Blood moon

Chapter 31. Moonlight II

—The blood of both covered the lake that day, the water acquired a red color that remained. It was then that the other wolf arrived, seeing his dead brother and the human he once loved by his side, he understood what happened, he felt anger and sadness— Andrea's face said he understood the pain.

—What happened after that?

—The wolf cried for three days and three nights, then the "Moon God" felt sorry for her son who every time there was a full moon sang for her, she went down to this lake, comforted the animal and granted him a wish to calm the sorrow in his heart— Hunter looked up to the sky for a moment —What do you think happened?

—He brought his brother back to life- a sad smile appeared on the werewolf's mouth.

—No Andrea, I couldn't have done that to him, do you know why?— she shook her head —He had killed the boy who once played with them, it's a pain he couldn't bear coming back to life, his brother would know that, but he wanted to be able to communicate with the man who once fed and protected them.

—So the goddess gave him the ability to speak?— Andrea asked with a smile on her mouth, she imagined the story would end up being something with werewolves, they were popular these days.

—That's what the Goddess wanted, but in her immense wisdom, she knew that emotions could overpower him to harm a man who never intended to hurt them.

—Is that how werewolves were born?

—At least in our stories, yes. I know there are all kinds of stories out there, about how they were formed, but for us the Moon Goddess is the one who started it all— he took a deep breath —The werewolf in his human form went to see the old man who was bedridden, the rage left his system and he felt a deep sense of empathy, he talked to the man who raised him, he told him what happened, the man was completely shocked.

—Anyone would be. They killed his son and now the wolf he raised shows up in human form, it must even be traumatic.

—It was. They both wept over the situation and mourned, but the wolf felt he had to do something, so he went back to the lake asking the Moon Goddess to return, she came after his prayers, heard his tragedy and taking pity once again, told him that if he would give up his wolf side to live as a human, she would give him the cure for the pandemic.

—That's really unfair. She just lost her brother— Andrea felt passionate and disappointed at the same time that in the folk tales, the divinities were always so capricious.

—Everything good needs sacrifices, if you want to save one life with another, you have to be willing to pay the price, that was the injury I wanted to give him.

—It's a very hard lesson, for someone who lived almost all his life as an animal.

—Being a wolf doesn't stop them from feeling— Hunter explained —The new werewolf loved the old man in the bed, it was the only thing he had left, he would give anything to protect him. So he accepted the deal, the Goddess accepted, then turned him into a man during the day, but he could return to the forest to run along with the servants when the moon was full, in exchange for his deal, the water of this clearing is the one that cured him.

—You say this water has healing properties?— The woman's voice sounded completely surprised.

—Yes, at least that is what the stories that our grandparents told us say, these narrations are of oral transference, they may find things that are lost with time or altered— the young man tried to explain, because he understood that she being a New Yorker did not understand the value of what he was explaining to her, he hoped that she would be able to put herself in his place.

—And what happened? What happened between the man and the werewolf?

—It was something not so pleasant, the werewolf brought the cure to the old man, he was healed. He thanked the wolf for all he had done, but asked him to please help the other people in the village— he thought that happened all the time, humans always wanted more from us, even with our sacrifices they were asking for more —The wolf asked the Goddess for permission, it had been her gift after all, so she agreed, but she warned him that the healing would come with a sacrifice, she told them to ask the people in the village if they were willing to make the sacrifice.

—It was to become wolves, right?

—Yes, that's what happened- those words took a smile out of his mouth— The families that accepted the measure of salvation were transformed that night of the full moon, and were guided by the first werewolf, he knew everything about the instincts of the wolves, he became the first leader of the pack, the alpha of those people, then they changed the name of the village and those who did not agree fled, leaving only the children of the moon goddess.

—Was the offspring of werewolves formed?

—Hunter was happy to hear Andrea's acceptance of his stories, the way she looked at him with admiration and amusement.

—It's incredible, the stories that are told in their folklore, when I was growing up I heard stories about how people died in the streets because of carelessness or how you have to defend yourself from all kinds of scams, people have a dream about New York and what they will achieve when they are there, but succeeding is not easy, on the contrary it's kind of grey— Andrea spoke from her nostalgia —I would have liked to have a community like the one here, it's about unity, but in the city, they arrested my neighbor for having child pornography, he was a nice guy, at least that's how he seemed, he never did anything to me, but it makes you realize how dangerous the situation is.

—Are you okay?— Hunter was seeing a new facet of his life —he asked with genuine interest.

Andrea felt vulnerable, opening up about her past. There were many gray days on her way to becoming an adult, she wasn't sure if that was something she needed to tell a man she was sharing her life with, so far it was one of the few times they had a deep conversation.

—I don't know, are you sure about what you are telling me Hunter? There's no going back, if we cross that line— Hunter was interested in getting to know her better.