by Cynthia Hart
Hem moved faster and faster again, maintaining the pace that he’d had before for a while. Then he kicked into a new gear again. It became instinctive, primal. He rammed into me, grunting. His strokes shortened and I knew when he was going to release just before he did.
He slammed into me, and I cried out the same time he did. I felt him jerk, emptying inside me. The sensation brought on an echo of my own orgasm, and I gasped and moaned in his ear. The air in the room was thick and wrapped around us like a blanket, removing us from the real world. This was something else. I had never felt this with a man.
Hem pressed up, his arms trembling under his weight and his eyes almost shone in the semi-dark of the room. He blinked, and it was gone. Had I imagined it?
“Oh, God,” he gasped and slipped out of me, already softening.
“That was insane,” I whispered.
He nodded and rolled off me, collapsing on his side, chest rising and falling with his breath. I turned on my side and looked at him. I lifted my hand and touched his cheek. It felt like he was on fire.
“Your skin is so hot,” I said. “Are you okay?”
It was like he was burning up with a terrible fever.
Hem swallowed hard and pressed his hand against his forehead. He frowned and sat up, glorious in his nakedness.
“I have to go,” he said.
“What?”
I sat up, too. “You’re leaving? Just like that?”
He got off the bed and scrambled for his clothes. I watched him, unable to believe what I was seeing. Was he really going to do a hit-and-run?
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said as he got dressed with lightning speed. “I just… I have to take care of something.”
He came towards me and pressed his lips against my forehead. His lips were like fire.
“I will call you tomorrow,” he said and disappeared toward the front door. A moment later I heard the door slam.
“Sure, you will,” I said and collapsed back on the bed.
Chapter 6
Hem did call. He was the one guy that proved me wrong. The conversation was awkward as if we hadn’t shared a night of intimacy. The truth was I didn’t know Hem at all. But he’d called, and that was what mattered. Turned out he wasn’t as bad as I thought he was. Weird, sure, a dark horse. But not bad. I didn’t get to see him, though. We weren’t dating. We had just slept together – something had drawn me to him, and I couldn’t figure it out now. Still, he’d followed up on his promise.
Everything else fell back into a normal routine, though. My world had only been shaken for one night.
Four days later, Sheriff Robert stood in front of my door when I opened it to go to work.
“Morning, Bob,” I said. “Have you been standing here long?”
Sheriff Robert had been around as long as I could remember. His hair was gray and his face sun-weathered and wrinkled. He smiled at me.
“I was just about to knock. How you keeping up?”
I hated it when people asked me that. Yes, my father had passed away. Yes, I was alone now. But the only way to move on, was to move on. It had been long enough for me to not be crippled by sorrow anymore.
“I’m doing just fine, thank you.” I glanced at my wristwatch. “What can I do for you?”
The Sheriff cleared his throat and looked up and down the street like he didn’t want anyone to eavesdrop on our conversation. At this time of day, everyone was out and about, and gossip was the order of the day.
“Can I come in for a minute?” he asked.
I was running late. Bob looked like he had a reason for being outside my door, though, and that made me curious. I nodded and stepped back, letting him in. Bob walked past me, adjusting his belt, looking around the living room.
“I just wanted to have a word with you,” he said when the door was closed, turning to me. “It won’t take long.”
I nodded.
“I don’t want you to run around telling this to everyone, you know how folks around here go on the run with news and gossip and the like… I just want you to be aware. There have been more attacks around town, lately.”
My chest tightened. More?
“We have managed to keep the news under wraps.” Which was a miracle in this town. “But I need you to know about it.”
“Why me?” I asked.
The sheriff hesitated. “I don’t mean to scare you, you know that. The last few attacks were more animalistic than human, although it’s hard to say exactly what happened. It all happened on the edge, or deeper into the woods.”
I frowned. “How many attacks have there been?” I asked.
Bob scratched his head. “At least three that we know of for sure, we suspect two more – tourists coming through that may not have made it to the other side of town. We’re not sure, though.”
My body ran cold. Three, maybe five more attacks?
“Deaths?” I asked, my voice a whisper.
Bob nodded slowly. “Some, yeah.”
I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Something like this happened in big cities. You heard it on the news or read it in papers. Things like this didn’t happen in places like Milford. Our crime rate was ridiculously low – it was hard breaking the law in a place where a thousand eyes watched you all day long.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked. Surely, the sheriff had no reason to make me – a civilian – part of these facts?
“I just want you to be careful,” he said. “You’re the only one that goes out jogging in those woods, and I want you to steer clear for a while. At least until we can sort it all out.”
I swallowed. I loved running in the woods. It was the only things that made me feel like I wasn’t forever confined to the borders of Milford. If it was for my safety, though…
I nodded. “I’ll stick to the roads, for now, keep it in town.”
The idea of running through the streets was stifling. I didn’t want to be a victim of an attack though. Bob smiled at me.
“That’s a good girl. Just keep it to yourself, okay? Everyone else is already steering clear. You just keep safe.”
I nodded and walked Bob back to the door. I had to get going, and I wanted to get rid of him.
“Am I seeing you at the party tomorrow night?” he asked when I locked the front door behind us.
I smiled, relieved to have left on a good note.
“Of course, where else would I be? I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Bob nodded and walked to his truck. He had waved before he got in. I waved back.
God, more attacks? And I’d been banned from the woods. I glanced in the direction of the woods down the road I always ran. Had Bob thought to warn Hem? He was right on the edge of town. Of course, he would. He looked out for everyone around here.
The weekend brought Milford’s Moon Festival. We did it once a year, and it was a tradition that had been passed down from generation to generation for a hundred years. We didn’t watch the moon for harvests anymore, the way our ancestors had done, but no one said no to a party.
The town was made up of twinkling lights across every main road and music blaring from speakers that had been put up in the square right in the middle of town. Everyone that was anyone arrived. We stuck to traditions, dressing up. I wore a polka dot dress that cinched my waist and flared out to three-quarter dress. I’d pulled my hair into a bun and put on heels. It was the only time of the year I wore heels.
Everyone wore something similar – the woman wore dresses; the men wore neat pants with waistcoats. The whole town was transformed into an older version of itself.
I found Dana at the punch table. A tall man with dark hair was with her.
“Hey, Josh,” I said. “Nice of you to travel up for the festival.”
He smiled. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He put his hand around Dana and pulled her closer. She beamed. I stood next to her, helping myself to some punch.
“You look great,” she said. “Is it for anyone in pa
rticular?”
I shook my head. “Don’t be silly. It’s the festival.”
She glanced at me. “Sure,” she said. And she was right. I had gotten dressed up because that was what we did for the Moon Festival. But I had also chosen my clothes with Hem in mind. The dress was white with green polka dots. It looked great on me – I knew.
“Alice,” someone said behind me. When I turned, Hem stood in front of me. He wore the same all the other men wore – pants and a waistcoat – but he didn’t look like the others. His muscles strained against the white collared shirt. The waistcoat hugged his chest, and I flashed on what he looked like without his clothes on. I flushed.
“Hey,” I said. My voice was breathy. Dana nudged me. I ignored her, and she laughed, walking off with Josh. I could just hear her in my mind telling me how she knew I’d dressed up for someone.
“You look beautiful,” Hem said, looking me up and down. My cheeks were on fire, and I was suddenly shy.
“You don’t look too bad yourself,” I said.
Hem smiled at me. His eyes were like molten metal. He held out his hand.
“Do you want to dance with me?”
I looked toward the square where a few couples were already dancing to music that was eighties-inspired. I shook my head.
“I don’t really dance all that well.”
He took my hand anyway and his skin burned against my palm.
“Come on, you’ll be fine.”
I let him lead me to the square without protesting. We joined the other couples. Hem slid his arm around my waist, holding my other hand loosely in his and we started moving to the music. I knew the steps, of course – I had attended every Moon Festival since I could remember – I just hadn’t danced them with anyone that mattered.
Hem knew the steps as well. He’d grown up here, after all. And he was good, too. He moved to the music, leading me, his feet finding the way. I let the music scoop me up and got lost in him. Everything fell away. That tended to happen every time I was with Hem. Every time our skins touched it was like a current flowed from him to me. Everything disappeared until it was just the two of us in a bubble that I didn’t ever want to leave.
“Excuse me,” someone said next to us, ripping me out of the spell. Hem still held onto me, but the feeling changed from warm and gentle to hard and weary. I looked up at Sheriff Robert.
“I’m sorry to cut in,” he said to me. He took a deep breath and addressed Hem. “I want to ask you a couple of questions if that’s okay with you.”
Hem frowned. “What about?” he asked.
Bob looked around, looking nervous. One or two people were already looking our way. It was unusual for the sheriff to stop the fun at the Moon Festival.
“I have reason to believe you have been engaging in activities at night,” he said to Hem.
Hem stopped swaying to the music and stepped away from me. He still held onto my hand, though.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
Bob shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Let’s just go down to the station and have a chat about it.”
He wanted to take Hem in? In front of all these people?
“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” I asked Bob. “It’s the Moon Festival.”
Bob looked at me, apologetic.
“I’m afraid it can’t wait,” he said. “Please.”
Hem shook his head. He tightened his grip on my hand, crushing my fingers.
“I didn’t realize it was illegal to do something at night around here.”
He was hostile, his voice hard. He leaned forward slightly and with his size and build he looked aggressive. I closed my eyes for a moment. That had been the wrong thing to say. Hem didn’t know about the attacks. No one did. I knew what it would look like, though. He was defensive immediately.
“Come on, son,” Bob said. “Let’s you and me take a walk.”
Hem shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he said.
Bob reached for his baton, palming it. Hem’s silver eyes flitted down to it, his mouth twisting in a snarl. He looked downright nasty. I had never seen this side of him. Bob’s eyes flickered with fear for a moment, but he didn’t show it.
“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be,” he said.
Hem jerked his head forward. It was a challenge, a threat, a show of aggression. The feeling that accompanied it, though, felt like a genuine attack. Bob felt it, too. He jerked up his baton and clipped Hem on the jaw.
Hem let out a scream so deep it sounded like a roar. I jumped back, ripping my hand out of his. The music stopped. Everyone froze, staring at the run-in that had just turned into a spectacle. Hem was breathing hard, his chest rising and falling. His muscles looked like they were getting bigger, the material around his arms tightening until it looked like it would rip.
Hem’s eyes shone like silver, and his face was twisted in an animalistic snarl. A sound emanated from his throat, and if I hadn’t been looking at a man, I would have thought it was a growl.
The air was so thick I felt like I could choke on it. I had goosebumps on my skin. I shivered despite the heat in the air – it all came from Hem. Bob swallowed hard. He had beads of sweat on his face, and he took a step back.
Hem looked around him. Everyone was staring. When he looked at me, his face sagged a little, something in his eyes changing for just a second to what looked like an apology.
And then all hell broke loose.
The sound of clothes ripping filled the air. His shirt split open at the seams on the shoulder. Hem bent over, clawing at his head. He made unearthly sounds – grunting, groaning, growling sounds. He fell to the ground. He was in a vulnerable position, technically, but no one was going to come near him. Something about him, I couldn’t figure out what was scary as hell.
Hem was on all fours, now, and he writhed and shook himself like an animal. His face changed – the nose and mouth elongated. His waistcoat split along the seam on the back, and his bare skin showed through, the collared shirt already torn to shreds. As I watched, fur crept over Hem’s skin. Fur. The kind you saw on animals.
Horror threatened to choke me, and I backed away.
Hem’s body grew, the bones shifting under the skin in the places it was visible. The bones in his hand pushed through the skin on his fingers, and I stared. I started gagging. It was horrific, but I couldn’t look away.
Fur crept over the bones, and his hands were different. Claws. Paws.
For a moment, Hem was nothing more than a bipedal monster, and then a flash of light followed. When the light subsided, a wolf stood on the ground where Hem had been. Except, it wasn’t a normal world. It had black fur, and it was the size of a small pony. It bared its teeth at Bob who scrambled and fell backward. When the animal turned its face to me, it had silver eyes, shining out of its skull.
It was Hem. It was a werewolf.
As if everyone had finally been released from the spell that had kept them frozen, they started running. It was chaos. The wolf threw its head back and howled. The sound was an eerie note, dragging into the night and it felt like it could pull souls along with it. Fear paralyzed me. I stared at the werewolf, trying to connect all the dots.
The wolf didn’t attack anyone. Instead, it jumped over the sheriff who looked like he was about to faint, and disappeared between the shops around the square. A moment later I heard the same howl, and it sounded like it was in the forest surrounding Milford.
Flight or Fight response finally kicked in.
I ran.
Chapter 7
I didn’t touch my book. I hadn’t had the stomach for it. Everything in my life had always been so boring and beige I had thrown myself into fantasies of monsters – vampires and werewolves. There had been a time I’d wished it would come true, that magic like that was possible and something in life would be interesting.
Now that it had happened I couldn’t think about it without feeling sick. It wasn’t just the fact tha
t Hem was a werewolf. The concept was still foreign. It was also the way the sheriff had approached him like something had been up, the way Hem had gotten aggressive without a real reason from where I’d been standing.
And all those attacks Bob had told me about. Some of them look like they were animal attacks although they couldn’t be sure. And in the forest. Hem’s cabin bordered the tree line…
It all made me feel like throwing up. I wished none of it had been true.
I flashed on Hem’s body – the way it changed in front of my eyes from human to monster. But the clues had all been there, hadn’t they? Those eyes that seemed to change more than any human eyes should have. The way he’d filled out with muscle during the time he’d been gone. The feeling that hung around him, always. It all made sense now.
And I’d slept with him. I shuddered. I had let that body into mine. I had been naked and vulnerable in front of him, and he was… a monster.
I hadn’t felt that way, though. That one night with him had been magic. Well, didn’t that make sense now? It had been magic. Every once in a while, – probably once in a lifetime – you came across something that shifted your perspective. Life became different, everything changed. Hem had been that for me. I had thought that he was different, that being with him had been the thrill I’d been waiting for.
I had been wrong. It had been a thrill, life changing, but not because he was good for me. Instead, it was magic and mystery and terror and the chance that he was a killer. I sat down on my bed and buried my face in my hands.
After the Festival had been cut short, everything had been canceled and closed indefinitely. People were ordered to stay indoors until this could be sorted out, until Hem could be hunted down. I had visions of them setting after him with torches and pitch forks the way they did in the middle ages when they believed people were witches.
Had that been true, too?