The Things We Fear

Oh. Oh no. No. No. Just no. No. Nope. and did he mention, no?

Cherry. Taste like cherry. He’d been drinking cherry. Well, cherry and amaretto, but still. Please, by the gods, if there was any mercy in the universe, let it not have been him.

Daniel had left. Already walking away. It took a moment before he realised a new wolf was making his way over to Marcus’ corner. The one he hoped it had been, versus the retreating back of who Marcus would actively pray it would never be. It couldn’t have been. He tried to rationalise. Count the arguments in his mind. Daniel could not be his mystery kisser. Marcus refused. He had not had his first kiss with that asshole. Literally, anyone would be better than that dick.

Okay, maybe not anyone. It would be awkward if it had been Theo, or maybe even the monster, or worse, something creepy like Cassius - who was currently staring at him very strangely. Marcus turned away to shut that down quickly. Maybe Daniel wouldn’t be the worse option for his mystery kisser, but he was definitely up there. Though if Marcus was being honest with himself, there was only one set of lips he truly would have wanted it to be.

“You smell like disgust and fear.”

“Well, hello to you too, James. So nice to see you today,” he drawled sarcastically.

James grunted in reply. Standing bodily against him along the wall. Where Daniel had made him want to slide away, James’ heat made him want to slip further in. it was only once he took a quick look at the wolf’s side profile that he saw how worn the other wolf looked. A few sleepless nights wouldn’t have this much of an impact on a shifter. Marcus could tell by his lacking pallor and heavy eye bags it must have been a long arduous night. Filled with grief.

“Are you okay?” Marcus asked softly, “Well, as okay as you can be?” He added quickly. No one in the history of ever was okay the day after losing a loved one.

James winced, as though physically pained by the reminder of his loss. Instead of answering verbally, he gave a large shrug. Enough to communicate he had no idea what he was feeling, but none of it was good. Marcus returned the winced in sympathy.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” he said, not knowing what else to say.

James nodded. Still staring forward. He looked like he was surveying the crowd. Checking for any potential threats or dangers.

“Was Daniel an ass?” James asked instead.

“No more than usual. Though he said something creepy about cherries?”

James tutted. “Calling you a virgin? Sounds like something he’d do.”

Marcus didn’t think he’d ever felt so relieved over being insulted. Cherries, virgins, yes. It would make more sense. He was going to cling to that lifeline either way. Daniel insulting him was way more in character than deciding to suddenly kiss him in the dark. Although a small voice whispered, it wouldn’t be the strangest thing the older wolf had ever done. Still, Marcus would prefer to think of the comment as an insult, rather than the other knowing what his tongue tasted like.

James looked at him strangely. Probably wondering why being told he’d been insulted, or at least by Daniel’s level of insulted, made him so relieved. There was no way he was going to tell the other why. Fortunately, he was spared by the arrival of his friend. He waved his arm in the air, trying to get the other attention, not willing to call out in a room filled with supernaturals. See Cassius, he was learning.

“Dude, can you believe how many people are here?” Theo said upon greeting, throwing his arm around Marcus’ shoulder and bringing him in close.

Marcus chose to pretend to be oblivious to James’ displeased rumblings. The wolf could shut up. Theo was his best friend. If he wanted a hug, he was damn well going to get one.

“Yeah, I can’t believe how many people are supernatural and I never noticed,” he didn’t mention the few people he’d thought were, but given their absence were apparently entirely human.

Taking the space against the wall at his other side, Theo slumped into him. Sandwiched between the two supernaturals was a strange place to be, be Marcus got the oddest sensation that this was only the beginning of many such incidences.

“And your dad. Sorry, father,” Theo corrected, “whatever,” he waved it off. “Can you believe he’s some big shot? Full on local hero. Like celebrity status. The same guy who refused to let you have popsicles and thought burning your hoodies would make you stop wearing them. That guy? That same guy? Abby was talking about him like he was some sort of god,” he whispered lowly.

Marcus couldn’t help scoffing at this, having seen many times just how devout people could be when it came to his father. Here he was the black sheep. The evil son who rejected the good, kind man. It was like stepping into bizarro world and not having been given the script.

“Tell me about it,” he muttered back.

“Still, pretty sweet of him to let us all be here tonight. I’m kinda worried about what might happen. Don’t get me wrong, I want my best bro there. Holding my hand and whatever, but it’ll make me feel better to know if I do go off the deep end, someone will be there to keep you safe and me from chowing down on the local wildlife.”

Marcus couldn’t help laughing at this. Trust Theo to try and turn a scary situation into a funny one. There was a reason he thought of this guy like a brother. Theo was good people. Marcus just hoped he was still good people after the changing had finished.

“Be quiet you two, it’s about to begin,” James said, nudging his side for emphasis.

As though a silent alarm had gone off silence descended over the room, his father walking to the raised stage area at the front. The entire room was eagerly waiting for whatever words were about to come spewing out of the man’s mouth. As though hearing his thoughts, Cassius shot him a warning look. A “keep quiet” clearly communicated. As much as he wanted to make a sarcastic comment, he benignly beseeched.

“Thank you, everyone, for coming tonight. As I’m sure you’re aware, our community has been victim to several losses over the past few weeks. Last night, this thing, this creature, attacked not only one of the wolves. May Lara rest in peace. But also my own child. This beast has gone too far. It has risked exposing us to the human police, killed several members of our community, and is now targeting our children.

“We have been able to establish this thing feeds on fear. It is some type of shapeshifter, though I do not believe it to be a shifter like our wolf and panther brethren,” he said giving a nod in the pack’s direction.

“Through memory magic, I was able to discover it appears to have some sort of time dilation, or pocket dimension creating abilities, which has led me to believe that whatever it is, it is not originally of our earth.”

Marcus watched as more than one throat bobbed at this announcement.

“How is your son still alive?”

The question he hadn’t known he was dreading was finally asked.

“His magic saved him. Though through reviewing the memory, my son did die, if only for a moment.”

Several eyes flew to him. Many were in awe. James’ and Theo’s, however, were more in accusation. The “why didn’t you tell us?” screamed from both of their bodies. Marcus could only shrug awkwardly. He didn’t exactly feel like discussing his own death.

“My son got lucky, but we cannot afford to rely on that luck to save us, or our loved ones.”

Marcus wanted to scoff at being referred to as a loved one, but this was definitely not the time or place.

“As most of you know, we have a strong ward matrix over this town. They are some of the most powerful in the world. If the humans released a nuclear bomb, we would be safe.”

Marcus hated how he was a little impressed by that. Just a tiny little bit.

“Then how is it here? How did it get through?” Another voice from the crowd demanded.

Cassius looked grave. “It didn’t. It isn’t possible.”

“Quite clearly it is,” someone else snarked. Marcus had no idea who this person was, but if they were happy to publicly call out his father, he wanted to be their friend.

“You misunderstand me. There have been no fluctuations in the wards. No records of it passing through, or trying to break in. The wards are perfectly intact.”

“What does that mean?” He was surprised to hear Theo ask.

“There are only two ways around the wards. The people who migrate here and we let in after checking them out thoroughly, or it was summoned. It means, Theo, that someone invited it in. Whatever is doing this, they were welcomed into our territory.”

Marcus had heard many times the comparison of hearing a pin drop in a crowded room, but he had never witnessed firsthand the dead silence that greeted his father’s announcement. The shifting eyes as everyone slowly came to the realisation that whatever was going around killing people, one of their neighbours must have let it in. There was no way to fool the wards. Whoever let the creature through had done so knowingly.

Coughing awkwardly, Marcus decided to be a nice person and move the meeting along. It had nothing to do with wanting everyone gone by ten, just in case Theo turned early. That was simply a coincidence. Marcus was merely being a good samaritan and helping his father with his little speech.

“What do we do now?”

He saw Cassius raise his eyebrow at the word “we” but valiantly ignored it.

“We,” Cassius stressed the word unduly, will be enforcing a buddy system. As well as patrols and any forms of protection we can think of. Me and the other leaders will be discussing and enforcing any systems we believe will be necessary, but we wanted you all aware of what was happening. I know it would be useless to tell you all to try and stay calm and avoid anything that frightens you, but I will remind you it is paramount that you keep your wits about yourself. We do not know when this thing will strike or what it will look like. Be on guard at all times.”

Marcus could only see the irony. Try not to be afraid, but be hypervigilant to constant attack. Oh, and your attacker could be anyone, so the hidden message of “be careful who you trust” was an added form of discomfort. He absently wondered if the man was working with the creature. Or maybe in his attempts to keep himself safe was sending the rest of the people outside like lambs to the slaughter. Filled with tempting amounts of fear and anticipation. They must be like a veritable buffet to the beast.

He however did not voice any of these thoughts. Simply sharing a look with Theo. he hadn’t quite drunk the Kool-Aid just yet and apparently spotted the same things in Cassius’ speech Marcus had. A silent agreement to discuss it later passed between them.

A nudge to his side made him turn to his right, James, asking with his eyebrows what was the matter. The two didn’t have the same flawless communication skills he held with Theo, the deterioration in their friendship costing them the valuable understanding of one another, but he hoped the quick tilted jerk was enough to make James understand “later”. He doubted the wolf would be as ready to question the good reverend, but for his old friend, he would at least try and show him the light.