Prompt: Werefino

I dropped Cara at her dad’s and made my way home. As I fiddled with the key in my front door, I sensed movement behind me and whipped around.

“Stacy?” It was my sister-in-law. Former. I guess. She was disheveled, and…sniffing me? She crouched and sniffed around my waist, then up my side to my neck. I froze. What the?

Suddenly I felt the sharp sting of a lash against my back, and I fell against Stacy, trying to get away from whatever was behind me. I heard a whoosh through the air, and her hand shot up, grabbing the silver tip of a—a whip? I pushed away from her, to the side, trying to get away from both sides at once.

Two Native American men stood behind me, one holding the whip above his head, the other with another silver-wrapped rope held in both hands. “Come, werefino. You know it’s better if you come with us now.”

“What are you guys doing here? I’m calling the cops!” I fumbled to pull my phone out of my coat pocket.

“No,” The older man said, lowering the whip and holding out his open hand in a plea. “We don’t mean to hurt you or scare you.”

“Well, you’ve done both,” I snapped. “Stacy, what the heck is going on?”

“She’s not Stacy. Anymore,” the younger man said. He looked at her, and sorrow furrowed his brow and darkened his eyes. He loved her. But she had been with Megan for—how long? Almost 20 years?

“What do you mean?” I caught his words and turned to Stacy. She was still sniffing the air, and I got a good look at her eyes. There was no white. Her rich dark brown iris filled her entire eye, with huge black pupils in the middle.

“Is she on drugs?” I knew there had been trouble going on in the Asheville family, but I was persona non grata these days. I’m sure no one thought she would show up on my door step. How had she even found me?

“No, she is werefino,” the older man said. He gestured to my door. Can we bring her inside? It will be safer to talk in there, so she cannot run away.”

Safer for whom? I still wanted to call the cops, but I pushed my door open and led them in. Stacy followed me, then pushed past, sniffing as she wandered around the open rooms.

I turned to the two men as they closed the door. “Now, tell me what the heck is going on. What’s a werefino?”

To be continued, perhaps

Dogs in house	Houdini
Time writing	~25 minutes
December word count	10,710