Page 20 of Blood Moon
“Not to ruin the mood, but did anyone hear about the bear attack? A guy was murdered in town, but some people are convinced its werewolves, and they’re absolutely serious about it.”
Abi rolled her eyes, but Stevie crumbled her brows before motioning me to close the door. “What?” she said in almost a whisper. “What do you mean a bear attack? Someone was mauled to death?” She got up then, rushed to her chest of drawers, and pulled out a small porcelain bowl. In it was a bundle of cedar.
“Girl, you know you can’t burn that in here,” Abi said, but Stevie opened the window by my bed and proceeded to do it anyway.
“Shh. It’s only for a second. To clear the air.”
I sat my bottle on the table in the living room area, continued my speech. “Yeah.” I took a breath. “It was a UMKC student,” I said, and I remembered the large animals I’d seen the other night … were they bears? Was there a migration we needed to know and be warned of?
Em frowned, her eyes rounding.
“Okay, but werewolves aren’t real,” Abi said, sitting up. “No offense, or, I guess, take offense if you want, but the people in y’all’s town are kooky.”
Em snickered, and her golden-brown eyes seemed to darken. “What, you don’t believe in werewolves, Abigail?”
Abi threw her stuffed animal at Em, and Em dodged it, laughing again.
Stevie returned to her spot on the bed, threw the toy back at Abi, and turned to Em. “Wait, doyoubelieve in werewolves?”
Em sat up, huffed. “Have y’all seriously not heard anything about the town you moved to college for? Come on, Mira, tell them.”
I’d sat on Abi’s mattress next to her with my legs crossed. All eyes were on me again. “You’ve got this, Em,” I encouraged, deflecting and picking at a nail.
Em pressed her lips thin, tugged on one of her French braids. “So, the story goes, a long time ago, werewolves came in packs to the Midwest because they were at war with the vampires who had hidden here,” she started, crossing her legs, and she looked at me.
My chest tightened.
For a moment, I felt like a child again. The pinch of anticipation deep in my stomach, as if I hadn’t heard the story so many times prior, as if I hadn’t just been talking about it with Abba. Only, it felt different coming from Em, and strange hearing it in the wake of new information.
“The leader of the werewolves helped conquer the vampires,” Em continued. “Protecting the humans and promising to protect the land so that it would prosper forever and ever. Or that was the hope. No one really knows what happened to the vampires after the war, but some are certain the werewolves stuck around to keep a close eye on the city in case the vampires returned. Now, some townies say that if you stare in the dark woods for long enough, you’ll see bright yellow eyes, and the body of a monster!” Em jumped, and it scared Stevie.
Stevie shoved her and regathered herself.
Coincidentally, I jumped, too. Not because of the story, but because of the detail she mentioned about the eyes. “Your version is different than mine,” I said, trying to conceal my fear. “The part about the eyes in the woods …” I said, my voice distant. I hadn’t read about it in the fictionalized books about the town, nor had Rena mentioned it in the stories she told me.
Em held her poise. “Different families share different stories. It’s the one my grandpa told me.” Then she looked at Stevie and Abi. “But, if werewolvesdidexist, they’d be the vilest of creatures.” And then she looked to me. “It’s best we don’t indulge in those kinds of monsters.”
Abi stood and pulled her long hair into a bun atop her head. “I’ve got a cool idea. We should go outside and see if we can spot one!”
“The fuck we are,” Stevie said. “Didn’t you just hear Em’s story? Thevilestof creatures, Abigail. What about that seems like fun to you?”
Abi dropped her shoulders. “It’s not like anything is gonna happen, scaredy-cat. It’s all made up. There’s no way you believe in fantastical fucking monsters. Honestly, it’s probably just a bear, like the reports are saying.”
Stevie made a face and held her spot on the bed.
“Okay, well if you’re too chicken to go outside, let’s turn the lights out and look out the window,” Abi said, rushing to the light switch, and no one moved. “Come on. Humor me, for like sixty seconds.”
“No,” Stevie demanded.
“Yes,” Abi argued, and just like that, she flipped the switch and unplugged the small dangling lights from the ceiling.
No one really moved at first, all of us a bit hesitant of the possible outcome because even if the werewolves didn’t exist, there was the very real threat of bears.
But then Abi rushed to my bed, pulling back the curtains, and in the sliver of the moonlight, I could see a smile on Em’s face. She nodded for me to join her, and she pulled Stevie along, too.
The four of us gathered on my bed as Em opened the window, a cool wind blowing inside. We were all shoulder to shoulder, staring in silence.
“Okay, cool. We did it,” Stevie said, backing away from the window.
