by Sarah Noffke
Again he heard the click of the tranquilizer gun. Rolling to the side, he sprang to his feet and once more shot a strong wind from his hand. Not a single gust this time, but rather a continuous one. And the dirt from the flower bed where he stood blew into the air and at once covered the figure before him. Morgan was taller and bulkier than Zephyr, but he wasn’t quicker or stronger. Zephyr raced forward almost faster than the human eye could detect and didn’t stop until he was behind the guy. In one movement he wrapped his arm around the invisible head, locking him in place. He pressed his arm down hard on the man’s esophagus and then the beast took over completely.
Zephyr deep in the recesses of his mind, didn’t want to kill this guy, even if he was an enemy. However, the beast had a taste for meat and he owned everything about Zephyr right then. Just as the invisible figure went limp from a lack of oxygen Zephyr’s fangs snuck into the man’s shoulder and he sucked in the delicious flavor of blood. Warmth flooded his mouth and he closed his eyes to the intoxicating feel of it. The werewolf yanked its closed jaw away, pulling flesh from the shoulder in a giant bite. And then the body of the man he held in his arms came into view; he wasn’t invisible any longer. The werewolf didn’t startle at the sight of cradling a man drenched in his own blood. Inside the wolf, however, Zephyr wished madly that he could turn away and not see the gash in the man’s shoulder, the one he’d created feasting on him.
“Stay right where you are!” he heard someone yell in front of him.
The werewolf snapped his head up and fixed his gaze on six soldiers standing on the road in front of him, tranquilizer guns held at the ready. They were dressed like the men from the Olento Research lab, all black uniforms. Letting the passed out man’s body drop from his hands, he focused on the soldiers. Zephyr read the hesitation in the face of the guard standing in the front. He knew he was mostly likely too far away for a shot to hit Zephyr. This guard shouldn’t have announced his presence until he was closer. That was a rookie error.
But the beast and Zephyr both knew why he’d made the mistake. One doesn’t watch a werewolf ripping into invisible flesh and approach too fast. The scene must have looked more than bizarre and now a man with his shoulder ripped open lay bleeding at Zephyr’s feet. Wiping the back of his arm across his blood-drenched mouth, Zephyr crouched to a kneeling position. It was how the wolf felt most comfortable. Then the beast let out a howl that echoed through the neighborhood before he sprung to the left, racing away like the wind, smooth and unstoppable. The sounds of the guns being fired registered in his head, but not one tranquilizer dart connected with Zephyr as he zipped around the next house and then away, into the approaching night.
Mrs. Magner dropped the phone that was in her hand when the wolflike creature raced out of her yard. She’d been ready to call the authorities when she spotted the thing through the kitchen nook window. It was a man, but it wasn’t. It was human and yet it had black and silver hair covering its arms and hands. And the claws. They were black and strong and had ripped at thin air. She’d watched for a whole minute as the monster seemed to have a strange fit in the front yard, leaping into the air and wrestling by itself. Its glowing gray eyes pierced through the darkening front yard and its fangs looked like knives when the werewolf opened its mouth to growl. It was the size of a man, but its features were sharper. It was a strange sight, a man and also a wolf. And then the other man appeared out of nowhere, the one she realized the werewolf had attacked, and that man now lay in Mrs. Magner’s yard. But werewolves weren’t real, she told herself. God would never allow such a travesty to happen.
Kaleb’s mother had been ready to call the police when the werewolf darted from her yard. It was then that she saw the uniformed and armed soldiers in the street, trying to take the monster down. At first she’d been relieved at their presence, but then her eyes moved to a corner of the driveway where a man’s body lay dead. It was her husband’s body, she knew it. And she knew at once that the devilish werewolf had killed him.
Chapter Forty
“Daily meditation can increase the chemicals which promote Dream Traveler skills.”
- Lucidite Employee Manual
As soon as Trent’s agents from the strategic department showed up, Rox threw her head back. She had raced the SUV a few blocks over as she called the Lucidite Institute and then parked at the curb. Kaleb was still passed out in the backseat. It took the team only five minutes to arrive, since they’d been stationed and waiting for a backup call. Rox told Trent over the phone about her current worst fears, but they both knew he was pretty much in a powerless position. It had to be Rox. She was the only one who could save the people in the Lucidite Institute.
“Do you have tranquilizer guns there?” she said over the Bluetooth.
“We don’t have guns of any sort. Trey won’t allow it,” Trent said.
“Fuck. Invest in tranquilizer guns!” she said, when the team pulled up, ready to transport the passed out werewolf to the Institute. He’d have to travel there the hard way, and hopefully he stayed passed out during the flight and the submarine ride. Still, the team knew to bind his hands and arms and put him in quarantine on the private jet. However, Kaleb was the least of Rox’s problems at the moment.
With her head lying back on the rest, she closed her eyes and dream traveled to the GAD-C located in the Institute.
Chapter Forty-One
“The morale of Olento Research employees is their concern. They shouldn’t expect intervention from management on their personal affairs.”
- Olento Research Employee Manual
“So now that you know what my gift is, are you going to share what yours is?” Connor said, striding beside Adelaide through the Lucidite Institute, his hands pushed down casually, or maybe it was nervously, into his pockets. She was having a tough time reading him, for some odd reason. He came off cool and then also anxious at the same time.
“Gifts,” she said, pressing the button for the elevator. The silver doors to the small transport popped open a moment later.
“Gifts? As in you have more than one?” he said, following her into the elevator.
She tapped the button several times for level five, suddenly feeling extra cold as a shiver ripped down her back. “Currently I have two, but they’re kind of lame,” she said, and then suddenly realized that she was never self-deprecating in front of others, especially inside the Institute where she was always trying to prove herself.
“Currently? Like the number of skills you have is subject to change? And didn’t Rox say something about you using mind control?” Connor said, yanking his hand from his pocket and scratching at his stubbled face. He wore a short bit of facial hair which had more red in it than the hair on his head.
“She lies like a two-bit whore, so don’t listen to her. And to answer your first question, sometimes powers are dormant and haven’t surfaced yet. And then there are skills that with enough focused power, you can learn and they very much seem like gifts,” she said, thinking of her failed attempts to teleport or hypnotize.
“So there are inborn gifts and then also skills you can learn as a Dream Traveler. Huh,” Connor said, but he suddenly didn’t look as interested in the conversation. He seemed distracted and yet unwilling to acknowledge it.
Adelaide honed her attention on his face, which was twitching in places. His eyes dilated. His fingers began to drum on his leg.
“You all right?” she said, tapping the button again for level five. The elevator seemed extra slow today.
“Yeah,” he said, blowing out a breath and marching his feet, like an antsy fit just came over him.
“Connor,” Adelaide said, her eyes now on the number highlighted above the doors of the elevator. They were at level three.
“What?!” he yelled, his green eyes narrowing on her like crescent moons. And then they began to glow.
Adelaide slid back instantly, her spine colliding with the stainless steel walls. “You’re changing, aren’t you? I order you not to harm
me or anyone else. We’ll get you to the safe room,” she said, realizing that she was seconds away from being locked in an elevator with a wild beast.
Thick reddish brown hair poked through the pores of the skin on his hands and arms and slid into place. Claws with a hint of orange pierced his fingertips and then he looked up at her, a hungry expression in his eyes. “I won’t be able to control the wolf,” he said, his voice a growl, but his words full of desperate regret. “Get away from me as soon as you can.”
Adelaide slammed her hand on the emergency button to the elevator, but the machine didn’t register the request right away. It slowed at level four, but wasn’t in a place where it could stop. “Don’t you hurt me,” she said, again putting her mind control behind the words.
Connor dropped his head and shook it. He looked the same and yet different. His ears slightly pointy at the end, the angles of his face a little sharper. When he lifted his face his canines had doubled in size. “All I want to do is hurt you,” he said, taking a giant step forward so he was pressed up against her. He grabbed her chin in his hands, the sharp claws pinching her neck.
From his touch, she read his thoughts. Felt them course through her. Connor had no control in werewolf form. He was powerless to the wolf’s desires. Deep in his mind her telepathy told her that he was sorry. That he didn’t want to hurt her. That it was the last thing he’d do to her if he only had a choice. But the wolf wanted flesh and it couldn’t be tamed.
Connor’s hot breath hit Adelaide’s face like a soft whip. He drew back slightly as he bared his teeth. A soft growl drummed in his throat when he slipped his long nose down, sniffing at her throat. Adelaide was powerless in that moment. The most powerful Dream Traveler at the Institute and she couldn’t stop a werewolf with her mind control. “Stop,” she begged, tears clogging her throat. He pinned her firmer to the wall with his other hand, and then slipped his nose along her neck, inhaling her into him, as the growl in his throat deepened.
The elevator doors bounced open, making Connor’s eyes dart away momentarily. Adelaide took her chance and ducked under his arm, racing through the hallway. “Help! Help me!” she screamed, feeling as if she was stuck in a dream where she was running but her feet were moving too slowly.
Behind her a howl sliced through the air, one that made her ears ring and the panic nearly tear her chest in two. Then the footsteps. They thudded on the ground behind her. Connor raced after Adelaide and she had no doubt that he’d catch her, feast on her. To be eaten alive, it was her worst fear.
Hands rammed into Adelaide’s shoulder blades, knocking her to the ground. The force that sunk onto her felt like a locomotive had rammed into her body. She attempted to breathe, but only pulled in the dense fibers of the carpet under her mouth. The pain of the pressure on her back paled to the fear that she was going to suffocate. And then Connor yanked her upright, pulling her body tight against his. She was on her feet, kind of, but mostly suspended in the air. His arm around her waist, another around her neck.
Adelaide looked out at the hallway of the Lucidite Institute that seemed to go on forever. Then her vision blurred as the tears fell over her cheeks. “No, no, no,” she said, hearing his thoughts and those of the wolf because he was touching her. She knew Connor was destroying himself right now with the idea that soon he’d murder her. And the wolf didn’t care.
“So hungry. Need meat. So hungry,” the beast said. Connor threw her to the ground again, as another howl ripped out of his mouth. The wolf was playing with its prey, enjoying the game before the feast. Adelaide pushed up to all fours and turned her head to regard the werewolf standing at her back. Squatted down low, the werewolf looked nothing like the guy from earlier. All the compassion and curiosity was gone from his face, replaced with vengeful hunger. Connor crouched down lower, again sucking in her smell. Then he backed up a few paces and she knew by the way he’d positioned himself that he was about to pounce on her, and then rip into her with his teeth. Again, like in a nightmare, she buried her head, wishing she’d wake up.
The howl pierced Rox’s ears, making her clap her hands to them. She was on the right level. For five long minutes she’d been rushing through the corridors of the Lucidite Institute, trying to find Connor. Now she knew he was just up ahead, probably around the next hallway.
Her hair whipped in her face as she sprinted for the upcoming bend in the corridor. She knew when Kaleb and Zephyr had changed that Connor would too. These guys were on the same schedule. They were connected. And now a werewolf was loose in the Institute and as powerful as these people were, they couldn’t stop a deranged beast with super strength and powers. But Rox could. She was sure of it.
Rox nearly tripped on her own feet when she rounded the corner. She halted abruptly at the sight of the werewolf crouched over the trembling girl. Adelaide had her head covered and her knees pulled into her chest, the position one takes if about to be mauled by a bear. Rox knew she was losing precious time, but she couldn’t just rush up on the beast without considering the right attack that would leave Adelaide unharmed. That’s why she simply snapped her fingers.
The werewolf revolved his head, his glowing green eyes taking in the distraction interrupting his soon-to-be feast. A snarl communicated his dissatisfaction. Then he stepped back and faced Rox, his knuckles on the ground.
“Come on, you fucking puppy. Let’s play,” Rox said, sliding into a fighting stance.
The man that had been Connor stood tall, his clawed hands in front of him. There was something beautiful about these werewolves. They weren’t the hellacious beasts from the movies Rox remembered. They wore hair on their arms and hands. But their features were elegant and sharp. And the way they moved was graceful and lacking any gross monster quality.
The werewolf stepped forward, the movement slow like he was calculating her. At his back, Rox caught Adelaide pushing to a standing position and sprinting in the opposite direction, away from the fight.
“Let’s see what you can do, doggy,” Rox said, waving him forward.
On the tails of her words the werewolf lunged forward, but Rox spun to the side, barely missing his attempt in the narrow hallway. He was fast, much faster than she could deal with. Now she knew something for certain; he could own her in this fight. However, he couldn’t kill her. And hopefully she’d tire the beast out first. She whipped around and thrust a foot into his abdomen, but it had little effect. The werewolf caught her foot in both his hands and spun it to the side, flipping Rox to the ground. Just as she hit the carpet she made to get up, but the animal’s breath was down low and his fangs close to her face. Then he tried to sink them into her jaw but they met a dead-end wall, smashing into the skin like a knife meeting a diamond. Rox’s skin was too resistant to be penetrated by his fangs. Yes, if her energy waned too low then that could change, but for now she was immune to his attacks. The beast, confused by this bizarre reality, grabbed both her arms and yanked her to her feet before slamming Rox into the stainless steel wall. She merely smiled. “That only tickled a little. Try harder, you fucking mutt,” she said and then nailed him in the groin with her knee. Yes, even werewolves have a sore spot between their legs.
Connor’s head darted to the long hallway. He heard something, Rox realized. This was her moment. She launched a fist at his face and then drove a kick straight into his gut. This time it connected and he slammed back into the door behind him. His claws tried to grab for Rox, but she banged her hand on the button beside the door and then pushed him into the next room, an empty office. With her last remaining energy, she slammed a fist straight between his eyes, forcing him back as she pushed the button to close the door. She spun around to find Aiden running in the lead, Adelaide behind him and a device in his hands. Having witnessed the struggle as he approached, he smashed the small block onto the button and pressed a switch on the side of the device. It was the same way they’d prepared the safe room before, locking it from the outside. The device clicked into place and the light on the button glow
ed red.
“For fuck sake,” Rox said, doubling over. “I can’t believe we pulled that off.”
“I can’t believe he didn’t kill you,” Aiden said, turning to Rox, appraising both her arms.
“He tried, but when he couldn’t pierce my skin the dumb dog’s head nearly exploded. I think he lost his confidence right then, stalling any attacks,” she said.
“I tried to use mind control on him… when he changed,” Adelaide said, her eyes on the floor and her words quiet.
“You can’t use mind control on an uncontrollable beast,” Rox said, taking a long deep breath as the sounds from the room started to grow more intense. The werewolf wasn’t happy. He’d had his dinner taken from him and been bested in a fight by a girl with a strange resistance.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Adelaide said, looking at Aiden, then the floor, then away.
“I’m just glad you’re both okay. And the others?” Aiden said.
“Kaleb is headed here, and hopefully Zephyr too,” Rox said, finally giving herself the capacity to think about his well-being, to care. She’d been focused on getting back to the Institute, and therefore solely in warrior mode. But now she worried for him, hoped that he got away.
“Good, well I think we’re all safe for now,” Aiden said, eyeing the door when it trembled from assaults on the other side. “He can’t get through an Institute door, I promise.”