by Lou Grimes
A gasp escaped Louvette’s lips as she looked at this primal creature. He lay down like a dog, to be less imposing. His movements were unhurried as if she might make a run. Her fingers itched to run through the no doubt ridiculously thick fur. She stepped forward gradually, extending her hurt arm forward. Louvette’s mind was blown as her fingers trailed down his side. He leaned into her touch slightly.
His bones shifted painfully again and within seconds. Arsen stood there looking a little disheveled. Thankfully, all of his clothes were intact as well. Louvette experienced a wave of relief that she wouldn’t be running around the forest in her birthday suit.
“Satisfied?” he inquired, cocking his eyebrow. His hands were flipped up as if he had just done an impressive party trick. Louvette was far from satisfied as a million thoughts flashed across her mind.
“Nope, so this is inherited?” she questioned to figure out why she was going to grow a tail. Louvette glowered, thinking that she wouldn’t look very good covered in hair.
“Every man on your father’s side has been a wolf since the founding of this town.” His words implied something.
“Every man? What about the women?” she grilled him, catching on to the implication of every man on her father’s side. Louvette reflected on what that meant for her, but she was drawing up nothing.
“Out of all the founding families and all the other wolf communities in the world, not once has a girl been Lupine. We keep contact in contact with the other packs so we would be informed of it. Some girls who are more direct descendants are told about the Lupine because many marry into other founding families and have a potential of having boys one day that are Lupine. Your grandmother knew. She passed away due to childbirth,” he revealed.
Louvette frowned, peering off out of the kitchen window. Her heart grew heavy at the mention of the death of another family member that she would never meet. At least her grandmother’s death was a closed case. People knew why she had passed. People didn’t have any clue why her grandfather had been killed, or where her father was.
Most assumed that her father was dead. It was better than the alternative, of her father sitting on some beach somewhere, kid-free. An island beauty at his side. Her father was a touchy subject. She didn’t know how to feel because she had no idea what happened to him or what happened between her mother and father. Louvette would hate to think that there was a chance that her mother just told him that he couldn’t be in Louvette’s life. She had nothing to go on at the moment. She hoped Arsen would give her something.
“I could see that you’re Lupine. That day at the cafe, I sensed a foreign wolf come near my pack. I lost complete control, to be honest. I looked everywhere for the invading wolf but couldn’t figure out who it was because you don’t smell like one yet. I never expected you to fight back,” he admitted, chargingly.
“My friends asked me what was wrong, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t think it was real, but then the thing in the hallway happened. I couldn’t deny it any longer. I tried to hide your arm, so my friends wouldn’t wonder. I didn’t look at you this morning because I didn’t wish to give them any chance of noticing you for what you are,” he said.
“Why would it be bad? I’m tired of secrets,” Louvette asked.
“I have no clue how my father or the pack will react. You’re a commodity in the Lupine world. You might find that your fate would be out of your own hands after being exposed for what you are,” Arsen hinted.
“What do they want from me?” Louvette asked.
“Our pack won’t be the problem. Other packs will be. They might try to steal you,” Arsen said.
“So, am I going to die the next time I touch silver?” Louvette asked, thinking of all the things people said could kill a werewolf, like silver and fire. She didn’t wish to have any involuntary reactions to anything while her mother was there. They loved to sit next to the fireplace and talk.
“No, silver’s a Hollywood myth. Aconitum is what poisons us,” Arsen said, sending a look that pointed to the fact that he was not amused by her movie references. But Louvette figured that those myths had to come from somewhere.
“Aconitum? Do you mean Actinium?” Louvette wondered. Her two years of chemistry drew a blank at the word. She thought it sounded like the element Actinium on the periodic table. Louvette kept herself from dramatically rolling her eyes at his mispronunciation of the word.
“Aconitum has a lot of names, but the Lupine call it wolfsbane. It’s an herb,” Arsen retorted, realizing where her mind was. Louvette narrowed her eyes at his sassiness. He gave her a look that screamed to keep the sarcasm in check before he started being sarcastic back. Louvette wanted serious answers so she refrained from any snide comments that came to mind.
“Well, how am I supposed to recognize it? So, I shouldn’t just stumble across it?” Louvette said, hoping that every time she went into the forest, she wouldn’t get covered in wolfsbane. Her lack of luck would have her unknowing fall into a patch. Wolfsbane might even have a beautiful flower on it. Knowing her, she’d pick it, thinking it was pretty.
“No, definitely not. Though it has been weaponized into bullets, knives, and all manner of sharp unpleasant things to make hunting rogues easier. But if you come across someone with wolfsbane, you won’t just be stumbling across them. It will be for a reason, and it usually isn’t a very good reason,” Arsen said.
Louvette remembered her dream of her grandfather getting shot and the blackness seeping through his veins. The horrible sounds it made. The insane speed at which it went throughout his body. She hoped her dream was wrong because it was a terrible death.
“What does wolfsbane do exactly”? Louvette asked. She imagined it to be more of an allergic reaction like hives, difficulty breathing, and swelling.She saw herself covered in chamomile lotion next to a humidifier. She didn’t need to be itchy and miserable.
“It’s like a poison. It spreads through the blood stream. It burns you from the inside out. It only takes a drop of its oil,” Arsen told her. It was the most extreme symptom from an allergic reaction. That symptom was death. The word burn led her on a different path of thought.
“Why was it even created?” Louvette asked.
“The main purpose was for killing rogue wolves. Sometimes others use it on regular Lupine, like criminals,” Arsen said.
“What are rogue wolves?” Louvette demanded.
“Rogue wolves are Lupine who have lost control of their wolves. They are usually stuck in mid form and look like something out of a horror film. Once they lose control, they lose all humanity, and humanity isn’t something that you can get back easily,” Arsen explained.
“Am I going to lose control?” Louvette asked, not wishing to hurt whoever was closest to her. It could be her mother, Cara, or maybe even Arsen, for all she knew.
“No, it is usually because they go insane. Lone wolves are more apt to lose control than pack wolves. They shift to a wolf and stay in it for months at a time. Shifting back gets harder and harder. Then, they start killing things that they shouldn’t and drawing human and Lupine attention. After that, they end up attacking whoever comes at them because their wolf’s survival skills are kicked into overdrive,” Arsen told her.
“What about fire?” Louvette investigated. She’d heard that fire killed werewolves and vampires. Her face wrinkled in bewilderment. She was unsure which one it was that fire would destroy. Louvette had her money on vampires, but that was probably a lie they created to keep themselves safe as well.
“It burns you the same as it burns a human, well for most. However, once you shift, your healing will speed up tremendously.” Arsen warned of that new side show act. She sighed. It sounded like the only perk that came with being a Lupine.
“How fast”? Louvette grilled. Healing fast enough that it could truly be seen, that was a gift in Louvette’s eyes. However, the going furry part was not. The being alone portion was an issue as well. She didn’t savor the idea of being the only girl.
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��Fast enough to heal a gunshot wound in an hour. That’s as long as there is no Aconitum in it. If there is, the healing stops. The poison takes over and you die within a half an hour,” Arsen said ominously. Louvette frowned at the last part. The Aconitum was not playing around.
“Is there a cure to wolfsbane?” she asked Arsen. A cure would ease her worries slightly. It was probably a Hollywood myth, too. Give the Lupine some false hope.
“Yes, Belladonna is the cure if it is administrated in enough time. Once it reaches your lungs and heart, it’s too late. Not many people carry that stuff on them. It’s hard to get ahold of,” he responded. Louvette bit her lip. A question gnawed on the back of her mind, wanting to be voiced.
“If Hollywood is wrong about silver, how did they get that information?” Louvette sought the answer. She expected his next statement. She’d assumed lore came from somewhere.
“They got it from Lupine feeding them false leads. Packs have been doing it for ages.” Arsen confirmed her beliefs. She smiled. It was a smart move. That way if anybody ever did mount an attack, they’d be using the wrong weapons and giving the Lupine enough time to run or fight. One word caught her attention.
“Packs? How does the pack work?” Louvette asked. She hadn’t even thought about if they were lone wolves or pack wolves until he said that word. Wolves were social animals, but Louvette was unsure how close they were to their Lupine relatives.
“There are many packs throughout the world. My father’s pack leader over Montana. He’s the alpha. The heads of the founding families are his betas, like Thomas Hollows and Cara Rivers’s father. Your grandfather was one. Your father should have been one,” Arsen said to her.
“How many Lupine are there exactly?” she wondered. She didn’t know if they were large scale enough that they were about to take over or if they were about to go extinct. Louvette assumed it was impossible to count the exact number, but she still wondered what the rough estimate was in comparison to the human race.
“It’s hard to count. We aren’t dying out. We are growing, but gradually. The town of Whitefish is about thirty percent Lupine. That’s not counting wives, daughters, or girlfriends that are in on the secret as well. But not every town is like that, Whitefish is just the headquarters for the Northern United pack.” Arsen narrowed the parameter down. She was still not quite aware of how much of a population there really was.
“Is there some guide you can give me to being Lupine”? Louvette asked, feeling the drain of the day wear on her. Her head throbbed as a headache was in full swing. She didn’t think she could take much more of this. At this rate, she’d stop retaining information soon.
“Not officially, but I might have something similar to a guide. I’ll see if I can find it when I get home. My family is one step from staging a hoarder’s intervention with my mom,” Arsen said. He had a thoughtful look on his handsome face. She cocked her head to the side.
Louvette gave him a look that questioned his seriousness. He grinned at her, still not telling. Louvette gave him a small smile, but her smile quickly faded as she thought about all the supernatural things she’d heard about.
“Are we the only monsters out there?” Louvette quizzed. Vampires, faes, incubi, succubi, and witches were just the ones on the top of her head. She had no desire for them to be real. Louvette didn’t need any more monsters out there, but even she could tell the ludicrousness of that want, because if Lupine were real, than why wouldn’t everything else be real?
“Yes, witches are real for sure. There are some others, but we’ll cross that bridge when if we come to it,” Arsen said, confirming her fears. Louvette’s face full of fear over the number of unknown creatures out there.
Louvette wondered if all the schools she burned through during her education was because she was a Lupine.
“I get into fights a lot at school, is this why?” she asked.
“Probably, no one has taught you any level of control, so you probably fly off the handle really easy. I was like that when I was eleven,” Arsen said. Louvette was flooded with relief. One day, she could tell her mother so that she might judge her a little less for all the fights she had gotten into.
“I need to process this. I don’t have any idea where to go from here,” she admitted truthfully, staring into his eyes. Arsen’s understanding face nodded, realizing she’d had enough for today. He stood up.
“I understand. Any questions feel free to text me any time. Fair warning, don’t talk to me at school or anything where anybody else is around unless you don’t care about exposing yourself,” he warned. However, it wasn’t warranted. She didn’t need anybody to find out.
Waving, he left. As the sun set, her thoughts began to take a perturbing turn. She wondered what kind of life she could live as an uncontrollable monster. But Arsen didn’t seem like he lacked restraint. He was the picture of control. Louvette pondered if she could ever have that much control. She nearly lost it twice already. She didn’t wish to do it again.
She must have sat there for hours lost in thought. Her heart longed for understanding of what her life was going to be. There were two routes: a life straight out of a Hollywood horror film, or a fiercer independence than she had ever known. Louvette wished for her grandfather to still be alive to teach her everything she needed to learn.
Her mom arrived to find her sitting on the porch, gazing into the forest. The sound of the night was in full swing, the moon high up in the sky. The chilly wind was whistling through the trees softly. She woke her up from her daydreaming.
“You better go to sleep or you’re going to be a bear tomorrow when we go hiking,” her mom said as soon as she caught sight of Louvette. Her eyes were worn out from working the night shift. Her rounded body hinted that her legs were weary as well.
Louvette paused, longing to tell her everything, but she had no proof. She couldn’t shift like Arsen. She wondered how her mother would behave around Louvette. She didn’t want to be a monster in her mother’s eyes. Louvette decided to forgo revealing her secret.
“Hiking?” Louvette said the word as if she’d never heard it before. The hesitation came from the fact that she knew her mother was not an extremely outdoorsy person. Sarah Lynskey had a history of broken limbs from partaking in outdoor activities before. This was sure to end in complete disaster, she thought with humor.
“Yes, hiking. It’s so beautiful here. I didn’t really explore the last time I was here. We have to do some stuff while I’m off,” her mother shot back in a mocking tone like she was Louvette’s age. Her mother didn’t appreciate Louvette’s lack of confidence in her.
“If you say so.” Louvette laughed as she went up the stairs to her room. The stairs creaked under her as she went up them. She opened her door to her room.
“Night, I love you too,” her mom called, pretending to be offended that she had received no declaration of love from her wayward daughter. Louvette had been planning to say she loved her once she got to her door, but her mother beat her to the punch.
“Good night, I love you,” Louvette shouted cheekily from the second floor. She closed her door quietly.
Louvette turned to face her room that contained a beautiful cedar bed, dresser, and side tables. The wooden beams were arranged in an eye-catching manner. Her large windows had dark blue drapes. The hard wood flooring creaked as she walked across the room.
She tucked herself into the bed that several patchwork quilts on it. Her dreams came instantly as she lay back.
Chapter 5
Louvette was running through the woods down an unkept trail. Her movements blurred together as her legs pumped. This was no ordinary jog. She usually set a steady peaceful pace. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw no one chasing her. She only saw her foot impressions in the former untouched earth. Louvette wondered why her lungs were burning.
The woods were a color scale of more dark greens and browns. There were no bright contrasting colors. No light to illuminate the hues of the forest. Louvette could
not find the moon. She didn’t know how she could see, how she knew where to put her feet, or how she didn’t falter.
Her breathing sounded too loud. It was growing louder as each second ticked. Her feet were expertly running through the forest like she had done this all her life.
Her legs reached their limit. Her lungs could breathe in no more. Her foot landed on a log that was jutting out of the ground. She jumped. Over the distance of that jump she readied her arms in front of her for a roll. However, the roll never came.
Louvette’s body shattered in mid-air before she hit the ground. A solid white wolf landed where her body should have landed. She continued running like before, but she was no longer at the end of her physical limitations. This time when she peered over her shoulder, there were paw prints where feet had been.
The white streaking through the forest was blinding. It was out of place in the woods. Far better suited for the snowy mountains and Arctic. Her thick fur was ready to protect her from the true chill that nature had to offer. Not this light brisk cold.
She was faster. She was stronger. She was free.
***
Her heart thundered in her chest as her mom pounded on her door, waking her from her stupor. The door flew open. The lights clicked on painfully to Louvette’s still-adjusting sight. The sheets stuck to Louvette’s body like crazy glue. Her hair was plastered all over her face. Sarah’s eyes met hers. There was a touch of worry in them.
Louvette flashed her a comforting smile and the concern receded slightly. Sarah was a mother and a mother never stopped fretting over her little ducklings no matter how troublesome they were.
“Wake up. We need to get ready, so we can make the full hike before lunch. It’s like five miles long or so. It usually takes about three hours for most people,” her mother said.
“I’m up already. I’m just pondering on what bone you’re planning on breaking today?” Louvette asked.
“All of them,” Sarah sassed.
“I wish I was as much an overachiever as you are,” Louvette mocked.