Rougarou Girlfriend: Gisela (rough draft)

The lineage of mayors in Hearthway Hollow is a short one. For the longest time, there hadn’t been any sort of government outside the Elders and their circle. It wasn’t until the nineties that a bodying town government was formed. It was in an attempt to protect the human interest, which was slowly growing in Hearthway Hollow.

I used to work with the parks department, a rather new and fledgling wing of this government. From the time I moved to Hearthway Hollow when I was a teen, I had worked there doing gardening and clean up, moving my way up through the ranks until I was head of it. I was asked if I would run for mayor when the elections were coming up. I was backed by Mrs. Locklear, who I knew was important to the town, but I never realized how important until I became elected.

It was when I was elected mayor that I was informed of the secret of Hearthway Hollow and how it was my job to protect it, as well as the humans within the town. I had known Adam since I moved to Hearthway Hollow, we were the same age, graduated together, all that. Finding out he was the Alpha of this werewolf town was a bit of a shock. It all was, really. 

I decided, rather than dwelling on that, I would do my best to help Hearthway Hollow and lead the people there. Despite the fact I was a human, I was often asked to join in on meetings with Adam and the Elders. They wanted my input as the elected official in order to make decisions for the best of the pack and town as a whole. Sometimes it felt strange being the token human. Looking at Billy, Mrs. Locklear, even Adam, I couldn’t help but feel inadequate a lot of times. Especially when it felt like I was just playing mayor. After all, it was Adam and the Elders who led Hearthway Hollow, what did I really contribute besides an alibi for the town?

One afternoon as I’m in my office, Mrs. Locklear walks in. She strides into the place like she owns it, then sits down in one of the chairs before my desk. She has a quiet look to her, but I know there is nothing quite so silent about her. Mrs. Locklear is calm composure blanketing an active volcano. I have learned that where there is a Locklear, there is sure to be a commotion.

“What is it, Mrs. Locklear?” I ask. “If there is another meeting with the Elders tonight, I am afraid I cannot attend. I have a date that I am looking forward to.”

“Nothing like that, Gevaudan,” she says with a slightly sly tone. “There’s just something I feel you should be informed about. You see, my daughter is coming home for a visit this weekend.”

I purse my brow slightly. “Your daughter?”

Mrs. Locklear nods. “She was the first child that my wife and I adopted. Remember the Cabin Girl?”

It was a news story that had happened while I was still in high school. The ranger station was mapping out how to expand the nature reserve when they found a cabin in the woods. Inside, they found the body of a man who had died merely a few days before. Upon further inspection, they found a young girl hiding in the basement, terrified. The story was widespread through Hearthway Hollow, but the girl was kept hidden to protect her.

“I never knew you adopted her,” I reply.

“That was what we thought was best for her, Kaga and I. We didn’t want her headlined as ‘The Cabin Girl’ to affect what could be a very normal childhood. We homeschooled her until the hype died down and we let her make decisions she felt best suited her. But Kaga and I soon discovered we didn’t have an ordinary little girl on our hands.”

I was prepared for this story to take the usual course. “She was a were as well?” 

“No,” Mrs. Locklear sighs heavily. “Our daughter was something else.” She leans forward slightly in her chair. “Gevaudan is a French name, correct?”

I nod. “Why do you ask?”

“Then you must know the story of the Rougarou.”

I furrow my brow deeper at her. “It’s Cajun, not French. But my father used to have a story book he read from to scare me and my brothers.”

“Much like the werewolves you know here in the hollow, they are very real. Rougarou are a special kind of monster, not born but made. Werewolves cannot be made like they are in horror movies and fairy tales. It’s genetic, something they are born with and cannot change. Werewolves can have children who do not inherit the gene, it can be recessive for them. It’s those children who are in danger of becoming Rougarou.”

I take a slow, deep breath and nod my head. “How does this happen? How did it happen for your daughter?”

“I’m glad you’re taking an interest,” she says with a smile. “But Rougarou have a chance of being created due to a bite from another were, ingesting were blood. I’ve even been told that drinking a vampire’s blood is what awakens the recessive were gene.”

“Wait-” I stop her quickly. “You’re telling me vampires are real too?”

Mrs. Locklear just smiles knowingly at me. “You would be surprised what is hidden in this world, what stories you were told as fairy tales are actually history.”

I lean back in my seat as I take in this information. “So it’s like a horror movie then? They get bitten and it changes them?”

“Because the gene is recessive, it’s not very dominant, and thus is knocks their whole system out of whack. It changes them, but often not in a good way. Werewolves’ bodies are prepared for the changes, a Rougarou body is not. Changes happen over time, and it can be painful and horrible. My wife and I sometimes had to make ice baths for our daughter because the changes hurt her so horribly. We watched her suffer and struggle during most of her teen years. A difficult time for all children, but for her, it was ten times worse.”

“I’m so sorry.” I don’t know what else to say.

“Kaga and I found a community of Rougarou in Louisiana that is much like Hearthway Hollow. They take in Rougarou and help them to get used to their new lives and changes. We took her there so she would be able to get what she needed. She was happy, she made a life there, but now she wishes to come home.”

I nod my head then tap my fingertips onto the desk. “Did something happen? You wouldn’t come to me to tell me this if something hadn’t have happened.”

“Someone has been murdering the Rougarou,” Mrs. Locklear says calmly, but it terrifies me to the bone. “One by one, they have gone missing or been found dead, and because of what they are, nothing is being done to protect them. Gisela wants to come home to feel safe, but if whoever is killing the Rougarou follows her, I think we should all be prepared.”

I cannot shake the fear I feel. Sure, learning vampires were real was a kick in the teeth, but if there was some monster hunter on his way into my home, Hearthway Hollow could be in real trouble. “You couldn’t have said that from the beginning?”

“You wouldn’t have understood the grave importance of it had I not given the history, Gevaudan.” She stands from her chair. “When Gisela comes home, I would like you to meet her so she can tell you the whole story.”

I get up to walk her to the door. “Is she alright?” I ask quietly. “As your friend and not the mayor, can you tell me?”

Mrs. Locklear sees through bullshit better than anyone I have ever known. The woman has a super power besides turning into a giant wolf. “Are you asking about now or when she was the Cabin Girl?”

I’ve been caught.

“On both counts, terrified and needing a safe place. When she was found, the man who kept her locked away had been stunting her growth and maturity with medications. I suspect he either had some hand in her becoming a Rougarou or had seen it happen. Otherwise, Gisela was like any other girl.”

“I’ll talk to her,” I say with a nod. “It’ll be good to know what we could face in the future. Just let me know when would be a good time.”

“I will, and thank you for hearing me out.” She leaves as I open the door for her.

My date goes well that evening, it’s one of my first since I became mayor. It’s been hard meeting people, especially since I’m not well aware that anyone could be a werewolf. Or vampire, apparently. As much as I enjoyed my date, I couldn’t help but keep thinking how she could be a vampire, which was dumb as I had met her outside in broad daylight.

That evening as I take myself out of date mode, I get a text message from Mrs. Locklear. “Gisela just got home. After she gets some rest and we get to spoil her, she said she would gladly talk with you.”

“Take your time, but the sooner the better.”

I’m not sure what to expect when I do meet with Gisela. I don’t know what a Rougarou looks like or how they act. So when I get the okay from Mrs. Locklear and head to her house, I’m prepared for anything.

“Come on in,” Mrs. Locklear says when she greets me at the door. “Gisela and I just made some fried bread to go with lunch.”

“You don’t have to feed me,” I say with a shake of my head.

“Oh, yes, I do.” She has me sit down at the table and pours me a glass of iced tea. As I’m adding lemon to the glass, I feel a bristle at the back of my neck. I turn, glancing from the corner of my eye a girl as she walks into the room. She sets down a plate of fried bread and looks directly at me. Her eyes are wide and dark, rich brown and seem endless. 

“Gevaudan?” She asks.

“Alex,” I say breathlessly. I stand to greet her and see the difference in height between us. She must be five foot solid or even shorter than that. “Gisela, right?”

She takes my hand and shakes it. Her nails are black, but they don’t look painted. “Mama told me about you.” Her voice is surprisingly husky. 

“She told me about you too.” I’m not sure why I’m suddenly nervous, and it’s not in a bad way. It’s more like being seated next to your crush in class, you don’t want to do anything to mess up or embarrass yourself in front of them. For some reason, Gisela makes me feel that way.

“Go and sit back down,” Gisela says. “Mama and I will bring the rest of lunch out.”

“Okay, yeah.” I go to sit down but find it hard to pull the chair back out. I fumble and bumble with it before I can actually sit back down.

Mrs. Locklear and Gisela bring out lunch and while we start to eat, Gisela starts to talk about the Rougarou community in Louisiana.

“It was nice there, freeing. Sometimes it was hard, but it was hard for all of us. Sometimes, being a Rougarou can treat you horribly. The changes and the way your body takes it can make you suffer at strange times. We could all be cranky and grouchy, but we never hurt anyone. If we knew someone was in need, we took care of them, made sure they didn’t do anything they regretted.” I notice her knitting with her fingers, twisting them and pinching them with her nerves. Perhaps the joints hurt and she needed to move them to make them feel better. 

“Everyone was always accounted for,” she says quietly. Her deep olive skin tone makes her veins look almost green. The more she twists her fingers, the more I notice the veins in her hands. “So when one was missing, it was unheard of. And when there was two-” She grimaces and shakes her head. “We knew right away something was wrong. Those things just don’t happen.” She looks at me with those dark brown eyes and every hair on my body stands in alert. 

“Some of the leaders of the community had dealt with hunters before, so they knew the signs and what to look for. We found traps in the woods, traps normal hunters wouldn’t use in those parts. Modified bear traps, spike traps-” She chokes up and presses her fists to her forehead.

“She found a friend in one,” Mrs. Locklear reaches over to rub Gisela’s back.

“I wanted to stay and help, but the elders decided people with the ability should start going home.” Gisela shakes her head and sniffles. “I just...I want to make sure this home is going to be safe, or at least, can fend for itself should a hunter follow me.”

“We have a former hunter living in town now,” I say decidedly. “I can talk to them and get their insight, maybe even have them train others to be prepared.”

“How can you trust them?” Gisela bristles.

“They’re mates with a were here in town,” I say gently. “They raise chickens and the most dangerous thing they own is a shovel for their garden.”

Gisela settles a bit more and nods. “Okay but, be careful.”

“We will be, Gisela, no worries. If you know of anyone else from your community in Louisiana who needs a safe place, I’m sure we could work it out.”

Mrs. Locklear gives me that smile again, she knows I’m behaving like a peacock and strutting my stuff. Oh god, she knows I find Gisela attractive. I’m probably going to get it.

“That’s good to know,” Gisela nods. “Thank you, Alex.”

A few days later at work, I’m returning from a small meeting when I see Gisela is waiting in my office. She stands as I come in and gives me a look over. 

“Gisela, what a surprise. Is everything alright?” I step into my office, walking towards her with my hand ready to shake hers. 

“I was just curious to see how things are.” She says with a shrug. “Did you talk to that hunter?”

“They’re putting some things together for us. They said it’s been a while since they’ve participated in hunts, but they still have some old journals from their time.”

Gisela nods. “Good, that’s good.” She sits back down. “I’m sorry if this is going to be any trouble for the town.”

“No more than usual.” I sit down in the chair beside her. It feels too formal, too weird, to sit behind my desk now. “There’s always something going on here, often times it includes your mother.”

Gisela giggles. I then notice she’s wearing fingerless gloves, not to mention long sleeves and a turtle neck, as well as boots. It’s getting close to summer and it’s already hot and humid out.

“Are you alright?” I ask her.

Gisela frowns. “Yeah, I’m used to this by now.” She looks at her hands. The nails look longer than they did yesterday, darker too. “Everyday I change just a bit more.”

“Your mother told me about Rougarou. It must be difficult.” I then motion to the watercooler. “Do you want something to drink? You must be hot.”

“Thank you, that’d be nice.” She sits on the edge of her seat. “I don’t know anything else, so it’s hard for me to imagine another way.”

I pour her a cup of ice cold water and when she takes it, her nails scrape against my knuckle, it feels kind of nice. 

“There’s nothing you can do for the discomfort?” I ask.

Gisela rolls her eyes. “I eat.”

“Really?”

She chuckles shyly. “I find that when I eat, sometimes it makes me feel better. I’ve tried everything, and I mean everything.” She sips the water slowly. “Sometimes sex helps.”

I bite down on my cheek. “Interesting.”

“Sorry, just sharing.” Gisela looks around my office. “Kind of small for a mayor in here.”

“I prefer that money for a huge office goes elsewhere. It’s easy to clean and manage, I don’t need a lot of decor or furniture. If I want to impress someone, I take them to one of the restaurants in town on my dime. It boons the local business, and often times gets them a new customer.”

“Trying your best to not be a corrupt politician?” She teases.

I smile at Gisela as my palms grow sweaty. “Always trying.”

Gisela closes her eyes then and takes a deep breath. “You smell good.”

I think I stop breathing for a moment.

“I’m being weird.” She sets the cup aside and stands up. “I should probably go home, anyways. Thanks again.”

“Here, let me walk you to the door.” I stand to lead her out but she’s already ahead of me. She lets herself out and closes the door behind her. 

A few days later, I go with the former hunter, Mic, to Mrs. Locklear’s home for a meeting with other weres. When I arrive, I don’t see Gisela anywhere in the house. During the meeting I went back into the kitchen to get a drink when I see her. She is standing over the sink, her head shoved under the faucet and guzzling water. She is wearing only a black hoodie and her legs are exposed. They are dark, covered in coarse hair, while the skin has a dark green and yellow color to it.

Gisela turns slowly after drinking and looks up at me. Her eyes are darker than before, taking over most of the whites of her eyes. Her nails look like claws, and her features are sharpened. 

“I couldn’t fit my head in the bathroom sinks so-” she says, sounding almost terrified.

“Are you hungry?” I motion back to the dining room. “Billy brought more pizza than anyone needs.”

The small smile that appears on her lips is enough to make my pulse a tumultuous rumble. I sneak into the dining room and steal a whole pizza. Gisela and I then sit on the floor while she eats it. I see her teeth look sharper as she eats, her tongue even looks black.

Cheese pops from the pizza and slaps her on the nose. “You don’t have to sit with me, I know you’re having a meeting.”

“It’s winding now, they’re mostly talking werewolf things.” I lean back against the cabinets. “They don’t need me right now.”

Gisela reaches for another slice of pizza. “Mama likes you, she says you’re not as stupid as most people.”

I smile. “For your mom, that’s a real compliment.”

Gisela licks her lips then sucks the grease off her fingers. “Did you always want to be a mayor?”

“No one grows up thinking that,” I chuckle. “I just sort of fell into it. I worked in the parks service since I was a teen, and I just stayed in government work. I always thought I’d be a musician or something as a kid.”

Gisela smiles at me. “What do you play?”

“Drums.” I look down at her and can’t help but feel slightly giddy inside. “My dad was a music professor, so my brothers and I all knew how to play something. We made a band together as kids and everyone hated us.”

“That bad?”

“Probably,” I laugh. “Do you have any talents?”

Gisela is already halfway through another slice of pizza. I think in less than ten minutes she’d go through over half of the extra large pie. “I used to take dance classes, back when I lived here in Hearthway Hollow. I wanted to keep doing it, but my teacher said I was too short.”

“What?” I scoff.

A red pepper flake is stuck to her cheek. “The new dance teacher here is really nice, though. He’s letting me join his adult classes.” She looks down with a sad look in her eye. “I wish I never stopped.”

I touch her cheek to wipe away the red pepper flake and she turns abruptly and I accidentally poke her in the eye.

“I’m so sorry!” I gasp in alarm.

“I’m in enough pain!” She’s laughing. “How dare you?” She playfully swats at me. “What were you trying to do?”

“There was red pepper on your cheek, I was just trying to get it off! I’m so sorry.”

“I’m fine,” she chuckles. “It’s just funny.” She shrugs. “You haven’t asked me why I look weird.”

“Because you don’t look that weird.”

“Liar,” she huffs. She takes another slice of pizza and shoves it into her mouth.

I look her over, her legs, her fingers, her sharp teeth. I’d seen the werewolves in their glory and, at first, they had scared me, but now, it was just part of my life. Seeing Gisela, I was more worried for her comfort than my own. “I mean it. I’ve seen worse things in the world.”

Gisela places a pepperoni onto her tongue. “So you’ve seen Billy shift.”

I grin and nod. “Do all Rougarou change slowly?”

“Not all,” she murmurs. “Some can control it like the werewolves do. Others only change during the week of a new moon.” She grimaces. “But I change in and out over the entire month. So for maybe ten days, I’m able to look normal. But for the other twenty days of the months, I’m either changing into or out of my Rougarou form.”

“I’m so sorry,” I murmur.

“I’m used to it,” she says bitterly. “I just...I just know I look weird. Fuck,” she grumbles.

“What’s wrong?”

Gisela pouts as she closes the pizza box. “I ate that entire pizza.”

I stand up. “I can go get you another.”

“No, don’t. I shouldn’t.” She rises as well and looks up at me. “This was really nice,” she murmurs. “Thanks for just sitting with me.”

I shrug. “Even if I poked you in the eye?”

“Even then.” She fidgets with her fingers. “I like you,” she says quietly. 

I reach out and take her hand. “I like you too, Gisela.” I kiss her knuckles. “If you ever want to talk again, just ask me.”

Gisela smiles shyly as she captures my hand. “Who kisses knuckles these days?” She tugs me down, planting a pizza flavored kiss on my lips. I don’t mind it at all. I even like how her sharp teeth bite into my lip.

“Sorry,” she then chuckles. “Pay back for my eye.”

“Is it?” I smirk, rubbing my chin. 

Gisela glances aside to make sure no one is looking. “When can I see you again?”

“I’m free most evenings,” I say breathlessly.

Gisela’s dangerous smile broadens. “Then I’ll see you soon.”