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How Not To Become Lunch: 1 - Don’t Get Bitten by a Werewolf
“Whoa… Hey, Fi! Come check this out!”
Fiona’s ears twitched. She stood on top of the couch, leaning against the windowsill, watching the birds fluttering outside with the kind of wonder-filled fixation that only a young werewolf would have. Hearing her name, she turned around and hopped down. Her good friend Jack was laying with his belly against the floor, legs swinging idly in the air. She walked closer to the fur-less boy and glanced over his shoulder.
“What is it?” she asked.
Jack had a funny object in front of him, some human thing he had brought over from his house. It was like a really skinny book, but each page had a bunch of drawings on it with words scattered here and there. Fiona was pretty sure he had called it a “comic”; it seemed very interesting to him, but she much preferred watching the birds.
“Look what it says!” Jack pointed excitedly.
Fiona glanced over the pages. She couldn’t really read as well as he could yet, so she did her best to figure things out by looking at the pictures. It looked like there was a grownup werewolf and grownup human talking to each other, then there was a picture of the werewolf’s teeth, and then- Jack flipped the page- the werewolf bit the human!
“That was mean,” Fiona commented disapprovingly.
“No, it says that if a werewolf bites a human, then the human turns into a werewolf too!”
“Really!?” Fiona asked. Her ears perked up in surprise. “It says that?” Just because he could read better than her, didn’t mean she wasn’t a bit skeptical.
“Uh-huh,” Jack insisted. He pointed to the words, most of which didn’t mean much to her, but then he flipped through the pages and sure enough there were a whole bunch of pictures that showed the human growing fur and claws just like hers. She looked down at the drawings with increasing interest.
“Did you know werewolves could do that?” Jack asked.
“Nuh-uh,” Fiona replied, shaking her head.
“And I thought you guys having a tail was cool, but this is super cool!” the little boy exclaimed.
“I told you, having a tail isn’t that great,” she replied. “It always gets in the way of stuff.”
“I know, but I still think they’re cool. Especially yours, I like the way it sticks up like a point at the end.”
Fiona’s tail wagged gently a few times; a sign she appreciated the complement.
“Wait a sec…” Jack muttered, he glanced away from the comic, his young mind obviously working something over, then his eyes widened with excitement. He suddenly rolled over onto his butt and looked up at his friend.
“Fi, what if you turned me into a werewolf!”
She grew a small smile as the idea filled her mind, but then her tail suddenly drooped along with her ears. She frowned just a bit.
“Wait, you want me to bite you?…” she asked.
“Yeah! Wouldn’t it be awesome if I could be a werewolf just like you?”
“Yeah but… but wouldn’t your mom and dad be mad if you weren’t human anymore?” she asked a bit timidly.
“No, I don’t think so. My mom is always worried about me with all the other predators around, but if I were a werewolf then I’d be a predator! She’d never have to worry again. Oh! And then we could both go to predator classes together!”
Fiona’s tail wagged a couple more times as she imagined doing pred things with him, she could teach him how to catch birds like her dad had taught her. It would be nice…
“Well, okay. If you’re sure,” she said.
Jack nodded his head vigorously. He scooted closer and then stuck out his arm. She looked down at it. Her tail drooped a bit further, she rubbed one furry foot nervously against the other. Gathering her resolve, she leaned forward, opening her mouth and baring her pointy teeth- in the least threatening way she could.
Jack watched with an unblinking gaze. Fiona hesitated for a moment, but before long he felt her warm breath wash over his arm and soon her mouth made contact. He felt her lips first, warm and wet and gentle, wrapping around him. And then afterwards came the teeth, which she lowered slowly. A jolt ran down his spine as he felt the little dagger-like points come to rest against his skin.
They both felt each other hesitate now; there was a somewhat tense moment of silence.
(Muffled) “Um, won’t this hurt?” Fiona asked apprehensively, her words vibrating against his arm.
“Yeah, but, it’s okay,” Jack replied, trying to sound brave, “I can handle it. It’ll just be a quick bite and then we can be werewolves together, right?” He smiled up at her, though he was still visibly nervous. She could smell the sweat beginning to form on his skin, just below her nose, but his smile gave her a bit of confidence.
(Muffled) “Okay,” she said, “Here I go…”
Jack felt the teeth withdraw for a moment, and then suddenly-
“Ouch!!”
“Sorry!!” Fiona squeaked. She released him immediately and retreated so quickly that she accidentally fell onto her bottom. When she looked back at him, he had his hand clutching his arm, covering the place where her mouth had just been. There was a tear in his eye, and leaking out from underneath his fingers, she could start to see a hint of red. She tasted something familiar on the tips of her teeth: blood.
“Oh no! Jack, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
“No!” he interrupted. “I’m- *sniff*- I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt that bad, really.” He brought one hand up to wipe his eyes, but he still held his arm tight.
“Are you sure?” Fiona asked, staring at him with guilt-ridden eyes.
“Yeah…” he muttered. He followed her gaze down and saw the tiny amount of blood beginning to show itself. He tried to stay strong.
“Do- *sniff*- do you think it worked?” he asked.
Before she could answer, they were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening.
“Fiona, I’m back!” called a woman’s voice. They heard the door close, followed by a few footsteps. “Fiona?”
The girl’s mother rounded the corner into the living room to find her daughter standing with a very guilty expression, right next to-
“Jack! My goodness! What happened!?” She walked over quickly and knelt by his side. “Let me see,” she instructed, reaching out a clawed hand to gently move his away. Once she saw the wound, her eyes immediately flashed over to her daughter.
Fiona braced herself, expecting her mother to be furious, but instead her ears went limp, the color draining from her face.
“Fiona… what did you do?” she asked in quiet horror.
“No, it was my fault,” Jack interrupted. “I read about how werewolves could make humans into werewolves too by biting them, so I asked Fi to do it.” She looked back at Jack, obviously trying to put on a face.
“Jack, honey, that’s just an old human myth. Getting bitten by a werewolf doesn’t turn you into one… it, well it marks you.”
“But- but it’ll heal right?” Fiona asked.
“No, Fiona, it’s more than just the bite mark. Getting bitten like that marks him as prey.”
“Wh- what do you mean?” Jack asked.
“We have to get you home,” she said emphatically. “Right now, before it starts happening. Heaven knows what I’d do to myself if I even had the thought…” she trailed off without finishing.
“Fiona, dear, get me a towel from the kitchen so we can wrap Jack’s arm,” she instructed firmly.
“Okay.” The girl scurried off quickly.
“Jack, are either of your parents home?”
He nodded in response.
“Good.”
Fiona returned with a clean rag.
“Is Jack gonna be okay?” she asked
“He’ll be fine,” her mother replied, but she didn’t look her daughter in the eyes, and she didn’t sound all too convincing. “Say goodbye now, I have to take him home.”
Fiona turned to her friend.
“Bye Jack,” she said unhappily.
“Bye Fi, I guess I’ll see you-” That was all he had time to say before Fiona’s mother finished tying the cloth around his arm and hurriedly hauled him away. The two friends shared one last look before Jack was carried off through the front door and out into the world.
… Years Later …
“…And for the predators in the room who have teeth, your bite also has another important ability: marking your target as prey. Sometimes your food doesn’t go down after the first attack, this is nature’s way of encouraging your persistence- and rewarding it. Any creature you mark as prey will quickly become quite irresistible. It makes it much easier for you to track them and gives you a good incentive to finish the job. I can tell you from experience that it makes them taste a hundred times better, and that’s not even mentioning the smell.”
A hand shot up amidst the crowd of students.
“Yes?”
“But Ms. Ivy, I thought you said only preds with teeth can mark their prey, how could you have any experience?”
“Ah, that’s the thing: marking a creature as prey makes them delectable to all preds. So you need to be careful, if you let your meal get into the hands of other predators there’s a good chance you won’t get it back- even if that other pred is a toothless frog like myself.”
*RING*
“Alright, that’s all for predator class today, see you next time- and remember to practice.”
Fiona stood up from her desk. Her eyes drifted over the other students in the room, but she didn’t linger on anyone in particular. She reached down and grabbed her things, piling them into one furry arm before heading for the door along with everyone else. Heavy thoughts threatened to breach her mind, but she held them back.
Ms. Ivy’s already told us about the prey mark three times, did she really have to bring it up again? she complained silently.
She made it into the hallway and continued towards her locker; she had to swap out her next set of textbooks for her next class. As she walked, she heard bits and pieces of the normal high school gossip:
“…Did you hear Lily is dating Max now?…”
“…Hey, did you meet that new kid? The one who just moved…”
“…Man, Ms. Caster’s totally gonna fail me on that test…”
“…Did you see the way those preds were looking at the new guy, that poor kid’s definitely marked…”
Fi’s ears perked up with a mind of their own, but she only grunted quietly in annoyance and kept on walking.
“…So, what kind of prey have you…”
“…I bet you Sarabeth would…”
“… Yeah, that new boy Jack is cute, but I’d stay away from him unless you want to get eaten…”
That last one definitely caught her attention, but she kept walking anyway.
It’s just some stupid coincidence, there’s no way that-
Fiona stopped dead in her tracks. She smelled something familiar.
There’s… no way…
She sniffed the air again. She still didn’t believe it, but she turned around, following her nose back down the hall and around the corner. And then she finally caught a glimpse.
“Jack,” she gasped quietly to herself. It really was him! What was he doing back in town!? What was he doing in her school!? She stared at him for a second, unable to believe her eyes. He was walking slowly and cautiously, clearly quite nervous. He kept a close eye on everyone who passed by, especially the obvious preds. His arms were full of books, like he was a student as well, but how could that-
“Hey, whoa!” A rather chubby naga, who had just slithered past Jack, suddenly stopped and turned around.
Jack’s free hand instantly went to his hip, like he had some sort of weapon. At the same time he almost jumped out of his skin and just barely managed to keep from dropping his books all over the floor.
“Wow, you smell really good!” the naga said, as she leaned closer to get a better whiff.
“Oh- um- thanks,” Jack stuttered awkwardly. He peeked backwards, only to see the naga’s serpentine tail instinctively curving around to cut off his retreat. When he glanced back up, he saw a terrifying look in the snake-girl’s eyes: giddy, elated… hungry.
“I’m… just gonna go-”
*NOM*
“Jack!” Fiona cried. She dropped everything she was carrying and rushed into a full-on sprint. Jack’s books hit the floor along with hers as he frantically reached up to try and remove his head from the naga’s mouth, but the scaly maw raced down his body with wild abandon, eagerly scarfing him down.
Before Fiona had even made it down the hall, Jack was already dangling by his waist, with his legs flailing desperately in the air. She took aim and braced her shoulder, letting out a cry somewhere between a scream and a bark.
“Agh!!”
*CRASH*
The naga had been so captivated by Jack’s flavor that she hadn’t even seen Fiona coming, but she sure felt it when the werewolf charged full force into her squishy gut. The impact knocked the snake-girl a good five feet and sent Jack flying out of the unfortunate pred like a projectile.
Fiona bared her claws and teeth savagely and let loose a rather loud growl. Upon gathering herself, the naga took one good look at the angry werewolf and immediately bolted away as fast as her slithering scales could carry her.
It was only then that Fiona realized most of the nearby students were staring at her. She quickly silenced herself, taking a more relaxed pose and running a hand through her fur to try and manage the tufts that always popped up whenever she got angry.
“Uuuughhhh… Am I dead?”
“Jack!” she squeaked. Jumping round, she rushed over and knelt by his side. He half sat up and rubbed his head, blinking a few times before focusing on her.
“Fi, is that you?” he muttered. The werewolf responded by immediately throwing her arms around him, ignoring the noticeable amount of naga saliva still covering his upper body.
“Oh my goodness Jack, I can’t believe it’s really you! I haven’t seen you in like forever!” she squealed joyfully. Then her tone grew a little worried. “I thought you moved away to live with your aunt so she could protect you, but then I never saw you again and I was so scared you’d gotten eaten or something and it was all my fault.” Her voice subtly shifted, growing slightly angry. “And now I just suddenly run into you bumbling around like an idiot in the middle of my school, you know you could have gotten yourself killed- like just now- and-”
“Ow, Fi! Watch the claws!”
Fiona realized she was holding him so tight that her claws were digging into his back. She immediately released him- a little too quickly- and he fell back onto the floor.
“Sorry!” she squeaked. He picked himself back up.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Thanks for helping me back there. I was trying to surprise you, but I guess I’m lucky you saw me when you did or I woulda been snake food.”
She reached out a hand and helped him back onto his feet.
“Lucky I could spot your scent from a mile away,” she replied.
Jack shot her a rather suspicious look, his face growing a hint of concern.
“Jack! I didn’t mean it like that!” she scolded in an offended tone.
“Sorry, I know! It’s just- every pred who mentions anything about how I smell always tries to eat me afterwards.”
She wanted to be angry at him for even thinking that she might try something like that, but she couldn’t help but remember that it was her fault that he had that problem to begin with…
“So… how have things been? Why aren’t you still with your aunt, the witch? Isn’t her magic the only thing that can keep you safe?”
“It was… but not anymore. It turns out her spells can only suppress the mark for so long. It worked for a few years while I was little, but more and more predators are starting to take an interest.”
Jack subconsciously put a hand over his arm. Fiona’s ears drooped.
“But that’s part of the reason I came back here,” he added. He reached down to his waist and slipped a hand under his shirt, pulling out a short, straight piece of thin, round, polished wood.
“Is that a wand?” Fiona asked with a hint of wonder.
“My family and I decided that if my aunt’s spells couldn’t protect me anymore, I needed to be able to protect myself.”
“So you came back to go to school and become a wizard? Wow, that’s pretty cool,” she replied.
“Well, that and you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, I figure if preds are going to be after me anyway, there isn’t any reason to stay away, and we can finally start hanging out again. I really missed you, ya know.”
“Aww, I missed you too,” she said with a warm smile. “And don’t worry, I totally have your back. No pred’s gonna make a meal out of you on my watch!”
Jack smiled back.
“That’s a huge relief,” he said, walking over to pick up his things with Fiona close behind. “So, you think you can help me find my next class? I think the teacher’s name is Ms. Caster.”
“Wait, you have Ms. Caster’s class?! Oh no…”