Relentless by Karen Lynch

after I hung up how easily the lie had flowed from my lips. Nate was good to me and all I did was deceive him. But I honestly could not see any way to tell him the truth.
    No one spoke as Roland drove us through downtown Portland. We passed a few bars with people lined up to get in, as taxis of more people arrived for a night of partying. It was Friday night and the night life was in full swing. At one stop light I watched a group of laughing young women crossing in front of us and I couldn’t help but think how that had been me a few hours ago. Was there another Eli watching them right now, selecting one to meet the fate that could have been mine tonight?
    God, I’m nothing more than a statistic now . I read stories online all the time about vampire sightings and people disappearing. I’d always felt bad for the unsuspecting victims who had no idea what was out there. Until tonight I believed I was smarter than them, more prepared because of what I knew. It was scary and humbling to know that I was just as vulnerable as everyone else.
    As soon as we hit the interstate I heard Roland let out a sigh of relief. None of us were sorry to put Portland behind us. Roland fiddled with the radio until he found a classic rock station and an Eagles song filled the car. We all relaxed a little after that, but none of us seemed inclined to speak. I knew they were keeping something from me but my brain was too tired to process anything else right now. 
    A little more than an hour later, Roland took the exit ramp to New Hastings but instead of heading into town, he drove toward the rolling farmland on the outskirts called the Knolls. He and Peter lived in the Knolls and when we were kids I used to come out here all the time. I couldn’t count the hours I’d spent on their Uncle Brendan’s farm. As we passed the sign for the Knolls, it hit me that I hadn’t been out here in almost a year. Had it really been that long? Up until two years ago, not a weekend passed when I wasn’t with Roland and Peter. It was around that time that they began doing some ‘male bonding’ thing with their cousins, going off on their outdoor excursions. I was hurt at first that they excluded me from their fun until I started spending more time with Remy. Eventually, I stopped coming out here at all.
    It was funny, now that I remembered it, that Roland had agreed to spend so much time with his cousins, especially Francis who was four years older than us. Roland and Francis had never gotten along and as far as I knew, they still didn’t. Francis didn’t like me and he never hid his feelings, which angered Roland. In fact, they had a huge fight – and I mean a bloody brawl – right before they started to hang out. We were at the farm when Francis came by and asked if I had a home to go to instead of always being underfoot. I would have told him where to go if Roland hadn’t punched him first. Next thing I knew, the two of them were tearing through Brendan’s cornfield, making a God awful racket like two wild dogs trying to kill each other. Then Peter’s father Maxwell showed up and roared at them until they slunk out of the damaged corn like scolded puppies.
    My mouth fell open. No!
    Do you smell that my friends?
    It’s no wonder you were attacked with nothing but a pair of pups to protect you.
    A large furry body jumping to catch me…
    “It can’t be.” My hand clutched the seatbelt that suddenly threatened to choke me.
    Roland glanced over at me. “Sara?”
    I would know, right? All the days, the hundreds – no thousands – of hours together, I would have seen some sign. It wasn’t like I was ignorant of the real world. Sure I’d never seen a werewolf in person until tonight, but a person would never be able to hide the obvious drawbacks of lycanthropy from people close to them. That’s why most werewolves are reclusive. Like vampires, they can’t touch silver, and it would be pretty hard to explain how you got second degree burns from a