How Not To Be A Werewolf (Editing)

Sugar Coating A Lie

Waking up in the dark from a nightmare is scary as fuck. You don't realise it until it happens, but it disorientates you and makes everything seem a lot worse.

I took a breath, trying not to make too much noise. Something loud had woken me up, I just didn't know what it was. Thanks to my heightened senses, whispers from across the room came into focus, unfortunately I immediately recognised the speaker.

Jonathan.

"Don't make a sound. I won't kill you, I need you to help me escape, but I will hurt you if I have to."

Something wasn't right, but, who the hell was he speaking to? I kept my eyes shut tight and tried my best not to move. All I could do was listen.

"What makes you think I'll help you get out of here?" another familiar voice replied.

My heart dropped. It was Kian. He must have taken the next watch.

It should have been my turn. Shit. Why didn't he wake me up?

"Because, if you don't, I'll kill everybody else in this room before they can wake up, and then escape anyway," came the response. "I know that's not something you want on your conscience, leech." 

I had to do something. I opened one eye so that I could get a good view of the room from my hammock. Looking down, I could see Jonathan was sitting up on the bed, somehow free of his chains. Kian sat next to him, a sharpened wooden stick pointing into his back.

Oh, this was not bloody good. How the fuck had Jonathan gotten free?

I had to stop myself from jumping as I was suddenly met by Victoria's bright green eyes. She was in her own hammock, also watching Jonathan and Kian. Seeing that I was about to whisper to her she shook her head and put a finger to her lips.

"How do you to get out of here?" I heard Kian ask, "If you make any kind of noise everyone will wake up. You're stuck."

"Oh, I don't think I am. See, me and you, we're not the only ones awake, are we, Alec?" Jonathan said turning to look at me.

Shit. How had he known I was listening?

I gave a brief look to Victoria, hoping she had a plan, then sat up as slowly as I dared. I jumped off the hammock with both Kian and Jonathan watching me.

Jonathan smiled, and I saw his grip on the sharpened stick tighten. Kian, incredibly, looked even whiter than he usually did.

"No, your not," I confirmed.

Jonathan was calm. A lot calmer than me that's for sure. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, and the sweat on my hands.

"I'm so glad that you could join us,"
Jonathan said with a grin that betrayed the tenseness of the situation. "Me and Kian were just having a little chat, you might have caught some of it while you were trying to avoid my attention."

"I did," I admitted. "Nobody here is going to help you get away. Not Kian, and especially not me. I would rather do the right thing and let the truth come out. Even if I have to die for it."

"The truth? Now, there's something you don't get to hear too often," Jonathan laughed. "You're young. Too young to know that every truth is just sugar-coating a lie. Everybody lies, Alec, how you rank people depends on whether or not they choose to admit the lie. At least I choose to admit it."

At this point, I was really hoping Victoria had a plan to get us out of this, as I had absolutely no bloody clue what to do. My hands started to shake. I wasn't entirely sure if it was from fear, or anger at the situation.

"Now we understand each other, why don't we unpack your truth? I met all of you twice yesterday. The witch was in different clothes. I want to know how that's possible," Jonathan said, looking from Kian to me, probably wondering which of us would crack first.

Crap. What should I tell him? How much should I tell him?

He was hardly in a position to do anything about us using an illegal spell, but if I didn't tell him some part of the truth he would end up killing Kian. I couldn't let that happen. I was gonna have to sugarcoat the truth with a lie. Huh. He might have been a murdering lunatic, but it seemed he wasn't that far away from being right.

"We used a spell," I explained. "That's all I know."

Jonathan frowned. "A spell? Interesting. So, one version of you was not in the correct time zone. Why were you all out in the forest anyway? A newborn werewolf, a witch, a vampire and a hunter. That's not exactly an ordinary set-up."

Now the sticking point. I had to come up with something convincing here.

"Training," Kian said suddenly in reply to Jonathan's question. "We were out following The Council's training procedure when we heard a commotion, we then saw the two guys in the clearing, and then, of course, we saw you attack them."

Jonathan snarled at his words, pushing the stick into Kian's back making him yelp in pain. Shit. I was glad Kian had thought of something, but this wasn't working. We seriously needed a plan B. Come on Victoria, think of something!

"I attacked them, yes," Jonathan said harshly, "If anybody asks why, well, it was just self-defence. A result of bias and prejudice against my species. It was necessary." 

Necessary? What a load of utter bollocks!

The reason was pure cold-blooded murder. Simple. Any jury worth their time and effort should surely see through his pack of lies, sugar-coated as they were.

I remembered what Jonathan had told me when I first confronted him about the murders. He had no regrets, no remorse. There was no chance I was letting him get away with that. My principles wouldn't let me.

"Murder is never necessary," I heard Victoria suddenly say from behind me. "It's a choice, and it's a choice you decided to take."

I heard her drop to the floor and walk forward to stand next to me, green flames crackling in her palms.

God, I really hoped she had a plan.

"I did," Jonathan agreed, "That's true, and it's a choice I would make again in a heartbeat. In fact, I think I've already made that choice again."

He then lifted his free hand up and grabbed Wesley's hand as he came into view behind him. He ripped a watch from Wesley's hand before stabbing him in the chest with the wooden stick.

Before any of us could react he pulled the stick out of Wesley leaving him to collapse on the floor. He grabbed hold of Kian as firmly as he could and then pressed a button on the watch.

Then, in a blink of an eye, they were both gone.