Dance of the Moons

Chapter 12

And here it is!  Not my best, but not my worst.  Hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading!

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Chapter 12

            I parked behind Kaelyn’s car in her driveway.  It was rare that we both had a day off from the café, but today was one of those days.  It had been a while since we hung out outside of work, so when Kaelyn asked me if I wanted to watch a chick flick and do something normal girls did, I accepted.  I needed the distraction.

            His grip on me tightened.  I felt his nails dig into my back, and I whimpered again, this time in pain.  His nails carved lines of fire on my back.

            I shook my head, willing myself not to think of it.  Not that that helped.  For the past 20 hours I had been willing myself not to think of it and trying to organize my thoughts about what happened.    One minute David was, well, normal David; the next, he was a terrifying …thing.  I was so terrified and confused, and I couldn’t stop asking myself why.  Why was David there last night, as if waiting for me?  Why wasn’t he with the pack, where he was supposed to be?  Why did he react that way, and what triggered it?  Why couldn’t I defend myself?  I had sharp instincts, and they kicked on in the face of danger.  Why didn’t my magic engender a defensive response for me?

            But most of all, why did I feel as guilty as I did scared?

            But that couldn’t be right.  Why would I feel guilty?  I did nothing wrong, did I?  I didn’t ask David to be there, didn’t ask him to attack.  I wasn’t even able to defend myself properly.  So why did I feel like I hurt him?

“Why?” He yelled again.  His spit sprayed across my face.

            “Because you’re a monster!”

            There is was again, that stirring of guilt.  As if I said the wrong thing.  But I did think he was a monster…didn’t I?  He certainly seemed like a monster last night.  Like he was going to dig his teeth into my neck and rip my heart out.  I felt his claws on my back again and shivered.  He was definitely a monster, there was no arguing that.

            But if I really had thought he was a monster out to harm  me, wouldn’t my powers have kicked in and taken over?  Even if my mind were too shocked to process what was happening, my body should have been thinking about self-preservation.  It should have kicked in to prevent me from coming to harm.

            I looked down at my wrists which were shaded in weak bruises.  Besides the memory, this was the only evidence of any sort of attack.  Weak bruises, hardly damaging.  It didn’t even seem like David had meant to bruise me—on the other hand, I had no idea what he meant to do to me.  I didn’t think he wanted to hurt me.  But if not to hurt me, why was he there?  Almost like he left the pack and returned just to see me.

            But that was ridiculous.  Wasn’t it?

            I groaned and dumped my head in my hands.  Why was this all so confusing?  It should have been black and white: werewolf attacked witch, witch was scared.  There shouldn’t have been all these grey layers of why this and why that, and all these feelings of guilt.  It wasn’t right, and there was no reason for it.  I had done nothing wrong.

David’s eyes caught the risen bumps on my arms, and the moon reflected in his eyes for a moment before flashing. “You’re cold,” he stated, all humor from his voice…I was suddenly enveloped in warmth.  I was frozen for a minute while I tried to process that a warm body was pressed against me, and I could feel a chest moving as its breaths matched mine, and warm arms holding me securely in place.  I pressed my face into the crook of a neck, not realizing how cold I had actually been.  My arms snaked around and felt the strong, warm muscles of a back.