Authors: M. R. Merrick
His chest smoked, revealing a black burn that covered most of his torso. Long claws drooped from paw-like hands, and a strange snout took over most of his face. Vicious teeth hung from the jowls of his half-snout, and colorless, white wolf eyes stared lifelessly towards the ceiling.
His body twitched and began to shift. Bones cracked and the hair that covered the paw-like hands disappeared. Long black claws retreated into his fingertips and his face shifted and reformed. As the human counterpart came through, the dirty brown came back to color his eyes.
His body took in a deep breath and I jumped back. The burns covering his flesh started to fade and the wounds closed.
“Okay, this night just took a very strange turn.”
Willy coughed and pushed himself up with his hands. Thick red mucus shot out of his mouth and he gasped for air.
“Ch–, Chase?” he asked.
“What the hell happened?”
Willy groaned as he propped himself up on his elbows. “I ha–, had an accident.” His eyes shot around the room, confusion on his face.
“Yeah, I’ll say.”
Willy shook his head and looked down at himself. “My sh–, shoulder…it’s healed.” The bloody bandage lay on the floor by a torn shirt, his wound healed, not leaving a scar.
“But he’s a demon. I didn’t think he could contract the virus,” Rayna said.
“I don’t know what’s happening, but it’s not even a full moon,” I said.
“What happened to your chest?” Rayna asked, watching new skin crawl over and cover the burn.
“When the beast took over and I st–, started to shift, I wa–, was starving…” His eyes flickered to Rai who squawked and started flapping her wings.
“You tried to eat my bird?”
Willy’s eyes quickly pulled away from me and diverted to the floor.
I reached up and petted Rai, soothing her with my touch. She chirped and nuzzled her head against my cheek.
We all jumped when the condo's buzzer rang and the movement made Willy wince in pain.
“Hello?” I asked, my thumb on the button.
“Let me in.” The hoarse and elder voice of Grams crackled through the speaker.
The voice sent a chill down my spine. I hesitated for a minute with my finger over the button before pushing it.
“I cal–, called her,” Willy said. “I didn’t want her to kn–, know, but then the pain was too much. I didn’t know wh–, what else to do.” Willy tried to stand up and fell back to the ground.
“I know it hurts,” Rayna said. “Just try to relax.”
“What the hell is going on?” Grams stormed into the room, leaving the door open behind her. A long cream dress that looked more like a nightgown covered her to her knees, but revealed frail, veiny legs. Her features were gray, making her look decrepit, but they contrasted with her bright blue eyes in an odd way. Her white hair was frayed, as though it hadn’t been brushed in days. Bright purple high heels tapped along the floor towards us, and over her shoulder was a giant purse. A smoking cigarette hung from her lips and she took a long pull, letting the smoke seep out of her thin nostrils.
“Gr–, Grams,” Willy gasped.
“What’d he do to you?” Grams turned and exhaled the smoke in my face.
“No–, nothing. It was the bi–, bite,” Willy said, touching his healed shoulder.
Grams eyed me from head to toe and sighed. “Dammit.” She waddled towards Willy, pushing past me with her shoulder. “When’d it happen?”
“A couple da–, days ago.”
Grams dropped her purse to the floor and kneeled with surprising ease. She put a hand against Willy’s face and pulled his lids up, examining his eyes. She reached an ancient hand into her bag and removed a small dagger. “Give me your hand.”
Willy lifted his hand up and winced, turning away before she’d even touched him. Grams dragged the blade across his hand violently and Willy cried out.
“Don’t be such a baby; it’s just a scratch.” Grams put the bloody blade back into her purse and dug around until she retrieved a small bottle of yellow powder. She yanked the cork out with her teeth and sprinkled the dust onto his hand.
Willy bit back a cry of pain as the powder bubbled and steamed in his palm. Grams used her long fingernail to stir the blood and powder together. Her lips moved quickly, but her voice was below a whisper. The dark red blood lightened as it mixed with the powder and began to swirl on its own.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
Grams looked up at me and licked the blood off her fingernail. A chill ran straight through me.
“This will tell me how soon we can expect a full shift.”
“Why does that matter?” Rayna asked.
“Because the shift can be deadly. I need to know how much time I have to get him help.”
“You can cure him?” Rayna sounded hopeful.
“Of course not,” Grams said. “He can’t very well do this on his own, now can he?”
Grams mumbled a few more words and the mixture bubbled before turning a bright purple. She grunted and pushed herself back to her feet. “Well, that didn’t take long now did it?”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It’ll only be a day or two now before he’ll be a full werewolf.”
“How is this possible?”
“He got bit, didn’t he? What’d you expect to happen, puppies?”
“I just…I thought demons couldn’t get turned.”
“Well you thought wrong. It’s rare, but it happens.”
Willy looked up at her with fear in his eyes, and Grams reached down and ruffled his hair. “Ah, don’t worry, William, we’ll get you some help. Besides, I always wanted a puppy.” She laughed and snorted, patting him on the head.
Willy's face paled and sadness pulled at his eyes.
“Oh, relax boy, I’m just messing with you,” she said. “You’re going to be fine.”
“Fi–, fine? I’m a werewolf! How is that fine?” Willy yawned, and it stole his anger. He lay back down on the floor and closed his eyes. “I’m so tired.”
“It takes a lot out of you,” Rayna said. “You need to rest.”
Before Willy could reply, his jaw fell open and a loud snore escaped.
He was instantly in a deep sleep, enough so that he was the only one who didn’t startle when foreign voices came into the room.
“We’ll take it from here.” A voice came from behind us, and it sounded far too deep for the man it belonged to.
The man was shorter but more muscular than me. His eyes were nearly black, and brown stubble littered his shaved head. Camouflage pants were tucked into black combat boots, and a tight brown shirt hugged his dark olive-colored frame. He stood at attention with his hands crossed behind his back and a blank determination on his face.
“Who the hell are you?” I demanded.
“I’m Jax Turner, beta-alpha to Radek Lawson, of the Shadowpack. That, there, is our pup,” he said.
“I don’t know what makes you think you can just walk in here and–”
“That pup is part of our pack now. It’s our duty to train him, with, or without, your permission.”
“You don’t have my permission,” I said, stepping in front of Jax.
Rayna stepped up beside me and Jax smirked.
“I’ve got no time for a demanding child and his girlfriend. Stand down.”
“Does this look like the army? This is my house, not your backyard, so don’t try marking your territory here.”
“Oh, cut it out,” Grams snapped.
Two more shifters walked into the condo, taking a stand behind Jax. But Jax and I didn’t break eye contact.
“Chase!” Grams voice cackled again. “I told you he’d need help. Willy’s better off with them for now. They can help him.”
“But–”
“I’m his family, and I say what’s best,” she said. “Go on, take him.”
Jax nodded and one of the other shifters moved in, picked Willy up with ease, and threw him over his shoulder. Grams stepped between Jax and me and took a full drag of her cigarette. The bright red embers burst with light as she sucked the smoke into her mouth.
“Don’t think I don’t know what goes on in the Shadowpack,” Grams said. “I know exactly what things are like there. So you take him, and you help him, but if you so much as step on his tail, you’ll be answering to me.”
“He will learn the way of the Shadowpack, starting at the bottom, like all of us did,” Jax stated, locking eyes with her.
Grams grunted and Jax nodded, his eyes scanning each of us, before he turned and walked out of the room. With a snap of his fingers, the other shifters moved and followed him.
“Are you sure he’ll be okay?” I asked.
“He’ll be fine. They can teach him to control the beast. It’ll be easier for him that way.”
“You’re not worried they’ll hurt him?”
“He’s a demon, even more now than ever. It’ll be good if they toughen him up a bit…” Grams said, but her voice trailed off and she didn’t seem her confident, witty self.
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” I said.
Grams snorted and laughed, but quickly stopped, eyeing me with a look that wasn’t full of hate. She took a drag off her cigarette. Ashes fell off the tip as the embers burnt up to the filter. She dropped the yellow butt on the floor and squished it beneath a shiny purple heel.
I grimaced, eyeing the cigarette butt.
“You should consider checking this one in, too,” Grams said pointing to Rayna. The concern for Willy was pushed back beneath her frail exterior.
“Rayna? Why?” I asked.
Grams reached into her purse and pulled out another cigarette, lighting it up and taking in a deep drag. “Look at her–she’s practically shedding.”
“Excuse me?” Rayna snapped.
“Neither of you knows a damn thing about shifters. Believe me, dear, you’re better off in the hands of an experienced shifter than an ignorant hunter.” Grams blew smoke from thin, pasty lips. Silence surrounded us and Grams cackled, waddling to the front door, leaving a cloud of smoke behind.
“Who does that bitch think she is?” Rayna snarled.
“I don’t know, but maybe she’s not entirely wrong.”
Rayna turned her icy gaze on me. Her emerald eyes glared like a lion on the hunt.
“I’m just saying maybe we should consider it. Marcus and I don’t know the first thing about shifters, except how to kill them. An experienced shifter could be helpful.”
“I don’t want to be a shifter, and I definitely don’t want to be part of some pack. I'm not going to be anyone’s property. I can’t believe you’d even suggest that.” Rayna stormed towards the stairs.
“Rayna, wait…” But her heels clicked up the stairs and she disappeared around the corner. “What the hell is happening?” I sighed.
Rai chirped into my ear and startled me. She leaned against my head, her black beak rubbing on my cheek.
“I can’t believe Willy tried to eat you,” I said, rubbing my finger beneath her chin.
I took a deep breath and looked around the room. White fluff was everywhere, and the walls were torn from floor to ceiling. Unless Willy was scaling them, I didn’t even know how he’d managed that. I frowned at the burn mark Gram’s cigarette had made on the hardwood and kicked the butt across the floor. I didn’t bother cleaning up. The mess would still be there tomorrow. Instead, I made my way upstairs in hopes I could sleep this strange night off. Maybe I’d wake up and discover it was all just a dream.
Rayna was on all fours in front of me, but everything around us was a blur. Her green cat eyes were shining, as though someone held a flashlight behind an emerald.
She stared up at me, head moving from side to side. I tried to look around, but each time I focused on an object, it would blur and shift. The world turned around in a slow haze and when I came back to Rayna, she had changed.
Thick black paws took over her hands and black hair covered her arms. Blood ran down her chin as fierce teeth filled her mouth, lips pulled back in a snarl.
“Why do you want to send me away? I’m not a monster.” Her voice was deeper, speaking awkwardly through her new teeth.
“I don’t think you’re a monster,” I said, lowering myself to her level, but when she snapped her jaws, I backed up.
Rayna released a low growl and turned away. Her bones cracked as her limbs shifted into thick, black, muscular legs. Her torso stayed human as she crouched and leapt forward, letting four black legs break into a run.
“Rayna…” I shouted, but her figure faded into a blur.
I waited, hoping she’d return, but instead the voice of my father came from all around me.
“Difficult creatures, those women,” Riley said.
Everything suddenly became clear. I was standing in the street outside Revelations. The October air was cool and streetlamps flickered around me. A bright half-moon hung in the sky, raining light onto the shadow-stricken street.