They say this all began in the mid 1500's. Some crazy guy in a "magical girdle" was roaming the country side, shape-shifting and killing people. I actually had to look this up because at first, I didn't believe it. Sure enough there it was in black and white print on my computer screen, some random guy in Germany was wearing a girdle and roaming the country side. It ended the usual way things like this end, he was tortured and killed, then his head hung on display. It was said the girdle was a gift from the devil as a sign of their pact. If the devil was to hand me a girdle and say this will give you shape-shifting powers I would have to take a hard pass on that one.
People don't really know how the whole werewolves thing got started but, some history is started by wolves. The most famous of the stories you've heard are Romulus and Remus; the brothers that founded Rome. Their mother was a wolf, weird if you ask me, does that mean some guy made it with a wolf? was he drunk? was it the devil? was it that guy in the girdle? I mean seriously who is going around and making it with wolves. I thought cross species breeding was impossible? I have so many questions, but it’s mostly just curiosity. I know how it all started.
Shocker, I know. Another story about werewolves. After doing some research I've found that there are no good stories of werewolves and that whole twilight fad just ruined everything for both species, wolves and vamps alike. They didn't like that series either. Wolves and Vamps are just like any other human beings. Some of us get along, some of us don't. We both die but do tend to live longer due to our enhanced genetic code. The slight difference is that vamps have a story line, they tell the story from their ancestor and pass it on; generation by generation. I suppose there are some vamps that have been around for a couple hundred years but the first ever vamp was killed by the first ever wolf, some thousand years later after the first werewolf was discovered.
With wolves, our linage is passed down through our blood and there are some slight and major differences through the myth, lore and actual facts. I know very few vamps, mostly because like any race, we tend to get along with our own. But there are a ton of wolves that I know and most of them I can't stand. When we are born we have to be kept away from our pack and the closest thing to a pack that I can describe to you, is like a Mexican family. There is usually a lot of us and we are all very close knit. The reason for the separation is because the older, pubescent wolves will unknowingly try to kill the youngest. I remember seeing my oldest brother literally hold my youngest sister under water while he was washing the dishes. The age difference was very large, and he says he doesn't remember doing it, don't know if that’s true or if thats because my mother slammed him against the wall and knocked him unconscious.
The whole werewolf hierarchy is a matriarchal society. Whereas forest wolves are just beast on four legs run by an alpha male, the werewolf species is run by the women and it’s not as easy as you would believe. Think of it as the Irish. Totally respect their moms and love them to death, but still kind of jerks to other women. I'm not saying we are perfect, again I know lots of other wolves that are just ass hats for whatever reason but we all love and respect our mothers. I know there used to be millions of us, as well as the vamps, but as the human population hit a boom period after one of their wars, that’s when things got worse for us.
For the most part, we were able to just live in peace. Wolves don't have a thirst for blood like vamps do. We can live our lives day to day without killing anyone. You do have to be born a wolf. A werewolf cannot bite you and you turn into one, that’s ridiculous. Just as ridiculous as getting spider abilities from a radioactive spider. If you are bitten by a werewolf you either bleed out or die from blood poisoning 5 excruciating days later. When we are conceived, we take 10 months to form completely. It’s actually weird because we have hair in the womb and I mean all over. The 7th month in we shed all that hair and the mothers throw it up for about a week. After the tenth month we are born like normal babies. Some large, some small, it is even possible for us to have birth defects. Smoking, drinking and drugs do affect us in terrible ways like normal human babies.
The first 6 months of our lives we are unable to control our howl. Yes, we howl. Like most mammals we cry when we are hungry, have a poopy diaper or when we just can’t sleep. Our mother has to basically train us to control our howl by nipping us on the arm or feet. You would think it would make us cry more but it doesn't. After those 6 months she can return with us and any resentment our older siblings may have had should be gone, then they are just left with human resentment, which isn't as deadly. We are a lot alike, humans and wolves. We can be poor, rich, sick, dying, ghetto, popular or secluded. We can have normal jobs and have passports. Hell, we even have social security numbers, but we have to get new ones after the age of 30. We age slower. My mother is close to 98 years old, but she still looks 35.
If I remember correctly the oldest werewolf lived to be 215 years old. Eventually dying of cancer. Anything that can kill a human can kill a wolf, but it has to be life threatening. Falling off our bike is not something we are scared of and silver bullets was made up by the catholic church. Silver being the type of money that was exchanged for the whereabouts of Jesus. Vamps are different. They can walk around during the day, they live a lot longer than wolves and humans. They technically are dead, so they don't have to eat, piss or sleep. One of my friends at school is a vamp and she's funny as hell. She's been 18 for quite some time now, longer than I have anyway. Actually, the werewolf aging process starts to slow down around 20. Barring any catastrophic life ending events, we can live for a long time. We just have to move around a lot.
That’s actually gotten harder over the past 50 years. Social media and the news just crushed one faction. They were hunted down and killed, because humans fear the things they do not understand, but it didn't help that the matriarch of that faction decided to try and kill a senator. That didn't end well for anyone. Contrary to popular belief, werewolves are not super strong with heightened abilities.... I mean we are but only if we choose to focus on those. Just like a human who works out at the gym all the time or gets corrective eye surgery.
Maureen, my vamp friend, doesn't talk a lot about her life or her vamp ways. I think she gets sick of repeating herself and repeating high school over and over, but the vamps learned a long time ago that if they stood out they would be hunted and killed. She did explain the blood thirst thing though. Of course, vamps are dead and thus don't produce any blood, well they do but its dead blood, coagulated. One human transaction with them can give them a good five to ten months free of thirst. The more often they drink the less often they look like vamps, with the pale skin and all that. Sorry no glitter. They however are crazy strong and of course anyone can be made into a vamp, except wolves. There is no interspecies cross breeding that way.
It was tried once before. A vamp experimented on werewolves. Tried to breed with them, tried to bite them, blood transfusion and all that scientific stuff. Didn't really end well for any of them. Most of the werewolves died or had to be put down. The one he tried to breed with was the most horrific though. She was able to become pregnant, but the fetus began to eat her from the inside out, but it did this before it was fully grown and basically killed itself since it had killed its own host. My mother says that a whole trial was done, with both vamps and wolves. The vamps sentenced the vamp to death and the wolves chose how he would be killed. Werewolves secrete small amounts of venom from our fangs once they come in after puberty. It’s not deadly to us, but it is to humans and vamps. It kills white blood cells and expands any blood clots rapidly.
It was decided by the wolves that he would be injected every day for 100 years with werewolf venom and on the 101st year, he would be lit on fire and have his head removed. The last part wasn't really necessary, but the wolves wanted to make a point. It’s been only 55 years. Every vamp and wolf I know doesn't really have a social media account. We do try and steer clear of things like that. There are some that like the lime light, some famous actors that just died or dropped off the face of the earth somehow can always be explained by a vamp or a werewolf.
Wolves can always tell when another wolf is nearby, another part of that genetic territory code we get. We get agitated and slightly aggressive. I do have to say our sense of smell is pretty keen though. Pretty much everything puts out a pheromone scent. The stronger the scent though the more repugnant it is to us. Humans all have their own smell, except vamps. They can wear perfumes but since their bodies are dead, they give off no smell. That’s how we know they are vamps. We join the military and go to human wars. We can go to college and be physicists or scholars. Hell, one of the generals of the U.S. military was a werewolf. But not every werewolf knows every werewolf, that’s just racists.
There was a wolf and vamps war a very long time ago, but not how the movies tell it. Like I said before, most of us get along just fine, we lead the same lives as humans do, but when a faction becomes known it puts all of us at risk depending on the region we are in. It has gotten a bit easier since those dreadful movies have come out. But the older humans still fear us. I've been 18 for five years now and it really does get old quick. Some wolves won't go back to school after they graduate the first time. Sometimes they just find a faction in the woods or are away from society for a while and then go back when they look older. We get jobs just like humans, quit, get fired, get promoted, start our own companies. A lot of wolves and vamps find owning your own company a lot easier to explain why we look like the original owner. But for the most part we keep to ourselves.
I have been thinking about going off to one of the isolated factions lately. My mother doesn't want me to go. She says that we can all leave just as soon as she gets the promotion at work which will allow her to travel more often. She knows several languages and is an U.N. linguist at the moment, but she got her accounting degree and is in line for a promotion to be a part of the department of treasury. So, it’s all very "up in the air" with her. My mother tries so hard to fit in with the humans, my brothers left years ago to "find themselves". Last I heard they were in Brazil running amuck in the forests there. My youngest sister is going to be 10 soon and has no idea she's a werewolf. My mother expressly forbade that I tell her and its always good practice to not tell the little ones about it till they are older. They normally can’t keep a secret anyway.
I'm the third youngest in a litter of 4, yes, I just referred to my own family as a litter. All of us have the same mother but different fathers. All werewolves themselves. Some factions will invite other factions to mating season in other regions but is not uncommon for a wolf to mate with humans. Mostly it’s the male wolves just humping anything they can after puberty starts and it is rare that a wolf male and human female will have a werewolf child, but it’s happened. It’s the female wolves that determine the species. With human reproduction, it is the male that determines the gender, with wolves, it’s the women. And of course, as I said before vamps and wolves cannot procreate with each other. There have been wolf leaders that have frowned upon interspecies children. They believe we should breed with our own, but then I would be screwing my brothers and that’s just gross.
There are only 50 factions left in the entire world. While that may seem like a lot, it really isn't, especially when one faction refuses to mate with other factions because they want to keep their bloodline pure, bunch of weirdos. So that leaves 49 left. Each faction is broken up into 4 groups. Elders, who serve as the judges in almost all wolf-related cases. The blues, who are normally the parents and are responsible for the care of not only their young but the elders as well. The alphas, all men of course, they are in charge of events and enforcing the judgements of the courts. And lastly, the Y-gens. which is what we call ourselves, young generation wolves. We have some responsibility when it comes to the faction, but not a lot. We are mostly just burdened with the learning and growing of our species. I think it’s a lot to ask a child to do but, its only till we hit puberty then we get to be either an alpha or a blue, depending on which gender we are.
Over the years, each faction has had dwindling numbers. In my faction, the elders are down to 3, the blues are down to 10 family heads, the alphas are usually high because they recruit even before the age of 20 which was never really a good idea because younger male wolves are immature and always believe in the most extreme punishments. Somewhere along the way we started to breed with humans and at first it was like, whoa! wait, we can't let them in, we can't tell them. But slowly as the years rolled on, it seems like human became more understanding and a lot more willing to accept that we were a part of their world. They started to idolize us, but still had a lot of stigmas about us.
You seriously couldn't tell us apart in a public place, humans and wolves. Vamps usually do keep to themselves and the only way the procreate is to bite someone and turn them. Maureen hasn't turned anyone, she’s been enjoying her immortality for a while now and hasn't felt the need to have a vamp family. She says that normally a vamp can go centuries without feeling lonely, but when they do start to feel the need, they either sleep for a super long time or they start to turn people. My life as a wolf really isn't complicated, and I like it like that. High school girls like their lives complicated, it’s odd. I like to watch people at times, sometimes Maureen and I will go to the local mall and just watch these people walk around. Vamps as I said before have all that super human stuff, so she'll listen to passing conversations and she always tells me what they're talking about. Sometimes it was funny, sometimes it was sad.
I have human friends too, but I still segregate them from Maureen and my family. I'll be 19 in a few weeks and so far, life has been simple. Then a girl named Angela came to the school and life started to become a little harder. As a young wolf we are raised around other wolves, we don't attend normal elementary school because the howling issue. We are taught not to howl, but as we get older we learn that we can use it to get our mother's attention. By the time we are old enough to enter middle school, we know not too howl for attention. Sever consequences are used in those situations when we are not in dyer trouble and we howl. Wolves are raised to be seen not heard, simply because we don't want the adverse attention it might bring upon us.
We try not to fight because as I said before we do not have super human strength, so we can lose and be hurt. Our bones do heal faster at any stage in life so quickly recovering from a fight the day before would look suspicious. Angela seemed to have it out for me the day she bumped into me. It was so cliché how it all went down. I have a bottom locker and was getting my books for the next class when I stood up and closed the locker door with my leg, I turned to walk away from the lockers but was still shoving my book into my bag when I bumped into her. Either she was really trying to hurt me, or she is just super light because she was the one who fell backwards and on the floor. I went to help her up, but she slapped my hand away and called me a bitch, ‘if only she knew’ I laughed to myself.
I had apologized and stood around to make sure she got up ok. I'm a soft-spoken girl but I'm not shy. I don't have down cast eyes and my self-esteem was wavering just like any other teenage girl at that age but, I know what I am, and I am not afraid of humans. Angela on the other hand, chose to try and stare me down. By the look on her face she was obviously upset. It was like I purposely ran into her to ruin her day. She smelled like rotten strawberries and I inadvertently may have made a face because of it. If this was a guy that I had run into, we would have fallen in love and died 3 days later, again so cliché. I didn't really think much about this after it happened, I tried to help her up, I said I was sorry and I was, and she gave me the stink eye and walked away. Four days later, she had broken in my locker and stolen my books and photos. Maureen and I had taken a field trip of our own and skipped school one day. She likes to hike, but at night because her visual and hearing is so much clearer without the interference from humans. Contrary to popular belief, Maureen shows up in pictures. A stigma even I thought was true until I met her. We actually bonded over pizza and telling each other what our supposed monster traits were. That was a pretty fun night.
But Maureen is not shy about having to kill someone. One of the pictures I took, was of her hanging upside down from a branch of a large tree. It was something that I thought was a stigma but, it’s totally true and was super funny. She can't shape shift, she loves garlic on her pizza, wooden stakes will not kill her, has to be silver. She can walk in the sunlight and she does have slight telekinetic powers, but much like us, it’s something she has to develop, doesn't just come naturally. How did I know it was Angela who broke into my locker you ask? simple. The smell of rotten strawberries is still a pretty strong smell and of course unique. She had help obviously, I don't know every human in this school, but I can narrow down who they are by their scent. I have Maureen for my first period class of English, which is always a laugh riot for her for some reason, it was there that I told her what had happened the night before. I've never seen her upset or angry, but she does roll her eyes a lot and she can get frustrated with certain people or things. She likes the library because it is often quiet. One day I was in there with her just doing a research paper for history when some other kids came in. I didn’t think they were being too loud, but they were snickering and being obnoxious about whatever. They had already been glared at and told by the librarian that they needed to be quieter, but they just moved to the back of the library and continued pointing at female anatomy in an encyclopedia and giggling. Guys are weird.
Maureen wasn't at all happy about it. She was knee deep in a cheesy romance novel, why she reads those things I have no idea. But their snickering and giggling and random abrupt noises really got to her. I watched her get up calmly, walk over to the dictionary section, grab the biggest one she could find and then dropped it on the table they were sitting at. If I really concentrate, I can hear her move and step. I wonder if that’s a side effect of her being a vamp. They all nearly jumped out of their skin. Maureen dresses like normal person, not all goth as others believe vamps do. Skinny jeans, nice colorful blouse, her chestnut long hair flowing down her back. And that girls make up was always on point. She didn't say one word to them, just placed her finger over her lips and made sure to look at each of them with that gesture. I thought for sure one of them would say something stupid, but they didn't they just stared, and it was at that point the smell of fear filled the air. It wafted over to me and I just had to get out of there.
Wolves and fear equal death normally, and me still being in the pubescent stage was not a good thing for me to be around. The smell of fear drives us crazy, it brings out the purest wolf in us and we just see red. Maureen came and found me sniffing a smelly toilet stall in the girl’s bathroom and asked me what I was doing, "I have to replace the smell" I told her. Normally we want to replace it with something nicer, a better smelling fragrance, but the bathroom was the closest and I was about to flip. After that I started carrying around a car freshener just in case. New car smell is one of my favorites.
Maureen could be intimidating if she wanted to be, but she always did keep to herself, even with me. I only knew what she wanted me to know. So, when I told her that Angela had stolen our pictures her reaction was not one I expected. A raised eyebrow and pursed lips, then a shrug and she said, "guess I'll have to get them back". Honestly, I was a little worried how she would accomplish this. She wasn't one for long drawn out processes, or to back down from confrontation. During lunch we sat together as always, and I picked at my sandwich. My mother always makes me a lunch, I don't know why, I don't ever eat it. Maybe it’s her attempt to make us look normal. Usually when I get home I'm starving and just kill a chicken, but while there in the lunch room we usually talk and plan out anything we may want to do on the weekend. Today though, she was on a mission. She sat on top of one the tables in the back and glared over the crowd of human kids, like she was a vulture on a wire.
I sat to her left and opened my lunch bag, "why does she always give me tuna?" I basically asked myself, "do you know who else was with her?" she asked, "yea some guy with red hair and a larger girl, probably the punching bag". The punching bag is usually a fatter girl that popular or skinny girl will befriend just to make fun of them or sling insults at, all the while saying they are friends, just so they can berate them. That narrowed it down to 4 groups, but knowing Angela, she was going to be the head of one of those groups, made it easier for Maureen. "Got her" she said then jumped off the table, "let’s go wolfy" she said putting up her hair. I learned not to argue with her and it was just easier to either go along with what she wanted or to walk away. I've walked away before, but I was hankering for some revenge, so away I went.
Angela and her crew of miscreants were over on the other side of the cafeteria, they had already sat down and were eating and talking, but Angela wasn't. Maureen asked me on the way over there to give her my sandwich, I handed it over knowing full well that it was going to end up in someone's face. We walked up to the table and Maureen spoke, "Hi Angela, you don't know me, but you seem to be in possession of some photos that belong to me and my friend here, would you be a dear and give them back please?" I've heard this temperament before from her, no good will come of this. Angela laughed, "who the hell talks like that and no, you and your lesbian girlfriend need to walk away." Being called names never bothered me, in fact I wasn't even really in the moment with her, I was daydreaming about the chicken I was gonna kill when I got home. But as soon as Angela was done talking, Maureen had taken the sandwich out of the bag and separated the bread and shoved the tuna on Angela's face. I laughed a bit, then Angela came at Maureen. All she did was hold her arm out and she was able to pin her down by her neck to the floor. "Ze pictures fraulien" Maureen isn't German, but she speaks it very well. When Angela kept struggling and trying to kick her, she squeezed tighter and the kicking stopped, "pictures" Maureen whispered closer to her face. Angela's hand reached out to the one with the red hair. Box red, really dark. I guess he wanted to look intimidating, but I don't scare. He took them out of his back pocket and handed them to me. I started to go through them to make sure they were all there, when I didn't see the one with Maureen and the tree, I told her it was missing still. By this time a crowd had gathered, and I could hear my mother’s voice in my head, 'don't draw attention to the family' I put my hand on Maureen's shoulder, "it’s probably at her house, we can go and get it later".
Maureen had told me everything she wanted me to know about her life, I told her everything that was important to me and family was a big one. She let go of her and stood up next to me, I handed her the pictures and we walked away before the adult humans were able to break through the crowd. She and I were always trying to out-do the other when it came to sense of smell. I knew she would want to get the picture back immediately because she was actually scared for me. I don't know why, maybe it was because she didn't want me to move. My mother has threatened to move us again if me or my sister get us found out by the humans. We got to her house and were not surprised to see that she was loaded. Maureen forced open the back door and we waltzed in and made our way up to her bedroom.
If you're wondering why we're not scared of getting caught it's because this wouldn't be the first time we do this. Most nights all we're doing is breaking and entering into people's homes. I know it sounds creepy and illegal, but when you can pick a lock and are stealthy as hell, you tend to do bad things. Plus, we never steal anything and never aim to hurt anyone, we just get curious about people's houses. We did see this one guy sleepwalking and we had a bit of fun with him, but he was ok after we left. So now every time we see him we always laugh. Maureen's house wasn't really her house. She set up shop in some old woman's house, the woman has Alzheimer's and Maureen totally takes advantage of that. Sometimes the woman believes her, other times she is screaming at her to get out and she calls the cops. The cops come and after talking to the charming Maureen, they leave without incident. I guess they just believe that she’s her granddaughter, even though the old woman is black and Maureen in whiter than paper.
Originally, she's from some small country outside of Russia, or so she says because she doesn't have an accent at all. She says since she’s been around for a while she learned to speak with an English accent or "American" like she says it. I've never heard her speak Russian or any other language before but sometimes she'll run the two together, like when she asked about the pictures. It’s not just words, its sometimes-full sentences intermingled with English and whatever language she chooses at that moment. She has met my mother and little sister before. My mother of course was fascinated by all the languages she knew.
But here we were in Angela's home. We skipped the last few classes we had to actually be there and as we were rummaging through her room looking for this picture, we found all sorts of interesting things. Old pictures from her past school, her diary apparently that she still has, dirty pictures that she had taped to the bottom of a drawer, her bong, and tucked away in the back of her closet in a small combination safe, there was a gold doubloon in a plastic baggie. "would you look at that" she held up the bag and we both ooo-ed and awww-ed at it. I'm sure she’s seen one before, but I had never seen one. She tossed me the bag, "take a look, I'll keep looking for the pic." I held it in my hand a was surprised by its weight, lighter than I thought it would be, "found it!" she exclaimed. Then someone from downstairs yelled up to us, "is that you honey? you're back from school so soon!"
We both stopped and looked at each other, how did we not hear them come in the house? I threw the baggy on the bed and went to the door, Maureen stopped me and cracked the door open a bit, "I just came back for a book mom, I'm headed back now" I couldn’t hear the difference in her voice but apparently that mom believed it was her daughter, "alright Angela, be safe." she cried out. I put my hands on my hips, "any other talents you wanna tell me about?" I said in my sassiest voice. She just smiled and walked toward the window, "I'm surprised you didn't smell her when we came in the house Kidd, but then again when was the last time you drank?" she opened the window and jumped out.
The booze, her mother must be one of those stay at home moms who just drinks all day, one day I hope to be like that, not drunk all day but a stay at home mom. I jumped out of the window after her. We didn't return to school, I already knew the test they were going to give the next day because most schools have the same standardized test and haven't changed any of them since the civil rights movement, and if for whatever reason, they threw a curve ball kind of test, Maureen was always there to help me out.
We started walking back to my house and Maureen was still looking at the picture, "I hate how my hair looks" she said, "you're upside down Maureen" I said with a chuckle, "right but it could be straighter, ya know" we turned down one of the alleys to get back to her house when we were eventually confronted by some large men and that thief Angela. Once again, I found myself thinking about something other than the situation at hand, 'What would my hair look like with curls?' " You bitches are gonna get fucked up now. You think you can just get away with that?" I looked at Maureen, she smiled and muttered under her breath, " dinner is served" I rolled my eyes and before I could finish doing that motion, she had already taken down one of the taller guys. She knew she just needed the one, no point in wasting all that blood. She was looking kind of pale lately anyway.
When she jumped on him and started to rip his throat out, the others freaked out and ran away. Angela was slightly braver than them. Slightly because she ran but tried to hide behind a telephone pole to watch what we did next, that’s when I brandished my fangs at her and she ran away. I waited for Maureen to be done. That’s another misconception people have, she can drink a human dry and not worry about being turned to stone, but, she does like to keep them alive for a few months, even years depending on her housing situation.
Maureen liked the old lady she was living with, so she had to chuck the body. The color in her face came back and it was like she was 18 again. I always thought that was amazing, even her hair was a lot shinier. " Well I gotta get back before school lets out, my mom will flip if I at least don't tell her that I skipped the last few classes" I knew it would take a while for her to get rid of the body she never did tell me what she does with them, but I guess the less I know the better.
I ran back home, jumping fences and snapping at dogs. Another misconception is that wolves are mostly like dogs, while in some cases we are, in others we are not. And yes, we can own dogs and other animals. My mother had a pet cat before she had us, she loved Hairball and was sad when he died, but they got along quite well. Almost symbiotic she said. My mom is always on the go. A very fast paced life she has, so when she gets the opportunity to talk to one of us, she makes the time to slow down and find out what she can from us about what’s going on in our lives. We learn at a young age to fend for ourselves. To cook and clean, homework, school, responsibility is a huge thing with wolves. Unlike humans if we want to survive we have to rely on ourselves after a certain age. Wolf moms are primarily there to make the decisions and push out any wolves that need to leave. It's still very hard for a wolf mom to banish her sons. Mom cried for 3 months after Romulus left. He was the first of us, the eldest. It was just him and mom for the first 6 years of his life. Then Fenrir came, then me after another year, then 3 years later Morgana. My mother named me Ares and our last name was Kidd.
You would think that we would have it hard, being made fun of and all, but wolf kids are very proud. We are born with a sense of pride because it was our mother who gave us life and passed down the story of our blood line. And while I could sit here and tell you my linage, I'll simply tell you that for our family, it started much further back than that weird guy wearing the girdle. I guess you could say it was more of a joke that just went too far. He took it way to seriously and my kin just let it get too far. Honestly, I think they felt bad because he was killed later on. After that we stopped telling people what we were, even if they guessed it, even if they were completely ok with it. We were still told not to admit to anything because someone else might find out. Someone who wants to hurt us.
So, wolves and vamps and humans are all slightly different. One vamp scientist actually found out some pretty interesting info. He found out that our brains are pretty much all the same. They develop the same way, but in different areas. He said we all use ten percent, just different areas of the brain and because they are different areas, we grow and develop differently. Vamps on the other hand were born human and simply turned into vamps, but the process is like being born again. When their bodies die, so does that portion of their brain, then the other 10 percent come alive and boom! instant vamp. I'm sure there's a more scientific way to describe all this but, I was always more of a writer than a scientist.
I walked through the door and my mother poked her head out of the kitchen, "what happened at school?" crap, they must have called her already about the lunch incident, "Nothing. Maureen was just defending my honor" I chuckled to myself, then I looked up and she was right in front of me, she could still scare the bejeezus out of me. "Not funny Ares, you know how I feel about you being around her when she does things like that." then she hugged me. Bet you thought she was going to get mad at me huh. Like I said wolf moms are different, they are so much more loving and physically show it. Our home was always filled with hugs and kisses and compliments and affection. Unless one of our siblings was trying to kill us, but for the most part, full of love. "I'm sorry mom, she kind of just did it and by the time I knew what was going on, the girl was already on the floor" she let go and held me at arm’s length, she always looked at me like she could read my thoughts, but no that’s not something we can do. I think every mom is like that.
She sat down and held my hands. This was one of those moments I told you about, she will make the time for us and talk to us. I can smell the food she was cooking in the kitchen starting to burn. Pot roast and veggies. Yes, wolves eat veggies. At first, we don't, my little sister is primarily carnivore at the moment but we all are at first, eventually veggies become a requirement as another source of vitamins. My mom's pot roast was to die for. I would cross oceans for it. She made other great dishes, but that pot roast was phenomenal. It would fill every room in the house and at night I would dream of that pot roast. "darling, please be careful. I don't know what I would do if something happened to you. I would be lost without you."
Wolf females were still very emotional beings. It seems like every female species was emotional, but we took the cake. Our devotion was like something out of a romance novel, to anyone we loved, even our kids. Don't get me wrong there were times when we would get in trouble and she would punish us, but for the most part it was all love. Which was still embarrassing for a teenage wolf. My mother's name is Constance. She would always tell me I will understand when I have my own children and that’s where we would often disagree. You see, it's up to female wolves to pass on the bloodline, so it's highly frowned upon if we decide not to have children. Some females are all about it and quite literally have a litter, but others like my cousin Quora, refused to have any. She figured she had lifetimes to have children and in fact she was right, but again with us still being vulnerable to illness and attacks, there was no telling when our life would end.
Quora didn’t live near us, we always had to drive a few hours to see her and she lived in the southern states, so it was always more welcoming. For some reason down south, they seem to accept us more, up north they fear us. The county is weird like that. I liked visiting Quora, she basically lived in the sticks and we could run around the forest and do stupid wolf kid things, like practice hunting, honing our skills and abilities, howl without consequence and stay out all night. She was stronger than me simply because she and her family were able to focus their wolf abilities and sharpen them. Once when we were 7, I got stuck under a tree that she knocked over and it trapped my leg. I remember how bad it hurt because it broke but Quora was able to lift the tree slightly enough and pull me out with her other hand. Limping home, she told me to howl and our mothers would come running to help us. I had to howl so they could hear the pain in it and know that it wasn't just us playing around. Think of it as talking with specific tone of voice. Two days later my leg was healed, and we were back playing in the same woods.
Quora’s mom was my mother’s sister in law, her husband was my mother's blood brother. Jakob and Molly. They have 12 children all born one year after another. They planned it this way. According to my mom, Jakob always wanted a large family, but knew the risks in doing so. After the baby was born, he would stay away for a few months then go back for a quickie and then bolt again. He loved Molly and it was never a question that he would ever be with anyone else. Molly would have her feelings reassured every time he came back to knock her up again. Yea, we're weird like that.
I stood in front of my mom and gave her a smirk kind of smile and hugged her back. "Is the pot roast almost ready? I'm starving" she got up and went to the kitchen and peeked in the oven. She turned it off and said, "almost sweetheart, can you set the table please." I set three places and when I was almost done she said, "oh we have a fourth coming dear." and then it hit me why she was cooking pot roast, Mike was back in town. I wanted to be happy, but I just couldn't. I know he made her happy, but he was not my father. He was a human that my mother had fallen for. He also worked at the U.N. and was indeed very smart, but he didn’t know about my mother or us. Like most guys he was more interested in just my mom. We of course were not his kids and he felt that with us out of the way, he could be closer to my mom maybe even have kids of his own with her, but my mother wasn’t looking for more kids. She was content in her life right now and just waiting for this new job.
Mom didn’t talk about her love life with us, what mother does? But it's hard to see her sad. Human females already are emotional beings, werewolf females….its a blood bath. So far, he was good for her. But he looked at me and my little sister like we were a road block to our mother. I didn’t question my mom, I just set the place. She already knew I didn’t like him, we discussed it the first time. There was something about him that I couldn’t put my finger on, something off that I could smell. But I figured it was all in my head since my mom never said anything about it.
She was smiling and humming and twirling in the kitchen. I didn’t want to know Mike, but mom seemed like she was happy. After I was done setting the table, I went back up to my room and cleaned up while listening to some music. I never understood why people hated the rolling stones, I could see why they would think they’re devil worshipers but hey, they can hold a beat. I noticed the birds stopped chirping and I felt a coldness run up my right arm. “Hey Maureen” I said with my backed turned to her. We stopped trying to sneak up on each other after a while. Neither one of us could. I could always sense her lack of being and she could always smell me coming from 30 miles away.
“Mike coming by again?” she asked, “yea” I replied. She could hear my mom dancing in the kitchen. “I wonder what he tastes like?” she said. I looked back at her trying on my letterman, “No Maureen” I said. “I bet he tastes like a dirty sock.” Maureen didn’t like him either. She did have one problem even as a vamp. She couldn’t control the faces she made, she even told me at one point that she doesn’t know she’s making them. It’s led to a lot of heated debates in the hall ways at school. She says she can’t read minds, but I swear sometimes I think she can.
“I think I’m gonna make this my last year Ares.” She said to me looking over my jewelry collection. I never know why she looks it over. She has some of the best I’ve ever seen and most of mine is fake.
“What do you mean?” I asked, “you still have another year.” I think she could hear the worry in my voice. Before I could blink she was sitting beside me on the bed.
“I’m gonna have to kill Angela. She saw me and I’m sure she saw you. If she hasn’t gone to the police by now it’s only a matter of time. Your mom would hate me forever if you guys had to move again and I’ve become fond of you. I don’t want you to be hurt or hunted like some type of animal.” She patted my head like I was her pet dog, she knew I loved and hated that.
“Can’t she just disappear? What about the other guys?” I asked.
“Most of the time men don’t say anything to other people and even if they do, especially about something like this, others tend not to believe them. But Angela is a young, pretty, white girl. People always believe that” she said to me as she moved back over to my jewelry box.
This time she took out my mood ring. It was the first thing mother gave me. She said it was from my father. My real father. I never knew him. Some wolf children don’t. But I knew my mother loved him. When ever I’d wear it, her eyes used to well up and she’d always turn away or go to another room. I’m still not clear on what happened but I know he's gone. She always spoke of him in the most positive way, but it was always short and brief.
“Does she still cry when you wear this?” Maureen asked. I nodded.
“You’re gonna take it aren’t you?” I ask, “ I’m thinking about it, yea” she replies.
“You wanna help me tonight?” She asked. This was the first time she ever asked me to help her get rid of someone, if I had a tail it would be wagging. My head perked up and I was actually excited about it, but then my mothers’ humming brings me back quickly to reality. Maureen can see my disappointment and says, “What if I ask her?” She says full of hope. I smirk and say, “you can try, maybe she will say yes because that lame-o is coming over. She is unusually happy about it.” She smiled and handed me the ring. She wanted me to put it on. I think she wants to use it as leverage. So I slip it on my left pointer finger and we head downstairs. My mother’s humming getting louder and eventually turning into actual, off key, tone deaf, singing. My mother is a lot of things, but a singer she is not.
“Hey Constance, “ says Maureen.
“Hey girls! Mike is coming for dinner if you haven’t already guessed.” She says while doing some lame adult dance move.
“Did you want to stay Maureen?” My mom asked. My mother knows she doesn’t really need to eat, but thats never stopped her from being polite and asking, and Maureen never got mad about it or snapped at her, she just simply said,
“Na I’m good.” Then she looks over at me and smiles and asks her question,
“Miss. Kidd is it ok if Ares helps me with my project tonight?” My mother stops. And quickly turns around. She asks,
“What happened?” It’s not uncommon for a wolf mom to know when something is up in their children’s lives. To know when we lie, or are holding something back. When our moods change and when we’re excited about something and trying to hide it. I bit my bottom lip and looked at Maureen. My mother had been looking at me the entire time and I was trying my hardest to not look at her, Maureen was torturing me, seeing how long I can go before I blurt out what happened and what we plan to do tonight. I let out a small whimper and I can see my mothers ears perk up, then Maureen speaks, breaking the silence.
“Some new girl stole pictures out of Ares locker. She saw the picture of me hanging from the tree and now I’m going to fix it all. I was hoping you would let me take Ares with me because this is going to be my last night in town.” She said so nonchalantly, while holding the spaghetti strainer over the sink and pouring the noodles into it. My mother hadn’t stopped looking at me. Then she sees the mood ring on my finger and I can feel her attitude soften. I knew what she was about to ask, I think she even knew the answer to it, but then the door bell rang and the dogs started barking and it broke her train of thought.
“I’ll get it!” I said, using it as an excuse to get out from under gaze. I walked through the living room to the front door and opened it up. I could smell him before I even reached the door so when I opened it, I said,
“Hey Mike,” with as little enthusiasm as possible. The guy was a giant corn ball. What my mother saw in him, I will never know.
“Hey there little lady, is your mommy home?” He said holding a fresh bouquet of flowers. It bothers me that he still bring her flowers. One because they’ve been dating for over nine months now and two, he always brings roses; I hate the smell of roses.
“Yea, she’s in the kitchen.” I point the way, letting him in. As I shut the door I hear my mother squeal with delight. She jumps into his arms and he spins her around. They kiss and my stomach turns.
“Could ya’ll not do that while I’m alive, that would be great, thanks.” I say as I walk back to the kitchen. It was only a few minutes while we were all out of the kitchen, in that time, Maureen had finished up the dinner and put it on plates, lit the candles and dimmed the lights. We all walked in and my mother’s eyes glimmered with joy. She walked past me and grabbed me by the hand, then walked past my mother and Mike and said,
“Have a wonderful night Constance.” She said with a slight nod to Mike. My mother squealed again, Maureen and I were out the front door before my gag reflex could kick in. Maureen was always ten steps ahead of everybody so I’m sure she already had a plan devised in her head.
We walked everywhere. Endurance and stamina were something that both our species had an abundance of. We walked down the back alley of my house to the end of the green belt. It wasn’t quite dark yet, but the sun was setting. The sky was that beautiful multicolored shade of pinks and purples. The clouds were smeared across the sky and some of the stars were visible above the clouds. We waited until it was completely dark, well she waited, I was fidgeting and chasing fireflies. When the street light finally came on, she whistled to me and I came running back. I always feel like her dog when she does that, but I never seem to catch it until after I’m running towards her, then I stop running and walk. She always laughs.
“You ready for this?” She asks.
“Not really.” I reply. I’ve never killed anyone. Up until this point I’ve always just scared people. Flash of the fangs here and there, have always been enough. Sometimes I just keep them out while at school to mess with people but, we primarily hunt deer or bears. And of course we eat normal foods. I suddenly felt very unsure of myself. I didn’t even know what she was planning but I knew I was there to be apart of it. She started walking east and I followed suit. Turns out this new girl lived near the outskirts of town, where most of the richer more well off population lived. It wasn’t often that we went out that way but those nights were quiet and dull.
The house Angela lived in was being built the last time we were out there. Six bedrooms, three bathrooms. Olympic size swimming pool, guest house that was the size of a normal house in the city limits. The front and backyard were huge. Enough room to have a fountain in the front and round-about driveway around it. It was almost done when we were last there. We went inside the house and looked around; pretended to have high tea and crumpets or whatever those English, high society people do. Maureen knows more about it all than I do, she’s from that side of the world.
We stood outside her house for a moment. I’m guessing she was thinking of her next steps. There were fireflies even in that neighborhood. It was so quiet and serine that I could hear people tossing and turning in their homes. One person was even taking a shower and another was getting a late snack. Turkey and Swiss to be exact. I was getting restless and started to think of all the horrible ways things could go wrong. Just when I was about to tell Maureen maybe we should go back, she turns to me and says,
“Down killer,” and I rolled my eyes, “will you please just tell me what is going on in that head of yours?” I begged.
“It’s simple, we go in, you punch her to knock her out, we bring her to the backyard and I drown her in the pool.” She said while putting a stick of gum in her mouth.
“You knew all this before we got here didn’t you?” I asked.
“Yup.” She replied.
“And you let me freak out for a minute to teach me some kind of lesson?” I asked.
“No, I just like to watch you squirm every once in a while.” She said with a smile and she was about to take off when I stopped her again.
“Wait, I thought I was going to….you know.” I motioned with my finger across my neck.
“Oh! Naw I was never gonna let you do that, like I said, I like watching you squirm.”
I often forget how much older Maureen is than I. So while she looks like a 18 year old girl, she got at least 100 years on me; possibly more.
She started the walk up the drive way. Thats when I noticed she had been light stepping. Light stepping and hunt stepping (what I do) are technically the same. Other than the name the only difference is wolves can only do it for a short period of time. Light stepping is the act of not leaving any type of trace of your footsteps. No prints, no marks, no disturbed ground, no idea anyone was ever there to begin with. How we do this is hard to explain. Its an energy we have to not bend the atoms around us. Everyone has it, but werewolves are more keen to control this within ourselves. It’s a gene mutation we have. Vamps get it after they’ve been turned. Their bodies may be dead but the alteration of their bodies to be dead and still up and walking around is an altered gene mutation.
The venom used by vamps to subdue, turn and kill always depends on a few factors: time, amount and host. It’s an action that new vamps have to learn to control because too many deaths tend to raise flags. Intention must always be known before an approach to any host. Maureen once told me that a couple of vamps tried to write books; instruction manual for new vamps. They tried to disguise it as folklore or complicated math equations but, they didn’t count on mankind becoming smarter.
The Vamp that turned Maureen was charged with helping her. She says thats how it has to be. There is a timeline in which they must stay with their new vamp. To teach them how and when, appropriate times and what to do in an emergency. Maureen said the one who turned her didn’t even give her his name. He stuck around for a few weeks to yell at her and watch her screw up, then he was gone. She says at first she was hurt by it, why even turn her if he didn’t want her around. Then she noticed something different about herself––her indifference about it.
“Being a vamp means losing your soul and your soul is where are your feelings are. Love, hate, pleasure, pain, all the things that make you human are gone. As a vamp you’re basically an automaton.” She explained while opening the back door. She was a very good lock pick. The house Angela lived in was still relatively new, so the alarm system wasn’t functioning yet. The big spot lights and corner of the room sensors were the only things that worked but were not really hooked up to anything. Thats when I started hunt-stepping. For wolves, hunt stepping is purely animalistic. Our psyche plunges into chromosomes and only uses our true animal nature, while our bodies simply do the rest.
Up on the balls of my feet, distributing pressure from my foot to my ankle, to my leg, knee, thigh, hips, spine, neck and finally my head. All one fluid motion. Even my breath is more shallow. My heart rate slows to 60 and my night vision kicks in. Maureen and I learned basic spec ops hand signals for times like these. She walked in front of me up the stairs and I was looking at the pictures on the wall. A typical wealthy family but, I stopped when I saw the younger male. He couldn’t have been more than 5. I grabbed Maureen’s shirt tail and she stopped. I pointed to the picture, she looked at it and looked at me. The expression on her face was simply, ‘who cares’ and she kept walking up the stairs.
Being in strangers homes, looking around, reading their diaries, private notes, going through their fridge and dresser drawers. We never take anything, in fact we’ve actually left stuff before. Stuff like, a bowl of wax fruit or clean socks on the couch. Things that would make someone scratch their head and eat away at them for years to come. We never really had to hurt anyone and we always avoided sleep walkers or late night eaters when we had to. Maureen was always able to just cling to the ceiling, I had to hide behind curtains and lamp shades.
I raced after Maureen and stopped her before she could open the door to Angela’s room. I communicated with her that we should go back. She shook her head and signaled back, ‘we’re going forward, no turning back’ thats when I grabbed her by the wrist and squeezed. We had never argued before. Not really anyway. Sure we disagreed on things but, it never led to an actual altercation. I knew she was strong. I knew she could rip me in half and not even blink but she had to know that what we were about to do was not acceptable. Her eyes stared at mine for a moment then made their way to my hand. She mouthed, “let go” without actually saying it. Her gaze was cold and skin colder.
We stood there, quietly facing each other. A heat began to build up. A heat that was felt when we first met. A heat that has been apart of our histories for generations now. It isn’t uncommon for vamps and wolves to be friends. However the first vampire was killed by the first werewolf so very long ago. The story goes like this: wolves are naturally territorial,
Ferick Wolke who was the first werewolf had recently been sick from the black death had some how recovered. He was twenty-one and had been run out of town because he survived it. They accused him of being a witch, but that wasn’t it. As we all know today, plagues are viruses or bacterial. Small, unseen organisms that attack a humans body. Human evolution has been on going since the dawn of man and will continue to do so until its very end, but at that point in time, Ferick was a point of evolution. His genes, his chromosomes were altered by the black death. They did die, but his own body developed a way to counter act it and regrow. It changed him and continued to change him in such a way that it completely altered his body.
A werewolf first change is painful. Bones breaking, spine altering, cranium expanding, organs reshaping, its all immensely painful. As we grow from birth, those subtle gene changes start to take affect. I was coming up on my first change here at the age of 20 and once we do change it is completely voluntary. There is a bit of pain, from what I'm told, but it is quickly forgotten and replaced by strength, stamina, endurance, serotonin and focus. As wolves get older we learn to develop our hunting and stealth skills. Some wolves never change after the first. The pain is too much for them and they simply refuse while others, change on a whim.
Freick found another town to live in after he was banished from his home in 14th century Germania. He had traveled southwest seeking warmer climates and food. Along the way meeting other people, eating sheep and on the occasion when the craving hit, people. He had hated himself for doing so, but in that altered state, it didn’t matter. Although our mind becomes more primal, we still have the conscious observance of what we are doing. It is hard to separate the two. Some wolves never can and commit suicide, others try not to kill people unless it is necessary.
Ferick had passed through a town called Bedburg at some point and this is where it all started with humans. Ferick had met a man named Peter. He was a sick and violent man. Ferick had confided in him thinking that no one would believe him since he already had a reputation of being a bad person in that town. Peter took it to another level. He begged Ferick to give him the same powers and became enraged when Ferick refused. He then went around telling everyone but, when no one believed him, he took it to the next step and started killing people. Particularly children. By this time Ferick had left. He believed if he stayed, they would come for him and with his keen sense of stealth, he was able to leave Bedburg without a trace and the towns people laid blame on Peter. As it should have been. The girdle was a ploy; a fake. It had belonged to Peters dead wife and he stated that Ferick had given it to him as a gift from the devil.
Ferick ended up in what would be later called Spain. A long journey, but at this point in his life he had barely aged. He was not a smart man, but he could clearly see that he was no longer like any other man. Many years later, he would meet the first vampire and kill him in an epic battle. Both sides tell it differently, but either way Ferick wins. Unfortunately, he had taken so much damage and venom that his story would end, months later. He fought the sickness as much as he could, trying to detail a rule book for future wolves. He succumb to his injuries on January 14th of 1602. The book itself was lost to time.
Maureen and I had been friends for the last 15 years. She knows everything about me, but know barely anything about her. She never talked about herself and I can understand why. Repeating yourself over and over to people who may die or you’ll never see again can be annoying. A vamp and a wolf are evenly matched, one on one, most of the time. Maureen could have been holding back information from me. She could have fought in all the wars or been a true martial arts master, who knows. In that moment, I knew I could beat her. I gripped her wrist tighter and suddenly there was a creak in the boards. We both looked and saw the 5 year old boy standing in the hallway next to an open door.
“Hi” he said. I didn’t let go of Maureen’s wrist but stepped along side her and replied back with a whisper,
“Hey there kiddo, maybe you should go back to bed?”
Maureen signaled to me to stop talking or someone else would wake up, but he responded back.
“I have to use the potty” then he turned and went inside the bathroom. The door shut and light came on. My grip loosened up and Maureen turned to go back downstairs. We both left and didn’t talk until we got back to my house.
“You got fucking lucky!” She screamed at me.
“If it had been anyone else I would have leveled the whole house. We still have to deal with her. How do you propose we do that?” I sat on the curb in front of m house, looking a Mike’s car. A beat up old Honda with discolored panels and Jack head for the antenna ball. That boy would either tell his parents and they wouldn’t believe him or he would dismiss it as a dream. Even if he hadn’t, I couldn’t let Maureen kill someone and have that poor kid watch or wake up to that. She was mad as hell that we didn’t finish it but, I think she was more upset that I stopped her. I had never done that before.
“You bared your teeth at me Ares.” She said and stood over me.
“I did?” I looked up at her with a puzzling look. She sat next to me and looked at Mike’s car as well.
“You’re nervous about the turn huh?” She asked. I looked at her hands. Her nails were always so clean and long. I couldn’t stop biting mine. There was no marks on her wrist where I grabbed her but, she rubbed it anyway.
“That was some grip.” She said trying to make a joke about it.
“We don’t have to kill her Maureen. We can just discredit her, make her sound crazy. We can play mind games with her and make her really go crazy.” I pleaded. She sighed and patted me on the back.
“Go inside Ares, I’m gonna head home.” Something felt off about her. It was getting late and I was getting tired, I decided to talk about it tomorrow. So I got up and went inside. My mother and Mike were already done with dinner and what ever romantic episode they had. The house was quiet. Lindsey, my youngest sister, was asleep when I checked on her. She still sleeps with a stuffed animal and a night light. Mom says to let her, when she’s ready she’ll let go of those things. Her leg is hanging off the bed so I go in to tuck her back in. I guess my mind was still thinking about that kid at Angela’s because I didn’t realize my brother was there till I turned around to leave her room and he was standing by the door.
“Fuck! Romy!” I whispered and clutched my chest. “What the hell are you doing here?” He stepped out and smiled.
“Wow! you weren’t paying attention huh. I could have killed you.” He said
“Fine, great I’m dead, what are you doing here? Mom is gonna flip.” I replied as I hit him on the shoulder.
“She asked me to come by, something about this new guy she dating.” He said. Her and Mike had been dating for nine months now and I thought they were getting serious. Romulus being back back means they are. He’s the oldest. He’s been gone for a few years and will be in charge of getting the others rounded up for what I’m guessing will be another wedding. We went back downstairs and sat at the kitchen table. She hadn’t cleaned up which meant they went straight from dinner to the bedroom. I’m sure they had Lindsey just chill in the living room for a few hours with the volume up.
We started to clean up but kept it as quiet as possible. It was weird having Romulus back, but I was glad because I wanted to ask him about the change.
“How bad does it hurt?” I asked as I washed a plate in the sink.
“Pretty bad.” He smiled and chuckled.
“Why is it funny?” I smiled back and flicked water at him.
“Because the more you think about it the worse it actually is.” he poked at my head and dumped some silverware in the sink. I hate when he does that. I was almost done.
“Just let it happen. Don’t fight it. Fighting it just makes it worse, thinking about it makes it worse” he said as he dried dishes from the rack. It was quiet in the house. Just the sound of dishes and silverware clanking together and some water running. It was all I could think about, so much so that I didn’t notice him right next to my ear, “stop thinking about it” I jumped, yelped and snapped the plate in half that I had in my hands. We both gasped, thinking that we had awoken our mother. But there was only the sound of the faucet running. I looked at the plate and set it down on the table.
A normal mom would be upset about this, but a wolf mom, she knows things are going to break in a house full of wolves. In fact, most of our stuff was cheap, second hand store, garage sale, or hand me downs. There were very few things that we owned that are worth something and you wouldn’t know it by looking at them either. Romulus went looking for the crazy glue and I continued washing the silverware he just dumped in. I couldn’t help but think about the turning. How much would it hurt on a scale of 1 to 10? How long until I change back? What if I get stuck? What if I get stuck in between? I had so many questions that I zoned out for a minute there and didn’t notice Romulus come back with the glue, which he took as an opportunity to mess with me and put the broken plate in the water. When I picked it up I did it to faster and water splashed everywhere. He laughed.
I had a week before the change and I was already stressing about it the way most kids stress about big exams they hardly studied for. We used to have big ceremonies before humans became a problem. It was like birthdays to most cultures. Family came from miles around and would bring food, raw meat, flowers, ropes and chains just in case things got out of hand. Now a days we find caves to roam in and someone is in charge of feeding us. Eating people or hurting humans was never something we wanted. We never wanted to be Gods or lords of the land. We regulated ourselves well. Of course no culture is perfect, we had our renegades and miscreants: murderers, thieves, sex offenders. And of course a justice system with our own brand of punishments. Werewolves have a much higher pain threshold and with the ability to change at will, most change to escape human punishment.
The first change is nearly unbearable, according to most wolves. The pain, so excruciating that it fills us with anger, rage. Blood is all we seek until the thirst is quenched. Never takes more than a few hours. In doing my research I’ve read so many myths and legends so many old wives tales and remedies that supposedly work to help lessen the pain or thirst. In the new age of the internet, most young wolves use this tool to help them. They leave reviews and comments to help guide things along, but noting really helps or lessens the pain.
I crawled into bed that night thinking of two things: that boy and the change. I had no idea my moms boyfriend, that boy, my change and Maureen would set off such a chain reaction the likes of which the wereworld had ever seen.
Chapter Two
The day started like any other, but with an impending doom to it. I only had several hours before the change and I was anxious the whole day. School was a blur, Maureen wasn’t even phased by it. She talked and I zoned out. It doesn’t have to be a full moon. Lots of people believe thats when werewolves turn, but its not true. Just another superstition produced by religions to keep their sheep in line. The change is a radical uprising of our genes. Like most species we go through puberty, only ours is much more visual and obvious. Most loves turn at 20, but there are the few that turn before or after that. No real rhyme or reason for it.
Through out the day I had all the warning signs it was coming. Trouble focusing, craving for raw meat, breaking out in rashes that come and go, my bones ached, my teeth were in almost constant pain and my skin felt like it was on fire. But because of our pain tolerance being higher, I just looked flush. Maureen offered ibuprofen when it looked like I was about to burst, I took almost the whole bottle by the end of the day. I was popping them like candy through out my classes. Lunch came around and they of course were serving pizza and fries. Maureen asked if I wanted to go off campus to eat but I just shook my head. By the end of the day my eyes could barely focus. Walking home I didn’t notice that she had taken me on a different route until I realized we were in the woods behind Angela’s house.
Nothing had come from that confrontation from a week before. Angela didn’t look at us anymore. Although I could tell it wasn’t out of fear. Maureen said she is possibly planning something but what evidence does she have? It all happened so fast that she didn’t have time to take out her phone and record us.
“Wait, what are we doing here?” I asked.
“Nothing special.” She replied. Opening a bag of peanuts and popping one in her mouth.
“Maureen, I really don’t feel good can we just go. I’m getting a different kind of hungry.” I pleaded with her.
“Relax Kidd, just watch. You’ll get a kick out of it, trust me.” She said taking a hand full of peanuts now. ‘No good can come from this’ I thought to myself. Sometimes I feel like she can read my mind because she looked back at me and smiles a big smile. I could feel something boiling up in me. I didn’t know if it was the change or if it was the situation. I hadn’t eaten all day and my stomach began to growl. She tossed a peanut over her shoulder and I snapped it out of the air and ate it. She did this every so often. I don’t know what we were waiting for, every time I would ask she would just toss another peanut.
The sun began to set and Maureen took out a flip phone. She normally has a smart phone so this was odd to me. She dialed a number,
“Yes I like to report someone screaming at 2705 Hidden path. It sounds like someone is being murdered.” Then she hung up the phone and took out the battery. She snapped it in half then threw it very hard away from her. With her strength I’m pretty sure its in another county.
“I didn’t hear any screaming Maureen. Did you just call the police?” I asked
“Happy birthday Kidd.” Is all she said then ate more peanuts.
My mind began to race and my stomach was now grumbling harder. I saw the lights come on at the house and something inside me told me to go check. So I bolted towards the house. I could hear Maureen yelling at me to stop and come back. She was chasing me as well. But the closer I got, the more I could smell fresh blood in the air, which triggered my bloodlust and I became faster and more animalistic. I could feel my mind changing, more primal than human.
I got to the front door and it was already open. I cracked my neck and went inside. My mouth began to salivate as I entered, that over whelming smell of fear and blood began to drive me insane. I was hungry. The living room was empty but there were signs of a struggle. Furniture flipped over, glass broken but no blood. I went searching in the kitchen and it was a mess in there too, but thats when I saw the blood trail and heard the sirens of the police cars in the distance. But I kept searching.
I went upstairs, following the drops of blood and I went into the first door that was open. Angela’s bedroom was a murder scene. Massive amounts of blood were everywhere, on the walls, carpet and bed, but there was no body. I continues searching and the sirens were getting closer. I went into the master bedroom and it was the same as Angela’s room, but still no bodies. I went to the bay window they had and looked out. I could see the sirens in the distance and the I looked down at the pool. Three bodies were floating in it. I turned to go to the pool and maureen was there standing in my way.
“You need to get out, now!” She exclaimed. But I couldn’t think about anything because of the blood. This was first time she and I would engage in any type of physical altercation. I charged at her. And she stood her ground. We grabbed each other by the shoulders and I bit her arm. She cried out and let go, I whipped her around and threw her against the wall. I ran down stairs to the backyard pool and just as I was about to jump in she grabbed me from behind, choking me. She wrestled me to the floor and the sirens were almost deafening now. I couldn’t get out of her grip. She squeezed tighter.
“Forgive me Kidd, but I cant let you go down for this.” Then she snapped my neck.
It went dark. I could no longer hear the sirens or feel the blood lust, but my stomach still ached. To this day I still don’t know if she knew it wouldn’t kill me because of the change. I didn’t notice while it was happening but my bones began to break and reattach. Muscles, ligaments, and tendons began to expand. My heart rate was off the chart. My fangs, nails and ears had already burst through all that was left was the full body hair.
The sun broke through the morning cloud bank and sprayed my face with its warm rays. It tingled and I ran my hand over my eyes. My body ached but I felt full. Bloated almost. I can hear music and I realize I’m in my bed at home. I look around my room and its cleaner than I had left it. I guess my mom cleaned it while I was away. I got out of bed and saw that I was wearing my PJ’s, then I hear my mothers voice,
“Ares! Come down for breakfast.” She says.
I sit on the edge of my bed and try to remember the night before. Most of it was blurred together, just sirens and screaming, and the faint smell of blood in the air to make my heart start pounding again. I shook it off, got dressed and went down stairs. I could hear my mother humming again. No music just humming and dancing like she normally does when Mike is around. Hearing her hum still makes me want to howl sometimes, but for my little sister she howls and sings along sometimes. My mom usually sings a specific song to us when we are that young and cant help howling, a song by Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs. Gives us a chance to howl in public without it being weird.
I walk into the kitchen to see Romulus, Mike, my little sister and Maureen of all people, sitting at the kitchen table. My soul almost left my body when Maureen turned to smile at me with those big vamp teeth of hers. Whether she’s eating a human or regular food, they come out. Something she says she cant control. The smell of waffles filled the air and I was transported to the day of my first waffle. Fenrir made his change the night before and my mother was so proud of him for killing 2 deer, a bear and no humans. His appetite was voracious even afterward. My mother had said that feeding the wolf was differs from feeding the human side of us. Something I still don’t understand because we only have one stomach.
As soon as I smelled those waffles though, I felt a hunger. Not like yesterday, but a new hunger. I sat at the open chair and began shoveling food into my face.
“Slow it down sweetie, theres plenty more where that came from.” My mother said.
“Sorry mom” I said with a mouth full of waffles and syrup.
Romulus drank his coffee and spoke from behind the paper he was reading,
“So we’re not going to talk about last night?” He said. I looked up at him with syrup drooling down the side of my mouth. Then Maureen spoke up,
“Well that is really something for Constance to bring up isn’t it child.” She said slipping another piece of waffle in her mouth with a grin. Romulus put down he paper,
“Why are you here Maureen?” He said with distain in his voice. Its not that Romulus didn’t like her, its that he didn’t like that she condescended to him simply because was centuries older than him. But she never made me feel small or dumb in anyway. Personally I think she likes him, but she will never admit to it.
“Guys come on, Ares had a big night last night and we are here to support her.” My mother interjected. Then she walked around the table and put 4 more waffles on my plate and hugged me with the pan and spatula in her hands.
“Oh my big girl is a woman now!” She squealed as she squeezed me tight.
“Mom.” I said embarrassed. Then I remembered Mike was there. She let go and I looked up at him. Did he know? He wasn’t asking questions just sitting here reading the business section of the paper.
“Um yea maybe we should talk about it later mom” I said. Which wasn’t true, I had no idea what happened last night and I was dying to know.
“Ya’ll are werewolves and the lovely Maureen here is a vampire. Now that it’s out of the way, I think we should talk about last night Constance.” He said. He put down the paper and looked over at me. There was no fear there, no judgement. It was weird, I guess I expected some type emotion other than, ‘hey this is normal’ could the humans be more accustomed to us after all these years?
“Mom what’s going on? How does he know?” I asked, suddenly feeling a rush of panic. I could feel the change again. A remnant from the old world. Should a werewolf feel threatened, they will turn automatically. Then I felt my mothers embrace and it soothed me,
“Its ok my love, I will tell you about Mike here after we talk about last night. I promise.” She let go and sat on the counter in front of the table.
“So, Ares had a some what of a decent night. She went through her change. I didn’t like that Maureen kept her from us, but after a talk we’ve come to forgive her.” She started off.
“My bad guys.” Said Maureen.
“But we now have to think about what’s going to happen next. Maureens actions while irrefutable, leave us in a bit of a pickle.” My mother continued. “Now we have to figure out if we want to leave or stay and fend off the weathering storm.”
“Wait what storm?” I said. My mother looked at Maureen to fill the gap. So did I.
“Before I took you to Angela’s I had already been there. I knew you would want to harm her, so I took the liberty of doing so. She died horrifically but her parents did not. Her brother, the little boy you saw the night before last, is still alive but will be in foster care. I didn’t plan on killing her parents. I thought she would be home alone. I had maddest look like a break in, a robbery gone bad. But your “change” reconfigured the outcome.”
I was angry.
“You ran into the house and tore up the bodies, moving them from where I placed them even the evidence I planted from the one guy I finished off the other day was now irrelevant. The cops had just pulled up as I was coaxing you out the back door and they saw you. Now they believe some type of wild animal did it and are on the look out. Their body cam footage has gone viral and while they don’t come out right and say it is a werewolf, millions if not billions of people agree that it is.” she said as she scrolled through her phone. Then she passed it to me and there it was. Blurry but still there. Full, blown, walking upright, furry as all get out and looking at the camera with my eyes aglow. I was both impressed and ashamed. My mind began to race, thinking of what to do and I felt like I wanted to cry. ‘I ruined our family’ I thought. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.
It was the police going door to door handing out flyers. Mike answered it while most of us listened from the kitchen. They were cautioning people against going on hiking or biking after dark. Giving the vaguest description of the “wild animal” as they could give. They left without incident but the flyer was what had my attention. While my mother and brother set up the decorations and finished off the cake, I was in my room with Maureen staring at the flyer. Mike was in the back yard setting up chairs and balloons.
Morgana played in the living room watching some kiddie movie my mom put on for her to keep her out of the way in the kitchen. It was only going to be 1, the party wouldn’t start until after eight. Some other relatives were coming. Quora was definitely coming. She swore she would all those years ago by blood pact. That means something to us wolves. It’s not a cut on the hand like you see in most films, we hug and bite each other on the top of the shoulder. Not hard, but enough to draw blood, then smear our face with it. Nothing happens if we don’t follow through but some may start to lose trust in you or see the other as not dependable. Quora, although not adhering to most werewolf codes, still came through. She even brought a present.
Before the party started, however, my mother sat me down and told me about Mike. He was human, there was nothing special about him or anything like that, but he was very accepting. At first she says he was caught off guard and thought my mother was joking. My mother being who she was tried her hardest not to change, just to show him evidence of it. She hated that. So she showed him pictures, legacy tokens, things like my great, great , great, great, great, great, great, great grandmothers skull that she keeps hidden in the shed out back. In fact she showed him the shed. Which is where she held all of our linage, bloodline stuff. Things that were passed down to or told a story of this or that. Clothing, swords, guns, medals, sheets of music, instruments, jewelry, you name it and it was probably in there. But that skull was by far the oldest thing in here. When a werewolf dies, it’s the wolf skeleton that remains, which is why we usually ask for cremation; as to not scare the mortician. Because as we die, our mind and bodies are going through the final transformation, which some believe leads to this whole giant religion that we don’t partake in. If you thought scientology was weird and crazy, ask a wolf about their religion.
Mike was still flabbergasted. He had no idea what to make of all of it. She says she told him all of this 2 weeks ago and he was still not sure about it all. The night a “wild animal” killed Angela and her parents, was the night he knew it was all real. Thats what they were celebrating the other night. The pot roast, the romantic dinner, that was my moms way of welcoming him to the family. It was only a matter of time now before they got married. My celebration was not only to celebrate my change, but she was going to tell everyone that her and Mike were engaged.
I never stopped looking at the flyer. This blurry image of snarling, salivating large teeth, blood covered snout, sharp yellow colored eyes was me and I just couldn’t get over it. My mother tried to assure me that it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. That those people were already dead and I was just eating the remains as any other scavenger would do in the wild. But her attempt to unburden me fell on deaf ears. Maureen never said a word. She just sat near my window, reading her book.
Relatives began to arrive. The door bell rang numerous times and I could hear Morgana screaming and playing with the smaller cousins. I didn’t over come my feeling of dread fast enough. I completely forgot about Quora, by the time I smelled her she was already knocking on the door and walking in. I never told Maureen about her, in fact it had been on my mind to let her know not to be around. Quora was known to dislike vamps. In fact she was training to be apart of the special guard most factions had. It’s deep seeded us to like vampires, most of us never get past it, while others like myself and my faction, did and befriended any vamp who indeed friended us. She knocked and opened the door, she stepped in with a smile on her face saw me then looked over at Maureen. Maureen gave her a half smile and I smelled hatred in the air.
Before I knew it Quora smashed Maureen through the window and they both fell to the ground below. I jumped out after them and tried to separate them, but Quora was stronger and faster. I had never seen Maureen fight before. I knew she was quick but she was barely dodging attacks from Quora. By the time everyone came to see what the commotion was about, Quora had already changed and they took the fight into the woods behind my house. We all ran after them. No one knew what was going on. When we finally caught up to them they were both on the ground heavily breathing. Quora still full wolf and Maureen cut to shreds and barely hanging on. Quora got up to attack again when a larger black wolf jumped in the middle and punched Quora and she slammed against a tree, nearly knocking it down.
The wolf looked at me and spoke in a grizzly, deep tone, “take Maureen” and pointed at my house. The large black wolf had a scar on its arm, the same scar my mother had. I grabbed Maureen and helped her to her feet. I had to drag her most of the way but I got her back to the house. We kept blood bags in the freezer outside for emergencies and I grabbed a chicken from the hen house for her. I warmed up the blood while she sucked the chicken dry. Her wounds began to heal and thats when I heard it,
“quod ipsa infernum” I turned to Maureen
“What was that?” I asked. She looked at me and shook her head.
“I didn’t say anything, but on that note who was that?”
“My cousin Quora.”I said
“Guessing she doesn’t like vamps?” She said with a chuckle.
“I was going to tell you not to come tonight, but everything went sideways and then this picture of me at Angela” I said while crumpling up the flyer.
“Its fine Kidd, trust me. This would not be my first squabble with a wolf,” she said as she gulped down the pint of O positive blood I gave her,
“Nor the last.”
“Im sorry,” I said defeatedly.
“Everything is fucked up because of me. I messed up the thing with Angela, I messed up that night and now I even fucked up my own party.” I kicked my dresser and the mood ring fell to the floor. I’ve had this ring for a long time. I always knew it was special, I just never knew the story behind it.
“Volo dicere malae Ares” I heard Maureen say.
“What do you want to tell me Maureen?” I turned and looked at her.
“Nothing, why would you think that?” She had a look of confusion on her face. Which was the first time I ever saw her confused.
“You’re acting quite strange today Kidd. I think that change you went through is messing with your head.” She replied.
I shrugged it off and put the ring back on the dresser. Then my mother came in. She stood in the doorway with her hair in a fuss. Twigs and leaves and grass were all over her and she was breathing kind of hard.
“Hey girls! Party is up and going again. Wanna come down for cake and ice cream?” She said. Wolf moms, go figure.
“Mom what the hell was that? Was that you?” I asked. Never in my 19 years alive had I seen my mother change. She was scary. Not just because she was my mom and most children are afraid of their mothers, but because holy hell she was huge and darker than the night. Her eyes were piercing blue even though her human eye color is brown. And she was definitely powerful.
“Oh um, ha ha yes honey. I spoke to your cousin and while she does not like the idea of Maureen being here she will respect the rules of my home. Maureen.” She said and looked over to her, “I suggest leaving 2 hours early or spending the night. You are safe here and welcome here but past my gates I cannot protect you.” She said.
“Of course Constance. I understand. I will most likely spend the night with Ares.” She replied. Then my mother squealed and hugged us both. First Maureen, then me. She whispered to me, “your cousin would like to speak with you though.” She left the room and closed my door. I looked at Maureen who was back reading her book. Then it happened again,
“He looked at me and I fell silent. His gaze was hardened and steely, but his eyes gave him away. How could ever be in love with a girl like me. So meek and humble……what a load of crap” I heard her say.
“MAUREEN!” I shouted. She looked up at me with wide eyes. She didn’t say a word.
We just stood there a moment, waiting for one of us to fill the space with words. For the first time ever I felt fear. Actual human fear.
“ I heard that! I heard what you thought.” I told her. She smirked and scoffed at me. Again her mouth didn’t move, but I heard her.
“What the fuck?” She thought,
“See I heard that, you thought what the fuck!” I exclaimed. She stared at me.
“How? Wolves don’t have those kinds of powers, unless…” she said then paused. She ran out of the room and I chased after her. We ran down stairs and out to the back where everyone was. I went searching for my mother. When I found her she was talking to an uncle of mine, my fathers brother. Usually the night after we go through a change is the night the faction comes together and celebrates. We’ll throw a party then wait for it to get darker and then go out together and hunt. Thus binding the whole faction together as a pack.
I was confused and a little scared.
“Mom, I need to talk to you.” I said.
“Ok in just a minute sweetheart.” She replied back.
“No mom now!” I urged and grabbed her by the arm. Then I heard her.
“Oh Ares, I wish you were more patient.” She thought.
“Mom, NOW!” I pulled at her arm. She looked at me through those worried eyes. She walked away with me back inside. We went to the kitchen and Maureen was already in there. But something was different about her. She was standing near the stove and in her hands was a small box.
“Where did you get that?” My mom asked her.
“Its time Constance.” Maureen said.
“Time for what?” My mother asked. Maureen looked at me.
“Tell her Ares.” She said. I sat my mother down at the table and sat in front of her. I stared at her until she thought something. I waited for a good minute or two. Then she spoke.
“Girls what’s going on.” She said.
“Mom I can hear thoughts.” I said quickly. Just pushing the words out as much as I could before they freaked me out even more. My mother looked at me blankly then over at Maureen. I hated that the silence was so huge, it even felt like there was a weight to it.
“Someone please say something!” I pleaded. Then Maureen walked over to my mom and handed her the box.
“Tell her.” She commanded. Thats when I saw the mood ring on her finger. My mother sighed and sat back holding the box. The look on her face went from confused to defeated. I’ve never seen her like this before, sad maybe, but never whole heartedly defeated.
“Its about your father,” she started “he wasn’t a human or a wolf. He was smart, hilarious, attentive, romantic as hell but most of all,” she paused while opening the box with a key she kept around her necklace on a chain. I don’t know why I never noticed that before. She took out a picture, black and white. She held it and caressed the picture with he fingertip. Then she handed it to me. I saw the back of the picture first. ‘Worlds fair 1851’ then turned it around and saw my mother. She was not 98. The man next to her, held her close and was cheek to cheek with her. She was almost as tall as the wolf my mother turned into. Beaming smile, dark mustache, big round eyes. His hair slicked back, but thick and lustrous. My mother never looked so happy.
“Your father was a vampire.” She whispered. Almost as if she didn’t want everyone to hear. In a house full of wolves, the walls really did have ears.
“But I thought,” I started but Maureen stopped me.
“You thought right, its illegal and not even physically possible. But here you stand. In all your glory.” She said with contempt on her face. Out of all the questions I could have asked, the first one that I deemed important was,
“How you know all of this Maureen?” Then my mother stepped in.
“Maureen was his daughter. His real, blood daughter. Not just someone he turned. She caught the plague at a young age and he turned her. After her mother found out what he had done, she became irate.” She paused and went back into the box taking something else out. A broach. Maureen looked away, her hands gripping the counter top.
“She tried to kill my father, I was still to fresh and young to stop her, thats when I ran into your mother. She was a nurse at the time. I didn’t know what my father was or my mother, only that they had me before he turned my mother. I was 14 when she tried to kill him. To this day I still don’t understand why. But I digress, I ran into your mother as she was getting out of work. She worked at the hospital back then. Wolves seem to be immune to the plague back then so she so lovingly helped out.” She turned back around to tell me the rest. “I took her back to my home where my father lay dying, my mother took a huge chunk out of his throat and abdomen. He wasn’t able to heal as fast because she had some how obtained a small quantity of solve venom and poisoned his dinner. Your mother knew exactly what she was looking at before I could even say what we were and she helped him anyway.”
Then my mother spoke up.
“I knew he needed blood, lots of it and there is an antidote for wolf venom but I had none on me. I sent Maureen to get more blood from anywhere, I told her not to be scared and bring anything she could, even a person. I gave my arm to him and he pushed it away at first but I pleaded with him to just drink. Thats when Maureen’s mother came back and attacked me. Thats where I got this scar. We fought but in the end I was stronger and I had to kill her. I was completely exhausted though. I crawled over to William,” she paused again when her voice cracked. My fathers name was William.
“I laid on top of him as a wolf and told him to drink. He did finally, but I passed out from exhaustion. I awoke later in the morning in a bed that wasn’t mine with little Maureen standing over me.” She reached out for Maureen and they held hands. I had never seen this side either of them. My mother was always strong, even when she cried t was brief and replaced by an optimistic outlook. She even described herself as a strong optimist. But this relationship between her and Maureen was something that broke my mother’s heart.
“Over the next several years I stayed with Maureen and William. I felt I should help out since it was I that killed her mother. They both forgave me for it but I never fully forgave myself. In the early 1900’s we came to America. I helped them hunt and built a life with them. Something a lot of factions frowned upon. While others tried to tears us apart and even kill us.” My mother continued explained this mind blowing back story and reached into the box once more to bring out another mood ring. One more feminine than the one Maureen had on her finger.
“Then one day we fell in love and got married. The faction was clearly upset. But after a few trials and hunts they let us be, on one condition.” She reached in again to retrieve what looked like a coin. She tossed it to me, it was heavy. It was pure silver. Maureen stood back a bit. Force of habit I guess.
“The high wold counsel stated that if they were going to allow me to live in peace with William, they would need a blood heir to my faction. Which meant I was to have a child with another wolf of their choosing. Of course I said no and was willing to fight for the love I wanted, but William, being the peace keeper he was, made me agree. They chose their champion and 10 months later I had Romulus. I was free to live my life with Maureen and William, but Romulus was my child and I asked them if I could raise him until his change ceremony. They agreed and a blood pact was made. Only this one was sealed in silver.”
The large coin had two bite marks on each end. The words inscribed on one side were, “strength” and on the other side, “honor”. I’ve heard of this before. As I said blood pacts are just a werewolf pinky promise, but a royal blood pact can only be made by higher wolves, wolves that have lineage to the first wolf. Ferick was of course like any other man. Through his travels, he ate, drank and laid with many women. Passing on any genetic mutation he had at that point but never knowing he was doing so. Ferick only knew of one son. Anselmo de la Cortez y Alcantara, he grew up in Spain and thats where we all started. Through the years not every wolf mated with another wolf. Some bloodlines died out or never passed down. Alcantara himself had a large family of his own. Fifteen children over the course of 40 years, each of them born a wolf and each of them having children anywhere from 10 to 20.
By the time Ferick passed away his bloodline spanned all over the world in some way or another. Not enough to run the world, but enough to have factions open up on each continent and almost every country. Even up north and Antartica. Evolution is funny that way. No one really knows much about the wolves in Antartica. But I believe inbreeding is something they regularly do because of their location. In fact no one has really heard from them in ages. But going back to the royal blood pact. A remkey or shaman if you will, presided over the ceremony and blessed the the coin. A blood pact has never been broken but its said that if it is, the silver that links the two will cause destruction over each of them, thus tying the two together. I really couldn’t tell you the science behind it because its never been witnessed but I assume it has something to do with some type of chemical reaction.
“Wait how did he die then? My father, how did he die if he was a vamp?” I asked. Thats when my mother began to cry. Maureen tried to console her by rubbing her back and stroking her hair.
“While the wolf counsel was ok with it, the vampire counsel was not. They continued to pursue us and try to kill us, we moved countless times. Then one day they got the jump on him. He was leaving work and coming home. He hadn’t heard from him in a couple days. Constance went out looking and so did I, but it was futile. We never found where they had kept him. One morning we opened the door to find his head,” my mother burst into uncontrollable sobs, “ on his neck were wolf marks. And the look of terror and suffering on his face.” I didn’t notice but on the table was something under a kitchen towel, Maureen uncovered it to reveal a skull. My fathers skull. My mother ran out of the room, leaving puddles of tears behind her.
“They only way to kill a vamp is either silver steak through the heart or wolf venom.” She turned the skull around to reveal multiple injection points. This kind of death must have been excruciating for him. I was still in shock to learn all of this, then there was a scream from the other room, but it was something only I heard, since I was the only one that reacted. It was my mother, even her thoughts were full of pain. Which isn’t uncommon for wolves. Reliving a memory can go one of two ways, happy or sad. Its almost as if we are instantly transported back to that moment in time only to feel every bit of it. Every sensation, every goosebump, every atom that existed in that moment, we feel it all over again. It is only strong memories we fallback into though.
“ When they dropped it off Constance was already pregnant with you. She was about 5 months along by then. I went out to find his body, but could never find any information. By the time I came back, you were two years old.” She said. Normally wolf children can remember pretty far back memories, but I couldn’t. My first memory of Maureen was 8th grade. We lived in a different town back then and were getting ready to move to this one.
She helped us move into the house, she helped me set up my room. In fact the more I thought about it, the more she was around. Always in the back ground, but always there…reading. I got up and went and found my mother. She was in her bedroom crying into pillow so the guests wouldn’t hear. I crawled in bed with her and she grabbed me like she was holding the pillow. Spooning me and clutching me hard. When she began to calm down I asked her if we could go on a hunt now. I know it would cheer her up. To change means that our brains change as well because of the bones breaking and reforming, our brains send out massive amounts of endorphins to deal with the pain. She wiped some tears from her eyes and nodded at me.
We walked outside to see everyone getting ready. They brought spare clothes and were hanging them on the fence line. People were stretching and cracking each others back. Some of the younger males wolves were getting each other pumped up. The children who couldn’t change yet, would stay behind and clean up as best they could. Morgana would be left in charge since it was our home.
“You ready my sweet treasure ?” My mother asked me. I hate when she talks to me like I’m still 4, but today it felt good. I smiled and before I knew it, we were all running. Chasing down a pack of white tail deer. Then one by one, changing mid-step and pouncing on a deer. When it came to my turn, I could feel it rise up from my feet, like a shockwave throughout my entire body, but all in unison. Each step on the forest floor was different until finally I was full wolf and running next to my mother, who was just huge by the way, and so beautiful in the glittering moon light through the trees.
She was the last to eat a deer. And it was a small doe at that. I know how most people feel, poor little doe, and I would have felt the same at one point as well, but when you’re really full beast mode, all that matters is the circle of life and that ain’t no joke to wolves. The wolf religion is all about balance. And in someway, my mother still abided by that. She use to say balance was everything.
"You can never be happy forever, nor will you be sad forever. Life will always balance out.” She told me as we moved from our home in Texas when I was 13. I was upset because we had to move again and I had just made some actual friends. But in this moment, even my primal brain felt happy, balanced even. After we got back it was quiet. Everyone was saying their goodbyes, packing their kill and gathering their kids. My mother in the kitchen with Mike washing dishes. Morgana and Maureen playing cards at the table. I wasn’t trying to listen and to be honest I forgot about the mind reading thing, so I don’t know if it was just my good hearing or being able to read them.
“Is this something you guy always do?” I hear mike ask. But my mother didn’t respond.
“Pizza is something we usually do for the kiddos after a hunting party, I wonder if Ares will want some?” My mother said. And I didn’t hesitate, “Yes!” Then it was silent, my mother poked her head out from the kitchen door, “yes what, my deer?” She said holding the antlers to her head and a smile on her face.
“I would like some pizza if y’all get some for Maureen and Morgana.” I said chuckling to myself.
About the Creator
Enjoyed the story? Support the Creator.
Subscribe for free to receive all their stories in your feed. You could also pledge your support or give them a one-off tip, letting them know you appreciate their work.
Keep reading
More stories from Marcy Macias and writers in Horror and other communities.
Roxy
We use to be shadows on walls. Scribblings of black ash from the camp fire. The things you see out of the corner of your eye but can never get a fix on. The things your pet stares at with curiosity and fear. We've been around for eons though. While science will have you believe its not supernatural, that there is some type of explanation for it all, I can honestly tell you that there is not. . . at least not all of it.
By Marcy Macias3 years ago in Horror
Lawang Sewu: Indonesia's Haunted House of a Thousand Doors
Lawang Sewu, signifying "A Thousand Doorways," is a remarkable construction in Semarang, Indonesia. Prominent for its structure wonderfulness and obvious significance, it is also outrageous for its stunning and tortured standing. This great plan, with its vast doorways and windows, has seen a fierce past, making it maybe of the most creepy region in Indonesia.
By Kyrol Mojikal4 days ago in Horror
Comments
There are no comments for this story
Be the first to respond and start the conversation.