That’s how life went. Until the day Annie had her first period.
She sat at the breakfast bar, drumming her fingers on the tile. Her feet dangled helplessly, her legs not quite long enough to touch the ground from her seat in the barstool. One shoelace grazed the tiled floor; she hadn’t even noticed her untied shoes.
She was frowning, thinking.
All in all, she felt a bit ridiculous. It had been an hour or so since she had gone to the bathroom and found blood spotted in her underwear. She’d yelled to her mother, half in fear, half in disgust. She knew what it was and expected it, yet it was still a shock for her when she found it there, in her underwear. Her mother calmly came to her daughter’s aid and showed her how to wear a pad.
“Tampons,” she sighed, “are something we’ll have to deal with later. I’m too tired to go through that now. And you don’t need them yet.”
Annie might not have needed tampons, but she felt ridiculous. The uncomfortable new mass between her legs felt like a mattress strapped between her thighs. She swore that she could bounce on it.
I could float to China on this thing, she thought. She wondered if a tampon would be more comfortable in that regards, although the idea of it kind of creeped her out.
The cramps had come in full force too. She had taken an aspirin, which hadn’t kicked in yet, so there she was, feeling like someone was taking a fork to her stomach and scrambling it up. It hurt her like nothing she had ever felt before. But there was also something else, a fear growing in her that wasn’t just her cramps. This was a glimpse into the rest of her life. Every fourth week, she’d have to strap on a pad, or insert a tampon, and deal with these bad cramps. Every fourth week, she’d be a slave to this. And it frightened her. For the first time in her life she was genuinely aware of the difference between her and her guy friends.
It suddenly seemed like she was looking down the timeline of her life and she didn’t like what she saw. A lifetime of buying pads, dealing with the possibility of blood on her clothes, of dealing with this. And it wasn’t only that. Her breasts had started growing the year before and she noticed the boys were already starting to look at her. She now stood several inches above Huck, and she was more legs than anything else.
She felt a kind of fear and dread that she didn’t quite know how to articulate or know what to do with.
“Why don’t you go out and play, Annie?” her mother asked, breaking into her thoughts.
Annie flinched at her mother’s voice. She regained her composure enough to not look surprised. “I don’t want to,” she said simply. She didn’t feel like it. It was as if she could never play again. Her body had alerted to everyone that Annie was no longer a child.
“Why not?”
“I just don’t feel like it,” she said, knowing that she was pouting. She deserved to cry, didn’t she? After all, she was bleeding like she had an open wound down there. She could afford to pout a bit.
Her mother wouldn’t hear of it. “Look, Annie,” she said, pulling up a stool next to her daughter. Annie looked at her and for the millionth time, it seemed, she wondered why her father had cheated on her mother. She harbored ill feelings towards her father for that reason—ruining her childhood by getting distracted by another woman. Elise Knowles wasn’t supermodel beautiful, but she was still a very pretty woman in her mid-thirties who dressed nicely each day (sometimes she would tell her friends that she didn’t have a man just so she could afford to buy nice clothes).
It wasn’t fair.
“You can’t allow something like your period to control your life, Annie,” Elise told her.
Annie crossed her arms, feeling surly and ready to argue. Instead, all she responded with was a childish, “Why not?”
“Because I said so,” her mother said with a laugh. “Imagine all of what you’d miss out on if you hide for a week every month.”
Annie hadn’t noticed the tears falling down her face. “But I can’t play anymore! My body is telling me that I’m too old to play.”
“No it’s not,” Elise soothed. She hugged Annie to her. “This is simply your body telling you it’s healthy,” she said. “You still have a few years before you need to worry about being too old to play, if that time ever even comes. Now,” she smiled, “go out there. And I don’t want you back before sunset.”
And Elise gave her one final hug, kissed her on the cheek and scooted her out the door. Which was how Annie ended up outside of Huck’s fenced yard, debating whether or not she should go up and walk in. She didn’t have to debate long. Someone must have told him that his best friend was standing glumly in front of his house, because the front door opened and Huck stood looking confusedly at her through the screen.
Annie again felt like she was going to cry.
“Annie?” he asked incredulously. “Why’re you waiting outside like that?”
“I just am,” she said simply. She felt too embarrassed by the whole thing.
Huck gingerly stepped out, as if dealing with something entirely alien. For all Annie knew, she was alien.
“You sick or something?”
Apparently, she looked sick. “Kinda.” Annie felt the heat flush her cheeks. She wasn’t going to tell him what had happened.
“Should you go to the doctor?”
“I’m okay,” Annie said. She stopped, surprised at that admission. She was going to be okay. She was going through what every woman went through. It might not feel like it then, but she was going to be all right.
She allowed herself a small, secret smile. She didn’t catch Huck watching her quietly, his mouth open slightly. She didn’t see the change in his eyes at her smile.
“Are you contagious?” he asked softly.
She giggled at that. Thankfully not. “No, I’m okay. You can’t catch it.”
“Good.”
Before she had time to really comprehend his answer, he caught her lips with his—it was a clumsy kiss, but a kiss nevertheless. Her eyes fluttered open in surprise and she found herself relishing it. She had never thought of Huck as a potential boyfriend—or whatever he would be at twelve—but now she wasn’t sure.
She liked the kiss.
Huck broke the kiss and grinned at her. She met his eyes, breathless. They stood like that for a few heartbeats, glowing after the start of something new between them.
A voice interrupted their moment. “I knew it was only a matter of time before you two were going to make kissy-faces.”
Huck was torn away from her. She cried out and reached for him, but Jim stepped in the way, leering down at her as he pushed the far smaller Huck away. “You’re wasting your time, Annie. He’s a runt.”
Annie felt the anger rising deep inside her. She hated Jim almost as much as she liked Huck. And if he was going to be an asshole about this, well, then he had another thing coming. Before she knew what she was doing, she had punched him, decking him across the face. She didn’t know what had come over her, just a blinding rage. He stumbled backward, landing on his butt. He clutched at his face, crying.
“You bitch!” he cried. “I’m telling Mom!”
Then they all saw it. Annie’s entire arm, the one she used to clock Jim, was covered with dark, auburn hair. Her hand was grotesque with claws sprouting from each fingertip. Jim screamed first, followed closely by Annie’s shriek of terror. Huck watched her dazedly. None of them could comprehend what was happening. Annie’s world dissolved into tears and she took off running home.
She showed her arm to her mom, who froze when she saw it. Elise immediately called Annie’s father, something she had loathed to do before this incident. Whatever was happening, it must have been something terrible for her to call him.
“I didn’t believe you,” Annie overheard her mother on the phone. She was talking in hushed, panicked tones. “I didn’t believe you when you said this might happen.”
Elise stayed on the phone for a long time before coming back to the living room. She announced that Annie was going to move i
n with her father, who could help control her “condition”. Then her mother wouldn’t talk any more about it, no matter how many times Annie asked why.
“Just wait until you talk to your father,” she said. Dark circles had formed under her eyes and she looked like she was on the verge of tears.
The next morning, wearing a sweater and gloves to hide her deformity, Annie was on a flight to New Orleans. When she arrived at the airport, her father was there with his new wife, Annie’s new life, and the terrible truth he told her later at dinner.
“You’re a werewolf, Annie.”
Annie thought he was crazy. Werewolves were the stuff of horror movies. They couldn’t be real. But as Annie learned, they were real. And her father was a full-blooded werewolf, who had passed the gene to Annie. He had tried escaping werewolf society, marrying Elise, and having a daughter, whom he hoped was human.
But he found out that he couldn’t escape what he was. That’s why he had divorced her mother. That’s why he had moved halfway across the country. It was to protect Annie and Elise from a life that they didn’t know about.
Unfortunately, Annie’s genes had already marked her as part of that world. And that’s why, when Annie’s period started and she went through emotional stress, she turned partly into a werewolf.
“I’m so sorry Annie.”
Annie realized she couldn’t escape who she was either.
***
She’d never talked to Huck again. At least, not until now.
She had stayed with her father because she had to learn how to control her nature and she had to be with her own kind. She had lost a bit of her spunk that day when she turned into a werewolf for the first time. She was afraid of what she could do to others. She was afraid of turning into a monster.
Even though she hadn’t spoken to him in years, Annie still found her thoughts drifting towards her childhood sweetheart. Which is why she was coming to him for help now. When she saw that poster, she immediately recognized him as the lead singer and…
She looked up suddenly as she heard the slam of a car door. “Huck,” she whispered. A thrill of excitement and fear ran through her, and she didn’t know if she wanted the next few minutes to really happen.
Was this real? Were they really going to be reunited? What would he think of her after all this time? He probably had a girlfriend or something.
You’re not here for reunions, she thought firmly. You’re here for Bradley.
The knock on the door jolted Bradley out of his sleep.
“Shhh,” she murmured to him, smoothing his hair back. “It’s okay. It’s my friend.”
“Are you sure?”
After everything he had been through, Bradley had a right to be scared. Yet, after sniffing the air, Annie knew that their assailants weren’t there.
It was just a certain someone she felt almost too nervous to meet.
You’re here for Bradley, she reminded herself one last time before she opened the door.
The man behind it wrapped her up in a tight embrace. Annie stood there, stunned for a few moments, trying to get her bearings. Huck held her as if the last twelve years hadn’t happened. The arms clutching her tight rippled with muscles. He smelled of sweat and cigarettes and alcohol, like he had come straight from a bar. Yet, underneath all of that she could still smell his familiar scent.
“I’ve missed you,” he whispered. “Annie.”
She heard so many questions and emotions in his voice that a flood of conflicting feelings overcame her. Her voice caught in her throat and she couldn’t speak.
“This is your friend?” the boy behind them asked, interrupting the moment.
Shit. Annie had almost forgotten that Bradley was in the room. She stepped back self-consciously, crossing her arms as if to ward herself from the rockstar before her.
“Huck,” she said, clearing her throat, and gestured awkwardly over to her charge, “meet Bradley.”
She sounded raspy; she had to get her emotions under control. She finally got a good look at him. And damn, the last twelve years had treated him well. He was taller than her now—she stood at about five-six while he towered over her, well over six feet tall. He had the air of a cocky singer about him, complete with a rock band shirt and torn jeans. His once-dark hair was bleached, and grazed the tops of his shoulders. A barbell pierced through his left eyebrow glittered, and he had full-colored tattoo sleeves up and down his muscular arms.
Yet she could see in his brown eyes that he was still the same Royce Tucker she had left behind all those years ago. Confusion crossed through those eyes now as his gaze fell on Bradley. She could almost hear the question in the air, about the boy who looked quite a bit different than her.
She had a kid?
No, she wanted to tell him. More like kidnapped one.
She bit her tongue as Bradley held out his hand expectantly for Huck. At ten years old, Bradley was a precocious fellow who’d had manners and etiquette drilled into him by his parents since he was old enough to talk. Bewildered, Huck took it.
“Nice to meet you Brad,” Huck said, his voice strangled.
“Bradley.” The boy corrected.
Huck nodded, stunned. He turned back to Annie, his mouth open to ask the question she knew was coming. She saved him the trouble.
“It’s a long story,” she said. “But he’s not my son and he’s not my brother.”
“We’re not even related,” Bradley amended. He dramatically flopped on the hotel sofa.
“It’s a long story,” Annie repeated, feeling the flush bleed in through her cheeks.
Huck was watching her, questions flickering across his face. He was trying to guard his emotions, but he had always been so transparent. Annie remembered that now.
“It’s good to see you, Annie,” he said. His unasked question floated between them in the air. What happened to you?
She swallowed, trying to gain the courage to tell him everything. He’s going to think I’m crazy.
“I’m going to cook a frozen pizza,” she declared at length, “and then we can talk.”
***
Huck felt like he was in a dream.
After years of not hearing from Annie, she called him out of the blue and wanted to see him. And here she was, in Austin, eating pizza and sitting next to a strange kid who wasn’t related to her. The boy kept looking suspiciously at him, but he kept quiet. Huck noticed that he seemed closed off and sad. Where had she gotten this kid? He didn’t realize how much he had missed her until she had called, and now he could barely keep his thoughts in line.
It was absolutely surreal. However, something felt weird, wrong. But shit, she did look beautiful. His memories of her didn’t do her justice. Sure, he’d had a crush on her since before he could remember, but she had really grown into herself, into the young woman sitting before him. But there was something timid and unsure about her now. She was scared of something and so was Bradley.
She spoke softly. “I suppose you’re wondering why I called?”
“Yeah,” he said, surprising himself with the vehemence in his voice. “What happened to you, Annie?”
She gave him a small smile and he felt his old emotions stir deep inside him. No, he firmly told himself. You’re not here to continue things with your crush. He felt sad at that thought, but managed to shake it off.
“Do…?” she started. “Do you remember that day? The day we, uh, kissed?” Her cheeks flushed deep red.
“You mean the day you disappeared?” While he didn’t mean to sound accusatory, it popped out before he could stop it. Hurt flashed in her eyes and a small part of him regretted saying it. He still felt she deserved it though, and nothing could take it back.
Bradley didn’t look very happy at his tone.
“Do you remember when I punched your brother?” she asked.
Mystified, he nodded.
She sighed and clenched her eyes shut. “Do you remember this?” She held out her bare arm.
He felt co
nfused at first, wondering what she meant. Then he saw it. Her skin started turning darker, then red hair sprouted on every available square inch. Her fingers elongated into…claws? As soon as her fingernails sharpened to fine points he finally connected that he was staring at the arm of a beast. He yelped in alarm, shrinking away as far as he could from her.
“Holy shit!” he breathed. “Holy fucking shit!”
“Language,” Bradley said with a frown. Huck looked at him incredulously. Annie had grown a monster arm and all the kid could comment on was his language?
He didn’t realize that his heart was pounding in his ears. He didn’t realize that Annie was watching him warily. And he didn’t notice that Bradley sucked in a deep breath. All he could think was that Annie Knowles—his childhood sweetheart, the one he had measured every other girl by—was different.
“Y-your...arm is...” he stuttered, unable to get words out.
Annie nodded. “This is why I disappeared,” she explained. “I had to move in with my dad.”
“Had to?” Huck somehow managed to ask.
“Yeah,” she said. She visibly swallowed. “Because I’m a werewolf.”
Huck’s first thought was that Annie really was crazy. “Right,” he replied slowly.
Werewolves weren’t real. They were something that you saw in shitty teen movies that featured sparkly vampires, but they weren’t real. They couldn’t be.
“Bradley’s one too,” she added quickly.
Huck looked at the boy, who didn’t crack a smile. He just looked somber and nodded. As if he was on the same Koolaid that Annie was on.
Fucking hell.
“So, his arms turn hairy too?”
Hurt passed again through Annie’s eyes. “No. Um… Not yet. He’s not old enough.” She ran her normal hand through her hair and sighed. “I’m not telling this very well.”
“No, you’re not,” Bradley agreed unhappily. “But she’s saying the truth. Huck.”
Huck wasn’t sure he liked this kid.
Paranormal Magic (Shades of Prey Book 1) Page 78
