Moon Blood (COMPLETE)

Chapter Eighteen: A first for Neil

Neil awoke naked, but not cold.

Ruby was beside him, draped over him like a shield. Her soft skin brushed against his as she breathed in and out, deeply asleep.

It was quiet, save for their breathing. Outside, beyond the squat they were hiding in, was void of wind and the trees refused to rustle in the still. There was still a heat from the Indian summer that lingered in the room and permeated the thin walls. Neil's eyes were hot, like he'd been crying.

Ruby stirred, and coiled further around him. He could smell her hair and he too pulled her a little closer under that thin blanket. At that moment he could be at peace, and not think about the ramifications of his actions.

"Lowell."

"Why do you keep calling me tha -" She interrupted him with a kiss. Soft and sweet, it began chaste, waiting for Neil to reciprocate, and it deepened when Neil opened her lips with his tongue. They held each other, kissing and touching, nipping at each other's necks and exploring each other's body. Neil, lost in the thrill of lust and her scent, took a back seat as she guided the way, gentle and careful.

*****

"Well, that answers that question, I suppose." Lily walked into the small bedroom with no warning and Neil, previously bathing in post-orgasmic bliss, nearly jumped out of the window, only saved by the bedsheets that entangled him and caught him mid-flush. "Was it good?" she enquired.

"Ah, uh... No! I mean uh, yes! I mean...!" He buried himself under the blanket in a crumpled heap. Ruby patted the lump. "Don't embarrass him, please. Now get out." She playfully threw a pillow at the door before turning to the heap and peeked under the hem, where Neil's burning face looked back.

"Are you okay?"

"Is privacy just not a thing with wolves?" He pulled himself up, letting the blanket pool at his hips. Ruby giggled.

"I don't know. Lily and Daisy are always going at it even though they're like mothers to me."

"So you don't have parents?"

Ruby shook her head, but she was smiling. "I have Lily and Daisy. That's all I need. Well, I probably would have said that a few months ago." She leaned on her elbows towards him until their noses touched. "I guess you fit in there too."

He blushed, and smiled. Her words were sweet honey, but the weight of his actions still pressed on his chest and it was still impossible to ignore or forget. He pulled his knees to his chest and rested his chin on them. Ruby, sensing the moment, rubbed his shoulders.

"Lily's looking into what happened that night. Don't worry, she's got a nose like a bloodhound."

He didn't reply, not verbally at least. He leaned into her until his head was touching her shoulders. "When's the next new moon?"

"About two weeks. We'll protect you this time, now we know what we're facing."

"I should turn myself in if I killed her, but I can't because every month I transform into a goddamn wolf. What am I supposed to do?"

"Time, just a little more time, Neil. We'll figure it out."

Neil knew her words were just ones of placation, a soothing fib meant to calm his nerves. He was a killer, that was an irrefutable fact, and it made him sick to his stomach.

School was his haven. He couldn't just sit at home and wait for his body to change. His mother had been very understanding, although his reluctance to share any of his worries with her was straining their relationship to the absolute limit. Whenever he came down for breakfast or arrived home from school, she was cold and distant. His dad was a similar story. Neil was a stranger in his house.

So he spent more time at school. School felt like he could capture something normal back, even if everything was grey and muted and boring. Perhaps he craved boring, to return to a life where he was stressed about his upcoming exams and not whether he'd killed and eaten someone.

He gagged, and put his hand over his mouth to cover it in class. He still couldn't really parse the information fully on top of all the other problems that weighed on his shoulders. Everything was a mess, and a lot of things Neil didn't think he could fix.

"Neil? Are you still with us?"

"Huh?" The entire class was staring at him, including Ruby. He looked down at the play they had been reading in English class.

"Daydreaming again? We're on page fifty two."

"Sorry, sir." He began to read the words on the page, but they carried no meaning. He looked up as he finished and saw David watching him, a pensive look in his eyes.

*****

"What's going on, Lowell?"

David and James had pulled him to the bike sheds and passed him a spliff before they asked him. Neil lit it and appreciated the tight feeling in his lungs as the high rushed to his head. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Come on: you've barely been at school for like, three months. You've been avoiding us and hanging out with that Ruby girl; your mum even rang me last night to ask if I knew anything." David shrugged. "I don't because you don't really hang out with us anymore."

Hanging out. Riding out on his bicycle to the local skate parks. Trying his luck to get a few cans of cheap cider at the off-license. Things that felt so thrilling only a few short months ago, that sent his heart spiking he was now barely able to even recall.

"...Lowell? Are you okay?"

It was only when Neil felt a hot tear run down his cheek that he realised he was crying. With it his throat tightened and made speaking near impossible. He swallowed.

"I don't know," he admitted, and with the admittance came the onslaught of emotion. He couldn't breathe as his cheeks flushed. "I think, I think I need help."

This was unchartered territory. Teenage boys are not usually prepared for any sort of outpouring of emotions from their peers. Crying is for the weak, James's dad would tell him. Stop that snivelling, you pussy, chastised David's older brother. Crying was a forbidden, scary and taboo subject amongst young men. This wasn't Neil trying to hold back his tears and keep his back straight: he was full out sobbing, struggling to pull in air, rubbing his red, bleary eyes.

James and David looked at each other, shifting in spot as their friend wept, and fortunately came to the same conclusion.

David took Neil in his arms as James took off his jacket to drape over Neil's shoulders. "Come one, Lowell, let's get you home."