Daydreams And Nightshade (DaN #1)

Chapter 18: Unpunctuality

Luna irately wiped copious amounts of werewolf hair from her skirt as she stood up from Tom and Richard's couch. It had been a mistake to sit down, but her non related uncles sure liked to take their time getting ready.

Proving unsuccessful to remove the hairs from her back, Lucius pinched his lips together and assisted her, not without giving her a 'Really? Sitting on a werewolf couch? In this dress?' look.

Noah rarely looked smug, but this fact only made Luna more frustrated as he silently witnessed the scene with a look of amusement.

Luna wouldn't have it.

"Hey, pox nose," she hissed. "I think you forgot to wipe some jam off your entire face."

Noah's amusement died out and Lucius gave her a stern look.

"Luna."

"Just being helpful."

"You don't speak to your brother like that."

"And I keep telling you, you have them too—" Noah started but Luna cut him off with a glare.

"Hey, Noah? You know what would look good in your face? A black eye."

Noah instantly backed away a step, aware his sister's threats were rarely empty.

"Richard's not up yet?" Tom asked as he emerged from his room on the bottom floor, running a hand through messy, dark brown hair in the meantime.

Lucius massaged his temples with a groan.

"He's not even awake?" He brought out a pocket watch while wiping possible stray hairs from his own dress, and Tom headed for the stairs.

"It's alright, I'll wake him."

"Tom, no! Your waistcoat—" Lucius didn't get to finish the sentence. The undead werewolf had already opened the door to Richard's room on the upper floor balcony, and they all knew he rarely cared about keeping his waistcoat free from hair anyway.

A moment later a loud pang came from the room as if two pot lids were banged together. Then another pang, and another, until a large shape hurriedly exited the room to emerge on the balcony.

Vincent, who'd been waiting quietly at the door, instantly dashed up to Luna and stood in front of her as a large, light brown furred werewolf jumped down from the balcony, landing before them with a loud thud.

It seemed it hadn't been aware of their presence until just now, and it stopped in its tracks as soon as it did.

Luna pinched Vincent in the side.

"It's just Richard."

"Richard, your form," Lucius said however, and the werewolf leaned its head back with a huff.

Luna had always found the transformation of a werewolf to a human rather sad. Going from a gigantic, carnivorous beast to a naked, bipedal little thing couldn't possibly be good for one's ego. To add to that, everything dulled. Fangs turned into human teeth and vivid yellow eyes either turned paler or darker.

Luna looked down at the shrinking limbs about to turn into Richard's arms and further down to his 'hands'. The nails were definitely duller than claws. His fur had almost disappeared completely, and the nightmare fuel was just beginning. Luna was ready for it though, and she looked away from Richard's face. She'd seen it shift into human once, and preferred to never do so again.

Everyone in the room except for the cautious Vincent politely turned their heads away as a now naked, human Richard had taken form in front of them. The only trace left of his fur was the similar color of the hair on his head, the rest having been replaced by his tan beige skin. His eyes remained the same orange color however.