Lee nodded, understanding. He liked biology too.
“Of course, we haven’t really made a decision yet, have we, Lee?” his mum chuckled, pausing in her conversation with Ethel.
“No, of course not,” Lee mumbled. Al looked at him as though he was apologising for bringing up the subject and Lee smiled back in reassurance.
Lee sat there in silence, finishing his tea and eating a few biscuits. Al didn’t say much either, letting the two women catch up. Lee’s mum looked at her watch as Ethel handed the plate of biscuits out to her.
“Goodness, we really must be going. I hadn’t realised how much time had passed!” She laughed. “Wolf Camp’s next week and we have some packing to do.”
“You will come over again, won’t you?” Ethel asked. “We should have you and your family over for dinner some time. Wouldn’t that be nice, Al?”
“Yes, we’ll give you a call.” Al shook Lee’s and his mum’s hands.
“That would be lovely, thank you.”
They all walked out into the hallway, Ethel still holding the plate of biscuits. As they were saying their goodbyes, Ellie came down the stairs.
“Ellie, you know Lee Fletcher from school. And, this is his mother, Wilda,” Ethel said.
“Lee, of course. Hi. I didn’t recognise you, sorry,” Ellie said, smiling.
“No worries, we haven’t really talked in a while,” Lee replied.
He remembered how they used to hang out with some of the same kids in junior school, but they hadn’t really had talked since they moved to high school; she went off with one group of friends and he went off with another.
“We were actually just about to go, dear. I’ve got to go and get Rolf ready for Wolf Camp,” his mum said to Ellie.
Lee rolled his eyes. He hated how she said that with such pride, as though everyone should think they were great just because they were wolves. “How are you feeling?” Wilda asked.
“Much better, thank you.” Ellie smiled back.
She did look a lot better. Not that Lee had seen her before, but he could imagine what she would have looked like almost dead, and it certainly wasn’t anything near as healthy as she looked now.
“Oh, I’m so glad to hear it. Well, we had better get going. The full moon waits for no wolf!” Lee’s mum giggled and he rolled his eyes again.
“Good to see you’re better,” Lee said. “I’ll see you at school, then.”
“Yeah, see you at school.”
As Lee and his mum turned to leave, he saw the vampire coming up the path. Once Lee had remembered what had happened that night, he hadn’t been able to get the face of the vampire out of his mind. Lee didn’t know what he was doing here, or how he was out during the day.
As they came towards each other, Lee caught his scent. He smelled almost human. In fact, rather human. More human than vampire anyway. Lee didn’t know how that was possible, and he didn’t have the time to wait and find out. Lee growled softly as he came closer to the human-vampire and his mum shushed him. The human-vampire stepped off the path, letting them continue along it without him getting in the way.
“Charles! Are your parents coming to dinner?” Lee heard Ethel call as they left.
“Mum, that’s the vampire,” Lee hissed as they turned the corner of the street.
“Don’t be ridiculous, dear. That was no vampire, that young man was human.” A frown crossed her face. “Though, he was an odd smelling human.” She looked back the way they had come, a look of consternation on her face.
****
As Charles trudged up Ethel’s front path, a woman and young man came out the front door. Charles instantly recognised them as wolves and, judging by the look on his face, the young man knew who Charles was. The young wolf growled softly as they came closer to each other, and the woman shushed him and shot Charles a dirty look. He skirted around them, stepping off the path to allow them to continue along it.
“Charles! Are your parents coming to dinner?” Ethel called as he came up to her.
“Yes, and they said to thank you for the invitation,” he replied. He nodded to Pet, who was standing behind her mother.
“Fluctuations today?” Ethel asked.
“Between my front door and half-way up your path, yes. Now, no. It has settled on my vampire senses. I can see through your glamour and the house. I can always see through Pet’s, though.”
“Really?” Ethel looked at her daughter. “Even when you can’t see through the house or mine?”
Charles nodded.
Pet shrugged. “Side effect of drinking my blood?”
“Maybe...” Ethel said. Charles thought she did not sound very convinced. Pet shrugged again and walked off.
“Come in, Charles.” Ethel stepped aside and held the door open for him.
“Thanks.”
Ethel led him into the lounge room and motioned for him to sit down.
“Inside today?”
“Yeah. I have a theory that if we move around, we might find somewhere where you find it easier than somewhere else.”
“I see.” Charles had no idea what he was supposed to see, but she was the expert and he trusted her judgment.
“Okay, are you still in vampire mode?” she asked, curling up on the couch.
Charles looked around the room, listened hard for noise and took a deep breath. “Yes.”
“All right, and no fluctuations?”
Charles shook his head and, out of the corner of his eye, saw Pet sit down at the other end of the room. He tried not to watch as she played with sparks at the ends of her fingertips.
“No, nothing.”
Ethel looked at her daughter, just as Morganna walked in.
“He’s here again?” she yelled, her hair sparking. “You’ve let him in the house, Mother?”
“Morganna, calm down,” Ethel said, quietly.
“No, I will not calm down! I have put up with you having him around almost all week. How much more of this does Pet have to put up with? He almost killed her!”
Ethel stood up. “Morganna Cooper. You watch your manners.”
“He’s a vampire, Mum!”
“No, he’s not. I made sure of that.” Pet stood up next to her mum and faced her sister.
Charles sat awkwardly in the chair, not knowing where to look. The hair of all three women was standing out and sparks flew all around them, sparks that matched their hair colour. The purple and blue faced off against the other purple and Charles was a bit worried about the immediate atmosphere.
“Pet...” Morganna begged. “Pet, don’t do this to yourself.”
“I’m not doing anything to myself, Morg. Can’t you feel his pain?” She pointed at him. “Whatever he did to me, he is paying the price.”
“But, Pet-”
“But, nothing, Morg! Look at me. I’m alive and healthy and he’s suffering as a teenage boy, and gods know what else I may have done to him with this stupid magic!”
“Pet...” Ethel started.
“No, don’t! I’m fine. Just see if you can help him, Mum. Just stop it, Morg.”
Pet stormed out. Morganna glared at him and then followed her sister.
Ethel sighed and sat back down. “Sorry, Charles.”
“No, no, it is fine. I should have thought about what my presence would do to your family. I think I am starting to get the hang of all this, so I will leave you be and practise on my own.” He got up.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I think it would be for the best.”
“Will you still come for dinner with your parents?”
Charles sighed and looked to where the girls went. “Yes, no need to worry them. Bye, Ethel.
“Bye, Charles. I’ll see you tonight.”
Charles nodded absently, not planning on ever coming back, but hoping she would not know that.
In the end, Mary and Arthur made their excuses for Charles and came home saying how eve
ryone was so sorry he had not been there. He had scoffed at the thought that Morganna missed him, but thought it was a nice gesture.
Chapter Seven
A
few days before the next full moon, Lee walked along the sidewalk, taking his time to get home. His parents were going to drive him and his brothers to Wolf Camp that afternoon, and he wasn’t looking forward to it at all. He hadn’t been for a few moons, and he usually only went two or three times a year anyway. His mum seemed to think that, if he was regulating, he should go a few more times a year, apparently starting this month.
He slowed as he walked past Ellie’s house. He smelled the flowery scent that permeated her family’s house. The house was covered in flowers and herbs, so it was no surprise that the family took in the smell. It was just another sign that they were connected to the Earth. He stopped for a moment and looked at the house. He heard the sounds of laughter coming from inside, four distinct laughs. He smiled to himself, glad that Ellie was recovering well.
Squaring his shoulders, he headed for home. If he didn’t hurry up, his mum would ring him again, for the thousandth time, and then his dad would ring him again, for the slightly-less-than-thousandth time. Then, no doubt, his brothers would call him or text him and he would be inundated with their excitement, and disapproval at the lack of his.
He sighed with exaggeration as he walked, knowing he soon wouldn’t be able to walk at his own leisure for at least another week.
Wolf Camp was held monthly, but not many people went every month, only those die-hard wolves who had excused themselves from the non-supernatural world and retreated into their wolf existence. A lot of them ran the camp and lived there all year round, raising cubs and teaching them to run wild. It was not a terrible existence, Lee had to admit, but it was not one he ever wanted. He was glad his parents had not insisted on raising him and Chuck that way; Dwight had been raised primarily at camp, but then Dwight was born for the life of the wolf.
As he rounded the corner into his street, he saw his mother standing at the front gate. By her stance, he knew she wasn’t impressed with his tardiness and was impatient to be leaving.
“Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Lee,” she said, softly cuffing him on the ear as he went past her. He looked at her and saw that she was smiling.
“Sorry, Mum,” he said. She put her arm around his shoulders. He might have been tall, but she was taller, just like the rest of his family, and the rest of the wolves his age or older – and many younger – at camp.
“I know you don’t look forward to going, honey,” she said quietly. Lee heard Chuck and Dwight tussling. “But, you know you need to.”
He nodded and sighed. “I know. I’ll just go and grab my bags.”
“Good boy.” She patted him on the shoulder as he left.
He jogged through the house to his room, pulled his bags and cap off the bed and went back to the car. It was an overcast day, not a great one for being stuck in a car with two older brothers for five hours, but he supposed it was better than being too hot. There was nothing worse than sitting in a hot car sandwiched between Chuck and Dwight. Lee shuddered just at the thought.
****
Five and a half hours later – the food break took longer than expected – Lee and his family arrived at Wolf Camp for another full moon. The place was already packed with cars and families. There was a variety of accommodation arrangements for the pleasure of the wolves. Some brought tents or caravans, some stayed in cabins, there was a luxury resort area of the camp for those discerning wolves, there were caves decked out for the wolves who liked to get back to nature during the full moon, and there was the accommodation of the Wild Runners which consisted of all of the afore mentioned abodes. It was rare that a wolf would choose no accommodation and live out under the stars, but the cubs were known to have sleep outs every now and then.
“Wilda! Rolf!” Lee winced as the grating voice cut across the parking lot. He looked up to see Nancy Bridges – one of those discerning wolves – waving as she hurried over to his parents. He smiled as he heard his parents grumble to themselves.
“Nancy!” his mum said. “How lovely to see you. How have you been? The family’s well I trust?”
“Oh yes, they’re just peachy!” Nancy tittered. “Martin’s officially regulated, a whole two years earlier than expected!”
“That’s wonderful!” Lee’s mum giggled along with Nancy, shooting Lee a pained look. He smiled in return, knowing it wasn’t in any way her fault that he hadn’t regulated yet; a year overdue and counting.
“I’m going to see if Ben and Jack are here yet…” Lee mumbled to his dad.
“Okay, son. Be back in about an hour so we can unpack the car.”
“Will do,” he said glumly and saluting sloppily.
As Lee left, he noticed his brothers had already gone, Dwight no doubt looking for his on-again, off-again girlfriend Claire, and no one could ever really tell where Chuck wandered off too. He would be off searching for newly regulated female wolves no doubt.
Lee huffed as he took off through the pine trees. Their smell was stronger to Lee, as the full moon was near. Lee shook his head to rid himself of the smell. He didn’t feel like another reminder that he was a wolf who hadn’t regulated yet.
It frustrated him so much that all everybody cared about was regulating. Regulating was the wolves’ idea of reaching adulthood, but since most of the wolves lived in the non-supernatural world, he didn’t see why they just couldn’t be seen as the young men they were in the human world. Lee was almost eighteen for gods’ sake! He could drive. Well, he was legally allowed to drive and had his license; the actual physical ability to drive eluded him without the ownership of a car.
Right now, he hated Wolf Camp more than ever. The female wolves his age weren’t interested in him because he hadn’t regulated, and so couldn’t show his manliness.
Lee always grimaced and waved his head around when he said or thought the word ‘manliness’.
What was that anyway?
Lee thought it was just a word regulated wolves used to give them an excuse to beat up non-regulated wolves. He was thankful that neither of his mates, Ben or Jack, had regulated yet either. Jack had unofficially regulated; everyone was pretty sure he had, but he hadn’t changed every month for a full year so he couldn’t be ‘officially’ inducted as a regulated wolf yet. Lee thought Jack probably had about two or three months left ‘til then, and he was not particularly looking forward to it. Jack was being a bit smarmy anyway… Official regulation would make him almost unbearable.
Luckily for Lee, there was Ben. Ben was even worse off than Lee. While Lee hated to use his best friend’s troubles to bolster his self-esteem, everyone knew it was true. Ben may have been a year younger than Lee, but he would be lucky to shift once every three months. Lee knew Ben would sit outside in the buff on full moon nights and concentrate as hard as he could, trying to force the shift. Lee would never tell anyone that though. He had been guilty of it a few times too, when the mood to gratify his parents and brothers took hold of him.
He knew there was no point in ringing or texting Jack or Ben. Once he wandered around for long enough, he’d pick up their scent. Likewise, they were probably on the lookout for him. It wasn’t often that they got free reign of their time, away from their parents’ watchful gazes.
He bumped into someone, a very sweet smelling someone, and he felt his face flush as he recognised her before he even looked at her.
“Oh, hi Lee,” Amber said, hugging him.
“Hi…Amber. Nice to see you.” He blinked rapidly, wishing fervently for the red hot flush spreading across his cheeks to go away.
“How have you been?” she asked.
“Good, yeah good.”
“Regulated yet?” She winked.
He looked down and then back at her, although his eyes slid off her face as the flush crept further up his face again. “Uh, not so much, no…�
��
“Don’t worry, me either!” she laughed. “I am so glad there is someone else here who hasn’t! Mum thinks I’m a few months into unofficial regulation, but I’m not so sure. I’m just not feeling it this month. What about you?”
“Yeah, I don’t know. I did shift last month, so going by the record, it’s unlikely. Maybe one night, but I’ll be lucky to get three in,” he said, feeling slightly more relaxed.
“Gods! I so know what you mean!” She smiled and then turned as someone called her name. “I’d better go. I’ll see you tonight.” She hugged him again and ran off through the trees.
Lee let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Talking to Amber always happened just like that. She’d take him unawares, he’d flush as red as a tomato, and when he’d finally start feeling less flustered, she’d have to go. He put his hand over his heart in an effort to slow it down. He wasn’t sure he was entirely truthful with Amber. What he told her, he was feeling…until he saw her and smelled her. As soon as he bumped into her, his pulse had begun racing and he heard his heartbeat in his ears. His sense of smell, his hearing and his vision had all become clearer and he was able to feel the wolf inside him.
He shuddered a little. Stupid hormones, he thought. Just what I need, human teenage boy hormones mixed with an inherent, animalistic wolf.
“Ah, the lass will leave you breathless!” Lee heard a well-known voice laugh.
“Shut up, you moron.” Lee smiled as he turned to face Ben.
“I think you’re close to regulating, mate.” Ben shook his head, a smile still playing on his lips.
“What?” Lee jerked. “You can’t be serious. Just because the wolf comes out on a full moon…” He petered off.
“Yes, the wolf inside us loves to ramp up our emotions, just before it turns itself loose.” Ben looked at Lee seriously for a moment.
With anyone else, Lee would feel uncomfortable and weird having this kind of conversation. He had known Ben since before they could shift – even before they could walk – and he was closer to him than to Chuck or Dwight or anyone else in the world. Somehow, even as they’d hit puberty and started being ‘manly’, these sorts of topics were never a problem for him to discuss with Ben.
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