Child of the Moon

I woke up that morning in a completely new place. But that wasn’t unexpected. I glanced at my body. My clothes looked only slightly more worn. A few new smears of blood alarmed me initially, but once I bothered to lift my nose to the wind I could tell it was just a wildcat. Besides what I could assume from these few facts, what happened under the full moon was lost to me. And it always would be without the help of Wolfsbane, of which I barely have enough of for emergencies.

That would explain my sorry state. Without the help of the herbs, I could not hold onto my sanity during the full moons. So I had to live in dumps like this so I wouldn’t accidently kill the oh-so fragile mortals. As if they are living that much longer because we don’t touch them.

I stretched my sore muscles and pulled my annoyingly long tawny hair back out of my face, trying to not get it tangled in with my wolfish ears poking out. It was back to hunting Children of the Night as usual.

Lifting my delicate looking nose to the air for a moment, I started running to the North. There was some strange vampire clan there, but they smelled different. Maybe they drank some strange blood recently. Either way, they had no business being alive. And that was why I was here.

I could tell you my history, but it would take years, seeing as I am at least twenty times older that you. But to give you the long story short I was created by a demon hunter, as most Lycans are. And I am here to try and cleanse the world of evils such as vampires. Most of my kind travels in groups, but I find most company unwanted. So I'm a loner.

I sped through the woods with inhuman speed, but it still took hours to track the group. Eventually the smell of fresh blood was so strong I knew I was within a few miles of them. I made my way quietly the rest of the way, knowing that their hearing was sharper than human’s.

As I neared their residence at the moment, the smell of blood became overwhelming. What one earth were they doing, killing each other? I wouldn’t be surprised. I’ve learned not to be with these leeches.

I crept up to a clearing where they all were. I watched from behind a tree, and my suspicions were true. There were tons of them; at least twenty, all fighting each other. Dead bodies lay all over, and fires were burning while more bodies were thrown in. It was disgusting.

I dared to stretch my neck further out to take in the whole scene, and I gave an audible gasp. There were wolves out there fighting as well. I barely had a moment to wonder how this was possible before there was a blur in the corner of my eye.

Flattening my ears to my skull, I was ready to spring. I swung out two large knives from my belt, and let a low growl rip from my throat. And then I turned around.

I was face to face with one of the huge wolves, his eyes close to mine. He growled as well, but not before sensing my hesitation. He drew back, taking a good look at me. His ears perked up as well as his tail, simple body language that said he was not going to attack. My ears stayed flattened to my skull, my bushy tawny tail swishing side to side uncertainly. My nose scrunched up at his unfamiliar scent, as did his. What the heck was this thing?

Totally ignoring the battle going on behind us, he approached me carefully. He stopped, pointedly looking at my knives, poised to fight. I slowly lowered them, my tail swaying faster as I glanced around. No one seemed to be paying us any attention.

The wolf kept moving forward until his eyes were just inches away from mine. And then he transformed, it seemed at will, into his human self… with no clothes.

I kept my gaze steady on his eyes, and held my tongue as he peered at me curiously, seemingly unaware that he was naked, and I was a girl.

After a moment, I finally said, “Where on Earth are your clothes?”

He gave me a look. “Is that honestly what you’re wondering right now? Isn’t there anything else of a bit of importance here? Like what the hell you are?”

I rolled my eyes. “I know perfectly well what I am. And I’ll let you know as soon as you get some clothes on your body!”

He sighed, and ducked behind some bushes. I suppose he had some pants stashed back there, because when he came back he had jean shorts on.

“Thank you,” I muttered under my breath. I then turned to see that the fight was dying down. So apparently the vamps aren’t so crazed for blood that they have sides to fight on. Who knew they were so smart?

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” the wolf said. “But it would be better to do it in front of everybody.” Without giving me a chance to object, he took my arm and dragged me into the clearing.

“Oh ho! A run away! One more newbie to kill!” a male vampire with short brown hair and a lot of muscles said excitedly. I barred my teeth and growled at him as the wolf let me go.

“We have a bit of a problem,” he said, standing close to me as to make sure I didn’t run away.

“I don’t see the problem,” the vamp started, but stopped midsentence. A slight breeze had picked up, sending my scent to the ignorant leech immediately. His expression changed as everyone perked up to look at me.

They all looked like they wanted to ask questions, before a petite she-leech cried, “Victoria killed Bella!” and after a moments pause, “And now Edward’s trying to kill himself!”

I blinked, and the next moment they were all gone, running up the mountain.
“They could just let him go on with it,” I said softly, more to myself than anyone else. “One less to worry about.”

“My thoughts exactly,” one of the wolves growled.

I turned to smile at him. “I think we could get along pretty well.” He grinned back at me in return.

I turned to the rest of the pack. “So who’s this Bella?”

“A human who got in way over her head,” one of the older wolves spat.

“Jared…” a quieter one growled. I could smell confidence and control radiating off of him from ten feet away. So this was their pack leader. “Watch what you say in front of certain company.”

At first I thought they were talking about me, but after a moment the wolf that found me spoke up.

“It’s fine,” he said slowly. “She used me. I think I got over her a while ago. Rather glad she’s gone, in fact…” the boy trailer off uncertainly.

The Alpha nodded. “It’s better for you,” he said simply. I glanced around, trying to not look lost.

“You must be pretty confused,” a younger boy laughed.

“A bit,” I agreed, smiling tentatively. What was I still doing here? There was no way I could kill all those vamps without the element of surprise. I grimaced. So what was I supposed to do?

“It’s a long story, which I doubt you could understand unless you had been here. We were here, and we don’t really believe it still. A human and a leech…” the boy called Jared growled.

“I have time. Try me.” I said defensively.

“We do too. Come back to our place, where there’s food for the pack.”