Chapter 2: The Test
I followed blindly as Brad led me to the entrance. He took us around the main dining hall to pass through heavy-metal sliding doors guarded by two other shifters who looked enormous and meaner than me. The gates were there for their protection. Brad had assured us, but any half-wit could tell those gates locked from the other side.
The doors led to another hallway with many rooms on either side. I tried my best to ignore the muffled sounds, but as we got closer to the exit, there was one man I couldn't ignore.
"I CAN DO IT!! LET ME TRY AGAIN!! I WAS SET UP! LET ME DO IT AGAIN," shouted a man, as he was being dragged by both arms by a vampire and an equal-sized wolf. His name was Milo, and I had only known him from a distance.
Brad paused to let them pass as the two guards pulled him into one of the many rooms.
"F*CK YOU! I AM NOT GOING TO FEED NO VAMPIRES! LET ME DO IT AGAI- ARAAGHHH!!!” There was a thud, and suddenly he was silent.
Brad chuckled, glancing back at me. My blood had gone completely cold. Stuck frozen, staring blankly at the door where the sound had stopped until timidly, I found Brad's gaze.
"Messed up the proving," said Brad coldly, giving me a knowing smirk.
"Oh," was all I could muster.
I had been looking forward to this for as long as I could remember. The day I would come of age and finally be able to do my proving. But, now that it had arrived, I had never felt like the odds had been more stacked against me. I longed to return to the cage with the humans and continue living the way we had before. At least that felt safe...
Brad kept walking, and I had to force myself not to linger. I desperately wanted to know where the other shifter was going, but I made myself face forward to follow Brad with my nose down until we reached the entry gate.
The sun was setting, just having fallen beyond the horizon; it gave the sky a deep orange glow, barely illuminating the black van that had pulled forward. Mordecai was waiting, leaning against it with his arms crossed.
"Took ya long enough," scoffed Mordecai.
"Sorry to make ya wait, princess. Must have been a rough five minutes," said Brad, putting a hand behind my back to nudge me forward. Despite the seemingly light push, it still sent me stumbling a few paces, and I had to gather myself back onto my feet.
Mordecai paused to watch me struggle. Brad did not seem to notice or care.
"You've got one week to get back here," said Brad, stepping forward to take my hand. I felt him clasp a band over my wrist. It was tight and whirled mechanically as it snapped in place. I glanced over it to see numbers written across the band's top, already counting down. 6 days, 23 hours, and 54 minutes...
My eyes widened. "Will it really take that long!?" I exclaimed.
Just who was this guy they were picking up?!
"Would you rather make it shorter?" Mordecai sneered, and Aspen shook his head fervently.
"Well, some of that is for travel. You boys are goin' up to the big ole' city of Chicago," said Brad, "and by the time that reader hits zero, you best be back at this doorstep."
"...what will happen if we aren't?" I asked timidly.
"You'll be in for a world of hurt," Brad said, opening the passenger side door. "Best be off then unless you wanna spend a few hours sitting here shooting the sh*t. I ain't got anywhere to be."
"No, no! I'm ready! Thank you, Master Montgomery!" I said, scrambling into the car while Mordecai took the driver's seat.
It was a long drive to the city; I had stopped counting after the six-hour mark. But I had expected that. Leaving the land at all was a luxury. Even if someone were to make a run for it, the feedlot was as remote as it could possibly get in modern America. It was buried deep in the mid-west and disguised to look like a cattle farm.
That wasn't too far off from the truth.
"Still nervous?" asked Mordecai, breaking about an hour's worth of silence.
"Yeah," I said honestly. "This seems like a lot for one person. Does Brad really think it will take a week?"
Mordecai shrugged. "These sorts of pickup jobs tend to take a few days. Humans are already hard enough to track down, much less vampires who can sense you. You'll see more of that if you manage to pull this off."
"Wait, this is normal? I thought everyone was there more or less because they chose to be?" I asked, taken back.
"Well, the ones you've seen, sure. They're vampires, Aspen. You don't think they always play by the rules to get their food, do you?" asked Mordecai.
He turned into a warehouse parking lot. "We are here."
It was the dead of night, early in the morning hours. But yet, there still seemed to be foot traffic, people just walking around. It was like a vampire's playground.
"This city is massive," I groaned. "How can I find one person?"
"Like any shifter would, dumb-sh*t," said Mordecai, and he reached back to pull a white t-shirt from a bag he had sitting on the backseat. "Use your nose. I've got him pinpointed to somewhere around this area."
He was holding up the same white t-shirt I had seen the blonde wearing in the photo; it looked to have a small blood stain on it.
"Am I supposed to track him from the scent of this?" I asked a bit dumbly. My nose already twitching.
"Yes, and Do. Not. Shift in public," he warned me, holding the shirt up.
Cool, a sweaty shirt from some random dude to find in a sea of other sweaty random dudes. This was going to go just great.
"Don't look at me like I'm nuts," Mordecai said, interrupting my thoughts, "you're a wolf, dude, this is what you do," said Mordecai, shoving the shirt into my hands.
I was a bit skeptical. I knew what sweat smelled like, and it was really not one of my favorite scents. Despite that, I leaned in and took a big whiff, wrinkling my nose as I focused on what I could distinguish from it.
It carried a strong scent of spice, with vetiver and tobacco. Somehow the blend of it and the natural smell of the person who had worn the shirt made it into something unique and pleasant.
"But I've never been able to...," I started.
"We make a point not to wear cologne at the lot, don't need y'all following us around. Now come on. I've already got an idea of where we are going, but you're supposed to take the lead on this one," interrupted Mordecai, kicking the driver's side door open.
"Ah, right! I'm coming!" I squawked, scrambling to get my backpack out of the car and following behind.
As soon as the night air hit my face, I could smell it. The mix of people, garbage, urine, blood, and champagne. All mingling in the air as one. It was like a brick to my face, so jarring it stopped me in my tracks.
However, despite all the mingling scents, I noticed that distinct scent of spice among them. It was a bit faint but clear to me as daylight. I could find it.
"Come on, wolf. You're taking the lead," Mordecai reminded me, and I scrambled to catch up.
We followed the scent to a dive bar with an alleyway entrance. Mordecai slowed to get behind me as we approached the window.
"Look for a raven. That's their crest," Mordecai whispered, stepping to the side so he was not visible through the window.
The bar had a flickering red light over the door. I could hear voices from within, laughing and bottles opening. I peeked up through the window to look at the bar.
"Do you see him?" he asked.
Just then, the door opened, and the same young man with blonde hair and a leather jacket walked out embroidered with a golden raven on the back. His jeans were ripped, and the laces were untied on one of his mismatched high-top shoes. His emerald eyes went wide as he looked right at Mordecai and me. He froze in place.
"Yep, I see him," I said blankly, pointing to the blonde.
“F*CK!” Mordecai shouted as the man turned on his heel to run in the opposite direction. "GO AROUND AND CORNER HIM FROM THE OTHER SIDE!"
I turned to run one way while Mordecai ran the other in pursuit.