Huntress

Monster

My truck is where I left it, the snow has begun covering it, the faded green color contrasts against the white of the snow. Blood drops down my body to the floor, white becomes a dark red. 

I’ve been bitten. 

That alpha male tore into me, his canines were lethal, snapping my collar bone and tearing out my flesh. The adrenaline that was being pumped throughout my body is gone and the pain is excruciating but I have managed to make it to the truck. 

The DNA of these beasts is going to start working soon, but before it does I need to get as far as I can from here or those female wolves will come for me. 

“H.A. Fox here, anyone around?” The radio in the car sounds, another hunter is nearby, he must need some help if he’s radioing in or he’s got a mission he can’t take. “I’m heading north towards Baxter Base, stopping at the rest off of route 90, I need two of yall to accompany me on an intelligence mission. Pays well.” 

I stare at the radio, using my right hand to grab onto the oh-s**t handle. A cry leaves my lips as I force myself up and into the driver seat. Right-hand reaches over to shut the door, fingers twist the key, engine revs loudly. 

Sweat glides down my face, my tears are mixed with it and the blood of the wolf is still in my mouth. “H.A. Creed,” Words are breathless. 

“A damn creed!” He hollers the words out in excitement. “You up for the job, Creed?” His voice comes out quickly, hopefully. 

“I need to be put down.” There’s no response. “You up for the job, Fox?” 

“As a hunter, I cain’t refuse.” I can’t help but chuckle. “See you soon, Creed.” 

I cradle my left hand against myself, my right hand is low on the steering wheel. I can barely keep my foot up enough to stop myself from speeding off. 

I glance at the rearview mirror, a worry has settled inside of me that those females will come after me. The feeling is gone from my entire left arm, blood coats my upper half, both mine and from that alpha male. I can still taste the iron from his blood in my mouth. I swallowed some of it. Infecting my inside with his blood, it's sickening to know that I am going to die because I made a foolish mistake. But my biggest mistake will be the shame I’ve brought my family and our name, the Creeds. 

One of the five families to start the association, one of the five to be known as the elite among hunters. Having one of the five family names is an honor. Each family name represents hunters who've killed hundreds upon hundreds of wolves. My family though is notorious for the plain fact that we grow up in a world of only pain and death.  

The static sensation in my arm is gone suddenly, the tips of my fingers twitch and slowly the life starts to come back to my left arm. A sudden snap beside my ear and a rush of pain have me screaming out in pain. The sound of the engine revving is loud followed by my scream and I do everything in my power to hold my arm straight, to keep myself from jerking the steering wheel and flipping the truck. 

Teeth grind together as I keep myself from crying. I want to cry so bad, to curse the damned alpha male and myself for being so utterly stupid. 

Whatever it is that triggers a change from a bite is working fast. The feeling in my arm is back completely, meaning the monster that is slowly coming to life inside of me is preparing my body for the change. 

The rest stop just off route 90 is practically empty, it seems perfect for hunters because even if they are covered in blood or on the brink of death they can come here and not be bothered to hide their state.

I pull my truck in beside a brand new one, the shine of glossy brand new paint doesn’t have a single speck of dirt on it. My faded green truck is a dinosaur beside this black one. Scratches and dents mar its exterior and the inside, well now the driver seat is completely stained in red. Mud is forever clinging to rims and a duffle full of weapons sits in the bed of the truck. His truck as a cover, to protect and conceal his things, mine just has a brown rag over it. 

“Creed?” Crystal blue eyes look at me, blonde hair is pulled back into a high ponytail. “You finally made it here.” He has a gun in his hand, he’s sitting on a bench by the restrooms, cargo pants cover his legs and a tight thermal long sleeve covers his upper body. A thick jacket is beside him on the bench. He is clean and untouched. 

“I recorded a message on my way here.” I step out, bare feet touch the ground. Blood covers my left side, I was bleeding until the beast growing inside of me was done fixing skin that was mauled. I bled and bled until everything was put back together, a scar is etched into my left shoulder, one that looks like a large bear tore right into it. Only a hunter or another wolf would know that I was bitten. 

“That monster got you good, huh?” He holds his gun in his lap, a toothpick is between his lips, his beard thick and well-groomed. “Have you changed?” The first rule of our kind. If you are putting someone down you need to know if they’ve changed. Or else you risk the beast taking over to protect its host. 

“No,” I take a seat on the bench, clenching and unclenching my left hand. “It healed me.” Astonishment. “The alpha male broke my collar bone and had taken out a chunk of skin.” I press a finger to the base of my neck where it meets my shoulder. Slowly I glide my finger down to the top of my shoulder, just before it extends. “I have a nasty scar and nearly bled out but it made sure that everything got fixed.” 

“The beast didn’t do it for you,” He is reminding me that a beast is always a beast. “It was saving the body it’s been given, soon it’ll take over you.” 

“Let's just get this over with.” I stand up, grabbing my duffle and heading into the woods. The snow is thicker here before when I would walk into the snow without shoes it would sting my feet. Now it doesn’t even send a chill down my spine. 

“See?” He says I can feel his eyes in my back. “It’s ensuring your survival.” 

“You think walking barefoot in the snow is hard?” The trees cover us now, I drop my duffle on the ground. The sound of silver clinking is loud. “I’ve been doing it since I was a child.” 

“Guess that’s why the Creeds are elite.” I turn to face him, my heart pounds loudly, so loud that I feel as if it is banging against my chest for me to run. “Because when I was a kid I was drinking hot chocolate in this kind of weather.” He laughs but he cuts it short the second he realizes that I don’t see any humor in his words.

“I’ll take the recording to your family and I’ll bury you with your bag.” His hand goes up, the 9mm is pointed right at me, crystal blue eyes stare at me. 

“My name is Elliot Fox,” He lets out a breath, it’s so cold out here that you can see his breath. His cheeks and nose have turned pink from the cold. “I am a senior hunter, today is the day you die.” He’s reciting what we call the death passage. “Today you get to die by my hand and you will not be breathing once I ask you two questions.” It’s almost time. 

“What is your name?” A courtesy among hunters, always know the name of the hunter you are putting down. 

“Cherry Creed.” His eyes widen slightly, but he clears his throat and shifts his weight from one leg to another. He doesn’t stand in the proper shooting stance, he seems unethical. 

“Do you understand that you’re going to die today?” I can’t help but stay quiet, the sudden pounding of my heart makes me clench my fists. “Do you understand that you’re going to die today?” His tone is firm, the sound of his fingers tightening around the handle of the gun makes me tense. 

“Yes.” I can’t help but sob the word out, I don’t want to die. This isn’t supposed to be how I die! I’m supposed to die fighting, not because I’ve been infected. 

“That need to survive is the monster!” He shouts and I flinch slightly. He’s wrong. It’s a growl, rough and raw, that echoes in my mind. I’m not a monster, I’m you. It says. 

“Hurry up!” I can’t help but cry the words out, a conflicting desire to grab a gun and shoot him before he shoots me rises. 

“Goodbye.” I duck the second the word leaves his lips, the sound of the gun firing goes off and I’m grabbing a knife from my duffle, rushing forward. The knife is in his neck before he can even take a step back. Heavy breathing is all I can hear underneath the gurgling sound coming from Elliot Fox. 

His crystal blue eyes are wide as if to ask me why, my hands shake, for the first time in so many years. “I’m sorry, Fox.” My voice shakes just as much as my hands, tears blur my vision, there was no hesitation when it came to my survival. “It was the monster.” I can’t help but whisper my words out, a leather-bound handle keeps my hand from being burned by silver. 

It wasn’t the monster fearing for its life, I don’t even think a monster is awakening inside of me because there was nothing inside of me saying to live except for my own will. 

Pulling out my knife from his throat, I can’t help but flinch as some of his blood squirts onto my face. More blood is on me. The drying blood of the alpha, his, and my own. Walking back to my duffle I pick it up, grunting at the weight of it. My nose burns slightly at the smell of the silver. This change will be a hindrance, having to survive with such an inconvenient weakness. 

As I begin to walk, my body is suddenly falling down, legs give out beneath me and suddenly I am screaming from the fire that rages throughout my entire body. I don’t have time to process what’s happening but I’m becoming one of them, and now the reality of what I have done is bringing me to tears as my body begins to rearrange into a monster that wishes to be born. 

More than two cars pull into the rest area, as soon as I’m out of the restroom. No more blood taints my body, new clothes cover me. But the stains on the driver seat are still there. I move with ease, draping a thin blanket over my seats and shoving my duffle into the bed of my trunk. 

Grabbing a knife and stuffing it into my leg strap, another goes at my hip. I want to move quickly, to get out of here because there must be hunters coming for Fox’s mission. 

A van pulls in on the right side of my truck, a woman and three men walk out. They are in their own world, dressed for the cold and laughing at each other. The worry in me settles slightly, if there are non-hunters then hunters are less likely to make a move. 

The two other cars that pulled in are parked on the other side of the lot, only a couple of feet separate me from the two cars that carry two people in each car. I watch as the four of them all step out of their cars, if I weren’t trained to know then I would say they look like a group of friends. But I can tell these are hunters, the cargo pants and thermal long sleeves are designated clothes for hunts. It’s similar to what I was wearing a few days ago when I was heading for my mission, and they have guns at their hips as if they are cops ready to assert their law. 

“You think Elliot finished off the Creed girl already?” I want to run away, to finish zipping up my duffle and finish tying the tarp on my truck as quickly as possible but I force myself to work at a semi-slow pace. If I rush then that’ll spark a suspicion for me that I do not need. 

“He should be,” I want to look but I don’t. “If it was a Creed I’m sure she wouldn’t put up a fight. Those Elite bastards are all about honor and duty.” Whoever says it, sneers the words out with disgust that makes me bite down on my cheek hard enough to draw blood. 

They are all close, one even stands behind me, peeking into Fox’s truck. “Doesn’t look like he’s back,” I feel when he turns to look at me. 

“Have you seen a guy with blonde hair?” I turn to him slowly, leaning against my truck, elbows are up against the side of the bed. Casual. Calm. 

“Blonde?” I ask, frowning slightly, shaking my head. “I haven’t seen any blondes,” I use my left hand to brush my hair behind my ear, making sure it falls over my shoulder and not behind. “I did see some girl driving off in a hurry though, if I hadn’t stopped in time she would have hit my truck.” I scoff out loud, tapping the side of the old thing. “She’s not in top shape and a hit like that would have surely put her out of commission.” 

This man stares at me, his whiskey-colored eyes look me over, up and down before he nods. “Do you know the direction she went in?” 

I shake my head. “I couldn’t tell you, I rushed in here and headed straight to the restroom, I’ve been driving for hours.” 

“Hours, huh?” The laughter around us from the people who arrived in a van doesn’t even put a dent into the tension that’s rising. He starts walking around Fox’s truck, in between the tail of Fox’s truck and my own, I step away from my truck becoming defensive as any other girl would. “You’ve got a lot of snow on this baby for having been on the road all day.” 

His eyes glance towards the rooftop of my truck, and then his eyes go to the tarp, “Do you believe in werewolves?” He suddenly says, his eyes find mine, and he has this smile stretching onto his face. 

“Werewolves?” I ask, trying to sound stunned, I step back as he steps closer. 

“Of course,” He says as he reaches out, his hand pushes my hair behind my shoulder and his fingers slide my shirt off my shoulder, exposing the scar that is completely healed. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice, you stupid mutt?” He laughs at that. “Where are the hunters who were here?” He sneers the words out, his hand is wrapped around my throat, he isn’t choking me. Not yet anyway. 

I stare this man down, glaring down at him with pure and utter hatred. “They went into the woods, the girl was carrying a duffel bag and the man had a gun in his hand.” I know he wants to kill me, but there are people here, they are still on the other side of their van with their doors open and them rustling through their things. Will they notice if he tries to kill me? 

“Show me.” He grabs his gun with his left hand, but it’s done awkwardly since the holster is on his right hip. I pretend not to notice, slowly he takes his hand off my throat, the head of the gun is pointing right where my lungs are. 

“I didn’t f*****g-” He presses the gun against my shirt, my skin feels hot in that specific area, is my body reacting to the silver already? 

“Now, bitch.” I want to grab the hunting knife tucked into my boot but he’d shoot me before I can. “Jinx, you should get some medical supplies, if Fox went out there and hasn’t come back then something must’ve gone wrong. Breeland, you drive down to meet the up spot, and tell Henderson we need him for the Creed girl, it’s possible she’s gone rogue.” I want to curse out loud, there’s a damn Henderson with them. That’s another name for one of the founding families if he catches wind of this my family name will be tarnished.

We’re stopped in front of the van of the other people, “Are you going to kill me?” I whisper the words out, their movements stop, and he laughs at that. 

“Of course-” I’m spinning on my right foot, the left is already in the air, slamming against his face with such inhuman strength that he slams against the van of these people. Crushing metal beneath him and the van’s alarm is going off. 

“Well.” I flick my hair behind my shoulders as I face the other three hunters. “You want to do this hand to hand or you want to try and shoot me down?” I project my voice, my head is held high, I don’t let myself seem weak. I am strong. I am vicious. I am a Creed. 

“You f*****g b***h!” The girl, Breeland cries out as she rushes past the two men, she’s got a hunting knife in her hand. She must be new at this, never, engage hand to hand combat with a being with much more strength than you unless it’s your last option. That’s why we have guns. You work smart, not hard. 

She’s swinging her blade at me, right across my face in an attempt to blind me, but I’m far more experienced than her. Even without the sudden increased speed and strength, I would dodge this, I block her wrist with my right arm, my left is supporting it so I can wrap my fingers around her wrist and snap the bone. 

She cries out from pain and I move quickly to catch the knife with my hand. A loud cry leaves me, my skin is being burned by the hilt of her knife, “That’s silver you dumb, f*****g dog!” She’s slamming her forehead against my nose, but I’m still holding on to the blade, even as the force of her head bump is breaking my nose and making me stagger back in pain. 

I bring my left hand up to my nose, bringing it up to my eyes, without hesitating I snap my nose back into place. Fix yourself even if it’s painful. I’ve had my nose broken before, I’ve had fingers and arms and legs broken. Before it was harder to set them and move on from the pain, but with a monster inside of me, the strain is barely there.“This was the only pair of clean clothes you cunt.” The words are twisted with a growl and it frightens me, terrifies me so much that I don’t even hear when the gun goes off. 

All I register is the pain in my left thigh, my scream is mixed with a howl of pain, the girl is slamming her combat boot against my thigh and it brings me down to my right knee. “You’re all going to f*****g die,” I spit the words out just before she’s kicking me across the face, throwing me down to the ground. The knife is no longer in my hands. 

“This is your last chance,” The girl is breathing heavily, her foot is against the left side of my face and my right is pressed down against the snow-covered concrete. “You show us the way and then we kill you or you don’t show us and we kill you right now.” The others have approached us, pointing their guns at me and I let out a laugh, how have they not noticed that I’m one of them? 

“Think for a moment,” I manage to say between ragged intakes of air. “Would I really be here if two hunters were here at the same time as me?” The girl pulls her boot away from my face. 

“What are you saying?” She whispers. 

I take this opportunity to slowly sit myself up, my nose hasn’t stopped bleeding and now my thigh is burning and it bleeds heavily, turning white snow into a deep red. My hair is wet with blood at the ends, clinging against my body like a second skin. 

“I’m saying that they are f*****g dead,” I sneer the words out and this time, it’s one of the guys who hit me, he pistol whips me and I can’t help but groan out loud. I want to say that I’m a Creed and that they’ll pay for this but since I’ve abandoned my humanity I am no longer a Creed. 

“Jinx take Breeland to Henderson, tell him we can’t get the mission started, that we’re down two people and that we need them to come down here and help us clean this mess up.” 

“We can’t leave you alone-” 

“Just do it!” I’m looking up to see who is giving the orders, but I’m starting to feel too tired to even move. I can hear as they are walking away, and the sound of them getting in a car and driving off, it’s only this man and I now. 

We are in pure and utter silence, there’s the faint sound of other people breathing, and now I remember the people from the van. Why haven’t they left? And why weren’t they killed for witnessing this crime? “I’m going to ask you some questions.” I’m being picked up by my hair and slammed up against a car, I open my eyes now, the faded color of my truck greets me and the sight of that man I slammed into the van. “Look at me.” He orders, but I don’t turn my head, the world is beginning to fade away. 

Another shot is fired, agony courses through me once again and I’m shooting up from the hood of the truck, clutching the same thigh that was shot before. Crying out as I grip my thigh, my thigh is pulsing from the pain. “When were you turned?” 

“f**k you!” My voice is a roar of defiance. I’m going to die. 

A knife is slamming into my thigh now, barely missing my fingers, I throw my head back from the pain. Another scream leaves me, my heart is pounding so violently inside of me, the silver is making my insides burn. 

“What pack are you from?”

“I’m going to f*****g kill you.” He’s pulling the knife out and stabbing me again, he does it so that the two stabs form an X. Panting, that’s all I can hear besides my blood rushing in my ears, my chest is aching as well. He waits for me to find my voice, I force myself to seem defeated. “Pack?” I ask as if I am stupid. 

“I’m assuming you turned recently, girl.” I’m barely keeping myself up, my hands are shaking and they reach for the knife but he points the gun at me. “Touch it and I’ll shoot you this time.” My hands stop immediately. “You claim to have killed the two hunters,” He says. “I know a newly turned wolf wouldn’t be able to do that.” He puts his gun under my chin, tilting my head upwards so my eyes can meet his. “Who killed them?” 

I’m glaring at him, my lips are trembling, my hands tremble, and I can’t get my breathing under control. He’s going to kill me. “I didn’t do it,” I whisper breathlessly. “There was a girl,” I’m lying through my teeth. “She came out of the woods, covered in blood and with a duffle bag, she saw that I had a scar just like hers and she told me to give her my car.” I have to pause, the pain is spreading up my thigh to my hip, I can even feel it in my knee. “She told me to take her car, to put the tarp on before I left so no one would see her things and then she told me to dump the car off further out.” 

It’s quiet, and then it isn’t, my scream echoes around us as he pulls out the blade. “You’re coming with me.” He puts away his gun and knife, grabbing me by my hair and yanking me off the hood of my truck. He’s walking across the lot towards his car, my ass is against the ground as he drags me, I force myself to make a show of kicking and screaming. 

Raising my right leg over and over as close as I can to my chest, until my fingers are finally able to grip the hilt of my hunting knife. Killing humans is far easier than wolves, the thought comes to me at the sight of my blood in front of me. I won’t die here. 

You kill whoever threatens your life. 

I let out a loud cry of frustration, before swinging my left arm outwards, the knife lodges into his hip and I force my hand to drag the knife down. He’s falling to the ground, letting me go, the back of his right boot slams into my back and we’re both crying out. I cry out for a second but he cries out from pure and utter agony. 

My screams are from rage as I twist myself onto my belly, gripping as hard as I can the fabric of his pants, pulling myself up until I am at eye level with the back of his head. “Like I said, you dumb motherfucker,” My words are a savage growl, a wild need to kill, no, to tear him apart rises inside of me. “I’ll f*****g kill you, and a Creed never breaks their f*****g promise,” I whisper the words into his ears, so low that even I can barely hear my own voice beneath his groans. 

“You-” The knife is in his neck before he can say anything else, my hunting knife is a traditional one, one where only the blade is silver and the hilt is a regular grip. Complete silver makes the blades slippery when they are covered in blood, but a hilt made of leather stays in your grasp even if it's slick with blood. 

I pull out the knife, breathing in and out heavy as I roll over onto my back, groaning out loud. In a single motion, I push my upper body up and I’m sitting on my ass, legs stretched out, beneath my heavy breathing I can still hear those people whispering to each other. 

“You can come out, now,” I say it without raising my voice if they were human the cops would be on their way already. I listen to them as they are shuffling through snow, it’s amazing how much my ears can hear now, I turn to my right. They hid closer to the woods, going towards where I had been with Fox. Three males and a female, if I was human I would kill them, even now I know I should kill them. Feral animals are an abomination to this world. “Thanks for all the help,” I growl the words out to them and the tallest of the males is the one who speaks. 

“I would have helped if I could,” He says. “But my arm’s broken.” I stare in shock as he raises his right hand, how had I missed that? “These two haven’t even gone through the first shift and she’s pregnant.” I look to the girl, he isn’t lying, she has a small bump that must have been hidden earlier by her jacket. “We would have just gotten in your way.” He says, he glances at the dead hunter and then his eyes are back on me. 

“He sent others to get help,” I mumble out. “I’m sorry about your van, I haven’t been one of you for long,” I whisper the words, my knife hasn’t let my hand yet, I’m trembling at the thought of taking out the bullets in my thigh. “I can’t control my strength too well.” 

“How long?’ The girl is the one who asks, the question brings tears to my eyes. 

“About a month.” I lie to her, it’s only been over half a day. “We need to get out of here before those psychos come back with more people.” 

“Let me help you up,” One of the boys steps forward, he holds both hands out, I look at his hand and then down at my knife. With a nod I shove the knife into my boot, it slides in perfectly into the little holster. I take his hands and he pulls me to my feet, I’m careful not to put any weight on my left leg. 

“We aren’t far from the pack so I can take the bullets out on the way there, it’ll hurt like a b***h though.” The pregnant girl is talking as this boy is helping me hop towards my truck. “You said this was the hunters truck right?’ I nod as she asks me. “They won’t find it in pack land, give Sam the keys so that he can drive.” 

Sam is waving his hand, he’s bald with a baby face that reminds me of my brother when he was younger. Dark brown eyes look nervous, but the older man slaps his back. “You’ll do good, Sammy. I’m the best teacher and as long as that baby ain’t stick we’re good.” He looks at me and I nod, it isn’t sticking, all though my other truck was. “I’m Frances, Sammy and Noel are my younger brothers, that there is Milly. She’s my best friend and my older brother’s mate.” 

We’re at my truck fairly quick, Noel removes the tarp and instantly gags, the smell of silver is strong. “For f**k’s sake.” He whispers. “This hunter must have been a real murderer,” They are helping me onto the truck, lowering me down so that I can sit, I’m closer to the duffle full of silver. The smell makes my throat burn but I don’t complain. “Now she’s running around like she’s one of us.” 

Noel is helping Milly onto the truck and she makes her way beside me, on my left side. She waits until the truck starts moving, “Her own kind will kill her,” Milly says as she tears open my pants, getting a clear view of my thigh. “I heard they don’t care if it is their own family, they just kill each other once they’ve been bitten.” Milly pulls her jacket off completely, tearing fabric from her long sleeve and then tying it around my thigh, close to my hip. She does it in one swoop, tying tight enough so that my blood won’t spill out. 

She looks up at me. “Grab my jacket and bite down on it,” I do as she says and she looks at me with sad eyes. “I’m going to have to use that knife in your boot to take the bullets out since they are stuck in there, and let’s pray to the goddess that you pass out because it’ll be painful.” 

My heart starts racing at the thought of silver entering my body but I nod to her, closing my eyes and biting down on the jacket. Blinding pain takes over, making me cry out in agony, my hands press the jacket to my face. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I open my eyes at Milly’s voice, she looks like she’s in pain herself as she digs out the first bullet. The second the first ones out I let the jacket fall, panting heavily, my eyes look to the bullet. It’s covered in my blood and balancing on the blade, Milly flings it off the truck and I am lunging forward, trying to catch it before it is too far but I’m not quick enough. 

“No!” I scream out, my hands are gripping the truck for dear life so my body doesn’t fall out. “s**t,” I sneer the words out. “s**t, s**t, s**t!” I push myself back, falling against the duffle and turning to Milly. “They’ll find me with that!” I cry out, snatching the knife from her and then digging it into my thigh, I’m digging out the silver myself. I bite down on my lower lip, the tears don’t stop, I can feel the bullet moving upwards so I push my fingers in. Silver is burning my skin and tinting it red, searing flesh as if it were a hot skillet. 

The second it’s out of my thigh I wrap my hand into a fist, the bullet is still in my hand. “This is all they need to find us, just that little bullet and a few f*****g bloodhounds and they will be slitting our throats while we sleep.” I don’t need to scream to make my point, my voice is a rough drawl of pain as I speak, fear is laced into every word as I open the duffel and throw the bullet in there. I look at my hand, staring at the way my skin has been burned and then I let out a dry laugh. 

“I shouldn’t be here,” I whisper. “This isn’t my life.” I should be the one preparing to hunt down wolves. Not waiting to be hunted by something I once was. Once those people go to that f*****g Henderson and tell them my description whatever f*****g Henderson it is will know it’s me. I’ve met the successors of that clan, I’ve shared many moments with them, that person will know my exact face and body and even the way I speak. They will know everything. A hunter never forgets. A hunter is trained to remember everything about their enemy. 

“How do you know that?” Milly asks and I turn to her rolling my eyes. 

“From the man who turned me.” I lie through my teeth as I wipe the blood from my knife against the sleeve of my shirt. Staring at it with fear. “He didn’t leave me to fend for myself,” If the silver burns my flesh from just touch then it’ll burn these wounds shut. “We don’t leave behind anything that we can track because they’ll just track it too.” Actually, the rule I learned is as follows, ‘Even if those filthy dogs leave behind their s**t you pick it up and you take it to a hound, they’ll track those fuckers down.’ I know how we work. 

I let out a shaky breath before pressing the silver against the wounds, whimpering out loud, pulling the knife away before cursing. “He was killed by those fuckers and I’m not going to let myself get killed, you take me to your pack and you give me some time to get this outta my system and I will be on my f*****g way because they know where all the packs are. It’s just a matter of time before they decide to burn them down.” We don’t know where every pack is, but finding packs isn’t too hard, there are always signs. Injured wildlife, scared dogs in neighbors, the wildlife begin to run from where they are. Sometimes they assimilate in cities and more often than not it’s their violent outbursts and their nocturnal habits that get them caught. Having to shift an entire night once a month since they are living away from their nature. 

If I’m going to play the survivalist then might as well go all the way. “Why don’t you wait till we’re at the pack so they can look at those-” 

“I’ll bleed out to death!” I snap at the boy before pressing the blade over the last open wound, my body is sweating and the trembling hasn’t stopped. If only I’d been smarter, I wouldn’t be here, sitting beside two of the creatures I hunt for a living. 

Now I’m one of them, allergic to something so trivial, and the subject of a hunt. A savage being capable of destroying dozens of us, they used to do so before, burning human settlements and raping and killing. It’s in the history books of our Association, there’s text written by our ancestors, speaking of monsters who took the form of humans and shifted into wolves the size of bears. Of course, there are more than just werewolves, but my family has always specialized in killing wolves, and I specialize in killing wolves. Now I am one. 

I can’t stop the tears that fall, I wipe them away quickly, sliding the knife into its holster and nodding to Milly. “Thanks for taking it out anyway,” I mumble, looking away from her and staring at the open road. 

“It must be hard,” I frown at her words, turning to look at her, she looks sad. “You got bit and become something that humans see as terrifying.” She places a hand over her small baby bump, I almost want to ask her how many months is she, but that thing inside of her is not a baby it’s a monster that will grow up to be a killer. 

“You had to leave your family, right?” I don’t nod, I don’t even want to offer her any emotion, but my vision is blurring. “You had to leave everything behind and now you’re alone,” She whispers and it makes my heartache. I shouldn’t have fought for my life. Milly reaches out, her hands are on my cheeks and her thumbs are wiping away my tears. “But you aren’t alone now,” She says. “We’re meant to be in packs because our kind craves love and affection, we are a big family that looks out for one another.” Why does my heart yearn for that? “You have us now,” I let myself fall against her, my arms wrap around her and I sob into her shoulder, my body is shaking and I hold onto her as if she is my savior.