|
Previous: "True Colours"
|
Next: "Detention"
|
Series 1 Episode 6
"Fortification"
Dylan’s old school was always strangely intrigued by his sexuality. He attended junior high just a couple of towns away in Osona, and at a time in their lives where many kids would have questioned their sexuality, the popular straight kids were oddly judgemental.
One girl – Taylor Johnson – was particularly nasty to Dylan over the years. She caught a glimpse of Dylan’s Harry Styles phone case one day, and he never forgot this encounter.
“Jizzing over your boyfriend after school tonight Drummond?” she remarked, tapping the case.
She was one of those awful, stuck-up, spoilt daddy’s girls, and as much as Dylan frowned upon stereotypes, she ticked all of those boxes. What’s more is that she had somehow deduced his sexuality from a photo. Why did that, of all things, make him gay?
“Get away,” Dylan protested. He was thirteen at the time, and sure enough, he was well aware of his feelings about guys. However, he still fancied girls more, right? He always envisioned his future in only one way – marrying a pretty girl and having a couple of kids. Guys didn’t fit into his plans. This was surely a phase.
There was no way he would ever end up dating a guy.
One girl – Taylor Johnson – was particularly nasty to Dylan over the years. She caught a glimpse of Dylan’s Harry Styles phone case one day, and he never forgot this encounter.
“Jizzing over your boyfriend after school tonight Drummond?” she remarked, tapping the case.
She was one of those awful, stuck-up, spoilt daddy’s girls, and as much as Dylan frowned upon stereotypes, she ticked all of those boxes. What’s more is that she had somehow deduced his sexuality from a photo. Why did that, of all things, make him gay?
“Get away,” Dylan protested. He was thirteen at the time, and sure enough, he was well aware of his feelings about guys. However, he still fancied girls more, right? He always envisioned his future in only one way – marrying a pretty girl and having a couple of kids. Guys didn’t fit into his plans. This was surely a phase.
There was no way he would ever end up dating a guy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pushing back against the wolf, Dylan did his best to fight it. The alpha had called and the wolf had responded, but at a cost. Jono had found his secret out. The hard way. The alpha had robbed Dylan of any opportunity to confess on his own terms.
Now Jono was staring at the group of monsters in front of him. A group involving Dylan. A tear slid down Dylan’s cheek as he looked at Jono’s terrified facial expression. He was trapped inside himself, and there was nothing he could do.
He looked at Josh, who smiled a devilish smile. He was loving it. All along, it was one of their own group. How did he not sense it?
All of a sudden, the bedroom door burst open, breaking the pure stunned silence.
“Out, now!” Yasmin commanded as Lily whacked Josh around the head with the plastic gun. Jono sprinted for it, and Yasmin yanked Dylan’s hands to grab him. Accidentally, his claws dug into her skin.
“Ouch!” she yelled. Dylan didn’t mean to hurt her. He couldn’t help it. However, his remorse was the key. It made him human, and slowly, he felt himself regaining his body. It made him human. The wolf subsided. He was running now, and Drew was following too. Obviously, he had many more years of practice when it came to controlling himself. To think – he was escaping his own house. How ridiculous, yet it was so terrifying.
Rushing outside and towards Yasmin’s car, Dylan didn’t even stop for breath. However, he had no idea what the plan was, so he felt like a headless chicken. He hoped Yasmin would have a grasp on what to do next. It was usually her forte but this was a new level of panic, even for them.
“Everybody in,” Yasmin commanded as she clicked her car key. Lily clambered into the passenger seat while Drew headed for the back. Jono hesitated. Dylan saw how shaken he was – understandably so. He was favouring the look of his own car instead of sticking with the group.
“Jono, get in,” Lily ordered. That was all he needed to climb in, sitting awkwardly to Drew’s right. Dylan climbed in last, to Drew’s left, and Yasmin slammed the pedal down, the engine whirring as Yasmin drove at full pelt away from Dylan’s house.
“I know where we can go,” Drew suggested.
The car journey was a long and awkward one. Dylan didn’t even attempt to make eye contact with Jono. He couldn’t bear seeing that look of disappointment anymore. He hated himself. The best thing he had was gone, thanks to this stupid curse. Was it too much to ask to keep the guy he loved? Were all werewolves destined to be lonely forever? For someone who was reasonably popular at school, Drew seemed exceptionally lonely.
Having said all that, Dylan knew deep down that Jono would have found out sooner or later if events didn’t happen as they had. He had already shifted in front of him, and he was very lucky that Jono avoided noticing. Now he wished he had told him from the very start. Maybe he wouldn’t have gotten his hopes up.
This was a problem for later though. Now, they all had to focus on getting as far away from the alpha as they could. Several times throughout the journey, Dylan glanced behind. Nothing seemed to be following them, but that did not mean the alpha wasn’t coming.
Now they had abandoned the car and Drew was leading the way. Dylan recognised the location instantly. He was only there the night before. Drew was taking them to his bunker underground. Approaching the cordoned-off hole in the pavement, Drew hopped down first but the others were hesitant.
“Why have I got a bad feeling about this?” Lily pondered warily.
“It’s safe, don’t worry, I’ve been here before,” Dylan explained.
“How can we trust either of you?” Jono scowled. Dylan was lost for words. He couldn’t even defend himself from that.
“Let’s go, it could be following us,” Yasmin encouraged. She was right. They weren’t safe yet.
Begrudgingly, Jono climbed down the ladder. He had never been in the underground tunnels before, and this wasn’t the time he wanted to start. However, for some reason, Lily was totally trusting of Dylan and Drew. How could she be after what they had just seen? She had to have known in advance. Why didn’t she think to tell him something so huge?
Too many questions. None of this made sense, but he knew he was terrified. Everything he previously thought about Dylan had been overshadowed. What even was he?
He was now leading them through the dark, dingy tunnels until they approached a metal door. Drew unscrewed it using a large metal wheel on the outside. This was exactly how Jono expected an underground bunker to be. It felt like some sort of odd nightmare.
“We’re safe in here?” Lily clarified as the group stepped inside and Drew re-locked the door.
“There are so many pipes in the walls that it won’t be able to track our scent. We’re safe,” Drew reassured.
“For how long? We can’t hide here forever,” Yasmin pointed out.
“Until we find a course of action,” Drew bluntly but assertively replied. This was too much. Jono collapsed against the wall behind him and sank to the floor. He saw Lily notice, and she walked over, but he didn’t want to talk.
“I know this is a lot to take in,” Lily began. Jono scoffed.
“You can say that again,” he remarked.
“Dylan’s not the bad guy. When he tells you everything, you’ll understand that,” Lily tried to justify. As she spoke, Jono watched Dylan talking to Yasmin and Drew across the room. He looked so innocent. The cute, adorable, dorky guy he adored. Except now it was tainted.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jono questioned.
“Because it wasn’t my place,” Lily replied.
“I’m your brother, that makes it your place,” Jono reasoned.
“And you don’t think I wanted to?” Lily defended herself, “I wanted to tell you so bad, but it was Dylan’s decision. How would you like it if I told mom and dad that you’re gay?”
Jono paused. He hadn’t thought of it like that. He just stared at Lily. She was totally right. He despaired, still confused and conflicted. Lily placed a comforting hand on his leg. At least she always had his back.
Glancing over from the other side of the bunker, Dylan saw how wrecked Jono looked. He wanted to run over and clear things up so badly, but it was not the time. Jono needed space to process his thoughts. Dylan knew that more than most. It took him weeks to process losing his dad.
“He will come around,” Yasmin offered some words of wisdom.
“Will he though? What’s to like? I’m dangerous, and he saw that first hand earlier,” Dylan opened up.
“You’re not defined by the wolf. You’re still Dylan, the same guy that Jono fell in love with,” Yasmin persuaded, “You just have to make him see that.”
Dylan was forever envious of Yasmin’s way with words. She always knew what to say, while he could barely string a sentence together. Although, Dylan took comfort in how bad she was at talking to boys. They had something in common.
“I was gonna be going on a date with him tomorrow,” Yasmin mentioned, changing the subject. Dylan was startled. Huh? With who? Josh?
“Wait, you and Josh? You never said,” Dylan expressed his confusion.
“It was a recent development. We’ve all been a little distracted recently, I was gonna tell you so don’t feel put out,” Yasmin explained, “It’s almost funny how crap my luck is.”
“The right guy will come along. Don’t rush it,” Dylan smiled. She was brilliant at offering words of wisdom to him. The least he could do was return the favour.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll be right over here throwing up,” Drew interrupted. Dylan laughed. For someone who pretended to have no sense of humour, Drew was a pretty funny guy, “What do you know about Josh? If we take him down, we need to know his weaknesses.”
“Take him down?” Jono stood up, overhearing.
“We can’t let him continue to murder people. Next, he will be roping in Dylan and me. We’d have to kill with him…or kill him,” Drew detailed.
“You can’t kill him, he is sixteen years old,” Jono retaliated, “Is this how you people work?”
“No,” Dylan insisted, a little put-out at Jono’s insistence on differentiating the humans and werewolves in the room, “It’s not. There must be another way.”
“Drummond, if I thought there was another way, I would have suggested it by now,” Drew firmly argued.
“Like Drew said,” Yasmin offered, “We need to think of his weaknesses. We can think of a plan later but right now, the three of us barely know anything about him. You know him best, Jono.”
“I’m not going to help you kill my best friend,” Jono refused.
“We’re not going to kill him,” Dylan reiterated.
“Why should I take your word for it? You’ve lied to me all week,” Jono yelled, before heading towards the exit. Dylan went to follow – he had to make sure Jono was alright.
“Let him go,” Yasmin out her arm in front of him. Dylan was torn between his head and his heart. Did he need to give Jono space once again? Or did he want to prove he actually was the loyal boyfriend he had shown himself to be?
“I have to go,” Dylan told Yasmin as he dodged past her arm to leave the room.
Panicked and flustered, Jono needed fresh air. Having clambered out of the tunnels, he was stood in the open air, but somehow, he still didn’t feel calm. The heavens had opened and the sky was chucking bucketfuls of rain down, but Jono didn’t care. At least he wasn’t in that bunker.
“Are you alright?” he heard a voice from behind. The unmistakably sweet tone of Dylan.
“I would be if you all just left me alone,” Jono angrily yelled.
“I would be a terrible boyfriend if I did that,” Dylan calmly but defiantly replied. Jono turned around. ‘Boyfriend.’ That word carried so much weight for Jono. He always vowed that he wouldn’t go through boyfriends like Lily did. Maybe he needed to hear Dylan out.
“I know you’re angry at me, and you have every right to be, but I’m not letting go of you until I’ve had the chance to explain. Then you can do what you want,” Dylan passionately pleaded. He didn’t care about the rain gushing down on top of him. He just had to do his absolute best and hope Jono might at least consider his points.
“You’ve had days to explain, did you not think this was something I needed to know as soon as possible?” Jono replied.
“I was going to tell you literally just before Josh arrived,” Dylan mentioned, “Come here.” Jono carefully approached Dylan, who took his hand and placed it on his chest.
“Feel my heartbeat,” Dylan instructed, “Is it beating faster than normal? Am I lying?” He saw Jono pay attention to the beats. He took his hand away but didn’t say a word.
“It’s new to me too, I only got bitten on Sunday night. I’m still getting used to everything myself,” Dylan explained.
“What are you?” Jono curiously asked.
“Werewolf,” Dylan confidently replied, “And I hate it. I didn’t ask for any of this. I want a normal life, with shitty maths homework, and lunch out with my mom, and date nights with the guy I love.” Dylan was shedding tears as he spoke. He was pouring his heart out to Jono. Thankfully, the masses of teardrops hid the tears and preserved his dignity.
“You’re dangerous,” Jono said.
“I could be,” Dylan admitted. He had to be honest now, “Drew has helped me control it. The wolf craves blood, but I don’t, and it’s my body. Werewolves are just like humans. Only dangerous if they want to be.”
“So, all that crap about Drew being your cousin was another lie?” Jono sought clarification.
“Yeah,” Dylan shamefully admitted.
“One lie after another,” Jono rolled his eyes in disbelief.
“Believe what you want, but everything I did was to protect you. I didn’t want you caught up in this stupid freaking mess,” Dylan continued. He looked Jono straight in the eye, “You were always my priority.”
“You should have just told me, you idiot,” Jono was crying too. The raindrops weren’t doing such a good job after all, “I don’t care that you’re a werewolf. Sure, it might take some getting used to, but you’re still you. It’s the lies I can’t take.”
“And they will stop. I swear, you know all my secrets now,” Dylan cleared up. Jono paused. Each second felt like a day as Dylan waited for the verdict.
“If I hear one more lie come out of your mouth, I’ll shove your tail so far up your ass…,” Jono cracked a smile for the first time that evening.
“I don’t have a tail,” Dylan jokingly corrected.
“You know what I mean,” Jono grinned. Dylan nodded, still crying, but now his tears were happy tears.
“No more lies,” Dylan confirmed. He couldn’t believe his luck. Jono was actually giving him another shot. Jono leaned in to press his lips against Dylan. Oh, how Dylan enjoyed the rush of pheromones flowing through his body whenever they locked lips. He wasn’t expecting to feel this again so soon. It was incredible though, and he savoured it. He was soaking wet too, but he didn’t care. Maybe things weren’t so bad after all.
Despite everything Dylan had done, Jono couldn’t find it in him to give up on all they had. So what if they had only been together for less than a week? He trusted his gut about everything, and it was telling him to stick by Dylan. Maybe he was right – he was trying to protect him all along.
The werewolf part sounded like such a non-issue in the end too. Lily was right – it was just like a gay person coming out. And he knew how shitty that felt. As hard as it was, he now had to trust Dylan, and his guy told him that was the right thing to do. The feel of Dylan’s perfect lips against his just backed it up. As he broke the kiss, Dylan shivered.
“Shall we go back in?” Dylan offered. The bunker still didn’t sound too appealing to Jono. It was so claustrophobic.
“Can’t we just run away and never look back?” Jono joked.
“Yasmin would hunt me down herself and murder me, let alone the alpha,” Dylan chuckled, “Come on. If it’s Drew you’re worried about, I can deal with him.”
“It’s this whole thing,” Jono confessed, “I mean, I just found out that one of my best friends is a murderous werewolf thing.”
“I promise you I don’t want to hurt him,” Dylan assured, “Is there any reason he might be doing this?”
“Nothing. Maybe…,” Jono paused, “Maybe Freddie might know something. They’ve known each other longer.”
“Alright, let’s go then,” Dylan optimistically said. He liked the idea of he and Jono being sort-of-detectives together.
Left behind in the bunker, Yasmin looked down at the back of her hand. It had been hurting a lot since Dylan accidentally scratched her with his claws, and it was still bleeding. Not wanting to make a fuss, she had not told anyone about it. However, the ongoing pain was quite concerning.
“What happened?” Lily enquired, spotting the wound.
“Oh nothing, I just caught my hand on the way in,” Yasmin lied. She hated the attention.
“Did Dylan scratch you?” Drew interrogated. His grave tone worried Yasmin a great deal. He sounded more worried than she did.
“Yeah, it’s not a big scratch, it will be alright,” Yasmin brushed it off. Wishful thinking was her best friend.
“Yeah, you’ll be alright. I’ll get you a band aid,” Drew’s nonchalant tone now worried Yasmin even more. He sounded very concerned before, so why was he now so casual? She glanced at it again. The bleeding seemed to have stopped. It hurt like hell still though.
“Could it, you know, pass it on?” Lily whispered.
“I thought it could only be passed on through a bite from the alpha,” Yasmin pondered. She certainly hoped it wouldn’t turn her too. Seeing how it had changed Dylan was more than enough to warn her off.
“Either way, he was shifty as hell just then,” Lily mentioned. Yasmin was glad that it wasn’t just her imagination. Drew returned with a perfectly sized band aid to cover it. He avoided eye contact with her. Always a tell-tale sign of a liar.
“Is there a problem?” she probed.
“No,” Drew responded, still not facing her.
“I know you’re lying Drew,” Yasmin refused to give up. Drew sighed. A defeatist sigh, if Yasmin was as good at reading body language as she thought.
“Look, there’s all kinds of myths about scratches from werewolves. I don’t know if any are true, but we won’t know for sure until it’s healed,” Drew explained.
“What sorts of myths?” Lily was intrigued.
“It varies, and all depends on how quick the wound heals,” Drew revealed, “A deep scratch from an alpha could convert someone, but Dylan’s a beta. Occasionally, very rarely, a scratch could awaken some extra sensory powers. Better hearing, better sight, maybe even psychic abilities.”
“I could be psychic?” Yasmin was scared but fascinated at the same time.
“Like I said, we’ll keep an eye on how long it takes to heal,” Drew shrugged any further conversation off. Yasmin’s mind was slightly at ease – at least she wasn’t going to be converted - but she wanted to know for definite. Now for the waiting game.
As Jono pulled up outside Freddie’s house, Dylan hit the send button on a text to Yasmin notifying her of where they had gone. She would have his guts for garters otherwise.
What’s more is that he had to be on red alert for the alpha. It was a risk to be out anywhere when Josh was on the rampage but Dylan was prepared. He was going to prove to Jono that he meant every word he spoke.
Jono led the way to Freddie’s front door. His street looked pretty normal; his house was a terraced two-storey building right in the centre of the road. Buzz! The doorbell sounded as Jono pressed his finger against the button. The seconds between ringing a doorbell and the door being answered always felt like hours. Eventually, Freddie answered the door.
“Hey, what are you guys doing here?” Freddie smiled.
“Freddie, we need to ask you some questions. It’s about Josh,” Jono spoke. Freddie’s usual friendly expression quickly dropped to one of worry. Dylan felt his anguish. Open-ended statements never got any easier.
Exploring the bunker, Lily was amazed by all of the gadgets scattered around. They intrigued her – all must have had some use to Drew at some point, but for the life of her, Lily had no idea what for. She looked at a glass jar perched on a shelf. It was filled with grains of a dark sand-like substance.
“What’s this?” she questioned.
“Mountain ash,” Drew responded, “Pretty deadly to us but has no effect on humans. It works as a defence mechanism.”
“How? It just looks like grains of rock,” Yasmin wondered as she joined the conversation.
“It forms a barrier that werewolves cannot cross. The walls of this bunker are lined with it. All I’d have to do to protect myself is tip the jar in front of the door to complete the circle,” Drew explained.
“So why don’t we?” Lily queried, “We’re basically sitting ducks down here.”
“Like I said, it won’t be able to track us down here,” Drew reiterated. Nevertheless, Lily still wasn’t totally comfortable, especially with Jono still out in the open.
Having been escorted up to Freddie’s bedroom, Dylan was taking in the sights. The walls were cream but were barely visible behind numerous gaming and film posters – most of which Dylan didn’t recognise. An electric guitar was stood carefully on a stand next to the unmade bed, but that was just about the only neat part of the room. Clothes were left all over the floor and DVDs were littering the place. Freddie’s laptop was in the middle of the bed with the lid open. He obviously spent a lot of his free time in there.
“What did you want to know?” Freddie wondered, clambering onto his bed and shutting the laptop.
“Have you noticed anything strange about him recently?” Jono posed. Dylan managed to find a sensible place to stand amongst the DVD cases and hair products scattered around.
“Like what? I mean, he’s been pretty study-crazy recently but nothing too strange,” Freddie thought.
“Studying? Why? His grades are great already and we don’t have exams. Why now?” Dylan wondered.
“He said he was worried about failing, it always sounded odd when he’s never come close to failing in his life. You remember that, right?” Freddie glanced to Jono.
“I think it might have been a cover-up,” Jono suggested.
“For what?” Freddie was concerned.
“All in good time,” came a voice from the doorway behind. It was Josh, stood with his blood-red eyes glowing brightly.
Pacing back and forth, Yasmin was sick of waiting. Not knowing how Dylan and Jono were getting on was bad enough, but not knowing how long they would be in the bunker made it even worse
On the bright side, the pain had subsided from her wrist, but she didn’t know if that was good or bad. They needed a bigger expert than Drew to tell her more, and she knew damn well that a werewolf expert wasn’t going to be easy to find. Maybe one of those people firing bullets at the alpha would know. Drew had kept quiet on that entire incident since it happened, but it was intriguing Yasmin. She didn’t see how many people there were, but judging by the number of bullets, there must have been four or five.
“You’re thinking about them, aren’t you?” Drew predicted. How he was so spot-on was beyond Yasmin.
“Who were they?” she wondered.
“I don’t know,” Drew replied, “But I’ve seen their kind before.”
“Whose kind? Am I missing something?” Yasmin tried to understand.
“Hunters,” Drew gravely told her. It sent a shiver down Yasmin’s spine. People hunt werewolves? In a world making steps to equality, that sounded so backwards.
“Werewolf hunters were all over Crystalshaw a few years back. Eventually, all of the werewolves were either killed or had scarpered,” Drew notified.
“That doesn’t explain you. Or Josh,” Yasmin pointed out.
“I have a long story,” Drew vaguely mentioned, “Josh is new here. He has to be.”
“I know how we can check that. Come on, let’s go,” Yasmin sprang to life.
Dylan stepped back as soon as he saw Josh. His once-friendly classmate now embodied his worst nightmares. Coming face-to-face with him again was something Dylan had desperately hoped to avoid.
“Stupid decision Dylan, you should’ve stayed in your little hideout. As soon as you left wherever you were, I could smell you a mile off,” Josh threatened, “And you’ve brought lover boy. I see he’s in-the-know now, sorry about that.” Dylan was doing his best to remain in control. Anger made him shift, but he couldn’t afford to lose himself now.
“What the hell Josh?” a startled Freddie was baffled.
“My ever-loyal best mate,” Josh approached Freddie.
“Leave him alone,” Jono ordered.
“Or what? You’ll unleash your pet on me?” Josh did his best to goad both Dylan and Jono. Dylan was determined not to give in. His anchor was firmly in place in his mind.
“Has everyone gone stark-raving mad?” Freddie was still not getting the answers he desired.
“Do you remember when that arrogant dick George punched me in junior high?” Josh asked, “Nobody believed me, but you did. You said you would always be loyal to me.”
“The three musketeers. You, Jono and me,” Freddie smiled.
“Stand by my side now,” Josh commanded, and before Dylan could rush to stop him, Josh sank his teeth into Freddie’s arm. Freddie cried out in pain as blood squirted everywhere. He tried to struggle away, but it was to no avail. Dylan felt the pain in his leg as he remembered feeling the exact same when Josh bit him just a few nights ago. He wouldn’t have wished it on his worst enemy, let alone someone as adorable as Freddie.
As Josh released his grip, Freddie passed out from the blood loss.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Dylan scolded.
“Sooner or later Dylan, you’ll realise that we are a pack. You can stand with me or die at my hands,” Josh ordered.
“What do you want?” Dylan yelled helplessly.
“I want to restore werewolves to Crystalshaw. A pack dominating once again, like my pack years ago,” Josh answered, “Anyone who has an issue with that will be taken out.”
“What if we refuse?” Jono piped up.
“Then you’re a problem that I will have to solve,” Josh replied coldly, “I will give you until Monday to decide, Dylan, but remember, I know where all your friends live. Or maybe I’ll kill them at school instead. The possibilities are endless.” He laughed, as if he’d just told the funniest joke going. Dylan used this chance to run outside, dragging Jono with him by the hand. They kept on going until they were safely back in the car.
“What the hell just happened?” Jono panted.
“He’s turning Freddie. Either that, or he’ll bleed to death,” Dylan worriedly told him. Jono put the car into reverse, but any escape they made was only temporary. Josh would find them again, he always did.
Now Jono was staring at the group of monsters in front of him. A group involving Dylan. A tear slid down Dylan’s cheek as he looked at Jono’s terrified facial expression. He was trapped inside himself, and there was nothing he could do.
He looked at Josh, who smiled a devilish smile. He was loving it. All along, it was one of their own group. How did he not sense it?
All of a sudden, the bedroom door burst open, breaking the pure stunned silence.
“Out, now!” Yasmin commanded as Lily whacked Josh around the head with the plastic gun. Jono sprinted for it, and Yasmin yanked Dylan’s hands to grab him. Accidentally, his claws dug into her skin.
“Ouch!” she yelled. Dylan didn’t mean to hurt her. He couldn’t help it. However, his remorse was the key. It made him human, and slowly, he felt himself regaining his body. It made him human. The wolf subsided. He was running now, and Drew was following too. Obviously, he had many more years of practice when it came to controlling himself. To think – he was escaping his own house. How ridiculous, yet it was so terrifying.
Rushing outside and towards Yasmin’s car, Dylan didn’t even stop for breath. However, he had no idea what the plan was, so he felt like a headless chicken. He hoped Yasmin would have a grasp on what to do next. It was usually her forte but this was a new level of panic, even for them.
“Everybody in,” Yasmin commanded as she clicked her car key. Lily clambered into the passenger seat while Drew headed for the back. Jono hesitated. Dylan saw how shaken he was – understandably so. He was favouring the look of his own car instead of sticking with the group.
“Jono, get in,” Lily ordered. That was all he needed to climb in, sitting awkwardly to Drew’s right. Dylan climbed in last, to Drew’s left, and Yasmin slammed the pedal down, the engine whirring as Yasmin drove at full pelt away from Dylan’s house.
“I know where we can go,” Drew suggested.
The car journey was a long and awkward one. Dylan didn’t even attempt to make eye contact with Jono. He couldn’t bear seeing that look of disappointment anymore. He hated himself. The best thing he had was gone, thanks to this stupid curse. Was it too much to ask to keep the guy he loved? Were all werewolves destined to be lonely forever? For someone who was reasonably popular at school, Drew seemed exceptionally lonely.
Having said all that, Dylan knew deep down that Jono would have found out sooner or later if events didn’t happen as they had. He had already shifted in front of him, and he was very lucky that Jono avoided noticing. Now he wished he had told him from the very start. Maybe he wouldn’t have gotten his hopes up.
This was a problem for later though. Now, they all had to focus on getting as far away from the alpha as they could. Several times throughout the journey, Dylan glanced behind. Nothing seemed to be following them, but that did not mean the alpha wasn’t coming.
Now they had abandoned the car and Drew was leading the way. Dylan recognised the location instantly. He was only there the night before. Drew was taking them to his bunker underground. Approaching the cordoned-off hole in the pavement, Drew hopped down first but the others were hesitant.
“Why have I got a bad feeling about this?” Lily pondered warily.
“It’s safe, don’t worry, I’ve been here before,” Dylan explained.
“How can we trust either of you?” Jono scowled. Dylan was lost for words. He couldn’t even defend himself from that.
“Let’s go, it could be following us,” Yasmin encouraged. She was right. They weren’t safe yet.
Begrudgingly, Jono climbed down the ladder. He had never been in the underground tunnels before, and this wasn’t the time he wanted to start. However, for some reason, Lily was totally trusting of Dylan and Drew. How could she be after what they had just seen? She had to have known in advance. Why didn’t she think to tell him something so huge?
Too many questions. None of this made sense, but he knew he was terrified. Everything he previously thought about Dylan had been overshadowed. What even was he?
He was now leading them through the dark, dingy tunnels until they approached a metal door. Drew unscrewed it using a large metal wheel on the outside. This was exactly how Jono expected an underground bunker to be. It felt like some sort of odd nightmare.
“We’re safe in here?” Lily clarified as the group stepped inside and Drew re-locked the door.
“There are so many pipes in the walls that it won’t be able to track our scent. We’re safe,” Drew reassured.
“For how long? We can’t hide here forever,” Yasmin pointed out.
“Until we find a course of action,” Drew bluntly but assertively replied. This was too much. Jono collapsed against the wall behind him and sank to the floor. He saw Lily notice, and she walked over, but he didn’t want to talk.
“I know this is a lot to take in,” Lily began. Jono scoffed.
“You can say that again,” he remarked.
“Dylan’s not the bad guy. When he tells you everything, you’ll understand that,” Lily tried to justify. As she spoke, Jono watched Dylan talking to Yasmin and Drew across the room. He looked so innocent. The cute, adorable, dorky guy he adored. Except now it was tainted.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jono questioned.
“Because it wasn’t my place,” Lily replied.
“I’m your brother, that makes it your place,” Jono reasoned.
“And you don’t think I wanted to?” Lily defended herself, “I wanted to tell you so bad, but it was Dylan’s decision. How would you like it if I told mom and dad that you’re gay?”
Jono paused. He hadn’t thought of it like that. He just stared at Lily. She was totally right. He despaired, still confused and conflicted. Lily placed a comforting hand on his leg. At least she always had his back.
Glancing over from the other side of the bunker, Dylan saw how wrecked Jono looked. He wanted to run over and clear things up so badly, but it was not the time. Jono needed space to process his thoughts. Dylan knew that more than most. It took him weeks to process losing his dad.
“He will come around,” Yasmin offered some words of wisdom.
“Will he though? What’s to like? I’m dangerous, and he saw that first hand earlier,” Dylan opened up.
“You’re not defined by the wolf. You’re still Dylan, the same guy that Jono fell in love with,” Yasmin persuaded, “You just have to make him see that.”
Dylan was forever envious of Yasmin’s way with words. She always knew what to say, while he could barely string a sentence together. Although, Dylan took comfort in how bad she was at talking to boys. They had something in common.
“I was gonna be going on a date with him tomorrow,” Yasmin mentioned, changing the subject. Dylan was startled. Huh? With who? Josh?
“Wait, you and Josh? You never said,” Dylan expressed his confusion.
“It was a recent development. We’ve all been a little distracted recently, I was gonna tell you so don’t feel put out,” Yasmin explained, “It’s almost funny how crap my luck is.”
“The right guy will come along. Don’t rush it,” Dylan smiled. She was brilliant at offering words of wisdom to him. The least he could do was return the favour.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll be right over here throwing up,” Drew interrupted. Dylan laughed. For someone who pretended to have no sense of humour, Drew was a pretty funny guy, “What do you know about Josh? If we take him down, we need to know his weaknesses.”
“Take him down?” Jono stood up, overhearing.
“We can’t let him continue to murder people. Next, he will be roping in Dylan and me. We’d have to kill with him…or kill him,” Drew detailed.
“You can’t kill him, he is sixteen years old,” Jono retaliated, “Is this how you people work?”
“No,” Dylan insisted, a little put-out at Jono’s insistence on differentiating the humans and werewolves in the room, “It’s not. There must be another way.”
“Drummond, if I thought there was another way, I would have suggested it by now,” Drew firmly argued.
“Like Drew said,” Yasmin offered, “We need to think of his weaknesses. We can think of a plan later but right now, the three of us barely know anything about him. You know him best, Jono.”
“I’m not going to help you kill my best friend,” Jono refused.
“We’re not going to kill him,” Dylan reiterated.
“Why should I take your word for it? You’ve lied to me all week,” Jono yelled, before heading towards the exit. Dylan went to follow – he had to make sure Jono was alright.
“Let him go,” Yasmin out her arm in front of him. Dylan was torn between his head and his heart. Did he need to give Jono space once again? Or did he want to prove he actually was the loyal boyfriend he had shown himself to be?
“I have to go,” Dylan told Yasmin as he dodged past her arm to leave the room.
Panicked and flustered, Jono needed fresh air. Having clambered out of the tunnels, he was stood in the open air, but somehow, he still didn’t feel calm. The heavens had opened and the sky was chucking bucketfuls of rain down, but Jono didn’t care. At least he wasn’t in that bunker.
“Are you alright?” he heard a voice from behind. The unmistakably sweet tone of Dylan.
“I would be if you all just left me alone,” Jono angrily yelled.
“I would be a terrible boyfriend if I did that,” Dylan calmly but defiantly replied. Jono turned around. ‘Boyfriend.’ That word carried so much weight for Jono. He always vowed that he wouldn’t go through boyfriends like Lily did. Maybe he needed to hear Dylan out.
“I know you’re angry at me, and you have every right to be, but I’m not letting go of you until I’ve had the chance to explain. Then you can do what you want,” Dylan passionately pleaded. He didn’t care about the rain gushing down on top of him. He just had to do his absolute best and hope Jono might at least consider his points.
“You’ve had days to explain, did you not think this was something I needed to know as soon as possible?” Jono replied.
“I was going to tell you literally just before Josh arrived,” Dylan mentioned, “Come here.” Jono carefully approached Dylan, who took his hand and placed it on his chest.
“Feel my heartbeat,” Dylan instructed, “Is it beating faster than normal? Am I lying?” He saw Jono pay attention to the beats. He took his hand away but didn’t say a word.
“It’s new to me too, I only got bitten on Sunday night. I’m still getting used to everything myself,” Dylan explained.
“What are you?” Jono curiously asked.
“Werewolf,” Dylan confidently replied, “And I hate it. I didn’t ask for any of this. I want a normal life, with shitty maths homework, and lunch out with my mom, and date nights with the guy I love.” Dylan was shedding tears as he spoke. He was pouring his heart out to Jono. Thankfully, the masses of teardrops hid the tears and preserved his dignity.
“You’re dangerous,” Jono said.
“I could be,” Dylan admitted. He had to be honest now, “Drew has helped me control it. The wolf craves blood, but I don’t, and it’s my body. Werewolves are just like humans. Only dangerous if they want to be.”
“So, all that crap about Drew being your cousin was another lie?” Jono sought clarification.
“Yeah,” Dylan shamefully admitted.
“One lie after another,” Jono rolled his eyes in disbelief.
“Believe what you want, but everything I did was to protect you. I didn’t want you caught up in this stupid freaking mess,” Dylan continued. He looked Jono straight in the eye, “You were always my priority.”
“You should have just told me, you idiot,” Jono was crying too. The raindrops weren’t doing such a good job after all, “I don’t care that you’re a werewolf. Sure, it might take some getting used to, but you’re still you. It’s the lies I can’t take.”
“And they will stop. I swear, you know all my secrets now,” Dylan cleared up. Jono paused. Each second felt like a day as Dylan waited for the verdict.
“If I hear one more lie come out of your mouth, I’ll shove your tail so far up your ass…,” Jono cracked a smile for the first time that evening.
“I don’t have a tail,” Dylan jokingly corrected.
“You know what I mean,” Jono grinned. Dylan nodded, still crying, but now his tears were happy tears.
“No more lies,” Dylan confirmed. He couldn’t believe his luck. Jono was actually giving him another shot. Jono leaned in to press his lips against Dylan. Oh, how Dylan enjoyed the rush of pheromones flowing through his body whenever they locked lips. He wasn’t expecting to feel this again so soon. It was incredible though, and he savoured it. He was soaking wet too, but he didn’t care. Maybe things weren’t so bad after all.
Despite everything Dylan had done, Jono couldn’t find it in him to give up on all they had. So what if they had only been together for less than a week? He trusted his gut about everything, and it was telling him to stick by Dylan. Maybe he was right – he was trying to protect him all along.
The werewolf part sounded like such a non-issue in the end too. Lily was right – it was just like a gay person coming out. And he knew how shitty that felt. As hard as it was, he now had to trust Dylan, and his guy told him that was the right thing to do. The feel of Dylan’s perfect lips against his just backed it up. As he broke the kiss, Dylan shivered.
“Shall we go back in?” Dylan offered. The bunker still didn’t sound too appealing to Jono. It was so claustrophobic.
“Can’t we just run away and never look back?” Jono joked.
“Yasmin would hunt me down herself and murder me, let alone the alpha,” Dylan chuckled, “Come on. If it’s Drew you’re worried about, I can deal with him.”
“It’s this whole thing,” Jono confessed, “I mean, I just found out that one of my best friends is a murderous werewolf thing.”
“I promise you I don’t want to hurt him,” Dylan assured, “Is there any reason he might be doing this?”
“Nothing. Maybe…,” Jono paused, “Maybe Freddie might know something. They’ve known each other longer.”
“Alright, let’s go then,” Dylan optimistically said. He liked the idea of he and Jono being sort-of-detectives together.
Left behind in the bunker, Yasmin looked down at the back of her hand. It had been hurting a lot since Dylan accidentally scratched her with his claws, and it was still bleeding. Not wanting to make a fuss, she had not told anyone about it. However, the ongoing pain was quite concerning.
“What happened?” Lily enquired, spotting the wound.
“Oh nothing, I just caught my hand on the way in,” Yasmin lied. She hated the attention.
“Did Dylan scratch you?” Drew interrogated. His grave tone worried Yasmin a great deal. He sounded more worried than she did.
“Yeah, it’s not a big scratch, it will be alright,” Yasmin brushed it off. Wishful thinking was her best friend.
“Yeah, you’ll be alright. I’ll get you a band aid,” Drew’s nonchalant tone now worried Yasmin even more. He sounded very concerned before, so why was he now so casual? She glanced at it again. The bleeding seemed to have stopped. It hurt like hell still though.
“Could it, you know, pass it on?” Lily whispered.
“I thought it could only be passed on through a bite from the alpha,” Yasmin pondered. She certainly hoped it wouldn’t turn her too. Seeing how it had changed Dylan was more than enough to warn her off.
“Either way, he was shifty as hell just then,” Lily mentioned. Yasmin was glad that it wasn’t just her imagination. Drew returned with a perfectly sized band aid to cover it. He avoided eye contact with her. Always a tell-tale sign of a liar.
“Is there a problem?” she probed.
“No,” Drew responded, still not facing her.
“I know you’re lying Drew,” Yasmin refused to give up. Drew sighed. A defeatist sigh, if Yasmin was as good at reading body language as she thought.
“Look, there’s all kinds of myths about scratches from werewolves. I don’t know if any are true, but we won’t know for sure until it’s healed,” Drew explained.
“What sorts of myths?” Lily was intrigued.
“It varies, and all depends on how quick the wound heals,” Drew revealed, “A deep scratch from an alpha could convert someone, but Dylan’s a beta. Occasionally, very rarely, a scratch could awaken some extra sensory powers. Better hearing, better sight, maybe even psychic abilities.”
“I could be psychic?” Yasmin was scared but fascinated at the same time.
“Like I said, we’ll keep an eye on how long it takes to heal,” Drew shrugged any further conversation off. Yasmin’s mind was slightly at ease – at least she wasn’t going to be converted - but she wanted to know for definite. Now for the waiting game.
As Jono pulled up outside Freddie’s house, Dylan hit the send button on a text to Yasmin notifying her of where they had gone. She would have his guts for garters otherwise.
What’s more is that he had to be on red alert for the alpha. It was a risk to be out anywhere when Josh was on the rampage but Dylan was prepared. He was going to prove to Jono that he meant every word he spoke.
Jono led the way to Freddie’s front door. His street looked pretty normal; his house was a terraced two-storey building right in the centre of the road. Buzz! The doorbell sounded as Jono pressed his finger against the button. The seconds between ringing a doorbell and the door being answered always felt like hours. Eventually, Freddie answered the door.
“Hey, what are you guys doing here?” Freddie smiled.
“Freddie, we need to ask you some questions. It’s about Josh,” Jono spoke. Freddie’s usual friendly expression quickly dropped to one of worry. Dylan felt his anguish. Open-ended statements never got any easier.
Exploring the bunker, Lily was amazed by all of the gadgets scattered around. They intrigued her – all must have had some use to Drew at some point, but for the life of her, Lily had no idea what for. She looked at a glass jar perched on a shelf. It was filled with grains of a dark sand-like substance.
“What’s this?” she questioned.
“Mountain ash,” Drew responded, “Pretty deadly to us but has no effect on humans. It works as a defence mechanism.”
“How? It just looks like grains of rock,” Yasmin wondered as she joined the conversation.
“It forms a barrier that werewolves cannot cross. The walls of this bunker are lined with it. All I’d have to do to protect myself is tip the jar in front of the door to complete the circle,” Drew explained.
“So why don’t we?” Lily queried, “We’re basically sitting ducks down here.”
“Like I said, it won’t be able to track us down here,” Drew reiterated. Nevertheless, Lily still wasn’t totally comfortable, especially with Jono still out in the open.
Having been escorted up to Freddie’s bedroom, Dylan was taking in the sights. The walls were cream but were barely visible behind numerous gaming and film posters – most of which Dylan didn’t recognise. An electric guitar was stood carefully on a stand next to the unmade bed, but that was just about the only neat part of the room. Clothes were left all over the floor and DVDs were littering the place. Freddie’s laptop was in the middle of the bed with the lid open. He obviously spent a lot of his free time in there.
“What did you want to know?” Freddie wondered, clambering onto his bed and shutting the laptop.
“Have you noticed anything strange about him recently?” Jono posed. Dylan managed to find a sensible place to stand amongst the DVD cases and hair products scattered around.
“Like what? I mean, he’s been pretty study-crazy recently but nothing too strange,” Freddie thought.
“Studying? Why? His grades are great already and we don’t have exams. Why now?” Dylan wondered.
“He said he was worried about failing, it always sounded odd when he’s never come close to failing in his life. You remember that, right?” Freddie glanced to Jono.
“I think it might have been a cover-up,” Jono suggested.
“For what?” Freddie was concerned.
“All in good time,” came a voice from the doorway behind. It was Josh, stood with his blood-red eyes glowing brightly.
Pacing back and forth, Yasmin was sick of waiting. Not knowing how Dylan and Jono were getting on was bad enough, but not knowing how long they would be in the bunker made it even worse
On the bright side, the pain had subsided from her wrist, but she didn’t know if that was good or bad. They needed a bigger expert than Drew to tell her more, and she knew damn well that a werewolf expert wasn’t going to be easy to find. Maybe one of those people firing bullets at the alpha would know. Drew had kept quiet on that entire incident since it happened, but it was intriguing Yasmin. She didn’t see how many people there were, but judging by the number of bullets, there must have been four or five.
“You’re thinking about them, aren’t you?” Drew predicted. How he was so spot-on was beyond Yasmin.
“Who were they?” she wondered.
“I don’t know,” Drew replied, “But I’ve seen their kind before.”
“Whose kind? Am I missing something?” Yasmin tried to understand.
“Hunters,” Drew gravely told her. It sent a shiver down Yasmin’s spine. People hunt werewolves? In a world making steps to equality, that sounded so backwards.
“Werewolf hunters were all over Crystalshaw a few years back. Eventually, all of the werewolves were either killed or had scarpered,” Drew notified.
“That doesn’t explain you. Or Josh,” Yasmin pointed out.
“I have a long story,” Drew vaguely mentioned, “Josh is new here. He has to be.”
“I know how we can check that. Come on, let’s go,” Yasmin sprang to life.
Dylan stepped back as soon as he saw Josh. His once-friendly classmate now embodied his worst nightmares. Coming face-to-face with him again was something Dylan had desperately hoped to avoid.
“Stupid decision Dylan, you should’ve stayed in your little hideout. As soon as you left wherever you were, I could smell you a mile off,” Josh threatened, “And you’ve brought lover boy. I see he’s in-the-know now, sorry about that.” Dylan was doing his best to remain in control. Anger made him shift, but he couldn’t afford to lose himself now.
“What the hell Josh?” a startled Freddie was baffled.
“My ever-loyal best mate,” Josh approached Freddie.
“Leave him alone,” Jono ordered.
“Or what? You’ll unleash your pet on me?” Josh did his best to goad both Dylan and Jono. Dylan was determined not to give in. His anchor was firmly in place in his mind.
“Has everyone gone stark-raving mad?” Freddie was still not getting the answers he desired.
“Do you remember when that arrogant dick George punched me in junior high?” Josh asked, “Nobody believed me, but you did. You said you would always be loyal to me.”
“The three musketeers. You, Jono and me,” Freddie smiled.
“Stand by my side now,” Josh commanded, and before Dylan could rush to stop him, Josh sank his teeth into Freddie’s arm. Freddie cried out in pain as blood squirted everywhere. He tried to struggle away, but it was to no avail. Dylan felt the pain in his leg as he remembered feeling the exact same when Josh bit him just a few nights ago. He wouldn’t have wished it on his worst enemy, let alone someone as adorable as Freddie.
As Josh released his grip, Freddie passed out from the blood loss.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Dylan scolded.
“Sooner or later Dylan, you’ll realise that we are a pack. You can stand with me or die at my hands,” Josh ordered.
“What do you want?” Dylan yelled helplessly.
“I want to restore werewolves to Crystalshaw. A pack dominating once again, like my pack years ago,” Josh answered, “Anyone who has an issue with that will be taken out.”
“What if we refuse?” Jono piped up.
“Then you’re a problem that I will have to solve,” Josh replied coldly, “I will give you until Monday to decide, Dylan, but remember, I know where all your friends live. Or maybe I’ll kill them at school instead. The possibilities are endless.” He laughed, as if he’d just told the funniest joke going. Dylan used this chance to run outside, dragging Jono with him by the hand. They kept on going until they were safely back in the car.
“What the hell just happened?” Jono panted.
“He’s turning Freddie. Either that, or he’ll bleed to death,” Dylan worriedly told him. Jono put the car into reverse, but any escape they made was only temporary. Josh would find them again, he always did.
|
Next: "Detention"
|