Author's Note: Our answer to werewolves or vampires? Both.

For those new to joining us; welcome to the Faded Blue universe! Or multi-verse, as it is. The main story is a canon-divergence where Greg never went to Beach City, and ended up having a child with Blue Diamond instead. But in honor of the Internet's favorite holiday, we're excited to present you with three chapters of an Occult AU spinoff of Faded Blue, featuring vampire rebels, the tricky politics of Court, and of course a young boy trying to see where he fits into all of it. It is still an SU fic, after all.

As said, we're hoping to make this a yearly occurrence, three chapters a year, with a time skip between every bundle giving us a glimpse into this world. As always, we hope you all enjoy and, as always, you can check out the official Faded Blue blog here.

On one last note- this story was highly inspired by the CrystalWitches' occult-au. While we ended up with some significantly different backstories for characters and different lore in general, if you like this kinda thing, we still seriously encourage you to check it out!

oOoOo

Ill Met By Moonlight
Chapter One: The Wolf

Growls. The crunch of leaves under foot. A heavy panting. Breath hitching in his throat.

He didn't know where he was going. All the trees looked the same, every bush could be hiding something. Only the thinnest of light filtered through the branches: the light of a full moon.

The werewolf howled.

Steven ran.

This had been stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He shouldn't have come- Shouldn't have tried to prove his stupid hunch- He should have listened to Iris- He should have-

He tripped on a root.

Steven went tumbling painfully into the ground, his face digging into the dirt. Steven spat it out, struggling to get back to his feet, but his ankle was sore. He risked a glance behind him- and there it was, a dark mass, rustling through the bushes, getting closer and closer.

He bared his fangs and hissed.

Amber eyes glinted in the dark, unafraid and undeterred.

There had to be something he could do! Float, or go invisible, or turn into a bat, or something-

But as always, his powers were seemingly non-existent. There was nothing he could do but stumble backwards into a tree.

The beast emerged from the bushes, advancing towards him, teeth huge and white.

"Stop!" Steven cried desperately.

The werewolf hesitated.

Another shadow swept out of the darkness and barrelled into it.

"Iris!" Steven cried.

The vampire couldn't answer- she was engaged in a battle with the werewolf. Claws and fur against fang and metal, a silver knife glinting in the moonlight. The beast growled and thrashed as it was tossed around- then got its footing and rebounded. Iris winced as it leapt at her chest, but she was not as thin or frail as she looked. She stabbed the knife forward; the werewolf let out a yelp of pain as the silver plunged into its shoulder blade. The coppery scent of blood filled the air, usually sweet, now oddly sour...

Steven covered his eyes. "Stop!" he cried again, "Stop!"

The werewolf's growling stopped. Iris took it as an opportunity to kick it away. The beast grunted as it crashed into a bush.

Silver weakened werewolves, Steven knew, but surely it wasn't so strong that a single cut could do that? But then, why else would the creature have stopped-

Steven's eyes went wide.

"A-Amethyst," he stammered, looking at the werewolf. "A-Amethyst, if you- if you can understand me, I- I want you to stop, okay? Stop fighting."

"My Liege," Iris said, risking a glance at him while keeping her knife trained at the wolf, "what are you doing?"

"I think- I think it's listening to me."

It made sense after all, didn't it? People liked Steven, the same way they liked his Mother, but animals loved him. Always had. Steven had lost count of the times he'd become surrounded by dogs or birds when he walked down the street or stray cats had followed him home. Once an entire petting zoo had tried escaping just to get close to him.

Was… that what the werewolf had been doing? Just trying to play?

"Sit up," Steven said, in his most lordly voice, one which wavered only a little.

The werewolf sat up.

"Good dog," said Steven.

The werewolf's tail made a dull thudding sound on the ground.

Steven took a tentative step towards it.

Immediately Iris's free hand gripped his shoulder. "Go no closer. It's dangerous."

"But it- it's listening to me! I think- wait, let's see- Uh, Amethyst, roll over?"

The werewolf regarded him for a moment with those big, amber eyes, and then rolled onto its (her?) back. It winced with pain at the weight put on its injured shoulder.

"Oof," Steven said, "no, you can roll back over- don't hurt yourself-" Obediently, the werewolf listened.

"See?" Steven said to Iris. "Look! She's just like a dog!"

"She is a werewolf," said Iris. "They are beasts, a threat to us and humans alike."

"But she's not a threat now. Not if I can control her!"

Iris's lips drew into a hard line. "You may not always be there to do so, My Liege. What if she gets away from you some full moon? What if she Changed while you slept? She could eat you, and anyone unlucky enough to be nearby." Her grip tightened on the knife. "Better I kill her now. It would be a mercy to the cursed mind inside."

"But- but-" Steven began.

But it just wasn't any cursed mind. It was Amethyst's.

Steven had only known her for a few months, but he already liked her. She was a teenager, the first one he'd ever really met, and she wore leather jackets and had her ears pierced and could drive a car. But she was also funny and goofy, and she bought him ice cream and could eat three entire extra-large pizzas all by herself.

Liking her was the entire reason he'd gone after her tonight, after all. He'd noticed she was kinda weird… Never talked about her family, or school, and every month or so she'd get 'sick' and disappear for a few days…

He'd been pretty sure that she was a werewolf, and even if she wasn't, he'd been sure she was in some sort of trouble.

Turned out he was the trouble. She was just standing there, all big and fuzzy, and all he could imagine was Iris plunging her knife into her-

With a sudden surge of strength, he rushed forward to put himself between Iris and Amethyst.

"Steven," Iris hissed, "no--"

But nothing bad happened. Nothing at all. No claws in his back, no jaws around his neck, no last growl before everything went black.

Just a soft, curious whine, and something wet and cold on his hand. Looking down, he found Amethyst nuzzling it.

"Awwww," he crooned. The werewolf's ears twitched.

"My Liege, I promise that it shall be quick and painless-"

"You're not killing her!" Steven snapped.

Iris flinched. "Then what do you intend to with it? Let it just run around the forest?"

"We can take her home," Steven proclaimed. "I don't actually think she has one. It'll be great! She can stay in one of the guest bedrooms, and we'll put her in the cell every full moon…"

"My Lady will never allow it."

"I'll talk with Mom," Steven said, forcing himself to sound more confident than he was. He looked down at the werewolf and rubbed her head; her tongue lolled out. "You'd like that, huh, Amethyst? Wanna come live with me? We can be best, best friends-"

Iris let out a sigh so quiet it was like a breath of wind. Finally, she lowered her knife, although she did not stow it away.

"Very well, My Liege."

Steven grinned at her. "Thanks, Iris. And thanks… For saving me."

"Always."

She smiled back at him, and Steven couldn't resist giving her a quick hug. He was covered in dirt and mud, and it got her pretty cloak all messy, but he knew she wouldn't mind too much.

Soon Amethyst would be back to normal, on two legs and talking again. For now, Steven gave her another scratch behind the ears. "C'mon," he told her, setting off for the car, "Let's get you home and all cleaned up. Iris can help with that nasty old scratch, okay?"

She gave a cheerful yip, and followed happily after him.

Amethyst awoke with a groan. She opened her eyes, which did basically nothing, because it was still pitch black. Black enough that she would've thought it was still night, except it couldn't be. Case in point: she was thinking of herself as Amethyst.

She ran her tongue over her teeth. Her mostly-dulled, mostly-human teeth, prominent canines aside.

Ugh. It tasted like fur. And were those feathers caught in the back of her mouth?

She could've picked those out, but she just shrugged and swallowed 'em. She'd had worse.

She sat up slowly to reduce the hangover-like nausea and headache she usually received. Not too bad, this time. Maybe the lack of light actually helped. Much, much worse was the pain in her arm, which throbbed so badly that it seemed to send electric sparks all through her body.

And it wasn't as dark as she'd first realized. There was a thin square of pale light- a thick curtain over a window, by the looks of it. Her senses were still sharp enough that her eyes could use it to sketch a shape of the room around her. She was sitting on a carpeted floor, next to an old fashioned trunk and bed. There was a wardrobe, and a bookshelf, and a bedside table...

She made herself get up and thudded over to that. Feeling around, she found a lamp and a little switch. She hesitated a moment, then flicked it.

Yep, she thought, wincing. Light definitely increased the headache.

She stood there for a few moments, rubbing her sore arm while the headache wore off. Then she risked opening her eyes again.

Damn. This place was swanky.

Seriously swanky. Even more upscale than the places she stayed now, which was saying something. All of the furniture looked hand-carved, mahogany or ebony or some other fancy shit like that. The bed was a queen, and when Amethyst reached out to touch it, she found the sheets so smooth they had to be silk. There was a portrait on the wall that looked like some fancy, minimalist modern art, the kind that would cost a small fortune. The books lining the shelves were tomes- not magical tomes, with sparkly titles and the smell of enchantment so thick you could sneeze, but more like atlases and dictionaries and encyclopedias.

Who even used stuff like that anymore? Didn't they know the Internet existed?

Amethyst could feel the hairs on the back of her arms standing up, and something like a growl in her chest.

Werewolves didn't wake up in posh bedrooms. Werewolves woke up under bushes, covered in burrs and dirt. So what was going on?

She examined her injury, a sharp gash in her shoulder. Shallow, but painful. And cold, the way only an injury by silver could hurt. But while the scratch wasn't bandaged (no point in doing that before she Changed back, since it'd just fall off), it very clearly had been cleaned and tended to.

Looking the rest of her body over, it seemed like the same could be said of all of her. Yep, not a speck of dirt on her. She sniffed her armpit. Smelled like lavender and lemon.

Well. That was weird.

Amethyst woulda gone running out of the place that very moment if it wasn't for one thing:

She was butt naked.

Thankfully, whoever had picked her up had laid clothes out on the bed for her, along with bandages. Amethyst woulda preferred her own duds, stashed in a discreet green backpack by her usual tree, but beggars couldn't be choosers. This stuff didn't fit perfectly, but it was a decent estimate. Still, the cloth felt too fine on her skin. Give her a solid pair of jeans, any day.

But they were expensive, for sure. Had to give her mysterious host that.

Amethyst frowned. Maybe she shouldn't jump to conclusions. Whoever they were, they didn't seem to want to hurt her. Maybe they were friends, or at least non-jerks. Or just some random human who'd seen a naked girl passed out by the roadside and decided to be a good Samaritan.

The werewolf put on a smile that was only a titch wider than it had to be and headed for the bedroom door. Whoever they were, it was time to meet them.

She didn't have to go far. She was led by the mouthwatering smell of food to the kitchen at the end off the hallway. Inside was a woman cooking what had to be an entire pig, and a boy sitting at a table, drinking what smelled like milk.

Amethyst gaped at him. "Steven?"

"Amethyst!" he cried, face widening into a relieved smile. "Are you okay?"

"F-fine," Amethyst stumbled, blinking.

"Good. Iris said you would be-" He tilted his head towards the woman at the stove, who was watching Amethyst even as she continued to cook. "- once the sun came up and you turned back, but I was kinda scared that…"

"...I'd stay a big hairy wolf?"

Steven rubbed his neck. "Kinda. Yeah."

"So… I guess you know about that, huh?"

"Yeeeeeaaaah."

"Geez. What gave me away?"

"It was rather obvious," said the woman, Iris, still standing by the stove. She was kinda odd looking. So pale that her skin was practically blue. Her voice was so soft that even Amethyst could barely hear it over the crackling of bacon and sausages (Mmmm. Sausages. Gods, she was hungry.). "I recognized the signs as soon as Steven described them to me. Overly hairy, odd scent, mysterious monthly disappearances…"

Amethyst groaned. She'd tried to be careful for this investigation. The others were gonna be so mad at her when they found out.

… that said, this hopefully wouldn't be a huge problem. She'd already known Steven had a magical aura of some sort. Trying to figure out why, exactly, was the reason she'd started hanging around him in the first place. She'd kept her own 'condition' on the downlow cuz a) she'd had no idea how aware of his magic he'd been and b) no idea how he'd react to finding out she was a werewolf.

Clearly, pretty well. Considering he'd brought her into his house and wasn't currently trying to shoot her with silver. He, or his family (?) obviously knew well enough about magic and stuff, so now that the dog (heh) was out of the bag, maybe she could just ask him what he was.

"You hungry?" Steven asked. In answer, her stomach growled fiercely; he laughed.

"... you have no idea how much energy you burn up running around a forest all night," Amethyst defended herself.

"Hehe. You'd be surprised," he chuckled.

"Food is ready, My Liege," Iris said. Amethyst raised her eyebrows.

"Sit down and eat," Steven said, waving at Amethyst, and she didn't need to be told twice. She sat.

There was already a place set for her, complete with fancy porcelain and shiny steel cutlery. Iris came around and set out food for both her and Steven. The sausages and bacon, but also hash browns, and eggs, and toast, and grilled mushrooms. Nothing felt as good as a post-transformation meal.

And most blissfully of all, a great big post-transformation cup o' joe.

"How do you like it?" Iris asked in that whisper of a voice.

Amethyst just shrugged. Iris silently added milk and sugar, stirring them in for her.

There was… something kinda weird about her. Not just the vaguely blue tint to her skin- stuff like that was pretty common place for the supernatural. It was something else. The way her thick hair covered her eyes. And some smell that itched, familiar, but too faint under every other scent for Amethyst to pin down. Didn't seem human, though.

Well, whatever it was, Amethyst would have to figure out after food, because right now she had to sit down and eat.

"Way better than a bird," Amethyst mumbled through a mouthful of bacon.

"You've eaten birds?" gasped Steven. "I mean, not chickens, but wild ones?"

"Sure," said Amethyst. "All sorts. It's kinda blurry, but sparrows, pigeons, owls. Once I even had a whole eagle."

His eyes were as big as saucers as he munched on his toast. "Gross. What else have you eaten?"

"Oh, basically everything. Foxes, coyotes, deer, you name it."

"... humans?" said Steven, suddenly nervous.

Amethyst gripped her mug of coffee tightly. "No," she said. "No. Never humans."

From her position at the sink, Iris said, "You have such control?"

"... well, no," Amethyst admitted. Basically no werewolf did, come the full moon. "But I've got friends who look out for me. Make sure I don't do anything I'd regret."

"Well, they weren't doing a good job last night!" exclaimed Steven.

"Whaddya mean?" Amethyst said, cocking an eyebrow at him.

The story came out then, or at least, Steven's dramatic retelling of it, with only the occasional interjection from Iris. He'd gotten curious about whether she really was a werewolf and had gone snooping after her. Nearly gotten torn in half for his trouble, which was basically what anyone woulda got if they'd tried to track a werewolf unprepared. Thankfully, Iris had been prepared and kept him safe, which was nice. Amethyst liked the kid, and would've hated to learn she'd eaten him by mistake.

She also would've hated to have been carved up like turkey dinner, so even more thankfully, Steven had found a way to calm her down.

Even if it was weird- not a lot of ways to keep a werewolf under control. Amethyst knew, since it had kinda been an area of interest since she'd first turned at age eight. But there were people who had that power. Certain animancers, shapechangers, warlocks, wild mages. Steven was probably one of those.

Amethyst was just about to ask about that when Iris interjected with another question of her own. "These friends of yours. Who are they?"

"Uh… well," said Amethyst. She took a huge bite of eggs to buy her some time. "You know, witches and seers and stuff."

"Can't be very good ones, can they?" Steven harrumphed.

Amethyst's first instinct was to go, 'No way, they're great', but he had a point. Why hadn't Sapphire or Garnet foreseen her almost going big bad wolf on a sweet, cute kid? If they couldn't keep her clear of civvies, then Amethyst was gonna have to go back to Changing in the cellar again.

She hated the cellar.

"I did not ask what your friends are," said Iris. "I asked who."

"Yeah, well, none of your business, lady," Amethyst shot back, tearing into a piece of bacon.

The woman didn't even flinch.

Steven reached out and squeezed Amethyst's arm. "C'mon. We're friends, right?"

"Well, yeah," began Amethyst.

"So your friends are our business, right? We just wanna know."

He smiled at her, teeth all white and sharp, and how could she say no to a face like that?

"... Alright," she sighed. "The seers are Sapphire and Garnet. They keep an Eye out for me. And Sapphire's wife, Ruby, she makes me a potion. Helps keep me… you know, more like an actual wolf. Only eating when I'm hungry, going after the easy prey. That kind of thing."

"And that is it? Those are your three friends?" said Iris.

"Oh, no. I've got way more," said Amethyst.

"Who?" asked Steven.

"Well, Rose and Pearl for starters-"

And Iris hissed.

Actually hissed.

"The rebel leaders?"

A cold bolt of dread shot through Amethyst as she finally recognised the smell. How had she missed it?

Vampire.

The chair clattered to the floor as Amethyst lept back, claws sharpening. She fell into a fighting stance, canines bared at Iris. "Stay back," she growled, "I know how to deal with you."

The vampire merely kicked up a silver knife from the counter, making it quite clear she knew how to deal with Amethyst.

"What's- what's going on?" Steven said, looking as wide-eyed and innocent as Amethyst sure as hell hoped he was.

Because if he was a vamp, he probably wasn't a kid, however cute he might seem: bit when he was like eight and stuck in that body for who-knew-how-many centuries. Two fully-fledged, armed vampires against a teenager with slightly sharper than average teeth and nails.

Whatever. Wouldn't be the first time she'd been jumped. She could take 'em.

"She's affiliated with the defectors," Iris was saying as she advanced. "She must be put down-"

Not likely, lady.

Amethyst wasn't gonna fight against silver, not unless she had to. Instead, she turned and fled down the corridor. If she could just make it to a window-

"Wait!" Steven's voice called, and she jerked to a stop.

Bad idea. An icy weight barreled into her from behind, knocking her to the floor.

Amethyst's mind was numb to everything but the fighting, to her lessons; rolling out of the vampire's grip, scratching at her face, kicking her in the gut, dodging the knife, rolling to the side-

And Steven's voice cut through everything:

"Can we all just calm down?!"

Her heartbeat slowed, her muscles went slack.

"Just… nobody move, okay?" said Steven. Amethyst wasn't intending to. The knife was pressed against her neck, burning cold. Moving would ensure death at this point. "Iris, there has to be another way-"

"She is a weapon of the rebellion, My Liege."

"She doesn't have to be. We could- we could teach her-"

"Even if we could, the rebellion can trace us."

"But we're warded. Completely blocked from Sight, Mom said…"

The silver knife against Amethyst's neck was almost as sharp as the vampire's voice. "We are. The werewolf is not. We cannot let her stay here, and we cannot allow her to return to the rebels alive."

"But- but-" Steven's voice wavered, desperate. "There has to be something we can do…"

The words fell out of Amethyst's mouth without thinking: "There is."

"What do you mean?" Iris demanded, in that soft, whispery voice.

Amethyst hesitated. Ruby's voice echoed in her head, unusually serious: This stuff is secret, okay? We can't let any of the vampire Courts find out about it, do you understand?

She clenched her mouth shut. She wouldn't squeal.

Then Steven was there, crouching down by her face, staring her right in the eyes. "Amethyst… If you don't tell, we'll have to kill you." His eyes, the brightest, most piercing blue she'd ever seen, began to water. "If there's anyway to avoid it, you gotta tell us. Please."

Amethyst's resolve weakened.

She was willing to die, but she couldn't bear to see this kid sad. She couldn't.

"Okay," she said. "Okay… I know a way to block my friends' Sight…"

"This had better not be a trick," Iris said.

"It's not," said Steven.

"It's not," Amethyst repeated, any thought of trickery trickling from her mind.

"Tell us, then," the vampire ordered.

Amethyst had to fight for breath: the vampire had been pressing down on her chest for a while now. "There's- there's a rune. Can't describe it. Need to draw it."

Steven disappeared, then. Amethyst felt a brief flash of panic, not wanting him to leave. But he was back in only a moment, clutching a pencil and notepad. Iris allowed her to have one hand free to use the pencil, probably surmising that there wasn't much way it could be used as a weapon. She never removed the knife from Amethyst's neck, though.

Amethyst was terrible at magic. Too many formulas, too much memorizing, too much detail. Information just went through one ear and out the other, no matter how many of Garnet's classes she sat in on.

But there were some things that had stuck, if only through sheer repetition. The most basic of spells and runes.

What's the most efficient method to nullify a spell? Sapphire had once asked.

Garnet had raised her hand: Using a basic blocking spell matrix integrated with the Caster's personal rune.

Amethyst knew both Garnet's and Sapphire's runes. She could draw them for Steven and Iris now. That would be the most foolproof plan.

But… someone could do a lot more with someone's personal rune than just defend against them. Go on the offensive. Cast a compulsion, a curse…

With a shaky hand, Amethyst drew a rune on the paper.

"It's mine," she said. "If you plug it into a blocking spell matrix-"

"- you'll be hidden from Sight. Yes."

"Thanks Amethyst," Steven said, looking at her again with those deep blue eyes. Amethyst felt soft and warm, right on the inside.

"No problem," she mumbled.

"We must act quickly," Iris said. "My Liege, can you ensure the werewolf will behave?"

"Sure. You're gonna be good, Amethyst, right? No attacking or running away?"

Amethyst shook her head. Steven smiled at that, sharp and pointed, and she felt another rush of warmth for having made him happy.

Slowly, the vampire moved the knife away, then eased the weight of of her. Amethyst was acutely aware of Iris's sharp focus, analysing her every move. She was even more acutely aware of Steven's outstretched hand. Amethyst happily grabbed it and let him help her up.

Iris surveyed her for one more moment, then swept around to the kitchen, probably to get the salt and stuff necessary for the spell.

Steven tugged at Amethyst's hand to follow. "Let's get this sorted," he said. "And then we can finish breakfast, and then help get ya settled in. It'll be fun!"

"Yeah," said Amethyst, smiling contentedly back. "It will."

7:46

Pearl's fingers drummed on the steering wheel as she glanced back between the car's clock and the view through the tinted windows. Aside from her vehicle, the small country road. No movement, except for a flock of birds.

Dawn had been over half an hour ago. Pearl seethed with a mixture of worry and annoyance. Mostly annoyance. Amethyst was probably just taking her own sweet time making her way to the pickup point.

There was a rustling in the bushes.

She still let out a sigh of relief when she saw Garnet's familiar bushy hair poke its way out from behind a tree.

That relief died immediately when she saw Garnet's frown as she rushed towards the car.

Pearl rolled down the window just a crack- enough to speak without letting in any of the morning light. "Where is she?"

"I don't know! I couldn't find her anywhere!"

"Her backpack?" Pearl asked.

"Untouched."

"Did you check by the river? You know she likes roll around in the mud there-"

"I checked the river," Garnet said. "Pearl, I can't find her. And I can't See her either!"

"What?"

The girl looked panicked. "I just- can't. When I try to focus on her, it's just like- mist."

Pearl felt a cold prickle run down her neck.

"Get in the car," she said. Garnet's three eyes opened wide, and she obeyed without hesitation. "Call your Mother- Sapphire. Now."

Pearl stared back out the window, gripping the steering wheel so tight she left indents in the rubber. Oh Amethyst, what's happened to you?"