181. She-Wolf

Warning: language, nudity

Waylon's Haunt, just after 2:00 am

The wolf causing the Heads of the Vampire Council to lose sleep took her human form again behind Waylon's Haunt in the early hours of the morning. The transformation hurt as much as it had earlier when she assumed her wolf form and it seemed to take longer too.

"What the fuck?" Eloise screamed when she realized she was naked.

She looked around her, searching for anything to cover herself with. Her eyes fell on the green dirt bag propped against one of the dumpsters. She reluctantly emptied its contents and she was about to wrap it around herself when a couple left the dive bar through a side entrance.

Eloise quickly crouched behind the dumpster, waiting for them to move on. But they lingered, deciding what to do. The female wanted to call it a night, but her date wanted to party on.

Things between the two got violent quickly. Harsh words were exchanged and then the girl's cries followed amidst punches and kicks.

Every blow, every slap, every ugly word the girl endured drove Eloise deeper into her darkness.

She tried to calm herself when she felt the familiar fire in her veins. And when that failed she tried to prolong the transformation for as long as she could. The darkness though was stronger; it took over with no effort. Once again she found herself on all fours as she shed off her human skin.

Without pausing to think, she leapt out of the shadows and went straight for the couple. By now the girl was lying half-conscious in a pool of her own blood. Eloise showed the attacker no mercy as she ripped and tore into him...

______

Starlington/Jones residence...

"What the fuck happened to you?" Devon freaked out when Eloise walked in just after 4:00am naked as a new born baby.

When he got home from work and found their bathroom in a state and Eloise gone he'd panicked and called everyone he could think of. He even went down to the police station to file a missing person's report, but the boys in uniform couldn't help him since she wasn’t missing for 48 hours or more.

"I went for a jo-" The words were not even out of her mouth when she felt the ground rush up to meet her.

Devon caught her before she could hit the floor though.

"Hey, I got you," he scooped her up in his arms and to took her to their bedroom where he laid her gently on their bed. She smelled like...He couldn't put his finger on it. It wasn't a nice smell, but it wasn't unpleasant either.

"El, where have you been, I came back from work and you were gone. Where were you? Where are your clothes? Were you attacked? Did someone do this to you?" He fired questions at her rapidly and her replies were just as quick.

She didn’t know. She didn't remember.

"That’s not good enough!" he roared at her.

"Back off, Dev!" she screamed at him.

Devon felt like the wind had been knocked out of him when he landed on the door. It took a while for his stunned brain to realize Eloise had shoved him away. With little effort…

Shocked at what she'd done, Eloise ran out of the room and locked herself in the bathroom, and no matter how much Devon pleaded with her to open the door, she wouldn’t.

Confused and stunned by her rejection, Devon began tidying up the flat. He had the TV on while he washed the dishes, but the volume was low so he missed the first part of the news bulletin. If it wasn't for his cell phone buzzing on the coffee table, he would have missed the whole thing. As he turned from the sink to answer it, the gruesome images on the screen caught his attention and he turned up the volume.

Apparently the police were investigating a double homicide outside Waylon's haunt. The female victim had died from internal injuries. Evidence found at the crime scene suggested the boyfriend was responsible. Hers was a classic case of domestic violence. Authorities couldn't disclose the boyfriend’s cause of death until their investigations were complete. But the unlucky soul who'd discovered the bodies was telling anyone and everyone who’d listen that the bastard was mauled, possibly by a Vampire or a mountain bear.

Devon felt sick to his stomach and he couldn't watch anymore. "Serves you right, they did warn viewers the images were disturbing," he mumbled to himself as he picked up his cell phone and called his sister back, he knew she wanted a status update on Eloise.

He could hear the relief in Leigh’s sigh when he told her Eloise was home, and as  expected she had a lot of questions he couldn’t answer, and he tried to shield them off as best as he could. 

“I don’t want you to worry okay,” he assured Leigh for the hundredth time.

“But Dev…”

Before Leigh could dig deeper, he cut her off. “Kiss Blake for me, we’ll see you in a few days.”

He was still staring at the phone in his hand long after he hung up from Leigh, thinking about his fiancé. He could no longer turn a blind eye on her erratic behavior. Something had to be done. And fast…