The Lycan War: His Lost Luna

Aurora POV Wiping down the table of this little cafe on the outskirts of Toulouse, France, I wave a small goodbye to an elderly couple that take their leave. Fixing my apron neatly, I fold the wash cloth nicely and place it back on the cart. I look over at the clock on the opposite wall of the cafe to see that it's fifteen minutes before three, just before we close. "Is everyone gone?" The small mid-50s owner, June, asks me. I nod with a small smile. "Everyone's gone, June." She nods. "Did you want to close early today?" "No. No. We are still waiting on one more customer." I give her a strange look, but I don't question her. "Just a reminder, June, tomorrow is my last day." Giving me a disgruntled look, she sneers at me. "You can't work for more?" I shake my head. "We had a deal. Three months." Though I remind her, I can tell she regrets it. Not sure what else to say, I shrug and count out the tip to prepare for my tip out. Generally past 1 PM, I am the last barista here, and sometimes we get a few stragglers, but not often. Just as I finish double counting, I hear the small jingle from the door. Putting my work away, I look up to see a very tall man followed by two other very tall men stand behind him. They are of strong build with beautiful sculpted faces. Hmm.. I wonder.. "Two medium black coffees and an Irish cream cold brew." I nod and ring it up. "Sixteen and a half euros, please." Sweetly adding, he hands me the money, but June interupts us. "No. No. Free." I look back at her and give her a curious look. This French lady may seem all nice and sweet, but she definitely loves money. That's the reason she jumped to hire me. "Okay..." I say softly before giving a small nod to the man in front of me. He peers at me curiously and the other two take a seat, sighing heavily I pour out the two black coffee. "No, Jean. Make fresh." I blink back twice. Okay..? What is up with her? Jean is the name I use here. I look over to the man to see if he's okay with waiting. "Are you okay with waiting, sir?" Taking at least five seconds, I start to get uncomfortable from his stares. When he sees that I am expecting an answer, he blinks hard. The other two guys notice this weirdness as well and get up from their table to tap him lightly on the arm. I see all of their eyes grey over a bit. s**t. I try to remain calm about it because I know that if I look away too hurriedly, I may blow my cover. c*****g my head, I look for an answer. The main guy just nods to the others. "We're fine with waiting." His dark voice answers me and I give a short nod. Starting a fresh pot of coffee, I work on the cold brew. "Add another cold brew." "Yes, sir." I say as I feel his eyes continue to look at me in curiousness. After the two cold brews are done, I put it on the counter in front of the men. The three of them now look hard at me. I grab the newly made coffee pot and pour out the two cups of coffee. As I am about to tell them to have a nice day, the main man beats me to it. "Have we met before?" I look up from the coffee pots to see their faces, then I shake my head. "No, sir. I don't believe we have." He hums in response before he grabs the coffee alongside the two men next to him. They turn to walk out, but the main man turns to take one last look at me. "Have a nice day." I say as I round the corner to turn the open sign to closed. I don't bother to lock it since June likes to count how much money she has after I leave anyway and I use it to leave. "Clean and then go." She says harshly before going into her small office and then slamming the door. Okay... Whatever, I shake the feeling. This isn't the first time I have seen another werewolf, but my scent is masked to smell like a human. I can tell June is a werewolf too, but the other three, with their height and strong build, they have to be lycan or related somehow. Damn it. I make my way through the cafe and make sure it's spick and span for the next morning. Once I am done, I knock on June's door to tell her I am leaving. Taking my tote bag with me, I put on my thick puffer coat. After, I get out through the front door and lock up before I walk back to my van. Having been in such close contact with the other possible lycan wolves, I know I have to take an alternative way home tonight. Oh, well. I walk to the flower shop make sure I touch every flower there. The scents from all of these flowers can generally mask any smell they might be following, if they are following. Though I doubt they are, you can never be too careful. This is pretty much my whole life. I sigh. I never stay in one place for too long and I never make any personal connections with people along the way. It's easier that way. I stay to myself and most people are too concerned with their own issues to be worried about some girl they hardly see. With the tips I got this morning, I decide to stop by a bookstore and see if I want to buy a book to remember this place by. When I enter in the bookstore, it's quite vintage and worn, but it's still charming nonetheless. Wandering down through the aisle, I give a light smile to the elderly man running this place, to which he returns. My fingers roam through the books until I land on a book that I have been trying to read. "A Christmas Carol?" The bookkeeper questions me as I place the book on the counter to purchase. "Have you ever read one of Charles Dickens books?" I nod politely without saying a word. "Well, miss. It's going to just ten euros for you." Counting out my money, I hand it over to him and grab the book and put it in my tote to take my leave. When I get out of his store, I walk around the square and then slip into the forest. Taking strange and curved turns, I walk for a long time until I am sure no one has followed me. Glancing at my watch, it's been two hours since I walked out of work and the sun is setting pretty low in the horizon. Positive that I will be fine as I have taken every preventative measure, I walk to the area I parked my van in my snow boots and large puffed up winter jacket. The moment I see my van, I let out a sigh in relief. I make efforts to conceal my footsteps and then make my way inside my van. I flip the light switch so that my Christmas lights situated along the top of the van are lit up and my small plug in heater turns on. My van is decent in size because of spacing, but you would probably never guess that someone actually lives in here. My small full sized bed is against the back doors with cubbies underneath where I store most of my clothes. There is a small kitchen counter with a sink and just enough space to do some light prepping for food. Above that I have shelves, but there are mostly books on there or some DVDs that I like to re-watch. There's a couple of plates and bowls, but I don't keep too much since I live by myself. On the right, I have a huge black light blocker curtain so no one can tell that someone is back here. There's also a bookshelf that holds my non-perishable foods and my cooking pan along with some herbs. I have a small camp stove that needs butane to light, but it works pretty well. In that corner, I have a full bath that comprises a toilet and a very small space to stand for the shower that has a curtain to pull back. Right before you reach my bed, there's a small little desk that if I pull out one of the shelves under my bed is a bench for the desk, generally where I eat lunch or something if I don't want to get the bed dirty. Placing my book on the counter, I take off my tote and large puffer jacket to hang on the hooks on the left of me and then proceed to unhook my snow boots. Leaving the snow boots on the mat by the door so the snow doesn't melt onto the floor, I walk towards my bed and yawn. It's not much but it is home. Most of the style in the van is light wood and white with a touch of green. My bed sheets dark green, but my large thick comforter is white. The bed is midway up so I can still sit very comfortably on the bed. I have a body pillow, two head pillows and some decorative pillows that I have changed out to winter ones to match the season. Christmas used to be my favorite holiday growing up and we are about six weeks out, but I like to think that it lasts two months instead of just the one. I have a portable DVD player next to my DVDs and I am wondering if I should start my book or just re-watch something. The only sounds in the van are from the heater and my heavy breathing, it's a little eerie tonight for my taste. Grabbing the DVD player, I put in a season of One Tree Hill. While the theme song is on, I hum to the tune and then I change into a long large t-shirt with a pair of sweatpants before getting under the covers. Though I am sort of paying attention to the show, my mind wanders to the cafe earlier today. This is a bit further than the lycans on this side of Europe would generally travel. They're typically closer to the border in the event that an invasion occurs. Maybe, they're moving their stronghold. It doesn't matter, I can't change my patterns because of the lycans on this side. If I do that, I may get caught by the other side. Shaking my head to convince myself otherwise, I open up the drawer in the desk by my bed and check the streets and routes for my next location. I try to travel random miles every couple of months, though depending where I am, sometimes I decide to stay longer. Whatever I can do to throw anyone off my trail, that's all that matters to me. This next trip is a lot longer than I usually travel to, but I do have plenty of money to carry with me to get there in two days time. I have yet to go to Prague since it's so close to the border to the other side. But I have to take the risk to make sure I am unsuspecting. Plus, Prague is one of the Black Moon Pack's strongholds, the Night Walker Pack wouldn't dare go there. I breathe lightly before taking a look at my watch to see the time. Only an hour has passed. I suppose I will start that book after all. I grab the book off the counter and dig into it before the hours quickly turn and I figure I should retire for the night. It's going to be a long day tomorrow. I have no doubts that June will have a kick about it being my last day. This is one of the consequences of working for those that like to work under the table and not pay for people to do the work. June doesn't have to pay me, I just get to take my tips. She's pretty happy about that knowing how strict the employment laws are. Turning off the DVD player and unplugging it, I turn off the lights and heater. It's been snowy, but not too bad that I have to put the heater on the whole night. I am plenty warm with my thick comforter. Just as the darkness sets in and the peace of the woods calms my being, I feel a tremor and know that the night is going to be a long one too.