Wolf Born

by J N Moon

  “Emma,” Ethan’s tone was gentle but serious. “You’ll find Conor agrees with me, I’m not senile or on drugs but I don’t blame you-it’s a lot to take onboard. Regular people couldn’t handle it.” He smiled and lifted his glass, noticing it was empty went to get up.

  “I’ll fill it, you rest. Don’t think I haven’t forgotten that you haven’t told me about how you came to be in the hospital.”

  I filled his glass with the single malt and went to the kitchen to grab some ice. Oddly, I couldn’t look Conor in the eye, gulping, my mouth went dry and I could feel my face burning.

  “Are you ok?” He almost whispered.

  “Umm hum.” God, that was worse. Trying to be discreet, I took a deep breath, “You’re very kind to my uncle, he thinks a lot of you I can tell. Yet I’ve never met you before.”

  Turning away from the hot drinks he looked at me, his eyes stealing inside my soul, “You don’t trust me. I’m a stranger to you,” and nodding slightly to show he understood my predicament he continued, “I’ve known Ethan since I was a boy but I lived in Scotland until recently. His wife-your late Aunt and my mother were childhood friends and we only saw them when they visited. My dad had a condition that stopped him from travelling.” I noticed his tone changed and he looked away talking about his parents.

  “Something happened recently, something bad, which made me come here, though I part own a business here in the Cotswolds, anyway.”

  “Oh, what’s that!”

  “Cotswold snow and sports outdoor centre.”

  “Figures!” I laughed.

  Frowning he asked, “How so?”

  “Well, you don’t look the office type. I know that place, I’ve been a few times.” As I was getting used to chatting, feeling a delicious comfort of him my mind cut in.

  Careful, you know nothing really about him, this could be a false sense of security! He might actually believe he’s a wolf!

  So, I reigned myself back, I didn’t really know anything about him, he could be fooling my uncle. Or maybe I was just paranoid.

  Conor seemed to pick up on my change of heart, smiled and handed me my drink. As we walked back into the main room in the cabin, Ethan sat there with a cheeky grin.

  “Conor’s family are Wolf Born, too, his father and he are at least but his sisters didn’t inherit the gift. When I stayed with them, long ago now Emma, we would run together.”

  I’d just taken a mouthful of drink and spat it out in shock hearing this.

  “Emma, tell me seriously,” Ethan started to say but his voice was lost in the shattering sound of a wail. Flinching instinctively, I dropped my cup, watching it smash in slow motion as panic ran through me, my heart pounding against my chest, breathing stilted.

  Conor stood up, sprinted to the window and parted the curtain slightly, looking out.

  I tried to speak but nothing came out, paralysis overtaking me. Ethan stood now and passing me, put his hand on my shoulder.

  “You’re stronger than you know Em, muster your courage,” and made his way to Conor. Neither spoke, and chills tingled up and down my spine.

  Shaky, I reached for my boots, Conor spun round, “What are you doing? You’re not going out there!”

  “I know, but if I have to move I’d rather have these on.” I didn’t know really, we were all spooked and Ethan, though now frail, had always been a robust man, like Conor beside him. Wolves, creatures, I wanted my home, my bed.

  “We’ll have to face it sooner or later,” I heard Conor whisper to Ethan.

  “Not now, not tonight,” and as if on cue, a massive thud on the wooden front door.

  Without a word, Conor went to the cabinet, the place where Ethan kept his gun. Getting it out, he grabbed the bullets and loaded it. Me, I was looking for my courage and not finding it. Again, the thud as someone or something crashed up against the door.

  My survival instinct kicked in, I grabbed a fire poker in one hand and the small hand axe in the other that Ethan kept next to the hearth. Sudden flashbacks as a child when I would question why Uncle Ethan would keep an axe next to the fire and he’d joke that it was safer to have it inside the home where no one else could get it. I had it, Conor had the gun loaded and Ethan opened the door.

  And she was not Afraid of Him.

  Odour of rotten corpses flooded the cabin like a strong wind, causing me to gag, my fingers almost loosened around the axe. Doubling over with shock at that rancid air, I saw a shadow of a... thing. Darkness embraced it, it wailed like a banshee this horse like thing, its sound haunting, echoing like the souls of the lost. Ethan stood slightly to the side, too weak to stand up to this creature as Conor stood there, gun poised pulling back the trigger. But something held him back.

  What stopped him, the thing reared up on its hind legs and as my eyes adjusted against the black night, it looked like the body of a man attached to the body of a horse. Wobbling as my legs took the brunt of the shock, I steadied myself to see it was looking directly into Conor’s face, he was now seemingly unable to move. Ethan was moaning, mumbling, edging his way back.

  It was up to me? I’m an ecologist! Not a wolf thing, or a burly ranger... I watched in horror as it moved its horse head, slowly so that now it, or he, was staring directly at me.

  Murderous eyes bored into mine, empty soulless creature, I couldn’t breathe. My uncle, I wanted to see if he was alright but I was afraid to break eye contact in case it tracked my vision and made a beeline for him. I didn’t believe my eyes. I must be asleep-this must be a dream. But as I dropped the poker and the axe to the floor, the poker hit my foot which jolted me.

  Tears betrayed my courage as I shifted slowly towards this thing, reaching the frozen Conor-the man unable to save us. Still our eyes locked and I was able to block out the rest of its fleshy body. It only moved its head now, following my every move as if this was what was meant to happen. Holding my breath, the thing panting heavy, noisily, I reached Conor.

  Why did they ask me here? To sacrifice me to the skinless, terrifying monster. I don’t know how or why but as I passed Conor, I grabbed the gun which fell lightly out of his hands and seemed to wake him from his trance and I fired.

  Boom! The noise deafened me and the kick back sent me stumbling, though I didn’t land on my backside. Shouting something, Conor grabbed it back, he turned to fire at the beast but it had gone, disappeared within seconds into the darkness of Wychwood forest.

  “Emma, thank God you’re alright! Conor what happened?”

  Conor shook his head and spoke, “I looked into its eyes and I was pulled into an abyss so dark, so empty that I thought my soul had left me. Falling, I thought I was falling my limbs were frozen. Emma you saved us! Thank you,” his face softened, eyes glistening.

  Ethan hobbled over to me putting his arms around me, “What did I tell you. She’s stronger than us, I knew it!”

  Me, I wasn’t so sure. It was survival mode and I’d never been in that situation before, but I hadn’t been transfixed like Conor. My legs buckled and I crashed onto the chair, exhaustion sweeping over me. As I caught my breath sitting down, my clothes were stuck to my body with sweat, Conor had moved quickly and handed me a whisky. I could barely steady my hand as I took the glass, still too shocked to speak.

  He grabbed some logs from the basket and dropped them onto the fire, Ethan sat opposite me.

  Silence hung uneasily around us, no-one wanting or able to speak, trepidation of hearing that chilling scream again.

  Whispering after some time of silence, Ethan spoke, “That was a Nuckelavee Emma. A demonic creature, not of the mortal world. It has been rampaging down through the country,” clearing his throat, “That was the reason I ended up in the hospital. A week ago, while I was out, the thing attacked me. Until then I had no idea it existed, I knew about them but I never believed in them. It was Conor here who saved me, the truth is he had been tracking it as it travelled South.” He glanced at Conor, Conor noticed the empty glass but didn’t take it. He got up
grabbing the bottle off the shelf and sat back down, filling his glass and ours.

  “I don’t know why I couldn’t shoot it-it was as if it had a spell on me-had me transfixed.” He shook his head then offered me a top up, which I took.

  I didn’t want to talk, to speak of what just happened-if I did that it would make it real, I needed it not to be real. Monsters really exist. Of course, we know some humans can be monsters, but this thing was huge and... no, I wanted normal. A normal Friday evening may be bland for some, but for me I loved normal. I wasn’t a fighter, I was a scientist.

  Wolves, monsters, a strange man and whiskey...

  Eventually I croaked, “What now? We should leave, get far away.” Then I remembered my car and how it was blocking most of the road. But Ethan’s four wheeler was here, and Conor’s I’d guessed.

  Conor answered me, “This creature, the Nuckelavee is searching out our kind, so if we try and loose it in civilisation it’s likely to follow us there. Many innocents could be killed,” he said softly.

  I rolled my head, not that again! “Our kind, what does that actually mean? I’m a wolf?” I mumbled angrily.

  Ethan stood up slowly, Conor touching his arm-reassuringly. “It’s time to show her Conor, we can’t put this off any longer, her time is near and she needs to know what she is, where she’s from.”

  “Yes, I agree but don’t you think she’s had enough for one night?” Conor wandered to the window and looked out, before turning around. “Ethan, we should leave this until tomorrow. The creature is unlikely to come back again tonight-she needs rest.”

  “I know, and normally I would agree with you but time is short-I feel it. Tomorrow could bring more and I want Emma ready.”

  “I disagree-She needs rest as do we all. I’ll keep watch, and you do the second watch-we don’t know what will happen tomorrow but Emma’s exhausted, as we all are!” Conor asserted.

  My uncle did look tired and as for me, I had a job keeping my eyes open with the warmth of the flames soothing my nerves and the whiskey swirling around in my head. My brain didn’t really believe what had happened, but knowing someone would watch over us, my limbs started to soften, and I felt myself drifting off into drowsiness.

  I vaguely remember Conor leaving the room, my uncle chatting to me in a soft voice but I couldn’t really hear him. Next thing I knew I was waking up in the guest room, my skin chilled and my head like cracked ice and a hunger I had never known before. Smells of cooking drifted up to surround me, and my need for hot, fresh coffee drove me out of bed.

  As I stood, my legs shook a little, and last night’s events wanted to fill my mind like an overstuffed pillow, but I pushed them aside to get to coffee and something for my head. My eyes like lead, the nightmares flooded back, that thing was in my dreams. Its scent overpowering me, saliva dripping from its mouth and its fleshless human-equine body, rearing up ready to devour me. I stopped, shook my head, and sighed that outside was daylight. Birds sung, insects chattered and buzzed and all-around life seemed beautifully normal. And safe.

  “Emma’s awake,” I heard Ethan tell Conor as I opened the bedroom door. “Don’t bombard her with questions, she’s like me, not a morning person.”

  Conor made no answer that I could hear and I walked tentatively down the creaky oak stairs, hand fixed, holding the rail as my head screamed inside.

  They both smiled at me as I walked in and Conor handed me a large mug of coffee as I sat at the kitchen table. Ethan placed a fried egg sandwich in front of me, and I let my mind wander only to the food and drink before me.

  Cupping my hands around my drink, I took some deep breaths as flashbacks from last night shot into my mind, the stench, the vision, the sound of that thing. Automatically closing my eyes to steady myself, in my head I saw it in all it’s terrifying form, skinless, half-demon, half horse raised on back legs and those black piercing eyes. And how it had stared deep into my soul, shuddering I couldn’t shake it off. It wasn’t real, it couldn’t be real. I felt the warm hands of the two men on my arms, and slowly became aware of Ethan calling my name softly. Opening my eyes again, I gasped and tried to stand up.

  Hadn’t he said the monsters were real? Wanting desperately to go back in time to my ordinary life, before this, where the worst thing I had to deal with was my boss. Spluttering spontaneously as I thought of him, chauvinistic little fool and how he would react to that thing, that Nuckelavee.

  “Emma, it’s all right-you’re safe now,” Ethan’s words were soothing but untrue.

  “Am I? So, it was true-what happened last night?” I wanted to eat, my stomach battled with hunger and fear, tight and knotted and my hands still shook. I looked up out of the window suddenly distracted. Something smelled musky, earthy, then I nearly jumped out of my seat as I heard a rapping knock at the door.

  “It’s Pete and Coral,” Conor said getting up leaving me and Ethan there. I looked longingly at my breakfast trying to decide if I could stomach it.

  “Go on eat, Emma. You’ll need your strength,” Ethan encouraged.

  “I don’t know, we need to leave here, I can’t do this...I need to get home. To work, you need to get out.” Shaking my head, I felt tears welling, emotions ready to erupt, but not in front of people. Before Ethan could say anything, I grabbed more coffee and my sandwich and headed upstairs, I didn’t care to meet Conor’s friends or anyone.

  Shaking, I put my breakfast on the side table and grabbed my stuff. Then I sat on the bed nibbling at the food in between slurping my coffee, looking around this room, a room I had stayed in for years with happy memories but now it all looked surreal.

  I noticed things I hadn’t seen before, locks on the wooden shutters, a torch on the side and an axe beside the bedside cabinet. An axe! That was never there before. I wish those people would leave so I could talk to Ethan and find out what the hell this Nuckelavee creature is, why is it here and why the fuck can’t we leave? If it’s roaming down South, can’t we then head up North?

  I managed to eat, drank the coffee and grab a wash. Looking around again a pang of grief swept over me, I felt awful for leaving them, but if they choose to stay-that was their choice, I just couldn’t. I loved my uncle but I’m not about to stay to be... be what? Slaughtered. Scared to death.

  Listening at the door I could still hear those visitors, God can’t they just go? Me, I’m selectively social and after last night I didn’t feel like prancing down the stairs all, ‘Hiya!’ type crap. Mustering up, I braced myself, grabbed my bag and crept downstairs.

  All eyes on me, Ethan was about to introduce me but I spoke quicker, “Are you sure you’re staying here after what happened? Because I’m not, I must get back to my job, my life. You’re welcome to come Uncle for as long as you need.” See, no chance of him twisting words to make me stay.

  “Emma, this is...”

  “Yeah, nice to meet you-so you’re staying uncle?”

  “There’s no point in my leaving Em, it’ll follow me wherever I go. That’s how I ended up like this in the first place.”

  “Ok, I can’t do this, I’m sorry but I’m really not who you think I am,” I was angry. Angry that we had to have this conversation with strangers listening, strangers who I knew would side with them. Probably wolves or whatever. Yes, I smelt them.

  They stood there looking sympathetically at me, pity and compassion in their eyes, their small smiles. But I was scared and I didn’t want to stick around in these creepy-ass woods any longer. Before yesterday I’d always felt at home here, not any more, not after last night.

  Ethan limped slowly forward, “Emma, you can’t leave. It's seen you now, it will find you and we won’t be there to prot... help you.”

  The woman, Coral interrupted. “I know this must be a lot to take in, and scary as hell but he’s right. This creature has been tracking a load of us and we’re all in the same situation. It’s been travelling down through the country and attacking our communities, we don’t know why. We do know that most weapons-bullet
s seem to frighten it off for a bit but don’t kill it. You’re not alone, you could stay with us.”

  Before I could retaliate, Conor answered. “No, that won’t be necessary but thanks you guys. They can come and stay with me. I’m closer to the town which I think will be less daunting for Emma at least-no offence Emma,” he added quickly. “But what you’ve just been through, I think being closer to civilisation would be more comforting than out here in a remote forest.” he smiled.

  I wished he wasn’t here, and I could convince my uncle to come and stay at his sister, my mother and I could go back to normal life. But also, because I really liked Conor, not that I’d let him know that-that could be fatal for me but he did have a charisma, a warmth about him and the knack of making me feel at ease which is no mean feat. His home, so he had two houses then, one in Scotland and one down here. But I stopped my critical mind as it raced ahead and I knew that they were right. I had seen this thing, face to face and I could never get that out of my head now. I would lie in bed, trying to sleep and just see it...I know myself well enough to know that is exactly what would happen! The reality sunk hard in my stomach like a brick, reality would never be normal from here on in.

  Sighing, I dropped my bag and my defensives, “Ok, I give up. I’ll stay and die I guess!”

  Speaking gently Conor said, “You won’t die Emma, I won’t let that happen-we won’t let that happen. Here, have some more coffee, there are things you need to know and see,” he grinned mischievously.

  Like cool summer rain on a humid day the change in atmosphere was refreshing, because of him. I had never doubted my uncle, not once in my lifetime but I had the slightest nagging feeling that something was very wrong here. But did I mention I’m cynical? So, I was to stay and fight. My life had changed within hours, from ordinary and mundane to what? Shuddering, I took the coffee and sat down defeated, waiting to hear their explanations as I got drawn closer in to their strange, macabre world.