by Sky, Carman
Across the river the Wolf Lord waited by the door of the warehouse. The council was set to meet in neutral territory. The Phooka King met him at the door. "Zackery, it's always a pleasure. You got the item?"
"Of course, Gregory, I am not prone to forget," the Wolf Lord answered with a soft growl.
"Easy there, Zack. This won't work if we are at each other's throats," Gregory replied.
"Gentleman! Good to see you!" a feminine voice said from behind them.
"Adelaide, you look stunning as ever," Gregory said as he turned to face the vampire.
"The years have been most kind to you, Adelaide," Zackery said.
"You, boys, would not be the reason the uneasy peace between everyone has been disrupted?" Adelaide asked flashing a bit of fang. She had a lot to lose if everyone went to war. Her people depended on the humans in the area for food and if war broke out it was always the humans that were collateral damage.
"Of course not, Adelaide. We would not dare to incur your wrath. You have built a powerful base, and it would not be wise to go against you," Gregory said smoothly.
Adelaide pulled her black closer around her tall frame and said, "If war broke out, you would stand to gain the most, Gregory. Your people are growing in number, and you have little territory left to house them."
"It would be in Gregory's best interest indeed," a new voice said from the dark. A figure shimmered close by.
"Connor, you made it! Lovely to see you darling!" Adelaide said kissing the air close by the ghost's cheek.
"Adelaide, you are just as beautiful as ever with your pale beauty and your golden locks glistening in the street lamp," Connor said.
"We best be moving this party inside. Wouldn't want to attract the Unwanted," a melodic voice said as a woman with pointed ears joined the gathering.
Zachery held the door open for everyone and they entered one by one. Just when Zachery was going to enter a small twinkling figure flew in the door at almost blinding speed. "Trixie, I'm... glad to see you made it," he said as he closed the door behind him.
"You were hoping I wouldn't come, Zackery. Just admit it," she said as she hovered at eye level.
"Well, okay... Yes I was hoping you would fail to show up," he said with a wicked grin.
"I may not be punctual, but I would not miss this meeting for anything! You have hunted in my territory long enough!" she replied in a high pitched tinkling.
"Let's be seated and get this meeting into order!" the Fey Queen's Grand Visor announced loudly.
They all sat in their appointed chairs, with the smallest set on a high dais. Trixie fluttered to her seat. Gregory was to her left and Amon, the Sandman ruler, was to her right.
"We will now listen to each party," the high Fey Queen Rynessa said. "Lady Adelaide will speak first."
We each made our case before Queen Rynessa. She listened patiently and commented her thoughts. When it came time for solutions she weighed each concern carefully. Just before she was about to pronounce her judgment both Zachery and Trixie spoke up.
"Wait your royalness!"
"Hold on, your majesty!"
They had both yelled in unison and then turned to look at each other.
"Yes, Lady Trixie, you may speak first," Queen Rynessa said looking at her.
"Queen Rynessa, please forgive me, but I have an item to offer to you if you would please consider not letting the wolves move into my people's territory. They would only terrorize my fairies. I present to you the Ruby of Athellessia! My people had found it and we have kept it safe, my queen," I said holding out the ruby which is said to give the holder the ability to absorb the abilities of others.
"And you Lord Zackery? Do you have an item to present to me as well to sway my decision?" the queen asked turning to the Wolf Lord.
"I present to you the Sword of Mantera, my queen," he said holding out a detailed scabbard. It was red leather with elvish designs. The sword had belonged to a long ago warrior who had started the last war.
"I will take both items; Trega put them both in the armory. Your gifts however will not sway my choice. Lord Zackery it is not my concern that you have over hunted in your territory. And Lady Trixie it is such a large territory you hold for so small a clan. We will redraw the lines and this time they will be unbreakable. Anyone to start war after my sentencing will be punished by beheading. As for everyone else, your squabbles over material things must stop. We are to be working together to help the humans as they help us. We are after all the light side of the Fey. These in-house confrontations should be below us. I do not want to hear of any more trouble or the cause of the trouble will be banished. Heed my words," Queen Rynessa announced.
She stood and the rest followed suit preparing to travel back to their homes to spread the news. War was averted. Trixie went home to await the new territory lines. At least her people were safe for now from the wolves, thank the ancients.
Full Moon Night
It had been a full month since I had been clawed up by that thing, that monster. I was scared. I could feel the moon calling to me. I could see it behind my eyes so big and round and full. I held myself as I walked home. It was only 4 in the afternoon, but I knew what the night would bring. I was scared of what lay before me.
A month ago I had been camping in the woods with some friends when it padded almost silently into our camp. I had sit up to watch the fire while my friends went to sleep. I was never much for sleeping outside, or even in a tent. I needed 4 solid walls and a roof to sleep in. I had been lazily stirring the coals chewing on a Slim Jim when I heard a huff of air come from behind me. I stopped paralyzed in my tracks. We were only a mile from Shannon's house and there were no bears in the local area, at least no known bears.
I could feel the weight of someone or something staring at me. I turned slowly and my eyes beheld a furred looming figure standing larger than life behind me. Grey and white fur covered the massive body. I woke up in a hospital three days later.
After I was released I was slowly beginning to notice changes in me. My sense of smell was stronger, and so was my hearing. My night vision had vastly improved and my body seemed toned and lean muscle filled out under my lightly tanned skin. I never tan. I broil. I roast. I turn into a lobster. This time I was tanning without burning.
I was in my senior year of high school. I had all my credits and could have graduated early, but I wanted to stay with my friends. I lost them a short time after the accident, because I was weirding them out. I don't blame them; I was freaking myself out as well. I wanted to be alone.
As the full moon approached I was scared. Normally I stopped into the local cafe and got a flavored hot chocolate, but today I just wanted to go home. Besides the owner was starting to creep me out. He offered me a job several time. He would personally take my order and try to get me to talk to him. He was maybe a little taller than me. Lean and trim with shaggy dark brown hair and the greenest eyes I've ever seen. He wore those almost frame-less glasses over those green eyes. I think his name was James.
I didn't want to see him or anyone else. That was fine because my home would be empty. My parents went on a second honeymoon after 22 years of marriage. They had a nice wedding vow renewal ceremony before they left. I was 17 and they trusted me because I had never given them any trouble.
When I got home I ran to my bedroom and locked the door. I paced in hurried circles. My skin itched in a strange way. I didn't know what to do or where to go. I didn't want to smash up the house if I grew fur and claws.
After a half hour of pacing and thinking the phone rang.
"Hello?" I asked tentatively.
"Rachel?" a man's voice said.
"Yes?" I replied softly.
"Thank the heavens I got a hold of you! Rachel, this is James from the Moon Light Cafe down on Main. Are you safe to talk?" James said calmly.
"My parents are gone for a couple weeks. What do you want?" I asked.
Is your skin kind of itchy? Can you feel the moon's pull?" Jame
s asked instead of answering my question.
"Yeah," I replied.
"Do you know what it was that attacked you eight months ago? “He asked quietly.
'I...I think so," I answered softly.
"Come down to the cafe by 7 and I can help you."
The line went dead and James was gone. There had been something in his voice I immediately missed. I glanced at the clock. It was just turning 6 o'clock. I had an hour to wait. I showered and changed into my weekend jeans and a t-shirt with Tweety on it. I grabbed my house keys and id some cash and locked the door.
It was five after when I got to the cafe. I knocked on the door, but the place looked empty. There were no lights on and the closed sign was in place.
A minute later a short red headed woman, with a light sprinkle of freckles on her cheeks opened the door.
"Oh, my, Dearie, you must be the one James said was coming. Come in child," she said ushering me inside the cafe. It was weird having her call me dearie, and child. She looked about the same age as me.
I looked into her kind blue green eyes and felt peaceful. The energy coming from her was calming and I felt my heart slow and my breathing return to normal.
"Now that your settled follow me," she said walking toward the back of the cafe and through the door behind the counter. I felt strange following her behind the counter seeing as how I didn't work here. She continued on as I hesitated at the door to the kitchen. She stopped and turned as if she could hear I wasn't moving anymore.
"What's wrong, dearie?" he asked.
"Where's James?" I asked
"He's downstairs with the others. The other first timers that is," she replied.
"Others?"I almost whispered.
"Oh, you didn't know? James always helps the new changers. He's our pack leader. It's his responsibility to watch over us all," she replied.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry. With all the hustle and bustle tonight I am forgetting myself. I'm Maggie. I am the pack's.... how would I be described..... Second in command? I guess that's it. I help James as much as he needs me too and the others as well. I... well...I created James, by accident of course. So I took him in and raised him. I couldn't just leave him," Maggie said softly.
I looked at Maggie wondering how she had raised James. James and Maggie had to be about the same age. Her eyes twinkled as if she knew what I was thinking.
"Being a werewolf causes aging to slow down a lot. I am many years older than I look. James is not the age her appears either. He is older too," Maggie explained. She turned and started walking again as if she was done talking and expected me to follow without any more questions.
I followed slowly through the kitchen to the door on the other side and down the stairs. The basement, which is was a basement underground, was lined with a pale red carpet along the hall and padded walls that were a gold color. I followed Maggie past four closed doors to the last one on the right. She knocked softly and then opened the door.
Inside the room it was set up like a classroom with a chalkboard on one wall and several desks lined in rows facing it. The floor was black and white checkered linoleum. The walls were white and had posters hung around the room. There were three people seated at the desks as far from each other as they could get. James was in front of the chalkboard hand poised with a piece of chalk as if to write on it.
James was facing the door when I stepped into the room. He lowered his hand and said, “Welcome, Rachel. Thanks for joining us. Will you please take a seat?"
I sat in the direct center of the desks. This intrigued James as he watched me choose a seat.
"Interesting," James said softly.
James shook himself visibly as if to get himself to focus. He started his lecture. "Tonight for your first change you will be unable to control yourselves. The wolf will take over. The more you change the more you will gain control. So for tonight you will each be locked into one of the rooms lining the hall? You will be provided everything you need. Food and water to sustain you. Fresh clothes will be provided as well. Above all you will be monitored and precautions will be taken if you should break free," He said in a clear voice.
"Who's going to watch us?" a lanky boy with shaggy blond hair in the back left corner asked. His hair hung over half of his face covering the other cornflower blue eye. He just slouched in the desk chair but just looking at his legs you could tell he was very tall.
“Well, Travis, I have a few friends who are not shifters who are going to be watching from an office with monitors. If things get out of hand I know they can take care of it," James replied.
"What do you mean by, "not shifters"?" Travis wanted to know. He straightened some in the desk chair.
"I have friends from the non-shifter community who have other.... talents," James answered vaguely.
"Vampires? Are they vampires?" a girl with spiky blue hair asked. She had on ripped jeans and a few layered tank tops in clashing colors as well as finger-less gloves and a studded choker around her neck. Her dark brown eyes were wide with the beginnings of panic.
"No, Sage. Rest assured they aren't vampires. They are another flavor of monster that has the strength to keep a first time changer from getting out of this basement and ravaging the town. They are also under my protection as the Weres are. They are very shy because they were never human to begin with and do not have as many humanistic features as we do. They are trolls. They will not hurt you or anybody and no one needs to know they exist," James said and let that settle over us. I could feel the compulsion to keep quiet about the trolls trickling over my skin and into my head.
"Trolls? Where did you find them? Under bridges?" The girl in the other corner asked. She was wearing a daisy print sun dress and sandals. Her blond hair was past her shoulders and was shiny like she brushed it at least 2000 times. Her eyes were green with a few brown flecks here and there. She was not being sarcastic. She really wanted to know if trolls really came from under bridges.
"No, Becca. Trolls live in deep, deep forests. But with all the logging going on now days they are losing their homes. They have come to the Weres for help and protection," James replied. He stiffened then. "Alright, Maggie, show them to their rooms please," James said.
"Come with me dearies! Sage you have the first room on the left. Rachel your next on the left. Derrick you have the last on the left. Becca your first on the right. Travis your next on the right," Maggie said pointing us on our way. A short boy with reddish brown hair and freckles moved past me. He had wire rim frames over hazel eyes. He looked at me as he past and I shivered from the power emanating from him.
Maggie turned me into the room. "Come now, dearie. We mustn't press our luck. You need to be secure before James stops shielding you from the moon's power."
I turned to face her. "What do you mean?" I asked.
"If not for James protecting you from the moon, being this is your first change, you would have succumbed to the moons pull and changed already," Maggie explained.
"What about you and James? Why haven't you changed yet?" I demanded.
"James and I have seen many moons and have mastered our wolf so we aren't slaves to it. We feel the pull yes and we have to change, but we can change almost when we want before the night is over Now hurry. James may be strong, but he cannot protect you indefinitely," Maggie said calmly as if she explained it all many times before.
I turned and went back into the room. After the doors were shut I heard the soft click of the bolt lock. The reinforced steel was painted to look pleasant and to match the room. The walls were a soft blue color and there was an indoor/outdoor carpet the color of brown tree bark.
All too soon I could feel the moon pulsing in my head and could hear it calling to the wolf inside me. I staggered as the first sign of the shift tore through me. Bones moving in ways they never were meant to snapping and shifting as they went. A scream tore from my throat and I was panting heavily. The next scream was more like a howl and fur burst through my
skin covering every inch of me. My clothes had shredded long before and lay in a tattered heap on the floor. A bit of my shoes had stuck in the claws that had been my feet a moment before.
I huddled in on myself panting. The change had taken a lot out of me. To the back of the room I heard something shifting. I looked and a panel in the wall slid aside and a small platform slid toward me. On the platform was a whole, live sheep. The wool had been nearly all been shaved off. I looked at it puzzled with my wolf eyes. I sniffed and something inside me changed. The beast needed to regain its strength. My stomach growled, no more like roared in response. I started drooling and I stood on my hairy beast legs.
The sheep scented the danger and bleated. It started struggling on the line it was tied to. Its eyes went wide with panic. I swiped my claws at it and sank my teeth into it. Soon the blood flowed. All that was left was bits of bone.
When I woke the next morning I found myself covered with a blanket and some clothes set by the door for me. I felt sticky and wanted a shower so bad I just wrapped the blanket around myself and picked up the clothes. There had been a bathroom on each end of the hall. I was hoping there was a shower in one of them.
I head sounds coming from the one so I went down the hall in the opposite direction. I almost wept when I saw the shower and the towels placed on a stand nearby. I let the water warm up and grabbed a towel and placed it on the hook next to the shower door. I let the blanket fall to the floor and I stepped into the shower. There were soaps and shampoos on a shelve built into the shower wall.
I let the water run over me and I sighed. Then I noticed the pink rivulets running down my body and felt the stickiness of my hair. My hand was tinted pink and I stifled a scream. Blood. It wasn't mine that I was sure of. A vague dream-like memory came to me of a sheep tied up on a platform.
I scrubbed myself harshly trying to get the sheep blood off of me. My skin was rosy pink when I got out of the shower. I dried off and combed my fingers through my hair. The jeans and black t-shirt fit just right like whoever put the clothes in the room new my size.