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By the time they reached the castle it was sundown, Cleo walked beside them holding Pearl's bags while Pearl insisted she could carry something. When they reached the door Cleo stood in front and ensured they had a free hand before knocking on the castle door. She could enter, Shelby had given them all open invitations inside, but this seemed safer, kinder.
When the door opened Scott stood in front of them, a smirk on his face the moment he realized it was Cleo at his door.
"Cleo! What can I do for you? Did you finally realize humans aren't all they're thought to be?"
Before Cleo could speak Scott's eyes shifted and he noticed Pearl and Martyn behind them. Scott raised an eyebrow at them.
"What's this? Bringing two humans to my door?"
Before Cleo could get a word in Shelby flew into the room, transforming next to Scott and beaming at Cleo.
"Cleo! Oh it's so nice to see y- Pearl? Martyn? What happened? What did they do?"
Pearl moved so she was next to Cleo, her arm wrapped in a bloody bandage, a pained smile on her face as she looked at Shelby with a small smile.
"Hey Shelby."
"Pearl you're hurt."
"Avid tried to kill me."
"He what?"
The venom in Shelby's voice was something they'd never heard before, even Scott was shocked by the hatred that seeped Shelby's words.
"Come inside you three."
Scott cleared his throat.
"Shelby. Are you letting two humans into my castle?"
Shelby ushered them inside and towards the dining hall so they could set their things down and sit for a moment before turning to Scott.
"I'm offering safety to my partners, one of which is human. You won't hurt him or turn him and they won't do shit to you. If you want to do something about the humans Cleo will help you. For now I'm going to make sure Pearl's okay."
Shelby made her way quickly over to where Cleo was checking on Pearl's wound.
"Pearl? What happened?"
"Avid saw me transform and screamed. He tried to attack me and hit my shoulder before Cleo appeared and stopped him. We were trapped in the house for a bit before Martyn tackled Avid."
Martyn huffed at Cleo's side.
"He was going to throw holy water at Cleo. I wasn't going to let them get hurt."
Pearl continued.
"Ren tried to stop them, to convince them to let us stay. We weren't going to stay with people who attacked first, so we left. Packed our things and walked out."
Martyn gave Pearl a look before speaking.
"You skipped over a few things like how Ren and I had to argue for them to let you pack and give us till sundown. Avid almost burned down your house before we left, it wasn't even sundown, not even close."
Shelby was pissed. She wouldn't get revenge, no, she'd be there for Pearl and make sure that Martyn was safe here. Cleo would get her revenge, Cleo and likely Martyn if the fire in his eyes said anything about what he was thinking about.
"Burn it down."
The words Shelby spoke were aimed at one person, at Cleo. Cleo who had already stated her willingness to burn down anything and everything that harmed one of them. Cleo who simply smiled at her.
"Give them a week. Let them wonder what we're planning. Then when they're calm the wall that they take oh so much comfort in will burn to the ground. There will be nothing to keep us out, to keep anything or anyone out."
Shelby nodded, good.
Before Shelby could say anything else Pearl spoke.
"Are you listening in or are you three going to join us?"
Owen moved from the shadow he was hiding in, a small smile on his lips.
"Sharp ears, Pearl. So sad they turned on you. How long did you last? A day? A week? Or did they attack you for living with a vampire?"
Shelby watched as Pearl's smile sharpened, the only thing stopping her from turning was Shelby's hand on her arm and Cleo still checking her wound.
"The entire time."
"What?"
"I've not been human for years."
"You're not a-"
"Vampire? No. You aren't the only supernatural creatures around."
Shelby smirked at her newfound family stood across the table from them.
"I told you werewolves were real."
Scott simply raised an eyebrow at Pearl, a calculating look on his face while Owen seemed to go through about fifteen emotions at once and Pyro? Well Pyro looked like he was a minute away from running.
"Werewolves?"
Pearl smirked at Pyro, a smile that might look scary to others but that Shelby knew was playful.
"Don't worry. I didn't come here to eat you."
Before Pyro could respond Scott spoke.
"Shelby. That wolf you've been so fond of?"
Pearl waved at Scott as Shelby giggled.
"She's next to me."
"Hi."
Scott sighed.
"Right. So you invited a human and a werewolf into my castle?"
Shelby smiled at Scott, kind and innocent, she couldn't do any wrong, could she? No.
"And Cleo! You said the castle is my home too and I thought that if something happened to my partners then they could stay here too, but if that's not the case I'm sure we could build a house in the woods or something!"
Scott softened just a bit when he looked at Shelby, a small almost comforting smile on his face.
"Of course Shelby. It's not rare for our kind to have humans to feed off of, a good source of food they can be, and well. If the town is going against werewolves too then why would we turn down someone seeking asylum?"
Then the rest of her words caught up with him.
"Did you say partners?"
Shelby nodded, a bright smile on her face. They hadn't said the word much, preferring the small nicknames they'd gotten for one another, or calling each other their sunflowers. They weren't dating in the sense that most people saw dating, but in a way that Martyn likened to being best friends but better.
"I did!"
Scott nodded.
"Right, well congrats for you four then. Shelby, they can stay with you. I'm going to go…hunting."
Cleo's voice stopped Scott from turning to leave.
"Leave the walls alone, I'm going to burn them. I want them to know what they've done."
Scott nodded once, his smile sharpening in a way that Shelby knew promised danger.
"Of course. We can talk more tomorrow about what we'll do to them."
Like that Scott was gone.
Owen looked towards Martyn, disgust obvious on his face as he turned to look back at Shelby.
"Shelby. He's human."
Martyn spoke up, his voice even and cold.
"I'm right here. You don't think you'll need a human around to get through defenses against vampires and werewolves? Get off your high horse Owen. Just because you're not a human doesn't make you better then them. We're all just animals in different forms."
"You'd betray them then?"
"I'll do what I need to do to keep my people safe."
"Your people?"
"Well I can't say my girls. Cleo isn't a girl."
Cleo smiled at Martyn as Owen shook his head at them.
"I'm going out."
Pyro followed after him, saying something about not being left alone with people who looked ready to kill anything or anyone who annoyed them.
Shelby smiled as she picked up some of the bags that had been set down.
"Come on! Let me take you to our room!"
Our room.
Their room.
One room for all of them that they didn't have to hide to enter.
Shelby spent that night helping Cleo unpack their things and organize their things while Martyn and Pearl curled together, talking for a bit before they eventually fell asleep.
"Cleo?"
"Hm?"
"…Avid was so kind. I thought- He said he wanted to be friends and now-"
"He wants to be friends with humans Shelby. He wants to change you, not because you want to be a human again, but because all he knows is fear. This was bound to blow up eventually. Better sooner than later. We'll figure it out."
"Sunflowers stick together."
"Sunflowers stick together. If they try to burn us away I'll burn them right back."
"I didn't think they'd hurt Pearl."
"They'll regret it."
"They will."
When Shelby fell asleep she did so curled between Cleo and Pearl with Martyn on Pearl's other side. They'd all be safe here. This was their home as much as it was hers.
~~~~
When Shelby woke up Pearl was sat on the floor with Martyn sewing. Pearl was working on what Shelby thought might be a dress while Martyn was working on something that was maybe meant to be bat shaped? She couldn't tell.
"Pearl?"
"Happy wake up Shelby. Sleep well?"
"Yeah."
Shelby stretched, yawning as she did so.
"How long was I asleep?"
Pearl shrugged.
"Not sure, I haven't left the room. Cleo did a few minutes ago to talk to Scott about their vengeance plan."
Martyn pouted from where he sat on the floor.
"She wouldn't let me help."
Pearl shook her head fondly at him.
"You wanted to burn it down last night. Cleo wants to wait. You know they'll let you help when it comes time to do so."
"I know. I know."
Shelby chuckled as she moved to sit on the floor with Pearl and Martyn.
"What are you two doing?"
Pearl smiled at Shelby as she worked on her sewing.
"Well you all have a look here and I thought we should at least try to blend in at least a bit. I'm making Cleo a new dress and when they get back they're going to work on the embroidery for the overcoat and for my skirt. Oh! They wanted me to ask you if you'd want sunflowers on your little shoulder cape thing."
Shelby couldn't help the smile that pulled at her lips. They were making outfits to match hers and they were going to make hers match theirs with their special thing?
"Yes! Oh that'd be wonderful."
Pearl nodded, her smile soft and full of joy and love.
"We'll show them what they caused once the sewing is finished then. It will likely be a few days, maybe a week or so depending on how long Cleo and I take to sew everything."
Shelby was silent for a moment before she spoke up.
"I could help? I've done a good bit of sewing before."
Pearl beamed at her.
"Perfect! Here, let me show you what I was planning."
What could have been anywhere from half an hour to two hours later Cleo appeared with food in her arms and two wine bottles full of what Shelby was sure was blood.
"Food has arrived. Glad to see you awake Shelby. Let's move away from the sewing circle for food, might be better to not get blood on our clothes before we finish them."
~~~~
The next few days were spent mostly in their room sewing and talking. Martyn and Pearl did their best to shift their schedules to better fit Shelby and Cleo's sleep schedule which gave them all more time together.
Cleo and Shelby took turns being the ones to fetch food while Martyn went out some afternoons before the others fully woke up to start a garden near the castle and tend to their animals.
Eventually they finished their sewing.
When the four of them emerged together from Shelby's room it was with smiles and laughter in their new matching outfits.
Cleo wore a beautiful red dress with a black overcoat and matching black choker embroidered with sunflowers. The flowers in her hair were made of silk and wonderfully crafted to look as real as they could. Silk yellow and black roses in her hair where before she had done all she could to keep fresh flowers in her hair. Cleo looked every part the royalty you'd find in a castle.
Pearl's dress wasn't too different from before, though there were changes. Instead of a white poet's style shirt with a black skirt and a brown corset Pearl wore a black dress with sunflowers embroidered on the hem, her corset now a deep blood red. Along with this Pearl wore a deep red cloak with a hood that had made Shelby laugh when they planned it out.
"Pearl. Pearl you're going to wear a red cloak with a hood?"
"That was the plan. Why? Do you think it would look bad?"
"No, you'll look lovely. It's just-"
Shelby took a breath trying not to laugh too much.
"Pearl you're a werewolf in a hooded red cloak."
"Yes?"
"Little Red Riding hood."
Pearl was silent for a moment before she burst into laughter, laughter that had been contagious. Martyn started calling her his 'little red wolf' as a joke, despite Pearl insisting she was a gray wolf, not a red wolf jokingly almost every time he said it.
Along with her dress and cloak Pearl also wore silk flowers in her hair, a small black rose, a yellow rose a sunflower set in her hair that she found joy in.
Martyn's outfit hadn't changed all too much. His brown pants were switched out with better fitting black pants and his green necktie was changed for a red one. He kept his coat with the sunflowers on it, even joking that he started the sunflower trend despite Cleo and Pearl being the ones who had embroidered them onto his coat.
Shelby's outfit didn't change much, the only change she had was that her black shoulder cape had been embroidered with sunflowers. She found herself staring at the sunflowers with a smile on her face every once in a while, a reminder that she had her family and her sunflowers and now here they were, together. No more hiding.
When they entered the dining room Scott smiled, it was sharp yet softened just a bit when he saw Shelby's joy.
"Lovely to see all four of you out and about. Love the new outfits."
Cleo smiled as she responded.
"Why thank you. It only seemed right to dress the part, don't you think?"
"Oh I do. Your dress is wonderful, fit for a lady of the court."
"It's what I was going for."
"And the flowers, they're stunning."
"Silk flowers. Shelby made them."
Scott's smile turned into what Shelby was sure was a proud smile as he turned to her.
"Shelby! They're lovely. I wasn't aware you knew how to make silk flowers."
"Needed something to do with my hands when I was younger. I did a lot of sewing and then found the art of silk flowers."
"Oh and what a lovely art form it is!"
Shelby beamed, sure that her joy might never do anything but grow.
Pearl dissapeared into the kitchen, likely to cook something for Martyn while the rest of them talked. Owen entered the room later and greeted them with an approving nod.
"Nice outfits."
"Thank you!"
Pyro joined them not too long later just in time for Pearl to leave the kitchen with a plate for herself and a plate for Martyn.
"Go get food, we have a plan to discuss."