Nate was in the kitchen helping his Mom do dishes when there was a knock at the front door. Nate turned and watched his Dad answer the door. Standing in the doorway was a middle aged woman with long brown hair with streaks of gray in it. Standing next to her was the young man he had met at lunch, Ben.
“Hello, can I help you?” asked William, confused as to who this woman was or why she was there.
“My name is Samantha Twist and this is my son, Ben. I’m the Chancellor of Moon Lake and we can by to welcome you to our fair town.”
“Oh, wow, why thank you. We appreciate that.” William still seemed a bit baffled by this, but was thinking maybe he just wasn’t used to small town hospitality.
“Can we come in? I have some important things we need to discuss with your family.” Samantha gave William a reassuring smile.
“Um, yeah, sure come on in.” William opened the screen door for Samantha and Ben. “We can go into the Living Room and talk. Martha, Nate, Eric, come on and say hi to our guests.”
Nate looked to his mom and shrugged, setting the towel on the kitchen counter and following his Dad, Samantha and Ben into the living room, his Mom right behind him. Nate noticed Ben was hanging back by the entrance to the living room and stood by him.
“You neglected to mention she was your Mother.” Nate looked at Ben, waiting for an explanation.
“You’re going to want to sit down for this. Trust me.” Ben looked deadly serious.
“Okay,” Nate walked over and sat down next to his mother. Samantha took a seat across from them in one of the easy chairs by the fireplace. Eric sat on the other side of Martha and William in his usual recliner.
Samantha took a deep breath and then let it go. “I’ve done this a dozen times and it never gets any easier. Okay, here goes. Moon Lake is not your usual small town.”
The Anderson family all stared at one another, confused by that statement. They turned back to Samantha.
“It’s not?” asked Martha.
“No, it’s not.” Samantha paused for a moment. She was working up the courage to say the next part, knowing what their reaction was going to be. Samantha hated this part of her job. “Moon Lake was created as a haven for Werebeasts.”
“Really?” Cool.” whispered Nate and looked at Ben. He noticed Ben looked relieved and started smiling. And then his parents started talking.
“I’m sorry, what?” asked William.
“Werebeasts. You know, Werewolves, Werebears, Werecats, Weredogs, Weretigers, Werehorses...we even have a family of Wererats and Wereracoons, believe it or not,” explained Samantha.
“That’s insane, those things aren’t real,” replied Martha.
Ben approached the group. “I assure you Mrs. Anderson, we very much are real.”
“Listen son, maybe you should just wait outside and not indulge in this delusion you two seem to share," replied William with a slightly hostile tone.
“Does this look like a delusion to you?” asked Ben, holding up his left hand for all to see. All four of the family members watched in awe and shock as Ben’s fingernails slowly grew out into claws as brown hairs started to grow in on his forearm.
“Gnarly,” whispered Nate.
“Well, at least your eldest seems receptive,” replied Samantha.
“I’m not surprised. Mr. Horror movies and monsters. I don’t know where he gets it from, but this place is probably paradise for him.” said William, snidely. Nate ignored him, focused instead on Ben. He watched as Ben lowered his arm and it slowly shifted back to normal.
“This is important though, Mr. Anderson. You see, there’s a catch to all of this. Now that you know the secret, at least one of your family members has to join one of the werebeast groups I just mentioned. You will have 48 hours to decide which one. If you try to leave or resist in any way, you will be stopped and you will be forced to become one or you will be killed.”
"This is ridiculous! You can't make us do this! Why would anyone agree to this?!" exclaimed Martha.
"Well, our town elders have found the M.A.D policy to be the most effective way of containing our town's secret," replied Samantha.
"Mad? What does that mean?" asked Eric.
"Mutually assured destruction. Each party has exactly the same to lose." replied Nate. He was hanging on every word and debating whether or not to speak up and volunteer as the one to be turned. His life long love of werewolves and secret desire to be one had been his most closely guarded secret that he kept from his family though and even now was finding it difficult to admit.
Before he could, the other three members of the family exploded in a chorus of “What?” “You can’t do that” and “This is a nightmare!” Nate leaned back and tried to decide what he wanted to become as well as block out his family’s reactions. Picking up on his discomfort, Ben walked over to Nate
“Do you want to get out of here?” asked Ben, whispering in Nate’s ear.
Nate nodded and the two quietly walked out of the room as Samantha tried to talk some sense to the rest of Nate’s family.
“Really I’m just the messenger. It’s the town elders who have decided this.” Samantha was doing her best to calm them down. She noticed Ben and Nate going off alone. At least one member of the family was okay with this development. That was better than most.
Nate closed the front door and sat next to Ben on the porch swing. They both quietly swung back and forth, listening the sounds of his family arguing with Samantha in the house. Ben turned to Nate and finally broke the silence.
“So, what are you thinking?” he asked.
“Would it be okay to say I’m a bit overwhelmed? Excited and intrigued but overwhelmed?” replied Nate.
“I’d say that’s a fair reaction. I sometimes forget what it must be like for people who didn’t grow up around this. I mean what’s normal for me…”
“Is definitely not for me. Although…” Nate started to blush, “It had been a fantasy of mine.”
“Really?” Ben couldn’t help but smile. He wasn’t used to such an initially positive reaction to someone who wasn’t from Moon Lake.
“Yeah.” Nate decidedly to quickly change the subject. “So, can I ask what you are? She rattled off quite the list in there…”
Ben nodded. “Okay, so I’m a werewolf.”
“Awesome,” interjected Nate.
“Thank you.” Ben smiled. “Samantha in there is my adoptive mother. She’s a werecat as is my other Mom Frances.”
Nate’s eyes went wide with surprise. “You’re adopted? That’s interesting.”
“My parents died in a car crash when I was little. Samantha and Frances took me in as my parents didn’t have any other family really and they were good friends with them.” Ben looked down at his shoes as he talked about his past. Nate wasn’t sure how it felt for him.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” started Nate.
“Nah, it’s okay. It is what it is.”
The two of them were interrupted by the sounds of howls emanating from the woods behind the house. Ben turned to Nate and smiled.
“Hey, I think that’s some of the other werewolves from school. Do you want to meet them? Might help you make up your mind if you want to join us.” asked Ben.
“Sure!” replied Nate, enthusiastically. The two got up and started walking towards the woods.