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"Edeli!"

I reached out to tap her on the shoulder, but she spun around to look at me just before I made contact. I turned the tap into a one-armed hug, taking a seat next to her at the end of the table. "Have you found a... an umbra, for the next Gathering?"

"Senhor Bento..." She looked surprised and terrified, but managed to lean in and whisper a response without screaming and running. "I... I'm working on it, okay? I promise I'll have it soon."

"You have two days," I reminded her. "After that, all bets are off. You'd be in an... extremely comfortable position, now you know who you're dealing with." I had been looking at Edeli but I now took the time to observe her. She was shaking all over, and had gripped the seat of the bench hard with both hands. Her head was dipped in respect and penitence, so I couldn't see her eyes, but her expensive earrings were rocking back and forth as she shook. Her friends were calling her name, asking her who I was, and what was wrong, but she gave no answer. Something twinged inside me, but I had to keep up a hard face. I would scare her once more before I left her.

With both hands I reached for her ear, unhooking both earrings and gripping them in my right fist. I put my left under her chin and lifted her head slightly, so that her ear was in line with my own tilted head. A soft nibble was all it took to get her shrieking. But something hit me, hard, in the side, and I broke contact.

My assaulter was one of Edeli's friends, and in retrospect I can see how he might have guessed I was threatening her. I could have killed him. I could kill him yet. At the time, in a moment of pity, I let him live and instead played the part of an endangered animal. I ran away.

Eventually I turned to see how things had worked out. The small highschool cafeteria had the same bustle it had had before I arrived, with only a few minor differences on the people I had directly interacted with. Edeli was clearly sobbing into her hands, and a young man had his arm around her, probably a friend consoling her and trying to get a story out of her. She was lucky, and she knew it. For her that was probably the best possible outcome. The adolescent who had struck me had sought out a teacher, or some other figure of authority. He would probably describe me, but I have a hundred alibis, all who would testify to me not being there while still being disconnected from me enough to be believable. Even if they linked me to it, they would quickly determine I had to be innocent because I had such a strong backing. But they wouldn't link me to it, because people don't know who I am.

My name is Bento. I won't give a last name, just because I don't want any of you to link this to me. So why write it? Perhaps you will believe I'm an aspiring fantasy writer, rather than the execrable alternative. It's been something of a dream to me to be an author, and no doubt you will accept that I have made all of this up to amuse, surprise, or disturb you. I tell you now that I am making nothing up, but in your realistic lives, where ghosts and ghouls don't exist and where you drop a ball it will always go down, you won't buy this story. I'm acting on that reliance by writing this. In the interest of acting like a writer, I won't tell you what's wrong with me and ruin the surprise until it becomes unavoidable. Instead, I invite you to try and figure it out before I do. And maybe you will.

Edeli was on my mind all that day. I dropped the word pity earlier rather carelessly, as why I didn't strike down her friend. But to be honest I didn't think I was still capable of pity until recently. I've been through a lot of hell, and here I am. It ticks me off whenever someone complains about something small and insignificant, like their own pitiful lives. I wish everyone was like me in that respect and would shut the hell up.

But, Edeli's life was on the line and she probably cares a lot more about her life than I do mine. She has friends, and family. I only have the latter. I've always had a deep respect for those who have lead completely different lives than me, justifying that I don't know how they cope with different things having never experienced them myself. I mean, I've never even been to school beyond elementary, and even then I only got halfway through it.

I trailed Edeli home that afternoon. I could have laughed as I watched her. Everything was so... normal. I can't imagine why she couldn't see the humor in it. She had some siblings that she was on good terms with, homework, a few phone calls from friends, and a mother who cared for her and made her her dinner. I knew how bad the food must've tasted, having seen what it was and knowing what she is, but she ate it happily. It was mind-boggling.

But one thing she DIDN'T do was prepare for the Gathering. Each time she reached for the phone I would cross my fingers and hope she was calling a friend for a quick interview, perhaps requesting a meeting two days from then in the woods, but nothing. Just talking. Eventually she went to bed and I climbed down from her window and left. I had just realized, about then, that I wanted her to find someone. And if she couldn't, I would for her.

When I got home I immediately went to my youngest sister's room. She's 17, nine months older than me and one grade higher than I would be.

"Iris!" I said as I opened the door. She was sitting at her desk drawing, though she turned to me as I came in. "How are you?"

"Lovely, thank you." Iris responded serenely. She held up her drawing, a dazzling pencil drawing that would have put the picture quality on par with a photograph. "I'm just finishing up a drawing of a unicorn, wild and free. I love the idea of cryptids existing somewhere in the world, having never been found by us humans."

I didn't know what a cryptid was but I've found with her if you inquire further it only gets more confusing. "I have a request for you. There's a girl I know--"

"Father wouldn't approve of you leaving the house, especially not to talk to people." Her tone was still serene. It was a warning, not a threat.

"--Who is especially interested in meeting you. Would you care to go see her?"

Iris tapped her chin. "I do love meeting new people, and you do seem intent on us meeting. Very well, I'd love to. Tomorrow, then?"

"Tomorrow," I said. I was expecting remorse for what I was doing, but I didn't feel any.

At six in the morning I had Iris waiting outside Edeli's house. I told her quickly that it was better if I wasn't there, and hid around the nearest wall, the front of the garage, to listen in. Iris talked briefly to whom I assume was Edeli's mother, before Edeli herself greeted her at the door. Iris didn't say my name, or that she was my sister, which relieved me. What relieved me even more was Edeli's next line of questioning.

"Hey, can I tell you a joke?" Edeli had asked.

"Of course. I love jokes." Iris was cooperative, as always.

"What's the difference between a pickpocket and a peeping Tom?" I knew where she was going with this and I mentally commended her. Though, I knew she was probably nervous and she was very likely to screw the joke up.

"I don't know," admitted Iris.

"A pickpocket wa-... A pickpocket snatches watches." It was a small enough error that the joke would still be funny. Maybe Edeli wasn't so bad an addition after all.

Iris didn't laugh. I knew she wouldn't. "I don't get it."

"Do you know how that kind of joke works?"

"Yes. And I know the punchline is right, because it sort of lines up. But I don't know what a--"

"Perfect. If you'd like to step inside, we've got some time before school starts. Do you go to my school?"

I didn't here the rest, as Iris and Edeli went inside. If Edeli messed up when everything had been made this easy, she definitely didn't deserve to be... what she now was. I had nothing to worry about, only the Gathering to look forward to. And I knew Edeli would come, and in doing so bring along Iris.

I could feel my blood boiling all day. I looked at my lunar calendar, reading it over and over to be absolutely sure I was right, even though I could feel it in my very bones and I had been told it too many times to forget. No, I knew what day it was. It was the day of Gathering.

Night couldn't arrive too early for me. I was out of the house at nineteen o' clock, even though it was still daylight outside. First I was off to Floriano's home, as you couldn't show up at the Gathering alone. Floriano was an old, old man, now in a wheelchair. He was kind, giving, and considerate, and since the last Gathering 29 days ago I had been doing chores for him and helping him around the house. He was more than happy to have me and forced me to take money even though I offered to work for free. I had tested old Floriano through and through, and he was a pious man of pure heart.

Floriano opened the door when I got there, smiling when he saw me. "Ahh, young Bento. I thought you said you were coming in three hours."

"A walk is much more pleasant when you can see where you're going, Senhor Floriano," I answered. "Are you ready to go?"

"When you're as old as me, you're really ready for anything." Old Floriano smiled warmly, and I returned it.

I wheeled him down the rocky road, doing my best to stay on the smoothest parts. "We're going to the lake today. The reflection of the full moon on the water is beautiful, so I've heard."

"Is it?" asked Old Floriano, closing his eyes as if he were remembering some happier time been and gone. "That's all I really have left to live for, natural beauty. I think it's all anyone has left to live for, once they're too old for love. Life is short, Bento. Make sure you do everything you want to do before you get as old as me, alright?"

"I promise, Senhor Floriano."

"And all these random killings that have been haunting the town recently. Strange disappearances and all that. Make sure you don't screw up with your life, Bento. You only get one chance. Promise me that, as well. Promise you'll remain a good person all your days. Okay?"

I winced. "I promise."

We weren't the first ones there, but when we arrived it had already turned to dusk. I recognized some people, thankfully none of which were there because of me. Old Bento, the leader, was there, of course. I've never had the courage to talk to Old Bento, though he shares my name, and, like me, has no brothers and six older sisters. It makes me wonder about the origin of the name, though I've never looked it up. I invite you to, of course, my dear readers.

"Crowded tonight. I had no idea," I lied to Old Floriano, in a whisper. He nodded, observing each person in detail. I knew he could sense something was up, but he trusted me. He probably thought it was a surprise I had planned for him. Well, it sure as hell would surprise him. I hoped, for my sake, that his heart wouldn't give out on him.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Old Bento announced an hour later. No one had been talking to him, and he had merely been looking into the water until now. The number of gathered people had increased twofold, and I made myself smaller the moment I saw Edvaldo among them. Old Floriano was asleep and had been for the last twenty minutes, and luckily he didn't wake up.

"As I'm sure many of you have gathered, you're here for a reason!" continued Old Bento, looking at everyone in turn. My heart rose to my throat when I thought about Edeli. How was she doing? And Iris? I needed to check them.

"You will find in this box to my side, many many many pairs of handcuffs! I invite everyone who will participate to take a pair now!" Old Bento exclaimed. I rushed foward and grabbed a pair for myself as everyone else crowded in. There was anticipation in the air, so thick you could see it in everyone. I saw Linez and thanked my lucky stars, running up to her. Linez was the one who had recruited Edvaldo, and we were on good terms.

"Linez!" I hissed, and she turned to me. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Anything, young Bento. Has Edvaldo been mistreating you?"

"Nothing like that." I was relieved. "I need you to look after the man I brought. He's bald and in a wheelchair, with a gray beard. I need to smooth things over with one of my victims."

Linez smiled faintly. "You're too nice, Bento. It's strange to see someone like you in the world, especially in a place like this. But it doesn't fit. You need to harden up sometime."

"I pray I never do," I responded, and she laughed. I pointed her in the way of Old Floriano, and she took her partner to go find him.

Old Bento was still giving out instructions, though I knew every word by heart. Fear had burned them into my brain the first time and I had known them since. "Take your handcuffs and cuff yourself to your partner. Make sure both ends of the handcuff are secure, and keep an eye on your partner. It's essential you keep him or her with you." I was now diving through the crowd of about sixty people, looking for Edeli and Iris. I saw them, moving in.

"Iris! I called. She turned to me and hugged me in greeting, though her other hand was in a cuff with Edeli. I turned to Edeli. "How are you holding up?"

"It's your fault I'm here," she said. She tried to sound angry but I could hear the fear in her voice.

"So you did plan this." Iris smiled to me. "How nice of you, Bento."

"Not so nice," I responded. "There's something you deserve to know. This isn't a greeting of normal people."

Edeli looked at me, clearly surprised. Iris continued to smile. "How do you mean?"

"Look at Edeli." We both turned to her. "Edeli, do you remember when I bit you?"

Edeli raised her right hand to her ear instinctively, but stopped. "Of course." Iris looked bemused but said nothing.

"Well, Iris. What do you see there?" I asked.

"Two earrings, one at the top and one at the bottom. I noticed that earlier. Strange combonation, especially because her other ear isn't pierced."

I nodded. "Those two holes in her ear are exactly the distance apart as my canine teeth. Same size, too."

Iris looked shocked. "Bento, that's horrible!"

"I'm a horrible person." I responded. You see..." I was cut short. Something about me was changing.

I fell to my knees, as did Edeli, and Iris because she was pulled down by Edeli. Edeli and I began to vomit, leaning forward on our hands. Iris began to scream, though hers wasn't the only one. The entire forest was wailing.

Fur began to grow on the back of my hands, spreading up my arms. My clothing ripped, as my arms and legs had suddenly grown a few inches thicker. My muscles were rapidly expanding, and my head would be shooting up if I weren't facedown on the ground. I could feel my digestive tract reshaping within me. It wasn't painful, but it was very uncomfortable. I managed to look at Edeli, who was just growing a snout. It was her first time.

Everything stopped. I climbed to my feet, looking up at the sky. A cloud had just moved away, and there shone the full moon in all it's glory. I turned back to Iris, semi-relieved she hadn't passed out. "Iris... Iris, calm down, it's still me. Listen. There are about thirty of us. We're werewolves, Iris."

"How... How long?" She managed to stutter.

"Since third grade." I answered. "We're creatures borne of sin and evil, destroying the world God put such effort into making. We're not just killers. We're far worse. Every full moon we meet, and each of us brings a partner. We look for people who are just, and righteous. People who believe in God. We take those with pure, whole souls, and we bring them here. I can smell your soul, as I can everyone elses but my own. No lycantherope can smell his own soul, or another wolves, as we'd tear our own body to pieces. Perhaps we have no souls anymore. I wish I could tell you. But we eat them."

Iris clearly wasn't recieving everything I was saying, but I went on. "We devour souls for nourishment. Imagine the most delicious thing you had ever eaten, only much better. Imagine you never got full of it. Imagine all the time you weren't eating it you were lightheaded and irritable. We need souls, lots of them. But imagine how people would react. No, one soul will last the entire night if you eat slowly. I know that. Some people demand more, but I told Edeli only one soul, and it turned out to be yours. And each night, those souls are given to the person who bit you as payment. It's a pyramid scheme, only much darker. And you have to obey the person that bit you, because if their saliva gets into your werewolf body you die a slow and agonizing death. Iris, look at me. I'm sorry."

With the hustle and bustle I couldn't hear myself talk. Most people were freaking out, and I felt horrible when I imagined Old Floriana. But now I couldn't stay near Edeli and Iris. I needed to be elsewhere. I trusted Linez to have given Floriana to Edvaldo, so Edeli removed the handcuff from her arm and put it on mine. Iris was my meal for the night.

There are many ways to remove a soul from a body. Witches and druids can summon the souls right out, so I've heard, though souls are fuel to them. Of course, souls are fuel for us as well, but fuel for the body rather than a machine. Werewolves take the oni approach to getting souls, dismemberment of the body. I grabbed Irises head, and with a painful twist, spun it all the way around easily. My muscles were much bigger, as was the rest of me. With my claws I dug into her now lifeless corpse and pulled the ribcage apart. To human eyes there were organs, but my watchful werewolf eyes caught the faint blue of a soul flying away. I reached up and snatched it with my long arms and fingers, pulling it to my mouth and engulfing it. I didn't swallow, instead I held it in my mouth. I was now swallowing the soul in tiny pieces, and if I rationed it, I could make it last all night. Carefully I unhooked the cuff that was now attaching me to my sister's corpse.

I took a moment to look around. A couple of werewolves were making love, perhaps lovers in their former lives or perhaps a spur of the moment lust brought them together. Either way the male had mounted the female from behind and was thrusting her pelvis into her over and over. Above his head he raised a victim, swallowing him whole. The body caught in his belly and needed to digest, but souls pass through a lycantherope body faster than water. He squatted down, his penis still somewhere in her nethers, and began to defecate a light blue fluid onto the ground. One sees a lot of this at a Gathering, and soul-shit smells awful. The female didn't seem to care, though she knew what he was doing.

I had seen enough of that, so I turned around. Another werewolf I knew had gutted her victim, so that I could see every bone in her ribcage. Her lips were lined with blood, something I detested seeing. She inhaled her victim's bright blue soul, and squatted down to push it out. A long stream of blue scat poured from her colon onto the ground, the same size as the human next to it. I turned away again, disgusted. Turned away, in fact, right into the face of Edvaldo. My blood ran cold.

"What is this!?" Edvaldo shouted, loud enough to turn a few heads. He thrust forward the wheelchair, Old Floriano sitting in it.

I pushed my ears back, well aware that I could die any second. "Your dinner, Senhor Edvaldo."

"I asked for three souls, and you bring me one cripple!? What the hell am I supposed to do with him!? I'd rather you brought me nothing, so at least I didn't have this problem to deal with as well as you!"

"You will find..." I said carefully, "That his soul is unusually bright. He will make a fine meal alone, better than three normal people together."

"A cripple? I should kill you!" Edvaldo reached out, grabbing me by the neck and hoisting me upwards. "Let this be a lesson to those who don't feed me adequately!" I didn't get a good look at Floriano but I imagined a horrified look on his face. I wished I could do something. But Edvaldo pulled me closer, opening his mouth... I must have swallowed Iris's soul at some point, because I could feel something warm glazing the insides of my legs as it fell.

But he stopped. Stopped, in fact, and dropped me. His arm had detatched from his shoulder, and was still around my throat. I gasped for breath, and caught a glance of Linez behind him. Slowly the arm crumbled to dust, and Edvaldo fell. He disintegrated into nothing more than a pile of dust and a deep red soul, which slowly began to crumble. A loud shriek, louder than anything I had ever heard, ripped through the forest. Slowly his being faded away into nothing.

All eyes were on Linez. She stood up, brushing herself off. "It was in my best interest that Edvaldo be silenced, as the food he had gathered for me was inadequate. Thus I have terminated him. In doing so I have done a kindness and spared his soul from the horrors of Hell, instead destroying it. Great Bento, have I done right?"

I thought she was talking to me, so I started to respond. I was immediately cut off and ignored by Old Bento, the pack leader. He had so many people around him that it would take him all night to eat them all QUICKLY. He gave a single approving nod. "Linez, is it? What will you do with his victim? He has killed all of those he has recruited except for this one. You can make him yours or kill him."

Linez turned to me. "I know if I make him mine I will exert no control over him, yet I cannot bring myself to say it's better he was dead. I humbly ask that he be freed."

There was an audible gasp; I couldn't believe it myself. She was requesting my freedom from the pack.

Great Bento turned to me. "What is your name?"

"Bento, Senhor Bento. Same as yours." I answered, dropping to my knees.

"Well, Bento, I will let you go on the condition that you kill all of those you've converted."

Inside I was rejoicing. "Ah, but that is only one person. Her name is Edeli, and she's..." I stood, looking about. "... Not here."

"Why not?" Bento looked somewhat angry. "Did you not tell her to come?"

"No, believe me, Senhor! I saw her hear earlier! Indeed, I took the victim she had prepared. She must have run."

"This is troubling, though not your fault..." The Great Bento tapped his head. "Very well. We're a long way from civilization but if she makes it our group would be in a lot of trouble. If you find her, kill her. If you can't find her, we'll send someone after you. If you're successful in killing her, you're free and you can decide whether or not you have to show up at these Gatherings. You have Senhora Linez to thank for that."

I turned to Linez, and she smiled at me. No one had done something so nice for me in all my life, not counting some pictures Iris had drawn me. It was a pity I would never see her again, whether I succeeded or not. She spoke. "Young Bento, you're too kind to be a Werewolf. It's not a life cut out for you, and Edvaldo made a mistake, one of his many, when he chose to bite you. I'm sorry to ask you to put up with it for the rest of your life, but you're the reason I think we werewolves still have souls. Every death hurts you, and I can tell. I hope I never see you again, for your sake and my own. Alright?" I nodded.

Great Bento turned his back and returned to his victims. Linez gave me a kiss, then turned and left as well. Everyone went back to what they were doing, and I rocketed off. I had to find Edeli.

I could smell her from a mile off, and I sprinted on all fours in the direction she went. She was probably running on two legs because she didn't know better, so I figured I could catch up to her quickly. I was running for a long time, sustained by the soul I had eaten earlier. She hadn't had a soul and thus was probably very tired and ill. Still, I drew closer and closer to my town, that I couldn't let her reach, and though I got closer we got there before I caught sight of her.

It was midnight. There weren't going to be very many people out and about. Still, I couldn't risk it. I checked every alley, and soon found Edeli. Unfortunately, so had someone else.

Just around the corner I heard a stifled yell. A man had seen Edeli and had barely held in a scream. She jumped him, grabbed him, and held his mouth shut. Her hunger must have been immense, because she didn't even know she had to eat souls and still she lifted him up and pushed him down her throat, biting him once on the way down. Her large stomach became engorged with the massive meal, and immediately she clutched her stomach. She still hadn't seen me, though I would wait before running up to her.

Edeli threw open the lid of a dumpster, jumping on top of it and sitting on the edge. She lifted her tail and pushed out the man's soul, still blue but no longer vibrant. I pitied the poor man, who never even knew what had hit him, when I saw the blue. He would have gone to Heaven, had only she never had been there. It was my fault that this blue pile of goo in this dumpster would not have eternal life, entirely mine, and I knew it would weigh heavily on me.

I had been doing a lot of thinking about what I should do in the run. I could do a lot of good in the world. If I killed Edeli now I would be saving lives and I would have time to redeem the one I had ended. "Thou shalt not kill" be damned; I had to finish her.

I confronted Edeli. She looked at me, perhaps shy because I had "caught her on the toilet." "Edeli," I said. "Do you know why I'm here, or why it was dangerous for you to come here yourself?"

She jumped off the dumpster, walking towards me. "I'm sorry. The hunger was overwhelming. Is it a crime to leave a Gathering?"

"Yes." I told her. "Punishable by death!" With that I leapt toward her, singing my fangs into her shoulder. She recoiled, not even having time to scream, before I it felt like I was biting through sand. I spat, looking at the pile of dust that had once been Edeli. I knew what was about to happen, and did the only thing I could think of. I tore a chunk out of her soul, swallowing it. Then another. The scream never came. I finished her off and added her to the blue goop in the dumpster, with one thought running through my mind. I was free. To do whatever I pleased.

And that's why I've written this. To tell you my history, with enough doubt that you would believe I was a fantasy author. I'm glad you listened to my history, and I invite you to write one of your own to show me. Perhaps I can be a real author one day after all.