"What's this for?" Ritchie asked bluntly. He and his brother dropped down from the abandoned house roof to the ground below, knocking out a shingle as they did. A soft thump was heard as it fell and landed somewhere inside the decrepitated home.

Bri knelt next to a fire pit built in a corner of Ashbourne. The sun was already below the horizon, leaving the small town and land in a lifeful darkness. Small possies of fireflies roamed the tops of the buildings and tall uncut grass surrounding them. Flicks of light darting between the obstacles in their way, racing to an end unknownst even to them.

The pit was crudely built due to the scarcity of proper tools available to build with. She shifted a few of the stones of the fire ring that were just askew enough to topple over at the slightest hint of wind and stood up to face the two werewolves looking between her and the pit in curiosity.

"Well, Austin mentioned some ritual dances you guys used to do before you killed your families, and since you're dead set on entering my house without permission to go into my ballroom, I figured we could show each other how our species dances."

"What, do all vampires dance with balls?"

Bri rolled her eyes, taking a deep breath. She looked over to Devin, who already, at her earlier request, found a stable plank with one end on fire. Blythe scrutinized it warily, taking a step back.

"Devin, if you would," she said with poise, gesturing towards the dull ring.

Devin grinned and threw the lit wood into the pit and the fire erupted. A single tall column of flames towering towards the sky before settling back down into a strong hearth. Austin could feel the extreme heat from across the yard and hollered, bounding over to Blythe, slamming both hands on the elf's back.

"Let's dance, Blythe!"

Bly chuckled, slightly shaking his head hesitantly. "I'll watch you guys first; I only know a few dance moves I learned from my wife."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself."

The dirt around the fire ring was swept flat and clean with just enough wide of a berth for a pack of werewolves to mess around. The two true alphas stood on opposite sides, eagerly bouncing up and down. Austin looked at each one of the others in the eye, a smirk playing on his lips. "You guys ready?"

Before anyone could answer, Ritchie stomped his foot once into the ground, a short rumble spreading out around him and nearly knocking the others off their feet. Austin echoed it right back and they both laughed, jumping to their respective rights.

As they jumped about the circle in a gambol, a steady pulse shook the air. Devin pulled out his drumsticks and rapped them against the stumps and rocks in his immediate vicinity. The intricate beats merged with dancing steps effortlessly, creating a melodic rhythm.

Bri hummed an impromptu tune, watching as Austin pulled on Blythe's arm, yanking him into ring as well. He stumbled a bit, holding his hands out for balance.

"Come on, Bly! Pick up those feet!" Ritchie called out to him. His voice scattered the tiny escaping flames from the top of the fire.

The elf stood awkwardly for a moment before attempting to mimic their dancing. He jumped to one side, turning to his right as he did, and landed on the heel of his right foot with his left knee raised up. It was a recurring move, Bri noticed, one that almost resembled a spin in the classic salturi de credință ballroom dance. At least, she thought, they won't be completely bounding around like usual if I decide to teach them.
The fire crackled out jingles to accompany the drumming and Bri regretted leaving her guitar behind at home. On accident, but she had noticed halfway to Ashbourne, deciding to just go on without it not wanting to backtrack when it was getting so close to sunset.

So instead she settled on humming and occasionally singing when Devin played something she recognized. Some of it was their own songs, some just sounded like random beats he found pleasing to hear.
As Bri sang the low tones of a lively but somber song, she noticed small things she hadn't before. How Ritchie leaned back when dancing while Austin curled inwards. How they both liked moving their arms about while they were mid-air. How Blythe seemed to prefer to spin on his heels, putting all his weight there rather than the front, but was still nimble and light on his feet.

How when they clapped their hands together in time with the wild music, Ritchie did it normally while Austin slapped them past each other and Blythe did it more harshly than probably necessary. How the true alphas kicked their feet up, scattering dirt everywhere, and the new alpha stuck to knocking away pebbles in his wake.

How with every artificial gust of wind, his long hair would blow out around him, attempting to obscure his vision. How Austin's hat would start to slip haphazardly, only staying on due to the dog ears poking out of it. He just laughed (or moreso cackled, she thought) and fixed it with both hands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Get in here, Bri! This is your dance too now!" Before she could answer or give any retort, Austin grabbed her from her place next to Blythe drumming away and whirled her around so her back was to him. He linked her arms with his and leaned forward, lifting her up so that she was settled on his back. She let herself laugh as he spun around, a turtle with a surprisingly relenting and living shell.

When he finally set her back down, he scampered to the other side and banged on the stump drums in time with Blythe, who managed to keep up with the dancing mystics despite never having played before. The elf tapped out a simple beat with sharp quick ones thrown in occasionally whenever Ritchie or Devin use the fire ring as a jumping board or lept higher over their heads.

Austin rapped his knuckles against the drum head, pausing for a split second as something dawned on him. He didn't consider if for more than a moment before nodding to himself.

He whistled a signal to his brother. Ritchie immediately quick-picked Bri up around her waist and tossed her over the fire with a flourish. She was only airborne for a few moments, but long enough that Austin wondered briefly if she would turn into a bat again.

But she didn't, instead she landed on her feet gracefully and Devin took her arm and spun with her. The brief streaks of light from the flames bounced off the loose yellow strands of her hair. Likewise, his horns gleamed with the dull light courtesy of the moon.

'They both look happy', he thought. A sense of pride welled up inside him.

Austin leapt up onto one of the tree roots sprouting from the ground around Bri's totally his tree, flopping down to sit with one knee drawn up to his chest. He grinned widely as he watched his pack cavort around the fire.

The sounds of carefree laughter and singing was more than plain music to his ears and he couldn't help the wide grin on his face. As they went on, a swift unsettling feeling hit him in the head like wind. He shut his eyes and shook his head, trying to shake it off to no avail.

Opening his eyes, the fire fizzled over, becoming hazy like a smushed painting. The drumming slowed to a dull pounding in his ears, all the yelling and whoops of laughter fading out completely. He tried to move his eyes, roam them anywhere so he could see anywhere else beside the circle, but they didn't obey.

He could only stare into the orange and yellow haze. Light veins of red and blue were thrown in, whips of paint marked in with a scraper. Just out of his peripheral vision, something dark and lanky poked out then retreated back out of sight. He tried to open his mouth to say something, anything, but couldn't find himself able to.

He could only assume it was Pierre. Anything else wouldn't get past them and into Ashbourne, right?

"Austin?"

The haze cleared away, everything becoming solid once again. He blinked back to the present, a form that looked like Ritchie standing right in front of him. When his vision seemingly returned, he could see the others were watching from the ring of fire, watching curiously and confused.

Ritchie raised an eyebrow at him. "You going brain dead there?"

A flicker of...something passed through Ritchie's eyes before disappearing into his normal look of enmity and being high strung. Normal to Austin anyway. He mentally slapped himself and jumped up. "You would know since you're already braindead."

"What did you say to me?!" Ritchie yelled, squaring his shoulders.

"You heard me!" Austin dropped back to the ground and flicked his brother's ears. "No way you didn't with those big ears of yours!"

"I don't have big ears, you have big ears!"

They continued to bicker until they rejoin the pack by the fire, Austin kicking Ritchie to one side while he grabbed a stump drum and plonked it down right to the ring, the hazey fever dream and dark creature disappearing from his mind as he beat away.