The Anxiety of Kalix the Werewolf by Martin Millar Read Free Book Online Page A

rather foreboding. Moonglow suggested that Kalix might call her herself, but Kalix demurred. It would be embarrassing if Dominil refused the invitation. Kalix had encountered a lot of rejection in her life and never voluntarily put herself in a position where it might happen again.
    Daniel had agreed to drive them to the cinema where Moonglow had already booked seats. They were due to meet Beauty and Delicious, and if all went according to plan they’d be back home before darkness came, triggering the change into werewolves. It struck Moonglow that they were about to spend an evening with four werewolves in their house. Five if Dominil showed up.
    â€œI hope nothing goes wrong,” she said to Daniel.
    â€œIt’ll be fine,” said Daniel. “We’ve met them all before.”
    â€œBut not all at once, as werewolves.”
    â€œWell, they all seem quite well in control of themselves. Apart from the twins, I suppose, when they drink too much. And Kalix can get a little agitated. But apart from the intoxicated twins and Kalix maybe going mad, we’ve got nothing to worry about.”
    â€œAt least Dominil never goes mad,” said Moonglow reassuringly. “She’s always . . . uh . . .”
    â€œUnfriendly? Violent? Murderous?”
    â€œMaybe I was so keen to give Kalix a nice birthday I didn’t think this through properly. Is the fridge full of meat?”
    â€œAbsolutely packed,” said Daniel, who had responsibility for meat buying in the household, Moonglow being a vegetarian. “Enough for plenty of hungry werewolves. That’s a nice dress, you’re looking pretty.”
    Moonglow was surprised by the compliment, and pleased. Daniel had always been attracted to Moonglow and seemed recently to have been trying to win her over by way of compliments and helpful behavior. Which, Moonglow admitted to herself, was an improvement on his previous campaign of bad moods and displays of temper.
    The next day there was an unusual amount of activity in the small flat as the four flatmates prepared themselves. Moonglow felt that she should make an effort, and she spent a long time in the morning drying and styling her long black hair and selecting a long black dress from her wardrobe. She put on a pair of high-heeled boots which, while not as pointed as the ones she wore on her occasional visits to Goth nightclubs, were still fancier than she’d normally wear out in daylight. She spent some time on her makeup and was looking very dramatic as she applied the finishing touches to her darkened lips.
    Downstairs, Daniel was in conversation with Vex. “It’s time I was going out with Moonglow. I’m going to make it happen today.”
    Daniel looked expectantly at Vex.
    â€œDo you think this purple Hello Kitty T-shirt goes with this red kilt?” she asked.
    Daniel pursed his lips. “No, it looks awful. But that’s beside the point. Moonglow should go out with me, don’t you agree?” He spread his arms wide, inviting the whole universe to agree with him. “It would have happened before now if we hadn’t had all these distractions. But every time we got close there was some werewolf crisis and everything went wrong.” Daniel looked pained. “And if it wasn’t a werewolf it was someone from another dimension—”
    â€œI’m someone from another dimension!” said Vex brightly.
    â€œâ€”butting in with some weird problem or a fashion crisis or something like that. Who could do any pursuing with all that going on? My failure with Moonglow has mitigating circumstances.”
    Vex took a bright red lipstick from her Hello Kitty bag and busied herself at the mirror. Her lips were already a brilliant red, but she liked to put on extra layers. Daniel, now in good voice, carried on.
    â€œAnd then we’ve been working in that horrible supermarket all summer and I was so tired when I got home I couldn’t do