The Trouble with Daylight
"You're…what?" Clawdeen spoke for the entire Wolf family after a prolonged silence.
Her best friend and brother were seated across from them on the sofa, the indirect source of their shock. Howleen sat on the arm, and Twyla in the unoccupied place at Clawd's other side. She paused, mid-sip of her soda, and glanced to him. His bright, amber eyes were uneasy; they touched each face only briefly enough to register the expression on it before moving to the next. Draculaura, however, was not so deterred. "I'm pregnant. We're having a baby."
The living room exploded in sound. Brothers immediately voicing protest to sharing the house with two- or more- extra people, Clawdia wailing with joy as she rushed to go hug them both. Howleen glanced to her best friend, and Twyla patted her knee. Clawrk and Harriet remained frighteningly quiet.
"Oh boy," Clawdeen murmured.
Clawd's ears flattened against his head as his brothers immediately turned their disdain on him. "We barely fit in here anyway!" "Dude, you couldn't think this through one time?!"
"Enough!" Clawrk thundered. The boys fell silent. Clawdeen sat back in the chair, still visibly shocked. Clawdia grinned, and Howleen smirked. The alpha turned his eyes to his wife, who seemed to consult with him in silence upon word choice before turning back to the young couple. "Does your father know yet?"
Draculaura's cheeks reddened slightly. "Yes?"
"We're going to tell him next," Clawd muttered. "I thought it would be better if you knew before he kills me." His girlfriend smacked his arm, but he could barely do his best to appear joking.
"You think Dracula's bad, wait 'til the other vampires hear," Howleen cut in, "They're still pissed off at me for the whole Van Hellscream thing, imagine how bad they're gonna stonewall you."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Clawd muttered.
"And things were going so well," Twyla agreed sarcastically. She might've been the least surprised to hear the news. Though she and Howleen hadn't been friends long, she'd known about Draculaura and Clawd for quite some time. News traveled fast in her family when a vampire's nightmares involved losing a werewolf, and vice versa. The corners of her shadowy lips twitched as her eyes went from Clawdeen to her siblings. She shouldn't have been shocked, but the look on her face was priceless.
"Do you think your father's going to react badly?" Clawrk asked.
"Are you going to react badly?" she replied.
"I'm reacting right now." The clipped sentences were an immediate contradiction, but no one seemed inclined to point that out. It was only when he was in a bad mood that people seemed to remember Mr. Wolf was one of the most legendary wolves in lycanthropy.
Draculaura offered a small, timid smile. Howleen turned to them, "Are you going to walk them on a leash or put them in diapers?"
"Howleen!" Harriet snapped. "Please, go upstairs."
"Aw, Ma…" She rose grudgingly and Twyla with her. As much as it surely would've been fun to watch everything collapse, the shadow girl had the feeling it would be in her best interest to make herself scarce. As the two younger girls ascended the stairs, Howleen muttered, "Man, Clawd's gonna get murdered."
"By your parents or Draculaura's?" Twyla replied. They crossed the hall and went to Howleen's door, but she signaled for her friend to pause before opening it and shutting it. Almost immediately when they thought Howleen was out of earshot, Harriet started in on Clawd. Satisfied, Howleen opened the door quietly and gestured for her friend to move past.
Twyla took up the desk chair while Howleen went for the iCoffin dock. "I can't wait to see this. I wonder if their kid will be furry or pale. Remember those Hybrids Mr. Hack was talking about? Y'think it'll turn out like one'a them?"
Twyla shrugged. "Genetics aren't my thing. I didn't even think that was possible."
With a mischievous smile, Howleen turned up the volume and made a running jump for the top bunk. She hauled herself up and leaned over the edge, staring down at the shadow girl. "I think you sprang a leak."
"I think that collar's a little tight," Twyla shot back. Nervous energy caused the flow of shadows leaking from her legs to increase, and there was plenty of that in the Wolf house. Howleen was rather calm, that she was grateful for. "Do you think they're making kind of a big deal out of this?"
"Well, yeah. Clawd's young, and his girlfriend is a vampire. I think they kinda secretly hoped it would blow over by college, but I guess there's no chance of that now." Howleen laughed. Twyla gave her a look, but when she rolled over, she didn't attempt to acknowledge it. "I just hope it isn't a girl. I mean, can you imagine another little Draculaura? We have enough pink from her for two lifetimes already."
"More than that," Twyla muttered. Howleen laughed and propped her chin up on the edge. The top bunk was shaped more like a dog bed than the bottom, and she seemed intent upon driving the comparison home. The mischief in her expression gradually subsided. "I don't want them to break up again, y'know? I mean this is gonna be it. He loves her, but her….I dunno."
"I don't think her dad will give her much of a choice," Twyla replied. "Dracula might not like him, but he's not modern. He'll make her marry him now, whether she wants to or not."
Both girls sat in silence for a very long time. Nothing seemed like it had escalated below; on football games, it was easy to hear the Wolf boys over the music without trying. It couldn't be that bad if there was no shouting or drama. Clawdia was definitely the voice of reason, and maybe Clawdeen, if she wasn't too betrayed.
"Do you think they'll live here?" Twyla muttered.
Howleen shrugged. Any attempt at keeping the conversation going seemed to die off as soon as Twyla pointed out the obvious; no matter what, there wasn't any going back now. Whether Draculaura really loved the boy she was going to have to see grow up, grow old and die without her, and perhaps their child too, didn't matter. For the remainder of their lifetimes, something had been set in stone.
It terrified them both.
"Please promise me you'll never go run off with a shadow guy or something," Howleen muttered after several song changes.
Twyla nodded. "Shadow demons aren't great company."
Howleen gave her a look that time. She tried to smile, but it fell short. The lower door opened, and Howleen bolted off the bed to silence the stereo. Usually, they could hear Crescent wandering through the house, trying to find a place unoccupied by the smell of Rockseena, but he had gone silent too. Dracula was downstairs.
"I think I better go," Twyla muttered, rising from the chair. Her eyes flickered desperately to her best friend, urging her in silence to follow. Howleen pursed her lips and rushed to the door to listen. The ear that stood on its own pressed flat and she closed her eyes to strain for any and all sounds. Twyla remained perfectly still, the darkness seeping through her ankle socks with the vigor of dry ice fog at a mortal Halloween party. If she was alive, her heart would've beat so fast Holt could've remixed it into a dance track. Each hollow breath took all of her senses to process. Sulfur was leaking from the shadows, making her blush; it was one hell of a nervous smell and it took too long to get out of clothes, but she didn't move for the closet unless it would've distracted Howleen.
"They went quiet," she muttered suddenly, making her shadowy friend jump, "I can't hear anything."
Twyla took the opportunity to rush across the room and shut the closet doors before the smell of sulfur could cling to Clawdeen's handmade skirts. The doorknob rattled as it was shoved open and Howleen bolted through the beaded curtain and onto her sister's bunk with a shriek of mortal terror. Instinctively, Twyla seeped into the shadows in the corner.
"I told you she was listening!" one of the wolf boys called downstairs.
"Howleen," Harriet called.
She stared at her brother for another few minutes, letting the terror subside into rage, and launched herself back through Clawdeen's curtain onto their brother's back, "You little brat, I'm gonna kill you!"
"Mom!" he shouted as he stumbled out into the hall.
A faint sound, almost like a heartbeat, rang through Twyla's ears. Everything seemed so silly; Draculaura and Clawd had been together for a long time, they'd be fine. It wasn't like they had anything to worry about when someone was on the other side of the door, so what were they so afraid of?
"Howleen!" Harriet yelled, "Get off your brother right this minute or you're grounded!"
Twyla stepped out of the shadows and reformed as an audible crash rang out through the hallway. Maybe not knowing was a better idea.