Twisted Tails Ch. 01

Vivien got control of herself and took a deep breath as the wolf next to her laid down on the ground. She looked around. No one had reacted to her scream. She then walked into the bathroom and checked to see if Andrew was hiding in a corner. Nothing. She walked back outside and took a good look at the wolf. He looked like a huge shaggy husky or wolf hound.

"Andrew?" she asked softly.

"Buuf!"

Vivien blinked. She walked over to a picnic bench to sit down and try to make some sense of all of this. The wolf followed her and sat down in front of her. He cocked his head to one side as if he was listening to something. Vivien looked around and off in the distance she saw a couple of teens playing Frisbee golf. She turned back to Andrew. He was a sandy color with lots of white. It mimicked his hair coloring. The eyes were still hazel.

"I... I can't believe this. Somehow, this is a trick," she said to the wolf. The wolf looked at her as if he was listening. The corners of his mouth curled up and she swore he was smiling at her and was wagging his tail. "Don't you even start!"

Wolf looked at the female. She was yipping at him and...Wolf turned to see other two-legs playing in the woods. He looked back at the female and tried to be friendly. He started wagging his tail. Something caught his attention and he turned to see the two-legs closer. They tossed something back and forth between them.

Vivien was distracted by the two teens coming closer to the picnic tables. They'd stopped playing golf and were just tossing the Frisbee back and forth between them. Then she noticed that the wolf had seen them too. "No! Do not move. Sit!" she said not knowing if the wolf even understood her. It started to rise and look towards the teens who were getting closer. In a panic, she tried to grab the ruff of the wolf, but it was too late. He tore off in a run to intercept the Frisbee.

Wolf saw the disk move between the two-legs. Then it sailed past one of them, coming near the female and him. The female was yipping and grabbing at him, but he... he HAD to go get it! He launched away from the female and in three long strides, he leapt and captured the disk. He shook his head, but it didn't move. He loped over to one of the two-legs and dropped it at their feet. Maybe they could make it fly again.

The young man watched the huge dog leap and catch the Frisbee mid-air. He was surprised when it ran over and dropped it at his feet. He smiled, picked up the Frisbee and shook it at the dog and then let it fly. He watched as the dog charged after the Frisbee and caught it again. His buddy reached him about the same time the dog brought the Frisbee back and dropped it.

"Hey, good doggy," said the teen. He threw it again and the two young men watched the dog charge off and catch it again. They cheered and clapped. When the dog brought it back, they threw it again. As the dog ran to catch it, a woman walked up to them.

"Hi! You've got a great dog," said the first teen.

"Yeah. You play Frisbee with him a lot?" asked the second. "He's a natural."

"Uh, no. This is the first time he's really played," said Vivien. Part of her was petrified. Part of her wanted to laugh. No one had ever mentioned that werewolves played with Frisbees. She decided she'd better smile and pretend that he was just a really big friendly dog.

Wolf ran up to the three two-legs and dropped the disk at their feet. He was happy. This was fun! The two-legs threw it again and off he ran. This time, it went over his head and he had to chase it. It landed in a pond and he dived into the water to get the disk. He got out of the pond, disk in mouth and dripping wet. He ran back to the two-legs and dropped it once more. Then he shook the water off.

"Oh! Stop! Andrew, stop it!" squealed Vivien. She'd realized what he was going to do, but there was no way to stop him. Everyone was covered in water in a matter of moments. The two teens were laughing.

"Oh man, that was great!" said the first teen who collected the Frisbee from a puddle. He looked at it and realized that there were two holes in it from where the dog had bit it trying to retrieve it from the pond. The other teen nodded and smiled as well.

"I"m so sorry," said Vivien. "He's... um... a bit wild at times."

"It's okay. I've got dogs at home too," said the other teen, ruffling the dog between it's very wet ears. "You're a good dog," he said to the dog. The dog licked his face and the teen laughed.

Vivien went a little pale when she saw the wolf lick the teen. "Um, we need to get going. Thanks for playing with my dog," she said hoping that the wolf would follow.

"No problem, it was fun. In fact, here, take the Frisbee," the first teen said handing her the slightly chewed Frisbee.

"Are you sure?" asked Vivien as she took it in her hand.

"Yeah. See ya some time big guy," the teen said as the two of them headed off.

"Bye," Vivien said a bit stunned. She looked at the wolf who was soaked and the chewed toy in her hand. "Oh shit."

Wolf watched the female take the disk from the young two-legs. He wagged his tail. He wanted to play. He'd had fun and wanted more. He grabbed for the disk, hoping that tugging on it would make the female toss it for him.

"No! We need to go somewhere and talk. You need to shift back," she said to the wolf as it grabbed at the Frisbee. When she wouldn't let go, the wolf dropped the grip and lowered it's head.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were pouting," said Vivien as she started walking back to the bathrooms and the cars. After a moment, the wolf followed her. When they got to the bathrooms, the wolf loped into the men's room. Vivien went and sat on the hood of her car and waited. She really needed to talk to Andrew, and that wasn't happening as long as he was on four legs. "Damn! I'm accepting that this is all real and..." she thought as Andrew walked out of the bathroom. He had something in his hand.

Andrew walked up to Vivien. His hair was still wet, but he'd dried himself off as best he could with his teeshirt. He had a huge smile on his face.

"That was fantastic!" he said.

"How could you?" she asked almost in a whisper.

Andrew looked at her. He didn't understand what he'd done wrong besides shaking the water off. "I'm sorry about the water," he started.

"That's not what I'm talking about!" she said.

"Vivien, I... I'm not following you. What do you think I did wrong?" he asked.

"You licked that boy! What were you thinking?" she asked.

Andrew blinked. "What? What are you on about?" he asked still totally confused.

"You could have cut his skin on your teeth and then how would we explain to him and his parents?" she said.

Andrew looked at her for a moment when it finally dawned on him what she was upset about. He started to laugh.

"Damn it Andrew! This is serious!" she said getting very red in the face.

"Ah, Vivien, we have a lot to talk about. To put your mind at rest though, shifting isn't contagious. That's fiction. A myth. Rabies is contagious. Distemper is contagious, but lycanthropy is genetic. You can't catch it from spit, blood or semen. That boy wasn't in danger just from a lick," he said.

"But...but. I..." she stuttered.

"Come on. Follow me and I'll take you to dinner. We need to talk. And, I don't know about you, but I'm starving. We wouldn't want a starving wolf now would we?" he asked.

Vivien stood there dumbfounded.

*

She was surprised when he pulled into the local organic burger joint. She'd eaten there once or twice and just couldn't eat a whole burger. Granted, they had more veggies on them than some salads and the fries... oh the fries. Sweet potato or regular fries with exotic ketchups. Andrew was picking up their order while she got the drinks. She sat down first and waited. His hair was still damp and curling up on the ends. The fact that he smelled like pond water and wet dog convinced her more than anything that he really was a shifter.

"Here's your order," Andrew said handing over the boiler special Vivien had ordered. He sat down and opened his tub of ketchup. "I still can't believe how fun it was to play Frisbee."

"Haven't you ever played with one?" she asked.

"I did in college, but not as a wolf. That was just... exhilarating," he said.

Vivien shook her head. She still couldn't believe that he'd done that. "Now what was it you were saying as we left the park?" she asked first looking around to see if anyone was near. They were the only ones at that end of the cafe.

"It isn't contagious. It's genetic. We can breed with humans, but even that sometimes doesn't produce a shifter," Andrew said around a bite of his lamb burger.

"I don't understand," she said.

"We breed pretty true, but sometimes things just don't work. Just like regular human genetics. We get nulls, and we have those that are 100% shifter. Even then sometimes shift doesn't happen," he said.

Vivien thought about this for a moment. She pulled out her notebook and drew some X's and O's on it. "So, what you're saying is that an XX would be 100% shifter, and a mix of XO can still shift?" she asked.

"Yes. XX, XO and often even an XoXo can shift. Shifter genes are dominant. However, sometimes you get people who are ooX, and they can't shift. On rare occasions, you get an OooX, and they're someone who had a great great grandparent who was at least half shifter. They'll have some interesting characteristics, but are about as null as they get and still have the bloodline," said Andrew.

Vivien thought about this for a moment. "Then how... how did we get stories about being bitten causing the change?"

"I'm not sure if it was bad press, bad tempers, stupidity, or rabies. My suspensions are that someone didn't change well, or was drunk. Worst option... someone didn't tell their wife or husband what was going on and when their teen shifted for the first time, all sorts of stories were made up," he said.

"Okay, I need to think on this one for a minute. Next question. Why are you trusting me with this information? I could go to the TV stations or the newspapers or the police and out you," she said.

"Go ahead. Do you want my phone?" he said putting his burger down to hand her his phone.

"What?" she asked. "I'm confused."

"I said 'go ahead.' Call someone. Anyone. You yourself said your paper wouldn't print a werewolf story. Do you think anyone else would?" he asked putting the phone down next to her.

Vivien looked at him. "You're laughing at me. I don't like being the butt of a joke," she said. She pulled out her own phone and dialed her neighbor who worked for the local TV station. "Hey Joe, how are you? Good. I'm fine. Look, what would you say to a story about werewolves? No! I'm not joking. Oh. Okay, Oookay. Fine. I was joking. Really. No, sorry, I was just testing a theory. Thanks. Sorry to bother you." She put the phone down and had an urge to throw up or smack the smile off of Andrew's face.

Andrew ate his burger and let Vivien cool off a little. The waitress came over to see if they were okay. He smiled at her. "Hon, what would you say if I told you I was a werewolf?" he asked her.

The waitress smiled and then giggled. "You? Right. Priests can't be werewolves. You're so silly!" she said and walked back to the cash register with a giggle.

"Priest?" asked Vivien now really confused.

Andrew nodded. "We've been 'pagan' for longer than there have been Christians. I'm the local priest as my father and his father and their fathers before them. I circle with lots of the local pagans, and she's one of them. Knows me from Solstice celebrations and the like," he explained.

Vivien thought for a moment. "So, what you're trying to tell me is that it's safe to tell people, because if they run to the press, no one will believe them?"

"Exactly. Or, they are thought of as crazy. Same effect. No one will believe them. It saves a lot of grief too if someone's kids talks about Uncle Wolfie at school. Teachers just pat them on the head, and half the time never even mention it to the parents," said Andrew.

Vivien let this sink in as she ate the rest of her burger. "So, why was it such a big thing with the papers?"

"It's the difference between being told someone shifts and actually seeing it. Pictures or videos would be an issue. And even the most even tempered of us gets a little grumpy and stupid if teased," admitted Andrew.

"So, the story of the old man and the paramedics was true?" she asked in an almost conspiratorial whisper.

Andrew could see all the gears whirling and light bulbs go off in her head as she began to put two and two together. He nodded.

"Andrew, why are you trusting me with this information?" she finally asked.

Andrew could smell the beginnings of fear creep into her blood. He took a sip of his drink and sat forward. "Very simple. I like you."

Vivien sat there with her mouth open trying to figure out what to say.

"Plus, you have my Frisbee," he said and smiled.

Vivien about choked.

After dinner, they walked out to their cars. Vivien handed Andrew his Frisbee. He smiled and put it in his Subaru. "Thanks for dinner," she said.

"Thank you for a lovely afternoon," Andrew replied. He stepped forward and leaning down kissed Vivien on the lips. He held her gently for a moment and then let go. Then he turned and got into his car. Looking back in the rear-view mirror, he saw that she was standing there with her hand to her lips. He smiled.