Silver Bullets n' Roses - 11. Date Night

That night, the dreams started up again. They were much worse than the previous one; Gabriel kept whispering to him promises of sex and power, all the while giving him messages of either violence or lust. Sometimes Matt was paralyzed like he was the first time. Other times he was free, and he'd use the opportunity to run - but he might as well have been a hamster on a wheel. Everywhere he turned, Gabriel was there.

The real clincher came when Roman started becoming involved. His and Gabriel's grinning faces intertwined in his head, Roman laughing, Roman smirking at him in that disgusting way...

Matt forced himself awake and lay in bed in a shivering, sobbing mess. He reached for the phone on the nightstand and called the first person that came to mind.

"Hello?"

"Sev, it's me." His voice was thick from crying.

"Matt? What's wrong?"

"The dreams." Matt glanced at his alarm clock. It was one in the morning. "Were you sleeping?"

"No, roaming. Were the dreams bad?"

"Extremely."

"Care to talk about it?"

Matt squeezed his eyes shut, trying to will the memories away. "Just...talk to me, please. About anything."

There was a pause from the other end. "Did you hear about Jacie Williams?"

"You know I don't pay much attention to gossip."

"She put out for some football player, and he like, posted it all over Facebook. So she Twittered that he was, well, underprivileged down there."

The rasping sound that came from Matt's throat barely passed for a laugh.

"Heh. Bad enough to have a rumor like that going around about your manhood, but what if it's true? I have PE with this dude; Jacie wasn't kidding." There was another pause as he searched for something else.

"You must be, like, the phone book of gossip," Matt observed.

"What can I say? Talk to enough people and you come across all kinds of stuff." He suddenly put on the stereotypical gay lisp and said, "Oh. Em. Gee. Did you see Renee's new lip ring? It looks like, so totally infected, with scabs and shit."

Matt found himself giggling, to his own surprise. "You sound like Chris Crocker."

Immediately dropping the accent, Severin said, "Being around werewolves all my life, it's entertaining watching the petty things in high school that human teenagers find so devastating. Makes you want to show them some real trauma, y'know?"

"Hm," Matt answered noncommittally. Trying to make his voice as clear as possible, he asked, "Sev?"

"Yes?"

"Something really bad happened to me. Like, before you met me."

"Thought so."

"Huh?"

"You don't hide it as well, you know. Sometimes you get this really pained look in your eyes, even though you're smiling to everyone else. What happened?"

"I'm...damaged." Matt sighed. "Sometimes I cry over the person I used to be, and I hate the one I am now."

"The werewolf part?"

"I've accepted that long ago. I mean the person I was before..."

"This bad thing happened."

"This really bad thing. Not ‘I broke a nail' bad, but ‘Oh my God, you're so fucked up' bad."

"Matt, I don't know what type of person you were before this thing happened, but the one you are now is damn near perfect."

That brought on another wave of tears. No one had complimented him like that before. It was a while before he managed to say anything else. "S-someone took something from me. Ripped it away from me. I can't ever get it back."

"Maybe you won't, but life's all about changing. In the hundred or more years you're going to live, I'm pretty sure you're going to die a totally different person than the one you were born. Same with all of us." Severin's voice was gentle and intimate, like it was when he was coaxing Matt through the Change. "You can tell me."

"Not tonight. I can't relive it right now. But soon."

"I'm right here when you need me."

"Thanks." Matt sniffed too hard, nearly splattering the phone with snot when he choked and went into a coughing fit. With serious vibe of the conversation effectively dead due to this, he dropped the subject. "Thanks for everything, Sev."

"Anytime, Matt. I meant every word of it. Think you can sleep now?"

"I hope so."

"If not, just call me again. It's not like I've got anything important to do."

"Not even sleeping?"

Severin's voice became hard. "When you live like I've had, you get used to staying up all night to make sure you stay alive." He sighed. "That's for another day. Bye, Matt."

"Bye, Severin. Sleep for me, K?"

"Replace ‘for' with ‘with' and we'll talk. 'Night." He hung up before Matt could figure out if he was kidding or not.

Matt called Jake early the next morning, figuring he might not have time to do it later on. Jake wasn't annoyed by the wake-up call; in fact, he sounded more alert than Matt did. They talked for a few minutes, the majority of it nonstop flirting, but Matt managed to ask him out that evening. They were set to hang out at the mall. Running late for school by now, Matt turned on the werewolf speed, whipped through the house like a hurricane, and dashed off to school. The only thing that stopped him was a hundred and sixty pounds of 'wolf in the school parking lot.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Severin said unapologetically. He reached down to help Matt up, who was lying in a dizzy puddle of mush on the ground. "You know the rules. Don't use any speed during the day."

Matt had to wait for parking lot to stop spinning before rolling his eyes.

"Hey." Severin's voice became much quieter as he reached out to touch Matt's shoulder. "You feeling okay?"

"No," Matt said bluntly, "but I'll live." He walked past Severin toward the building.

Severin jogged after him. "Listen, I know what we could do to get your mind off things. Sayora's coming this evening. We can just...hang. You can ask Karyn to come, too."

"Why is she coming? What's there to talk about?" Matt was suspicious.

"You know, about the old lady we offed last night, how to cover up the blood at the park from that kid we ate."

Matt raised an eyebrow.

Severin rolled his eyes. "You'll see."

"In front of Karyn, though?"

"She's not a normal human, remember? If you take her, you'll have to tell her what you are. And if she hasn't run in terror - which I doubt she will - invite her."

"Ooh, I like my men domineering."

Unfortunately for Matt, some jock heard him as he passed by. "Fag," he murmured, barely even glancing at him.

The snarl that erupted from deep in Severin's throat was ferocious, and thankfully the human was out of earshot. Matt grabbed Severin's forearm, at the same time stepping closer to him instinctively. Safety in numbers. "Easy, Fido," he said quietly.

"Let's rip out his tongue," Severin pleaded, "and feed it to him."

Matt squeezed his arm. "I don't know this Council you go by very well, but I think that would go against their rules."

"How can you let them treat you like that without telling someone?" Severin sighed.

The insulting letters on his locker had diminished dramatically lately, and Matt suspected that had to do with the fact he associated himself with Severin, but now he was sure. "I get used to it," he said quietly, giving Severin's arm another quick squeeze in thanks. Then he let go quickly, fearing someone would see and ridicule them again.

After all he'd done, Matt didn't want Severin to live with the "fag" label, too.

"I can probably go with you guys, as long as we're back before eight or nine or so."

"Why?"

"I've got a date with Jake around then."

Matt felt more disappointed than proud when Severin clapped him on the back and said, "Congrats."

*           *           *

"Okay, Karyn. There are three things. One, I am a werewolf. Two, there is a part of me - and I don't know how big a part that is - that wants to eat living flesh. And three, I will be unconditionally and irrevocably ashamed if you want nothing to do with me."

Matt waited for the flagpole to answer him. It didn't, of course, and he gave a great sigh.

"That's probably not the best approach. Um...Guess who's got fangs?" He let his incisors poke from his upper lip, grinning hopefully.

"Why are you talking to yourself?"

He whirled around in shock, quickly letting the fangs shrink back into his gums. "I'm a werewolf!" he blurted into Karyn's face.

She just stared at him, her face unreadable.

Matt walked in a frenzied circle around her, still talking. He couldn't seem to stop. "That's right; I'm a creature of the night. I turn into a gigantic furry beast at will. I can run from here to the school building before you can blink your eye. I can lift you with my left pinky without any effort at all. I howl at the full moon - though I have yet to experience that myself..."

The whole time, Karyn turned around in circles, following him with her eyes.

"And my point is...do you hate me? You can run screaming now, if you'd like."

She fixed him with her impenetrable stare and said, "Silly. I knew that."

Suddenly Karyn's face was replaced with the sky. Matt was floored - literally.

She bent over him, looking mildly concerned. "Matt, are you okay?"

"How the fuck did you know!?"

She flinched. She didn't like swearing. "My grandma used to tell me about people like you. The fanged things. The magical things. She told me not to tell anyone else, though. We're special people. All that magic - we just suck it right up." She giggled gleefully, as if at a private joke.

"So you know you're a Drainer, too?"

"Is that what you call them?" She reached down to help him up.

"Yeah..." Head still reeling, it took him a minute to get out the second part of his job. "You know Sean, right?"

"He's a werewolf, too."

"Damn, you're good."

"No cursing, Matt!"

"Right, sorry. Anyway, Sean's real name is Severin. Me, him, and this girl named Sayora are hanging out after school. You're officially a member of the freak squad now, so, wanna join?"

She stared at him for so long he wondered if she understood.

Finally: "Definitely."

As Karyn was getting permission from her mother, Matt went to find Severin alone as the end of the school day crept by. He was in a particularly foul mood: the remnants of his dream last night had been fueled when he saw Roman in the hallway on his way to PE. It was the first time Matt had seen him since before his transformation, and his new werewolf powers didn't lend him any confidence, as his insides retained that familiar jelly-like feeling. Staring down the shirt of some girl he was charming, Roman hadn't seen him, which was fine by Matt.

Matt found Severin and Sayora deep in conversation by Severin's new car. Judging by the way they went silent as he approached, Matt figured they were talking about him.

"Hey," said Severin cheerily. "Where's Karyn?"

Matt glanced over his shoulder. "Coming."

"Ooh, she's cute," Sayora purred. Looking at her, she appeared to be some sort of anti-Karyn. Dressed in knee-high boots covered in chains and a shirt advertising a band that was too extreme even for Matt's taste, she was leaned against the side of the car.

Karyn joined them, and from there they went to a café in town. It was a little odd at first, since neither of them hung in the same circle, but after a few minutes of awkward silence they went into a long talk about the only thing they all shared in common: the supernatural. Karyn was curious about Matt's state.

"How did you become a 'wolf?"

"I was bitten." Matt wasn't too keen going through the story of his transformation - after all, Karyn still knew nothing about Gabriel - so he asked her about her family's uncanny ability to reproduce so many Drainers. After she explained it, Severin was looking at her as if she were some sort of science experiment.

"Interesting," was all he said.

Sayora was relatively quiet, as she was texting on and off on her phone and offering a witty comment or flirting Karyn's way occasionally.

"Boyfriend?" Severin asked her, trying to casually take the phone from her.

"Maybe," she replied, moving just out of his reach.

"Who? The stray?" he sneered.

"The who?" Matt asked, interested.

"Some kid she's been hanging around a lot lately. And see? She's not denying it."

"So what? He's adorable," Sayora murmured. "In a stoner sort of way."

Severin rolled his eyes. "At this rate, I'll be the only one not getting any."

"What do you mean?"

"Matt's going out with Jake tonight."

"Severin!" Matt growled. The grin on Severin's face was anything but apologetic as both girls cooed over his date for the next few minutes. Sayora showed Karyn a picture of Jake on her phone and Karyn nodded proudly, as if Matt were her son going out for the first time.

As it was getting late, Matt took the bus back home to get ready. Though none of them had said it directly, he was sure the others would find some reason to be at the mall that evening.

*        *        *

Having had to dig up quarters for a second bus ride to town about an hour later, Matt was sitting on the stone wall outside the entrance of the mall, constantly checking his watch for time. Despite having shared his bed on more than one occasion, Matt was fairly inexperienced in the dating field. Most of his kicks were from people he met at parties and ended up making out with later. He found dating nerve-wracking, actually.

After spending a few minutes of people watching - he had aptly nicknamed several people Busty, Hitler, and Harry Potter - he spotted Jake nervously milling through the crowd.

"Up here," he called down, and landed deftly on the ground next to him.

"Hi there," Jake smiled. "You look nice."

Matt looked down at himself, somewhat proud of the minor changes he'd made to his wardrobe. He had switched out his Converse for what Sayora might call "mandals," ditched the studded belt, and had exchanged his Bring Me the Horizon shirt for an Owl City one. He didn't want to freak the kid out on the first date.

"Thanks. You too."

Jake was also wearing skinnies, with Vans and an Aero shirt. He looked so adorable that if Matt hadn't seen the kid turn, wouldn't have believed that he was a werewolf.

"Shall we go then?" he asked, taking Matt's arm.

Feeling exceedingly nervous - and for some reason, a bit guilty - Matt nodded and followed him.