Heart for Hate

Lesson Four: Intimacy is a String of Meaningless Gestures

            We walk back to the house, passing the garden once more while the sunrise glistens off of the morning dew sprinkled onto the entire flora. Thorne holds the rear door open for me to walk inside.

The kitchen is just starting to come alive, waking from the night long slumber. Alice sits at the table with a mug of coffee in her left hand. Her purple silk robe is wrapped loosely around her body, one of the shoulders sliding down her arm revealing her black nightgown and exposing a patch of skin.

     “I see you’re back,” she comments unimpressed, directing her words at the man behind me.

     “I decided to give Mizuki a quick lesson,” he brushes her off and reaches in front of her to grab another apple. They share another one of those looks that the tension between them is almost visible but it is over moments after it started to occur. Alice looks to me with a tired but pleasant smile.

     “You can have whatever you’d like,” she tells me. “There’s cereal and oatmeal in the cupboards and quite a few things in the fridge.” I nod and open the refrigerator door, taking a cherry yogurt before closing it. “Silverware is in the second drawer to your left,” she says once she sees what I’ve gotten. When I go to get a spoon the back door slams shut and startles me.

     “Nothing to report,” Julienne announces as she walks inside with a silver wolf trotting in behind her.

Mud is caked on her hands and feet, both of which are bare, and her hair is windblown with torn leaves tangled in the black strands. Dirt is smeared on her cheeks and smashed into her zip up hoodie and shorts. The wolf is in the same condition except with blood dried on its jaw and front coat. Despite their looks, their eyes shine bright with excitement from what I assume was running the boundary. Both colors of their pupils glow a sharp golden, completely different from their original shades.

     “Why hasn’t Jade transformed back?” Alice inquires, looking at the gray beast standing in the kitchen. Julienne glances down to where her leader’s eyes are watching then continues to give details.

     “She saw a rabbit and changed to chase it without thinking about her clothes,” she explains with a shrug. “Good morning Mizuki,” she brightly turns to grin at me. The wolf gives a swift nod in my direction then scampers up the stairs out of sight.

     “Morning,” I respond and take a bite of yogurt.

     “Thank you,” Alice says dismissively and Julienne bows her head in a respectful gesture before retreating almost the same way the wolf had.

     “That was Jade?” I ask when both are out of earshot.

     “Yes, both Jade and Julienne are loupe garoux. Werewolves,” Alice answers simply. I nod in acknowledgement and finish the yogurt.

Seeing as there’s nothing more of interest to discuss Thorne leaves the room to go into the shop. Once he is gone Alice stands to take her mug to the sink next to me and dumps the rest of the coffee down the drain.

     “So what did he teach you?” she wonders in a dead tone.

     “How to use fire,” I reply in a single sentence.

     “How so?” she questions inquisitively.

     “I killed a shapeshifter that took the form of my mother,” I say without meeting her gaze. Immediately her arms are around me and she’s embracing my body.

     “I am so sorry he did that,” she apologizes and I can tell that there’s genuine empathy in her tone. “You should never have had to go through that. Once was enough. Once shouldn’t have even happened. I am so sorry, Mizuki. For everything.”