The news reports of werewolves came in droves leaving the prefecture of Naboo, and all lying suburbs on their toes. As the anchorwoman furrowed her brows on the screen, the girl mirroring her at her kitchen table did too. Though, her interest waned with an eye roll as she glanced at the calendar. Noting the red tally marks through half of October, she snorted and continued to stuff Cheetos into her gullet.
"You've got to me kidding me." She muttered, still listening to the reports on the last murder in the Jakku district. " Did they ever stop to think it may be a bunch of gutterpunks pulling stunts for some Halloween bullshit?"
It wasn't surprising in itself that there had been a murder there. Rey remembered growing up on those concrete streets, hiding out in the rusted trains to become invisible. It was dangerous as it was, and it didn't need any mysterious creatures to make it that way.
Her roommate ate his cereal, scrunching his face at the 20 inch screen he had mounted on the wall. "Little Bit, I'm not surprised by anything that happens there. I'm glad you made it out of there okay and now we can just sit and watch awful things happen from the luxury of our apartment."
Rey shook her head as a smirk overtook her. Finn had been the best friend she had ever had. He took her in without question, and listened to her drivel about her obsession with these supernatural occurrences - no matter how much she tried to dissuade herself from believing them.
"I still don't think you should go out alone. It's still really dangerous this time of year. If you take Niney on a walk, you should do it before dark." He said, cleaning up the mess he had made.
Rey glowered at this. She had never needed protecting before, and she was perfectly fine handling herself in the event she ran into the big bad wolf on her way home.
"I think you know me better than that."
Finn turned from the sink, brushing his wet fingers along an oversized college sweatshirt. It belonged to his boyfriend, Poe, and he winced at the new stain he had added to it.
"I will not be able to live with myself if anything happens to you. I mean, Poe would kill me and so would like five other people. So as long as I can keep you from getting into trouble - don't give me that look."
Rey crossed her arms over her chest as she skidded her chair, giving him the look.
"All I'm saying is that I am a big girl and can take care of myself. Even as interesting as the supernatural is, I don't really believe it. And I certainly don't believe it's anyone other than those nasty guys that hang around Plutt's."
"Even more reason for you to be cautious. They're awful people and they did horrible things to you before. Eventually the police will catch them and you won't have to worry anymore." Finn's face spread into a bright, reassuring smile. He placed a kiss on top of the messy copper pile of hair on Rey's head and made his way to the living room.
"You drive such a hard bargain, Finn." She placated him before clicking and whistling for Niney to wake up for his walk. "I'll take the taser with me and the dog whistle just in case I summon a big scary shapeshifter or something."
Finn audibly groaned. "Take your fudging cellphone."
Rey popped her head around the corner, holding the leash in her hands. "Editing ourselves now?"
He rolled his dark eyes at her as he flipped on his laptop. "Some of us have to monitor our language at work. And I teach kids, do you really want me to tell them to fuck up their opponents in dodgeball?"
Rey giggled, pulling on a black hoodie with her favorite band's logo scrawled on the front. "Ye s. " She grinned. Sending him a wink, she called Niney once again. The not so little Lapphund, who looked like a beast himself, came barreling into the kitchen, rolling over the linoleum.
She tossed him a treat and pet his sweet face. He was missing one eye and had had an operation on his hind leg. Rey loved him more for it. He was her protector and he was a little devilish thing.
The girl cooed at her beastly dog as they left the apartment. She found him abandoned in the old train yard, and brought him home with her some years ago. She liked fixing broken things, and so far he had been the best.
Finn thought so, too.
Outside, the cool autumn air bit at her nose as she made her way down the stairs. A shiver ran down her spine as she quickly found their most traveled path - a well lit sidewalk, lined with baroque street lights and glowing orange and purple decor from the neighboring houses.
It was an entirely different world from the Jakku district. She felt like royalty living in that two bedroom space and not in a proverbial tin can with a leaking roof that rested above a bodega run by some less than savory people.
She couldn't do this there. She couldn't walk along the streets and listen to music in her headphones while she walked Niney. It even smelled better here.
Niney liked it better, too. She ran her fingers over his head as they stopped at a small crosswalk that lined the edge of the upper middle class subdivision, and she reveled in the nothingness that laid beyond it.
The park was dark as it ascended into a rolling hill. There were small natural pods with native wildlife and swings and a hiking trail. Most of all, she loved the openness of it and the way the stars seemed to glean above her.
It was her favorite place. She let Niney off his leash as she walked around staring above her. The faint smell of a bonfire stung her nose with some sort of delight. It broke her heart that Finn worried about her like he did.
She longed for the simplicity of this kind of freedom. Rey closed her eyes, relaxing for just a moment before she noticed that Niney was gone. She tossed her headphones on the ground and fumbled in her pouch for the whistle.
"Niney! Nineeeey!"
Rey panicked more than she realized. Anxiety ate at her as she looked behind her, suddenly aware of all of the creaks and cracks of the outdoors. Niney was her security blanket and it made her heart climb in her throat when the wind caressed the back of her neck, and when the darkness of the night became more apparent.
Rey stared at the endless skyline and bathed in the cool white light of the full moon. All of that werewolf mumbo jumbo made her hair stand on end.
No, she was overreacting.
She told herself as much anyway. Her small hands smeared across her worried face as the shadows seemed to dance menacingly like spectors haunting her vision.
Finn was right. Rey scolded herself. Teeth bore down against her lip as she walked frantically in circles. She passed the playground and the ponds in the distance, and stood at the mouth of the thrust of pines.
With shaky hands, she removed her phone and turned on the flashlight. The whistle hung from her neck as she plucked it in her mouth, blowing it to find nothing but the rustling trees.
The faint white light of her phone illuminated the small dirt covered path and she went rigid. She should have gone home. She should have listened. She shouldn't be there alone.
Rey fought with herself as she cautiously treaded a little deeper, a little further onto the trail before she heard familiar barking.
A wave of relief washed over her, but it was short lived as a towering creature rushed in front of her vision. She was catatonic, far too frightened to even breathe as her heart pummeled in a frequency she didn't recognize and skipped a beat as she stood painfully still. She wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and wake up at home. Yet, he stalked about her precariously.
Rey moved her fingers centimeter by centimeter, barely recognizing her own thoughts and movements as fear besieged her. She had never known true, unadulterated fear like she did in that moment.
Its teeth were large, crooked in some places and it lumbered on four long legs. It reminded her of the Black Shuck and all sense of time ceased. Her fingers found the taser and she swallowed as it stepped closer.
Her own breath was forced out, feeling the sting of the cold and the pure adrenaline coursing through her.
Its dark fur was so similar to Niney's. It was smooth looking, wavy and its features pronounced as two dark eyes,as black as the night, peered back at her.
The moment she made eye contact, it raised upon its haunches. It was over six feet tall, wide, and muscular. It would completely decimate her or eat her whole if it got ahold of her. This was the moment her mouth parted, rippling in the air with a blood curdling scream.
She dropped her phone.
She turned and ran like she had never ran in her life. Everything felt like it was slow motion as she ran down the trail towards the park. Her eyes had screwed shut, but the taser was free and ignited. It wasn't smart, but she wasn't thinking. The hum consoled her as the glinting blue light gave her some fragment of reassurance as he descended upon her.
A clawed hand swatted at her, sending her tumbling to the ground. She ended up being stopped by a tree stump, losing the taser a few feet away.
Blindly she crawled to it as if she were possessed. When the creature pounced, she rolled over stabbing the device across its face. It recoiled, howling as it tried to regain its footing. The stench of burned flesh permeated the air, and she bolted in her one moment of freedom. A second longer and she knew she would have been dead.
She ran past the swingsets. In the midst of the hysteria, she had tripped and rolled down a portion of the hill before she heard it trailing behind her. Rey stumbled, grabbing the entrance gate and removing the long bar lock. At least she had something to defend herself.
She stopped only for a moment to see it stall before the exit. The lighted street below exposed a few people drinking their coffees and walking their own dogs. It was afraid to be seen in the light, and the girl listened to the deafening snarls fading as it watched her from the incline.
Blood stained her shirt and her hands were muddied by the ground. When she made it to the sidewalk, she ran in between the street lights to be seen.
The residents didn't pay her any mind, too focused on their own conversation. She didn't relax until she climbed the stairs of her apartment, slumping down against the door to finally catch her breath.
Her quivering hands cemented themselves to her face, wiping away the cold sweat covering her skin like a film. Her eyes closed as her heart rate slowed. She wouldn't be able to sleep. Even in the security of her own home, she wondered if it would find her.
Her body went slack. She could barely keep her head up and everything felt unbearably heavy. Rey's last conscious thought was if that fucking creature had laid a grimey clawed finger on her Niney.
At some point, she awoke to Finn slapping at her face after dragging her into the apartment. Vertigo made it almost impossible to focus on any particular thing. A gasp punctured the air as she shot up, noticing clean clothes and a piping hot cup of tea on the coffee table.
Tears creased the edges of her eyes as she recoiled, bawling over her own poor decisions. "I'm so sorry, Finn. I-I should have listened! I saw it! I saw it! It attacked me and I lost Niney!"
Finn flinched, cupping her face reassuringly. "I need you to repeat that. You saw what, exactly?"
Rey sniveled, shaking her head. "The fucking werewolf! It fucking attacked me, Finn! What do I even do now? Do I call the police?" She was frantic, barely making sense.
Finn scoffed in disbelief. "I don't think it was the werewolf, sweetheart. It was probably a regular old wolf. Niney has done this before and he came home with a rabbit last time." He soothed her, handing her a napkin.
Rey blew her nose and took the tea, glancing at the trees outside of their window. She immediately shot up to close the blinds. She couldn't even look outside right now.
Trying to tell Finn what she went through was easy, but whatever it was, was a different story entirely. She countered him with every possible scenario and still nothing but mansplaining. He did that sometimes. Though, she wondered if was just trying to calm her down.
Aside from being sore and bruised, she has managed to escape unscathed. She didn't see the laceration lining her spine, or the minute puncture just below her shoulder blade.
She washed up and laid down in her room with the light on as she obsessively looked up information on werewolves. Rey did this for days as Finn finally came to terms with what had happened. The authorities were notified, an anonymous telecast was on the news, and she felt justified for the days after the incident.
Niney had yet to come home, but they made posts and flyers for every street corner and every house in the mile radius - at least it felt like that many.
Rey had been good and listened to warnings and didn't venture out alone after dark. She made sure to take an Uber home if she got off late at the body shop. And she made sure to keep a backpack of standard implements - silver coins, a new taser, mace, a small switchblade (legal two inches) and a bag of gummies for when she was hungry.
Finn packed them for her every morning. She had resigned herself to this new way of life, and she glowered at the sight of the night rolling overhead. Maybe it wasn't a werewolf, she thought. Maybe it was just a wolf or a deformed bear, or a diseased something or another.
Anything other than a werewolf.
Rey shook it off the best she could and she resigned herself to frequenting the local library. Her friend Rose worked at the circulation desk, and nearly fainted when she saw the girl standing in front of the counter.
"Well! What have we here?!" The woman squealed, adjusting her bright yellow glasses as she smoothed the wrinkles out of her cardigan.
Rey feigned a smile at Rose. She couldn't help but smile at her cherubic face. She looked like one of those girls that fell out of an indie film with her dark hair and sweet demeanor, but she was fierce and ferocious and took no shit. Rey loved her more than she loved herself.
"Don't get too excited. This isn't going to happen for a while. I actually need your help finding a specific book." Rey said, tapping her blunt nails along the melamine counter.
Rose grinned, "Okay, I'm ready, which one?" Her hands worked quickly on the keyboard as she siphoned through the catalogues.
"Therianthropic Whills by Luke Skywalker."
Rose pushed her glasses up, "You're the second person that's asked for that title today. A man asked me for it just a little while ago! You maybe able to beat him to it. I know he's still in here."
Rey flashed a quick smile. "Thanks! Also, please come to dinner on Saturday night. Finn wants you to help him fix Poe's precious Republic University jumper."
Rose rolled her eyes. "I will, but you should probably hurry!" She giggled. " The occult and cryptid section is located next to funeral practices ending in .946!"
Rey nodded and left her backpack at the circulation desk. She inhaled the sombering smell of the books and the freshly made pot of coffee in the reading knook. It was one of the first times she had felt truly relaxed in two weeks.
She searched the sections until she reached her destination. Most of the books on Lycanthropy were checked out and she mused about the reason why. Quietly, she skimmed her fingers over the spines until she found the correct collection of Skywalker reference materials.
She stood on her tip toes squinting at the numerical codes and huffed when she realized she couldn't quite reach the book in question. Looking away, she found a step stool and climbed upon it. As she reached it with her newfound height, long fingers plucked it off the shelf for her.
She flinched, not realizing someone else was there. The book was dropped securely into her arms before she turned to thank the person. Rey almost gasped as she saw his face. A long, fresh wound partitioned the halves of his face she was high enough to meet his gaze with her own.
"Th-thank you." She held the book close to her chest as she stepped down. He picked up the stool and moved it back to its corner and sat back down with his own stack of Lycanthropy and therian books.
"You looked like you needed a little help." He said, his voice low and strong.
A blush settled on her cheeks as she noted how tall and dark his eyes were. He was handsome in a peculiar way, and those eyes of his drew her in.
She was in a library for a reason! She wasn't there to make eyes at the first man that did anything remotely nice for her that wasn't Finn or his boyfriend.
Rey cleared her throat, "Do you mind if I sit here?"
He raised his dark eyes to meet hers for a flittering second. "We're here for the same reasons, I assume. Do what you want, who am I to stop you?"
The girl brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, which he noticed as he eyed her throat. His teeth nipped at his lip before letting his eyes focus on the words in the book.
It was embarrassing how hard it was for him not to climb out of his seat. His feet fidgeted beneath the table and his hand creased upon his knee. Kylo Ren was begging to come out.
There were only a handful of reasons for this, and he glowered at the prospect of what that actually meant. This girl was familiar. She had to have been like him. He could feel it. There was something he knew about her, and he couldn't place his finger on it.
"I'm Ben." He blurted, never raising his eyes from the book. He turned the pages blindly. He was supposed to be trying to figure out how to not be the monster he was, not fixate on a woman he didn't even know.
Rey made a small sound and glanced up from her book, noticing how long and sharp his jaw was and how broad he was. She was drawn to him and the dangerous undertones she could sense off of him. She never made good decisions and this certainly was not going to be one of them.
"I'm Rey Johnson." Her freckled cheeks raised as she grinned crookedly.
Why did she tell him her last name? She never told anyone. She was stupid, especially after all of the tumult of the recent month.
"Why are you reading shapeshifting?" He asked nonchalantly, straightening himself as he took a sip of coffee from an employee mug - he took it. He hated Styrofoam.
Rey shifted uncomfortably, "I mean, with all of these horrible things going on, I just wanted to brush up. You?"
Ben smirked, "I just like knowing useless things." Liar. You're a terrible liar and she can tell.
They were both lying to themselves and each other.
"What-uh..." Rey gestured to the scar on his face, "...I'm sorry if that's out of line."
Ben furrowed his brows as he closed the book. He practiced every morning after a transformation. He recited bullshit stories to himself until he almost believed them.
"I blacked out and when I woke up, my face was messed up and I was outside." He said as a matter of factly. It wasn't necessarily a lie. He could only remember bits and pieces of Ren. He had his own separate consciousness but they had become more interconnected recently.
Rey nodded absently. "A similar thing happened to me. I was out walking my dog and I ended up blacking out. I was pretty banged up, but other than that I was fine. Do you think maybe you were attacked?" Her voice was nothing but a whisper.
Ben lowered his head, leaning a little closer. Meeting her eyes once more, he felt a swell of heat rushing through him. His feet planted firmly on the floor to ground himself as Ren's consciousness bled into the corners of his mind.
Her. Her. Her. It was her.
"I wasn't attacked by a werewolf." He said, his eyes trained on hers as some faint realization passed through her.
Rey leaned back, mouth parted as she noticed the position of his injury and the darkness of his hair and his stature. Oh bloody hell.
She glanced at the clock and picked up the book as casually as possible. "It was nice meeting you, Ben."
He pushed himself to his feet standing tall across from her. He was even the same size as the shuck. Rey scaled his height and felt her heart tremble as she exhaled sharply, watching his large hand cross the table.
She hesitated before taking it. When she did, she felt something warm kindling in that touch.
"I'm sure I'll see you around."
Rey felt like running. Her adrenaline was starting to go berserk and she knew he knew. Ben was not terrifying. Whatever monster that he became was terrifying.
"We'll see." She grinned sheepishly, ignoring the electricity scorching her fingers as she pulled away.
As she packed up and head back to the circulation desk, Rose happily took the book as Rey looked over her shoulder at the table Ben had sat at. He wasn't there.
"Oh who's afraid of the big bad wolf?"
Rey snapped her head around, gripping to the counter as if it grounded her to reality. Rose was singing to herself as she closed her eyes. Every muscle in her body was tense and she realized she had just told that nightmare her name.
Fuck.
Rey bolted out the door. She had to call the police on him. He needed to be detained. Other people would get killed if she didn't, but Ben seemed rather docile.
The girl thunked her head on the kitchen table when she got home, clutching the book close to her chest as she had at the library. He's a person just like her, right?
A sharp pain tore through her neck and she let out a cry as she dropped the book on the floor. "What in the hell?"
She whimpered, reaching around her neck to remove the necklace she always wore. She always forgot about it and it burned like the fires of hell. It singed her fingers as she tossed it on the table.
Rey plastered her hands on the table and stared hopelessly at the charm. It was silver.
Why did everything suddenly smell so different? Why did everything feel so strange and dizzying? She looked out the window as the night time began to roll in. There wasn't another full moon this month.
Rey felt her teeth graze her lip with acute precision, drawing blood with minimal effort.
Immediately, she flipped open the book and found the the horrifying answer in the first chapter.
- "While it is not necessarily to be bitten by a Lycanthrope to suffer from a series of similar analogues, it is, in fact, important to note that there will be involuntary symptoms after obtaining D.N.A. transfer such as: unknown laceration, close proximity contact, osmosial airborne particles.
It is treated much like a known medical disease. You will suffer loss of memory, mood swings, heightened senses, sensitivities to discouraged metals and mediums. Unless saliva is transferred into the blood stream, there is a low chance of transformation.
Though, it should be noted that some cases have been documented. One needn't worry about the possibility of long term therianism as the genetic predisposition would need to be pre-existing as with other illness.
Be mindful of specific lunar schedules, maintain calming and repression devices for sure nights. For male werewolves or other shapeshifters, it is very important to note severely high testosterone levels that will cause blackouts and poor impulse control.
Do not let the beast control you. You must control it.
Often, female shifters will feel when the Alpha is returning to its primal state. Side with caution when interacting, as this can become very messy if the human host is not likely to become your mate under other circumstance."
Rey sank onto the floor staring blankly at the newscast on the television. Ben's face streaked across it.
"Ben Solo won the most recent poll under the guidance of Leia Organa."
" Thank you for watching R2 in the Evening with Amilyn Holdo and Cassian Andor. Tune in at 11:00PM for the Republic University Football scores."
The girl took a deep breath. "Fuck."