“Dude, you’re doing it again. What’s up?” Roxy asked as she grabbed her girlfriend’s hand. The pair were walking down the busy main street of Dewsbury after school on a Friday afternoon and Sam was acting strange- more so than usual. She was constantly looking around, watching her back, eyeing every passing stranger suspiciously. While it could definitely be said that the wild girl was far from ordinary, this new behaviour was starting to creep Roxy out a little bit. It brought to mind the uncomfortable feeling she’d been noticing periodically over the past few weeks; like she was being watched.

Sam sighed before looking her in the eye. “Alright, I’ll tell you, but try not to freak out.”

Roxy raised an eyebrow. “Okay?”

Sam swallowed, looking around once more before dragging her into the mouth of an alleyway, away from the steady flow of people.

“I think you’re being followed.”

Roxy’s blood turned to ice in her veins and a lump formed in her throat. “Wh-what?! How do you know?”

Sam paused, seemingly lost in thought for a moment. “Call it a hunch. As far as I know, it’s been going on since the day we got together, at the very least. Have you noticed anything weird lately that might indicate someone’s following you?”

“Hmm…” The shorter girl took a second to think about it before replying. “While I haven’t really noticed anything solid, I have been getting the weird feeling that I’m being watched whenever I’m alone. Not sure you could consider that substantial evidence though,” she said, making air quotes. “Seriously though, I feel like something like this constitutes more than just a hunch. If it’s got something to do with that red eye thing, I understand if you’re hesitant to share, but if you think someone is actually following me, don’t I deserve to know? You can trust me, Sam.” Roxy squeezed her hand reassuringly.

The girl in question averted her gaze, blue eyes boring into the ground before flitting about nervously. Sam took a deep breath and steeled herself before speaking. “Let’s just say I’ve got a very good sense of smell. For the past week and a half or so, whenever I’m around you, I’ve been picking up this weird scent, definitely from a person because there’s a clear hint of B.O. I didn’t think anything of it at first, but it’s there like, every time we’re together.”

Roxy stared at her incredulously. “How do you know it's not just me that you’re smelling?!”

“Because you smell nice! You smell like lilacs and strawberries and sweet stuff!” Sam paused for a second, blushing as she realised what she’d just said before pushing on. “Whoever this is smells completely different. And I know it’s not just a passing person because I keep smelling them. I can smell them right now!”

“Okay, okay, I believe you. I’m being followed. Now what?” Roxy asked. She was doing her best to keep up a mask of confidence, but in truth a deep feeling of dread had settled in her gut as the realisation set in. Someone was following her, stalking her; someone who might want to hurt her or her loved ones. The thought made her nauseous.

Sam hesitated for a moment, completely oblivious to the inner turmoil her girlfriend was currently experiencing. “Well, can you think of any reason why someone would want to follow you? How long has this feeling been going on?”

The raven-haired girl thought for a minute. She could vividly remember the feeling of being watched on the night Sam had first kissed her- that was the first time it had shown up. Was there anything that she’d done before that that could’ve…?

Oh.

Oh.

The website. 

Everything clicked in that moment: The couple in the photo, murdered in Dewsbury in 2007. The reason it had freaked Roxy out so much wasn’t just the fact that it happened in the same town she’d lived in for almost her entire life, it was in the thick blonde hair of the woman and the striking blue eyes of the man. It was the fact that they looked uncannily, terrifyingly familiar.

They were Sam’s parents.

“Roxy? You okay?”

She was shaken out of her daze by the feeling of warm hands cradling her face. Sam was looking at her with a worried expression. Roxy shook it off and did her best to smile, despite the harrowing realisation.

“I’m okay. L-let’s just go home. I’ll tell my parents about the stalker and we’ll call the police or something.” She leaned up on the tips of her toes and gave Sam a quick kiss. “Everything’ll be okay, Sammie. No need to worry.”

—

Roxy felt pretty bad about lying to her girlfriend. Still, it was far better than the alternative. If her hunch was right and those creepy cult people were the ones following her, there was no way she was letting Sam get involved. Those people killed her parents! It didn’t matter how strong she was, Roxy would not put her in harm’s way like that.

The police, while still a potential option, probably wouldn’t solve anything. Even if her parents believed her enough to make the call, only a small percentage of stalking claims ever actually lead to an arrest and it wasn’t like she had a lot to go on in terms of evidence. That being said, in the unlikely event everything did work out, Roxy would still have that same question burning at the back of her mind: What would a hyper-religious genocidal cult even want with her? 

There was only one way to find out, but she’d need some backup.

—

“FUCK!” Leif yelled as ‘YOU DIED’ appeared in the centre of the screen. This boss was really kicking her ass.

“That wasn’t very lady-like,” her older brother snarked as he walked into the room.

“Fuck off, Todd. I’ll show you lady-like in a minute,” The green-haired girl grumbled. The ends of her hair brushed the base of her neck as she moved and the tickling sensation only succeeded in irritating her further. She really couldn’t wait for it to grow longer.

Todd shrugged his shoulders innocently, a shit-eating grin clear on his face. “I dunno, I just thought that since you wanna be a girl so bad, you’d actually try and act like one.”

Leif put down her controller and stretched over the back of the couch to glare at her brother, who was now leaning against the kitchen counter, shovelling chips into his mouth without a care in the world. 

“Okay, first off: Fuck you. I don’t wanna be a girl, I am one. And secondly: That’s super misogynistic. Women can act however they damn well please.” 

Todd just shrugged once again, clearly satisfied with the reaction he managed to get. Leif turned back around with a huff.

“Whatever. It’s a Saturday, aren’t you supposed to be annoying someone else right about now?”

“Hey, great idea! Catch you later!” With that, he was out the door and down the road.

The girl sighed and turned her attention back onto her game. If she could just get through the first phase with more than half her estus, beating the Nameless King would be a piece of-

All of a sudden, her phone started ringing, breaking her concentration and causing her to once again fall victim to an attack she could have easily dodged had she just been paying attention. Leif sighed again, placing her controller on the couch resignedly before pulling out her phone. It was Roxy.

“Yo, Rox. What’s up?”

“Hey, I need your help with something. Are you free?”

“Yeah, what do you need?”

“It’s probably not a good idea to talk about it over the phone. Can I come over?”

“Sure. Uh, is everything okay?”

Leif was met with silence and belatedly realised Roxy had already hung up.

“Well, that was weird,” The green-haired girl muttered to herself.

A sharp knock on the door startled her and she immediately got up to check it. She was surprised to find Roxy, already there, standing stiffly on her front porch, struggling to keep a straight face. All Leif could do was stand there as Roxy snorted and started laughing. After a second she calmed down and wiped a stray tear from her eye.

“Sorry, sorry, I couldn’t help myself!” She sighed giddily. “I’ve always wanted to do that. Can I come in?”

Leif just stared at the slightly shorter girl for a moment before her thoughts caught up to her and she stepped aside, allowing Roxy into the house.

“So, did you just come here to hang out and mess with me, or did you actually need my help with something?”

Leif closed the door, folding her arms as she leaned against it. Roxy flopped onto the couch before leaning forward, elbows resting on her knees and hands steepled in a tense position. After a moment of stillness, she spoke.

“How do you feel about helping me threaten a potential cultist?”

Silence filled the room. It took a good twenty seconds for Leif to process what she’d just heard and when she did, she could barely keep herself from bursting out laughing.

“Right, so you’re messing with me. Got it.”

Roxy grimaced. “Yeah, yep, that’s on me,” she took a deep breath in. “Nope, dead serious. I’m like ninety-five percent sure someone’s following me and I have good reason to believe they might belong to a group of hyper-religious genocidal cultists.”

Leif froze, gazing intently at Roxy’s expression, trying desperately to gauge whether this was just a continuation of the joke. Finding no evidence of humour on the brown-eyed girl’s face, Leif felt a lump form in her throat.

“Oh. Okay. You’re being serious. Wow.” She carefully made her way over to the couch and sat down next to Roxy. “Alright, I have some questions.”

“Naturally.”

“Okay, first off.” Leif looked her friend in the eye before quickly grasping her arms. “Holy fuck, girl, are you okay?!”

The girl in question jumped at the sudden increase in volume. “Yeah, I’m okay! I haven’t been attacked or anything. The only reason I even know is because Sam is weirdly observant and keeps noticing this person showing up near us whenever we’re in public together.”

Leif breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, I’m glad you’re alright then. That brings us to question two. Why don’t you just ask Sam for help? That girl is built like a brick shithouse! If anyone was gonna intimidate some weirdo stalker, it’d be her. Plus, there’s like, no way she’d say no if you asked her, she’s head over heels for you!”

Roxy winced. “Yeah, that’s where things get a little complicated. For reasons I can’t say, there’s a decent chance that Sam falls into the target group of those cultist wackos. I don’t, and as far as I know, neither do you. That’s why I need your help. I need to figure out why these guys are following me. It doesn’t make any sense, I’m just a random, no-name teenager!”

“And Sam isn’t? How can you be sure it’s a cult that’s following you, anyway?”

“She’s… Look, it’s a long story and, honestly, it’s really not my place to share it. As for the cult thing, I stumbled onto this freaky ass website a couple weeks ago. It was talking all about the wrath of god and how they were gonna purge the sinners or some shit. Obviously, I thought it was all nonsense until I found a section of the site that was just like, full of dead bodies. Like, actual dead people that these cultists have killed. Some of them were right here in Dewsbury! I first started feeling like I was being watched the day afterwards, so I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to assume they traced my computer or something.”

Leif leaned back and let the words sink in as she sunk into the couch cushions. “Wow. That’s… A lot.”

“Yep,” Roxy sighed. “I’d get it if you didn’t want to help me after hearing all that. I wouldn’t want to put you in any danger eith-”

“Are you kidding me? Roxy, if you’re actually getting followed by a fucking murder cult, there’s no way in hell I’m letting you go confront them on your own! I’ve got your back, sister. Plus, you said that we’re not even in their target demographic or whatever anyway, so I’m sure it’ll be fine!”

Roxy sat there in shock for a few seconds before leaning over and wrapping Leif in a hug. “Thanks, dude. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. You’re like my oldest friend, I’m not gonna leave you hanging.” Leif pulled out of the hug and shot Roxy a grin. “So, what’s the plan?”

—

The plan was simple: Wait in an alleyway until whoever was following her showed up and then, using the ever-effective threat of violence, get them to admit why they were following her. As for how they’d actually know that whoever showed up was the culprit? Also simple. The alleyway they’d chosen for the ambush was a dead end, only leading to a couple of dumpsters and the back door of a small business that was closed on weekends anyway. There was absolutely no reason for anyone to go into the alleyway, unless of course, they were following someone who just so happened to also go down that same alleyway.

So there Roxy stood, leaning against a wall, dressed in ripped jeans, combat boots, a black tank top and a leather jacket in her best effort to make her small and mildly unfit frame seem intimidating. A tire iron Leif had ‘borrowed’ from her dad rested against the dumpster next to her, also part of her threatening routine. Leif herself was crouched behind the opposite dumpster so that she was visible to Roxy, but would be hidden to anyone who walked around the corner into the alley. She had a baseball bat leaning against the wall next to her and a taser somewhere on her person in case things went really wrong. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. 

Thunder rumbled through angry grey clouds far above, startling Roxy out of her mildly anxious ruminating. Part of her was aware that what she was doing was technically a crime, but it was either this or go to the police and potentially get kidnapped or killed while they bummed around with an investigation. Plus, the weapons were only really there if she needed to defend herself, which, as far as she knew, was perfectly legal.

Probably.

The alleyway was eerily quiet. The streets were mostly empty on account of the very real threat of rain and what little foot traffic remained was barely audible around the corner of the alley, creating a thick, isolated atmosphere.

Suddenly, a footstep. Little more than the scuff of a shoe against the ground, really, but its clear proximity as the sound seemed to echo off the concrete walls surrounding them was enough to put the girls on guard. A man walked around the corner, hands buried in the pockets of his jacket. He seemed to be in his mid-thirties to early-forties, with a clean shaven face and short greying-brown hair. His eyes had a sharp quality to them, something that Roxy was quickly made familiar with as his gaze locked onto her.

He stood still, irises never wavering from their piercing grey stare. Roxy felt like she was slowly being picked apart. She noticed her mouth had gone dry, but she did her best to ignore it and speak. 

“Are you the one who’s been following me?” Her voice came out a lot shakier than she’d intended, but the man didn’t seem to notice. That or he didn’t care. To her surprise, he chuckled.

“Well, Roxanne, aren’t you an observant one?” His voice was calm, as though the encounter held no more weight than catching up with an old friend. “Your friend can come out, by the way. I saw you come in together.”

Leif stood up slowly, gripping her bat tight. She glanced over at Roxy, apprehension clear in her eyes, before looking back to the man.

“How do you know my name?” The raven-haired girl asked. The stalker grinned, his thin lips stretching creepily across his face in a way that made her stomach lurch.

“Your full name is Roxanne Maria Kindley. You’re sixteen years old. You were born out of wedlock to Martha Kindley, American citizen, and Damien Thura, second-generation Burmese-American, at St Mary’s Hospital in Seattle, Washington. Your family moved to Dewsbury, Washington after your parent’s marriage when you were five, but your mother kept her maiden name. You currently attend St Matthew’s High School where you are in your junior year. You have a part-time job working the till at a local 7-11, which, as evident by your frequent social media posts referencing it, you aren’t very fond of. We don’t just know your name. We know everything about you, Roxanne.”

Roxy could feel her legs shaking. Every word out of the man’s mouth was like an iron vice tightening its grip on her heart. She knew the man would’ve obviously known at least a little bit about her if he had been following her, but there was no way he could find out all that from just a little spying. Her hand found its way to the cold, comforting metal of the tire iron and gripped it so hard she could feel her knuckles creaking.

“Wh-what do you want from me?”

The terrifying smile returned. “You showed interest in our cause. The Sons are always looking for new members, and you somehow knew enough about the Beast-Walkers to find your way onto our website! Tell me, child. Have you perhaps encountered one who walks in the dark?”

Roxy took an involuntary step back and held her tire iron at the ready. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Leif struggling to make sense out of what she was hearing. Part of her could sympathise.

“Showed interest in your cause?! Your cause makes me sick!!” the shaking girl all but shouted. “You’re nothing but a bunch of murderers!”

“Hmm.” The man’s smile quickly disappeared into a slight frown, almost disappointed in nature. “That’s a shame. No matter, those feelings will be corrected in time. With a little discipline of course.”

She paled. “Wh-what?” That damn smile was back.

“You know too much to be allowed to leave, Roxanne. You will be coming with me for initiation, willingly or not, though your condition upon arrival is up to you.”

The stranger made no move, simply staring in silence. Roxy could barely breathe, as if in deciding between fight or flight, her body had gotten stuck, choosing to freeze instead. 

This was it. The moment she’d been fearing from the second she found out someone was following her. There was no backing out. It was fight or die.

“Wh-what about m-me? I heard all of that, you c-creepy fuck!” Leif’s shaky voice ripped Roxy out of her thoughts. It was clear she was trying to act tough, but Roxy could see her hands quivering as she held her baseball bat out like a sword. The man jerked his gaze towards the other girl as if just realising that she was present, despite calling her out earlier. He looked her up and down appraisingly and his expression stretched into a scowl.

“The Sons don’t fraternise with your kind, degenerate.” His tone was biting, causing Leif to flinch. “But you’re right, you did hear all of that. I suppose I’ll have to dispose of you.”

The ice freezing her blood suddenly burned hotter than flame. Her teeth clenched so hard she swore she could hear them groaning under the strain and before she knew it she was running at the man, priming her tire iron for a hit that would send him straight to the dentist.

He ducked her swing as she flew past him and Roxy quickly turned for a follow up, realising with a surge of appreciation that Leif had followed her lead and was running up for a swing of her own. The cultist used his forearms to redirect the momentum of her bat as he stuck a leg out and brought her sprawling to the ground. Roxy wasted no time in retaliating as she pulled her arm back for what would hopefully be a vicious hit to the back of his stupid head. 

Without even glancing over his shoulder, he swung his fist backwards, striking Roxy across the face, sending her stumbling into the wall, blinking away stars. He turned around slowly, without a care in the world. Leif was back on her feet and charging at him again with some sort of war cry. She feinted an overhead swing, but when her opponent ducked, Leif thrusted the butt of the bat into his gut. He stumbled backwards, doubling over and grunting in pain. Roxy pulled herself together and the girls wasted no time in resuming their assault. This was life or death, after all.

Roxy swung her tire iron down, aiming once again to smash the back of his head, but the constant spinning of her own head threw off her aim and her improvised weapon made contact with his shoulder instead. Her target let out a grunt of pain and sunk even lower. By now, Roxy was learning to just roll with the punches and she took the opportunity to drive her knee into his temple.

The cultist threw himself backwards, rolling across the ground and quickly rising to his feet in something resembling a boxer’s stance. He stepped forward, deftly dodging a swing from Leif’s bat and delivering a solid jab to her unguarded face. The crunch of cartilage was unmistakable and the assaulted girl cried out in pain, stumbling backwards and dropping her bat as blood leaked between the fingers she’d pressed to her nose. 

Roxy tried to swipe at his stomach with the tire iron while he was distracted, but instead found herself getting pulled along by her arm. The world fell out from under her as she was flipped over his hip and the back of her head was introduced to the ground with a sickening crack. She was given no time to recover as when she managed to roll onto her side, a kick slammed into her ribs, worsening the dark spots already tainting her vision.

A hand tightened around her throat and she was lifted off the ground and forced against the wall. She could feel cold concrete against her back as she hung there, desperately trying to suck in what little air she could, legs kicking out uselessly below her. She dimly registered the man scowling up at her and some part of her brain marvelled at the fact that he was able to lift her with just one hand. She quickly realised why as a fist rocketed against her skull once, twice, three times and she found herself struggling to stay conscious. Blackness swarmed around her and her lungs were burning, crying out for oxygen. Her legs swung wildly, desperately trying to push back her attacker. He didn’t even seem to notice.

Everything was going dark…

.

.

.

A loud metallic CLUNK rang out and Roxy was suddenly sucking in lungfuls of air as her ass hit the floor. She’d never been so grateful to have a sore tailbone in her life. A sharp crackling sound filled the air, followed by the tell-tale thud of a body falling to the ground. 

Blurry shapes and colours sharpened as the world came back into focus. Well, half of it did. The right side of her vision stubbornly refused to make any sense of the vague blobs she knew to be her friend and their assaulter. What she could see sent relief flooding through her nervous system. The cultist was lying on the ground, twitching and spasming every few seconds. Leif stood over him, breathing heavily. The bottom half of her face was slick with blood and looking at her nose for too long made Roxy feel slightly ill. She held the tire iron in one hand and in the other she gripped her handheld taser. In the grey light she looked every part the gritty, urban street fighter that she no doubt currently felt like. Leif slowly put the taser away and dropped the tire iron before bringing her hands to her face. There was an unsettling crack and a slight yelp as she set her nose back into place.

It took a few seconds to sink in as Leif made her way over to help Roxy up. They’d won. They were gonna be okay, at least for now. They were safe.

Holy fuck.

Once Roxy staggered to her feet, wobbling slightly, Leif placed her hands firmly on her shoulders.

“Roxy. Roxstar, can you hear me?” 

She managed a nod, though the motion sent a shooting pain through her head, accompanied by a wave of nausea.

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Three,” Roxy wheezed.

“Good. Do you think you can walk? We need to get out of here.”

“Y-yeah.”

“Alright, there’s my girl. Time to bounce.”

Leif gathered their discarded weapons and they made their way out of the alley just as the first drops of rain started to fall.

—

Roxy winced as the ice-pack made contact with her throbbing face. 

“Yeah yeah, I know it hurts, but you’re gonna make sure you keep that there if you wanna be seeing out of that eye tomorrow morning.” Leif’s voice came out slightly nasally, probably due to the fact that her broken nose had swollen to about twice its original size and was likely still clogged with blood, despite her attempts to clean herself up. 

After a cursory glance in a mirror, Roxy had found that she was nursing what was turning out to be quite a serious black eye on her right side, accompanied by a slight bruise on her left cheekbone as well as a dark, unmistakable hand-shaped mark around her throat. Lord knew how she was going to explain this to Sam. Or her parents for that matter.

Seemingly satisfied that Roxy wasn’t just going to drop the ice-pack the second she let go, Leif backed up and joined her friend on the couch. They were back in the green-haired girl’s house, attempting to recuperate as a light rain fell outside. Thankfully they had the house to themselves, since her brother was still out doing whatever it was he was doing and her parents were off celebrating their anniversary somewhere, as Leif had informed her.

“Alright, dude. You’ve got some explaining to do,” The taller girl began.

Roxy groaned. She should’ve expected this after all that the cultist said. She’d been intentionally vague while discussing the plan for a reason, but evidently, he shared none of her hang-ups. “Yep… Alright, lay it on me.”

“First off… Dude, we’ve been friends since like, age six. How the fuck didn’t I know you were half Burmese?!”

The sheer mundanity of the question after everything they’d witnessed that day threw Roxy for a loop. She stared back at her friend incredulously. Leif wore a teasing smirk, though she still looked slightly confused.

“Huh… I guess… I guess it just never came up? Between my sorta-lighter skin tone and the fact that I have my mom’s last name, I can see how it isn’t exactly obvious. I guess I just thought people knew. I mean, you’ve met my dad tons of times so I’m not sure how you didn’t, actually.” she laughed nervously, eyes flitting down to the floor. Leif just waved her off.

“It’s chill dude, it’s not a big deal. I was just tryna lighten the mood a bit.” She paused. “Although… I do still have questions.”

Roxy steeled herself. “Alright, I’ll try to be as honest as I can. I owe you that much.”

“I’ll say so. I did just save your life, after all,” the taller girl said jokingly, dropping her gaze into her lap. “Seriously though, what the hell was that guy talking about? Beast-Walkers? What the fuck does that even mean? I thought he was just crazy but.. That dude was so sure of his belief that he was ready to kill us for it! And you’re saying there’s an entire cult of nutters like him, killing people, all around the world? There’s no way that many people buy into superstitious nonsense like that unless… Unless it’s actually real.” Her voice lowered steadily until it was barely more than a whisper. She looked up and met Roxy’s eyes once more, her expression filled with uncharacteristic desperation. “Roxy, please. I need you to explain this to me. I need this to make sense. We didn’t just almost die for nothing, right?”

Roxy shuffled over and placed what she hoped was a calming hand on her friend’s shoulder before taking a deep breath and diving into her explanation. “Alright… This is gonna sound pretty weird, but keep an open mind.” Leif nodded her assent. “As far as I’ve figured out, there’s this… race or species or whatever of people with weird, supernatural qualities, all around the world. I’m talking about unnatural eye colour, heightened senses, super strength… maybe shapeshifting but I’m still unsure about that one. Apparently they’ve been around since like, the middle ages or something.

“This cult, the Sons of the Black Sun, they’re like this religious sect or whatever that’s apparently made it their mission to hunt down these people and kill them, claiming that they ‘came from the depths of hell’ or something. The thing is, they’re just regular people. Sure, they might be able to change their eye colour at will or throw someone over their shoulder like nothing more than a sack of potatoes, but when it comes down to it, they’re still just people. They think and they feel, they have insecurities, likes and dislikes. They’re just… a little different than us. And those lunatics are slaughtering them… like animals.”

It was now Roxy’s turn to stare into her lap. Her head was filled with thoughts of Sam. Kind, sweet, protective Sam. The thought of anything happening to her was too much to bear and her eyes quickly began to sting. 

“Roxy…” Leif’s tone was soft, but it was enough to startle the dark-haired girl out of her thoughts just as the first tear rolled down her cheek, mirroring the rain tip-tapping against the window.

“I- ugh, I’m sorry, not sure where that came from,” she chuckled wetly, wiping her eyes.

“You’re talking about Sam, aren’t you?”

Roxy’s gaze shot up. “H-how? I-I mean what? No?”

Leif leaned back with an unimpressed look on her face. “The girl doesn’t exactly try very hard to hide it. She’s in my P.E. class and she practically dominates every sport we play. You said that she was part of that cult’s target group, and after that whole supernatural spiel it wasn’t very hard to put two and two together, y’know? So what is she, a werewolf or something?”

Thunder crashed outside.

“A-a werewolf?”

Leif shrugged. “Yeah. Y’know, really strong, kinda wild. You mentioned shapeshifting earlier? Kinda fits the bill, doesn’t it?”

Roxy sat in stunned silence. Everything clicked into place. Sam was a werewolf! It made so much sense! Her mind flew back to Sam’s basement a few days ago. The girls had been hanging out after school watching a movie. Sam had her legs resting over Roxy’s lap and the raven-haired girl had ended up noticing a strange scar on her partner's calf. Lines like puncture wounds from sharp teeth surrounded her leg on both sides. Roxy remembered thinking that it almost looked like she’d stepped into a bear trap. Evidently, she had, and Roxy was the one to help her out of it, the first time they met.

“Rox… you good? You’ve gone quiet,” Leif asked carefully. Roxy’s head snapped up to meet her worried gaze.

“Oh! Uh… yeah. Just… Just having a bit of an epiphany here.” Leif chuckled a little bit at that.

“Yeah, well, it’s certainly been a pretty eye opening day for me as well. I mean, a secret race of werewolves and an evil cult trying to hunt them down? That’s something straight out of a comic book!”

Roxy turned to her friend and gripped her hands tightly, expression dark and serious. “Leif. You can’t tell anyone about this. Not Ross, not your parents, no one. You heard how much the cult learnt about me in just a few weeks, they probably have eyes everywhere. If word reaches them that Sam’s a werewolf, they will come after her. That can’t happen, got it?”

The taller girl shot her a reassuring grin. “Don’t worry Rox, I’d never betray your trust like that. Besides, if I did, who would send me the answers to all our homework?”

Roxy snorted. “Jerk.”

—

Roxy’s knuckles rapped on the door of the Walker’s house, barely audible over the sound of the pouring rain lashing the ground just past the patio she was standing on. Thank god Leif had let her borrow an umbrella, because wow, that rain was really coming down hard.

The girl sighed. This wasn’t a conversation she was particularly looking forward to, but it was probably better to get ahead of it in a situation she could control. Better to lie to your girlfriend and own up to it rather than wait for her to find out on her own, which she definitely would, considering Roxy’s face resembled that of a certain Fire Nation prince with the way her eye was almost swollen shut.

She was really hoping Sam would be the one to answer the door like the excitable guard dog she apparently was, partially because she didn’t want to explain the nature of her injuries to Mrs. Walker and partially because she just really wanted to see Sam after everything that’d happened. She’d decided to keep her knowledge of Sam’s identity to herself, as it was probably better to just wait for Sam to feel comfortable enough to share it on her own. It felt like she was almost there, anyway.

She heard a muffled “I’ll get it!” from inside followed by the sound of thudding footsteps rapidly approaching the door and her heart gave a little flutter because yep, that’s my girl.

The door opened and Roxy was greeted by the sight of her beautiful girlfriend standing in the doorway. Boy, was she a sight for sore eyes. The light coming from inside the house contrasted the darkness of the evening and haloed her, illuminating her blonde hair and making her look every part like some sort of warrior goddess, despite the fact that she was dressed in a ratty looking long-sleeve and flannel pyjama pants. Evidently she had been among the many that had opted not to leave the house that day. Her face dropped from excitement to horror as she took in the state of Roxy’s… well, everything.

“Hi…” Roxy smiled sheepishly. Sam immediately rushed to her, carefully cradling her face and looking her over frantically.

“Oh my god! Roxy, what happened?! A-a-are you okay?!” Sam sounded like she was on the verge of tears and a pang of guilt shot through the shorter girl’s heart. She bit her lip.

“I’m okay Sam, I promise.” She took Sam’s hand from her cheek and placed a soft kiss on her knuckles. “Can I come in? It’s pretty cold out here and I sorta need to talk to you about something.” 

Sam faltered for a second before she stepped back and allowed passage into her house. “U-uh sure. We’re having dinner at the moment, d-d-did you need anything to eat?” Her stutter was making an appearance, which meant that Sam was either very overstimulated or incredibly anxious. It wasn’t difficult to figure out which one. Whatever appetite Roxy might have had was quickly squashed by another wave of guilt.

“N-no, I’m not super hungry at the moment. Can we just go to your room please?” Her voice was weak. Sam agreed and Roxy quickly made her way upstairs to the now familiar room as the blonde stepped away to inform her guardians of the situation.

The room was comfortably dim (bright lights were often irritating to the blonde, so her guardians had installed a dimmer for her) and Roxy quickly made her way over to Sam’s plushy covered bed. The rain lashing angrily against the window created a surprisingly warm atmosphere and part of Roxy’s anxiety washed away, leaving her feeling slightly lighter. A few minutes passed before Sam carefully entered the room, shutting the door behind her. She made her way over to the bed and sat down, embracing Roxy in a side hug. A few moments passed where neither of them said anything, just basking in each other's presence. The illusion of peace didn’t last long, however, when Roxy heard the sound of quiet sniffling coming from her girlfriend and her heart broke just a little bit more.

“Roxy… What happened? P-please talk to me…” Sam sounded so utterly sad that Roxy couldn’t help it when a few tears fell down her cheeks too.

“I-I’m sorry…I… I lied to you.” Roxy whispered. She felt Sam tense up next to her, but did her best to push through. “I didn’t go to the police about the stalker. I asked Leif for help and we confronted him ourselves. I-I just didn’t trust the police to be able to do anything until it was too late…”

“Roxy… Why didn’t you just ask me to help you? I-I could have protected you!” The blonde stood up to face her partner. Roxy withered under her reprimanding stare and she averted her eyes guiltily. 

“I… I didn’t want you to get hurt…”

“Roxy! If I was there I could have prevented you from getting hurt! I’m strong! And what about Leif, is she just more expendable than me or something?! Is she even alright?!” Sam’s voice quickly grew harsh and Roxy wilted even more.

“She broke her nose…” Roxy barely managed to say. Sam gasped, but Roxy quickly held up a finger to stifle her complaints. “But it had absolutely nothing to do with her being ‘more expendable’ than you,” she made air quotes as her voice rose in challenge. “And frankly, it’s offensive that you think I treat her like that. She’s one of my closest friends!”

“Well, what was it then?” Her face was contorted with something Roxy couldn’t quite place. “Explain it to me, Roxy. Make this make sense! Why couldn’t you just come to me? Do you not trust me?”

Roxy stood up, hurt burning in her chest. “Of course I trust you, Sam! I was protecting you! If you came with us, you could’ve died!”

Sam was full on crying now, desperate tears spilling out her eyes like raindrops, causing her voice to shake. “Protecting me from what?! What makes me so different that I would’ve died when you and Leif would be fine?! You’ve seen me fight, you know I can handle myself!”

Roxy couldn’t take it anymore. She grabbed Sam’s arms and squeezed them tightly, desperate to get her point across.

“I WAS PROTECTING YOU FROM THE PEOPLE THAT KILLED YOUR PARENTS!!” 

Roxy slapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. The damage was done. Sam was completely silent, she was just staring at Roxy, her mouth slightly agape. Her eyes were wide, glossy from the tears quietly wetting her cheeks and her irises kept flickering red. Just when Roxy started to question whether Sam was about to scream at her, the blonde girl fell to her knees and broke.

Sam folded in on herself, loud, sobbing wails emanating from her chest, accompanied by a strange, dog-like whimpering. Roxy only hesitated for a second before following her down and wrapping her in a tight embrace, whispering apologies in her ear. The blonde melted into it, frantically gripping at the back of Roxy’s jacket like she would disappear into thin air if she let go. Roxy could barely hold on herself feeling her heart breaking into a million pieces in her chest. She really felt like the scum of the earth right now.

The sheer volume of Sam’s cries was barely muffled by Roxy’s shoulder and the raven-haired girl wasn’t surprised when Mrs. Walker poked her head in the door to check on them. Roxy could only shake her head in response to the older woman’s concerned look, but thankfully she got the idea and left them alone. 

After some time, Sam’s wails quieted down, reduced to long, wheezing sobs and Roxy deduced that it was probably time to move her. She carefully repositioned her arms so that they were under the crying girl’s armpits and stood up, gingerly lifting her. Sam’s grip didn’t shift at all and Roxy shuffled them over to the bed. Her plan was to lay Sam down before taking off her jacket to join her, but Sam’s never-wavering grip was making that difficult.

“Sammie, could you let go for just a second? I’m not going anywhere, I’m just taking off my jacket, okay? There’s a good girl,” Roxy whispered gently.

At first it didn’t seem like Sam had heard her, but she eventually loosened her grip enough for Roxy to slip out of her jacket and join her girlfriend on the bed. She tucked Sam’s head under her chin and whispered soft assurances into her ear as her hand stroked through the blonde’s thick hair in the way that she knew she liked. 

Eventually, Sam stopped crying. Roxy would have assumed she’d fallen asleep if it wasn’t for the occasional shaky hiccup. Sam muttered something but Roxy didn’t quite catch it.

“Hmm?” Roxy questioned.

“...’m sorry, Rox… ‘m so so sorry.” Her voice was quiet and shaky, almost inaudible above the rain that was now gently pattering against the window in a calming pattern.

“It’s okay, sweetie. Tensions were running high. I know you didn’t mean it.” 

Sam shuffled until she was able to make eye contact with Roxy. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, icy blue irises filled with emotion. “I’m still sorry. I shouldn’t have said those things. I was just… scared for you.”

Roxy gently placed a hand on her cheek before leaning in and kissing her. Sam’s lips were salty, but she didn’t care. She pulled back after a moment and rested their foreheads together. “I know, baby. I know.” 

Sam swallowed. “How did you know? A-about the hunters? And m-my… My parents?”

Roxy thought about it for a minute before settling. “That’s a long story, and I think we’ve had enough emotion for one night. I’ve certainly had enough today to last me a lifetime.” She chuckled. “Let’s just rest now, okay? I’ll tell you in the morning. I promise.”

Sam nodded slowly before shuffling closer to her girlfriend, swapping their positions and tucking Roxy’s head under her chin. The dark-haired girl sighed and breathed in her partner's scent, slowly falling asleep to the sound of rain and the smell of pine.

—

“The prototype is ready, father. All we need now is a test subject and we can begin phase two.”

“You’ve done well. Head to the Dewsbury outpost. Our scouts report the possibility of at least one werewolf in the area, potentially more. That town is historically significant to their kind. I expect you’ll be able to find a suitable candidate there.”

“Yes, father. Laudate lucem solis.”

“Laudate lucem solis, my child.”