Fearing that Nick may have meant his tactics, Eric frowned slightly but shrugged. “I leave it you then.”
The werewolves used a rolled rug and removed the body. They would head back to the forest preserve even though it was daylight and return the dead man to his tree. Doing their best to avoid leaving finger prints or traces of them on the body, Vanessa took charge of Ray and Lex, which led to Ray’s complaints of his injury; but the man was largely ignored.
With the space cleared, Nick returned down the stairs to look at the black wolf pacing his confined space. About six by eight, the wolf barely had a place to exercise his legs. The height of the cage was only about four and half feet high, so it forced an adult human to sit or crouch. It was designed to make a new werewolf want to turn into the animal, which could stand on all fours with plenty of space above a wolf’s head and shoulders.
Nick placed the tray on the table before dragging his chair to within a couple feet of the bars. The black wolf bared its teeth and snarled.
Turning the chair with the back towards the cage, the voran straddled the chair looking on the wolf. “So Eric thinks that you might be useless for the pack,” he began casually as if he was simply telling the man inside the wolf that he had received mail. “Personally, I like to give everyone a chance before I write them off. What do you think Bill? Are you unsalvageable?”
Again the black wolf bared its teeth and banged into the bars as if testing the solidity of the cage. It had failed to hold a vampire only two months earlier, but Eric and his men had rebuilt and reinforced it. No werewolf was likely to ever break free, since the wolves had built and tested it first.
“Aren’t you tired of hiding inside that furry body yet? I’m told whether you remain a wolf or a man, you will feel the new power inside of you. There is no reason to continue hiding. In fact, the sooner we start getting the changes under control, the sooner we can see about letting you out of there for good.”
Standing as he slid the chair behind him and slid it away, Nick approached the cage near the lock. Like an angry dog guarding his gate, the wolf snarled and lunged for him through the bars. The voran caught the wolf’s muzzle closing down firmly as he had with Raina in the beginning. The black wolf had the cage to brace against and this time the man was forced to let go.
Growling at him, the wolf had moved to the back of the cage deciding its next move. Nick noted the creature’s movements and seemingly ignored the warning as he placed the key in the lock and stepped back.
“Well, now you have a decision to make. You can continue to rage in your little cage as a wolf or you can start concentrating on using your human hands to unlock the cage,” Nick stated moving away from the door pacing only a couple feet from the bars. He was pacing similarly to the wolf and his body language told the wolf, that he wasn’t afraid of the animal. Giving him the space to approach the lock, Nick was curious to see if the werewolf would follow logic or continue to follow its anger aggressively trying to get to the voran through the bars.
It looked at the lock and key a moment before throwing himself against the bars closer to where Nick stood instead. Drool formed along his jowls as the man inside seemed unwilling to break from the wolf.
The voran stepped back to the lock placing a finger on the key pointing it out to the wolf. “You see my hands. I can take my fingers and just twist the key ever so easily. Then it would be child’s play to pull the lock free; but then again I have hands, wolf. You might try it and use your humanity to get out, you know?”
Red angry eyes didn’t seem to care about his words. How much registered in the creature’s brain, Nick didn’t even know. Raina had certainly held more of her human consciousness in her mind than the hunter seemed to be showing. If he couldn’t reach it, then it was likely that Eric would be correct. For now, it was a stand off between wills and minds.
“You really should think about evolving here, Bill,” Nick said with a sigh. “If you think being this wolf is so great, I can show you why man has driven them off and killed so many of them. A werewolf uses both sides to survive. Stay an animal and you’ll die an animal.”
Giving the hunter another chance to take a shot at him, Nick deftly turned the key and slipped the lock free from the latch style clasp. It was all the wolf needed to charge the door slamming through it fully expecting to catch the man off guard, but the voran knew this would happen and was fast enough to avoid such a basic ploy.
Sidestepping the door, Nick was out of range as the barred door flew open crashing against the cage walls. The black wolf readjusted growling as he tried to double back to twist and catch the voran with his jaws; but it was too slow. Keeping tantalizing inches away from the snapping jaws, Nick continued to bait the animal without bothering to use the maneuver of catching its muzzle. This wasn’t about stopping the animal, but making the man inside realize the futility of his existence as a wolf.
The dance had begun. Snapping at the man, Nick dodged back and forth leading the wolf in a circle; but it was too stupid and fixed on him to think to cut his predictable path. Clashing of teeth on air and the growls of the wild animal filled the room as Nick simply outmaneuvered it. He gave the wolf time to try and use the human mind locked inside patiently continuing the game.
Where a true human might have become tired or impatient, Nick drew on over a century of patience with the energy of a voran. His speed rivaled a vampire’s. His strength nearly was a match for a werewolf without having to rely on skill and leverage as well, but strength wasn’t necessary for now, just stamina and lots of patience.
He would talk to the wolf searching for the man lost within. Finally after half an hour passed, the wolf’s panting remained a constant as its tongue lolled catching the air between attacks. Nick breathed a bit harder and there was sweat on his brow, but he didn’t waste energy in wild movements like the wolf. He was calmly watching and responding just enough to frustrate the creature in the hopes of seeing some glimmer of intelligence return to the beast.
It had so many opportunities to try and escape up the stairs as well. With only the chase and its chosen enemy in the wolf’s mind, Nick began to fear that Eric was correct.
“Try using your brain, Bill. You’ve been chasing me while your food has gotten cold and the bread stale. You could try running instead of this monotonous game of circling, but you keep doing the same thing never bothering to learn. You are a sad excuse for a werewolf.”
Finally, Nick noticed the glimmer of intelligence behind the tiring wolf’s eyes. It was the opportunity that let him know that the hunter might be saved. Using the latest lunge as the opportunity to take charge and teach the beast, Nick sidestepped the move catching the wolf’s mouth as the jaws closed. Breathing became a struggle for the creature, but the voran wasn’t planning to suffocate it. Instead, he held the wolf and took the tray from the table with his free hand.
The wolf struggled, but the voran was stronger and in control of its movement beyond what its body could do. Releasing it above the tray of food, Nick shoved the wolf’s face down towards the lunch. The first try brought the jaws back up trying to catch his leg; but the voran’s hand was much quicker and caught the muzzle before forcing the wolf to look and smell the food again.
It took three times before the animal stopped to sniff at the food and start to eat. Looking at Nick out of the corner of his eye as the man backed off, the wolf hungrily ate from the plates. The lunch was gone in moments and the black wolf looked up at Nick with a bit of curiosity rather than blind anger. In his hand, he held a glass of water like he had with Raina.
“I guess you’re thirsty now, huh, Bill? It sure would be much easier to drink using human hands, don’t you think?” he asked the questions much as he had for Raina.
That glimmer of intelligence seemed to have grown. Perhaps it was the food or maybe the long game of chasing the voran that had drawn it out, but Nick could see that it was there.
Taking a tentative step, the black wolf eyed the glass just abo
ve its head. It appeared ready to fall in line and learn the lesson that Raina had while it had been dazed in the cage. As it closed the distance, Nick kept his eyes on the beast and it was a good thing. The wolf attacked him again.
Slapping the creature away, it didn’t attack again right away.
Nick poured a few drops of the water onto the concrete and backed away. The wolf lapped at the moisture getting little for its effort, before eyeing the glass and stalking toward the man again. He attacked once more only to be slapped aside. Another small amount of water was poured on the concrete. The wolf gave in to its need and took the water available.
Not wanting to teach the beast that it would be rewarded for each attempted and failed attack, Nick didn’t pour another drop on the next try. Its eyes looked questioningly at him and tried a fourth time with no reward.
“Use your hands to get it, if you want more,” Nick ordered showing the back of his free hand to the wolf. The intelligence deep inside seemed to grasp the teaching finally. Settling back on its haunches, the black wolf began to shift.
The human finally revealed, Nick gave him the water and said, “You are a slow learner, Bill.”
Once much of the glass had been drunk, the voran took it away.
“Hey!” the hunter protested, but Nick turned the man towards the cage.
“Sorry, I’ve spent enough time on you for today. Back in the cage, Bill,” Nick stated pushing the man on the shoulder as he tried to hesitate. He took direction as a human about as well as a wolf, the voran thought.
“No, I will not go back in there!” the man defied him trying to twist away, though Nick thought he didn’t comprehend where he could possibly run. Instead, he shoved the new werewolf back against the cage with a couple of pushes against his chest.
“You don’t get a say in this,” Nick told the man as the red eyes of a werewolf responded to his treatment almost immediately and as planned.
Falling onto all fours as the change took him, Nick shoved him through the open door before the wolf could regain its bearings from turning. The lock was in place before the wolf could attack the door again.
The trainer held the key in his hand and placed it on the floor beside the cage. Extending a wolf paw, Bill could move it, but with no thumb he couldn’t pick it up. This time the wolf’s eyes seemed less feral.
Nick drew up a chair to sit near the door beyond the key and lifted his hands as the wolf looked at him. “You might try shifting back to human if you want out. You need hands. Come on, think of your hands picking up the key and unlocking the cage. Do you want to be in a cage for a month? It will be almost that long before the next full moon.”
It took nearly a half hour before Bill could regain control from the wolf to change back and pick up the key. He unlocked the cage for himself leveling an angry look at the man sitting on the chair.
“You smug little jerk sitting on your chair. How dare you throw me back in there?”
The voran stood sliding the chair back and again shoved the hunter against the side of the cage. “How dare I? You are an animal, a wild, dangerous animal that should be locked up. What will you do if you get free? Kill your family by accident when the wolf takes you over again?”
His eyes looked appalled and angry. “I wouldn’t...”
“Yes, you would,” Nick stated and slapped his face. “You are too stupid to control your wolf. If we let you out of the cage, it will take you over and you’ll be a killer. If that is what you want, I’ll just kill you myself. I put down rabid strays all the time. You mean nothing to me. You are just another stray,” he finished striking the man a second time as anger drove another change.
Again, the voran tossed the wolf into the cage as he transitioned. He placed the key once more on the floor and this time Bill shaved off almost ten minutes from the last time before returning to human form. The man looked at him dubiously as he exited the cage.
When Nick pushed him back again, he whined, “Aw, come on. How many times are you going to do this to me?”
“Until you learn to control your beast. If you can’t control your impulses, you won’t be leaving this basement alive. There is an entire pack of werewolves upstairs that will kill you, if they think you are too dangerous.”
He slapped the man and gripped his chin making the werewolf look him in the eye as he continued, “We both know you must have anger management issues, either that or you are truly stupid. You’ve wasted more than an hour of my time this afternoon. I have better things to do than spend time down here breaking through that thick skull of yours.”
“I’m not stupid!” the man finally cracked as the werewolf started to take him over again. Nick sighed shoving Bill inside while still mostly human. He locked the door and held the key as he waited for the man to lose to the wolf. Bill fought it for a moment, but the wolf won again.
Two more rounds passed before Nick heard steps on the stairs and watched Charlotte gracefully come down into the basement. The woman picked up Raina’s pants, boots and ranger jacket before joining Nick where he sat waiting for the wolf to return to a man.
“Eric’s sending Raina back with the others and the dead man. She’ll need her pants, though the shirt and bra are completely ruined. This jacket will need to be cleaned, but it isn’t cut up,” the brunette stated. Thumbing towards the cage, she asked, “How’s it coming with this one?”
“It wasn’t easy, but he’s looking trainable, if just barely.”
Charlotte smirked and asked, “How many times have you managed to make him change now?”
“This will be the sixth.”
The woman mussed his hair as she laughed, “I told you before. We were just happy, if we could get a new wolf to turn back and forth once a day during the first week. You’re getting greedy after managing to speed train Raina and nearly this one as well. Eric thought for sure they were going to have to kill him.”
Her final words seemed too casual to the voran. Killing was becoming too easy even for someone like Charlotte. They had killed several vampires since she had joined him. Perhaps all that death had begun to change the woman in some ways. While she still held onto her caring nature, there was a bit of an ambivalent side to her in relation to the deaths of men like this.
Not wanting to bring such a thing up to her, especially here, Nick took the rest of her words to heart. “He is almost far enough along that Eric or one of the others can take over and finish his training. We can go home pretty soon.”
She smiled before bending over to kiss him on the lips. Returning up the stairs the way she had come, the brunette had barely closed the door when he heard the hunter say, “You’re a lucky guy. She is totally hot. I may not have been in my right mind, but I remember her taking all her clothes off to turn into a wolf. That is a sexy woman.”
Seeing the hunter crouching naked in the cage, Nick sighed. “Just keep your attention on what you need to do.”
Nick looked at the time on his watch. It was only a few hours until evening began. He had skipped lunch for the most part and supper was looming. The werewolf had managed ten full turns. He wasn’t as fast as Raina, but as Charlotte had said, it was more than they could have hoped for before he had tried.
He picked up Charlotte’s pants and shoes before heading upstairs. Letting Bill know that he would be sending someone to finish helping him, the voran joined the remaining werewolves. The big television had a split screen with regular programming occupying the main window and the camera in the basement on a smaller window.
Eric looked up at him expectantly.
“He’s getting there. I think you or one of the others can keep working with him. He is changing on his own, though it isn’t smooth by any means and takes awhile,” the voran stated feeling a little tired mentally. He had slept most of the night and shouldn’t feel that way at all for several more days; but the man could feel it even so. “I’m going to take the others home and leave him to you.”
The pack leader nodded and stood to shake
his hand. “Impressive work down there, we’ll work with him and see if we can’t release him tomorrow or the next day. We’ll have to keep tabs on both of them, but maybe we can use them to smooth things over and make our imprint smaller for those hoping to trap the pack.”
He passed Charlotte her other clothing, though she looked very comfortable in her shorts and bare feet. In fact, the woman merely pulled on her tennis shoes and held the pants. Apparently she didn’t feel the need to change beyond that. Logan and Kate looked ready to go as well.
“Well, let me know if you need me, but it’s getting late,” the voran said trying to excuse himself.
“I know we never planned on getting you involved with werewolf business...”
“I’m a voran. Keeping the supernatural under wraps is what I do, whether it’s for vampires or werewolves, it doesn’t matter. I’ll do what I can to help you just like I take care of Marek’s little clan.”
Eric nodded and added, “And you know I’ll give what help I can now that our numbers have been reduced by so many. Maybe these two will work into our number better than I think.”
Nick chuckled and replied, “Your hunches aren’t always right. I managed to turn the hunter into a useful werewolf apparently.”
They were soon on their way back to the apartment. Logan looked a bit happier than Nick had seen him in awhile. The chance to be a doctor, even if it was for werewolves; had made him feel useful again. Wishing he could figure out a way for the man to use his skills and knowledge in a more productive way had been vexing him for weeks. The big man was a doctor, but most jobs required blood tests in those fields, which could reveal the werewolf’s genetic changes and endanger them all. Still it was the field Logan was meant to be in, so it was a bit sad to see him wasting his talents.
Standing Before Monsters (Vorans and Vampires) Page 22