Lycanthropy and Me: The First Semester(mlm)

Day 43, Sunday Waxing Crescent Pt.4

Day 43, Sunday Waxing Crescent (Part 4)

There was a heavy thud. The trio looked towards the door.

Grayson rose from his seat.

Hunter reached for him. "Wait!"

Grayson looked back at him, his serious gaze morphing into a reassuring smile. "It's alright." He continued towards the door. "I'm just going to take a look."

Lena watched him open the door, but didn't say a word.

Grayson opened the door by just a crack, and peered out into the hall. A pair in lab coats, possibly doctors, were accompanying a worker with a cart of medical supplies to the elevator. The haphazard state of the scalpels and the chipped third wheel put the pieces together or Grayson. Nothing serious, just the cart turning over. But the sight of the lab coats made Grayson want to check on Serena.

Werewolf or not, she was still here alone. He could trust Lena with Hunter, but there was no here for Serena, not his family, not the lawyers, no one.

"It's nothing," Grayson told the two. "I'll be back." He added, before slipping out of the room.

"That's reassuring," Hunter replied after the door closed. He turned his attention back to his mother. "I don't smell anything though, so I guess it's ok."

"Good." Lena crossed her arms. "You and I have a lot to talk about."

"Great!" Falling back into a relaxed state, the sarcasm was practically oozing from Hunter. "Can we talk about Dad?" His enthusiastic voice didn't match his deadpan gaze. "And how I can shift more than once a month? And how he could too? Because that's all new info for meeee."

Something in Lena deflated. Her gaze turned cold in a way that made Hunter shut up instantly.

"I was hoping we were never gonna have that talk." She closed her eyes for a moment."I was hoping one day your father would be around if things turned out this way." Her eyes opened again, and her gaze was full of sadness. "But we can't always get what we want."

Hunter was quiet.

"You know, when I was your age and I find out that people could turn into things, the whole world changed or me. Then I found out my boyfriend wasn't just any wolfman, he was special. And everything just had to get harder from there. You know what happens when people are special. People use them.  And they love using your dad, like he's some kind of trump card."

Hunter held his tongue a moment longer. He wouldn't say anything about the fact that his mother always spoke about Derek Reeds as if he wasn't some specter that had faded into the night all those years ago. That was her right, after all.

"What was..." He swallowed. "What is he?"

"Rougarou." Lena replied. "The shapeshifters."

"Loogarou?" Hunter was confused. "You mean that thing Mrs. Pierre always talking about?"

"Yes and no. In her country, Haiti, and around the Caribbean they have their stories about Monsters. Every culture does. But I'm talking about the real deal. You remember what happened to Tulsa?"

"Black Wall Street." Hunter nodded. "They burned it to the ground."

"They did the same thing in the sixties with a little town called Wraith. All the folks in it were Lycan, just like our Canis Drive. The difference with them was, they could all change at will. But it was a different time. They tried to wipe them out. Your Grandmother was one of the few survivors. She kept what she was a secret, until she met your Grandfather, and your father came along."