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Chapter Fourteen - The Roast
Rig…
A faint sparkle settled at the bend of his knee, as quick as flash paper it spread when Rig pushed into the opening seam. The leather that kept him safe on the road inhibited his body’s ability to free itself easily. He extended his nails and sliced through it all, destroying the garments he’d worked for months to buy. His human body was fragile and couldn’t easily survive an open chest wound.
As he twisted desperately in the grass, Nana gasped, “Shoot him again!”
Mary Lynn had gone pale. Resisting Nana’s hand on her arm, she limped down two stairs until she could see the fleeing “neighbor.” He had broken into an easy jog and had the audacity to look over his shoulder and give her a merry little wave. “That evil…”
When Mary brought up the gun, Rig pulled his changing body toward the thick shrubs that lined the suburban neighborhood. If she shot him again before he was whole, he wasn’t going to make it. The barrel of the gun passed him by and pointed directly toward the back of the retreating intruder. Nana grabbed her daughter-in-law’s arm, and the bullet went wide, slamming into the damp morning grass.
Nana yelled, “Not him! That man saved us.”
Mary’s voice was icy as she jerked out of her mother in laws grip. “He was the one in the house, you old fool.” She gestured to Rig, and he flinched. “That idiot is Kind.” Nana’s mouth fell open.
Eyes wide with fear, Nana took a backward step toward the house. “He’s a…. Wolf?”
Eyes glittering, once the human slipped out of sight, Mary turned the gun back in Rig’s direction, but he was already backing through the bushes on all fours. Subdivisions were not good places for Wolves, particularly not him.
*
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Nana…
She couldn’t stop shaking. Seeing a human transform into an animal on a video had been startling, but still somehow like a movie. Nana had smelled the aroma before, electric and strange in the air. Her mind tickled, so many times she might have smelled something like that. Goose bumps pilled on her arms, and a cold moved along her bones. The Wolf’s eyes had been a golden yellow, with honey brown streaks. Her mind refused to accept what she had seen. A Bear? Now a Wolf? “Mary Lynn, just how many shapes can these people take on?”
Her daughter-in-law scanned the yard, gripping the railing of the steps. “One… Sometimes more, but that doesn’t happen often. Mostly that is stories. I don’t know if we should go in the house.”
“I’m not staying out here. What if that monster comes back?”
“The neighbor?” Mary asked with a sneer.
“The Wolf.” Nana shuddered. “The house is definitely safer than the yard.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that, old woman.”
Nana wrapped her arms around herself. “Who are you calling old? I mean, that’s a ridiculous thing to say. I can put on some tea and we will call Terry.”
Mary stood stone still on the porch, taking in rib bellowing breaths.
“What on earth are you doing?”
“Smelling for any others.” Mary Lynn limped up the steps onto the porch and closed her eyes, concentrating. “I think he was the only person inside your house this morning, but there have been others.”
“The Wolf?”
“No! The golfer.” Mary looked past her into the house. “Oh my Lord. Have mercy on us.”
Nana spun around, scrawled across her brand new freezer was the word “abomination.” Chairs were overturned. Cabinets gaped open. Pieces of her favorite china crunched underfoot as she staggered into the room. What had they done? Her beautiful things!
*
Sam…
Waiting inside the freezer, wrapped tidily, a gift waited for the girl they were trying to find. Kennedy. Tidily wrapped in plastic was a properly butchered roast labeled Sandy with a date neatly printed on its label. A taunt, nestled amongst the freezer-burned pees, next to a package of chicken thighs. Because Lucky was thoughtful, if nothing else, he’d included a recipe card. He knew how hard it was to figure out the right spices and cooking times for new types of protein. There was an astonishing lack of helpful articles on the web.
Lucky leaned over a chain-link fence and claimed a dog leash that someone had conveniently left next to their gate. If anyone asked, as he strolled casually back to his Tesla, he was just looking for his mother’s dog. He was a dutiful son.
The morning was lovely. The sky was blushing pink and he could still taste the wolf’s blood in his mouth. His heart soared. This might be it. He might be one of them now. The only regret he had was that he hadn’t pushed his arm into the creature’s mouth to force it to bite him. They were getting closer every day. There were a shocking number of people in this very town who could transfigure. Or claim to. They planned to visit them. One by one.