Chapter Text

Chapter 1

Tally

Weather in the Midwest was always an odd thing. When folks think of summer, they think hot as all living hell that cools down when September rolls around. Autumn is when it begins to get cooler, temperatures fading down into the sixties where hot coffees and cute jackets reign supreme. But in the Midwest that shift is always so sudden, like getting whiplash when you hit the breaks on your car too fast. One night it is eighty degrees deep into October and then the following weeks fall deep into the early fifties and everyone is left freezing their asses off.

Tally always wanted to get out of the state, flee entirely from the area. There was little to do, little to see, and no matter where you went the towns were small enough to always recognize an outsider. But the world was not kind, it was more of a beast that only sought to consume. So when Tally wasn’t working, she left town and simply drove to different places. Some were quite close by and others were far out in the middle of nowhere.

That was fine for her. It was not like there was anyone waiting for her at home. No friends. No family. No nothing. Just a shitty dead end job that just barely made ends meet. Not that she particularly cared, she found there to be some level of delusion to those who made their careers and work their entire personality. In the end they would all be dust, and Tally would prefer to have memories of, at the very least, seeing the world outside her doors than spend ninety hours a week to raise a nuclear family of four. She was alone and would always be that way. It didn’t matter. It would be fine.

It was always fine.

This town was off the beaten path, over a hundred miles out from her home. She had noticed signs on a message board outside of a hiking trail where she had decided to spend her Friday night. Bars, drinks, live music? Sure, why the hell not? While Tally was not the largest fans of clubs, finding it far too overstimulating for her tastes, small town bars were always different. Even if she rarely drank, there was something about the feeling of these places that drew her in. For just a brief moment, the woman was a part of something else, part of a different community. That was intoxicating, to feel belonging somewhere.

The Wolf’s Den was a hell of a name for a bar though, as she pulled up in her old beat up shitty sedan. While it always felt like her poor car was about to give up the ghost, it held on by sheer force of will. She liked that in her vehicle, almost a mechanical representation of herself. On the outside, the bar looked about what she expected. An older place, probably built in the seventies, that did not need to change to survive. The Midwest did not expect much to change within its boundaries. Sprawling cities like Chicago were the exception, the so-called rarity, that vanished for ninety-percent of the states in it.

Admittedly, she had grown rather fond of the rust and decay and remain of the area. Maybe the loss of that aesthetic is what kept her staying despite the other part of her desiring change. But change? Change wasn’t in the cards for Tally. There was not a reason to change, not even for herself. It was easier to escape elsewhere and simply exist.

Well, that’s a depressing thought, Tally thought to herself. She offered a sigh to nobody as she got out of her car, locking it, and walking into the drinking establishment. The cigarette stench hit her like a truck, but she was used to it. Friday night meant that the place was rather busy, since towns like this did not tend to have many public places to commune. Especially those who had yet to be run over by the truck that was modern gentrification. The neon lights from aging fluorescent beer logo signs made it feel like she had stepped out of reality and into some constructed place, where everyone could temporarily leave their lives.

Finding an empty stool at the bar, Tally made herself comfortable as she thought about whether or not she would drink that night. Not like she had anywhere to be, so sleeping in her car would probably be fine. She wasn’t irresponsible enough to try to drive drunk. At least, she wasn’t to that level of self-destruction yet. The bartender approached to ask what Tally wanted.

“Something to get me slightly below shitfaced.” She responded, receiving a knowing nod of understanding from the old graying man, who went to retrieve something to her specifications.

The music playing loudly was nothing live yet, just something playing on an old jukebox. Dad rock is what Tally would call it, so she slipped in her own ear pods to try and avoid it until something else was played. She needed to loosen up and kill the anxiety that was boiling deep away inside her.

Soon enough the bartender came back and put the drink down.

“I don’t tend to… recommend drinking to drown out your sorrows, kid. But you look like you need one.” He raised his index finger. “One drink. That’ll get you through the night, okay?”

“Mmm. I understand. I don’t drink too often. I just need it.” Tally sighed.

“I get it, kid. You don’t end up here by accident. No one does.”

The smell was powerful, that was her first thought. It probably would burn the hell out of her throat once she actually started drinking, but she needed a few seconds to process that. What did he mean no one ended up here by accident? Weird thing to say, but she guessed the wise old bartender shtick came with the job to be some sort of pseudo advice giver slash therapist.

Her eyes scanned over the bar behind her, looking around at all of the different people. They seemed like your typical average lot for a place like this, the regulars who made their home here with the people they enjoyed seeing. Down in a booth at the end of the building there was… there was a woman who immediately caught the out of towner’s eye.

Even from this distance, Tally could tell she was tall. She wore a black jacket over top what looked like a white tank top. Her hair was short, colored as a dazzling silver that would make the moon jealous. In the woman’s hand was a beer bottle, lonely as she drank it. No friends? That’s shocking, she looked way too hot to not have someone here with her. Or maybe she was like Tally, herself, was? Just someone looking for a…

Shit. They made eye contact. The two stared for a few brief moments before the woman got up and began approaching rather quickly with long strides. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Tally was not prepared for this. Not in any way, shape or form.

When she was finally next to her, the woman taking a seat at the empty stool next to Tally, she noticed another thing about this mystery woman. Eyes were a similar silver color… Must have been contacts or something. Were eyes able to look like that? They were beautiful, truly everything that Tally was attracted to in a single woman. Up close she could see the coat was a little tight around her arms, and she was probably rather well endowed with those muscles. And now she was here, in front of her.

Oh, this was bad, Tally thought to herself. This was beyond anything she ever prepared herself for. Usually ear pods or headphones were the universal sign for leaving somebody alone. But this woman was just staring at her intently, waiting as though she had every minute in the universe to wait for the outsider to interact. The pressure was on for a multitude of reasons, but the most important one was that Tally was terrible at talking to anyone, let alone extremely attractive butch women who looked like they ate mousey little dorks like Tally for breakfast.

For a few more minutes this silent standoff continued, the woman’s eyes piercing through to the shorter woman’s soul. At some point she would need to respond, especially as Tally’s own eyes were dodging back and forth to nearly make full eye contact. It was like a cruel game of cat and mouse that did not require anything other than their own silence, her own music pumping away. But eventually someone had to falter, and Tally was unfortunately far worse at things than her opponent. She couldn’t help but make full, unfettered eye contact for more than ten seconds. The sly smirk on the winner’s face only made the outside woman turn a bright red.

Admitting defeat was a difficult thing to do, but she ripped the ear pods out of her head and put them away.

“Was waiting for you to turn off whatever you were listening to. Must have been a really good song.” The stranger said, her voice deeper and huskier in a way that matched her appearance. So confident and full of herself, as though she knew everything would always turn out in her favor. “So… saw you from across the bar…”

Tally didn’t want to laugh, but she could not help herself from snorting at the joke.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” The woman responded. “Don’t see too many strangers wander into our town. How’d ya end up here, stranger?” She leaned down on the bar, resting her cheek against her leaned hand and elbow.

“Saw a sign on one of those boards on the trail a couple miles out.” Tally answered, taking a sip of her drink. It was strong and she wanted to spit it out, but she resisted. Oh yeah, that was… that was sure to get her to slightly below shitfaced at some point. “So thought I’d ride on in… god…”

“Can’t handle your drinks?”

“I’ve had a shitty week so I’ll drink… a little above my normal pay grade here.” She took a deep breath before coughing a bit.

“Cute girl like you having a bad time? Damn, it’s a good thing I came along then.” The woman took a drink from the beer she was sipping from. “Because a place like this can be dangerous for outsiders.”

“Is that supposed to be a move?”

“It’s a good move. But also pretty true. Wolf’s Den is probably the safest place you could have wandered into.” The woman leaned back a bit. “I’m Selene. You?”

“Tally. Nice to meetcha.” Tally responded. She did not have game in the slightest fashion and wondered if this buff lady would figure that out sooner than later. “I’m from Bakerfield.”

“Shit, that’s quite a drive, ain’t it?” Selene raised an eyebrow. Talking to her felt more… normal than she had expected. Flirtation was not a game that Tally was particularly good at, and with there being no flirting it felt like expectations were gone.

“A little bit, but I like to get out of town, you know?” Tally sighed a bit and took a bit more of her drink, which was a little bit easier to do on the second one. “Not a whole lot to do around there so I like to go to other towns where there isn’t a whole lot to do. Little towns like this I used to hate but going to so many of them… makes me realize how much I fucking hate the city.”

“Woman after my own heart. Fuck, yeah there ain’t a whole lot to do here, but it’s home I can tell ya that.” Selene said with a smile. “Cities are way too impersonal.”

“I can’t imagine traveling for a few hours and still being in the same city. That’s just… I don’t want that to be my whole world.” Oh fuck, she was starting to feel it. She was an emotional drunk. “And like so I come to places like this and it lets me feel like I’m in a different world for a bit. I like to hike a little and then read in the quiet… It can be really nice… Relaxing even. But I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I didn’t say it was lonely sometimes.”

“Shit, that’s kinda sad, Tally.” Selene offered a sympathetic face and reached out, giving her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. Shit she was fucking strong, even just from that small example.

“Fuck, sorry, I just say shit when I drink.” Tally said, slightly embarrassed. Yet the brown haired woman could not help but take another sip of her highly alcoholic drink. It didn’t help that she was a lightweight. So much of her wanted to run away, go out into her car and hide from making a fool of herself in front of this woman she was increasingly attracted to. How could one person even be this hot? She wondered what Selene looked like without the jacket on…

“Don’t we all? Don’t worry about it, if anyone makes fun of ya, I’ll punch ‘em in the face for you. How’s that sound?” Selene was a kind person, entertaining Tally like this.

“Pretty hot actually.” Shit. That was not a slick move. She should stop drinking, but what if she had the rest of what she had? Selene just laughed at that, like it was the funniest thing in the world. Clearly, she was still sober while Tally, herself, was quickly finding herself increasingly not sober. “Shit I didn’t meant that. I mean I did mean that because like wow, but also like I didn’t mean to tell you that because I didn’t want to come off as desperate.”

“Yeah, uh huh.” She looked pleased with herself, that complete and utter confidence in herself still shining through. “Desperate. If you were really that desperate, I’m sure you’d say more than just how hot I was. Let me tell you something.” Selene extended her hand out, beckoning her new acquaintance closer. Tally moved herself closer, against her better judgment, to hear what she had to say. It was like a compulsion, like the words themselves were an intoxicant making her even more inebriated simply by listening. “I think you’re pretty hot yourself.”

That did not make sense. Tally turned red as she quickly leaned back, downing the rest of her drink. That was a sufficient amount to deal with this. Attractive women did not flirt with her. That was just a cold, hard fact. She was the epitome of not hot. She was a completely average woman with poor eyesight that looked like the stereotypical example of a Midwesterner. Nothing about her screamed particularly interesting. It didn’t help her from feeling flushed and embarrassed but…

“I dunno ‘bout that.” Tally argued back, furrowing her brow a bit. “Are you just… messing with me?”

“Oh if I wanted to mess with you, I would have already done it by now.” Selene responded. “But how about I meet you halfway, hmm? I like who I like, and that’s all there is to it. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have talked to you at all. And I’m not particularly into… messing with people who haven’t done wrong by me.”

“… Oh.”

“You look well read. And I like that in a woman.” Selene seemed to purr or something, or maybe Tally’s ears weren’t working properly anymore. That must have been a high amount of alcohol in that drink… The silver haired woman took a drink, smirking again. “Come on, tell me you don’t like what you see too?”

“Mmm I mean I dooooooo. That’s not fair, you’re like… smoking hot.” Tally wished she could have had a better way to put her words together here. But she got the point across. “And like… I’m like here. Like a five… middle down the road like a three lane highway.”

“Doesn’t really make any sense to me.” Selene said, finishing the bottle that was in her hands and putting it down. “Live a little for once. You get out a lot, but doesn’t look like you get out if you catch my drift.” Selene was feeling it now too, the flush on her face getting worse the more she drank.

Tally just looked back at her confused, failing to process the string of words that had been input into her mind.

“Fuckkkkk that doesn’t make sense either does it?”

“Pffft, what makes sense anyway?” Tally responded, snorting again. “Like I just do what I do ‘cause I can, you know? I like doin’ it but I wish I had like… someone to do it with, ya know?”

“Shit, I get you. Like I just wanna be more than what I am.” Selene rolled her eyes a bit. “Like I got all these responsibilities but like no one to help the load. I got sooooooo many folks relying on me! And like! I got no one to rely on.”

“You’re so real for that, Selene, you know that right?” Tally leaned forward a bit. “Like you’re so real and like I get it. We’re like social animals or something but like people are mean and I don’t think we need it. Like we don’t gotta take it.”

“We don’t have to take it. Like there’s all these rules and like it’s bullshit.” Selene responded. “I should get to do what I need to do and not have to go by all these traditions.”

“I dunno what you mean, but you are right.” The shorter woman leaned onto Selene’s shoulder a bit. “You should DO what you gotta do to feel okay, who cares what other people say? Like you’re really nice and stuff and I think you deserve to feel nice too, because… that’s what I think.”

Selene just gave a light chuckle as she stared at Tally, their eyes locking again for a few moments.

“My place is like… right down the road… And seeing as we’re both… pretty fucked up… Wanna come home with me or something?”

“That sounds better than a car… Sure! Why the heck not?” Tally said, as she stumbled up to her legs.

“Fuck yeah!” Selene yelled, jumping to her feet and slamming down several crumpled bills onto the bar counter top. The older bartender quietly raised an eyebrow. “Keep the change, Tom… I’m gonna take this pretty little lady home… Fuck the consequences!”

“Yeah fuck consequences!” Tally responded, her hand being held onto tightly by the short-haired woman. Woah… she was like a full head taller than Tally was and Tally wasn’t particularly the shortest person in the world. “Awesome… You’re awesome…”

“Well you’re like awesome too… Fuck it, let’s gooooo!”

It was warm. That was the thing that shocked her the most as she stirred into wakefulness. Usually, Tally’s car would have been freezing cold from the outside air and lack of heat. But here, this morning? Tally felt so warm, a pressure around her chest that made her want to keep sleeping in. Leaning back into Selene’s strong, muscular arms only served…

Wait. What was she thinking to herself? Her eyes shot open to reveal that she was not in her car, as she expected, but rather was looking directly at a window with the shades closed. The overcast skies did not make it particularly bright, but the sunlight hidden behind heavy clouds still allowed grey light to pour in. And then there was also the other problem she noticed: a lack of clothes on her own body and being pressed up against another woman with no clothes on her body.

What? No. No. No! She did not. Turning her head around as far as she could, she saw Selene, arms wrapped around Tally’s chest, happily dozed off behind her. She did. Now that was unexpected. Drunk as shit Tally had the confidence to… Oh no, was this bad? Good? How did things work when you had sex with someone you just met? How did things work when you lost your virginity to someone you just met?

It was all rather hazy, but she could pick out bits and pieces of the previous night. They got drunk, she got invited to sleep at Selene’s home… Fuck, she initiated. She initiated the minute they got through the door. Her faced turned a brilliant crimson, as bright as a raging fire, and she moved her hands carefully up.

“Mmm… Mornin’ babe… Mmm…” The hands around her chest tightened.

“G… good morning!” Tally nervously laughed, glad that Selene could not see her face. It wasn’t a bad feeling, necessarily, but the foreignness to the situation only made her anxious.

“What a night… huh?”

“Yeah… that was certainly a night.” Another anxiety filled laugh.

Suddenly, Tally found herself being rolled over so the two could look at each other. Oh fuck, the butch woman looked so soft in that moment, her eyes glazed over with… reverence? It was a good look… Tally exhaled a bit and couldn’t help but take in the scent on the woman. It was so familiar, it felt like… home? That was weird. Home wasn’t here, but it certainly felt here. In a flash the anxiety was drained away from her chest, Tally choosing to rest her head onto Selene’s strong and sturdy chest. Being so close to Selene, that smell pouring into her olfactory senses like she was in the perfume department at some rundown mall… It all felt so right, more right than she had ever felt in a long time.

“You were really something, Tally.” Selene said with a warm laugh. “You said it was your first time, but… you certainly gave into those natural instincts of yours right away.”

“Ugh… I’m sorrrrry. It’s not my fault I never slept with anyone before.” The shorter woman groaned, lightly banging her hand against the bigger woman.

“Oh be quiet, I’m only teasing you. That was better than anything I’ve ever done before. It was so… right.” Selene smirked a bit and nestled her head into the crook of Tally’s shoulder. “You… Oh… Oh shit…”

“Hmm…? What is it?”

“Oh. My. God.”

“What? Do I smell that good?”

“H-Huh? Oh I mean, yeah, fuck you smell really good like… intoxicatingly good but…”

Tally moved her head a bit and raised an eyebrow.

“What? You were singing my praises and now you have a hang up?”

“Umm… Not a hang up, per say?” Selene leaned back a bit, a sheepish smile on her face. “We got pretty uh… hard into the biting, didn’t we?”

“I think so? I remember liking it, that’s for certain.” Tally snaked closer to Selene. “Why do you ask?”

“I bit you… pretty hard on your neck… And you know… I wake up and look at you and fuck you are gorgeous, you know that right? Like absolutely stunning.”

“W-Wow, kind of a lot to hit me with all at once…” Tally laughed nervously, once more heat rising into her cheeks. “But you know, not a lot of people say that, so don’t stop…”

“I bit you, Tally… And your body took it.”

“My body… took it?”

“Tally…” Selene grabbed her by the arms and looked at her seriously. “I won’t say we fucked up, but I will say we did something last night we can’t take back.”

“You mean my virginity?” Tally asked, getting a laugh in return.

“Noooo, stop that. I’m trying to be serious here.” Selene laughed a bit more, getting it out of her system. “Seriously though… Tally, I know I’m going to sound… like an insane person when I say this. Like you aren’t going to believe me, and I am going to have to do something to make you believe me.”

Another raised eyebrow.

“Okay…?”

“Tally… I’m a… I’m… I’m you know… Fuck.”

“A lesbian?”

“Stop! Hush your mouth, pretty girl. Or my strap is going back in there, got it?” A finger was pressed to Tally’s lips, her head nodding up and down. “Good girl. Now… Tally, I am a… werewolf… Now! I know you’re probably thinking I am a crazy person. I am not. I bit you last night and… in a hormone inducing passion, bit you extremely hard into your carotid artery. The bite took, so to speak, in the same way an organ transplant does. Are you following?”

This was a lot for Tally to… process, but she nodded.

“You’re going to turn into a werewolf… Like I am. And there isn’t a way to go back. The change is gradual and I am going to be here to help you along the way, okay?” Selene’s hand moved over top to Tally’s. “You’re my responsibility now and we’re going to get through this, okay?”

Tally nodded again, eyes widened in confusion. This sounded insane. These were the ramblings of a woman who fell too deeply into what she assumed was roleplay. But before she could say or do anything, Selene spoke again.

“Here.” She commanded. The force with which she spoke rang Tally to her core, and the woman found herself pressing up against the more muscular Selene for safety. But… Why? Why would… Unless… This was real. This was real and her entire life had just fallen apart into pieces. But at the same time… She felt safe and warm here. But more importantly…

Tally didn’t feel so alone anymore. And that didn’t feel so bad to how she had been feeling.

“Shit… so we’re like… U-Haul lesbians now?”