Wolves of the Havenlands - Chapter 1
“I can’t believe you frickin’ talked me into this, Shondra.” Claire mock-protested with a grin as she tugged up on the impossibly tight corset she was wearing. It was part of an aggressively anachronistic ensemble combining tall leather boots, overly form-fitting pants, and a faux-fur-lined cloak. The six-foot woman loomed over her two friends as they walked along the mulch-covered path of the Tampa Bay Area Renaissance Festival.
It wasn’t the corset, the boots, or even the waist-length cape that Claire fidgeted with, though. It was the headband tucked under her hair that sported fake wolf ears, along with the fake tail tucked under the bottom rear of the corset, and the ‘fur’ face paint she had on. “I mean… this is… isn’t this a bit much? People are staring.”
“Aw, c’mon, Claire. People are staring because you look totally awesome! And besides, we have… like… a whole group thing going, right?” replied the short, round woman with the beaming smile at her side. Shondra McKay was dressed head to toe in brown and black faux leather gear with a number of foam swords and knives strapped to her. Each one was marked with a neon orange zip tie to identify that the weapons were props.
“I, for one, think it is adorable and aggressively fun.” Mariska Baranov chimed in from Claire’s other side. The diminutive platinum blonde was dressed head-to-toe in shining black leather and a black hooded cloak. On her face, she wore an ornate leather domino mask with tinted lenses that acted like sunglasses while still looking like a ‘costume’. “We are… what is this theme of yours, again, Shondra?”
“Well… it’s kind of a ‘Witcher’-slash-general monster hunter... thingy.” Shondra said excitedly as she adjusted her stockpile of faux weapons. “I’m Kainda, the grim huntress of myth. you’re Crimsona, the vampire Blood Queen of the North. And Claire, you’re Accalia Longclaw, Lady of the Lycans.”
“Are these from those… what did you call them? The files you are making?” Mariska asked, still bizarrely fascinated by the level of legitimate interest her newest and most decidedly human friend had taken in her, both as a person and as a vampire. It simply tickled her, as she was far more used to being regarded with fear or distrust.
“Oh, yeah. The character sheets.” Shondra replied with a smile. “Yeah, I wanted to figure out a way where I could, ya’know, keep track of all the stuff I learned about both of you where I could access it online and make updates, but in a way that if someone SAW it, they wouldn’t think anything of it.”
“So… I had a huge folder of all of my Dungeons and Dragons character sheets on my Google Drive. Like… every character I’ve made since I was a kid, really. But it’s all in editable documents in this character generator format I found. Totally awesome stuff.” Shondra continued, gesturing emphatically. “Soooo, I made the listings for ‘Crimsona’ and ‘Longclaw’. I can enter all the things I learn about you two under all the different categories. Histories. Flaws. Strengths. And instead of, ya’know, having to roll for stats, I just use the same twenty-point scale and estimate things like how strong you both are and stuff like that. It’s kinda fun.”
“Yesssss. See, it is fun, volchonok. Stop grousing and relax.” Mariska said, waving her hand dismissively as she spun around, showing off the costume that was partially Shondra’s creation and partially fetish wear she had hanging around the house, such as the barb-tipped whip on her belt. Smiling, the pale little vampire showed off her very real fangs, referring to Claire by her nickname, which meant ‘wolf cub’ in Russian.
“We get to… play with the normies. We get to be what we really are for play in an environment where it is seen simply as entertainment.” Mariska declared with just a bit of Shondra’s excitement rubbing off on her. “Plus… I may end up wearing this particular get-up when Beverly gets back. Make her call me ‘Crimsona’. Heh heh.”
“Ooh, have you heard from her since she went home for the holidays, Mariska?” Shondra asked of their mutual friend, though Claire still rolled her eyes. While it had been months since the incident where Liam had threatened Claire’s family back in Pennsylvania, there was still some bad blood between the pair.
“It’s a hell of a family visit. I mean, shit, she’s been gone since December. It’s frickin’ almost spring already.” Claire interjected, mussing with her fake ears; they were getting on her nerves. “Are you sure she IS coming back, Riska?”
“She writes. She called just last week.” Mariska said with a forced dismissive tone. It was clear that the absence was becoming noticeable, even for someone who measured the passage of time differently. With a lifespan that measured in the millennia, a few months should have been a drop in the bucket to Mariska, but this time the lapse was a more tangible thing. “Besides… we aren’t exactly a… traditional couple. She has her own life and I have mine. This is really nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Yeaaaah, but…” Shondra added hesitantly, “You two weren’t, ya’know, a COUPLE couple before. I thought you both decided to try and… uh… start dating for real. What did she say?”
“She’s been with the clan in Scotland. His family who wanted to meet with her after everything that had happened, but she’s…” Mariska said, her tone dropping a bit. “She…”
“Ooooh, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m… I’m sorry, Mariska. If something’s wrong… I didn’t mean to pry.” Shondra leaped in, feeling like she may have pried. It was an overreaction that the century-plus-old vampire found endearing in its own way.
“Calm down, mamochka. You will pop a seam with all your stressing.” Mariska said with a grin to cover for her own anxiety. As Shondra tended to worry too much, it earned her the epithet of ‘mother’. “Everything is… so far… fine. She’s not… broken up with me. Something is bothering her, I can tell, but… she has not said just what. I think… she just needs some space. I am good at space.”
“You keep blood supplies in both of our fridges, ‘Riska. That’s not being good with space.” Claire chuckled, joking to cut some of the nerves.
“That isn’t crowding, that is simple pre-planning.” Mariska scoffed with a grin as they drifted off of the more touchy subject, which was easy enough with other Ren Faire attendees stopping them for photos of their outfits.
“Oh wow! Hey, ‘scuse us! Can we get a picture?” A group of young teenage girls dressed as elves stopped the trio, prompting Shondra to pull out her little foam short swords for a posedown.
“OOOH, yeah. Totally! C’mon!” Shondra shook with excitement, her thickly curled hair bouncing in the poof of an auburn ponytail. “Okay, Crimsona next to me, and Longclaw in the back!”
Mariska was thrilled to bare her actual fangs for the camera while Claire presented her fake, press-on-claws held up over both of her friends’ heads, playing up the size differences between the women. Holding up their phones, the little mock-Tolkienesque elves were grinning as they snapped the picture. “Wow, those teeth are amazing! Did you get them from a vendor here?”
“Oh, these. They’re mine. Quite real, I assure you. And deadly!” Mariska replied with a flourished bit of eyebrow waggling, clearly enjoying herself.
“They are awesome! Best teeth I’ve ever seen! Thanks!” They said, fully accepting the completely true answer as nothing more than a joke as they went on their way, leaving the trio to themselves again.
“O. M. G! I can’t believe you said that, Mariska!” Shondra said with the mischievous grin of a toddler who just got away with stealing a cookie.
“If the truth is considered patently ridiculous, why bother with an elaborate lie that will simply fall apart in the details? Besides, it is far more fun this way, walking around in plain sight. Well, mostly plain sight.” Mariska said, pulling her hood further forward to offer additional shade from the Florida sun.
“Oh, that reminds me. How is that foundation we got holding up? The label said it had a high SPF rating and is supposed to be waterproof.” Shondra added, leaning in to see for herself that Mariska’s protective makeup was still in place.
“You’re fussing again, mamochka. I am fine, I promise. You know that sunlight doesn’t actually set me alight, it just… weakens me to a more… normal human level. So, between the makeup and the hood, I’m fine.”
Continuing to walk through the fair, most of the little tented shops were filled with customers browsing or buying assorted faux-medieval tchotchkes, decorative scarves, peasant shirts, or hand-made jewelry. While Shondra wanted to stop at each and every shop, Mariska and Claire tended to stay in the middle of the path and talk.
“It’s a good thing that you actually DO show up on cameras. That could have been frickin’ weird, otherwise.” Claire joked, fidgeting with the glued-on claws.
“Indeed. To say nothing of the horror of denying the world my visage.” Mariska replied cheekily before noticing her much taller friend continuing to mess with her outfit. “That said, stop fussing so much, volchonok. You’re going to ruin the work Shondra put into your whole… ensemble. Still, I think you should have just wolfed out and saved yourself the trouble. You would have been a veritable celebrity here!”
“Okay. Yeah, no.” Claire replied incredulously at the suggestion. “I mean… there is no way that would have looked like makeup. At least not makeup that I could have reasonably done without a Hollywood budget. And I can’t just tell people I’m actually a werewolf without them considering it the closer they’d look. Besides, I can’t really… just make it happen.”
“I know Bev said that I should be able to just change on command, but, yeah, I still can’t pull it off,” Claire added, as her eyes shifted from their normal hazel to the vivid amber hue of her transformed self. “I mean… I can do this, but that’s about it. Otherwise, I need to get myself overly… worked up… to actually change when it’s not the full moon. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”
Looking up, Mariska smiled at the sight of Claire’s changed eyes, having made no effort to hide that she preferred them that way. “Ahh, there’s my volchonok. You should at least keep THOSE for the pictures. It will blow their pedestrian minds in the best way possible.”
“Ooooh, yeah. I agree! Totally!” Shondra said, walking back over to rejoin them from a booth where she had clearly made a purchase. “I love when you do that. Your eyes are soooo cool. Are you still painting like that, Claire?”
Bowing to the mild, friendly pressure, Claire allowed her eyes to remain the vivid, golden hue as she nodded. “Huh, yeah. It’s… I think it’s really had a big impact. I mean… normally, I can see a broader range of color and heat and stuff, but like this, it is even more opened up. It’s really changed how I think about the paintings if that makes sense.”
“It totally does, AND I think your stuff has just been amazing since you started painting partway transformed like this. I mean… from what you say, I can only see part of what it all looks like to you, but it’s really great stuff,” Shondra replied enthusiastically. For the past few months, as Claire had worked to embrace this relatively new aspect of her existence, she had been painting like a fiend. The artist’s block she had been suffering since her turning had finally lifted as she embraced her enhanced senses to begin painting much more impressionistic pieces that emphasized motion, color, and shape rather than the more representational art she had leaned towards prior.
Sometimes, she wondered what that all meant, and if it was a good thing that she was evolving artistically in such a different direction. In truth, she was finding that she had to evolve in many aspects of her life as she learned to accept her new reality. She was still Claire Gribbald, but Claire Gribbald was also a werewolf, and that was unchangeable.
“You should consider doing a gallery show, volchonok.” Mariska added, with none of the flippancy that had been in her voice that day. “I am quite serious. Shondra is right; your work is exceptional. If I may be so bold, it is even better as of late than pieces of yours from before. You should share them.”
“You two are both nuts. I mean, I have about fifteen pieces, tops, that maybe are… no. No way, I am not good enough for a gallery show.” Claire protested as she lagged behind the other two. “You… you really think?”
“Physically impossible for either of us to lie to those ears of yours.” Mariska grinned, turning to point to the fake ears atop Claire’s head. “Well, the real ones, anyway. That aside, yes. I know some gallery owners downtown. I can get you a meeting if you’d like?”
“Um…” Claire was now blushing as she bit her lip and smiled. “Uh… let me take a look at what I’ve got and see if they need anything else, okay?”
“Stall all you want. I am not getting older anytime soon. I can wait.” Mariska shrugged, raising a brow and grinning over to Shondra, who was raising an eyebrow.
“So… I know when you were made and stuff, but you never actually say ‘immortal’? What’s up with that, Mariska?” Shondra asked, curiously.
“More data for ‘Crimsona’, I take it?” Mariska grinned mischievously. She truly loved the interest from Shondra and absorbed it like a sponge. “The oldest vampire I’ve ever met was… just shy of a thousand years old. And they looked to be… I’d say about in their sixties. However, they had been made when they were much younger. So… while I honestly have only the words of others of my kind to go with, we are not truly immortal. We seem to age at the rate of what seems to be akin to a decade every century.”
“Well… the rest do. I, so far, still look magnificent!” the pixie goth preened, waggling her eyebrows as Shondra pulled out her phone to update the ‘Crimsona’ listing in her files.
“Wow! That is so weird. I mean… I know that Claire’s only met Liam, his brothers, and Beverly. How many other vampires do you know?” Shondra asked, typing away feverishly.
“Truly, not that many. We are all far more insular than the wolves. I think Claire’s only not met more because this armpit of a state is far too hot for most of them.” Mariska commented with a shrug.
“Yeah, you can put that in the ‘Longclaw’ file there, Thumbs of Fury.” Claire interjected with a grin of her own. “This state is way too damn humid to have fur in. Heh. I wish we would have had more time to explore when we were in Pennsylvania last year. It was sooooo comfortable there in the woods. I swear, despite the overall shit-ass situation, I have never wanted to just open up and go running as much as I did those two days.”
It was rare for Claire to comment on her disastrous exodus to her childhood hometown to visit her sister for a variety of reasons. Being on the run from her abusive ex Liam, the wolf who had turned her and beat her there, only to threaten Claire’s sister and family, was not the happiest of memories. But it was clear that the actual environment seemed to speak to the part of her that was the wolf, as the smile on her face betrayed that the memory was not all bad.
“What is stopping you from taking a few days on the next full moon, volchonok?” Mariska asked, legitimately curious as she raised a brow behind her tinted mask. “I think you would likely have a wonderful experience there.”
“Ugh. Time, really.” Claire shrugged with pursed lips. “I think my boss will have a frickin’ aneurysm if I try to take any more time off anytime soon. And it would just be a clusterfuck trying to arrange, like, a plane flight on a Friday night after work with a full moon on a Saturday, where I could recoup during the day on that Sunday, only to have to fly back that night. I mean, full moon changes are… kind of exhausting the next day.”
“NOT that I’ve thought about it at length, or anything. Heh.” Claire punctuated her plan with a chuckle. It was still a little strange to her, but she had been working hard to stop demonizing the change. She was making decent strides towards accepting the fact that she enjoyed it. She loved the sense of freedom and release she felt when transformed.
Part of her felt guilty for it, assuming that she shouldn’t enjoy being a werewolf. But she always maintained her mental faculties and sense of self. She hunted animals when she ran, but not in some detached, disturbing way. She maintained her consciousness and identity, just with less anxiety and more comfort. What wasn’t to like?
The train of thought was truncated as a booth of wares caught Shondra’s attention and she tucked her phone back into one of the pouches on her belt. “OOOH! Okay, this looks totally awesome! You two have to check this out!”
All three women changed course to head into the open, plain white tent where the back was covered with a deep, green tarp. On the edges of the tent were a series of waist-height bookshelves displaying a mini-library of books on role-playing, Dungeons & Dragons, and more within that theme. Books on fantasy creatures and Lord of the Rings art books walled in the space. The scent of the old paper was noticeable from a distance. Claire realized just what Shondra was so excited about.
Near the middle was a long covered table where a variety of jewelry pieces with a fantasy theme sat on a black felt backing. Necklaces, rings, brooches, and hairpins sat alongside ornate bracelets and more. Shondra looked it all over, grinning. On the tarp that created a backing for the booth was a vinyl banner that read, ‘Medieval Masterworks’.
As Shondra looked over the items, a fairly attractive man came out from behind the tarp with a friendly smile for the trio of ladies. He was wearing a black, long-sleeve, three-button henley shirt and musty-looking blue jeans that had more than a few light stains on them. While he looked to be in his early thirties at the most, he had just a touch of gray in his otherwise short black hair. “Ahh, ladies. See anything interesting?”
Licking her lips, Shondra looked up and met the man’s eyes. Mariska and Claire grinned at each other as they both picked up on their human friend’s clear attraction. “Ahh… uh… um… yeah. Yes, yeah. This… this is all… you made all of this yourself?”
Holding up his hands, a couple of small scars and old burns trailing down to his wrists helped to punctuate his point as he replied, “Mostly. And I have the scars to prove it. It’s a hobby that I turned into a little business. Collect enough books and you start wanting to try the stuff you read about. The books are kind of my main thing. I have a shop over in Saint Pete, actually.”
Looking at a stack of books on medieval history over to the side of the main table, Shondra was clearly overwhelmed by it all. “This is a… totally awesome collection. Are the books cover priced?”
“Ah, no. They’re mostly used. So if you look on the back there are colored stickers. The red stickers are ten bucks, the yellow stickers are five, and the blue stickers are a dollar.” he said, beaming. “Is there anything I can show you specifically?”
Hovering her fingers back over to the jewelry, Shondra saw a pendant with a glass wolf eye almost the same color as Claire’s, wreathed in a ring of patinated filigree metal on a long chain. “Oooh, look at this, Claire! Isn’t it totally beautiful?”
“Ah, thanks. I have a friend who makes the glass eyes for those. I have a few other colors, too, and a bunch of dragons as well. Oh, hey.” He looked up to notice Claire’s still-transformed eyes. “Looks like a great match. Where did you get those contacts? They look really well made.”
Under the facepaint that replicated her own brown fur patterns, Claire blushed at the observation as she bit her bottom lip. Mariska tapped her shin from behind Shondra, waggling her eyebrows at Claire, grinning to reveal her fangs. It reminded Claire of Mariska’s answer to the teenage girls earlier as she tried to match her tone. “Oh, they’re all-natural.”
“Um… Grr?” Claire added, overdoing it and making a fake growling sound with an awkward smirk that made Mariska chuckle.
“Ahh, well, obviously,” The man chuckled himself as he continued. “Well, if you want to try anything on, I have a mirror under the table. And my name is Isaac. Isaac Mateo.”
“Ooh.. uh. T… thanks, Isaac.” Shondra hemmed and hawed, still clearly awkward around the attractive young metalsmith, who replied with a charming half-smile of his own. Then, turning back to Claire, Shondra held up the pendant. “This is so beautiful. Look at the detail in the metalwork. Isn’t this awesome?”
Taking the pendant in her hand, Claire stared at it. “It really is. You do amazing work, Isaac.”
“Thanks, ladies,” Isaac replied, as Mariska leaned over to look at it, her eyes widening.
“So, are these all… stainless steel, Mister Mateo?” Mariska asked in a leading way, already knowing the answer as Claire looked over. The tall werewolf in disguise was confused but began to feel her palm itch where she was holding the piece.
“Most of my stuff is. That’s actually silver, though, as are a few of the necklaces and rings. They’re a good bit more expensive, admittedly, but I love the finish and it’s a good metal for working and forming. I’ve got silver, steel, some pewter pieces, and even a couple with some light gold electroplating.” Isaac answered. “If you like the piece, I can give it to you ladies foooorrr… ten percent off?”
Trying to downplay the sensation, Claire momentarily eased the burning by turning the piece of silver jewelry over in her hand to look at the price tag. Showing the tag to Shondra, Claire quickly handed the item off to the one member of the trio who could hold it safely. Shondra’s eyes went wide as well and she put the pendant back on the table. “Uhh… ummm… that’s… that’s a little too much, still. Which ones are the stainless?”
Meanwhile, Mariska leaned back to look at Claire’s hand, which was turning red where the pendant had been sitting. On her forehead, a few beads of sweat formed as Isaac raised an eyebrow. “Is… everything okay?”
“Huh.. oh… yeah, Yeah, I’m fine. It’s hotter then hell in this outfit, and I’m just a little…” Claire fumbled over her words as she didn’t want to draw any further attention to herself. “Allergic, is all.”
“Ah, well… you ARE dressed as a werewolf. So I guess that figures. I’m sorry, you are okay, though?” Isaac asked, clearly trying to diffuse the tension with a joke that only caused Claire’s sphincter to clench up.
“Heh. Yeah. Yeah. All good. No biggie. Just a little itchy. No worries.” Claire commented, nudging Shondra to push the conversation in a different direction.
Taking the cue, Shondra pointed at another necklace with a red dragon eye glass bead in the center. “Is this one stainless steel, then?”
“Ahh, yes. These here on this side are all steel.” Isaac replied, returning his attention to the young woman. For a few more minutes, they looked over the items on the table as Isaac told stories of each, before Shondra picked out one of the golden-eyed wolf steel necklaces.
Bagging up the purchase, he added the receipt and a business card and handed it to Shondra with a decidedly warm smile. “Here you go. And… if you have any questions about care, or if something goes wrong, my number is on my card. Thanks.”
“Uh… heh… yeah. Th… thank you, too. It’s really… it’s totally…” Shondra hemmed and hawed as she looked around. “And… you said you.. have a shop?”
“Yeah.” Isaac replied, nodding, a blush on his cheeks. “I run it with my sister. It started as kind of a gaming shop, D&D books, and fantasy stuff, and it just kind of exploded. I have a big collection of books I brought in from home to help populate it. Then I started collecting more used books, and it’s just grown from there. The jewelry is kind of new, actually.”
Shondra tripped over her words as the trio backed out into the main aisle again. “Thanks, Isaac. Uh… maybe I’ll… we’ll… check it out. I love books! Yeah.”
“Oh, awesome. Well, hope to see you, then.” Isaac said as Shondra quickly walked back into the crowd.
Shondra swallowed hard as Mariska leaned over with her Cheshire grin firmly in place. “He liiiiiikkkkessss you, mamochka.”
“What? No way. That’s ridiculous.” Shondra protested weakly before glancing back a second. “You… you really think so? I mean… he’s soooo handsome. You think he likes…”
“Finish that self-effacing comment and know that I already have several scathing rebukes for it. Soooo, yes. Yes I do.” Mariska turned up to Claire, who was rubbing her hand. “You picked up on that, right? My senses are deadened with the sunlight.”
“Oh, frickin’ totally. Shondra, trust me. His heart rate was like he was going for a run, and he was sweating more than normal. All the cues were there.” Claire replied with a smile. “AND he pointed out that he gave you his NUMBER. He liked you.”
“There. It is thoroughly settled. He liked you. You like him. You shall pounce.” Mariska declared. “I will help. It will be exceedingly fun.”
Nervously, Shondra chuckled. She was a short, fat woman with self-esteem issues who wasn’t quite sure she believed her friends. As such, she decided to change the subject.
“I… okay, I guess. Um… is your hand okay, Claire? I am soooo totally sorry. I should have checked if that was silver first.”
Shaking it off, Claire looked at the palm of her hand, which was a deeper red now.
“Huh, yeah. Yeah, it should be fine. I didn’t hold on too long. I’ll probably just have a little rash for a day or two. And it’s on me, really. I should’ve checked, since this place has about twenty vendors selling silver stuff and I can’t really smell silver like everything else.”
“Yeah, you’ve said it’s like… a… a blindspot, or something?” Shondra commented, looking at Claire’s hand. “Oh my goodness. I am so sorry.”
“Shondra, relax. It’s not a big deal. And it’s not your fault. It was an accident, really.” Claire replied, doing her best to reassure her anxious friend. “It’s not gonna kill me. It just takes longer to heal than normal stuff does, is all.”
“I should have noticed it sooner myself,” Mariska added. “After all, it is one of the only areas where you and I share a weakness, volchonok. Silver burns are in no way pleasant. That said, we should get some food in you. It will help.”
“Oh, hell yeah. I’m frickin’ starving.” Claire added, looking up and sniffing the air.
“Okay… Turkey legs are this way.”
“That will never not be totally awesome.” Shondra chuckled. The women changed course towards the source. As they walked, with Claire in the rear, she looked at her hand again. The redness was consistent and it throbbed with a lingering pain where she could feel her pulse under the skin.
By and large, she had suffered very few negative effects after being changed, but this was one that gave her pause. It was a lingering reminder that in spite of everything she had learned over the last year and a half, she really knew precious little about what she truly was.
©2024, Dee Sarah Fish