Another howl rose. You would have thought the basement would at least muffle the sound a little. From around the block, several other voices lifted in answer.
I ground to a halt. At least a few of them sounded like they were coming from the direction I needed to go.
Shit. They’d catch me before I could reach the car. Or worse they’d catch me after I got in the car and damage it trying to get me out.
Okay, new plan. I’d leave the car behind and return for it later.
Decision made, I wasted no time in changing course, taking off between two buildings, running through several backyards and hopping more than one fence.
Two streets over, I nearly ran headfirst into a pool, swerving at the last minute and yelping when a shadow flew past me, landing in the water with a splash. The smell of wet dog and the sound of yips told me the shadow was a werewolf. I hadn’t even seen the beast until it missed me.
They were hunting me—need to move faster.
I leapt another fence. It was near impossible to listen for the sound of pursuit over my own clumsy fumbling. They probably didn’t even have to use their noses to get my scent. They could just listen for the elephant currently stomping all over someone’s rose bushes.
The smell of my own blood rose to greet me when one of the thorns scratched me. Great. Another way to announce my presence. Why didn’t I just run along shouting, “Here! Here!” and save them the trouble of tracking me?
Seeing a dumpster behind an apartment complex, I darted towards it. The smell was not pleasant. Not nearly as bad as the murderer’s smell but not a perfume I wanted on me either. It would do the job. I jumped in and stomped on the bags a few times then hopped back out.
I paused before running off again. Wouldn’t they be able to still tell it was me? My scent marker led directly to the dumpster. By simple process of elimination, it would be easy to tell that the dumpster smell running away from the site was me.
I didn’t know how sensitive a werewolf’s nose was. All I had to go on was a couple urban fantasy fiction books I’d read after my transition. They all seemed to think a werewolf’s nose was pretty sensitive. Just like a working dog’s. They could sniff out bombs and drugs. Stood to reason a werewolf’s nose could do something similar.
I was overthinking this.
The roof wasn’t that far up. I could take it and drop onto the other side of the building. Might confuse them for a little bit.
I took a running start, hopping onto the dumpster then leaping up to grab a window ledge. I used it to hoist myself up and over to a drain pipe that I used to climb to the roof. My bad ass ninja skills strike again. I should try out for America’s Ninja Warrior at some point. I’d be a natural.
Once back on the ground, I took off, doubling back several times to disguise my trail as much as possible before dawn. I had no idea if it was effective or not. Most evasion tactics I knew were designed to evade humans, not dogs.
Near dawn, I found an abandoned building to hide out in. I didn’t want to go home in case I led the wolves’ right to my door step. If I was still free and alive tomorrow, I’d take the chance.
The basement felt like the safest place to find shelter from the sun so it was with considerable reluctance that I headed down there. You’d think given my status as a big, bad vampire that I wouldn’t be afraid of whatever monsters might lurk in the dark. That wasn’t the case. I was just as afraid as I’d ever been. Maybe a little bit more.
The ground was hard as I waited for the last bit of night to fade. As the blackness on the inside of my lids rushed up to claim me, I could only hope I’d done a good enough job hiding my trail.
*
“Are you kidding me? A basement?”
I came to wakefulness with a start.
“What are you doing down here?”
A kid, no more than sixteen or seventeen, glared down at me.
I looked around in confusion. I was still in the basement with a dim light flickering overhead. Last night, it wouldn’t turn on no matter how many times I flicked the switch.
“Well?”
The teenage boy was looking at me expectantly.
Was he talking to me?
Naw. He’d have to be beyond stupid to confront a stranger in a basement.
Unless he was a teenage punk who got his kicks messing with women he thought he could bully. Well, he’d be in for a surprise then. I was feeling kind of peckish after all the activity last night.
