The three teenagers and little girl walked along the scorching Mid-August asphalt, crickets chirped in the distance, “Don’t worry, I know we’re out in the middle of nowhere but we still got normal people stuff. Got a movie theater, convenience stores, bars, restaurants… anything a human town would have.”
Annalise scratched the back of her head, looking back and then up at Dahlia, “Sorry, but… is your dad racist against humans?”
Dahlia stifled a laugh, “Well, the correct term is speciesist… but, yeah… if you couldn’t tell, he doesn’t really like your kind.”
Fay perked up, “Why’s that?”
Rowan added, “Did something happen with your mom, or someone in your family?”
Dahlia shook her head and waved a paw, “No, no. Nothing like that. My mom did pass when I was a pup, but she got ill, it had nothing to do with humans. No, my father was hunted by humans when he was around our age. He was with some local kids at a Howling, and they were down by a lake. They’d just scared some human tourists and were drinking when they started hearing gunshots. Eventually one of them hit his friend in the leg. That’s when they realized the hunters were after them. They still don’t know if the hunters were specifically after wolves, maybe trying to thin the local population, or if they mistook them for a caribou or something, but to Dad it doesn’t matter, they were after them. Everyone made it out alive, but all of them either had gunshot wounds or were grazed by bullets. My father has never liked humans since then, he’ll patrol the town at night and scare off any nosy humans, he’s sort of a local legend in these parts… The Wolfman of Pax Valley.”
Rowan looked around at the local shops and building, “I’m sorry that happened to your dad, I’m sorry about your mom too.”
Dahlia waved a paw, “Don’t worry about it. My dad can be a bit overreactive when it comes to humans. I’m assuming you’ve never harmed a werewolf, and my mom passed a long time ago. Most of my life it’s just been me and Dad.”
The group turned a corner and Dahlia opened a large glass door, leading into a pizzeria. The air smelt of dough and spices, and the ever-present hum of an air conditioner could be heard from the back of the store. An elderly grey-furred, chubby wolf woman in an apron was at the counter, humming to herself while kneading dough. Dahlia chirped, “Heya Mrs. Barlowe.”
The old werewolf turned and immediately jumped backwards at the sight of the four, “Humans! W-what are they doing here Dahlia. Call your father.”
Dahlia waved a paw at her, “Relax Mrs. Barlowe, they’re friendly They’re a family who just moved into town.”
Mrs. Barlowe shook her head, “No one’s moved into this community for decades… and humans have never set foot on this turf unless it’s by accident.”
Dahlia nodded, “Well… as fate would have it, a real estate developer snatched up the old Bullara house, and now it’s been renovated to be human-friendly.”
The old werewolf shook her head, “They can’t do that. It’s our property, it’s our town.”
Dahlia’s face shifted to a sympathetic look, “I’m sorry Mrs. Barlowe, but they already have. It’s done. The only reason they’re still here is because they’ve sunk everything into this place. They’ve got nowhere else to go.”
Mrs. Barlowe shook her head and eyed the three humans, “Well… I’m not one for refusing customers. And they are just kids…”
Within a few minutes, the four were sat in a booth while Mrs. Barlowe was making a pizza. Annalise looked at the elderly werewolf and back to Dahlia, “No offense, but is there a lot of hair in the food around here?”
Dahlia tried to stifle a snorting laugh, “Ha! No, not really. We try to keep our fur out of the food as best we can. I think we’ve become pretty conscious of that. No one likes hair in their food.”
Annalise and Fay sat on one side, while Dahlia and Rowan sat on the other. No one called attention to it, but Annalise noticed how Dahlia had her free arm draped across the back of the booth right behind Rowan, as if she was about to wrap it around him and pull him into a deep hug.
Mrs. Barlowe soon came up with a pizza pie, setting it on the table. Dahlia looked up, “How much do I owe you Mrs. Barlowe?”
The elder wolf waved her paw, “It’s on the house… for our new neighbors.”
Fay bounced in her seat, “Thanks Mrs. Barlowe!” The old werewolf smiled warmly at her, “You’re welcome sweetheart. I’m sure you’ll all be welcome here. People are just going to have on adjust to seeing new faces around here.”
The group of four started to eat their pizza and got to talking, most of the questions were from the humans directed at Dahlia. Rowan asked, “So what do you think about werewolf movies?”
Again, Dahlia needed to hold back her laughter, “Um… well, in a word, overrated… HIGHLY overrated. No one ever gets the transformation right… or I guess you would say LACK of transformation. We still have control over ourselves during a fool moon, none of us ever go feral. The worst it’ll get is sometimes during a full moon we can get cranky and irritable. Then again… if someone made a true to life werewolf horror movie, there probably wouldn’t be much horror to begin with. Maybe if you’re a deer or something, but-”
Before Dahlia could finish, the screen door to the pizzeria creaked open as three teenage werewolves entered. A male with brown fur waved at Dahlia, “Hey Dal… HOLY SHIT!”
Dahlia grinned as the three werewolves approached their booth, “Language Nate, we have a baby on board.”
Fay took offense to that, “Hey, I am not a baby.”
Dahlia smirked, “Sorry, young lady on board…”
The three wolves that stood flabbergasted in front of them were the Timberwolf Nate, a female grey wolf named Lindsey, and Eurasian male wolf named Parker. Nate rubbed the back of his head, “So… got some humans, huh? T-they… are just passing through…?”
Dahlia corrected, “They live here now. Got the old Bullara house. It’s not their fault, some real estate ghoul sold it to them without letting them know this was a werewolf town… maybe the agent didn’t even know.”
Parker scrunched his muzzle in confusion, “D-does your dad know?”
Dahlia cackled, “Oh, does he know! He gave them a warm welcome.”
Nate sized up the three humans, “W-well, w-welcome guys. I-I’m Nate. I, um… never thought I’d see real life humans in my life. Ugh… good to have ya’.”
Lindsey shook her head, “Don’t mind him he couldn’t read until he was twelve.”
Parker scowled, “Hey, not true!”
Lindsey smirked and snapped her jaws at the air, “Fight me, pretty boy.”
Dahlia grinned and turned back to the humans in the booth with her, “These lovely folks are my friends. That’s Nate, Lindsey and Parker.”
Nate turned his focus back to Dahlia while Parker and Lindsey bickered, “So… um… we were trying to find you cause there’s a Howl tonight and we were hoping you’d join us this time.”
Dahlia huffed, “I know, but I got in so much fucking trouble the last time. My dad wanted to kill me.”
The teen werewolf grinned and turned to Fay, “Now THAT would be a good werewolf horror movie… my dad as the lead villain.”
Nate leaned in a little bit, “Come on, he doesn’t have to know. He’ll be so preoccupied with this whole human situation he’ll have no clue, just slip out and slip back in before sunrise, easy. That’s where you fucked up last time.”
Dahlia turned and nodded her head, “I guess.”
Dahlia’s ears perked as she gently turned to Rowan… and then to Annalise, “Would you two wanna go?”
Fay bounced in her seat, “I wanna go!”
Dahlia giggled and patted Fay on the head, “It’s a little too much to handle for a kid like you. When you’re older you can go.”
Fay pouted and folded her arms in her seat. Dahlia smiled ear-to-ear and turned to Rowan, “You wanna go?”
Rowan looked up at the werewolf, “What is it?”
Lindsey chimed in, “Basically a party for us werewolves out in the woods. Plenty of boozes and fun and debauchery.”
Rowan looked between the two female wolves, “I-Is there any like… hunting involved?”
The werewolves all cracked up, Dahlia answered, “Don’t worry. We’re not gonna eat you or anything. Besides, I’d wanna be sober if I was going to hunt you.”
Deciding to tease him a bit, Dahlia bent down and gave Rowan’s neck a lick, “Mmm, tasty.”
Lindsey giggled, “Looks like you’re looking for a date.”
Dahlia went wide-eyed, “WHAT? NO!”
Lindsey just held her stance, “Oh please, you’re literally slobbering all over him. Not that there’d be anything wrong with that, I’m sure a relationship with a human would be rewarding… definitely interesting.”
Trying to get the conversation onto something else, Dahlia quickly answered, “I’ll go!”
She then turned to Rowan and Annalise expectantly, “What about you?”
Rowan looked over to his teen sister, “I-I’ll go as long your dad doesn’t find out.”
Annalise looked up at Dahlia’s friends and back to Rowan and Dahlia, “I guess, could be cool. As long as there’s beer.”
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