Cursed

Part Four

Mitch slept and slept. It was an uneasy thing at first, plagued by confusing thoughts involving Scott. But once he finally dropped into unconsciousness, he didn't move all through Sunday evening and night, surfacing groggily on Monday morning.

He reached out with his senses and found unsurprisingly that the warlock and the vampire were sleeping. It seemed that Scott was as well, judging by the slow, steadiness of his heartbeat. The hummingbird flutter of Kirstin's wings and the melodic sound of her tiny voice made it obvious that she was awake and active. The sunniness of her tone made Mitch want to crawl back under the covers and hide, but he was starving, so he had to face the day, at least long enough to quiet the growling in his stomach.

Kirstin was zipping this way and that in the kitchen, just a glittering blur that never settled for long. In this form, her soprano voice was a bit shrill, but it was still very pretty, and Mitch found himself humming her catchy tune down a couple of octaves as he walked her way.

The faerie gave a little squeak and fell out of the air, landing clumsily on the kitchen tile with human-sized feet. "Mitch! You're awake! No one is ever awake at this time!"

Mitch was about to apologize in his sleepy voice when he saw her clothes shifting magically into her usual autumn outfit of long cozy sweater and leggings. He couldn't be sure, but he thought a second ago she'd been wearing only glittery pink underwear. He didn't trust his tired eyes enough to ask, and he supposed if she wanted to dance around half naked while the boys slept, that was her prerogative.

"I missed dinner last night," Mitch said by way of explanation of his presence.

"I got donuts," Kirstin said, still a little bit jumpy. She pointed at a large, half eaten box of gorgeously glazed beauties, and although Mitch craved protein and actual caloric substance, he couldn't resist shoving one of the donuts into his mouth.

He moaned in ecstasy as he chewed, watching Kirstin scarf down another two donuts in a way that was both cute and annoying. "I feel jet lagged," he said. "I need to get back on schedule."

"Yeah, you're pretty off. Maybe get around and do something this morning and then have a nap, and then you'll be ready to face the night like normal."

Mitch nodded. "Good idea. So, what do people do at this hour?"

Kirstin laughed with a sound like wind chimes. "Oh come on! Plenty of lycans are daywalkers!"

Mitch realized that she was right of course. The sun wasn't poisonous to shapeshifters, and many of his people--the more mature ones--worked and lived in the normal human world, only letting the moon rule over them on the one night a month when they were forced to change.

He knew what he had to do. He shoved the rest of his donut in his mouth and left a sugary kiss on Kirstin's forehead before hurrying back to his room to change. He didn't really have a lot of clothing that was suitable for strolling the streets of Los Angeles in the daytime, but he did his best, opting for skinny black jeans and a bright yellow t-shirt. He would still draw attention from humans and Cursed, but that wasn't the worst thing in the world today. He didn't mind if humans stared at him, and as for the wolves he was going to visit, he wanted them to see him coming from a mile off.

Mitch didn't have a car. Kevin had one for emergencies, but part of being Cursed was being blessed with speed and stamina. The werewolf headquarters, for lack of a better name, was in a small office park about five miles from the Compound. Mitch knew that might seem far to a human, but it was easy for him. He didn't even need break a sweat before the modest collection of buildings rose up to meet him.

Shawn, the Alpha wolf, was a gifted artist and filmmaker. He had a small studio that occupied the central building in the little cluster. The other shops ranging from a small chiropractic practice to a vintage car restoration place were all run by wolves as well. There was a sense of family and community among the lycans that made it easy for them to live together like this and not be competitive.