Chapter 9

Michelle's breath hitched in her throat as she stood impossibly close to the tall young man in her kitchen. He reached up and brushed her hair behind her ear, trailing his hand down from her ear to rest ever so gently on the nape of her neck.

"May I?" he whispered, his breath hot on her skin. Michelle opened her mouth to respond-

"Elle! ELLE! THERE'S A SPIDER!" Cecily shrieked from upstairs. Michelle had jumped at the noise, breaking herself from Oliver's trance.

"I have to go," she whispered, turning to go upstairs. She stopped at the kitchen doorway and turned to look at Oliver, "I trust you can let yourself out?" Her voice was just above a whisper, but it was sincere. The keeper nodded, biting his lip, and apparated out of the house.

Michelle took care of the spider quickly, employing one of her sneakers, and went to her room. She had been there for three hours, but all she could think about was Oliver and their moment earlier that night. The more she thought about it, the creepier it seemed. But it also seemed more and more romantic. He'd been passionate, almost desperate. Seeing such a well-known and prominent athlete in such a state made Michelle feel that she had witnessed a truly intimate moment.

But what about Silver? She had just been at his place, sharing yet another romantic part of the evening. All of this led to Michelle lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. How on earth did she get caught in a love triangle? Her friends had been tangled in situations like this, but Michelle herself had only ever been an observer.

Sighing, Michelle closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands, "Boys suck."

The next morning, Michelle woke up wearing her dress from the night before. She didn't even remember falling asleep. Rolling onto her side, she caught a glimpse of herself in her vanity mirror and nearly laughed. With the fancy dress, bed head and smudged eye makeup, she looked like a model in a perfume advertisement. She experimented with her discovery by making angsty faces at her reflection.

"Now if only I had a half-dressed hottie here, it'd be the real deal." The moment the words left her mouth, two images flashed into her head. One of a half-dressed Silver lurking over her in a dark yet sexy manner, and another of Oliver holding her close in a rather intimate embrace. Michelle bolted upright when she realized how she was envisioning Oliver. She didn't think about him like that. She never had! Now thinking about Silver in that sort of way was understandable. He was attractive, confident, and…well…American. It was such a novelty. But so was a professional athlete. Okay, she needed to get her mind off of this.

Michelle got out of bed and took off her dress. Who would have thought that a tablecloth could become something so glamorous? Speaking of which, Michelle made a note to herself, she needed to find Kelly and tell her all about the previous night. She changed quickly, exchanging her dress for a pair of skinny jeans and a plaid, empire waisted tank top. She slipped into her shoes as she ran toward the front door, pausing when she caught her reflection in the hall mirror. She had forgotten all about the smudged makeup, but took a few seconds to wipe her eyeliner into a finer line before running out the door.

She arrived at the café shortly after leaving her house, but didn't find Kelly waiting tables as she expected. Michelle walked up to the counter where Kelly's mother was restocking pastries. After a short conversation, Michelle was on her way upstairs to wake up an apparently exhausted young witch. Pushing the door open, Michelle gaped at the sight in front of her.

The room was destroyed. The sheets were ripped off of the bed, which had stuffing strewn across the floor. Picture frames were smashed, the curtains were hanging by one end for dear life, and shards of mirror littered the debris. In all of this, Michelle could barely find Kelly, who was naked and curled up in the corner where her desk- now a pile of wood and folders- used to be.

"Kelly?" Michelle rushed to her friend's side, "What happened? Kelly!" She shook her, worried for a moment that she wouldn't respond.

But she was relieved to find that Kelly groaned, rolling over. Michelle grabbed the remnants of Kelly's comforter and covered her, helping her sit up.

"What happened?"

"I really didn't want you to see zis."

"Kelly, what happened?"

"It's…..it's zat time of the month," Kelly avoided eye contact.

"This is the result of PMS?" Michelle's eyebrows arched in disbelief.

"No. It's zat time of the month," Kelly locked eyes with Michelle, her voice lower than normal and dead serious.

As realization dawned on Michelle, she flopped down next to her friend.

"Oh my god. You're…You're a werewolf."

"Yeah…Listen, you can't tell anybody. If people found out-"

"Don't worry, Kelly, I won't tell anyone. I just…why didn't you tell me? Why did I find out this way?"

"Well…I didn't vant anybody to know. Verevolves aren't exactly accepted."

"Yeah but to find out like this? I mean…Your room is wrecked. I thought you were dead, or missing or something."

"I'm normally avake and recovered by now."

"How do you keep yourself in your room?"

"Normally I'm outside, at ze family villa in Normandy. We have a farm zere, it's great for my condition."

"Then why weren't you there last night?"

Kelly paused, shifting her weight away from Michelle and standing, clutching the comforter to her body. She walked to her closet, which bore claw marks but remained on its hinges.

"Zere's someone here, hunting us."

"Us…?"

"Ze other verevolves. Someone's here and killing us off," Kelly pulled on clothes, Michelle remaining on the floor and staring at mirror shards scattered across the floor.

"…Killing….But why?"

"Vell whoever zey are, zey vait until ve transform and zey attack, so it's technically sort of alright in ze ministry's eyes."

Michelle stood to face the now-dressed Kelly, "But that's still wrong! Werewolves are people too."

"Not on ze full moon," Kelly pushed past Michelle, grabbing her wand from under the mattress. She muttered a spell and flourished her wand, causing the furniture, decorations, and various items in the bedroom to move and repair themselves. Within a matter of minutes the room was returned to its normal state and Kelly nodded her head in approval.

"So you stayed here in case whoever's killing werewolves was in Normandy?"

"Unlikely, I know, but I'd rather stay indoors zan risk my life to run around outside."

"Understandable," Michelle shrugged. "So you don't have any idea who it is?"

"No one does. Ve've gone into hiding because of it." Kelly, who had turned to leave her room, stopped in her tracks. "It's not fun to be scared, Meech."

Michelle stepped forward and hugged the older witch, who returned the hug, "I can imagine."

AN: Questions? Thoughts? Concerns? Reviews are love! 3