Nightmane-Chapter 2
#2 of Nightmane
When I awoke, dear god, all I could feel was the blinding pain. It felt as if my muscles were reshaping, my veins slithering like pythons just beneath my skin. My nose burned like fire, my eyes felt like they were going to burst, my ears were throbbing, and my gums felt like they were going to be torn out. My stomach churned and burned, and my head felt like it was going to split. But my heart, my heart felt like it was going to burst from my chest. The pain was so unbearable that I passed out. I fell in and out of consciousness for what seemed like ages, each time I awoke the pain ebbed away slightly before I passed out again.
This continued until I awoke and the pain had reduced to a dull throb. I blinked open my eyes, at first everything in the room seemed to be moving. I waited until the room slowed, then I tried to push myself up from what I believed to be a bed so that I could get a better view of my surroundings. As I tried to push myself up, my arm screamed with pain, and I gave out a grunt of pain. Then as I collapsed onto the pillow again, I heard the one voice that I thought id never hear again.
"Erik?", Kira whined in dismay and relief.
Her voice sounded distant, like she was far away. A second later her glowing face appeared over me. Her wolf like eyes gazed at me, almost begging for forgiveness. Her eyes looked puffy and red, she had been crying recently. Her normally glowing face was flushed and pale, and her usually tidy and perfect golden hair hung in disarray.
I opened my mouth to say something, but my throat was sore and dry, and when I tried to respond to Kira, nothing came out. I tried once more to speak, but Kira put a finger to my lips.
"Shhhh...", she said, " save your strength, you'll need it. The worst of the change has only just begun.", she said as she looked into my eyes, filled with dismay and fright.
"Here, drink this.", she said as she brought a clear glass to my lips.
I happily drained the entire glass. She set the glass back on the nightstand, and then stared into my eyes. Her eyes pleaded for what looked like forgiveness.
"I-", she began, "I'm sorry Erik.", she said, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry." She continued as the tears began to flow freely down her cheeks.
She put her face into her hands, and I could hear her crying and sniveling in her hands. I wished I could move to comfort her, and tell her that it was okay, that everything would be all right. I tried to push myself back up, when a sharp pain exploded in my back, trailing from my arm, and I gave a howl of pain as I crashed back to the pillow. The room danced in my vision again, and I could feel consciousness start to slip away from me.
"Erik!", Kira yelped as she heard me grunt in pain. "You need to rest," she said, wiping her tears away before adding, "The worst is yet to come."
Her words came slower and more distant, like I was floating away, until her words came out inaudible, then I relinquished myself to the darkness.
The next time I awoke, it was to the inquisitive voice of a man.
"How you feeling there, pup?" he said rather loudly.
I nearly jumped out of my skin. The pain in my body and head were virtually a dull throb. I opened my eyes with a start and quickly scanned the man standing against the wall at the end of my bed. The man was leaning against the wall, hands in his blue jean pockets. He had a very muscular build, and his skin reflected from the sunlight coming in through the window. His face held serious and purposeful gaze. His yellow predator like eyes sized me up like I was some tasty morsel that he could eat in a second. His long black hair was tied in a ponytail. He had a feral looking shadow on his face that only added to my sudden fear of the man. He smelled almost feral, wild even. Among the scents was a musky scent that I couldn't identify.
I pushed myself up from under the covers and shifted myself so that I sat on the edge of the mattress. I started to feel hunger gnawing away in my stomach. My shoulder length raven black hair flowed over my face. I flipped my head so that the hair pushed itself from my face. Then I looked over at him and tried to compose myself to say something.
"How long have I been out?" I said, the only thing that I could muster myself to say while I tried not to beg for food.
He smiled and pushed himself from the wall and said, "Wait here, little one.", before leaving the room.
Little one? Eh whatever, I said to myself. A few seconds later an amazing aroma hit my nose, ever before it came into the room. I flared my nostrils trying to breath in as much of the scent as I could. Then the man came back into the room holding a plate. On the plate was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, a bloody rare steak. It took every part of my will not to lunge across the room and dig my fangs into that steak. Wait, I said to myself, fangs? I never had fangs? Then I noticed it wasn't me who had felt the urge to go lunge across the room and sink my fangs into the steak. Where that dark part of my mind had been a day or two ago, no lay a prescience, not a spiritual possession. This prescience had never been alive, or at least it had never been human. It was a part of me as much as I was a part of it. It's morals were now my own, as well as its strength, dexterity, reflexes, senses, nature, and worst of all it's barbaric fury combined with a ferocious bloodlust.
I was confused at first, and then it dawned on me. The horrible realization of what I was. The presence in my soul and mind had feral aspects and motives, the aspects and cunning of a wolf! I didn't want to believe it, I couldn't. Were-wolves were only things of legend and myth, weren't they? They couldn't be real, its impossible. And yet the beast that was now a part of me knew exactly what we were, and knew that it was real. We were were-wolves, Canis Lupus Lycanthrope, the children of the moon, the brethren of the wolves.
My eyes grew wide as this realization dawned on me. The man came towards me with a wide grin that upon looking at me turned into a somber expression. He put the steak on the nightstand next to me, and then sat down next to me on the mattress. He turned to face me, and his face twisted as if he was looking for the words to explain himself.
"Its never easy," he began with a sigh, " in the beginning. To accept what we are. We are not as the legends of man call us. We are not monsters, we don't lack humanity. We don't eat children as some myths perceive." He let out a sigh, then continued, "They say that we can change into something in-between that of a wolf and a man, and in a way their right. We aren't sure what happens during the change from human to were-wolf. We know that whoever is bitten by a were-wolf is guaranteed to contract lycanthropy, if they survive the change. We know that the change occurs on a cellular as well as a spiritual level. If a person is bitten and survives the change, many things will change. Your strength, dexterity, intelligence and senses go beyond that of a wolf and beyond that of a human. As far as physical differences go, your irises change to a deep blue and after four years or so, they begin to change to amber. Your canines will continue to grow to fangs. Not to mention the mental changes that come with it. No one is really quite sure about the wolf spirit and how it binds and fuses with our mind, body and soul, but it does. It is as much a part of you as your own brain, so it will take some getting used to. But trust me, that's what separates us from the others. After your first full moon you will be able to shift anytime you want, but I'll talk to you about that later." He paused before ending by saying, "Sorry to throw all this at you at once, but try to remember everything I said. And by the way, eat the steak, you'll need the energy. The next full moon is in 24 days, your wolf will get restless, to say the least. So your going to need as much strength as you can get."
He stood and made his way to the door while I just sat and contemplated what he said and what I had become.
Just before he left the room he turned and added, "By the way, the names Loken. Over a few days you'll learn the names of the others. Welcome to the Jersey Pack."
And with that he left. At this point the smell of the steak became too much and I tore into it, just like the thing inside wanted me to. After all that was left of the steak was bone I sat there thinking and contemplating on what Loken had said. Then it came to me. I had to make peace with what I had become, before what I had become controlled who I was.