Once a Month on a Full Moon Part 3
Brittany tucked her feet under her body and sat on Santana's couch. She reached over to the table to grab a slice of pizza that the brunette had reheated and laid out on the table once Brittany had used the bathroom.
"Ok, I guess I should start from the beginning." Blue eyes looked towards the wary brunette and Brittany attempted a smile in the midst of a bite. "I promise that everything I say is the truth, although you probably won't believe it." She looked once more at Santana who sat opposite her on the ottoman.
"All right." Santana drawled, tucking her legs under her and taking a sip of the water she was holding. "I'll try my best to keep a clear and open mind."
Brittany nodded. "Try to let me finish before you ask me any questions. Is that ok?" She took another bite of her pizza. "I promise I will answer all your questions." She paused. "Well, if I do know the answers anyway." She shrugged.
"All right. Go on." Santana urged and got herself comfortable on her own couch.
Brittany took her last slice of pizza and took a large sip of water from her glass on the table. "Ok, so ... How do I even start?" She scrunched her nose up at Santana. "Sorry, I haven't had this chat with anyone before."
Santana cracked a slight smile. "I'm listening."
"Ok ... lemme start with the easy parts." Brittany looked around the room. "I used to live here."
Santana's eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"
"Tsk. Lemme explain." Brittany chastised and giggled. "You know the room upstairs with the loose hinge on the door?" Santana nodded warily. "Yeah. How did you ...?" She trailed off when Brittany gave her a look.
"Like I said, I used to live here." Brittany tried to explain. "The door has been loose for years. Ever since I barrelled into it trying to do a cartwheel in the small confines of my bedroom." She shrugged and ate another slice of pizza. "I didn't think that my parents would've kept it unchanged before selling the house."
"Your parents?" Santana parrotted while walking to her table and picking up a stack of documents. "Your parents are Whitney Pierce?" Santana squinted at the documents. "Your dad is Pierce Pierce?" Santana looked back up at Brittany. "What kind of name is that?" She asked incredulously.
"Yeah, my dad's a little ... eccentric." She shrugged. "But yes, essentially, you bought this from my parents when they decided to retire and travel the world." She stopped and mused out loud. "I think they're in Egypt right now. Or was it Turkey? I can't keep track."
She turned back to Santana. "But yes, I think that's why I always end up at your front lawn. My brain just sorts of just comes back here through muscle memory, I guess." She shrugged. "It's an unconscious thing. I think."
"Yeah, but that doesn't explain really why you end up naked every month at my garden does it?" Santana asked sarcastically. "Or was that something you used to do every month as well when you were still living here?"
Brittany rolled her eyes at Santana. "Yeah, but that was in college, so it doesn't count." She stretched out on the seat. "It's a totally different reason now. Anyway." She cleared her throat.
"Can I borow your computer?" Brittany motioned to the Macbook that was sitting on top of the coffee table. Santana lifted her hand and waved it at Brittany for permission.
"Great. Thanks." Brittany pick it up and typed in a few keys and waited. Clicking on the website, she turned it over and motioned for Santana to come over to have a closer look. "And this is me."
Santana peered over Brittany's shoulder and her eyes widened as she saw the same site that she had opened last night when she was searching for a vet to bring the injured wolf thing to.
"So you're Dr. Pierce from Pierce Vets and Surgery?" Santana asked bewildered.
Brittany bit her lip. "Mmm hmm. But call me Brittany." She sighed and leaned back on the couch. "It's also why I'm in this predicament, really." She rolled her eyes at herself. "And probably also the reason why I end up at your lawn monthly for the last year or so."
Santana gestured at the wound on Brittany's side. "I suppose it's also why you regularly take 'personal time' off monthly and close your practice?"
Brittany nodded. "Yup. And like you mentioned, I'm the only vet around ... well, there used to be another guy before me, but that's a story for another time."
"Ok." Santana gently settled herself on the same couch as Brittany was seated on, but surreptitiously moved further away from Brittany at the other end. "But that doesn't really explain a lot of things." She gestured towards the kitchen. "Last night was certainly different."
Brittany sighed and closed her eyes. "This is where it gets a little shady. I'm not even sure if I've the answers you're looking for. God knows I'm still looking for answers myself."
Santana gave her a look.
"Okay, okay. I'll just lay it down for you." Brittany rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. "A year or so ago, I went back to the practice at night to get some paperwork done. Everything was fine until I heard a howl from right outside my locked door. I peered out and there was this huge white wolf out on my compound."
"And you just took it in?" Santana gave her an incredulous look.
"Well, so did you." Brittany stared back down at Santana. "And number two, I'm a vet, it's sort of what I do." She leaned back and sighed. "Although, come to think of it now, it probably wasn't a great idea."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the wolf was semi conscious when I brought it in and bandaged it's side, so I thought I was fine, without having to tranquilize it, in case something happens, ya know?" Brittana said rhetorically. "However, that wasn't quite the case. About 20 minutes into the minor surgery I was performing for it, he woke up and started thrashing around."
"Did he ... did it hurt you?" Santana gasped out.
Brittany shrugged. "It comes with the job, really. God knows how many times I've been accidentally bitten by a canine patient or scratched by a feline patient. But this was different." She moved closer to Santana and showed Santana her wrist. "The wolf must've panicked or something. It's fangs bit right through my gloves and punctured a hole in my wrist."
Santana peered closer and saw the crescent shaped scar on Brittany's wrist. "Looks like it got you all right."
Brittany scoffed. "Yeah, the attending doctor said that I was lucky that the wolf didn't bite down too hard and tore off something important. I would've bled to death or worse, I would've been forced to shut down my practice because my hands wouldn't be able to perform any surgery."
Santana laughed at that. "And that's worse than death?"
Blue eyes regarded the brunette. "I take my job very seriously. Animals are living creatures too."
Santana held up her hands. "Ok, ok, then what? Your little encounter with the wolf still doesn't explain a lot of things. If you take your job so seriously, then something major must have happened for you to shut it down monthly ever since."
Brittany nodded. "The wolf ran out straight after like any other normal panicked wild animal would. I did try to give chase, but I could barely get myself to the hospital with all the blood coming out of my hand and all that."
Brittany leaned back against the couch. "Well after that, I was out for a couple of days. It kinda sucked because my parents had just sold the house and left for their trip, so I got a little case of cabin fever. It was probably a good thing too, because ..." She looked at Santana.
"Were you already living in the town when there was a brutal animal mauling case going on?" Brittany asked.
Santana nodded. "I think so. I was up at the morgue when they brought in a John Doe which they suspect died from a wolf attack?"
Brittany nodded. "Yeah, that's the one. I saw the news when I was holed up at my house and if my parents had known I was treating a wolf the day that the murder occured ..." She trailed off. "To be fair though, I wasn't certain then that it was the same wolf that attacked me."
"But still." Santana protested.
"And I'm definitely certain now that the wolf that attacked me wasn't responsible for the death of the young man that you saw at the morgue." Brittany continued on.
Santana raised an eyebrow at that. "And you know this, how? Last I remember, the body was still unclaimed and the cause of death according to the coroner is a loss of blood and a major laceration to the sides."
Brittany nodded. "Yes, there was a gash to the side that punctured his liver. That and the loss of blood from various other gashes was probably what led to his death."
"Again, you know this, how?" Santana questioned.
"Because." Brittany paused. "Because the wolf that I was treating had the same wounds." She looked Santana in the eyes. "It was the same wolf, Santana. The same wolf that ... that transformed into a man the next morning."
Santana looked at Brittany with her mouth opened. "Are you serious right now? You're actually telling me that you got attacked by a ..." She put her fingers up in the air. "By a werewolf?"
Brittany muttered under her breath. "I told you you wouldn't believe me."
"No shit, Sherlock." Santana scoffed out.
"How do you explain last night then?" Brittany challenged.
"But ... but." Santana gasped out. "That's different."
Brittany raised her eyebrow in challenge. "How so? You told me you brought in a wolf and now here I am." She gestured at herself sitting on the couch. "How do you explain that?"
Santana scrambled out of the seat next to Brittany's. "Hold up, you're telling me you're this werewolf creature too?" She took a large step behind and cautiously eyed the tire iron she had propped up next to the kitchen table.
Brittany rolled her eyes at Santana's panic. "I guess?" She made a move to stand up. "Look." She started.
"No no no." Santana half screamed and shouted. "Don't ... just don't come anywhere near me."
Brittany held her hand up and started to sit back down gingerly. "Look." She ran a hand through her hair and sighed for the millionth time that day. "It's over now, and I'm glad that you helped me last night and I didn't accidentally maul you or something." She gave Santana a look.
"It's not a full moon. I'm not going to change in front of you right now, Santana." She chastised the brunette. "I'm not going to hurt you."
Santana took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing heart. This complete stranger just told her that she was a mythical creature. She was supposed to believe that?
"Okay ... so, let's say I believe you." Santana started and moved to the other end of the room, picking up the tire iron just to satisfy her paranoia. "How ... I mean, what happens? I mean ..." She sat down and put her head in her hands. "Gods, I don't even know what to ask anymore."
Brittany casually picked up another slice of pizza and started munching on it. "I can't really give you any answers. I can just tell you what I know. The first month after the accident last year, there was a night where I just felt really sickly, you know? Like as if my skin had wanted to tear off and that there was just something that was eating me inside. I brushed it off as a stomach bug and just took some painkillers and went to bed."
Santana nodded. "Yeah?"
Brittany continued. "I had really vivid dreams that night. Dreams of running through the town, but from a really different perspective. Like, I was shorter and lower to the ground. It was surreal." She paused. "It was real." She sighed.
"And that's how I found myself outside your house the first time it happened. I don't remember how I got here, only that I woke up remembering dreaming about running around town and feeling really ... free?" Brittany paused. "I ran back to my place naked in broad daylight, Santana. You do not want to know how traumatizing that is for me." She shuddered. "I don't think the old lady that lives a few doors down to my place will ever look at me the same again."
"And this has been happening monthly?" Santana asked, slowly warming up to the idea.
"I started noticing a pattern. Say what you want, but the change does happen every full moon. Look back at your camera recordings. You'll see that the date coincides."
Santana nodded. "Okay. This is just a lot for me to handle right now."
"For you to handle?" Brittany scoffed. "Try living my life. I don't even know what's going on half the time when I'm changed."
"So what happened last night?" Santana queried. "You were hurt." Her eyes widened. "There are more of you out there?"
Brittany nodded slowly. "I ... I think so? I was attacked while I was in form. Usually I just run around the woods and erm ... hunt some rabbits or something like that. But last night felt different."
"Diffrent how?"
"It was quiet in the woods." Brittany's eyes narrowed as she recounted the night before. "There weren't any prey around. But there was something else in the air. I remember I was ambushed while I was exiting the park."
"Ambushed? Like as in there was someone waiting there for you?" Santana asked.
"Not someone. But something." Brittany stopped to think. "Do you know how wolves travel in packs with the alpha male leading the pack?" She cocked her head to the side. "My wolfey sense told me that it was the alpha that attacked me. I'm a newborn, I could barely fight back. I mean, I'm a black belt in karate, but this was in a complete different form. I did struggle to get away, but the alpha was huge."
"So what happened then?" Santana asked, curious.
"We tumbled down the enbankment and I ended up in the river. Guess the alpha doesn't quite like the water." Brittany shrugged. "I think I must've passed out while floating downstream and when I woke up again, I was in your kitchen. I guess I must've ended up here again after I reached the riverbank."
"You were hurt quite badly." Santana conceded.
"I was." Blue eyes met hers. "Thank you for taking care of me last night."
Santana looked at Brittany's sincere blue eyes and nodded. "Thank you for not attacking me when you could." She cracked a small smile.
Brittany smiled easily back. "I don't think I could've, Santana." She got up and stretched. "Thank you though, for listening. It feels great sharing my secret with someone else." She looked at Santana warily. "You're not gonna freak out on me and do something like call the cops or worse, animal control, are you?" She shudders violently.
Santana shook her head and motioned for her to sit back down. "No ... I believe you. It's a bit out of the world, really, I thought that werewolves only appeared in myths and legends, but I suppose I can't argue with what I saw last night."
"Oh trust me, they're very real. Sometimes when I walk around, I smell something else that doesn't even seem very human on people in the streets." Brittany shrugged. "It's a weird world we live in."
Santana leaned back down and looked at Brittany. "Okay, you're a werewolf." She said it out loud, as if saying it out loud would make it more believable.
Brittany nodded. "Have been for over a year now at least."
Santana repeated to herself again. "So, you're a werewolf. Now what?"
