The Monster of the Cotswolds

She had picked the cottage for the beauty of the area and the memories of her uncle.

Talia felt the burning eyes of the old woman down the street when she was moving in her bags and boxes. She knew she was falling into a common trap. The new person in town meeting the meddling old woman. Long ago Talia's mother had told her to be kind and introduce herself. So Talia put down the box with a deep breath and held out a hand.

"I'm Talia Haywood. I've just moved in."

"Amelia Moorland," the woman said.

Talia backed away. There was something about Amelia that make her want to back away. It was another warning from her mother: she could never be too careful. Talia knew as a child she would've rolled her eyes and flounced her skirts, but Talia wasn't a child anymore, and her secret had been discovered. It hadn't been safe in Rochester anymore. It had been time to move on.

Talia tried not to think of Fiona, but Fiona was the reason Talia was here and not dead. Colm was the reason her whole life had changed.

Amelia walked away, the tapping of her walking stick echoing against the stone.

Talia looked up at the sky. The moon was starting to rise. Soon the sky would darken and the stars would appear. As a child, twilight was her favourite time of the day. Since then, the pain had seared into her memory. She was a born lycanthrope and mostly people stayed away from her. The yellow striking through her iris was an outward mark, but out here in the Cotswolds who would know that piece of information. Her uncle Gareth would, but he had angered a minotaur. She should've known Gareth would anger one.

Talia looked out the window. The old woman's house was the only place for miles and it was in the distance, far enough away Amelia wouldn't notice when she left at night. Talia was as grateful for that as she was for the copse of trees on the other side of the hill.

She still wasn't sure if this was where she belonged. She knew it was the type of place her parents would pick for her, but she wasn't sure if the place suited her. She took a breath. She was being stupid. Isolating herself was a good idea. She had never had friends, until Fiona, and no one else would miss her. Talia had disappeared from Rochester, paying the last of her rent. Likely in a few months she would be forgotten about and the howls the people had heard would be nothing more than a story used to get children home for supper.

***

Talia heard the hammering on the door. She dragged herself from the nest of blankets on the couch. The pain got worse as the full moon got closer. She knew she was going to have to be prepared to run if it was Amelia. She peaked around the door and the first thing she felt was relief. It was Amelia.

It was Fiona.

Her friend from Rochester. The one person who hadn't been driven away.

Talia stood frozen in the doorway, holding the door jamb.

"You look horrible," Fiona observed. "What have you been doing out here?"

"What do you think?"

The silence was enough for Talia. She turned and started closing the door. Fiona braced her against it.

"Wait," said Fiona. "You forget I know your secret."

"Because you didn't give me a choice."

"You wouldn't tell me."

"I didn't want to put you in this position. You and I both know that you're putting yourself in danger."

"I'm not allowing you to do this alone anymore."

"This isn't a book, Fiona. This is my life and I don't want you to risk yours as well as mine."

"I know this is your life. I know you don't want me here, but this is where I want to be and I don't think you want to be alone. I think you've spent your life convinced of that." Fiona reached her hand out to Talia. "You don't have to be alone anymore."

"You should leave before I destroy something."

Talia ignored the burning desire to invite Fiona to stay. She knew it was wrong. She knew it was going to end badly. She knew what was going to happen, but Fiona didn't and Talia wasn't going to put Fiona through that. There had been people outside the family who had known the truth when she was growing up. They had stopped coming around as much, but they hadn't spread the word.

Sometimes that was the best the Haywoods could hope for.

If Fiona had followed her to Stretton, then Talia didn't know how to react. No one had ever followed her because they wanted to be there for her. The people who usually followed her were the ones who wanted to scare her off their property or out of their town. They weren't the type to want her company.

"I'm not going to do that."

"You would if you knew what was best for you."

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into."

"I'd like to argue that you don't know what you're doing either, but I'm the one who distracted the guards so you could get out of Rochester."

"That was you?"

Fiona nodded. "It was me. I knew you had to leave for your safety, but I knew the guards weren't going to allow you to so I made sure they were distracted. It's a good thing Colm still thinks he has a chance with me."

"He's still following you?"

"He seems to be under the impression I have a badly behaved dog who needs to be put down."

"He's not that far away," Talia muttered.

"Hey!" said Fiona, sternly. "I want you to stop talking about yourself like that."

"It's true though, isn't it? I'm always going to be the first to be throw out whenever anything strange happens."

Fiona looked out the window at the green hills and the trees beyond. Mist was encroaching on the valley, growing in a wave and swirling over the hill. "Isn't that why you moved here?"

"I'm not naive, Fiona. I know I'm a danger and there are children nearby. Eventually a parent is going to complain about the noise to the authorities and I'm to have to move on."

Fiona shivered and let the animal skin hang over the window once more. "Next time you should go to the Mediterranean. I'm getting tired of being freezing when I visit."

Talia laughed. "I've only just moved."

"Only you would pick a freezing hill to escape to."

"The landscape is beautiful and I don't feel the cold."

"That must be why Colm asks about you."

"I thought he was scared when he saw me start to transform."

"He was. He was terrified, but you must've awakened something in him because every time he goes after me, he asks questions about you."

"He should keep his distance from me. You should too."

"Colm and I can make our own choices. I've already made mine." Fiona walked out the door, paying attention to the fiddly latch.

***

The first transformations in a new town were always the worst. There was no telling where she was going to wake up. She could be miles away from her house and she would have to walk home on aching legs, trailing blood behind her if it had been bad enough. There had been more than one accusation that Talia was a poacher. Colm had been one of the worse offenders.

Talia felt a stick poking into her lower back and dried blood crusting her face. She couldn't see much through her short tousled dark hair. She tried to move, but cried out from the pain.

She knew she had dozed off because it was lighter, drizzling and there was a hand against her forehead. She blinked her eyes open and it was Fiona.

"There you are," said Fiona, softly. "Let's get you out of the forest and into bed."

"You don't have to see me like this."

Fiona ran a hand through Talia's messy hair. "Even when you're foggy from pain and blood loss you try to drive me away."

"It's what I'm good at," Talia muttered.

***

The next time she woke, she was in her bed under several handmade quilts, her face didn't feel as stiff and Fiona was reading in front of the fire. What didn't changed was how dry her mouth felt. She started coughing and couldn't stop. Fiona was there in a second, resting a hand on her back.

"Wa-Wa-Water," Talia said, weakly.

Fiona nodded and crossed the cabin. She got a cup of the liquid from the bucket by the sink and brought to her, helping Talia sit up and drink.

"Thanks," said Talia, when Fiona was helping her back down.

"You don't have to worry. I'm going to stay for a couple days."

"But..."

"I'll figure out a sleeping arrangement and everyone in Rochester thinks I'm in Inverness visiting my cousins. There's no one to miss me."

"I'm glad you're here," Talia muttered.

She was fighting it, but her body was pulling her back under.

"Sleep," said Fiona, running a hand through Talia's hair again. "I'm not going out in the rain anyway. You wolves might like it, but even my Scottish blood can only handle so much."

Talia sank into the warmth of Fiona's hand. After a transformation was one of the few times the cold wormed its way into her veins.