It was early. Five-thirty in the morning or so and no time for a young girl like herself to be out. Especially alone. But Kambria wasn't worried for her safety; she could take care of herself. This wasn't the first time she'd walked these woods after a nightmare had made it nigh impossible for her to fall back asleep. If Kam was afraid of anything it was falling back asleep after one of her bad dream. The nights those dreams woke her she never went back to sleep. More often than not she'd go watch her 'kids' sleep, maybe go for a run. But lately she'd taken to walking through the forest.

It wasn't too far from where she lived. A nice quiet walk especially at this time of night. No one out to ask questions or say hello. And once in the forest she could think clearly, make herself forget about the horrible images still flashing inside her head.

But today was different. The chilling words that that man spoke every single time echoed in her head over and over again. This is how you were meant to die, little Kambria Fae. Scared and alone. Even now they gave her the chills. Would these nightmares ever end? Would she ever find a way to put a stop to them? She could only hope.

Pulling her thick over coat closed, Kambria sat on the trunk of a fallen tree, crossing one leg over the other. She hugged herself as a small chilled breeze passed by her, stirring the fallen leaves under her feet. This time of year always made her miss home; when all the leaves from the trees started to fall, the cold air biting at any exposed skin.

It also made her think of her nightmare. They always seemed to happen at night or just at sunset. The air chilled as the tempurature dropped, the sky growing dark with no promise of stars, and no one around. There were only ever two people in her dreams; the sharp toothed man who desperately needed a lesson in oral hygeine and herself. No matter who she called out for, no one else seemed to show themselves.

The thought alone sent a shiver up her spin. She needed to think of something else, anything else but that nightmare.

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It had been a long day at work. Too long in fact and Candice needed to clear her head and get the numbers out of her head so she wouldn't be haunted by dreams of floating numbers trying to strangle someone once she laid herself down for the night. Early morning was the perfect time to check out the forest as well as she wasn't really worried she'd run into the pack or anything if she went there before sunrise. Hopefully they all lived normal lives and didn't wander off in the early morning hours just to cause trouble.

The blonde wasn't really afraid of running into the wolves though, more likely than not they'd just leave her to herself and clearing her head. She didn't even notice the chill as she was busy remembering exactly where she'd walked, trusting her senses of hearing and smell far more than her eyes as she walked slowly. It was actually good practice, now she just needed to find the confidence to shift at will and gain control of the animal that was threatening to hurt people if she wasn't careful.

Before she registered what she was doing, she was walking towards a scent that distracted her and when she realized where her feet were carrying her, she stopped in her tracks for a moment. Did she really want to walk up to another wolf at this hour of night? It wasn't until she really focused that she realized it wasn't the wolf she'd met at the grill and decided to brave and approach her kindred.

Candice was surprised to find a girl all alone, sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree like that. She seemed so lost and lonely. "Couldn't sleep?" she asked curiously, remaining a good few paces away from the girl. No need to purposefully frighten the girl by approaching too fast.

Her 'kids'; that's what she'd think about. She did miss them terribly. For the past few days the family had been away visiting some of the family that lived nearby. Kambria had insisted on going but Mr. Engel insisted she take a break; something about watching three kids under the age of five being stressful. It was, but Kam never let it show. She'd been taking care of said three children for almost five years. But she couldn't refuse time alone, especially when it meant having the house all to herself. Hello quiet and sleeping in. Though after a couple days it had gotten lonely; a clear indication Kam needed to make some friends.

Not that she was a total loner. She knew a few people; the neighbors (all humans) and a couple shop owners due to how often she went since she'd been living in Bitter Springs. But it was hard to get out and meet new people when she was watching three toddlers twenty-four seven. Though maybe she'd luck out over the next few days she had alone.

Kambria was so preoccupied with thinking about her kids and finding friends that she didn't notice she wasn't the only one among the trees at this ungodly hour. The voice was what brought her back to the now. Finally focusing on the source of the voice, Kambria shifted a little uncomfortably. She didn't smell danger and the blonde standing not too far away didn't look like a threat, so maybe she could be trusted. Nothing against the girl, but she was always weary when it came to meeting new wolves, especially in the middle of a forest.

Her question, innocent as it was, made Kambria think about why she was out there in the first place. Huh, thinking about the kids really did work. "No," she answered, her voice shy. "I can never get back to sleep after a bad dream. Figured a walk would help clear my head." Shrugging a shoulder, Kam offered a small, sweet smile. "How about you?" she asked.

This was actually one of the first times Candice had willfully approached another wolf without trying her damnest to stay away. Curiosity got the best of her when there was only this innocent looking girl and not a whole pack to deal with. While being a loner had its perks as far as freedom went, it certainly wouldn't hurt to have some friends in town either. Even if she was on good terms with people she worked with, she wasn't too good at meeting new people outside of the safety or at least having work to talk about.

A chuckle escaped her when her question was turned back around toward herself. "I never went to sleep... I got too caught up with work and lost track of time. It's never a good idea for me to go straight to bed after working with numbers all day, I tend to dream of being attacked by them." She'd take sleepless nights over bad dreams any day really. Besides, it was the perfect opportunity to go exploring at night when she didn't have to worry about running into people who'd try to change her.

"I've never really explored the woods much, I don't like the idea of running into people from the local pack. Something about the whole following orders thing just doesn't sit right with me." Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, Candice smiled slightly at the stranger. She had a feeling most of the local pack wolves wouldn't understand why she preferred being on her own, and it wasn't that she was ashamed of what she was, she just preferred not having to shift unless necessary. And the whole alpha thing pissed her off, she'd do as she wanted, not whatever some guy ordered her to. Besides, from what she'd gathered, most the pack was male and she didn't need that many guys in her life that cause trouble.

"I didn't mean to intrude, I'll be on my way," she smiled friendly, actually hoping she could stay for a little while and possibly make a friend, just not knowing how to say so without sounding like a total freak.

It wasn't too often that she ran into another wolf. Sure she was part of the pack, had been for a few months now. At first it was to feel like she belonged. She liked to structure and protection a pack gave her; Kambria just didn't do too well without it. But she didn't interact with them too often or if at all; hell, she didn't even know any of their names. That was sad. Kam would definitely have to work on that. But in the mean time...

If only she had work to get caught up in. She'd take any excuse not to sleep and therefore avoid bad dreams; a sick baby maybe, two sick babies even. Without the kids around Kambria felt like she was sleeping too much when in reality she was getting less sleep than normal. "Dreams of being attacked by numbers?" she asked. "That doesn't sound vey pleasant at all. I can't blame you for not wanting to sleep." Though if she could be attacked by numbers in her dreams rather than having someone try to kill her she'd be a happier person.

Upon hearing that this girl hadn't been out in the woods much, she was a little shocked. Who could stay away from this place? She came out here all the times. Especially when she couldn't sleep. Though she had to admit, running into a pack she wasn't familiar with would make her uncomfortable too...even if she was a part of it.

"I can't not be part of a pack," Kambria said. "I came from a large pack in Germany. I've been living out here for almost a year and being alone and without pack mates...I don't feel safe. But to each his own, right?" The girl's smile made her own grow and in turn she relaxed immensely. This girl not being a part of a pack (local or not) calmed Kambria. There was always that fear that if she ran into someone from another pack and made a Erin move she wouldn't have just one person to deal with. She'd seen it happen before.

When the girl said she was going to leave, Kambria panicked a bit, half thinking she might have come off as unwelcoming. "Please don't go," she said. "It's nice to have someone to talk to who isn't under the age of five." As a silent invitation to join her, Kam scooted to the side, lightly patting the spot beside her. "I'm Kambria by the way. But you can call me Kam if you'd like," she said with a smile.

Candice couldn't help but chuckle slightly. It did sound silly not to go to bed out of fear or numbers attacking. After all, how bad could it really be? But she loved her job and didn't want to be put off it by tossing and turning all night whilst trying to figure out how to solve a problem she hadn't been able to finish before going to sleep. "It just messes up my work day, I know it sounds silly, I just love working with numbers and hate when I can't seem to focus after dreams like that."

So that made yet another pack wolf she'd run into. Then again, she knew wolves were pack animals by nature, it just didn't suit her personally. It was something she was working on. "It's lonely not having that support system, but I work with a lot of different clients, so it's easier not being tied down with responsibilities that prohibit me from seeing said clients." She knew most wolves didn't like vampires, but Candice didn't mind them any more than any other species of supernatural. They paid well and due to her gift, or curse, depending on how you saw it, they were oblivious to her condition. If they didn't know she was a wolf, they paid her just as well as they'd pay any other accountant to do their books to figure out their taxes.

At the invitation to stay, Candice smiled again, moving to sit down next to the girl she now knew to call Kam. "It's nice to meet you Kam, I'm Candice, resident accountant," she chuckled slightly at that last bit though. Obviously there had to be more people with her profession in town, but she worked with the supernatural more than normal people anyway.

Sitting quietly, Kam listened to the girl's explanation of dreams messing up up her work. It wasn't like she could blame her for feeling that way. At times, more often than not actually, Kambria just couldn't focus on taking care of the kids. A playful scream made her panic, one of the twins crying sent chills up her spine, even a small touch to get her attention made her jump and scream, scaring the kids in return. It drove her insane.

"It's not silly at all," she said, offering a small reassuring smile. "Trust me, I feel the same way after my bad dreams. But I'd take numbers that gnaw on me than...someone trying to kill me." Oops. Was that too much? Probably, but she couldn't take it back now; it was out there for this stranger to do with as she pleased. Kambria had never told anyone why happened in her dreams, even if it was just the gist of it. "I'm sorry," she said in a soft tone. It was goo to share personal things with people you were trying to get to know, all in due time of course. But Kam felt like she had to apologize for that but of information.

Being tied down with the pack she definitely understood. It did make things harder on her without factoring in the three kids she had to raise. "I can relate with you on that. I have to take care of three kids every day not to mention trying to get to know my pack mates. Which isn't going as well as I hoped it would seeing as...I know none of them," she said with a sheepish smile. It was a little embarrassing to admit that she was in a pack and yet knew none of and nothing about her pack mates. But she was working on that; slowly but surely.

When the other girl sat down, another small smile pulled at her lips. "Well it's nice to meet you as well, Candice. I'm a nanny by the way," she said. It was no glamorous job but she loved what she did and wouldn't change it for the world.

It was good to know she wasn't the only one unable to work after bad dreams. Especially if said dreams were about her work. It was silly of her to be afraid of numbers in her dreams when Kam obviously had much worse things to deal with in her sleep. "Don't worry about it, we all have dreams like that from time to time. It's part of life sadly," she chuckled at how the girl tried to excuse her information sharing.

"Well, I'm sure you'll get to know them all in due time. There's no point rushing, is there? And I'm sure the kids need your attention more than the pack does anyway." Unlike Kam, the blonde had absolutely no experience with pack life, she didn't know the ins and outs or how much time they actually spent together outside of the full moon. Heck, she hadn't even recognized the alpha when she'd run into him. It had been embarrassing not to be able to tell the difference between him and a regular wolf, at least he seemed fine with her being in town, so she shouldn't really complain.

When she learned that Kam was a nanny, it all made more sense. She seemed far too young to have three kids of her own. "That sounds like a lot of work to be honest, but as long as you enjoy it, that's what matters," she smiled slightly. Candice would never have survived as a nanny, but she didn't judge people on their jobs as long as they were happy. "I do most of my work with vamps these days, kids might just be easier to handle," she said with a chuckle. It was true though, a lot of vampires were just like kids, spoiled rotten by their creators. She never understood how someone could change people to keep them around forever.

Kambria couldn't help but nod in agreement at what Candice had said. It was unfortunate but true. Bad dreams of all kinds were a part of everyone's every day life; small things like failing a test or bigger things like...murder and the end of the world. Or whatever it was that people had bad dreams about. Either way they were a part of life and there was no way to get rid of them. "One day I'll invent a way to make them stop," she said with a small chuckle. "Maybe a little machine you put on your nightstand. You can pick between no dreams at all or something peaceful." Of course she meant this all in good humor. If there were a way she could do that, pick what she dreamed about each night, she'd be all over it like white on rice. If only, if only.

"I know I will. And I know it'll take some time. I just wish I could get it over with so I don't have to worry about it," she said, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "But that's just how I am; I hate putting important things off. I get that from my mom." She probably should have gotten to know those in the pack before she joined or even soon after moving here. Why had she put it off for so long? Getting settled took some time, so being consumed with getting the kids adjusted to a new place and new times was understandable. After that she just kept putting it off.

"It's so much easier being born into pack life," she said in an almost whisper. "Most everyone knows you and making friends with the children is easy since all our parents are close." Kam let out a sad sigh as she looked down at the forest floor and the dead leaves beneath her feet. It wasn't hard to tell she missed her home and her pack; they were her family and here she didn't have that. Not yet at least.

A small smile pulled at her lips. A lot of work didn't even begin to cover it. "It is," she said. "But I love it and I love my kids. I got hired before their first child, Marlie, was born, so I've known her and the twin boys all their lives. They're only two years apart so dealing with two year old drama plus two newborns is a lot to handle. I wouldn't trade it for the world though." And she wouldn't. Those kids were her life and even if she never had kids of her own she'd still have Marlie, Ulrich and Alrick to call her own. They certainly thought of her as a mother figure.

At the comment about dealing with vampires, Kambria let out a small laugh. "Maybe we should get together some time and compare notes," she joked. "I've never dealt with vampires. Not knowingly anyway. So I'd say kids are easier to deal with."

"If you don't mind my asking...how long have you lived her?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. She'd met a few people who had lived here their whole lives and others less so. So she always liked to ask when meeting someone new.

The blonde chuckled at Kam's idea for a machine. "Well, if you need any help with that, let me know. It certainly sounds like a good business deal right there. A machine like that would sell really well and be quite useful," she said all in good humor. It was true though. If such a machine could be invented, the inventor would make a fortune in the blink of an eyes. Seeing as most people would rather have nice or no dreams than nightmares.

"In a way, I guess you're lucky to have grown up with your own. I was brought up by witches and they tried for the longest time to teach me magic, it was a surprise to us all really the first time I shifted." Candice chuckled fondly at the memory though. It had been during a full moon and they had no idea they'd adopted a werewolf. They'd stopped trying to teach her magic after that though and focused more on teaching her ways to avoid harming anyone, even if she still didn't fully control the wolf when she had to shift.

It sounded like Kam had plenty on her hands with the three kids, but she supposed they became like a family when she'd been around the kids for so long. Candice herself was still close with her adoptive family, she just didn't see them as often as she'd liked since she moved, so it was nice to hear about the other girl's family instead of thinking about her own whenever she had too much free time on her hands.

"It helps on the whole vampire thing that my parents messed me up somehow. I'm usually very anonymous and easy to forget since I don't leave any lingering scents or physical evidence of every having been a place." As if to demonstrate, Candice plucked out a hair from her head and showed Kam how it just turned to dust the moment it was no longer connected to her head. "I know a lot of wolves hate vampires, but it's just work to me, so it doesn't really matter," she said with a shrug.

When Kambria asked how long she'd lived in Bitter Springs, Candice smiled slightly. How long had it been now since she'd taken her first job in town? More importantly, how long from she'd started working until she'd actually moved to town... It seemed time had passed much quicker than she had originally thought since it felt like only yesterday that she'd taken her first assignment. "I've lived here a little over a year now I suppose, but I've worked for people in town for a few months longer. Great thing about my job is that all I need is a computer really, so I can do most of my work anywhere with an internet connection really."

Even if it was all in Good fun, the offer to help made Kam smile. A genuine smile that just couldn't be faked. "Well, once I get to thinking about it some more you're the first person I'm gonna call," she said with a soft laugh, shaking her head slowly. It was nice to laugh like this even if only for a short moment; besides the kids, Kam didn't have too many reasons to laugh. And it was enjoyable.

To hear that Candice was brought up by witches was a bit of a shock. It wasn't like she hadn't heard stories of witches raising children that...well weren't witches. She even knew one such with who did the same back in her village. "It must have been interesting," she said, not really knowing what other word to use. Maybe 'fun' would have worked; even now she thought of magic as something that could be fun. In ways.

"We have one witch in my village. My old village that is. The only non-werewolf in the village. She took in quite a few kids who had lost their parents or even ran away from other packs." Kam couldn't remember her name; it was something odd and out of the ordinary but it was lost in her head. She was a nice woman though. "Though now I'm curious," she said, biting her lower lip with a childish smile. "What was it like? Growing up with witches I mean."

How was it possible for anyone to completely erase any evidence of themselves ever having been in one place? It seemed impossible; or so one should think. Even now Kam could smell a dozen different people - supernatural and non - and she wasn't even trying. So how was it possible? And in answer to her unspoken question, Kam watched as Candice plucked a hair from her head and stared half in shock, half in awe, as it just...disintegrated right before her eyes.

"...If my hair could do that it'd make cleaning out my brush so much easier," she said. "And no pain of cleaning the shower drain. How did you do that?" She couldn't help but ask; it was just too amazing to not question.

So Candice hadn't been living here long. Longer than herself of course. "If only I could do my work on a computer and anywhere that had an Internet connection," she said with a small laugh. "Though that might get me fired." That last part she said more to herself than to add to the conversation. "I've barely been here eight months. It's not as bad a place as I thought it would be." Kam only said that because she'd only lived in one place before; well the same country but two different towns.

"It was very fascinating and they really did help me when we found out about me as well," she smiled slightly. Sure, it had been a shock to find out she was adopted, but she had no desire to find her biological parents. The people who'd raised her were legally her parents and they felt just as real as she imagined the real deal was. It was all she knew and she wouldn't trade it for the world.

Naturally at the question of how it was to grow up with witches, Candice couldn't help but chuckle. So many memories of funny episodes, especially including her sister when she started getting the hang of levitation spells. "At first it was really frustrating to be honest, trying to learn something that wasn't natural for me at all and watching my sister excel at it. It wasn't until I learned I was adopted that it became fun actually. When I could just watch them do the simplest of chores the easiest way possible. Lots of things floating through the house to their proper places, things disappearing... I think the best part really was that I wasn't brought up to prefer one species of supernatural over another, they were very tolerant of everyone really."

Candice had heard stories of werewolves who were brought up to hate vampires from a very young age. There were witches brought up to distrust anyone who wasn't a witch as well. Her parents were the gentlest people she knew and probably had very few enemies as they tried to help anyone who needed their help. Maybe that was why she didn't mind fixing books so people could make things run a little longer until they got back on their feet.

It made little sense that she left no traces and she didn't know how to explain how she did it really. Though Kam was right, it did make cleaning a lot easier as there was only dust to clean and not hair sticking to all kinds of strange places around the apartment. "I think it's a byproduct of my parents trying to teach me magic, somewhere down the line something must have gone awry. I can't really explain it as I don't really know what happened or remember a time when I wasn't like this."

Over time she'd learned to wear scents to mask her lack of one when she was out, at least it'd throw wolves and vampires alike off the trail of there being something different about her. "It really is a good place for people like us, we fit right in without trying."

Kambria listened, completely fascinated, to Candice as she talked about growing up with witches and what it was like. It sounded a whole lot better than growing up as a werewolf to be honest. All you have to look forward to in that lifestyle is the impending change; though she had to admit that hunting was fun. It wasn't so much that she liked to kill, but more the being able to run free through the trees with her pack mates. She did miss it. But keeping her thoughts to herself she simply smiled at Candice, pretty sure that it was a childish grin of sorts. "Sounds like you had an interesting life. A whole lot of fun too."

Byproduct of magic or not, it was still cool to not have to worry about someone finding her. The ultimate hide-&-seek game.

Then she mentioned how this place was good for people like them. They really did blend in in this place and unless you knew what you were looking for then it would be hard to tell any of them apart from a human. There really was no major need to feel the need to hide from everyone. But that was just her opinion. "More places like this need to exist," she said. "Because otherwise we're just stuck hiding and running."

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note | sorry it took so long. got a bad case of writer's block. & sorry if it's a little confusing.

Her life had been fun and fascinating, that much was true. She just needed to get in touch with her wolf side more now that she was on her own. All in due time though. "It is what it is, I'm not complaining though. Just wish I had more control over the whole werewolf situation is all," she said with a shrug.

Could there possibly be more places like Bitter Springs where the supernatural didn't have to hide? The very idea didn't sound all that unrealistic, it even seemed most hunters in this town were harmless unless provoked. From what she'd gathered, that on it's own was pretty rare. She'd definitely do some digging to see if she couldn't find out for sure. "If there are more places like this, there'll be records of it somewhere. Would be worth looking into, certainly would be fascinating to see..."

Candice had been staring into the forest lost in thought, but she caught herself and chuckled slightly. "I get carried away," she said with a shrug. Grinning slightly at her own foolishness, the blonde pulled a hand through her hair and couldn't help but feel like she had been meant to go out into the woods so late at night. It didn't do much for her sleep, but at least she got a friend out of it all, right?

She listened to Candice quietly, nodding slowly every now and then. As much as she loved this place, knowing that there could possibly be another place like this out there somewhere was nice. Say she wanted to move when the kids were all grown up and didn't need her anymore? Then she knew there was another safe place she could live in. It'd sure beat spending a ton of money just to move back to Germany.

The one thing Candice said that caught Kambria's attention was her lack of control over her werewolf side. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to not have control over that. But it was probably expected when Candice was raised by witches to be a witch instead of what she truly was. Though that wasn't her fault at all. Then a thought hit Kambria; it might be a long shot but they seemed to be getting along well enough now.

"Well you know...if you ever need someone to help with the werewolf 'situation' then I'd be more than happy to help you any way I can," she said with a smile. Kambria was no werewolf expert, who was? But she had grown up in a rather large pack however and had learned 'the ways of the wolf' at an early age.

Note: sorry this took so long. First I got distracted by job hunting and then my notes in my iPod went and deleted themselves so I had to write this from scratch /D