“She stays,” Guntar decided.
Adrian’s scowl remained but he nodded acceptance. “Very well.”
Guntar turned his attention on Crystal. “Nobody knows where we came from,” he said. “How the first of us learned to change from man to wolf.”
“I thought when you bit somebody, they turned into a werewolf?” Crystal asked. “I mean, that’s how it works in the movies, right?”
Adrian made a choking noise and turned away. Hank chuckled and even Ember smiled from her position of repose. Guntar shook his head. “It’s not so simple,” he said. “The blood holds the secret.”
“But I’ve been different since the Beast bit me. I mean, I’ve been hurt and the next day it’s gone. Tonight when I got hurt, I felt better even faster. After a few minutes, even.” Crystal hesitated as she realized what she was saying. Her eyes grew wide and her heart began to thud hard against her ribs. Was she one of them now? Adrian had said Beth had to go because she wasn’t like them. She whimpered, “Oh my God!”
Guntar turned to Adrian and ordered, “Tell her of the legend.”
Adrian sighed and focused on her. “We have been around longer than man has recorded history. Before notions of religion and government. But creatures like the Beast are older still.”
“Wait, I thought werewolves were evil? Everybody rips on the movies that came out that make you guys seem all sparkly and friendly because you’re supposed to be demons or something.”
“Are we demons?” Guntar asked.
Crystal hesitated and glanced at Hank. She licked her lips and shook her head. “No, I guess not.”
“There are many who insist we are.” Adrian recaptured the floor. “The legend our alpha would have me tell is one story of how the first of us came to be. It’s only a story, though; nobody knows if it’s true.”
Crystal leaned forward in the chair, giving Adrian her full attention.
“A beast attacked someone, some say it was a woman he chose to breed and others say it was a man he wanted to kill. Whoever it was, they fought and somehow the norm defeated the beast. Their blood mixed and the human, being primitive, ate his conquered foe in a primitive attempt to absorb his powerful essence. Instead, that person became the first one of our kind.”
Crystal’s eyes widened. “Wait, I ate that thing’s heart!”
Beth gasped. “You did what?”
Crystal glanced at her and nodded before turning back to Adrian. “And my cuts—the Beast was covered in blood when he touched me! His, I think. He bit me again too, on my shoulder. It’s still sore but everything else feels better.”
She turned to Guntar as she heard a rumbling sound coming from him. He was chuckling deep in his chest. “You should have seen yourself when you ate his heart.”
“What? Why?”
Guntar reached up with a hand and opened his mouth. She gasped as his face shifted before her eyes, blurring and making her blink in confusion. He tapped his fingers against his tooth. His unnaturally long and pointed canine.
“Oh my God!”
“Leave him out of this,” Adrian snapped. He relaxed and shrugged. “Or don’t, it’s your decision. None of us have ever seen anything to show we are the devil’s minions or God’s creatures.”
Crystal looked around and saw the other bikers had nothing to add to Adrian’s statement. “Okay, so what does that mean? Am I like you? What happens on a full moon? Will—”
“More Hollywood bullshit,” Adrian growled.
Guntar laughed. “The lunar cycle myth is older than that.”
Beth looked just as shocked as Crystal felt. “Myth?” Crystal asked. “But—”
Adrian shook his head. “It’s brighter out at night during a full moon. Easier for hunting. Easier to spot us,” he explained. He shrugged. “There’s been some studies over the past century showing the lunar cycle and tidal forces can have an effect on the brain chemistry of unstable individuals. If one of them happens to have the blood of the hunter in them, well, they might act out.”
“It’s like steroids,” Hank offered. He jerked when everyone looked at him and had the abashed look that suggested he wished he hadn’t said anything at all.
“Pray tell,” Adrian encouraged him.
“All right, well, I knew a lot of guys who juiced. The ones who were dicks to start with became bigger dicks.”
“I thought steroids shrank your, um, you know—your junk,” Beth blurted out.
Hank fixed her with a raised eyebrow. “Speaking of myths,” he muttered. “It doesn’t shrink your junk. Might shrink your balls, but that’s a different talk. Point is, what happens if you give a crazy guy a gun or a knife? You run like hell. Same thing with juice. Same thing with what we got.”
“Oh,” Beth said. She opened her mouth to ask a follow-up question but a quick shake of Crystal’s head made her clamp her lips together.
After a long moment of silence signaled the end of the derailed conversation, Adrian said, “That brings us to how we’re made.”
Crystal was confused and had the courage to prove it. “I thought you said nobody knew?”
“Originally, yes. But all of us were made by another. In fact, Guntar changed everyone here except me.”
“Did you turn Guntar?” Beth whispered.
Guntar and Adrian chuckled. “Far, far from it. We were both changed by the same woman. That was quite a night.”
Gwen shifted and growled in Guntar’s lap. Crystal’s eyes opened. “I thought she was asleep?”
Guntar chuckled. “Just resting her eyes.”
Crystal shook her head. “Okay, sorry, keep going.”
“Blood,” Adrian explained. “The blood spreads through blood. If I cut you and then myself and my blood gets in you, there’s a chance it will change you. It’s a small chance, but still a chance.”
“Wait, a small chance?”
“The more blood, the better the chance,” he admitted. “It takes around four weeks, another reason for the lunar cycle myth. Tangle with one of the blooded on a full moon and in four weeks, they survive the change and become one—on another full moon.”
Crystal winced. That made sense, except she didn’t like the part about surviving the change. It sounded bad, but she had to be sure. “Oh, so I might end up a—a norm, after all?”
His grin was more sneer than smile. “No. If it doesn’t change you, it kills you.”
“Oh, shit.”
Beth whimpered and moved to stand next to Crystal.
“What about the part about becoming savage and killing innocent people?”
“Are there any innocent people?” Adrian mused.
Guntar ignored him and said, “No. We know who we are and what we’re doing. We may be a little more wild, but we’re not savages.”
“What about the Beast?” Beth wondered, mirroring Crystal’s thoughts.
The three men, still fully awake, looked at one another and shrugged. “None of us has ever been a beast. I think they prefer to feed on animals, but I doubt they’d be concerned if a norm wandered across their path.”
Crystal nodded and thought of everything he’d told her. So far she’d been poisoned by the Beast’s bite and had to be bred or she’d die. Then she’d gotten his blood in her cuts and probably the blood of her lupine friends, which meant she’d either change or die. And then she’d eaten the Beast’s heart, which was one possible way that the first werewolf had come to exist. He, or she, was long dead now too.
There was only one possibility they hadn’t offered. “You said that those things, the beasts, are born. Does anybody ever turn into one? Like, um, like you guys changed into, uh, what you are?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Guntar and Hank glance at each other but Adrian held her gaze with his. “We don’t know, but it would make sense.”
“Oh shit,” Beth breathed beside her.
“And if I do?”
Guntar answered for them. “Then we tear you apart like we did him.”
Chapter 3
“Did you finish your physics homework?” Beth asked when Crystal slid into the passenger seat the next morning.
Crystal opened her mouth and hesitated, and then laughed. “Oh crap, I forgot all about it!”
“Oh, like you had anything better to do!”
Crystal rolled her eyes. “I know, right?”
“Think Mr. Snyder will give you an extension?”
“Oh, sure,” Crystal said. “I’ll just explain how I was up late worrying I might turn into a dog or Bigfoot or something.”
“Bigfoot?”
“Yeah. The Beast kind of looked like him. Big, hairy, two arms, two legs. Maybe that’s what all the crazy sightings all over the place are about.”
“Wow,” Beth mused. “You might be on to something there.”
“Doesn’t help me get a good grade, though,” Crystal said with a sigh. “Oh well.”
“Oh well? Who are you and what have you done with Crystal Davison?”
“Look at me,” Crystal said while flourishing her arms. She was wearing an off-the-shoulder shirt with a black skirt and matching black boots. “This shirt used to just have a low neckline.”
“Oh my God!” Beth exclaimed. “And you’re not doing anything extra? Not watching what you eat?”
Crystal shook her head. “After everyone left last night, I got hungry. I ate an entire frozen pizza. By myself! And I’m still down four more pounds this morning.”
Beth laughed and shook her head.
“And you’re laughing,” Crystal said. She turned and looked away, fighting the tears that were filling her eyes.
“No!” Beth said. “Well, yes, but not at you. I’m laughing because of how messed up this is. How many girls would kill to be able to eat whatever they want and still lose weight? We could make a million bucks if we could sell that!”
“So what, I should be thankful?” Crystal turned to glare at her. “The odds are pretty good I’m going to die in a few weeks, but I can be a skinny bitch before then, at least?”
“Crys, stop it!”
Crystal blinked away the tears and looked away again.
“Look, whatever happens, I’ll be there with you,” Beth promised. She reached over and laid her hand on Crystal’s for a long moment before she gave it a squeeze. “I love you, Crys. I’ll stay to the end, no matter what it is.”
Crystal looked down at their hands and asked, “What if I turn into a monster? What if I—if I kill you?”
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that,” Crystal argued. She shook her head and pulled her hand away. “I’m not safe.”
“But you’re still my best friend.”
Crystal bit her lip and looked back at Beth. She sighed and, without any reason for it, they both smiled. “You’re probably going to end up regretting this.”
“No way,” Beth said with a solemn face. She grinned before adding, “I’m going to buy stock in a shaving cream company.”
“Why?”
“Either way, you’re going to need a lot to show your legs in public!”
“Oh my God,” Crystal groaned while Beth laughed at the joke. Beth put the car in gear and pulled out of the driveway. They both waved as they passed Crystal’s mom on her way home from the hospital and headed to school.
“Figure out what you’re going to do about the science homework?”
Crystal sighed. “No, but it doesn’t really matter. Think about it: if I don’t die, then what? I’m either running and hiding because I’m a monster full-time, or every time I see a rabbit or a deer, I turn into a wolf and chase them. I don’t think college prep classes are going to help me with that!”
“Hank and the others seem normal enough,” Beth said. “I don’t see why you can’t live a normal life? Just, um, maybe try not to go to any petting zoos?”
“Really?”
Beth grinned. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
“Bitch,” Crystal muttered in spite of the smile on her face.
“But you still love me, right?”
“Yes,” Crystal groaned. “Nobody else is going to make sure I get all my shots. What are they? Distemper? Rabies? What else?”
“I’m not sure, but don’t forget the flea collar! I bet we can find some with bling on them.”
Crystal groaned as they pulled into school. Beth parked and turned the engine off but then waited. She turned to stare at Crystal, making the taller girl pause. “Hey, I’m being serious now. Are you okay?”
Crystal smiled and blinked the fresh threat of tears at her friend’s show of support. “No, but that won’t change what’s happening. I have to deal with it, right?”
Beth nodded. “You’re so strong, Crys. I don’t know how you do it.”
Crystal stiffened. “What do you mean? I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“Facing this and handling it. You make it look like it’s easy. I’d be freaked out. Worse than freaked out, I’d be—I don’t even know! I’d want to run and hide and hope that maybe everybody was wrong, I guess.”
Crystal shook her head. “That’d be me lying to myself. I made a promise to myself a long time ago that I wouldn’t do what my dad did.”
“Get a girl pregnant and leave? I think you’re safe.”
Crystal laughed. “No. Well, the leaving part. The running away thing. Mom said he never faced tough situations. She said his head was in the clouds and he always thought the rules didn’t apply. I guess they didn’t; he just ran away from them.”
Beth nodded. “You haven’t mentioned him in a long time.”
Crystal shrugged. “I stopped wondering. Stopped caring,” she said. “Daydreaming about him was the kind of stuff I promised myself I wouldn’t do.”
“I don’t understand.”
Crystal smiled and explained, “Think about it. If my dad was always chasing his dreams and not dealing with his problems or the life in front of him, how different is that from me always thinking about him?”
“Oh, okay. That makes sense.”
Crystal nodded. “This is my life. I have to deal with it and make the best of it, not hope for something better that’ll never come.”
“You don’t know that!” Beth said. “Maybe something great will come out of this. We could run away together and join the circus. I’ll be your trainer and you can be, um, the wolf girl.”
Crystal rolled her eyes and laughed. “You’re not helping.”
Beth grinned. “Maybe not, but there’s always hope.”
Crystal nodded in spite of the hollow pit in her stomach. She flashed her friend a smile and opened her car door to get out. She stood up and turned, spotting Stephanie walking across the parking lot. Her heart dropped and she looked away as Stephanie waved. “Stephanie—one, hope—zero,” she mumbled.
Beth spun and saw the popular blond change course and head towards them. She swore under her breath but Crystal heard it as clear as if Beth had shouted it. She had the same thought, but forced a plastic smile on her face instead. She needed to do something to get rid of Stephanie once and for all. Well, something that didn’t involve biting her or peeing on her leg.
Chapter 4
Crystal licked her lips and turned to face Stephanie as the prom queen approached. She felt the hair on her neck tingle and had to force herself to keep her hands still at her sides. Stephanie slowed and dropped her eyes all the way to Crystal’s boots and then back up to her face.
“What kind of diet are you on? You’re looking really good!”
Crystal’s eye twitched. Why was Stephanie still being so nice? She was sick of it. Sick of her lies and tricks and bullshit. “What are you doing?” Crystal said in a tone that made her think of Ember growling.
Stephanie blinked. “I’m complimenting you.”
“Knock it off,” Crystal said. “You’re just trying to screw me up. Build me up and laugh at me again. You know what? I’m sick of it. Enough, already!”
Beth gasped at Crystal’s outb
urst. Stephanie stared at her and pressed her lips together. “I told you I was sorry. I was drunk. Can’t we move past that, already?”
“Need help for your finals?” Crystal guessed. “Aren’t your grades good enough to get you into your daddy’s school?”
“Crystal!” Stephanie gasped. “How dare you!”
Crystal stepped up to her and saw that they had the attention of several students in the parking lot or on the sidewalk. Either Stephanie’s presence made people look or their raised voices drew them in. It didn’t matter; Crystal was trapped by the attention and glanced around at all the people.
“My grades are fine,” Stephanie insisted. She glanced at Beth and added, “I just thought that maybe you’d like to try again. Maybe get out a little instead of spending all your time with her.”
Crystal stiffened. “With Beth? There’s nothing wrong with Beth. Beth has been my friend through everything. She’s the kind of person who will be there when you’re popular or forgotten. She’ll be there when you’re sick or healthy. Old or young. She’s a real friend.”
Stephanie’s smile faded enough to look like a sneer. “Is that it? You couldn’t have me so you turned to her instead? That makes sense. I’m surprised I didn’t see it before. Lots of people are doing it.”
“Doing what?”
“Butching up and turning gay. Lots of attention. It keeps you relevant longer than you should be.”
“Oh my God!” Beth gasped.
Crystal’s eyes narrowed. She wasn’t gay and Stephanie knew it. But she’d teased her about it a few times. Was that it—was Stephanie trying to keep herself relevant by using a different side of the same stick? Instead of acting like a lesbian, was she trying to degrade gay people? Crystal snorted.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” Stephanie pressed. “You look pissed! I must have—”
Stephanie yelped as Crystal slammed into her. It was a punch or a tackle: it was her grabbing her and pushing her against the side of the pickup truck behind her. Crystal pressed her lips against Stephanie’s and held her there while she moved her lips and kissed the protesting woman.
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