Chapter - 5

Shelly made sure to keep herself busy for the next few hours. She put the leftovers away, washed the dishes, dried them, put them away, and cleaned the table and the floor. Before she knew it, darkness was falling upon the village. She headed upstairs and changed out of her school clothes and tried to find something a little more elegant to meet Austin in. She searched every inch of her closet until she found the perfect dress. She pulled out from the back of her closet a long navy-blue dress the colour of the night sky with an off-white underdress that was voluminous and flowing from under the outer dress of navy that laced up in front. It also had long flowing sleeves, with a pattern of little silver leaves on a vine that was embroidered around the edges of the navy dress with more detail on the sleeves. She slipped out of her school dress and slid the dress from her closet over her head and laced up the front of her dress. She stood in front of her mirror and looked upon herself fondly of how it all looked so far. Next, was her hair. Did she want to put it up or leave it down? She pulled her hair back and held it up with her hand and then let it back down several times before she decided to put it up. She opted for a less formal style. Quickly, she twisted up the sides of her hair & formed a small bun at the crown of her head, looking in the mirror as she worked to make sure it was even on each side, doing this till she was satisfied with the outcome she did not want to spend too much of her precious time on it as she was worrying on how soon Austin would arrive.

Click…

‘What was that?’ Shelly thought. 

Then she heard the sound again followed by a few more. 

Click.. Click… Click..

She followed the sound to her window, facing the front of the house. She opened the window and another pebble soared through the air and smacked her in the forehead. 

“Ouch!” She whispered in fear of waking her parents. 

She rubbed her forehead and looked out of the window once more to find Austin standing in the lawn. He gestured his hands and said in a hushed tone, “C’mon Shel.”

Shelly held up a finger and whispered, “I’ll be right down.”

Carefully she skipped the few stairs that creaked. Her father was a light sleeper, and If one should step on the stairs which creaked, the loud creaking noise would wake her him for sure. She held up her skirts and watched her step as continued down the stairs. She tiptoed onto the landing of the stairwell and crept out of the front door. Austin held his hand out to her, but she refused to take it. 

“Not here,” she whispered. “Follow me.”

Austin nodded and followed her around the side of the house and up a little hill where the stable sat. It was a small building, but big enough to house at least up to six horses. The building had a straw roof, and a ladder laid against the outside wall which lead up to the loft.

Once inside, three stalls sat on each side. To the back of the stables, there was a room where the hay was kept. Austin couldn’t wait any longer. He wrapped his arms around Shelly’s waist and pulled her close to him. Shelly smiled and cupped his scruffy cheeks. Gently, he pressed his lips to hers and she wrapped her arms around his neck in return. Her desire for him was getting harder to ignore, but in the back of her mind she kept telling herself not to give in. She’d never been in love before. Sure, she loved her friends, but this… this felt different. When she’s in his arms, the whole world faded away, and nothing mattered but the two of them in this very room. 

Shelly grabbed his left hand and in between kisses she managed to say, “Follow me.”

Austin followed her, eyes closed and continued to kiss her. They waddled together and made their way into the room where her father kept some extra hay bales. 

“I have to show you something,” she whispered.

She unfastened her cloak and exposed the elegant dress she had found hidden in the back of her closet. 

“What do you think? I figured since this is our first outing, I should wear something special,” she told him. 

“Y-you look radiant!” he replied. 

She wrapped her arms around him, held him tightly and smiled, “Thank you.”

He looked down and gazed into her beautiful green eyes, “I wanted this so badly earlier. I can’t stand not being able to touch you.” 

He pressed his lips on hers, hands slid around her waist and once again pulled her closer to him. He brought his hand up to the front of her dress and entwined his fingers in the laces and began to untie them. Quickly, she grabbed his hand and broke from their kiss, “We can’t… at least not until you decide to marry me. I can’t give up my virtue until I’m married,” she told him. 

Suddenly, something creaks behind them. Austin breaks from embrace and instantly gets in front of Shelly. 

“What?” She questions but Austin doesn’t answer. 

“What is it?” she asked again. 

“Did you hear that?” Austin inquired. 

“I-it’s an old building. The floors always creak here,” Shelly added. 

“This didn’t sound like an old stable settling. It sounded like someone’s in here with us…possibly watching us,” Austin said. 

He stepped away from Shelly and checked out the horse stalls. Nothing was there. “C’mon,” he whispered. “We’ll check upstairs.”

Shelly nodded and followed him up the ladder and into the loft. She stayed behind him and the two quietly looked around. It was an open room where more bales of hay were kept. They sneaked around each bundle, but no one was to be found. “I was sure I heard someone,” he whispered. 

“No one comes in here at night unless the horses need to be calmed,” she replied. 

“Stay close,” he whispered. 

Shelly nodded, too afraid to say a word. She grabbed his hand and followed him back down the ladder. Through the stables, they crept. He held her hand firmly and checked each of the six-horse stalls, but they didn’t find a single soul.

“I told you no one ever comes in here,” Shelly said in a low tone. 

“I had to make sure of it. If someone has seen us, you could be in a lot of trouble,” he replied. 

Austin took a deep breath, turned and faced her. She wrapped her arms around him and he melted in her embrace, taking in the sweet scent of her hair. Suddenly, the doubled doors of the stable burst open, and they quickly broke their embrace. A shadowy silhouette stepped inside and slowly walked towards the couple. Austin once again stepped in front of Shelly to protect her. He didn’t care what happened to himself just as long as she was safe.

“Who’s there?” Austin called out in a shaky tone. 

Instead of the shadowy figure answering Austin’s question, he appeared to the two. A man tall, slender, and slightly muscular stepped into the light of their lantern. Shelly’s eyes widened and she couldn’t believe who was standing before her and Austin. 

“Uncle Malcom! What are you doing here?” Shelly gasped.

  

“They’re still in here,” Malcom called out Daniel. 

Daniel stepped inside of the stables and approached the couple. His normal, calm and pleasant demeanor slowly changed and his face contorted in all-consuming anger; his nostrils flaring, his eyes flashing and closing into slits, slurring words that were unintelligible came spewing into space like a volcano releasing its pent up emotions into the darkness.

“What in the bloody hell are you two doing out here?” Daniel asked hoping the two would come clean. 

Austin’s hands began to shake. He knew there was someone hiding in the stables, watching their every move. He could feel their eyes peering into his very soul as if the person could see right through him. ‘I warned her’ Austin thought. ‘I warned her sneaking around would only get us caught.’ What would he tell her father? Obviously, her uncle had seen something, or he wouldn’t have gone to get her father. What exactly did he see though? Did he see him unlacing Shelly’s gown? Or did he see the two sharing a passionate kiss? Either way, she was ruined. She was right to be hesitant to allow him to court her. He felt in his heart he just had to be with her. Something just kept pulling him towards her, something he just couldn’t resist. 

“All due respect, Sir we came out here to…oh never mind. I can’t continue this charade,” Austin began. 

His voice wasn’t the only thing that was shaky. His hands were trembling, palms sweating even though it was chilly in the stables, and much colder outside. He found it hard to speak. He knew the day would come where they got caught. He didn’t want to lie, but he also didn’t want Shelly to get into trouble, but he also knew honesty is not only the best policy, but was also honorable. 

He turned to Shelly and held her hands, looked into her loving green eyes and said, “I’m so sorry Shel. I can’t continue to lie. It would only make matters worse.”

Shelly nodded, “I can’t ask you to do so. You’re an honorable man and you should tell the truth. 

Austin smiled at her and turned to face her father. He looked into Daniel’s icy blue eyes and hoped by telling the truth would save Shelly from the cold rooms of the convent. 

“Sir, I have been in love with your daughter for a very long time, and I have been courting her for just a couple of days now. I wanted to ask for your permission of course, but Shelly was afraid you would send her to the nunnery. I truly believe she feels the same for me as I do her. I love your daughter with all my heart, and I would never do anything to hurt her or ruin her chance at living a happy life,” Austin said. 

Wrinkles creased on Daniel’s forehead and he fell silent. His hands closed into fists and he crouched forward, dared him to say another word about his daughter. They had been sneaking around not only behind his back, but Sybil’s as well. Lying to him was one thing, but how dare he to lie to his wife. He visualized himself balling his fists tightly and letting go with a right uppercut to the head which would send him flying from one side of the room to the other faster than a speed of light. Then he had to remind himself this…young man was just a mere human and he could seriously hurt him. He would only be putting his family in danger. As angry as Daniel was, he knew if he were to punch him and he hurt the pesky human, it would raise questions on how he was hurt so badly. Only a mystical creature could hurt a human as badly as being ran over by a carriage. 

Her father had been quiet for which seemed like eternity. After a few moments, she decided to break the silence, “Papa, aren’t you going to say anything?” 

“C’mon, lets’ get you home and packed. I told you the consequences of being with a young man. If anyone else would have seen the two of you together, you would be ruined. As soon as we get home, you are to pack your things. We’re heading to the convent tonight!” Daniel scolded. 

“Sir, you have every right to be angry. I should have asked you if I could court your daughter first. Please believe the only reason we didn’t come to you first is because Shelly knew how you would react. She knew your first response would be to send her away to live with the nuns. Please don’t make the mistake of sending her there. She would never forgive you,” Austin pleaded. 

Daniel folded his arms and scoffed, “She knew the consequences. The two of you should have come to me first instead of sneaking around behind my back! I believe she wouldn’t have agreed to your secret rendezvous unless someone put her up to it! This is your fault and I will be contacting your father at once!”

Daniel turned his attention back to Shelly. He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door, “C’mon Shelly, it’s time to go home and get ready for our journey.

Tears welled up in Shelly’s eyes and streamed down her rosy cheeks. Anger and fear brewed inside of her. She snatched her hand out of his grasp and shouted, “No! I won’t go!”

She then slid her cloak around her neck and dashed out of the stables. She ran as fast as her feet could carry her. 

“Shelly!” Austin called out, but she couldn’t hear him, she was already halfway down the little hill. 

“You! You did this,” Daniel said behind clenched teeth. 

“Me! I think we have bigger problems than your issue with me now. I think I know exactly where she’s going,” Austin said. 

Austin ran out of the stables as fast as his feet could carry him. 

“Where’s she going?” Daniel shouted. 

Austin stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face Daniel.

“There’s an abandoned cottage in the forest. Meet me there,” Austin yelled in return and continued to run after her. 

The night air coursed through her lungs and dried her already parched throat. Her heart was beating rapidly, in fear her father might have somehow gotten ahead of her like he always managed to when she was a small child. That her heart would burst out of her chest. Both options sounded rather unappealing. When she turned to see if anyone was behind her, but not a single soul was in sight. She stopped for a moment and let her hands rest upon her knees as she took a few deep breaths. In through her nose and out through her mouth. After she wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead and took in her surroundings, an owl perched on a nearby tree branch.

“Shelly, where are you? Austin called out. 

Only the sounds of the cold howling wind answered his calls. He had to slow down and walk a few moments to catch his breath and slow down his racing heart. He pulled the hood of his cloak over his head to keep the ice-cold wind from blowing into his ears and headed down the dirt path which lead into the pitch-black forest. Wolves howled in the distance and his gut told him he better get to Shelly and fast! He picked up the pace and began running again. Not far ahead, was a silhouette of a woman resting her hands on her knees, and he knew it just had to be Shelly. 

Austin began shouting again, Shelly!”

Shelly grabbed her skirts, hiked them above her feet, and continued to run down the dirt path. She knew Austin was probably worried and scared for her, but she couldn’t stop. Not now. Not while she was so close to the abandoned cottage and out of her parents reach. There was no way she was stepping foot into that nunnery. Not now, not ever. She took a sharp turn into the brush and jumped over a small fallen tree. Her light blue cloak wedged itself in between one of its limbs and she pulled the material, hard. 

Hard enough that when it tore, she fell backwards with a big ‘thud.’ She quickly got up, brushed herself off, and continued only to trip over a nearby branch. She fell face first but held her arms out in front of her so her face wouldn’t hit the ground. When she looked up, she noticed a pair of black leather boots and attached to them were a pair of black trousers. She gasped. Had her father found her? Her eyes trailed from the boots all the way up to the man’s head who was towering over her. She stood up only to come face to face with the strange hobo she and friends had encountered when they were on their way home from school the other day. His golden yellow eyes glowed in the darkness and a low growl escaped his lips. 

“We’ve been looking for you,” the man snarled. 

Shelly had never heard a man snarl before, and she knew Austin and her father weren’t far behind her. She hiked up her skirts and took off running once again, but the beast of a man was right behind her, only gaining speed. She let out an ear-piercing scream and stumbled across the abandoned cabin. She rushed to the door and immediately went to lock the door, but the door lock was jammed. ‘Go figure,’ she mumbled. Slowly, she backed away from the door and her foot grazed some pieces of metal on the floor. She kneeled and brushed her hands around on the floor in hopes find something she might be able to protect herself with and finally found an old rusty dagger and picked it up. With the dagger in hand, she scrambled to a nearby corner to hide from the beast. Suddenly, the door opened, and Shelly gasped and let out another ear-piercing scream. 

“Don’t come any closer! I’ll shank you! I swear!” Shelly shouted. 

“Shel, it’s only me. There’s no one else here but us,” Austin reassured. 

“Th-There’s a beast…the strange hobo we saw when we were on our way home from school the other day… he’s here! He’s a beast!” Shelly said fearfully. 

Austin kneeled beside her and placed his hand on her shoulder, “It’s pitch black out there Shel. The forest can play tricks on the naked eye. I’m sure he was trying to find this place just as you were. He probably only wanted to find a warm place to stay for the night, and you scared him half to death.”

“B-but he was here! I saw him! His eyes were glowing a golden yellow and he chased me all the way here!” She replied. 

“Shel, there’s no one out there. If there were, I would have seen him,” Austin said. 

Shelly folded her arms and furrowed a brow, “You don’t believe me!”

Austin chuckled, “C’mon Shel. How can I believe that beasts exist? I’ve never seen or heard of such things. Keep talking like that, and people will start thinking you’re crazy. They’ll lock you up for sure.”

Suddenly, the beast appeared outside of the window and peered inside of the abandoned cottage. He hit the window with a loud ‘BANG’ and the couple jumped to their feet. 

“What was that?” Austin asked.

Shelly gasped and pointed to the window where the beast was glaring at them. His icy breath fogged up the glass of the window when he exhaled. There he stood growling and snarling. His eyes were more vibrant yellow now than they were before. He scrunched up his nose and furrowed his brows and let out a fearsome growl. Austin had never seen anything like it. His jaw dropped and he grabbed Shelly’s hand. The only creatures he had ever heard of were in children’s storybooks. The beast suddenly disappeared, and Shelly buried her face into Austin’s shoulder and began to cry. 

Shelly squeezed Austin’s hand and whispered, “Do you believe me now?”

“I-I’m sorry Shel. I believe you,” Austin said staring at the window.

The creature came back to the window only this time he had a dagger in his hand. It had a silver blade and a golden handle with little etchings of floral designs that twirled down to the blade which looked like vines. The monstrous beast tapped on the window with the dagger and then moved to the door and began to turn the handle. Shelly screamed and tightly held Austin closer to her. 

Austin held out his hand to Shelly, “The dagger. Hand it to me?”

Shelly gave a quick nod and placed the dagger into Austin’s hand. Suddenly, the back door exploded open and its wooden fragments fell onto the floor. A thick cloud of dust rose from the floor and surrounded the two. Thick enough not even an eagle’s eye would be able to see through it. 

“Quick, cover your face until I say otherwise,” Austin coughed. 

Shelly coughed uncontrollably and grabbed her cloak and covered her face with it. 

Austin covered his mouth and nose with the sleeve of his shirt, held the dagger out and shouted, “Leave her alone beast, or…or I’ll cut you like a fish!”

Marcus, Malcom, and Daniel entered the cottage. Both men carried torches, lighting the path for Daniel to step through the entrance of the cottage. The dust had finally settled moments later, leaving a thick and uncomfortable blanket across the floor and windowsills of the cottage. As Shelly and Austin look at each other completely covered head to toe in the mess the tiny particles had left behind, Austin was ready to fight the beast.

Daniel gazed down at the rusty dagger Austin held in his hands and chuckled, “You couldn’t cut a gutter rat with that thing. The blade is too dull. You might be able to jab someone with it though…that is if the blade doesn’t fall from the handle.” 

He glanced from Shelly to Austin and back to Shelly again. She expected her father to be furious at her, but instead of anger, his icy blue eyes looked upon her lovingly. Austin stood up and held his hand out to Shelly. She accepted his hand and he pulled her up to a stand. The two brushed each other off and turned their attention to her father and two uncles who had entered the building. 

“I’m sorry sweetheart. I shouldn’t of blew up the way I did earlier. What is it that has you two ready to stab whoever entered through that door?” Daniel inquired.

“A beast! An ugly, hairy, monstrous beast!” Shelly blurted out. 

Daniel took in a deep breath but remained calm. He looked at Shelly ever so curiously, “A beast you say? Tell me, what does this beast look like.”

Shelly thought for a moment and replied, “Well, I bumped into him in the forest when I was trying to find this cottage. His eyes were glowing a golden yellow and he began to chase me. Once I was inside of the building, he peered through the window. There was nothing human about the strange man. His face and hands were covered in hair…”

“To be fair Sir, it’s pitch black outside. The only thing I could make out on the strange man was it looked as if he had fangs and he was angry. When I seen him there at that window, his eyes were glowing a vibrant yellow. I think there was something wrong with him.”

The more Austin tried to explain what the man looked like; it didn’t sound like much of a man at all but a wolf. In fact, the way Austin and Shelly had described the man, he sounded more like the wolf creatures he and his family had escaped in Stone Ridge many years ago. 

Daniel tilted his head and creases formed on his forehead. He needed to know more about the stranger his daughter bumped into and if there were more of his kind. If there were more of them, he knew he and his family would have to flee and he would have to tell his daughter the truth about where they really came from and who they really are. Suddenly, a chorus of howling and snarling was heard from the forest and echoed into the cottage. Shelly covered her ears to the sound and closed her eyes tightly. 

She began to cry out in fear, “The beast is back! He’s coming to finish us off!”

Daniel tightly wrapped Shelly in his arms, “Shhh my Darling. Everything will be alright.”

Austin clenches his fists tightly and a scowl formed upon his face, “I’ve had enough of this nonsense! No one hurts the woman I love and gets away with it!”

With that, Austin rushed out into the darkness of the forest to hunt down the beast, and if there were more of his kind, he would simply kill them too. 

Shelly turned towards the door and called out, “Austin! No! Come back!” But it was too late. The darkness of the forest had already consumed him. She turned to run after him, but her father was to fast for her. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to him. 

He looked her in the eyes and said, “You can’t go out there, ya here? It’s too dangerous for my only daughter to go out into the forest where there’s a crazy man lurking around.”

Daniel then turned his attention towards Marcus and Malcom, “You two, go out there and find the lad before he gets himself killed!” 

Marcus and Malcom gave a nod in agreement and headed outside to check out the whereabouts of the creature.