Dalliance | Paul Lahote

━ TEN: FACE THE MUSIC

━━━━━━ ✧ ━━━━━━

EVANGELINE WAS freaking out.

Her cousin had just turned into a wolf.

A wolf.

Putting aside the simple fact she didn't think that was even something that could happen, to anyone ever, it was Casper.

She didn't know whether to be more shocked, scared or hurt since he never told her.

Emily's hands were stroking her back, and she barely computed being sat back down, and she didn't realize that she was hyperventilating until her head became dizzy and she knew she was about to pass out if she didn't breath right.

Taking a deep breath, she breathed the air out, and after a few times her ears stopped buzzing(that was also something she hadn't even realized was happening) and Emily's voice came through the fog.

"How about some tea, sweetie?"

Evangeline nodded, not trusting her voice to work yet.

As Emily moved around in the kitchen, Evangeline tried to make sense of what had just happened, and, just as importantly, that no one here seemed surprised by it. They all acted as if it had happened before, that people turning into gigantic wolves was just the norm, and suddenly nothing made sense anymore.

"Is this... normal?"

Emily, now back with a mug of full of chamomile tea, sat down in a chair next to her and smiled empathically at her.

"As weird as it sounds, yeah."

"But—" Evangeline stopped herself, unsure of even what to ask. How did one begin to inquire about their cousin turning into a wolf and everyone around them considering it normal?

Emily, seemingly understanding her plight, took pity on her.

"After something like that, I don't think there is any harm in being blunt," she said, and Evangeline nodded. No need to sugar coat things, she doubted anything could surprise her now.

And so Emily explained, the legends, about how when there were dangers of a supernatural nature around, the shapeshifting began, a countermeasure to ensure the protection of the reservation. She told about how Sam was the first to shift, later being joined by Jared, Paul, and so on, the last person to have shifted being Brady, before Casper now, of course.

"So, there are more creatures out there?"

Emily nodded. "That we know of, vampires, but maybe there's more."

"Vampires? Here?" Oh God, why couldn't it have been fairies or something less terrifying?

"Yeah, it's the reason this all began."

"And they're still around? And that's why Casper shifted?" At Emily's confirmation, a chill ran down her spine. "And why aren't they dead? Well, I mean, dead dead."