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The sun was starting to set, letting a soft golden glow suffuse into the coffee shop. There weren’t too many customers left, just one or two people still tapping away at their laptops with empty mugs scattered to the side. Kevin was there too, mostly keeping to himself as he fiddled around on an old guitar they kept in the shop and sipping on the last dregs of a caramel mocha. Seán was pretty satisfied with his shift all things considered, the grumpy customers had been kept to a minimum, no one had made a major mess in the bathroom, and he’d even had some nice chats with a handful of regulars. All that Seán needed to do was close up and get a nice dinner in before he prepared for tonight’s full moon.
Normally he’d try to make sure he didn’t have the closing shift on moon nights, or any shift at all really, but it couldn’t be helped when Kelli got a 40.1C fever, and they were already short-staffed with Mark and Pat on vacation, so Seán was the only one left available to close up for the day. Already he could feel the energy building up under his skin, so full of that undefinable excitement that sent him whisking around the shop at twice his normal speed as he swept up the last of the cups and plates, and wiped down the tables. He couldn’t help but hum to himself a bit as he worked, jamming out to the heavy metal playlist he’d put on over the speakers as the last of the customers took the hint and left.
At some point Kevin tapped him on the shoulder and waved his goodbyes. “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah? Have a good time tonight.” Kevin hung the guitar back up, and picked up a small tote bag Seán hadn’t seen before.
“Where’d you get that?” He asked, maybe just a little curious.
Kevin shrugged and then smiled in that slightly off putting way of his that had long since become endearing to Seán, “Just have some errands to run, gotta stop by Kiwo’s and some other stuff like that. Nothing too big.”
“Cool cool, I’ll see ya later Kev.”
The little bell on the door signalled Kevin’s exit as Seán turned back around and finished up the last of his tasks. Putting up his apron, Seán was just about to leave when he noticed a phone he’d missed laying between two of the couch cushions. He picked it up and went to go set it in the office, when he noticed the phone background, it was Kevin, him, and the rest of the lads all pushing each other around and apparently having a ball of a time. Daithi and Dan were a bit fuzzy, and Brian had completely overblown the picture with a laser shot, but Seán wouldn’t have it any other way. He had no idea when Kevin had taken the photo, but it made him smile anyways before Seán realized if he had the phone then Kevin definitely did not.
The smart thing to do was to take it back to the mansion and leave the phone with the others before the moon rose. On the other hand he could catch up to Kevin and snoop on what he was doing with his mysterious black bag. Curiosity got the better of Seán and snatching up his jacket and keys he went to go find Kevin.
Seán loved having an excuse to run and stretch his aching muscles, working out a fraction of the pent-up energy that had been boiling inside him all day. The air was crisp, and just starting to cool and a handful of reddish-gold leaves caught against the rays of the sun as they twirled their way past him.
Seán vaguely knew where Kiwo lived, Kevin having introduced them to her a couple weeks back. They’d had a game night over at her house since it probably wasn’t the best idea to take her back to the mansion given how little they knew about her. Apparently, she’d helped Kevin during a rough patch in-between houses before he knew the lads, so she couldn’t be all bad.
Finally he made it to her house, barely even winded from the run, if anything it made him want to sprint off into the distance and go for a real, no holds barred, run. But he didn’t have the time for that now, not when he had a mystery to track. No Kevin in sight, but that didn’t dissuade Seán, he went up and knocked on Kiwo’s door. It took a few moments and a handful of mildly concerning crashing noises coming from inside, but eventually Kiwo emerged, the door opening to reveal a half make-upped face and dishevelled hair. She blinked in surprise on seeing Seán, “Hey was’sup?”
“Is Kevin here? He forgot his phone at the café and said he was gonna head over here.”
“Oh you juuuust missed him,” Kiwo jabbed a thumb down the street, “Seemed like he was kinda in a hurry, just wanted to stop by and pick up some chalk or something? I dunno, wasn’t any of my business, and I’ve got my hands full anyways.”
Seán tipped his head slightly, what would Kevin want to be doing with chalk? “Ah well, thanks anyways, did he say where he was heading?”
“Uhhh— Lemme see, I think he said something about visiting the butchers? Yeah, that sounds about right.”
“Awesome,” Seán smiled and backed away, already planning out his mental route, “Well, good luck with whatever you’re doing tonight!”
Kiwo waved and clicked the door closed as Seán made his way over to the butchers. Already the shadows were getting longer, but Seán figured he still had at least half an hour before he really needed to get moving out of town. Being born a werewolf had its perks when it came to full moons, and one of them was the ability to hold off on forced transformations a bit longer than bitten ones, even if it wasn’t particularly fun. Seán really didn’t want to test the limits of his focus today, but he was too deep now to give up that easily on tracking Kevin down.
As he jogged he found himself naturally tracking Kevin’s scent, he always smelled like ash and campfire smoke to an almost concerning degree, but it did make him easy to follow even with a human nose, though Seán would never tell Kevin that. He’d probably do something stupid like spray himself with a million different perfumes or insist on trying out those anti-bloodhound techniques. Just thinking about it made Seán snort, maybe he would tell Kevin, just to see what he’d do.
When he rounded the corner of the butchers though, Seán stopped straight in his tracks. Kevin’s scent clearly went into the butcher’s shop and then out into the alleyway that Seán had come across, but more concerning were the several fresh trails of other people also in the alley. While it was possible that some group had just happened to pass by for some random reason, the scent was particularly strong and seemed to mingle with Kevin’s along with the intense odor of raw meat. Seán slowly followed the trail deeper into the alley before they exited on the other side and seemingly split off, Kevin’s heading in the opposite direction of everyone else
“The fuck are ya doin’ Kev?” Seán asked himself quietly. His imagination had already touched on the thought of something odd with the chalk, but this new revelation sent it spinning. With more urgency this time, Seán continued after Kevin, his own internal clock counting down only increasing the dread that started tightening in his chest. While Seán couldn’t believe that Kevin would do anything sinister on purpose, it was well within the realm of possibility that Kevin would do something stupid that might have very direct consequences without realizing the true danger. God knows Seán and the others had to dissuade him from missing with the Arch Fae Spiff too much, or trying to summon a demon, or fucking around with Dan’s spell books, or anything else that held a drop of intrigue to the innate shit-stirrer inside Kevin every other week. Not to say that Seán didn’t like joining in, it’s just that he preferred to at least know what was happening in case it backfired.
But there wasn’t time to think about that now, Kevin’s trail zigged and zagged through the area, eventually moving further and further out to the edge of town. Here he stopped and picked up sharp skewers (from the scent lingering on the half-off marshmallow skewers in front of the tescos), there he stopped for a bundle of logs from a local farmer’s sale, and where Kevin popped into his house Seán could tell he’d picked up some gasoline and some sort of alcohol. Finally the trail took him through some pastures and to the edge of the treeline.
Unbidden, images of some sort of horrible sacrifice began to play in Seán’s head; dark chanting droning through the air as people lined up in black cloaks caked in blood and gore surrounded a massive bonfire with rows of meat stuck to the ends of piercing skewers. Sizzling into the fire as someone poured ancient wine over them, they popped and hissed in time to the dark hymnals growing louder and louder— Seán shook his head. He’d definitely been watching way too many horror movies with Brian lately. All the same though, he couldn’t quite shake the possibility somehow, no matter how ridiculous it may seem, that it could be happening right now.
His mind spun with the possibilities, but as the sun sunk lower and lower beneath the horizon, soft golden hour shifting into twilight, Seán could feel his body begging him to stretch, to let go and set himself free on the night. Kevin’s scent was closer than it ever had been though, the scent of meat accompanying it making Seán’s mouth water as his thoughts began to change as well, melting into a more primal shape. Slowing down from his run, he stalked forward towards the edge of the clearing. Beyond he could already see the blinding glow of the bonfire stark against the outlines of the tree trunks, as well as other hazy figures weaving in and out of the light. Seán slunk through the trees, his steps light and noiseless on the dead foliage as he searched for Kevin on the edges. Suddenly a hand landed on his back. His fur stood on end as he dodged out of the way. He nearly growled at the danger before he recognized the scent of his packmate. Sharp and metal, grease and oil enmeshed within a more human tinge. To show his recognition he brushed against his leg in apology, normally cold, but now warmed from the fire.
“Ah damnit Seán it was supposed to be a surprise.”
Seán tilted his head quizzically, the noises tinged with anger, but Brian seemed relaxed so there wasn’t any danger.
“Yeah yeah, you’ve been working too hard recently ya know? We figured we’d do something nice after your full moon and have a bit of a cookout, but no, you just had to crash the party too early. Typical.” Brian tsked, before he paused for a moment, his eye fixing on Seán’s teeth, “What’s that you got there Jack? Come on, let’s see it now.”
His metal friend held out his hand, the intricate joints moving with a low whir only Seán could hear. Seán dropped the tasteless thing from his jaws, and then looking around he sniffed the air. “Is this Kev’s phone? How the hell did you get your grubby paws on this? He’s been looking around for it for the—”
Before he could finish whatever he was saying, Seán finally found the scent again, underneath all that ash and smoke, there was something that really was just Kevin and that Seán would never be able to miss.
He bounded across the clearing, nearly bowling Kevin over as he tackled him down to the ground. Seán sniffed him, checking Kevin for any sign of the vague worries that he had by now forgotten the details of. Kevin laughed at the inspection shoving Seán’s snout away. “Happy to see me huh? Just can’t resist a taste.”
Seán gave him an extra hard bump and shook his head, denying whatever snarky comment Kevin had definitely just made. Satisfied that there was nothing fishy going on, something in his chest relaxed. His tongue lolled out of his jaws, and he finally backed off, letting Kevin sit up with a groan and roll of the shoulders. Seán gave him a bump with his snout before he wandered back towards the trees.
“Have fun!” Kevin called after him. Seán howled back, thrusting his head into the air, the notes hanging onto the very stars. Daniel just caught him with a brush along the back, saying something encouraging to him as he held the chalk and followed Daithi’s directions to draw strange symbols into the dirt.
Breaking into a dash as soon as he hit the treeline, Seán ran into the night. Behind him the symbols burst into color, floating around like living fireworks without the thunderous bang. Shading Seán’s world with bright, living hues or vermilion and azure and all sorts of beautiful shades lit all the more brilliantly against the blackness of the night, he knew that everything would be okay with his closest companions.