by Ian Thomas
“Not much has changed in the ten minutes since you last asked me. Pants are still on and I haven’t touched the whisky.”
“I smell peanut butter,” Eddie said.
“Ya know some people respect their elders,” Matteo replied.
“Technically, you’re both elders,” McLachlan commented. No one was surprised they were masking their pain with personal insults and jibes. To McLachlan it brought them closer. Ragging on each other only highlighted the bond they had. Without saying so directly, this was how they showed they were close and glad to be alive.
“This is gonna hurt later, isn’t it?” Eddie asked after a moment.
“And then some,” Matteo said, a hand on Eddie’s shoulder.
With immortals, death was different. Keenly felt and ever present as families, lovers, and friends died while they lingered. If not ravaged by time, then the brutality of their supernatural tensions tore people from their lives. In those instances, righting the wrong overshadowed personal grief. McLachlan had learned that quickly. In part a lesson he learned early in life.
Didn’t make it easier though.
Michael had been his friend.
And Rowan.
Was he waiting for Rowan to grieve with her? Share her loss? That seemed ghoulish, he realized. But he felt her absence as though he’d lost her as well.
“What’s the situation?” Proctor asked as Matteo stepped past his friends.
“Seems Colton has returned, intent on destroying the accords.”
“Little reductive,” Waseme said stoically.
“And yet here we sit,” Blackthorne groaned. “More of the nothing.”
“Because going at Colton recklessly has worked so well in the past,” Hale said, a surprising voice of support.
“I agree,” Matteo said. “And I don’t mean to be reductive. I just refuse to give Colton the power he seeks.”
“With the accords gone he’ll have all the power he wants.”
“But that’s not the power he’s after,” Matteo said. “Fear, intimidation, submission – that’s the power he seeks. Destroying the accords allows for chaos. With chaos comes opportunity. Then he can fulfill whatever twisted pleasure he has.”
“The Pack War,” Blackthorne protested. From the look on his face, the Englishman was at last seeing his failure.
“Was not Colton’s endgame. That was Grey. And Kane. They wanted domination. They wanted to rule. Colton only wanted chaos, a cover for his own special brand of cruelty.”
“That does sound like him,” Proctor said. As the oldest wolf in the room, his experience made the Clan Delphae’s librarians envious. “And just central to enough chaos and conflict that his motives seem one way when they’re quite another.”
“So how do we go after him?” Blackthorne asked, some of his braggadocio waning.
Matteo looked at him with a genuinely sad smile. “We don’t. He holds all the cards here. Mostly wild cards we’ll never expect.”
“Bloody hell.”
“Exactly what he wants. Don’t underestimate him. He’s smart and sadistic. Everything so far has been a flirtation. We’ve yet to see the main event.”
“So what can we do?” Waseme asked.
“Re-establish the accords. Work together with the communities, ease any panic or fear that’s seeping in.” He looked to Waseme. “How are the wiccans?”
“Removed, protected. Yael hasn’t spoken of Colton’s return or what’s been happening but word will get out.”
“She’s a strong leader. She’ll handle that well enough.”
“Wouldn’t hurt to see some solidarity with the wolves,” Waseme said. Hale and Blackthorne shifted angrily in their seats.
“We need Hayley,” Eddie whispered to McLachlan. “She’d nail this.”
“Plus a civilian so she’s neutral.”
“Neutral-ish,” Eddie replied with an expectant look. There was something else behind his expression, a strain that suggested reticence.
Before McLachlan could say anything, Matteo addressed them. “That’s what I was thinking.” He looked back to the room. “We have a friend. A woman who could handle this well.”
“Hardly see how a cocktail hostess is going to soothe these troubled accords,” Blackthorne sneered, somewhat recovered.
Eddie started forward, angrily but McLachlan caught him. “Not the time, but that was the right instinct.”
“I did notice more women here,” Waseme said, cutting through the tension. “Good to see you’re evolving.”
“What about Gracchus and the vampires?” Proctor asked.
Matteo was silent, thinking. “Leave him to me.”
“Which leaves the rest of us back at doing nothing?” Blackthorne asked, a hostile edge to this voice.
“No,” Matteo said firmly, as close to a rebuke as he was going to make. “Be a leader to your wolves. Together and one-on-one. Value them. Colton’s gonna look for ways in wherever he can.”
“Ben?” Proctor asked.
“I sincerely hope not,” Matteo replied, head bowed. “Any word?”
“He landed and then disappeared,” Hale said. “We’re still looking for him.
“Stay on it,” Matteo said. “Otherwise, look after your wolves. Second full moon tonight. Make it a sire’s moon.”
Both McLachlan and Waseme stiffened at the words, eyes wide.
“Not what you think,” Eddie muttered. “A sire’s moon is a full moon where a sire bonds with their wolves. It’s a good thing.”
McLachlan relaxed though Waseme would take some convincing.
The meeting broke up soon after. McLachlan had wanted to bring up the funeral but thought better of it. Decisions wouldn’t be made until Rowan returned. He just hoped it wouldn't turn a chance to mourn into a spectacle of solidarity.
Once Blackthorne and his lackey had left, Waseme shared a genuine embrace with Proctor. The Englishman’s disdain for vampires departing with him.
Matteo smiled at the sight. The accords very much evident so long after the Pack War.
“She’s gonna need to stick around,” Eddie said. “Whatever Hayley comes up with is gonna involve the wiccans.”
“Can you imagine those two in a room together?” McLachlan asked.
“No bullshit at fifty paces,” Eddie replied with a smile.
Matteo looked at him, his expression unreadable. “Are we good?”
“We’ve been better,” Eddie replied. “Did some thinking. Now I need to do some understanding.”
“Anything you want to know, just ask,” Matteo said. Then looked toward the basement door, silent for a moment. “Text Mouth. Jason’s awake.”
X
The mood was decidedly grim.
No one had spoken in a while, the only sound being Jason pacing restlessly. Mouth wanted to liken his friend to a caged animal but, given the past twenty-four hours, the words ‘too soon’ were emblazoned on his mind.
Which only made things worse.
But someone needed to speak. Someone needed to say something. Even just to process everything they’d heard. Looking at Matteo’s stony expression or McLachlan’s slumped shoulders, the responsibility fell to him.
“So let me see if I have this right.” Mouth’s head was still spinning. A lack of sleep, too much coffee, a random date, and his best friend being a werewolf will do that. “You were sneaking around with Ben for a while there, then met this guy Henry who’s actually the ultimate big bad wolf, Colton. He sired you, then his vampire girlfriend threw a whammy on you to live above the coffee shop, think you were taking steroids, and ignore Malcolm who wasn’t visiting family out west but was actually her sex slave? Then she released you back to Lafayette so you could wolf out and kill a heap of people?”
“Pretty much,” Jason replied sheepishly. Swamped in clothes borrowed from Matteo he looked more like his scrawny self again.
“You couldn’t write this shit.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” McLachlan said.
&
nbsp; A withering stare told the older men it was time to leave. He understood that they only wanted the best for Jason. McLachlan, the whatever-he-was, champion of the people, defender of the wit. Matteo, old as a shit, recent recluse, and current Pack Lord. Shit, he was Jason’s Pack Lord now. That was gonna change things a bit.
But there weren’t Jason’s friends. Not really. Well, they didn’t know him as well as Mouth.
Before they left, Matteo put a hand on Mouth’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. They were all connected now. Their worlds had well and truly collided. Like the proverbial excrement hitting the whirly thing. From the way both men slouched out of the room, defeated, Mouth could tell the felt the same way.
Once they’d gone Mouth walked closer to the cage. Self-consciously, Jason didn’t approach.
“Holy fuck, dude? You’re a werewolf!”
“Or not.” Jason brightened. He seemed relieved not to be scrutinized anymore. “Could be just a ‘roid rage blackout. A spell. Something.”
“Uh, look at yourself. You’ve gone total boy-bander here. Oh god, you’re Mitch-sized now.”
“I’m not a fucking werewolf.”
“Yes you are,” Mouth said insistently. He drew his cellphone out of his pocket, tapped the screen for a bit and held the phone out to Jason.
“You filmed this?”
“The camera was already on.”
“No, you filmed this.”
“And aren’t you glad.”
Jason went quiet, eyes fixed on the screen. The second time through he muted the audio, wincing more at the cries of pain than Mouth’s verbal diarrhea. Watching it through a few more times, he handed the device back to his friend, visibly pale.
“Fuck, I’m a w-were – I can’t actually say it.”
“I wonder if queer-wolf might be more appropriate?”
“Jokes?! You’re making jokes?”
Mouth was quiet. “Kinda has a ring to it.”
Jason sighed as if understanding an obvious truth. “I get it. You think I tried to eat you last night. Well I didn’t. So, ya know, maybe a little sensitivity.”
“Pfft. Sure, seeing you wolf-out like that. Little scary. But nowhere near as scary as you screwing Ben.”
“Are we still on this?” Jason demanded. “I was messed up. As choices go, not a winner, sure. But hey, look at the fucking consequences.” He bared his scarred shoulder at Mouth. Healed, the skin showed the vicious marks where he was sired.
When Mouth didn’t reply, Jason began to pace again.
“You know you could sound happier,” Mouth muttered. “Good abs, no gym required, immortality, all-boys club. Not a bad deal.”
“Really?” Jason stopped, a vein throbbing in his neck. “That’s how you see it? I wanted a normal life. Even for a gay kid from Charleston. That’s done with.”
“Are you kidding? Normal’s overrated. You’re a wolf. That’s amazing.”
Jason stared at him, a look of horror on his face.
“You think this should have been you.”
“No.” But the thought had crossed his mind.
“Then why are you so into this?”
“I’m not…I’m just trying to be a friend. And ya know, help you gain some glass half perspective and shit.”
“Perspective? That what I’m lacking? Really? How’s this for perspective?” Jason walked to the barred door, the barrier immediately emphasizing his point. “Immortal huh? How’s that a bonus when my best friend grows old and dies? Rebecca too. And Hayley. My family.”
“You’re not super close with them.”
“Not the point, dude!” Jason yelled. “I get to watch all of them – you – everyone I love die.”
“Okay so that’s pretty bleak but–”
“Oh no I’m not done. Family. You get to have one. Me, I’m sterile now. Did you know that? Wolves don’t breed. The minute my body changes – ya know the whole boy-band-bod – I’m sterile.”
“There’s siring.”
“Yeah, cos I want to do this to someone else.”
“Only you could get dark this quickly.”
“Fuck you.”
Mouth took a deep breath. “I get it. This isn’t what you wanted. This is…violent, and final, and pretty much the definition of life-changing. And hey, you’ve had it pretty shit for a while now. What with John then Mitch. Ben. Now this.”
Startled, Jason looked away. “Oh god. Oh wow. You just equated my questionably self-destructive sex life to becoming. A. Fucking. Werewolf!”
“At least you finally said the word.”
“Pretty sure you need to leave.”
They were silent, Jason turned away from his friend. How could he not see this was a pretty incredible thing? Not the power or the violence of it. Mouth understood this would be a helluva thing to comprehend but Jason was more than he had been. More than just a sophomore. More than just being gay. More than average.
“Thing is you have us,” Mouth said finally. “Me, Bex, Hayley, and now a whole new family as well.”
“Yeah and three nights of the month I’m gonna lose control and be a threat. What kinda life is that?”
“The same one women have been endured with since the dawn of time. I’m pretty sure you’ll cope,” Mouth replied. Was this going to make Jason’s occasional bouts of self-pity more frequent?
“Being a werewolf and menstruation are very different.”
“Says the guy who has no experience of either.”
“Dude, I changed!” Jason gestured at the phone.
“You don’t remember it.” Mouth’s biting tone shut Jason’s rant before it got started. “Listen. This is day one of your wolf-menstruation. We should celebrate it. Or not. Up to you.”
“A period party?” Jason’s anger was looking for an outlet.
“Beats a pity party.”
Jason laughed, deflated. But for how long? “I get that being a wolf enhances things. Physique, sense of hearing, anger management issues. But do you think it’s gonna intensify my ability to mope.”
“You don’t mope.”
“Yes I do.”
“No, it’s more like over-dramatic sulking.”
“Wow, and here I was thinking you were trying to cheer me up.”
“Oh I am. I was.”
“Ya know, feeling less guilty about trying to kill you last night.”
The thought of unleashing a werewolf on their floor terrified them both. Mouth was still surprised he survived. He told Jason as much, including the how-to. Soon enough Mouth was filling him in on what his roommate had missed socially. While it was all as mundane as hell, Mouth knew it was exactly what Jason wanted. He was gonna have more than a lifetime to mope about being a werewolf. For the time being he needed to remember what it was like to be him.
“Thank you,” Jason said. “For being here. For being you. For…”
“You’re not dying,” Mouth said. They both laughed. Soon enough they were sitting on the ground, alongside the bars, facing each other. “What’s it like?”
“Really odd. Like all my senses are really intense but it comes and goes from normal to heightened in an instant. Like I keep catching snatches of that perfume Kara wears but not sure if that’s memory or something from upstairs.”
“Uh, no, that’s me.”
“You’re wearing her perf–oh right. So that’s a happening thing?”
“Kinda. Just one coffee. Early days. Plenty of time for me to fuck it up.”
“Uh, you’re not me so that’s unlikely.”
“I dunno. Last I saw you and Danny, things were looking pretty hot and heavy.”
“Wait, when?”
“Was just checking on you and there he was and, well, it got NC-seventeen pretty quickly.”
“Stalking?”
“Spying. Big difference.”
“Good to know.” Jason paused. “Seriously, the last month’s been a blur. Like I don’t know what’s real and what’s not.”
“How did you re
member everything?”
“McLachlan’s friend. The black woman. She used her vampire power to undo all the mental shit Holly had done.”
“Holly?”
“Shit, yes that’s her name. Total nut job. Which reminds me, can you check on Malcolm? He had it real rough. Not sure what’ll happen if he remembers any of it.”
“Will do. Can’t believe this whole time you were both up there. That’s crazy.”
“Can’t believe you accepted I’d joined a gym. Some friend you are.”
“In my defense you didn’t exactly handle the Mitch-uation well. The gym was not entirely out of the question for you.”
“I’m kidding. I’d been thinking about joining one for a while.”
“And now you don’t have to.”
“Or I don’t know,” Jason said, wincing slightly. “I’m hungry all the time. And today’s real bad.”
“Want me to see if Matteo’s got something upstairs?”
“Would you?” Jason asked.
“No need to,” Matteo said, walking into the room with two pizza boxes and a large brown bag. “I remember that early hunger. But back then we didn’t have delivery.”
“I warn you,” Eddie said to Mouth. “This could get ugly.”
He wasn’t wrong. As Matteo opened the door enough to pass the food through, Jason’s eyes changed and beard grew. The hands that accepted the food were already tipped with claws. None of which Jason even noticed. From there the food was unceremoniously devoured. Actually, Mouth thought, inhaled was a better word.
“So what’s the plan?” Mouth asked as Jason ate.
“He’ll stay here for the next couple of days,” Matteo replied. “Wait for the full moon to pass.”
“Locked up?”
“It’s safer,” Eddie said. “For him and everyone else. The impulses, the change, the raw energy. Really unpredictable in the first few days.”
“Besides with all the repression the vampire did he could go a little crazy.”
“What about his classes? He’s almost missed enough to get the boot.”
“I’ll handle that,” Matteo said. “Safety first, his education a close second.”
“And you’re staying with him?” Mouth asked.