Melange

by Kristy Tate

  Declan stepped closer but froze when the bear made a low, threatening sound in the back of his throat.

  Lizbet’s smile was apologetic. “We have you outnumbered.”

  “I don’t understand any of this.”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to.”

  “These animals...they listen to you.”

  She gave him a small nod. “They listen to you, too.”

  “But they don’t do what I say.”

  “Why should they? Do you do what they say?”

  “How can I know what they say? How can you?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. But I understand them and they understand me. I help them and they help me. Within reason.”

  “Tell one of them to do something.”

  She glanced at the sky. The sun had turned into a pink puddle on the horizon. “I will not. They’re not circus ponies.”

  “I’m not really sure I’m buying this.”

  She smirked. “Really?” She looked to the sky. “Get him out of here,” she said to the crows.

  The crows formed a black shuttering cloud in the darkening sky. They swooped and cawed, happy to oblige. They dove at Declan’s head.

  “Yah!” He put both arms over his head and cowered. “Call them off!”

  “Okay, guys, don’t hurt him.”

  “But you said!”

  “I know. I just wanted to scare him.” Lizbet put her hands on her hips. “Will you go now?”

  Declan uncovered his head and glanced up at the birds circling above. It looked as if he had his own personal bird-tornado. He sat down.

  “Fine, you can stay, the rest of us are leaving.” Lizbet jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “This way, everyone.” She pointed at a large buck with an impressive set of antlers. “Elroy, make sure he doesn’t get hurt.”

  Elroy stepped forward, shook his antlers at Declan and snorted.

  Declan held up his hands to ward off the buck. Lizbet felt a wave of compassion for him. She edged herself between Elroy and Declan and took Declan’s hand. “I can’t even imagine how surprising and overwhelming this must be for you.”

  “Do you think?”

  She laid her open palm on his cheek. “This is who I am. I’m the girl who can talk to animals but who also happens to be in love with you.”

  “You talk to animals and you chase werewolves. What about vampires?”

  “No such thing.”

  “How do you know?”

  She stooped to brush her lips against his. “I don’t have time to argue with you. The moon will rise soon.”

  “Full moon?”

  She nodded.

  “This wolf. Is it the same animal that attacked my grandfather?”

  “Probably, but I can’t be sure.”

  “Then shouldn’t I be the one to kill him?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, for one thing, I’m a better shot and for another, I have a bear on my side.”

  Declan studied the bear. “Good point.”

  She turned to leave. “Stay here with Elroy. You’ll be safer in the pasture than in the woods.”

  The crows fluttered above her, cocky and confident in their ability to escape the wolf in a way the earthbound animals could never be. Lizbet tossed one of the ropes to one bird who caught it in his beak and draped it over a tree branch. Lizbet caught the end of it and tied it to the antlers of a buck. The deer trembled with fear, but he remained still. Lizbet whispered to him as she worked the knots. “This will all be over soon. We’ll be safer when he’s gone. You’ll be a hero.”

  She repeated the process with each rope tied to each corner of the tarp before covering the tarp with branches and fallen leaves. Then she waited. The animals gathered around her, anticipation and fear radiating from them. Their peculiar stillness should have sent the wolf a warning, but assured of his own power, the creature burst into the night.

  He flew at Lizbet and landed where she’d stood only seconds before.

  “Now!” she cried.

  The deer ran in opposite directions, lifting the tarp and then capturing the wolf in the air. His claws shredded the tarp and his growls and snarls filled the night air. Lizbet raised the gun to shoot.

  But she couldn’t do it.

  She reminded herself of the torn and bloody sheep. She recalled what he’d done to Declan’s grandfather and the nurse. Still, the gun wavered.

  He was a creature. Beautiful. Terrifying. Driven by hunger and passion she didn’t share, but could understand.

  Beside her, the bear growled. She owed the animals this. They had placed their lives and their trust in her.

  Raising the barrel of the gun at the writhing tarp, she fired.

  The creature howled. His cries drowned out all other sounds. She’d wounded him, but hadn’t killed him. The shredded tarp gave way, and the wolf fell to the forest floor. He leaped toward Lizbet, but the bear cuffed him in the head, sending him rolling in the dirt. The wolf sprang to his feet and bounded out of sight. Lizbet took off after him, her animal posse running beside her.

  A cry rang out.

  “Declan!” she screamed, and ran faster.

  In the clearing, a thrashing, naked Leo Cabriolet lay at Declan’s feet.

  “The lawyer?” Lizbet’s words came out in huffs as she reached Declan.

  Cabriolet whimpered and clutched at his heart.

  “You shot him,” Declan said.

  “He was a wolf.”

  Declan shook his head. “I don’t think that’s going to hold up in a court of law.”

  “Leave him with me. Men will never find him,” the bear said. He picked up the attorney, threw him over his shoulder and ambled away.

  “What’s going to happen to him?” Declan asked.

  Lizbet shook her head. “I’m not sure.” She reached for Declan, but he winced at her touch. She noticed his bloody hand. “What happened to you?”

  Declan held up his hand and wrapped it in the end of his T-shirt. “It’s nothing.”

  “Let’s put something on it so it won’t get infected.”

  He turned to her and pulled her close. “I don’t want to think about it right now.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  He growled before he kissed her. Pulling away, he rested his forehead on hers. “I have so many questions.”

  “I don’t have all the answers.”

  “You have more than I do.”

  She lifted a shoulder and grinned. “Maybe.”

  “If anyone had to be a werewolf,” Declan said, “I really wanted it to be Godwin.”

  “I know, right?”

  “My mom...why does she always fall for monsters?”

  “Should we go ask her?”

  “I don’t want to think about my mom right now,” Declan said right before he kissed her again.

  He tucked her hand into his pocket and walked her across the pasture to the farmhouse backdoor. “See you tomorrow?”

  She nodded.

  “Let’s work out our schedules for school,” he said.

  “You’re going to go to the UW?”

  He nodded.

  She squeezed his hand. “It’s a good plan.”

  He dropped another light kiss on her lips. “See you tomorrow.”

  Inside her room, Lizbet slid off her clothes and stepped into her pajamas. After brushing her teeth, she paused by the window. Declan’s car still stood in the driveway.

  Odd.

  She didn’t see him in the driver’s seat. She scanned the shadowy woods, but didn’t see him there, either. Maybe the car’s battery had died. Or it was out of gas. Or...She shook herself.

  It had been a traumatic night. She needed to decompress. After switching off her light, she settled into bed, wishing that sleep could overtake her. But her mind roiled with questions. Leo Cabriolet was a werewolf. The bear had taken care of him, but what about Godwin? She suspected he was also a werewolf and had been involved in Gloria’s accid
ent. She thought about how she could lay another trap and as she schemed she began to drift into sleep.

  To touch the earth is to have harmony with nature. - Oglala Sioux

  CHAPTER 17

  Silence had its own music. Amplified, a void sucking in all the sounds that should have been: chattering squirrels, calling birds, the buzz of insects. Still. Dark. Silence as heavy as water.

  Hunger burned the back of his throat and tightened his gut. He padded across the forest floor. A carpeting of pine needles and soft soil muffled his footfalls. Above the trees’ canopy, a smattering of stars glistened, pale against a cloud-filled night. Mist shrouded the round, full strawberry moon.

  He sat back on his haunches and lifted his head toward the moon. Snatches of conversations drifted by. The girl did this...Yes, he’s dead...revenge will be bittersweet...because she is your child?

  His ears twitched. The voices...they belonged to the wind. Or did they? Who was the girl spoken of? Could it be Lizbet?

  Her name sent ripples of apprehension through his blood. He gazed at his paw...so foreign. How had he transformed into this creature? Standing on all fours, he loped through the woods aimlessly, fighting the hunger that zinged through his veins. He came to a clearing at the top of a hill and shuddered to a stop in a circle of stones. This place...Lizbet had told him of this place.

  Again, her name sent a shiver of dread down his spine. Those voices on the wind...they meant Lizbet harm. Could he protect her better as a wolf or as a man? He turned and ran.

  His speed amazed him. He tore through the woods at lightning speed, the trees flashing by, his paws barely even touching the ground. Power surged through his flanks. A feeling of invincibility coursed through him. Moments later he paused beneath the tree beside the farmhouse and gazed up at Lizbet’s window, willing her to join him in the moonlight. He called her name, but all that came out was a whimper.

  A Note from the Author

  Thank you for reading Melange.

  If you enjoyed this book, I would appreciate it if you'd help other readers enjoy it too.

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  Melee

  By Kristy Tate

  Coming May, 2017

  Sunlight touched the eastern sky. Declan sat up, shivering. Brushing twigs and leaves off his naked skin, he crawled to huddle behind a huckleberry bush to try and make sense of things. His whole world tilted as he tried to process what had happened. He had spent the night in the woods. Naked? How could he have forgotten something as important as this? Beyond the woods, Lizbet’s house. Only the barn stirred with life. Horses nickered, goats bleated, the pigs snorted—all were waiting for their breakfast, and Declan knew who would be providing it. Lizbet. He couldn’t face her. Not like this. After shooting a quick glance at the house to make sure no one else was awake, he ran for his car.

  The keys. Where were they? In the pocket of his jeans. But where were they? Crouching behind his car, he found them—or what was left of them— at the edge of the woods. He commando crawled to them. All of his clothes had been ripped to shreds, but thankfully, his keys were still in the remains of his pocket.

  His shivering accelerated. Inside the Mercedes, he turned up the heater full blast. He glanced in the rearview mirror, half expecting to see a furry snout instead of his nose and unshaved chin. He looked exactly like himself, but...he gazed at his arms and chest...different. He studied the wound on his arm. It had healed to a pink line. Strange.

  After turning the ignition, he headed for home. By the time he arrived at his grandfather’s house in the University District, he had practically convinced himself that it had all been a bad dream.

  But his shredded clothes told a different story.

  NIGHT TERRORS.

  Episodes usually occur 1 to 2 hours after going to sleep and can last from 1 to 30 minutes. The victim will look like himself with open eyes but his expression will be blank and empty, if not horror-struck. Waking a victim will prove difficult, if not impossible. Upon waking, he or she won't remember the incident, no matter what terror had ensued.

  During an episode, it is typical for one to exhibit intense fear or agitation. They may be violent. They will not be cognizant of his or her surroundings. Their breathing may quicken and their heart rate increase. They may profusely perspire. They may yell, scream, or trying to fight demons that only they can see.

  Sleep terrors are different from nightmares. Nightmares are frightening dreams that often can be recalled the next morning in vivid detail. Night terrors leave no trace in the memory.

  DECLAN WROTE THE EXPERIENCE off as night terrors—a phenomenon brought on by the shock of Lizbet’s revelations. For that, of course, he couldn’t manufacture a rational without engaging in a losing argument with her—and maybe a bear or a skunk. No sense in picking a fight he had no chance of winning. But for his own personal nightmare—he didn’t need to revisit it...

  At least not until the next the full moon.

  He didn’t see the need to tell Lizbet. So when he was invited to Nicole’s going away party that happened to coincide with the first night of August’s full moon, only a niggle of warning flashed in the back of Declan’s mind.

  “Are you sure you want to go?” Declan asked Lizbet as they browsed the bookstore for used texts. He would be a freshman at the University of Washington at the end of September and Lizbet would start classes at Queen Anne Community College a couple of weeks before that.

  “Sure, why not?” Lizbet flipped her curls over her shoulder and sent him the smile that sent him over the moon.

  “Well, it’s not as if you’re friends...”

  “But she’s your friend, right?”

  “Yeah, but...”

  “Come on, it’ll be good for me. I’m trying to be more social.” She bumped him with her hip before moving down the aisle of the used bookstore. She glanced at her list of required text books for the upcoming semester.

  “You’re plenty social.” Declan trailed after her but stopped as a title caught his eye.

  The Meaning and Translation of Dreams. He pulled it off the shelves and flipped it open.

  People who are anxious or overtired are more likely to sleepwalk or experience sleep terrors. A relaxing bedtime routine paired with an early bedtime can help prevent sleep disturbances.

  Avoid sleepwalking injuries by making the bedroom and house as safe as possible. Consider the following precautions

  Make sure there are no sharp or breakable objects near the bed.

  Install gates on stairways.

  Lock doors and windows.

  If psychological stress contributes to disordered sleep, counseling may help. Both children and adults may benefit from hypnosis or biofeedback.

  In some cases, a doctor may prescribe short-acting sleep or antianxiety medications to reduce or eliminate episodes.

  Sleepwalkers occasionally injure themselves or others. But most episodes of sleepwalking and sleep terrors are brief and harmless.

  Lizbet glanced over his shoulder. “What’s this?”

  He slammed the book shut. “Nothing.”

  “You having problems sleeping?”

  “Not really. Just that one night.” He slipped the book back onto the shelf.

  “What night?” she pressed.

  He shrugged her question off. “Listen. It makes sense. Talking animals, werewolves, and were-schnauzers. Anyone would have nightmares. It was a lot to process.”

  “Of course.” She looped her arm around his and pulled him into a sideways hug. “It’s amazing that
we’re both not bonkers.”

  “Bonkers,” he murmured. His gaze landed on another book. Mental Health for Dummies. He needed help.

  MELEE IS AVAILABLE for purchase.