Silken Webs
Keywords: Silken, Webs,
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A piece in the local newspaper a few days later, described how three girls were found shot dead and naked in a popular lovers meeting place. Police could find no identification and there were no missing persons listed that matched the descriptions. A smaller piece two or three pages in, reported the finding of a woman who had obviously crawled to safety in a dilapidated house basement after a terrible beating, only to die of dehydration. The pack was finished.
He couldn't mourn the loss of their lives, but he felt a sudden profound loneliness. He may not have fitted in, but they were his own kind and now, as far as he knew, he was the only one.
Present.
Jack's lifestyle had altered now to accommodate the regular alterations. By keeping a diary and being careful, jack managed to drive his motorcycle to places widespread in order to make his kills. Although he didn't particularly enjoy the hunt, he soon found that eating raw meat was no substitute for a freshly killed carcass. It was something to do with a need for hot blood he reasoned.
By spreading his hunting grounds, he was able to restrict himself to sheep or the occasional pig. Never returning to the same place and always hiding the remains, keeping the danger of discovery to a minimum.
Jack drove to Tenterden with the intention of finding the wild boar that lived in the forest knowing that, even if he missed them, there would be plenty of Red Deer as a stand by. Stalking deer did at least provoke some excitement. The shy creatures needed to be carefully tracked or even ambushed. They had the advantage of large ears and fleet escape, making them something of a challenge.
His luck was good, and shortly after dark, he located a group of the wild boar in a culvert. Their eyesight is not particularly good, so he was able to be almost among them before the alarm was raised.
He singled out a sow and separated the group by diving through the middle and then angling away and up, splitting her from the rest. In desperation, she tried to run, squealing her fright as he closed. His killing bite took her by the scruff of her neck, but as she died, an older tusker came flying at Jack, catching him a glancing blow with one of his razor sharp teeth that curled wickedly from the side of his snout. The searing pain in his side told Jack that he was in trouble, but he defended his kill and drove the Boar away. He returned to the sow and ate his fill before limping back to where his bike had been hidden and his transformation.
The damage was pretty serious. A large gash had been opened up on his flank and blood flowed freely from the wound. It was serious, needing stitches.
The girl seemed to materialise out of thin air. Passing between two trees, she took a step or two towards him. He growled a warning for her to leave him alone.
"Shhh." She hushed his growls and held her hands palm out, signalling her lack of intention.
Still he growled, but with less conviction. She stepped closer, closing the distance to a few feet. Jack could do very little about the girl. The pain from the wound was burning into him and he was feeling quite weak from the loss of blood.
Then she was crouching beside him. With a few strokes on his head, Jack succumbed to her touch, his resistance dissipated.
"Quite a nasty wound you have there." She needlessly informed him. His blood was matting his coat, making the black fur even darker as it coagulated. He whimpered and fainted.
The eastern sky was already showing first light when Jack woke. Groggily, he looked around and found that he was lying on a wooden cot in a shack or shed. There was very little furniture, just a table and a chair. In the corner of the room stood a packing case up turned with a two-ring gas cooker.
He noticed the lightened sky through the grimy window and immediately tried to rise. The pain in his side stopped him in the effort; he flopped back down and whined a little, feeling very weak and dizzy.
She stirred and got up from some sacking she had been laying on to check on him. Expert hands checked the wound on his flank, testing the skin to see if it was scabbing over. His fur got in the way a little, but by being careful, she managed to see enough with out opening the wound again.
Jack lifted his head to look at the girl and knew he was about to transform and there was nothing he could do about it. He was too weak to get up, let alone run anywhere.
The window lightened more and the first rays filtered through the grimy window. His transformation complete, Jack looked at the girl, wondering what her reaction was going to be.
If she was shocked, she hid it well. Her expression was only quizzical as his fur withdrew into his pores, his snout shortened and ears shrunk. His four legs shimmered into two legs and a pair of arms, complete with hands and fingers. The change only took a few seconds; she stood, stock still as she witnessed it.
In human shape, the wound didn't look quite so bad. It was deep and had bled quite a lot, but already, the werewolf healing process was underway and gradually, the wound was closing. He was still very weak and his usual exhaustion after the first night, was greatly magnified.
Jack broke the silence.
"I'm sorry you had to see that."
"Why sorry? It had to happen. It's not like I could go out or something and find a wolf replaced by a man is it? How long?"
"How long what?"
"Have you been this way; A werewolf?"
"Six months or so I think; time blurs." He then told her the story of his life up to now and about the pack.
By the time he had told her everything, sunlight was streaming into the shack, and Jack had to shield his eyes.
"That is one of the down sides, intolerance to sunlight. I had better get back and get some clothes on." He knew he wouldn't be able to make it through the forest. Although the tissue around the wound had almost completely healed now, the combination of light and the loss of blood would probably finish him off.
"I think you had better stay here. Am I in any danger Jack? I mean, will you attack me in wolf form?"
"Since my turning, I haven't had any human company at all so I don't know how I will react. I did say though, that as a wolf, I couldn't stand the smell of human flesh, so I think you will be okay."
It occurred to him that she hadn't told him her name and he knew nothing about her at all. He had been so engrossed in telling her his life story, that it might have appeared as if he wasn't interested.
"What do I call you?" He waited for her answer as she opened the door just enough to slip out.
"Denise. You can call me Denise or Den for short. I won't be long. You rest here and try to sleep."
He did sleep and only woke when she returned several hours later. It was the sound of his motorbike that woke him. His stomach growled to let him know that he was hungry.
She sidled through the door carrying two plastic bags and his clothes under her arm.
"Apart from the obvious, I didn't know what werewolves eat so I bought some liver and hearts. Will that be okay?"
He laughed. It felt foreign to laugh, but her expression and ignorance struck him funny. It was the first time he felt relaxed and could laugh since the night on the beach.
"I eat anything normally." He told her. "It's only when I change that my diet becomes specialised. Then it is a different hunger all together and has very little to do with needing food, but is no less urgent. Without a kill, my lupine side will die and so will the other side of me. Thanks all the same and I'm famished."
Although he was still naked, he got up, completely healed and took the bags from her while she struggled to get through the door.
She cooked the liver while he dressed and handed him a plate of liver and baked beans with a slice of thick bread. It tasted like the best meal he had ever eaten and the tea completed the food.
"Denise." He started. "I know nothing about you, why you live in a hut in the middle of the forest or what you do. Tell me all about you."
They passed the afternoon with Denise telling him of her life to this point. She had been married to a guy who liked to beat her up when he had a drink and didn't stick to their marriage vow of excluding all others. Their friends sided with him, believing her to be lying. After the separation, she found herself ostracized and shunned by the group of people she had though of as friends. It was as if he held them all in thrall.
Her resultant depression led to a breakdown and hospitalisation for two years. Since then, she had shunned people and preferred to live in the quiet seclusion of the forest tending injured animals or just watching nature go about its business. The medical people had signed her off permanently, so she had to visit town once a week to pick up her social security and shop for food. Other than Tuesday's, she had no contact with the outside world and that was the way she liked it.
Jack had been feeling sorry for himself on and off since his turning, but after listening to Denise's story, he realised he didn't have it so bad. Sure it would be nice to have a couple of friends who lived a night life, but on the whole, he was okay and better than most.
As darkness descended, he changed. Denise opened the door and silently, he slipped out into the night, to hunt under a full moon.
After his appetite was satisfied, the black wolf returned, there were still several hours of moonlight left, but he found himself returning to the shack and the girl.
She stood at the door, looking out and wondering if he would return. Even from several yards away, he could smell her, could hear her blood coursing through her veins. He wanted her. He needed her as a friend, someone to belong to, someone to be with, a companion, and a pack mate. He wanted her as a lover and approached on silent pads.
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Keywords: Silken, Webs,