I, Werewolf

A short story by Bruce Oliver, produced during the Creating Writing camp at Open Window summer camp.

Chapter I

My name is Drake, and I’m a werewolf. Not the sort that most people think, though. I don‘t turn into a giant wolf-beast thing at the full moon or anything like that. Werewolves evolved out of that stage eons ago. The only real thing that‘s true about me that most people think is that silver bullets kill me. Of course, orange and purple bullets could kill me too, because I‘m just a normal person. Well, sort of.

I‘m living in Seattle at the moment, where it rains every other day and is cloudy every day. I‘m living in an apartment with my girlfriend, Sarah. Sarah is blonde with long, straight hair down to her forearms. She has green-gray eyes and a great fashion sense. She is reasonably tall, just about as tall as me. Oh yeah, and she‘s a vampire. Not the flowing cloak-suck-your-blood people like Dracula, or the sparkly ones from Twilight. She‘s not dead, either. In fact, everything that people have told you about vampires and werewolves is probably wrong.

Me? I‘m tallish, with brown shaggy hair and yellow eyes. Yeah, I know, that sort of comes with the werewolf thing. People don‘t notice though, because of some weird effect. Pretty easy living here in the Northwest, as long as you‘ve got rain gear. I‘ve got a steady, if small income coming from a job at Starbucks, and life is pretty good right now, except for the fact that we‘re trying to kill a huge monster.

Chapter II

Let‘s back up.

I discovered I was a werewolf at age 10. Kinda shocked me, but I never regret finding out. I never had any parents, so I lived with my foster family, who hated me. Don‘t they all? Anyways, we were on a camping trip somewhere in western Washington. I looked up at Steve, my foster father, and asked,
“Can I go to the bathroom in the forest?”
“Sure, just get away from here,” Steve grumbled.
I ran away from the campsite, did my business, and when I was walking back, I came across a wolf. It growled at me, but I heard, “Go away.” I froze and whispered, “What did you say?” The wolf looked up, cocked its head, and whimpered, saying, “You speak our language?” I looked up, surprised, and said, “What do you want from me?” The wolf spoke (well, not really, more like gestured) and said in an urgent tone, “You are a shayura. Come quickly.” The wolf ran out into the forest, and then stopped about a hundred yards away, gesturing with its head for me to come. I looked in the direction of the camp, then back at the wolf. I sprinted after it.

Somehow I barely kept up with it, even though it was running at maybe 15 miles an hour. We stopped in a clearing with a large rock in the middle with a flat top and a cavern underneath. The wolf ran into the cavern and came out with a man who was probably in his mid-forties. He had greasy hair down past his ears and had yellow eyes like a wolf. His hair was the same color as the wolfss fur, and he looked like some weird mostly-human and dog hybrid. He looked at the wolf and barked at it, but I heard it as, “Who is this?” The wolf looked up at the dog-dude and barked, “He is a shayura.” Dogman looked up at me and said to me (in English, thankfully),
“Do you understand what;s going on?”
“No,” I replied honestly.”Whatss a shayura?”
“So you can understand Canine. Maybe you are one after all,” Dogman replied.
“A what!?“ I cried in desperation. “What is it I am?“
“A werewolf, boy,“ stated Dogman calmly.

That shut me up. I stared at Dogman while he continued to speak.

“You heard me right; a werewolf. I am one too, by the way. And we’re not the kind that turns into a wolf in the full moon. Real werewolves have many other powers, which will develop in time. Some minor ones become accessible around nine, others at thirteen and some later than that.
“I can run really fast,“ I blurted out.
Dogman looked amused. “Yes, that is one of those powers. But many more will form with time.“
“So why am I here?“ I asked.
“We must train you. You can’t just be an untrained werewolf and go back into society. Besides, someone is probably looking for you right now.“
I shuddered. “My foster family. I hate them. A lot.“
“Well, that would make it easier for you to run away, wouldn’t it?“
“Anything to get away from them.“
“All right. Shall we go?“
“Sure, I guess.“

Chapter III

And that’s how I figured it out. The training was pretty hard, and I collapsed at the end of every day. I learned that Dogman’s name was Garth, and he must have really, really wanted me to become strong. The first exercise he gave me was to run a mile away and back as fast as I could. I was exhausted at the end, but it only took me 10 minutes. He then trained me to see far, hear the faintest of sounds, how to fight in hand-to-hand combat, and wilderness survival. I was well fed, if you consider a near-infinite supply of rabbits and deer good food. My skills constantly grew until I could kill a fully grown male deer from 100 yards away with a throwing knife.

On my twelfth birthday, Garth sent me on my first quest. I was to find and kill a harpy, and bring back its claw as proof that I killed it. I complained that that was the most generic quest I had ever heard of, but Garth didn’t care. He explained to me that harpies were not flying women with bird wings; they were in fact massive hawks with razor-sharp claws and red eyes.

He gave me a quiver of ten arrows and a bow, which I was deadly accurate with, and told me to look near the Olympic mountain range. I didn’t really know how far away they were, so I just took off running. I wanted to be over with this quest as soon as possible. By now I could run at about 15 miles per hour, and from the time it took me to get there, I’d say the mountains were about eight miles away from the clearing, which Garth called Liira, which means “shelter“ in Canine.

I climbed the nearest tree, looked up and saw a gigantic hawk circling near the top of a mountain. It must have been a mile away, but I could see it clearly with my wolf-eyes. Smiling that my task would be so easy, I drew aim and fired. I have wolf super-strength too, so that arrow flew a good mile right towards the harpy and whizzed right past it.

Uh-oh.

Chapter IV

I’ve never seen a bird more pissed in my life. It dove towards me at hundreds of miles per hour, screeching with a sound like fingernails on a chalkboard right next to a megaphone that was pointed at an amp connected to ten humongous speakers. I fell off the tree in pain and the bird was on me in two seconds flat. It was at least ten feet long, with silver, glinting claws that dug into my skin and ripped some holes in me before grabbing hold of me by my legs. I dropped my bow as it carried me off. I thrashed around, but the harpy had an iron grip. It screeched in triumph, telling all who might oppose it not to even bother. The noise almost burst my eardrums, and then I remembered my quiver of arrows. I pulled an arrow out of it and threw it at the harpy. I almost missed, grazing the harpy and cutting it. It gave an abrupt cry, almost dropping me. I grabbed another arrow and this time scored a direct hit right in its back. The arrow stuck in its body gruesomely and the thing screeched for a good ten seconds before dropping me and flapping its wings awkwardly while falling itself. I grinned in triumph before I realized that I was falling through the air from hundreds of feet in the air. I braced myself for the impact and blacked out the second I hit the ground.

I came to with a girl standing over me, looking worried and but smiling at the same time. I moaned and looked up and she spoke:

“Good, you’re finally awake. Jesus, you really screwed yourself up, didn’t you?“
“Harpy“ I managed to get out.
“Holy crap.“ She contemplated me for a second, before continuing, “What the hell made you wanna go up against that thing?“

I was about to speak, then doubled over in pain. The girl acted quickly, wiping two fingers over my cut, smearing blood over it. I was about to protest, but the pain melted away and I sighed in relief. She smiled and continued to do this until I could stand up.

“Who are you?“ I queried.
“I’m Sarah,“ she replied with a smirk. “How about yourself?“
“Drake,“ I replied. “Werewolf in training.“
“Werewolf? Perfect. I’m a vampire, myself.“
“Is that — is that how you healed me?“ I asked, concealing most of the surprise in my voice.
“Yeah. And don’t worry, I’m not gonna bite your neck or anything. You’ve probably already learned that every myth there is out there is a half-truth by now.
“Um, yeah. So what else can you do?“

She smiled, got up and disappeared. Like a cloak of shadows enveloped her, but really quickly. I stared at the place where she had been, mouth open, and felt a light poke on my back. I turned around quickly, crouching and wary, when she appeared again, laughing.

“You should have seen the look on your face,” she said, amused. “What can you do, Drake?”
“Uh… I can run fast,” I said lamely.
“Anything else?”
“I can see really far and hear really well.”
Sarah failed at concealing a smile. Angrily, I picked up a rock and threw it at a tree about twenty yards away, killing a squirrel.
“Okay, sorry,” she said, still smiling. “So what the hell possessed you to go after a harpy?”
“Garth told me to.”
“Garth?”
“Another werewolf. He trained me.”
“Ah. Were you particularly whiny or annoying while he was training you?”
“It was a quest! That reminds me, I need its claw to prove to Garth that I killed it.”
“The body’s over there. Knock yourself out.”

I walked over to find the huge bird with its eyes closed and an arrow embedded in its back. There was dried blood all over the body. I tried to ignore the smell of rotting bird and pried one of its claws off. I held it up and it looked like a pretty good knife. I walked back over to where Sarah was, and she was gone. I shrugged and headed back to Liira.

Chapter V

I walked into the cavern at Liira, which consisted of a crude table, some stumps to sit on, a fire in the middle that always kept the place dimly lit, and a homemade weapon rack with spears, bows, knives, and arrows, all made of wood and stone. There were three rooms that broke off from the main room: my room, Garth’s room, and the bathroom. The bathroom had a hole in the ground with a cover (aka: toilet) and a little underwater spring for bathing and washing your hands. There was no door in the bathroom before I got there, but Garth kindly installed a big wooden plank that could be moved aside. My room had a bed made of wood and furs along with a little bedside desk that I kept my belongings on, which really consisted of my pocket knife and a jewel I found in the woods. When I got in, Garth was sitting near the fire, talking to a wolf. The wolves came and went, and Garth kept them safe in return for them doing some hunting. I still did most of the hunting, though. He was whittling some wood with his knife. He looked up and asked,

“How did it go?”
“Oh, you know, found the harpy, got grabbed by said harpy, stabbed the harpy with an arrow, fell down from really high up, got healed by a vampire girl-
“You met a vampire?!” Garth exclaimed incredulously.
“Yeah. She was pretty hot, too.”
“I thought they became extinct hundreds of years ago…” Garth muttered to himself.
“Well, she wasn’t!”
“Do you think you can find her again?”
“Probably not. She can turn invisible.”
“Do you know why she healed you?”
“Not a clue,” I replied
“Well? Anyone gonna introduce me?” an unknown voice queried.
Garth and I both turned around suddenly. There was Sarah, standing there with that same cocky look on her face. My heart skipped a beat and Garth stepped back. He looked at me and said, “This your vampire?” I nodded, still surprised. I looked at Sarah and said,

“What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see where you were going, so I followed you back to this place.”
“Why?” I asked simply.
“Just curious.”
“I never knew anyone who followed someone to their house because they were curious.”

Just then an ear-splitting roar pierced the forest and echoed throughout Liira. It sounded like a giant lion had come to the Northwest and gotten really, really pissed off. Sarah, Garth and I rushed outside, but I couldn’t see anything in the immediate area, even with my wolf-vision. Garth looked around worriedly, then transformed into a wolf.

Chapter VI

Garth dropped down on four legs and grey fur started to grow over his body. His nose elongated and developed a black nose on the top. Whiskers sprouted on his face, and his ears disappeared, replaced by triangular wolf ears. His fingers shortened and rounded out to make wolf paws, and claws grew out of them. His body became more lean and streamlined, and the knees on his back legs snapped sickeningly into the opposite position, and then his feet turned into paws. A tail sprouted out of his back, and the transformation was complete. He turned to me and Sarah, who were looking at him with surprised expressions on our faces. He looked at Sarah and said,
“I’m Garth, by the way. Pleasure to finally meet one of your kind.”
He looked back at both of us and beckoned us to follow him. We ran after him, and while we were running I said to Sarah,

“I didn’t know he could do that!”
“Well, what did you think?” Sarah replied, “He’s a werewolf!”
“So what now?”
“I guess we’re gonna have to kill whatever roared like that.”
“Great! More good news.”
“Shut up and run!”

We ran after wolf-Garth through the woods for hours, and I eventually couldn’t take it anymore. I begged him to stop and give us a rest, even though all three of us had superhuman endurance. We sat down as wolf-Garth came over and turned back into a human. I looked at Sarah.

“So you figured you’d just follow me back to where I came and join us?
“Pretty much, yeah,” Sarah replied.
Garth stepped in.
“Of course she can join us, Drake. She’s a vampire.”
“Yeah, so I heard. What’s the big deal about vampires anyways?”
Garth gave me a scornful look, but Sarah continued.
“Vampires were wiped out about six hundred years ago… or so most people thought. In reality, the smart ones fled and hid in places all around the world. They evolved very quickly so that they weren’t reliant on blood to survive anymore and that they could turn invisible, heal others, and move very quickly. All that was necessary just to survive. So here I am, the only vampire in the whole western half of the United States. I’d always wanted to meet a werewolf, so I decided to come with you guys.”
“We’re grateful for your help,” said Garth, “but the task ahead could be deadly. That roar we heard was a manticore’s. They were extinct too, but a cult of sorcerers called the Summoners is trying to bring back every horrible creature that walked the earth so that they can take it over. I never thought they would actually succeed, but apparently they are more dangerous than I ever thought. If the manticore gets out of control, it could wreak havoc on every city in the area.”
“An evil cult of sorcerers intent on destroying the earth! Great! But won’t people be freaking out if they just heard that roar?” I said.
“The human brain blocks out anything it cannot fathom,” declared Garth.” This is an effect called the Veil, and probably no one heard that roar. If they saw the manticore, they would probably that is was just a lion or something that made more sense. When things get too weird to possibly make any sense, even if the brain changes the events, the human will shut down in what appears to be them passing out.”
“Great… so what would happen if someone saw you change into a wolf, for instance?”
“They would probably shut down, because that is not something that could easily be covered up by the brain. That’s why I usually transform when no one’s looking.”
“All right. What if-“ I started, but Sarah cut me off.
“Look, I’d love to stay and chit-chat, but I believe that there’s a manticore that needs taking care of.
“You’re absolutely right, Sarah,” Garth agreed, “Let’s go.”
“Wait, no food or anything?” I desperately asked, but Sarah and Garth had already got up.
“C’mon, Drake!” Sarah yelled as they started to run.

Chapter VII

I grumbled something about food then ran after them. We managed to run all the way to Seattle. I was panting like a dog (ha ha, bad pun), and for once I was grateful for all of Garth’s training. Garth told us the details of our quest. Why was it always quests with this guy?
“You two will be stationed here. I have some money reserves, and I will give you everything that I have, but one of you will have to get a job,” Garth said.
Sarah looked at me.
“Fine…” I said.
Garth continued.
“You will pretend that you live here, without parents, and that you are brother and sister. You will wait for as long as it takes me to find the manticore, which could take up to three years. I will then come find you two and tell you where I found it. You must then go hunt it down and find it. Drake, you will probably develop more powers by this time, but you will have to learn how to use them by yourself. Find an apartment and just live here until I come back. When I do, it’s show time.”

I probably had a million questions, but I just couldn’t think of any to ask just then. Garth turned away, transformed, and ran into the darkness of the forest.

And that’s how we got into our current predicament, which was looking pretty good. I had learned how to transform into a wolf, even though it happened randomly before I learned how to control it. Sarah developed a new power, which was to move so fast, it was like teleportation, except she could only do it for a few seconds. It was like I was almost back to my normal life, except one thing was always at the very back of my mind.

The manticore.

Had Garth found it? That much I knew: until he came to us, he hadn’t. But it had been two years! Where did it go? Was it here at all? I remembered that he had said that it could take up to three years, but that seemed like such a long time!

I usually had to calm myself down after thinking that much, and just go back to the life in Seattle. Everything was fine.

There was a knock at the door.

Chapter VIII

My heart started pounding a mile a minute. As Sarah went to answer it, she looked at me with a look that told me she was anxious too. The door opened, and it was exactly who I didn’t want to see, and yet was so relieved to see: Garth.

He looked at us and said, “Children, it’s time to go to war.”
And then he left.

We were out the door in a flash. I asked Garth,
“Where is it?”
“Close,” he replied, “very close.”
He picked up the pace and soon broke into a full-blown run, with us close on his tail.

We ran out into the forest for about ten minutes before coming across a path full of broken tree limbs and fallen conifers, some of them shriveled up. This thing had got to be at least twenty feet tall. We followed its trail until we came across it. The manticore was as tall as a two-story building and spikier than a bed of nails. It looked like an oversized lion with spines instead of fur. Lots and lots and lots of deadly sharp, poisonous spines. It had a long tail with a giant bulb at the end, also covered in spines. It turned towards us and roared, pushing us backwards and blowing over the bushes. This monster had apparently never heard of a toothbrush.

“You have got to be freaking kidding me,” were the only words I could mouth.

We didn’t have any time to plan. The manticore slammed its tail into the ground, sending all of us jumping out of the way. Garth and I turned into our wolf forms and Sarah a sharp, curved knife blade that she used with great skill. She went straight up in front of the thing and turned invisible. The creature turned its head, looking for her, when suddenly it cried out in pain as Sarah appeared on the side of the thing, cutting off a lot of spines with one swoop of her knife and exposing an arc-shaped patch of naked manticore skin. She grinned at us in triumph before realizing that the spines were growing back at a disturbing speed. I turned to Garth and said in canine, “The face must be the only weak point!” He nodded and jumped at the thing. It was an incredibly long leap, as the manticore was ten meters away, but werewolves aren’t normal wolves. They can run extremely fast and have wickedly sharp claws and very strong legs. Garth dug his claws into the manticore’s face, and I almost felt sorry for it as it roared and blood gushed out. I tried not to notice that the blood had the consistency of maple syrup, though. The monster shook its head violently and Garth flew off, landing on a bush and yelping. I thought the fight was almost over until I saw the wounds healing in its face.

“Dammit!” I yelled. “This thing can heal itself!”

I got an idea just then. I changed back into human form and pulled out the harpy claw. The manticore was still trying to hit Sarah with its tail, so its head was moving too quickly for me to get a good shot. “Keep its head still!” I told Sarah. Sarah looked at me and nodded. She stabbed her knife into its tail as it came towards her. The beast threw its head in the air and howled in pain. Sarah kept the knife there and the manticore brought its head down to see me holding a harpy claw like a throwing knife. I threw the claw right at the thing’s face; it roared the loudest roar I’d ever heard and thrashed around, but the harpy claw stayed put. In fact, it looked like it was sucking the life out of the thing. Its movements slowly got more and more lethargic until it collapsed on the ground. I grinned at Garth, who was back in his human form, but he was not smiling.
Chapter IX

“Run!” ordered Garth.
“What?” I asked. “Why?”
“Just do it!” insisted Garth.
The three of us ran out into the forest. I was about to ask why when suddenly I knew. The manticore exploded into a rain of spines in all directions. I covered my head and knelt down. When the dust had settled, I looked next to me to see Sarah on the ground breathing heavily with a spine in her side.
“SARAH!” I cried. I rushed to her side and yanked the spine out. She winced in pain and looked up at me.

“Poison…” she murmured.
“Oh God. Garth! Come quick!” I yelled.
Garth rushed over.
“What is it?” he asked, and then he saw Sarah. “Oh my God.”
“What do we do?!” I asked, “Can’t we heal her with her blood or something?”
“My blood is poisoned,” she said, then coughed violently. “Need… other.”
“Other?” I said. “What other?”
“Yours.” And then she closed her eyes.
“Sarah! SARAH!” I desperately yelled. “What do we do?” I asked Garth.
“Give her your blood,” he said gravely.
I looked at him.
“Are you serious?” I said in disbelief. He nodded. “Got a knife?” I asked weakly. He nodded again and handed me one. I slit my finger, wincing, and put it to her mouth. I coaxed as much blood as I could out of it, but that wasn’t enough. I sliced my hand, yelping quietly, and put that over her mouth. She appeared to swallow, and then opened her eyes.
I couldn’t help crying out in joy. “Sarah!” She looked at me, smiling, then pulled my face towards hers and kissed me.

It wasn’t one of those three-minute smooches in sappy romance movies. It lasted maybe three seconds, but it was still pretty awesome. I am proud to say that I have participated in the first vampire-werewolf kiss, and it was good. I looked over at Garth, still smiling, and he looked at me and said,

“Well, it’s about damn time.”

I laughed and asked,

“Could we go back to apartment life?”

“You’ll have to,” Garth replied. “I won’t come back again until the Summoners are up to something again. In the meantime, goodbye.”

He left then, and I hoped he wouldn’t come back for a while.