Werewolf under the Hunter’s Blood Moon

Authors are supernatural beings. They exist in the world, also in worlds they create, and in the worlds of other authors they read.

Lani Brown

If you were to send a werewolf to the moon, would he be a werewolf permanently?

Kristen Schaal

A howl in the dark light

A flash of teeth bright white

A scream and a bite

Old moon madness has struck again tonight.”

Thin Lizzy, ‘Old Moon Madness’

Vampires, werewolves, fallen angels and fairies lurk in the shadows, their intentions far from honorable.

Jeaniene Frost

Even a man who is pure of heart,

And says his prayers by night,

May become a wolf ,

When the wolfbane blooms,

And the Autumn Moon is bright.

The Goodmans had owned the old Chalet Log House since the 1990s, nestled in the woods of up state New York. It was called an Adirondack and was a split level vacation house located in Wilmington, not far from Lake Placid. Located in the mountains and part of a community of similar homes deep in the old New York forest. Once the home of the Mohicans and Mohawks of the Iroquois Confederation, who had been driven from the area in the wake of the French and Indian Wars. Once bears, wolves, deer, mountain lions, and beavers roamed the area, but like the Native Americans, they had been driven out many years ago. Now only a few of the original inhabitants roamed the forest and the place was now a vacation resort for mainly upper middle class families, with just a few hardy locals spending winters there. An upper middle class sanctuary, made in the mythical image of the old forest that once covered North America all the way to the Mississippi.

Loren Goodman was almost eighteen and would soon graduate from high school in Long Island. She never knew her father, he had been killed in some accident in London before she was born. The details of his death were never discussed, and many many rumors circulated, but Loren never looked into any of them. Her mother, Alex, had not married her father, they were living together, and she only found she was pregnant after her father had died. She suffered from traumatic depression after his death, so much so she had to leave London, too many memories, and came to live with his parents. The Goodmans welcomed into the family, but the trauma of Loren’s father’s death gripped her like a vice. It was hoped that Lorne’s birth would bring joy to her world, but strangely, it did not. Her depression only worsened after Loren’s birth, as post partum depression layered over her PTSD, and soon a very bad case of the flu overcame her. The combination of virus infection and depression proved too much for the woman and she died nine months after Loren was born.

Her mom left her only two things, one a letter that told of her love for her and how sorry she was that she had not been strong enough to be around for her. Lorne treasured that letter, along with a dim memory of her mother, it was like an old black and white picture, faded, a little yellow and grainy. She had a dim and faded memory of her mother’s voice, like an old home movie scene of her mom and grandmother. In it her grandmother looked scared and her mother was saying something about Loren’s eighteenth birthday. Nobody knew exactly the meaning of this, but all treasured the fact that Loren had a memory of her mother, even if it was dim and fleeting. Her aunt and uncle would often comment that it was a joy she had that memory, but none knew why her grandmother, usually an optimistic and cheerful woman, would be afraid, and of what, was also unknown. The family dismissed all such thoughts in this moment, Loren would turn eighteen on August 15th, and a big party was planned, with all of Loren’s friends invited, it was to be an epic event. The only dark cloud on the event was the presence of the two creepy old guys in a cabin nearby, who had been seen many times spying on Loren and her friends. The accusation of spying, could not be proved, but many would bet there paychecks the pair was guilty. Her uncle had even made some threats, but the family kept him from acting on any of them, as the pair was well connected in the community and they could make a lot of trouble for the family. Loren especially despised them, as she thought they had taken pictures of her since she was fourteen. While popular with some of the elites of the community, many of the residents felt the same as Loren about them, and they were basically shunned by most of the people of the area.

Two days before her birthday Loren and her friends; Gabby, Monica, and Mags; were in the town for a small festival at the restaurant court. It was to honor the history of the village, with the booth honoring the Native Americans of the area as the favorite of many. Here several speakers told the tales of the Native Americans who once lived in the valley. The girls sat enthralled as Joh Eaglefeather, and Apache who was a former army Ranger, told the tale of shapeshifters, called skinwalkers by the old tribes. He told the following tale:

I will now tell you the story told by the Iroquois about a warrior called Okwaho, or Lone Wolf. He was what the Navaho call a Limikkin, and the Mohawk call the Yenaloos, a skinwalker, a man who could walk as a human or a wolf. Lone Wolf, filled with great sadness as a close friend had died, took a long journey into the mountains, deep into the hills to the realm of the spirit world. There he sought out the King and Queen of the wolves, King Hiamovi and Queen Manipi, and asked them to introduce him to the great Howahkan, the great philosopher of the wolves and a friend of Old Man Coyote, the animal spirit of North America. Lone Wolf spoke with them for many days as he poured out his sadness over the death of a friend. To bring him some joy, they sent him to the moon spirit Bilitaachiia, who introduced him to the two spirits who danced in the clouds, the great white wolf, Howahkan and the golden mountain goat, Hiamovi, the joy in their dancing filled Lone Wolf with great happiness and he joined them as his sadness faded. Freed from his sadness he went on to meet with his friend in the hunting grounds of heaven. Filled with joy and love he returned to the mortal world, but then he was confronted with the evil that the sapiens did to each other. He grew angry, his friend had been killed in a battle, as some were jealous of the things he had, and Lone Wolf then, by the light of the full moon, vowed to take revenge upon all humans for this evil. This is why the skinwalkers will take vengeance on humans by the light of the full moon.

The man finished the story and Loren sat totally enthralled with the tale, which surprised no one as she always had a great interest in tales of the occult. She asked many questions about the skinwalkers, and John, always glad to see one interested in the old stories and culture of the Native Americans. He spoke with Loren for several minutes, as John loved to speak to these genuinely interested in the culture of the natives in America. As things broke up, Loren’s friends grouped around her.

Mags started, “Well, to none surprise, you are the one into this. See, our native girl runs true to form.”

They all laughed, and Monica added, “Just like when we were fourteen, and she had us reenact some old Celtic or Druid thing. Paining our privates blue and singing and dancing naked in the forest calling for some big deer.”

“Elk,” Loren corrected, “it was Cennunos, spirit animal of the Druids. Shame the boys refused to join us.”

“Yeah, you said they had a ‘small problem,’ Larry is still pissed about that,” Monica laughed.

Loren looked at Monica and sneered, “Well he had a chance to prove he did not have a ‘small problem.'”

The girls all laughed at that and moved on to the other exhibits, while doing party planning as they looked at the booths, posters, and buying a lot of stuff. Gabby got the most, while proclaiming that merchandising was her life. While going through the place they ran into John Wright, a local kid that all of them liked. John was an outgoing guy with red hair and very popular. To Loren’s remark of a “small problem” he just responded that all of them would like to know if he did or not.

John looked at Loren and remarked, “So you are the nature specialist?”

Gabby, who had a crush on him, quickly interjected, “Yeah, she’s into all that nature stuff, that is why she is headed to Miami to study biology. Me, well I am going to St. Johns, for engineering, which I believe is your field.”

John just smiled, Gabby had made her point and the group moved on. John then asked, “So this party, you guys should delay it one day, Sunday is the full moon, and its a blood moon, also a hunter’s moon, in the old days it was called the Hunter’s Blood Moon, was suppose to have been magical, the biggest of the year. We could party to that, it would be epic.”

Monica shoot back, “Yeah ,Sunday, which means al lof us have to go back to work on Monday morning, and most of us have early start times. Saturday is party night, I mean I can sleep through mass, but not so much as a cashier.”

The group all agreed with Monica, even John, and they spent the rest of the day just chilling at the festival. As they walked around the continued to plan for the party, which was at Loren’s house, as it was the biggest of the cabins and her aunt and uncle would not be at home. They had invited a couple of the athletes from from some of the local teams, they volunteered to be on creep guy patrol and insure the two creeps from the other place kept their distance. Everything was set, the young people of the area were filled with excitement, as it looked as if the party would be epic.

The party went off without a hitch, even though Loren’s uncle did not go out of town, but stayed out of sight. He was cool, not like her very conservative aunt, who was a stickler for rules. Her uncle even brought out his old suit of knight’s armor, which his dad had bought at an estate sales years before. Her uncle’s dad used it for years on Halloween and it was a big hit. When Loren’s dad was a kid, her grandfather would put it on and squat next to a table with a big bowl of candy out in the years. Every fourth or fifth kid or parent that walked up, he would suddenly stand straight up, raising his sword and shield. People would jump all the way back to the road, and everyone would be laughing. He did it for years and her uncle took, at his house in Florida, over after he got too old to wear the suit. Her uncle did it for many more years, until five years ago, when the local HOA, he lived in a gated community, said it was inappropriate, despite all the children loving the Silver Knight, as they called it. The HOA President, who also had a vacation home nearby, was adamant that her uncle stop, as he claimed her uncle was traumatizing the children. Her uncle tried to argue it, but the President just bullied the HOA committee to uphold his view. Her Uncle did do something to get back at the vain and conceited man, he stacked a bunch of boxes near the door of a storage shed attached to his carport. When the President came driving by in his official HOA golf cart, her uncle would look as if he was trying to hide something by hurriedly throwing the boxes into his shed. The guy would fly up the driveway to take a picture and demand an explanation, to which her uncle just showed him the empty boxes. He and his neighbors just laughed at the old guy, they laughed even more when her uncle caught him with this trick six more times over the next few months. Needless to say the relationship between her uncle and the guy were not good, and the HOA guy would always call him a nasty troublemaker. Her uncle would respond that he was a proud troublemaker and solidly stood by nasty.

The next morning, early, the HOA guy was at the door, looking to file a complaint about the noise from the party. Her uncle, going back to New York for some business, was not in the mood to deal with this guy. They exchanged some unpleasantries, as the HOA guy was detailing the importance of HOAs in the world, when her uncle just ended the conversation by saying, “One, we are like three miles away, no way the noise made it that far. Two, there is no HOA here, so I can just tell you to fuck off, and three, I do not have time for this crap.”

The man left, disgruntled as usual, and her uncle composed himself and they left Loren alone. She was exhausted and wanted to just sleep the party off. But after all had left, Lorne could not sleep, she was troubled with dreams, many of them were horrific. She saw herself running naked through the wood, hunting deer, rabbits, and Elk. She found herself running with a wolf pack, chasing a herd of Elk, and Loren seemed to be the leader of the pack. The scene switch to her walking through the woods, and was confronted by two great wolves. The wolves introduced themselves as King Hiamovi and Queen Manipi, and they were welcoming her to the night. Suddenly she saw her father in the clearing, looking at her with a sad face. She turned and saw her mother, standing in the clearing crying and saying she was sorry. Loren tried to speak with both, but they just turned away. She tried to follow, but mist covered the path and they just disappeared. Left alone in the clearing she was suddenly surrounded by many spirits, the first was a great stag.

“I am Cernannos, the spirit creature of all animals, welcome my child of the night,” the great stag announced and disappeared.

Another spirit appeared and whispered, “I am Ardana, spirit creature of the forest and the creatures within, welcome child of the night.”

She disappeared and another papered, a beautiful white woman, “I am Draantice, spirit of death and change, welcome to the night, you child of the night. Welcome my fellow female.”

“I am Elaine, spirit of beauty, welcome child of the night,” whispered the bronze female who appeared and disappeared as the others did.

Then the last spirit walked up, he looked like an old Celtic warrior, he wore a gold and silver crown and carried a large staff. He looked Loren straight in her eyes, with a stare of both terror and love, and said, “I am Fintan, spirit of those who change, those who have the beast within. You who have the essence of the great grey wolf and the the Dire wolf, hear me. Tonight Bilitaachia will shine fully on you. The great blood moon and Hunter’s moon will descend upon you. Tonight you will become the beast within. Tonight you will join us, the children of the night. You who descend from a Neuri, who ride with Skoll and Huti. You of the Fenair, a Neurican warrior, one of the Ulfhednar. Tonight you will meet your destiny. Fear not, the raven will bring you a teacher, and a shaman will protect you. Hail, Loren, one of the children of the night, what beautiful music you will make.”

Loren awoke with a start, fear gripped her body. She rubbed her eyes, trying to get the image of Fintan out of her memory. But that was unsuccessful, as all the spirits seemed to dance around in her mind. It did fade in a few minutes, but the memory of the night lingered in her mind. One thought did engulf her head.

“Man I must have gotten into some bad shit. And I told these guys no mind altering stuff, some body is going to have a lot of explaining to do,” she thought to herself.

She went over in her mind which one of the bozos at the party might have slipped her something, she quickly came up with a list of the usual suspects. As she thought of how she would confront them, she noticed it was getting dark, damn she thought, she slept through the whole day and was just as tired as she was in the morning. She looked out the window and watched the sun journey below the tree line and revel the moon. It was a pink-red and full, brilliant even, she had never seen it so beautiful. The orb enthralled her, captivated her, Loren stood staring at it with a feeling of joy and awe. It filled the sky, its light caressed the trees, it was the blood moon, also the hunter’s moon, as it lite the night with a soft light. Suddenly, she was overcome with many feelings. First was a ravenous hunger, like she had not eaten for days. She went to the refrigerator, pulled out all the party leftovers and began to gorge on the food. No matter how much she ate, she did not feel full. But the huger only lasted about twenty minutes.

“God, I am hot,” Loren screamed as she pulled off her top and jogging pants. Sweat was rolling off her like a river overflowing its banks. She began to pant, like a puppy dog, and walked out on the upper deck, hoping to find a summer night breeze. So hot, she in advertently exposed herself to the two creeps from the other cabin, who were taking in the night with their telescope. Seeing her on the deck, they decided to walk over for a closer look, and maybe more.

The heat turned to pain as time quickly passed, she screamed as dark, gray/black hairs began to emerge all over her body. She watched them grow with a look of terror and fear. The pain just intensified her body contorted in so many ways, like it was undergoing a transformation. Loren watched in horror as her hands and feet transformed into paws and her arms and legs transformed into those of a wolf. Her back arched and her stomach collapsed in, even her ears became pointed and moved up on her head. She felt her cheeks and mouth swell, then her jaws pushed out, going from human to canine. Her screams transformed from a woman to the howl of a wolf, as if it was announcing the creation of a new creature. She closed her green/yellow eyes and when they opened they were not longer that of a woman, but the green/yellow eyes of a wolf.

Loren felt as if something in her was released, and she fell into a cave. Her fear was intense, terror had consumed her, but that soon went away. Something else had taken her body over, and she did not know how to communicate with the creature. It was like she was in a virtual reality game, and she watched as the creature jumped from the deck to the ground. Feelings were intensified and she became more aware of the environment around her, the trees gave of one scent, the other animals another. But on the wind was another scent, and it became supreme, and began to drive and dominate her. It took over her body and mind, it became the overriding urge of her entire being. An overriding and intense drive, as it grew so did her hunger. Loren smelled food.

While Loren was transforming, the two men were creeping quietly towards the cabin. As they walked, they were snickering and brimming with excitement. They began talking.

“Steve, I saw that Goodman girl stripping on the upper deck, I think she is high,” John Marbury whispered as he rubbed his balding head, “we might be in for a treat.”

“Right on!” Steve Sloan exclaimed as he leaned on John’s shoulder, “I got some great views of that party, lots of hotties. Plus, she’s an adult now, none of that kiddie porn crap can be used on us, again.”

The two creepily laughed as they moved through the trees. John then chortled, “Bet she got real drunk. like those bitches last summer at the pool. Tonight we get to touch and look, and maybe more.”

The men made a degusting porn type squeal, and kept talking about what they believed would happen on the deck. It would be an epic night, they agreed, and would not end in arrest as it had at the pool last summer. Or worse, they had to run through the bushes a couple of years ago, dodging buckshot, when they were caught by the dad and husband of two women they been peering through the window at. Steve still bore a couple of buckshot scars from that, it was a good thing their boss was a very influential person in the community, or things may have ended in jail. As they walked though the trees and brush, under the red-pink aura of the moon, they became disoriented. Drunk and high, they began to stumble a bit and lost their way. Suddenly a low, fierce snarl emerged from the darkness.

“What’s that?” Steve blurted out, with a voice filled with fear and anxiety.

“Jesus Christ, it’s the wind, don’t start that animal stuff again. There ain’t none, I know, I was on the environmental committee (John said with a sarcastic tone) that made sure none of those wacko green ideas were imposed,” John responded with an undercurrent of anger.

Five years ago some activist and the state tried to do some things to preserve the environment of the old forest and maybe restore some of the fauna that once lived there. Another goal was to slow down the development in the area as many thought it was getting out of control. John was adamantly against this, as he was part of the company that was dong a large part of the construction in the area. John was a lead supervisor and Steve was the director of the architects. The plan was to build a massive, exclusive, development along the river. John was placed on the committee by the owners of the company and while they looked as if they were really interested in protecting the environment, their true purpose was insure that not only were there to be no new environmental laws, but to weaken the old ones. They flew the banner of concern about jobs and the business that the development s could bring to the area. The plan worked well in South Florida, so now they wished to try it in New York.

John further chastised Steve about his skittishness, telling him he believed in too many fairy tales. As he finished they saw two yellow/green eyes peering out from the darkness. Both men stooped and terror gripped their bodies, their legs froze as a great silver-gray wolf moved out of the darkness. Paralyzed with fear, the men performed their last bladder evacuation. John then grabbed Steve and flung him into the beast as he turned and ran. The wolf made short work of Steve, as he made only one agonizing scream as his life was taken. The wolf bounded after John, who was stumbling, falling, and desperately trying to get away. As he pulled himself up from a bed of leaves, the wolf pounced on him, standing on his biceps as John laid screaming on his back. John looked into the wolf’s eyes, and thought he had seen them before, but before another thought came, the wolf ripped his head from his body. The wolf feasted on the two men before bounding off into the forest, leaving the reminder of their bodies to the forest scavengers.

The wolf smelled more food, and hunger drove it along another path. It led to one of the RV sections, not far from the road. Here a mean looking man was addressing some women.

“You girls did good, got a a good haul,” Russ growled as he counted a large amount of cash, then pointed at a terrified young woman handcuffed to the RV, “all but this one, and she tried to leave my employ. I told you all, I own you, you will do as I say.”

He walked over and stared directly into the girls’ tear filled eyes, “and now you will pay, and pay dearly, bitch.”

He pulled a long leather belt, that had small metal hooks near the pointed end, from the door as he ripped her top off. As he did this an ominous growl and rustle emerged from the bush. Russ turned, his face contorted and his teeth clinch, as he yelled in the direction of the noise.

“Billy, if you are doing that silly ass mask thing again, I swear you will get some of Shelia too,” he growled as he waved the strap, he called it Sheila after his ex-wife, over his head.

Billy was going to jump out of the bush in his Frankenstein mask, which now covered his dismembered head. The wolf found him sneaking around the camp, and killed him quietly. With a howl, the wolf jumped into the clearing and the four women around the campfire tried to run. Russ ran at the wolf waving the strap, and even got two hits on the beast before it deboweled the man. The wolf quickly ran down the four women, ripping out their throats and dragging them back to the camp by their heads. Each of the women were dragged back screaming as blood made a thick red trail from the point of capture to the middle part of the camp. One woman, who was blonde, now had a head of blood red hair. The wolf feasted on the five bodies and then looked up at the woman and cuffed to the RV. She was pulling and pushing on the door and the cuffs, desperately trying to get away, all the time witnessing the carnage of her former associates. She even was beginning to chew at her wrist in her last and desperate attempt to escape the scene. The wolf slowly approached her, as she began pleading for her life, as if an animal could understand and take pity on its prey. She was screaming to the uncaring tress, and the at the the other animals, to whom the sight of a predator’s prey being trapped by a predator was an old scene that they took little interest in. The wolf sniffed her all over, as she collapsed into a bundle of pathetic tears. She looked up, the wolf’s eyes seemed to soften, she thought it might pass her by and she might survive. But they suddenly hardened and the wolf feasted on her as she still lived, desperately hoping the whole thing would be over soon. The last sounds she made was a call to Jesus.

The Frost family heard the screams from their RV, not far from the attack scene. John and Maureen Frost looked out of there RV and wondered what was going on in the camp just beyond the trees. John called for his oldest child, the fourteen year old Angela, to get his rifle from the back of the RV. John took the rifle and slowly walked into the forest, but quickly came running back screaming for all to get into the RV. He and his twelve year old son, Billy, were the last to get into the vehicle. John, now in total panic mode, tried to start the vehicle as the family pulled down the covers for all the side and back windows. The family soon saw why John was so panicked, as the wolf ran in front of the RV, just as the engine engaged.

John tried to pull out, but the sound of exploding tires sent fear through the vehicle. It was as if the wolf knew what to do to disable the vehicle, as it ripped the tires in quick succession. The craft was now immobile, and John grabbed the rifle as the rest of the family found other weapons. The wolf ripped the front door open and John opened up on the creature with the rifle. The bullets passed harmlessly through the wolf, they were lead, not silver. John fired three times before the wolf ripped him apart. Maureen had grabbed the butcher knife and plunged it deep into the wolf’s shoulder, as the wolf ripped her chest open. Angela tired to escape, swinging the flying pan like a club, but was quickly disposed of in the kitchen. Billy made his stand in the back of the RV, waving his baseball bat like Davy Crockett did his rifle Betsy. He went down just like Fess Parker did in the old Disney movie, as he was ripped apart leaving the bed soaked in blood. The wolf pulled the knife from her shoulder and again the smell of food drove her on, this time to a cabin.

The cabin of the HOA President, Alvin Greisman, was only a few hundred yards from the RV park. The wolf bounded over the distance as night moved in morning. The sun was only two hours from appearing when the wolf found the cabin, and soon was in the front yard of the Greisman cabin. The noise from the RV park had awaken Heather Greisman, who was sensitive to noise and so much more. Her husband Alvin was returning from one of his nightly visits to the bathroom.

“You hear that noise,” Heather grumbled as he entered the room.

“Yes I do,” Alvin sneered looking out the window, ” those lowlifes in the RV section, your basic trailer park trash, refuse to give anyone peace. I have been talking to some other people and they support my idea of forming a HOA in this area to regulate some the nonsense we have to put up with. A HOA will put an end to this crap.”

Heather sighed, she never was happy with anything, “Doesn’t help me now, I can’t get back top sleep, been up since one.”

Alvin suddenly noticed a shadow crossing his yard. He turned and snorted, “Get my stick, one of them is on my property, I will deal with this now!”

Alvin picked up his cane from the closet and the pair advanced down the stairs to the front door. Heather stood in the door as Alvin walked down the stirs and out into the yard.

“Whose there?” he demanded, “get off my….”

Just then he was confronted by the wolf, who knocked him down as Heather screamed and collapsed in the doorway. The wolf stood on Alvin’s chest and stared directly into his terrified eyes. As he heard his wife’s psychotic screams, the wolf’s yellow/green eyes stared into the man’s soul. Some of the wolf’s saliva dripped on his face and chest, he thought, he had seen those eyes somewhere before. Then he heard a voice, a deep feminine voice that seemed to come from the wolf’s brain to his.

“You are lucky I am full and the sun rises, but tomorrow night you may not be so lucky” the voice filled his head as the wolf spirited away as the sun began to pierce the forest vale. The light of the ruler of the day uncovered the carnage of the night. Alvin slowly pulled out his phone and called 911. He went up the stairs to Heather, who just sat in the doorway muttering only, “My God, My God, My God.”

Loren woke up and found herself lying naked in a small clearing, with sun shining down on her face. She looked over a nearby log, someone had taken a massive BM, one dotted with some coins and chains. Squirrels, birds, and two ravens surrounded her, and it seemed as she could hear them speak. Disoriented, confuse, and fearful she began to have the world become focused. Then a familiar voice chimed in.

It was John, and he was sitting on a log over her, he chuckled sarcastically, “Well that was some first night. You really put on a show. I, and the animals, are impressed.”

Loren looked at him and was not amused, but she could not make sense of anything. Had she gone crazy and ran naked through the woods, that would be so embarrassing. Did she do something worse or had he? She finally demanded, “What the hell happened?”

John’s face went from playful to serious and replied, “You transformed and really put on a show. It has some very worried, going to get a lot of publicity, most unwanted. One of the community will be her soon, they can explain it all, but the moon is full for two more day. You will have to take precautions.”

John handed her a jogging jersey and pants, along with some slides. He went on to explain he was a shaman, he showed her his red aura, and explained he was like an intermediary between the mortal world and the other realm. He then took her over to his car, and in the side mirror showed her her dark brown aura, misting like a morning fog from her head. He told her that her father had been a werewolf and did not die in an accident, but was killed by the London Police. For the child of a werewolf, one becomes a werewolf at eighteen, he mentioned that it was the common age for most shapeshifters. he did add that weretigers went through the transformation at sixteen, why Loren had no idea. Her father had become a werewolf from being wounded but not killed by a werewolf on the moors of England. He then looked up a the ravens and asked, “So who’s coming, Alex or Mason?”

Loren looked surprised as the raven answered, “Neither, Danshi, she in New York and wanted to come.”

John looked at Loren and with surprise in his voice replied, “Wow, you will be visited by the queen herself, Danir Tshilaba Martinov, (he looked up and snickers at the raven, telling him he could pronounce the name). Maybe Vincent will come too. Now there is a pair, I mean she is like super hot and he, well he is the nerd of nerds, kinda like Ronnie. That guy won the relationship lottery.”

John stopped, he saw she was totally unaware of last night’s events, she was not connected to her wolf yet. So he showed her the local morning paper, whose headlines screamed: ANIMAL KILLS ALMOST ONE DOZEN PEOPLE IN OVERNIGHT ATTACKS. She slowly read the story, as it detailed such things as killed two men, slaughtered an entire party, and then.

“I killed an entire family?” she screamed and pleaded asking for the whole story to be denied, “and threated the HOA guy?”

John looked at the raven, and it told him she had to know, so he sighed and explained, “Yes, you killed them all. The beast in you is out of control. Danshi will teach you to control it, but until she gets here you must be careful. Let’s get you back home, and let me do the talking if we run into the police.”

“How do you know so much?” she pleaded.

“Remember, I told you I was a shaman, see the red aura,” he explained, “just like my father and grandfather back to our ancestors in Siberia, I saw your aura about six months ago, and knew you are a werewolf, Mason contacted me about six weeks ago and told me to try to get you before you transformed, or if not, at least get a hold of you after the first night, before anyone else contacted you.”

Loren wanted to ask more questions, but John said to save them for Danshi, except he did warn her about a dark entity that might try to seduce her. They rode back to her cabin in silence, John seemed preoccupied with much and Loren was just trying to get her mind around things. As they pulled up, they saw the police out in force. They had a busy morning since Alvin called them at sunrise. They had traced the animal to Loren’s cabin, were the first wolf tracks were found. As they approached two officers confronted them. John explained that Loren had seen a big, aggressive animal that looked as if it was trying to get into her house. He continued that she had freaked out and ran out the back door and ran to his place, were she stayed the night. The cops bought the story and told her she was lucky, as it looked as if the animal got up and her deck and must have left when it sense that nobody was home. One of the deputies was puzzled because the tracks seemed to start at Loren’s house, as they found none coming up to her house. But the others dismissed that, saying a couple of the trials around the place were hard and few if any tracks could be found there.

Just then Alvin pulled, jumped out of car and tried to take over the investigation, his usual move. He was arguing with the head deputy, when he saw Loren. He approached Loren and was about to say something, most likely criticisms of her party, when he looked into her eyes, her bright yellow/green eyes.

“Those eyes!” he exclaimed, with a mixture of terror and anger, “I have seen those eyes before.”

He stopped a minute and looked at all around, and then pointed his finger at Loren and proclaimed, “It was you, you are the one who attacked me and my wife. It was you, My God, it was you!”

The police looked at him, one of them circled his ear with his finger, the old crazy sign. He then said, “Really, this young girl slaughters six men and seven women, some of them quite capable of fighting. The tracks were of an animal, not a human. this is not some Saturday night creature feature. She has what my old friend, Zachary, called wolf eyes, he said in the old days the Mohawks would make people with them priest.”

The police pulled Alvin away, despite all that was said, he was still convinced it was Loren who attacked him. He kept screaming it as they put him in a police car and took him to the hospital. Later he and his wife began binging YouTube stuff on the occult and especially werewolves. One of the cops at the scene said the old man must still be sufferings from PTSD syndrome and need to get someplace to clam down. The people around the scene were laughing, but not John, he looked serious. He knew the truth, Alvin was right, and Loren was the wolf, and the wolf would return tonight.

John took Loren back to his house, were his father and mother was preparing a place for Loren tonight. His father prepared the basement for the night, cleaning out an old vault to hold the wolf. His mother, a witch and priestess of Hecate, was gathering potions and spells to protect the family. In the center of the basement she drew a large Pentagram, and surrounded it with wolfbane. The plant made the wolf ill, and could drive it away, meanwhile just in case, John’s father loaded his rifle with silver bullets. John’s younger sister, just starting her witch training, would spend the night with her mother in another secure room. They were taking no chances, the hope was that Danshi would arrive before sunset. When shown the place Loren recoiled, deep inside her wolf was pushing back.

“No, I won’t go in there,” she insisted.

“It’s the only way Loren, please, don’t make me force you,” John begged.

Loren sighed, and began to move into the room as the sun set, the red rays of the sunset peered through the basement window. The shadows were growing as John led Loren in, she looked compliant. But she was not, she quietly slipped a rag into the lock as John was not looking. The Blood Moon was effecting her thinking, the wolf was more in charge, and the smell of food was driving her to make Loren forget her human friends. The rag had the desired effect, she transformed, in the same process as the night before. and the wolf looked at the door. It sprung open as the wolf charged it, surprising both John and his father as the wolf emerged. They jumped into the Pentagram, and threateningly circled the star. Her nose filled with the repugnant scent of the wolfbane, and the power of the star held the wolf at bay. But, the effect would only be temporary, the scent of the plant would wane and the wolf would attack, and the star might save only one of the men. John took the rifle, the wolf paid little attention to that as the ones fired at it last night were ineffective. She just kept circling and looked for an opening, sensing the decline of the power of the wolfbane and star, prepared to attack.

“Stand down,” a woman’s voice commanded from the shadows, “Stand down and transformed back!”

The wolf turned and looked at the woman, who had a foreign look to her with her black hair swirling around her neck and shoulders. She advanced towards the wolf, ignoring the threating growls, advancing like a queen towards a subject. She stared into the green/yellow eyes, and suddenly the wolf moved back. She straighten her back and gave the wolf a look that one sees from a king who is chastising a subject.

“I am Queen Danira Tshilaba Martinov, ruler of the werewolves, I command and you obey!” she proclaimed.

The wolf first tried to resist, but could not, and slowly transformed back into Loren. She stood in front of Danshi, naked and defiant. Danshi’s face turned dark, an anger moved across it as she raided her hand and pointed directly at Loren. Before Loren could move, a force overcame her, and she dropped to her knees in pain.

“Obey,” Danshi repeated and turned to John and his farther, “get this girl some clothes, I have work to do. Working with shamans. well it is better then the Teyollahcuani that I had to deal with the last time. Them and the Strix, you know owls have stubborn streak.”

The creatures she referred to were Aztec vampire witches, who were tied to owls, from deep in the Time Before Time, same with the Strix, who had occupied the Carpathians since the time of Gobekli Tepe. The men complied with Danshi and Loren rose up, and got dressed and sat in a chair facing the werewolf queen. Danshi pulled up another chair and sat directly in front of Loren.

“Now let’s start again,” Danshi began in a friendly manner, “I am Danshi, I am your queen, my line goes back to Neuri, and is the most ancient of lines of the many werewolf queens. I do not like to use force, but will when nessacary, to survive we must do things in a certain way and follow a set of rules, so to keep the mortals from mounting a crusade against us. Kills are to only be done to those on the fringe, despite the the sanctimonious proclamations of the mortals, there are those they do not care about. An example is the sex traffickers and the hookers, and maybe those two creepy guys, but the family, no, that cannot happen. The mortals will overlook all of your kills, except the family, a couple of kills like that, and they will come after us with a vengeance, it been done before, we need to try and not have it done again. Listen, the wolf in you can be your friend, you can work together, we all do that.”

Danshi stopped and smiled at Loren, who now felt relaxed and friendly towards Danshi. Danshi went on, “To survive we and the other night creatures, we are all called the children of the night, have adapted and hid. There is a dark entity, she is an enemy of us all, and uses anything to destroy anything human. The mortals once embraced us, but because of the dark entity, they have come to see us as their enemy, and believe were are in league with the dark entity. The entity has seduced many of the mortals and many of us, and the mortals can and will mount a crusade against the night creatures, if they feel threated, and have done so in the past. But, there is a fact that allows us to survive, the mortals, and they will not admit this, have a part of their society that are considered throw aways, the people they care little or nothing about. We can feed on them, but we must control our inner creature, what many see as our curse, the wolf.”

“How?” Loren asked.

“Well, first by getting to know the wolf. You do that by calling the spirit of the creature. Its done through meditation, and it is not hard, Then there is raw meat, it is the way to control the hunger of the wolf,” Danshi answered.

She explained to Loren how in meditation one called the wolf within, it took a lot of concentration, but was not an impossible task. Danshi showed her how, and the two women formed a circle of silence for about twenty minutes. Loren was getting tired when it happened. She felt something beside her and when she looked to her right, there sat the wolf. She looked at the creature, a silver-gray wolf with an elongated jaw full of sharp teeth. It gave Loren an almost loving look, like a dog gives its master, and then the great white wolf in Danshi appeared. Loren’s wolf bowed to the great white wolf and Danshi went on.

Danshi told Loren of all the werewolves of the world, and the many other shapeshifters that existed in all nations and cultures. How deep in the Time Before Time, when the sapien emerged on the Serengeti, some of the sapiens were one with many animal spirits. In many ways these spirits merged with the sapiens and they were able to transform themselves into the many different animals. Werewolves first emerged in Neuri, in Greece, thus the old myth of King Lycaon of Arcadia, Danshi’s family was descended from these people. The Druid spirit Fitain became the spirit creature of all werewolves and shapeshifters. All werewolves and wolves recognize the wolf monarchs, Hiamovi and Manipi as the rulers. Fitain called upon Bilitaachiia, the moon spirit, to give the power of transformation to them under the light of the full moon. Like all animals, the spirit called Old Man Coyote, was seen as the supreme leader, under only He Who Is, and to all werewolves the great spirit Howahkan as their wisest philosopher.

Danshi explained that Loren’s wolf was a cross between the grey wolf of England and the Jewish Dire Wolf, as her father was Jewish hand her mother British. She told her of the story of Gordon, a Jewish werewolf who pushed back against the expulsion orders of Edward I and later was punished, spending time in Hell, as he refused to bow to Queen Manipi. She explained the many different types of werewolves, such as the native American skinwalkers. She told of the Norse werewolves, Skoll and Hutu, who gave all werewolves membership in the Order of the Ulfhednar, a great society of warriors. She told her the myth of King Lycaon, Peter Stuble, Conbugne, and Bedbury. How they are called lycanthropes and the study of them is called lycanthropy. The Danshi told Loren about her husband, Vincent McLauren, a weretiger, descended from the group that destroyed the legendary Roman Ninth Legion. As she finished, and knowing Loren was headed to Miami for college, she invited her to her father’s restaurant, Lorizo and Chou Caribbean Restaurant. There her father and his friend the Cambodian Chou, plus a couple of Jamaican cooks they had known for years, ran the finest Caribbean Restaurant in South Florida.

“So I guess we are all one in the same?” Loren asked as Danshi finished.

Danshi laughed, “One and the same, one in the same is very different. That is a sorcerer, the earthly equivalent of the angels. Let me give you the run down of the night world.”

Danshi explained the entire night world, from the angels and sorcerers to the least of the night creatures, the brownies, fairies, and lephericans. She explain the entire spiritual world and what powers each of the denizens of the night pocessed. When John kidded Danshi about Vincent, Loren asked how she hooked up with him.

Danshi laughed, “I don’t know, been attracted to that nerd since I was thirteen, some things have no explanation. He does make me laugh, always has.”

Then Danshi spoke of her family, who are descend from from a people once living in northern India, who according to legend were lute players brought to Persia by the Sasanian king Bahram V Gor to play for the poor. He gave the an ox, donkey and wheat, which they consumed and when they returned the king with nothing, sent them to wander the earth as they had wasted what had been given to them. The truth is they migrated out of northern India centuries before, settling in the Neurina part of Greece, there they communed with the wolves, and became one with them. As wars troubled the area, the group moved out and became wanders, gaining the name gypsy, a person who wanders with no permanent home, a name Danshi said they hated and considered an insult. Oppressed and persecuted all over Europe, because of their links to the wolf, an animal feared by sapiens from the most ancient of days. The earliest of the sapiens, a warrior cult of humans, who moved into Europe from Africa, made war on any other human breed, and the wolf, one of their most ancient predators and enemies. The werewolves knew the sapiens would come for them, and thus fought back and saved the wolf from the fate of the Neanderthal, extinction. For this, the werewolves were branded an eternal enemy of the sapien, as they were seen as traitors to the breed, and have been hunted ever since. Over time the werewolves adapted and formed rules to survive and live with the sapiens.

Danshi looked at Loren and saw the confusion in her face and reassured her, “I know this is a lot, but it will pass, maybe like a kidney stone, maybe a large kidney stone, but it will pass. Like an old black lady once told me, Jesus will not give one more then they can bear, but he sure likes to push the limits sometimes.”

The two women laughed, and Danshi continued, saying that, what she called a dark entity, one she seemed hesitate to name, once thought shapeshifters could be an ally. When not all of the shapeshifters prove they would not be an ally, and she is one that demanded perfection and all to be perfect, she turned on them, poisoning the minds of the sapiens into believing the shapeshifters were their enemy. She would do the same with witches, wizards, and sorcerers, especially sorcerers, as they made up three quarter of what she called the vanguard. In the case of the werewolf, she will try to convince those who were killed by one that they must walk the Earth as the undead until all of the wolf’s line is extinguished. When those poor souls finally discover the truth, they immediately are taken up to paradise, but have lingering sense of guilt and sadness, your father’s best friend was one of these and he still has a tinge of sadness over his part in your father’s death.

Loren looked at her wolf and asked how she could control and work with such a creature. Danshi answered, “Meditation and raw meat.”

“Raw meat, I can’t eat raw meat, its disgusting, besides I am a vegan,” Loren responded.

“Loren my dear, only wererats are vegan, look here, are you really disgusted by it?” Danshi chuckled as she held up a a bloody piece of beef.

Loren look at the meat in Danshi’s hand, the blood ran down her arm, and felt an uncontrollable desire to consume it. Despite her proclamation of a deep aversion to meat, she took it, held it in her hands, fingered it and smelled it with a deep breath. She licked the blood soaked piece, and as she did she trembled. As her tongue rolled over the meat, the blood smeared on her lips and face, her whole body trembled. The wolf took on the look of a puppy dog eyeing a treat, with tail wagging and her entire face lighting up. Loren placed it, actually jammed it, into her mouth and felt exhilaration as she chewed and swallowed it. The wolf looked as if did the same. Loren pulled several pieces from a bucket, licking the blood and gorging on them like a person who was starving. As Loren ate, the wolf looked as if it was eating as well, she was eating for two, and she could not get enough. Danshi then offered a piece of raw pork, to which Loren asked if it was bad to eat raw pork of chicken, which was also offered.

“Well, trichinosis be dammed, go for it girl., same with chicken. Raw meat can’t hurt you now, even if it is bad, your digestive track will digest it just like a wolf’s does,” Danshi laughed handing Loren a piece of pork and chicken, as she devoured both.

Danshi stopped and turned serious, and went on, “Remember silver can kill you, its got the light of the moon in it, but for Vincent, well the old rhyming tale tells it best,

In days of old,

It was told.

Silver kills the wolf,

but for a tiger,

one needs gold.

It is why we must be careful, we are not invincible, only a sorcerer is, we will teach you all you need to know to live and thrive in the night, my sister night child.”

Loren looked at her wolf, who now was smiling with her tail wagging, like a dog greeting its owner and asked, “Is it all right if I call you Roselyn?”

The wolf agreed and her training lasted for the next four months, and she mastered all she needed to travel her new life. She even met her parents’ spirits, and was able to make peace with them, filling a hole in her heart that had been there for many years. It was at this time she ran into Alvin and Heather again, this time in Florida at her father’s home. She had been walking around a mall when the pair, who had gorged on the YouTube videos’ of a James McPherson, the self proclaimed werewolf expert, confronted her. McPherson told the myth of the walking undead and said it was all human’s responsibility, coming from God himself, to extinguish any were wolf line. The pair ran at her, waving two pistols, saying they were on a mission from God. Fortuanly a Palm Beach County Sheriff was nearby and pushed Loren down and shot the two. Later Lorne discovered the deputy was a werewolf himself and had been shadowing her for protection. A few days after training she sat with John talking about the experience and finishing her training.

“See I told you the wolf community would keep an eye on you, you got a family in them. Plus, you have to admit, it’s a great feeling, I know how I felt when I completed my shaman training, and was able to do things on my own,” John said as they looked at the rising sun, “by the way, that guy Ronnie is into you.”

“Really, he is such a nerd,” Loren began, then remembering her queen and her husband Vincent, “well maybe nerdy can be cute, but how would I explain things, I mean, what if he was around when I changed?”

“No problem,” John laughed, ” Ronnie is a sorcerer, just finished his training as well, sorcerer do that at eighteen, and knowing most sorcerers, he probably turn himself into a would and…”

“I get the picture,” Loren laughed.

On year later, Loren was deep into her courses at Miami, as was Ronnie, whose major was marine biology. He was part of a group Loren hung out with, going to the beach, helping with assignments, and living the usual Miami college life. She also met a few other female werewolves, and they formed a pack, typical of werewolves, as they tend to form single sex packs. She was told that this mirrored a group of planets in which the intelligent life was canine. Both groups would gather once a month at Danshi’s father’s restaurant for a celebration of all things, or just to hang out and party. Only this month was different, this month they were meeting for a purpose.

Danshi had called all the werewolves together to do a favor for her friend Alexander. Ronnie said he was a powerful sorcerer who was mentoring a sorcerer prince. Seemed his sister and her friend were being held by a local gang, and Alexander was going to rescue them, and wanted some help. Loren’s group were one of the ones who had no other commitments so they volunteered to help, and Danshi gave them all their instructions. On the appointed night they all gathered under a full moon outside a bunker deep in the River of Grass. The women were held by a group of men, who feared no man, but feared the sapiens who were not men. The wolves crept through grass and took their appointed positions and waited for the signal. The signal was when the sorcerer’s spirit animal, Terry the Tyrannosaurus, gulped down one of the men. The sat motionless as Alexander yelled something at one of the men, and one responded, at which Terry rushed out of the brush and swallowed him whole, at that the wolves sprang into action. The made short work of the group, Loren had no idea of how many there were, she and Roslyn just enjoyed the carnage. After the action ended Alexander and his sister, along with her friend, walked out of the bunker. Loren watched in amazement as his sister’s friend left with some aliens, she was later told it was not safe for her to stay on Earth. As she watched she was reminded of a quote from Shakespeare, in which Hamlet once said to Horatio, “There are more things on heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” As the wolves left the transformed back into human form, and Lorne watched Alexander and his sister walk to a great silver-gold staircase. Danshi said it was the Stairway to Heaven and they were going to meet their mom. The next day, Ronnie was filled with questions about Alexander, and asked if she also met the sorcerer prince. She told him she did not speak with the sorcerer, and did not meet the prince, Ronnie seemed a little disappointed, but the conversation soon moved to other things. As she sat there, and listened to the groups conversation in the sunny afternoon, she thought, it was good to find one’s place in the world and become what the person one was. In many ways, find one’s destiny.

As for the rest of you, remember.

Even a man who is pure in heart,

and says his prayer by night,

may become a wolf,

when the wolf bane blooms

and the Autumn moon is bright.