Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Ashley was in a state of disbelief when I transferred the good news to her. “Okay, so what did you do to him?”
“Excuse me?” I said in a questioning tone of voice.
“He was so adamant for us to be gone and then you spend five minutes up there and suddenly he changed his mind.”
“I worked my charm.”
Ashley cast me a wicked grin. “Sure you did, Sara”
“I didn’t do anything like that!”
“Will I have the cabin all to myself tonight?”
“You’re an idiot!” Ashley laughed at me in good humour, before she went around her car to prop open the trunk. “What are you doing?”
“Grabbing our stuff.”
“We still don’t have the key yet.”
“Oh.”
“He needs another five minutes,” I explained. “I will go get it, and after that you can pull out our things. Besides, we are nowhere near the cabin yet. It’s out back, you see.”
A loud yawn broke through the air, and I turned to see Taylor leaning over the hood with his hand hovering over his open mouth. Ben was rubbing the top of his back, sensing his partner’s drowsy mood. It’s the sky, I thought, noticing how pale it was over our heads. And the cold, I noted, since the chill only made me want to curl up in a blanket and sleep the day away.
“I’m heading inside,” I announced to the three of them, and turned around to make my way to the top of the hill. The front door was ajar when I approached it, giving me another opportunity to look at the claw marks that worked itself into the pine coloured door. “Hello!” I called out once I stepped inside, feeling uncomfortable with the never-ending darkness of this man’s house.
“In here!” was yelled from the back of the place, so I followed the sound until I reached his office space again. “Took me a while to find the keys,” he explained. “It will be in quite a state.”
“That’s alright, I’m used to roughing it,” I joked, which only made his green eyes sparkle. “So, I noticed there are claw marks outside of your door …” Our gaze was instantly broken, and the man in front of me became extremely uncomfortable. “Bears?”
“Wolves,” he mouthed quietly. “Lots of them.”
“Oh.”
“I warned you not to go outside at night.” He stood to his feet, making sure to avoid eye contact with me. “And if you and your friends are smart, then you will take my advice.”
“They were hungry?” I joked, but he chose not to respond. He reached into his black pants to hand me two sets of keys with a white tag dangling over them both.
“One and two,” he explained. “Those are the number of your cabins.”
“Okay.”
“It’s a bit of a drive, so you will have to follow me.”
“Far?’
“Two-minute drive, but its rough terrain.” He reached for a long black coat at the back of a wooden chair and threw it over his shoulders. “And I will have to look at the cabin myself since it’s been so long.”
“Alright.”
He snatched at his car keys and then deposited them in his coat pocket. “Let’s go,” he suggested, He pushed in his office chair and left the eerily dark room first. Silently he led the way, not wanting to speak to me until we reached the front of his house. “Let me lock the door.” The heavy door was shut harshly, and I noticed how he had two locks to secure it. He looked nervous doing it, doing his best to ignore the claw marks over the doorway as he did his task quickly. “You guys brought food?”
“Yeah, but we were hoping for a fire.”
“No fire.”
“How else are we supposed to eat?”
“Use my kitchen,” he declared. “But no fire.” He pulled on the doorknob to make sure it was secure. “Understood?”
“Yeah.” He took a step away, so sudden that I was compelled to follow him. “Nervous of someone breaking in?”
“No,” he said over his shoulder before he hopped down the steps two at a time. He was in a hurry to get to his car, looking at the skyline as if he was searching for something. By the time he jumped inside of his car I was still walking down the pathway, unable to keep up with his fast pace. “I haven’t got all day!” he jeered, which made me narrow my eyes at him. His car engine roared with impatience, so I told my friends to get in the car and follow his run-down truck.
“Sara, you upset him?” Ashley asked with some hesitation.
“I think that’s just his mood,” I teased. “Just drive.”
Ashley reversed out of the parking spot and slammed down on the pedal to keep up with the large pickup truck. It was the right vehicle, for it drove over the steep gravel road with certain ease. Ashley’s luxurious sedan was not meant for such road conditions, so she slowed down and softly prayed that she wouldn’t get a flat tire. It took us some minutes to reach a long stretch of cabins, spread out enough to give each occupant some privacy.
The man’s car jolted to a stop and before a second passed by, he jumped out of his car and slammed the door behind him. He reached into his pocket, and then visibly looked frustrated to find something was amiss.
“He looks pissed,” Ben observed behind us, taking note of how the man was quickly striding his way towards us. “What did we do?”
Ashley rolled down her window, expecting the man to yell at us the second he stood in front of her car. “What is it, love?” she teased out lightly, hoping that would diffuse the situation.
He dragged a heavy hand over his mouth, letting it settle over the dark threads over his chin as he glared past Ashley to stare straight into my eyes. “You have the keys, right?”
“They’re in my pocket,” I sweetly replied, hoping that would sooth his temper.
“Right.”
I opened my door first and gave him a skeptical look. “You forgot?”
“I have a lot of things on my mind,” he drawled out lifelessly. He dropped his gaze away from me as he uttered, “can I use it?”
I walked around the hood of the car, wondering how I was able to tame this man so easily. It was clear I had an influence over him, making him more civilized if that was the proper word. The man held his hand out in front of me, making sure to have eye contact with me as I placed the keys into his hand. “Thanks,” he muttered out softly, though it sounded almost sad-like in a way.
“Should we leave our stuff in the car?”
“For now.”
He turned away from me, waving his hand as a small invitation for me to follow him. My friends were unsure whether to come along or not, so they stayed in the car since I was the only one that seemed to have any power over him.
The caretaker opened the first cabin door, holding it open for me until we both walked inside. He made sure we walked at the same pace, slowing down a little so I could be at his side. His hands were awkwardly held in front of him, two fingers playing with a ring on his right hand. “This is it,” he observed, and then stretched out his left hand to show the bleakness of our small cabin. “I’ll get you some new sheets, since I don’t know when last it has been changed. He cracked open a door to the left of him and flickered on a light. “Here is the bathroom. I’ll get you some fresh towels as well.” His voice was softer as he added, “You take baths?”
“Sometimes.”
“I will grab you some of those nice bath bombs we save for our special customers.” He winked at me slyly, so sudden it was gone before I took note of it. “May have some wine for you as well.”
“Are you planning to join me?”
“Never thought you’d ask,” he teased, before he leaned against the bathroom door. One hand was shoved into his pocket as he took a good long look at me. A tiny smirk crept over his face. “Usually the man that does the asking though.”
“And yet, you are the one that offered to bring me wine.”
“Ah.” He raised an eyebrow at me playfully, obviously feeling in a flirtatious mood. “Well, your friend did say you were single.”
Damn.
He turned his head to the left, looking at the closed blinds over the bathroom window. “You will keep your word, won’t you? Not to go outside at night.”
“I won’t.”
“Even the folks that work here won’t go outside,” he commented. “They know how dangerous it can be. I swear to God, even if I hear your screams, I won’t come out to save you,” he warned in a dark voice. “I’ve seen too many things to do that.”
“Like what?”
“Might as well not tell you,” he slowly uttered, “I’m starting to like having you around.” He tilted his head downwards to rest his chin over the top part of his chest. “Even though it’s a little selfish of me.” His lips curled downwards, and he became sober as unknown thoughts flickered though his mind. “I will go get your towels and stuff then.”
“Is it at your place?”
“Yeah.”
“I will help.”
“It’s light, you know,” he replied in that strange northern Canadian accent of his.
“I can still help.”
“Thanks,” he replied with a lighter expression. “My name is Damian by the way.”
“Sara.”
“Nice to meet you Sara,” he said with sudden glee.
“Nice to meet you too.”
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone