February 17 | Monday #13
A young boy had appeared in the room. He had short, black hair and dark eyes. He was short, gaunt, and extremely pale. As he approached the table, Oscar immediately stood up to help his brother sit down.
“How are you feeling?” he asked quietly.
“Good,” Wade replied, then fixed his gaze on their guest. “Who’s that?”
“My boyfriend, Will,” Oscar announced. “I told you about him.”
“Oh. Hi, Will.”
Will gave an uncertain smile.
“Hi, Wade.”
Mrs. Summers brought Wade his dinner.
“Eat as much as you can, sweetie,” she said, before kissing his temple.
Wade nodded. He sat with them for a while but barely touched his food. At one point, his eyelids drooped. He swayed precariously. His mother immediately jumped up from her seat, catching him in her arms.
“Wade, honey!” she called, shaking him lightly.
Wade opened his eyes.
“Come on,” his mother said softly, helping him stand up. “I’ll take you to your room. We’ll put on some cartoons, okay?”
“Okay,” Wade whispered, following her. “Will you come see me later, Ozzie?” he asked before they left the room.
“I will,” Oscar promised.
Will followed the boy with a worried gaze.
“What’s wrong with him?” he asked quietly.
“They don’t know,” Oscar whispered.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s very weak. He’s anemic, so that makes sense.
They kept him in the hospital on an IV for a long time, but it didn’t do much.
His body doesn’t seem to absorb certain nutrients properly, and despite running a lot of tests, no one could figure out why.
They couldn’t even say if it was the cause of his poor health or just a consequence of some other illness.
A lot of different doctors looked at him, and in the end, they all just threw up their hands.
And he’s getting worse. Just a few years ago, he had enough energy to play outside, and now… ”
Oscar trailed off, shaking his head.
“I’m sorry,” Will said quietly.
The tension in Oscar’s face eased a little, until a smile finally returned.
“Come on,” he said, taking Will’s hand.
They went upstairs to Oscar’s room. It was quite spacious, bathed in shades of blue and white.
It looked almost like something out of a magazine, if not for the poster hanging on the wall of a half-naked Tommy Masterson—a fairly well-known actor in his forties.
The poster wasn’t particularly provocative, but it wasn’t hard to guess that Oscar had a thing for Masterson.
Older, muscular, handsome as hell, and self-confident…
Will felt inadequate all over again.
“Your birthday’s coming up soon, right?” Oscar asked.
“How did you know?” Will asked, surprised.
“You invited me to your party last year, at the end of January. It just stuck in my head.”
“The twenty-eighth,” Will specified. He remembered wanting to use it as an excuse to see Oscar, but in the end, nothing had come of that either.
“That’s really soon. I need to think of a gift.”
“You’d better,” Will joked.
Oscar chuckled, then moved closer to Will and placed a long kiss on his lips. He started to press against him, pushing him toward the bed until they both landed on it.
“Your mom’s downstairs,” Will reminded him nervously.
“Good,” Oscar replied, biting his lip in a playful smile. “Would you rather she were here?”
“No.”
They both laughed, then went back to kissing.
Will felt happy.
January 22 | Wednesday
It was the lunch break. Will sat at an empty table, looking for Dan.
Lately, the cafeteria was the only place he saw him—they didn’t have any classes together anymore, and Will found it hard to believe that was a coincidence.
Danny was clearly avoiding him, which was understandable to a degree, yet Will had trouble accepting that Dan had given up on their friendship without a fight.
He himself still hoped they could work things out.
Liam took the seat across from him.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“I don’t see Mr. Surfer anywhere. Which is surprising, since you two have been glued to each other lately. Congrats.”
“Thanks.”
“What’s up?”
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you, but I just haven’t had the time,” Will admitted. Liam looked at him with interest. “Last week, I saw Blake arguing with some guys. They were being really unpleasant.”
“Guys jealous of the girls who fell for the vampire’s charm?” Liam scoffed, laughing quietly.
“They seemed more jealous of you,” Will corrected him, and Liam looked at him, confused. “They said something about… bloodsuckers.” He lowered his voice. “They told Blake to stay away. And they also said something about vampires never being your friends.”
“Werewolves.”
“Yeah, I figured that much. But what did they want?”
“For me to get involved in the clan’s activities.”
“The clan?”
Liam nodded.
“At this point, it’s more of a formal organization than just a family group, like it used to be.
There’s a clan operating in every major region, and every werewolf is supposed to belong to one.
It makes it easier to control our population.
Protect our secrets, stop the young ones from doing stupid things, and so on.
The clan dispenses justice and generally makes sure the Agency doesn’t breathe down our necks too much.
In theory, it works for the common good, but in practice…
You know. It’s run by people with their own agendas, so it is what it is. ”
“And you don’t want to be a part of it?”
“I just don’t give a shit,” Liam replied in his typical fashion.
“Especially since the local clan is… uh… let’s just say the werewolf running it really likes to focus on the past, and I seriously don’t care what our ancestors did a few centuries ago.
But some people do. Like those guys you saw.
Generally, a lot of young werewolves fall for that kind of talk.
That we’ll stop hiding, break free from the Agency’s influence, and dominate humans and the rest of the supernaturals. ”
“Wow.”
“It’s not gonna happen. Werewolves couldn’t pull it off hundreds of years ago when advanced technology didn’t exist, so they’re not going to pull it off now.”
“Why are they picking on Blake, specifically?”
“Because he hangs out with me. Because he’s a vampire. And above all, because he’s an Alden.”
“That’s outrageous,” Will said indignantly. “They antagonize other werewolves’ friends and intimidate them just to isolate their own?”
“Uh… no, not really. It’s not about all werewolves, it’s just about me.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m black, right?”
Will was speechless.
“That’s racist,” he finally concluded, scandalized.
Liam started laughing.
“I was talking about my coat, but sure.”
“God!” Will turned red. “That is so not what you meant!” Liam was still chuckling. “I’ve never seen your coat.”
“No?” Liam composed himself a bit, but a provocative smirk still played on his lips. “We’ll have to change that.”
“Just not here,” Will stipulated nervously. “And what difference does it make, anyway?”
“It’s just unusual.”
“A black werewolf?”
“Completely black,” Liam specified. “A coat like that is extremely rare. So rare that apparently, the clan leader associates me with the leader of a rebellion against humans from a few centuries ago. That werewolf subjugated several human towns and settlements, which means he achieved more than supernaturals usually managed. Of course, it’s not clear if it really happened or if it’s all just legends, but in our community, everyone’s heard of the Black Werewolf.
When he was finally subdued, at the moment of his death, he promised he would return to finish his work.
And apparently, they think I’m his reincarnation. ”
Will studied Liam carefully.
“Uh… No offense, but I have a hard time seeing you as the leader of anything, let alone a rebellion,” he finally admitted, which made Liam start laughing again.
“Sorry, that came out wrong. You were made team captain in the middle of your freshman year, which is unheard of and seriously impressive, but other than that… You know.”
“I get it. And don’t worry. I have no plans to conquer humanity,” Liam joked, winking at him.
Will smiled, amused.
“Good.”
The rest of Will’s day passed in relative peace. After class, he went to Oscar’s. He didn’t get back to his own place until late in the evening.
After a quick shower, he went into his bedroom and walked to the window to close the blinds, but then he noticed someone standing outside, right in front of his house.
Will frowned and nearly pressed his face to the glass, trying to get a better look at the intruder, but when he finally recognized the person, he jumped back suddenly, feeling like his heart was about to leap out of his chest.
Reaching into his pants pocket for his phone and not finding it, Will concluded he must have left the device in his jacket. He ran downstairs, and as soon as he grabbed his cell, he dialed Norma’s number.
“He—”
“Christine is here,” Will gasped frantically.
“Who?”
“That girl! That demon! It, her, I don’t even know! It’s standing outside, staring at my window.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Will confirmed nervously, carefully moving into the living room. He was afraid to get too close to the window, but even from there, he could see the intruder’s silhouette.
“What would it be doing there?”
“I don’t know, should I go out and ask?”
“That’s not what I mean. Demons do a lot of incomprehensible things, but why would it risk stalking someone who could exorcise it?”
“I couldn’t do that.”
“Of course you could. Theoretically. Any wizard can.”
“Yeah, but practically I can’t do anything, because I can’t control any of it!” Will hissed, growing more panicked by the second. “Seriously, Norma, do something! I’m scared.”
“Calm down, I’ll send someone over right away.”