• The Full Moon, pt. II


    I am Liulfra now, a werewolf, and I am bounding lithely across the rocky terrain. I don’t remember what my human name is anymore. I am an ebony furred wolf, three times bigger than any pure wolf and three times stronger. I am hunting only for human flesh, to tear through it and taste the lushness of it...

    Next to me runs another wolf, much smaller in size than I am. He is the one who changed me, the one who turned me into Liulfra. His name is Faolán. It turns out he had ravaged the one who was to save me—a wolf-slayer—into pieces, therefore eradicating any evidence of him on earth.

    Suddenly, I feel Faolán’s stride slow to a stop. Liulfra, calls Faolán from a yard away in a deep yet silent voice, a little unproportionate to his young age.

    Yes, Faolán? It takes me one lithe bound to reach him. Have you scented something yet? My voice is carefree, almost graceful and regal.

    No, Faolán replies. I’ve just seen my cousin. He’s older than I am—your age, probably. Conrí! he barks, not talking to me anymore.

    A silver wolf, larger than I am, steps out from behind a lone tree. His scent was musky and attracting—the animal edge was barely noticeable. His silvery grey fur was streaked with red blood, and the scent coming from that had my jowls dripping with excess saliva.

    Faolán, acknowleges Conrí in a deep tone. I am awed by his regality and noble posture. You noticed me. I couldn’t help but sense you had turned a human. Your very first. Good job.

    Your very... first? I ask. I feel sort of flattered at this. It probably meant something big.

    Yes, my first, whispers Faolán. Before he can say anything else, Conrí speaks directly to me.

    Pleasure to meet you, he says. A strange tingling burbles inside my empty stomach, and I want to tackle the regal wolf before me in the strangest affectionate sense of the way. But before I can suppress this intense feeling, Conrí pads right up to me and brushes my cheek with his tongue. Faolán snarls a startled protest. The strange tingling tickles my stomach again, and I feel like blushing.

    Suddenly, the night breeze blows my way, and I catch a scent so delicious and muskier than Conrí’s fur.

    My kill! I snarl, turning from Conrí and almost flying away. I feel Conrí and Faolán at my flanks, and I snap at them. I am suddenly possessed by this insane desire for the human blood that I smelled.

    Just then, my target, the target whose odor was so mouth-watering, came into view. It is sitting next to a fire roasting some food by a cliffside. But then, something else leaps at me. It is terrifyingly cold and heavy. At first I think that ice had fallen from the sky. But I feel its humanly shape and Faolán screams at me, Vampire!

    I scream a fearsome snarl and throw off the vampire. I catch a glimpse of the vampire. It is female—I see that quite clearly. Its crimson eyes, however frightening, don’t seem to affect me. The ivory pale skin it wore was streaked with blood from a recent kill—animal, I presumed, as humans didn’t make such messes. The vampire was clothed in a skin-tight corset that ran only halfway down her thighs—a bait for human males to be attracted to.

    “My kill,” growls the vampire. Her crimson eyes glint with bloodlust. From far away, I note that my target is—and can only be—human.

    “My kill,” repeats the vampire, then speeds away to the human. I literally roar and tackle her. Faolán and Conrí scream with worry. I feel Conrí’s hot pursuit behind me, obviously to restrain me.

    I outstrip the vampire in running to my kill—my kill!—and am just a few yards from my kill when I realize—

    It’s my mother—my human mother.

    I immediately stop in my tracks and look back at the vampire as clouds drifted in front of the moon. She is chasing at my mother.

    “No!” I scream at her through my human mouth. Wait a minute. Human? The full moon had gotten hidden from the clouds, I remember. I realize that the vampire was not just running at my mother—she was running at me.