©Nora Quick 2014
Author's Note:
This is an entry in the 2014 Halloween contest. Please vote, and your comments are welcome. This story contains M/F non-human sex, non-consensual sex, & consensual sex and is erotic horror. Enjoy!
Blood On The Moon
"Of course tonight it is advised that no one venture out past five-thirty p.m.," the talking head on the evening news said. "Halloween Trick or Treating has been cancelled for all of the Twin Cities tonight and a strict curfew is in effect for anyone under the age of eighteen. The University has cancelled all evening classes and after school programs at local area schools have been canceled. In these trying times, we must all stay in and stay safe.
"Here's Yoko Santoro now with police spokeswoman Diana Mueller with more."
Jilly turned off the TV and resumed vacuuming. Werewolves. Werewolves were creatures in movies and books, but somehow they had spilled over into reality. Sometimes they were sexy, like Lucian in
Underworld
, or laughable like anything in
Twilight
, but often scary in their appearances everywhere else. And they were real.
She could gleefully kill whoever blabbed to the media. David was out there, part of the small taskforce tracking the killings that had happened over the last eight full moons. It had been kept quiet for six of them, and now the MPD was having to deal with panicked public as the full moon hit on Halloween night.
Fifty-nine days ago someone had leaked from the task force. Rumors of wild animal killings had been circling, hard to keep those out, but the Department of Wildlife had sent men, the FBI had given lab time, and they eyewitnesses rounded up by cops like David had given the impossible theory light: the Twin Cities were plagued by werewolves. As long as the public thought it was wild animals they had been cautious but calm, but now madness ruled.
The public was in a panic. Newscasters brought in werewolf "experts" who were nuts, one in all. Psychics previously discredited by James Randi, mediums that were known frauds and media whores, even men who had written encyclopedias of werewolf mythology for movie buffs. They had everyone whipped into a frenzy. Not only was there a full moon on Halloween, in the early morning hours there would be a total lunar eclipse. The fraudsters claimed this was significant, holy to the werewolves.
Holy. Jilly laughed, an empty sound as she vacuumed, trying to work the knots of worry out her system. Like any god cop wife she knew the worst worry for police was a panicking public.
Now they were working around the clock, but no one was equipped to deal with monsters being real. Werewolves were people. For twenty-eight and a half days they were humans, and that one night of the full moon they were demons with claws. People had been shot on the street for getting too angry, families had been run out of town because their eyes appeared yellow in some photograph. And David hadn't come home the night before, dealing with near-riots in Dinkytown where students who wanted to party away their worries clashed with religious fanatics who blamed them for the werewolves.
She had longed for him all night long, wanting to hold him, to be held, to make sweet love and forget the brutal ugliness that now gripped the Twin Cities. She'd been a wreck at work and expected him to be home waiting for her, but his partner had left a message he'd be home for dinner, then back out into the thick of danger.
When she thought of the coming night Jilly almost sobbed. Once she had seen a photo of a victim. David had just brought home a file, fell asleep on the couch, and she had looked. He'd woken up as she was vomiting, and he was gallant enough not to say "I told you so," but he never brought his work home again.
The kids at work had been restless. She taught fourth grade and the school had let out an hour early for the full moon, parents scared shitless. She finished vacuuming and hoped they would all be there the next day at their desks. If they all could just make it through the night, everything would be okay. It had to be.
No kids yet, mostly single men or women, some couples in their homes. In the past few months there had been two or three murder scenes in one night. First a single wolf, now a pack.
She put the vacuum away and lit a cigarette, smoothing her dyed blonde hair back. She and David wanted kids but until the madness passed it was on hold, and she'd gone back to the filthy habit out of terror. Without her cigarettes and nightly glass of wine, she would go mad.
They had bars on the basement windows, triple panes on the first floor, the upstairs windows were nailed shut, they had the security system on all day long, and David had his guns. They'd talked about getting a dog but hadn't had a chance yet, and she was scared.
The streets were empty. It was unreal. Shivering she moved the ashtray and stared out the window until a lone car came as dusk spread. The Toyota pulled into their driveway and she hopped up and unlocked the door.
David looked rumpled and pale, his dark hair messy despite its nearly brutal shortness, but as usual he was a wonderful sight. Only a year into their marriage the blush had not worn off, and he still filled out a uniform better than any other man she had ever seen.
"You're home."
"Glad you are. I lost my house key chasing a suspect last night."
"Suspect?"
He stopped on the stoop. "Lost him. Are you going to let me in?"
"You can come in for a kiss."
Smiling he leaned in and kissed her deeply. Without breaking contact she backed up and he kicked the door closed behind him. It was unusually passionate despite being newlyweds, still she welcomed it, beyond relieved he was home and in one piece.
Reluctantly she pulled back, toes curled, nipples aching. She ran her hands over David, making sure he was real. "Why didn't you call last night?"
"We were swamped, honey. This new group is claiming it's a hoax, and since tonight is Halloween they were planning to prove it by staging a sit-in over in Nicollet Mall. Try being a cop caught between keeping fools safe and respecting their civil rights."
"I don't envy you. Come on, let's figure out dinner."
She led him by the hand to the kitchen. Every night he liked to take his gun belt off and hang it by the doorway to the hall and she watched him do it, the movements more sensual than she was used to.
David was tall and well built, filling out his navy uniform like a fantasy. His dark hair needed a cut to get back to the buzz he normally sported, and his handsome face was serious. His jagged nose, never healed from a break, had always made his smile just as crooked and gave him a friendly appearance, but now his smile seemed rakish and made deep things low in her body turn over.
His movements were slow, and watching him undo the belt made her think of him stripping that uniform off in a private show for her. Suddenly Jilly was hungry for more than dinner.
"Spaghetti okay?"
"No!"
She jumped, blinking. He'd never objected before. "Honey, you okay?"
"Not hungry... for food."
He set his gun belt down on the table and drew her close. "I'd rather eat you."
Blushing she pulled back. "Not a good thing to say with werewolves on the loose."
His lips brushed her neck as he nuzzled her close. "I don't eat the way werewolves do."
Her limbs melted slightly, languor spreading from within. Still, she fought it. "I don't know, David. I've been so worried. I need a little time to relax. I thought we could have dinner, cuddle on the couch with a movie, then... you know, before you have to go back at nine."
"The security system is on, the windows are protected, the doors are locked, and my gun has silver bullets. We're fine."
