Werewolf Dreams (19 page)

Ava grinned and shook her head.
“I won’t listen to anyone who tells me to leave you Cyrus. Not even you. No Cyrus, I made up my mind the night my father left. I’m here for the long haul. You and me baby, all the way,” she said with a southern accent just to get him to smile.

Instead, he just groaned in misery and buried his face in her hair again. “Promise me that you’ll be careful, that you won’t go anywhere without one of us with you.
There are things going on that I don’t even understand and there are evil people doing evil things. I’m going to do whatever I can stop them, but if anything happened to you, I’d die. Your father wouldn’t have to kill me,” he said, his heart in his eyes.

Patricia sighed with a small smile and glanced at Tobias who reached over and held her hand, with a warm wink.
Ava blushed, not knowing what to say. Cyrus shook his head and smoothed her hair away from her face. “Promise me that no matter what, you’ll live,” he demanded in a soft but firm voice.

Ava bit her lip, knowing she couldn’t really promise that, but knowing if she didn’t he wouldn’t let it go. “Okay Cyrus.
I’ll live. One way or another, for you, I will stay alive, because this world needs you. This crazy little town needs you. But most of all, I need you,” she whispered, wishing his parents weren’t right there watching and listening to everything they said.

Cyrus pulled her closer as a grin spread over his face, but she held him back, glancing at his parents.
Cyrus laughed and let her scoot off his lap, still staring at her with his heart in his eyes.

“Okay, now that that’s settled, what has my dear old grandfather been up to that has everyone so upset?” she asked with a smile as Cyrus pulled her firmly back into the crook of his arm and held her hand.

Patricia’s happy smile fled and Tobias looked thunderous. Cyrus answered her. “Titus refused to punish Ben, Jake and Tom. He says it wasn’t a challenge because it was only witnessed by three or four people. He won’t even punish them for stabbing Grayson in the back. Big Red and Kurt were there and they’re so disgusted they left and immediately turned into wolf form. We heard them howling all the way home. Ben, Jake and Tom and their families are now celebrating down at the pub. They see it as a huge victory and basically as an endorsement from Titus. Which it is. It’s looking like Titus
wants
Ben to challenge me. He’s setting it all up and getting all his players in a row. He wants a leader just like him to take over the town. He knows I want to change things around here and he sees it as insult to tradition and to him.”

Ava frowned, feeling the weight of worry settle around her shoulders. “That’s horrible,” she whispered, glad now that she hadn’t been there. It wouldn’t have done any good.

Patricia nodded in agreement. “There is good news though. Half the town was there and the majority know and support Cyrus. Everyone’s sick to death of Titus’s reign of tyranny. We’re all ready to be a more civilized and peaceful people.
Well, most of us anyway
.”

Ava nodded and glanced at Tobias who looked especially upset.
“And Zoe? What did Titus say about her?” she asked softly as she felt Cyrus stiffen at the woman’s name.

Tobias’s face went white with fury. “He ordered her death.”

Ava gasped in shock and looked at Cyrus who nodded to confirm it. “But that’s so unfair. All she did was grab me by my neck and drag me before I knocked her out. Those guys stabbed Grayson and then attacked Cyrus. He’s insane,” she said in disgust.

Patricia nodded in quick agreement. “The roar through the crowd was deafening. There was almost a
riot. Titus disappeared almost immediately so no one could even try to change his mind.”

Cyrus clenched his fist on his knee and nodded. “I won’t let him kill her. I won’t. I’ll get her away to safety. We have cousi
ns up at Tanner’s Landing a few hundred miles to the north. She’ll be safe there. It’ll be good for her. She’ll have a new beginning and a new life. Away from her father and away from Titus and his ridiculous decrees.”

Ava sighed and leaned her head up against Cyrus’s chest.
“So what now?”

Cyrus looked at his father before answering. “First thing is getting Zoe to safety. She’s scheduled for death tonight in the City Park. After that, I’ll be gathering my friends and allies and we’ll confront Titus. I was meant to take over next year, but the way things are, I have to act now. He’s planning something. It’s my guess that he wants to put Ben in power and then use him as a pawn. That way he keeps control over everyone. I don’t see Titus tucking his tail and walking away. I’ll have to openly challenge him. It’ll be a bloody battle, but at the end of it, we’ll have order and peace,” he said wearily.

Ava sat up, shaking her head. “Cyrus, there has to be another way. Look, you’re so upset about something happening to me. But you’re the one who’s going to be in grave danger. I can’t stand this. Am I just supposed to stand there while you get ripped to shreds?” she asked, gripping his shirt tightly in her hands.

Cyrus stared deep into her eyes and nodded.
“Actually, yes. But in the end Ava, I won’t be the one ripped and broken. It’ll be your grandfather. He’s not strong enough to face me and he knows it. That’s why he probably set up Ben, Jake and Tom to take me out before I had the chance to challenge him. And even though he’s turning a blind eye and letting them off the hook, the town won’t. They’ll be ostracized and they know it.”

Ava swallowed sickly and sat back, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “I’ll be so glad when this is all over.
And when will that be, just out of curiosity?”

Cyrus laughed and played with her hair.
“Sooner than you know. Step one, Zoe. Step two, take out Titus. Step three, take over leadership of town, step four, courting.”

Ava smiled and rolled her eyes. Tobias and Patricia stood up and held hands. “We’re going into town to talk to everyone. We have to get our message out and fast. We’ll be back in a few hours to switch off. Then it will be you’re turn. When they see you and Ava, strong and together, they’ll see the future of this town. They need to see that right now,” Tobias said, looking determined and then led his wife out of the room.

Ava watched them go and smiled. “They’re kind of cool parents, huh?”

Cyru
s stood up to stretch. “Oh yeah, the very best ever. I’ve been really lucky. When I think about how other people were raised, it makes me sick. Listen, after I change, I always need a nap. Do you want to come lay down with me?” he asked raising an eyebrow and looking at her mouth.

Ava laughed and shook her head, holding up her hand. “Remember step #4, Courtship. I don’t think what you have in mind comes first buddy. I’ll just borrow your laptop over there and email my dad and let him know everything that’s going on. Maybe
if we’re lucky he’ll hurry back,” she said, already walking toward the computer, wishing she had thought of that sooner, rather than going outside and meeting her first hybrid.

Cyrus agreed and kissed her chastely on the forehead before heading upstairs.

Ava finished emailing her father and then rummaged around in the kitchen until she found all the ingredients to make Chicken Enchiladas.
Cyrus would be starving when he woke up and Patricia and Tobias might want a meal when they returned from talking to everyone. She grimaced at all the politics and violence she was now a part of. She’d spent her high school years so busy with sports that she’d stayed out of all the typical teen drama. She’d chosen a few close friends and kept her nose out of trouble.
Now?
Now she was making up for it hard core.

Ava chopped the green onions and green chilies as she thought of what Titus wanted to do to Zoe.
Cyrus hadn’t said
how
Zoe would be killed, but by the looks he’d exchanged with his parents, it was most likely brutal and gruesome. She remembered the night she’d met her grandfather and frowned. He’d had no respect for her because she was a girl. And if she wasn’t mistaken, he was a true misogynist. How Ben and his friends could walk away with no punishment and Zoe be sentenced to death was beyond her. When she’d explained everything to her dad in her email, she’d begged him to come back. They needed all the allies they could get right now.

She spooned the meat and sprinkled cheese in the tortillas before rolling them up in the casserole dish.
She’d always found cooking soothing and she enjoyed eating the results of course. She finished ten minutes later and slipped them into the oven and then began cleaning up the mess she’d made. She glanced in the fridge and was happy to see they still had plenty of salad from the other night.

Ava grabbed a cold pop out of the fridge and wandered over to Tobias’s library to pick a book to read while she waited for the enchiladas.
She opened the door and hoped he wouldn’t mind just making herself at home. She walked slowly around the room, glancing at all the titles before picking up a book called,
Werewolves, The Pinnacle of Evolution
. Tobias had a whole section on werewolves. Her eye went wide and she grabbed an armful.

She took the books back into the kitchen and snacked on some potato chips as she drank and read.
Forty-five minutes later, she sort of understood a little better how werewolves came to be. Or at least had a good idea of the different theories. All werewolves could trace their family to a village in what is now France. One author’s theory is that the people in this little village evolved in such a way over hundreds of years ago in order to protect their families from threats. Of course it was just a theory. Another author claimed werewolves were cursed humans and that being a werewolf meant they were damned. She didn’t like that one very much. Another book claimed werewolves were the result of genetic mutation. The one she liked the most herself was the one that claimed werewolves were magical creatures like witches and fairies. It was much better than thinking she was going to hell for something she couldn’t help.

She put the books away and went to check on her enchiladas.
She put on Patricia’s flowered oven mitts and pulled the casserole pan out of the oven just as Cyrus walked in, looking as if it were Christmas morning.

“That’s what woke me up.
Mmm
, smells delicious,” he said grabbing a couple plates out of the cupboard and walking over.

She grinned happily and quickly dished him up five enchiladas knowing he was always hungry.
They sat down to eat together and his obvious enjoyment in the meal made it taste even better.

“Your father was right to brag about you,” Cyrus said, wiping his mouth.
He turned to grab an extra napkin off the counter and saw all of the books she had left there.

“Doing a little research huh?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
             

Ava nodded readily.
“Now I know why my father went into genetics. When you know you’re not normal, you want answers. You told me we’re not half animal half human, but most of the movies or books I’ve seen about werewolves the people always go through this really painful change where their bones grow and fur rips out of their bodies and their faces change and they actually grow snouts and it’s all painful and gross and frightening, but when I saw you and your dad change yesterday, it was so fluid and seamless. You just flowed into a wolf form. Can you explain to me how it works?”

Cyrus shrugged and dished up another two enchiladas.
Ava tried not to cringe as she realized there wouldn’t be any left for Patricia or Tobias the way Cyrus was working his way through them.

“In nature and science, it has to make sense, right?
Can a human being
really
lie on the ground groaning and screaming and then pop out bones and fur within minutes where before it wasn’t there? It’s not biologically sound. It’s not possible. So you’ll have to throw away most of what the world tells you about werewolves. And to be honest, most of what they know is from seeing hybrids. Blood thirsty creatures with human like features who stand up on their hind legs and then try to kill you and eat you. Hybrids are an abomination and they’ve given the rest of us a bad reputation. In Europe, there were a few werewolves who decided to take over a certain city in the hopes of attaining power and wealth. They used hybrids to do it. They were hunted down mercilessly with good cause and that’s where you get the silver bullet tales and things like that. It’s actually pretty interesting if you know where to find the right books to read.”

Ava took a bite of her enchiladas and took a sip as she thought about what Cyrus had just told her.
“Well, then tell me what we are. I don’t even think my dad knows and he’s studied genetics for years.”

Cyrus laughed and shook his head.
“You won’t find the answers in our blood. The knowledge is handed down from father to son and mother to daughter. We’re God’s greatest creatures. We’re designed to exist in both human and animal worlds for the protection and safety of our families. How it exactly works though, no one really knows for sure these days. My mom did some research a few years ago when we were in Europe. We stayed in a little village in Ireland for a month. It’s one of the oldest werewolf villages in the world. They believe werewolves were given the task anciently of protecting people. We were made to stand between danger and women and children when all of the other men went off to war. Werewolves were the ones left behind to stay and protect the families because just one werewolf could do the job of ten men. Having the gift to go seamlessly from man to wolf and back again meant the difference between death and survival. So it’s kind of what you said. We flow from one form to the next. One moment I’m a man and the next I’m a wolf. There’s no pain in the transformation.”