La Lune // Bastille (ON HOLD)

- 6 -

Kelsey

"So, what do you think of them?" Lexi asked as we crawled into our tent. We had already spent the day out in the festival, which was insanely awesome. I can't believe how fun this whole thing was!

"They are so freaking sweet!" Celeste almost squealed.

"Right?" Rose agreed.

"They were really sweet," I agreed quietly.

"Yay, we all agree on it, then!" Lexi smiled and looked around at us. "Hey, this is like, way off topic, but do you want to take us up on our offer from earlier?"

"What offer?" I knew what she was talking about, I just didn't want to think about it.

The truth is, I hate what I am, and it's no secret. Being a werewolf sucks ass. Don't let all of those werewolf movies cloud your judgement. They're glorified. Period. And they don't even have their facts straight, but that's partly because the legends are false, too. We don't only shift during a full moon, we can shift at any point, night or day, but we're strongest at night during a full moon, and that's when most prefer to shift. And we have two forms that we can shift into. There's the full wolf form that looks exactly like a regular wolf, only much, much, larger. There's also the hybrid form that everyone's familiar with. It's up to the wolf what they want to look like when they shift. But they did get it right that we can only be killed by silver, and wolfsbane weakens us, but it's not poisonous to us, we can't die from it, yet another common misconception. What they didn't tell you was that there's another way to kill a werewolf, by ripping out their hearts. Dark, I know.

"You know what offer I'm talking about," Lexi folded her arms across her chest and balanced her weight on one leg. "Come on, I'm not taking no for an answer." She grabbed my arm and started leading me out of the tent. But, she made sure the coast was clear before dragging me out.

The four of us silently made our way to the tree line not far away from the campgrounds. Thankfully, everyone seemed to be asleep or too drunk or high to care about what we were doing. "Come on, don't stop, please," Lexi tugged at my arm. Obviously I wasn't walking fast enough for her.

"I'm walking!" I snapped.

"God, you better not come at us," Lexi rolled her eyes.

"No promises," I snorted.

"I'll keep her in check," Rose spoke up, her voice wavered slightly. I saw her reach down to her belt, where I knew she kept a pouch of wolfsbane and a wand that helped her amplify her powers. I knew for a fact that she would need a wand if she wanted to subdue a werewolf.

"Hey, I still have my humanity, at least. Now, please stop talking about me like that. It's degrading enough to know that I'm a fucking monster."

"Okay, I'm sorry," Lexi sighed. "I should've been more considerate."

"You should! You and Celeste only have to hide your wings! Rose looks like everyone else! I, on the other hand, have to resist my temptations everyday and try not to shift into a capable killing machine, not that I'd ever kill anyone! Not to mention the fact that I have to hide my fucking teeth! They're way sharper than any normal human's would be, and my damn ears are pointed! What human looks like me? And I have to rely on someone else to hide this shit! I don't even have the powers of a full-blooded werewolf, dammit!"

A silence stretched over us, making me a little uncomfortable. But, it's not like I said anything wrong. I never get to voice my opinion, and when I do, it looks something like this.

"Okay, here's a good place," Celeste finally said, completely dropping the former subject, as she stopped walking in a clearing. It was a circular area void of trees or bushes, only a sparse covering of grass covered the dry, cracked dirt.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah. I just hope I remember how to shift," I laughed, hoping to lighten the heavy mood that had descended upon us. It worked because they started laughing too. It may have been a forced sounding laugh, but it was a laugh. They were trying to be happy, I could smell the scent of their fear and nervousness slowly begin to dissipate.

"Well, take your time. We've got all night," Rose smiled a little bit.

Here goes nothing. I thought to myself as I took a deep breath. I let all of the muscles in my body relax and I felt a shift deep within myself. It's hard to describe what exactly happens when you shift, it's totally weird, especially when you go full-on wolf mode. Right as the shift in my core happened, the searing pain began. I mean, what else do you expect when your bones start rearranging themselves? I dropped down on all fours, not able to control the shift to full wolf. But, soon, it was over, and everything was heightened, even more than it usually is. It's weird. The world is much clearer, I could smell campfires back at the campground much clearer than I had smelt before. I could hear the little forest animals doing their little forest animal things. I could feel the air brushing against my body and blowing my fur in every direction.

"Holy shit," all three girls standing to my side breathed.

I can expect this reaction, they've never seen this happen. They don't know what I look like.

As soon as I got accustomed to the feelings and regained control over myself I went to the hybrid form. If I have to be anything but a human, this is what I prefer. It's like the best of both worlds. I'm used to my movements as a human, but the heightened wolf senses are the extra plus, and I've got some bonus features. The teeth, fur, claws, basically the stereotypical werewolf. "Hey," I smiled, feeling the sting of the cold wind against my teeth.

"That was really unexpected," Rose finally blurted after an eon of silence. The three of them had just been standing there, looking up at me wide eyed.

"What did you expect?" I snorted, rolling my eyes.

"I don't know..." Celeste shrugged, speaking up before Rose could. "Definitely not this..." She frantically gestured to myself. "I've never seen a werewolf in person, only in pictures, and those pictures never gave any reference to height!"

Okay I get than I'm tall, even by werewolf standards. Although, were naturally taller than an average human, wolves generally are around eight feet tall in their hybrid form. Whereas, I stand at almost ten feet. Tall for a human and tall for a werewolf. The abnormalities continue on and on.

"All I know is that I feel better," I smiled, rolling my shoulders to pop the stiff joints. "Well, I'm going out to explore, okay? I'll be back by morning."

"Wait, what?" Lexi paled.

I tilted my head to the side, a sly smile spread across my features. "You can't expect to keep a werewolf cooped up in a tiny clearing after they've shifted for the first time in eleven years, okay? I'll be fine."

"Okay," Lexi said, but it fell upon deaf ears. I had already taken off, jumping the bushes on the opposite side of the clearing from them, changing into a wolf in midair.