The stagnant air of the old, musty pub lingered too long in my nose. A small metal dish of peanuts sat in front of me, centered on the round table. A cold beer sat on a paper coaster just beyond my fingertips, condensation beading down the outside of the bottle. I had been sitting there at that table for hours as I waited. I knew he'd come eventually; it was only a matter of time. I tried to blend in until the one I was hunting for arrived. I had ordered a drink, only for appearances.
His face was burned into my mind, and his name was branded across my thoughts. I wouldn't miss my opportunity. This was a different hunt than the ones I had been occupied with over the past six months. I had to be tactful in the way I approached this target. Many different variables presented themselves in this situation. This was a special hunt.
You see, I wasn't in my usual hunting grounds. I wasn't roaming the back alleys of St. Louis like I had been for the first few years of this life. I wasn't even in the United States. I was across the pond, as they say. I had found my way across the Atlantic Ocean to France. From there, I tore through the countryside on foot until I came upon the little village of Cassagnas. It was there that I found the one I had searched for. Cassagnas was home to a tiny, lesser-known pub that he frequented… the one I could feel in my bones. I knew he was there.
I'd found him, followed him, stalked him, and his companions from the shadows. I watched and was never seen. It only took me two days to learn his routine. Normally, I wouldn't bother with anything like this. Usually, I would get a name and a vision that showed me all the evil and twisted things people had done in their lives. I'd see them take the life away from others in secret to gain power, money, status, you name it. Some people will go to unspeakable lengths to get what they want.
I still didn't know who, or what, the entity was that sent me the visions and gave me my power, but when he called for me, I always answered. I couldn't ignore him if I wanted to. Part of me liked it. When he sent the visions, everything else faded from my mind, and that's when the hunt began. I wouldn't stop until I found them, transformed into the monstrous beast that I had become, and then I'd kill them without hesitation. But like I said, this was different.
He visited the pub every night. There were usually others with him wherever he went, a group of them roaming the world together. They almost seemed like his protection… or maybe his keepers. I was unsure. I had to get him alone. Last night, when I followed him to this pub for the second time, they all stepped outside to smoke, except for him. He stayed inside. For a few moments, he was alone. This was what I was waiting for: my opportunity.
I left my hood up inside the low lighting of the tavern. I got a few weird looks from some of the patrons who were spaced out around the place, but their prying eyes darted away quickly when I looked back. The feeling that rolled off of me was palpable. I was always like this when I had the monster primed and ready for action. Its presence was dominating, even as it hid behind my human form.
Right at about sunset, he walked through the front door. His dirty-blonde mop of hair hung down into his eyes. The matching stubble coated the lower half of his face, just as it had since I first laid eyes on him. It wasn't the same face that was burned into my mind. That face was hidden behind the overgrown, unkempt hair that was barely taken care of. He looked stressed and tired as he ambled over the uneven floor of the old establishment. Two older, thicker men were trailing right behind him. They seemed like they were all friends, yet the two shadows that followed him seemed subtly on alert.
The two men were both dark featured, one was tall, the other short, but both had a French vibe. It was their clothes first, and then it was their voices as they spoke French to one another. My guy was American. He was silent, but I didn't need to hear him talk. I knew his story. That, too, was burned into my brain. Well, not all of his story was known to me, but enough to get me to hunt him down halfway across the world.
The three men came into the pub, lightly joking with one another as they ordered a few beers from the nice, unsuspecting young girls behind the bar. They had no idea what they were speaking to. These three were cursed… they were werewolves. This made my situation even more dire, as it was the night before the full moon. If I didn't get to my target tonight, then I might lose him.
This pack of werewolves was nomadic, and they moved around a lot. They were not like the Talbots. They were the pack that I had met back in St. Louis. Their leader, Jane Talbot, was tied in with my old friends, the Chasses, very closely now. She and Frank, the oldest member of the Chasse family, had thrown caution to the wind and were basically living together. They had ways of doing things to lighten the risks associated with her true nature, the alpha of her pack, and the dangers it posed. However, they made it work. Frank really seemed happy for the first time since I knew him. Not the surface-level jokes to keep his feelings hidden, but real happiness. I only saw glimpses, but I wanted what he had.
I started to think about my own happiness: Autumn, Carter, and… Eleanor. Autumn's face appeared in my mind along with the memories of her whole family. For a moment… I thought I was back there. I lost track of where I was in that pub and fell back into memories for a moment.
I had to shake the thoughts away. If I lingered in them too long, they'd distract me from my current situation. At any rate, this hunt was ultimately for them, so I had to get focused. I'd deal with what I was feeling later.
The three wolves found themselves sitting a few tables behind me. Still, I kept an eye on them in the reflection of a glass refrigerator. It was probably the most expensive thing in this little hole of a bar. They laughed and got rowdy, then calmed down, spoke silently, and after a while, they seemed sullen. They knew what was coming in just one day. The full moon would soon rip them from their bodies and send them into a killing frenzy. I could see that they all feared it and that these bar trips every night might have been some kind of mental preparation for them. They were scared of it: whether it was the pain of the transformation, what they'd do, or who they'd kill. They were all scared… it was hiding just behind their hard eyes.
Their pack was wild, and not all of its members feared the transformation as these three did. In my short time in the area, I did a lot of detective work. In another life, I might have made a good cop. This pack was nomadic for a reason. The older, more vicious leaders did not hold the same apprehension about the violent transformation. They welcomed it. They morphed, hunted, and killed anything in their path. When they left wakes as big as they did, it was only logical to move. So, they lived nomadically, never staying in one place long enough to be tied to anything. Their violence was rivaled only by their lack of concern for the damage they were doing to the supernatural world's secrecy.
They were making waves similar to the ones I made when I first began hunting in St. Louis. I hunted criminals, specifically murderers, and made them pay for their crimes. However, I was leaving bodies and taking people too noticeably, and it was raising suspicions. These werewolves were mobile and couldn't ever be pinned down to one location long enough to really hunt them by average means.
However, I wasn't normal. I tracked people and creatures with something other than my normal heightened senses. I could focus on people in a way that other creatures couldn't. If I knew who I was looking for, it would only be a matter of time. Yet, this was all still new to me, and I couldn't get my most powerful means of tracking to work for me a hundred percent of the time. Not like when I was given a name and a vision.
I looked into the reflection and saw the two other men standing at the table. The sandy-blonde mop stayed put as the other two slid their jackets onto their backs. They were drunk enough to forget the responsibility of watching the one I hunted. They eased passed me to the entrance. They walked right by me, totally unaware of how close to death they were. I had pumped the brakes on the monster once they had arrived calmly, not wanting to let their own enhanced senses pick up on my presence. If I didn't keep myself under control, they'd sense me in an instant and run, or hurt someone.
The crooked wooden door wedged itself back into the frame as the momentum from the two men passing through carried it closed behind them.
I stood from my seat, pushing the half-full beer towards the stale peanuts. The few earlier eyes reshot quick glances but turned away even faster than before. My muscles stiffened, and I raised my body upright, towering over the rest of the seated patrons. I turned around towards the one I had come for, making my way across the warped floor to him. My senses were heightened, my attention was on his beating pulse, and every micro-action he performed. I waited for any sign of an attempted escape. I had to be careful with this one. When I was only feet from his table, he looked up at my approaching form. He probably thought I'd just pass by to the bathroom or something. I stepped straight to the chair in front of him and sat down like I belonged there, calming the monster inside.
"Hello," I started.
"Who are you?" he asked with a curious but careful tone. His American accent stuck out from the rest of the foreign voices.
"No one." I asked, "Who are you?"
He looked cautious as he slowly craned his head around to the entrance, searching for his buddy's return.
"My name's Jimmy," he lied.
I knew his name, but I wouldn't push him yet. I only had a little time with him while his friends smoked.
"Well, Jimmy," I played along, "let me ask you a question before your friends get back."
He looked shocked yet unafraid. He was unsure of what was happening, but confident that harm wouldn't fall on him. He was a werewolf with two pack buddies just out the door; what could possibly go wrong?
I continued, "If you had the opportunity to leave this pack and be free, would you?"
He looked confused. He really thought about my question, even though he was unsure if this was a test by the elders of his pack or a prank by his friends outside.
"There's no escaping the pack," he eventually spoke, thinking this was the answer I wanted to hear.
"No escape?" I asked. "Why?"
His blue eyes shot back and forth, continually eyed the front door, waiting for the return of his friends. He was uncertain about what was happening and didn't want to fail the test he thought he might be taking.
"You can't just up and leave the pack. I'm never alone. Someone is always watching to catch runners. My friends outside aren't supposed to leave me alone like this. They know I don't want to be here, but I weaken the pack if I leave. I can't escape," he defeatedly spoke.
"Can't, or won't?" I asked.
"Who are you?" he asked me again. "Who sent you here? Was it Darry?"
This time, I felt like a little truth might spring him forward, "I came on my own. To find you."
He was silent for a moment again. "You're not from around here. I can tell by your accent," the lying Jimmy observed.
"Likewise," I said.
"What do you want from me?" he asked hurriedly, still eyeing the door for his approaching friends.
"I want to give you the chance to leave. I want to get you out, free and clear," I openly spoke.
He was utterly shocked by what I was telling him. I could sense him focusing on my heartbeat as I spoke, to see if I was lying. Once he realized I was giving him total honesty, he rushed me with questions.
"Why? What do you want from me? Why would you help me?" Hope lingered in the few moments between questions, and possibilities arose in his mind. I could see hope in his eyes.
"You remind me of someone," I eased into it. "Let me ask you another question. If you were free of the pack, what would you do? Would you go back home?"
"Home?" he asked. "What do you know about my home?"
"I know that you still have one. I know that you have family and friends who would give anything to see you again. They think you're dead," I let him know.
"I figured. I've never tried to reach them. I couldn't let them know what I'd become, or let them come here and fight this pack," Jimmy honestly opened up. "These werewolves are savages. They worship the power of the curse. They're nothing like the ones my family has known. It's better if they just think I'm dead."
I smiled at his words, looking down at his re-used peanuts, and snickered at the similarities between us.
"Why are you laughing? Is this some kind of joke?" Jimmy looked back and forth between me and the door, furiously confused at the situation I was putting him in.
"No… like I said before, you remind me of someone. Myself actually. We have a lot in common," I said. Then I explained the differences, "Only, you can go back to your family… I cannot. If I go back, things will be ripped apart. If you go back, you'd be bringing things together again."
"No… I can't. My family… they hunt people like me. If they saw me like this… I don't know how they'd react."
"I know exactly how they'd react… Allen." I used his real name.
He stared me straight in the eyes, totally taken aback. Fear of his real name and familial ties being discovered by his pack became real. He was scared of them, and of what they'd do to his loved ones.
"How do you know that name?" he ordered. "Nobody knows that name here… don't say it again!" he almost growled through his teeth. His fear was palpable.
"You're that afraid of them?"
"You don't know what they can do! They can track me anywhere. If they ever knew who I really was, they'd kill anyone I cared about. Then, they'd find a way to America and kill my family," his response was powerful.
"You have people you care about here?" I asked. "Who?"
He was very hesitant now, scared of the situation that was growing around him.
"A girl, Eloise. Her family was killed by the elders when she was a teenager, and then she was cursed to join the pack. The same pack that killed her family. She's hated them longer than I've been around."
"If I clear a path, will she run with you? Or, will she stay and remain a threat?"
"She wouldn't do that," he answered quickly. "But, she won't believe we can escape. She's been trapped here most of her life." He shook his head quickly, "The elders are all… evil. They kill and feed, that's all they care about. All that matters to them is the power they feel on the full moon. And the alpha… Darry, his bloodlust has been unmatched since even before I was cursed. He's led the pack, totally unchallenged for over two years. Nobody has even tried to overthrow him. He's too strong." He looked defeated, the thoughts and hopes that quickly manifested were fading away. "We can't escape."
I pulled the silver blade from underneath my jacket and quickly set it on the table in front of him. It looked very out of place beside the metallic peanut dish. His eyes went wide at the sight of the familiar-looking type of blade. The silver finish was unmistakable. The twisting symbols and figures that were etched on the sides and spine were familiar to him, and they brought to memory every silver blade he had ever seen before.
"How do you… Where did…" Allen's mind was going a hundred miles an hour. "Look," he slowly breathed as he tried to calm himself, "one hunter can't take on this whole pack. Even if you had my whole family with you, I don't know if you'd have enough hunters to kill them all. You can't clear a path for us." He knew it to be true.
"But I can," I said. "Your friends are about to finish their cigarettes, and they'll soon come back inside. You don't need to do anything. Don't even tell Eloise what happened here. All I need you to do is, when the full moon comes, point her out to me."
I stood from the table. The chair legs groaned across the floor as it skidded back. I quickly positioned the silver blade back underneath my coat.
"Wait," he urged. "What are you going to do?"
"Don't worry about that. Pretend I was never here. I'll take care of the rest."
He looked stunned and fearful of what was coming. I knew he doubted the things I said I could do, but that was fine. I didn't need him to believe, because he'd see soon enough.
"Who are you?" he asked desperately.
"Like I said… no one."
I stepped away from the table, turning abruptly as the door opened roughly through the frame. The other two werewolves returned with fresh smoke in their lungs. I passed through their stink as I exited the pub. I could see Allen's reflection in the same glass from before, watching me leave without answering all of his questions.
It was the next evening, the night of the full moon, and the white orb sat almost dead center in the blackened sky. It looked so big that you could just reach out and grab it. The moonlight was so bright that it made the darkness of the forest almost clear.
I was on a hillside shrouded in a thick band of trees. I was downwind from the small encampment of werewolves, watching from a distance so as not to alert them to my presence. The knowledge I gained from the Chasse's bestiaries reminded me of things. The most important thing is that a werewolf's senses and strength are never as potent as they are on full moons. So, I stayed cautious so I wouldn't alert them and miss the signal from Allen.
I needed to make sure I protected the one named Eloise. He seemed like he really cared for her, so I'd do everything in my power to not just save him from this life, but also his friend. If he thought of her in such a way to generate the reaction from last night. She was family to him. That meant that she'd be family to Autumn, Carter, and Eleanor. I had to protect the family, even if they didn't know her yet.
Down in the encampment, at the bottom of my hill, stood many different figures. I counted eleven beating hearts down in the valley, beneath where I stood. The moonlight lit up the entire camp, showing me everything I needed to see without heightening my own beastly senses. They had multiple tents and coverings set up to be quickly taken down once they made too much commotion in the area. There was a tarp draped over a fallen tree that hung at an angle. It seemed like the central point of this settlement.
They were all primed and ready for the transformation. Some were ready to let the primal side of themselves rip out of the weak human husk. Others looked weary and hesitant about what was about to come. One of the others appeared in the center and began speaking to them all. When all of their attention was on the man in the center, standing on a small makeshift platform, I shifted between cover. I got as close to them as possible without alerting anyone to my presence. The wind stayed against my face and kept my scent flowing away from the pack. My feet were silent as they bounded off the ground, propelling me forward in massive strides.
In a matter of moments, I was in their camp. The monster struggled beneath my flesh, clawing for an escape, begging for a kill.
When I stepped out from behind the few tents that littered my path, I came to an opening that looked out at the eleven creatures. They spotted me instantly, every feral eye burned into me with a yellowish-orange glow. Their mouths hung open wildly, jagged teeth already warped in human form to match the savage look of their eyes. Even still standing in human form, these people looked like something other than human.
Allen stood in the back left of the formation, just beside a very dark-complected woman. Allen looked to be comforting her before the change began. They both kept more natural looks than the others, except for the eyes. The strange color eyes contrasted greatly with the woman's dark skin. This was Eloise, the girl he cared for, a victim of this strange pack of vicious animals. She'd been taken from her life just as Allen had. Allen's wild eyes connected with my blackening gaze in an instant, just as the rest of them were alerted to my presence. He reached over and grabbed the woman's hand, nodding to me. As soon as he saw me, his heart was racing so fast I thought it'd burst out of his chest. He was terrified of what was going to happen to them.
She looked up to Allen as he grabbed her hand quickly, the wolf inside of her hyperalert and overwhelmed by her senses. Everything had them on edge this close to a full moon, especially when they struggled against the transformation.
The man on the platform twisted to me in a violent rush as they spotted me within their camp borders. He had long, scraggly black hair that surrounded his swollen amber pupils. He looked very muscular under the tattered clothes he wore. I could see scars tracing lines across random parts of his skin.
"Qui êtes-vous?" the man asked in French.
I didn't know what the hell he had said. I guess I should have brought a translator.
"Hello," I said to the group, calmly acknowledging them.
"Ah, you're American, just like our friend Jimmy," the man said in English, pointing in the direction of Allen and Eloise. "It's… regrettable that you've stumbled upon us, tonight of all nights." He started laughing darkly.
"I didn't stumble in," I said. I guessed that this was the one Allen had spoken about before. "I came for you, Darry."
He was very serious now, looking around in all directions in the valley. "Me?" Darry asked. "Well, here I am." He spun around dramatically on his little stage, making his inhuman-looking friends laugh slightly in their grotesque forms. "What is it you want from me?"
"I'm here to kill you!" I spoke very calmly as I stared into his eyes.
He looked back and forth between me and a few pack members. Then, Darry burst into laughter, looking around at the rest of his pack. They all joined him, laughing maniacally like a pack of hyenas.
I didn't say anything, I let them have their laugh. It might be the last moment they'd ever have one.
Darry and his friends laughed for a little too long. Things kind of got a little awkward for a minute while I just stood there being laughed at. It was kind of ironic, like they were laughing me out of their camp, not even taking me seriously. I almost thought I should say something again just to make sure they knew I wasn't joking. Thankfully, Darry turned back to me.
"I see one man. I see a whole pack of werewolves. Why would you seek me out, only to seal your fate?"
Then, I reached behind my back and slid the silver blade out from beneath my jacket. All of the werewolves, even Allen and Eloise, had a visual response to the silver. Snarls and warbles reverberated throughout the camp as the beast's eyes grew brighter. The transformation was coming.
"I've come to end things here. I'm going to kill you, and anyone else with you," I answered him.
A twisted laugh ripped from Darry's throat again. Many other beasts that had begun to surround me echoed his maniacal chuckle. They were entertained by my confidence and lack of manpower.
"One hunter versus all of us?" Darry was thoroughly pleased. "This won't even be a challenge."
"Not all of you," I responded. Then I turned to the others and talked very lightly, almost a whisper. I knew they could hear every word. "I want everyone to listen to me. This is your only chance to survive what's about to happen. If you don't want to die tonight, then chain yourself up to those trees." I pointed over to the few more giant trees fitted with heavy chains and shackles. I figured that they used these bindings to teach runners, as Allen called them, a lesson.
Allen hesitantly pulled the girl, whom I assumed to be Eloise, to the chains. She didn't understand. I think she thought he was going to get her into trouble or killed. She looked like she was starting to resist him.
Then an older-looking woman with scraggly grey hair started barreling towards them, angry at the instant betrayal toward the pack, "How dare you!" Her screams were wild and ferocious. She lunged at Allen and Eloise in a vicious and unforgiving attack. She wanted to teach them a lesson.
I sent the silver blade soaring through the air at lightning speed. When it met the charging werewolf's head, the blade planted in her skull so jarringly that her feet were pulled from the ground. The momentum of the knife navigated her skull to a wooden pillar that supported one of the tents. It all happened in an instant, but her lifeless body hung from the silver blade as it embedded itself in the wooden beam, about five feet from Allen and Eloise.
Blood had sprayed out from the attack, misting across Eloise's face and Allen's right arm. They both stumbled back at the shocking reveal of my hidden power. Allen was realizing I just might actually be able to do what I said I could. Eloise had a ripple of fear show through her changing face. They all did.
Darry's eyes burned with anger. "You killed her! That will be the last thing you ever do." His calm demeanor was only showing because he was focusing on the change. He was willing it forward at the peak of the full moon. The rest followed the alpha's lead.
I heard the clinking of chains and shackles as Allen and Eloise restrained themselves. They were the very same chains that the two wolves had been bound with countless times before when they tried to escape. Eloise seemed more willing after she saw me kill the woman who charged them. Allen was speaking to her, urging her to do as he asked. She looked scared, but trusted Allen's plan as she hurriedly snapped and locked the shackles around Allen's wrists. He did the same for her.
They were locked up and waiting for whatever was about to happen. Darry saw them do it and spoke directly to them, "I'll deal with you two once we end this. You two won't live past this moon. The pack will consume you."
Then, a rumble started growing in Darry's chest as his flesh darkened, rapidly growing fur that matched the tone of his darkening skin. He became taller and muscular as the bones in his skull began to shift into new places. His look morphed into a face that was more wolf-like than human, with massive fangs elongating from his protruding jaws. He stood tall over me, probably between seven and eight feet.
For the first time in my whole life, I saw a werewolf fully transformed. Darry was solid black and littered with scarred gaps of fur across his body. Countless battles and fights from a lifetime of animalistic bloodlust had marked and transformed him into the alpha he was.
I saw tears in Eloise's shifting eyes. Allen held her close in the chains, hoping he had made the right decision, listening to me. I think Eloise was prepared to die. She thought they had messed up, and this pack would finally end her life, just as they had killed her family.
Then I looked around and saw that nobody else had chained themselves. They all stood against me down in that valley. They had made their choice.
They all began to shift into their two-legged wolf form, musclebound and hungry for flesh… my flesh. Even Allen and Eloise thrashed and growled from within the chains as the beasts ripped out. They couldn't hold it back anymore. The metal chains thrashed and swung aggressively as the two changed into monstrous carnivores. The two werewolves, one dark brown and the other a dirty blonde, were safe within the chains. The other werewolves' attention was all on me.
Darry surprised me as he spoke a few words as the full werewolf, "Now... You DIE!" He growled the words through his teeth. Then, they all lunged forward, coming straight at me.
Finally, I opened the door inside my mind and let the monster free. The change started as it always did: eyes blackening, hands and face burning, teeth shifting and extending, and my body expanding up and out as the muscles twisted into different positions. My clothes were a thing of the past after they ripped and fell away from my body. I was too large to be contained.
The wolves actually stopped their initial steps as I became more hulking and threatening than they were. I saw in their eyes what I saw in everyone else that saw me this way… fear of the unknown. They realized quickly that I was no lone hunter. I was something else, and now was the time to show them. Everything I had learned about this pack made me check the boxes in my mind, and yes, they fit the bill. I would kill them without mercy or hesitation.
Two werewolves ripped towards me in a quick burst of fury. They took off from standing on two legs to bounding across on all fours. They moved roughly, no fluidity in their movements, only sharp and powerful pulses of muscle. As soon as their claws hit the ground, they shoved forward violently, closing the gap between us quickly.
They were both on me in an instant, and I had to make a decision. Was I going to do this fast and get it over with, or was I going to show them what a monster truly looked like?
I swung my razor fist into the side of the left one's head at a downward angle, planting his skull into the ground. A mist of fluid spritzed up from the impact. The second one glanced off my right shoulder as I attacked the first, bouncing off me to the ground. He quickly recovered and shoved off towards me again, letting out a guttural snarl. The first beast's brain was leaking fluid and blood out of the shattered skull that was slightly buried in the ground. I pulled up from the first one and wrapped both of my hands around the second wolf's neck as our bodies met, stopping his momentum entirely. His sharp teeth were inches from my face as he thrashed and lunged forward with every muscle fiber in his body. Snarls and gnashing teeth snapped in my face.
I kept one hand around his throat and put as much pressure on him as I thought he could handle, driving his legs into the ground as he fought against me. As he was held in place by our opposing forces, I quickly used my other arm, sidestepping slightly, to reach behind him and hit him as hard as I could right in the spine. The snap sounded in the valley only a second before an earsplitting yelp. I folded him in half like a piece of paper. He wasn't moving. Two down.
I was done with the show and was ready to end it. I just wanted the wolves to see how outmatched they were. I wanted them to feel like the prey, and to see what their victims felt all of those times.
They all tore across the valley towards me, the remaining six. Darry led the charge, being the first one in the oncoming herd of six werewolves. This made my life easier since I knew if I killed the others first, he might tuck his tail and run.
In what was probably only ten seconds, I swung my talons ferociously, shredding through the throats and faces of every wolf on the attack. Darry's leg was right beside my foot after I ripped a portion of his neck out, so I stomped down and shattered his bone. A roar echoed through the valley as the pain gripped him. Two other dark werewolves went down quickly as the blood poured from their throats. They could heal quickly from damage, but not from such a massive loss of blood and tissues.
Three others were reeling from the attacks, trying to have a few moments to heal and possibly flee. I gave them a chance earlier, and they weren't getting a second. As the two others died, and Darry growled in pain, I dominated the last three as I attacked them in a rage. I flung one of them across the encampment towards the central tent that hung off the fallen tree. The werewolf hit the tree right where a broken branch had left a spiked stub, impaling him through the chest. I pounded one of their faces into the ground with my monstrous fists, and then I swung my talons through the back of the last one's neck as he began to flee. His head was thrown across the encampment into the side of a tent. It actually bounced off the tent's tight canvas-like material and rolled halfway back towards the headless wolf and me.
I slowly walk towards Darry's wolf form as he stayed in his place, unable to stand. He was shocked when I walked past, unsure if I was sparing him. I paced over to the place where my silver blade rested inside the wooden beam, still holding the female by the skull. I calmed myself, lessening the monster's grip on me. I slowly returned to my human form as I paced through the grass of the valley. My body compacted, and my skin lightened back from the dark grey that cloaked the beast. My fangs and teeth receded to regular lengths, and my eyes finally returned to the blue I was born with. In human form, I pulled the knife from the wood, and the woman's body fell away. I gripped the silver tightly in my hand.
I walked back over towards the giant werewolf, wielding a knife and covered in blood and gore. His enormous leg looked like it had been run over by a tractor. It was flattened, protruding bones, and sticking out at an unnatural angle. His growls never ceased as I approached with the silver blade. He actually spoke through his snarls.
"Kill you," he seemed like he was talking to himself, the words barely escaping through the loud snarls. "He'll kill you," he seemed delirious.
"No," I said. "Your pack will consume you."
His large wolf eyes looked scared, and real fear was apparent on his transformed face. He knew what I meant.
I grabbed him by his large, twisted leg and pulled him mercilessly. He tried to escape, swinging at me with his clawed hands. I beat my human fist into his fanged face repeatedly as I pulled him to his fate. My strength was still too much for him, even in my human form. I stood in front of the two werewolves that were restrained by the large chains, Allen and Eloise.
They had been thrashing in their bonds violently as they shifted, but slowed down as the killing began. The power of my own monster got their attention, even in their animalistic haze. They realized that they were totally helpless once the chains were on and couldn't escape me even if they wanted to flee. However, when I threw Darry at their feet, they knew what I wanted, and in an instant, they wanted it too. Their primal minds wanted the same thing. They needed to feed. The two wolves could only move about a foot in any direction, but it was enough to grab Darry and pull his weakened body into their chains.
Allen and Eloise mauled him, ripping pieces of his body free with their powerful arms and jaws. They tore him in two, splitting the alpha werewolf and consuming a surprisingly large amount of him.
As the two surviving werewolves fed under the light of the moon, I paced the camp. I was covered in blood and had no clothes. I checked through the tents in search of new attire. I looted every tent that was erected down in the valley. Once I had cleaned myself up and dressed in the old, unwashed clothes, I found a seat on the other side of the encampment, away from the werewolves. I needed to calm myself, but hearing the noises of the wolves killing and consuming Darry made it hard to do that. So, I sat and waited, breathing steadily as I closed my eyes. With every breath in the cool night air in the valley, I reclaimed control over my conscious mind. As I breathed slowly throughout the rest of the evening, I felt the beast recede into his cage, deep down in the pits of my mind.
It was morning, and Allen and Eloise were human again. After they killed and ate Darry, they turned on each other for a little while. I wasn't sure if I should have stepped in or not, but ultimately, they were both alright. They struggled and fought in the chains for so long that they wore themselves out and eventually fell unconscious towards the end of the night. They slept for maybe an hour and a half before the rising sun woke them.
Their clothes lay beneath them, shredded and caked in blood and dirt. I had already found some suitable clothes for both of them and laid them out just a few feet away in neatly folded stacks.
They both helped each other out of their bonds and found the clothes I had set out. They saw me sitting on a log some distance away, watching them come back to the human world. I waited for them, letting them have a few moments alone to clean and dress themselves.
I heard them speaking, but I didn't listen. I could see the emotion from where I sat, and I wanted to give them a moment. Eloise began to cry as she reached out for Allen. Allen grabbed her and pulled her in tightly. In that first moment of life after the pack, they felt something that neither of them had felt in a long time. They were free. Down in the green valley, the two survivors of Darry's pack felt a peace that they hadn't felt in a very long time.
After they had their moment and readied themselves to deal with the ominous, silent figure that watched them from a distance, they came to me. They were holding hands, prepared to deal with whatever happened next, together.
They walked up, only feet from where I sat. I stood to meet them, slowly getting up. I could tell that they were both unsure of what would happen next.
"Free and clear, Allen," I spoke first. "Just like I said."
Allen looked around at the bloodied camp, carnage spilling out from almost every square foot. The once feral wolf that hung from the jagged branch above the central tent was now a man. They were speechless and fearful.
"You can do what you want, but don't take too lightly what I told you before," I suggested.
"What was that?" Allen asked, too overwhelmed with everything around him to remember.
"Your family… You can go home," I reminded.
"But how do you know that? How do you know anything about them… or me?" He asked again, "Who are you?"
"Who I am isn't important, but this chance you have here is. They'll accept you back just as you are, trust me."
He was quiet for a moment, thinking deeply and earnestly. All of the possibilities that he imagined the night before were now real and tangible.
"Thank you," Eloise spoke for the first time. Her French accent was heavy in her English words. She seemed sincere but extremely wary. They both did.
Allen seemed like he was thinking about it, "How would we even get across, back to America?"
"A plane. It's a cargo freighter that's heading straight for Norfolk. Once we're back in the States, you can decide what you want to do. But you have to leave with me now. If we want to make the plane, we'll have to be there by tomorrow night. Otherwise, the next one won't be for weeks."
"What about passports, money, identification?" Eloise asked about the logistics.
"You don't have to worry about any of that. All you have to do is come with me," I offered. "It'll be a fresh start. You won't have to worry about what'll happen after all of this," I pointed to the dead, mangled bodies. "I'm sure this will draw attention that you don't want to be here for."
"He's right," Allen said to Eloise. "If we go across to America, it will be a clean slate. We can disappear. Nobody will be looking for us over there. We can just die with them." Allen motioned towards the slaughtered pack around them.
"But," Eloise spoke slowly, "I don't know anything about America. I've never been out of France."
Allen comforted her, "It'll be okay. We stick together… I'll be with you."
She nodded, knowing that they couldn't stay if they genuinely wanted to be free. Darry and the pack were bound to have connections to others that would come looking once they realized they were all dead. They had to disappear just in case.
"Okay then," Allen said, "we'll go."
I nodded, "Follow me."
Once we made it into the country, we got some clothes, cleaned up, and got some food. Hiding in storage on a massive plane didn't bring too many questions about us all looking like transients. Now that we were in civilization, and not on a clock, we could slow down and blend in. Eloise and Allen looked more American now that they were out of those filthy nomadic clothes. I had found myself something that matched my usual attire: a jacket with a dark hood to conceal my face, some darker jeans, and brown leather boots.
It was dusk, and we were all three walking through the dense trees on the outskirts of St. Louis. I knew it would all start coming back to Allen quickly once he saw any kind of landmark from his memories. Eloise was taking it all in ever since we stepped off that plane in Norfolk. We hopped trains after that, riding the rails as we made our way across the skeleton of the new world. The railroads were my guides back in the first days of this new life. I usually followed them when I was out wandering for a place to hide after first becoming the monster. It didn't take me long to end up in St. Louis, but I'm not sure if it was me or if I was being guided there by the other thing. The being that gave me the visions and spoke to me with terrifying power.
We broke through a tree line to a familiar opening. It was the same place I had been about seven months earlier when I met Jane Talbot for the first time. I looked up the hill and pictured Autumn and Eleanor running up to get the height advantage as they had on my first outing with them. I could almost see both of their dark hair whipping behind them as the memories played.
"I know where we are," Allen realized.
"What is this place?" Eloise asked.
"This is the Talbot's land, in the Rockwoods Reservation. I knew this place looked familiar. This is where another pack lives. My family's known them for a long time."
"Another pack?" Eloise stopped in her tracks, her words almost trembling. She was terrified that she was about to be taken from one murderous tribe of beasts and be thrust into another.
I grabbed her arm, quickly shifting her attention to my serious attitude.
"They're not like the ones you've known before. They're different. They don't want to be monsters, so they live a certain way. This pack has rules, laws that keep them from killing humans. Otherwise, you'll have to answer to Jane."
"He's right," Allen agreed, pulling Eloise back from my grasp. It was subtle, but he was trying to get her away from me.
They both were beyond grateful for what I had done for them, but I could see the fear behind their eyes. They didn't know what I was, but they knew I was dangerous.
She turned to him, whispering like I couldn't hear, "Are you sure we can trust them? I won't go back to how it was before. I won't!"
"El, trust me!" He urged. "If we want to stay here, then we'll need others to help us adjust. Jane can teach us the way she maintains her pack on the full moon. This will be a good thing, El."
It was funny how some of Allen's mannerisms reminded me of Carter. There were times on our trip back from France that I felt like I was with Carter again. I hadn't noticed it until this point, but he had been calling her El, just like his mother. It was funny how that worked out. The big difference is that Eleanor didn't transform into an inhuman creature on a full moon.
"Jane can help you both. She's more tied in with your family now than you probably remember," I told him.
Allen shook his head as he observed the house through the trees. "How do you know so much about my family? Who are you?" he asked again. Then he looked straight at me, "What are you?"
"Now isn't the time for that. But I will tell you this." I got very serious, shifting my eyes to completely black so they'd remember this moment. "I'm a killer!" I spoke harshly. "If I think someone needs to be dealt with, I end them. I pulled you both out from there, but if you can't control yourselves here, or hurt one of your family, I'll be back! Don't talk about me and don't tell anyone what you saw that night in the valley."
They both had backed away from me as my eyes pulsed black and my voice twisted and deepened. The fear they felt the night I killed their pack returned full force. I felt kind of bad about it, but this would be new for them.
"Now," I returned to normal. I reached into my pocket and gave Allen a small piece of paper with my cell phone number. "This is a cell phone number. Don't tell anyone you have this. Keep it to yourselves. Only ever call this if you think your family is in danger. I mean real danger that will threaten everything you have here in St. Louis. This is your last resort," I emphasized the importance as much as I could.
They both looked like deer in headlights, almost like they didn't even want to take the number.
"Do you understand what I'm saying?" I asked them.
Allen and Eloise nodded as their heart rates slowly eased back from their climbs.
I felt strange saying this to them; however, I still felt I needed to protect the Chasse family, even if it was from their own son. However, I couldn't deny their nature. They were both still werewolves that needed to be taught how to live here among humans. I didn't think he would hurt anyone, but I need both of them to know I'd be the consequence. I found that to be a great motivator. I felt that a little fear of annihilation would be a good motivator to keep them on the up and up, especially if the tide of names and visions returned to the same level of intensity that they had been since fully accepting this mantle, and I wasn't here in St. Louis physically.
I turned and started walking back in the direction we had come from. My part was over. I had to go check on a few things while I was in the city. I wanted to stay, but I felt the same suffocating feeling returning. The names were about to hit again. The visions would flood my eyes and mind. This breath of fresh air was short-lived, and it was coming to a close. I felt like I was about to be buried beneath the sea of death and destruction again, and I was only allowed just a quick breath above the surface. I started to wonder why the entity had allowed me this reprieve. It was almost like it wanted me to have the time to accomplish this personal task to help my friends. It was… strange. There had to be a reason.
"Wait," Eloise called, "will we… see you again?" I'm not sure if she was asking in a 'oh we'll miss you' way, or in a 'please don't come back' kind of tone. I was pretty sure it was the latter.
I turned but kept backing into the shadows of the thickening trees. They were lusher with thick greenery than they were in the early winter months, the last time I was there. The little bit of sunlight that still lingered on the horizon was filtered out by all of the plant life overhead.
"We'll see," I said, fading away into the forest.
In moments, I was completely gone from their senses. However, I stayed close enough to make sure they met with Jane. I knew that once she realized who was standing in front of her, they'd both be welcomed with open arms.
Eloise and Allen paced up slowly through the woods and crossed the street. They stepped into the yard and to the front door of the large farmhouse. Allen took the lead and wrapped his knuckles on the wooden door. He was only on his second tap before someone had already opened the entryway. The werewolves' enhanced senses picked them up in the woods before they crossed the street.
The first face I saw was the one I knew to be Bran. That asshole from the first visit I took out there. He still looked like he had a douchebag look on his face, but luckily right behind him was Jane. Her large frame and dark hair made her stick out like a sore thumb.
"Who are you?" Bran asked, ready to fight. It annoyed me, but I had to give him credit; he was just protecting his family.
"They're werewolves, like us, Bran," Jane looked interested. This wasn't usual behavior for normal werewolves to just casually stroll up to another pack in their home. She was intrigued.
"Jane…" Allen spoke around Bran.
Jane cocked her head to the side, unsure of who she was looking at. I watched her eyes scan Allen, then Eloise, and then back to Allen.
"It's me…Allen. Allen Chasse," he spoke to her.
Her eyes were blank momentarily as her brain processed the impossible in front of her. Then her eyes went wide, pushing past Bran and stepping onto the front porch directly in front of him. Even Bran's expression changed as soon as he heard the name. They all knew exactly who he was and what they thought had happened to him.
"Allen…" Jane eyed him intently as she examined his face and her own memories. "You're alive?" Jane asked, her expression consumed with shock and confusion. "How did…" Jane couldn't think clearly. They had a few moments of slow confusion where they tried to figure out what was happening and how it was possible. She pulled him in for a hug, which I think surprised Allen based on what he remembered about her.
"Come inside, both of you." Jane grabbed Eloise's hand and led her inside in a welcoming manner.
Eloise actually seemed to let her guard down a little as she witnessed the foreign kindness of this pack's alpha werewolf. I could hear her heartbeat slow and calm as she entered the house. She wasn't used to this kind of treatment, and she never expected it from another alpha. Her only example being that dickhead, Darry, that I fed to her like kibbles and bits.
After the door closed behind them, I heard Jane ask, "Allen, what happened to you? Where have you been all this time?"
"It's a long story," he said. Then, in the quiet of the house, Allen began to tell his story.
As I made my way deeper into the abyss between the trees, I began to think about my friends. Everything I did to bring Allen back to St. Louis was for the Chasses. I wanted to return to their lives as I was before. I knew I would have to build their trust back, but it would only be a matter of time. But nothing could be nailed down. I wasn't in full control of my life.
I started to hope for the future. The last six months were hard, and I felt like I was starting to come out of the darkness that was holding me back from my friends. I had struggled in the first little bit after losing my life and gifting it to Eleanor. So many things I said, and others left unspoken. I played everything back through my mind.