“First date?” she teased and he grinned.
“You bet,” he said.
Chapter Seven
Scent of a Woman
Rex sat on a park bench. The remains of his lunch were sitting precariously on top of the trashcan which hadn’t been emptied in days. He rubbed his tired face, the bristles on his jaw itchy and unkempt. He hadn’t showered in days and he stank of jungle cat; any slayer could smell him from miles if they lived in a trashy place like Waterville.
Waterville; the name showed the lack of imagination on part of the early settlers and the place hadn’t gained much of it since then; it was a typical medium sized town, with typical medium sized people and their typical lives.
‘Sonya’d stand out like a sore thumb in this town,’ he thought. ‘She isn’t here. But then where the hell is that cunt?’
He’d grinned maliciously when he’d realized Sonya was headed toward small towns and up in to the woods of Maine. ‘Stupid cunt,’ he’d thought back then, that he could smell her out no problem; it was the big cities with its smells and constant sound which made it hard to track prey but out in the open it would be a cinch.
But it wasn’t. The air was too fresh and too sweet and there were strange smells that confused him; other animals, some wild, some not and yes the people, still too many people. He’d have to live in a community for a year to identify the smells of each person living in them and he didn’t have that kind of time to devote to a fat-assed bitch.
“… were stupid enough to do it…”
“… know the woods up at Shifter are dangerous at night…”
“… wouldn’t have been a dare if it weren’t full of Were-assed retards…”
Rex watched three teenagers amble by his bench, talking animatedly, one of them was limping. He smelled wolf on them; fear and adrenaline too. The limping one smelled of blood, his face pallid and sweating profusely.
“You’re going to need a tetanus shot,” the shortest of the four said. He had curly hair cut very short. “How are you going to explain the bite?”
“That’s the least of his worries, nimrod!” the fat one said, his neck a bright red under the midday sun. “What if he catches their disease and becomes a Shifter?”
“I’d rather shoot myself,” the limping boy said spitefully.
Rex growled low in his throat and the boys jumped then glared at him. Stinking sacks of meat, that’s all they were to Shifter’s like Rex who understood that he was superior to them. Human’s tended to live shorter lives and were below the Shifter in the food chain and should know their fucking place but Rex had experienced nothing but the underbelly of society which was littered with human scum that made him work for them but still distrusted him. He would never be their friends and that suited Rex just fine.
“What’s this place you were talking about?” he asked the boys revealing his sharp canines.
“What’s it to you?” the fat boy asked, his beady eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Nothing yet, but it just might be,” Rex smiled.
“Who are you? We’ve never seen you here before,” said the limper.
“I’m just passing through,” Rex said shifting in his seat to get more comfortable. “I’m looking for a woman. Maybe you’ve seen her,” he inclined his head towards the limper who seemed to be the leader. “Big woman, huge breasts and a big ass. Dark blonde hair goes by the name Sonya.”
The limping boy shook his head but Rex had seen a spark of recognition in the eyes of the short boy with the curly hair. Rex stared at him and the boy began to tremble.
“She was filing up at the gas station,” he stammered. “She was wearing a red top and jeans.”
“Do you know where she was headed?” Rex asked carefully and the boy nodded. “Where?”
“Don’t tell him!” the fat boy said suddenly. “Hey, what’s this information worth to you?” he said coming forward, looking down at Rex with a sly grin.
Rex considered the tub of lard, a waste of human space, and laughed, a loud bark that unsettled the boy.
“Let me put it this way,” Rex said, “If I’m happy with the information you give me I won’t cut open your guts and let them spill to the floor.”