That morning, Sofia had woken up with a smile on her lips and the memory of his scent in her nose. It had been a week since the full moon but she hadn't stopped thinking about that night. Like other times, she had spent it with him, keeping him company while he showed her his world. The difference was that dawn’s first lights had caught her in his arms, her huntress uniform infused with his scent. Sofia hugged her own blanket and sank back into the memory. Every morning, when she woke up in her bed, she fantasized about being in the forest, surrounded by his thick white fur and listening to his heartbeat.
“Shit...” She pulled the blanket up to her face in an attempt to cover her blush and idiot's grin with it, though she didn't think the butterflies in her stomach would give her a break.
After a few minutes of lazing around in bed, Sofia decided it was time to beat sloth and got up. She got dressed and ate breakfast faster than usual and rushed to take Kas out for his morning walk. She was well aware that she seemed to be in a hurry because she was looking forward to seeing him, even though she knew that the time for school was the same as every day.
When she returned, she saw her mother sitting on the sofa, reading the newspaper while she drank tea. Any other person would have thought this was an everyday morning scene. Sofia knew she was looking for any signs of the presence of cinanthropes, such as an unexplained attack on domestic livestock, an unusually large dog seen roaming the area, things like that.
“You've been smiling a lot lately,” Helena commented in her icy voice, without looking up from the newspaper.
“Would you rather I was a bitter person like you?” Sofia sneered as she slung her backpack over her shoulder.
To her satisfaction, she saw her mother purse her lips. Sofia considered it a small victory. She had lived all her life in fear, and she wasn't about to let her take that happiness away.
“No, I'd rather you concentrated on the task you were supposed to take care of. Have you found the cinanthrope already?” The woman looked up and stared at Sofia with her cold gray eyes.
“Yes, and I was able to talk to him. The lamb was an accident, the farmer's fault, and he won't go near the meadows. You can forget about him,” Sofia said, her voice far more tense.
“I understand. That explains why you were out all night during the full moon, and why you're all smiles. I was wondering when you were going to realize that that boy isn't human, nor a pup,” Helena commented in a dispassionate voice as she returned to her task of reading the newspaper.
Her words hit the girl squarely, and wiped the smile off her face. An icy chill settled in her belly and replaced the warmth that had enveloped her for the past few days. Her eyes, as gray as Helena's, looked at the human-skinned monster before her, but there was no ice in them, there was fear.
“You knew...” she gasped with a voice so faint it was barely audible.
“Of course I knew. That boy has no humanity at all, he behaves like a dog all the time and he’s not as subtle as he thinks he is. What I don't understand is why it took you so long to figure it out.”
Because she was afraid. Because that monster in front of her taught her ever since she was a child how dangerous it was to be born a cinanthrope, and she didn’t want to suffer. She didn't want to have to live in fear that one day a hunter would find out he’s not human and kill him. That's why she didn't want to see it. That's why she didn't want to get close to him. Because she knew that she would end up falling in love with that boy who smells like forest, who licks his lips when he is nervous, who has an extraordinary sense of hearing and who is restless on the day when the full moon is going to rise.
The icy cold began to transform into a burning fire that spread throughout her body. The energy in her chest awoke so sharply that for a moment she thought it would hit the barrier and cause her pain, but it did not. It only entered her veins to flow through her blood and feed her instincts. Sofia raised her shoulders, curled her lip and let out a deep warning growl. In her mouth she felt a strange sensation, like a soft pressure she had never felt before.
“Don't you dare go near him! I'm warning you, don't go near him! if you do anything to him, I'll tear you apart!” she exclaimed, in a voice that sounded much deeper than usual, as if the growl had fused with it.
Helena looked up from what she was reading and her attitude changed. She put the newspaper down on the table, next to her cup of tea, and slowly stood up, every muscle tense and ready for action. This was the same attitude she displayed before confronting a cinanthrope. Sofia had seen it hundreds of times but never before had she adopted it with her own daughter. A certain unease came over her but she growled even louder, not backing down an inch. The stakes were too high.
“Interesting. The moon isn't going to be what will trigger your change, it's going to be that boy,” Helena commented almost casually, though her whole body was still tense and her gaze was focused on her daughter. “Put your fangs away, Sofia. I have no interest in hunting that cinanthrope.”
Fangs? Sofia put a hand to her mouth and noticed them. They weren't very big, but a lot bigger than her small, human-looking fangs. A little uneasy, because this was something new that had never happened to her before, she looked at her mother.
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because I've never promised you anything I haven't honored,” Helena said. “Besides, I told you I'm not as much of a monster as you think I am.”
Yes, Helena was a person of her word, that was the only thing that eased her mind a little, but she was also a ruthless monster who had killed dozens of cinanthropes. Dave might be safe from her, at least for now, but that didn't mean she couldn't change her mind at some point. With the growl still bubbling in her throat, Sofia left the house and started walking towards the school.
The clear blue sky that had decided to join her sported a pale, translucent waning moon. Sofia looked up at the monarch of the night and her anger turned into frustration and rage. The words of that adult cinanthrope were still echoing in her head nearly a week later. She understood Dave, she understood him being angry at having to hide when he had done nothing, but that was the way things were. Yet perhaps because she was young and idealistic, she wanted to believe that another future was possible, one in which they would be full citizens, accepted and integrated into society. One in which she could have told her friends that she was not human without fearing they would reject her. One in which he would be safe.
“Sofia!”
A motorcycle pulled up beside her. Through the helmet visor Sofia could see a pair of sky-colored eyes and the outline of a smile. Almost at once, the anger and frustration she felt subsided, and her own lips began to bend into a spontaneous smile as a pleasant warmth spread through her body. He had that effect on her, he soothed her, he made her feel safe and calm. Nobody had ever made her feel this way. That's why that school year had been worth it, because ever since she met him she had become a better version of herself.
“Get on, I'll give you a ride,” said Dave, offering her a second helmet he had acquired so he could carry passengers on his motorcycle.
“Awesome, thanks!”
Sofia took the helmet and put it on before climbing onto the back of the motorcycle, right behind her friend. Once she was settled, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her body against his back. When Dave felt her well seated on the vehicle, he accelerated, and the motorcycle hurtled forward with a thunderous roar. They could not speak as the engine’s sound and the thickness of the helmets prevented them from doing so, so they were forced to travel in silence. Not being able to keep herself distracted with conversation meant being very conscious of other things, things that had to do with him.
The weather was starting to get a little warm, so he was wearing a shirt under his driving jacket. The fabric was thin enough that Sofia could notice his abdomen, which was as flat and hard as a board. She was also aware of the heat emanating from his body, and of his scent, that scent she loved so much. There was no discomfort, not in the way Sofia felt when it was the boy's chest resting on her back, because in that case it was the female that was clinging to the male and not the other way around. The connotations were different.
After about five minutes they arrived at the school, where a tide of teenagers was already streaming through the gates to head to their classes. Dave pulled the motorcycle into the parking lot and headed toward the back, to the spot reserved for mopeds that was at the end of the row of parked cars belonging to the teachers. The motorcycle stopped with a dry jolt, and the two teenagers got off.
“It's always the same, I can't get my hair right when I ride the motorcycle,” said the boy who, after taking off his helmet, tried to straighten his messy hair in front of the rear-view mirror.
“Let me see if I can fix it.”
Sofia ran her fingers through that straight and soft hair in an attempt to comb it a little. It was an action born of affection, but one that required her to get closer to him. Even at her meter seventy, Dave was a towering ten centimeters taller than she was. As she dipped her fingers into his blond locks, their gazes met and their cheeks turned a rosy color that matched the shy smiles that broke across their lips. She wasn't surprised that others thought they were a couple, they behaved like one except there was no kissing. ‘Not because I don’t want to’.
“That's it. Let's go to class.” Sofia started to walk towards the building. “By the way, I wanted to ask you a question. Is your godfather a werewolf?”
“To be honest, I don't know. I'd find it a bit odd if he was a lycanthrope, but I wouldn't rule it out either.” He scratched his chin.
“Why is it odd?”
“Lycanthropes are very hard to spot. Their population is small and they live in family groups in the woods. Besides, not all of them are able to change into human form, and those that can are thought to have interbred with cinanthropes at some point.”
“Seriously, you also have an encyclopaedic knowledge of mythological creatures?” Sofia let out a little chuckle that made Dave smile.
“Of course I do! Would you expect anything less from me?”
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Dave grabbed her from the waist and, with a playful growl that made her giggle, nibbled on her neck.
“Very good, Mr. Expert. Then explain to me what a cinanthrope without humanity is.” Sofia twisted her lips into a defiant smile and playfully pushed him away from her.
“Oh, that...” he scratched the back of his head and blushed, a little embarrassed. “They are cinanthropes who are born in the natural form and usually go months, even longer, without changing. Eventually they change to human form and stay there until the first change, like everyone else. What makes them different is that they... we find it harder to repress our behavior, the desire to change, and we need to let go of our nature. It's not enough for us to change locked up at home like others.”
“I didn't know that was possible, of course I didn't know about the tail either.” Sofia tried to imagine him as a chubby puppy with big blue eyes and the image in her head was so adorable she blushed.
“It's not very common but it's more common than you think.” Dave blushed and licked his lips. “Not having humanity isn't all that rare either. Most cinanthropes lose it over time. It's normal, we're dogs that look like humans, we're not humans that turn into dogs. What happens is that we are raised in human societies and we are taught to behave like humans and to hide our natural behavior. When we change, we re-integrate with what we really are, and it's easier and more natural for us to growl when we're angry, or pant when we're nervous, than to huff or shout.”
“I understand what you mean. I sometimes find it hard to suppress the urge to growl when I get angry, and I get angry a lot,” Sofia said with a little laugh. It was liberating to be able to talk so freely about these things with him.
“You do a good job of hiding it,” he commented.
“No, I just learned to have a lot of self-control when I’m with humans. My mother scolded me a lot when I showed my natural behavior, and believe me, I was horrible. Living with me was like living with a wild wolf. I'd move on all fours, growl, howl, and as soon as I could I'd run off to find forested places where I could roll on the grass and sniff trails," she said, and laughed sheepishly.
“Have you thought that maybe you don't have humanity either?” Dave commented, raising an eyebrow.
“Why do you say that?”
“I behaved the same way when I was a kid. I used to be a pain for my parents.” Again he scratched his head in embarrassment, but there was a hint of nostalgia in his smile.
“I thought that was because of my wolf blood. You're the first cinanthrope I've been able to talk to about this and there's a lot about us I don't know,” she admitted.
“Don't worry. I'll teach you all I can, and when you change, I'll be by your side.”
Dave took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. That look framed by his smile was so full of enthusiasm that Sofia shivered. For years she had been afraid to change, both because of the hunters and because of the fear of rejection that all her kind face. Yet Dave had accepted her from the beginning. She still remembered the glint in his eyes when he saw the silver scar on her wrist, the gasp in his voice and how tightly he hugged her. So different was his reaction compared to Angel's that Sofia was having second thoughts about what she really wanted. Ever since she was a child, her greatest wish had been to be able to lead a normal life, and now she was daydreaming about waking up in the forest, wrapped by a certain weredog’s arms.
When they reached the school’s door, Sara, who was already waiting for them, greeted them with her usual effusiveness. More and more teenagers were joining the flow of people entering the building, although since they didn't all go in at the same time like when the exit bell rang, no oppressive bottlenecks formed in the corridors. A car pulled up in front of the gate, not one of those rustic things the villagers used to drive, but a black sedan. It was very clean and was driven by a well-dressed man who looked like a civil servant. In fact it seemed to be some kind of official car. The man got out of the vehicle and opened the back door. Out of it stepped Rodrigo Diaz. After exchanging a series of words with the man, he got back into the car and drove off. Crestfallen, Rodrigo joined the stream of students entering the building.
“Well, if it isn't Rodrigo, where have you been for almost a week? Hunting your witch and your werewolf?” said one of their classmates.
“Auuuuuuuuuuu!” Another made a poor imitation of a howl that wouldn't fool a pug.
“Be careful, Rodri, or the witch will put a curse on you and you'll turn into a werewolf too,” said a girl who belonged to another class, but who had also heard the gossip going around the school.
Embarrassed, Rodrigo ducked his head and tightened his pace. Sofia bit her lip. He was an asshole and a madman, and she would have liked to punch him in the face, but bullying him was a totally different story. In a fight there was a direct one-on-one where different points of view, mutual insults and whatnot are exchanged. It was a fair thing. A group of people ridiculing a person who is not fighting back was pure sadism.
The worst thing was that he was being attacked and humiliated for being right. After his last run-in with the cinanthrope, he had told the class about what he saw in the forest. As expected people had taken him for a madman, but Sofia knew perfectly well that everything he was telling was true because she was the witch.
That had lasted a couple of days. On the third day Rodrigo had disappeared. She had asked her mother if she had initiated him, but she had answered, with her typical cold and impassive tone, that others had been faster. Who those others were, Sofia had no idea, although maybe it was something related to what the adult cinanthrope had said about ‘recruiting him’. Quiet frankly, she was very confused about the whole thing.
“Let's go to class. There's no need for us to be an audience to this sorry show,” said Dave, and started to walk towards the door.
As Sofia looked at her friend, she saw that he was tense. The hair on the back of his neck was so bristled that he looked like he was wearing hair gel.
“Hey, are you all right?” Sofia closed her fingers around his hand.
Dave paused, took several deep breaths and only when he was sure he had his emotions under control did he dare to look at her. The short hair on the back of his neck had come down a little but was still bristling, and his face showed a marked expression of annoyance.
“I don't like that guy, and you know it. He spent months filling the forest with traps, almost cost Lola's cat her life, he nearly shot you, and he pointed a rifle at me. He would have deserved a good fine or to be forced to volunteer at a wildlife rehabilitation center, but this viciousness is...” He curled his lips, exposing his fangs which were slightly larger, and turned his head sharply. He swallowed several times before continuing, though his voice sounded slightly huskier, full of the growl he was repressing. “Disgusting. How are they better than him?”
“They're not. They're just a mass emboldened by the group,” said Sofia as she waved her hand around the crowd of familiar and unfamiliar faces.
“Do you know why I was never popular with girls? Why I never had many friends? Because I was in that situation. I was the different one, and being different already gives them the right to treat you like dirt.” He took a deep breath and put a hand to his chest. “I've always been a good person and I've led my Christian values by example, and I'd do it again. It's the right thing to do. What I don't understand is why they punish you more if you are different than if you are cruel. They didn't humiliate Rodrigo when he talked about killing a dog, they do it now that he's telling stories about witches and werewolves.”
The boy gritted his teeth to stifle a whimper and curled in on himself. With his hand resting on his chest, he began to draw in long, deep breaths of air, something he did to keep himself from changing when he felt he was about to lose control. His two friends were by his side in an instant, each grabbing one of his arms. Sofia had no trouble feeling the throbbing muscles under his skin, and she couldn't imagine how painful it had to be to have to fight against one's own body when it was trying to rebel.
“Relax, buddy,” said Sara, rubbing the boy's arm.
“I'm fine,” he huffed several times and raised his head, “I'm fine.”
He was not lying. His muscles had stopped throbbing and his breathing seemed to be slowly returning to its normal rhythm. Since he had stopped suppressing the change, those attacks happened less often than before, and he was able to recover more quickly. In just a couple of minutes he was as if nothing had happened to him, although it was obvious from the look on his face that he was still pissed off.
“Dave, people are assholes, but it's their loss. I've only known you for a few months, but in that time I've seen that you're a sensitive guy who cares about others more than himself, you're a loyal boy and a good friend. All those shallow girls would wish they had someone like you by their side,” Sofia said.
“Apparently, those girls are more concerned about me being different than about me being a decent person.” He looked away abruptly and the growl he had been trying to suppress escaped his lips.
“Hey, it's their loss. You're my friend precisely because you're different from this whole bunch of jerks and assholes. If they can't see what you're really like, it's their loss, not yours,” she said, locking here eyes on his in a determined gaze. “I know what I'm saying doesn't change anything, that it's not fair to be rejected for being different, but we can do two things; be sorry for our bad luck, or try to be the force of change.”
“It's not that easy. How do you take on a whole school by yourself?” said Dave, gesturing to the crowd around him.
“Sometimes a small action can inspire others. Sometimes we have to be the ones to take the first step. Sometimes we have to lean on those who love us. That's why I wanted to help a certain wild weredog who had made the mistake of hunting a lamb, because I've been on the run for too long and I decided I had to do something.”
“God, Sofia, you're such an...,” Dave whispered, looking at her in wonder.
The sharp ringing of the bell interrupted his words, which remained trapped behind his lips tightened into a grimace of displeasure.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this sound,” he commented.
“Me neither, but we better hurry. We’ve got class with the Stuck-up, and if he gets to class before we do, we’re getting a good scolding,” said Sofia.
Without wasting a second, the three friends dashed up the stairs. Fortunately they arrived a few minutes before their teacher did and were able to go to their desks without problem. As Sofia pulled her notebook out of her backpack, she struggled to suppress the idiot's grin she felt trying to spread across her lips. Although it wasn't the first time Dave had looked at her like she was one of those plants he found so fascinating, whenever he did, it always brought the same warm feeling to her belly. She couldn't help but wonder what he had been about to say.
Careful not to let the Stuck-up hear her, Sofia tore off a piece of paper from one of her notebooks and wrote ‘I am such an...?’ on one of its sides. She then folded it and hissed softly at her friend, barely a whisper that shouldn't have been audible. As expected he did hear her and turned to her with his head tilted to one side and a raised eyebrow. To be honest, their abilities sure were convenient.
Sofia showed him the little note and, after making sure the Stuck-up had his back to them, she leaned towards the boy's desk, stretching as far as she could. Dave did the same and his fingers gently brushed her hand and wrist as he took the paper. When he read its contents he began to blush, but still wrote his reply and handed the paper back to her. This time it was she who caressed his skin, marveling at the softness of his body hair.
When she opened the note there were only two words written on it; ‘amazing girl’. Her heart skipped a beat. A horde of butterflies began to flutter across her belly. Blushing, she turned towards him. His lips were curved in a warm smile, and again he had that look in his sky-colored eyes that made her feel special.‘When you said it to me the first time, I thought you meant what I am. You meant me!’.
A small flame of hope, which she didn't want to hold on to too tightly, began to burn inside her. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but it was difficult when he kept having gestures like that with her. No one had ever said anything like that to her before. Yes, Angel had told her she was a beautiful girl and promised her the moon and beyond, only to look at her with disgust when he saw the burn the silver had left on her wrist. That was the first time anyone thought that she was an amazing girl. That was the first time someone who knew her darker past still looked at her as if there was nothing else that was worthwhile.