Blood Feud

[Artur Al'Rand]

first chapter of a novel I am writing, enjoy
Chapter 1
I was walking through a large cedar forest in what appeared to be the New England hills. I heard a wolf howl in the distance, causing me to shudder. Fog slowly rolled out of the surrounding trees, obscuring the underbrush. A shape began to form in the treeline, solidifying from pure fog, slowly coalescing into the form of a wolf. I watched, as the wolf began to walk towards me, meeting my eyes directly. As it neared me, the fear that had been slowly creeping up my spine evaporated, and a feeling of recognition and peace flooded over me. The wolf opened its mouth and began to speak. “Artherige, you must remember me. You must. It is of the utmost importance.”
“What, no, who are you?” I asked, rather surprised that the wolf could speak. That was it, no fear, no confusion. Just surprise.
“I can not tell you what you already know. You must remember by yourself.”
“Can’t you at least tell me something? Something to help me remember,” I asked, pleading.
“You must remember by yourself. I can not help.” As it said this, the mist that formed it began to break up and disappear.
“Wait,” I called, “Come back.”
The wolf looked at me through slowly dematerializing eyes, and mouthed the word “What?”
“Who the hell are you?!”

“Mrs. Morkura, is there any reason at all that you would want to insult me twice in a row?” That was Mr. Fredreich, my economics instructor. He was standing over me, apparently having just been trying to wake me up. He absolutely hated me, and the feelings were mutual. He saw me as a delinquent who had no respect for authority, no sense of responsibility, and above all, no morals. I saw him as an overbearing, officious jerk. And we got along like oil and water.
“What?” I asked, still somewhat dazed from my unsettling dream.
“First, you fell asleep in my class, and then you had the audacity to swear at me when I go to wake you up. So, how will you explain yourself?” He was slowly turning purple as he said this. This seemed to happen a lot. Not me falling asleep, but his getting angry at or because of me. Most of the time, it wasn’t my fault, he just seemed to have a vendetta against me.
“Sorry,” I said, still somewhat groggily. “I was up with a family emergency all last night, and I really like my sleep.” I looked at him and smiled. That seemed to do the trick, as he went from deep purple to bright red. I silently congratulated myself. I had just managed to get a free pass out of class. I tried to do this as little as possible, but I really needed the time to organize my thoughts and try to figure this out. This dream had been coming to me every night for the past three weeks, ever since my eighteenth birthday.
“Get out of my class now,” he enunciated slowly, obviously trying to keep his anger in check. I got up, and as I exited the room, I turned around and saluted him. I couldn’t leave him there without a final parting jab.
About an hour later, Sasha intercepted me in the east hallway, and we headed to our lockers to put up our books and get the stuff we needed for the homework that night. Sasha and I had been friends for as long as I could remember, and she had lived next door to me for almost three quarters of that time. We were inseparable, and were so close that we almost thought as one. She led me to the doors, and as soon as we came out the front entrance, turned me left, walking down the street toward the Sonic at the corner.
“So, what are you doing tonight?” Sasha asked, smiling at a guy in our physics class.
“Well, besides the obvious homework, I’m planning on catching the new episode of Mythbusters, and possibly a Deadliest Warrior episode. Why?”
“Because I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my house tonight, maybe have a sleepover.”
“I would, but after what happened today in class, I probably shouldn’t.”
“And why did you want to piss of the economics teacher?” she cocked an eyebrow at me, and twitched a smile.
“I didn’t. It just kinda happened that way.” I grimaced at the thought of having detention because of it, and as I shook my head, I noticed that there seemed to be someone following us.
He probably wouldn’t have caught my eye normally, but there was just something about him that set off alarm bells in my head. He was dressed normally, nothing out of the ordinary, and was about average height, average build, blonde hair, and a tanned-by-the-sun appearance. Then I realized what it was. He was in just about every class that I was in. I couldn’t remember his name, but I recognized him. I dismissed it for the time being. I mean, we were on the main street from the school. Just about everybody that walked home took this road.
We ordered burgers at the Sonic, planned what we were going to do this weekend, just a day away, and talked about some of the new movies that were out, in case we wanted to go to the theater this weekend.
“So, what was the dream about this time?” Sasha inquired, with a knowing look in her eye.
“Same thing as the past few weeks, the wolf in the woods trying to get me to remember something.” I replied absently, as I finished an equation on my physics homework.
“My mom knows an Indian medicine man that might be able to tell you what the dreams mean. I can ask him if you want me to,” she told me.
“Sure,” I said, thinking that it couldn’t hurt my situation.
The boy from school was still following us as we left Sonic, definitely following, not just taking the same rout home, but I didn’t really think about it much, until I reached my house and wondered what he was following us for. I mean, it was creepy, but there was nothing overtly dangerous about him. I completely forgot about him as soon as I started my physics homework, though.
The next day was just about as miserable as the previous. Mr. Fredreich was still ticked off at me, so that class seemed to drag on forever. At last, the final bell rang, and Sasha came jogging up to me, apparently bursting with news. I had to admit, I was pretty interested in what she had to say.
“What’d you find?” I asked her.
“He said that the wolf in your dream symbolized your spirit totem, something like a soul. The pure essence of what and who you are. According to him, the dream symbolizes some event lost in your past that you forgot.”
“Interesting,” I said, getting ready to place my order at Sonic. “But obvious. Could he tell you anything else?”
“He told me of a story his tribe used to tell, about a race of people that lived peacefully with his tribe. His people called them wolffriends because they could become a wolf at will. I decided to do some research, and found that your dream is very similar to the dreams that they would have just before their first change. Usually about their second birthday. Do you think they actually existed?”
“That would be cool if they did. Did he tell you anything else?”
“No, nothing else. After he answered the question, he tried to change the subject, like it was a sore spot for him. I dropped it after that.” My interest was certainly piqued, but I didn’t know where to go from there.
We planned for her to come over later tonight to spend the weekend at my house. We were going to go to see a movie the next day. We split at the mouth of my driveway, and I got my mind in gear for the pre-cal homework I had to finish.
I got in the house, and was almost instantly charged by a large yellow lab. My yellow lab, Elwood. I fought him off, and went up to my room to do my homework. I was pretty engrossed in it, so I didn’t hear the knock on the door, but I did hear my mom scream downstairs. I dropped the homework, ran out of my room, down the stairs, and into the hallway. I caught sight of my mom, sprawled on the ground, and a man in a movers uniform. Then, I blacked out.
About two minutes later I realized that I wasn’t completely unconscious. I looked around, moving my head as little as possible, and saw that I was in my mom’s bedroom. She had a pretty bad knock on the head. I hoped that she didn’t have a concussion. I climbed laboriously to my feet, and walked dizzily over to her. The scent of blood was wafting strongly off of a cut on her head. It seemed to stir an anger in me that rapidly dissolved into burning pain throughout my body. My teeth and jaws began to ache, and my tongue felt as if it were being pulled in all directions. A fire lit in my fingertips, and as I watched, the fingernails split and cracked, revealing claws pushing their way out from underneath. I felt a searing pain shoot down my spine, as it seemed to stretch too long for my body. I felt my hands begin to stiffen, the bones in my fingers changing shape and length, the structure of my hand completely reforming. I saw the skin on the palms and tips of my fingers thickening, starting to resemble the pads of a dog’s foot. I felt my canines pushing out of my gums, lengthening and sharpening. My eyesight sharpened drastically, causing me to gasp as I saw details that I would have needed to get up close to see.
And all the while, I fought the anger that was welling up inside me.
I felt my rib cage expand, ripping my shirt, and causing me to collapse, panting, to the ground. I struggled to my feet, my legs feeling too weak to hold my weight. They began to burn, pulsing and growing, becoming longer, stronger, and thicker. My pants became too tight for me, the seams beginning to split, and they fell off. The pain in my spine focused on a single point at its base, and seemed to pulse outward. Something seemed to grow out of my underwear, causing them to shred as well. As I cried out, my shoes burst, my feet growing larger inside them. I felt what could only be described as the bones in my feet breaking and reforming, while at the same moment, a pain flared in my ears, and they began to pulse and twitch. I felt them push outward, and as they grew, so did their sensitivity. Suddenly, I felt as if I had been hit in the face with a bat, as my jaws and nose pushed out of my face. My tongue seemed to stretch, all of my teeth grinding and shifting, becoming more suitable for a predator. And still I fought. I felt a prickling feeling over my entire body, the pain slowly dissolving, leaving only a burning anger in me. I crawled to my feet, staggering over to the dresser along the wall. I looked in the mirror and gasped. Memories flooded into my head. I knew what the wolf in my dream had wanted me to remember, and what I had now become. I was a werewolf. The strongest and most formidable predator on the planet. The anger began to subside, and then surged through me anew. I could use it, and my newfound tail twitched in anticipation of what was to come. I took a deep breath, and howled, a long, loud hunting cry.
With my enhanced senses, I could hear the faint heartbeat of my mother, the shuffling of someone moving the TV downstairs, and someone on the phone. I could smell the fear that my howl had elicited, a salty, slightly stale smell, and I could also smell a person coming up the stairs, being extremely quiet, because I couldn’t hear his footfalls. I crouched, preparing to leap at him as soon as the door was opened. He came closer, paused at the door, obviously listening for any activity, and then tentatively began to open it. I tensed, as the moment drew closer, the door inching open as the man behind it slowly checked the room. Lucky for me, I was out of his line of sight until it was too late, and he had already committed to coming in the room. I leapt, and he had just enough reaction time to turn to face me, presenting a better target for my lunge. Time seemed to slow, as a shot of adrenaline began to course through my veins. I hit him like a freight train, driving him to the ground. This was less a function of speed as size, I realized, dispassionately. I easily towered a foot over him. I seemed to hang in the air for what seemed an eternity, until finally I was on him.
I slashed at him, letting the stench of blood fill my nostrils, letting my rage fill me and control my actions. His scent mingled with that of my mothers blood, and I could tell this was the man that had attacked my mom. I snarled, a guttural sound, similar to the revving of a chainsaw. He thrashed around, trying to break my grip on him, but to no avail. I shoved him to the ground, gripping him harder all the time. I bared my teeth, preparing to rip out his jugular, but managed to stop myself just inches from his throat. Instead of killing him, I swiped a massive paw, battering his head into the ground, and forcing him into unconsciousness.
I got to my feet, and as silently as my bulk would allow, crept to the stairway. The stench of fear was stronger now, and I could smell their worry as well. I paused to listen and learn, and counted three burglars. Then I noticed a fourth person, coming up to the house, and realized the scent was somewhat familiar. I couldn’t quite place it though, which seemed to be a recurring theme in my life. Once I knew what to expect, though, I charged down the stairs, snarling and snapping as I came down. I leapt at the man trying to haul our TV outside, positioned right at the base of the stairs, aiming to rip his arm off. I clamped down on it, but lost my grip as my teeth sheared through his arm. I came around with a paw and knocked him to the ground. He was obviously dazed, so I came around for a final blow. A kick to the base of the neck was sufficient to end it, and with that kick, I propelled myself toward the next burglar in my range. I pounced on top of him, knocking him to the ground and slamming his head into the floor, knocking him into unconsciousness almost immediately. I pounded his face, just in case. The final burglar was in the living room, and was pulling a pistol, trying to shoot me. I bounded off of the door frame, dodging his first shot, bounced off the wall, and hit him directly in the chest, knocking him into the wall behind. I grabbed his throat, holding him a foot off the ground, as he suffocated.
He struggled with all his might, but he couldn’t break my grip. With every motion he made, I just gripped his throat tighter. His flailing began to slow, as he began slipping into unconsciousness.
“Alpha, stop!” The voice came from the doorway. I spun around, dropping the man I had pinned up against the wall. Snarling, I prepared for this new threat, realizing as I did this that this was the fourth person that had been coming up to the house as I went to attack the burglars. That’s where I realized why his scent was so familiar. It was similar to mine, a mingling of dog and human, with its own unique notes.
He kept eye contact with me as he began to kneel down. When he was on his knee, he bowed his head, and almost immediately, I no longer perceived him as a threat. The anger that had been fueling me seemed to flood out of me, and I staggered. The boy/wolf rushed over to me, supporting me on his shoulder, saying, “Definitely her first change.”
“Ya think,” I growled, slightly surprised that I could even speak. He helped me over to the couch, where I collapsed, exhausted.
As my vision began to fade to black, and I fought to stay awake, I heard him say, “I’ll take care of this mess, you need sleep.” Strangely, this reassured me more than anything else he could have said, and I let myself slip into blessed unconsciousness.

[Lady Blackwell]

Wow, i really enjoy it thus far. it might of been the program you typed it into, but it seemed to just go on and on forever, no breaks.

and i know i am one to comment, my writing and grammar aren't the best, but i loved it. werewolves for the win!

anyways it could just be my format or 'skin' my althanas is in but the writing was black and i had to highlight it with my mouse in order to see it

[Artur Al'Rand]

Chapter 2
I heard voices through the door. They were muted, but not like they should be. I opened my eyes, and was almost blinded. The sun was streaming through my window. It was early afternoon, judging from the position of the sun through the window. And my room smelled. It seemed the same as before, just much stronger. I remembered slashing, ripping, and tearing. I remembered the scent of blood filling my nose. I gasped, and looked at my hands.
And sighed. I was human, not some furry, fanged werewolf. I decided to try and get up. I managed to stagger to my feet, feeling very weak. I walked over to the door, and tried to open it. Unfortunately, my legs picked that moment to collapse. Apparently, the people speaking on the other side of the door heard me fall, because my mom came rushing in, followed by a boy that I recognized but couldn’t place.
“I see you’re awake.” My mom was helping me to my feet; looking over me to be sure I was okay. “You need to eat, especially after what you went through last night. You spent a lot of calories.”
“What?” I asked, not quite understanding what my mom was saying.
“Do you remember any of what happened last night?”
“Huh?” I was dumbfounded. Normally, I could remember exactly what happened. “Please tell me I didn’t go to a party and get wasted.”
“I’m surprised that was the first thing to come to your mind. But no, you didn’t get wasted. Try and remember.”
I tried to remember, but the only thing coming to mind was what seemed to be a dream. I told my mom this, and she informed me that it had actually happened. I totally freaked out. I kept saying that it was impossible, while she assured me that it had happened. Once she showed me the cut and bump on her head, I came to accept it, and I started freaking out again. I was worried that I would lose control and hurt somebody I cared about. The boy that had come in the room with my mom chose that moment to speak up.
“You are only as dangerous as you wish to be. The loss of control you experienced last night was because someone was threatening the people and things that you cared about. Otherwise you probably would have turned at the first full moon after your eighteenth birthday. And you wouldn’t have got up so tired.”
“When did I get bit?” I directed this at my mom, who I figured would know this, but the boy answered for her.
“You didn’t. You were born this way. You are the last of your family’s bloodline, and one of the last of our pack. You are the last Alpha.”
Needless to say, that speech freaked me out even more. I managed to stagger down the stairs, and make a bowl of cereal. I ate my breakfast in a daze, still trying to figure out the implications that this had. Eventually, I asked my mom if she had known about this.
“Yes, I knew from the moment of your birth that you were a werewolf. I was best friends with your biological mother from a very early age, even before I knew she was a werewolf. At first I was as freaked as you, but our friendship proved stronger than my fear of her, and eventually I came to see the beauty of what she really was. She was just like any other human being, with feelings, strengths, and weaknesses. I eventually came to trust that she was in complete control of herself in whatever form she was in. She even saved me from a pervert of a boyfriend once, scared him shitless. He never messed with another girl again.”
“What was her name?” I inquired, starting to see the blessing of what I was.
“Tanya,” was my mothers reply. “She died saving your life. When your pack was attacked by a large band of werewolf hunters, she led the charge against them, buying the protectors, myself included, enough time to escape and hide.”
“So, you see, you’re not the monster you think you are. You have as much control as before your change.” This was that mysterious boy. I was starting to get annoyed by not knowing who he was. And the fact that he seemed to interrupt at the most irking moments.
“So what is your name, anyway?” I asked him, looking him directly in the eye.
“Flyn,” he said. “Flyn Salius, last surviving member of the whitefang family.”
“Well Flyn, would you be willing to teach me about our pack?” I asked, hoping that he would say yes. I was oddly interested for just finding out that the pack even existed.
“That was what I came here for.” He replied. “I followed your pull to this town, and have been watching for your first change, so I could move in and help you. First though, you need to eat as much as you possibly can. Changing forms takes a lot of energy, and maintaining the form you used last night takes even more. That’s why you are so exhausted.”
About an hour later, Flyn and I met in the wooded back portion of my property, so as not to be seen by anybody. He led me into a clearing not thirty feet from the edge of the woods, and sat down.
“First thing you need to do is learn to meditate, learn to control your emotions at a moments notice.” He shuffled his legs, trying to sit cross legged. “You must clear your mind and let your emotions flow freely through you, and channel them into the form you wish to take. Once you learn how to do that, I can begin to teach you about your heritage.”
I sat down across from him, closed my eyes and cleared my mind. I let my emotions flow through me as Flyn had directed, and began to notice my surroundings fading from my consciousness. The wolf from my dreams appeared to me, opening his mouth and saying “I can now show you what you needed to remember, now that you have already discovered it for yourself.” And he led me through a foggy dreamscape that seemed to mimic my confusion and bafflement. Stunted trees grew in small patches here and there. There was a path, made of denser fog, seeming almost solid. It led to a shallow valley, in which sat a small, isolated village. It was peaceful seeming, and beautiful. I followed the wolf down the main street to a house at the head of the street, slightly larger than the rest, and decorated more elaborately.
“This is the dwelling of the alpha family of this village, your dwelling. I will leave you here, to run through your memories. Hopefully you will learn about yourself through this, and learn about your people, my people, in the process.”
I gasped, rushing back to consciousness, back to the clearing where I had started. Flyn was still sitting across the clearing from me. He looked at me and said “That was fast. Did you manage to begin channeling your emotions?”
“No. I had a vision, again. It was the wolf from my dream. It led me to our village and told me to go through my memories. And then I came back.”
“Huh, that never happened to me. Maybe you should let this run its course before you start learning this stuff. It could get pretty hairy if you lose control in the middle of a shift.” He looked at me, a slightly concerned look in his eyes. I couldn’t tell if he was worried that I was determined enough to keep this up, or if he was worried about my dreams and visions.
“I want to keep trying. I’m not going to give up so easily. And the wolf doesn’t seem like it wants to hurt me.”
He instantly relaxed, looking like that was exactly what he had been hoping that I would say. He sighed, looking at me with a pleased smirk in his eyes.
“That’s exactly what an alpha would say. I was worried that you were the wrong person, because you always seemed to be someone who didn’t feel natural authority, kinda like a beta, always challenging the alpha. Thank God you’re the one, ‘cause now we can get this show on the road.”
“Huh?” I was extremely confused, with no clue what he was talking about.
“I wasn’t sure at first that you were the alpha, because of the way you behaved. Now that you have realized your potential, we can round up the rest of the lost pack members, and actually have a chance of continuing our race. Now that I’ve found you, our people are no longer doomed to fade into nothing. Now that you have realized yourself, we can have hope again.”
I was stunned not just because of the speech, but because of its implications. What he was saying was that our race was beginning to run dry, we were close to extinction, and it was up to me to save us all.
“So, how do I go about rounding up my pack, exactly?” I asked, genuinely wanting to help, if it meant saving my people. I was also somewhat surprised that I used the possessive. It had just come out, and had seemed so natural when I said it.
“Well, first you have to fully realize yourself. You cannot claim authority until you have. Otherwise I’ll end up as the alpha, and we’ll have a massive throwdown once you do. I have no doubt you’ll come out on top, with you being born for this position, but I would prefer not to get bloodied over something that I do not want in the first place.”
“Then let’s get to it.” I said, eager to get through this. “What do I have to do first?”
“You still need to learn to channel your emotions. Otherwise you won’t be able to shift.” He smiled at me as he said this, and I could tell he was thinking it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Try to continue your meditation, and when you think you’ve got it, focus the emotions into the form you wish to shift to first.”
“How many forms do I have?” I asked, thinking it odd that a werewolf would have more than two forms. I mean, how could they have more than two? That notion was dispelled right away as he said:
“A werewolf has four forms, some requiring more energy than others. In order of the energy needed for each form, it goes: human, wolf, half lycan, and lycan. Full lycan is what you transformed into last night. It is the main combat form we use. Half lycan is used mainly for defense and when speed and stealth are of the essence. It is also the most comfortable of the four. Wolf is just as the name implies, you turn into a large wolf. And you know human.” He began to examine me, and nodded, saying “It might be best if you tried turning lycan or half lycan this time, because they will be the easiest for you to change into on your first try. Normally, it would be easiest for you to go to half lycan, but since you have already shifted to lycan, it’ll be easy to go lycan as well.”
I sat down in the spot I had vacated when I had woken up from the vision, crossed my legs, and closed my eyes. I began to try and channel my emotions, working slowly to form a solid stream out of them. Eventually, I got the hang of it and could do it fairly quickly, and with minimal deviations. The entire process took about an hour. I began channeling the emotions as soon as I could, forming them into a half lycan shape, and then letting them expand. I was doing this purely on instinct, not really knowing what to do, so I was surprised when it actually began to work. I started to feel my spine stretching, as it had last night, but it wasn’t in the least bit painful, unlike last night. It felt quite pleasant, as if the weight of my body had just been taken off my spine. I felt all the familiar sensations from last night, just none of the pain. It was a truly enjoyable feeling, because in place of the pain, there was nothing but an ecstatic pleasure. Before I knew it, the transformation was done, and Flyn was clapping from across the clearing.
“Performed as a true alpha,” he said, laughing and grinning like an idiot. I noticed he had shifted as well, into a half lycan form as I had. “Now is where the fun begins.” And with that, he took off deeper into the woods.
I chased after him, laughing as I went, enjoying the grand feeling of all the power and strength at my fingertips. I ran faster and faster, until I had caught up with him. He called over something about how we were just scratching the surface of my abilities. I yelled back at him that I wanted to see what he could do first.
“Oh really?” he called back. “Then let’s push it to the max!” As he said this, he took a gigantic leap into the air, landing lightly on a thick branch twenty feet off the ground. He promptly began bounding from branch to branch, calling behind him “You have greatly enhanced reflexes as compared to a human, so this should be absolutely no trouble for you.”
I took him up on that challenge, expertly calculating the exact amount of force needed to hit the branch above my head, landing on it as lightly as he had, and chasing after him from branch to branch, laughing and teasing the entire time. It was as if I had spent a lifetime in this body. When I mentioned this to Flyn, he responded “That’s one of the traits of an alpha; they pick up on skills much quicker than anybody else.”
About an hour later, we stopped for a breather. I bounded over to a stream running along the edge of the clearing we had stopped in, taking in the sights, smells, and sounds of the forest as I did so. I took a long drink of water and promptly sat down to rest. The forest surrounding me suddenly vanished, replaced by the village the wolf had led me to. I was laying on my back in a half lycan form, my fathers tail swishing above me, hanging over the edge of the chair he was sitting on. I was batting at it playfully, being only one or two years old at the time. I heard the door open, and rolled onto my side to see who it was. It was my mom, my real mom, coming in through the door, and she had a worried aura and scent about her. She hid it from her face very well, but to a werewolf, emotions are very transparent. She looked at my father, and said “They still haven’t found us yet, but they’re not far off. We may want to consider preparing. They could strike at any moment.”
“I understand, and we are as prepared as we can be. The elders have been alerted to prepare the ritual, and have gathered the required materials. The rest of the warriors, those not too frail or old to fight, have been set on minutemen status. We are as ready for these so called hunters as we will ever be. We do not stand a chance against a force of so many, but we can hold them off long enough for the elders and the protectors to complete the ritual.”
I got to my feet and began to waddle over to my mom, to say hi and try to comfort her. I tugged at the hem of her skirt, it being the only thing she wore, because her silky, thick fur covered everything else. She picked me up, saying to me “Hi honey, how are you doing?”
“I’m fine, mommy. What’s wrong?”
“Oh sweetie, nothing’s wrong, just some mean men that want to try and hurt us, but they won’t get you or your friends. You’ll all be fine.”
I knew she was hiding something, but my young mind just didn’t have the experience to figure out what, so I just said “I love you mommy. I love you daddy.” My mom set me down on the floor, and I came back to reality with a jolt.
I was back in the clearing with Flyn, who was worrying over me like I had fallen off a cliff. The birds were chirping, the stream burbling, and the wind blowing like everything was fine. When he saw I was awake, he backed off, but he still seemed worried. Of course, I had just lost consciousness and entered a dream state in a matter of seconds, which could prove very worrisome, even at the best of times. I explained to him that I was fine, no ill effects at all. He was still worried, but he stopped fussing over me, starting a fire and cutting up a rabbit he had caught while I was unconscious. He placed a large, flat stone close to the fire, letting it heat up to act as a skillet. He placed the rabbit pieces on the skillet rock, cooking it until it was medium rare then taking it off of the rock. He motioned me over, watching me as I reached out to take a bit of the rabbit. I thought that he wanted my approval of his cooking, so I took a tentative bite, noticing that he was watching me intently.
“Very good,” I commented after I had swallowed. As soon as I said this, he smiled, and started taking pieces to eat, leaving me about half. Not only did he dig in, but he did so with a vengeance. It was quite obvious that he had been waiting for me to eat. When I asked him about it, he shrugged, saying “I don’t even think about it, it’s just how I show respect. I think it’s a wolf thing.”
“Probably. My dogs do the same thing.”
“So why did you pass out like that? Your butt hit the ground and you were out like a light,” he inquired, genuinely worried.
“It was another vision/dream, this one with my mom and dad, my real ones, talking about some group of hunters invading our village.” I looked at him to try and find some response. He maintained the worried look, not even phased. “What does it mean? Is it real?” I asked, starting to get annoyed at the fact that he always seemed to know more than I did.
“It was definitely real, considering that our clan was wiped out by werewolf hunters.” He practically spat out those last few words, no longer seeming worried about me. “They had no reason to hunt us down like that other than a misguided and irrational fear of us. We had lived in peace with them for years, when they up and decided to hunt us down because they had found out what we were. They all but exterminated us.”
“And you want revenge?” I asked.
“Not exactly, unless bringing our pack back up to strength is revenge.” He smiled as he said this. I could tell he was thinking of the old adage “The best revenge is success.” I smiled too. It would be nice to be with a large group of people like me, who could understand me. I could see where he was coming from. “Do you still want to go on?” he inquired.
“Definitely,” was my reply. He got up, put out the fire, and headed over to the stream to wash his hands. When he came back over, I was already trying to channel my emotions again. I wanted to try running around in my lycan form.
When I told Flyn as much, he responded “Sure, why not. Maybe I can teach you some martial arts moves while we’re at it. There are some styles that are known only to the werewolves. I’ve got no doubt that you will pick up on them fairly easily.”
We ran back to the first clearing, stopping for a breather only when we reached it. He bounded over to the opposite edge from me, getting into a fighting stance similar to that of karate, but subtly different. I studied the stance, committing it to memory, and mimicking it.
“This is the basic stance of our packs style. We don’t have a formal name for it, but it can be used with knives, staves, guns, and swords, all equally effectively. The main thing is to either get up close, or get out of arms reach. Try to come at me.”
I bounded towards him, leaping at the last second. I got up close, inside his reach, swinging with a chop at his neck, but pulled back at the last second, instead driving a palm into his jaw. I was as stunned as he was, having no clue where it was coming from. I slid my foot in front of his, thinking “Base,” unconsciously. I reached for the arm that he was trying to bring to bear on me, grabbing it just above the elbow. “Angle.” Finally, my arm went up to the back of his neck, and pulled. “Leverage.” He hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, landing flat on his face. And started laughing.
“Good, good. You remember. I guess some things you just don’t forget that easily.” I gave him a hand up, and he clapped me on the back. “That was a perfectly executed takedown. Do you know what you did?” he looked at me inquiringly.
“No, what was that? It was all just a blur,” I asked, still somewhat stunned that I had done so well, so soon.
“You started training in our style when you were very young. It must have stuck with you better than I thought.”
“So, muscle memory or something?” I asked
“I guess. Some things, like typing, or in this case, fighting, become so engrained in you that they hardwire themselves into your brain. You just automatically respond to the situation.” He sprawled himself across the ground as he was saying this, stretching his body out. Smiling, he went on. “You should be ready to lead in about a week, at the rate you’re going, and we should have the pack together in about a month after that.”
I grinned as I flopped on the ground next to him, saying “Then let’s get to it!”

[Artur Al'Rand]

Chapter 3
The wind was roaring, the lightening flashing, the rain pouring. The village stank of fear, both man and werewolf. There was barely any light, except when the lightening flashed, yet I could see as if it was just after sunset. I heard a wolf howl in the distance, the warning cry. Proclaiming that our village was under attack. My mother and father were standing there, staring, waiting.
“Mommy, I’m scared,” I cried over the howl of the wind. She turned, her golden eyes flashing in the light of a burst of lightening, the silky fur of her lycan form matted down by the pouring rain. She smiled at me, a sinister smile, and I knew she would fight to the death for me.
“Just follow Jasmine and your friends and you’ll be fine. And know I will always love you.” She was shouting to be heard, all but screaming. She looked behind her, studying the ranks of werewolves arranged in neat rows. They were ready to die for their families, if it meant that their children would get away. The hate they harbored for these hunters was obvious on their faces, in their stance, in the way they stared at the tree line.
My father turned to her, and grimaced. “It’s time,” he said, yelling just as much as my mother. “We have to strike now or we will not be able to hold them off long enough.” He faced the forest edge, crouching, and took off on all fours, closely followed by my mom. He howled as he ran, beginning a wave of howls that ran through the entire pack. The werewolves behind my parents took off right on their heels. I turned to Jasmine, and realized with a start that this was the woman I knew as my mom now. She led me away, up towards the caves. The lightening flashed, lighting our way. It flashed again, seeming to foreshadow what was to come. I heard a gunshot, and a scream, the bloodcurdling cry of a werewolf dying. I turned around, trying to help my mom. Jasmine caught me, and I yelled.
“Noooooooooooooo!”

I woke with a start, crying. I was drenched in sweat, breathing heavily. I was simultaneously hot and cold, and tangled in my sheets. The moonlight was flooding into my room, almost as bright as day. In the back of my mind, I noticed that it was a full moon. And realized that I should have turned for the first time tonight, if it hadn’t been for the burglars that had wrecked my house. It had been a week since that first change, and I had learned and remembered much. I had learned of my heritage, my family, and my responsibilities as the alpha of the pack. I had learned to fight werewolves and armed men equally effectively. I had learned that the best way to kill a werewolf is to take off their head. I had learned of my rapid healing, and remembered my family. I was almost ready to seek out the remaining members of my pack as their alpha. And I was doing much better in school. The focus exercises that Flyn had been teaching me were really helping me during lectures, and tests. Flyn had moved in to the spare bedroom in our house, after getting his guardians permission, and had been drilling me as much as possible, any free moment I got. Sasha had spent the night tonight, and was sitting up bleary eyed, staring at me.
“What was that about?” she asked. Through her sleep blurred eyes she appeared worried.
“Just a bad dream, don’t worry.” I replied. She grumbled about being woke up in the middle of the night, rolling over as she grumbled, and fell instantly back into sleep. I decided to follow her example, and was snoring before my head even hit the pillow.

The alarm blared, and I jerked back into consciousness. Sasha was already awake below me. I rolled over and hit the off button on the alarm, then sat up. “Play you for first dibs on the shower,” I mumbled to her.
“No, you go ahead, I’ll get breakfast going. You and your furry friend will need all the calories you can get.” She got to her feet, and walked sleepily to the door, heading down the stairs to the kitchen. I made my way across the hall to the bathroom.
As soon as I was in the bathroom, I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked no different from before I had found out I was a werewolf. I was tall, about five nine, and slender, weighing in at only 163. Dark red, almost brown, wavy hair fell to the middle of my back, and I had a fair skin tone. The only thing to distinguish me from a typical Irish American was my golden eyes, seeming to shine in low light. I had long legs, making me very good at track, and there seemed to be very little fat on my body, mainly because of the very active life I led. Hiking, biking, track, paintball, gymnastics, all contributing to my athletic build. I quickly showered and dried off, heading back to my room to get dressed. I chose a baby blue fitted T-shirt advertising Spyder, and a pair of boot cut jeans. I wore a darker blue hoodie over my shirt, and brushed out my hair in the mirror hanging over my dresser. When I was finally satisfied, I headed for the stairs.
As I came down to the first floor, I heard the news going, and Flyn talking to Sasha. I smelled eggs and bacon, and toast. I entered the kitchen, and saw Flyn leaning against the center island in the kitchen, his back to Sasha.
“Your turn,” I said to Sasha, “I’ll take over from here.” She handed me the spatula, and headed back upstairs. About a minute later, I heard the shower begin running. My mom was sitting in her recliner in the living room, holding a steaming cup of coffee, watching the news. The news anchor mentioned a random killing, not ten miles up the road from us, and I shivered. It reminded me too much of the attempted burglary a week ago. The men had made it into the hospital, and survived to be charged, but it still scared me. The police could not believe that Elwood had attacked the burglars, but that was what we had told them. It was the only way to avoid further questions, ones that we did not want answered.
I turned around to check on the eggs, mixing them up as I went, waiting for Flyn to say what I knew was coming. We stood there for about a minute before he made any noise at all.
“I think you’re ready to lead the pack,” he said. “We should probably start looking for the other members this weekend. It shouldn’t be too hard.” He smiled at me, knowing that I had been waiting for this since the day I started my training.
“Finally. I thought you would never say it,” I said, exasperated. “So, how are we going to find them?”
“We’re not,” he emphasized. “You are. I couldn’t find them to save my life. That’s the alpha’s job. Your job.”
“Let’s start looking after school. You said the ‘rents should know already, right?” I quickly dumped a serving of eggs onto a plate, saving it from getting burned.
“Yeah, they’ll know. They should actually help you convince the kids that they are werewolves.” He picked up the plate I had just filled, taking it over to the table, and pointedly did not start eating. Every time we sat down to eat, he did this, and no matter how many times I told him it was ok to eat before me, he either would not, or could not.
“Alright, I’ll start looking today, and we’ll hunt them down this afternoon.” I took a plate, and filled it up with my serving of eggs, and set it at my place at the table. As I was starting the final batch of eggs, I heard the shower turn off, and Sasha get out. I started the bacon, waiting for her to come back down.
Sasha came thumping down the stairs, and headed straight for the table, waiting patiently for her breakfast. I finished up the bacon, distributing it to everybody as I sat down, and began telling Sasha of our plan. Finally, the time came for us to head out for school, and hopefully find the rest of my pack.
We made it to the school just before the morning tardy bell, and had to rush through the morning routine of hitting our lockers, and heading to class. I had home economics first period, so I had a lot of brainwork to do. I could feel the pull of my other pack members, but I couldn’t tell where they were. That is, until I caught the scent of another werewolf, right in the classroom. I looked around, trying to find the source of the scent, and saw that it was a girl across the room from me. Unfortunately, she was one of the popular girls, so I was going to have trouble getting to her. Not as much trouble as if she were the queen bee, being one of the lower girls in the chain, but still difficult. I just had to figure out how to get to her.
I was trying to figure out a strategy, keeping in mind my favorite saying; “No strategy survives first contact”, when the bell rang, interrupting my thoughts. I headed for my locker to get my books for second period when Blake, Ryan, Ashton, and Ashley, four members of my six member paintball team, caught up with me in the hall. Sasha was the fifth, and I the sixth.
“When’s the next game going to be?” Ashton asked. He was my team heavy gunner, carrying the high rate of fire gun and the largest pack. Ashley was my dagger, the quick, accurate multi role fighter on my team. And she and Ashton were siblings. Ryan was my sniper, with the lightest pack load of all of us, and Blake, my ghost flanker. And the weird thing was, they all smelled like werewolves. That was five down, one to go.
“I don’t know. Let’s all meet at my house today after school, and we’ll look something up.” With that, we split off and headed our own separate ways.
Second period was computer science, one of my favorite classes, so I really wasn’t paying attention to pack members in that class. Third period was boring, so I spent that time instead working on my plan of action. Fourth period was when I found the last one. My favorite lab partner was the final member of my pack. Her name was Rebecca Sommers. Luckily, we had free time today, because it was a Friday, so I could corner her, and ask her over to my house today. She said yes, so all I had to do was separate the final girl from the preps. Blech.
Finally, the lunch bell rang, so I could talk to her. I managed to get right behind her in line, and checked for her friends. She was alone, making the situation easier than I thought. She turned around and I thought “Oh crap.”
“Hi, you’re Artherige, right?” she smiled at me and all I could think was “Oh crap, oh crap, what scheme does she have planned for me?!”
“Yeah, why?” I asked.
“I didn’t know you played paintball,” she motioned at my shirt as she said this. “I do too. Just rec ball though, I’m not good enough to do the tournaments yet.”
“Cool, I’ve got a six man team that plays scenario; we’re meeting at my house to plan for the next event we’re going to, if you want to come over. You could play for us.”
“Sounds like a deal, I’ll meet you out front after school,” she said, walking off to hang out with her friends at the corner table.
“Well, that went better than I thought it would for you.”
I jumped about a foot in the air, partly because Flyn had managed to sneak up on me. Again. And partly because I was so wound from psyching myself up to talk to the prep.
“Did you have to do that?” I asked, trying to calm down.
“No, but it was fun anyway. So, that makes six, and we can have them together for the demonstration. That’s extremely good, ‘cause it means we’ll only have to shift once, if even at all. They may have already gone through their first change. Which will be even better.”
The rest of the day went by smoothly, even with my growing sense of anticipation, although Mr. Friedrich was still his usual annoyingly hate filled self. Luckily, that was the last period of the day, so I didn’t have to deal with anyone else like that.

As each person showed up at my house, I showed them to the living room, and had them wait there until the others had shown up. When everybody was there, I stood up in front of them and started talking “All right, so I’ve asked all of you over here to plan for an SPPL event sometime soon, but there is another reason I had you come over here. You’re all werewolves.”
The first one to speak up was Mariah, the prep.
“And how do you know this?” she asked. She was the only one who didn’t look at me like I was crazy.
“Because I’m a werewolf too,” and with that I began my shift. In under thirty seconds, I had gone from a five foot nine redhead to a six foot seven werewolf, dappled in shades of gray and black and white. Needless to say, they were all shocked. All, that is, except Mariah. She was smiling. And she looked quite happy.
“So I’m not just a freak,” was her reply to my transformation. “I’ve known I was a werewolf for about three weeks now. And I thought I was the only one.”
As I shifted back, I walked over to the recliner and stared at Flyn. He mouthed the word What? I shrugged. We could teach them about themselves this weekend, which would be best. Or we could actually do what I had said I had called this meeting for. I decided to put it to a vote.
“All right, so do you guys still want to paintball this weekend?” I asked. They all had the experience to make a good team, so training wasn’t an issue. It was just if they wanted to or not. And then Blake spoke up.
“I say in the face of uncertainty, we stick to something we are certain about. Let’s play this weekend.”
“Good, I’ve got three different scenarios that we could go to this weekend.” After that, my big announcement seemed to melt away as the meeting devolved into a tactics and planning session for the team.