         "Why were you looking for me? Where have I been?"
         "You have been in the forest but we were not sure where, and it's not my place to tell you why" Rom shrugged as if withholding the reason they were abduction me was completely normal.
         "Why can't you tell me? What's going on?" I started to get the nauseating feeling again. I couldn't quite place it but everything felt off and foreign. I needed answers.
         "Because it will just scare you" Kali answered, she was watching me from the revision mirror. I noticed that the cars speed had picked up again and we had left my town far behind. A lot of this situation should have been alarming me a lot more than it was, and I was aware of that, but I could also feel deep inside that even this unsettling situation was a far better outcome than if I has stayed at home to confront all those people.
         "I'm a big girl and I want answers" I sat up and crossed my arms over my chest. I may only be 17 and short but I like to think I can be intimidating.
         "Here, clean-up" rom dismissed me and passed back a Handkerchief and a bottle of water. Clearly I wasn't going to get answers. I scooted across the back seat to catch my own reflection in the revision mirror, it wasn't good. My hair was matted and there was something dried at the ends, my face was smeared with dirt and cuts from the run through the woods. Something else was off too but it was hard to pin down while being so dishevelled. I tipped some water onto the handkerchief and started wiping at my face. Starting on my cheeks I wiped over a particularly nasty looking patch of dried blood, as the blood wiped away it revealed no cut underneath. I started wiping at the rest of my face with a bit more vigor.
         "What the heck?" I stared at my reflection. No cuts. No nothing. I felt the branches scratching at my face and I could see the blood everywhere.
         "What?" Rom asked with a peculiar smirk on his face.
         "I have no cuts, why do I have no cuts?" I pulled back my sleeved and wiped them over too, no cuts but dirt and dried blood.
         "They have healed, don't think about it too much" He turned and stared at me, I reached up to wipe at the cool sweat on my neck which reappeared. I sighed and looked out the window as I brushed my fingered through my hair, the ends were matted with something dried. I brought a lock of hair to my nose and took a sniff, I gagged instantly.
         "Why is there blood in my hair?" I practically yelped. Kali swerved slightly and glared at me in the mirror.
         Rom Sighed again.
         "Can you not wait until we get home?" He asked.
         "No" I demanded. I hear Kali mumble under her breath and Rom exchanged a glance with her before turning in his seat to face me once more.
         "The blood is yours." He held my gaze and waited.
         "I'm not injured" I pointed out.
         "You're not now" Rom said evenly while reaching into a backpack at my feet. He pulled out a glass bottle of water and handed it to me.
         "What's this?" I took it and held it out, my other hand already holding the other bottle of water.
         "Drink it and you will feel better" He motioned towards the bottle and watched me as I unscrewed the cap.
         It smelled vaguely of elder flower and honey. Rom was still watching me so I took a sip and put the bottle in my lap. A warm feeling spread through my chest and I took another sip instinctively. The more I drank the more comfortable I felt. I slowly sunk back into my seat and watching the trees past the windows. I felt the glass bottle being pulled out of my hands and I sunk further into the seat while tucking my hand behind my head in a effort to get comfortable. I momentarily wondered if I was getting sick as the cold sweat on the back of my neck had flared up again before starting to ease off with the warmth of the elder water.
         Then everything went dark.
         I dreamt of the forest, of the moonlight and the running. I could feel the night air rushing against me, and it was almost peaceful. Out of the dark I heard a howl and the sound of something moving through the dark towards me. The moon vanished from above and then I see it, the bright eyes in the darkness, they paced back and forth in front of me growling. The close they got the bigger the body they belonged to appeared until it was standing at eye level and opened its jaws wide and emitted a territorial low rumbling growl of a wolf. The message was clear. His.