Chapter 16: Howling At The Moon

Hearing something strange in my backyard, I glance out the window and hear someone or should I say something howling. 'Howl" 'Howwwwlll" I stop before turning around and walking over to the wall so I can flip on the light switch to my room. Something is odd, because the minute my finger flips the switch, the howling stops. As I stand completely still, I feel a presence in the room with me. Just before I spin on my heels and turn to see what is behind me, I am hit in the back of the head by something hard as it makes a thud that echoes throughout my skull. When I come to, the pain in my head explodes like a bomb went off and I can hear nothing of what is going on in the room around me. Opening my eyes, I see two shapes moving about and on closer inspection I notice that they are quite large and slow moving. One is a woman and looks hairier than most Americans, so I can only assume that they are either of European descent or something else. Because I remember a time when I visited Germany as a small child and while staying at a host family's place, I had seen that all the family's women and girls didn't shave their armpits or legs. Noticing that I am awake, they walk over to where I am slumped on the ground and the woman asks in a sarcastic voice, 'Did you have a good nap?" Shaking my head carefully so I don't end up with a bigger headache, and just happy that I can hear again, I then state. 'You didn't have to hit me so hard." She crouches down in front of me and leans so close I can smell her breath. Filling my nostrils, the scent of meat and something else, and then I notice her larger than life teeth that protrude from her smirk. It frightens me because I am pretty sure that I am on the menu for their next meal if I don't watch what I do or say. Or maybe just because I am here, and they are hungry. Then I notice something else. They must not be human because when I look into her eyes, I see a bright red iris that extends through bloodshot veins to the white part of the eye. She must be unnerved by me staring her down, because the next moment she steps back and starts to pace around. The other one with her is far bigger than she is and the look on his face reminds me of a serial killer when he is about to kill his next victim. There is no mercy in those cold and calculating eyes when I stare at him from just a few feet away and while he stands there contemplating something else entirely. I only know what he was thinking, because the next minute he turns to her and states, 'We need to hurry, we are supposed to be at Doc Roberts in fifteen minutes." She turns to him quickly as she stands straight up and replies, 'Alright. I am not hungry right now anyways. Let's just kill her and leave her for the cops to find. They will never suspect anything anyways." Her eyes glance at me briefly before she then says, 'Bye the way, shove her in a closet when you are done. Then they won't find her body till the stink is so bad that the neighbors smell her from a mile away." Horrified by that prospect even more so than the fact that I am about to die, I sit there and wonder how I am going to get out of this situation before he rips me to shreds and hides my body. My parents will be home soon after the party and if they are still here when they return, they too will be thrown in the closet to be found perhaps in a day or two or maybe three. Watching as the woman walks out of the room and I hear her close the front door after she leaves, I wait for the bigger bulkier man to come closer and do something unspeakable to me. Glancing over at me casually, he starts to pace the room for a few minutes before he approaches me slowly. I can tell that he is having second thoughts, which is odd because the woman was so cold and calculating it's not funny. Yet he is the one who looks like a killer most definitely. When he stops in front of me, he stares at me through darker red eyes. The minute he blinks, I move quickly by pushing off the wall and standing upright. When I run for the door, I feel his hand on my shoulder as he grasps it tight, and his nails dig into my skin. He growls before demanding, 'Stay where you are! Don't even think about it." While spinning me around, he doesn't take his eyes off me for even a second. The minute we are face to face, he calmly states, 'Now there. That's better. I wasn't going to kill you, but if you insist on causing so much trouble, I might." He hesitates before continuing, 'I don't believe that I should kill you, I would like you to be my mate." The moment he says that I feel his gaze run up and down my whole body and then it starts to turn from cold and calculating to a smoldering stare as his eyes return to mine. 'What do you mean by me being your mate? I don't understand." I say with hesitation before he answers. 'In case you haven't noticed, I am a werewolf. Humans are not supposed to ever know of our existence, but in rare cases we may take mates and we can change them to our kind. The alternative in this case though is that I would have to kill you if you refuse to let me turn you into one of us and become my mate because Alaria has decided that you are useless." He scans the room before returning his gaze to mine and saying. 'We must hurry. Soon she will wonder where I am and if you haven't been bitten and, on your way to becoming one of us, she will make me end you anyways." His eyes start to glow as he leans down, right next to my face and says, 'Make your choice." Quickly thinking what I shall do, I realize that I am not ready to die even though the alternative is an uncertain future with this big hulk of a man thing. So, I say it before I change my mind all in one breath, 'Yes. Do what you must do before she comes back, or my parents walk through that door because if they die, I will never be able to live with myself afterwards." In the blink of an eye, he takes me into his arms and then bites my shoulder where his hand was before. For some strange reason it feels almost intimate and then I black out from the pain before I know it. Once I wake up, I am no longer home but in the middle of the woods somewhere. I glance around and find that I am amid many others like the man who bit me, and they are all chanting something and staring up at the moon before they all look down at my body. Realizing too late that I am no longer fully clothed, I try to hide myself from them but the man who bit me steps forward and says, 'I claim this female, she is my mate. No one shall ever lay claim to her for as long as I live." The minute he says this, they all chant something and then I watch as an old woman with a dagger walks up to me and dips the knife in an earthen bowl before tracing a symbol on my forehead. She exclaims, 'From now on, she is known as Daniella, Eric's mate from the Silent Walker pack. May the Goddess Luna surround them with love and give them many pups throughout their years. Blessed Be." After she says this, they all chant Blessed Be and then I watch as most of them walk off silently through the trees and disappear into the darkness of the night. The man who bit me, I am assuming is Eric. He cautiously walks towards me now and when I stare into his eyes, I sense that something has changed, and I feel very odd like something is wrong somehow. He smiles and then takes me in his arms before lifting me up and starting to walk off with me before whispering, 'Now is the hard part. When your wolf takes hold, you will be in more pain than you have ever felt, and there will be this need that you will have to fulfill before you will ever be truly one of us." 'What?" I ask scared and confused at all that has happened and still will. He raises his massive hand to my cheek and softly caresses it before whispering, 'Hush. It doesn't matter right now. You will understand once it has happened. You won't be alone. I will be with you through the whole process." Still smiling at me, we stop at a small hut in the denser part of the forest. He places me down for a second so he can open the door before picking me back up again and carrying me inside. Kicking the door shut with his foot, I watch as he places me on a wooden chair before lighting a small oil lantern. 'There. That should do it." He states with a smile of satisfaction on his face before turning away for a couple of seconds. When he turns back around, I see that he has something in his hand. He holds it out to me, and I can't help but smile when I realize that it is a small kitten. I stand up and walk over to where he is standing before glancing between the two of them. Then I reach over to the kitten and scratch its chin. 'This is Casper. I found him the other day and couldn't kill him, even though Alaria told me that it was useless." He smiles as the tiny kitten rubs up against him and purrs loudly while echoing throughout the small little one room hut. Just when everything starts to seem like it has calmed down, something strange happens, and I am gripped by an intense pain that spreads from my head to my toes and back again. My face must show how much it hurts because he places the kitten on the table in the corner before he wraps his arms around me and holds me tight. 'It is happening now. I am so sorry." He says while his breathing becomes rapid, and his voice sounds strained as if it hurts him more than it does me. Suddenly, a pain rips through me like a knife and everything goes dark. I don't hear a thing, except for my alarm going off and the dog barking. Confused, I open my eyes to see my mother staring at me curiously. 'Dear, you were muttering something strange in your sleep about werewolves and a strange man called Eric." She stares at me while saying with humor in her voice. At that moment, I realized it was all a dream.