CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Part One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Part Two
Acknowledgements
A Note from the Author
WEREWOLF PHENOMENON
Claudia Silva
Copyright © 2018 Claudia Silva
All rights reserved.
To my family and friends.
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE
“WHERE AM I?” Rebecca asked an empty room she had no memory of entering. Shaking her head and narrowing her eyes to focus on what surrounded her, she found she could not get rid of the blurriness in her vision. There was something wrong. Something didn’t make sense. Her senses were supposed to be enhanced, perfect. She had gotten used to seeing better and farther, hearing clearer and louder and even catching the scent of things she didn’t want to smell. Now, everything was muffled and mixed together; as if she were inside a bubble that made it all seem messy, dirty and dark.
The walls looked like shadows of black and blue. The room seemed to have no way in, no way out, and strangely, no end in sight. Everything that had been so clear before was confusing and shady now.
For all she knew, she was alone; and yet, he answered her question.
“You’re in a training room inside the agency.”
Dylan’s voice sounded as if he had been standing right next to her, close to her. The way he had stated what she knew all along made her think she had missed the moment when she had arrived at this interesting room. That moment simply did not exist.
Although, if she thought about it hard enough, the room did look familiar. Or did it? At least it followed the pattern of all of the other rooms the agency had at the training levels – sublevels 12 and 13.
“What’s on the other side?” her question was addressed to Dylan’s voice, wherever it may be. At the same time, in front of her, something moved. It had been just for a second, and as her vision became more refined, she was sure there was something - or someone - else locked in this mystery room with her and it had now woken up in the darkness.
Dylan’s voice answered just as it began to fade away, “You know what to do.”
She turned to his voice only to find more emptiness; it made her heart begin to race. She was alone with no memory of how she’d gotten there or why. If it had been Dylan who had spoken… she couldn’t remember now. Dylan, the vampire who had managed to convince her to become like him was now leaving her to die. No. It had to be Dylan, the man she had fallen in love with, who cared for her. He wouldn’t let her die. Everything she remembered now felt like a dream like it had happened decades ago – or like it had never happened and she had made it all up.
Wait. That couldn’t be right. Dylan Torrence, one of the members of the North American Vampire Secret agency, otherwise known as N.A.V.S.A., had to be around there somewhere. He was more than her lover, he was her mentor; the one who was teaching her how to protect mankind from supernatural threats. It didn’t make sense that he had trapped her in a locked room without a reasonable explanation.
Besides, not even another vampire could have forced her into a room with no exit without her knowledge. She now believed she was too powerful to be controlled like that.
Although, once…
There was no time to over think things.
“Wait,” she called behind her to the empty space; she was truly alone.
No, she wasn’t.
Just then, she heard what sounded like someone turning on a switch. Dylan, it had to be. The click echoed in the room, immediately followed by a mechanical whirring too low for a human being to hear - of course, Rebecca wasn’t just a human being, not anymore. The air around her began to move; her hair moved wildly, brushing against her cold skin. Clearly, something was about to happen, but what? She looked around again frantically, trying to get a clue of where she was or what was going on. She had to get out of there. Except all she saw were those closed walls that seemed to be getting closer. Her anxiety level kept growing. It was then that she finally stopped, noticing something she had missed but was now clear in front of her. How could she have ignored it before?
It was because the glass wall was so clear that she hadn’t seen it was there; it separated her from the other half of the room. It had been separating her from…
The glass wall began disappearing into the floor below it. The floor was slowly consuming it and soon whatever was on the other side would join her.
The air kept flowing, with it a stench she now found more than familiar and always repulsive. It awakened her senses and overwhelmed her with a plethora of emotions. At last, she realized she was trapped in a room without a way out with a creature she secretly hoped she would never have to face. No. It was impossible. How had she gotten herself trapped in the room? There must be a way to escape. She ran to the wall behind her, but her hands only scratched the cold, metallic and impenetrable steel. There were no windows and no doors and soon the creature would come to her and it would be the end of her short existence as a vampire.
A soft growl turned her attention back to the moving glass, which could now be seen crossing the middle of the room on its way down. The beast could have jumped out if it had it wanted to.
Danger, her instinct warned.
Rebecca remembered the scent far too well, by now it was too familiar; Dylan had helped her control the impulses that naturally jumped out of her when she was close to it. She should have been able to fight it, to resist its effect, yet all she kept hearing inside her brain was one word: Danger. She covered her ears with both hands, gritting her teeth as if that would stop the warning inside her own mind. It was no use, her vampiric side was already starting to take control of her thoughts; soon it would take hold of her body. She could feel the electricity running through her as her power began to focus on one thing: destroy.
From the darkness, what she knew had been waiting began to breathe louder; the growls now more frequent. Rebecca’s last drop of consciousness were able to make out a silhouette walking towards her right before the vampire in her took over. Before she lost all control of herself she saw it clearly, the werewolf. The huge beast coming to destroy her, its two bright yellow eyes lit up like lanterns joined by a guttural sound coming out from inside the beast’s core.
Danger. Attack. Kill.
Right then, Rebecca finally let go as she submitted to her true nature while ceasing to become a woman.
She would not remember her fangs sliding out of her gums. She would not remember her eyes changing to their violent red tint. She would not remember the beast, its black claws scratching the floor as it came closer, it’s mouth drooling in pleasure as it closed the distance between them. Finally, she would not remember that, amidst the black fur and monstrous form, the werewolf still had the face of a man.
Without any more hesitation, her body attacked.
Stop…
She felt the monster’s weight in her arms as she took it by its chest.
Stop!
The clawed hand took her neck, yet her strength was such she threw the beast to one side with apparent ease.
Rebecca, stop! Wake up!
Whatever those words meant, she ignored them. Rebecca Sawyer wasn’t in that body anymore; all that remained was the hunter, the killer, the vampire. Without stopping to think, she attacked again, her long fangs bared and ready to be sunk into the beast’s thick skin.
Danger… danger, her inner voice called.
The werew
olf evaded her next attack, but she was quick on her feet again and ready.
Becca! Had someone called her name?
No. There was a danger. She needed to attack, to destroy the creature. That was her purpose, that’s why her kind existed in the first place. That was…
Instinct overwhelmed her again, reminding her that her body didn’t really belong to her anymore.
Destroy. Danger. Destroy.
The growl that began was not coming from the beast this time it was coming from her own chest. It was feral and dangerous.
Rebecca! The voice called her one more time; it sounded so far away.
Then the beast faced her again, walking slowly in her direction. The human head sprouting from the enormous wolf-like body looked sad and seemingly in pain. A soul captive in the monstrous form. Stop, it mouthed. And then, fearing a sudden attack, Rebecca’s body decided to end the beast’s suffering once and for all.
Dylan woke up in the dark room after hearing the first growl; that was all it took. By instinct, his body jumped off the bed before he realized what he was doing. It was like he just knew he should be preparing to counter-attack. Finding himself in battle mode, with his fists in front of him, his legs apart and his knees bent, he quickly looked around trying to remember exactly where he was. The place looked kind of familiar, even in the dark - it was Rebecca’s room in her apartment, a place he was finding himself waking up in more frequently lately.
With his ingrained night vision quickly activated, the werewolf hunter looked down at his partner of one year hyperventilating in bed and struggling with some invisible force she was facing in her dreams.
Just as he tried to assess the situation, Rebecca’s eyes opened to reveal the red iris glimmering in the dark room. His fists rose closer to protect his chest again as he said her name, “Becca.”
When Rebecca didn’t respond, Dylan moved slowly to turn on the lamp on his side of the bed. Even with her eyes open, Dylan was sure she was still asleep and having a nightmare. Memories of something similar happening to him the first few years after he had become a vampire came bursting into his brain. Only, when it had happened to him, he had been alone; Rebecca wasn’t.
Dylan’s first thought was to get out of the room. If she was anything like him, then she would destroy her bedroom to shreds thinking she was battling a werewolf in her sleep. Hesitantly, he looked at the door, which was on her side of the bed. It wouldn’t be as easy as he wished to get out of the way.
Glancing at the sleeping woman, with bright eyes wide open and not looking very friendly with her long teeth bared, Dylan gave a quiet step in the direction of the door.
It had been a bad idea.
Rebecca suddenly sat up, and in an instant, was standing between Dylan and the door as if her job was to keep him inside. With her lips pulled back and her fangs exposed, she was ready to attack.
Rebecca, in her quirky pink nightgown with a silly, cartoonish ballerina stamped in the front, stared down at Dylan. He was wearing his white undershirt and boxer shorts and had not planned to have a wrestling match in the middle of the night with his partner and lover.
Taking a deep breath and shaking himself all over, Dylan gave a step back; both his palms were now raised as a symbol of peace as he attempted to calm her down. “Rebecca, stop. Wake up!” he commanded as calmly as he could even when he knew reasoning with her in her current state was a complete waste of time.
As expected, Rebecca didn’t seem to react to his words at all. Frozen and ready to attack, she growled at Dylan fiercely one more time; slowly, she began to crawl on the bed to get closer to him hissing menacingly.
“Great,” sighed Dylan, getting ready to fight the woman he had chosen to spend the rest of his life with.
Only to his surprise, Rebecca attacked him in a way she had never done in any of their practice sessions. He had watched her enough to find a pattern in the way she attacked and defended herself - he had, after all, supervised her training - but this was something new. This side of Rebecca, the wild untamed side controlled completely by her vampire instinct, was something Dylan had never seen. For the first time, he saw what she was really capable of; he saw what he had gone to all that trouble to find when he had ventured to look for someone to share his life.
He felt pride, excitement and horror at the same time, knowing having two lethal weapons trapped in a small bedroom a hundred feet below ground couldn’t be a good idea.
Somehow Dylan had still managed to foresee her initial attack but had not expected her reaction to his attempt at a defense. He imagined this was what it felt like to finally meet his equal; someone who could actually provide a worthy battle. He didn’t know if the fact she wouldn’t remember any of it was the greater loss or if this was not the time or place to prove her true worth.
Either way, there was now no doubt in his mind that once she got rid of all her human inhibitions and doubts, Rebecca would become his most formidable adversary and companion in battle.
Rebecca had knelt on the floor, holding her weight with both hands. With her left leg, she had kicked Dylan from behind. With the force of the first impact, Dylan heard his bones break feeling the unbearable pain run through his entire being. It was unlikely for him to get hurt in battle like this and for the first time in many years, he felt afraid of what would happen if he didn’t put a stop to this little game immediately. Fighting against the pain, he pushed himself to get back on his feet. To one side he saw the drawer were his weapon waited. No, using his gun could not be a good idea. Instead, he managed to grab Rebecca by the neck in a last minute change of plan. Except, before he could throw her against the wall, she had taken his head with both hands. With the pressure, Dylan heard his skull crack making him loose his balance.
He still managed to throw her to one side, but was left dizzy and with a headache while the bones healed. He needed to make a choice, and fast. He would either have to shoot her after all or leave the room until she woke up letting her realize on her own what she had done. It was pointless to fight a this battle.
“Rebecca!” he shouted one last time through a headache still resonating in his brain.
The gun, he decided.
He reached for it quickly, but not quick enough. Rebecca was in front of him in the blink of an eye one more time, waiting for him. Dylan saw a window of opportunity then, and taking her head with both hands, broke her neck by smashing both fists into it.
Rebecca’s body went limp immediately. Dylan let her go to grab his gun aiming it at her in case she decided she was ready to play again. “Please, wake up, Becca. I don’t want to hurt you anymore.” Her unconscious body’s bones cracked as they rearranged and healed giving his lover life again. Dylan waited, his gun held firmly in his hand, ready to shoot if necessary. “Becca?” he asked hopefully. Had that been enough to wake her from her nightmare?
After a long wait, Rebecca’s eyes popped open.
The brown eyes stared at the ceiling, recognition quickly filling her gaze. When Dylan saw her frown he knew she was finding herself out of sorts after the dream was finally over. “Where am I? What happened?” she asked as she sat up quickly.
Dylan’s first reaction was to laugh - what an adventure that had been – but he stopped himself. He could tell the last thing she needed was a smart aleck reply from him. Instead, he cleared his throat and said, “You were having a nightmare.” Looking confused, Rebecca turned to look at the bed and then down at the wooden floor. Seeing she was still confused, Dylan elaborated: “You attacked me in your sleep.”
“I did what?” her look was of pure horror.
“It’s over now.”
He could see her eyes starting to swell up with tears. “I-I was… I was fighting a werewolf,” she explained, “It was all so… real. I swear, I didn’t mean...”
“It was just a dream,” Dylan said as he secured his gun behind his boxer shorts, “I used to have them, too, at first. I suppose it’s normal.”
While he spoke, h
e walked to the closet to fetch his slacks and shoes. Quickly, he put them on and then walked over to get hi holster from the same drawer he had produced his gun.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Rebecca asked hazily.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Dylan frowned, “You attacked me,” he neglected to mention how efficient she had been at it, “I need to go to my apartment if I want to be able to sleep for the rest of the night.”
“You mean you’re leaving?” Dylan looked at her; he could tell she was still confused by what had happened. She probably didn’t remember when he had broken her neck or when she had cracked his skull. It was late and nothing would be gained by explanations that could wait until morning.
“Look, I really enjoy spending the night in the same bed with you. I really do. You should know I do. But, right now you are going through a phase. I know because I’ve been there. It’s happened to me. Just know it’s not your fault,” he reassured her, “It will pass.”
“What do you mean?”
Dylan finished getting dressed and ready to leave. “The nightmares, they will be like this for a few months. Possibly worse once you actually see a werewolf, a real werewolf, for the first time.” Rebecca listened intently from the floor, her nightgown pulled back enough to reveal her underwear. “Look, it’s not safe for me here right now, nothing personal.” He smiled, “Trust me, I don’t enjoy hurting you.”
Rebecca’s lips trembled as her tears finally were heavy enough to roll down her cheeks.
“I-“ she choked on her own words.
Seeing how distressed she was, Dylan walked over to her, kissed her lips and then helped her up to the bed.
“We can try it again after a few weeks,” he suggested. “Right now, I need to go to sleep.” Before he closed the bedroom door behind him, he said, “Don’t worry and don’t read too much into this. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Werewolf Phenomenon Page 1
