Bark (The Werewolf Journal's Book 1)

by Sabian Masters

  “Why not, Arnie? It makes sense. She was the last person you were with the night you were attacked. Then she disappears just before the eclipse.”

  “It’s still not enough to go on,” Arnie replied. “Besides, that night I was attacked it was a full moon.”

  “So you said it yourself. It attacked you in the day. Maybe she can change at will.”

  “No, it’s not possible,” Arnie said, hanging up the phone in anger.

  Jay then set his phone down, hoping he was wrong because ever since Arnie got on with Sarah, she had been kind of a sister to him. He’d hate it to come down to that, Jay thought, tightening his grip on the steering wheel with frustration. “A fucking eclipse! Who would have thought?” Jay said to himself.

  CHAPTER 45

  “Okay, Arnie, I’m going to ask you for the last time. Where is that pet of yours that you’ve trained to kill?” Inspector Rodriguez asked.

  “I told you already. There’s no pet,” Arnie replied. “I did it. I killed them all.”

  “You’re sick. You can look at me with a straight face and tell me you slaughtered all those people.”

  “Look, Inspector, if I told you the truth, you wouldn’t believe me. And by the time you did believe, it be too late,” Arnie said, sipping on a glass of water as Inspector Rodriguez walked around him. Arnie sat, looking nervously at the time on the clock.

  “What’s the matter, need to be somewhere?” Inspector Rodriguez asked.

  “You need to lock me up soon and throw away the key,” Arnie said, realizing his time was growing short.

  “Look, you’re not going anywhere ‘til you answer my questions.”

  “You want to know the truth, I tell you being that in a few hours. It won’t matter anyway for everybody here will be dead. You ever hear of lycanthropy?”

  “What?”

  “Lycanthropy. It’s a disease human beings suffer from. They can’t control it. They just change and become something else,” Arnie told him.

  “What are you getting at, kid?” Inspector Rodriguez asked, annoyed.

  “You’ve heard of werewolves, haven’t you, Inspector? Or I presume you’ve seen a few movies about them. I’ve got a good one for you: it’s all true. Except a few minor details.”

  “You expect me to believe that, kid?” Rodriguez said as the hairs on his back began to stand.

  “I don’t expect you to do anything. I wouldn’t believe it either, but ever since that night I was attacked by one, I’ve been turning into a fucking monster every time that fucking moon is full. You think I like killing people? I hate it, but I can’t control it. You don’t know what it’s like being controlled by the moon. C’mon, Inspector, you can put pieces of a puzzle together. It’s all in my report the night I was attacked, the day my friend was killed, today at the library. Look at the evidence, and you’ll find the truth. There’s a wolf in this, but not the kind you can scare away with pickets.”

  “Get him out of here,” Inspector Rodriguez told two other officers, running his fingers through his hair.

  Arnie was right. The inspector had seen the evidence, and he knew deep inside somewhere that there was more to this than met the eye; but Inspector Rodriguez just refused to open his eyes.

  CHAPTER 46

  Jay knocked on the door of Elena’s brother in frustration. He tried to get a look inside the house. He sat on the steps of the red two-story house, not really knowing what to do next. He looked around as the sun began to set, and as he did, he saw a car heading his way. It didn’t take long for him to recognize the dirty little red Beetle. The car stopped in front of the house, and Sarah stepped out. Jay immediately reached for his gun, pointing it at Sarah.

  “Don’t move, Sarah, or I swear to God I’ll blow you away,” Jay said.

  “What are you doing?” Sarah asked, confused.

  “Don’t act innocent with me. You know what the fuck I’m talking about. I know what you are, Sarah.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sarah said, starting to cry.

  “Then why the hell are you here?”

  “Arnie told me that Elena wanted to talk to him. That she had something important to tell him. I thought maybe her son knew something,” Sarah said, wiping her tears.

  “Look, Sarah, you better start telling me the fucking truth, or I swear to God I’ll blow your fucking brains all over this fucking place!”

  “Okay, okay,” Sarah said, crying.

  “You remember that day Danny died?” Sarah said, wiping her nose.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I had gone over to the courts to see Arnie and I saw everything,” Sarah said. “I saw him turn into that beast. I saw him kill Danny. I ran all the way home. I had never been so scared in my life. At first I was scared I didn’t want to have anything to do with him but then…”

  “Then what?” Jay asked.

  “Elena called me, told me to stay away from Arnie, that he was dangerous,” Sarah continued. “You see, Jay, she had asked Arnie to go to her house because she was going to kill him. She knew what he was.”

  “How did she know?” Jay asked.

  “I don’t know; the day she read his hand she saw something.”

  “So what did you do?” Jay asked.

  “I went over and confronted her, begged her to help. When she refused, I killed her,” Sarah said, trying to stop herself from crying. “I tried to make it look like some lunatic did it so they wouldn’t trace her death back to me. I can’t believe what I did, but I love Arnie. I don’t sleep much anymore. I see Elena’s face every time I close my eyes.”

  “Sarah, what would bring you to do something like that? Even if she was going to kill Arnie, we could have handled it another way,” Jay said.

  “You don’t understand. I can’t lose Arnie. I’m pregnant,” Sarah cried out.

  “Jesus Christ!” Jay said, walking over to Sarah and hugging her as she began to cry frantically.

  “It’s okay. We’ll figure this out. Don’t worry, Sarah,” Jay said, holding her as his body tingled with emotion.

  CHAPTER 47

  “I’m telling you; put me back in the cell!” Arnie screamed at the officer.

  “Not until we get you cleaned up. Can’t have you walking around all bloody,” the officer said, cuffing Arnie’s wrist and using the extra end of the cuff to attach to his own.

  “Should have thought about that when you booked me,” Arnie told the black overweight officer. “Please, you got to!” Arnie begged as his body was filled with the same unimaginable heat that always came with the change.

  “Are you okay?” the officer asked as Arnie’s bones began to creak and pop.

  “No!” Arnie’s voice began to change. “It’s too late!”

  The officer screamed in horror, calling for assistance as he looked on with disbelieving eyes. Several officers rushed to open the cell to the hallway as Arnie’s face began to stretch and pull. Arnie pulled at the officer’s arm that restrained his and pulled it out of the socket and away from the body. Blood began to spurt. The officer screamed in agony as the wolf, now completely changed, beat the officer with his own arm till there was no life left in him.

  Prisoners screamed in terror, screaming for help. The beast then jumped through the ceiling of the roof, disappearing from the prisoners’ sight. The beast picked off each prisoner one by one, crashing through the ceiling into each of the cells as the rest of the prisoners watched in horror.

  Three of the officers reached for their guns as the beast stood before them in the hallway. Each officer emptied his gun, but the beast kept coming. The wounds the bullets made on the creature’s body automatically healed. The beast flung its body at the officers, killing one of the officers instantly as it tore at the younger-looking officer’s jugular. Then it slammed another into the bars of the cell, causing the officer’s eyes to pop out of their sockets. The wolf grabbed another officer, an older man, grabbing each end of the helpless officer’s body. The officer screame
d in horror as the beast pulled his body in opposite directions, ripping him apart like paper. Sounds of guns filled the air, and screams of utter terror echoed through the precinct until the gunshots stopped, and an awful howling filled the air.

  Inspector Rodriguez pulled up to the front of the precinct as paramedics rushed into the building.

  “What the hell is going on, Tanson?” Rodriguez asked a husky-looking officer.

  “They’re dead, sir. Everyone inside is dead,” the officer replied.

  “What about the prisoners we were holding to transfer?”

  “They’re all dead,” Tanson replied, shaking his head.

  TV reporters swarmed around Rodriguez, asking him thousands of questions not even he knew the answers to. He shoved the reporters aside as he made his way toward the building. Rodriguez reached for his gun and fired it in the air.

  “Now all of you get the hell out of here ‘til we can figure out what’s going on! You can put me shooting my gun on tape if you want, but if you do you better, damn, we’ll have some answers for the families of all the people that are lying dead in there,” Rodriguez said, not wanting to believe what had happened.

  Rodriguez walked into the precinct, covering his mouth with a handkerchief, looking on in disbelief as papers lay scattered on the floor. Blood smudged against the walls and desks of the precinct. Bodies of people he had come to know over the years lay dead throughout the precinct. Rodriguez made the sign of the cross, refusing to look anymore, stepping back out of the building, grimly making his way back to his car.

  CHAPTER 48

  “So tell me about her brother, Izik,” Jay told Sarah.

  “There’s not much to tell,” Sarah said, drying her eyes as the two walked around the cabin. “She never talked much about him. It seemed to bother her every time she mentioned him. She looked like she loved him, but I never thought to ask about him being the way she reacted every time she brought him up. Just what do you expect to get out of this guy?”

  “I don’t know some clue on what Elena wanted to tell Arnie. I was just hoping that maybe she might have mentioned something to her brother,” Jay answered.

  “What could she have known? The last I spoke to her she told me to stay away from him that Arnie was dangerous.”

  “I guess I was just hoping that when she read his hand that maybe she saw something,” Jay replied. “I doubt she saw anything else but what Arnie had become.”

  “She only wanted to speak to him so she could kill him,” Sarah said with a tear. “She told me if I didn’t let her that everyone that he loved would die, including me.”

  “You’re not going to die ’cause I won’t let you,” Jay told her. “Arnie asked me to take you out of here. He never got a chance to tell you, but he wanted you to be safe. Maybe we should leave like he wants us to,” Jay said, looking at Sarah.

  “We can’t leave. He needs us. He’s all alone,” Sara replied, shaking her head.

  “I know, Sarah, but he’s changed. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself. I’ve looked into his eyes, he’s changing. I don’t want to leave him here, but if

  I stay, I’ll have to kill him,” Jay said regretfully.

  “You can’t kill him. There has to be another way.”

  “You don’t understand, Sarah. I made a promise to him that if things got bad, I would do it. I know you don’t want to hear this, but with every new moon, the more he changes. You’re pregnant, Sarah, and you’re carrying his child. You have to think of the baby now. You can’t risk losing it because that baby might be the last good thing left from him,” Jay said, looking away from Sarah.

  “I’ll do it only because Arnie asked you to, and as much as my feelings are telling me to stay, I know you’re right,” Sarah said, running her hand against Jay’s cheek.

  She could tell that he was in pain because she knew how much Jay cared for Arnie, and it made her care for Jay even more.

  “You know what’s happening and you still try to help. Why Jay?” Sarah asked.

  “You know why, Sarah,” Jay answered.

  “You love him, don’t you?” Sarah asked.

  “He’s my best friend. My only friend left.”

  “What am I, chopped liver?” Sarah asked.

  “Well, it’s not the same,” Jay said with a smile.

  “Why? ’Cause I’m a girl?” Sarah said, rolling her eyes.

  “No, I’ve known him longer, told him things that I could have never trusted anyone with.” Jay sat at the steps of the cabin.

  “You can trust me.” Sarah gave Jay a hug.

  “I haven’t been exactly honest with Arnie. I ran into another one like him. I don’t think it’s the same one that made him, but I killed it. If I had told him that, he would have had me get it over with,” Jay told Sarah with regret.

  “There’s nothing wrong with that. You did it to protect him,” Sarah replied. “Thank you, Jay.” Sarah gave Jay a kiss on the cheek.

  Jay smiled back, and as he did, a huge howl filled the air. “Oh fuck!” Jay said, reaching for his gun, looking in every direction.

  Suddenly, without warning, pearly white teeth crunched on Sarah’s skull, tossing her aside as if she was a piece of trash. The beast then swung its huge claws at Jay, barely missing him. Jay aimed his gun at the beast and pulled the trigger, hitting the beast once in the leg. The creature ran off as Jay ran over to Sarah. Sarah spit out blood as Jay held her in his arms.

  “No, you can’t die,” Jay said, starting to cry.

  “It’s okay, Jay,” Sarah said, trying to speak.

  “Just hold on,” Jay begged, holding her tight as he rocked her back and forth.

  “Tell Arnie that I’m sorry for not being able to be with him. Let him know how much I love him. And promise that you won’t tell him about the baby,” Sarah begged, gasping for breath.

  “I promise, Sarah,” Jay said, holding her tight as she faded away into eternal sleep. Just as Jay was setting Sarah down, his head was filled with pain as an unknown object hit him from behind. Everything started to blur. Jay tried to reach for his gun but couldn’t fight himself to stay awake. He passed out, and the last thing he saw before blacking out was the beast’s teeth stained with Sarah’s blood.

  CHAPTER 49

  Jay’s eyes opened as he looked around an unfamiliar room. He noticed that he had been tied to a chair. He struggled to move, but to no avail.

  “Well, well, well,” a voice said from behind.

  “It’s you. You’re the other wolf?” Jay asked with surprise as Izik stepped in front of him.

  “I’ve been watching you… and all your meddling. I must say, I’m impressed. You even got a gun with silver bullets,” Izik said, pointing the gun at Jay. Izik placed the gun on a table at the corner of the room with a laugh. “I hate to discourage you, but there’s no truth in it,” Izik said, slapping Jay.

  “Good try, but I know you’re lying,” Jay said, spitting blood out of his mouth at Izik’s feet.

  “So what did you expect to do once you found me?” Izik asked.

  “I was thinking of killing you, actually,” Jay replied.

  “What about your friend? Were you going to kill him too?” Izik asked.

  “I won’t have to, once you’re dead,” Jay said angrily.

  Izik began to laugh, slapping Jay again. “You think if you kill me, your friend will be cured? You fool boy, that part of the story is only fiction. There is no cure. If there was, I would have found it years ago. But I must say, after all these years, I much rather not be cured. This life is far more exhilarating.”

  “Why did you let Arnie go that night? Why not just kill him?” Jay asked.

  “I really don’t know what reason; my better half does. What it does, I just embrace it.”

  “So Elena knew what you had done?”

  “At first she had her suspicions; that is, until she read your friend’s palm.”

  “If she knew, why didn’t she kill you herself?” J
ay asked.

  “I wasn’t always like this. I once was like your friend, Arnie. I refused to accept what I had become. I struggled to fight from becoming what I became, but I couldn’t fight it. In the end the beast won; in the end, I became the beast. I like to think that there’s a beast inside us all,” Izik said with a smile. “Elena, my dear sweet sister, was scared. And bless her soul, she loved me,” Izik said, unbuttoning his shirt.