It was early November, but the town workers were already setting the garlands of Christmas lights. They called it a town because it had originally been so, but the real estate boom had made it grow to the not inconsiderable figure of forty thousand inhabitants. It was much larger than El Cerro, which had a couple of thousand inhabitants, mostly humble people who worked the land, but it had been one of the few postings they could both ask for and which met the requirements they were looking for. In fact, the strong point was its old town, in which there was a convent, a church and a palace that once belonged to a prince, and of which some stories were told that may or may not be true. Just behind the palace, wrapping the village in an embrace, there was an oak forest that belonged to the regional park of the middle course of the Guadarrama River. It was not the pine forest of the Segovian sierra, but the times they had walked through it they had enjoyed it just the same.
That early November afternoon the two officers had gone out for a normal patrol, accompanied by Ginger, the German shepherd puppy that Sofia was training to search for traces. They were walking along one of the town’s main streets. There were many bars, restaurants, and stores of all kinds, from haberdasheries, hairdressers and hardware stores to places that sold home decorations. Of course, there was also a traditional Seven Eleven. It was cold, as expected, since the peaks of the distant Madrid sierra were covered with snow, but that did not seem to be a problem for people to go out. In El Cerro they tended to avoid very cold weather except out of necessity, but life here was chaotic and fast-paced, and the streets were always bustling with people coming and going in a hurry. To Sofia it was a bit stressful, and although her friend hadn''t said anything, she knew he felt the same way.
“
“
Something tingled in Sofia''s belly, a distant memory that brought a blush to her cheeks and a smile to her face. It seemed unbelievable that a year and a half had gone by since that moment when she fell asleep in his arms, listening to his heartbeat, and felt his lips brush her forehead in an affectionate kiss. The morning lights and the songs of the birds had been the first thing to greet them, and at first they had felt quite embarrassed but didn’t think much about it. It hadn’t been the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last.
“
“
“I guess what we did in El Cerro wasn''t very normal,” Dave said with a little laugh, scratching the back of his head.
“
“
“
“
“
When they went for a run in the woods, sometimes they would get completely carried away, and end up lying on the grass, staring at the stars in silence. If it was cold, Dave would cuddle her to cover her with his thick white fur, and more than once she had joined him on full moon nights so he wouldn''t feel lonely. What a strange contradiction. All her life, what she had longed for was a normal life, and now she was delighted at the thought of her best friend being a cinanthrope.
“
So distracted had she been that she didn''t even notice him looking at her, his head tilted to one side in that confused puppy gesture. Blushing, Sofia twisted her lips into a small smile and tried to look somewhat normal.
“
“
“Excuse me, officers, could I ask you a question?” said a lady who was approaching the two civil guards.
“
“
“
The energy inside her suddenly stirred. Right at that moment, Dave took a deep breath and put a hand to his chest, but there was no further gesture. Sofia looked up at the sky. The moon was rising and the full moon was very close. Again she turned to her friend, who gesticulated pointing out directions to the lady. On his lips was that controlled smile, the one that had unsettled Sofia when she first met him, and which she now knew was to hide his fangs. His professionalism and composure was immaculate, despite the discomfort she knew he was feeling. Dave had told her that in the days before and after the full moon, he still suffered partial changes; his fangs got larger and his tail grew. He could control it, but it was painful and not worth it. Discreetly she looked down at his trousers where, indeed, the outline of his furry tail was subtly visible. Sofia bit her lip and blushed. She found his wild looks very attractive.
The woman thanked the officer, and he responded politely before taking his leave to continue his patrol with her friend.
“
“Uncomfortable, you know that, but that''s preferable to the pain of trying to contain it,” he commented, and twisted his lips into an embarrassed grimace as he scratched the back of his head.
“
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“
As he did, his eyes glowed a fleeting greenish colour. His lips curved into a slight smile, a smile that grew wider as his gaze descended to meet his friend’s. With his head tilted slightly to one side in a thoughtful expression, he watched her closely causing her belly to quiver and a noticeable blush to ascend to her cheeks. Behind the small opening between his lips Sofia could see the tip of fangs that were not human, a trait that was especially noticeable on nights like that one.
“Sofia,” he took a deep breath and ran his tongue over his lips, “Do you have something to do tonight? I thought we could take a walk through the woods, if you''d like, of course.” His voice shook a little and he avoided her gaze to stare at the tiled floor as if he found it interesting.
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
Raising one of his eyebrows Dave looked at the coroner and tilted his head to one side. For an instant Sofia thought she saw him move his nose flaps, but the boy turned away and went to look for a table where he could leave the glass. Sofia left her beer on the same table, crossing a brief glance with her friend as she walked past him, and went to the cue rack hanging on the wall to get a cue stick. Looking at it, she wondered how she was supposed to do that. She knew the theory, she had to hit the colored balls with the white ball, but she had no idea how to hold the thing.
“
“
“
At that moment she realized how close he was, how close their faces were, their lips. Sofia blushed and looked away quickly, but not before noticing the small smile that had appeared on Sergi''s lips, and the tense expression on Dave''s face. She had known Sergi for months and in that time they had hit it off quite well, but that was the first time she had begun to wonder if she liked him. That she liked Dave was no secret, but he didn''t feel the same way about her and there was no point in waiting for him forever. At some point her own heart would start to realize other people existed.
“
“
“
Then he leaned over the table and, after quickly calculating the trajectory, moved the cue stick several times back and forth and hit the white ball. The cue ball hit the handful of colored ones and scattered them all over the table. Some were quite close to entering the holes, but did not fall in completely. To celebrate his success, Sergi smiled in Sofia''s direction and winked mischievously. Blushing, she shyly lowered her gaze and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. He was very different from her friend. In a similar situation where their lips had almost touched Dave had gotten nervous and hadn’t known what to do. Sergi was being more mature, more mischievous.
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
The boy just smiled sadly, and shook his head, pleading with his eyes to let it go. Then he went to Sergi and shook his hand goodbye while he said that he was tired and wanted to go home. Sofia watched him as he left, her fingers caressing the spot on her cheek where his lips had landed. He seemed so normal, but she knew him and could see the tension in his breathing, in his slightly raised shoulders and on the bristled hair at the back of his head. He didn''t leave, he didn''t leave his job or the barracks, but it was a goodbye kiss in a sense. In the following weeks he continued to accompany her on walks with Kas and Ginger, and they would meet for a drink at home or at a bar.