The Armored Wolf

by D Wolfe

  Ellie cleared her throat. “I was going to wait until I was his age in human years before asking him to change me into an armored wolf.” She admitted to Danielle.

  Danielle sighed. She should have realized that Ellie would be thinking like that as well. “That’s what I said too.” She said.

  Ellie frowned. “What do you mean?” She asked. It sounded like Danielle had regret in her voice.

  Danielle looked away. “I met David when I was eight. It was at school. He was a teacher’s assistant.” She began.

  “My family was the richest one in San Francisco during the Great Depression. The majority of my family felt like royalty because of it.” Danielle smiled a little. “But I would help the poor in any way that I could. Some of my family told me not to do it. That the poor weren’t worth our time. The others in my family were proud of me though for doing it.” Danielle looked at Ellie. “There were people who hated the rich for not helping. That included most of my family. I was at school when it happened. Several kids from poor families were beating me up. They hated me and my family. The teachers weren’t helping. No doubt because they hated my family too.” Danielle then smiled, surprising Ellie.

  “That was when he came. At first I thought he was going to let the kids hurt me but I was wrong. David actually told the kids they would receive detentions. The kids took off running. He then picked me up and carried me to the nurse’s office.” Danielle laughed a little as she thought back to those days. “I met his mom, Demeter, for the first time. She was wonderful and very nice. She bandaged me up and I was able to leave. But since that day, I always had my eyes on David.”

  Ellie was surprised. She didn’t realize that Demeter used to have a crush on David. They acted so normal whenever she saw them. “Was there more to the story or was is that it?” She asked Danielle.

  Danielle sighed and looked way. Ellie followed Danielle’s gaze and saw a picture. It was of Danielle as a little child in the hospital. She looked terrible. “When I was eleven, that was when it all went wrong. My dad had some friends over. They were like Jared: drunk.” Danielle shuddered. Ellie had a feeling that she knew where the story was going. “I was in my room reading when they came in.” Ellie’s eyes widened. She was right. Danielle was like her all those years ago. “They were drunk terribly and were heading for me. I screamed for help but no one came.” Danielle took a deep breath like she was drowning from the abuse. “I found out later that my dad and his friends had paid the rest of my family a visit and had killed them.”

  Danielle looked at Ellie. She could tell that Ellie was realizing how much the two of them were alike. “I can stop now if you want me to.” She said.

  Ellie shook her head. She wanted to hear the rest of Danielle’s story. “I can take a guess though at what happened.” She said to Danielle.

  Danielle decided to continue her story. “That was when I met the Wolfe family. All six of them at the time. They were in their armored wolf forms except for David. My dad and his friends ran for it. My dad was the only one thought who survived the armored wolves. David held me close and gave me comfort. Denthro gave me a small injection like he did to you to heal me slowly.”

  Danielle looked down at her arms. She could imagine the bruises and scars that she had gotten from her dad and his friends. “I had to go to the hospital though to keep normal appearances.”

  Ellie looked at the picture again. “Did David stay with you the entire time?” She asked. She wondered if David did for Danielle what Darian did for her.

  Danielle nodded. “He never left my side. He did whatever I wanted him to do.” Danielle thought about it. “It was like he could tell that I was in love with him. When I left the hospital, Denthro and Demeter adopted me as a daughter. It was the cover up for why I was with them. When I turned eighteen, David made me into an armored wolf.” Danielle looked at Ellie. “Since then, we’ve always been together. In some places, we actually claimed to be a married couple and live away from the others but then it changed to brother and sister over years.” She finished.

  Ellie thought about what Danielle had told her. It must be so hard for them to act like siblings at school. To keep their love a secret. She had a feeling that she and Darian would have to do that as well if she became an armored wolf. "Why don't you two just stay as a couple everywhere?" She then asked Danielle.

  Danielle sighed. "Trust me, I want that but Denthro insists that we always change our story whenever we move. It would be harder for people to trace us or learn about who we really are. There are times we have to change our names completely. Especially if we're returning to a town that we had to escape decades before. The only ones who know the truth besides our family are a few other packs of armored wolves in other parts of the world." She told Ellie.

  Ellie looked outside. She saw Darian still teaching Devoni. “Would Darian turn me into an armored wolf if I asked him to?” She asked Danielle.

  Danielle had told her that Darian would when Ellie was his age but Ellie wanted to make sure of it. Danielle looked outside as well. “He might. Darian always been hard to understand. During these last few days, he acted strange but now we know why.” Danielle smiled and looked at Ellie. “He’s clearly in love with you.”

  Ellie thought about what Danielle had said. So Darian had been strange and not like himself while she had been in the medical building. He was in love with her. She smiled and looked at Darian. Maybe there was hope for the two of them to be together after all.

  Chapter Fifteen

  In the forest, the eight armored wolves were looking around but not moving. They had their backs to each other so Jared couldn’t sneak up on them if he was there.

  Denthro sniffed the air deeply and then his eyes, which had been closed, snapped open. “Jared is near us. He’s running towards the cabins.” He told the others in their minds.

  They took off running in the direction of the cabins. They ran from the forest patch to a trail and they all got the smell of a dirty human mixed with beer. It got stronger as they were running towards the cabins. The smell was terrible and repulsive but they kept following it. They had to catch Jared before he could escape them again.

  As they closed in on the human, the man’s appearance became easier to see. His jeans were tattered and had a few holes. His jacket was missing a sleeve and his shirt had a few holes. The man looked at the armored wolves as they were running towards him. He had a crazy look in his eyes. “He looks more dangerous than usual.” Denthro warned the others in their heads.

  Demeter howled. “ Do not lose him!” She shouted to the others in their heads. The other armored wolves snarled in agreement. They weren’t about to let Jared escape from them. Ellie’s life depended on them getting rid of the man.

  The man began running away from them. He fumbled with something in his pocket. He then turned around and, to their shock, he had a gun. The armored wolves’ eyes widened when they saw the gun. Jared fired at the armored wolves.

  Darine howled as she felt a bullet rip through her shoulder. She stumbled a bit. Jared fired again and pierced Darine’s thigh. Darine fell down and yelped in pain as she shifted back into her human form. Jared watched Darine. He knew that the other armored wolves would stop to tend to her. He took off running as the armored wolves stopped chasing him.

  Doug ran over to Darine. He shifted into his human form and picked up Darine in his arms. “Denthro! Darine has been shot!” He shouted. The other armored wolves rushed over to the two and all of them changed into their human forms.

  Denthro knelt down by Darine and inspected the wounds. They all noticed that he looked grim as he inspected the wounds. Darine looked at Denthro. “How bad is it?” She asked through gritted teeth.

  Denthro looked at Darine and smiled. They all noticed that it was a forced smile though. “You should consider yourself lucky that you’re an armored wolf.” He told her. “You’ll heal but you’re not to do anything during the next day or two but rest.” He looked at Demeter and the othe
rs. “We should head back to the house. I doubt we’ll be able to find Jared again.”

  At the house, Darian, Devoni, Danielle and Ellie were all in the living room when the power went out. Danielle looked up at the lights. “That’s a first.” She said. She looked at Darian. Ellie noticed that there was a worried look on Danielle’s face. “Take Devoni and Ellie to the garage.” Danielle ordered before she shifted into an armored wolfe.

  Darian looked at Ellie and Devoni. “Come with me.” He told them. The three of them hurried into the garage. Darian closed the door behind them and barricaded the door with a chair and a stepladder. “That will hopefully work.” Darian said. “It would help if the power worked so we could use the lock code.”

  Ellie went up to Darian and hugged him. “What’s going on?” She asked in a quiet voice. She was scared that the power was out because of Jared. The way that Danielle had told Darian to take her and Devoni to the garage and the power going out didn’t help. She looked at Devoni. The little girl looked scared as well. Ellie realized that Devoni was scared of an evil that she had never seen before.

  Darian was about to answer when they all heard glass smashing. Devoni jumped and screamed in fright. Darian covered her mouth and looked at Ellie. “We need to hide now.” He whispered to her. They heard movement by the door. It sounded like someone was trying to break in.

  Darian pushed open a door. “We can’t hide in here.” He whispered as the banging got louder and louder. He looked at Devoni. He could tell that the little girl was too scared to change into an armored wolf. He changed into an armored wolf. “Get on my back you two.” He told the two girls in their minds. Ellie and Devoni got onto his back and he took them into the forest.

  Jared broke into the garage and looked around. He knew that he had heard noises in there. Ellie had to be in there. He had gone to the camp before and the family had told him that Ellie wasn’t there but he knew that she had to be there now. It was an armored wolf after all that had taken the brat away from his house. Ellie had to be somewhere in the camp. The armored wolves had tried to stop him in the forest and that just convinced him that Ellie was there.

  Jared saw the opened door and ran to it. He looked outside right in time to see an armored wolf and two people rush into the forest. He growled. He wasn’t going to let Ellie get away that time. He took a step towards the forest when something attacked him from behind, knocking him to the ground.

  Jared rolled over and his eyes widened. It was an armored wolf. The animal was snarling at him. “How dare you return here!” A female voice shouted in his head. The voice sounded very angry.

  Jared took out his knife and stabbed the armored wolfe in the front left leg, making the creature howl in pain. “I know you aren’t completely invincible.” He told the creature as he stabbed the creature again. “I know you have weaknesses.” He might have been drunk but he was able to use his knife quite easily. He then stabbed the armored wolfe in the neck and smiled wickedly as blood came out of the wound. “And once you’re dead, I’ll do this to that brat of a daughter and anymore of your kind that I find.”

  Jared pushed the armored wolf down to the side and the armored wolf collapsed to the ground before it changed back into Danielle. Jared recognized her as the girl with the clipboard who had told him that Ellie hadn’t gone to the camp. He smiled to himself as he saw the girl bleed out. “That’s what you get for telling me that she didn’t come here back then.” He told her before he went into the forest.

  Denthro and the others were rushing back to the house in their human forms when Denthro stopped running. The others stopped as well and turned to him. "Denthro. We need to get Darine back to the house." Demeter told her husband. Denthro looked at her and Demeter's heart sank. Her husband looked very worried. "What is it?" Demeter asked.

  David was the one who answered. He could feel what Denthro was feeling. "It's Danielle." He told them. They all looked at him. "She's dead." David fell to his knees. His love was gone. "Jared killed her."

  Demeter's face fell and she looked at Denthro. "Darian, Devoni and Ellie were there as well." She said. "You don't think he got to them as well, do you?" Denthro shook his head. He really hoped that Jared didn't kill the three of them. Devoni had nothing to do with this.

  That was when they heard something coming towards them. They turned to see Darian carrying Ellie and Devoni to them. "Jared killed the power to the house. Danielle told me to take these two to the garage but I ended up having to take them here because Jared was breaking into the garage." Darian told them as Ellie and Devoni got off of his back.

  Darian then noticed the pained look on David's face. He howled before turning towards the house. "That monster will die!" He shouted angrily, making everyone jump.

  Ellie grabbed onto Darian's fur by his neck. She didn't care if it was dangerous or not. She wasn't going to let Darian get hurt or rush into something full of anger. She needed him there. She was scared and he was the only one who could make her feel safe. She hoped that he could sense how she was feeling.

  Denthro shook his head. "Darian. I need you to take Ellie into town." He told Darian. "Go to our safe house there and hide with her until one of us comes to get you." He looked at David, Derek and Diane. "Take Devoni, Darine, Douglas and Dale and go to the wolfe temple for now." He told them. "Your mother and I will go to the house and see if we can get rid of Jared."

  Ellie shook her head. "This only ends with my death." She told them. "Jared won't stop until I'm gone." She looked at Denthro. "You guys can't keep protecting me. You've already lost Danielle. I can't let anyone else die for me." As she cried, something happened that no one was expecting.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Ellie gasped as she felt herself changing. She looked at Darian. “What is happening to me?” She asked. To her surprise, she felt herself fall to her hands and something growing out of her all over. “Darian!” She cried as she freaked out. She looked at everyone there. They all looked shocked. That couldn’t be good. She tried to take a step back but she ended up falling onto her butt. She cried as she felt herself land on something and pain shot up her back. She got back up quickly and looked behind her.

  Ellie’s eyes widened. There was an armored wolf right behind her. The wolf looked like it had snow white fur and silver armor. She must have fallen onto it’s tail. She turned to try to see the armored wolf’s head but the armored wolf moved as well. Ellie looked at Darian and the others. “Who is the armored wolf behind me?” She asked. She had to know who it was that was freaking them out.

  “Ellie, look under you at your feet.” Denthro told her. Ellie looked at him curiously and looked down, expecting to see her feet. To her surprise, she saw two furry wolf paws. Was the armored wolf under her? “Who is this armored wolf and how did he get here?” She looked up at the wolf family and that was when it hit her. There was only one reason why the wolf family would all be looking down at her and why she couldn’t see the armored wolf.

  Ellie looked at Darian. “ You said you didn’t put enough blood in me to turn me into an armored wolf.” She said in a shaky voice. She realized that she had done that using mind speech. Darian had told her that they only used enough blood to heal her and save her life. So how could she have turned into an armored wolf? Her family weren’t armored wolves. Her mother had never changed into an armored wolf and she was certain her father, whoever he had been, had never been an armored wolf.

  Darian shook his head. He thought that he hadn't put enough of his blood into Ellie to change her. “I’m not sure how this happened Ellie.” He told her. He knelt down and reached out to her. “But you won’t be facing this alone.” He added. He gently touched Ellie’s head. He was the one who had insisted that they used armored wolf blood to save Ellie. He wasn’t going to give up until he figured out how this could have happened.

  Ellie went up to Darian and sat down in front of him. It felt weird to be sitting like a dog. “Please help me get back to my human form.” She begged him. “I
don’t want to be stuck in an armored wolf form for the rest of my life.” She had thought it would be amazing to be an armored wolf but she didn’t realize that she wouldn’t have any control over it or that she would become one that very night.

  Denthro looked at Demeter. Ellie becoming an armored wolf was not only unexpected, it changed everything. “Change of plans.” He told her. “Take the family to the safe house. Tend to Darine’s wound.” He didn’t want to take any chances. He looked at David. “You and I will get Danielle’s body and give her a proper burial.” He told his son as Demeter took the others away. Denthro then looked at Darian. “You need to take Ellie to another part of the forest away from the camp. She can’t be seen in town looking like this.” If anyone in town saw an armored wolf, Ellie wouldn’t be safe until she was back in her human form and there was no telling how long that would take.

  Denthro looked at Ellie. He could tell that Ellie was freaking out by what had happened to her. He understood what she was going through. He had had the same reaction when it had happened to him. Denthro couldn’t help but wonder though how Ellie was an armored wolf. He had looked at her medical files during the time that she had been unconscious and her blood work hadn’t shown any of the armored wolf DNA in her except for the blood that they gave her and that wasn’t even a lot. It was possible he had missed something. He would have to look at her blood work after this was over.

  Ellie whimpered a little. She could feel her tail go between her legs. “Denthro. How did this happen?” She asked in a scared voice. She had wanted to become an armored wolf when she was fifteen. Now she and Darian could never really be together. She looked at Darian. Her dreams of having a future with him were ruined. Now she would be stuck as a little sister for him.

  To Ellie’s surprise, Darian wrapped his arms around her neck and hugged her. “It’s okay.” Darian whispered to her. “You’ll be back to being Ellie before you know it.” Ellie looked at Darian. She wanted to believe him. Darian kissed Ellie’s cheek before looked at Denthro. “We need to know how this happened to her.” Darian said.