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Chapter 7

"And there you have it, girl. That was the story of how I accepted my fluffball's Offering of the Fangs and joined the lyccan pack of Howling Grove."

"Oh, wow..." said Elise, thoroughly moved by Marjorie's story. "I had no idea any of that had happened. Then again... you said it was fifteen years ago, right? So I must have been six years old at the time; far too young to remember you or your aunt... if we ever met before, that is."

"I might have seen you and your mom at church a few times, but that's it. We never actually talked."

"Yeah, I suppose that makes sense."

"Heh, now I just want to finish our mission here and go back to my fluffball, so I can give him a giant hug and tell him again how much I love him!"

"Well, Anabelle and the others should be back soon," said Rose, pointing at the nearly spent hourglass. "It's been almost an hour since they left."

"What? Already? Whoa, time sure flies, doesn't it?"

"That, and you sure couldn't help spending half the story practically drooling over how cute and dreamy your Fleetpaw is," the black she-wolf said with a teasing tone. "I mean, did you really need to tell us how much you love to stroke his fluffy athletic chest and ride his junk?"

"Hey! It was my story and I'll tell it however I want!"

"Well," said Elise, "For what it's worth, I thought it was a very cute and heartwarming story. It's awesome that their love made them both more confident in themselves, finding support in one another."

"Thank you!" emphatically exclaimed Marjorie in a 'See? She gets it!' kind of tone.

"Yeah, yeah. Love conquers all and all that mushy fairytale stuff," said Rose with a dismissive wave of her paw. "I dunno. It just bothers me that she never did anything about those bullies. If I was her, I swear to God, I would have kicked them in the balls so hard, even their great-grandkids would have felt it."

"I wasn't a violent person, okay?" said the big gray she-wolf. "I just wasn't raised that way."

"Whatever. My point is, you lost your chance to get even with them."

"I don't care. I have Fleetpaw, and I don't really need anything else."

"Alright, fine," sighed Rose. "As long as you're happy, I guess..."

Her curiosity piqued, Elise turned to the black she-wolf.

"Um... What did you mean when you said she lost her chance to get even with them?" she asked her.

Rose and Marjorie immediately looked at each other.

"You didn't teach her the core rules of the pack?" the former asked the latter.

"We hadn't gotten there yet!" the latter responded, eliciting a frustrated sigh from the former. "Cut me some slack, Rose! There are only so many books we can go through at a time, and you know it!"

The she-wolf with the black coat of wild fur shook her head. Then, after sighing yet again, she began to recite:

" Core rule number six: All lycca must protect themselves."

" Core rule number five: All lycca must serve and protect the pack before themselves."

" Core rule number four: All lycca must serve and protect their mates and cubs before the pack."

" Core rule number three: No lycca born of lycca-vanni may set foot in lands claimed by man."

" Core rule number two: No lycca may spill the blood of man, unless it conflicts with rules four, five or six."

" Core rule number one: All core rules are absolute, unless they conflict with rule number four."

Rose sat down as her words lingered in the silence of that dusty, filthy basement.

"Yep. Those are the six rules," nodded Marjorie. "Confusing, aren't they? Well, the main takeaway here, I believe, is that one's mate and children are always one's top priority, then the pack, and then oneself."

"Also, that you can't hurt, let alone kill humans... unless in self-defense or, y'know, to defend your mate or whatever," added Rose.

"Yeah, and that's why Rose mentioned that I can no longer just go and, say, kick those bullies in the teeth for what they did to me, Elise. Since I'm a lycca now and they're not, that wouldn't be self-defense anymore, but retaliation, which is essentially a big no-no."

"But... but... Where does this leave me?" asked Elise, suddenly panicking. "I-- I already broke the second rule, didn't I?"

"Oh, you mean Mordrick?" said the jet-black she-wolf. "You're fine, Elise. That was before you even bonded with Fang, so the rules didn't apply to you yet. And even if they did, you didn't actually intend to kill that man. You only wanted to save Fang's life, which you did! Besides, that Mordrick was a piece of shit through and through, and definitely got what was coming to him. In fact, I would have spat on his corpse for good measure if I was you."

"Yeah, you're good, girl," offered Marjorie in turn. "No broken rules here, as far as I'm concerned."

"A-alright..." exhaled Elise, putting her lingering fears to rest. "Fang told me something like that too. Though I didn't know about these rules back then. So I guess hearing about them just now scared me a bit. Ah, but if they're so important, I'll make sure I have them memorized before the test!"

"That shouldn't be too hard," said Rose. "If you think about it, all those rules hope to accomplish is that the pack never runs afoul of mankind. They keep everyone united and safe in the heart of the forest, where man can't reach us. We vanni are allowed to come to the village because, like I told you before, we're still part human, and someone has to do it in order to get things for the pack that the forest can't provide."

"Right. But who set those rules anyway? Was it the Grand Alpha?" asked Elise.

"Well, according to the myths, they were set millennia ago by the original vanni, from whom the first twelve lycca came to be. She then ascended to the night sky to become Mother Moon, or so goes the legend. And that's really all we have on that."

"Whatever the case, what we _do_know is that the boys somehow have the rules encoded into their blood," continued Marjorie, adding to what Rose had said. "They're part of their very being since birth. In fact, for them, the mere concept of disobeying those rules is... uh, what was that word again?"

"Anathema."

"Yeah, that. It's just a fancy way of saying that it can't happen. It's pretty much what you'd call a biological impossibility. But the same can't be said about us girls. Since all of us have been regular humans born of other regular humans, we don't have any of that stuff encoded into our blood. That's where the Grand Alpha comes into play," she explained. "I mean, he already has the power to magically remove vanni from the forest and erase all related memories, and all that without ever moving from his chamber. It also seems pretty obvious that he's well above the whole vanni worship thing that the rest of the boys embrace. So, if anyone is in a position where they can easily and swiftly punish a rogue girl who's breaking the rules for whatever reason, that'd be him."

"Huh... The more I hear about this Grand Alpha, the more I wonder how he does the things he does," said Elise as she slowly paced around the room. "There are a lot of enchanted artifacts in and around Howling Grove, like the invisible barrier that protects it, the pedestal where the Moon Stones appear, the chamber that can never be remembered... and yet not a single lycca I've met can wield even the tiniest bit of magic, other than the ability to transform into wolves!"

"Yes, we've all wondered about that too. Like you said, lycca can't wield any more magic than you or I can... which is none, transformations aside," stated Marjorie. "We think that the source of all the magic in Howling Grove is inside that chamber. That might be one of the reasons the Grand Alpha never leaves that place. Maybe he has to guard it or something."

"Oh, well... I suppose I'll find out in three days or so. Too bad I won't remember any of it anyway!" said Elise as she touched her Moon Pendant with her paw.

"Yeah, it's crazy to think that we all must have learned the truth at some point, when we took the Grand Alpha's test. It's just that that knowledge never stays with us when we have to leave his chamber."

By this point, the sand in Rose's hourglass had already finished passing through to its lower half, signaling that one hour had elapsed.

"Well, it's time," said the black she-wolf. "It won't be long before Anabelle's group is back."

"I hope they could find some clothes for you, Elise!" said the gray one. "It'll be fun to see what you look like as a human!"

"How do they get the items anyway?" asked Elise.

"Short answer: any way they can," simply said Rose. "Anything goes, so long as no violence is involved, as per the rules."

"That... sounds dangerous. And not very, uh, lawful..."

"Eh, no one gets hurt. But, yeah, it _is_dangerous," the huntress admitted. "The girls can handle themselves just fine, though. Trust me."

"Yeah, Anabelle in particular is like a shadow. When she doesn't want to be seen, she just won't be seen. As innocent and sweet as she may look, that girl's a natural child of the night; a true phantom thief like no other! The pack was very lucky that not only was such a prodigy living in the village, but also that she was fated to hear the call of the forest!" said Marjorie.

"Really? Anabelle, a phantom thief? Oh, wow. I, uh... I just had no idea!" exclaimed Elise; her mouth agape.

"Yep, she's got talent," proudly nodded Rose as she put her hourglass back in the bag. "I'm glad I was able to realize her potential last year, when she asked me to train her for her test. She was like a gem in the rough, and I had a great time polishing it to a perfect shine."

'Ah, yes. I had forgotten that she had seen 'something wild' in Anabelle's eyes,' thought Elise to herself. 'I suppose she, uh... wait. Wait a minute--'

The grayish brown she-wolf stood silent for a few moments, realizing that something didn't quite add up. Something was wrong, or didn't quite make sense...

"Wait," she said aloud. "So, Anabelle is two years younger than me, right?"

"Yeah? What with that?"

"And you, Margie. You said she lived in this village too, just like me, right?" she asked, turning to Marjorie.

"I, uh... Yes? W-where are you going with this, girl?"

"Remember how I said I had never seen an albino until today? Well, I just realized... How come I never saw Anabelle before, if we both grew in the same tiny village at around the same time? Actually, I hadn't even heard of her before, or that there was an albino girl living in the village at all!"

Neither Rose nor Marjorie said anything to that.

"Also, she 'asked' you to train her, Rose?" continued Elise. "But I thought she was mute?"

"She isn't mute," suddenly spoke the robust gray she-wolf. "It's... complicated."

"Anabelle had a rough life, Elise," somberly sighed Rose, flicking her black tail. "There's a reason why no one in the village ever knew she even existed, but I'm not comfortable talking about it without her being present."

"Yeah, me either. I'm afraid you're going to have to wait until we're all back in Howling Grove and she gives us permission to tell you her story."

"A-alright..." said Elise, already regretting asking those questions. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it was that serious. Just... forget I said anything. Anabelle is so nice and sweet... I'd hate to open whatever old wounds she might have."

"She's much stronger than you may think," affirmed the jet-black she-wolf. "I'm sure she won't mind us telling you her story, so long as we don't do it behind her back."

"Yeah, maybe tomorrow night?" proposed the bigger one. "We could make it a sleepover at her den or something. She likes that kind of stuff."

"We'll figure that out later. They're coming now," said Rose as she turned her head toward the staircase that went up to the only door in the room. A door that soon opened, letting three figures inside. "You're four minutes late, ladies. Come on, let's wrap this up," she firmly spoke to them in her commanding voice.

Thus, they walked down the staircase and spread their loot on the floor. There were some bunched up articles of clothing, jars of food, a rolled up piece of paper, oil for the lamps, and even some jewelry that they could trade for other goods at some other time. Everyone then began to stuff everything into the bags they had brought with them.

Although Elise didn't exactly approve of how those items had been procured, she kept her mouth shut and simply helped the others bag everything. As she did that, the brownish wolf girl noticed that some of the items looked oddly familiar.

"Oh, by the way," said one of the two vanni from Anabelle's group, interrupting Elise's thoughts. "We've seen some 'Wanted' posters with Elise's name on them around the village. It looks like they're accusing her for Mordrick's death, and have put a price on her head. We've been to her old house too. It was boarded shut, but breaking in was easy. That's where half of the items come from."

"Oh! I knew I had seen these clothes before!" exclaimed the she-wolf with the grayish brown coat of fur; her Moon Pendant dangling on her neck. "I never thought I'd have them back! Thank you!"

"You're welcome! Oh, and we took one of those posters too. It's that rolled up piece of paper over there. I suppose you can keep it as a souvenir or something!"

"Oh, this I have to see!" said Rose, eagerly unrolling the poster with her paws to reveal a poorly drawn sketch of Elise's face in front and profile. "Looking good, girl! Heh, I guess you're officially an outlaw now!"

"I have one of those too!" exclaimed Marjorie in turn. "Wait, they're offering a higher reward for you? Oh, well... I guess murder is a more serious accusation than lycanthropy."

"I, uh..." began Elise. "I'm not sure how I feel about knowing that everyone in the village will remember me as a murderer."

"Ah, but what is it to you?" responded the black-coated she-wolf. "I say, let them think whatever they want to think. It's not like it matters anyway. Besides, they'll forget all about it in a few months, you'll see."

"Alright! Everything's bagged!" announced the big gray one.

Anabelle and her two companions nodded. Without wasting a single second, they took off their clothes, shoved them into the bags and proceeded to assume their feral wolf forms once again. After that was done, everyone grabbed a bag with their mouths, except for Rose, who grabbed the two oil lamps instead. And then, led by their black furred leader, the six she-wolves squeezed themselves back into the crack in the wall from whence they had come.

The crawl through the tunnel was as cramped as it was uneventful, and they all eventually emerged into the forest, where Fang, Darkhowl and the other males had been waiting for them. Once the big boulder was put back in its place, the entire group returned to Howling Grove to celebrate their mission's success. And that, technically speaking, was Elise's first venture into St. Belaroix since becoming a werewolf a few days prior.

Later that night, after the celebration, the young werewolf girl returned to Fang's den early while Fang himself stayed behind to mingle with his brethren for a few moments more. Upon arriving, she began to fold each retrieved article of clothing into a small chest she had gotten from Marjorie. Most of those clothes were Elise's, while a few others had belonged to her late mother. The brownish she-werewolf was particularly reverent with that second group, handling it with extra care and consideration. Then, once the chest was closed, she covered it with the handkerchief that symbolized her union with her beloved lycca mate.

'Who would have thought that this old piece of cloth would become my most treasured possession?' she thought to herself as she gazed nostalgically at the square piece of fabric. 'I'm so glad Fang took good care of it throughout the past three years, keeping it washed and clean. I don't even want to imagine the state it might have been in otherwise!'

Then, she changed into her human self and put on a silky, bluish nightgown she had purposefully left aside. Thus, wearing nothing but that and her ever present pendant, she lay down on the rustic bedding she shared with Fang and waited... And that's how the latter found her when he returned to their den only moments later: lying on her side as the nightgown gracefully hugged the enticing curves of her form; a seductive smile upon her lips.

Needless to say, that nightgown didn't stay on for long.

~*~

The next morning.

Somewhere in the great forest of Lanea, in a circular clearing to the southeast of Howling Grove, two female werewolves sparred while a third one watched from the sidelines.

"Grah!" snarled Elise as she sequentially slashed toward Rose over and over, alternating between her left and right claws in succession. The latter blocked and deflected each blow with the efficiency and precision years of experience had bestowed upon her.

"Spread your legs a bit more. Twist your body along the arc of your arm. Swing your tail in the opposite direction. Yes, like that. Keep it up," instructed the jet-black she-werewolf as she continued parrying Elise's rhythmic offensive.

The white lycca-vanni sitting at the edge of the clearing, Anabelle, simply watched them in silence with her big emerald eyes as she casually ate an apple.

"Alright, that's enough practice," suddenly declared Rose, halting the sparring session. "Your form needs work still, but we're getting there."

"Oh, geez... I had no idea that fighting could be so hard!" exclaimed Elise, catching her breath.

"Nah. Fighting is easy. Fighting _well_is hard. But that's why we're practicing! Practice makes perfect, didn't you hear?"

"Yeah, I know..." the brownish werewolf girl responded, lapping up some refreshing water from a nearby bowl. "So, do you think I'll be ready for the test?"

"Yeah, you've already got the basics down. Now it's just a matter of polishing that."

"Ah, well, I still hope the Grand Alpha doesn't make me fight him or something. I just don't like the idea of using my claws for violence."

"That's what claws are designed for, though," observed Rose, taking the bowl from Elise and lapping up some water herself. "Like it or not, you are a deadly weapon now. You might as well learn how to best take advantage of it. Besides, it's not so much about the fighting as it is about internalizing those skills so that you can use them to avoid fights. Or to defend yourself effectively should anything ever threaten you or those you care about."

"Learning how to fight in order to avoid fights? That... sounds a bit contradictory."

"Well, this kind of physical training helps you understand how your own body works, while also strengthening those muscles and honing your reflexes, not to mention building up your confidence in yourself. All of which will greatly improve your chances of escaping danger unharmed. Remember that you want to always choose 'flight' over 'fight' in any conflict you don't initiate yourself... unless you're actually cornered and you have no other choice. But that will never happen if they can't catch you, right?"

Elise stopped to ponder about it for a few moments.

"Are you talking about those monthly excursions to the village?"

"Now you're getting it. And here's the best part: once you are good enough, you'll find that those skills will also extend to your human self. Or why do you think Anabelle and the others are so good at thieving around the village without being seen?"

"I... see," quietly said Elise as she briefly eyed the white-coated werewolf girl, who simply continued to eat her apple innocently. "So, they never got caught?"

"They had a close call once. It was about eight months ago, I think, when Anabelle was still somewhat green. A con had gone wrong, and five burly men had cornered her inside a barn, leaving her with no manner of escaping. Can you guess how she got out of that one?"

"I-- don't know! How did she do it?"

"She kicked their butts, that's how. And she didn't even need to change into her werewolf form! Her human self was enough!"

Elise tried to picture the petite nineteen-year-old albino girl she had seen the prior night, sweeping the floor with five large men inside a barn, and found it impossible.

"B-but... Didn't that break the core rules?" she eventually asked.

"Self-defense. Also, no one died. She only knocked them out."

"Oh, wow... I, uh... I just can't imagine how good she must be!"

Rose laughed.

"Oh, yeah, she's good. In fact, I have an idea..."

The jet-black she-werewolf turned toward the white-coated one and shouted:

"Hey, Anabelle! What do you say we show Elise a real werewolf fight?"

Having already finished her apple, the white lycca-vanni nodded and stood up silently, headed toward the other two.

"Go sit over there and watch us spar," Rose told Elise. "Don't even blink. Pay attention and study our every move. You may learn something still."

"Uh, okay..."

And so, the young she-werewolf wearing a Moon Pendant went to the sidelines to sit down where Anabelle had been. The latter, meanwhile, stood in the center of the arena-like clearing, facing Rose.

"First one to fall loses, sound right?" said the seasoned black-furred huntress as she adopted a defensive stance, raising her claws and grinning in anticipation of the thrill to come. Anabelle simply nodded affirmatively, not yet taking on any particular posture.

"Alright, then! Let's begin!" shouted Rose, tensing her muscles. Even the wild fur on her upper back seemed to puff up and stand on end menacingly!

Her white-coated opponent closed her innocently beautiful green eyes. Then she opened them again. Elise couldn't help but shudder inwardly. All the innocence in those eyes was completely gone, replaced by the chilling, piercing gaze of an implacable predator. It was almost as though there existed two Anabelles sharing the same body; one pure and sweet, the other ruthless and bloodthirsty, and she could switch between the two at will.

'T-those terrible eyes...' thought the brownish werewolf girl to herself. 'They're just like that other time, when we were doing that feral exercise in the eastern side of the forest. How can she be so sweet one moment, and so scary the next?'

But Rose wasn't intimidated. On the contrary, she was nearly bursting with excitement; her grin growing even wider. "Oh, this is going to be great!" she shouted, getting ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Anabelle, in turn, bared her very sharp-looking teeth and took on an almost feral posture, hunching over and raising her claws as her back fur stood on end. Elise held her breath. The nightmarish sight of her otherwise angelic friend was so terrifying, it sent a hair-raising chill down her back!

It's difficult to say which of the two werebeasts lunged forward first. They did, however, meet in the middle, where they both proceeded to unleash a flurry of blindingly fast claw swipes. They leaped and contorted their bodies only a hair's width away from each other's deadly arcing slashes, over and over and over. Such primal fury, such animalistic brutality; it was the clash of two vicious creatures designed to kill!

Slash-Slash-Slash! rapidly went Anabelle's claws in a cross-shaped berserker barrage of supersonic swipes. Rose tackled it head on, intercepting every blow with her own claws. Elise wanted to look away, but found that she couldn't. She was frozen in place, eyes open inexorably wide, spellbound by the harrowing beauty of the two werebeasts' deadly dance.

A spurt of red exploded into the air as four gashes opened up across Rose's defending arm. A sudden blur of motion later, Anabelle's face forcefully hit the ground. The wounded black she-werewolf was on top, pinning her downed opponent with the full weight of her body and a knee firmly planted on her back.

For the next several seconds, time seemed to stand still. Only Rose's exhausted panting breached the tense silence. Finally, after a few moments more, the black-coated one slowly retreated, lifting her weight off Anabelle's back and releasing her arms. Blood trickled out from the wound of the huntress, matting the black fur around it and making it glisten under the sun.

"Good fight!" she said, still catching her breath. "Oh, boy! Had I not taken that risk, I might have lost!"

Then, she extended her good arm and helped Anabelle up. All trace of ferocity gone, the sparkling sweet innocence had returned to the white lycca-vanni's emerald eyes. Indeed, she was like an angel again, and simply smiled her pure, angelic smile in her usual silent ways, as though she hadn't been a savage demon only moments prior.

"W-what was that??" shouted Elise as she hurriedly approached the two.

"Oh, I allowed her to strike me so that I could have a decent shot at grabbing hold of her arm and gaining control of the fight," explained Rose as she calmly walked toward the sidelines. "It was a gamble, and it paid off."

"What? No! I--I mean, what kind of sparring session was that?? I was terrified! I thought you were going to kill each other!!"

"But we didn't, did we?" said the black she-werewolf, grinning while she grabbed a piece of cloth off the ground. "Don't underestimate our expertise, Elise. We have a lot of accumulated battle experience and the refined self-control that comes with it."

Elise sputtered incoherently for a few moments.

"B--buh--but-- W-what do you call _that_then??" she shouted, pointing at Rose's wounded arm.

"Eh, it's just a scratch. It's nothing," dismissively said the black-furred huntress as she wrapped the piece of cloth tightly around her bleeding arm. "It'll heal at night anyway, when the light of the moon can shine on it. So, forget about it and tell me: what did you learn?"

"I learned never to get into a fight with either Anabelle or you in my life!"

"Heh. I can't say that's a bad takeaway! But I was hoping that you'd also notice how neither of us used our fangs in that fight. And you know why that is? It's because our claws are our best assets when we are in our werewolf forms. The feral wolf form lacks sharp claws, so it can only rely on its fangs to fight. To make up for it, its bite is three times more powerful than the bite of the werewolf form. You'd do well to remember that, as you'll want to choose one or the other depending on who your opponent is."

"Oh, I... I didn't know that."

"Now you do. And you know what else?" said Rose, examining her wrapped-up arm. "Once you've acquired enough experience, you can also learn to switch back and forth between your forms on the fly, to make the best use of your two main weapons in a single fight! But that's advanced stuff that takes years to master, so don't worry too much about it just yet."

Anabelle approached Rose and began to point in the general direction of Howling Grove.

"Ah, you want to go back home to your Darkhowl?" the latter asked. "Yeah, sure, go ahead. We'll stay here a bit longer."

The white werewolf girl nodded appreciatively, smiling. Then, she turned around and began to walk away, but Rose suddenly stopped her:

"Ah, no, wait, I almost forgot," she said. "Yesterday night, we kind of promised Elise we'd tell her our stories. Marjorie already told her hers while you were in the village, and--"

"N-no, it's fine! It-- it's fine!" quickly said Elise to Anabelle, cutting Rose off. "Y-you don't have to, uh... I mean, I don't-- I don't want to open old wounds..."

The white she-werewolf just tilted her head and looked at her friend confusedly at first, until she eventually understood what was going on. Then, she put a hand on Elise's shoulder, looked at her and gave her a reassuring nod and a pleasant little smile.

"Well, there you go! I knew she'd be fine with it!" said Rose to Elise. Then, turning to Anabelle, she added: "Marjorie proposed that we should do it tonight at your den, like a sleepover or something. So, uh, would that work for you?"

The response came in the form of a firm nod and an accompanying thumbs-up.

"Alright! See you tonight, then!"

Thus, the silent werewolf girl cheerfully waved good-bye and left.

"She only ever agrees to let us share her story with those she considers her closest friends," wistfully said the black-coated huntress. "Hmm, I wonder if she sees a little bit of herself in you?"

"Hm? What do you mean, Rose?"

"Ah, don't mind me," she replied, shaking her head. "Just thinking aloud, that's all."

"Alright, so... what now?" asked Elise, sensing that the huntress wouldn't say anything further on the matter.

"Well, I was going to have you practice with me some more, but I suppose we had enough excitement for one day, right?" said Rose with a chuckle as she raised her tightly bandaged arm. "So, I guess I'll just tell you my story now."

"Oh! You're going to tell me how you met Daggerclaw and took his Offering of the Fangs?"

"Sure! But let me tell you right now: don't expect any romantic shit, because you'll find none. That just isn't my style, alright?"

"Huh... That only makes me more curious! But... you're soma-bonded to him, aren't you? So, you do love him."

"We understand and complement each other deeply, yes. You can call it love if you want, I suppose. I know I do sometimes."

Elise was growing increasingly confused.

"But, uh... Do you love him or not?"

"Let me put it this way. He's the only one who's ever been and will ever be allowed to touch me. Does that answer your question?"

"I... I guess?"

"Alright! So, then, let's begin..."

To be continued...