It didn't though.

There had now been three murders, taking this from a random killer to a serial killer. And there was media everywhere. Big trucks with camera crews, journalists stopping every young person, asking if they were afraid to go out.

There was no M.O. for the killer either. They killed indiscriminately. The first victim had been a white woman, the next a Chinese man, and then a white man. So, two men, one woman... There didn't seem to be any connection between them either, except they all had gone jogging in the woods. Even the placements of the bodies didn't have any other connection than it being in the woods, and it happening around the full moon. And apparently there had been pink flowers surrounding the bodies? Which was a weird thing now considering it was full blown autumn and these flowers were spring flowers. Some articles hypothesised about it being a message of some sort. But it was hard to really... Anything. Everything was hard at that time, to be honest. I read so many articles and none of them really said anything useful.

I wanted it to end. All of it. I knew I wasn't the killer but the fact that I heard whispers from the supernatural community... Whispers Liam without a doubt had spread... It made me a bit of a hermit and when the autumn break finally arrived, I was ready to bury myself in my bed with my dog, my boyfriend and his cat.

Abel made his way towards the tuk-tuk and the stone tables, getting stopped on the way by a journalist. He shrugged her off by throwing his hands in the air and walked faster over to us. He kissed me quickly and sat down next to me, completely casually.

The casualness of it all still made me ridiculously giddy. Even in all this, I kept getting reminders that this was an actual relationship with rhythms and routines. And I could go on and on about this until the end of time, but I was obsessed with my life despite everything going on. This was the best it had been since my dad's passing by far.

"I hate the media," Abel groaned as he snatched my bad coffee and took a sip.

"Are you even supernatural if you don't?" Creek chirped and kept turning their head, looking at all the journalists. "This is by far the most exciting thing that has ever happened here though."

"The murders, Creek, they're here because of the murders," Fred said and sighed, pinching the space between her eyes.

"Right, but you gotta admit, the town is buzzing." He smiled widely.

"Because of the murders, Creek." Fred rolled her eyes and turned to me. "Did you do the essay on the baroque era?"

"Yeah, but it was a bit of a tooth puller," I muttered.

"Definitely agree with you there."

We continued talking about the essay and how the reading material had been very boring, but that was only until another journalist approached our table and all of us shooting to our feet, gathering our stuff and getting the hell out of dodge.

We all ended up at Fred's. Her house was becoming a bit of a club house for our little group. Cal came into the living room, shiny from sweat and very greasy.

"Hi everyone!" She waved with a cloth she had been wiping her hands with. Didn't seem to help much. "I'll add more food to the dinner then," she added and sent Fred a look.

"Sorry, we were escaping the journalists, babe." She sent her a winning smile.

"Right, I'll go to the store then. Anyone wants something?" She looked expectantly around the living room.

"I can come help," I said and rose to my feet.

"Thanks, Gael!" The way she smiled was honestly priceless. Like Cal could look quite scary, being the size, she was and often looking quite serious, but when she smiled, that gentle giant just jumped right out. If I had been into women, I would've loved to have found someone like Cal.

We went to the store, just the two of us and I enjoyed spending some time with her alone again.

"How's the shifting going now?" Cal asked as she inspected some tomatoes.

"It's still hard, but we share consciousness more now. The wolf still thinks it's alright to cut me off whenever he wants though."

"Do you let him in while you're in control, i.e. When it's not the full moon?"

I shook my head and grabbed some potatoes, putting them into a little paper bag, weighing them and getting the price tag.

"I think we should work on that next. Like I use meditation. It keeps me grounded and helps to not let all my senses get out of control. Being a bird can be hard, you know."

I smiled a little at that and nodded. "Yeah, I have sensory issues that I didn't have before the shift. Big group settings can get overwhelming if I'm not drinking."

Cal nodded and put the tomatoes into the trolley. "With self-control you can learn to get into situations like that without being under the influence. Though to be honest, I still need a little break from time to time. It doesn't bother me with smaller groups like ours because no one's really loud and not a lot goes on. But when we go to clubs, I need a breather from time to time."

"How does Fred deal with it?"

"Oh, she doesn't. She says there's nothing to deal with. It's a part of me and she loves me." Cal shrugged a little and pushed the cart towards the meat section.

"And she doesn't see it as a bother sometimes?"

"No, she knows things gets overwhelming, so I disappear for ten minutes, so I won't have to disappear for good."

Cal had always seemed a little simple to me. Like she didn't use big fancy words and I didn't mean 'simple' in a negative way. It was very positive. She was straight-forward, a no bullshit kind of type, and I appreciated that about her to no extent. I felt at ease around her, because I was sure she'd tell me if I did something she didn't like. There were no mind-games or shit for me to obsess about. She quickly became a safe person for me. I didn't obsess over our interactions. I just existed in it and enjoyed it.

"You put things in a way that makes it easier for me to explain things to Abel, you know that?"

She smiled at that. "Hey, Fred calls me her detangle-translator most of the time, because she can go on and on about something, that I'd say in three words. I just don't need to say much, I guess." She shrugged and turned towards the beer isle.

I wondered if I had a lot to say. I knew I'd try to fill the silence with chatter when I was nervous or being shy. It often made people think I wasn't shy at all, but in reality, my shyness came forth as oral diarrhoea.

I knew I needed to get more confident and surer in myself. I didn't wanna go through the rest of my life like this. I wanted to be comfortable with myself and for that to happen, I needed to gain more confidence. Which I was. I was working on it. Just being more open and honest, had given me confidence. Especially being honest with Abel. After showing him my chest it was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, because now it wasn't a big secret anymore. It was out there. He had seen it, the bubble had been burst and he had even been a little disappointed it didn't look worse.

Thinking about it made me smile though. He was an idiot, but he was the most lovable idiot ever. If anyone but him had said that, I would've been mortified. But there was something about Abel that just made me happy. Probably just about everything about him made me happy.

"I'm excited to get back again," I said then as Cal picked up a six-pack of some micro-brewery beer.

"Back to what?"

"Our friends. I'm excited."

"We've only been gone for like twenty minutes." She chuckled and put the beer in the trolley.

"I know. But I'm trying to be more honest, especially about positive feelings."

"Well, in that case, I'm excited too. I like it when you come over. All of you. You're so good to Fred and she needs that. She may act tough, but she'd be very sad without her friends."

"We're your friends too, you know," I said. "I mean, I hope."

She snorted, making a grunt-like sound, kind of like a pig. "Yes, Gael, we're friends too."

"So, the murders," Fred said and put her wineglass down on the table, having just finished dinner. She leaned back in her chair, keeping one hand on the table, tapping it. "What do you guys think?"

"Are you assuming it's supernatural?" Creek asked, spinning their glass between their fingers.

"I don't know. It could be. I mean, we've all got history with murdering."

Abel shifted a little uncomfortably in his chair. I found his fingers under the table, threading mine in between his. He gave them a squeeze and relaxed a little.

"To be honest, it starting to feel a little... Witchy to me," Fred admitted. "It's very easy to fake animal attacks or trying to pin it on werewolves, isn't it?"

I swallowed something. "I don't think it's werewolves. I uh... I met one. In the forest. She made some compelling arguments."

"Oh yeah, The Crone. Everyone knows of her, but very few have met her," Creek said. "She knows my gran. They've got a knitting club."

I arched a brow at him. "You've known about a werewolf all this time, and didn't tell me?"

"I mean, she likes her privacy. I figured if she wanted you to know about her, she'd find you. Which she did. Not about outing anyone here who doesn't want to be outed. I told my gran to not tell her about you too."

I mulled that over and nodded then. "Makes sense."

"Have you felt lonely though?" Fred asked and tipped her head to the side.

I swallowed and looked at my empty wineglass, hoping it'd refill itself. "A little. You all have supernatural family. I... Don't."

"I actually get that," Cal said, breaking her silent streak. She hadn't said much since we got back, but she didn't seem like she had minded. She had chimed in occasionally, but she mostly observed the group, not as an outsider, but someone comfortable only talking when she had something to say. "I'm a long way from my nest, and even though it's not at all the same, because I can pick up the phone and call them anytime, it definitely gets lonely. A big part of our nest is just... Sitting around and caring for each other's feathers. I care for my own and I miss the bonding time we'd have. So, I can't even imagine how it must be for you, to not only not have any living family, but never had any family members who went through the same thing as you."

"Yeah, I... I need..."

"A pack?" Abel asked and smirked a little at me, punching right through the pretty heavy atmosphere.

I snorted. "I guess? I did actually meet with that one werewolf, who invited us to her farm."

"And you know I think we should go," Abel said and smiled.

"Yeah, we'll go. Definitely."

"There's also this other thing you should go to. Like, we're a lot of supernaturals in this town, yeah? So, we have our own town hall, sort of. And they've called in for a meeting," Creek said and reached over for the wine bottle, pouring the golden liquid into my glass. "It's to remind everyone on how to act, you know? Around the media. One person getting outed means we're all out."

"Would I be welcome?" I asked and shifted a little uncomfortably in my seat. I definitely needed a sip of that wine.

"Of course, you've been eating my family's food. If anyone tried to bar you from entering, they'd have to deal with the whole Creek clan. Imagine having like fifty banshees screaming in your face." Creek laughed and it was infectious.

"You're definitely welcome, Gael. We could use more shifters." Cal winked and how did she even make that look so relaxed? Who could even wink in a relaxed way without making it look horrible? I envied Cal. She was so cool.