Re: In the orchard: Daniel/Aubrey
Daniel was standing out of the trees, not in a clearing but in a split between the two lines were a long-gone farmer had felt a sense of orderly defense against nature. He was reasonably sure that the orchard would end in a village, but the question was whether he was heading toward the right end of the orchard, or the wild end. His memory didn't serve, in this case. He had been here before, and it felt like years, but the years weren't in the right direction. His mind didn't try to set them in order the way the farmer had his trees.
"A wolf," the old vampire said. "Big wolf." Automatically, he scanned the trees around him, which to his eye had the same gray clarity as most humans experience in early twilight. He didn't see any other wolves, and he sniffed once. He was upwind, which was a little dangerous, and there are such things as vampire hunters. He looked back at the black wolf. "Where are your friends, big wolf?" He said it softly, but without any mocking, no trace of sing song and no idle slur. We were curious and foolish but we weren't suicidal.
He automatically glanced up at the moon, then back down again. Werewolves could be odd, Daniel thought. New ones were as bloodthirsty and destructive as children. Old ones were defensive and territorial. All of them were dangerous. Daniel tried to think of one he had known, but the mire of his memory only assured him he had known at least one. Had they seen him the way this one had, outlined in waning starlight, coat collar up and hands hidden? Or in someplace warmer, both of them on two legs and bartering for something? He couldn't remember.
He didn't want to eat this one, and this one probably didn't want to eat him, but it might prefer him dead. Daniel frowned. "Couldn't send a fellow by way of the village, could you?"