by Stead, Nick
Uncertain, I howled again and waited for some kind of a reply, friendly or otherwise. Nothing. Maybe if I could find a scent trail to lead me to them or some other hint of where they might be? The night’s hunt hadn’t taken me far across my territory – there was still plenty to explore before sunrise.
A dog barked as I padded onwards. I found myself facing a male Yorkshire Terrier, straining against the end of the chain attached to his kennel. As far as he was concerned, this was his territory and I was in it.
No movement came from within the house belonging to his human masters. I could have left the dog to his delusions and continued on. There was no need for bloodshed. But that was not the nature of my moon-crazed self. Besides, I had no love for dogs, despite the fact we came from the same lupine ancestors. They had allowed themselves to be enslaved by humanity, chained and sometimes beaten, and treated like lesser beings. It was shameful, the way they’d let themselves be tamed, many of their bodies mere shadows of what they once were. I could smell the sickness they’d bred into him. He was living on borrowed time as it was.
Rage seized my heart. Humans were so arrogant, thinking they owned the world and everything in it. But they weren’t all powerful. They weren’t gods, able to bend and shape everything to their will. No, they were only mortal like the rest of the animal kingdom, whether we walk on four legs or two. It was time someone reminded them of that and I was going to start with this dog.
I can only imagine how fearsome I must have looked with the fury blazing in my eyes and the blood of my first victim on my muzzle. The dog wasn’t completely stupid it seemed – realising he was outmatched, he tried to cower back in submission. It was too little, too late.
I lunged with such strength that we smashed into his tiny kennel, wood splintering from the impact. Then I had him in my crushing grip, shaking his little body side to side. His whimpering fuelled the bloodlust, and like the unfortunate woman before him, I heard his spine break beneath the force of my savagery.
He went limp but still I shook him, his blood washing across my mouth and raining down on the wooden planks at our feet. It brought a rush of such power, echoes of that very part of me I despised. I was too caught up in the rage to care.
Finally I dropped his broken body. His front legs scrabbled at the ground, dragging his useless back end along as he tried to crawl away. The sight sent me into another frenzy, and I attacked again, ripping open his belly and spilling his guts, his upper body writhing in pain. My hunger made itself known once more, not yet satiated despite having already made a kill, and it would not wait for him to die.
I sniffed the stomach lying at my feet and picked it up with my jaws, swallowing it down whole. Tubes ripped as they caught on my teeth, hastening the dog’s demise. He was already gone when I’d had my fill of his organs and started stripping the bones of their flesh, what little of it there was on the small, skinny frame.
More strange noises disturbed me from my meal, coming from a nearby street. There was little left anyway, and there was still time to hunt yet.
Ignoring the urge to howl and mark the place with my scent, I slunk away, not bothering to hide the dog’s remains as I had with the woman. A dead pet would attract far less attention and I was more concerned with the possibility of an immediate threat.
I continued to explore my territory, stopping every now and then to listen for more potential dangers and scent the air, though I found no fresh smells of interest. Only once I was certain I hadn’t become the hunted did I start howling for my pack again.
The night was almost spent when I received a reply. Not a voice I recognised – if they’d been pack, I’d have known them from their howls or their scent alone, thanks to the wolf who’d awoken me, though I couldn’t tell you how he’d passed on that knowledge. No, this sounded like a lone female, confident and high ranking; an alpha I decided, but fairly young, at least physically. Her voice did not betray her mental age, which could be centuries for one of our kind. The howl was brief and soon ended, and filled with excitement I howled again, straining my ears in desperation for another reply. My pack seemed to have deserted me but this was a chance to start a pack of my own.
The howl came again, brief as before and from a distance. I could tell that the female had moved from her last position to evade rival packs, but I had some idea of where she was. So I sent up another cry, eager to meet. Her next reply sounded slightly closer, and I was able to pinpoint her location, setting off in that direction at a run.
The feeling I was being watched brought me to a halt. My hackles rose in alarm and I gave a warning snarl, yet the night appeared still and quiet around me. Was someone tracking me downwind? I hesitated, unsure of myself in the face of an unseen threat. Should I seek shelter till I could be certain the danger had passed? Would the alpha female wait for me if I did, or would I miss my chance – would she move on? It wasn’t like she shared a pre-existing bond with me as my blood brothers and sisters did.
I couldn’t risk missing her, I decided, and continued into the field of a nearby primary school. If I was being followed there were plenty of crawl spaces where humans would struggle to get through. Assuming whatever I was sensing was human. If it was any other kind of animal I could deal with it; only humans posed a threat with their guns and hunting dogs, bringing the death which only humans bring. Their dogs I could handle, but their guns were another matter.
A hill rose up out of the darkness. I had access to some of my human half’s memories and knew there would be a fence I could easily jump over round the back of it, and a ring of bushes. It was probably my best chance at losing any pursuers.
I was halfway across the field when I heard the snap of a twig. Pausing, my ear swivelled in that direction, my nose once again to the wind. Then came a voice, cursing as far as I could tell. My blood turned cold. Humans!
My hackles raised and I sounded another growl, my heart thudding in my chest in preparation to fight or flee. Instinct had me stand my ground while I assessed the situation, even though I was well aware their guns could put an end to me right there and then. If I could just pick up their scents so I knew how many I was facing and where each one was hiding…
Shapes began to materialise on the edges of the field. Too late, the wind changed direction and finally divulged the group’s secrets, revealing there to be too many to fight. And it was as I’d feared, they each carried a gun.
I ran. Shouts went up from the group and gunshots roared, dirt spraying where bullets sought their target and missed. It looked like they’d planned to surround me, one man already in position at the foot of the hill, blocking my path. Metal glinted from his belt, silver from the looks of it. The blade could only be meant for me. And given what the humans believed about the magical properties of the precious metal, they had to know I was more than just a wolf. I just hoped they didn’t know who I was, or my life was most likely over.
The man aimed his weapon but I could smell the fear on him. I charged, counting on that fear to save me. If not I was doomed.
There was a flash as the bullet exploded from the barrel and tore through the night, but my bluff worked. His hands were shaking and the shot went wild, then I was on him before he could shoot again. Except I didn’t attack this time, knowing the others could easily pick me off if I let myself slow for even a moment.
I raced past him and round the hill as intended, over the fence into someone’s garden and under a hedge, my fur catching in its thorns. They failed to reach the skin beneath, then I was back on the street, running across a road and narrowly avoiding one of the human’s rushing machines, hearing sounds of pursuit, doubling back to try and confuse them...
There was another noise to my left and I turned my head towards it, trying to determine if it was more of the hunters closing in. They could be working as a pack, shepherding me towards my death. It wouldn’t do to run into their trap. I needed to be smarter than them if I was going to stand a chance.
My body smashed into so
mething solid and I fell in a crumpled heap, panting heavily. Hands grabbed me and the next thing I knew I was flailing through the air. I collided with another barrier – this time a wall – and slumped to the ground, stunned and aching.
There were more cries and flashes of gunshots as the hunters burst into view. Then the screaming started.
CHAPTER FOUR
New Friend in All the Madness
The bodies fell one by one, some with broken necks, others sporting gaping wounds in their chests and stomachs. A few had their throats ripped out. It happened in a blur of movement, too fast for me to follow. Guns kept on firing but it did the humans no good. The last of them dropped to the blood soaked ground and the night quietened once more.
The blur came to a stop and looked at me with a face that could have almost passed for another human, had it not been for the blood around her mouth and the two upper canines, longer and sharper than any of her victims’ teeth. Then I caught her scent and there could be no doubt. She was of the same world I was, and she’d just saved me from certain death. I owed her my life.
The vampire turned her back and began to walk away. I picked myself up and followed, head bowed in submission. Perhaps she was my alpha now.
She had to be aware of me loping behind her but she never once looked over her shoulder. My thoughts turned to the lone wolf I’d been searching for and I paused, trying to decide where my loyalties lay. The lone female hadn’t tried to call to me again since the hunters had attacked, but she was still my kind, while this woman was a distant cousin at best. I would be a fool to let the lone female slip away.
My howl was cut short. Hands clamped around my muzzle and yanked my head downwards so we were eye to eye. There could be no doubt then – the vampire was indeed an alpha. Her entire being brimmed with confidence and I squirmed in her grasp, uncomfortable with the direct eye contact.
“Idiot!” she snarled in the wolven tongue. “Those who hunted you found you because of your howling. It was I who returned your howls in the hope you would find me before they found you, but I hoped in vain. You were lucky to escape with your life this night.”
Understanding dawned and I growled my apology. Things were beginning to make sense. My pack must have been wiped out by the same group of humans who had tracked me to the field. The realisation filled me with sorrow, and I felt the urge to howl again. But I fought it, knowing now it would only bring more hunters. The best I could do for my pack was to survive and carry our bloodline into a new generation, ensuring our legacy lived on. And besides, endangering our lives again would be a poor way to repay the vampire for coming to my rescue.
My new alpha watched me putting the pieces together, then released her grip, obviously satisfied I would be more careful from then on. She continued down the street and I kept on following, all the way to a cemetery.
She passed through the gates and wandered between the headstones, coming to a stop beside one of those long, flat gravestones, ancient and crumbling. It looked far from comfortable but for her kind it must have been preferable to the dampness of the grass. She lay down on it with her arms folded across her chest, eyes closing and a look of peace settling into her features as she rested.
The grass was a good enough bed for me. I lay beside her, thinking over everything that had happened during this first full moon. My body still ached from being thrown against the wall and anger crept back into my heart. The vampire might be an alpha but she’d had no right to do that, no matter how annoyed she might have been by my clumsiness. Maybe this was a good time to test her dominance over me. I’d never beat her in a fair fight but if she could be caught off-guard she would prove unworthy of being pack alpha after all.
I rose into a crouch, a coiled spring ready to pounce. That was as far as I got. The next thing I knew, she had me in another grip, this time around the scruff of my neck, and we were eye to eye once more.
“Try that again and you’ll be cat meat!” she hissed.
With a surly growl, I looked away and up at the sky. Light was creeping into the blackness, heralding the return of the sun. The human part of me was growing stronger. It would not be long before it forced me back into my scrawny, two legged form.
The vampire followed my gaze and released her grip, making a run for shelter in a nearby mausoleum. I turned to go in with her but new agony locked me in place. The transformation had taken hold and there was no fighting it. All I could do was endure the discomfort while my body changed shape once more.
The itching returned as fur shrank back into skin. My front paws gave the illusion of elongating to become fingers, the pads softening into palms and the claws blunting into fingernails. But the bones in my hand were actually shortening, my dew claws sliding down to form opposable thumbs. I was forced to transfer my weight to the flat of each hand, the digits now too delicate to support me, and the bones no longer able to bend in the same way.
I felt my tail shrinking back into my spine and the upper bones in my limbs lengthened, particularly my femurs, so that I could no longer stand comfortably on all fours and had to shift to my hands and knees. There came the strange sensation of my ears sliding back down the side of my head, my hearing suddenly less acute.
My fangs also blunted and shrank back into human canines. Other teeth disappeared entirely, having no place in the shorter, human jaw. My maw felt so much weaker, my bite a pitiful imitation of the might of my lupine muzzle.
Smells faded and the sting in my eyes signalled they’d returned to their hazel colouring. With them came the human part of my mind, pushing its way up through our consciousness and forcing me to retreat, awaiting the call of the moon once more.
I opened my eyes and found myself on my hands and knees. The first thing I was aware of was the hunger, all-consuming and so powerful I could have eaten anything, even another human. I felt a craving for raw meat, and my mouth watered as I thought longingly of the beef joint in the fridge back home.
The last thing I remembered clearly was staring up at the moon. Everything became confused after that, but the few snatches of memory I could make sense of were memories of the impossible.
Other than the pain I’d endured, I couldn’t remember the details – my memory had recorded the fact that I was changing into a wolf, rather than the actual change itself; the transforming bones, changing limbs, shifting muscles. After that everything was blank. Much as I wanted to believe it was true, my head was swimming as if I had a hangover and I decided I’d probably been drunk again. Bile was threatening to rise from the depths of my stomach, sickness replacing the hunger, and I swallowed hard in an attempt to keep it down.
I could taste blood in my mouth, and feel the stringy pieces of flesh caught in my teeth, like a rabbit in a trap. My brain had barely had chance to register that fact before I finally became aware of what my eyes were showing me, becoming more confused by the minute.
The first thing I noticed was my vision was much clearer than before – perfect in fact. Where the world should have been completely blurred from a few inches away from my face, it was as clear as it had been before I’d grown short sighted and in need of glasses, maybe even clearer. I didn’t question this miracle since I hated glasses anyway.
Beams of sunlight pierced the clouds in the sky above, shooting down from the heavens like arrows and falling on great grey stone slabs, some rounded, others shaped like crosses, almost as if the light were a holy connection between Heaven and Earth. It didn’t take my confused brain long to realise what they were. Tombstones, rows upon rows of them, marking the graves where the dead lay in blissful ignorance of my presence. Or perhaps their spirits were rising up on those beams of light, climbing them to the afterlife. I wouldn’t know until it was my turn, but I liked to believe there was something waiting for us beyond the veil. I just didn’t think it involved God.
The grass beneath my fingers was cold and damp with morning dew, and as I looked at my hands I saw they were covered in dirt and what was unmistakably more bl
ood.
My stomach heaved and I couldn’t prevent the foul eruption this time. I retched so hard I thought the muscle lining of my stomach would rip, spilling blood and guts onto the ground until the life drained from my body and I joined the dead. Thankfully it ended before it came to that. My stomach settled to an angry gurgling and minutes later I was able to stand.
The hunger returned with a vengeance, so powerful that I had to fight hard against the urge to dig down into the dirt in search of the rotting flesh lying in the graves. I was slave to that hunger, and it had me back on my knees before I realised what I was doing. I quickly stood again, sickened by my actions.
Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I shivered in the cool morning air and only then realised I was naked. Embarrassment flushed through me as I moved my hands to cover my groin. Fortunately, the final resting place of the dead was silent, except for birdsong, seemingly beautiful and sacred in one of the few places in the world to know peace. Peaceful as it was, I knew I couldn’t stay there. My parents were sure to notice I was missing before long, and I had to go to school, even if I didn’t want to. I’d already missed one day; there was no way Mum would let me miss another.
Movement caught my eye, coming from inside the mausoleum. There was a young woman there, a vision right out of a history book. She looked to be in her early twenties but her black dress was from a bygone era. There was no modern touch to the style of her dark hair, and those brown eyes glinted with the cold and calculating mind of an ancient predator.
She locked gazes with me but made no move to come out, her pale face showing a flash of irritation when I didn’t immediately go to her. Then she beckoned to me and my legs seemed to move of their own accord, carrying me to her without my brain’s consent.
No make-up or jewellery adorned her features, yet there was an unnatural beauty about her, too perfect to be human: a form that was almost godly. But there was nothing holy about this creature. She sat on a coffin almost hidden in shadows but strangely didn’t seem out of place there.