Mister Wolf

{ Lunanci }

The werewolf demon watches me intently as I grab my bag and search inside it. I have a few seconds to do something if I want to save my life and I need to make them count.

"Revertere in domum suam," I whisper, raising my eyes to him as I pretend to search, "Non nocuerunt mihi."

"What the fuck are you even saying? Are you cursing me out in human or something?” he spits, not sounding like the demon I thought he was, "Where's the money?"

I stop pretending to look and just stare at him. For some reason... suddenly I'm not that scared anymore. He just doesn’t look like a bad person.

He's a young man, really tall, around six foot three at the very least. He has a clean face, handsome features, light hair and blue eyes. He's also casually wearing a Tom Ford shirt, very white sneakers and doesn't understand Latin. This is not a demon... he’s just some guy. Some normal guy.

One who happens to be a werewolf.

"I only have fifty dollars," I admit and pull out the bill to show him. The guy looks at me with a raised eyebrow, clearly judging me. But he still grabs my hard-earned money, "But I can get you more, a lot more. If you kill me, you’ll miss out on it.”

"Don't try to play me because it won't work, I only need money for tonight and this is pathetic, but enough. Now I can finally kill you," he says with a smug grin and takes a step towards me but I back away with my hands raised, "Don't make this harder than it has to be, girl."

"I'm a witch," I blurt out, the werewolf frowns in confusion, "If you kill me, I'm going to haunt you forever."

"I don't believe in ghosts," he replies smoothly, continuing to walk towards me while I back away. He doesn't stop and something tells me he's being serious. Fear grips me again as this guy stalks me.

He really wants to kill me. And he really can do it, he may be young but his body is totally overdeveloped, I saw him in full a while ago, he has prominent muscles and strength out of this world. And a big dick, but I shouldn’t have noticed that.

"You promised my money could buy me a couple of hours," I whisper, still walking backwards. The guy lets out a laugh.

"Fifty dollars? That bought you five minutes. I didn't think you had so little money," he snorts, sounding like a spoiled rich kid, like the ones who used to bully me, "Close your eyes now."

His words make me close my eyes against my will and my pulse explodes again as my back hits a tree. The werewolf reaches me then and stands so close that I feel his breath on my face.

I raise my hands instinctively and put them on his abdomen to give myself some space. That obviously doesn't work and he doesn't move away, but my hands start connecting with him.

I feel him.

"Wait, wait..." I beg and touch him harder. The guy makes a sound of confusion as my hands search for his skin underneath his expensive shirt, "Y-you have a task… and someone's absence. A part of your soul is missing. You're here for that, this isn't your home..."

"What?" he asks, breaking my concentration, "What are you saying?"

"Shh! I need silence," I demand and squeeze my eyes shut trying to force that voice in my head to tell me something more concrete, "Pain, absence... a part of your soul. Someone has left you alone. You are here in search... in search of something, someone. God, I can't concentrate."

I curse and open my eyes again, looking up. The werewolf is now staring at me with wide eyes full of hope. He looks even younger like that.

"Are you really a witch?" he asks, his voice excited. I hate that word, but I nod immediately, "Can you help me find someone?"

"Maybe," I answer, though I'm not quite sure, "I can help you, you don't have to kill me. You can trust me."

"Hmm," he blurts out, looking to the side to think about it, "Okay, I think you've actually earned more hours of life now."

"Thank you, Mister Wolf," I blurt out, my body relaxing with relief, "We can go into my shop, I can concentrate better there."

"Okay," he murmurs and steps away from me, walking backwards, "But don't think you can manipulate me, okay? I won't let you. You're just being of use to me right now, but as soon as you're not or you piss me off, you're dead."

"I understand," I whisper. The guy nods and walks over to the large backpack on the floor, picks it up and stares at me until I understand what he wants and I start walking towards the store again.

"Do you have food in there?" he asks as he walks behind me.

"No," I answer and my stomach makes a hungry sound at that moment, reminding me that it's after midnight and I haven't eaten anything since lunch.

"Do you have service apps in this place?" he asks, "Someone who can bring us food here?"

"Uh, yeah... maybe. I mean, it's really late," I answer and reach into my purse for my keys to unlock the shop once again.

The werewolf walks in behind me. I turn on the lights and close the door to leave us locked in here.

"Find something you can order for me, then," he orders like he's my boss, walking over to my little waiting chair and plopping his heavy ass there, "Anything but seafood. Some kind of steak would be perfect."

"I highly doubt I can get seafood or steak at this hour," I mumble, giving the guy another sideways glance. He’s high maintenance.

I grab my phone and for a second I consider calling someone and asking for help, but I'm really not that stupid. I think I can get more out of him with honey than vinegar.

So, I do as he asks and get on all the apps I have, looking for someone who can bring something. Fortunately I find a 24-hour pizzeria and place an order.

"There, I ordered pizza," I let him know. The guy looks at me with a smile all of a sudden and even gives me a thumbs up. His teeth are super white and he pulls out the most expensive phone there is. He must be some kind of werewolf king or something.

I walk to my table and take care of arranging everything for a session.

"Ew. What's that?" he asks with a grimace, waving a hand in front of his nose.

"Incense, it helps me," I answer and dim the lights until we are almost in the dark. I get up and turn on the white-noise system, "Come here, sit down."

"Okay," he agrees and sits down in the chair across from me, "I want to know where the person I'm looking for is."

"It doesn't work like that, I'm not a GPS," I mutter, I'm sick of everyone asking me for impossible things, "Give me your hands."

The werewolf puts his hands on the table. His hands are very large, but surprisingly soft. I close my eyes as I clasp our hands together and try to get to that point where I can get a little more information, trying to connect with my inner self.

"Don't talk," I command before he starts asking a million questions.

I feel different things with this guy than I've ever felt before, the energy feels charged around him and he has a more... heavy presence than the rest of the people. He's seriously a magical and wonderful being, just what I've always wanted to find. If only he didn't want to kill me, this would be so much more interesting.

I'm starting to get some information again. I can almost even visualize something.

This guy in front of another guy just like him. Twins. His brother. He misses him so much.

I dig a little deeper trying to find something else.

'Hello,' a man's voice says in my head suddenly and I gasp in fear, letting go of the werewolf's hands and pulling away from him. I look all around. There's no one behind me, but that voice sounded like someone talking directly into my ear. And very clearly.

"Are you done yet? Did you get anything?" he asks and I can only shake my head. The werewolf rolls his eyes and gets up from the chair to go to the door. I think he's going to run out of here, but he's just going to open the door and pick up the pizza, "Are you trying to scam me, witch? Because a real witch would have gotten something."

"Maybe I exaggerated a little bit with the witch thing," I admit quietly as he returns to the table with the box and gives me a tired look, "I'm a psychic. I can read energies and I get information by touch, but it's hard. It's been easier with you, though. I know you are saddened by the loss of your brother, you were both very close, weren't you?"

"Yes, we were. But he didn't get lost, he ran away from home," he tells me, opening the box to grab a slice of pizza and pop it in his mouth immediately as if he's starving. I just watch him, "Eat something, I can hear your hungry guts."

"Do you care what someone eats before they die?"

"A last meal is a human right," he answers without hesitation and I just snort a laugh. I don't quite know if he's being serious or not, but either way I reach out to grab a slice, too. I never thought I would share a meal with a werewolf who wants to kill me.

“Can you tell me how you have a Tom Ford shirt but you had to steal my last fifty dollars?"

"You won't need that money when you're dead, right?" He asks and my heart stops again, but then starts pounding as the guy laughs. He has eyes full of mischief, "I'm in financial trouble, but that will be over tomorrow. For the time being, I had to sleep in your yard and steal your money as survival measures."

"Oh," I say and nod as if it makes any sense, "So... do werewolves just walk among us? They have lame lives just like the rest of us? With financial trouble and annoying siblings and all that?”

"No, we don't walk among you," he answers with a dismissive lift of his lip, as if living among us would be disgusting, “We have our own territories and we stay with our own people, that's why I'm in search of my brother. I want to get him back home, where he belongs."

"That makes more sense," I let out and put my chin on my hand to watch him closely. This is fascinating, "It must be amazing to be... part wolf. Or a full wolf, I guess.”

"It is," he replies with a proud smile, "I don't know what I'd do if I were a human, I'd probably kill myself. It sucks to be inferior, doesn't it?"

I don't know what to say, I can only blink. Should I be offended? I guess, but he’s not wrong.

"Oops, sorry. I didn't mean to insult," he apologizes and gives me a full look, too, "What's your name?"

"Lunanci," I answer, "And yours?"

"Rio. It means river."

"I know," I answer, nodding, "Do you have parents?"

"Yes, they're the ones who left me in financial trouble," he replies with a scowl, "I have a giant family. Do you?"

"No. I'm an orphan. I don’t have parents or a big family."

"Oh, you poor thing. Did they die?"

"No, they abandoned me," I admit because if he's going to kill me at least I’ll make him feel bad about it, "But I have an adoptive family that I sometimes visit. They will suffer if I die."

"Aow," he says with a fake pout, "I don't care."

Fuck.