Daymond
The moon fought to pierce the fog. That was the only way Daymond could make sense of the impenetrable walls slowly closing in around the few scattered tents most of Longnose’s pack carried. Luna and a few others worked together to create a bonfire, but it, too, only added to the illusion that the rest of the world was gone.
Daymond shook his head and stared at Camille, but his sister’s condition hadn’t changed. Her waxy skin was covered in sweat. She barely moved beyond releasing a quiet whimper that broke his heart. The others, he didn’t know who anymore, and anyone that wasn’t Camille became a blur to him that had little to do with their environment. They all said the same thing.
“She’ll be fine. We just have to wait.”
But waiting was death. It didn’t make the bad things disappear. Daymond knew that better than anyone. It was the reason why he was so protective of Camille. His sister was one of the strongest and kindest people he knew.
But even she made mistakes, and the biggest one wasn’t agreeing to split up just because Daymond wanted to prove he could handle himself. It was admitting that her boyfriend, an asshole that deserved to die alone, had left bruises all over her one day. Daymond didn’t remember what happened next.
He barely remembered anything beyond standing over the creep with a broken bottle in his hand as the bastard howled in pain. But he did remember the looks of fear on his mother’s and Camille’s faces when they heard what he’d done. And that act had happened before he and his siblings had their first adventure in the swamp.
Daymond didn’t want to think about what would have happened if he had somehow awakened his werewolf side back then. But he knew he wouldn’t have regretted killing the asshole that day. And he certainly wouldn’t mind killing the Voduist who let the rougarou free just to send a stupid message.
And he wasn’t convinced that was the case. If everything Bruno and Longnose have said is true, then there’s no reason for a warning to be issued at all. The only obvious thing is the fog, and it’s not hurting anyone… yet. The tent flap was unzipped to reveal Crescent’s smiling face and a plate of squirrel meat cooked to perfection.
“I’ve come to check on you guys. Do you think you can eat something?”
Daymond wanted to say no. He didn’t want to think about food or anything except finding the people responsible for hurting his family and making them pay. But his stomach growled a moment later. Crescent giggled and handed him the plate.
“Thank you,” he muttered as he took a bite.
“Anytime. Can you scoot over a bit, Day? I need to check on Camille, too.”
Daymond nodded and scooted to the right corner of the tent, giving enough room for Crescent to crawl in, but it wasn’t high enough to let either of them stand.
“You guys should buy some bigger tents.”
Crescent chuckled and sat next to Camille. “Do you have any idea how expensive tents are these days? We’re not made out of money, kiddo.”
“You sound like my mom.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It is,” Daymond took another bite, more to feel something between his teeth than to fill his stomach, eyes never leaving Crescent as she gently wiped a few strands of hair off Camille’s face.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really,” Daymond said. “I just want things to… I don’t know… make sense?”
“I understand–”
“Do you?”
“Yes.” She turned to him and leaned forward on her knees so they were eye to eye. “Let me tell you something, Daymond. I was in Alaska when I first transformed. I didn’t have any idea that I wasn’t human until then. My parents were hunters who always traveled to Alaska because it was the closest wilderness to our house. Or at least, that’s what they used to say.”
“What happened?”
She smiled sadly. “I… wound up killing them.”
Daymond’s eyes went wide. He didn’t remember what Crescent did during the fight against Jean-Claude. But the thought of her killing anyone was…
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, but she shook her head.
“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. It happens sometimes. But the scariest thing, Day, was that I couldn’t figure out how to change back. I was stuck for weeks just trying to stay alive.”
“How did you do that?” We didn’t know what we were doing, but we had each other… mostly.
Crescent sighed and stared out into the night. “Honestly? It was pure luck. I don’t know if I was using any of the skills my parents taught me. Because the next thing I remember is being held down by Longnose while Luna tried to set a bear on fire.”
“Are you serious?!”
“Very.”
“What were you doing fighting a bear?”
“Letting my inner wolf call the shots instead of working with her to stay alive.” Crescent turned back to him with a knowing grin. “Do you know what I mean?”
Daymond almost laughed. “Yeah… Being a werewolf is… It kind of sucks right now.”
“It doesn’t have to. Everyone loses control, even when they’ve been able to transform for years. Werewolves are like murder blender machines. We kick butt on our own, but we’re at our best when we have a pack… We should have used those tactics tonight. We let you guys down.”
“No, you didn’t–” He started, but Crescent raised a finger, silencing him as easily as if she’d shouted.
“Yes, we did. Everyone agrees that we’ve let things get out of hand. You and your siblings are pups—a bunch of kids who had to learn things the hard way. Sending your older brother off by himself made sense. He’s the one the vampires are interested in. But the three of you should have been paired with one of us. Especially since…”
“Since what?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. Forget it. I’ll get you guys some water. You need to stay hydrated–”
“Wait!” He cried, grabbing her arm before she could move. A brief wave of guilt washed over him, but he shook it off. I’ll apologize for my past later. “I… I want to know what’s going on. I need to. Not just for Camille and what’s been happening lately. But for me, too. Ever since we transformed for the first time, things have gone from bad to worse to insane. And there’s no sign of it calming down!”
Crescent’s eyes widened, and she opened her mouth, but Daymond wasn’t done yet. “I’ve killed… people? Things? I don’t know what to call them, but it doesn’t change the fact that I did. We all did. My siblings and I, our family, have killed to survive. And nothing will change that. Nothing is going to change anything. Because we’re going to have to kill again and again and again–”
“Daymond!” Crescent pulled him into a hug, and he immediately began trying to push her away. But Crescent only grabbed his arms and held on until he became too tired to fight back. Why am I so pathetic? I only have one job. Who cares if I have to get my hands dirty? I’ve already decided that I’ll do anything to keep my family safe. So, why?…
Crescent rubbed his back and sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Tears pricked his eyes, but he refused to try to brush them away. It wasn’t anything new, and Crescent was still holding his arms.
“I’m sorry for treating you like a kid. You’ve been through so much, and as much as I want to tell you that everything is going to be ok…”
He nodded, earning another sigh as she asked. “Do you remember when you guys showed up? How Longnose said it wasn’t a good time for you to be in the swamp?”
“Yeah. I thought he already knew about the vampires…” But he didn’t know that Dad was missing until we told him…
Crescent shook her head. “We knew the fog wasn’t natural and were trying to investigate. Weather manipulation is rare and powerful, but the strength of the individual and natural weather conditions also go hand in hand. We first noticed the fog around noon. But no one stepped forward to claim responsibility.”
“You mean the other werewolves? How many packs are there?”
“As far as I know, we’re the only pack currently living here. Longnose likes to be on the move, so we usually travel from state to state as the mood strikes.”
Daymond nodded. It made sense, given everything he’d seen since meeting their pack. “Does that mean Jean-Claude’s pack was the only one living here?”
“It sounds like it. I could be wrong, though.”
“But you were waiting for something to happen, right? With the fog?”
Crescent looked out the tent flap and then at Camille before turning to Daymond. “Do you really want to know? Longnose won’t like it, but–”
“Longnose isn’t here,” he said, staring at her with determination. “It’s just you and me right now. Camille is still sleeping, but I can’t promise I won’t tell my brothers when they get back. We promised we’d help each other.”
And I refuse to keep something that might prove to be a threat hidden from them. We can’t afford to hide things now… Not now. Crescent checked outside again before handing him the plate. “Finish your food. I don’t want the others to get suspicious if they come to see what’s taking so long.”
Daymond nodded and picked up a squirrel. “Is this another werewolf law then? Longnose said he thinks of us as members of his pack despite not doing… whatever it is you need to do to join a pack.”
Crescent chuckled and sat next to Camille. “There’s nothing crazy about it. Longnose just asked if I wanted to join, and I said yes. It might be different for other packs. But there’s no spell involved.”
“That’s a little disappointing.” Daymond ate his squirrel as Crescent nodded.
“The ways of the wolf are not one hundred percent cemented in the mystic. We tend to do things on our own terms when it comes to who we want to live with.”
“Does that mean my family is a pack?”
“Yup. Children belong to their parent’s pack, until or unless something happens to make them want to leave…”
Daymond nodded, waiting as patiently as he could while Crescent finally got back to what he’d asked. “A couple of days after that fight with Jean-Claude. Strange bodies began showing up in different areas of the swamp. They looked like some kind of animal attack. They were covered in bites and… Like whatever it was, was small enough to burrow into them.”
“Like a rabbit?”
“I wish. We still don’t know what did it. The bodies themselves were mostly animals, but we did find a couple of goblins right before we ran into you…”
She paused, and Daymond’s eyes widened as the realization hit. “You were tracking something that made its way to the edge of the swamp.”
Crescent nodded.
“And no one thought to say something. Like, I don’t know. Back when everyone thought it was a good idea to let Antione head into the swamp by himself in the middle of the night?” He wanted to get angry, but the look on her face stopped him.
“We didn’t say anything because we already knew that the creature wasn’t in the swamp anymore. Whatever it was, it was traveling in a straight line, and the animals it killed were all small. Think raccoons and rabbits. This thing wasn’t hunting. It was taking advantage of killing whatever failed to hide fast enough to avoid it.”
Daymond’s jaw dropped. “You’re saying it’s out there… where Antione and Bernard are?!”
Crescent opened her mouth, but before she could say a word, a howl, unlike anything Daymond had ever heard before, pierced the air and silenced the night.