Maria Spotlight - The night is ours

"All right, but what about the transformation as such? How should I behave in the future?"

"If you can avoid it, don't change at all. Otherwise, do it when no one‘s nearby and hunt only far away from here, never in the fishing grounds of the vampires or the werewolves themselves.“

Whew! That was hard stuff. How was I supposed to do that? My mother wouldn't let up until I swore I wouldn't tell anyone. Deep down, though, I knew I couldn't. I had to trust others with it. I couldn't carry that burden around alone with me. Of course, I listened to mother's imploring not to tell father. I loved my father with all my heart, but I didn't know if he could handle it. And I didn't trust the witches enough except for Emily, but I didn't want her involved. So all that remained were Tim, Frederick and Sebastian. Although it was raining cats and dogs, the three of them were about to ride out with the horses. It came handy, I would join them, but I would determine where it went. I vehemently stood in the front door of the stable and didn‘t let them pass, they were supposed to listen to me. My brother and cousins were four years older than me. Even though I was still his little sister, Tim didn't like it when I cut in between. I closed the stable door. Frederick jumped off his horse and stood against me.

"What are you doing? Can't you leave us alone? We were going to ride down to town, to the prostitutes.“

"This will have to wait. I got something to show you.“

Tim shook his head. "And what‘s so important that you stand in our way and forbid us to ride out?"

"I haven‘t forbidden you to ride out. I'll come with you, but we'll change the route. We have to get far away from here. The walls here are as thin as paper and I don't want anyone else to know.“

"Know what?", Sebastian asked.

"Be patient, you'll see.“

Now I had aroused their curiosity, they couldn't help but follow me. The horses weren‘t afraid to take us wherever I wanted, even in this heavy rain. We trotted on them comfortably through the forest; I was in no hurry. I noticed how much the three had changed. I had grown up with them, shared all their childhood memories with them. Until three years ago, they had been rather boyish. Now they had become young, handsome men. My brother and the others had gotten a muscular, taut body. Their features had become more prominent. Frederick and his brother Sebastian wore their hair a little longer; it was black and curly, like their mother's hair. Tim, on the other hand, looked very much like our father, but what these three young men had in common were their ivy green eyes. Frederick and Sebastian now wore a beard, my brother used to shave it off. From a closer source I knew that they were very popular with the ladies because of their attractiveness and they themselves didn‘t seem to be averse to them either. They had all already had sexual contact with another female being, they often enough rubbed it in my nose. Mainly they did it with the prostitutes from the nearby villages and when one of them gave them a very special sexual pleasure, they rewarded her very generously. Our people had plenty of money. We stopped at a big chestnut tree. That was far enough from home. I checked to see if nobody was around. The coast was clear.

"Well, sister. What's so terribly urgent?"

I came immediately to the point, let the power flow through me and turned into the werewolf. The horses were frightened and shrunk back, threw their riders down and ran away. My friends lay on the floor, staring stunned into my face. Their mouths remained open and they were speechless. I signaled to them that I posed no danger by lying on the floor and whimpering like a dog asking for attention. After some time I finished the play and took on vampire shape again.

"Well, what do you say?"

"What do we say to that? Lis, you just turned into a two-meter werewolf right in front of us on broad daylight.“

"I'm aware it must seem very shocking to you, I'm in the same situation. But I had to involve you.“

Tim was beside himself. "Who else knows about this?"

„Except you, only our mother knows. And she told me not to tell anyone, father in particular.“

"And now you're dragging us into this? If mother tells you anything, it's for a good reason, so why are you doing this? Why couldn't you keep it to yourself?"

"Because I need a pack“, it burst out of me, this urge I tried to smother, but couldn't, "a wolf‘s nothing without its pack. I can't go to the other wolves, they won't accept me. You're the only ones I trust one hundred percent.“

"Look, Lis“, it was Sebastian, the meek one among them, who now took the floor, "we're not werewolves, probably we couldn't serve you well enough, like a werewolf needs from its pack. I don't even know if we could go hunting with you.“

"Why not? What‘s the difference between vampires and wolves in their hunting methods? Aren't they both monsters and don't they both kill in the same bestial way? Wolves hunt in packs, doesn't mean vampires can't. We'd hunt off the hunting grounds, I'd never put you in danger. Guys, come on, I need you guys right now. You're my closest friends. Please give me some proof that you trust me too. Accept me for who I am, because it's not my fault. And if it can be arranged somehow, then you won't tell anyone.“

Concerned they stared holes into the sky, as if nobody wanted to understand how I was just. Tim approached me with just a few steps, grabbed my hand and looked deep into my eyes.

"You're my sister no matter what. I will always support you and never stab you in the back. So, yes, your secret is safe with me.“

His embrace made me feel safe. Frederick and Sebastian also swore their loyalty to me and joined in the embrace. All three of them stood around me, forming a kind of wall to protect me. I‘d still need this protection, because the strength of a wolf is its pack.

An essential advantage of being a werewolf was that my senses were now sharper. It was a starry night, we had mid-October. I was on my way to Crux and thanks to my new skills I could hear his snoring from far away. I was in the shape of a wolf and, as always, very careful. Crux was asleep, he didn't notice me. On quiet paws I crept up to him, his tail suddenly moved and danced around me. In the cave only dimmed light prevailed; here and there small fires burned. He opened his eyes and his pupils formed into slits. Then his voice echoed through the cave.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

I approached him only timidly, after all, his figure overtook mine by far. The hot breath from his snout came towards me when my face almost touched him. His nostrils widened, he absorbed my smell.

"Larissa? Is that you? What does that mean?"

I withdrew into the darkness, his hot breath following me. Emerging from the darkness, I showed myself to him as a vampire.

"Yes, Crux. You saw right. I'm not only a vampire and a witch, but a werewolf also came to life in me. I want you to know that, that's why I came here.“

He straightened up to full height.

"Well, that's very prudent of you and very interesting too I sense you'll have great things to do. You seem to play an important role for someone, but I can't see who it is.“

Dragons, they were said, couldn‘t only look into the deepest parts of a soul, no, if their eye had once grasped the soul of a mortal or a nonmortal, they were able to look far into its future. The premonitions mostly hit the mark and so it had often happened in the past that a human being or a supernatural being stood up well with a fire snake to always be clear about his fate. I didn't go into Crux's knowledge or ignorance at the moment. I was glad I got this thing over with.

"It's just that“, I continued, "no one shall know about it.“