The Wolves of Cain

Finally, He Asks

Date: 3-1-17

Chapter 37: Finally, He Asks

Lucas watches Jerica lead Mason and Ivie out of the room. He doesn't understand why Jerica acts as if she hates him, then goes and does something like this.

Lucas isn't stupid, he can tell that Jerica is doing this to get him and Lena alone. She really approves of them being more than friends, which Lucas finds weird.

Lena is leaning back in her spot on the couch, watching Lucas stare after everyone leaving. Lena can't help but wonder why Jerica has to be so pushy.

If Lucas wants to talk with her alone he can do it himself. Jerica shouldn't be butting in to Lena's life.

"Jerica's so annoying." Lucas says as a sort of apology to break the silence.

Lena shrugs to show her opinion could go either way on that topic. Lucas understands so he moves on.

"But I have been needing to talk to you. Everything's crazy right now and it never seems like the right time." Lucas tries to explain his thinking to Lena.

"I know what you mean." Lena agrees with Lucas.

Lucas takes in a quick breath before starting to speak his mind. "All this time we've been hanging out has been different." Lucas fidgets with his hands while talking.

"I hope you're feeling the same, because I wanted to ask you something." Lena sits silently as Lucas stares at her.

Lucas glances at his hands and forces himself to stop moving. He glances back at Lena's face to see her face is emotionless.

Lucas sits up and looks Lena in the eye. "Lena, will you go out on a date with me tomorrow?"

Lucas holds his breath, waiting for Lena's reply. Lucas tells himself it's okay if she says no, but his heart doesn't like the sound of that. Its beat speeds up a little bit, and he concentrates on slowing it.

Lena pauses after Lucas' words, but only because she can hardly breathe. Lena's been waiting for this for days, and the anticipation has been stressing her out.

"Yes." Lena replies with a big smile. Lena sees Lucas let out a breath, which clues her in on the fact that he wasn't breathing. Why is he nervous?

"Okay. I can pick you up tomorrow at noon for lunch?" Lucas tries to say, but it comes out as a question. Lena nods her head.

Then Ivie stalks into the room. "I'm leaving now." She announces, going over and pulling Lena up by her hand.

"Bye!" Lena calls over her shoulder as Ivie drags her out the front door. Lucas wonders if Lena's going out in the woods tonight. He hopes not.

~*~

That night, vine girl goes out earlier than usual around 10 pm. Lena's asleep so she doesn't notice that Ivie's no longer in the house.

Adrian is out in the woods by himself. He took off before Monique got home because he didn't want her coming. She could get seriously hurt and she doesn't heal as quickly as Adrian does.

Adrian doesn't head immediately to the normal spot because he doesn't expect anyone to be in the woods yet.

The "normal spot" meaning the spot where Lucas was attacked by the werewolf. Adrian knows exactly where that is because it still has the slight scent of blood and danger there.

Lucas and Mason don't seem to consciously pick that up, so Adrian thinks he may tell them sometime.

Adrian's eyes have adjusted to the darkness with his special night vision. Adrian is able to do this without making his eyes glow because it's in his nature to be out at night.

When a sharp pain rips through Adrian's stomach, he knows trouble came early tonight.

Adrian gasps and stumbles into a tree. He was caught by surprise, which makes him furious. Adrian is now prepared and ready to fight.

Adrian spins around to find her, but no one is in his line of sight. Adrian listens closely and hears her heart beating, hidden just a few feet away. Vine girl.

Adrian lunges at the beating heart, knocking vine girl to the ground. If he was allowed to kill her, he'd have ripped her heart out just then.

Instead, Adrian grabs her wrists and pins her to the ground with a snarl. His eyes aren't red yet, but they're getting there.

Vine girl laughs like this is the funniest thing. "Why are you attacking people?" Adrian questions her.

"It's fun." She whispers breathlessly as if it's a secret. Adrian lets go of vine girl and steps away quickly to avoid her in case she decides to attack.

Vine girl twirls her green hair and stays laying on the ground. "Would you like to join me again?" She asks playfully, patting the ground next to her.

"I won't bite." Vine girl adds, oddly sounding completely serious.

Adrian narrows his eyes at her causing her to sigh in dramatically. "But you obviously will." She bats her eyelashes at Adrian.

"What happened to make you like this?" Adrian questions vine girl.

"Lightning!" Vine girl squeals excitedly. Her green eyes shine bright against her pale face. Adrian can't help but think about Ivie and how they look the same but different.

"It's not lightning. You're some type of earth spirit. You've possessed her, haven't you?" Adrian has come to this conclusion and decides to lay it all out there.

"I'll answer your questions if you play a game." Vine girl counters.

Adrian knows he's going to regret it, but he has to ask. "What game are you talking about?"

Adrian is getting suspicious because vine girl hasn't attacked him with vines yet. She must really like games.

Vine girl laughs again, but fast this time like she's running out of air. "Hangman." She says as soon as Adrian takes off. Adrian knows she'll follow, but he's also running because he doesn't want to be hurt again.

Adrian crashes through the trees, knowing he won't have backup for awhile, but still confident in his ability to outsmart vine girl.

Adrian is running so hard and fast that his eyes are burning bright from the adrenaline. Adrian feels power surge inside of him and it pushes him faster. There's no way vine girl can keep up with that.

"I guess I'll find someone else to play with!" Vine girl calls out in warning. Adrian grabs a tree to stop himself suddenly, listening if anyone else is in the woods. They shouldn't be. It's not midnight yet. That's when Lucas and Mason will come.

But Adrian hears two heartbeats far from him in the woods. They're relatively close together, as far as Adrian can tell. Vine girl is hunting someone else.

If vine girl is chasing someone besides Adrian, he won't have a chance of getting answers.

Even though Adrian is in the middle of the woods and probably won't be able to pick up anyone's scent from this far away, he takes a deep breath to try.

Getting nothing, Adrian risks being found by vine girl to climb the tree that stopped him. Now on top of the tallest branch in the tree, Adrian smells the air again.

This time though, Adrian picks up the person's scent and can now hear their heartbeat picking up its pace. The smell is very familiar to Adrian.

Adrian can't hear her footsteps, which means it has to be Monique. Not even Adrian can run that quietly. So Monique must've drawn a rune on herself to make her steps silent and stealthy.

Adrian sometimes wishes that he could use runes like Monique can because she's a Shadowhunter. But a rune on the skin of anyone besides a Shadowhunter is deadly.

Speaking of deadly, Adrian can hear vine girl creeping closer to Monique. Adrian jumps from the tree without a thought and races towards vine girl to stop her from hurting his sister.

And maybe, just maybe, Adrian will finally get some answers tonight.