WE STARED AT each other for close to a minute. I didn’t move a muscle except for eyes which were blinking. Then slowly, he backed away from me and I breathed a sigh of relief. He sat down on his hind limbs and bent his ears back. I glanced on the floor around and saw the torn clothes that he had been putting on before he shifted. I groaned. I suddenly heard a howl.From the tenor, length and strength, it was the howl of an alpha. But I was just imagining things, we were in the middle of nowhere. A werewolf pack can’t just appear out of – There it was, I heard again. Jake raised his nose to the moon and gave a deep and long howl. The howl from the alpha came again and Jake ears perked up. He gave a low whine and shot forward. I scrambled to pack our stuffs and ran after him. He didn’t slow down, He just kept the pace until I thought I could not talk it any longer and was prepared for him to leave me when we burst into a very large compound with a big mansion set far back behin
THE BOYS HUDDLED together in a corner. They couldn’t tell the time of the day because the only window opening had been covered with a thick cloth. It sounded like a canvas or leather curtain. But with the cold, the figured that the sun was going down pretty quickly. The Werewolf blood had melted long before. It had turned into a puddle where Mart had thrown it to the amusement of Ellie and Nina. They could pick out the howl of the wind and stiff flap of the leather material covering the small window. Full moon was tonight and they knew it. A door swung open loudly and Ellie, who was relaxing just outside their cell, jumped to his feet. Nina walked in, closely followed by an elegant white haired woman.She stopped in front of their cell and eyed them glumly. “Where did you get these ones?” She asked.“Just outside Morton's border, Rosetta. Near the first scene.” Ellie said. She made some ‘tsk' sounds at the boys as she patrolled the front of the cells. The boys’ eyes followed her
The four men – Jamie, Jaja, Claude and Henry – all trooped out into the late afternoon. The sun was bright but not hot. It was setting already. “There’s something even more strange than the missing boys.” Henry commented.“And what might that be?” “It’s better to be seen than heard.” They crossed the narrow stream and walked down the path. The territory had started their advancement to proclaim ownership to this part of the land, but the processing was not yet finalised. The whole scene was swarming with half a dozen men from Jamie’s pack. They were investigating what had happened there and looking for clues. They bowed when they saw Jamie and Jaja approaching. Claude’s sharp eyes quickly took in the scene. Ten dead Vampires. He walked closer and stooped beside one. “Gunshot wound.” He whispered to himself, rubbing his index finger on the hole in the Vampire’s head. A shadow fell across him. He looked up at a figure that stood above him, blotting out the sun. He stood up and lo
“I SENT A message to the boys.” Lydia said. She sat in front of the gas fireplace. “A message? How?” Claude asked. He picked up a small remote and pressed a button. There was a low BOOM! sound as fire erupted in the small enclosed space. “HOW I’ve always loved that sound.” He laughed. “Harry! Stop that! Now!” Lydia snapped at the small wolf pup chewing at the rug. The wolf bounded up the stairs and leapt from the hallway upstairs to the ground floor. “We should have commanded him to shift back to human.” Lydia said. “No, darling. Let’s give the wolf a little freedom, don’t you think?” “Yes, love.” She rubbed her temples and sighed. “Now as I was saying...” She paused as the sound of a low THUD! reverberated the whole house. “HARRY! GO OUT NOW! PLAY ON THE STREET!...” They both heard the wolf give a small yelp and leap out the roof window and onto the street below. “You were saying” Claude said. “Here.” He handed her a glass of water. “Thanks, love.” She collected the glass and
“HERE.” Nina thrust five wraps of an aluminium foil and five bottles of table water into the cell. The boys eyed the package warily.“What is that?” Billy asked. Mart, who was closest to the gate unwrapped one and found a chicken hamburger. “Listen, are you boys hungry or not?” They each collected one, still eyeing her warily until Zach bit into his. They all looked at him like they expected him to die of poison immediately. “What?” He queried, looking at them back. When they saw that he did not die, they all munched in unison. “I need to use the toilet.” Jeff said. “number one or number two?” “Wha?”Nina looked at him. “ Do you want to take the piss or take a shit?”“The piss.” “Then do it right there.” She walked away. “This is a good one...” Zach said with a full mouth. “The hamburger, I mean.”“Shut up.” Arthur snapped. “That’s food from the enemy.” “The enemy makes good food.” “You’re a fool.” “Don’t call me that!” “Or what?” Arthur challenged. He stood up now and
I found my way outside. I saw many families at the table. And just as Elsa had said, all the families were all like one big family. Little kids ran between my legs and under the table. I looked around. More people were entering the room as others were leaving. A little boy came up beside me and held my hand as I walked. I looked down at the chubby little thing. He didn’t reach up to my knees. He looked up at me with startling blue eyes. “Carry.” He raised his hands to me. Such a cute little thing. There was no way I was saying no to those watery blue eyes of his. I carried him and grunted. He was heavier than he looked. I hoisted him on my hip. “What the gell are they feeding you?” He giggled and spoke baby language. “Really?” I asked. He nodded. I walked with him on my hip. He weighed a ton, I was sure. I walked with a lopsided gait to my step to keep my balance. I walked outside and into the early morning sun. There was fresh scent in the air. The scent of greens and freshly
The ride to the school was uneventful and boring. Mr. Harper was constantly droning about how he loved antique cars and how this one we were in was an antique too. Jake suffered the brunt of his talks because they both sat at the front.He was constantly asking questions and Jake looked like he was going to cry. I caught his eyes on the side view mirror and he begged me with his eyes to rescue him. I could barely hold back my laughter.The school was a 30 minute drive. The car had hardly stopped before Carlos, Alberto and Diego jumped out. Mr. Harper sighed. He caught my eye in the rear view mirror and asked, “Do to boys want to come in? Or you’d prefer to go back to the mansion.” “Um – we’d better go back to the mansion. Jake?”“I agree with him.” Jake groaned with relief. “Okay then.” He gave us a wad of notes. “Take a cab or bus. Watch each other’s back out there.” Then he grabbed his briefcase from Jake and stepped out of the car. We both stepped out too and told him bye. We wa
ATLAST WE SAW somewhere familiar. I heard Jake gave a huge breath of relief. “I was starting to fear we had gotten lost again.” I said. He gave a nervous short laugh. “Yeah. Me too.” We had been walking for close to 45 minutes. We had long finished our drinks, finished some ice lollipops we bought and the sun had started getting hotter. There was mild film of sweat on my forehead. Jakes upper lip and nose was dotted with sweat. We had thought of boarding the bus, but we realised that we didn’t know our stop. With the thought that we’d just get more lost, we decided to trek the whole way and hoped we’d see a familiar place and we did. We turned into the street and walked down, the scent of werewolf territory hit me so hard I almost staggered. Jake must have heard my sharp intake of breath because he looked at me and asked what was wrong.“That smell... its so strong.” “You’ve never perceived it before?” He asked. I shook my head. “So how come you did now?” “It’s supposed to be