Moonlight

Moonlight -- 1193 words by Sylvia Wrigley ([email protected]) The autumn-red leaves shimmered in the breeze. She watched the sun set behind the far off mountains and waited. The full moon was already high before he arrived. "You're late." "The witching hour is still some time away," he said. "You are just impatient." She scowled at him. "I just don't want anything to go wrong." "It won't." He gave a shrill whistle. A bat swooped down towards them before circling away again. She looked around them impatiently. "Give her a moment," he said. "Her?" "Yes, is there a problem with that?" He whistled again. "I just never thought of werewolves as female." "A bit closed-minded of you," said the warlock as the wolf loped towards them from the trees. She glanced at the moon. "Is it time yet?" He glanced at his watch. "No." A sigh escaped her. "Soon," he said. "Got any food for the mutt?" "Um, no. Should I have brought some?" "Are you in the mood for being mauled?" "Neither by you nor your pet, thank you very much." He laughed. "You take this way too seriously, Mel." He tossed a chunk of meat into the air. The werewolf jumped and snatched it before retreating back towards the trees. "Stay." The warlock turned back towards Melanie. "It's not long to midnight now." "So what do we need to do?" "I'm pretty sure you need to disrobe and dance naked in the moonlight."

"Over my dead body," she snarled. "I don't think that's a prerequisite." He grinned. "Look, it`s ritual. The full moon rises. You boogie about in the nude, I repeat magical incantations, the mutt turns into a rather plain young woman, the spirits of the dead arise and bobs your uncle." She stared at him. "Okay, okay, maybe you don't have to get undressed," he conceded. "But it would have made it a bit more interesting." "I'm not here for interesting!" His voice turned serious. "Why are you here?" She looked away. "I have things I want to know." "Secret knowledge, mysteries of the past, that sort of thing?" She shook her head. "Artefacts of great power?" She kept her eyes on the muddy grass at her feet and shook her head again. He groaned. "Please tell me it's not some sort of lovey-dovey nonsense." Her head jerked up, eyes flashing. "It's not nonsense!" "So it is lovey-dovey?" Her eyes dropped again. A cloud drifted across the moon, interrupting their conversation. The warlock glared at the sky for a moment. "Okay," he said. "No disrobing. I wouldn't want to rob some shining white knight of your charms." She glared at him. "We're running out of time," he continued. "It's almost midnight." His whistle pierced the silence. The werewolf came running. He turned towards her. "Last chance. Waking the dead isn't all it's cracked up to be." She nodded at him. "Okay." He glanced at his watch again. "It's time." The cloud drifted away from the moon, surrounding them with blue light. The werewolf began to stumble away from them.

"Where's it going," she whispered. "She. Her name is Susan. She doesn't want us to see the change, there's no reason why we need to." Melanie nodded seriously. He began to chant, the words coming out faster and faster until it seemed a continuous hum. She watched him nervously and then startled as an echoed voice spoke from behind her. "His name is Bernerd. He's not who you expect." She spun around but there was no one there. "He will wait for you. Do not worry." She turned around again. They were alone. She could see no one. "Who are you?" Her voice was barely audible. "We are the dead. We see all, know all. This is not always a good thing." She cleared her throat and spoke again. "Where are you?" "Every where. No where. Nothing you could comprehend, mortal." The moon disappeared behind another cloud. Darkness surrounded her. She stared directly at the warlock as she asked her next question. "Why can't I see you"" The voice came from behind her again. "You could. If you had danced naked in the moonlight." She spluttered. "You! I saw your lips move!" "Damn, did you? I wasn't expecting you to look at me, to be honest." His chuckle annoyed her further. "What the hell do you think you are playing at?" He raised an eyebrow. "Me? I'm not the one playing with the dark arts without a clue what I'm getting into." "Look, if you don't want to help me ..." Her words trailed off in anger. "I do. Melanie, look at me, I do. There is magic all around us, if you know where to look. It's a question of keeping your eyes open. You had your eyes firmly shut, searching for ... what did you call it? A practitioner of the dark arts?" She glared at him. "A classified ad, Melanie. Looking for magic. Looking for romance from the dead. So, yes, I responded. You could have done worse."

She scowled and turned towards the trees. He sighed and continued. "Susan is half wolf, half dog. Not were-anything. Well trained though, you have to admit. I only had a few days to teach her to slink off on command." He reached out and turned her towards him. "What I didn't expect was for you to be ... you. I thought it would be some silly young school girl, when I answered the ad. And then I talked to you on the phone and you were bright and witty and I wanted to know you better. So I started training the dog and arranged to meet you. Here. At the full moon. You agreed, to my amazement. You never even asked my name." Her voice was sullen. "What is your name?" "Bernerd, of course." He grinned. "I wanted to meet you. You wanted to meet a warlock. I became one, for tonight. It's still the witching hour. I can be whatever you want for the next ... " He glanced at his watch again. "The next 25 minutes." She stared at him for a moment and then finally began to laugh. "Okay, I guess the ad wasn't such a good idea." "Not particularly." "And I have 25 minutes left where you will do what I say?" "Yep." "Okay," she said. "Disrobe and dance nude in the moonlight." "You are joking, yes?" For the first time, he sounded nervous. "Yes." She laughed and started walking towards the road. "Melanie?" She turned back. "Will I see you again?" She nodded. "Here. Midnight. Next full moon. Don't disappoint me." He watched her retreat into the darkness. When she had disappeared he whistled. Susan bounded up to him. He knelt on the damp grass and scratched her head. "I guess that's what I get for reading the classifieds in the first place, eh girl?" He stood and looked up at the cloudy night sky. 28 days. That wasn't too long to wait. Nothing to lose by stopping by, seeing if she was here. What the hell. He strode off to his car with a small smile on his face. There were worse ways to spend an evening.