Werewolves of London

It is never too late to be what you might have been

"Damn" Sam hissed throwing his carry on to the floor, it had been the worst week, everything that shouldn't happen at work had happened. His fiancé had told him last minute that she wasn't going to be able to make the trip as they'd originally planned, and now the journey he'd been looking forwards to was going to be delayed "How long?" he asked the hostess at the counter as he looked up at the screen "The London flight?" he confirmed

"Three to five hours Sir" she frowned "Sorry for the inconvenience"

"Can I book into the lounge from here?" he looked at her name tag "Brittany" he smiled

"Not usually Sir, but as you asked so nicely" she smiled, busying herself with getting the task done

"Thank you" he smiled back before looking around, to quickly check himself, normal circumstances he would have heard his fiancé's voice in the background warning him off "I'll be waiting over there" he pointed at some vacant chairs

"Be with you as soon as I can Sir" Brittany smiled watching as he walked away to find a seat, before turning to a wide-eyed Rachel, her colleague, to facially express her feelings "It's the Sam Evans" she mouthed to her colleague, who stood laughing at her silent scream.

Sam threw himself in the chair, it was already six in the evening, a five-hour delay meant he'd get to London early morning, which would follow on with him getting no sleep before work, and this deal was a big one, he needed to be at his best. He'd just had to leave the other two of his three-person band behind, there'd been an impromptu semi-raid at the hotel his playboy band members had chosen to get wrecked last night, and the catch was big, they weren't about to be let out for now, but he needed to focus on himself, with a wedding to afford, he didn't have the luxury of cancelling. He'd quickly adjusted to the fact that he was going to have to do without them, got on the phone to his girl and between them, after a few calls, they'd lined a few people up for quick auditions so he could carry on his tour.

"Sir" he jumped at Brittany suddenly standing in front of him "Sorry" she smiled at startling him "We've sorted out your pass Sir, you can go straight to the main lounge" she handed him the pass

"Thank you" he looked into her eyes smiling "I really appreciate your help with this Brittany"

"Doesn't hurt to be helpful" she grinned, happy to have been of help

"Very true" he grabbed his carry on, guitar, and got up

"Have a good trip Sir"

"Thank you" he smiled one last time before stepping off shaking his head, he was used to that kind of attention, sometimes he used it to his advantage, "And that was one of those times" he laughed to himself

He got to the lounge to find a lot more people than usual for that time of the evening, but then there were delays so of course everyone was going to run to comfort. He checked his guitar and carry on into the luggage area for safe keeping and walked around for a while trying to find somewhere to connect, a chat with the one person in his world right now was all he needed at times like this, but he was more than two thirds around the room, and he wasn't holding much hope of getting his phone charged.

He rolled his eyes and tried to smile politely at a woman grabbing the last free charge space seconds before him "Do you need to charge?" she smiled

"I do, but I can wait"

"I've got a multi-charger, if it's an iPhone you're in luck" she looked at the charger she was about to plug in

"I do" he smiled holding his phone up

He had no choice but to sit close to her, the charger wires was so tight their fingers might touch if there were expecting to still use the things during charge, so his call wasn't about to happen either "So" she smiled at him once their phones were connected "While our phones are getting acquainted, we might as well do the same" she looked at the counter "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Oh" he looked shocked "I'll have a whiskey on the rocks, thanks"

"Hard day?"

"Hard week" he watched her get up, smiling because that was unusual territory for him, he was usually the fetcher, he'd never dream of being in a room with his girl and watch her get the drinks in, he raised an eyebrow at the fact that she was alone. Considering the lounge was full she came back with the two drinks in record time, smiling as she passed it over surprising him with a fruit bar "Thanks" he laughed wondering if he'd gotten himself into one of those compromising situations his girl was always warning him about.

"So" she sat down "Man with no charger, do you have a name you don't mind sharing?"

"Sam"

"Quinn" she smiled "Where are you headed Sam?"

"London"

"Oh, me too" she sipped her drink "Business or pleasure?"

"Bit of both" he sipped his drink "I have some business to take care of the first two days then I plan on doing some research into my family roots"

"That sounds interesting"

"It is" he smiled "You see according to my ancestry I come from a long line of werewolves"

"Shut up" she gasped "I wasn't expecting that" she laughed "Are you being serious?"

"Yeah" he laughed at her openly showing she didn't believe him "Honestly, dates all the way back to the 16th century"

"You do know werewolves don't exist?" she laughed

"They did back then"

"Don't tell me, your research is hoping to prove they still exist?"

"If I find ancestors still living there, and they confirm the bloodline, I'm going to be living proof"

"What makes you think you're going to find ancestors?"

"Because it's no coincidence that I was called Sam"

"Prey tell" she sat forward, her head almost touching his, ready to hear the theory "I mean I know how the whole thing came about, the myths about being bitten by wolves and turning into something inhuman, they deemed it some sort of satanic pact thing didn't they?" he pulled back for how close she'd suddenly got

"Well, that's what they'd like us to think" he waved his finger questioningly as he created distance between them "I mean, if you read the wrong books, they'd have you believing all that garb about the overtones of the rivalry between man and wolf causing the ultimate clash of the minds, or even some king back in AD having someone transformed into a wolf because he failed to recognise him as his king" he laughed "I mean who should we believe in that instance; the man that wouldn't bow or the king that had the ability to turn someone into a wolf?"

"Hard to call" she sat wondering "Chicken and egg situation there"

"Exactly"

"And everyone knows that saying, no smoke without fire" he squinted his eyes suspiciously "So, history has it that an ancestor of mine, no other than the one Samuel Evans" he laughed "I mean is it really a coincidence that I've been named after the original werewolf?"

"Talk me through it" she smiled humouring him, there was nothing else to do while they waited and charged phones, and he was so easy on the eye

"So far, I've traced back to my times fifteen great grandfather Samuel Evans who lived in London around the 1500s. The story has it that a set of fifteen-year-old twins were ravished in the woods"

"Lot of fifteens in this story" she frowned a smile in the corners of her mouth

"That's why it's so fascinating" his eagerness to carry on showing "Apparently Samuel was in his wolf form when he did this, and of course someone was watching"

"Of course, they were" Quinn giggled

"You don't believe me?" he looked at her surprised "This is all true, you can read about it"

"Like I can read the fake stories someone put out?"

"I can let you know the ones that tell the truth" he encouraged her

"Okay" she giggled again, eager to hear this story "So, Samuel the actual wolf man" she looked at him to carry on, her eyes falling into his mesmerizingly green eyes, that mirrored her own

"He wasn't just the first werewolf; he was the first documented werewolf in London"

"Wow" she tried to pull herself out of his eyes to get into his story

"Apparently the paw marks were all over the body, there was no denying it for poor old Samuel" he shook his head "Then there was the tiny detail of the girl still being barely alive after the rescue, which gave just enough time for her to tell the world it was a wolf, confirming events witnessed by the passerby"

"And they didn't print this passerby's name?"

"Maybe they did, but it's irrelevant" he laughed

"So, what were they doing in the woods, these fifteen-year-old twins?"

"The story doesn't go into that much detail" he looked at her sarcastically "I don't suppose they got the time to ask with all the commotion, and then of course they threw the blame at the dwellers from a house deep in the woods"

"Let me guess the Evans family?"

"Of course," he laughed "Sad to say they killed the first Samuel Evans, he left behind his wife and three infant children"

"So, they didn't just kill the entire family of wolves?"

"They didn't find his family; they were long gone"

"So, why didn't he run with them?"

"Good question, maybe he was hurt or something, story doesn't go into that detail"

"Of course," she smiled

"But it didn't end there, because some thirty years later there was another sighting in London, this time in the city" he smiled "Makes sense really to go where it was so densely populated, they couldn't be found".

"That does make sense" she nodded

"So, apparently, he had two sons and a daughter, the eldest was named Peter Samuel Evans" he smiled "Peter wanted revenge for the pauper life his mother had to live without his father, impoverished, moving through various workhouses and all that, so he made a deal with the devil, to take his feeling away, he went around killing dignitary, men, women and children he didn't care, got a right name for himself"

"Sounds horrid"

"Apparently, he had some potion that turned him into some monstrous fiend" he shook his head at the imagined horrors "Those were perilous times for the people of London, nothing and no one was truly safe"

"I thought he only went after the rich?"

"That was his intention but when he drank that potion, he had no control over himself"

"So" she looked around the room "What happened to him?"

"He got careless didn't he, got an unquenching taste for blood, got vulgar with his kill, he was going around raping men, pregnant women and even children" he shuddered "Not a part of my history I'm proud of"

"So, once he got a taste of it, I guess killing rich people became a thing of the past for him?"

"Very distant past" Sam frowned "He went on to wreak havoc for nearly fifteen years"

"There's that number again"

"As I said, it's a significant number for me"

"Of course," she smiled, having felt like she'd offended him "What happened to him?"

"He was caught, ravished by dogs from the village before he turned back into his human form, shocking the village when they found out his real identity" he laughed "I think I would have enjoyed that scene too, relative or not"

"I'm sure there was a party after that" she laughed

"Oh, they had more fun with his human body before he closed his eyes for the final time, ending with beheading and burning"

"I guess you'll leave the rest to my imagination?"

"Read the book it's kind of graphic"

"Note to self" she tapped her head "I'd ask if there was any more connection to the werewolf family, but there's still the siblings and their mother, isn't there?"

"You guessed it" he laughed "There was rest for a few years, the younger two weren't half the trouble their big brother was, but there was a twist"

"Oh" Quinn raised her eyebrows for the pending drama

"Two illegitimate children" he raised an eyebrow too, adding more drama to his story

"Who'd have thought?" she rolled her eyes playfully

"My fifteen times great grandfather" he laughed "I didn't get that trait by the way, strictly a one-woman man me"

"I get that vibe" she smiled at him

"So, we're in 1620, by the time we have anything else documented" he looked at his glass "Do you want a refill before we carry on?"

"Sure" she put her empty glass on the table in front of them, not realising she'd drank any let alone so fast "Same again" she nodded at the glass

"Coming up" he got up to do the honours, returning with their drinks "Where was I?" he sat down asking

"Illegitimate children" she reminded him

"Jack Samuel and Samantha Anne Evans" he smiled "They were a couple of cards, they were in the local choir, story has it they sang like angels by day, while by night he ripped into teenage boys' jugulars, and she had a fetish for teenage girls, their thing was mutilating their victims. Legend says that at times, when someone was unfortunate enough to find the blood-soaked limbs, they'd still have blood pulsating from their severed limbs, gory or what?"

"I just imagined the heat coming off their bodies" she shook her head, shocked at how much she was getting into the story "I imagine his reign would have shaped the main character in the Jack the ripper stories?" she laughed

"An imagination helps with this kind of stuff" he agreed, not seeing the funny side of what she'd said "Anyway, at night the men of the village would go out in droves, armed with guns, knives, anything they could carry really, in the hope of catching the fiend and putting an end to their children being mutilated"

"Did they catch them?"

"Eventually yes, the story has it that they got careless, maybe even wanted to get caught, they were caught in the act, couldn't even try to run, they were fired on by an army of men, and as his sister took her last breath, he made one last attempt to escape, but was overcome"

"They died together" she sighed "That poor mother, imagine losing both her children at the same time"

"Oh, she'd been killed a while before all this, I guess that was what made them the way they were, they'd not been told of their heritage, so when they turned, they didn't understand it all, their first kill was their mother"

"Don't tell me, they were fifteen"

"You get the significance?" he smiled "But the cruelty of the situation was that Jack and Samantha had a child together, the first official Sam, he was left in their home to fend for himself, at fifteen he'd turned but he only killed animals, it's not clear if that was because of his pure bloodline, or choice"

"Choice surely?"

"Jury's still out I'm afraid" he laughed "Anyway, that's how the Evans' got to the America's, he decided to leave all the crap behind and get himself a new life, apparently, he'd never killed a human, and neither had his children, so from that day in 1627, there was no more talk of werewolves"

"So, what happened to Jack?"

"He stood trial, plead insanity and eventually got a reduced sentence, which lasted around 2 years" he frowned

"Seriously?" she gasped shocked "He'd killed so many people, and only served 2 years?"

"According to the books yeah, he was deemed mad after all that evidence" he explained "But he was never released, he died truly mad in an asylum, chained like an animal, and either chewed or wrenched off his own limbs, infections sent him mad, and he eventually died of madness"

"How sad" she sighed "So, Sam the good werewolf turned up in America, and that was the end of the flesh-eating werewolves?"

"The last known entry of whom I believe to be a member of the Evan's family was documented as late as 1842 I assumed that might have been something to do with the two younger siblings of Peter, as they, to my knowledge, were the only living werewolves in that region"

"So late?" Quinn asked surprised

"Yes, that new generation of werewolves in London did things differently, the Evans family home had always been tucked away in the back of forestry, so, when they got older, they went back to build their home there again, so they could do their deeds in private" he snarled "I guess they were scared for what happened to the ancestors. They lured children from the local village orphanage into the woods, sending them to fetch, do, or see things, then followed them for the kill" he shook his head "This isn't exciting stuff" he warned

"It's a good story" Quinn smiled at him

"The story tells of a local farmer who went looking for his chickens, and found one near their home, he was surprised to find the building and went to see what or who was there. He was totally shocked when he came up on a rather large built man, a feeble looking woman, and a small child, living in what was described as a hovel" she could tell by his face he was imagining the scene "Apparently he couldn't make out what the smell was, he walked towards the boiling pot, and was horrified to see the head of a child swimming around in boiling water"

"Fuck" Quinn grabbed her mouth "Sorry" she looked at him shocked at herself "I really didn't expect that"

"It's fine" he laughed "Almost word for word what I said when I read it"

"He actually cooked humans?"

"Yeah, a different kind of werewolf"

"That's cannibalism, isn't it?"

"I suppose that's another way of looking at it"

"I want to say it's the only way, but this is your story" she smiled "What happened to him?"

"He was blamed for all the children that had gone missing from the orphanage, and went to court, history has it he should have been sentenced to death, but somehow, he hung himself before the end of the trial"

"Did they boil him?"

"No" he laughed "They couldn't find anyone that would have wanted to eat him"

"Funny" she laughed "So if you're looking for actual relatives, I'm assuming the history books are all you have?"

"I'm following all leads" he laughed

"Excuse me" a voice invaded their conversation "My friends and I are wondering, are you the Sam Evans?"

"I am he" he smiled at the woman stood in front of him

"Epic way to start a hen weekend" she laughed looking at her friends "This is fate" she turned to look at Sam again "We met at one of your concerts, in Toronto four years ago, and then of all the things to happen you turn up here, today" she screeched. Sam sat listening with that embarrassed smile on his face, the one he always got when people did stuff like this. When he was on stage he expected it, but off stage he was a completely different person, shy, and private. "You wouldn't make my day, would you?" she smiled at him, before looking back at her friends

"How could I do that?"

"Maybe you could turn into a werewolf" Quinn suggested laughing

"Funny" he smiled at her before turning his attention back to the women stood in front of him "What were you thinking?"

"A song of course, well" she looked at her friend "Not any song, the song, the one that brought me and my fiancé together"

"Which would be?"

"You sing?" Quinn asked him shocked

"I do" he smiled

"A singing werewolf" she laughed "I'm intrigued"

"Ripe, of course" the girl smiled at him "Would you be offended if I recorded it?"

"I won't sing the whole song" he warned

"Dedicate it to Mike, from Tina?"

"Sure" Sam smiled, getting up to grab his guitar "Congratulations by the way" he sat in front of the large plant pot near the centre of the room, aware others were about to take advantage of the camera situation "So, this is for Mike from Tina, happy wedding day"

It's in the way you dance in the mirror every time you get dressed, it's kind of grown-up, it's kind of young love, it's kind of red-diamond-rare
Smoking the moonlight, I hit a new high watching the wind kiss your hair, it really ain't fair
I can't un-choose, I can't resist, looking at you, looking (Do-do-do-do, ripe)
I got a feeling this could go down as the best night of our lives
Just give me your hand, just dance with me slow, cause nothing's ever felt this (Do-do-do-do, ripe)
I got a feeling we could make it to the end, just you and I, just give me your hand, just dance with me slow
Cause I know when we're together, we'll stay forever ripe, ripe (Do-do-do-do) 'Ripe' by J Hart

"Thank you" Tina smiled "That will make our day perfect"

"Glad I could help" Sam smiled at her, as everyone clapped his effort

"So, you sing" Quinn laughed "Who'd have guessed, sorry I write, I don't keep up with music much"

"That's fine" he smiled "Kind of refreshing for someone to treat me like a regular person"

"Glad I could help"

"Listen, once you finish your business in London, could we..."

"Sorry" Sam stopped her "I'm actually in a relationship"

"Oh" Quinn looked at him shocked "I didn't get that vibe" she smiled awkwardly "I guess you so called performer types live a different life to us"

"Not really, I'm just not free to date other people, and to be honest I don't want to be"

"She must be special?" she looked up at bustle coming into the lounge "Looks like someone important" he turned to see who it was

"Oh" he got up smiling "I thought you couldn't get away" he walked towards her

"I gave myself a talking to" she hugged him before leaning on his chest "I miss you"

"I miss you too" they hugged for a short while "Sorry" he turned to look at Quinn "This is Mercedes, my fiancée, this is Quinn, she was kind enough to let me share her charger" he smiled at Mercedes

"Nice to meet you" Quinn smiled at the woman "Your fiancé's been keeping me entertained with stories about his werewolf family" Quinn laughed

"That's like a party piece" she laughed looking at Sam "Let me guess" she pressed her finger against her lips thinking "His cousin Michael Samuel, who was the leader of all werewolves and went around turning random people into werewolves" she laughed "Of course like the other's that had gone on before him, he'd learned no lessons and after the bloody, vengeful, torment of the locals he was burned at the stake for his wrongdoings" she smiled "Am I close?"

"That one was a new take, but close" Quinn laughed

"I don't know where this fascination comes from, but it's real for him, so, we go in search of" she shrugged her shoulders

"Have you two been chasing these werewolves for a while then?" Quinn asked

"Not really chasing" Mercedes sat next to her "If the opportunity comes up, we go in search of history" she plugged Sam's phone out and dropped it in her purse before looking around "Grab those seats" she looked up at Sam nodding at an empty couch

"Nice talking to you" Sam smiled at Quinn as he walked away

"Good luck with the search" Quinn laughed

"And thanks for the phone charge" Mercy smiled getting up to follow Sam

"Don't say it" Sam turned to whisper to Mercy

"You know I'm going to say it" she hissed through her teeth

"Quietly then" he threw his arm around her to pull her closer

"Stop telling people my damn family history"

"They don't believe me" he laughed

"One day they will Sam"

"And they'll love our little wolf babies" he kissed her temple "Like I love my wolf fiancé" he swung her out and sang as he danced her across the lounge

Oh, baby, I'd be lost here without you oh, don't know how I got here without you
Oh, don't it feel so right? and don't it taste so ripe?
(Do-do-do-do, ripe), I got a feeling we could make it to the end, just you and I (Just)
Just give me your hand, just dance with me slow, cause I know when we're together, we'll stay forever ripe, ripe (Do-do-do-do)

"You are crazy" she laughed

"Seriously" he looked at her "Your half wolf and I'm crazy?"

"Crazy on two counts" she laughed "Loving a wolf, and dancing with a wolf in the middle of a departure lounge"

"Can we add kissing my wolf in the middle of a departure lounge"

"Sure" she stopped dancing

"I'm glad you made it" he pulled her close

"Me too" she leaned in and kissed him