Harry stood at the stove cooking a traditional full English breakfast as he did every Sunday morning before he went to meet Charlie and Billy to go fishing. As usual he cooked extra bacon and sausages for when his wife and children woke up. Leah came in the front door just as Harry finished serving up his food. "Good night out?" he asked his eldest daughter.
"Yes." She said bluntly reaching for some bread and making a sausage sandwich which she promptly devoured.
"Leah" Harry sighed, "at least try to act like a lady." Leah gave him an awful and hateful glare. She made a point of eating the rest of her sandwich like a pig. "Leah" her father warned, tired of her testing attitude.
"What?" She snarled as Seth entered the room, freezing as he heard Leah's tone of voice. No matter her mood she always was respectful to her parents –even in her teenage rebellion years she never spoke to them in such a manner that she had just done so. Harry was taken a back as well.
Before long they were in a blazing row with Seth interjecting to tell the two to keep it down and telling Leah off for being rude. For a kid he really could be mature at times. It made his dad proud.
Sue descended down the stairs wrapped in her dressing gown, her eyes heavy after being awoken by the argument that was happening downstairs. "I hate you!" Leah yelled at her father.
Hardly able to believe her ears, Sue's eyes went wide as she harshly scolded her daughter. "Leah!" Her tone was sharp and deadly, Leah knew not to mess with her usually but today that tone only fuelled her anger. Everyone was ganging up on her – pretty soon her younger sister would be awoken by the noise and come to join the bashing. Leah started to shake but no one noticed. Their argument became a selection of blurred noise all shouting at Leah for her attitude this morning.
Then she was no longer there, in Leah's place stood a wolf growing and snarling. Sue screamed in horror that her baby girl had turned into a gigantic wolf. Harry reached for his mobile phone and dialled a number. "Sam, you might wanna come round" he said when the receiver answered their own phone. All attention was on Leah who was snarling whenever her mother or father tried to get close to her but making a nasal whining sound as she backed away from everyone.
In her head she could hear the voice of other, male voices. They were telling her to stay calm but she could feel their emotions –they were panicking, unsure of what was happening. They all had one thought in common: why did it have to be her?
Leah asked herself the same question. Suddenly her mother screamed again and her brothers panicked voice shared her mind. She couldn't understand what had happened. Seth was fuming, he wasn't snarling but his thoughts were bitter as he resented his father for calling the one person who had hurt his older sister. Why would he call her ex-boyfriend?
Sue screamed again, this wasn't like the others which were out of sheer horror. She was panicking and shouting her husband's name. The two wolves looked at their mother. Sam had arrived, just walking in but that wasn't what she was screaming at. Their father was on the floor, his hand over his fragile heart.
Sam dealt with the two wolves first. "Relax" he said with a commanding force. Seth couldn't resist. The power in the voice forced him to and his body grew back into a human form. He was naked, a sight that made his sister flinch but no one other than Leah paid attention. "Get dressed Seth" Sam said. Seth hurried up the stairs, terrified that his little sister might wake up and see him as he ran past her room to get some clothes. Sam bent down to look at Leah's snout. "Please relax, Leah, you won't change back until you do. I'll explain everything when you do. Please?"
Leah forced herself to relax her body and despite her mind being unwilling slowly she relaxed. Again when she returned to human form she was naked. Sam smiled kindly at her. Leah's eyes widened and she ran to her room, past Seth at the top off the stairs who was running back down to help out his mother. Leah got dressed and began crying on her bed, selfishly forgetting her father's pain.
Sam had rung an ambulance. Paramedics were on their way. Harry was having a heart attack. Sue was crying, begging him to be okay.
The paramedics arrived. They were too late. His heart gave out minutes before they arrived. Seth was crying silently. Leah had returned down the stairs, ready to apologise. The tears on everyone's face made her realise something had happened and her dad's blue-ing face was the clue she needed and her tears began to flow again.
The process of removing the body had begun when Antonia came downstairs. Everyone had been too wrapped up in the death to wake the youngest child. Hysterics reached Antonia and Sue went to deal with her. She wanted her two eldest children as far away from their sister. Young werewolves couldn't control themselves. She couldn't have her youngest baby get hurt –not like her niece, Emily was.
If Sue could help it Antonia was not going to be a part of this supernatural disaster.