Chapter One ★ Bitten :: Cont’

｡☆✼★━ Luna ━★✼☆｡

He sat up and rubbed his eyes. He groaned, “Ow, my head… where am I?”

The kid face went pale as he reached up around his neck. He called out, “My camera. Where’s my camera?”

Pearl and I looked down at the ground close to the kid. He looked down too. The sad remains of his camera littered the dirt. Are camera’s really that fragile?

“Oh no.” He said and the corners of his lips turned downward. Looked like he was about to cry. Instead he smacked the ground with the palm of his hand and turned away from us.

His shoulders shuddered and I did hear the faint sniffle come from him. I tried to go to him but Pearl snatched my arm and hissed, “Didn’t you learn from the last time?”

“C’mon, Pearl. He ain’t no werewolf. He’s just some kid whose having a rough night.” I shot back.

She arched an eyebrow and kept a firm grip on my arm… it almost pinched a bit too much if you’d ask me. Her gaze went down to my hand wrapped in a bloodied towel. “Some kid, huh? Then what the heck bit you tonight?”

Pearl did have a point. A dang good point. No matter if I wanted to believe this kid wasn’t a werewolf… the truth of the matter of fact is… that he was one. And there’s no telling if he’ll transform again if he’s angered. Alright then we’ll just take this nice and slow.

I called out to him, “Hey kid. Sorry bout yer camera. Ya got some parents we can call fer ya?”

His arm moved up and over as he wiped his nose with a loud sniff. He hunched back over his knees and answered, “I’d prefer if you’d both leave me alone.”

Pearl jumped in, “Well, I got some bad news for ya kid. You have three choices… one you vamoose right now, two we call you parents or three we call the cops. Which one it’ll be?”

He pounded the ground with his fist. He growled, “I said leave me alone.”

“You’re in my yard.” Pearl pointed out. “You need to leave. Take your camera and go or I will call the cops.”

“Are you nuts lady?” He shouted. “Can you not see my camera is busted to bits? It’ll take me forever to pick it all up.”

“Not my problem.” She replied. “Maybe you should have thought twice before trying to take perverted pics of us.”

I could feel the heat rolling off the kid as stood up. His hands clenched into tight fists as he breathed in and out and his shoulders tensed. If I let Pearl continue to beret this kid then things were gonna get ugly and ugly fast. With a roll of my shoulders I pulled my arm out of Pearl’s tight clutches I approached the kid like I was walking on eggshells.

In a small voice I said, “Look. I don’t know what you were doing and I don’t want to play the blame game. So let’s agree that tonight didn’t go as planned.”

His shoulders loosened and his breathing was slowing down. Good it seems like I might be getting through to him. I continued, “Is there someone we can call?”

The kid stiffened at my question. Uh-oh. Time to back peddle a little. I added, “A friend, maybe? It doesn’t have be a parent…”

He let out a sigh then answered, “No.” A few seconds later he asked, “Do you have a bag that I can use?”

With a nod towards Pearl she went back into the house to get a plastic bag. I asked, “So, what’s your name kid? Mine’s Luna.”

“Daniel.” He replied still looking down at the busted camera. It was one of those digital ones. Not cheap. Most of the damage appeared to have happened to the lens and not the camera body. He might be able to salvage it. Hey! Just because I’m a mermaid doesn’t mean that I don’t know about human technology. Give us merpeople some credit. Sheesh.

The door slammed shut as Pearl came out with a paper bag. She held it out to Daniel. He looked up and took it then begun picking up the pieces to his camera. He mumbled, “I don’t remember falling on the camera. What happened? Why can’t I remember what happened?”

I answered his question, “You don’t remember because you’re a werewolf Daniel.”

He stopped midway on picking up another piece. His jaw hung open as his eyes widened. He stood still with his mouth wide open that I feared that bats might roost in it.

“Daniel, was it?” Pearl asked.

Daniel blinked and closed his mouth. He placed the shard of glass into the paper bag and replied, “Yes.”

“It might be a shock to you but it’s totally normal.” Pearl continued, “Our record told us that there were no werewolves in the south however they are a few years out of date. You’re living proof.”

“Normal?” His eyebrows shot up. “What’s normal about being a werewolf? And how the heck do I know y’all didn’t rufy me?”

He pointed at Pearl and me, “You’re the new ones here and I’ve never seen y’all before. So who are you?”

“I’ve already told you my name,” I replied. “My name is Luna and her’s is Pearl.”

“So.” He glowered. “Still doesn’t explain how y’all suddenly showed up.”

“I can explain.” I stepped forward and motioned with my arms in a welcoming gesture.

He shot his hand out and said, “Stop. Don’t come near me or I’ll call the police.”

Daniel swiped a few more pieces of his camera lens from the ground before snatching the body and tossed it into the paper bag. He folded the top several times then held it at his side. Before he took a step he threw a menacing glare at each of us and said, “Don’t follow me. I don’t trust you. If I see you again then I will call the police.”

Both Pearl and I stood where we stand and watched the little punk leave our yard. I doubt that he actually believed us about him being a werewolf. Heck, if I was him then I would have a hard time swallowing that nonsense too. But it was true… and the truth is always the hardest to believe.

The crunch of gravel faded as Daniel’s tennis shoes carried him out of earshot. He went south and away from our house. I was about to follow when Pearl said, “No. Don’t follow him. We don’t need to this time.”

I cocked my head to one side. That’s odd so I asked, “Why not this time? Isn’t standard procedure to wipe their memory?”

She shook her head and held up a tan leather wallet between her fingers. I smacked my forehead and exclaimed, “That’s what yer where looking for earlier.”

Pearl held a smug smile on her face and merely replied, “Yup.”

“So, what are going to do? He knows about us.” I leaned towards the garden exit. “We can’t risk him blabbing about us being here…”

Pearl waved the wallet at me, “By all means this might work in our favor. If my hunch is right this might mean a promotion for me AND you.”

“A promotion?” I blinked.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ – TO BE CONTINUED… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙