Wolfblood
Life of Terror
Author's Note: This is my 2015 Wolfblood Halloween fanfiction. I'm planning to upload it before the 31st though, because otherwise I'll just forget and it'll be late going up and not have the same impact.
Rhydian made his way into the Smiths' house at Dan's invitation. Once in, he made his way up to Maddy's room, hoping she'd like his Halloween costume. He knocked twice on the door, that familiar suspense settling over him as he waited for her to invite him in. All he had to do was open the door, and he'd see her beautiful face beaming at him as always.
"Come in, Rhydian." Maddy called once she'd caught his scent from the other side of the door. Rhydian opened the door to see her glowering into her bedroom mirror, her face chalk white with face-paint and flustered by the lack of cooperation from her ever unruly hair.
"Is everything okay?" Rhydian asked her.
"No, most of the bristles on my hairbrush just splayed!" she complained. "I've been saying I need a new one for ages, but my mum would never get me one for some reason."
"I know she wouldn't." Rhydian said. "I told her not to because I felt like getting you a Halloween present." Rhydian reached into the bag he was carrying and grabbed the packet inside. Maddy got up and ran over to him as he held it up. Through the plastic, she could see a sleek black handle attached to a set of bristles that looked far sturdier than the ones on the brush she'd been suffering with. She threw her arms round him before smashing her mouth against his. They stood there in each other's embrace for what felt like an age, but seemed to only last a second at the same time. Maddy eventually separated from him when she realised they'd been kissing for nearly three minutes and she couldn't remember breathing once. She sat on the edge of her bed, her bare feet feeling as though they were sinking into the fuzzy rug next to it as she let the jazzy lights clear from her vision.
"You know, your timing is just perfect." Maddy said as she un-wrapped the brush and got to work.
"So, what do you think of my costume?" Rhydian asked. Maddy looked over at him, this time focusing on his costume instead of his perfect face. It took her a second to register before she burst out laughing.
"Oh, that's just brilliant!" she cheered, taking in the ripped patches in an old shirt and pair of jeans he'd sacrificed. Fake fur stuck out from the holes in the clothes and the tail hanging down from his waistband completed the outfit.
"It wasn't hard to come up with." Rhydian admitted.
"Do you have a mask with it?" Maddy asked. Without a word, Rhydian pulled the werewolf mask out of his bag and slipped it on. For the next few minutes, Maddy couldn't even finish a sentence from laughter. Rhydian took the mask off and sat next to her. He pulled her close and planted a kiss on the top of her head.
"So, what are you dressed as then?" he asked.
"I'm the little girl on the swing from the cover of Silent Hill Shattered Memories." Maddy grinned.
"I never played that." Rhydian said. "It just looked horrible."
"Most of the Silent Hill games were." Maddy told him. "You're not scared already, are you? You're shaking like a leaf."
"I'm just afraid of telling your parents about our relationship on the one night of the year where they could legitimately kill me and pretend it was just part of the festivities." Rhydian confessed. "Why the hell did it have to be tonight we picked and not Christmas? I could just get both your parents a nice present to butter them up a bit before we break the news. I just think it would go so much more smoothly."
"No, we promised to do it tonight." Maddy reminded him. "You know as well as I do that we'd just keep putting it off otherwise."
"I suppose you're right as always." Rhydian muttered. "Come on then. Let's get this over with." The two Wolfbloods joined hands and walked downstairs, their fingers laced together. Just as they reached the bottom of the stairs, the doorbell rang.
"Can you get that, Maddy?" Emma called. Maddy opened the door to find Tom and Shannon huddled on the doorstep with Tom trying to keep Shannon warm.
"Why the hell did I have to pick this outfit to cover with fake blood?" Shannon fumed.
"It's nice to see you too, Shan." Maddy muttered as she motioned them in. Rhydian had run to the heater and turned it on. Shannon made a beeline for it and curled up to conserve heat. One look at her outfit told the story. She'd come as a zombie; same as Tom. But she looked more like a zombie who'd died while clubbing. She was in a similar outfit to what she'd worn to Kay's birthday party before they'd found out about Maddy and Rhydian's secret.
"I don't know, Shan; why did you have to pick that outfit?" Rhydian asked rhetorically. "Kay's party was at the start of Summer, not the end of Autumn. You're supposed to be the smart one here."
"Shut up, Rhydian." Shannon ground out through her teeth chattering.
"I thought Jana was coming over with you." Maddy said to Tom.
"No, she said she'd be a bit late, so she asked us to go on ahead." Tom told her. Rhydian had seen the empty sweet bowl on the table, so emptied the sweets from his bag into it.
"Is there anything you haven't got in that bag?" Maddy asked.
"I have my werewolf mask, the sweets, there was your hairbrush, and I have some seriously gory DVDs as well; so there should be nothing we're going to need that I didn't bring." Rhydian summarised. Just then, someone outside rang the doorbell. Maddy went to answer it just as it rang again. She opened the door to find Jana on the other side. Jana stood there with her face painted as red as her hair, holding a Satan trident in one hand with a red arrowhead tail safety pinned to her backside.
"You know, you only have to ring the bell once." Maddy told her.
"I know, but I just love this thing." Jana said, excitedly.
"Is that Jana?" Emma asked as she and Dan emerged from the kitchen carrying KFC, bacon sandwiches and a Halloween pumpkin.
"Have you told them about you and Rhydian dating yet?" Jana whispered. Unfortunately, she misjudged the hearing abilities of Maddy's parents, who were now right behind her and Rhydian looking to kill someone.
"What do you mean, Jana?" Emma asked with an obviously fake sweetness to her voice.
"Maddy, you've been dating him for over three months now. Surely you should have told them long ago." Maddy tried to shut her up, but she simply wasn't quick enough.
"No, Maddy never told us anything!" Emma growled. Dan's eyes had turned yellow and he'd instantly locked on to Rhydian.
"We were going to tell you after the party." Maddy admitted. "I just thought it would be better to wait until after you'd had a bit of wine and relaxed from setting the place up." Without another word, Dan grabbed his car keys.
"Tom, can you, Shannon and Jana put one of Rhydian's movies on and amuse yourselves for a few minutes?" Emma asked. "We just need to go out for a private chat with these two." Tom instantly stuck a DVD in the player, flopped on the sofa and pulled the big bowl of sweets onto his lap. The girls fixed exasperated looks to their faces and instantly started punching him in the shoulder to make his arm go dead. Emma ushered Maddy and Rhydian out the door while Dan locked it behind them.
"What are we using the car for?" Maddy asked as she clasped her hand firmly in Rhydian's and laced their fingers together. "We could easily have this talk in the back garden."
"Normally, that's what I'd do." Emma explained. "But Jana's a Wolfblood too, so I want to be out of her earshot. This is a family conversation, not a family-and-friends conversation." The two of them nodded and got in the car once Dan unlocked it. They drove off and Dan instantly headed for the edge of the moors. They pulled up at the edge of the tree line before Emma opened her door and walked round to Maddy's side.
"What are you doing?" Maddy asked as Emma opened the door.
"You and I are getting out here while Rhydian and Dan go on a bit." Emma told her.
"Wait, what?" Rhydian said, struggling for words. He and Maddy had banked on being together while they spoke to her parents, but this was totally out of their comfort zone. They felt a long way out of their depth. Rhydian looked at Maddy uncertainly.
"It's alright, Rhydian." Maddy assured him, squeezing his hand in hers. "I'm fairly certain he's not going to kill you."
"Do you really think this a time to joke?" Rhydian asked rhetorically. Emma slammed the door shut and Dan drove off. They carried on for a good few minutes before Dan broke the awkward silence.
"Oh, look!" he said, pointing out the window. "There's a badger in its natural habitat."
"It's at the side of the road being pecked at by crows." Rhydian stated bluntly.
"There are actually recipe books on how to cook with stuff you find in the road." Dan said absently.
"That's just sick." Rhydian muttered.
"I actually tried one once when I was younger." Dan told him. "It was delicious, but what you do with the bike is beyond me." Dan said it so casually that it took Rhydian a second to process it. As it dawned on him, he burst out laughing.
"Okay, as jokes go that was pretty good for Halloween. You actually had me for a second there." Rhydian admitted.
"You think I'm joking? Look behind you." Dan said as he pulled the car over. Rhydian twisted round in his seat to look behind him. Sure enough, an old-fashioned looking bike sat in the boot of the car. Rhydian could make out red stains on the frame and handle bars. Propped up against it was the parcel shelf, which Dan had taken down to give it room to stand. Panic setting in, Rhydian looked back at Dan who had also turned round in his seat. His eyes were burning gold and his fangs were bared. As Rhydian's wolf automatically surfaced to defend against the threat, Dan let loose a roar that seemed to make the car windows rattle. Without thinking, Rhydian jumped out from the side door and ran for his life. Tears streamed down his cheeks as the wind burned his face from the speed he was running and the flashbacks from the care home playing in front of him.
Line Break!
Dan pulled up where he'd dropped Emma and Maddy off about twenty minutes after watching Rhydian run away. As soon as they spotted him, they climbed back into the car, with Maddy red-faced after the lecture on boys, relationship problems and why it's bad luck to make your parents into grandparents before they're at least sixty-five.
"Where's Rhydian?" Maddy asked as she got in the car.
"He said he wanted to go for a bit of a run and meet us back at the house." Dan lied. "I'm sure he'll be there before we even get back."
"Okay." Maddy said, hiding her suspicion. Rhydian hated the cold, so why would he go running now? It had to be well below zero at that moment. Just then, she noticed the bike in the back. "Have you still not taken Mum's old bike to the antiques shop yet? You said you would do that at least ten days ago."
"I was going to, but we were busy getting stuff for the Halloween party." Dan protested. Maddy could sense he was lying about something, but she couldn't work out what was really going on.
Line Break!
Rhydian lay by a rock on the moors, curled up in wolf form. Flashbacks of his past ran through his mind.
It was at least seven years ago. Rhydian was curled up under his duvet, keeping the light on his watch switched on, thankful that the terrors of another Halloween would soon be behind him. Every year the others played a prank on him. He hated every single one of them. They were different to him. They weren't even his species. They wouldn't understand. He waited with baited breath as the minutes ticked down to seconds.
Just then, his bedroom door was kicked open and three kids burst in with plastic Halloween masks on. One of them had a chainsaw in his hand while the other two filmed it. Rhydian had never screamed so loudly in his life. Quickly, he rolled backwards off his bed as the one with the chainsaw took a swing at him. Suddenly, the chainsaw was snatched away from the boy as one of the care workers turned it off.
"You've got the blades on, you idiot! You could have killed him!" All other noise faded away as Rhydian just curled into a sobbing mess with no able sense of time. Did the boy do that on purpose? Did they really hate Rhydian so much that they would try to kill him? Of course they did. They always tried to pick on the ones who were different.
Line Break!
As time dragged on, Maddy became increasingly concerned. There was no sign of Rhydian and Tom, Shannon and Jana were all looking to get ready to leave. He'd missed the entire party. Whatever he was doing, this was clearly more than going for a run. Her dad had clearly been lying about something in the car, so she quickly decided it was time for some answers. She hauled herself off the sofa and went into the kitchen looking for her parents. Failing to find them in there, she made her way up to their room. As she got to the landing, she caught their scent and followed it. Without knocking, she pushed open their door to see them standing opposite each other. Their hands were balled into fists and their eyes were burning yellow.
"How long are you going to leave this, Dan?" Emma snarled. "How long will it be before you actually come clean about what you've done?"
"I didn't expect it to happen like it did!" Dan protested. "She'll never forgive me for this."
"Well maybe if you just come clean and don't give me any bull-crap, I won't be quite as angry." Maddy said, her own eyes igniting as she stepped into the room, startling her parents.
"Maddy..."
"What have you done, Dad?" Maddy asked as she walked over. "What aren't you telling me?"
"It's really nothing to..."
"Tell me right now!" Maddy screamed at him. They could all hear Tom, Shannon and Jana creeping up the stairs to find out what the hell was going on.
"Dan, she has a right to know. If you don't tell her, I will." Emma said.
"I pranked Rhydian by covering your mum's old bike with false blood and pretending I ate the person it belonged to years ago." Dan confessed. "He took it worse than I thought he would and bolted. I looked for him for a while, but I couldn't track him. I thought he would head back after a while, but he hasn't."
"Dad, you're such an idiot! It's at least fifty below out there! He's probably suffering hypothermia! And what if the Vaughns get wind of this?"
"You're right, I'm sorry." Dan said. "I'd planned to use it on Tom and Shannon, but I was just so angry about Rhydian and you dating and not knowing sooner that I just lost it."
"This is going to wait until later." Maddy snapped. "Right now, I'm going to go and find my boyfriend. Jana, grab the duvet off my bed. Everyone else, get into the car." Emma grabbed the car keys off Dan as everyone piled towards the car. "Dad, I need you to crank all the downstairs radiators up full. I want this place like a sauna by the time we get back." Normally, Dan would have bitten her head off for ordering him around, but something told him he was in no position to argue.
"What do we do when we get to the moors?" Shannon asked.
"I think I know where he went, but I need you all to fan out and start looking in case I'm wrong." Maddy replied. "If I find him, I'll fire off a text to everyone." Once they were all jammed into the car, Jana passed Maddy her duvet as Emma pulled out from the driveway. Without wasting a second, they sped towards the moors. If Rhydian died and it was Dan's fault, Maddy knew she would never call him her dad again. She promised herself that much.
Line Break!
Rhydian had been curled up by the rock for nearly four hours. He was too cold to move or do anything now. The cold had penetrated his fur and numbed him to the bone. He'd tried to change back to his human form, but he was so cold now that he seemed to be stuck in wolf form. He would have panicked long ago, but right then, he was too cold to care. The way Rhydian could see it, almost everyone had nightmares. When they opened their eyes, the nightmare would be over and they would be stuck with the reality of family and school. However, most of Rhydian's life had been hell. Maybe, just maybe, he could end this nightmare by closing his eyes. Curling further into himself, he let a cold and peaceful sleep take him as he closed his eyes.
Line Break!
Maddy raced through the trees, feeling the cold air burn her face as her breath escaped from between her lips in visible white clouds as she panted for breath. The cold sanded her throat raw and burned her lungs. Terrible thoughts began to creep through her head.
'What will you do if you're too late?'
'How will you react if he's dead?'
'Will your dad survive the night if you have to live without Rhydian?'
'He's already dead you idiot! He can't have survived this long in this cold!'
Maddy pushed those thoughts to one side as Rhydian's scent became stronger. He couldn't be dead. There was no way in hell she'd let him be dead. Just then, she saw the tip of a grey tail from behind a rock. Running over, she unravelled her duvet from under her arm. Rhydian was in wolf form fast asleep. Maddy threw her duvet over him before firing off a text to Tom, Shannon, Jana and both her parents. She lay down next to Rhydian before pressing her forehead against his. Immediately, she drew back gasping. He was unbelievably cold. She needed to wake him before he fell into a hypothermic coma.
"Rhydian, you need to wake up!" Maddy screamed, shaking him. Just then, something cold and wet hit her in the face. She looked up to see sleet starting to fall. The water hadn't properly turned to snow yet, but it was still freezing. The situation was going from bad to worse. Quickly, she pulled out her mobile and rang her mum.
"Where are you, Maddy?" Emma asked immediately.
"I'm not sure, but there's sleet falling and he won't wake up!" Maddy shouted into the phone, trying desperately to be heard over the wind that had seemed to come out of nowhere. "If a true Wolfblood can track their cubs, I need you to find me now!" It took a second for the flat tone in Maddy's ear to register in Maddy's ear. Her phone connection was down. The cold had killed the battery. Suddenly an idea sprung into Maddy's head. There was a high risk that someone would hear her, but it was better than leaving Rhydian to die.
Maddy got up onto all fours and transformed. The transformation was shaky and difficult because of the cold, but in just over ten seconds she stood tall in her wolf form. She quickly climbed up onto the rock Rhydian was curled up by to slightly amplify the sound and howled as loudly as she could. Once she was satisfied of the sound that reverberated through the trees, she jumped down to lie next to her mate.
A good few minutes later, Maddy saw the familiar glow of the car headlights and caught the scent of her mum. Only just managing to transform back, she gripped the duvet and tried to haul it to the car with Rhydian in it. Shannon and Tom jumped out to help her while Jana held the car door open. Maddy dived into the warm car as Shannon and Tom helped haul Rhydian in. Emma had put the car's heater on, so it was a lot warmer than outside.
"We need to get him to a hospital!" Tom said urgently.
"No, we need to get him home!" Maddy countered. "A hospital would probably do a blood test to make sure he didn't catch anything in the woods."
"She's right, Tom." Emma agreed. "We'll get him home and call Segolia so that they can send someone." Emma drove like a madwoman to get back home as fast as possible. Once they got there, Dan ran out to help then get Rhydian in the house. They carefully carried him in and laid him by the living room heater. Maddy laid herself next to him and pulled him into her arms, burying her face in his chest and her hands into the fur on his back. Emma pulled the duvet over the pair of them and placed a hot water bottle on Rhydian's stomach. Just then, a miracle decided to happen. The phone rang and Emma quickly answered it in the hope that it was Segolia returning Dan's call for a doctor.
"Is that Emma Smith?" a voice over the phone asked. "This is Mrs Vaughn."
"Hello, Mrs Vaughn; is something the matter?" Emma asked, hoping they hadn't caught wind of what had happened.
"It's my husband. There's something wrong with him and we've had to rush him to the hospital!" she sobbed. "I can understand if you don't want to do it, but could you possibly have Rhydian for tonight and then I'll pick him up tomorrow at around mid day?"
"That's no problem at all." Emma said. "He's not once been a bother when he visits and we love having him over. He just livens up the whole place. I know Maddy's certainly going to be glad he's staying over. I'll let her break the news to him. I know he'd much rather hear it from her than from me."
"Are you sure, Emma?" Mrs Vaughn asked.
"It's really not a problem, Leona." Emma said. "Tell James to get well soon." With that, Emma put the phone down and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Tom, Shannon and Jana, front and centre!" she called. Instantly, the three of them raced over and stood in front of her.
"What's going on, Emma?" Jana asked.
"Mr Vaughn just got rushed into hospital, so Rhydian's going to be staying with us tonight." Emma said. "Tom and Shannon, I don't want to kick you out, but you'll have to leave. I have no idea when this doctor is going to get here, but he's probably going to be a Wolfblood and if he finds you both know the secret that would be trouble." Tom and Shannon nodded. "Do you need a lift back home?" Emma asked.
"Considering how little Shan's wearing, I think it might be an idea." Tom said bluntly. Without another word, Emma fished the car keys out of her pocket.
"Grab your stuff and get in the car. I'll be with you in a minute, so put the heater on for warmth."
"Thanks, Emma." Tom said as he started grabbing his and Shannon's stuff.
"Jana, I want you to go and check on Rhydian." Emma ordered. "We've got to get him as warm as humanly possible. Try and reassure Dan too if you could. I know he blames himself for this, but he didn't know Rhydian would run like that."
"I'll try." Jana nodded. Emma grabbed something off the table and pressed into Jana's hand.
"This is Dan's mobile." Emma told her. "It's quite basic, just like yours, but it has my number on it. If there's an emergency, I need you to call me quickly." Jana nodded, so Emma raced out the door after Tom and Shannon. Once she was gone, Jana walked over and sat cross-legged in front of where Maddy and Rhydian lay. Maddy had dozed off by the warmth of the heater, and Rhydian's breathing seemed less laboured.
Just then, Jana heard Dan answering the door. A second later, he led a man in a white coat into the room. The man was Jana's stereotypical image of a normal doctor. He had a pair of glasses perched on his nose, a white coat with massive pockets on his shoulders and a stethoscope round his neck. He also reeked of antiseptic. She hated that smell.
"Jana, can you try and wake Maddy up so she can move away, please?" Dan asked
"No, that's quite alright. I can manage just fine like this, thanks." The doctor reached into the bag he was carrying and pulled out a thermometer.
"Is there any chance we can leave the thermometer until he's woken up and changed back to human form?" Dan asked. He knew what would be done if the doctor used it when Rhydian was still in wolf form.
"Are those two a couple?" the doctor asked. Dan and Jana nodded. "Yes, it's probably best to leave it then." The doctor cast a knowing look at the sleeping pair.
After a few minutes of doing what he could, the doctor simply packed his stuff and got ready to leave.
"How is he doing?" Dan asked.
"He's doing fine for now." The doctor shook Dan's hand fiercely. "Just keep doing what you're doing and he should be fine. I'll leave you my card just in case anything goes wrong at all tonight. I'll see you later and happy Halloween to you all. Jana showed him out while Dan sat down, dropped his head between his knees and took some deep breaths.
As Jana went to close the door, she had to do a double-take. She could have sworn she saw a light on the corner that the doctor was walking straight into, but when she looked back the light and the doctor were both gone.
"What was that guy's name?" she asked Dan as she walked back into the living room.
"I don't actually know." Dan realised. "He never told me his name."
"Is it on the card?" she asked. Dan held the card up, but the side facing him was blank. He flipped it over only to find the other side was blank too.
"What the hell is going on?" Dan muttered before a thought struck him like he knew Maddy would when she woke up. "Jana, check Rhydian's DVD pile! See if everything's still there!" Jana quickly scrolled through the DVDs and checked inside the cases. All the disks were in there except the top one, which she knew was still in the DVD player. Quickly, she switched the TV on and pulled up the DVD menu. The loading screen came up before the words 'No Disk' appeared. Panic rising, Jana pressed the Eject button and watched the tray open. The disk was still in the tray.
"What does that mean?" Jana asked.
"Try it again." Dan said, looking just as baffled as she did. Jana pushed the tray shut again, and once again the words 'No Disk' flashed on the screen.
"Any idea what's happening?" Jana asked.
"Try a different DVD." Dan suggested. Jana took the next one off the pile and stuck it in the tray. She pushed the drawer shut and started the DVD. She got exactly the same result as the words 'No Disk' appeared. Determined not to be beaten here, Jana took the bottom DVD off the pile. The DVD player loaded the disk before a warning message flashed up. 'Corrupted Media Detected!'
"Is this bad?" Jana asked.
"All of the disks seen to be either corrupted or wiped." Dan told her.
"What does it mean if they're wiped?"
"It means that all the data was stripped clean off them. They're useless now." Dan picked up one of the DVDs, popped the disk out and studied it absently.
"How's that possible? We were just watching them!" Jana's face spoke more words than she was able to. She'd been left speechless.
"I suppose I'll have to tell him when he wakes up." Dan muttered as he pulled himself up. "I already owe that lad a massive apology."
"You didn't know he would react like that." Jana countered.
"No, but I should have at least thought." Dan said. "The thing is, Emma and I don't know nearly as much about him as you or Maddy would. His mum isn't a close friend of the family and he didn't grow up with her. For all we know, someone at that care home could have tried to kill him one Halloween. I wouldn't mind, but I wasn't planning to use it on him anyway! I don't know how either he or Maddy could forgive me for this one. This was a royal balls-up."
"He'll forgive you." Jana assured him. "I can have a word with him if you want."
"That would be great." Dan agreed. "Thanks, Jana. I'm only sorry you didn't get a warmer reception from Emma and me when you arrived here in Stoneybridge."
"I understand about not wanting a new Wolfblood on your territory." Jana said. "I realise you were just protecting your family. There's nothing wrong with that."
"If you'll excuse me, I need to get a shower." Dan said, heading for the stairs. "I need to think things over." Just as Dan was about to head up the stairs, the doorbell rang. Dan walked over to answer it, only to see a man on the doorstep carrying a leather bag and in a black rain jacket.
"Hello, I'm Doctor Thomas. I was sent by Segolia. Where's the patient?" Dan and Jana shared a look.
"The Segolia doctor already stopped by." Dan said.
"That's impossible. I'm one of only three on duty tonight and the other two are over in the very heart of Scotland." Doctor Thomas protested.
"But he had the bag, the white coat and everything." Jana replied.
"That means almost nothing, dear." Doctor Thomas said. "Anyone can get a cheap bag and stethoscope off e-bay. Did he show you any ID or leave a card?"
"He didn't give a name or show an ID; and the card he left is blank." Dan told him.
"That sounds like Doctor Farthing." Doctor Thomas mused. "I remember him clearly, but it's impossible. He left blank emergency contact cards with the families of his patients. Segolia found out and fired him. He was reported dead two days later. The official reports are unclear, but the conclusion drawn was suicide."
Line Break!
Maddy opened her eyes only to be blinded by sunlight streaming through the window and hitting her in the face. A pair of arms tightened around her and pulled her in closer. She turned over to see Rhydian's human face looking back at her. Wordlessly, she pulled him in and pressed her lips to his.
"I love you." Rhydian muttered.
"I love you too." Maddy replied.
"Seriously you two?" a voice cut in. The two of them quickly looked over to see Jana lying on the sofa in a nightie that Maddy quickly recognised as her own. "I hope you don't mind, Maddy; but Emma said I could borrow this for last night. She wanted to put my clothes in the wash to save me washing them in the stream again. I don't actually have that many clothes except my usual outfit and my school uniform. I haven't had chance to get anymore."
"You should have said something." Maddy told her. "I'm sure the three Ks would have taken you shopping."
"Don't even joke about that!" Jana shuddered with bile-rising revulsion.
"Maybe if you beg, we'll take you." Maddy conceded. She and Jana burst out laughing. Maddy leaned back into Rhydian, cuddling against him again. "By the way, it's really not normal to be watching a couple when they kiss."
"I was here first. Get a room." Jana replied before turning to Rhydian. "Oh, and Dan will probably be in soon to apologise for what happened yesterday. Also, something happened with your DVDs. They don't seem to be working anymore. I think he's looking to pay you back for them."
"This had better be a good apology." Maddy growled, her wolf threatening to try and break free from her control. Rhydian pulled her closer, rubbing her back between her lower shoulder blades in the way he knew she loved. As he watched, the veins receded and her eyes returned to normal colour. As if on cue, Dan appeared at the doorway to the back garden. Maddy threatened to lunge, but Rhydian kept massaging her and held her back with no effort what so ever.
"Rhydian, I need to talk to you." Dan said, completely ignoring the fact his own daughter wanted to rip his head off.
"I don't blame you for what happened, Dan." Rhydian told him bluntly. "I think Maddy's trust is something you'll have to earn back, but you weren't to know about what torment I went through. I shouldn't have panicked either. I'm seventeen, not seven. I'm willing to forget it if you are too."
"I think on the grand scheme of things, that's probably best." Dan agreed, nodding his head.
"Jana also mentioned an issue with the DVDs I brought over." Rhydian continued curiously.
"Oh, yes there's that as well." Dan muttered. "While you were unconscious, Segolia sent over a Wolfblood doctor to have a look at you. We don't actually know what the hell happened, but after the first one had gone, Jana and I discovered that your DVDs weren't working."
"What's wrong with them?" Rhydian asked.
"They were either wiped or corrupted." Dan said. "I'm sorry, Rhydian; but I just couldn't coax them back to life. Since I was the reason you nearly died last night as well, I want to pay you back for them to make it right, so I don't want any argument. How much do I owe you?"
"Well, there were eleven of them and they were in the second-hand shop's '50p DVD' sale for Halloween, so that's £5.50." Rhydian told him.
"Are you sure that's all?" Dan said, a look of surprise crossing his face.
"Yeah, that's all they cost me." Rhydian said casually, leaning back against the warm metal of the radiator. "You can pay me later." Maddy sensed the tension in the room dropping, and so she also relaxed back. Rhydian's embrace felt heavenly. It set her nerves on fire in the best way she'd ever experienced in her life. They all understood now, and she was sorry she hadn't worked it out sooner. When they were upstairs, Rhydian had been shaking. She'd thought it was because they were planning to tell their parents about their relationship, but in reality it was something much bigger. He'd been afraid of Halloween. In that second, Maddy made up her mind. On that day each year, she'd be there to help him through it. She knew that Rhydian would never let anything hurt her, so she had no excuse not to do the same. To the best of her ability, she would stand by him as he stood by her. She'd do her level best to make sure that he wouldn't live a life of terror.
End!