The Outcasts

Padre

Padre

December 2nd, 19 days until the Winter Solstice

 

Claire 

“Bring the candies Claire!” Elfas hollered from the living room. I rolled my eyes and heard Jericho snort beside me.

“He really should check his brain.”

“Don’t bother. He has loose screws since the day he was born.”

Jericho laughed and I grinned as I filled the pop corn into three different bowls. We had decided to host a movie marathon, thanks to Mina’s persuasion. The success of the wolf Mask Jericho and I had brought few weeks ago was a relief to all of us.

After ‘borrowing’ some of the mask’s essence, Mina teleported it back to Washington National Forest, where I hoped that the werewolves would be able to complete their mating ritual. As for me, I had slept like the dead for a whole day, save for the few times I woke up and with Jericho’s help I ate and bathed. He was solid beside me at those times, sleeping beside me, sharing the warmth of his body.

We had grown closer since that snowy night, when he had come to close to lose himself to the wolf, but still he had manage to remain sane and admit that he had feelings for me. So, we hovered into the ‘boy/girlfriend’ land minus the dates, the kisses and…other things.

The ruckus from the living room made us look. Jericho grunted in annoyance and I bumped my hip to his, which in fact was like a poke for his massive wolf body. There was something that bothered me these past days. “Have you noticed anything strange between Todd and Mina?”

A dark eyebrow rose as Jericho filled the tray with Todd’s steamed thermos of blood and the cooler of Elfas’s green tea. “Now that you mention it, I think I caught Mina sitting on Todd’s lap at the library. That looked weird enough. And I know Todd isn’t a pedophile.”

I scowled. “Mina isn’t a child really.” The witch, daughter of the one who had imprisoned everyone in this house and its perimeter was also cursed. Mina’s body had become weaker but her tongue was as sharp as ever.

Jericho lifted the tray, like it weighted nothing with all the food and the drinks on it and leaned close to me, his warm breath sending shivers from top to my toes. “I dread the moment she will be whole again. Then Todd will not be able to tear his eyes off her.”

We rarely talked about the after of the curse. Nobody knew for sure if this ritual Mina had come up with, claiming that the curse had truly an expiration date, would succeed. Not only that, but Jericho feared what would happen to him if the ritual worked; even when he didn’t speak about it, I could see it sometimes in his pale blue eyes.

He wanted to give everything to me. Only his thought was enough for me.

We headed into the living room, where the small table in front of the couches had been pushed behind at the far left corner of the room, close to the dining table, in favor for soft pillows. They were on the floor, giving more space for everyone. Elfas had taken the two-seat couch all to himself, the egoistical psycho, and Todd was seating at the corner of the second couch, looking at Mina with… wonder? Or was it longing? His eyes were soft for once and his lips were parted a little, showing a gleam of fang.

Jericho placed the tray on the floor and passed the bowls to everyone. Mina had sat crossed legged in front of the shelves and the rows of DVDs and Blu-Rays, which were under the massive TV. She hummed as her fingers trailed over the titles. While Jericho and the others arranged the food, I crawled in fours and sat beside her.