Chapters 1-2

Chapter 1

I don't really know how long I've been running. After my parents were attacked and my mother told me to run, I did. No questions asked, there was nothing I could do to help them. Three vampires against my two parents. It wasn't a very fair fight, but I would have only gotten in the way. Plus, I'm only eight years old. I can only pray that my parents made it out alive, and that I'm not being tracked.

"Well look what I've found!" I heard a sadistic voice calling from behind me. Oh no, they found me! "Why are you running boy? C'mon, why don't we play a little?" I ran harder, but it was too dark to see very well. And I knew I didn't have a chance against a vampire. He let out a meniacle shriek as I felt a foot hit hard on my back. That sent me tumbling to the ground hard, but I managed to tuck and roll and keep running. Run harder Lyric! Run harder! I began to run with all my might, but I was exhausted and he wasn't tired at all. "Nice move kid, what about this?" Something hit my side like a brick wall and I went flying into a tree.
"Arghh!" I groaned as I hit the ground. That hurt, but I had to keep running.
"That's right kid, run! Run!! RUN!!! AH HA HA" His high pitched shrieking laugh gave me chills down my spine, but I couldn't think about that now, I had to run. Suddenly I felt slow, as if I could run faster on all fours. I don't know what came over me, but I did it. It didn't make any sense, since all adult run faster one two legs, but for some reason I was finally gaining some speed. The tears in my eyes were being dragged out to the sides by the wind in my face. I was still getting faster. I thought that at a higher speed the trees I was sprinting through would get blurry and I wouldn't be able to see properly, but I could see them more clearly at this higher speed. Woah! Was this real? Was I really going that fast? I soon no longer heard the vampire tailing me, and shortly completely forgot about him. I no longer felt exhausted. Instead I felt great, like I could run for days, what was happening? I didn't care, I just kept running.

"Hey, kid!" I felt someone poking me with a stick in my side. "Hey kid wake you, you okay?"
"He looks starving man, why don't we give him something to eat and drink?" I heard abother voice coming from my left. "Rowan, go fetch some water, I'll find him some meat."
My eyes slowly began to open, and I realized what they were talking about. I was laying face first on a dirt road with no clothes on, and I was hungry! Wow and really thirsty too! I think I must have ran for days and passed out since I never stopped. I looked up and saw a young guy about 20 or so with really raggedy hair, looking down at me with concern in his eyes. "You okay kid?" The two other boys returned rather quickly, and had water and a dead rabbit. "Here, drink some water, you look like you should be dead." I'd never tasted such delicious water before in my entire life.
"Thank you." I finally panted through my quick breaths. I didn't breathe while drinking because I was so thirty. "Who are you?"
"The name's Brayden, I'm leader of these hear mercenaries, that's my right hand man, Rowan, that's Ben, Nick...", and he listed off a few other names, I counted 7 total. As he was finishing, he started cooking the rabbit meat on a fire Rowan set up for him. That's when I noticed all of these guys were completely ripped and none of them were wearing any kind of armor, didn't seem like very well equipped mercenaries. Though they each had a sword or two, a spear, and a staff, but no shields or armor. Even I knew strength alone wasn't enough in a battle. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you naked in the street almost dead of dehydration?"
"Uhh, umm..." I had to think back a second to remember just what the last event that occurred was. Then I remembered, and the tears started coming again. I tried to act tough, I was in front of a bunch of muscular mercenaries. But to no avail, I began balling. I couldn't speak, just sobs and tears, I covered my face with my arms as I cried again. All I could think about was hoping my parents were okay, which wasn't very likely considering the panic I saw in my mother's face. My mother's face, that made the crying worse. I tried to stop crying, whining from my throat, but I couldn't stop completely. "Ma- Ma", I couldn't even say momma.
"Hey, Bray, uhh, you-" I could barely hear Rowan addressing Brayden over my wailing.
"Yeah, I hear him too, he's one of us.", Brayden's voice had a strange new tone to it. I could hear so much empathy. "Man, he's so young, who would turn such a young boy?" He was kneeling next to me and he grabbed my face with his hand, and turned my face up to bring me eye to eye with him. My crying was now just quiet sobbing, but it was still dominating my demeanor. He began a sort of humming, a song I'd never heard, but it seemed so familiar, as if I knew it, or wrote it. My crying stopped immediately, and I felt comforted somehow. As if the humming wasn't just a series of notes, but as if each note was an entire symphony of emotion and feeling whirling from inside my ears throughout my body. Then the images came, I could see Brayden as a young boy, growing up with his parents, loving his mother with all his heart, respecting his father and wanting to be just like him. The images was so real, they seemed as if they were alive and moving, though I could see that they weren't. Then the bad images came, late one night, a full moon, a pack of wolves ravaging through his town, destroying buildings and murdering people. I could see his father grabbing his gun and running outside to fight them off, only to never see him again. Brayden's mother grabbed him and hid him in the basement of their house, only to be discovered by one of the wolves. She tried to defend him but the half-wolf man just tossed her aside as if she was a pillow or a doll. He snarled at him, grabbed his arm, and bit him, as if just to torture his injured, watching mother. Then it was gone. And then the images were gone too. I stared at him, a whole new Brayden, as if I've known him forever. Tears were now in his eyes, staring back at me. "You are one of us." Each word was slow and precise, heartfelt, warm, and welcoming. Then I realized exactly what he was saying, and exactly what just happened. My parents were wrong, I was a werewolf.

My parents never spent much time explaining to me the lifestyle and attributes of werewolves, because they didn't want that for me. They wanted me to live life as a normal human, fall in love with a normal girl, and grow old with her and give them grandchildren in a normal way. My parents explained to be exactly how I made it into this world, and how I didn't die in the womb like all my older siblings did. Both my parents were werewolves, and they loved each other very much. But they wanted more, they wanted a child. They knew it was impossible, werewolf women can't give birth, and werewolf men can no longer get a regular human woman pregnant. The reason that all my siblings miscarried is the same reason every other werewolf child dies in the womb. Every night, the woman is forced into transformation just like any other werewolf. This process doesn't just alter the body physically, but it alters what makes us what we are, our DNA. If a werewolf mother transforms even the slightest bit, she will miscarry due to the alteration of the child. Thus, my father and mother made a promise to each other that they would do anything necessary to give birth to a child. Every night, just before dusk, my father would sit and hold my mother's hand as she stabbed herself with 4 silver knives. They couldn't afford her body to raise one degree for fear it would alter her body in the slightest bit. One in each leg, and one in each shoulder. This process went on for the entire 9 months I was in my mother's womb. The hardest part is that she could never use the physical alteration of her body to heal more quickly. So she only healed as fast as a normal human. Werewolves only heal faster when they are transformed. Case in point, they didn't want me to become like them because they would never have wanted me to have to watch my wife mutilate herself for the sake of our children. The reason my parents thought I was just a normal human is because even after my first full moon, I never transformed into a wolf. Every night my temperature stayed exactly the same, and my body never changed one bit. I didn't have a heightened sense of smell or hearing, and I couldn't communicate using sounds, or resonance, like they could with other werewolves. Apparently I just never transformed because I never knew how, and I guess now I can. I just needed some motivation. I now have a lot to learn about myself, and I guess I found just the right kind of people.
"My name is Lyric." I finally mustered the focus to speak.
"Well Lyric, it's nice to meet you," Brayden responded. "Why don't you hang out with us for a little while?" He stood up and reached his hand down for me to take it, so I did. "Up you go, kid." He walked over to Rowan for a sec, whispered something in his ear, and returned to the cooking rabbit. "Hungry?" he asked, I was starving. Then all of the sudden I got a lungful of the cooking rabbit. I had never smelled something so succulent before. I could smell that the rabbit was there better than I could see it. It was incredible, I wanted nothing more than to shove Brayden aside and just start devouring it. The sudden onslaught of smells triggered my saliva glands. I don't think my mouth had ever watered so badly in my life. I couldn't stop myself from licking my lips. I could tell a couple of the guys were watching the way I was watching the rabbit cook. Amusing I suppose, like cooking in front of a dog. I felt like I was begging, and I almost let out a whimper, until I realized what I was about to do. I'm glad I didn't.
After we ate, I noticed Rowan and three others from the pack had ran off together for something, but they didn't say for what. I didn't bother wondering, it probably had something to do with what Brayden had whispered to him. "Hey, so we usually make camp in the woods pretty far from the road, that way no one bothers us and we don't scare the crap out of anyone. No one likes to see such a big pack of such big wolves, you know? And we usually just sleep in our wolf form, no unnecessary stabbings." He said with a grin. I followed them through the woods for a little ways, until we found a small clearing. At least there was some room for about 15 people to lay down. They started stripping, since they didn't want to rip through their clothes. I did the same, Brayden had made me a small skirt-like thing since he didn't have a lot to work with. He ripped the fabric off of his own shirt. He didn't have anything extra since none of them travel very heavily. Wolves don't need much in the wild to survive especially in packs. It was tied on the side with just a small strap of leather in case I transformed with it on so it wouldn't rip through the fabric. I was really beginning to like him. I laid down with my small piece of clothing covering me, I guess I was still kinda shy compared to the rest of the pack. Most of them fell asleep right away, I didn't. I had too much to think about. As the sun fell, they all began to transform. It was time for me to try it, since I had only done it the one time. I had no idea what I was doing. It was natural for them since it just happens whether they want to or not, but for me I didn't have a clue. I tried holding my breathe and flexing but nothing worked. I felt like a dork. It didn't take very long at all for me to get extremely frustrated. Funny, I never used to get so emotional so easily. First with the crying now this. The frustration turned into anger and I could feel blood rush to my face, then it got warmer. I got it, it must be temperature of my blood just like them, but I have to learn to control it. This time, since I was laying still and not sprinting on all fours, I could feel my bones shifting in size and angle. It actually hurt pretty badly, but nothing that my new body couldn't handle. Or rather, more discomfort and joint dislocation than anything else. Once the full transformation was complete, my wolf body didn't have a problem with the heat. That's sure nice. Just before I fell asleep, I heard a faint howl from somewhere miles away. I could barely hear it but I could tell it was a wolf. I probably wouldn't have heard it had I been in human form. Then came the images, no emotion this time, but I could see my house. It was empty, no bodies except one that I recognized as one of the vampires that attacked my home. My parents weren't there. A sigh of relief escaped my lungs, which wasn't as much air as had been only seconds ago. I guess wolf's lungs aren't as big as humans. I assumed the howl was from Rowan, and that Brayden had sent him with a couple guys to check out my house earlier. "Thanks Bray", I thought to myself.

Chapter 2

I woke up to the rustling of twigs and leaves that we were laying on as the rest of the pack began turning back into human form. Looks like Rowan and the others made it back while we were sleeping. I looked at my hands and saw that I must have reverted back to normal during the night sometime. Must not be able to maintain heated blood in my sleep yet. I slipped back into my clothes and went to look for breakfast. I found an apple tree not too far from where we were camped. I realized I wasn't going to be able to bring back more than 5 or so, and I didn't want to make several trips, so I had an idea. If I can recall, not only emotion and images, but direction is also capable of being communicated through resonance of wolves. So I let loose a loud howl-like yell. I hoped it wouldn't get anyone worried since it was my first time trying it. Communicating through resonance was new to me, but I felt I had a pretty good grasp on it even though I've never tried it before. It worked! Slowly, each man in the pack sleepily entered the clearing where I was. Wiping his eyes, I could see Brayden coming into view, yawning as he finished tying his shirt. "Morning kid, good find." He said as he grabbed his first apple. "We're heading to Ashford, we'll probably make it by noon or so, we got about four hours."
"What's in Ashford?" I asked.
"Work, hopefully." He answered.
"Werewolves work? Why?" I didn't get it. "Why don't you just live like we did yesterday?
"Because we aren't animals." He seemed a little agitated, but understanding. "We work just like anyone else does, just not for the same reasons. Like I said yesterday, we actually are mercenaries. Warriors for hire, or protectors, depending on which occasion arises. We don't really need the money, since we have no real home, and have no need to buy daily essentials. But it is nice to purchase a new pair of clothes, a home cooked meal, and the biggest reason, for reputation. The better our name sounds to others, the better work we get. Plus, there are other groups like us, and they aren't always as moral. Many of them just love to wreak havoc, and every once in a while, we get to either straighten them up, or completely annihilate them. Their choice, but we haven't failed a mission yet. Oh yeah, and normal folk don't know we're werewolves, just like vampires and angels, we don't exist."
"Angels?" That word caught my attention.
"I'll tell you about it later. Something you wouldn't ever get to see unless you were a mercenary."
"I've decided, werewolves should work." I got a chuckle out of a couple of the guys, and a smirk out of Brayden. And so we set off and departed for Ashford. The road was pretty well used, so we got lots of looks. Looks of intimidation, of respect, of hatred, and even some laughs. I it looked pretty funny with me wearing what I was in the middle of a bunch of super muscular teens and tweens. But what surprised me was the brisk walking speed we kept, one a normal human couldn't keep up for too long but not too fast that people would get suspicious. "Hey, uhh, Brayden?"
Brayden slowed until he reached my side, and then kept pace again. "Yeah kid?"
"When am I going to learn to fight?"
This time Brayden laughed. "You don't have to learn. Werewolves are natural born fighters, well born into lycanthropy. We love to fight, and we're good at it. Really good. In wolf mode, you won't have any problem fighting, even at your size. I'll show you sometime soon, but probably not tonight, since we'll be in a town." He gave me a quick look, then looked as if he were trying to remember something. "Which reminds me, usually when we are looking for work we stay in the local inn. You know, to not draw suspicion. But as you probably know, we can't afford to stay in town and risk transforming in front of people, so when we get into our rooms, we take the silver oath. After that then we wander around town for a bit, havin a little fun you know, since that's the way mercenaries usually are."
"What's a silver oath?" I asked.
Brayden and Rowan looked at each other a second. "When was the first time you transformed Lryic?" Rowan asked.
"It must have been the night before last, you guys woke me up and I didn't have a clue what happened. But then I heard the resonance and realized what happened, that I had become a werewolf."
"You knew what resonance was before you transformed?" Brayden asked.
"My parents told me all about it, they were werewolves too."
"Welcome lads," A tall man with a large overcoat welcomed us at the gate to the city, "ye be mercenaries I take it? Did you travel from afar?"
Brayden kept his eye on me slightly taken off guard to what I had said prior, as he walked up to the man. "Aye, we are mercenaries, our band is called El Colmillo de Cierto (Cole-Mio, the Fang of Truth). I am the leader, Brayden, you've heard of us?"
The man was taken aback. "Yes, I've heard of ye, but I pictured of a group of men, well, older. Your crest?" Brayden pulled his necklace out of his shirt, and showed the symbol to the man. "Aye, that'd be it. What can I do for you lads this find afternoon?"
"We seek the local guild, and shelter." Brayden answered in return.
"Ahh, the guild is that large peaked building over yonder," he pointed south, though I don't exactly know how I knew that, "and the inn is just two building over from it, ye can't miss it."
"Thank you for your troubles sir." Brayden tossed the man a coin from his purse.
"My pleasure gents, be safe now." The man returned to his post, guarding the gate, it you could call it that. The town didn't look like much. The wall surrounding it was just that of wood, nothing that would actually hold back any intruders if they didn't want to be stopped. The gate wasn't anything better, just a wooden gate, thicker than the wall, I guess the guards wanted to feel more secure.
The guild was one of the biggest buildings I'd ever seen, if not the biggest. Also made completely of wood. It must have stood over 15 meters tall and just about as wide. "Keep to yourselves now, men." Brayden warned us all. "I'll do the talking." Upon entering, Brayden resonated a defeated sounding sigh with an image of a table to the right, so we all went and sat and waited for him. My incredible new sense of smell gave me a whole new way to look at things. I could now smell the drinks at the other tables without even trying. I could tell who around me was a woman and who was a man just by the hormones secreting from their skin. And I could smell the fear of the man playing poker at the table next to us, hoping to bluff his opponent into folding I figured. It looked like there was a lot of money at stake. I took a deep breath as a waitress brought a small bread cake to another nearby table. It smelled completely different than I remembered from just days ago when my mother had baked it for us. Instead of cake, I smelled flour, sugar, eggs, and oil, all mixed together in a harmony of savory aromas. It didn't smell like cake, it smelled better.
I looked over at Brayden, who was conversing with the bartender next to a large billboard with tons of scraps of paper on it. "What's he doing?" I asked Rowan.
"He's looking for jobs," Rowan began, "there usually isn't very many jobs, if any, that are worth our time. He's asking the bartender for the details on the potentials."
"Can I get you boys anything?" A beautiful woman dressed in a red dress asked as she stopped at our table. I could smell the cake still lingering in her clothes that she had just delivered to the table next to us. She had a tray in the right hand with some empty glasses on it. She was trying to hide it, but I could tell she was attracted to Rowan by the scent her skin was giving off. So strange that I could tell that, and I wasn't even trying. She didn't seem much older than him, and it was obvious from my perspective he didn't mind the attention. She didn't take her eyes off him.
Rowen responded, "Actually if you don't mind-"
"If you wouldn't mind," Brayden cut Rowan off, "could you please get us a round of water?"
The woman was caught off guard by the completely silent entry of yet another ripped young man, Brayden was probably the only one in the group more muscular than Rowan.
"S- Sure, I'll be right back" She stuttered back to him and she was gone.
"Thanks Bray." Rowan didn't sound very happy with his leader. I thought it was pretty funny. It's amazing how just a new sense of smell and hearing can intensify each comment I hear that has any heightened emotion. "So, any good jobs?"
Brayden showed all his teeth in his sadistic smile. "Looks like we've got a trap waiting for us boys!"
Most of the group joined Brayden smiling, but I didn't get it, why be happy about a trap? "How do you know it's a trap?" I asked.
Rowen looked at Brayden, "The usual?" Brayden nodded. "Often times when we come near a town and give off any clue as to what we are, there just happens to be a couple new jobs on the guild job board. Not everyone who knows about werewolves likes us, especially vampires. And so I'm guessing someone heard my howl last night, and guessed there was a mercenary pack coming to town. So they put up a job that seemed more challenging and better paying than the others, so that we would want to take it." Rowen grabbed a glass of water from the waitress who returned, but ignored her and continued. "So we usually take'em. It's more for the image thing since we probably won't get paid out of the deal, but it's not like we need the money anyways right?"
Brayden added, "The bartender confirmed my suspicions about the job being new. Posted just this morning, but the paper it's on looks well worn and handled. No doubt this one's a trap. But it won't be anything we can't handle, they don't have a clue who they're messing with." Plus, now we got you little guy! Got nothin' to worry about!" Everyone had a small laugh, and took sips of their water. "Alright, let's get goin! Gotta find them before they find us! The job says that there have been multiple murders and kidnapping around town recently, and it says there's been reports of strange folk in the woods east of here. Let's go check it out!"
I felt a little worried as we left the guild, seeing as how we were walking straight into a trap, but everyone felt completely confident in the group. I guess I didn't really have any reason to doubt them, they did all seem ridiculously tough. Weapons sheathed, we left town heading east. The forest wasn't too far, so we didn't bother with the brisk pace from earlier. "I hate to sound like the scared little kid, but shouldn't we wait until nightfall so that you guys could be in wolf form?"
"If your average wolf pack was heading into a trap, they would usually wait until night so that they could have the strength advantage." Rowen began explaining. "They would also devise a good strategy and think of every possible scenario in order to prevent unnecessary casualties within the group. But we have a little trick during the daytime that allows us the element of surprise, in case our opponents knew our weakness during the night. And no one expects us to attack during the daytime since we are just normal humans." He sounded just even more confident now. This obviously wasn't their first time walking into a pre-set trap blind. Suddenly I heard an extremely faint crack of wood. Rowen crinkled his nose, then sniffed, and I what he resonated, two men up in trees, and what direction they were in. They were just shadowy images since he hadn't actually seen them. "They must have scouts in town that came out here once they saw us, so they're on alert. Usually there aren't any people aware of us when we surprise attack. But still no matter. Alright, we're almost there, let's strip down to our despensables. Lyric, don't worry, just stay wearing that, you don't need to change." Everyone else stripped down to a thin pair of shorts, with no shoes or socks. I guess those are their despensables. Then they all swallowed something, but I didn't get to see what, some pill or something, not sure. But I could smell it, and it wasn't something I'd ever smelled before. It smelled floral. "Here they come." About 20 men began walking out of the forest towards us. All bearing arms. Every one of them had a crossbow, and half of them had swords rope tied to their sides. One of them was the man who greeted us at the entrance of town. "Looks like they were expecting us, they got silver arrows and everything." Brayden sounded a shallow grunt, and I saw the image of us stopped. And we all did. Silver arrows? Isn't that what prevents us from transforming? What can we do against so many who know our weakness?
"Salutations mongrels." The man in front addressed us. "May I ask what possessed you to attempt to catch us off guard during the daytime?"
"I didn't realize we were dealing with bounty hunters," Brayden began, his first word resonated with an image of a shut mouth, he must not want us to talk. "I don't suppose you'd let us go and allow for a fair fight?"
The man laughed pridefully, "A fair fight? Humans against werewolves? What is fair about that? You even tried to catch us off guard! You pitiful mutts are pathetic in your attempt of being sophisticated." He was starting to piss me off.
"And it's fair that there are twenty-two of you with crossbows, against 7 men and a boy?" I could tell every word Brayden spoke was resonated to make us calm.
"Ha! Well said flea-bag," I didn't realize how hard it has become to control my emotions since my transformation, but this guy was really testing my patience. "Which one of you tail-waggers is your alpha?"
"I'm the 'flea-bag' you're looking for, human." Brayden said calmly, but with serious attitude, Obviously insulting him for having to ask who the alpha was.
"You dare to antagonize me Fido?" The man began walking closer to Brayden, maybe this is what he was after. "You understand you don't have a chance against us, you and all your buddies are going to be sold to the highest bidder. Vampires pay top dollar for sedated puppies. You do understand you still have an hour before that sun sets, and it won't take us but a second to dot your flesh with silver arrows?"
"Depends if your shaky-armed sharpshooters over there can hit a fish in a barrel or not. I don't know what kind of yellow bellied pups you've dealt with in the past, but seeing the way you grip your crossbow like a kitten, I might have to show you what happens when you play with the big dogs." Brayden had the same sadistic smile he had when he first told us about the trap. I could tell this was all going according to plan, but I didn't understand how we were going to get out of this. Brayden's insults did the trick, the man was now just inches away from his face.
"You mangy trash! You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into." He stopped suddenly, and looked down. I could smell it, the urine trickling down his legs that wasn't his own. Brayden purposefully drew him in so that he could give him the ultimate humiliation. It was hilarious. I couldn't hold the laughter in, not without being able to control my emotions like I could before my transformation. "Why you piece of-" The man yelled as he stepped back and shot a bolt right into Brayden's chest. As he fell to the ground, he gave out a yelp that could have been heard from miles around. Resonated in his cry, was the image of one thing in my mind. A clock. It was obvious his intent was something of this sort the entire time, and this was still according to plan. He wanted us to wait. But I didn't care what he meant, I didn't care he wanted me to stand my ground. I didn't want to care. All I wanted was to rip this man's head off. The anger inside me was like nothing I've ever felt before, I couldn't control it, it was without a doubt in complete control of me. As if I'd swallowed a gallon of liquid magma, by insides boiled so hot I couldn't tell right from left. All I could see was red. First it was just the heat of anger in my vision that I saw, then I saw the blood of those who were surrounding us. I don't know how many piercing arrows I felt hit me. My side, my leg, my face. Though the barrage only lasted a few seconds, I must have gotten shot at least 15 times. But it didn't stop me. It didn't even slow me down, I just kept killing. After I killed the last fear saturated human in sight I looked around for more, I wanted to see more blood. Before I saw any more, I was tackled to the ground by 3 or 4 huge half wolf men. They were trying to tell me something, but I couldn't understand a word they were saying, so I kicked them off of me, I didn't have arms, just four legs. I relied on my sense of smell this time to try and smell more fresh fear, then I realized every body around me wreaked of fear. Even the wolves that just tackled me. Why would they be afraid? I'd just killed nearly every human that had encompassed us. Then I heard again a yelp. Though I hadn't calmed down any, I could tell it was Brayden because it was the same sound that ignited this blaze inside me. But this time it was resonated with an emotion I never expected to feel. Grief. The grief Brayden felt as he was the cause of the monster I had become. A bloodthirsty, savage, animal. Exactly what he told me that we were not. I had become the epitome of what the man I just killed felt that we were. It struck me so hard I couldn't move. The others hesitantly skirted around me and walked over to Brayden. Rowan placed his hand on Brayden's chest, and ripped out the bolt. This time not a yelp, but a howl as he instantly transformed into his half wolf form. I watched as his wound closed and healed leaving a small pink scar. As fast as he transformed, he was back into human form, along with everyone else. I realized I was the only one still in wolf form, but I was completely a wolf, which isn't possible except on a full moon. Brayden walked over to me, and placed his hand on my snout. His warm hand felt ice cold on my blazing hot face, and then he began humming again. The same song as before, but this time the only thing resonated was just pure emotion, concern. The cool feeling from his hand quickly spread through my entire body and before I knew it I was completely human again. Standing in front of him.
Brayden looked me straight in the eye, "Sit." I sat. He looked at me long and hard, looking as if I was a complete mystery to him. "Earlier today, when you said your parents were werewolves, I assumed you meant they were turned after they had you. But we all know werewolves can't have children, you need to tell me more about your history kid."
I was still trying to calm down the rest of the way. What just happened was a little overwhelming. Becoming and raging beast and killing 20 men wasn't my usual day. "Well, I am the blood born child of my parents in more than one way. They were werewolves when they got pregnant, which is possible. But due to transformation, the mother usually miscarried the first night of pregnancy. I was blood born in the second way because of the obvious reason."
"She was stabbed with enough silver every night for 9 months to completely prevent her from transforming at all." Brayden finished my explanation with his guess.
I nodded. "Yes."
"Incredible. I had no idea that was possible." Brayden held his face in his hand, wiping the sweat away from his forehead. "I also didn't know it was possible for a werewolf to transform completely into a wolf during the day, let alone not during a full moon."
"It's just as surprising to me too. I had never transformed at all until a couple of days ago." I started. "My parents thought that I was born a normal human since I'd never shown any signs at all. I guess I was just never provoked enough."
"So your transformations aren't based on the moon's cycle at all?"
"I guess not, last night the only reason I transformed at all is because I thought you wanted me to, but I couldn't figure out how. I got really frustrated, and then really angry, and it just happened."
"So, instead of your transformations being linked to the lunar cycle, it's linked directly to your emotions?" He chuckled cynically. "This can't be real. So what are you, like a mutant werew-" He stopped abruptly, a shocked look replacing his confused face. "No, you aren't, we, are the mutant werewolves. And you-, both of your parents were werewolves?" I nodded. "I guess you are the purebred then? Which would explain why you weren't effected by the silver bolts shot into you. I guess if you don't have a virus that makes you lycanthropic, you aren't allergic to anything we are." We were all sitting down now, Brayden now looking into the sky, and everyone else just staring at me. I never knew any of this was possible, and neither did they. "I'm going for a walk, we'll lodge in the city still, so get cleaned up. I'll meet you all at the inn." And he was gone.
Rowan scooted closer to me now, staring at me face. "Your eyes are green." I wasn't sure what he meant. "All of our eyes stay that crystal blue and never revert back to their normal color. You really do have complete control over your transformations don't you?"
"I wouldn't say complete control, I had no control over what happened a few minutes ago. I just got filled with an unquenchable rage and it happened. But I guess you could say that my transforming has nothing to do with the moon and everything to do with my emotions."
"Incredible, to quote Brayden." Rowan replied.
"So how was it that you guys transformed during the day? My parents told me that it was impossible and that we could only prevent the transformation, and not invoke it. I was barely aware of what was happening, but I do remember being tackled by you guys in your transformed state."
"Ahh, right, that. I guess Brayden probably won't mind me telling you since you really are one of us."
I cut him off, "I would never betray you guys."
"I know that, and that's why I'm telling you. This is a secret that Brayden discovered long before he started our mercenary band. He debated never telling anyone, but decided this was for the better. Were your parents aware of the history of our race? The origin of werewolves?"
"Yes. They considered themselves to be somewhat of scientists. They did tons of research."
"So you are aware of the midnight rose then? The flower of black tears?"
"Yeah." I responded.
"Well, werewolves are allergic to more than just silver. You saw us each swallow something just before we walked into the trap? Well, those were the toxins from the Midnight Rose extracted and solidified. It causes an allergic reaction which has the same effect as the moon. It heats up our blood and allows us to transform even during the daytime. The only drawback is because of our constitution, we heal incredible quickly, which you are aware of. But unfortunately because of that we burn through the toxins faster than we'd like, and so we can't transform for long. It takes quite a few flowers to make just one of the doses that we use. Just like any medicine, a larger dose has a greater effect. But we still haven't found a way to become completely wolf yet using it."
"How do you find the flowers?"
"Once you take one of the 'pills', you become incredibly familiar with the scent, and you can smell them from miles away. Luckily, we hardly ever need to use them, so collecting them usually isn't really a big deal. You'd be surprised at how common those flowers are. The best places to find them are areas that don't get a lot of light, but can still see the moon. Since barely anyone anymore knows the connection the flower has with our race, and us 8 are the only ones that know it's usefulness now, no one has any reason to try and exterminate them. I'm sure vampires would love to get their hands on this kind of knowledge, but at all costs, we can't allow that to happen. You understand you can't tell anyone right?"
"Of course, but what happens if someone sees you transform during the day?"
"We don't usually allow that to happen, usually if we transform during the day, anyone who sees is going to die." Rowen had a big smile on his face. "But I guess now we can just say we're like you, and don't have a restriction. It will probably give us a bigger target on our backs, and we'll have way too many people wanting to join. On second thought, I guess I should talk to Brayden about that first. Anyways, we need to get you cleaned up, you are covered in blood. You smell pretty ripe too."