Hali and Conan sat in total silence at the table once Conan finished his story. He had gone beyond just telling her how he was turned, extending his tale as soon as the words ‘then what’ fell from her lips. By the time he had gotten to the part about the Irish werewolf community, he seemed to be emotionally exhausted from sharing his story. Remembering an origin that he may not have thought about too deeply in decades.

“How long did you stay?” Hali asked. The question wasn’t odd, but he looked at her, surprised that she seemed so interested in a story he had long ago deemed unimportant.

“I left at nineteen,” Conan answered. “I became the master of my wolf half by the time I was fifteen — stayed until I decided it was best I leave on my own. Went back to England, hoping to find my parents.”

“D-did you?” she asked hesitantly.

“I did. My mother was buried next to my sisters, and my father was killed in action and buried in a WWII cemetery.”

Hali frowned and looked down at her hands, a wave of sadness washed over her as she realized just how much Conan had experienced in his younger years, and God only knew how many things in-between that he hadn’t uttered a word about. Then she thought about all the times she had teased him for acting like an old man. Realizing that, well, he WAS an older guy. That despite his appearance, he was still ninety-seven years old. “I’m sorry,” she said sorrowfully, “I teased you a lot over the last two months about acting old. You haven’t had it easy at all, and for that, I am really sorry.”

He reached over and placed his hand on hers, shaking his head. “Trust me, that’s nothing. My system works for me, so I know I’m not wrong. I pay someone to do the taxes for me, but I can do my books by hand, and the flip phone is all I need. It works for me. Listening to the radio brings me back to simpler times before television, so I prefer it to other forms of entertainment.”

“Still, I wouldn’t have teased you if I had known. Not that you had to explain anything. I’m thankful you trusted me enough to tell me though,” Hali told him sincerely.

Conan released her hand and stood, reaching for the empty tea cups and bringing them over to the sink. He placed them inside gently and did the same with the teapot and cookie plate. Hali sat back and watched him as he worked, trying to take in and process all the new information he had given her. She stole glances at him as he manually washed the dishes and had a hard time grasping his true age. He looked so close to her own age and was fairly handsome. She tried to imagine what he would look like if he were his actual age, but she couldn’t help but see him being one of those older men who still looked incredibly good despite getting on in age. Now, she could sense the sadness in him. What she had thought to be seriousness, was really just a man who didn’t fit into the world around him any longer. Even if he said he was fine, she wondered how true that actually was.

“I’m going to call a local pack and see if they have heard anything about this new pack,” he explained, taking out his flip phone from its holster on his hip. Hali stared at him, her eyes giving a questionable look that he answered right away. “There are two packs of werewolves in the city. I’m not part of either of them, but we’re on friendly terms. They must know something about this new pack in town. I also have other contacts I can ask who can surely help as well. I’ll start with the wolves first though.”

Conan click-scrolled through a few contacts and was about to bring the phone up to his ear to call one, when the kitchen was cast into sudden darkness. Conan closed his phone immediately and all Hali could see was the faint light of the old style phone screen dimming before disappearing. She looked around, but saw nothing else.

“City outage?” Hali asked. She prayed that was all it was, but there was a dull, throbbing pain in her stomach, and she already knew it was something much more than just lost power. She heard Conan moving around the kitchen and saw his outline draw back the curtain by the sink and peer outside. There was nothing to be seen in the darkness, but it sounded like he begin to sniff the air. Conan pulled the curtain shut and swore under his breath.

“W-what is it?” she asked.

“They’ve returned, but this time with what I suspect is the whole pack,” Conan replied, “I smell at least ten of them. Including that one from earlier.”

Conan was moving around the kitchen with ease; he could obviously see better in the dark than she could, and he seemed to be trying to figure something out. “The tan one?” she recalled, “I thought he was injured... and they can’t get in, right? Because of the barrier you put in place?”

“They can’t get in, but they will keep coming back…” he said with disdain, “I’m going to have to go out there and fight so they realize you’re not their property.”

“But there are ten of them!” Hali cried “How can you fight ten of them!?”

“Fair warning Hali, before you see something, there are certainly two of them out there that are people you know. I can smell them and recognize their scents. They have been here several times,” Conan said.

“B-but if they didn’t intend harm, why would they have been here?” Hali asked.

“They didn’t intend harm, they were probably sent here to spy,” Conan explained. “They had me fooled too. But just so you’re aware, when I knock them out, they are going to turn back to their human forms.”

He moved closer to her in the darkness and took her hand, placing his cellphone in her open palm. “I need you to call someone on my contact list. There is a contact named Eleanor. I need you to call her and tell her we need her and the rest to come here. There is going to be an outright battle and we need her help.”

“Eleanor? Amy’s grandmother?” Hali looked confused.

Conan didn’t say anything, but had moved closer to the door. She heard the sound of the door being opened a crack, then the faint sound of clothing rustling, followed by what sounded like a soft pile being placed on the counter nearby. She realized that Conan was undressing and getting ready to go outside to fight. Her grip on the phone tightened and she quickly flipped it open, looking for the contact they needed and hoping they would pick up at such a late hour.