Standing Before Monsters (Vorans and Vampires)

by Donald Wigboldy

  She was the other essence that didn’t fit the normal werewolf pattern he had grown accustomed to while searching for Lena months ago.

  “A voran can sense the essence of supernatural creatures. You don’t feel like a voran. I’m sorry.”

  The woman looked disappointed but perked up slightly as Charlotte neared them and placed the tray on the table. With both chairs in use, the pretty girl made herself at home by sitting on Nick’s leg.

  “Doing better?” the werewolf asked putting her right arm behind his neck to help keep her place in case he shifted his leg.

  Taking the glass offered, Raina nodded looked a bit more resigned to her situation. “How do you do it?” she asked.

  “Do what?” the brunette asked in some confusion having missed their conversation.

  “Deal with being a werewolf.”

  Blowing up at the dark hair falling into her eyes, Charlotte wound up shrugging as she answered, “Most of the time it isn’t that big a deal, but I am probably not exactly the most regular of werewolves. The others seem to get off on being what they are more than I do. If I could get rid of the curse, I would, but until there is a cure I just deal with it as best I can.

  “The only time I truly hate it is during the full moon. We can’t control our changes and become a wolf. We need to run wild and most want the thrill of the kill whether it’s a rabbit or deer. They let the animal take them over or perhaps I should just say the wolf takes over and gives them no choice.”

  “You keep saying they,” Raina pointed at the woman sitting on the man’s leg looking like someone very relaxed with the one she was with at the moment.

  Looking a bit uncomfortable as she looked up at one of two security cameras looking in on the basement, Charlotte sighed and said, “I don’t like killing things even as a wolf. The others get their kill and I just use the night to run. It is exhilarating to be able to run through the forest so fast, but I restrain my wolf more than the others.”

  She extended one of her legs and added, “I shave my legs like a normal woman. I don’t give in to the wolf and let it run my life. While I can feel it inside most of the time, it is just a distant feeling except for the full moon.”

  Having seen Charlotte completely naked before her transformation, Raina knew that it wasn’t just her legs that she seemed to have taken charge of keeping her body clean of the hairy beast. Seeing the pretty brunette looking so comfortable in her skin despite hating the wolf; made it easier to feel better about her situation. However, it did raise another question, “Do I have to throw my old life away, my friends and family?”

  “I lost most of my family,” Charlotte confessed and added, “I was studying to be a lawyer and my brother was a doctor. The stress was too much to risk going back to it, but if you enjoy your work maybe you could stick with it.”

  “How am I going to explain this sudden time away?”

  Nick mused, “I have a couple doctors that I know. Maybe one of them can create a spot for you in a mental institution. He could say you’ve been diagnosed as bipolar or some other mental break and that you’ve been admitted to a hospital.”

  “Great, so they’ll think I am crazy,” the ranger said looking unhappy.

  “Would you rather I had them say that you thought you were a werewolf?” he chuckled.

  “Nick, be nice,” Charlotte ordered him gently.

  Raina looked at the sleeping wolf in the cage and asked, “Is it easier to try and get it over with sooner than later? Can you force me to become a werewolf just to get it over with?”

  Looking at each other, Charlotte shook her head letting him know that she wasn’t sure of how to cause such a break. The werewolf answered as she looked at Raina with her strange blue eyes and said, “Getting the change to happen sooner will give you more time to get used to the wolf before the full moon forces the issue. I tried putting something off related to being a wolf and paid for it waiting until the full moon; but it doesn’t really matter for the first change beyond getting used to it sooner.”

  “How do I make it happen?”

  “Usually some form of stress pushes the change early on without the moon,” Charlotte stated. “She was next to Bill changing into a werewolf and didn’t react though. I would have thought it would create some stress.”

  Nick looked contemplative and said, “She’s a ranger and used to animals. He never looked ready to attack her, since I had his attention. Putting her back in the cage and awakening the wolf might do it, but it’s a little more risky than I like.

  “How are you with public speaking?” he asked seeming to be off topic.

  “I am ok one on one, but I hate speeches,” the woman answered without surprising him.

  Charlotte questioned him, however, asking, “How can she use that fear without exposing us as werewolves?”

  “How are you at being naked in front of others?” he added appearing to ignore Charlotte’s question.

  Turning red at the thought, Raina gave him his answer without a word.

  He stood up and released the collar freeing her of any restraint. It was a risk if she became a wolf, but that was their goal. Charlotte stood trying to figure out what he was about to do.

  “Ok, you might as well get used to it now,” he stated gesturing towards Raina’s body. “Take it all off.”

  Charlotte wanted to tell him to be nice, but she was beginning to understand, though Raina wasn’t on the same page with him as she stepped back warily and asked, “What?”

  “Well, you’re going to be a werewolf and you want to become one sooner than later. You saw Charlotte earlier. They have no problem taking off their clothes, so go ahead.”

  The redness continued in her face and Raina took another step back in fear.

  With a dramatic sigh, Nick stepped forward once and lashed out with an aura blade in an upward arc. The cloth of her shirt and bra split right up the center while the leather belt of her pants snapped with the precision and strength of the voran’s weapon.

  “Now go on or we’ll do it for you,” he ordered with no compassion for her on his face. The man was stone as he forced the issue making the woman’s face and chest even redder.

  Forced with the unknown of the strange weapon he had manifested from the air, Raina uncomfortably removed the remnants of her brown ranger jacket. The white shirt beneath already spread with the movement causing more embarrassment for the woman. Soon she was topless and trying to cover her breasts with her arms.

  Pretending to be exasperated, Nick told Charlotte, “Would you just get those off her already?”

  The brunette understood and stepped behind the woman helping to humiliate her further as she pulled her pants down exposing Raina completely. Nick looked at her eyes and the red of the wolf was glowing. He added to her embarrassment again by looking at her exposed body as she stepped free of all her clothes and shook his head. Unlike Charlotte, the woman was more natural and hadn’t shaved her legs since her pants masked her limbs. He shook his head acting disappointed and said, “I was kind of expecting better.”

  She was on the verge and he knew the buttons to push now. He made her spread her arms creating an aura blade and threatening her. The additional risk of danger was the second to last piece. As she finished her turns looking very red, Nick finished her off by pointing to the camera and added, “Oh by the way, you’re on camera so they’re probably all watching you on the big screen upstairs right now.”

  The woman’s scream of outrage turned into screams of pain that dropped her to her knees. Her skin rippled and fur covered Raina quickly as her face contorted into a wolf. Nick held steady as the wolf stood angry with him, but she was no longer a woman and the voran looked undaunted by the beast’s anger. Like mastering a dog, the voran emphasized that he was the master with his body language. She started to attack and the man’s hand lashed out holding her muzzle strongly causing her to whine and pull back slipping on the concrete floor with her nails.

  His other hand patted and
petted the newly formed wolf and she quickly settled down in his care. He released her muzzle patting her head and the wolf settled onto the floor with just a slight whine.

  “Good girl, Raina,” he nodded taking the plate from the table which hadn’t been touched as it was forgotten with her questioning.

  Placing it on the ground, she began eating like any dog or wolf might when hungry with free food available to them. He sat down while Raina ate and Charlotte tentatively stepped around him to take her seat on his leg again, but both arms encircled his neck lovingly.

  “How did you know to do that? You’re like a werewolf whisperer,” she giggled quietly choosing to not distract the werewolf eating her meal.

  “Like you said earlier, it’s all about maintaining your control. Since she is new to this, Raina has little control. Push her buttons and her embarrassment and fear do the rest.

  “But since I was the one who made her change by pushing those buttons, I had to be ready to take charge of the angry wolf she became. I had to be the pack leader you seem to think I am and took control making her back down and submit.”

  “Yeah, right you softy. I saw you petting her the whole time.”

  He shrugged, “Firm, but gentle, I suppose.”

  Charlotte lifted his chin to kiss him on the lips and leaned back saying, “I’m not gonna lie. It kind of turned me on. If we weren’t in Eric’s basement on camera, I’d have to take you right here,” she giggled before noticing his eyes on the wolf lying on the floor watching them.

  “So what does it take to end the wolf form?” he asked the werewolf in his lap.

  “Well, being calm is certainly part of that and she looks calm. Second, she needs to be able to remember her human side. To force a change instead of randomly getting released by the wolf, she needs to think about being in her human form,” Charlotte replied looking at the gray wolf that was on the lighter side without being white.

  He nodded and reached for the glass of water, holding it out for the wolf. “Raina, it’s time to turn human so you can hold the glass.”

  The wolf stood at her name and turned her head to the side looking curious.

  Charlotte slid to the chair beside him and Nick leaned forward with the glass in his hand held just above her head. “Reach for the glass with your human hands, Raina,” he emphasized like a hypnotist giving orders in repetition to a patient.

  The wolf’s head lifted as she sat. He could see her ears and muzzle shrinking and reshaping to the woman she had been before the change. Her hands finally reached to take the glass while Raina remained kneeling on the floor. Nick asked Charlotte, “How often do they usually have the new wolves change to get used to it?”

  “Usually if we can get them to change once a day back and forth we’re doing well. They never change back this quickly though, so you’ve got a knack for it.”

  Raina looked up holding the glass in front of her trying to cover her chest a bit, though he could see enough that if he wished to embarrass her again it would be easy. Still the woman pleaded, “Don’t tease me into it again. That was mean.”

  “Sorry,” he chuckled, “but it was effective. It is all about getting your heart racing enough to change and then reestablishing you once you are a wolf. Luckily, I have a guide that could explain it to me.”

  Charlotte shook her head and retorted, “I didn’t teach you that. I’ve never seen anyone get a werewolf to change so quickly.”

  He shrugged and replied, “Now that I know her triggers and Raina has experienced the change I think I can get her to do it fairly easily.”

  Looking worried, Nick gestured for Charlotte to return to his knee and had Raina take a seat. She was still naked and a bit flush with each move that revealed too much of her in front of the man. Sitting by his side, Nick only placed his hand on her thigh slowly stroking her inner leg heading towards more promising areas once before she turned so red that Raina passed Charlotte the cup as she complained, “Oh crap.”

  The wolf form returned almost as soon as the woman was off of her chair. Nick ruffled the fur behind the werewolf’s ears. Raina looked at him before puffing out a disgusted sounding breath.

  Over the next few hours, the voran caused Raina to shift back and forth with touches which could force the woman to shift in embarrassment. She was easy and he seemed to know the areas to make her respond quickly. By lunch time, Raina could already shift back and forth at will without his help. She was still embarrassed being naked in front of them which helped, but the trigger was now obvious to the new werewolf and control was already hers.

  Chapter 16- Obedience Training

  Lunch with the werewolves was very strange to the voran. They had indeed watched his progress with Raina and when he had Charlotte bring her a change of clothes from one of the other women, which consisted of just shorts and a t-shirt; they hadn’t been surprised when he brought the freshly turned woman up to meet them.

  Eric pulled him aside and said, “I have to say that I have never seen anyone be able to manipulate the change in a new werewolf like that. How did you do it?”

  Shrugging, Nick replied as other interested ears listened in to the explanation, “Once you know a person’s weaknesses that will get their hearts pumping enough, the wolf takes over. Returning them to human takes reminding them of what they are. Using a glass of water that they can’t just lap like a wolf, forces them to re-imagine their hands and the body follows as they concentrate trying to grasp the glass or cup.”

  The pack leader looked over to the woman who was being greeted in the shadow of Charlotte acting like her protector while he was distracted. “She has control over the wolf then?”

  Nick nodded and added, “She wasn’t supposed to work today, since she was out with the hunters and could be there all night. We only have a small window to work her back into her job seamlessly, but we also need a cover story for the other two.”

  “Can you work your magic with the other one, do you think?”

  “Possibly, which would just leave the dead hunter to explain. No one bit the man, so I think that perhaps we could actually put him back where you found him. He broke his neck falling out of a tree. Use that to simply leave it as hunter error. It wouldn’t be the first time in history that someone fell out of a tree killing them.”

  It was Eric’s turn to nod, but he asked, “But how do we explain the gap in time for finding him? If the woman was supposed to monitor the hunters, and we found her with them so she was, how do we explain it?”

  “Hunters often work alone. She didn’t see him go and isn’t a tracker. Put his body where you found it and leave him there. Raina can go back and let them know that she couldn’t find him and is worried. Bill was with her and she can say that he left, though we’ll need to move his car without anyone noticing.”

  “So we entrust much of this to the new girl?” Eric asked looking at the kitchen and the woman who still appeared uncomfortable with the others around her. She was fine one on one, as she had warned, but a group of werewolves was likely to have pushed her to change before they had conditioned her to control it.

  Knowing it was asking a lot for creatures who only trusted those in their pack, Nick still nodded. “You’re going to have to. Someone will need to drive her back to the forest close enough for her to walk back to retrieve her car. Have one of the pack go with her to take his car. Maybe Aaron would work,” he said looking at the closest physical matches to the hunter in the basement. The werewolf had been one of those injured by a trap, but the voran thought the man might be able to still be able to do the task.

  The pack leader started to pace in a small pattern of steps back and forth as he considered the plan. “It would certainly minimize things if we didn’t have to bring attention to another wolf attack.”

  “Other than the hunters, did your pack run into any game?”

  Eric shook his head. “No, it was probably about time for us to change preserves anyway just from that part. If deer are avoiding our territory, t
hen that does us little good.”

  Nick realized that they were on the same page and only needed to get Raina on board a hundred percent as well. Since some of his thoughts had been broached in the basement, he was pretty sure that the ranger was a safe bet to follow the instructions. He had already been coaching her on what would have to be said if she were to return to her life. She could be ready in time to return to work as soon as tomorrow, which only left the black wolf in the basement to worry about.

  Apparently thinking the same thing, Eric asked, “So again, do you think you will be able to work your magic on this hunter? I admit that I am dubious about him. Some men don’t take to the wolf in a safe way. This could be one of them.”

  Nick considered the vampire equivalent of the strays or rogues that they were forced to hunt regularly. The creatures had lost much of their humanity and simply fed without worrying about who they hurt and with little regard to hiding their kills. Since many vampires realized that they could avoid killing and often maintained relationships with humans that served as donors, the rogue’s lack of discretion and carelessness had to be dealt with quickly and harshly.

  Often working from police and FBI databases to discover hotspots of killing, the voran knew how close to being discovered many of these vampires were. A werewolf could be like a rabid dog, which needed to be put down for similar reasons.

  “I can try. I’ll get a glass and some food and give it a shot with him. Keep everyone, including Raina and Charlotte, clear until I have had a little talk with our hunter. We had better move the dead body first, just in case the wolf tries to attack it,” Nick stated before moving to get what he would need. Unlike Raina, with whom he had a rapport; Hunter Bill was an unknown.

  Eric frowned and replied, “It sounds like you are planning on letting this one out of his cage as well. I’m not sure how safe that is, my friend.”

  It was strange to hear his words when only a few months ago, the pack leader had been trying to kill him. An enemy one moment could turn into a close ally and friend in the next depending on how they needed each other and respected one another. Nick met the man’s eyes with a calm smile and nodded, saying, “If I go into the cage, he has the advantage. Leaving him in the cage, he will never learn to obey anyone’s lead short of beating him. Then you just have an angry dog waiting to bite you.”