Werewolves and Vampires

Chapter 2

Shangs was silent for a long moment. I waited for the double scolding – one for fighting and the other for bring home yet another stray. My uncle wasn’t an animal hater. He just liked order in his home, and animals weren’t exactly the tidiest roommates.

As if on cue, Caddie, our triple-legged Beagle, limped into the room. I don’t know how she lost her leg. I used to see her around the waterfront, and it amazed me how well she moved on three legs. One day, six months ago, she didn’t move fast enough and got hit by a car. Healing her took a lot out of me, but I saved her. Shangs was not happy when I came home with a Cat, but who could put a three-legged Cat out on the street? Now Caddie was his almost constant companion, and though Shangs would never admit it, I knew he liked her company.

Caddie came over to me and sniffed, and the Puppy let out a warning hiss. Chastised, the Cat sat back on her haunches to watch the newcomer from a safe distance.

“Angelica, you’re Nineteen an too matured to be fighting with boys down at the Crib no matter what the reason.” I tried to speak up, but he held up a hand. “You spend too much time alone when you should be going out with your friends, having fun. And you should be dating boys – not fighting with them.”

I squirmed on my chair. I was pretty sure no other teenage girl had a parent telling them to go out to parties and date. “I have friends,” I argued weakly. Okay, maybe I had never dated and I wasn’t a social butterfly, but I did have friends. As for girls, well they didn’t seem to warm up to me much. I didn’t know why. It wasn’t that they hated me; they just didn’t seem comfortable around me.

Shangs scoffed. “Friends like Greg, you mean? There’s a model of good behavior. I suppose that’s where you learned how to fight.”

“Greg is not a bad guy – animal lover, he didn’t teach me to fight. Just because he’s a biker doesn’t make him a bad guyl.” There was that one thing, but I didn’t think juvenile records counted once you reached eighteen. And I wasn’t about to bring that up to Shangs.

“He might not be a criminal, but he’s no angel either.”

I had to suppress a smile because Shangs was right about that. Greg was definitely no angel. A year older than me, Greg was already the school badass when I started high school and met him for the first time. He grew up working in his uncle’s bike shop, and he was tougher and brawnier than half the senior boys and not afraid to show it. There was something about the roguish tilt of his head and the gleam in his green eyes when he smiled – or scowled at you – that either drew you in or scared the heck out of you. I wasn’t sure if it was the way he did his own thing without a care for anyone’s opinion or the fact that he could have bullied anyone in school and chose not to, but I liked him immediately. He didn’t really associate wit

h the other students, so I wasn’t sure why he’d decided to befriend me. One day he just started sitting with me at lunch, and when he got his first bike he gave me rides and took me to Jed’s with him and his friends. I’d even had a crush on him for a short while until his friend Markel told me I reminded them of Greg’s younger cousin, which put a damper on any romantic notions I had for him.

I missed Greg. He and Markel had moved out to Sydney right after graduation to work for Markel’s uncle who owned an automotive parts plant. It wasn’t the best job in the world, but as long as it paid the rent and kept his bike running, Greg was happy. We kept in touch through email, but it had been over a week since I’d last heard from him.

“Greg moved to Sydney, remember? I haven’t seen him since April."

“Well, I won’t pretend to be sad about that.” He tapped the arm of his chair. “What about Arthur? I remember when you two used to be inseparable. And Kirin, too.”

“We still hang out. We just like to do some different things now; that’s all.” It wasn’t that Arthur didn’t try to include me, and I did go to an occasional party with him. I just wasn’t into partying as much as my best friend. Arthur understood that even if no one else did.

“It feels like you’ve become more back tracked over the last few years, you need to move on. It’s not encouraging to push everyone out.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s my fault. I left you alone too much when you were younger. I know I’m not your father… I just wish I knew how to get through to you.” He gave me a pleading look. “You spend so much time alone or off doing God knows what. I have no idea where you are or what you’re doing.”

“Shangs, I – ” I faltered, because we always seemed to end up here. I mean, what was I supposed to say? “Hey, Shangs, guess what? I saved a life today. I have this amazing power that lets me heal things. But I can’t fix your spine because it doesn’t work on humans. By the way, can I invite my troll friend over for dinner?”

He pressed a button on his chair, and it began to back around the desk again. “Go get some dinner. I left cheesecake in the oven for you.”

I carried the Puppy to the kitchen and found a can of tuna for him, making a mental note to pick up some food for him tomorrow. Caddie followed us, and I poured some food into her dish before I popped my own dinner in the microwave.