One Foot in the Grave

When midnight came around everyone began to leave for the main part of the festivities. I was putting a few things away behind the bar when all of a sudden I was face to face with three eager wolfs.

“Yes?” I questioned, grinning despite myself.

“Are you almost done?” Sam asked, propping his elbow on Dean’s shoulder. Dean shrugged his friend off and gave him a playful shove.

I finished putting the bottles of liquor away and untied the little skirt apron I wore, leaving it on the bar top I flashed them a smile. “Ready.”

“We’ll meet you there,” Rafael said with a smile, Dean wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Rafael and Raf caught him in a playful choke hole and messed up his hair. Dean broke free and was laughing as he and Sam hurried from the bar, I could hear both of them howling like lunatics once they were outside. Rafael looked back at me with his smile still in place.

“Who said I was riding with you on that two-wheeled death trap?” I joked. I had the keys to the bar in my hand as I began to head for the exit with Rafael right beside me. I had been left in charge of locking the place up so that John could help Dominic with finishing setting up for the festival.

“You’ll be safe, I promise,” Rafael said, smiling softly at me as he slung his arm over my shoulder.

When we got to his bike he held out a motorcycle jacket, the type with the bulky padding. “Do I honestly have to wear that?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“Humor me,” Rafael said, holding the jacket out for me so that I could slip my arms through the sleeves. Once I had it on he zipped it up he took a moment to observe me, “There, now you’re safe and sound,” he teased.

“What? No helmet?” I asked in a sarcastic manner with a frown on my lips.

Rafael grinned, “You’re lucky I forgot it at home.”

He got on the bike and I got on behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist tightly and tucking my face into the crook of his neck so that the wind wouldn’t hit my face. Rafael revved the bike’s engine to life and we took off down the road. Rafael was a very fast and dangerous rider, but I knew he knew what he was doing. With a human I would be nervous, but Rafael had some of the fastest reflexes I had ever seen among shape shifters. It was almost peaceful to ride with him. I kept my arms tight around his waist however, and he didn’t seem to mind my tight grasp so I wasn’t going to loosen it anytime soon.

I had no clue where we were going so I was mildly surprised when the ride took almost half an hour and we stopped on the outskirts of one of the densest areas in St. Louis. It was a nature reserve that not that many people explored because it had gotten to be a little over grown in the years that the city had neglected to trim and mow it. “I don’t see anything,” I noted as I got off the bike and handed the motorcycle jacket to Rafael. The thing had been sweltering hot the whole ride here.

Rafael came up next to me and grinned, “The magic is hidden within the trees,” he said in an ominous tone. I rolled my eyes and began walking ahead of him, for a moment I didn’t hear any footsteps following me and then all of a sudden I was twisted onto Rafael’s back and he was racing through the trees. “You could just ask me to get on your back you know!” I shouted, wrapping my arms around his neck, but not too tightly. Rafael laughed loudly and just kept on running.

When he finally came to a stop I could see what he meant. Suddenly we broke out of the trees and came to a clearing, it had taken awhile to get here and now I could see why they had it tucked away in the trees so far. Paper lanterns had been strung up from tree to tree to wash the whole clearing in an amber glow. A group of men were sitting together on a raised platform with instruments, most were of a very old style. And they played with such gusto and happiness that I couldn’t help but smile. A few families had already set out blankets on the grass, and others had chosen to linger by the tables that held a vast amount of food, all of which smelled delicious. A few werewolves had shed their human skin and were prancing around and play-fighting with each other, even a few pups had joined the fun. The smaller children had picked up on their games of tag and hide and seek here and two laughing children ran in front of Rafael and I as we came further into the clearing. Rafael caught my shoulder so we wouldn’t run into the two speedy children. One of the children shifted into a slightly older pup and so did the other when the first one tackled her. Rafael’s laugh was that of simple happiness to be around his people, and I smiled up at him. He met my gaze, “what do you think?”

“I think it’s amazing,” I answered in awe, I could never remember any of the festivals that were held in my pride because I was too young to have remembered. Being here right now, it almost felt natural. Except I still had to play human.

My words seemed to make Rafael’s smile widen and he switched from having his arm over my shoulder to holding my hand in his and it felt so natural. A few other pack members came up to us and said their greetings. Almost all of the pack came to greet Rafael and I knew it was because on his next birthday, which was only two months away, Dominic would step down and Rafael would become the Ulfirc of the pack, a title that meant the same thing as alpha. Rafael was courteous and greeted everyone with a smile and everyone seemed to enjoy speaking with him. I tried to let go of his hand so that he could speak to his pack mates alone but he just held my hand tighter and pulled me closer to him, and would then proceed to introduce me to whoever he was speaking to at the moment. Everyone greeted me with a warmth I couldn’t figure out. I mean, I knew they were all nice people but they acted as if I was just as high up in the ranks as Rafael. When I asked him about this he just shrugged his shoulders and smiled at me.

After Rafael had finished speaking with his pack members we were finally free to roam around the clearing. Rafael took me over to the food and I noticed a few things I had never smelt or seen before.

“What is this?” I asked, indicating a very sweet smelling meat. Rafael seemed astonished that I had never seen it before.

“Johns never made it for you?” He asked in complete wonder. I shook my head. “Understand this means I'm going to have to make you try it,” he said, looking at the platter to find the best piece.

“Rafael-”

“Now, now, I am positive you'll like it; it’s a dish our ancestors used to make in times of celebration.”

I sighed in defeat and tentatively took the offered morsel of sweet smelling food and tried not to wimp out as Rafael watched me intently for my reaction.

Though like nothing I had ever eaten before, it was delicious. My surprise must have shown on my face because Rafael smiled brightly in that ‘I told you so’ way.

“What do you think?”

“It’s wonderful, not something I’ve ever tasted before, but still very good,” I answered honestly. “What is it?”

“Pack secret, if I told you I’d have to kill you,” Rafael teased.

Rafael spent some more time showing me all of the different foods at the festival and I was sufficiently full when we were done. I spotted Dominic and John speaking to a group of older wolves, John and the others burst into laughter at a story Dominic had just told and when John focused again he found my gaze and smiled. I smiled in return.

“Look at Sam and Dean,” Rafael said softly, when I looked up at him he gestured out towards the group of children who were dancing in front of the musicians. Sam and Dean were both dancing with two girls who couldn’t be any older than ten, it was the cutest and funniest thing I had seen in a long time. And although Rafael’s comment was teasing them I could see nothing but pride as he watched the pack that would soon be his celebrate.

When the song ended another began, this was a tad bit faster paced and the children who had been dancing decided to resume their game of tag. Suddenly I felt a tug on my hand and I looked up to see Rafael gesturing towards the area a few people had begun to dance in. “Do you want to dance?”

A brilliant smile spread across my lips and I followed Rafael into a dance.

I knew so little of my parents but I had known they had been the leaders of their pack’s dancer nest. The dancers were the heart of every leopard pride; they spread joy and happiness and told the stories of their people through dance. Without the dancers the history of our species would have been forgotten ages ago. I had started learning the dances at the same time that I learned how to walk and I still knew a great deal of them. But none of them would fit in here; the wolves were known for their celebration, not their dance. I had not met someone who knew the dances of my kind for a decade.

==Dancing Song== ((The part where they start dancing is at 1:05))
Rafael took my hand and spun me around once before he took my hand in his and place a hand on my hip and soon we were dancing without a care. It was very fast paced and soon the rest of the pack that wasn’t dancing began to clap to the beat. Laughter bubbled from my lips as Rafael dipped the both of us side to side and danced us around in a circle, there was no mold to conform to, no steps to follow, everyone just danced. After a few moments everyone switched partners and I was suddenly dancing with Dominic, he laughed deeply as he continued to lead me through this wild dance. Throughout the song everyone switched partners. But there was only one person I wanted to dance with. I looked around me for Rafael as one of the boys still in middle school danced with me despite out height difference. I spotted Rafael and he met my gaze in that same moment and as we switched partners once more I reached out to join him but I was instead taken by Dean who smiled and lifted me up in a spin. I could tell the song was coming to an end and at the last moment everyone switched partners and I was suddenly right up against Rafael’s chest and he held my hand in his and had his hand on my waist once more. His smile was contagious and I felt mine spread wider.

Another song began and since neither of us seemed to want to stop we continued dancing and the pack began to clap to the beat of the song once more, like a heart beat to our movements.

For the rest of the night we danced, and when we got thirsty or hungry we would pause to get our fill of drink or food and we would continue dancing to whatever was being played. At one point Sam and Dean challenged Rafael to a race and I told him to go on. The three of them tore off into the trees, slipping from the human skin and into their wolf forms as they reach the trees, I could hear them howling as they ran, Rafael’s was the loudest. With a smile on my lips I went over to get something to drink. I noticed a group of younger girls, probably all in middle school, looking at me as they spoke. They quickly averted their eyes when I caught them and went on talking in hushed voices. I pretended to focus on pouring a glass of juice but really I had focused my hypersensitive hearing on what they were talking about.

“Can you believe it?” One said.

“I heard him talking to Dominic about it!” Another gushed.

“But to take a human as your Lupa, has that ever been done?”

“Not that I know of, I asked my mom and she said the Lupa has always been part of the pack or at least wolf.” I frowned; I knew the word Lupa rang a bell somewhere. I could swear I had heard Dominic talking about his wife and referring to her as his ‘Lupa’. Suddenly I was very interested in the girl’s conversation. Another girl came up to the group at that moment, and I recognized her as one of the pack that was old enough to be in high school. She must have been the one John had told me was being home schooled because of her temper. John had mentioned she had a thing against humans.

“So is Dominic really going to let Rafael take her as his Lupa?” One of them questioned and from the corner of my eye I saw her gesture at me.

“I don’t know, Dominic didn’t seem to object, and there aren’t any laws against it.”

The older girl spoke then, and she didn’t sound happy, “it’s against everything we are to take a silly human as a mate, they’re fragile and could never manage to truly be part of the pack. Rafael deserves a wolf worth his own.”

One of the younger girls scoffed, “geez Adelina, how many times does he have to turn you down before you get the picture?”

Adelina snarled at her and stalked off, but not before she sent an icy glare in my direction. I hadn’t realized I had been looking at her until her gaze met mine and I almost felt a physical blow from the hatred in her gaze.

I fumbled with setting the pitcher of juice back on the table and almost spilled it as I tried to recover from the bone chilling glare I had just received. Rafael wanted me as his Lupa? His mate? And obviously the idea was not wholly accepted by the pack.

I turned around as I heard Dean, Sam, and Rafael running towards me. Rafael came up first, he gracefully shifted form as he approached me, as if he were just slipping out of his wolf skin. He had enough control to stop right beside me but I almost fell over when he wrapped an arm around my shoulders to keep from stumbling into the table. But Dean and Sam had to leap over the table in their wolf forms and hit the ground at a roll because they had so much speed and not enough control. When they shifted back to their human forms they were all laughing and Rafael joined in, teasing them for loosing to him again. I smiled softly at how childish the three of them could be sometimes. Rafael looked down at me and grinned, “so, you must be my prize for winning,” he observed, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. The gesture was so sudden and unexpected that for a moment I was slightly stunned and then a smile slipped over my lips, but as I looked away from him I noticed Adelina glaring daggers at me again.

“Look, you’ve made her blush!” Dean shouted, pointing at me when he got up off the ground.

“How cute!” Sam exclaimed and I tossed a bread roll at him which only made him laugh harder.

“Don’t worry about them, they’re just jealous,” Rafael muttered to me.

I smiled up at him, trying to forget the look Adelina had just sent me.