Unleashed

"You knew he liked me?" Jenny was incredulous. "Was I the only one who didn't know Larry was crazy about me?" I wanted to go bury my head in a pile of sand right about then.

"Pretty much." I awkwardly affirmed.

"Godamnit!" She punched me in the chest, this time she wasn't so easy about it.

"Easy tiger," Ed chimed in. "The poor guy's got self-esteem issues up the wazoo. In no circumstances could his perfect Jenny ever end up with him. Oh, and he was willing to suffer in the accursed friend-zone forever just to make you happy you know."

I was going to need a fucking huge pile of sand.

Ed's words did seem to smother Jenny's anger however. She lifted herself onto her tiptoes and placed a kiss on my cheek, then one on my lips for good measure.

"Yeah, I'm stupid." I admitted.

"Too right, you are. She's nowhere near perfect!" Ed interrupted. "Her nose goes up at the end, her eyebrows are too thin, and she constantly looks confused. Though, that last one might just be because she's blonde."

"Wow, someone really wants a kick in the nuts." Jenny was looking at him with hot knives in her eyes.

"Ok, ok. My fun's over. Are you two going to this Halloween thing?" Ed took on a slightly more serious tone.

"I dunno, first I've heard of it. If there's beer, then sure." I looked to Jenny for her agreement, she grinned back at me and we both nodded our acceptance.

"Awesome. Thought about your costumes? I vote Jenny goes as a slutty nurse." He held up his hand.

I raised mine into the air along with it. "Seconded."

"Hey!" Jenny jabbed me in the ribs with her elbow. "You're supposed to be on my side."

"But... but... slutty nurse!" I pleaded.

Jenny was trying her damnedest not to laugh at my plight.

"Only if you dress up as a shirtless fireman." She countered.

"Well, there's an image that will prevent me from ever masturbating again. Thanks, Jen." Ed grumbled.

"How about we buy those costumes beforehand and for the party we dress up as Dracula and his bride?" I suggested.

"Cool! I can break out my fangs and heavy eye-liner." Jenny agreed.

"Alright then, that's settled."

We ate lunch together as usual before heading back to separate classes. At the end of the day I waited for Jenny at the gates, our usual rendezvous point. Ed passed me by first, giving me a knowing grin as he did. I said goodbye to him and waited a little longer. Eventually Jenny appeared, swishing her hips much to the delight of a number of boys in the surrounding area. She seemed to have a warm glow about her and a number of boys were following her out and practically drooling at the sight of her.

She walked up to me, kissed me, and waited for me to settle my arm across her shoulders before we headed on over to the bus stop.

"Come to my place?" Jenny asked.

"Sure." I slipped my phone out of my pocket to send a message to my parents.

"How did they take our little sleepover?" Jenny was obviously watching what I was doing.

"They tried to read me the riot act when I got in last night but I kind of pulled the rug out from under them. This morning they were a lot nicer. I think that they've figured if I have to have pre-marital sex with anyone then they'd rather it be you." I flipped my phone closed and set a kiss in amidst Jenny's hair.

"Aw, ain't that sweet?" Jenny rolled her eyes.

"They'll probably want to have a talk with you, too." I awkwardly scratched my neck.

"So we're always meeting at my house then, yeah?" Jenny ventured hopefully.

I laughed as we boarded the bus.

We sat together and watched the world zoom past the windows. It amazed me how easily we'd fallen into everything. I thought that with us being friends for so long it would be very weird to be together but it seemed the opposite was true. I caught each little mannerism as she caught mine, and as a result everything felt incredibly natural.

We disembarked near Jenny's house and fell in through her door in each other's arms. Her parents hadn't come home from work yet which made it quite easy for us to fumble our way upstairs and work out some of the afternoon's tension on Jenny's bed. I saw her fully naked for the second time then, and we took our time in those precious few hours to explore and tease each other. Not that Jenny needed much teasing. I'd like to say that my considerable skills as a lover played a part but the truth was that Jenny was damn near hypercharged with sexual energy.

We took a shower together and dressed before her mum came home from work. Her dad followed her in shortly after and they both found us cuddled together on the couch watching a movie about mutants, one of whom may or may not have had claws.

"Things go alright today?" Her mum asked us as she took a seat in the living room with us. From her tone and the worried look in her eyes it was obvious that she meant "have you seen any sign of Stuart?"

"We were fine." Jenny reassured her. "I totally protected him from the forces of evil."

She turned to me and smirked. I kissed her brow affectionately and gave her a gentle squeeze.

"Well, alright then." Her mum said with a little more good cheer about her.

I ate at Jenny's house. Her mum made us both a salad which Jenny poked at but didn't eat much of with the exception of the thin rolls of ham on her plate. I'd noticed her carnivorous tendencies in the past few days. It was starting to worry me though I somewhat foolishly didn't say anything about it.

In truth I think we both still hoped that the whole thing would wear off. Jenny would just balance out and then go back to normal. The alternative was still far too weird for either of us to really appreciate. Sure, I'd got her the necklace and the wolfsbane but there's still a great leap that your mindset must take from there to your girlfriend turning into a werewolf.

I already had some homework due for the next day and I knew if Jenny got me back into her room it sure as hell wasn't going to get done. So, after dinner, I excused myself and gave her a reluctant kiss goodbye. She was a little disappointed but it was getting late, and as open-minded as her parents were, I wasn't invited to stay another night.

Over the next few days we were practically inseparable and often quite literally joined at the hip. The school supply cupboard, Miss Blake's class, the middle of the shrubs behind the sports field, and the empty gym all became home to our erotically-charged meetings. On the one hand, all my dreams were coming true, but the truth was that Jenny was starting to worry me. Even as we enjoyed ourselves I couldn't shake the little voices in my head constantly whispering werewolf!

The first thing I noticed was just how pale she was getting. At first I thought it was just her holiday tan beginning to fade, but after the first week I couldn't deny it anymore. She didn't look well at all. Of course she was always full of energy, especially when it came to sex. Yet in the moments between, she always seemed to grow tired and it seemed like she'd even lost a little weight.

When the next thing happened, it sent up much louder warning bells. Ever since she'd gotten back to school she'd had a following of younger boys checking her out. She'd always been gorgeous but she was getting noticed a lot more. Like most young, loud-mouth idiots, these followers weren't discreet in their attentions to her. They yelled catcalls and whispered obscenities to her as she passed them in the halls. At first this behaviour rolled off her back easily enough. Her attention was mostly fixed on me when we were together.

Then, one day I was waiting for her outside school and she didn't show. When I went looking for her, I found the teacher she'd been with during her last class who told me that Jenny had been sent to the headmaster's office. This shocked me firstly because Jenny was practically a saint. I don't think she'd ever caught a detention in her entire school life. The second was that sixth form students tended to pretty much get away with almost anything so whatever she'd done to get sent to the head's office must have been pretty damn bad.

I rushed out of the classroom, bounding toward the office. I saw the usual pack of boys that hounded Jenny were stood outside. Minus one. My stomach practically fell down into my legs as I assumed the worst and all those little whispers in my head suddenly turned into screams. I burst into the headmaster's office without knocking to find the head himself seated at his desk with a very glum-looking Jenny sat opposite him. Alongside her sat the final boy who was looking at Jenny with an expression of pure terror. I saw his school trousers had been exchanged for some sweatpants.

Never the less I was relieved. After all the things I'd been preparing myself for, up to and including finding Jenny sitting in amidst a pile of the headmaster's entrails, this was pretty much the best case scenario.

He lifted his gaze to look at me with a hint of disapproval.

"Do we not knock anymore, Mr. Howard?" He asked me in an almost icy tone.

"Sorry, sir." I spluttered as Jenny turned and looked at me. It was obvious she'd been crying.

"Apology accepted. We're done here. Perhaps you'd like to take our young Miss Taylor home?" He suggested.

Jenny stood up and practically hurled herself against me, her arms wrapping around my shoulders as she buried her face against my neck. The boy in the chair flinched at her sudden action before bolting toward the opposite wall of the office.

"Alright, sir. I will." I said as the headmaster nodded with approval and I gently led Jenny out of the office.

As we stepped outside the boys looked at us nervously. All of them had their eyes fixed on Jenny, though she paid them no attention. Eventually we emerged outside and I helped her slip her coat on. The nights were starting to grow dark and the air was getting very cold.

"What happened, Jen?" I asked.

"I-I don't know! They've been following me and... and when I got out of class today they were waiting. They ran around me calling me things. Then that one... he..." She broke down into a fresh wave of tears and I held her to me. Her hands gripped my shoulders as she used me to steady herself. "He tried to grab me. I just got so mad, and then I don't remember what happened. I just remember him sitting on the floor and his friends staring at me. He'd gone really pale and he... messed himself." Jenny sniffled against me and lifted her head to look into my eyes. She seemed terrified. "Then I moved toward him, I wanted to help him. I didn't know what I'd done. He screamed and scrambled away. Then Mr. Hawthorpe came over and took us both to the head's office."

Well, that was worrying. In a few moments Jenny had managed to put the fear of God into some horny teenager and she couldn't even remember doing it. This was not good.

I took her home and stayed with her. Neither of us mentioned werewolves. I think we were both too scared. It was the first night we didn't have sex the moment we were in the door. Instead, I held Jenny on her bed for a while and then helped her with her homework to take her mind off of things. Apparently the headmaster heard the story and thought that the boy trying to grope Jenny was a much more serious offence than her scaring the boy half to death, especially since the boy wasn't hurt.

It was a close call. A very close call. I needed something better than a locket and wolfsbane to help Jenny. During the next few days, I hit the books again. Other than a silver bullet, there really wasn't much that people who wrote about werewolves agreed upon. Since that wasn't an option, I decided to throw away the superstition and go with my instincts. Logically there was one treatment that made sense. Of course that didn't mean it was going to be easy.

After I'd gotten home from the library that night I hit the sack early. I knew tomorrow would be a very long day. Unfortunately, it seemed that I wasn't going to get that much needed sleep. It was my mum who woke me up some time around midnight. She was brandishing the phone in front of me with a nervous look about her. Fearing the worst, I snagged the receiver and held it to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Larry, it's Ben." Jenny's dad. "I... I think we need you to come over."

"What is it?" I tried to keep my voice calm. I failed.

"It's Jenny. She hasn't been sleeping very well these last few weeks and now," he trailed off. "Larry, we can't wake her up. We can't wake her up and she's terrified. We asked her the other day if she wanted to see someone and she mentioned that when you were over here the other week she slept a lot better. Look, I know it's a lot to ask but could you come over? We don't know what to do." The man was obviously a wreck with nerves.

"I'll be right there." I said before hanging up, whipping the covers off of me and moving to get dressed.

"What is it?" My mother asked from the doorway as I pulled on a t-shirt.

"Jenny's having nightmares and can't wake up. I'm going over to see if I can do anything. They might have to call for an ambulance or something so I might be gone a while." I blurted out whilst zooming past her as I made for the stairs.

"Alright. You be careful, ok?" My mother was a bit of a prude but she wasn't an idiot. If Mr. Taylor had called to get me over there she knew it was serious.

"I will!" I called as I grabbed my keys, my wallet, and bolted out the front door.

I practically sprinted all the way to Jenny's house. The streets were dark. I didn't notice the motorcycle parked on the side of the road just around the corner from Jenny's home. I did notice when Stuart walked out from behind one of the trees that lined the pavement. Thankfully, I didn't see the knife in his hand, just the cocky grin on his face. Those features of his were still bruised from the beating Jenny had given him.

"Well, well, well, I wasn't expecting to find..." He started a presumably prepared monologue on how he was going to hurt me. I didn't have the time.

He stopped speaking when he noticed I hadn't stopped running down the path toward him. At first, I saw the look of confusion on his face when I leapt into the air. Guys like Stuart knew how this was supposed to go. I was supposed to stop. I was supposed to get scared. He was supposed to hurt me.

All of that would probably have happened if I didn't know Jenny needed me. As it was, I flung myself up through the air at great speed, twisting my upper body around as I threw my arm out and tightened my fist. Every single ounce of momentum I'd built up went right into that punch. It connected directly against Stuart's jaw and sent him stumbling backwards. One of the roots of the tree he'd been hiding behind hindered his retreat and tripped him up. I glimpsed blood pouring from his mouth as he sat in the dirt with his hand over his face to stifle a scream.

I didn't care. I just kept running.

Once I got to Jenny's house I knocked a few times. The door almost immediately sprung open to reveal a very worried Barbara Taylor. She ushered me inside and locked the door behind me.

"I just saw Stuart out there." I said as I moved through the kitchen toward the living room.

"Larry, your hand!" Mrs Taylor noticed what I hadn't.

My hand was grazed at the knuckle, at least one of my fingers was broken, and I was bleeding. Apparently hitting guys straight in the jaw wasn't a one-way pain street.

"I'm fine." I lied. "You might want to phone the police and let them know he's hanging around outside."

Barbara looked back at the door and then rushed to the phone as I made my way through the living room and up the stairs. Jenny's dad was stood outside her bedroom looking like he might be sick at any moment. I quickly offered a small nod to him before opening the door and looking inside.

The light was on and I saw Jenny before me. She'd cast her quilt from the bed and lay in her pyjamas. Somehow she'd managed to rip open most of the buttons on the front of the shirt leaving her bare breasted and explaining why her father was stood outside. I saw the marks on her skin where she'd clawed at herself. Thin, red welts had risen up around the wounds. The locket seemed to be the focus of the scratches and I saw the redness beneath where it had come to rest. It seemed to be burning at her skin. I quickly closed the door behind me and moved over to her.

"Jenny, it's me. It's Larry." I said.

She immediately stopped writhing. Her body was soaked with sweat and I cautiously placed my hand on her damp brow. She was warm beneath my touch, her face was flushed and her voice hoarse with screaming. A soft little whimper escaped her lips as I watched her.

"I'm here, love." I spoke gently. "Can you wake up for me?"

Jenny fell still, her breathing calmed into a slow deep rhythm. It seemed like she'd returned to a much more restful sleep. That was good, but not good enough. I tentatively reached out to give her shoulder a little nudge. My eyes fell down across her bare chest though not for the reasons I was happily getting used to. I saw those thin red lines starting to heal before my eyes. The redness began to fade slowly as the lines grew shorter and finally vanished altogether. I let out a long slow breath and shook my head at the eerie sight before looking back to Jenny's face. I instantly saw that she'd woken up and felt like someone had poured a bucket of ice into the bed with us.

Bright yellow eyes stared back at me, wide open and very alert. The dark centres peered into my eyes as Jenny's expression remained still. I heard the soft, low growl form in her throat as she watched me. She wasn't Jenny anymore. Whatever had happened to her had managed to break the surface and it was staring right at me.

I moved the moment she did and barely managed to lift my hand up to push her away as her mouth opened to reveal long curved fangs and viciously-sharp rows of carnivorous teeth. I could see that horrid maw had been lashing out for my throat but it was quite content with the already-bloodied hand that I offered it instead.

The pain came in a short, sharp jolt and I quickly recoiled to leap backwards and stand at the end of Jenny's bed. I'd reflexively lifted my arms above my face to protect myself from another attack. What came instead was a very small familiar voice.

"Larry?" Jenny. No growl, no fangs, just Jenny.

I lowered my arms and looked at her. Her blue eyes were looking around with confusion and she'd wrapped her night shirt around her body. She was shivering feverishly.

Without thinking, I moved back toward her and took her into my arms. She released her shirt and eagerly wrapped her arms around me, holding onto me like I was about to disappear.

"It's ok, it's alright now." I stroked my hand through the damp tangled mass of her hair.

"It hurt. It hurt so much." Her voice cracked and she started to cry.

I heard the door open behind us and saw her parents both poked their heads into the room. I could see the waves of relief pass over each of their faces at seeing their daughter awake again.

"I'll ring for the ambulance." Ben said.

"No! No, dad. Not tonight. I'm so tired. So tired." Jenny mumbled. "Can Larry stay? Just for tonight? I'll go to the hospital tomorrow."

Both of her parents gave each other a wary look and then turned to look at me. I nodded back at them.

"Alright sweetheart, Larry can stay. If you start up again we're dialling nine, nine, nine straight away." Ben said.

"Ok, dad." Jenny nodded.

"You need a shower." I noted as I kissed her cheek.

"Urgh. I really do." Happy to talk about anything but what just happened, Jenny gave me a quick squeeze and let me go.

She stood up and slipped out of her pyjamas in front of me as we both heard her parents' footsteps descending the stairs. I noted there wasn't a scratch on her anymore. Even the skin upon which the locket had come to rest was still smooth and unblemished. It was amazing to see and part of me was grateful even though it only served as a reminder that things were becoming worse and worse.