Werewolf Duel

The Beginning of the End

The Beginning of the End

It had started when we were young; the competition. I still remember when our rivalry truly began. We were five, grandma had baked her famous cookies, the ones that made grown men beg for just a bite. Jumping up and down in our chairs we waited for her to take the cookies out of the oven. With our heightened senses we could smell the sweet aroma of sugar and chocolate.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

“Grandma!” We shouted together, one of the many odd symptoms that came with being twins. She came running into the room and looked at us both with a smile. Her strait blond hair was in its usual bun, and her casual jeans and t-shirt showed her laid back attitude. But I still remember thinking something was wrong.

“What’s wrong Grandma?” I asked my head tilted like the young pup that I was. I had always been the sensitive twin.

“Nothing.” She said, smiling. I ignored the sad look in her eyes, the idea of eating her cookies overwhelming me. Bending down, she took a pan out of the oven and set in on the kitchen island we were sitting at. Simultaneously, we reached for the cookies.

“Selene and Helios Roberts! Do you want to be burned?”  At our grandma’s tone we both pulled our hands back, eyeing each other. “Good, now just wait a couple of minutes for the cookies to cool.” It seeming to take forever for the cookies to cool, but when grandma gave the go we grabbed for the cookies like madmen. Chewing on the cooking I could barely taste the chocolate gooeyness before I grabbed for the next cookies, all the while watching Helios like a hawk as he grabbed for a second cookie too. I didn’t notice grandma watching us though. As we reached out for a third cookie, our intense staring contest was broken. There was only one cookie left.

“It’s my cookie.” We said at the same time.  We growled at each other, our wolves were coming out. At the time we didn’t understand, but they were fighting for dominance.

“No it’s mine.”

“Stop copying me!”

“Shut up!” We made a grab for the cooking at the same time, and it crumbed in our hands. I wanted to cry, it was my cookie, and he broke it.

“Look at what you did.”

“No, look at what you did.”

“Stop copying me!”

“Shut up!” I will never know who threw the first punch, one second we were arguing and the next we were rolling on the floor kicking, punching, screaming, and growling. We couldn’t shift yet, but we could still inflict major damage.

“Stop it! Stop it you two! Henry! Stella! Jack!” Our grandmother called for backup while trying to tear us apart. Grandpa Henry, Mom, and Dad came running into the room and separated us. We were both crying.

“Mommy I hate him!” I shouted, curling into my mother and pointing at Helios. My mother grabbed me by my shoulders and pushed me from her body. Her angry expression scared me.

“Now look here missy, I know you are just as guilty as your brother. So I want you to turn around right now and apologize to him.” I turned around, my brother’s sour face showing me that Dad had the same conversation with him. We said nothing and just stared at each other.

“Apologize now you two!” Dad said in his Alpha voice.

“You first!”

“No, you first!”

“Stop copying me!” We growled.

 “You’re a bitch Selene!”

“Well you’re a fuck Helios!” Contrary to mom and dad’s belief, we knew bad words. We didn’t know what they meant, but we knew they were hurtful. The adults in the room gasped and stopped us before we started fighting again. After that we each got a spanking and our mouths washed out with soap. Dad and Mom told us multiple times how disappointed they were, and how we should apologize. We never did.

Only later did I realize that the old crone had purposely baked only five cookies to test us. And we had failed.