The fog rolled in off the lake, creating a world that was white, close, and eerily silent. As the sun set, the world grew smaller, shrinking to the puddles of feeble light cast by street lights. A pair of high heels clicked sharply on the pavement, giving voice to the authoritative stride of someone who knew where she was going.
Lena paused, sharp blue eyes prying into foggy shadows, alert for any movement. She thought someone was there, and usually she trusted her instincts, but this damned fog clouded her senses, creating threatening shadows where there were none and hiding the true dangers.
At least the rain has stopped, she thought, shifting her grip on her old-fashioned black umbrella. The patter of the rain was maddening and worse than the fog about hiding what she had to be most wary of. Strange to think she had loved both kinds of weather as a child; that was before she had so many things to fear, she supposed.
It was a whisper of sound, a hint of motion, that alerted her. She whipped to her left, bringing her umbrella up and around to crack sharply across a canine head. The beast was up in a moment, yellow eyes glowing as it snapped at her. It backed up, muscles bunching and coiling; it leaped.
Her umbrella came up again, and its sharp finial met with the creature's breast bone. It kicked, muscles spasming in death. Its momentum carried it forward, bringing Lena crashing to the ground.
She heaved the wolf off of her, picking herself up and wrenching her umbrella from its chest.
She brushed herself off, glad that the black trench didn't show blood. There was a gash down one long, pale leg, however, bad enough that it might require stitches. She raked her thick, dark brown hair back off her face, trying to compose herself.
The scent of blood filled the air, and she hurried onward, fearing the predators that might be attracted to it. She was perfectly capable of warding off most beasts, but she was unarmed - at least with conventional weapons - and the skirt and heels hampered her movements.
A figure ghosted out from an alley between two buildings, and Lena had her umbrella up before she even saw who it was. She didn't lower it when she recognized the tall, slender man dressed all in black.
"What are you doing here, Seth?" she asked flatly.
A smirk flitted across his pale, exquisitely chiseled face, and he stepped closer to her. Lena took a reflexive step back, and then inwardly cursed herself for doing so. Can't show fear, she reminded herself, but she couldn't keep from tightening her grip on the umbrella.
"You look lovely this evening, Lena," he said, ignoring her demand. "Returning from somewhere special?" he asked with feigned nonchalance.
Lena looked away, infuriated by the cool jealously that flared in his eyes. He still thinks I belong to him, she thought. He stripped me of everything - my friends, my family, my very identity - and then he left me, and now he thinks that he can just slip back into my life as if he'd never left. Well, she thought, fuck him.
She lifted her chin, meeting his eyes levelly. "Yes, actually. I was on a date with a very nice man, if you must know."
Though she could read the anger smoldering in his eyes and see the tension in his clenched jaw, he merely smiled again. "A very nice man who isn't bothering to take a beautiful woman home? Not much of a gentleman, is he?"
"He had to leave unexpectedly," she snapped, knowing that he had just scored a mark against her. She lowered her umbrella and walked defiantly past him, determined that this would be the end of the conversation.
Seth snagged her wrist and pulled her toward him. Instinctively she rotated it, breaking his grip, and whipped the elbow of her other arm up, connecting solidly with his face and knocking him to the ground.
Seth got slowly to his feet, his eyes glued to her face. He took a step toward her, but Lena raised her umbrella once more, its pointed finial looking wicked and deadly. "I don't want to see you anymore," she said quietly and seriously. "And you of all people should know that I'm perfectly capable of enforcing that. Don't try to speak with me again, or you will find out just how good I've gotten. You may have taught me some of what I know, but I've learned a lot since you left."
Lena turned and quickly walked away, her heart pounding and her stomach roiling. This was the third time she'd seen Seth in the past month, and each time had been harder on her. She had told him before that she didn't want him back in her life, and she could only hope that he would finally get the point. Underneath her fury, however, she was conflicted. He had been such a huge part of her life, and not entirely in a bad way. Her first love, and her first lover; her savior, and her teacher. When he left, she had been broken, so utterly devastated that suicide had seemed her only recourse from the pain. She still bore the scars, faded now, of her slit wrists. But after that failed attempt, things had changed. Anger replaced sadness, and she grew determined that she would never be that dependent, that helplessly in love, ever again.
This date, a casual thing over appetizers and cocktails, had been her first in 6 years, and it hadn't gone well. Her date, a businessman with more money than intelligence, had bored her stiff. Her blank gaze and short answers had made him more and more frustrated; as soon as they had finished eating, the man did them both a favor and announced that he had an important meeting to prepare for the next day, and had hustled out of the restaurant.
A low growl, barely loud enough to register in her consciousness, snapped Lena out of her reverie. A wolf prowled out of the damp darkness... and another... and another. She took a step back, pressing herself against a building and kicking off the high heels. The umbrella went up again, but she knew it was probably useless. Armed as she was, she didn't have a good chance against three of the monsters, and unlike natural wolves, she wouldn't be able to frighten them off with a good show. Werewolves were too smart for that, or perhaps too stupid; she would take as many of them with her as she could.
Two leaped at once. She lashed out, hitting one solidly with the umbrella, but the other hit her full force, knocking her hard against the wall and making her drop the umbrella, her only weapon. She forced herself back up. If she lost her feet she was gone for sure, and despite the odds maybe she could still get out of this alive. She clamped her hands around the wolf's muzzle, trying desperately to keep it's jaws closed, but the third wolf chose that moment to attack. She kicked out, but she only landed a glancing blow to it's shoulder, enough to throw it off balance but not enough to keep it down for long. The other wolf was recovering as well, shaking its head and getting unsteadily to its feet.
Switching her grip, Lena twisted savagely, jerking the head of the wolf in her arms around as far as it would go. Though the hold was awkward, the move worked - the neck snapped, and the wolf went still. She flung the carcass at the wolf she had hit, knocking it down once more. She reached down, not daring to take her eyes of the third wolf, who was cautiously stalking her, head down, teeth bared. One of her shoes came to hand just as it leaped.
The stiletto heel sank into one of the monster's malicious yellow eyes, which gave an audible pop. She yanked it out as the creature fell to the ground, whimpering. She brought it down again as hard as she could, impaling its skull.
The other wolf was back up, and before she could turn to it it sprang. A gunshot cracked, and it's chest exploded in gore.
Lena turned and saw Seth standing not 15 feet away, lowering the semi-automatic in his hand. Her first emotion was relief, and gratitude, but it was quickly overwhelmed by anger. She didn't need rescuing, and certainly not from him!
