by Amy McClung
The next morning I woke up to the doorbell ringing. Pulling myself up out of the recliner, I ran over and flung the door open hoping to find Quinn standing there but instead it was Will. He looked me up and down for a minute and then a devious grin came over his face, I sleep in a tank top and pajama pants so I felt a bit exposed. My arms immediately cross in front of my chest to cover myself. I invited him in and escorted him to the kitchen to wait there so that Jackie and I could get dressed. This way he wouldn’t see Jackie and make her to feel as weird as I did. By the time we both got showers and were dressed we came back downstairs to find Quinn and Mitchell had arrived. The boys looked a bit uncomfortable all sitting together but no blood had been shed so that was a plus. Mitchell and Quinn were on the couch and Will was in the recliner, no one was talking but silence was better than fighting. Jackie and I gave our boyfriends a kiss. Jackie and I exchanged a look and to make Will feel comfortable we both stepped up and kissed him on a cheek at the same time. That seemed to make him feel a little more at ease because he whistled and said “two hot girls giving me cheek action, my day just got better” and Jackie and I grinned at the compliment, but it made Quinn roll his eyes at Will’s effort to flirt.
Well, we made it about 2 hours into our day before Will and Quinn got into it. No fist fighting or anything like that, they just started a good natured argument over whether Star Wars was the real trilogy or Lord of The Rings. Quinn was a bigger nerd than I could have ever imagined and he was on the side of Lord of the Rings. Will also tried to insult him by saying he was biased because he knew JRR Tolkien personally. To which Quinn rebutted by saying he did have an original signed copy of The Hobbit that his father passed down to him. Jackie and Mitchell utilized the time by making out and I just sat there rolling my eyes and groaning periodically. In order to join in I finally blurted out, “Aragorn was hot I could watch Viggo Mortensen all day. Of course Ewan McGregor was hot too, Help me Obi Wan, you are my only hope” I finished the last line in a dramatic interpretation of Princess Leia with my hand dramatically pressed to my forehead with palm facing outward. They both just looked at me like I was insane. Hey, at least I got them to stop talking about it. Score one for me!
Pizza arrived and we pigged out, well the human girl and the two werewolves pigged out, the Vampires ate very little. Will got a text and excused himself for a few minutes. That is weird, who would be texting him? The fact that he even had a cell phone was news to me. Apparently no one knew because everyone else looked as puzzled as I did. “Does anyone have Will’s cell phone number?” I asked. Quinn laughed wholeheartedly, Jackie said she didn’t and Mitchell shook his head. Will came back in the room a few minutes later. “When did you get a cell phone and why do none of us have your number?” I asked sounding like a jealous girlfriend, eww. “Sorry, I’ve had this for a while, my sister texts me on it to make sure I am ok. No one else knows the number but her, but I can give it to you guys.” He said. Well now I feel like a douche. Of course he would want to keep in touch with his sister, he ruined his life for her sake, it’s actually really sweet. Quinn commented, “Isn’t your sister like 5? And she can text?” I interjected in Will’s defense, “3 year olds can text these days, you know how technologically advanced the younger generation is.” Now I sound like an old person. Nice.
Will stayed for a little bit but then I could tell he felt like a fifth wheel when Jackie and Mitchell would steal a kiss or two or if Quinn and I were holding hands. The mood lightened when he left and Jackie and Mitchell excused themselves and went upstairs to their room leaving Quinn and I alone.
He sat on the couch with me and I lay my head down in his lap while we watched a movie. It wasn’t a very interesting movie so I hit pause and looked up at Quinn. “Tell me about what happened after you were turned.” I sat up and turned to face him sitting cross legged on the couch. “How did you tell your parents what happened?” He took my hand and caressed it gently, “I never told my parents.” His voice lowered and his eyes glazed over, “I never went home after that night. I was afraid of hurting them. I left town and never went back. That was 60 years ago, I know they are probably dead by now but I don’t even know how they died, or when.” Gently I squeezed his hand in comfort as he went on, “I’ve been scared to go back home to find out what happened because there may be someone there that knew me. I’ve been contemplating it a lot here lately though. Seeing you with your parents…made me miss mine even more.” He had lowered his gaze and I reached out and lifted his chin to look at me and smiled at him encouragingly, “So you were close with them?”
He released a sad sigh, “My parents made me who I am today, not the Vampire part obviously, but the…” I finished his sentence for him, “the good man you are, the gentleman.” He squeezed my hand and nodded, “They were the sweetest couple, they held hands all the time and one thing I thought was so cool is that they used to slow dance in the kitchen. When I was little I would crawl between their legs when I caught them like that.” His smile grew larger but illuminated the sadness underneath, “My dad would always reach down and grab me up tickling me and my mom would plant kisses all over my face.” His face lit up with such joy as he relayed this memory to me, made me yearn to meet his parents.
In my mind I could see a beautiful woman wearing a sundress with an apron over it and I envisioned his father in a button down shirt and slacks walking into the kitchen and taking her hand and twirling her to him. Then he pulls her close and she smiles up at him with such amazing love in her eyes. As they get ready to kiss, the most precious child comes running in the room and crawls between their legs and then he is swooped up and laughter erupts from all three of them. As I was imagining this I realized that their faces had changed in my mind and it was Quinn and I dancing with a little boy who had Quinn’s smile and my eyes. My heart hurt and his voice brought me back.
“He was a true gentleman, held doors for her, waited to eat dinner till she was sitting down to eat too, he never treated her badly. He told me once that she was his world, that one day he hoped I would find someone that made my heart race, someone whose warm touch was the only thing I needed to make the day better.” He brought my hand up to his face and kissed it, “Kind of ironic, my heart can’t ever race for you, but I still know that what I feel, is what he wanted for me, what he felt for my mom.”
A tear fell from my cheek, a tear that was for his parents, but also for the child I saw that will never come to be but I couldn’t bring that sad point up right now, “They sound like amazing people. One day, when you are ready to go and find out what happened to them, I’d like to be there for you.” He kissed my forehead and the corner of his mouth turned up slightly, “They would have really liked you Parker.” He reached over and grabbed my waist and pulled me to him, I sat on his lap and leaned my head against his. We sat there for a while like that, eventually I drifted off and when I woke up Quinn was laying down on the couch and had me cradled on top of him with my head on his chest. The stairs creaked and I looked and saw Jackie sneaking downstairs in her pajamas. She was waving her hand at me motioning me to come meet her.
I met Jackie in the kitchen. She was, well… glowing. She smiled sheepishly and said, “We did it.” I gasped and hugged her, “See, and it was great wasn’t it?” She nodded excitedly. “He was so romantic and sweet too, Park. He was surprised that I decided to go through with it that he kept making sure I was positive it was what I wanted. And then he was so gentle with me…it was just what I dreamed of.” We gabbed in the kitchen for a bit over a bowl of ice cream with sprinkles and hot fudge. Now pretty much the only thing we didn’t have in common was the fact that I am a wolf and she isn’t. Of course, I could change that, one bite would do it. I can’t believe I just thought about that, what a good friend I am.
Jackie looked up at me and said, “What’s really so bad about being a wolf or a vampire?” That was a weird question to ask, I thought. It’s almost eerie the way she can seem to know what I am thinking at times. “Well,
it’s tremendously painful when you shift into a wolf, I know that personally. Plus you always have to manage your temper so that you don’t shift on the spot. You are terrified to tell anyone you love what has happened for fear they won’t accept you anymore. You age so slowly, which sounds great but it means you will watch everyone you love die.
As for being a vampire, well you have to drink blood to survive and you can’t always stop yourself from draining a person’s blood supply. Besides the fact, look at Quinn and Will, they both lost everyone they cared about. Quinn just finished telling me about his parents and there is so much pain there from losing them, and it’s been 60 years Jackie” It was my turn to question her intentions at this point, “Why are you asking me about this?” Jackie looked down at her bowl and said, “I want to be like you or Mitchell, I don’t want to be the only normal one. I just can’t decide which I would rather be.” I was stunned, I never really expected Jackie to want to be either. I guess it makes sense though. When all your friends are supernatural and have a long life ahead, do you really want to be the only one that gets old and dies in less than 100 years?
Quinn walked in the kitchen and he had a troubled look on his face so I am guessing he heard Jackie’s inquiry. He kissed my forehead and took a bite of my ice cream. I pulled my bowl back and said “get your own!” and laughed. He looked at Jackie and said, “You really want to change into a wolf or vampire? I’m sorry, I wasn’t eavesdropping. I woke up and heard part of the conversation as I was walking in. You know it’s not all glamorous as a Vampire, the hunger can burn like fire in your chest. If you are too exposed to the sun your skin feels like it has electric tingles all over it. Without sunglasses, exposure to the sun causes your eyes to dry out and it feels as if someone is holding a lighter to them” My chest tightened thinking about the day I moved his sunglasses to see what happened to his eyes, I felt terrible knowing I had caused him such pain just to quench my curiosity. “Then there is the thirst that can cause you to want to rip a person apart just to soothe it. You can lose control of yourself just by the site or smell of fresh blood which puts everyone you love in danger. Even a finger prick can send your hunger into a frenzy.”
He stopped when he saw my face and the terror on it. “Quinn, you told me that Jackie was safe and Mitchell wouldn’t hurt her, now you are saying he could lose control at any time?” He grabbed mine and Jackie’s hand and said, “No, no, Mitchell will not hurt anyone. That is what the tutoring is all about. I’ve been training him to control it, using the exercises that I have used over the years. I wouldn’t let him around either of you if I thought he was dangerous.” I shook my head, “but Quinn, no offense, the reason Mitchell is a vampire is because you lost control even with years of training yourself.” Quinn looked ashamed, “It was a weak moment Parker, one that I won’t easily forgive myself for. Mitchell has proven that he is stronger than that though, the fact that he found Christine and controlled himself proved that to me. He won’t allow himself to get hungry, that was the mistake I made. I went too long without nourishment and that is why I couldn’t control myself when I came upon him in the woods. Plus Mitchell has never fed on a human, he doesn’t have that memory of the way it feels like I do.” Both Jackie and I sighed in relief. I didn’t realize I had been holding my breath until that moment.
“Did I hear my name?” Mitchell joined us in the kitchen. He walked over and hugged Jackie and whispered something in her ear which made her blush. “The four of us do have something we need to figure out,” Quinn began. “We need to figure out what or who killed Christine in the woods. There is possibly a rogue vampire out there killing people and as long as they are out there, no one you care about is safe.” I’ve killed vampires before, ok so two but still that is something, but the concept of tracking this person down scared me. It was clear it scared Jackie as well because Mitchell was trying to calm her down. “Quinn, can we skip this talk for the rest of the evening and just have fun as friends, please?” I begged him. “I’m sorry Parker, I know this is scary for you guys but it has to be taken care of before anyone else dies.” Quinn told us about how he and Mitchell had been patrolling the town to see if they could spot anyone that didn’t belong or seemed out of place but they hadn’t had any luck so far. They wanted to use me next, as a sort of bait. Quinn was reluctant to mention it at first but said he knew I could handle myself. The plan was to have me patrol the woods where the body was found and sniff things out. Meanwhile Mitchell and Quinn would trace my steps to make sure I stayed safe.
Of course I would be a wolf when this goes down so it would literally mean I was sniffing someone out. The full moon was just a couple of nights away. It would be the first time I had shifted since I met Quinn. I would have to stay away from him and Mitchell because I still wasn’t sure how to completely control myself in wolf form. Wolf instinct is to destroy vampires. Jackie wasn’t keen with the idea because she was worried about me getting hurt and worried about me shifting because I told her how much it hurts. I reassured her that it gets a little easier every time and that since it was the time of the full moon I would shift regardless if a plan was in place or not. Once the plans were ironed out we took a break and went back to the living room to watch a movie and veg out. I curled up next to Quinn and nestled myself right against his side under his arm, he lay his head against mine. I fell asleep before the opening credits finished.
It was dark out, seemed like it was after midnight and I was walking in the woods. My nose is sniffing the ground trying to find a scent. The night is eerily quiet even for my wolf ears, then I hear a branch break and whip around to see if someone is there. No one is in my line of sight, but I smelled the strangest scent, I took off running tracking the scent. It was getting stronger by the minute and I knew it had to be a vampire. There is a shadow up ahead and as I get closer it takes shape into a human and I recognize the paleness of the skin and the smell now burning my nose. My only impulse is to pounce, I put my paws against his back to knock him over then bit a chunk out of his back. He turned over just in time for me to see the look of shock and despair in his eyes just before he turned to dust….it was Quinn.
My body jerks up and I am screaming and Quinn shot up and grabbed a hold of me. I started shaking and grabbed him as tight as I could. “It was a nightmare baby, just a nightmare, its ok,” Quinn kept repeating that to me over and over again. “I can’t do it, I can’t shift around you. I won’t.” He just kept stroking my hair and holding me. “I don’t know how to control it. I don’t know how to keep from killing you. I would never forgive myself for that. Please don’t make me do this.” His grip tightened on me, I think he was trying to make me stop shaking but it just seemed to be getting worse. This was the most terrifying feeling I’d ever had from a dream.
A few minutes later, Jackie was beside me with a glass of water. She held the cup as I tried to drink some. She was pretty calm, especially in comparison to Quinn who was whiter than usual for a dead guy. He looked apprehensive. Guess it isn’t the best way to wake up, someone screaming in your ear. Once I calmed down, I told them about the dream which caused me to get upset again. It was easy to tell Quinn didn’t know what to do to ease my worried mind, he just kept holding me tighter.
Quinn and Mitchell left the room for a few minutes because Jackie asked to speak to me alone. Jackie said she had an idea and started to share it with me. “Change me Parker and let me be the werewolf that tracks that vampire. Then you will be safe, you and Quinn can stay out of the way and you will be fine.” I was shaking my head, “there is no way Jackie, I have been changing for two years now and I don’t know how to control myself, I can’t do that to you. You won’t know what you are doing and you could end up hurting someone and never forgive yourself, or me. Besides, you really want to take the chance that you could kill Mitchell?” She looked frustrated but there was no way I could do that to my best friend.
“Parker, I am tired of just being me, everyone is something supernatural and special…” I st
opped her, “You are special…” She stopped me with an angry rebuttal, “Don’t give me that “you are special” crap Parker, I don’t want some sappy story about me being your best friend slash sister. You know what I mean and what I want!” This time I was the one raising my voice, “Being a werewolf does not make me special Jackie, it’s a curse! I kill people and I could kill a friend or someone I love without even meaning too. And a vampire, do you think Mitchell or Quinn would choose that life?! We seem like everything is ok because we have had time to deal with it and adjust to the fact that we can’t change it. But you have a choice…” She interrupted me, “You are right, I have a choice and I CHOOSE to be like you! Why can’t I make that decision, it is my life and it is what I want! Do you think I can handle growing old in front of you guys and knowing that I would be slowly dying while you guys are still in your prime? It’s not fair to me or to you, you will have to watch me die…can you do that?”