Can't Fight the Moonlight

“You’re home! What happened last night? Oh my god, are you ok?” Eleanor’s voice just rushes at me as I walk in the apartment door, me: defenseless and dead tired.

“A werewolf happened, I had to beat it into unconsciousness an’ thenIstayedto make sure it didn’t waaake.” I say yawning and kicking off my boots.

“Oh my, here let’s get you into bed then.”

“Uh no, I need to change and get back out there to explain to this guy-if he doesn’t already know, what’s happened to him.”

“Huh? Where is he?”

I nod to the door; he was passed out besides it with a stray blanket over him. El gasps with a serving of scoff before walking over to the closed door. I unbutton my jeans and tug at the zipper, “I don’t want to get these ruined any more then they might already be,” I say walking to my half bedroom.

After changing into a pair of black jeans and a loose plain black tee I walk back out into the lounging area. As I tie up a pair of high tops there’s a faint stir on the other side of the front door. With only one shoe on I rush up towards it and spook the guy when I lob open the door. “What the hell am I doing here?” He asks with the blanket hoisted around his waist, I motion for him in but he remains standing there. Oh, a tough guy. “Who the hell are you? Did you ‘nap me?”

“There’s something I have to tell you, now you can either walk in here or I can pull you and throw you on the couch, it’s your choice.”

“I don’t fucking think so girl, you stay away from me!”

“Your choice,” I say before bluntly taking hold of his forearm and pulling him inside. His foot catches on my shin almost taking me down. I push in any direction opposite of the door and regain my balance, then shut and lock the door with myself standing in front of it.

“You’re fucking crazy!”

“And you’re a werewolf.”

“Way to be frank…” El murmurs as she stands a couple of feet away from the naked guy.

“Yeah and what are you? Some kind of fetishist or something?”

“You know that you’re a werewolf?” I ask, slightly puzzled. He stands on his feet in a proud sort of way with the blanket still snug around him.

“Yes I know.” He snaps rudely with a scoff.

“And you let yourself out there to hurt innocent people? What the hell is wrong with you?”

“What the hell is wrong with me? You’re the one that had me on your front porch!”

“You’re disgusting.”

I take a step towards him with my arms over my chest, narrowing my eyes on his puny little frame, not so tough at the moment. And all too quickly the following stirs; El yelps in disgust as the guy drops the blanket, revealing his bruised, pulled body. He lunges at me before I can lunge at him and I slide across the waxed wooden floor. My neck hits the wall and a sucker punch collides with my jaw, when I blink away the faint sting a pair of bare feet skid across the floor and run out the front door. “Dammit.” I mutter, jumping to my feet and darting out the door after the bastard.

“How the hell did I lose you?” I mutter to myself as I run down another block, checking alleyways and fire escapes as I pass by. “Fuck.” Irritatingly I pull the tips of my hair in my left hand, turning in every direction for a trace of the stupid mutt.

I passed through the connecting alley (searching the two dumpsters housed there), the abandoned house a block down, the park two blocks down and then every nook in the opposite direction-I lost him.

“I can’t believe it,” I’m complaining to myself in Ivanna’s living room, pacing in back and forth in between her an’ El while doing so. “I’ve never lost anyone before…”

“You’ll get him tonight, tonight is the full moon,”

“Oh yeah, I’ll get him and I’ll beat him a little extra for running off.” The way I said it I meant it nastily and that’s just how it came out. It’s only a little past four, I spent the last couple of hours looking for the beast man with no such luck.

“Maybe you should get some sleep,” El suggests but I act like I don’t hear her, I don’t need sleep-what I do need is to find this guy before he kills anyone. Or worse, turns anyone, I don’t want a beast man problem.

“No but I will go eat, wanna come?” I say greeting the door before the two of them even shifted to see that I’ve moved.

“Stay in tonight okay?”

“You know you don’t have to tell me that.”

“Ivanna too, alright? Better yet you should stay at her place, case the mutt has some brains and decides to go back.”

“I just wish you didn’t have to go it alone.”

“You know that doesn’t have to be said, I can see you think that every time I go for something like this.”

“Can you blame me? My best friend-“ I raise my eyebrow as I suck coke through the straw in my glass, “I mean my friend, goes out every night putting her life on the line-“

“Yada, yada, can we not talk about that? Makes you sound like I’m off to die tonight. It’s one little wolf, who I took care of last night.”

“If you don’t find him in time it could be more then one little wolf…”

I make a face and before I respond the blond little waitress brings our plates, breaking up that concerning conversation.

“You should try whatever you were trying the other night, maybe Ivanna could help you. I mean she knows about that stuff,” I say changing the subject, munching on a warm fry smothered in ketchup.

“It would pass by the time.”

________________________________________________________________________

The night sky whispers to the trees as I walk down the quiet, lonely street. I’m relieved to see that no one is out tonight, then again most of the folks here know about the full moon-makes people do the wacky. “Wacky as in growing fur, claws and ripping men apart…” I say, continuing my conversation out of my head. I start to whistle ‘Forever and Always’ and tap my fingers in beat against my thighs, bobbing my head as I walk along.

In the gangs of stars above I can make out the Leo, that cluster above that constructs a lion. And as if on cue that same piercing howl snaps the quiet night into half. “Bingo was his name-o.” I murmur under my breath as I listen around for an area as to where the howling is coming from.

My first plan is to make him come to me.

I suck in a large portion of the night air and my insides smile just before I belt out a very long, high pitched scream. The werewolf responds with another howl-in a different direction. I scream again, with my feet planted in the ground to try and reach the highest pitch possible. And another howling wail surfaces through the black, quiet night. But this time in the direction of the first howl.

My eyebrows dance in puzzled annoyance, what the hell? I hammer my fists against my thighs as I scream again, waiting to hear the thrashing paws of him coming this way. But nothing cracks through the silence after my scream this time.

I start walking in the direction of the last howl, neatly kicking the lid of a metal garbage can off to hear that rippling clank against the sidewalk. “Hmm…maybe…” I continue walking down the street in the light of the moon and the street lamps, keeping a pair of sharp eyes out on the look out for anything bustling around.

I put my second plan into action.

I gulp up some more night air and cup my hands on either side of my mouth.

“Aaarooooooooo. Owowowrooooooooooooo.”

“Just the effect I was going for,” I whisper half a minute later when a thick howl stretches down the block. “…I’ve got you now…” I say as I start running down the street, not sweating all the noise my boots are echoing down the cracked cement. “Aarrrooooooo,” I bust again, making sure I don’t loose his interest.

I pick up my pace after a closer howl erupts from the wolf; my fingers are all closed into two fists and my eyes are wide in alert. Any moment now he should lunge from behind a tree, building or bush and I can pummel him into morning…

I stop just in front of a lopsided stop sign and howl again, long and gravelly and wait for a response... “Owwowwowroooooooo,” It echoes through the alley and down the street from where I just came but nothing else howls, screams or even thumps along. “Don’t tell me I lost-“ I stop my sentence to make sure and I’m ninety percent sure that there are a pair of wild eyes watching my granite still frame.

I flail my arms around my sides, a sort of non-water swimming routine and tapdance stomp in a circle, trying to coax it out. I scream again in a bad horror movie way, but nothing seems to be working. “Maybe you’re smarter then I’m giving you credit for…”

Time to put my last coaxing plan into action-one I’ve never pulled out before…

My arms are bare of any bracelets or jackets, I like to keep them that way so it’s easier to get around, so I can’t get caught on anything and end up getting my throat slashed. I bring my left arm up to mouth and walk around in a small pace, the thick clout of my teeth breaking skin floods through my ears, floods just like the blood near the vein in my arm. I lick the crimson from my lips, and before I shake my bleeding arm around to spread the sent, I dig my thumb nail into the cut my teeth just made.

“Come on,” I murmur, seeing splatters of my blood hit the stained road.

To my left a twig snaps and I grin happily, “Gotcha,”