Ronald woke up easier this time. He didn’t make rushed moves or sat up too fast.
It started in the same way it had started before. Cold, hard ground, fresh air, naked body and shivers running down on his spine. He had a feeling that he had something on top of his body. Then his memory slowly came back.
He had been in the park when the transformation had started. He had told Lucas to run. Then he had turned. He could remember the pain he had been in. He could remember the anger and frustration he had been in. But he couldn’t really remember anything else. He had a feeling Ramsey had teleported them away from the park but he couldn’t remember it.
And his ribs were hurting, they ached in pain and Ronald had a feeling he had hurt himself while being a werewolf.
Ronald started coughing and opened his eyes. He saw Ramsey kneeling next to him and then his eyes focused on a face looming behind Ramsey’s back.
It was Lucas.
“Hi”, Ronald croaked out. His throat was dry and when he tried to sit up a piercing pain shot through his side. He felt Ramsey’s hands steadying him and helping him sit up.
“Careful”, Ramsey said almost kindly. “I had to hit you with my powers but don’t worry, your ribs aren’t broken, just badly bruised.”
“Good to know”, Ronald said through gritted teeth because bitch, it hurt. He looked down on his side and saw large purple bruises covering his right ribs. He saw Lucas’s jacket on the ground next to him; it had fallen when he had sat up.
“Thanks for the jacket”, Ronald said and looked at Lucas. “Are you okay?”
“You two can talk later”, Ramsey interrupted. “You need to get dressed and eat. You had a rough night. How much do you remember?”
“Not much”, Ronald said. “Nothing about being a werewolf.”
“Not even the pain when I hit you with my powers?” Ramsey asked.
“No.”
“Okay”, Ramsey said and stood up, walked a few meters and picked up a bag from the ground. He handed it to Ronald. “There’s food and clothes. Eat.”
Ronald nodded and Ramsey walked out of the cave, leaving Ronald and Lucas alone. It was silent in the cave while Ronald put on the clothes and took out a hamburger.
“There’s two of these”, Ronald said and looked at Lucas. “One for both of us.”
Lucas nodded and took the hamburger Ronald was offering. He wasn’t sure if he could get it down but it cost nothing to try.
They ate in silence and it certainly was not a comfortable silence. Something was in the air and they both knew they needed to talk before they could breathe freely again.
After eating Ronald felt much better, even though he was still hurting and his whole body was aching and sore.
“So you are a werewolf, huh?” Lucas said finally after he couldn’t stand the silence any longer.
“I’m sorry for not telling you”, Ronald said. “I tried, I really tried but the timing was always off.”
“It’s okay”, Lucas assured quietly. “I knew you had something you wanted to tell me but I was so occupied with…”
Lucas quieted down and looked at his shoes again.
That’s when Ronald remembered Ransley.
“I’m sorry about him”, Ronald half-whispered. “I’m sorry that he wasn’t what he pretended to be.”
“It’s whatever...”, Lucas muttered but Ronald knew it wasn’t whatever. He had noticed how much Lucas cared about Ransley and it broke his heart to see his best friend looking so emotionally beaten up.
“What happened?” Ronald asked instead of arguing with Lucas. “How did you end up in the park with him? Why didn’t you answer my calls?”
Lucas proceed to tell the story to Ronald and Ronald listened quietly, not daring to interrupt Lucas because he was afraid that Lucas might not continue the story if he’d interrupt him.
After Lucas had told his story, Ronald was sitting on the hard ground and thinking how awful it was that Lucas had to witness that – witness Ronald turning right after he had seen his boyfriend turn into a monster that had attacked them back then.
“I’m sorry”, was all Ronald managed to get out.
“Stop saying that”, Lucas said. “It’s not your fault.”
Ronald knew that but he couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt.
Ramsey walked back in the cave and looked at Lucas and Ronald. They looked at the man and saw how tired he looked. He had dark circles around his eyes, his clothes were dirty and he was pale. His beard and moustache were a mess and he looked like he could easily sleep for the next twenty years.
“We should head back”, Ramsey said, his deep voice cutting sharply the silence in the cave.
“I’ve been wondering”, Lucas said, “that what are you, Ramsey? What is your story?”
“He’s a warlock”, Ronald said and stood up with much difficulty. He told a shortened version of everything he knew about Ramsey to Lucas and all that time Ramsey stood there, looking bored.
“300 years?” Lucas breathed out. “What about… werewolves? Do they age normally?”
Ronald raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t thought about it. They both turned to look at Ramsey who sighed and shook his head.
“No. Werewolves age slowly. Very slowly. Vampires have time to kill them before they have a chance to reach the natural death”, Ramsey said. “Warlocks and werewolves both age very slowly. Vampires are the only ones who don’t age at all.”
“Vampires?” Lucas whispered to Ronald.
“Not this far in the south”, Ronald whispered back.
“Can we leave now?” Ramsey asked. Ronald had a feeling that the warlock really wanted to, needed to, get some rest even though he wasn’t admitting it.
“Sure”, Ronald said and lifted the bag on his shoulder.
Ramsey walked close to Ronald and Lucas and placed his hands on their shoulders. Ronald felt the pulling feeling in his stomach and also a sharp pain in his ribs and then they were in Ronald’s bedroom.
“Are your parents at home?” Ramsey asked, sitting down on Ronald’s bed, looking pale and sweaty.
Ronald checked the time from the clock on the wall. It was ten in the morning. “No, they are at work.”
“Good”, Ramsey said.
“I think we are going to skip the school today”, Lucas said.
“I strongly agree”, Ronald said and looked at Ramsey. “You need to rest.”
“I’m fine.”
“You. Need. To. Rest”, Ronald repeated sternly. “I will take a shower and then we need to discuss what we are going to do next.”
Neither Ramsey nor Lucas argued which surprised Ronald, not that he let it show. He disappeared in the bathroom, stripped out of his clothes rather slowly and stepped in the shower. He spent a long time under the hot water before he walked out of the shower, put his clothes back on and searched for his phone but realised that he didn’t have it. It was probably in the park.
“Should we go to the park and search for my phone?” Ronald asked when he walked in the living room where both Lucas and Ronald were lying on the big couch.
“I already went there”, Ramsey said with closed eyes. “It’s in the bag.”
Ronald went back to his room, searched through the bag and finally found his phone. He had one missed call from his mother and a few texts from Farrah, asking if he was okay, where he was and that they needed to talk.
First Ronald texted Farrah, saying that he was fine, just a little bit sick and would stay home today and then he called his mother.
“Ronald!” his mother greeted.
“Hi, Mum”, Ronald said. “You tried calling me?”
“Yes, I just wanted to let you know that we will be coming late to home today. Your father is really busy at work and I have to stay overtime too.”
“Okay”, Ronald said. “See you later.”
“Go to bed early!”
“Yes, yes, bye.”
Ronald ended the call, put his phone in a charger and walked back into the living room. Lucas lifted his finger in front of his lips and then pointed at Ramsey.
The warlock had fallen asleep.
Ronald motioned Lucas to follow him and they walked in the kitchen.
“Good thing he sleeps”, Ronald said. “He seems pretty tired.”
“You should’ve seen him yesterday. It took a lot of power from him to teleport you in your other form, me and himself to another place and fight against you. He didn’t admit anything but it was clear, I could see it”, Lucas told.
Ronald nodded and sighed. “I feel bad for him.”
“I have to tell you something”, Lucas said. “Before you woke up, something happened.”
“What?”
“Ramsey went away for a moment and… and Ransley came to the cave.”
“What?!”
Lucas shushed Ronald and then told everything that had happened until the very moment before Ronald had woke up. Ronald stared at Lucas with furrowed eyebrows.
“Ramsey was right”, he said. “You shouldn’t believe anything Ransley tells you. He’s a fucking psycho, like the real kind.”
“But you don’t know him like I do”, Lucas muttered defensively. He didn’t even know why he was in a defensive mode but he was.
“No, I don’t”, Ronald agreed. “But Ramsey does and I believe him when he says that Ransley is a mess.”
Lucas didn’t say anything to that, instead he bit his lip and looked away.
“Lucas?” Ronald asked, wanting to make sure that Lucas had understood.
“Fine, fine”, Lucas said. “I’m just so tired. Is it okay if I go to sleep for a moment?”
“Sure, sure”, Ronald said immediately.
Lucas gave him a small smile and then he walked into the living room and lied down on the other end of the couch and soon fell asleep. Ronald looked at Ramsey and Lucas sleeping on the couch, then he took the armchair and sat on it. He curled up in a small ball and closed his eyes.
Ramsey was first to wake up. He tried to get up from the couch silently but he managed to woke up Lucas anyway and Lucas in turn woke up Ronald because he rolled around, fell from the couch and yelped, startling Ronald awake.
“How long did we sleep?” Ronald asked and looked around.
“I don’t have my phone”, Lucas said.
Ramsey took his phone out of his pocket and said, “We slept for four hours.”
Ronald and Lucas got up and followed Ramsey to the kitchen where he took a glass of water and drank it.
“So...”, Ronald said. “Lucas filled me in about Ransley appearing to the cave. What are we going to do with him?”
Ramsey turned to look at Ronald with raised eyebrows.
“What”, he asked, “do you mean by ‘we’?”
“You, me and Lucas. We”, Ronald said as if it was obvious.
“There’s no ‘we’”, Ramsey said and walked back to living room, Lucas and Ronald right behind him. “You’re not part of this war, you stay out of it.”
“He turned me!” Ronald yelled. “I am part of it, whether you want or not.”
“And he is my boyfrie–“, Lucas snapped his mouth shut and cleared his throat before continuing, “Ex-boyfriend and I’m already in this so.”
“You two don’t understand”, Ramsey hissed. “This war is between Ransley and me.”
“Well he made it also our war when he attacked us”, Ronald said while Lucas was nodding next to him.
Ramsey opened his mouth but closed it when they heard a doorbell ring. Ronald sighed and told them to wait in the living room. He walked to the door, pulled it open and saw Farrah standing there.
“We need to talk”, she said immediately.
“Now is not a good time”, Ronald said and attempted to close the door when he heard Farrah’s rushed voice again.
“I know you’re a werewolf!”
Ronald froze and then he pulled the door wide open and stared at Farrah.
“What did you say?” he asked.
“I know you’re a werewolf”, Farrah repeated. “Can I come in?”
Ronald stared at Farrah with his mouth hanging open and a scared look on his face. Farrah knew? How could she know?
“Ron, can I come in?”
“What the fuck?” Ronald breathed out because that was really all he could think about.
It started in the same way it had started before. Cold, hard ground, fresh air, naked body and shivers running down on his spine. He had a feeling that he had something on top of his body. Then his memory slowly came back.
He had been in the park when the transformation had started. He had told Lucas to run. Then he had turned. He could remember the pain he had been in. He could remember the anger and frustration he had been in. But he couldn’t really remember anything else. He had a feeling Ramsey had teleported them away from the park but he couldn’t remember it.
And his ribs were hurting, they ached in pain and Ronald had a feeling he had hurt himself while being a werewolf.
Ronald started coughing and opened his eyes. He saw Ramsey kneeling next to him and then his eyes focused on a face looming behind Ramsey’s back.
It was Lucas.
“Hi”, Ronald croaked out. His throat was dry and when he tried to sit up a piercing pain shot through his side. He felt Ramsey’s hands steadying him and helping him sit up.
“Careful”, Ramsey said almost kindly. “I had to hit you with my powers but don’t worry, your ribs aren’t broken, just badly bruised.”
“Good to know”, Ronald said through gritted teeth because bitch, it hurt. He looked down on his side and saw large purple bruises covering his right ribs. He saw Lucas’s jacket on the ground next to him; it had fallen when he had sat up.
“Thanks for the jacket”, Ronald said and looked at Lucas. “Are you okay?”
“You two can talk later”, Ramsey interrupted. “You need to get dressed and eat. You had a rough night. How much do you remember?”
“Not much”, Ronald said. “Nothing about being a werewolf.”
“Not even the pain when I hit you with my powers?” Ramsey asked.
“No.”
“Okay”, Ramsey said and stood up, walked a few meters and picked up a bag from the ground. He handed it to Ronald. “There’s food and clothes. Eat.”
Ronald nodded and Ramsey walked out of the cave, leaving Ronald and Lucas alone. It was silent in the cave while Ronald put on the clothes and took out a hamburger.
“There’s two of these”, Ronald said and looked at Lucas. “One for both of us.”
Lucas nodded and took the hamburger Ronald was offering. He wasn’t sure if he could get it down but it cost nothing to try.
They ate in silence and it certainly was not a comfortable silence. Something was in the air and they both knew they needed to talk before they could breathe freely again.
After eating Ronald felt much better, even though he was still hurting and his whole body was aching and sore.
“So you are a werewolf, huh?” Lucas said finally after he couldn’t stand the silence any longer.
“I’m sorry for not telling you”, Ronald said. “I tried, I really tried but the timing was always off.”
“It’s okay”, Lucas assured quietly. “I knew you had something you wanted to tell me but I was so occupied with…”
Lucas quieted down and looked at his shoes again.
That’s when Ronald remembered Ransley.
“I’m sorry about him”, Ronald half-whispered. “I’m sorry that he wasn’t what he pretended to be.”
“It’s whatever...”, Lucas muttered but Ronald knew it wasn’t whatever. He had noticed how much Lucas cared about Ransley and it broke his heart to see his best friend looking so emotionally beaten up.
“What happened?” Ronald asked instead of arguing with Lucas. “How did you end up in the park with him? Why didn’t you answer my calls?”
Lucas proceed to tell the story to Ronald and Ronald listened quietly, not daring to interrupt Lucas because he was afraid that Lucas might not continue the story if he’d interrupt him.
After Lucas had told his story, Ronald was sitting on the hard ground and thinking how awful it was that Lucas had to witness that – witness Ronald turning right after he had seen his boyfriend turn into a monster that had attacked them back then.
“I’m sorry”, was all Ronald managed to get out.
“Stop saying that”, Lucas said. “It’s not your fault.”
Ronald knew that but he couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt.
Ramsey walked back in the cave and looked at Lucas and Ronald. They looked at the man and saw how tired he looked. He had dark circles around his eyes, his clothes were dirty and he was pale. His beard and moustache were a mess and he looked like he could easily sleep for the next twenty years.
“We should head back”, Ramsey said, his deep voice cutting sharply the silence in the cave.
“I’ve been wondering”, Lucas said, “that what are you, Ramsey? What is your story?”
“He’s a warlock”, Ronald said and stood up with much difficulty. He told a shortened version of everything he knew about Ramsey to Lucas and all that time Ramsey stood there, looking bored.
“300 years?” Lucas breathed out. “What about… werewolves? Do they age normally?”
Ronald raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t thought about it. They both turned to look at Ramsey who sighed and shook his head.
“No. Werewolves age slowly. Very slowly. Vampires have time to kill them before they have a chance to reach the natural death”, Ramsey said. “Warlocks and werewolves both age very slowly. Vampires are the only ones who don’t age at all.”
“Vampires?” Lucas whispered to Ronald.
“Not this far in the south”, Ronald whispered back.
“Can we leave now?” Ramsey asked. Ronald had a feeling that the warlock really wanted to, needed to, get some rest even though he wasn’t admitting it.
“Sure”, Ronald said and lifted the bag on his shoulder.
Ramsey walked close to Ronald and Lucas and placed his hands on their shoulders. Ronald felt the pulling feeling in his stomach and also a sharp pain in his ribs and then they were in Ronald’s bedroom.
“Are your parents at home?” Ramsey asked, sitting down on Ronald’s bed, looking pale and sweaty.
Ronald checked the time from the clock on the wall. It was ten in the morning. “No, they are at work.”
“Good”, Ramsey said.
“I think we are going to skip the school today”, Lucas said.
“I strongly agree”, Ronald said and looked at Ramsey. “You need to rest.”
“I’m fine.”
“You. Need. To. Rest”, Ronald repeated sternly. “I will take a shower and then we need to discuss what we are going to do next.”
Neither Ramsey nor Lucas argued which surprised Ronald, not that he let it show. He disappeared in the bathroom, stripped out of his clothes rather slowly and stepped in the shower. He spent a long time under the hot water before he walked out of the shower, put his clothes back on and searched for his phone but realised that he didn’t have it. It was probably in the park.
“Should we go to the park and search for my phone?” Ronald asked when he walked in the living room where both Lucas and Ronald were lying on the big couch.
“I already went there”, Ramsey said with closed eyes. “It’s in the bag.”
Ronald went back to his room, searched through the bag and finally found his phone. He had one missed call from his mother and a few texts from Farrah, asking if he was okay, where he was and that they needed to talk.
First Ronald texted Farrah, saying that he was fine, just a little bit sick and would stay home today and then he called his mother.
“Ronald!” his mother greeted.
“Hi, Mum”, Ronald said. “You tried calling me?”
“Yes, I just wanted to let you know that we will be coming late to home today. Your father is really busy at work and I have to stay overtime too.”
“Okay”, Ronald said. “See you later.”
“Go to bed early!”
“Yes, yes, bye.”
Ronald ended the call, put his phone in a charger and walked back into the living room. Lucas lifted his finger in front of his lips and then pointed at Ramsey.
The warlock had fallen asleep.
Ronald motioned Lucas to follow him and they walked in the kitchen.
“Good thing he sleeps”, Ronald said. “He seems pretty tired.”
“You should’ve seen him yesterday. It took a lot of power from him to teleport you in your other form, me and himself to another place and fight against you. He didn’t admit anything but it was clear, I could see it”, Lucas told.
Ronald nodded and sighed. “I feel bad for him.”
“I have to tell you something”, Lucas said. “Before you woke up, something happened.”
“What?”
“Ramsey went away for a moment and… and Ransley came to the cave.”
“What?!”
Lucas shushed Ronald and then told everything that had happened until the very moment before Ronald had woke up. Ronald stared at Lucas with furrowed eyebrows.
“Ramsey was right”, he said. “You shouldn’t believe anything Ransley tells you. He’s a fucking psycho, like the real kind.”
“But you don’t know him like I do”, Lucas muttered defensively. He didn’t even know why he was in a defensive mode but he was.
“No, I don’t”, Ronald agreed. “But Ramsey does and I believe him when he says that Ransley is a mess.”
Lucas didn’t say anything to that, instead he bit his lip and looked away.
“Lucas?” Ronald asked, wanting to make sure that Lucas had understood.
“Fine, fine”, Lucas said. “I’m just so tired. Is it okay if I go to sleep for a moment?”
“Sure, sure”, Ronald said immediately.
Lucas gave him a small smile and then he walked into the living room and lied down on the other end of the couch and soon fell asleep. Ronald looked at Ramsey and Lucas sleeping on the couch, then he took the armchair and sat on it. He curled up in a small ball and closed his eyes.
Ramsey was first to wake up. He tried to get up from the couch silently but he managed to woke up Lucas anyway and Lucas in turn woke up Ronald because he rolled around, fell from the couch and yelped, startling Ronald awake.
“How long did we sleep?” Ronald asked and looked around.
“I don’t have my phone”, Lucas said.
Ramsey took his phone out of his pocket and said, “We slept for four hours.”
Ronald and Lucas got up and followed Ramsey to the kitchen where he took a glass of water and drank it.
“So...”, Ronald said. “Lucas filled me in about Ransley appearing to the cave. What are we going to do with him?”
Ramsey turned to look at Ronald with raised eyebrows.
“What”, he asked, “do you mean by ‘we’?”
“You, me and Lucas. We”, Ronald said as if it was obvious.
“There’s no ‘we’”, Ramsey said and walked back to living room, Lucas and Ronald right behind him. “You’re not part of this war, you stay out of it.”
“He turned me!” Ronald yelled. “I am part of it, whether you want or not.”
“And he is my boyfrie–“, Lucas snapped his mouth shut and cleared his throat before continuing, “Ex-boyfriend and I’m already in this so.”
“You two don’t understand”, Ramsey hissed. “This war is between Ransley and me.”
“Well he made it also our war when he attacked us”, Ronald said while Lucas was nodding next to him.
Ramsey opened his mouth but closed it when they heard a doorbell ring. Ronald sighed and told them to wait in the living room. He walked to the door, pulled it open and saw Farrah standing there.
“We need to talk”, she said immediately.
“Now is not a good time”, Ronald said and attempted to close the door when he heard Farrah’s rushed voice again.
“I know you’re a werewolf!”
Ronald froze and then he pulled the door wide open and stared at Farrah.
“What did you say?” he asked.
“I know you’re a werewolf”, Farrah repeated. “Can I come in?”
Ronald stared at Farrah with his mouth hanging open and a scared look on his face. Farrah knew? How could she know?
“Ron, can I come in?”
“What the fuck?” Ronald breathed out because that was really all he could think about.