Chapter 14
Clad In Black, Don’t Look Back

I was lost. Lost beyond words, beyond thought, beyond myself. A second before, her face had been framed by the winter morning landscape, her hand on my cheek, loose strands of her hair brushstrokes on an already perfect canvas. Then, her lips were on mine and my heart stood still. 

Every consideration I’d had for what she might think of me if she knew I was a… a werewolf, if she knew I wasn’t Maya, melted away. I’d have fallen apart, turned to honey, if she hadn’t wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled myself into her. I gasped. She grinned into the kiss, pushed me against the wall. 

This was new, so new, but my body and Octavia both seemed to know what to do, and I let them. When her lips found my neck, I gasped, a voice that had never been mine before making sounds I would have never made that were so fantastically mine. If her ministrations on my skin hadn’t sent sparks up and down my spine I would’ve maybe tried to stifle myself, but she was overwhelming. My heart thundered in my chest like a runaway train. 

I mewled in frustration when she stopped. She took half a step back, so I took one forward. She giggled and ran a hand through my hair. “Take it easy, Miss Maya,” she said. “I just… This is new, isn’t it?” I nodded. All of this was new to me, in more ways than one. “Then we… should talk.” She looked around and shivered. I only just now noticed I was shivering too. “Inside, though. I’d rather we didn’t catch frostbite out here.”

She took my hand, led me into the house. It wasn’t much warmer inside, but there was a hearth. And maybe… I could impress her? I walked over to the fireplace and kneeled down in front of it, holding my hands out. Okay, so fire required… I looked around. Okay, there was one window that had light coming in through it, that was good. Then I cramped my hands like this, and made a kind of snorting sound like that, and made sure to point my hands forward… 

The logs caught fire almost immediately. I wondered for a brief moment if the weird combination of things required for doing what was essentially a simple spell was responsible for spontaneous combustion. I’d read somewhere once that, very rarely, someone on a plane had spontaneously caught fire, although I had no idea if that was actually true. Regardless, it wasn’t unthinkable that someone would make the noises and hand gestures I’d made in their sleep. Did that mean magic had been real back home too? 

I shook my head and turned around, to a stunned looking Octavia. Her eyes wide, she was staring at the fire. I frowned only a little bit. “I thought you knew I was a Witch?” I said a little sheepishly and a little too late. 

“Ye-es,” she said, “but I thought that that meant, well, knowledge of herbology, alchemy, that sort of thing. I didn’t know you could do magic!” I took a step back. Well, that was… something else. Maybe no werewolf reveal would be necessary. I’d just kind of assumed things would be okay, but maybe it was torches and pitchforks time already. 

“I’m sorry,” I said, “for— for what it’s worth, there’s no, like, devils involved or anything.”

Octavia rolled her eyes. “I didn’t think there were,” she said, and took a step towards me and resolutely took my hand. “I was only surprised, is all. I didn’t know things like this were possible, let alone that you might do them.” She locked her fingers with mine. “Makes me want to see what else you can do, Miss Maya.” Then her face was a lot closer again and her mouth was on mine and my breath was being ruthlessly stolen from me again. 

It was like her hands were everywhere. One moment they were on my back, the next her fingers ran through my hair, then again I felt the palm of her hand against mine. We only stopped because I almost fell over. I couldn’t help but giggle at my own awkwardness. “You said we should talk?” I asked. She nodded. 

“Sit,” she said. “I’ll put the kettle on.” Then she shot me a little sideways smirk. “And I’d love to hear more about this magic, too, in due time.” I did as she asked and sat down at the wooden table, finally looking around the cabin a bit more thoroughly. Other than the table, which sat four, maybe six if you squeezed, there was the hearth, several cabinets which I assumed were for preparing or storing food, and a large bed in one corner. 

“Do you come up here often?” I asked, and barely resisted a giggle at what I only realised afterwards was one of the oldest pick-up lines in the book. Tavi shook her head.

“Not really. Not for some time, leastways, although I did swing ‘round a few days ago.” She put a large kettle of water on the fire. “Just in case I might need it.” She winked, and I choked on my embarrassment for a second. She’d prepared for this. 

“Oh,” I squeaked, my eyes water. “How nice of you.” She joined me at the table and sat across from me, and put her hand on mine. Gosh. She was so soft. So pretty. I wished there was a way for me to decipher the way she looked at me, but her expression was just… wistful, like someone looking up at the clouds. “Hi,” I said softly.

“Hey,” she answered. “So… we ought to talk.” She chewed her lip for a second with a frown on her face. “About us, I mean. And what that means.”

“Does it mean anything?” I asked, a little confused, until my penny dropped. “Do you, uh, want it to mean anything?” She laughed, her eyes sparking up with life and light. 

“Yes, you dolt,” Octavia said. “Of course I do.” She squeezed my hand. “Though I must admit that it’s not only — how do I put this — your personality that drew my attention, if you catch my meaning.” I couldn’t help but blush. I already had an idea of what I looked like when I was Maya, but having Tavi call me beautiful in the most roundabout way possible was still a blow to my lack of self esteem. “Do you?” she asked, more quietly. 

I nodded. “I’d like that,” I said. Although… I would be gone again before the next sunrise. Would I be able to tell her why? She squeezed my hand again. 

“You’re hesitant,” she said. “If you’re unsure, is it something we might talk of?” 

“I… I don’t know yet,” I said, “I’m sorry. But before we get to that, was there something else that this —” I pointed between the two of us, “— y’know, meant?”

“Well.” Octavia clasped her hands together. “My parents are a slight,” she waved her hands through the air, “old fashioned.” I nodded. While it wasn’t something I’d spent a lot of time thinking about, I had remembered that medieval times were likely not the bastions of free love and identity that… oh, who was I kidding, things were still dire, but at the very least, queer people had some rights. 

“I figured as much,” I said. “You’d want to keep this a secret, because you can’t risk getting ostracised or like, cast out, right?” She looked at me like I’d grown a second head.

“What? No! There’s not a one down in that village that would come after me for being with a Witch. And if they did, I can do far worse to them that would do to me, don’t you worry.” 

She huffed with indignation that made me want to reach across the table, grab her by the collar and drag her across it for a kiss. Sadly, she escaped what would’ve at least been a valiant attempt by getting up and grabbing the kettle, then pouring us both a cup of tea. I wasn’t sure what was in it, but it smelled minty. “Thank you,” I said quietly, carefully blew on the tea, then burned my tongue.

“Leastways,” Octavia continued, “I’m only saying that it would mean that you might not be eligible to marry any of the men in town. People are quite strict about that, sadly.” I choked on my tea this time. Tavi laughed as she slapped me on the back. 

“Wasn’t planning to,” I coughed. “I’m not particularly, uhm, inclined in that direction.”

“Well, if you were, if this gets out, and if it were up to me, it would, then you would have no opportunity to anymore. The occasional dalliance people will allow, but anything more serious and it’s… recommended that one follows the relationship through.” For the third time, I choked, this time on my own spit. She’d called it a relationship and she seemed to want it! With me. 

Except, of course, that she didn’t. Not with me. But with Maya. “I,” I said, and then fell silent. I tried saying more, but my voice seemed to fail me, over and over again. 

“That was the other thing, of course,” Tavi said, “that is that this is all very new to you, and I want to make sure you’re comfortable with everything going on.” She seemed to have misunderstood my worry for hesitancy. “We can take this slowly, if you want. I do not wish to rush you into something you might not be ready for.”

“It’s not that, Tavi. I just think that—” How was I going to explain to her I wouldn’t be here anymore tomorrow? Replaced by The Witch, while Maya just sort of existed in the background? “I might not be here again, for a while. I’ll be back next month but—” 

“But it’s not much of a consolation,” she said with a smirk. Then she stood up, walked around the table, grabbed my face in her hands, and kissed me again. Hard. Her lips pressed against mine with need. I felt her mouth part ever so slightly, her tongue touching my lips ever so slightly, before pulling away. “We’ll make the time we have count, then.” 

I wanted to believe it was that easy. Could it be? Stealing time when we could, once a month, for only a few days, when I could be Maya? “What did you, uh, have in mind?”

She gave me an incredulous grin. “Really? You can’t think of anything?” Well, that wasn’t entirely true. There were lots of things I could think of, but the last thing I wanted was to make her uncomfortable or unhappy. I didn’t want to come off as creepy or pushy. What I wanted to do…

“I would like to kiss you again,” I said as I stood up and took her hands in mine. “And I think I’d very much like for you to kiss me again too.” She slowly stepped backwards, and it took me a few seconds to realise she was pulling me to the bed. “Oh,” I said quietly, and I felt the heat rise to my face again. “Oh.”

She only gave me a wolfish grin as she kissed me, her teeth on my skin as she undressed me. When she dragged me into the sheets, I was hers. 

When we eventually got up, it was to both our protestations. Sadly, we did have to eat, the fire needed some extra logs. But we were back in bed before long, with fresh cups of tea. A lot of time was spent talking — about everything and nothing. I told her about magic and how I’d been discovering new things. She told me about the village, and where she grew up. What it had been like. What she had been like. 

It was already getting dark outside when I next looked out the window. Wait, what time was it? I hopped out of bed and quickly started getting dressed. Tavi looked worried. 

“You don’t have to go,” she said. Her voice grew softer, more quiet. “I don’t want you to.”

“I have to,” I said under my breath. “I can’t… can’t.” I should’ve kept a firmer eye on the time, but I’d been so wrapped up in, well, her. I’d almost been too late, and now I was completely out of time. I rushed over to her and kissed her on the forehead, and once more on the lips for good measure. “I’ll see you—” I stopped. ‘In a month.’ It was too long. Way too long. “I’ll see you soon.”

I was out the door before she could stop me. My eyes hurt in the freezing evening cold, and it was only when I felt the wind sting my cheeks that I became aware of the tears running down my cheeks. 

Practically running all the way home, I made it before the change happened, although I was sure I’d seen shapes through the trees. Something had been following me. When I crashed inside, I figured I had only minutes to go before I turned back into a wolf, and I’d have to say goodbye to Maya for another four weeks. Tears flowed more freely now.

Which was why I almost had a heart attack when there was a loud knock on the door behind me. I swung the door open. 

Octavia stood on my porch, leaning on her knees and panting heavily. “Heavens, Maya,” she said, out of breath. “You, really, don’t, take, it, easy, do, you?” She took a quick breath between every word, leaning on my door frame. 

“Tavi,” I said, wiping away tears, “you can’t be here… I’m not…” I wanted to drag her inside, but I also didn’t want to turn into a wolf in front of her. I needed to get her out of here.

“What?” she asked, exasperated. “I already know, Maya.”

“Wait, what?” I asked. “How?”

“You get like this once a month, and run off every evening, before the sun sets. You’re not exactly subtle.” 

“But… it doesn’t bother you?”

“Why would it bother me?”

“Because I’m a werewolf!”

“Wh— Yes, you are,” she said, frowning. “I mean, of course you are. Everyone is. Wait, is that what this was about? I thought you were hiding the fact that you were really a girl.”

“What?”

Elamimax

>:3 Everyone's werewoof