After work, Michael had insisted we go out, just the two of us. “But why?” I asked, hoping for some reason that he didn’t know what today was. I hadn’t told anyone about my birthday. I didn’t see the big deal in celebrating it, even more so now that I was immortal. To me, it was just another day, that happened to be the day when I was born.
“It’s been too long since I’ve spent time with my girlfriend. When was our last date, anyway?” he’d brought up.
I… couldn’t remember. I thought back, and the last time we’d tried to go on a date… that’s right, the Sirens of Spring interrupted it. We had been planning on pretending to be tourists and sightseeing. We hadn’t even made it to our first destination before Nikola started calling all the vampires to him. So, I agreed. After work had closed down for the night, we walked the streets of Seattle, taking in the sites and pointing things out to each other.
There were a couple of gulls fighting over spilled fries outside a nearby fast-food restaurant. A little further down, I saw the MoPOP, its odd structure like a building-sized sculpture. The Space Needle stuck up behind it, its spire lit up and looking like a giant beacon.
We walked to a local bookstore Michael knew of – a cozy little place that would be easy to miss in such a busy city. The bell above the door rang out as he opened it. “Ladies first,” he said with a crooked grin. I stepped from the drizzly sidewalk into the warm space.
There was a soft calm in the store, the warm paper-and-ink scent filling in all the little gaps left from a tiring day at the office. My body relaxed as I breathed it in, letting the atmosphere fill me. The hint of coffee from the cup on the checkout counter balanced the flavor of the air. Coffee and books: there were few better combos in this world.
The floor creaked lightly under my feet, and the soft lighting cast everything in a slightly golden light. We wandered the aisles, looking at various titles and seeing if there would be anything to interest the both of us that we could read together.
Michael picked up a book with a rather steamy picture of a shirtless muscular man holding a swooning woman in his arms. “We could always go for something a little warmer,” he said with a naughty wink and a grin.
An embarrassed laugh burst from me. “Put that down! You’re awful!” I could feel the flush rushing up my face, but my heart was so full from just being here that I didn’t care.
More random books looked at and debated – the first human moment we’d had in days, ever since everything about the Ten came up.
I looked at the shelves, sorted by genre and from there by author. It was obvious that whoever owned and took care of this place did so with utmost care. Michael continued to browse chaotically
Whether this had been a date or not, I was sincerely enjoying myself. We picked a book each and one to try reading together and went to the counter. We purchased them, the gentleman at the counter carefully placing the books in a paper bag.
Opening the door, we walked out into the near-drizzle of rain, more humidity than precipitation. As I reached for Michael’s hand, a shout and a thud rang through a nearby alley. My eyes shot first to the alley, then to Michael. He looked back at me, and without needing to speak, we both ran toward the noise.
Our shoes pounded against the pavement, brickwork blurring as we ran as fast as we could. The smell of metal and rain couldn’t cover the stink of wet garbage. Rounding a corner, I nearly barreled into Michael where he’d stopped dead still. I looked ahead at why he stopped, and a silent gasp made its way to my mouth.
Trash bins had been toppled over, and a red neon sign shone, casting everything in a bloody hue. In the half-lit alley, a form in torn clothing was crouched over an unconscious man in a ski mask, his pants undone. The form shifted and her icy blue eyes caught the streetlight.
I knew those eyes. Those eyes had stared me down in the bathroom just before she nearly struck me.
“Sarah?” My voice sounded small in my own ears.
The form – Sarah – was half-shifted into something large and covered in fur. Her shoulders were corded muscle, and claws shone in the dim light as she huffed heavily. The fur began to ripple and recede, her form shrinking down, soon leaving just our co-worker standing there, her clothes rumpled, torn in places, and breathing ragged.
The three of us froze – no sound but Sarah’s panting and the faint hum of the red neon sign. For impossibly long seconds, we did nothing but stare at each other.
Finally, the silence broke when Michael asked, his voice cautious, “Are you alright?”
Sarah stared for a moment longer before answering, “I’m fine – except the part where you both just saw this,” she said as she pointed at herself. Her glare sharpened. “But I know what you both are, too.”
My stomach clenched, nausea rising. “What do you mean?” There’s no way she could know—
Sarah tilted her head and made a disbelieving sound. “You just saw me halfway shifted into a werewolf and you think I can’t tell what you two are?” She sniffed loudly in our direction. “The stink of death mixed with the musk of life. Undead.”
“What’re you saying, Sarah? That you’ll tell everyone?” Michael asked, an arm going out in front of me on reflex.
“Mutually assured destruction – I’ll keep your secret as long as you keep mine.” So pragmatic for something so supernatural. Her claws retracted fully as she stood straight, crossing her arms and looking more like her “normal” self. Simultaneously, fear and empathy played in my still heart – a large part of me recognized trauma, not monstrosity. We were all just hiding different hungers.
She glared. “Don’t look at me like that,” she spat at me.
“Like what?” I asked, honestly not knowing what I did wrong.
“Like I’m a monster. You drink blood to survive, you have no room to judge me.”
I was taken aback. “That’s not what I was thinking at all. I’m just… a bit shocked is all,” I managed to get out.
Sarah gave a bitter laugh. “Imagine my shock when you came in one day smelling just like him.” Her perception of the unfairness of it was plain on her face. “Unfair,” she mumbled under her breath, so quiet I almost wondered if I’d imagined it.
She glanced behind her at the unconscious man on the ground. I looked at him too. I could imagine what happened: Sarah walking along, minding her own business, then someone attacking her meaning sexual harm. Of course, she’d defend herself – she just happened to be a werewolf underneath it all. She managed to knock him unconscious… He was just unconscious, right?... But given what he had meant to do, there was no way any of us would let him get away with it.
“I’ve got to take him in. Bastard won’t get away with what he tried to do.” Sarah’s voice was firm, her anger still hot. Then she glanced down at herself. She looked a little rumpled, clothing torn in places but otherwise fine. How was she going to convince the police that this man was a criminal and not just some guy passed out?
I watched her flex a claw from her pointer finger. She placed it on her arm and dragged it up, slicing her forearm, deliberate and deep. I flinched at the sight but couldn’t help but swallow at the scent of living blood. I knew mine and Michael’s eyes had to have darkened to near black. It was all I could do not to take in a deep lungful of that hot scent. Michael shuddered beside me and I knew he was having a similarly hard time keeping his appetite at bay.
“In case they don’t want to book him for assault – they’ll get him for this.” She grabbed her phone out and I saw her dial 9-1-1. She took a deep breath, and when someone picked up on the other end, Sarah became a different person entirely.
As if a switch had been flipped, her voice became frantic and panicked. “Hello?! I was just attacked a-and he’s unconscious now, but he’s still here. Help me!” Her desperate pleas came out in a trembling voice between sob and fear. She shot Michael and I a stare that said clearly enough what she wanted of us: Go. Now. She continued her staged panic on the phone, voice wobbling even as she glared daggers at her downed assailant.
A mix of admiration, guilt, and dread sat in my gut. Practiced deception felt so familiar now.
Michael put his hand on my elbow. “Come on,” he whispered. “She’s got this covered.” I glanced at Sarah once more, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that A) werewolves existed, and B) she was one. Her voice echoed off the alley walls as Michael and I walked back to where he had parked the car that morning.
My hand felt heavy and I looked down. I was still holding the bag of books we had purchased. The bookstore visit felt like it had happened on an entirely different day, even though it had been maybe only fifteen minutes since we’d left the place. A very intense, very crazy fifteen minutes. The entire encounter repeated in my mind as we made it to the car, left the parking garage, and headed for home.
Rainy mist ran across the windshield as the silence stretched. Michael seemed to be as deep in his thoughts as I was in mine, eyes focused on the road and both hands on the wheel. We normally held hands on the way home, but I think we were both too shocked to even think of it. I watched the droplets bead and trail down the passenger side window but my brain was elsewhere – Sarah’s eyes, the slash on her arm, the words “mutually assured destruction” on loop in my head. I began to wonder just how many other supernaturals were out there, walking the streets of Seattle – hiding in plain sight, wearing calm faces. Just like me.
I jumped when Michael broke the quiet. “Well… that was… unexpected,” he said.
Exhaling, I half-laughed, “You can say that again.”
He looked over at me with a weary smile, holding his hand out. I placed mine in it, appreciating the grounding touch it provided. The windshield wipers squeaked as the hum of the road continued beneath us. The bag of books was in my lap, and I fiddled with the handle of the bag, trying to further tether myself to the present.
Sarah’s angered face and words about judgment floated to the forefront again. Did monsters ever see themselves as such? I knew I struggled with it personally still – I still had difficulty hunting innocent animals, trying to convince myself that because I wasn’t killing, I wasn’t monstrous. But was that really true?
My mind wandered to Antun and Syla, how thin the line between secrecy and community had become.
Around another five minutes later, we pulled into Antun’s driveway, the porchlight flickering against the heaiver rain. My nerves were still humming, half with shock, and honestly, half with respect for the amount of poise Sarah demonstrated. I thought back to when I discovered Michael’s secret, how frazzled he’d been. I knew if I’d been faced with a similar situation to her, I wouldn’t have remained nearly as calm.
I didn’t notice the unnatural quiet within until I opened the door.
