Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

I was surprised when Felix agreed to go with me to the party. Felix is the type of guy who likes to stay home and watch TV and not go out. He is the type to just hang out with me or another few friends. He's not exactly a huge fan of group events other than the monthly pack bonfires. But, he must have been in a party sort of mood because he agreed almost as soon as the idea flew out of my mouth.

About eight o'clock, Felix came and picked me up in his truck and I smile at him. He'd changed his outfit. He wears a slim white shirt under a blue plaid button up shirt that is rolled up to his elbows and white shorts and his new tennis shoes. And of course, his curly brown hair is covered by a flat-billed hat. He looks me over as well. I'd put on a flow-y pink strappless sundress on over a pair of white skinny jeans and a nice leather jacket to cover my shoulders. My hair has been straightened but I ended up curling it again and letting the curls spill over my shoulders.

"You look nice," I say shyly as I take one of his hands. He grins and puts the truck into reverse and pulls out of the driveway.

"Not as good as you look," he replies. He then puts the truck in drive and follows my directions to the adress. The ride is quiet but he keeps his finger locked with mine and squeezes my hand lightly.

When we arrive we have to park two blocks away and walk the rest of the way there. Neither of us mind. It just gives us to take a stroll in the moonlight, still hand in hand. I gaze up above at the sky as we walk, looking at the stars. They represented my whole relationship with Felix- sparkling, beautifuly, and otherworldly. In a sense, Felix is my personal star, a wonderful thing that I can always rely on to be there if I look for it.

I hadn't noticed but we'd stopped in the center of sidewalk, both of us staring at the stars. I wonder briefly what Felix is thinking. He smiles when he catches me watching him. "I'm just marveling at the Mother's creations."

Connor is at peace now, and his death was avenged. May his spirit reside with the Mother, my mother had said. At the time it had only sounded a bit odd, but now Felix was adressing some mysterious 'Mother.'

"The Mother?" I ask skeptically.

He shoots me a quizical look and then he sighs, "Oh yeah, no body has really told you about her, have they?" I shake my head. I immeadiately assume it's a two natured thing, because well, when isn't it? And if so, that's a life both my mother and father had kept from me, even after he had died. "Well, the Mother is said to be the creator of all two natured. It is legend that she was a creature created by God, but he disowned her for being something other than truly human. There are other legends about her creation, but that's the one little two natured kids are usually told."

"You guys -er, we- have our own God?"

"No, not exactly. They're just legends, but God is still our God, but the Mother is, well, our Mother. It was said that she was created as the first animal on earth but she had a will of her own. She gained the ability to talk, to feel, to make decisions. She was a human within an animal. And God did not approve of that."

"He didn't?" I ask. We had moved out of the direct way of the sidewalk and were no sitting down, our backs leaning against someone's little white picket fence.

"Well, that's what the legends say. His creature, something he created, had grown into something he didn't intend. She was no longer his. She was her own. He tried to fix her though, he changed her into a human."

"What happened after that?" I find it a bit surprising that I'm actually listening to this. I've never been one for folk lore. Or at least I hadn't been six months ago. Now, almost anything is possible and I have to keep an open mind. It's also because Felix had said that parents told thier two natured children these stories. Since my mother wasn't two natured, my parents first child would be two natured. They'd conceived a child before me, but it'd died within the womb, along with the two natured gene. I was born a short few years later- completely human. I can't help but feel that the only reason I'm listening to this tale is because I wish my father had told it to me.

"Well, you can't take away the aspect of somebody that defines who they are. Not even God could do that. She was able to shift back and forth, and being touched by God, she was allowed to have a safe haven to be protected from other animals. God, despite his slight anger with her, knew he needed to protect her. He sent her to a beautiful garden where she could live out her immortal existence."

"Eden, right?"

"Exactly."

"Well what happened after that?" I beg, but he shakes his head and looks down at his watch. He stands and offers me his hand and he pulls me to my feet. He casually snakes his arm around my waist as we continue to walk in the direction of the party.

"We'll have to finish the story some other time, but for now, let's go have fun at this party." We walk a few more minutes before we reach the house. It's a nice two story house on the end of the block. It's light up like a giant light bulb and the low drum of music can be heard a few blocks away. I make a mental note to be aware that the cops may come to break this up and to be ready to run if they do.

"To be honest, I've never been to a party," I say shyly as I press closer to my boyfriend. It was true. The last party I'd been to was Connor's sixteenth birthday and we'd just gotten pizza and watched movies together.

Felix nods, "Me either."

We stride into the house together and I'm taken back by how many people are here. It must be at least three fifths of our highschool populace, mostly made up of the Freshman and Sophmores. Felix and I chat with a few friends, drink cans of pop -both of us refusing alcohol- and bobbing our heads to the music. It's fun, all in all. Simple, lots of people, and it gets you out of the house. I laugh at some of the other kids, though, who are having too much fun. Kids who are obviously drunk flail around to the music or grind against some of my fellow classmates.

Some chuckles next to us and we turn our attention from the dancers to the direction of the sound. It's Nash standing behind us. He still wears his school clothes but he already looked well dressed enough as it was. His fedorra, however, is long gone. His brown hair is buzzed short on the sides and is long on top, his bangs in hanging against his forehead. He smiles, gray eyes flashing as he gives me a big hug.

"You look great, Priss," he comments as he pulls away. Felix just stares at him with a baffled expression. Nash's smile doesn't fade, he just sticks out his hand out to my boyfriend.

"You must be the boyfriend. I'm Nash."

"Felix," he says steadily before taking my new friends' hand and shaking it firmly.

"I'm new here," Nash explains. "Your girlfriend has been nothing but great to me so far."

Felix smiles big and turns his attention to me. He smiles and I have to turn my head to hide my blush. "Glad to hear that."

"Anyway, I'm actually about to go home. It's so awkward here and some girls are starting to really creep me out," Nash shivers mockingly. Felix and I nod in unison, both of us understanding. He was certainly an oddity and a gorgeous one at that. Of course girls were going to go after him. "Thanks for coming out here to keep me company, but I just gotta get out of here. See you guys Monday?"

"We understand," I nod, "Yeah, see you on Monday."

Nash weaves through the large mass of people after that and disappears from my view. Felix and I talk a little more but after awhile, he asks, "Would you like to get out of here too?"

"Yeah," I agree and just like that, we leave the party scene only after an hour and a half. Felix and I walk back to his truck in the dark, my head resting on his shoulder the entire time. Felix offers to take me home but I shake my head. "The night's still young. It's Friday and I don't have to be back til at least midnight... Wanna go for a run?"

Felix grins, which is all the answer I need. We climb into his truck and he drives us to the nearst entrance to the woods, a palce not too far from Andrew Parkly's house. We smile as we strip down into our shifting gear. I'd begun to get comfortable wearing it. You'd never know when you wanted to shift or not. We shift right there on the side of the road and sprint into the cover of the trees.

Almost instantly, the sensation of being free fills me. I'm a creature of the wild, I can do what I want. Better yet, it's dark out and my wolf instincts are in full throtle. My eye sight is sharp and clean in the dark and my nose picks up almost every scent. Felix and I run and leap around the woods, barking and howling softly. In our heads, we're laughing and having fun, projecting words of encouragement.

Felix eventually sets off after a rather good sized rabbit and leaves me near a small opening to the creek so I can rest for a bit. He rushs off quickly and I already know this might take awhile. Rabbits can be speedy and their mischevious little things when they're in danger. I quietly walk down to the mouth of the creek and lap at it with my large tongue. A sip of cool water is just what I need at the moment.

I'm almost too concerned with my drinking that I'd hardly heard the quick shifting of a rustling leaves. I perk my ears up immeadiately and look around. Nothing. There's the sound of footsteps much too large to be Felix's and out of impulse, I shift back to human form.

"Hello? Felix?" I call out into the dark woodland but the only reply I get is a deadly one. I barely jump out of the way and the scream barely leaves my lips as the freshly slaughtered carcas of a wolf hurtles through the air, straight in my direction.