Chapter 5: Alexis

Chapter 5: Alexis

I sympathized with Will. I really did. Although I hadn’t been exactly in his position, I did know what it felt like to be trapped somewhere. I knew what it meant to be alone. That being said, his abrupt hostility toward me was a bit shocking, to say the least. I didn’t want him to lash out at me anymore. In that regard, I was a very non-confrontational soul. I didn’t deserve to be shouted at.

His words and tone stung me. I realized that he was probably going through some PTSD and was probably not within the right frame of mind, but that did not give him a license to misbehave with me as he had just done.

I was brooding in the bedroom that used to belong to my parents when I heard footsteps approaching me. I looked up and saw it was Fred.

“He didn’t mean that,” he said.

I nodded at Fred to let him know that I got it. That it wasn’t unusual for people who had gone through severe trauma to lash out at those around them. But I was too taken aback to say anything.

“Why don’t you rest, Alexis?” Fred said, then left the room.

First, Maurice pins me to the wall, choking the life out of me, and then Will Grimm lashes out at me so cruelly. It was precisely this sort of crap that had prompted me to leave this godforsaken town in the first place. And here I was back again, trapped in this misogynistic hell.

Unable to shake the sorrow that Will’s words had embedded into my heart, I struggled with sleep. He had extended bitterness in my direction, and that bitterness was akin to venom, seeping through my system, making me feel bad. At long last, when sleep did come, I was thankful for it.

Sleep did wonders for my worn body, but it did nothing to subside the heartbreak Will’s rudeness had caused. When I woke up, drenched in sweat, I noticed that I had slept for the entire day. Maybe some fresh air would do me good?

Despite his behavior, I was concerned for him. We hadbonded, after all. So, as I left the house, I checked in to see if he was sleeping or not.

The bed was impeccably made, the empty tray, plates, and glasses were stacked on the bedside table, and there was no sign of Will. Good. I didn’t want to confront him right now. Not until he’d issued some form of apology for his outburst. Maybe he was out in the commune, interacting with the pack, talking to people.

I snuck out through the backdoor and pulled my hoodie over my head, concealing my identity entirely. I could hear Will’s voice coming from the center of the commune. From the sound of it, they had lit a bonfire in his honor, even though it was a weeknight.

“…caged like a lab rat inside a horrible mansion…”

The crowd went, “Ooh,” hanging on to his every word.

I crept out of the commune, sneaking through the unguarded front gate. Right as I was about to leave, though, someone grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. I wheeled around to attack whoever it was but stopped when I saw that it was Vincent.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He asked.

“Why aren’t you over there with the rest of the pack?”

“Hey, I asked first.”

“Fine,” I sighed and pulled my hoodie off. “I just want some fresh air. Something happened with Will earlier today. And then there was the whole thing where your dad was trying to strangle me. I just need to be away for a while to reorient my thoughts and everything.”

“You’re not thinking of running away again, are you?” Vincent asked gravely.

“Look, Vince, you’re the only person here who’s ever been nice to me, hasn’t treated me like I was dog crap, never ignored me. Besides you, I haven’t got much here. The pack doesn’t even acknowledge my existence. The guy I rescue ends up hollering at me. The pack alpha hates my guts,” I burst out bitterly.

“Listen, Alexis, I know it feels like things aren’t going your way, but the pack will eventually see that you did a noble accomplishment. They’ll admire you for it in time.”

“Vince, I envy your optimism. Truly. I think it’s too late for things to change,” I said.

“Fine, I won’t stand in your way then,” he said, stepping aside and letting me pass.

“Oh, stop being so dramatic. I’m just going for a walk. It’s still an hour before curfew. I’ll come back,” I said dryly.

From inside the Grimm Abode, I could hear loud laughter and chatter, which only made my bitterness worse. Will had only been here for a few hours, and already the pack had accepted him.

From here, I could see the blinking and shimmering lights of Fiddler’s Green a mile below me. That calm little seaside town would be the perfect escape for me just now. I could go to a bar, get hammered, and then throw rocks into the ocean at the wharf. Maybe I’d get into a bar brawl with a couple of unhappy, drunk sports fans. It would be so cathartic to walk into the cold, breezy, and dark streets of the town. But going down there on foot would take me fifteen minutes. Another fifteen to come back. By then, the curfew would already be in place, and I’d catch hell from the pack members for breaking the rules. As if I wasn’t in hot water already.

As I briskly walked, I tried to reason with my mind that I should go easier on Will and let it go that he had snapped at me. It wasn’t that big of a deal. People do all sorts of things when they’re experiencing post-traumatic stress. In a way, I was being selfish, making it all about me.

I never got to finish my self-actualizing.

The same stale stench of blood, that salty metallic tinge, poured through the air just as it had done last night when I had come across the vampires in the forest. The townsfolk were blissfully unaware of the existence of creatures like werewolves and vampires in their midst, but we werewolves knew that the vampires thrived somewhere in the direction of Fiddler’s Cove. Some of us had a rough idea that maybe they even lived down there, where the sun never shone, the air was cool, and there was access to the sea.

None of us were allowed to venture that far under orders from our alpha.

But this smell and this airborne taste of blood weren’t coming from as far as Fiddler’s Cove. This was right here. I had barely even left the outer limits of Grimm Abode. What were the vampires doing here?

The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I caught the first glimpse of the shadows moving through the trees and heading into the clearing. There was no doubt in my mind that they were the same vampires I had encountered in the forest last night. I couldn’t just stand there and ogle as they approached the Grimm Abode.

This was what I had always feared. It wasn’t always like this. When I was a kid, the vampires did not hold sway over the town as they do nowadays. I couldn’t believe the sight that I was seeing. They were so brazenly walking up to the commune as if this was their turf.

But they were still half a mile away, which gave me enough time to run to the Grimm Abode and warn everybody.

And so, begrudgingly, I raced back to the commune, my heart palpitating, my extremities going cold. The events of last night played like a reel in front of my eyes.

I burst through the gate, running past Vincent, who was sneaking a cigarette by the entrance.

“Alexis? What’s up?” He called after me, running behind me to catch up.

I had no time to stop and explain the entire situation to him. I stormed past the cottages and came into the clearing, where I could see that Will was still sitting in front of the bonfire, covered in a warm shawl, surrounded by the pack members. Maurice was standing in the far back, eyeing everything with disdain.

“Guys! The vampires are approaching the commune!” I yelled.

“Oh look, it’s the wolf who cried vampire!” Maurice, who I presume had been stewing all the while the pack members were crowding around Will, spoke angrily.

“I’m not lying!” I said, reciprocating the anger. “You only need to go out and look at them approaching. They’re packing guns and everything.”

Maurice stared daggers at me and stomped past me with some of the pack’s able-bodied, young members following him. I was not one to simply stay behind. I raced behind them as they stepped out of the commune’s gates and came face to face with the sight that I had been warning them about.

Maurice took one look at the approaching vampire, then came hurtling back inside, looking panicked and crestfallen. He was rubbing his chin and muttering something to himself while all around him, the werewolves were clamoring and demanding a plan of action.

“What are we going to do, Maurice?”

“Maurice, should we fight?”

“We can’t all fight!”

“Do we meet them in battle out in the field?”

So many discordant voices and so much chaos. I shot a look at Will, who was still sitting at the bonfire, staring deeply into the flames.

“Flee,” Maurice spoke slowly, in a voice so quiet that most wolves stopped shouting to try to understand what he had just said.

“What did you say?” I called out loudly from across the bonfire.

“I say we don’t spill blood. I say we pick and choose our battles. This one is not in our favor. The vampires outnumber us. They have weaponry we don’t possess. Flee! Run to the town and seek shelter there. Abandon this commune. We are, after all, not defined by where we live but by who we are!” Maurice said.

There was confused silence throughout the pack as they stood there, trying to perceive what their alpha was commanding them to do. My blood, on the other hand, was boiling with rage at the cowardice that Maurice was showing.

“No.”

Everyone turned around to see who had spoken. It was Will. He had taken off his shawl and was standing dangerously close to the flames. He was wearing a loose pair of nondescript jeans and a t-shirt.

“Excuse me, did you say something?” Maurice, who had so far avoided any major confrontation with Will, asked loudly. “Are you questioning the alpha’s decision?”

“You are as much an alpha as much as I am Fenrir,” Will said quietly, but each word he uttered carried powerful weight. I could almost see myself forgiving him for his outburst earlier, given that he was standing up to Maurice. It was about damn time that someone did.

“Fenrir?” Maurice growled confusedly.

“A man who is unaware of our lore, unaware of the great wolf Fenrir, the Norse mythological being whom werewolves all over the world venerate. Is this the man who is assigned the alpha of my pack? A man who would choose to run in the face of a fight instead of standing his ground?” Will said, taking giant strides across the ground and coming face to face with Maurice. He easily towered above Maurice with his physique.

“I’m sorry, who are you to give commands to my pack? You may have been alpha once, but you’ve been presumed dead for more than half a century, and now you come here, in my commune, barking orders, tarnishing my character with your words?” Maurice spat back.

“I would tarnish your character if you had any,” Will said. “But you lack conviction, moral fiber, and any ability to lead these men. We are not going to flee. I did not lay the foundations of the Grimm Abode with my bare hands so that one day we would run away from a scuffle with, what, vampires?”

I had to say or do something. The pack was indecisive as to who to turn to for leadership, and time was already running out. The vampires must have covered a lot of distance by now.

“Listen to him. We have to fight,” I said.

Before anyone could pay attention to me, Maurice took a cheap shot at Will, punching him sternly in the face. But this did not sway Will or even draw blood. But something happened to me as Maurice recoiled his fist and prepared to attack a surprised Will again.

A strong force propelled me to defend my…my mate. Every part of my being became infused with an energy that I could only perceive as the bond that tied me to Will. I rushed forward and shoved Maurice away from Will.

“Don’t you attack him,” I said as I pushed Maurice away. Maurice staggered and struggled to keep his balance.

“Listen to me, child!” Will grabbed me by the shoulders, tight enough to hurt. “I do not need your help. I am capable of doing this on my own!”

I did not have the time to register that he was being impatient with me. There was no time to worry about mannerisms and formalities. The time would come for that later. If Will did not require my help, so be it.

I stepped back and turned my attention to the women and children instead. They were all huddled in a corner, looking utterly scared and perplexed.

“Follow me. We can head over to the south of the commune,” I said, waving to the women and the children to listen to me. “The vampires can’t get to us there. Come. I’ll help you.”

As the women and children began jogging after me, I turned to see what Will and Maurice were doing. They were still engaged in a verbal spat, loudly shouting at each other. Fred, along with the other older members of the pack, sat by the bonfire, looking sullen and confused. And the men—they just stood there in silence, not doing anything.

“Run into the barn and lock the doors behind you,” I said to the women and children and went back to where the men were standing.

“Wouldn’t you rather do something than stand here as the two of them duke it out? Protect the commune! The vampires are coming. There’s no time to stand here idly,” I shouted.

“She’s right,” Vincent said as he emerged from the crowd of men. “We have to barricade the commune.”

The crowd of men thinned as they headed out of the Grimm Abode and began barricading the commune for the fight that was to come.

I’d barely stopped for a second, thinking about my next recourse, when a heavy plank hit me on the back of the head, knocking the wind out of me, making me lose my balance and fall face-first on the ground. Blood came from my nose as my face collided with the hard floor. I rolled around in time to see who had attacked me.

It was Maurice, holding one of the spare pieces of wood we kept for kindling the bonfire. The diplomatic look that he bore at most times, the sly political face that he used when addressing the people of Fiddler’s Green as their mayor, was completely gone. In its place was ravaged madness etched across his face. His eyes were lit and wide with frenzy.

“What gives you the right to command my men and women like that, huh?” He screamed at me and swung the plank again.

I braced my face in anticipation of the brutal strike.