Our Wild Hunt

This is my entry for The Halloween Story Contest 2023. I hope you enjoy all of the wonderful stories in this event!

—----------------------------------------

"You didn't know it was a costume party either, huh, Henry?"

Even through the noise, I'd recognize that voice anywhere; I turned, wide-eyed, towards its source. "Tabitha?" My old gaming buddy grinned broadly at me, then launched herself into my arms. "When did you get back into town? Are you living here now?"

She pulled back and looked up at me, green eyes bright through those thick-ass glasses. "Sort of? I'm moving back. Crashing with friends while I find a place to live."

"Bitch! Why didn't you call? You could have stayed with me!"

She stood on tiptoe and poked my nose with hers. "Because then I couldn't surprise you!"

Tabby stepped away, still holding my hands. She hadn't changed much; still the same curly dark red hair, still the big, goofy smile; still dressed like a kindergarten teacher with a shrine to Robert Smith hidden in her closet. We'd met when she'd dated my sophomore roommate, Kathleen; the two of them lasted about five minutes, but it turned out that Tabitha and I got on like a house on fire.

There was a time when calling her my gaming buddy would have seemed utterly insufficient. Over the course of about three years, Tab went from that to being easily the best friend I'd ever had. She had a key to my place, was a fixture on my couch, and shared pretty much every high and low of my life. Tabitha might as well have been my girlfriend.

Well, if not for, you know, the whole lesbian thing.

After we graduated and Tabitha moved away for work, she and I stayed in touch for a while. Tabby, though, had always eschewed social media, so our catch-ups consisted of irregular phone calls that got more irregular as we got on with our lives. They ceased completely once she took up with her jealous gold-star lesbian girlfriend.

I looked over her shoulder. "Is, ah, is Eliza here?"

"Eliza? Oh, god no, she was like two girlfriends back. Why do you..." Her jaw dropped. "Is that why you stopped calling? I thought it was because of that bitch you were..." Tabby's mouth snapped shut. "Uh, so, uh, is Melissa here?"

With a snort, I hugged her again. "That was like three girlfriends back for me. Come on. It sounds like we've got a lot of catching up to do."

We grabbed a couple of drinks and headed out onto the balcony. Our mutual friends--or, really, friends-of-friends--rented a great apartment overlooking the huge forested park of the college town we lived in. Even "park" might have been going a little far. That would indicate the city did anything more than put in a few cement walking paths with minimal lighting and called it a day.

October wasn't as cold as it had been when I was a kid, but I still felt a chill in the air. I scarcely noticed, though, so intent on finding out what had happened in the intervening four years. Most of her experience mirrored mine: a boring entry-level job followed by reasonable advancement; the creeping realization that the type of people we dated in college might not be the best ones for the long haul; shitty break-ups; missing each other intensely.

She rolled her eyes. "God, I thought I'd pissed you off or something!"

"No! No, not at all. But why didn't you call me?"

"I... did? I mean, I only got your voicemail, but I did call."

"When?"

"I dunno, a few times maybe three years back, after I broke up with Eliza?"

Oh, goddammit. Of course. "Fucking Alice." Tab tilted her head quizzically. "I dated her after Melissa for a couple of months. She got it into her head that I was cheating on her and kept deleting voicemails and texts from any woman. Almost got me fired when my manager left me a message saying I needed to come in one weekend."

"Are you fucking kidding me? I thought you hated me!"

"Shit no! I love you, Tab. You know that."

"Funny way of showing that, you prick." She glared up at me, expression half fake anger and half real anger.

"I didn't want to get between you and Eliza! You seemed really serious, and--"

Tabby poked me in the chest, hard. "You have that shit backwards. I didn't want anyone getting between you and me!"

I shrugged, a bit miffed at that statement. "C'mon, Tab. I knew the drill: you'd get in deep with some girl, kind of drop off the face of the earth for a while, and then when you either got tired of her or it turned serious, we'd get back together and hang out. But...You'd moved away, hon. And when I didn't hear back from you, I just assumed you'd... You know, that you'd moved on, too. From me."

The anger turned to sadness. "Moved on? No. Henry, no." She stepped in and hugged me again, almost crushing my ribs. "I missed you, man. I love you, too. It really hurt when I never heard back. I had so much I wanted to share with you, but you... I thought you ghosted me."

"You know, if you'd just get on Twitter..."

My chest muffled her voice. "Don't push it. You're just now getting back in my good graces."

"Discord?"

Her head turned to the side, and she squeezed me tight. "Maybe. For you."

"You have changed!"

Tab's body stiffened for a moment. "Yeah. Yeah, I have. Sort of." She pulled away again, looking like she was about to say something serious. Instead, though, she glanced toward the sliding glass door and chuckled to herself.

"What?"

"Being amused by the Wild Hunt."

I peered at my nerdy friend, mildly confused at both the sudden shift of topics and the new topic itself. "... Like from the Witcher?"

Tab rolled her eyes dramatically. "Philistine. No, like from European legends." She leaned back against the railing, facing inwards this time, toward the party going on without us. I did the same.

"Oh, yeah? And when did you become an expert on European legends?"

Tabitha turned her head part towards me, grinning conspiratorially. "I don't know about 'expert.' But do you remember Absinthe, that goth chick I chased back before we graduated? Big into Wiccan shit. Figured it would behoove me--"

I raised an eyebrow. "'Behoove' you? Really?"

"Shut up. Anyways, know your prey, right? So I read up on a bunch of European folklore and shit. And I kind of got a taste for it after that, so I kept on reading even after finding out what a dead lay she was. No pun intended."

"And you think drunk folks at a party trying to get laid are like spectral hounds of the dead?"

Tabitha peered at me. "I thought you thought they were from the Witcher."

"I'm allowed to like weird shit, too, you know." She shot me a Look. I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Okay, yes, I looked it up after I played the Witcher, but still."

With a smug smile, she continued. "Well, Mr. 'I'm allowed to like weird shit, too,' if you had read more about it than what you needed to know to understand a videogame--"

"--As opposed to trying to bang a goth chick--"

"--Then you might know that there are different versions of it all over Europe, with different gods or mythological figures leading it. And the other thing you'd realize is that in most of the cultures that have it, they've got a female goddess of fertility, spring, and all that jazz, and they've got a male god of the harvest, death, winter, and so on."

I stared at her with my 'get to the point' expression.

"I swear to God. Okay, think about it like this: it's Samhain or Guldize or Kekri or whatever night your farmers get drunk and celebrate the harvest. Winter's coming, everyone's going to be locked up in their houses due to the cold for the next five months or so, other than when they're trying to hunt up some additional food to not starve. How do they alleviate boredom? By fucking, of course.

"That night, when the harvest is over, and everyone is blitzed on mead or whatever, and the men are done with the lion's share of the work for the coming winter, they're going to take their wives home and fuck the shit out of them, and they're going to keep doing it whenever they can, whether the wife is really into it or not. The young ones, anyways. And the young single women? They need to stay indoors at night for pretty much the same reason, to avoid the young single men."

"So the Wild Hunt, in your opinion..."

"Is the start of the seasonal fuckfest, yes."

"... When was the last time you got laid?" Tabitha slugged me on the shoulder. "I'm just asking!"

With a snort, she said, "I'm not saying that's the only interpretation, but look at what a hodgepodge the Wild Hunt legends are. They represent everything from heralds of war and famine; to the dead hunting down the unjust; to a warning that people should stay inside at night. You're telling me my explanation makes any less sense?"

I nodded my head at the door. "So, what about the party? There are clearly women hunting for men in there. Hell, men hunting for men and women hunting for women, too." I chuckled. "I know I've seen you on the hunt for women often enough."

"Modern times and all. Shit's changed." Tabitha huffed, "You really are a spoilsport, you know that?"

With a laugh, I grabbed her in a sidehug. "No, I like it. It's a fun addition to the myths. You should write it down."

"Don't patronize me." Then she laughed and squeezed me, too. "Sounded good, though, didn't it?"

"Yeah. God, Tab, I've missed you so much." I looked down at her, and she smiled up at me. It felt like old times... but not quite. Something seemed different, but I couldn't tell what. Then the moment passed. She let go and turned toward the railing again, and I joined her.

After a little while, she asked, "So, you're here stag tonight?"

"Is this an attempt to get us back to European folklore?"

"For fuck's sake, Henry." She sounded a little heated, which surprised me. "I just wanted to know."

Yeah, something was definitely off. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I haven't been seeing anyone for... mmm, maybe four months now? A friend invited me out to get me back in the saddle, but he neglected to mention that it was a costume party, so..." I reached out and patted her shoulder. "Really glad I stayed, though. What about you? You seeing anyone?"

She started to answer, then stopped. Then started and stopped again. Finally, abashed, she managed, "I, uh, I. No. Not since I broke up with my boyfriend back in March." I blinked at her, startled beyond the ability to speak. Finally, she gave me a guilty look. "Yes, boyfriend."

"But you're gay!"

"Clearly not." Tabitha shook her head. "I thought I was. I really did for a long time. I know there're a lot of LUGs running around campus, but I was a lesbian when I got here, and I was a lesbian after I graduated. Except... Well, except I wasn't. I mean, I'm probably like 90/10 or 95/5, but I convinced myself I was true blue. I wasn't lying to you or anything."

I was still processing, but I needed more data to process with. "So... Like, how?"

Tabitha snorted, her expression warning me to expect a massive dose of snark. But then she paused, and the apologetic look returned. "I dated a trans girl for a while. This might sound kinda insensitive, but I found out that I liked dick quite a lot; the problem was that I hated dicks, no matter what gender they were, and all the boys in high school and pretty much all the guys in college were dicks."

"Gee, thanks."

"Ugh, you know I don't mean you. Don't 'not all men' at me." She still looked away, though. "I know you're a good guy. Except I wasn't willing to bend in that direction back then. A lot of it was... Like, you saw how bitchy some of my friends got when a 'lesbian' started dating guys. Between the social pressure and the fact that I honestly could not give one tenth of one fuck about seeing the vast majority of guys naked, I just assumed it was like... you know, like when so-called 'straight' girls talk about having a girlcrush. Like the gay version of that."

"Ah. I see. So after you'd, um, experimented with your trans girlfriend, you... What, decided to give it a go?"

Tabitha scoffed, "Thank you so much for making my journey as a person sound so goddamned tawdry." She bobbed her head from side to side before giving out an exasperated, acquiescent sigh. "But, okay, yes, that's pretty much exactly what happened. The next guy I had a 'guycrush' on, I went for it. It turned out pretty good for a while, but then it stopped being so good. We broke up, I played the field for a little bit, then I got an offer for a job back here."

She nervously glanced over at me, and I understood what had changed, even before she opened her mouth.. "And now I've run into you, and I found out you didn't ghost me. And... I'm not trying to put any pressure on you, man. If you only want to be friends, I get it, but... but I realized why things never really worked out for me romantically. Because I'd left the best friend I've ever had behind without admitting to myself that I wanted to be more than just friends with him." She closed her eyes tightly as fear of rejection filled her voice. "A lot more."

I looked at her again, my gamer friend with the thick glasses and the drab wardrobe, the one I hadn't seen as a possible romantic interest in a long time. I'll admit that I still fantasized about her for a while after we became friends, but it eventually started to feel weird. Tabitha didn't play for the same team as me, and that was fine. I accepted it and her. And while I believe men and women can be platonic friends, I'm not going to lie and say her perceived sexual orientation didn't make it easier on me.

Looking at her now, though, I saw the things that I'd let my brain kind of skip over for a while. Tabitha's frumpy clothes hid a curvy, shapely body; we'd gone swimming together often enough in the summer for me to remember it well. I knew how passionate she could be. Hell, I'd heard it often enough in the brief time she was with Kathleen. And her face, with its pale skin, button nose, and high cheekbones, also held cupid bow lips that begged to be kissed.

So that's what I did.

Looking back, I'm more surprised at what the kiss wasn't than what it was. You might expect a first kiss between two longtime friends to be awkward, especially since one had long believed herself to be a lesbian, and the other had long accepted that belief. Our first kiss was anything but, though.

I leaned in with my own eyes closed. When our lips touched, she pressed forward urgently, and I reacted in kind. Within seconds, we went from leaning against the railing to facing each other to locked in a passionate embrace. Our mouths opened, tongues colliding then moving past each other with desperate need.

I don't know how long we made out on the balcony, but when we broke apart, we each searched the other's face. I looked for a sign of regret or worry on hers, but the only worry I found seemed to be for me. The only regret I saw was for the time we had lost. It's funny how sometimes a thing can be staring you in the face for years, and it's only when you shift your perspective just the tiniest bit that you realize the thing you missed is the thing you've always been missing.

Tabby spoke first. "I, ah, I think I'm ready to leave."

"Yeah. Yeah, definitely." I held her hand as we wove through the party, firing off only the most perfunctory of goodbyes. We didn't wait for the elevator, instead rushing headlong down the stairs and out the front doors before spilling out onto the street with giddy laughter. She looked up at me, and I leaned in to kiss her again, drawing a soft moan from her parted lips.

She pulled away, smiling playfully. "You still living in the same place?"

"No. New apartment, just across the park." I nodded my head vaguely in the direction of the nearest walking path.

"Are we... If we go over there now, are we going to disturb your roommates?"

"Just me. Single bedroom."

Tabitha quirked up an eyebrow. "And where would I have stayed if I had contacted you before I came back to town?"

"On my couch. You know, like every time you passed out at my old place?"

She pressed herself to me, snarking, "And is that where I'm staying tonight?"

"Depends."

"Oh? On what?"

I kissed her again, arms encircling her warm, soft body and pulling it in close. My hardness pressed against her stomach; she gasped, then put her hands on my ass and pulled me harder against her, grinding against my erection. It was my turn to groan then, before breaking the kiss and growling, "On whether we make it past the living room before I have you out of your clothes."

Tabitha's breath caught for a moment, then she bit her lower lip, grabbed my arm, and broke into a run towards the park.

We'd made it almost halfway through when she suddenly skidded to a halt. "Shit!"

"What?"

Tabitha turned towards me, cringing. "Um, I forgot to ask. Do you have any condoms? I'm not on the pill, and, it's, um, it's not a great time of the month for me to not be on the pill."

"Shit," I agreed. "I don't know. I don't think so? But we can hit a corner store on the way and get some."

She cocked her head thoughtfully. "True. Or you could just pull out. I don't really want to wait. Or, fuck it, we can get some Plan B tomorrow." A twinkle appeared in her eyes, and she bit her lip playfully. "Or, alternately, maybe you could even br--"

A dog barked loudly, somewhere not too distant. Then we heard a howl further off, and another soon joined it. They could have been dogs or coyotes; the many green spaces in the city provided ample support for the latter.

Tabitha's eyes widened in mock horror. "The Wild Hunt!"

"Oh no! I guess we'd better run straight home, then."

The twinkle in her eyes transformed into a wicked gleam as she stepped back and off the concrete walking path. "Or maybe we should join the hunt instead?" I started to speak, but Tabitha's hands moved to the hem of her turtleneck and began to slowly pull it upwards. "What do you say, O Horned King? You up for an evening run? Want to chase down your prey and..." She chuckled. "... impale it with your mighty spear?"

"Tab?" I couldn't believe that she was actually suggesting what it sounded like she was suggesting. When her shirt came off over her head, though, leaving only a black bra covering her torso? Let's just say I rapidly became a believer.

She winked at me and turned halfway towards the woods, then paused and tossed me her shirt. "So you've got my scent." Then, with a laugh, she darted off into the sparse forest. I gawped for just a moment, then sprinted after.

This was dumb. Dangerous. I knew that. The full moon provided a good amount of light once off the path, but nothing like the lamps the city had installed. A root or a fallen tree branch concealed by shadow could mean we'd have to head to the ER rather than my bed. And that assumed we didn't get lost; like I said, the forest only barely qualified as a park, and in the dark, we could easily have gotten turned around.

But still, I gave chase.

Tabitha had a head start of maybe twenty paces, but my long strides ate away at the gap between us. She had to run more carefully, avoiding any hazards that might lie in her path, but all I had to do was stick to the trail she forged. Beyond that, I used to run a lot. It had been my primary form of exercise for years, and while I'd slacked off in the last few months, I could still more than keep up with my quarry.

The trees had already started to shed their foliage, and the sounds of feet pounding bare earth came interspersed with loud crackling as we trampled the fallen leaves. I heard her breaths turning to gasps as well, but otherwise, silence reigned.

The canopy overhead let only enough illumination through to render the world in monochrome, but as Tab burst into a large clearing, the moonlight restored her to full living color. The brilliant red of her hair against the pale white of her skin brought to mind blood on freshly fallen snow.