Wolves Abound: A Short Story, Page 3
Leslie M. Joyner
he had to survive this night in his chains.
Rachel stopped at the local pub for a beer. God knows she needed one. She also ordered a steak rare. Which after she ordered, startled her, because she seldom ate steak, she preferred chicken, and she never ate one rare. She ate it and it was the most delicious thing she had ever had. As the waitress refilled her beer, Rachel asked her about places to stay in town.
“Well that’s an easy one. We’ve only got one place. There’s a boarding house over by the library, which is across the street. The conveniences of a small village I suppose.”
Rachel left her bill, and a tip on the table and headed over to the boarding house. She got a room, and went straight to it as she didn’t have any luggage, just the one bag. She grabbed a shower to wash some of the road grime and weariness from her. Then headed for bed, but she couldn’t sleep. The moon’s face stared at her through the window, like it was trying to tell her something. Her heart ached, her muscles burned, she could barely breathe. She was suffocating inside this small room. It was late in the evening, to late for a run surely. She reached into her bag and pulled out her blue jogging pants and sweatshirt, quickly dressed and bounded out the door and down the stairs into the night.
She had no idea where she was going, she just knew that she had to run and run she did. Her muscles contracting and expanding, her heart racing. The suffocating feeling in her lungs eased a bit with each step into the woods. The moon’s beams casting eerie shadows before her, but she didn’t notice. She noticed nothing but the run, the feeling of the power in her legs, and the unrealistic hunger in her soul. She raised her head as the wind blew across her face and she smelled something strange yet familiar.
She stopped on the top of a knoll surrounded by a grassy area for 100 yards. Here the wind was stronger, sweeter. The unusual smell more powerful, she ran towards the smell faster and harder than she had ever ran before. Rachel stopped dead in her tracks. In front of her was a wolf, a wolf that was chained to a tree. Why would anyone chain an animal to a tree she wandered aloud. Or so she thought, as the thoughts came to her throat it was an inhuman howl. It scared her obviously and yet, she felt that it was right. For the first time since the attack in the park by that dog, she felt perfectly at ease. That all was right in the world. She walked closer to the chained wolf. She saw around its neck, a charm, and several keys.
The wolf didn’t whine or growl, he just stood their taking in her scent as she approached him. This was the smell he caught earlier from the car that drove past him. Yes this was the girl’s first change. He doubted that she even realized that she had changed. Rachel walked around him staring at him and sniffing the air around him trying to understand what was going on.
Rachel was tired. Perhaps the run took more out of her than she realized. Perhaps she would just lay here next to this wolf and rest for a bit. Not once thinking it anything unusual to sleep next to a wolf. Jamie pressed close to this unknown and new she-wolf, relishing in her scent and her feel. Together they slept peacefully.
The hours slipped quickly by, and for once, Jamie didn’t mind that he was a wolf. His soul was at peace, the first peace he had known since his changing had occurred. The moon sunk low into the sky and they slept, as they slept they reverted back into human form. Jamie wasn’t as tired as Rachel was, for he had changed many times over the last three years. He unlocked his chains, and dressed in his shorts and shirt. He folded the blanket that they had laid on over the naked stranger, that he knew he loved, even though they had never spoken. He reached in his pack and got a thermos out and poured a cup of coffee. He held the beautiful woman as she slept wanting this moment to never end. He really did not want to explain things to her, but he knew he would have to. It was evident that this was her first complete metamorphosis. She would have a lot of questions. Unless, of course, her family was like his, but none of the girls in his family had been werewolves. She must have been bitten, that’s the only way he knew of a female being turned.
Around noon, she began to stir. Groggily she looked around, and upon laying eyes on the strange man she bolted upright. She remembered only running, and a vague vision of a chained wolf. Rachel looked down and realized that her clothes were gone. “Who the hell are you, and were are my clothes?”
“My name is Jamie, and I do not know where your clothes are.” He said with a frown. Time for explanations he supposed. “Might I ask your name? I can tell your from the States, you don’t have an Irish accent, so I am guessing you are here seeking answers, as am I. What is the last thing that you remember?”
Everything was cloudy, her mind was trying to sort out the fact that she was laying under a tree, with nothing on her body except a blanket, with a man she had never met. “I remember running...” Rachel began. “Then seeing a wolf with a chain around his neck, that held some kind of charm and keys. The wolf,” she hesitated as Jamie began pulling a chain out from under his shirt. “Was chained to a tree.”
Rachel looked behind her to see that there were chains locked around the tree she sat under. The charm that she saw around Jamie’s neck was the same that the wolf wore. “Oh and my name is Rachel.” She had almost forgotten to give Jamie her name.
She was scared, but at the same instance, she trusted this stranger more than any one she had met in her life, even more than her Aunt Lynda that had raised her. “Could you please tell me exactly what is going on?” Rachel pleased as she raised the blanket a bit higher towards her neck, embarrassed that her clothes were missing.
“First, can you tell me why you are here, in Ireland? That might help me better understand you, so that I can explain everything. Also, if you’d like, I have an extra pair of shorts and shirt in my pack, if you’d like, you can wear them while we look for your clothes.”
“Clothes, yes that would be great! Not sure how we can find mine though, I’m not even sure where we are.” Jamie handed Rachel the clothes as he stood and walked around to the far side of the tree, to let her dress in semi-private. “Well its gonna sound really odd... One of my professors from NYU was always talking about this great occult library that this small Irish village had, said it probably had every book on philosophy, religion, and anything else spiritual from around the world, and since I’m kinda into that stuff, I thought I’d come see if it could live up to all he claimed it was.” It wasn’t really an out and out lie. That was why she was here. She just didn’t feel at ease telling this stranger that she thought she was becoming a werewolf. After all, she wasn’t even sure she believed it herself.
“That’s wonderful, as that is why I am her as well. Is there any particular subject you are into? Ghosts maybe?” Jamie chuckled as he began singing the Ghostbuster’s theme song in an attempt to lighten the mood of the moment.
“Well no, not really ghosts. Though that is quite an interesting subject. Have you ever met a ghost?” Rachel asked as she pulled on the t-shirt. “Ok, I’m dressed, thanks for the clothes, any idea how we can find mine?” Rachel reached down to fold the blanket that now lay crumpled on the ground.
Jamie poured a cup of coffee for her as she placed the blanket in the back pack. The he removed the chains from the tree, “Nope never met a ghost, though I’m sure they are out there somewhere. As for your clothes,” he hesitated, “ Close your eyes, and smell the wind.” He did this and Rachel followed his lead.
It was amazing, she could smell so many different scents, even the direction of her clothes. “But how?” Rachel began.
“You lead the way, and I’ll try to explain.” He hoisted the back pack up and it clanked and jingled from the chains.
“Isn’t that to heavy?” Rachel asked him as he slipped on the pack.
“No not really. I’ll try to explain that as well.” They began walk south towards the village, and towards where Rachel had shed her clothes.
“When you closed your eyes tell me what you saw when you inhaled?”
“Well, um... I felt like I was seeing everything at once, but my eyes were clos
ed.”
“You know, how animals, especially dogs, or wolves, can track down something through scent. Its kinda like that.” Jamie began to explain, throwing in wolves to see her reaction.
“Wolves huh?” She looked at him perplexed and frightened. “And what about that back pack not being heavy?”
Jamie took it off, it probably weighed 150 pounds or more. “Here, lift it.” He handed it to her. Rachel expected to drop it, but it felt amazingly light.
“That’s gotta be some kind of trick.” She frowned at him as she lifted the pack up and down, knowing that the chains where in there because they made such a horrible noise.
“Nope, the enhanced sense of smelling... the strength your feeling... Look across the stream about a mile off, what do you see.?”
“Your kidding me I can’t see that far, not through these trees and brush.” She looked any ways. “What the hell...” Rachel stopped dead in her tracks. “I... I can see everything...” She saw the birds in the trees and the small furry animals scurrying about... even the insects munching on fallen trees. “Would you kindly explain to me what is happening.” Rachel became scared, and tears began to fall from her cheeks.
Jamie brushed them aside, “Rachel, you have to be
Rachel stopped at the local pub for a beer. God knows she needed one. She also ordered a steak rare. Which after she ordered, startled her, because she seldom ate steak, she preferred chicken, and she never ate one rare. She ate it and it was the most delicious thing she had ever had. As the waitress refilled her beer, Rachel asked her about places to stay in town.
“Well that’s an easy one. We’ve only got one place. There’s a boarding house over by the library, which is across the street. The conveniences of a small village I suppose.”
Rachel left her bill, and a tip on the table and headed over to the boarding house. She got a room, and went straight to it as she didn’t have any luggage, just the one bag. She grabbed a shower to wash some of the road grime and weariness from her. Then headed for bed, but she couldn’t sleep. The moon’s face stared at her through the window, like it was trying to tell her something. Her heart ached, her muscles burned, she could barely breathe. She was suffocating inside this small room. It was late in the evening, to late for a run surely. She reached into her bag and pulled out her blue jogging pants and sweatshirt, quickly dressed and bounded out the door and down the stairs into the night.
She had no idea where she was going, she just knew that she had to run and run she did. Her muscles contracting and expanding, her heart racing. The suffocating feeling in her lungs eased a bit with each step into the woods. The moon’s beams casting eerie shadows before her, but she didn’t notice. She noticed nothing but the run, the feeling of the power in her legs, and the unrealistic hunger in her soul. She raised her head as the wind blew across her face and she smelled something strange yet familiar.
She stopped on the top of a knoll surrounded by a grassy area for 100 yards. Here the wind was stronger, sweeter. The unusual smell more powerful, she ran towards the smell faster and harder than she had ever ran before. Rachel stopped dead in her tracks. In front of her was a wolf, a wolf that was chained to a tree. Why would anyone chain an animal to a tree she wandered aloud. Or so she thought, as the thoughts came to her throat it was an inhuman howl. It scared her obviously and yet, she felt that it was right. For the first time since the attack in the park by that dog, she felt perfectly at ease. That all was right in the world. She walked closer to the chained wolf. She saw around its neck, a charm, and several keys.
The wolf didn’t whine or growl, he just stood their taking in her scent as she approached him. This was the smell he caught earlier from the car that drove past him. Yes this was the girl’s first change. He doubted that she even realized that she had changed. Rachel walked around him staring at him and sniffing the air around him trying to understand what was going on.
Rachel was tired. Perhaps the run took more out of her than she realized. Perhaps she would just lay here next to this wolf and rest for a bit. Not once thinking it anything unusual to sleep next to a wolf. Jamie pressed close to this unknown and new she-wolf, relishing in her scent and her feel. Together they slept peacefully.
The hours slipped quickly by, and for once, Jamie didn’t mind that he was a wolf. His soul was at peace, the first peace he had known since his changing had occurred. The moon sunk low into the sky and they slept, as they slept they reverted back into human form. Jamie wasn’t as tired as Rachel was, for he had changed many times over the last three years. He unlocked his chains, and dressed in his shorts and shirt. He folded the blanket that they had laid on over the naked stranger, that he knew he loved, even though they had never spoken. He reached in his pack and got a thermos out and poured a cup of coffee. He held the beautiful woman as she slept wanting this moment to never end. He really did not want to explain things to her, but he knew he would have to. It was evident that this was her first complete metamorphosis. She would have a lot of questions. Unless, of course, her family was like his, but none of the girls in his family had been werewolves. She must have been bitten, that’s the only way he knew of a female being turned.
Around noon, she began to stir. Groggily she looked around, and upon laying eyes on the strange man she bolted upright. She remembered only running, and a vague vision of a chained wolf. Rachel looked down and realized that her clothes were gone. “Who the hell are you, and were are my clothes?”
“My name is Jamie, and I do not know where your clothes are.” He said with a frown. Time for explanations he supposed. “Might I ask your name? I can tell your from the States, you don’t have an Irish accent, so I am guessing you are here seeking answers, as am I. What is the last thing that you remember?”
Everything was cloudy, her mind was trying to sort out the fact that she was laying under a tree, with nothing on her body except a blanket, with a man she had never met. “I remember running...” Rachel began. “Then seeing a wolf with a chain around his neck, that held some kind of charm and keys. The wolf,” she hesitated as Jamie began pulling a chain out from under his shirt. “Was chained to a tree.”
Rachel looked behind her to see that there were chains locked around the tree she sat under. The charm that she saw around Jamie’s neck was the same that the wolf wore. “Oh and my name is Rachel.” She had almost forgotten to give Jamie her name.
She was scared, but at the same instance, she trusted this stranger more than any one she had met in her life, even more than her Aunt Lynda that had raised her. “Could you please tell me exactly what is going on?” Rachel pleased as she raised the blanket a bit higher towards her neck, embarrassed that her clothes were missing.
“First, can you tell me why you are here, in Ireland? That might help me better understand you, so that I can explain everything. Also, if you’d like, I have an extra pair of shorts and shirt in my pack, if you’d like, you can wear them while we look for your clothes.”
“Clothes, yes that would be great! Not sure how we can find mine though, I’m not even sure where we are.” Jamie handed Rachel the clothes as he stood and walked around to the far side of the tree, to let her dress in semi-private. “Well its gonna sound really odd... One of my professors from NYU was always talking about this great occult library that this small Irish village had, said it probably had every book on philosophy, religion, and anything else spiritual from around the world, and since I’m kinda into that stuff, I thought I’d come see if it could live up to all he claimed it was.” It wasn’t really an out and out lie. That was why she was here. She just didn’t feel at ease telling this stranger that she thought she was becoming a werewolf. After all, she wasn’t even sure she believed it herself.
“That’s wonderful, as that is why I am her as well. Is there any particular subject you are into? Ghosts maybe?” Jamie chuckled as he began singing the Ghostbuster’s theme song in an attempt to lighten the mood of the moment.
“Well no, not really ghosts. Though that is quite an interesting subject. Have you ever met a ghost?” Rachel asked as she pulled on the t-shirt. “Ok, I’m dressed, thanks for the clothes, any idea how we can find mine?” Rachel reached down to fold the blanket that now lay crumpled on the ground.
Jamie poured a cup of coffee for her as she placed the blanket in the back pack. The he removed the chains from the tree, “Nope never met a ghost, though I’m sure they are out there somewhere. As for your clothes,” he hesitated, “ Close your eyes, and smell the wind.” He did this and Rachel followed his lead.
It was amazing, she could smell so many different scents, even the direction of her clothes. “But how?” Rachel began.
“You lead the way, and I’ll try to explain.” He hoisted the back pack up and it clanked and jingled from the chains.
“Isn’t that to heavy?” Rachel asked him as he slipped on the pack.
“No not really. I’ll try to explain that as well.” They began walk south towards the village, and towards where Rachel had shed her clothes.
“When you closed your eyes tell me what you saw when you inhaled?”
“Well, um... I felt like I was seeing everything at once, but my eyes were clos
ed.”
“You know, how animals, especially dogs, or wolves, can track down something through scent. Its kinda like that.” Jamie began to explain, throwing in wolves to see her reaction.
“Wolves huh?” She looked at him perplexed and frightened. “And what about that back pack not being heavy?”
Jamie took it off, it probably weighed 150 pounds or more. “Here, lift it.” He handed it to her. Rachel expected to drop it, but it felt amazingly light.
“That’s gotta be some kind of trick.” She frowned at him as she lifted the pack up and down, knowing that the chains where in there because they made such a horrible noise.
“Nope, the enhanced sense of smelling... the strength your feeling... Look across the stream about a mile off, what do you see.?”
“Your kidding me I can’t see that far, not through these trees and brush.” She looked any ways. “What the hell...” Rachel stopped dead in her tracks. “I... I can see everything...” She saw the birds in the trees and the small furry animals scurrying about... even the insects munching on fallen trees. “Would you kindly explain to me what is happening.” Rachel became scared, and tears began to fall from her cheeks.
Jamie brushed them aside, “Rachel, you have to be
