A Werewolf's Saga Books 1, 2, & 3 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets)

by Michael Lampman

  “It’s so good to see you all again.” Kenny continued to smile. He continued to brighten.

  Jimmy listened, and hearing him, caused his thoughts to glow with the dawning sun. How can he see me? I thought he was blind.

  “It’s so good to see both of you again.” Kenny kept his eyes on Jimmy and then peered back to Sasha.

  Jimmy needed to ask, “How is it that you see us?” He looked up to Sasha, who turned back some to look down at him. “How is it that you know who we are?”

  Kenny smiled, and chuckled some under his breath. His long white hair sparkled some with the moonlight, still coming from behind the house and ahead of him. Some of its glory broke in between the house and him, and lit up his face in massive waves of light. “I am only blind with my human eyes.” He looked from Sasha and back to Jimmy again. His smile never once left his face. “My wolf’s eyes see just fine.” The moon came out from behind some clouds in front of it, and with its rays, the bright tan colored hue around them expanded, making their hues sparkle brightly. Jimmy’s more than hers. What Kenny saw was the outlines of that brightness. They sparkled, showing not people standing there, but wolves. They looked powerful and strong. They looked beautiful beyond words. God, did he love seeing them again, standing there and looking back at him with all of their brightness of life.

  Jimmy marveled by what he said. He marveled at the feelings he felt coming out towards him. He could feel his pride. He could feel his strength. He felt a sense of wonder emanating from the old man‘s soul. He could feel that Kenny seemed far different from any other human he ever felt before. In fact, he didn’t even feel human, but he didn’t feel like a wolf either. It all seemed so strange feeling it. He couldn’t place it. He couldn’t describe it. He knew nothing but what he felt.

  Kenny stepped back and waved back towards his open door. “Come in, please?” The smile never once left his face. “I’m sure you have a thousand questions for me.”

  Sasha walked inside first.

  Jimmy made his way up the steps.

  Kenny let him pass him. “I can help you.” He smiled. “It’s time to answer all of your fears.”

  With that, Jimmy nodded, and went inside Kenny’s home.

  6

  Gary made it back to the lodge just outside of Castleford as the sun went down in front of him and behind the house. With the shadows increasing, the entire area seemed overly quiet. Birds were singing all around the area. He could see a slight breeze blew softly against the trees. He knew why the place looked as it did. They’re not here. The place had to be empty, but again, he had to make sure. He had to check the place completely before he moved on.

  He stood out of his car. He approached the steps that led up to the long front porch, which wrapped around the front and side of the two-story house, with a subtle stride. He pulled out his automatic from his holster as he climbed the steps. He walked up to the porch with caution. He walked up to the open front door, and stopped just under the doorway to the living room. The house looked empty. He heard nothing. Still he had to remain ready for anything. Not seeing anyone still didn’t mean that it wasn’t dangerous.

  He led with his weapon, moved into the living room and stopped in the center of the room. He looked down to the floor by the door. He turned and looked to where he remembered the sofa once was. He then turned and looked to the archway into the dining room. They must have removed the bodies. They were all gone. Everyone he killed wasn’t there. He dropped the weapon down to his side. He took a deep breath, which sounded more like a wisp. Son of a bitch, now what do I do? He walked over to the staircase that ran along the left wall of the living room, and stopped there, holding the railing. He looked up the stairs, and again heard nothing. He looked back to the front door.

  Again, nothing moved.

  From there, he knew it was pointless to continue through the house. They were gone. They came back and removed the bodies, and with it all, he knew he lost them.

  I have to find Rachel. He turned back and went back to the front door. He left the living room and stepped out back onto the porch. He now knew what he had to do. He had to go and follow her again. He had to head back to Redford Forge. His options had coursed themselves down to only one. He had to hope she would lead him back to the freak. He had no other choice now. He had to do it, whether he liked it or not.

  He left the house, retook the seat behind the wheel of his car, and slammed the door shut. He started the engine feeling dejected—even feeling subdued even. He also felt worried. He had to end this. He had to find them again. The need to do it felt like a longing. He felt like a want. It even felt like pain. As long as the freak was out there, he wouldn’t feel right. He knew it. He had to quench that need.

  He left the lodge, and headed back to Castleford with such a heavy heart that he couldn’t bring himself to breathe. He could only hope the time would come to end his hurt forever.

  7

  Brandon woke up, lying on the floor in his living room, feeling numb all over. He felt exhausted. He felt winded. He felt even worse than that. Looking around, he sat up, feeling his entire body burning, almost from within. In fact, he felt almost like he was on fire. He felt almost like he was burning from his very core. His mind felt like nothing more but a jumble of thoughts and of rambling of images. What just happened? How did I get on the floor? At first, he couldn’t answer it. At first, he couldn’t place what happened. He didn’t even know what time it was, but it was only at first. Slowly, his mind began to focus. Slowly, his thoughts turned to a more solid sense of knowing where he was. Instinctively, he reached up with his left hand and felt the side of his neck. There, he felt sore. He felt like whatever happened, it all happened right there, right on the left side of his throat. Sliding his hand up and down his neck from the bottom of his ear to the top of his collarbone, he felt nothing there. He took his hand from his neck, and looked at his open palm, expecting to see blood covering it, but he saw nothing. He used the same hand and with the other one helping it, he pushed himself up to his knees, and then stood up to his feet.

  Staggering—feeling rather dizzy, he looked back towards the front door, and stared at it for a minute. He saw that the door looked closed, and couldn’t for the life of him, figure out why that mattered. He just felt that it looked odd.

  He turned from the door and looked back to the center of his kitchen, and likewise saw that everything looked quiet and still. No one was there. He looked to be alone, and again, felt odd seeing he was.

  Should there be someone here with me? The question crossed his thoughts. Inside, he felt that yes should have been his answer. Inside, he knew there should be someone there, but there wasn’t. Inside, he could barely remember having two people there. He could barely remember something about two men. They were men. There were two of them. He tried to think. There was something about them too. They were. They were something. He tried to remember, but couldn’t. His memory faded to a haze after that. He had trouble in seeing their faces. He had trouble putting that image together long enough to form a picture in his mind. Were they men? He looked back to the front door, and could barely remember opening it up to someone. He could barely recall speaking to someone at the door. It all felt so hard to put it together. After a second passed, he found himself unsure if he was right about anything. He just couldn’t be certain. He had no idea what to think. He looked down and saw that he was wearing a simple t-shirt and a pair of jeans. The jeans looked clean. The t-shirt was one of his favorites, in black and with white letters, it simply read Trouble Finds Me emblazoned over his chest. Seeing what he wore, he gasped. I thought I was wearing shorts and a simple wife beater t-shirt. He had to feel his own body to make sure that what he saw felt real. He felt the t-shirt and the jeans, and with feeling them, his mind flashed back to numbness. I just can’t seem to remember anything. I just can’t focus. I just can’t remember.

  He left the front of his apartment, walked towards his bedroom, and stopped just at the open door to
the room. He turned, and looked back towards the living room. He stood there, looking around, feeling lost. He couldn’t even remember what he was even doing when everything happened. He didn’t even know what time of day it was, but something did come up in his thoughts. Something he couldn’t resist. Something he couldn’t fight. The thought told him that he had to find Jimmy. He had to find his best friend. He had to know where he was. He had to go and look for him. He had to see if he was all right.

  He turned and went back into his living room and went straight for the single end table at the far end of the old sofa, and there, grabbed his car keys, and headed towards the front door. He thought of nothing as he left and headed outside.

  He left quickly. The staggering in his legs felt gone, so he made it over to his car just as fast as he could move. The night felt warm. The moon flushed out overhead. The slight breeze came down and covered him almost like he wore a coat that had been sitting next to an open flame for hours before he put it on. Everything felt heated. He could feel the dryness in the air. He could smell the aroma of night all around him. He climbed in, and headed off, making the short distance over to Jimmy’s apartment, and once there, he found that he couldn’t even remember the drive. He didn’t even think while doing it, but that didn’t seem to matter. He did everything without a second thought.

  He pulled to the front of the house and parked along the curb. He stood out of the car and made his way up the steps to the front door without any effort to do it. He let himself inside, and closed the door behind him without even breaking his stride.

  “Jimmy?” he called, taking a deep and exaggerated breath. The smell that came to him almost knocked him down. It was the strongest smell he’d ever smelled before in his entire life. It smelled like a thousand dogs were kept in there over a hot and staunchly long summer day. He gagged with it. He choked it down his throat. It smelled so bad that it almost made him gag. He had to swallow. He had to keep himself from vomiting with the smell. Thankfully, he fought the feeling. He helped with it, by using his right hand to cover his face, trying hard to block the smell. He did everything he could do, but it didn’t work. The smell came too strong. It fought his senses to their very core. After a few moments, he just couldn’t fight it anymore and it forced him to turn back to the front door. He had to get back outside. He had to get back into the clear fresh air before he passed out.

  Once outside, he took a deep breath. The air refreshed his mind. The dog smell vanished to where it now came from behind him. He felt better because of it, but it wasn’t the only thing that he found himself smelling.

  In front of him, he could smell the hint of freshness in the air. It all smelled so calm. He found it hard to describe it. He couldn’t place the scent, being that he had never smelled such a thing before, so he just took it in and let it flush his mind. It smelled like wonder. It smelled more like a mix of everything he ever smelled before, multiplied by a thousand times over. He could smell flowers. He could smell the exhaust of cars. He could smell the bodies of people. He could smell the earth everywhere. He strained some, taking everything in. It wasn’t long before he realized something else there as well, mixed within the smells. He not only smelled everything, but he could also hear everything too.

  Off in the distance, he could hear the honking of a car’s horn. He could hear the banter of several people talking. He could hear a dog barking, sounding like it came from his left. He could hear a humming sound coming from the house across the street. He could hear a child’s playful laugh coming from the same house. He could hear everything. Every sound seemed to be there. It all felt so strange. It all felt too weird, even for him.

  What’s happening to me? He looked outside. He looked at the streetlight shining down at the front of the two-family house across the street. The entire area looked overly quiet, but with the light, it made everything feel odd. He turned back and looked to the front door.

  He could smell the dog. The more he faced it, the more he could smell it, so with it, he had to turn back to the street. He had to concentrate on the air outside. As long as he did, he felt better. He felt more relaxed, and with it, it dawned on him that he came there for nothing. Jimmy’s not even here. He’s not even in town. He’s in New York City. Why that surprised him, he just didn’t know. He answered everything with just shaking his head.

  I have to find him. He looked back to his car. He had no idea where to start. The need, however, was still there, and realizing it, he knew what he had to do. The fog of his mind needed to be broken. Finding his friend would do that, he felt sure of that much.

  He left the front steps, after he closed the door behind him, and made it back to his car. Just as he reached for the handle of the door, a pain flashed through his body so suddenly, it almost knocked the wind right out of him. It felt like a thousand needles were now coursing through his skin, his flesh, and his mind. He could even feel them pressing into his bones. It felt terrifying feeling it. He never felt anything like it before, and with it, the pain gripped him with such sharpness that he fell to his knees. He fell to his hands. The feeling continued flaring through him and went down into his spine. With the needles, his body began to burn. So much so, he thought for a brief instant that he was actually on fire. It felt so intense. It felt so strong that he raced both of his arms across his belly, almost like he tried to keep the pain from spreading into his soul. After a minute of agony, everything suddenly stopped. The pain vanished, and the needles disappeared. The burning went out, and once it did, he breathed.

  What the fuck was that? He looked back to the side of his car, and stared at its pale blue paint, but saw nothing. Seeing it, he pulled himself back up to his feet, using the door’s handle for help. When he felt balanced, he looked back to Jimmy’s front door. I have to find him. If I find him, and when I do, this will stop. He’s what I need. He’s what I need to end this pain.

  He opened his car door and took a rather dizzy seat behind the wheel. He closed the car door. He grabbed the steering wheel and took a deep breath. Where do I go to find him? He could be anywhere. He knew that Jimmy was in New York, but that’s all he knew. He didn’t know where he was in the city. He had no idea of how to find him. He had no idea where to start, until an idea flashed through his mind like a light bulb turned on in a pitch-blackened room.

  I have to find Rachel. She’ll know where he is. She’ll know how to find him. Thinking that, he instantly felt better. The thought felt logical. She would know how to find him; he felt so sure of that much.

  He started his car and pulled off away from the curb. He moved on instinct. He moved on, heading in a direction that he had no idea where he was going. He just knew that he had to do it. He just knew that he had to find her. His life now depended on it. He could feel it. He just knew it felt right.

  8

  “What do you mean that you can see with the eyes of the wolf?” Jimmy asked, looking around the small living room of Kenny’s mobile home. A single sofa sat along the wall just across from him and the front side door. At each end of the sofa sat a single end table that had basic black lamps sitting at the back of them with piles of all different things surrounding them. This made the tables look cluttered. Some of the things looked small, but some of them also looked large. To the left of the sofa, he could see a narrow hallway stretching out towards the back of the home. To the right, he could see a small kitchen that took up the entire side of the house. Behind him, closer to the door, he could see several bookcases covered with so many things that it actually made it rather hard to see the bookcases for what they really were. On the floor by his feet, he saw even more things of all types that littered all around it and made a neat and narrow walkway through the stuff in both directions from the door. It all looked so crowed. Frankly, it all looked like a mess. Seeing everything, he couldn’t believe that a blind man could even live there. How could he walk around without stumbling over all of the stuff? How does a blind man find his way around all the stuff without killing h
imself by doing it?

  “Just that I do. I have your vision. I can see your force.” Kenny laughed. He could hear Jimmy’s mind turn over, and over again behind him. He thinks I’m a slob. He laughed harder, trying to conform himself back to the question he just asked him. “I’m sorry for the mess.” He left them at the front door and made his way over towards the kitchen. “I don’t get too many visitors anymore.” He stopped there and turned back around. “So I don’t worry about cleaning anything.” He smiled.

  Jimmy had no idea why this old man even laughed. “Is something funny?” He watched him move. He looked completely at ease. He looked like he moved around the place without any trouble. It must be because he’s lived there for so long that he knows every part of this place. He looked back to the floor. It made sense, so he nodded to himself.

  “I see what you see.” Kenny stopped laughing, turning around, walked into the kitchen and leaned up against the stove behind him. He knew his home so well that he didn’t need to see anything to know where he was, or what was near him.

  Jimmy shook off the laugh. “You see the halos?” He looked from Kenny and back to Sasha. She stood just to his left, so he had to turn his head completely to see her clearly. She looked so calm. She had obviously been there before; he could feel that from her, so nothing bothered her by what she saw.

  “And what you are.” Kenny smiled.

  Jimmy looked back to him. “What we are?”

  “I see the wolf. I can see everything including what’s inside you.” Kenny crossed his arms over his chest. The bright red flannel shirt he had on looked almost black with the shadows of his arms crossing over him. The look only made him look bigger. He didn’t need the look. His six-foot, if not more than that, frame already made him look immense.