by Mel Corbett
"Aaron, would you mind waiting in the next room?" Naomi asked. "I – I don't think you'll want to know what were talking about here."
"Excuse me?" He asked, shocked. "I brought you here to my cousin – you have some kind of crazy business with –"
"Listen to the lady," Jeff snarled. Naomi shook her head with a frown. Jeff stopped talking. She could almost get used to this alpha thing, but she'd better be careful. Her mom just assumed everyone would obey, even if she didn't make a lick of sense.
"Aaron, please, there's personal family business at stake here. I – look we have a family secret. Okay? Nothing crazy, but it's something that I'm not comfortable with you knowing. Your cousin figured it out on her own, but… it's a private matter." He didn't look any more reassured, but the witch led him to the living room and turned on the TV.
"It's witch stuff, okay cuz?"
Aaron sighed. "It doesn't sound like witch stuff. It sounds real."
"Oh, it's all real, whether or not you believe in it." Emma laughed. "We'll just be in the kitchen. You can even see us. Okay? He nodded, but there were worry lines between his eyebrows and the vein that popped out of his forehead when he lifted heavy was showing. Naomi would've loved to have the power of Mindy's eyes right now to make him just obey. They sat around the kitchen table as he watched from the couch in the next room. His eyes were firmly on them, not on the episode of Entertainment Tonight. Best to keep their voices lowered.
"You're the witch that kidnapped Bryan, aren't you?" Naomi asked.
"He joined us. I didn't kidnap anyone," Emma whispered.
"My ass you didn't," Mikey said. He want with you willingly without coming home to me first? Or even telling me where he was going?"
"We didn't want the community in general knowing what were planning, okay?" Emma chewed her lip before continuing. "Look, you see my sign out there? Never again the burning times?" Naomi nodded. "You know what that means to me? That doesn't mean secrecy. It doesn't mean hiding – or if it does, it means hiding in plain sight. The only way to avoid persecution is to be honest about who we are. To be open!"
"The only reason that works for you is because no one believes. No one believes that you human witches have any power."
"Not for our lack of sharing it." The witch shrugged. "And listen to me. Don't you wish that you could just say, 'hey, it's werewolf stuff, go over there' and he would listen to you? Don't you wish that you didn't have to hide which you are?"
"It wouldn't be safe," Jeff said.
"Bryan disagrees." The witch smiled, irritating Naomi.
"Like hell he does!" Naomi shouted. Aaron stood. Emma waved her hand at him to sit down. Naomi continued quietly, "Your people called me. They said they were going to force him to transform on the Capitol steps before they kill him. Where the hell is he being held?"
"My people? Look, no one's been kidnapped. Well, okay a few murdering vampires maybe, but everyone else is participating of their own free will."
"Where are you keeping my brother?" Naomi asked.
Jeff grabbed the woman's shirt. His temper flared easily because of the moon. "Tell us. No funny business."
Aaron left the living room chair and tried to tackle Jeff.
"Emma!" Jeff didn't budge when the larger man hit him at full speed. He dropped the witch and turned towards Aaron, snarling. His muzzle stretched forward full of sharp teeth, just for a second.
"What the hell are you?" Aaron asked scrambling away. "Naomi, Emma, come on! We have to get away from this freak!"
"That's enough," Naomi said. Jeff backed away slightly, obeying her command. She bit her tongue, her eyes stinging from the insult. "Tell us where he is and we'll leave you alone. You'll never see any of us again."
"There's no need for all of this. Bryan is doing what he wants. Mac and I approached him as he shifted back that morning. He agreed to come with us. He doesn't want to hide anymore." The witch put her hand on Naomi's shoulder. "I don't think you want to either." Jeff took a step closer to her, halfway shifted, snout protruding from his face, dark hair filling in the bare skin. The witch shook her head. "Fine. He's in Ione. One of our people – look, they have a place out there, in the country."
"What's the address?" Naomi asked. The witch gave her an address. "Was that so hard?" Naomi asked.
"Naomi," Emma said as they walked out the door. "You don't have to hide what you are."
Naomi snorted. If only it were that simple.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
"DAMMIT! WHERE ARE WE?" JEFF punched at his phone which had lost all hope of getting a signal. Naomi groaned. Barely out of Sacramento and they were lost.
"What was the street name she told us?" Jeff asked again. He was trying to get some sort of the signal by holding his phone out the window and tapping at the screen. The car suddenly died. "Why are we stopping?"
"It just died."
##
Mikey aimed the flashlight while Naomi and Jeff stared hopelessly into the engine. "Could it be the battery?" Jeff asked.
"I don't know. Mom and Dad are usually really good with the maintenance stuff. I think we should walk back to the gas station."
"What about Bryan?" Mikey asked.
"We aren't doing any good way the hell out here." Naomi shook her head. "It's like 2am? She just sent us out here to get us out of the way."
"Fine," Mikey said. "Do what you want." By the time they tow came and took them to a shop it was well after 3am. Naomi groaned as she dialed Mindy's number. They had to get back to Sacramento, and she didn't know anyone else who could come out to the boondocks this late at night. Naomi drove her crowded bug back towards her house after dropping Mindy off at the club.
"I just don't know what to do!" Frustrated, Naomi pounded the steering wheel. "I don't know where Bryan is and they're going to hurt him."
"Unless the witch was telling the truth," Jeff said. "It looks Mac and the witch and God knows who else are willingly involved. Why not Bryan?"
"He wouldn't risk our secret like that, not without – " Naomi said.
"Without what? Telling you?" Jeff asked. "He knows you'd stop him or go straight to your mom."
"He would have at least told me he was going to be gone," Mikey said. "Bryan's very considerate."
"Even if you're right," Naomi said, glaring at Jeff. "We still don't know how to stop this. By the way you are wrong. But even if you are right we don't know how to keep our secrets safe or where to find him to keep him safe."
"I say we go back to the witch's house," Jeff said. "Get the real story."
Naomi was already shaking her head. "I don't want to risk getting spelled. She took out Mom and the other guys no problem."
"Then where do we go?" Mikey said. "We can't go back to your place. It's not safe either."
"The only way we can make ourselves safe is to get rid of the human," Jeff said. "We already – have too many people that know about us. We kill the human –"
"You can't just kill him because he might know –"
"His cousin is revealing us on the Capitol in three hours. What choice do we have?"
"You're not murderers," Mikey said.
"We do what we have to do keep ourselves safe," Jeff said from the back seat. "Keeping our secret is our only defense against the outside world. If they find out… They'll kill us."
"That's not what the witch seem to think," Mikey said. "And Bryan trusted me."
"Shut up!" Naomi shouted. "Let me think." Miraculously, they listened. She pulled into an empty parking lot to think. Would they need to kill Aaron? That was why she had started living in the city in the first place: to prove that werewolves could make a life for themselves in the cities, not just on rural farms.
Clearly she'd failed.
This witch had taken one look and known what she was. Now, it was too late. There was no going back. The only way forward was to hunt down everyone who knew and then retreat back to the farm. She flipped back around towards the freeway.
"What a
re you doing?" Mikey's voice shook. "This isn't you!" Naomi shook her head when her cell phone suddenly rang.
Jeff grabbed it from the cupholder. "It's the human," he said. Naomi shook her head, refusing to answer and not looking away from the road. Mike grabbed for the phone from the backseat, knocking out of Jeff's hand. Jeff cursed and began looking for the phone on the floor board.
"Hello?" Aaron's voice filled the car. Naomi cursed. "Naomi, is that you?"
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Look, I… I just want to apologize. Emma explained and well… I didn't mean to insult you or your… are they your pack? Like real wolves? I just, I was scared… Your friend was threatening my cousin and he didn't look human…" Aaron babbled.
"What do you want," Naomi said, her voice flat.
"I want you to know that I'm still your friend."
"Yeah right!" Jeff snorted. "Freaks he called us."
"Who is that?"
"It's Jeff. I'm driving. Phone's on speaker."
There was silence, then he answered. "Look, I was scared. Okay? I didn't know any better –" Jeff finally found the phone and ended the call. The phone started ringing again. He rejected it and shut it off. "You might be alpha, but it's not just your secret you're protecting." Jeff sighed. "If the humans found out about us, you think it would stop with you and your pack? They'll hunt us all down."
"I don't think so. I know about you guys, I wouldn't hunt you down –"
"And how many of the humans abuse you, Michael?" Jeff said. "How many gays got beaten and murdered before you could be open and honest about who you are?" Mikey didn't respond and Jeff continued. "It's not safe for anyone who's different. The only way to maintain our safety is to keep that secret safe."
Naomi wiped away a tear, hoping no one would notice.
"I can't. The witch… She sounded like she had good intentions," Naomi said. "And Aaron, he called to apologize. I don't know what to do. I can't kill them."
"You don't have to," Jeff said. "I will."
"No. No killing," Naomi said. "We are going to get my mom and the others someplace safe. Then we're going to break up the damn press conference."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
AFTER BRINGING THE SLEEPING WEREWOLVES to a hotel, they barely had time to make it to the capitol on time. Mike parked on the backside of the capitol and they ran across the rose garden, past the memorial statue, hoping to make it in time to save or stop Bryan. The air smelled of burnt ash from the vampire fledglings exposed to the sun. It was too late for them, but maybe Bryan could be saved.
Bryan stood on stage in front of the crowd, his face blank. Mac was nowhere to be seen. Bryan began to transform in front of watching eyes, in front of a microphone. No one was torturing him, physically at least, but they had to be forcing him with magic.
"Stop!" Naomi screamed as loud as she could. He turned towards her and froze, mid-transformation. Reporters turned towards them and stared fascinated at Bryan's half transformed body.
"Bryan no!" Naomi sprinted for the stage. Jeff kept pace, but Mikey quickly fell behind.
"Don't do it!" Jeff panted.
"What are you doing here?" Bryan shifted back to a fully human appearance "You weren't supposed to –" He turned towards the stage. "They were supposed to know!" he shouted. Mac stepped out from behind a curtain at the back of the stage, a huge smile on his face.
"Can't help myself." Mac shrugged. "What better prank than to have your family show up during the announcement?"
"A prank!" Bryan shouted. "A prank! This is so important and you pull a prank?" Emma and a small mousy woman stepped out from behind the curtain. She hadn't been lying then. Naomi hadn't wanted to believe it. Maybe not from the beginning, but he had been cooperating willingly.
"Besides," Mac said. "I don't think they fully believe it. The more of us we have reveal ourselves, the better."
"I assure you, this is not a prank," the mousy woman said. "What we are, what we can do is real." Reporters grumbled. The woman smiled, Naomi felt herself drawn to her. "We are the creatures you have told stories about. We are real and live here in your world." Naomi recognized the fairy glamour and shook her head, pulling herself out of the woman's influence.
"Bryan, you were a part of this?" Naomi said, quietly pulling her brother aside.
"How could I not be?When they approached me – I was so sick of hiding. I came out of the closet and life got better. Why not now? Why not for all of us?" The reporters started babbling, full of questions.
Jeff threw Bryan over his shoulder. "We're going to the car. Now!" Bryan pounded on his back, but Jeff just ignored him. Reporters didn't seem to know what to do. They seemed to be waiting for someone to do something slick followed their lead.
"Put him down," Naomi said. Jeff actually obeyed. "Bry, why did you do it?"
"I'm sick of being in the closet." He shrugged. "With everything."
"I get that, but this?" Naomi gestured to the reporters.
"I'll go back in front of that crowd of reporters."
"And do what? Tell them it's a lie?" Jeff said. The reporters shifted their focus from the stage and filmed the quiet conversation playing out off to the side.
"I just thought…" Bryan paused to gather his thoughts. "I just thought that if anyone would get it, it would be you."
"Me?" Naomi's voice squeaked with surprise.
"Yeah, you tried so hard to hide, so hard to blend in. You broke all the rules. You went to college. You rented a house in the suburbs! Not out in the country with the family, but here. Don't you wish you didn't have to hide?"
The mics were all pointed straight at them.
"That's just the way it is," Naomi whispered. "We have to hide. It's not safe!"
"It could be," Bryan said.
"Enough of this," Jeff said. "We don't need the reporters watching us. Let's go take care of this someplace private."
"No." Naomi had proven herself alpha. He would listen. "Bryan, you think we should all go out there and show them? Just shift in front of these – these humans?"
"I do." Bryan swallowed hard. "The damage is done. Mac came forward, the elfin woman, and the vampire younglings burned. All that was left was me." He had a point. The reporters were still staring, talking amongst themselves, and not taking their eyes off by Naomi. Some were broadcasting in the middle of this confusion.
"All right," Naomi said. Her options were all gone.
"What?" Jeff asked.
"Let's do it." She grabbed Bryan's arm and turned back towards the stage and reporters.
"Excuse me?" Jeff grabbed at her arm, trying to spin her back towards him.
Naomi softened under his touch, then pulled herself together. "He's right. The damage is done. We may as well do this right, before they hunt us down."
"Like hell!" Jeff said. "No we're not."
"I. Am. Alpha. Here." Naomi frowned, uncertain what to do with Jeff. "Just walk away right now. Take Mikey with you. Get the car ready. Or you can walk on stage with me and Bryan. Your choice."
Mike hugged Bryan hard. "I love you."
"Just take care of my mom… If things go bad."
"I'll have the van ready," Jeff said grabbing Mikey.
Naomi and Bryan took the stage. The reporters were pulsing with energy. She could smell the fear and fascination as she began to talk. "My name is Naomi. I'm an alcohol– Wait. Sorry not AA, right?" A few nervous snickers came from reporters, the cameras remained trained on them. "Seriously. My name is Naomi and I am a werewolf. This is my brother and he is also a werewolf." She grabbed the mic from the elfin woman. "We're not evil. We don't go crazy and hunt down humans when there's a full moon. We don't kill indiscriminately. What we do is turn into wolflike creatures. Now, I came late and I don't know what else you've seen. My brother and I are going to transform."
Naomi softly asked the mousy woman if there were robes for after they changed. The woman nodded and scrambled behind the curtain.
"I want you to understa
nd something. We have lived among you for centuries. Humans have thought we were myths for God knows how long. We are real, but if we've managed to hide what we are for this long, you have to understand that we are not what your movies make us out to be." Naomi turned to Bryan and nodded.
"Do not panic," she said, her voice thickening to a deep growl as the shift came over her. She didn't want anyone to see how vulnerable they were during the transformation, but it was too late now. Bones raised in her legs, her hips rearranged themselves and she fell to her knees, unable to move. Then, it was complete and Bryan was next to her, a large gray wolf. Naomi turn in a circle, leaving her back to the crowd. Reporters muttered. Then, she began to shift back, slowly becoming more and more human by degrees. The woman ran out from behind the curtain with a robe and a sheet of some sort.
"Only one robe," she whispered. Naomi took it and slipped it on over her shredded clothing. "Your mom will wake up soon," she whispered as Bryan wrapped the sheet around his middle.
"This wasn't a magic trick," Naomi said to reporters. "You've seen what we are. Please do not hunt us. Do not hurt us. We are people just like you. We are US citizens and have all the same rights you do. I was born in Auburn. Don't hurt me or my little brother." The reporters started shouting questions at them. "No. I'm not answering any questions. My brother and I are going home." Naomi dragged Bryan off the stage with her. "We're going to the car now," she hissed in his ear.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
BRYAN SQUEEZED INTO THE BACKSEAT with Mike. Naomi slumped in the passenger seat as Jeff drove back to the hotel. She put her hands on her face and sighed. She could not break down now.
"We're not – I just…" Naomi threw up her hands." I don't know. Okay. Bryan has to be right. He better be right that we don't have to hide."
"You know," Bryan said. "Mom's gonna have a field day with this."
Jeff sighed and clicked on the radio. The DJs were talking like chickens with their heads cut off. They're going on and on about the hoax at the state capitol, doctored footage, anything to explain what had happened.