Hey. Well, it seems I've finished chapter five, Scent. Um, I apologize from the bottom of my heart that I got it out this late. My life has been unbelievably busy, so I haven't had the time to go on a computer and type Darkheart. This was one of my longer chapters, so I really hope you guys like this one. Obviously, if there are any problems then you should tell me...duh! Haha. Um, please review...and that's pretty much it. Enjoy! Happy reading!


5

We arrived at a house—no, I should say mansion after actually seeing it—that was towering over every other home that was anywhere near it. It took us two minutes to get down the winding driveway. Seriously.

Sara was actually…laughing quite uncontrollably at the unreality of it all. It actually looked like some sort of house that you'd see Bill Gates living in. The whole thing was absolutely ridiculous.

It was the size of about three or four of Sara's houses put into one—that was saying something—and the garage was already open when we pulled in, which was also freaking huge. We parked outside of the garage, considering we didn't have consent or permission from the owner of the house to do so, and hauled our bags out of the car. Bringing them around the front and along a long walkway that was lined with a colorfully planted landscape. It led to a large patio that had a rectangular wooden table with chairs of the same colored wood around it.

I rang the doorbell.

"You've got to be kidding me," Emmett said in disbelief.

"Um…I'm actually about to write this off as a dream in my book. It doesn't even look…real," Nat responded, open-mouthed.

This actually is pretty unbelievable. Are you sure you didn't just fall asleep in the car? Wolf asked jokingly.

…I was driving.

Well it's still possible to fall asleep at the wheel, right? I mean, you were sort of hazy on that plane ride since you couldn't get to sleep in order to pass the time by, he replied.

Ugh. You love just letting your imagination loose in these situations, don't you? I inquired.

Don't you mean your imagination?

Wolf, stop contradicting me. Your imagination. I mean your imagination. How many times do I have to say it? I questioned rhetorically.

Well, are you looking for a number, or…?

Ugh. I sighed exasperatedly.

"You okay?" Sara asked, noticing my annoyance. I guessed that she already knew the problem since nothing had happened in the last two minutes that we'd arrived at this completely gigantic house.

"Yeah," I muttered.

It was always a problem between me and Wolf trying to win the argument over whether or not we were individuals or the same people. Or, at least alter egos of each other if not the exact same. He usually played the card that said if we were our own people, then we wouldn't have to share a mind. Then I would argue that we weren't sharing one mind, but we were two minds together in one body. I also followed up with the question of being the same person by countering his previous debate with asking 'if we were the same person, then why wasn't I born with him inside my head?'. He added something about how my life with him started the instant I became a wolfheart and how that acted as sort of a separate birth. But the situation with Wolf and I would always be a mystery. Always. And I swore everyday that he got more and more like me—or was it me who was beginning to be like him?

The door opened and a very tall woman with dirty blonde hair stood in front of us with a very big grin that could have held its own in comparison to how enormous the house was. She looked expectant—as if she knew we were coming—and I knew who she was the second I saw her.

"You must be Cale," she said to me.

"And you must be Julie," I guessed.

"That would be me," she assured. "And these are your friends?"

"Yup. This is my girlfriend, Sara," I said, putting my arm around Sara's shoulder. She shook Julie's hand. "And these are my best friends, Nat and Emmett." I gestured to them behind me while they smiled.

"Well, it's really nice to meet you all." She led us in and took one of Sara's bags. I picked up mine and Nat and Emmett brought theirs in as well.

The inside was even more stunning than the outside of the house. The foyer had high ceilings with a crystal chandelier hanging above. The floors were hardwood with several mottled rugs lying down on the pathways. She led us upstairs, which led to a balcony that overlooked the foyer and part of the family room.

Down a hallway at the end I noticed a second set of stairs and was completely awestruck. Three stories! I'd never seen a house so big. Mike was actually going to marry this woman? She didn't seem mean at all. Though, I'd only said a couple of words to her.

"Where's my dad?" I asked casually as we headed down the hallway. Nobody else but Julie was listening because they were marveling at the enormity of the house.

"He's actually out buying groceries since we were running low, plus he knew that you were bringing a few more people. But he should be back soon." She did seem really nice, which calmed me down a little bit since I was starting to get a little too ahead of myself with thinking about her not being the right one for Mike. On the other hand, things could change, good first impression or not. It was just like with me and Sara—she ended up hating me when we first met and now we were in love. Maybe it could be the opposite for Julie and my dad, but again, I didn't want to get ahead of myself. Negativity was never a good way to think, even though optimism really wasn't a quality that I tended to carry with me.

"You have a very nice house," Nat told Julie politely.

"Why thank you." Julie led us up the third flight of stairs, which went around to another hallway with four doors on either side. "Each one of these is a guest room. Divide however you like and so on and so forth. Um, I'll give you time to unpack your things. If you need any help then I will be downstairs. There are bathrooms in each one of the guest rooms, by the way," she said, smiling at us and going downstairs to leave us.

When we were sure she was gone we started talking. "Well she seems nice," Sara said to me. "All that worrying for nothing, huh?"

"I guess. But you never know…" I trailed off.

"Oh, stop being so pessimistic," Nat ordered jokingly.

"Seriously, I mean look at this house!" Emmett marveled again. Nat elbowed him in between the rib cages and we each picked a room. Sara's and my room were across from each other, Nat and Emmett the same. Although I was pretty sure that Sara wouldn't need to be using hers. She was probably thinking the same thing, too.

About half an hour later when we finished packing, I heard someone coming in through the front door.

"We're home!" a familiar voice called out.

I bolted down with everyone else following suit. Over the balcony I saw Mike standing in the doorway. He was average height with brown hair and a few freckles scattered around his otherwise clear face.

"Dad?" I called down, making my way to him.

"Cale!" he called. I gave him a quick hug and then motioned for Sara, Nat, and Emmett to come to us.

"Dad, this is Sara—my girlfriend—Nat, and Emmett—my two best friends." They all shook his hand.

"It's very nice to meet you guys. Cale obviously told me about you," he said. Julie then came to us from another room, when I remembered that she hadn't shown us the downstairs of her house.

"Hey," she said to Mike as if they had a little secret of their own.

"And I'm guessing you've already met Julie?" he asked, smiling at me.

"Mmhmm," I told him. Just then a boy my age came in holding a bunch of grocery bags. He looked surprisingly like me but with blonde hair and a little taller. Who was this kid? I gave a confused look to Mike, which asked the question for me.

"Oh, Cale. This is Julie's…son, John," Mike stammered. Son? What?

Son?!

Since when in the e-mail he sent me did he ever mention anything about his fiancée having a son? A new…brother? When was I ever given this memo? Was it some kind of joke or something? Who ever said I wanted a new brother?

Oh, quit whining. You don't even know the kid, Wolf mumbled.

Ya know, I was actually in a tranquil state of mind until you started speaking again, I retorted.

Yeah, that explains the uncontrollable ranting and never-ending questions to yourself were the exact definition of tranquil, Cale. I'm so convinced, he replied with more sarcasm than I'd ever heard him use before.

Have you ever taken under consideration the fact that I may have been in a more tranquil state until you started talking? I asked, hoping he heard the grimace in my words.

There was no answer.

I laughed internally, but then got the idea of brother in my head and I was pessimistic again. It was a stretch saying that I would get used to having a brother—especially when I had Jordan…and a nuisance living inside my head.

Ouch. Nuisance? Would you like to try again?

Nope, nuisance pretty much describes how you act…most of the time. I like you a bit more when the situation is kind of serious, I told him.

Weren't you just making a huge deal of the fact that when Mike marries Julie you're going to have a new stepbrother?

You always have to prove me wrong, don't you?

I got that from you and learned from Kariss. You couldn't imagine how being able to sit back and watch situations happen can help you, he said, very nonchalant.

Or maybe it's the fact that you can pick any possibility out of my brain and use it against me in any given argument.

Well…

How did this stupid conversation start, anyway? I asked.

You were…saying that you really don't want a brother?

Right. Ugh. This is going to suck. I don't like him, I replied.

You don't even know him, Wolf drawled.

Yeah, but you can just…see the disaster in his eyes!

Gosh, you really are a pessimist. I really wasn't in the mood for derogatory statements, either.

You just figured that out?

Again, no answer.

But it always amazed me how Wolf and I could have the longest conversations anyone could ever have, but it only lasted about few seconds because it was in my head ands things went a lot faster because of it. It came in handy when in some sort of situation that forced me to make a split second decision. That was a plus about Wolf, but things like that even I couldn't find a bad thing about. He gave me someone to talk to when completely bored…hence the airplane when I was about to start smacking my head against the window I was sitting next to. That was like death.

"Oh…son." I eyed Mike, hoping he got the urgency and need of serious explaining.

"Yeah, he'll be a senior next year like you. So I'm thinking you guys will get along great," Julie said happily.

"I bet we will," I muttered, hoping nobody caught the sarcasm. Meeting new people, again, was not one of my best qualities—if it could even be described as a quality in this instance.

I looked at John, who had a slight smile on his face. He stuck out his hand awkwardly, waiting for me to shake it. "It's nice to meet you."

I took it and shook it firmly. "You too."

"So, I'm going to take the groceries in. Um, we're probably going to have dinner soon. We'll leave you guys to get more acquainted and whatnot." Mike picked up a bag and took two from John.

"Cool." I could take it from my voice that people knew I wasn't thrilled. Sara nudged me, but it wasn't because I was being rude. There was something else. "John, this is my girlfriend, Sara, and these two behind me are my best friends, Nat and Emmett," I told him.

"Nice to meet you guys," he said with a smile.

"You too," they all replied in unison.

Sara gave me a look from the corner of her eye saying she desperately needed to talk to me.

"So…" John started, trailing off. "Um, do you guys like East Longmeadow?"

"John, if you'll excuse me and Cale, we're really sorry. We just have to discuss something." There was Sara's mature way of talking. It made me laugh when she took on the attitude of her mother and father. Their 'earlier' or 'more polite' way of speaking was just natural because they were born in the early 1900's.

"That's…okay," he stammered.

Sara led me up both flights of stairs and into the guest bedroom where my stuff was with human-werewolf speed. I was surprised that she would risk it that much. I mean, she was really booking it…this must be important.

"What? What is it?" I asked.

"I…smell something. I can smell…wolfheart," she told me.

No.

Way.

"Oh my God. You've got to be kidding me. You can smell them where? In the house?" I asked.

"Just in the general area. Cecilia must somehow know that we would be here. She's probably searched around here." She sighed exasperatedly, as if she wanted everything to stop. So did I.

"Cecilia? You can smell her? Where? I swear that whore comes within a five-mile radius of this house and I will snap her neck so hard she'll be compared to an owl when it's spun all the way around. Why can't I smell it?"

"I didn't necessarily say I could smell her, I'm just guessing. My family hasn't been in contact of any wolfhearts in this area, so that's just what comes into my head. We'd never even heard of East Longmeadow before this trip. And I'm guessing you can't smell it because you're still new. You're not experienced enough. Ask Wolf what he thinks," she explained.

I didn't even have to ask him because he'd heard her for himself.

I seriously have no idea what to do this time. I'm just shocked by the fact that Cecilia was able to track you guys back here. How did she even know you'd be here?

We never said it was Cecilia.

Yeah, but that's the only likely choice, he defended.

"He says he has no idea how any of this could be happening," I informed her.

"Well, let's just hope we don't meet her at the full moon tomorrow night…" she trailed off.

The next day went by pretty quickly. Neither John nor Julie would be home from noon on because someone on Julie's side of the family was having a party and that person didn't particularly like Mike much, so that was two less people to give an excuse for being out all night. Now we just had to worry about getting around Mike, Nat, and Emmett, plus the fact that Cecilia and her hunter friends could pop up any time they wanted to during the full moon.

At about three Sara and I went downstairs with Nat and Emmett to get some lunch. Julie's kitchen was absolutely enormous, which gave us a lot of options to choose from.

"Hey, Dad, Sara and I are going out tonight so you won't have to worry about dinner, kay? We'll be out pretty late." It never fazed me that I hadn't gotten to talk to Mike privately yet, but we still had three whole months to talk. And I had a feeling the three months would go on for a pretty long time.

"Oh, okay. That's cool. Nat and Emmett going with you, too?" he asked.

Shoot. I hadn't gotten that far yet when I'd planned it out.

Nat looked at me with a blank expression. Emmett was busy going through one of the fridges to grab food. It didn't seem to bother him if he stayed here—he loved the house.

"Well, Sara and I needed to discuss something alone so we didn't think they would want to come, but if they do…" I trailed off.

"No, you guys go. Emmett and I can go around and look at places to grab a bite later," Nat insisted.

"Okay. You sure?" I always asked this because I really didn't like to not include my friends in doing things, but I definitely didn't want to include them in a full moon.

"Yeah, you go." She leaned in closer to whisper in my ear. "It'll give you time to be alone with Sara."

I wished she didn't do that sometimes because Sara could hear any whisper whether it was quieter than a breath or all the way upstairs. It didn't matter. But whether Sara knew or not, I didn't care because we knew how we felt about each other.

We made sandwiches for lunch while watching a movie on their gigantic big-screen TV about some gangsters living in New York. I didn't really pay attention to it. Those kinds of movies weren't part of my interests.

After finishing the sandwiches and the movie, it was five o'clock. The movie was about three hours long and an hour through when we started to watch it. Nat and Emmett went upstairs to get ready for dinner. Sara and I thought it would best fit with the situation if we left around the time Nat and Emmett did to make it look like we were actually going to dinner. We said our good-bye's, got in the car rented from the airport—coincidentally a Buick, which I was grateful for. I was used to driving it more than anything else.

We drove pretty much everywhere in East Longmeadow for so long that I was about to fall asleep at the wheel. But for dinner, right before it got dark, which was around nine, we went to a pizza place called The Pizza Shoppe, ironically enough, and ordered a few slices. Then, when we were done with that, I brought us to the only place in East Longmeadow that I knew we might have been able to run around in without completely exposing ourselves: the woods right behind East Longmeadow High School. There were a few trails back there that gave us free space to move, though it was nothing compared to the space we had in Eugene. But I told her that if we could cross roads without being seen, then we might be able to run into Connecticut, where I knew of a couple more patches from running a ton. I used to run a lot with the school's cross-country team during the summer because they had captain's practices. It was weird how helpful everything ended up being in the long run.

I parked in the school parking lot, which had no cars whatsoever in it, so I moved the car to go near a line of tall bushes where it would be less conspicuous.

We made our way over to the tree line, past the stone picnic table that sat under a tall tree and the two baseball fields that stood in between the school and the woods. Once there, we sat together in the grass, staring up at the full moon. Stars were sprinkled around it; supporting the little light it was giving us. It all looked beautiful in contrast to the black sea of space the stars were scattered in, but then both Sara and I felt the heat, so we didn't care much of the appeal it had anymore.

I ran into the woods to take of my clothes and let the full moon carry me into my other form. Sara came a second later, blacker than the night that surrounded her.

"Follow me." I started running across the parking lot of some company that was located behind the school. Then we crossed the road to the next tree line. I'd forgotten the company was there, otherwise we probably would've crossed through there and waited where we weren't completely out in the open, available for anybody to see. But luckily no one was within seeing range. Plus, they wouldn't be able to see us based on how fast we were going. We'd be just a strong gust of wind passing through.

Running along a dirt trail, I could hear Sara's steps getting faster and faster behind me. Then she was right next to me and we were in perfect synchronization. We turned over a burm that rose up a few feet from the ground, which increased our speed.

"Can you still smell it?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I can, but nothing's here. I can tell you that much," she barked back.

"Oh, well that's good. So…what did you think of Julie and John?" I casually brought up. There was nothing else to talk about.

"They're not bad. I don't get why you're so rude to John, though. He seems like a nice kid. You need to lighten up a bit." I stopped, and she stopped a few feet in front of me.

"Okay, new subject. I don't wanna talk about that anymore."

"Well, you brought it up," she howled.

I stared at her with dark eyes. A gust of wind traveled through the breeze and her long fur billowed with it. It was so…graceful how everything ebbed and flowed like the water going back and forth on the beach.

But then I heard a growling.

And it wasn't Sara.

I looked to my right, where it was coming from and the fur on my back bristled in a threat. I saw something big move through the trees. Sara turned to it, too. I was suddenly scared. The thing moving was huge. It was absolutely gigantic.

I got down into a crouch and moved slowly off the trail into the tight space where trees were close together. How the huge animal could move through the trees was beyond me…but I doubted this was an animal.

It stopped.

I ran at it and lunged for its neck. It was a wolfheart. I knew it. But how could Sara have not smelled it? Was it not close when she checked the scent in the air? Why did full moon nights always end up being fights between the hunters and us?

The werewolf howled in anger and pain as my teeth went into its neck. Despite the size of this one, I was still stronger. And I think it knew that.

Sara stayed back, probably in fear. She didn't think she could take on the thing. Luckily I could.

The hunter growled and shook me off with unbelievable force. Its fur was a dark gray, like a shadow, and its eyes were black with fear. But then, just when I thought it would attack, it ran away in the other direction. Just as I was about to go with it, Sara ran in front of me and forced me back.

"Cale, don't. Stop. We can't do this right now. Let him go. Run."

"Why? I could have killed him!" I barked in protest.

"I'm sure you could've, but we don't need another giant wolf epidemic in East Longmeadow, do we? I don't think so."

She had a point with that one. I was just so angry! I didn't want to deal with any stupid hunters—especially Cecilia. If we followed that hunter and it led us to Cecilia, then I could kill her once and for all. But I doubt that she'd be alone. If there were a lot of hunters there then I doubt just two wolfhearts—regardless of how strong—could take that many on. I mean, Laurie and I took on sixteen back during the thought-to-be death sentence, but those were new hunters. We were talking about experienced ones that had probably been werewolves longer than Sara had been.

We ran through Connecticut and looped back around ten times before the sun started to rise. We rarely spoke to each other when driving back home, but it was early enough that when we did get back everybody was asleep.

It was easy getting back in, too, because we could just climb up the tree in the front—since the doors were locked—and jump on the roof so we could open the window.

Once in the guest room, we went on the bed in my room and lay there awake. My arms were around her, hoping that we wouldn't have another situation like back during March, which could surely kill us. But if we did, our chances were much less likely of getting out alive because there were only two of us to fight. It didn't help to be a pessimist in this kind of situation, either, because this time, we didn't have one ounce of luck in our favor.