The momentary peace in the room was drowned out by a sudden, harsh snarl. It was low and dangerous, the sound reverberated through the floor like the strings of a guitar plucked. Fae blinked owlishly. The snarl was not loud, though the sudden registry and her hearing made it seem louder. Her nose was overwhelmed by the scent of the wolfblood.
It had followed her. It had tailed her and she did not realise. Why hadn't she smelt it before? Dark eyes locked on the people around her. Sam, one, Emily, two, Embry, three. There were two more, Jared and Paul. Sam had sent them outside. Outside where the wolf was. Oh no.
She took a sharp intake of air. Her eyes locked with Emily. The woman stepped forward and latched onto her forearm. Sam moved with her and angled himself as though he'd shield her, that was cute, she thought. Dark eyes stared into dark eyes, Emily's held a pleading look, 'don't do it!' they seemed to scream, she frowned. Did she not realise the danger? The two people out there were in danger, because of her. Emily's grip tightened, the woman already knew Fae was three seconds from doing something dumb.
Unfortunately, that meant Emily was dragged along with her as she limped out the door. Embry and Sam were both hot on their heels, they formed into a line along the porch, Jared, Paul, Embry, Fae, Emily, Sam. On the grass in the large clearing, the wolfblood. It glared menacingly with its' golden yellow eyes. They were fixated directly on her.
Fae stared back at it, mouth agape. The posture was threatening, like it had been in the shop, although there was the glint in its' eyes that it did not intend to back down as easily. She took a deep breath. It'd attack and her best bet, especially with her ankle being fucked up was to shift. It was the only way she'd stand a chance. She bit her lip. The flesh was soft between her teeth. Her heartbeat was fast, near as fast as her mind, running a million miles a minute. Given Sam was a massive wolf, and the fact there had been three others, likely the other boys, they'd understand, she reasoned, they'd understand and keep it under wraps if I shift.
Fae wiped her sweaty hands on her pants. "Someone pass me your shoes."
No one answered her, they all remained static, staring out at the wolfblood. She moved forward, suddenly, there was a hand curled around each of her arms. One was large and as warm as a fire, on her left. Embry, the other was smaller and a normal temperature, Emily. The woman cleared her throat, "Don't. Don't do this again, you'll piss it off."
"Again?" A concerned tone interrupted.
Fae turned and shrugged at Embry in response, as if to say 'what can ya do?' before she met Emily's gaze and bit out through clenched teeth with a light sprinkle of sarcasm. She shrugged. "Would love to just leave it alone, but I think its' already pissed off."
"Fae." Sam intoned, low and with a distinct quality that implied it was an order and not a request.
"Fine. I won't." She responded, folding both arms across her chest and waited for both of the hands on her biceps to loosen. They did after a few seconds, and the teenager used the opportunity to surge forward. "I lied."
Her step down from the porch was rough, it sent twangs of pain up from her ankle through her leg, yet she tried to keep it from her face, nor her stride. Try to model walk, she thought, channel your inner Naomi Campbell. It was the plan that had won her most of the few fights she'd been in and the reason she had passed so many presentations, bullshitting confidence, and presenting a lack of fear. If in her head she already won, or passed the assessment, she would.
The wolf bared its' teeth, although it seemed more like a sick and twisted grin rather than a snarl. It snapped at her, she did not flinch. It lunged, she side stepped it. She bent slightly and taunted. "Come on, here puppy."
Fae let out a whistle, a high, sharp note that grated on her own ears, no doubt the wolfblood's too. It lunged for her again, close, too close. Fae could hear her heart in her ears as she twisted around it's side, the fur brushed her calves and the backs of her knees. Her hand reached along its' back and she dug her claws in with a force. It whimpered slightly, although it let out a harsh bark that had her stumbling back.
"You can do better than that." She taunted, her canines bared in a wide grin, the veins along her hands were an inky black. Fae stood a metre from the wolf, directly across from it. Her vision felt sharper, as though she could see each pore, each follicle of fur and bugs in the grass. They were no doubt a bright marigold of their own. It stared at her, angry and locked in a stalemate, watching, waiting for her to make a move.
It was time for her to shift. She knew. She had to. Her foe's jaws were coming too close for her liking, at least in her wolf form she'd be able to take a few blows, bites or scrapes. Fae crouched down and there was a series of small crunches as her bones twisted and popped and reshaped themselves beneath her skin and the prickle of fur pushing from her form as the wolfish nature took over her bloodstream. It ached terribly for a fraction of the second, but then it was gone.
It was more comfortable, Fae realised, staring at the wolfblood from the same level. Her hackles raised and she let out a snarl of her own, it glared and pounced, as did she.
The world seemed to move in slow motion, as if it was a bad fight scene in a movie, or a dramatized scene in a play or musical. Her front paws made contact and she dug her teeth into whatever flesh she could find. Pain bloomed from her shoulder, sharp and literally biting. Fae felt like screaming, although that would involve letting go, so instead, she clenched her jaw and bit down harder.
The blood was thick on her tongue. It tasted bitter, sour like iron and salty. Marigold yellow eyes blinked, she glanced at the wolf. Her teeth were locked on the creatures neck, her eyes shot from the flesh of the neck over at the people on the porch, there were varying degrees of shock written on their faces, Embry had pushed forward from the line and onto the grass. He was shaking profusely and his strides were fast as he walked in their direction.
Fae shook herself from the jaws of the other as she released her own. What was he doing?! He was going to get hurt! She darted back, towards him. No way would she let it. She blocked him from coming closer and glared with a fury across the distance she had placed between the creature.
Her shoulder ached, she could smell blood coming from the wound. It was not bleeding heavily, though, it would likely heal up nice and quick if she cleaned it soon. Then, there was a woosh of air and a sharp crack and ripping sound, and there, above her stood a dramatically larger wolf.
One paw bracketed her form close, as though he would be able to pull her back before she charged forward. She stared up at him, grey fur, speckled with grey and black. The fur of the wolf that usually walked her home from school. That was Embry? Embry the cute guy from the store had walked her home for a week. Oh my god, that's so embarrassing. He saw me trying to flirt after I literally had a panic attack in front of him. Never leaving the house again.
He snarled at the wolfblood, an angry, low and dangerous growl. It echoed across the clearing and he stalked forward. Fae moved with him, her teeth bared. She barked and snarled with venom, the wolfblood seemed to pale, she snapped her jaw, blood still painted her maw, it tucked its tail and ran. Fae let out a howl, low and eerie.
It was a song they'd known before they'd learnt how to sing. One of wolves, one of Cerridwen. She had taught Bledri to sing again, songs of victory, of joy, threats, sorrow. The howl was a soft, eerie crone that carried through the wind and long distance across land and sea. It was tradition used to mark territory and warn potential rivals. She had heard it the day they had came to her home, and now, she was singing it to warn off a threat of her own. How poetic.
The speckled wolf- Embry, Fae reminded herself, joined her call. She glanced up at him and offered a wolfy smile. He watched carefully as the creature vanished deeply into the woodlands, though spared a glance down to her and nudged her lightly with his head. Fae trotted around and nudged him back.
She turned to wander back to the porch. The four had taken steps onto the grass and came to form a semi-circle. Embry didn't go with her to greet them, instead, he walked into the treeline and vanished behind one. What was he doing? She wondered.
Golden eyes met each of their own. First, Emily. Her friend, her newest friend that had looked after her so much in the span of a single afternoon. Marigold yellow stared intently into chocolate brown, Fae searched for any sign of fear or mistrust, instead she found shock, but that was what she expected. "Fae," the woman vocalised, she nodded her head. "F- Fae you know how to turn back, right?"
She sat and nodded her head. Her shoulder ached as she rolled it, she twisted her neck and stretched out the ligaments. Emily suddenly reached out a hand, the universal sign of 'wait a minute', whilst the other three all sprung into action, cringing as they chorused. "Nononononono."
Fae blinked and shifted back. Being closer to eye-level with people tended to make communication easier. They stared at her with varying levels of flabbergasted expressions and she smoothed out her shirt. She cleared her throat awkwardly. "What?"
Embry strolled out swiftly from the trees, once more human, although he was wearing a different pair of shorts than before. Fae gazed at him and offered up a smile, he returned it and came to linger close to her, facing the rest of the semi-circle.
The one that had been snarky with her before, Paul, gestured to her. "You get to keep your clothes when you shift? How the fuck does that work?"
"You don't? God, that must suck." Her jaw dropped open. "Does that mean you guys just keep piles of jorts around the woods? Nah, but magic, I guess.."
"That's so bullshit." He affirmed, whilst folding his arms.
She threw out her arms and nodded rapidly. "I know right? They just disappear, where do they go?"
Jared turned and butted into the conversation. He smiled as he asked, "How come your wolf-form is so tiny?"
She pretended to be offended. An overdramatised gasp left her lips and she drew a hand over her heart, the other to rest the back of her wrist against her forehead and turned in a way that made her shoulder ache. Fae lowered her voice and made a nasally, New Jersey accent. It was one of the few American accents she could perform decently. "Actually, my ex always used to say, size doesn't matter, it's what you do with it."
Thankfully, it inspired a laugh through the group. "Genuinely, are you a werewolf?" She shook her head. Technically, the answer was kind of, yes but also no. Jared opened his next line of questioning. "Are you part Quileute or something?"
"No, not that I know of, just Welsh and English. Though we do think my great granda' had a secret family." She pushed her thumbs into the belt loops of her pants and shifted her posture. Her shoulder felt like it was still bleeding, it'd probably be better to treat it sooner rather than later. "Do you guys know what a wolfblood is?" Their expressions were blank, "No? Come on then, if someone can patch me up whilst I do a little history lesson."
She was back in the kitchen, on the same seat. She had tried rolling up her sleeve as high as it would go, though it did not reveal the entirety of the bitemark on her shoulder. Thus, Emily had sent all of the boys to the other room and then had Fae take off her shirt. In all honesty, she wouldn't really care if the boys were still in the room or not, her bra had more coverage than every bikini she had ever worn, yet she was kind of glad, if only to avoid comments on her inability to handle the burn of a little bit of peroxide and iodine on the bloodied toothmarks.
"I don't think I can wrap this properly, do you want band aids on them?" Emily asked carefully, she brushed Fae's hair over her un-wounded shoulder for the third time. Her fingers gently sliding through her hair felt nice, soothing like how her mother's did.
Fae turned and met her eyes, she nodded. "Yes please."
Emily smiled and offered up the boxes of band aids. "Dinosaurs, Hello Kitty or Spiderman?"
"Ooh, Spiderman, please!" She beamed up at the woman. Emily laughed softly and began to apply them sparingly.
"Now, you don't do anything stupid to make them fall off or re-open anything, okay? I mean it this time." Emily spoke, sternly as she pressed the final bandaid onto her flesh.
"Ok, I promise." Fae nodded. But it was not like she ever planned to do anything stupid as an initial response. Recently her only options had faded to be stupid or die, at least the wolfblood was something she could deal with, it fit more naturally into her life than whatever the fuck was going on in Forks did.
She pulled her shirt back on carefully. Her arms slid through the sleeves slowly, although the way the fabric rested on the band aids made her want to kill herself, Fae took a deep breath and allowed Emily to lead her into the living room. The boys were sprawled out on the couches and the tv droned softly.
At her entry, they straightened up. Sam sat on one of the couches, whilst Embry sat on another, Paul sat on one of the singular lounge chairs and Jared sat on the floor, cris-crossed. Jared leaned forward, hands clasping his kneecaps and he blinked at her. "So, werewolves. Are you a werewolf, or are we werewolves?"
Fae watched as Emily sat down beside Sam and curled up by his side. Where would she go? There was another single seater on the far side of the room, but that was too far away. In a darker area, close to the corner of the room. It felt like she would be excluding herself from everyone in the room and give off an eerie feeling that she would not particularly like to play into. The floor? No, she would struggle to get up. The ache in her shoulder grew stronger with the passing minute, although it was only a dull ache, her ankle quivered in a way she did not like either. So she took a breath and sat down on the empty space beside Embry.
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. Fae clicked her tongue. He took a dramatised inhale and met her with his own side-eye.
"Um, I am a wolfblood. We, my kind, I mean, aren't werewolves, we're not movie monsters. We do kind of have some of the werewolf tropes, and yes, some of the werewolf accounts are us, but we're not them. I think they existed as their own little third party." She paused her ramble for a breath, her hands moved with her, random empty gestures. "No, but there's genuinely so many pieces of werewolf-like mythos so I think quite a few variations exist. So it's kind of like the Christian church, like your Catholics, Protestants, Baptists, Jehova's Witnesses, Mormons. But we're not Christian, you see, even though we celebrate Christmas, but that's kind of because its a consumerist holiday now. Yeah, yeah, but most Wolfbloods kind of keep to Celtic faiths, most of us are vaguely Welsh, so we worship Cerridwen. She kind of is our creator. I won't get into that right now. Yeah so we transform at will, mostly, and forcibly on the full moon, the wolf stuff tends to start around fourteen-ish, so it really makes puberty that much worth but we don't need my anecdote on that right now," Oh my god, shut up, shut up, Shut up! Fae screamed internally, although she couldn't. The words slipped from her lips in torrents of word vomit that was no doubt rushed, slurred and barely comprehensible and completely and utterly embarrassing.
"We tend to keep to our packs and our territories. We divide ourselves into two genres mainly, feral and tame. Feral are more wolf than human, they keep up with our more archaic, feudal traditions, whilst tames actually interact with society in positive ways and attempt to keep up with the times. Packs, for tames are most usually generic nuclear family groups, or multiple nuclear families. It's a blood thing, but not an AIDs type of blood thing, hence the title wolfbloods, our bite doesn't infect anyone, that's where I think third-party werewolves come in, but I can't be certain. I didn't think vampires were real until like a week ago. Yeah but there's millions of packs all across the globe. Now onto questions, please just let me stop talking. Someone shut me up, it actually won't stop." Her hands flapped and she looked around desperately. Embry made hushing tones and grasped both her hands gently. Her words died in her throat as she looked at him. Holy fuck did his eyes always seem so deep. It was like she could drown in them.
Emily cleared her throat and Paul looked like he was holding back a laugh. Fae pulled one of her hands from Embry's and she threw a cushion at his face. It struck Paul with expert precision and he let out an indignant. "Hey!"
Jared chuckled, as did Sam and Embry, although after a second he cleared his throat, "Thank you for whatever that was."
"You're welcome. Info dumping and throwing stuff at people is my specialty." She nodded awkwardly and made an attempt to bow from her seat on the couch.
"So, is there a pack of wolfbloods here?" Sam inquired with a stoic expression.
"Yeah, mine." She nodded.
Sam looked at the roof and shrugged, nonchalantly. Whilst casually and not at all subtly sussing out her family for any information that could mark them firmly as a threat. Fae just went along with it. "Cool, who's in your pack?"
"Just my ma' and da'." She answered with a casual ease.
"And that wolf just then?" He continued the questions.
She shrugged. "Not a clue. Rogues sometimes come through in search of their own. Its usually easy to tell if they're looking for peaceful cohabitation or not."
"How do you know that?" Jared interrupted the line of questioning with a curious one of his own.
She sniffed. Fae leant back into the couch and curled her legs up on the empty space to her right, whilst her left brushed Embry's side. He was warm like a fire. "More history, yay! It links back to Cerridwen. She's a poetry and transformation deity, so music and sound is a big factor. The tone of howls and overall stage-presence is how you tell."
"Stage presence?" Paul guffawed.
Fae glared at him. "Shut up."
He rolled his eyes. "God, you're such a theatre kid."
"Yep, and I looked good doing it." She responded sharply. Her arms folded across her stomach.
"Rachel Berry looking bitch." He snipped. Embry stiffened beside her.
"Shut up Paul. You literally watch Young Sheldon." He interjected before Fae could blurt out an attempt at a witty remark, although as it crossed her mind she realised that it was clearly not going to be a witty comeback. She shot Embry a smile. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! He was literally sticking up for me! She thought frantically.
The dark haired girl cackled at his implication, "Hahaha! That and Glee? That's so tragic." Paul glared, but Jared punched him playfully. A small moment of silence filled the room. "Yeah, nah, so do I get the proper run down on you guys as six-foot dogs? Oh, and one for the vampires - is there like a pamphlet?"
Embry gave her an amused look and reached out in her direction, was he stretching? Her brow furrowed and he instead draped it over the back of the couch. "Ugh, we wish. If you wanna come to the next bonfire it'll be explained properly. So-"
Jared and Paul interjected at the same time.
"You can propose your idea to the elders there."
"Sam shifted first so I think he should tell it."
"Shut up. So as I was saying before I was interrupted," He replied with a pointed look at the two on the floor, then back to her. "Its' a Quileute thing. Our stories say we were descended from wolves, and then, later, the leeches came and killed so we got the ability to shift into wolves to protect people."
Fae tilted her head and nodded. She responded without thinking. "Oh that's so cool!"
Leeches were probably a nickname for vampires, although the allegory of blood sucking worked surprisingly well, she was not sure about it as a term. So the wolves here were another genetic trait, born as a gift and spirits. The proper story would likely be just as interesting and Fae wanted, near needed to know it now. But the story would be told at a later date and she could be patient.
Emily leant forward from her space tucked beside Sam, she rolled her eyes good naturedly and explained. "Leeches are what they like to call vampires if you didn't know."
"Oh," She tilted her head dramatically, like a confused dog. "Okay... because of the blood thing or because of the gross parasite thing?"
Paul laughed. "Both!"
"So... Lunch. It's not my day." Emily blurted out.
A long silence passed until Sam gave an option. "Pizza?"
"Sure." Jared said.
"Oh, yeah, yeah. Sounds lovely." Fae spoke.
"Yes, thank you." Embry added.
Then suddenly a shout rang out through the room, Fae jumped from her seat. "Shot not calling!"
"I'm down. Shot not!" Paul shouted too. Her ankle burned as she placed both feet on the ground roughly. Her legs buckled and Embry's arms wound around her stomach, thick and deliciously warm, he was careful of her injured shoulder and she could feel the rise and fall of his chest against her back as he pulled her onto the seat.
He released her from his embrace, though a hand lingered at her side. Fae remarked without thinking, "Take me to dinner first."
He chuckled, deep and hearty and it made her feel warm and fuzzy. "So who's calling?" Jared and Paul had their fingers on their noses, whilst Sam and Emily conspicuously avoided eye contact. It lead to an awkward standoff. Wary glances passed between the two on the couch. Neither had caught on to the chorus in time. "Fine, I'll call them."
"I'm literally in love with you."
4k words. sorry this chapter was shit and all characters were quite ooc, but I'm tired so fight me. anyway guess whos had a busy two weeks or so, in about a week i get my rsa and rcg. that means i can responsibly serve alcohol and responsibly conduct gambling once i turn 18
i fucking love getting random qualifications, like ive got my first aid cert, those two, getting my barista certification (i miss my mccafe days) and doing a celebrant course just for funzies
also, hi, my name is Rae and I'm autistic with anxiety, or as I call it, AA, welcome to my help group (for emotional, mental and physical issues).