The Darkness We Hide

When she awoke and found herself free, Michelle’s first thought was ‘escape!’

Vaulting from the bed where she’d been laying, she didn’t get very far before colliding into a hard and immobile object. Something was wrong with her eyes, everything looked wrong, slightly out of focus, the colors and shapes of things were wrong.

She collapsed to her knees, her head spinning. When she felt a hand on her shoulder, she immediately struck out intending on knocking the hand away, instead she slashed huge gashes into a pair of pant legs. If Gareth’s reflexes were any slower, she would have inflicted a serious injury, but instead she only ruined a pair of pants.

“Michelle,” he said, cautiously kneeling down to look her eye to eye. “Michelle, you’re safe. Do you hear me? You’re safe.”

“Gareth?” she said, not sure if it was really him. “What’s wrong with my eyes? I can’t see things right. Help me please!”

Moving forward and embracing her tenderly, Gareth shushed her softly as he lifted her back to her feet.

“I know things look odd, it’s part of the change,” he said softly. “I’ll help you. Don’t worry.”

“No,” she sobbed, burying her face in her hands as she tried to step out of his encircling arms. “Nooo… Please God, no.”

Trying to keep her close, Gareth was stunned when Michelle swung at him again with such violence he barely managed to escape serious injury.

“Leave me alone,” she snarled, her claws extending involuntarily.

“Michelle,” he said softly, trying to sooth her with his voice.

“I said, ‘leave me alone!’” she screamed, her eyes flashing to yellow. “Get out!”

Gareth knew that at any moment she would shift and be lost to the wild animal inside. She wouldn’t know how to control it, or how to come back from it.

“He can’t,” said a stern female voice from the doorway.

Turning, Gareth saw his mother step into the room followed by his father.

“Gareth cannot leave this room,” his mother said, her hands raised to show she was no threat to the young woman.

“If he won’t, then I will,” Michelle spat, trying to circle around the trio to the door.

“You can’t leave either,” his father said, planting his formidable bulk in Michelle’s path.

“Why won’t you let me go?” Michelle sobbed, her claws retracting as she seemed to give up any hope of escape.

“It’s the bond,” his mother explained, moving into the room, knowing her husband would keep Michelle from getting out, “from your change. It’s very strong right now, and if you and Gareth were to be more than ten yards apart for any length of time you would begin to feel very ill.”

“I don’t understand,” Michelle said, looking at them, her face still showing the strain of her transformation.

“If you will sit down I will explain everything,” Louise said, motioning to the bed.

Slowly, her eyes watching carefully for any signs of aggression, Michelle did as she was asked and moved to sit on the very edge of the bed, her body language showing that she was ready to make a break for it if the chance arose.

“My name is Louise,” the older woman said, pulling a chair over to sit in front of Michelle. “I am Gareth’s mother.”

The other woman’s hair might once have been dark like Gareth, but was now more generously shot with grey. It was her eyes, Michelle realized, they were as dark grey and stormy as his.

“And the man standing by the door is Hugo,” she continued, speaking as if this were a normal everyday conversation, “Gareth’s father.”

Seeing the way the man stood, strong and protective, Michelle saw there too a resemblance to Gareth.

When Michelle didn’t reply, Louise took a deep breath seeing that this was going to be a difficult conversation to have.

“What do you remember about the last forty-eight hours?” she said, clasping her hands together on her lap.

“Richard,” Michelle said, her voice catching with emotion. “He had me tied to a table in some kind of basement.

“He cut me,” she continued, indicating the points on her body. “He mixed my blood with his own and then forced me to drink it.”

Michelle stopped, her stomach clenching so hard at the memory she nearly doubled over.

“Yes,” Louise agreed, nodding her head. “It was right after he did that, that we found you.

“The ritual had already started, you were going to become a werewolf,” she said, “whether you wanted to or not.

“Once the rites are given and blood has been shared it cannot be undone,” she added with a sigh. “That is why it has been forbidden for anyone in either community to turn humans without permission centuries ago.

“Richard believes himself to be above the community laws,” the older woman said, holding up her hand to forestall Michelle’s questions.

“Knowing we could not stop it, we opted to try and make it less egregious,” she explained. “We knew about your relationship with Gareth and the feelings you shared despite your fears. We believed that given time you would have chosen to accept him as your husband whether you chose to change or remain human.”

“The ritual that Richard performed was arcane and used magic and rites we've never seen,” Gareth said softly, moving to stand behind his mother. “It was meant to do more than change you into a werewolf, it was designed to create a bond between the two of you that was so strong you would never be able to be apart.”

“There wasn’t time to alter the bonding rite Richard performed,” she explained, “we could only change the person it bonded you to.”

Louise paused, letting the young woman absorb all of the information she’d been given.

“I guess I don’t need to ask who it is,” Michelle laughed sardonically.

“Me,” Gareth said, nodding his head. “It was my blood used to turn you, my blood that binds you.”

“We think that over time the bond will loosen and you will be able to be further apart,” she said unconvincingly, “but for now we have to keep you together.

“While you were asleep we tested how far away Gareth could be from you before you began to react,” Hugo said softly from the door. “At ten yards you became agitated and fretful. At twenty yards you began to scream out in pain. We didn’t dare test any further until you were awake.”

“Well, he’s in the room now and I still feel like shit,” Michelle said, her stomach muscles clenching painfully, “how close does he have to be to make that stop.”

When no one responded, Michelle looked at each of them in turn. Seeing pain and sorrow on the faces of Gareth’s parents and absolute misery on his she didn’t understand.

“What?” she demanded, her heart sinking to sit on top of her already aching stomach.

“That has nothing to do with Gareth’s closeness,” Louise said sadly, wiping a tear from her cheek.

“Then what?” Michelle asked, panic overwhelming her. “What’s wrong with me?”

Louise shook her head, unable to voice the truth.

“The herbs Richard used in the ritual were very potent, and they caused you to… to…,” Gareth couldn’t say it either.

“To what?” Michelle demanded, jumping to her feet. “What else did he do to me?”

“Did you know you were pregnant?” Hugo asked finally, his voice grave and sincere.

“Yes,” Michelle said softly, her hand slipping to her abdomen.

“You lost the child,” Louise said softly, unable to look Michelle in the eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“No,”Michelle breathed, clutching at her empty womb as she slid to the floor, her already haggard face turning more ashen.

“Michelle,” Gareth said, rushing to console her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted to,” she sniffed, allowing him to pull her into his arms. “That night, on the patio, when we talked about family. I was going to tell you.”

Seeing that further conversation could wait, Louise and Hugo slipped from the room pulling the door closed behind them.

They found Nancy and the other two boys in the kitchen, silently drinking coffee.

“How is she?” Nancy asked, seeing them first.

“In shock,” Hugo said, pouring himself a cup.

“Sad, angry, pick an emotion and she’s experiencing it,” Louise added, accepting a steaming mug from her husband.