Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Six

Teeth

A/N so after the last chapter I was thinking about Jenny and Giles shipname. Comment if you're on team Jupert or Calendiles.

*Flashback* London, the world without shrimp 2004

Guy skulked down the alley. His stride languid and emotionless. He was on the way home, 3 am was his usual bedtime. Not that he stuck to any rules other than his own. No one ruled the streets. He turned the next corner and followed the dark road until he hit the blackspot. Where the streetlights couldn't cover the whole city, there were multiple places where the darkness overran the night. Gangs were not the worst things that could swarm in the dark. Guy had found that one out the night his father left their flat for a smoke and was found with his blood running into the gutter by morning. Two poked holes in his neck.

The blackspot was empty except for a few pieces of stray rubbish. An empty kebab container rolled past Guy's feet as stopped. He liked to stand in the middle of the spot and stare into the sky. In a blackspot you could see the stars perfectly, provided it wasn't clouded over. His dad had taught him the constellations, but he couldn't remember the complicated Latin now. Now his world was as dark as the blackspot.

He knew if he closed his eyes for just a second there was a chance he would die. In this very spot. In the middle of the dark for no one to see. He wondered if his blood would run into the gutter. He hoped it wouldn't. For a whole minute - 60 seconds - he stood with his neck stretched upwards and his eyes closed. And nothing happened to him.

"Come on," he whispered into the air. His death wish. His birthday blow-out-the-candles moment. But there was nothing in the darkness. So Guy walked on, he strolled out of the blackspot and into the light. The first streetlamp he encountered was blinking, flickering like a firefly. There were a dozen moths stuck to the glass, addicted to the light. Guy stopped again, he stood and admired the yellow glow for a single moment. That was when the nothing stopped happening. He felt the breath warming the back of his neck before he felt anything close to pain. It all happened very quickly after that. There was a piercing bite, teeth poking through his skin, sensing his pulse. Like a tiger. Or a wolf. Then the blood flowed over his chest, thick streams of red soaking into his white t-shirt. As he fell to his knees Guy wasn't thinking how he would get the blood out of his clothes. He was thinking about his father, he was thinking about the 'world's best dad' mug he still had in the kitchen cupboard.

Tibet, the world without shrimp - February 2006

Keldon cried like a rooster. At five thirty every morning his bright voice would come chiming in. Oz wanted to let Bay sleep this particular morning, so he got up and cradled his son to his chest. He stopped crying after a few minutes of being held, his head leaning down against Oz's chest as he fell back to sleep. Oz looked over the room, his whole life could now be confined to this room. Bay's candles spread around the walls, screens were up in the corner next to their clothes cabinet. Keldon's crib was sitting next to the bed, there were mats on the floor by the window for praying.

Bay looked like she could do with a few more hours in bed so he took Keldon through to the bathroom and changed him. Then he slipped on a robe and went over to the kitchen. They lived all on one level, so they could be close to the earth. Feeling the ground was important, being able to farm it and connect with it was vital to their way of life. On the kitchen counter was a variety of different fruit, Oz picked up something that looked like a sort of melon. It would be soft and watery, so he took out a knife and sliced straight through it. Keldon sat on the floor playing with the dog.

Oz piled the melon into a bowl and then scooped up his son from the floor. "Come on buddy," he said, feeding him each piece just to watch him giggle as the juice ran over his chin.

When Bay came down a few hours later rubbing her eyes and sighing, she saw her husband reading on the porch, her son playing in the dog pen. "Hi honey," Oz said, putting his book down and getting up to meet her. She smiled and her eyes creased with exhaustion. She hadn't had the energy to rub away the dust from her eyes, so he brushed it for her. Stroking her back he walked them back towards the porch and sat together. "Are you okay?"

She leant back into him, "I just make more tea. Oz, it feels wrong. Like baby is breaking my spirit with earth. I don't want change." Her head fell to his and he held her. They watched the dog licking their baby's face and Oz brightened a little. He was worried Bay was rejecting Keldon, she was so afraid if she bonded with the baby she would turn back into a wolf, that her connection to the earth would be broken.

"But Keldon is your bond to the earth. He came from us, his energy was channelled through the ground." Oz replied calmly, he was trying to rationalise everything, put everything into a plan. Bay couldn't be organised into a plan. "We bonded under our tree," he whispered.

Bay smiled and kissed her husband. "I will get better. Maybe tea first though?" Oz nodded and let her go to the kitchen.

The tea was hot and buttery. It was a sacred art only Bay knew how to make. She poured it over her pots before she served it with herbs. It was full moon ritual, petals laced around a mat on the floor. Bay had lit the candles and put Keldon back in his crib after a quick cuddle. She couldn't deny how much she loved him, she just felt that love slowly poisoning her. Her mother was no longer around to teach her the ways of care, the ways of mothering a child. So she sat on the floor with her legs crossed and her hands outstretched. She closed her eyes and thought of the earth, thought of the elements. The wind blowing through the rafters outside, smell of the sweet grass, of the yak milk in the kitchen. She saw her whole world with her eyes shut, let the energies pass through her. It was going to be a while before she was feeling truly better, but the tea was helping.

When Guy arrived in Tibet later that day, Oz was taking Keldon for a walk into the market. The baby spent most of the time pointing at different pieces of fruit and squealing loudly. The women Oz passed all smiled at him, they cooed at the baby and then asked him if he needed any help from time to time. In truth they fawned over him. When he went shopping with Bay by his side, the same women would scowl their way, green-eyed and jealous.

Oz reached the end of the market without buying anything, he hadn't come with the attention of shopping, Bay just needed some peace and quiet. He would've gone straight home if he hadn't noticed a teenager walking around aimlessly. He looked lost, so Oz approached the boy slowly. "Hey, are you okay?" He wasn't sure if the boy would understand him or not, but then he replied in a English accent.

"I'm looking for the retreat." Oz questioned him with his eyes, shuffling the baby on his hip and taking another step forward.

"Do you mean the monastery? Are you looking for the monks?" The boy nodded. He looked pained in some way, there was a scent to him too. Oz could smell it. He was one with the wolf. That's what gave it away in the end, he must be looking for him. "I'm Oz." He stuck out his spare hand and shook the boy's grubby one.

"Can you take me there? I need help." The boy asked, "I'm Guy."

"Yes, I live there with my wife. I can help you with- your wolf." He whispered the last part, not wanting to expose the boy - Guy - if he could. In the village there was still a sworn secrecy about. A rival wolf gang - Monroe's gang - lived in the woods nearby and terrorised the villagers during full moon nights. He'd tried to negotiate with them but there wasn't a lot he could do. The monks had tried in their own ways but none had been successful. The people were frightened, any mention of a new wolf would only terrify them further. So Oz wrapped an arm around Guy's shoulder and lead him back up the mountain.

He introduced Bay to Guy when he got back. She was preparing lunch when they arrived and took the baby happily. Oz was pleased to see that, to see her smiling. She stuck her finger to the baby's lips and kissed his forehead. Inhaling his scent of his dark brown mop of hair.

Guy told them about his father, about how he was bitten. About the miracle that he was found in time to save his life. He was all set to die, mentally prepared to walk towards the pearly gates when a man began shouting then pushing on his chest really hard. A hand had gone to his neck to stem the bleeding, the doctors would stick him up and let him walk away with only a small scratch. He felt impossible. But that he'd been given a second chance at life. That was until the full moon arrived. He'd found himself standing over the spot where his father's body was found, his muscles expanding, clothes falling off him in pieces. He never did get the blood out of his t-shirt. He started to research about his condition, he went to a support group, found people like himself. Only they were the wrong people. He got caught up in supressing his feelings, he felt like he would explode, he knew it would only take a straw to break him. So he looked for something else, there were no teenage boys like himself he could go to, none of his friends wanted to know. He travelled, taking odd jobs here and there to pave his way, when he heard stories of the monks. He travelled through Romania, Albania and Transylvania. He was chased out of the woods by a group of vampires there, it wasn't a pretty sight. But the further east he got the more rumours he heard of the sanctuary, the monastery on a mountain. The healing place.

Oz listened intently, remembering his own transformations. He was so scared in the beginning, no clue where he was when he woke up the next morning. Naked and alone. Guy's story was so tragic, he was still so young. He'd already lost so much. Oz was just pleased he'd come here. Somewhere they could help him connect with his inner self. Let the wolf pass him by every full moon, like his and Bay's did. Help him to connect with the earth. In bed that night, Bay expressed how pleased she was to have a new person around. She saw it as an answer to her prayers. A little miracle from the earth itself to guide her back on her path. She nursed Keldon to sleep and then kissed Oz before falling asleep. The curtains blowing out into the room.