by Joe Fowler
“I want you to meet Alicia.” The words had barely left my mouth when she walked into the kitchen. “Keith, this is Alicia. Alicia, this is Keith. I’ve told each of you about the other so I wanted you two to meet.”
“Finally! You’ve wrapped Josh around your finger pretty quickly. I wanted to see who was so special.” Keith gave her his warmest smile.
“I’ve heard so much that I feel like I know you already. Thank you for helping Josh. He told me you’ve been friends for a long time. It’s good to know he has someone watching out for him.” She seemed about to say more when Seth lumbered into the room. He looked like he needed another eight hours of sleep.
“Good morning, Keith.” Seth was headed for the coffee pot.
“Good morning, Seth.” Keith was smiling at the grumpy bear that was Seth. “Looks to have been a rough night.”
“Alicia here wouldn’t shut up. It’s all her fault. I started to send her out to see if she could track down that bear.” Seth looked rough but was in good humor.
“Hey!” Alicia didn’t like being blamed.
“I better go. You guys have fun. It was nice to meet you Alicia.” Keith turned to leave when I remembered my car keys.
“Nice meeting you too, Keith.” Alicia was sitting down to eat. I threw my keys to Keith which he caught without even looking, even though his back was to me.
“Showoff.” I said it laughing and heard his answering laugh as he walked out the door. I sat beside Alicia and ate.
“You seem to have very good taste in food, as well as good timing. Did Anna get any?” Seth was sitting down now, too.
“Yep, we were unloading the food from the car when she was leaving for work. She took some with her.” I said it around a mouthful of food, but they seemed to understand. We ate in silence for a while.
“Anything interesting happen after you left here yesterday?” Alicia took my hand under the table when she asked. We had all finished eating and were letting our food settle. “I wanted to call, but I knew we would have all day today to talk.”
“Keith and I met the girls, Sarah and Crystal, at Five Guys. We filled them in on what was going on. Then we all went to my house to relax for a while. We decided to play Monopoly to get our minds off of everything, but that’s when my mom came home. Keith and the girls encouraged Mom to play with us so they could talk about me like I was a saint or something. They just kept on about how nice and self-sacrificing I was. When they left, my mom broke down crying. She regretted not being closer to me. She mostly avoids me my whole life, then as she is planning my death, she decides she wants to know me better.” I was shaking. It was still hard to wrap my head around.
“That sounds rough. I wish there was something to say but this is all so horrible.” Alicia was right, this was horrible. We sat in silence for a few minutes letting that statement hang in the air.
“It will get worse.” Seth broke the silence. “Sometime tomorrow you will be face to face with a demon who wants to take over your body. You will have to fight him. As extraordinary as your wolf form is, as powerful as you are in that form, he will be stronger.”
“What can I do then? Is there no hope?” I was about as low as you could get, and Seth wasn’t helping.
“Just keep fighting for all your worth, and hope that either Keith or myself can get to you in time.” Seth looked at me and held my attention when he continued. “You will hurt bad enough to wish for death. If you give in, even for a moment, he wins.”
“Stop it Seth! He is not going to die. Quit being so negative.” Alicia was on the verge of tears.
“He has to know what he is up against, Alicia.” Seth was only telling me the truth. Trying to act like everything would be fine wasn’t going to help me.
“Seth is right, Alicia. I need to know what I am facing.” She tried to pull her hand out of mine under the table, but I wouldn’t let her. “I have something worth fighting for. I am not giving up.”
The three of us sat for a few more minutes before Seth excused himself for a morning run. He invited us, but running just did not sound appealing to either Alicia or me. She leaned against me resting her head on my arm. For the first time in my life, I felt truly helpless.
“I just found you. I will fight as long as I have to, no matter what happens. I can promise you that much, Alicia.” She looked up at me with tears spilling down her beautiful face. I kissed her and tasted the salt on her lips. I started reaching for a subject change. Anything to get us out of this doom and gloom. “What happened here after I left? I remember you and Carl were in the woods, and Seth was running to meet you.”
“We talked a bit, but then Seth took Carl away so they could talk more privately. I stayed in the woods for a while, trying to keep my mind off of things but it wasn’t working. I ended up coming in and bugging everyone to death.” She laughed a little.
“I can’t imagine that. Oh, wait, yes I can.” I teased her. “You want to go sit on the couch? It would be more comfortable.”
“Definitely more comfortable.” She agreed.
She grabbed the remote and we sat on the couch. She grabbed my arm and pulled it around her. Flipping through the menus, she tried to find us something to watch. She put it on some old movie that I had never heard of before. I didn’t care. We were content to just sit there for a while. She may have gotten too content, she fell asleep early on in the movie. I was happy just holding her.
I began thinking of how different my life had become over the last two weeks. Being the focus of attention was a change in itself. I had been tolerated by Keith’s friends, but had very few friends of my own. Crystal was beautiful and sweet, but that was more convenience than actual relationship. Tina Chambers, the other girl I had been having sex with, was the daughter of one of mom’s friends just like Crystal. Tina wasn’t beautiful, outside or inside, she was just easy. I don’t think any of them truly cared, except Keith.
Keith became my conscience at an early age. I remember stealing things when I was a child even though I knew my mom would have paid for them. I was a mean child. If I could make someone cry, I did. Keith would explain why something was wrong and make me apologize to the person I had been mean to. He made me behave when I didn’t want to. I liked him, he was my only friend for most of my life, so I did what he said. I realized that every good thing about the person I had grown to be, was because of Keith.
Now I had people that cared about me. Sarah and Crystal were ready to risk their lives for me. Seth and the pack had welcomed me with open arms. I had my arm around this sweet, wonderful woman who had stolen my heart more quickly than I would have thought possible. Hell, even my ice queen of a mom had thawed enough to start caring, though she was still trying to kill me.
Then I began thinking of Keith. He always was right where he needed to be, saying or doing what needed to be said or done. How could anyone be that perfect his whole life? It was only last night that I figured out that he had been waiting on this kind of problem with me. Had he known all along that I was half demon? The more I thought, the more things fell into place. I still didn’t get the full picture, but at least I had a rough sketch now.
I wanted to shake my head to clear it of serious thoughts but was afraid of waking Alicia. Going for a run was beginning to look better and better. I wasn’t too good at deep thought anyway. I was the type who nodded along during a discussion and looked up some of the big words later, so I would know what had been discussed in the first place. Now, according to Keith, everything was going to rely on decisions that I would have to make. There’s no way that can be a good thing.
A few weeks ago, the only thing I was nervous about was trying to get accepted to the University of Alabama, Roll Tide. Keith had signed his letter of intent to play football for Alabama. Coach Saban himself, had gone to Keith’s house during his recruitment. Naturally, I wanted to go where Keith did. Now I wasn’t sure I would live to see graduation. That kind of made me nervous.
Alicia began to stir. I don�
�t know whether I was grateful or sad about it. She would get my mind off of the serious stuff which was a good thing. It was the first time I had spent just holding someone I cared about while they slept. I had never known how nice that could be. Well, either way, she stretched a little and half turned toward me with a smile on her face. I hoped I wouldn’t let her down.
“Sorry I fell asleep. You should have woke me up.” She looked around for a clock to see how long she had slept.
“No, this was nice to just sit and watch you sleep.”
“Give me a minute and we can go for a run.” She stretched some more and went to the restroom.
I went to the kitchen and ate a little more while I was waiting on her. That was when I heard the first car pull up. I went to the window and saw Jimmy walking up with two others from the pack. I couldn’t remember their names, having only met them briefly that first night. I opened the door to greet them when they neared the house.
“Good morning.” Okay, it wasn’t much of a greeting but hey, I was under a lot of pressure and wasn’t the small talk type anyway.
“Good morning, Josh. Where’s Seth? Are we the first ones here?” Jimmy asked when he came in the door.
“Seth went for a run. Alicia and I are the only ones here.” I said this almost laughing. Each one sniffed, smelling the Hardees as they came in. They all made a beeline to the kitchen to see what was left. Alicia came back into the room as I was closing the door.
“Hey guys. I see y’all found the food.” Alicia was smiling too.
I was about join them when I heard another car pull up. Over the next twenty minutes or so the house filled with over half the pack showing up. Obviously, Seth had called a meeting but didn’t tell me because he knew I would already be here. I went out the back door needing some air. After a few minutes a female member, I think her name is Cynthia, came out and got undressed. She turned into her wolf, then turned back human after only a few seconds. My guess was that she called to Seth.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when the meeting started. I would not have been surprised by disgruntlement over all this fuss I had caused. Since participation was voluntary, seeing some of the pack leaving would have been expected, too. Neither happened. They listened quietly while Seth explained what he needed them to know. He told them that a demon was involved but assured them that he, Keith, and I would be the only ones to have to face the demon. Seth did not tell them that I was half demon, although I am sure that would become known to all in time. He explained what they would be facing and what would be involved for them. Since there might be guns, the pack members would be in some danger. There were seventeen members of the pack present for the meeting. Most were male, but there were some females. Alicia didn’t count, she wouldn’t be involved.
I looked around at everyone while Seth spoke. We were having the meeting outside since there were too many to comfortably hold in one room. Many had taken a seat on the grass while others remained standing. Everyone was intent on every word Seth said knowing it to be important to understand what was happening. All I could think was, how many of them might die because of me.
“This is a demon worshiping cult we are dealing with. Near as we can tell, there are about thirty of them although there could be more. They are only human, not the vampires we are used to dealing with, but they can be just as deadly if they have guns. To sum up the plan for you, I will take it through the expected steps. One, Josh meets the demon in the morning and hopefully gets away and comes here. Two, the cult will take friends of Josh’s hostage to make him show up where they want him to be. Three, we get there a little after Josh and help his friends get away safely, while rounding up the cult members. Four, between Josh, Keith, and I, we handle the demon. I know this is a simple plan and believe me, we are aware that everything could change drastically at any time. Questions?” Seth took a breath after talking knowing he might just be getting started.
“Who is this Keith?” This was Thomas who asked, he was one of the ones who came with Jimmy that I didn’t remember earlier.
“Keith is Josh’s friend. Keith looks and smells human, but isn’t. What he actually is I can’t tell you, just know that he is on our side and very powerful. He is our greatest hope for this to work without anyone getting hurt.” Seth was starting to sound like me when it came to trusting Keith.
“What do they want with Josh?” Cynthia asked.
“We have all smelled that Josh is a little different. He is the optimal possession candidate for a demon. Normally a demon can only stay on earth for twenty-four hours after it has been summoned. It either has to possess someone or go back to hell. When a demon possesses a normal human it is weakened and can’t do much. If the demon takes control of Josh, it will actually get stronger. This demon could conceivably live forever on earth if it wins tomorrow. That’s why we have to do what we can to stop it. Josh is a member of our pack and we protect our own, but this is much more far reaching than just us.” Seth was telling them enough without saying that I was half demon.
The meeting continued with more of the details for tomorrow being filled in. It was decided which wolves would ride with whom. The assignments were made for hostage rescue and cult attacking. Questions were asked and answered. All in all, everyone went about this in an almost military manner. It was shocking at first before it dawned on me that they had been through things like this before.
I stood there listening to everything, even though all I wanted at that time was to go run. It was my fault the pack was being put in danger, so how could I leave when they were here to help me and the girls? I made myself stay. Luckily, Alicia came around and stood with me, holding my hand to give me support. She had gotten over her initial disappointment of not being included in the plans.
Finally the meeting broke, with groups going off to the side to talk among themselves. Seth went around from group to group, as needed, clearing up any stray questions or doubts about what to expect. Seth came over to me and Alicia, smiling.
“Why don’t you two take off? We will be planning amongst ourselves for a while, and won’t need you guys.” He said just what I wanted to hear.
“One question. Have y’all done this kind of thing very often? Everyone seems almost like military, with the way this is being coordinated.” I asked. I was still so new to this world and hadn’t thought this kind of planning and attacking would ever be necessary. Not when you consider the power of werewolves. What could require a whole pack to mobilize in this kind of coordinated effort?
“Vampires mostly. Sometimes we hear of a rogue werewolf pack and we stop them.” Seth lost his smile but continued. “We take our power seriously. We stop the threats that are near to our territory.”
“Except me. They always leave me behind, saying they don’t want me to get hurt.” Alicia was pouting a little.
“Well, if all goes the way we want, you will have another fighter for the pack. I’m raw but I usually learn pretty fast.” I smiled at Seth. “Plus, we have Keith with us. I don’t think he has ever failed at anything.”
“I would say we have a decent plan. Keith being involved does weigh things in our favor. You just need to start trusting in yourself and quit worrying so much.” He all but shoved us this time. “Now go for a run and clear your head. I don’t want you thinking about any of this for a while.”
“Okay, Alphy!” Alicia said it with a smile. We took our clothes off, turned, and headed for the woods.
The running was only a little less enjoyable than it normally was. The exhilaration, power, and smells were all very potent. I just couldn’t shake the worry that someone might get hurt because of me. We ran deep into the woods. I tried to relax and enjoy myself but it wasn’t working.
“Stop, Alicia.” I watched her as she circled back to me. “I’m too worried about tomorrow to enjoy this.”
“You heard Seth, you need to quit thinking about what might happen. We have experience with these things.” Alicia was trying to be helpful, I know, but I w
as beyond consoling at that point.
“How many might get hurt, even killed? My friends Sarah and Crystal are human, they won’t heal like us. How can I live with myself if we lose someone? It would all be because of me.”
“No. It would be because of them, not you. They summoned the demon, not you. They’ve been planning this for years, not you. You are as innocent in this as anyone. You are just trying to fight for your life here.” She turned human before continuing. “They are doing this to you against your will. Even if you weren’t a part of this pack, Seth would be making the same kind of plans to stop it.”
I turned human so I could reply. My reply just wasn’t easy to come by. I knew everything she said was true, but I still couldn’t shake the guilty feeling or the worry of hurting someone. I wanted to take her in my arms and thank her for being so supportive. Why did I have to be such a freak?
“Everything you said is true, I know, but I still can’t stop worrying. This isn’t like me. Growing up I don’t think I ever really cared about others enough to worry so much.” I looked at her beautiful face and my heart skipped a beat. “I blame it all on Keith. He has worked so hard to make me be a good person that now I can’t quit being stressed out. I’d kick his ass if he would let me.”
Alicia smiled at that last statement, seeing that I was trying to lighten up. She walked up to me and put her arms around me, laying her head on my chest. This would have been sweet if we had been clothed. The feel of her bare skin on mine was making me forget my worries much more effectively than her words. When she lifted her face to look at me, I saw the same desire that I was feeling.
Had this just been some random hookup or even one of the many nights with Crystal, I would be going into detail here. This was something new to me. It’s corny when a man says it, but this wasn’t just sex. Alicia and I made love. Every touch was meaningful as we learned each other’s body. We took our time hoping to make the moment last. In the back of my mind I was all too aware, we might not get another chance.
