Authors: Chrissie Buhr
Hoops and whistles rang out all around her. Billie raised her voice and said, “Let’s run!” She changed so quickly only a ripple could be seen between the two forms. The Pack followed suit. Human noises transformed into wolf howls, singing to their missing packmates. The Pack rejoiced in song, celebrating being Wolf, and singing their loved ones home. They ran through the forests, playing and hunting. This was their night to let their wolf nature out completely, to be part of the Pack, and to be one with the wilds.
Chapter 10
Billie returned from her trip the next evening sounding energized and cheerful.
Sounds like you had a good time.
Our mental rapport was growing stronger. Distance mattered very little anymore, and we spoke as easily as if in the same room.
A very good time.
She smiled.
How about you?
Pretty normal. I missed you.
I missed you too, beautiful. I’d love to come over tonight, but I can’t. Jason’s back, and we have some things to discuss.
Tomorrow?
Yes. Most definitely.
She promised, and I said good night, blowing her a mental kiss.
My mind on our conversation, I swung the car to a stop in front of my home. At night my senses usually stretched out around me, searching for hidden danger. But talking to Billie left me distracted and gave me a sense of safety. I kept thinking about her and how close we’d become in such a short amount of time.
I had no other explanation and no excuse for why I didn’t know something was wrong. I should have sensed them and driven away without stopping. Barely registering the darkened doorstep, I should have remembered that I’d changed out the bulb only a few weeks prior. I should have felt their presence and realized they were waiting for me. I didn’t.
I saw them before I sensed them. Closing the car door behind me, it clicked and the dome light went out.
Suddenly two teenage boys grabbed my arms, one of them smothering my mouth with his hand, muffling my gasp. I had nowhere to go and didn’t even have time to run before they had me trapped. Frozen in panic, fighting didn’t even occur to me. Every muscle in my body stiffened. Darkness surrounded me.
Billie! Oh my God, help! They’re here!
Instinctively I called out to Billie for help.
I’m coming! I’m coming Sadie!
Despair filled me. I knew she was too far away. There was no way she could reach me in time, and I could think of no reaction except to call for Billie over and over.
A forearm pressed against my throat and my mouth was freed. Still, I could barely draw breath let alone scream. One kid dragged me across the lawn, his forearm pressed against my throat. Towing me like a deranged lifeguard, he wrenched me into the shadows of my home. I hadn’t made enough noise for anyone to notice, and I could feel no one watching me from the neighborhood.
I was alone.
Panic took over. If I’d thought to do so, I could have tried reaching a neighbor. I could have suggested they look out the window, call the police, or something. But my mind closed in on itself, and all I could do was call for Billie again. Fear gripped me more tightly than the boys holding me. I was helpless. Defenseless. Paralyzed and terrified, I did nothing, but I sensed everything.
Boys gathered around me from the shadows, and I could sense every one of them. My chest tightened as I got lost inside their collective emotions. Rage at being humiliated. Anger without any single cause but with an absolute focus on me. I caught memories of ex-girlfriends, of mothers and sisters, of random people where harm had been real or just perceived. Sadistic thoughts came from every boy. They wanted to teach me a lesson.
And yet I was simply the target, the poor dog that’s kicked when someone’s had a bad day at work. It wasn’t even me they were angry at, but I would pay for it. In that moment I hated my abilities, wishing I could block out the images of what they wanted to do to me. Usually I could, but not then.
Two of them grabbed my arms, pressing me against the side of my home. Tucked in the shadows and half concealed by a shrub, their fingers bit into my flesh. The others crowded around and leered or grinned stupidly. I counted nine thoughts, nine minds.
I couldn’t even see them clearly with my eyes. What I saw intertwined with my other senses, giving me a macabre impression of them. I saw them for who they were, hateful and inhuman, with no physical impression to soften it. One stood directly in front of me, so close I could smell the liquor on his breath. Poised like a snake about to strike, and clearly the leader of their adventure, he stole my focus.
The boy standing in front of me was the lead bully Billie and I had already encountered. Focusing my eyes on him, his expression mirrored all of the excitement and anger I could sense within him. As our eyes locked, his lips curled into a crooked smile. I knew Billie’s beating would be repaid that night, and I couldn’t help but think how young he looked. Too young to be so cruel.
He struck me across the face with his fist without warning or comment. The blow sent me reeling sideways and my legs went weak beneath me. The boys still held my arms, though, and pressed me back against the wall when my legs quit holding my weight. I couldn’t even take solace in the soft grass. Another blow, and a third before he spoke. “Will your girlfriend still like you if you’re ugly?” He murmured low in my face. “I’ll fuck you even if she won’t.” The boys around him chuckled.
Billie!
I’m coming! Hold on! I’m coming!
Desperation and fury filled her. There was no way she could be as close as she sounded. It had to be wishful thinking, I thought. It couldn’t have been more than a minute since I’d called for help, so I could only be imagining that she was almost here.
I could feel my consciousness begin to slip away. Pain and blackness dimmed everything else. She wouldn’t reach me in time. I would be raped and killed before she arrived.
Someone grabbed the neckline of my shirt and tore it until it hung only by the sleeves, stinging my skin where the cloth resisted before ripping. A knife flashed in front of me and my bra hung in two, my breasts exposed. Excitement over my nakedness filled every mind surrounding me. I felt even more helpless and shamed than the last time this happened to me.
The world began to grey, my awareness fading. Oblivion was so near with the blessing of escape. I welcomed the nothingness. I didn’t want to be conscious anymore. I didn’t want to sense them anymore.
Then I felt his grip on my face, his fingers gouging into my cheeks brutally. A squeak came from my mouth, and pain drew me back into consciousness. He’d been waiting for me to make a noise, begging me silently for a reason to hurt me more. With his other hand, he pushed his forearm against my throat, pushed my head against the building hard enough my ears rung. I couldn’t see it, but I felt the cold steel of the knife against my cheek.
“Don’t make a sound.” His warning came low and so close I could smell his sour breath. I knew he wanted me to scream and beg, wanted me to disobey him so he could punish me for it. I didn’t know whether to obey his spoken or unspoken voice. I thought I would go insane from the mental images of what he planned on doing to me. A low cry escaped my lips.
A merciless smile crossed his face, and when I saw the knife move I knew where he was going to put it. He wanted to make me ugly before he killed me. A choke came out of my throat, and my whole body braced for the pain. “You’re cute, dyke. Not for long.”
A blur of movement knocked into the boy suddenly, surprising everyone. He never even realized what hit him, his throat torn open before he hit the ground.
I’m here! I’m here! You’re okay!
Billie.
Oh my God Billie!
I didn’t have sufficient energy to register surprise that the animal was my girlfriend. I don’t think anything would have shocked me right then. Hands released me and I hit the ground, gasping for breath as relief poured through me. I listened to the chaos around me but didn’t connect with it through my numbness.
The only thing real to me was the nearness of Billie’s mind. Protective and loving. Angry that I’d been harmed and frightened. I’d never felt her fierceness before. It was startling, but I wasn’t afraid. Behind her anger, she was afraid for me. And all of her ferocity was directed at the boys who’d harmed me. Only a piece of her thoughts were on me, but that was enough. I blanketed myself in her mental touch, knowing I was safe.
I heard Billie’s snarl as she leapt at one of the boys who held me against the wall. I couldn’t see the damage done, but by the wet gurgling sound I knew his throat had been torn out like the other one. Two boys dead in a few seconds, and I felt nothing for them. With all of the attention on Billie, the threat to me was neutralized. She stood with her head low, teeth bared, and hackles raised, a menacing growl rumbling through the shadows.
I barely registered all of this. Later I would replay the memory and take it all in. But in those moments everything was dull.
Seven boys remained, and they all advanced on her despite their growing fear. Several pulled knives, and they cornered her where the fences met. A low hanging tree blocked her escape to me, and the only direction she could escape led away from me. She took note of it but didn’t even consider it.
Instead, she lifted her lips and snarled, snapping at them. Several boys paused in fear. One realized they weren’t facing a dog, and his surprise made me look closer. A wolf.
Sadie. Run!
My girlfriend the grey wolf faced the semicircle of boys. The half-naked human woman was forgotten while they faced a predator, though most thought she was a dog. She feigned at the closest boy, snapping her jaws to intimidate. He jumped back and yelped but did not run. She feigned again, a stocky boy bringing his knife down towards her head. She dodged it easily, but it gave another the lucky break he needed. The blade tore into Billie’s left shoulder, and blood instantly poured down her front leg. A small cheer went up from the group when they saw her favor it.
Billie’s pain and anger poured over me.
Dammit Sadie! Run! Get out of here!
I knew I should, but Billie was hurt. They were killing her! I hadn’t been able to muster even indignation for myself. But for Billie, my fear transformed into anger, and cold resolve pushed the panic away in less than a heartbeat. I could feel power boiling within me, building with every drop of blood I watched fall from my lover’s shoulder. I didn’t know what I was about to do, only that it would save Billie. Acting only on instinct, I gathered power from all around me, letting it whirl within my body, building for just a few seconds more before releasing it. I pushed it towards our attackers, throwing every reserve of power at the ones hurting Billie. My skin tingled and my mind filled with the power at my disposal. It felt like I’d split myself in two, and one part of me rode along the power as it hit them.
They dropped as one without even a flinch or a cry. All seven of the boys fell dead in that instant of releasing my power on them. I felt their deaths, but I was drunk with the power and felt only satisfaction. As I calmly surveyed the scene, the last remnants of energy began to dissipate into the world around me.
The power ebbed, and I returned to my normal self. Only then did my shock register. What had I done? Holy shit! I just looked before me at the dead bodies in horror.
Billie’s whine drew my attention, and I saw her try to stand on her useless leg. Her nose out and hackles relaxing, she glanced at the death around her. I could sense her horror as strongly as my own. Now that it was over, shock started to set in. She stumbled when her wounded leg wouldn’t hold her weight. Strangely, seeing her covered in blood made more of an impact on me than seeing her wearing fur and walking on all fours.
I had to get her inside before someone came. A killer wolf in the city would not live long. “Come on Billie. We can’t stay out here.” She nodded her head, and we both stumbled to our feet. As fast as I could, I made it to her side and buried my face in her neck.
Oh baby you’re bleeding.
Billie collapsed to the ground, growing weaker as the blood spilled down her leg. “I hope you’re not as heavy as you look.” Billie whined as I awkwardly tried to lift her, hurting her in the process. But she made no other protest. I tried to reach her mind, but Billie had turned inward, deliberately blocking me out. She was too heavy for me to lift. With my arms around her middle, I dragged her around to the front door. She whined and licked my arm, but her mental voice was quiet.
Bolting the door behind me, I hoisted her onto the couch, trying unsuccessfully not to jar her wounded leg. I needed something to put on her wound, but my shirt was gone. For a moment I realized I was still naked from the waist up, but I didn’t care. A sweatshirt lay carelessly on the small table, and I pushed it over her wound. “Billie, it’s bad, and I don’t know what to do! I can’t call an ambulance, not like this. What do I do? I’m not a doctor!” Billie didn’t respond, obviously still in shock. I sobbed and begged with all I had in me. “Don’t die, Billie. Please don’t die.”
Billie’s crystal blue eyes opened, and she stared into mine for several moments. With immense relief I heard her speak into my mind, exhausted and still afraid.
555-1739 Jason. Call him. Tell him everything.
I grabbed my phone from my pocket and dialed.
“You’re late.” The man on the other side of the line answered in an irritated grumble. Despite the hour he wasn’t asleep, only surly.
“Jason?” I spoke hurriedly. “Are you Jason?”
He instantly snapped to attention at the urgency in my voice. “What’s wrong?”
“Billie’s hurt. She told me to call you. She’s been stabbed.”
“Did you call an ambulance?”
“No.” I faltered, not sure how to explain. “I … I can’t … Not like this.”
“Where are you?” I gave him my address. “Don’t call an ambulance. Don’t call anyone. I’ll be there in three minutes.” He hung up without waiting for a reply.