A Mate From The Past

Conclave

The first rays of dawn revealed a gruesome crime scene on the front lawn of a grand mansion. The air was thick with an eerie stillness as police officers surveyed what appeared to be the aftermath of a horrific crime. The lifeless body of a woman lay sprawled amidst torn garden foliage, her clothes in pieces, and wounds suggesting a brutal struggle. Claw marks adorned her dead form, hinting at a ferocious attacker. Police tape cordoned off the area as more and more police cars arrived.

Amidst the manicured lawns surrounding the mansion, the police officers tried to piece together what might have transpired here.

"Did you see the state of that poor woman?" an old woman gasped as she grasped Marcus' arm.

"I did, Bertha. Are they saying anything about what might have happened to her?" he grunted, his keen eyes observing the corpse that lay some distance away from his front lawn.

"The officers aren't saying much. I think they're going to ask us questions. It is a respectable neighbourhood. Surely they wouldn't suspect anybody here of committing such a terrible crime," she complained.

"You can never say for sure, Bertha. It's a crazy world we live in," Marcus responded, patting the old woman's hand with his as he turned around to enter his house.

"I've heard rumours, Marcus," Bertha announced, stopping him from entering his house.

"Oh yeah? What'd you hear, Bertha?" he asked with a smile lighting up his face. He knew how the women in the neighborhood came up with crazy stories to explain occurences such as this one.

"They say it's a vampire," she whispered, nodding to emphasize the weight of what she had just said.

"A vampire? You have a good day, Bertha," he laughed, shutting his door behind him.

Immediately he gets inside his house, his mood changes. Bertha may not have been correct about the vampire story, but the explanation from what happened on his front lawn was not far from it. It was a wolf attack; he was sure of it.

He picked up his phone and dialled a number.

"Hello, Mitchell. I need you to gather everyone. There has been an attack," he said quickly, peeping through his blinds at the officers who were currently moving the body into a body bag and keeping Bertha and other concerned neighbours away from the scene.

"Yes, right here in Bloodhaven. I don't know, but it sure looks like a wolf attack. No human could inflict the injuries I saw this morning," he continued.

He ended the call, slipping the phone into his pocket and shutting his blinds.

The next three hours saw the arrival of several members of the pack. The first to arrive was Mitchell, whom he had called earlier.

"What's going on, Marcus?" he asked as he walked through the front door. Marcus didn't answer immediately. He shut the door behind Mitchell and ushered him into the house.

"There was a dead woman on my front lawn this morning. There were unmistakable bite and claw marks. There's a rogue wolf out there, I'm telling you," Marcus shrieked.

Mitchell looked like he just got hit by a ton of bricks. He was a professor at the university, and there hadn't been such a violent attack on Bloodhaven territory in such a long time.

"Have you reached out to the rest?" Marcus asked, interrupting Mitchell's train of thoughts.

"Oh yeah, they should be on their way right now," he blurted out.

"Did you call Sabrina?" Marcus asked with a curious look in his eyes.

"Come on, man. You know she doesn't want to hear from me," Mitchell complained, walking away from Marcus towards the sofa.

"Alright then, I'll call her myself," Marcus said, reaching for his phone and dialling her number. As the line rang, another knock sounded on the door, prompting him to hurry towards it.

Sabrina had accompanied her boyfriend Richard to a ball to make up for the interruption in their lovemaking last night. She had managed to cook up an excuse that she needed to poo, and that she couldn't let him see that. Richard didn't think much of it; he was thankful nothing had happened to her, given the howl he heard in the woods that night.

Richard's mother was there too. He was receiving an award that night. Sabrina stared at her phone for the umpteenth time. Marcus had called her severally; but she was reluctant to pick. Ever since she left the pack, she'd come to enjoy some semblance of a life that had eluded her at Boodhaven, one she wouldn't let anything interrupt.

There were prominent people in attendance here tonight. They quickly settled at a table reserved for them.

"We would like to welcome to the stage, Richard Mason," the announcer said, smiling in his direction. The entire hall erupted in applause as a smiling Richard got off his seat and walked towards the stage.

"Go, Babe," Sabrina urged, collecting his phone as he left. Richard's mother did not approve of his relationship with Sabrina. She never failed to show it each time they were together.

Sabrina's phone had started ringing again, and this time she had to pick.

"Avoiding my calls?" Marcus' grumpy voice came from the other end of the line. It had been a long time since she heard from him, and even though she didn't want to admit it, she missed him.

"Get to the point, Marcus. I'm busy," Sabrina responded coldly. She looked across the table to find Richard's mother glaring at her. It was not a good look taking a call when her boyfriend was receiving an award.

"There has been an emergency; the pack is convening, and you need to be here," Marcus explained quickly. She ended the call and smiled at Richard's mother; whatever the emergency was could wait.

"Well?" Mitchell asked, looking at Marcus with an expectant face.

Marcus shook his head and put his phone back in his pocket.

"What's really going on, Marcus," Nick asked. They were all here now, the four closest members of the pack to his house. Mitchelle, Nick, Logan and Paul.

"Someone killed a human. We need to find out who it is and make them pay," Marcus pointed out.

They all exchanged worried looks. A rogue wolf presented a significant problem the whole pack needed to address; their anonymity here at Bloodhaven creek demanded it.

"Sabrina needs to be here. She's the best tracker we have," Nick said, standing to his feet and looking out the window.

Marcus exhaled tiredly. Sabrina was as stubborn as they come, and given that she wasn't picking his calls right now, he could only imagine how much more effort it would take to convince her to come.

"I'll go talk to her," Logan offered.

Mitchell glared at him, silently objecting to his volunteering.

"Ah, that's great. Take Paul with you in case you run into any problems," Marcus chuckled. Logan glanced at him curiously.

"You'll be fine," Paul laughed as they stood to go.

"Y'all be safe out there. We can only assume that whoever this rogue wolf is already knows us. That corpse appearing on my front lawn this morning is far from a coincidence. Whoever it was knew what they were doing," Marcus warned.

"I need to talk to you," Mitchell whispered to Marcus as the others left.

"It's about Sabrina, isn't it?" Marcus asked knowingly.

"You're not seriously considering bringing her back, are you?"

"I can't do anything to help you Mitchell. It's about the safety of the pack. You know it takes priority over everything else. She needs to be here, that's it," Marcus stated.

"Fair enough," Mitchell succumbed, turning towards the door.

"He said to focus, no turning," the voice muttered in the far end of the dark hotel room. There he was, hunched up in the corner; he could still remember the waitress' screams as she died, the taste of her blood, the soft flesh of her arms and neck. The memories flooded his head, and his canines threatened to reveal themselves.

A knock sounded on the door, pulling him back to the present.

"Room service," the feminine voice called. He was in no state to entertain a human guest.

He hurried towards the door and unlocked it, disappearing into the restroom as she entered. His nostrils flamed as he caught a whiff of her scent; she was here alone.

He staggered towards the mirror as he felt his control slipping away, trying to fight a battle he was sure to loose.

As he gazed into the mirror, he felt the transformation coursing through him. His reflection rippled, features contorting as hair sprouted across his skin. Eyes gleaming with an untamed wildness which replaced his once familiar gaze. The room echoed with the subtle cracking of bones as his form elongated, muscles shifting beneath fur-covered limbs. A shout emerged, primal and resonant, escaping his changing throat. The mirror captured the metamorphosis in eerie detail. Bewilderment mixed with acceptance in his human eyes, now sharing space with the wolf who was taking control.

"Sir, Are you alright?" the woman in the room asked as he heard her footsteps closing in on the door. He tried to answer, to tell her to go away, but all he could manage was a fierce and blood thirsty growl; it was happening again.