Fur

04 | Invitation Only

Sophie Schwarz turns up dead, and then a werewolf shows up on my doorstep. I believe in coincidences, though not any that involve a being who was raised the same as me. This is no coincidence.

The only part I can't yet determine, is if Sophie's death was the cause or the effect of this werewolf's visit to Heisenbühl. If he's responsible, then he's still in town. If he's not, then he's been drawn here by the scent of her gore. Either way, neither of those things are good.

My house wasn't broken into. There had been no one inside and none of the windows or doors were broken or smashed. What the werewolf had been doing in my driveway, or what he was preparing to do, is a mystery.

I took my time in gathering the clothing I needed, only half hoping that the suspect would return. I disliked the idea of leaving the house unattended overnight after a lurker had shown clear interest in it for some reason or another. But I disliked the idea of leaving Lattie and Nanni by themselves even more.

So I locked up all the windows and doors and resisted the building urge to look over my shoulder. I left and went back to the McNamaras' house where the stoop light had been left on for me and the door unlocked. When I entered the house I found Nanni sitting in her usual upholstered armchair, her knitting needles clicking aggressively away at a piece of yellow material.

"Is Lattie...?"

"Upstairs in her room," Nanni replies without looking up from her knitting. "Poor girl has worn herself out." My heart aches at the memory of Lattie's watering eyes and quivering lip.

"I think you should sleep upstairs tonight, too." I blurt it out before I can overthink it.

"Upstairs?" Nanni gawks. "You know how badly those stairs hurt my knees."

"I know, Nanni, but—I'll help you up and down them. I just think that upstairs would be safer for a while, with all that's going on. I was in the village and it just... something doesn't feel right."

"Doesn't feel right?" She questions, a gray eyebrow quirking. "Might that be because you and Lattie went off and saw a dead body this evening?"

Shit. Lattie cracked.

I open my mouth to defend myself but close it on that subject just as quickly. "No. It's not that. It's an instinct."

"Like the instinct that told you to go to a bridge where you knew a murder had just been committed?"

I throw my head back, groaning in exasperation. "I thought it would have been cleaned up."

Nanni lets out a sigh, setting her knitting aside on the end table near her chair. "I just want you girls to start listening to me. That's it. That's all I ask."

"Lattie does listen to you."

"And you think Lattie can listen for the both of you? I know you're your own kin, Leila, and I know we've not an ounce of the same blood and you're not my granddaughter, but you might as well be. For the love of God, child, a girl is dead and you can't keep your nose to yourself. You don't go looking for things and live a normal life, Leila Ardeneux. And if you'd like to live to be as pruny as I am, then you'd better start paying attention to what I say." She wiggles to the edge of her seat and grunts as she pushes herself up. "Now help me up those godforsaken stairs."

~

Nanni and Lattie, I'm willing to bet, have never met a werewolf. Heisenbühl is sheltered, secluded, and safe, and if any have ever even passed through, they haven't stayed.

A lot of humans know of the existence of werewolves. It isn't kept a secret, thought it isn't blurted about either. Most humans will never encounter one, and of those who do, most will never know. Some humans obliviously cross werewolf paths, some believe them to be rumors and myths, and others know where a pack resides but simply keep their distance from them, as is the wise decision.