His eyes locked with hers. “I am prepared to provide you with the information you seek. However, I want something from you in return. What I want can wait for the moment. You deserve to know what you are, and that I give you for free.” He fell silent, his eyes distant as he composed his thoughts. Through the haze of weariness Nowen felt a twinge of interest, but out of sheer stubbornness she kept it from showing.
“The vukodlak, or werewolves as they are more commonly known, have existed as long as there have been humans. There are many stories of how we have come to be. Some are fantastic tales, legends out of time. Our ancestors were cursed by ancient gods, gifted by ancient shamans, rewarded for service to the forces of nature, sold to the devil in exchange for power...as many names as there are for us in history are there stories. In more recent times acolytes of a new god, the god of Science and Reason, have suggested that the bite of a werewolf transfers genetic keys that unlock primeval DNA, reshaping our bodies as we will it.” Vuk shrugged. “Who can say? Our past is a mystery, even to us.”
He leaned forward in his seat again, his gaze intense. “And why is it a mystery? You have felt the gifts of your wolf side - the speed, the power, the heightening of your senses beyond what the human can sense. Surely we should be masters of the world, eh?” Vuk waved one bony finger back and forth. “Ah, but there is no gift for which you do not pay a price. We do not reproduce easily. Of every ten humans that are bitten, two may survive the transition. It is not an easy thing to become a vukodlak. There have never been that many of us at any time in history. Until now.”
He smiled, exposing a mouthful of large yellow teeth. “The Flux was a miracle for us. We are immune to the virus and to the bite of the undead. And we intend-” Vuk stopped himself. “Ah, I almost said too much. That is some of the information for which we will barter. Let us return to the question of you. In the waning days of humanity some vukodlak took it upon themselves to try and ‘turn’ as many humans as they could. This is what I suspect happened to you. You were bitten, and you were abandoned. It is unbelievable that you survived. And then that you were able to change - fantastic! But even more fantastic - that you were able to become human again!”
Vuk dropped his insectile head and studied his hands for a few seconds. He looked up and continued speaking. “When a new vukodlak is made, and survives the transition, there should always be an older companion to help them. This companion, preferably the vukodlak that made them, assists the cub in shifting from wolf to human, teaches them to live in harmony with their human and wild natures, trains them in all their new abilities, and teaches them to respect the authority of the older vukodlak.” Vuk laughed, a harsh sound that grated on Nowen’s tense nerves.
“One thing the story tellers get right is the importance of a pack. To thrive, we must have order. Order is maintained by the pack. The eldest and the strongest vukodlak lead the pack, and other members respect that. Or they die. Which brings us to you. Ferals have been...problematic. They are wild. They are unpredictable. Often they lose themselves completely in the change, and consequently they kill indiscriminately without regards for the rules of the pack. Ferals have never been allowed to live once they have been discovered.” Vuk pointed a thin finger at Nowen. “You are different. You have some control, and you retain your humanness. But you have no concept of life in a pack, and no respect for our authority. You are a feral, which is ordinarily a death sentence. Not this time, I am pleased to say. I have need of all the vukodlak I can find.”
He rose from the chair and stared at her, a praying mantis examining its next meal. “No matter how long it takes, you will become a member of our pack.”
Nowen was left alone again for several hours, and when Vuk returned he wasn’t alone. He strode to the plush chair, followed by a white wolf. He sat, and the wolf dropped to its her haunches next to the chair. Nowen stared at the new wolf. The animal was as white as moonlight and her eyes were mismatched; one was blue, one was green. The white wolf stared back and Nowen’s wolf strained at her fraying control.
Vuk spoke, each carefully pronounced word dropping like stones into a still pond. “Your first lesson. Authority. To become a member of our pack, you must and you will learn to recognize and respect authority.”
Nowen wrenched her attention from the white wolf, focusing on the tall, thin man. “What makes you think I want to join your pack?” she said through gritted teeth. Even as she spoke she could feel her jaw aching, the sharp animal teeth on the verge of slicing through her gums. Why fight? Let the wolf out. She answered herself. Because I don’t want to. I’m in charge. The wolf’s angry growl echoed through her head.
Vuk smiled. “What makes you think you have a choice? You are vukodlak and belong in a pack. You will become a member of this pack.”
“Or?” she asked.
“There is no ‘or’. There is no other choice. Not even death. I have need of any and all vukodlak I can gather or-”, he paused, and then continued. “Now. First lesson. Authority. Change for me.”
“No.”
“Remember, I have information you want. It will take so little on your part to get some of that information. Again; change.”
“No.” Nowen said without hesitation. So, sheer stubbornness? Stupidity? You’ll let that keep you from finding out who you are? She had no answer to this other than I don’t want to do what others tell me to do.
Vuk frowned. “There is freedom in giving yourself over to someone else’s authority. The leader protects you, decides for you, takes care of all the problems of life for you. It does not detract from who you are, as a human and a wolf, to give over. Attend.” He looked at the white wolf. “Livia,” he said calmly, “change.”
The white wolf rose to all fours instantly. Her head dropped as she groaned, and ripples ran through her thick coat. Nowen had never seen herself change, and against her will she watched, fascinated. It was beautiful and bizarre at the same time, the white fur sliding into the pale skin. The long muzzle drew inward and broadened as the pointed ears shrank and disappeared beneath the waves of cloud-white hair that poured down from the wolf’s head. Awkwardly the animal drew herself up on her hind legs as her paws thinned and lengthened into hands and feet. A cracking of bones as the spine rearranged itself, accompanied by another groan rising from a human throat, and then the woman stood where the wolf had been.
Nowen judged Livia to be shorter than she was herself, but the other woman looked more muscled, stronger. Vuk looked back at Nowen. “You will learn to control every aspect of your wolf side. No longer will the two sides of your nature fight for supremacy. Let me show you.” He raised one thin finger and spoke to the white-haired woman without ever moving his gaze from Nowen’s. “Livia. Show our new pack member what she could be capable of.”
Livia took a couple of steps forward and grinned. As Nowen watched, the woman’s teeth grew sharp and long, crowding the small human mouth. “Notice that Livia can change select parts of herself, all the while never giving up control of her human-ness.” Vuk said. Livia raised her hands in front of her. With a shiver of motion the hands became white-furred paws that ended cleanly at the wrist, as if the wolf parts had been grafted onto the human arms. The paws shrank back into hands, hands with thick, inch-long talons that clicked together like bones rattling in a cup.
Livia turned around, presenting her smooth, pale back. Her buttocks clenched and a heavily-furred tail grew from the base of her spine. The woman turned back to face Nowen, and now her teeth and hands were human but large pointed ears rose from the sides of her face.
Vuk raised a finger again. “Thank you, Livia. Take your wolf form now.” As the woman dropped to all fours Vuk sat back in his chair and addressed Nowen. “Do you see what is possible? Absolute control over every aspect of the change.”
Nowen looked from him to Livia and back again. “I see you giving orders to your dog.”
The white wolf growled and lunged forward, stopped only by Vuk calling her name. Slowly she sat
back down, a low growl rumbling in her throat as the thin man ran one long-fingered hand over her head. Vuk looked at Nowen thoughtfully. “Perhaps we are going about this wrong. You have been in that cage for days now, yes? Perhaps you will be more civil, more willing to listen, if you are allowed to come out. You are hungry too, eh?” He rose from the chair and crossed to the hut’s door, where he spoke softly to someone outside. He sat back down and watched Nowen in silence.
Within ten minutes two people, a man and a woman, came into the hut. They wore the same outfit as the armed people that had rescued Nowen and the others; jeans and black shirts. The man held a bowl of food and the rich scents of cooked meats hit Nowen like a freight train. Saliva flooded her mouth and she licked her lips. The wolf was going crazy inside. Just a little food. Just a little, and the wolf will subside. I’m still in charge. I’m still in charge.
The woman in the black shirt leaned over the cage top. There was a clatter of metal on metal and then the door swung open. Something told Nowen to go slow, be careful, but the wolf and her hunger overrode everything. She fell forward on her hands and pulled herself from the cage, her aching legs stretching behind her.
See? I am still in charge and then the wolf was there, tearing free of the human, the change so fast that Nowen had no time to think before she found herself trapped behind the wolf’s eyes. Those same eyes now locked on her prey, and the black wolf leapt.
Not toward the food, but toward the thin man sitting in the plush chair.
Chapter Thirteen
The black wolf flew through the air, her wild amber eyes locked on her target. A blur of white met her charge and knocked her out of the air, and the wolves tumbled across the hut. In a flash the black wolf was on her feet. The white wolf lunged for her but she dodged the flashing teeth and ran toward the seated male. Stop! Stop! She could hear the other, the human who locked her away just as this scrawny male had done, trying to keep her from her attack. But the wolf would not be denied, not this time. She was free of the cage, free of the other, and soon she would be free of this place.
The fury of her charge took the humans surrounding her by surprise. The underfed male with the fur on his face started to rise and then the wolf was on him. She drove him back into his chair with her weight. The other was fighting for control but was too weak to stop the wolf. Her muzzle arrowed for his throat, her jaws opening wide in anticipation of the first bite.
A crackling sound, liked autumn leaves under her feet, filled her ears and cold lightning shot through her body. The wolf yelped with pain. Her muscles locked, refusing to obey her. The seated male pushed her away and the wolf fell to the hard concrete floor. She struggled to regain control. Her paws scrabbled at the unyielding surface.
The white wolf was suddenly there, slamming into the black wolf with such force that she slid across the floor. The wolf’s fury was absolute, a raging fire that burned away everything around her. Through sheer force of will she found her feet and whirled to face her opponent.
The white wolf snarled and lunged. The black wolf braced to meet the challenge, and instantly saw her one advantage. She was still fighting the after-effects of the shock; the trembling weakness that turned her limbs to dead weight. The other wolf could kill her in seconds - but the other wolf wasn’t trying to kill her, just keep her off-balance long enough for the humans to intercede.
The black wolf had no such limitations.
She waited until the last moment and then, when the other wolf filled her vision like a wave of snow, she moved. Her rigid front legs pushed off the concrete floor like pistons and she rose on her hind legs. For a moment the wolves were night and day, light and shadow, twins different only in their color as they slammed chest-to-chest. The black wolf reached for her target.
The white wolf screamed and threw herself backwards. She was changing even as she fell, and when she landed it was as a human. Her long white hair sprawled across the floor, her pale hands clamped to her throat, her blood flooding through her fingers and pooling on the floor. The black wolf spit out a mouthful of fur and flesh and swung her head to face the humans.
The thin male was shouting. She grinned.
Without warning the wolf’s body lurched to one side. You have to stop this! Now! Tremors raced through her limbs as the other tried to take control from her. The wolf turned her attention inward to where the human female was, the human that kept her from running loose, kept her caged, kept her in the company of other humans when even she herself wanted to be free.
In her blood rage and madness the wolf tore at the chain that kept her attached to the other. When the chain didn’t break she attacked the anchor, the human female, driving the other back into the darkness deep inside. The other called to her but the wolf was past the point of insensibility and she ravaged the human until finally the other was quiet and still.
The wolf came back to herself and focused on the thin male, but the handful of seconds that she had spent on her internal fight had cost her. Even as she gathered her body to leap at the male another human stepped up next to her with a long pole and slipped a wire noose over her head. The noose tightened and dug into her neck. The wolf lunged forward anyway, dragging the human behind her. Her claws scratched furrows in the concrete as she pulled herself forward.
She was within three feet of the seated male when she collapsed. The noose didn’t loosen and she drew ragged half-breaths down a throat slicked with blood. The thin male rose from his chair and walked toward her. She locked her eyes with his and managed a weak snarl. The male stood next to her, looking down where she sprawled on the floor. He drew his foot back and slammed it into her side.
The wolf yelped. She tried to fight her way to her feet but the human holding the pole and noose twisted it and she fell back to the floor. The thin male kicked her again and again until her sides flamed and blackness shadowed her vision. Finally he stopped and crouched down next to her. He sank his hand into the thick fur of her neck and dragged her head around to face him. When he spoke his voice was dripping with venom.
“You have cost me dearly, you feral bitch. I should kill you now in recompense for the death of my Livia. But I will not.” The male paused and drew in a breath. “I still have need of you. Vukodlak do not reproduce easily. There are always more males than females. And for my plan I need many, many vukodlak. So by virtue of your gender you live. There is a saying where I come from: With suffering comes learning. And you have so much to learn.”
The wolf lunged against the noose. Her teeth snapped shut just inches away from the male’s nose. He threw himself backwards and she could smell the fear that rose off him. One of the other humans helped him to his feet, and he motioned to the human who was holding her down “Put her back in the cage. No food. Only water. Tomorrow, her lessons begin.”
The noose tightened even more, and she gagged against the restraint as her limp body was dragged into the cage. Unconsciousness swallowed her and the last thing she heard was the slamming of the cage door.
The wolf paced endless circles inside the cage and fought the urge to howl. The small black box which was the source of her agony was impossible to ignore and impossible to reach. She had tried again and again that first day, when the humans had brought it and placed it in front of the cage. They had touched it and the noise had started. Metal on metal, electricity siding down wires, high-pitched mechanical whines - a maddening jumble of sounds that spiked her nerves with acid and fire.
With the noise came the lights, searing sunspots that hovered over the cage and chased away every shadow. The heat was intense and the wolf panted beneath her heavy coat. The only relief was the hose that fed a small but steady drip of water into her cage. It was never enough to quench her thirst completely, and it did nothing for the constant hunger that gnawed at her.
The wolf had no real concept of time, but just as some of her instincts had crossed over to the other, so had some of the human bled through to the wolf. And even though the other was locked away an
d unresponsive, the wolf still thought like the female human sometimes. She thought it had been a long stretch of days since the noise and the lights had started.
The underfed male came each day. Hours would pass with the torment battering at her body. Then it would stop and her captor would enter the hut. The male would sit in the chair and talk to her. Thanks to the influence of the other the wolf understood the human. He would issue orders that he wanted her to obey. The wolf responded by throwing herself against the cage in the vain hope that the bars would give way.
Next, a pile of raw meat would be set in front of the cage door. The male would issue orders, and she understood that if she complied she would be fed. She gnashed her teeth against the bars until her gums bled, but she and the male knew that it wasn’t the food she was after.
It was him.
Or, at least, it had been at the beginning. The longer the other was gone the more the wolf could feel her influence wearing away. She still fought the thin male with the determination of the other but she was beginning to forget why. The meat that was placed in front of her once a day began to subsume her thoughts.
The sounds stopped and the lights turned off. The sudden surcease startled her from her thoughts. The wolf rose and looked toward the front of the hut, where the door was slowly opening. But it wasn’t the thin male who entered.
It was the one called Anton.
The wolf bared her teeth and growled as Anton looked furtively around the darkened interior before scurrying over to the cage. He dropped to his knees by the door. She lunged at him and he flinched, raising his hands defensively.
“Listen. Listen!” he whispered. The wolf’s growls grew louder, and Anton looked behind him as if expecting the other humans to come running through the door. He turned back to the wolf. “Please!” he continued in a hushed voice. “We don’t have much time! I’m going to get you out of here, Nowen. Just trust me.”
Wolf Hiding (A Wolf in the Land of the Dead Book 2) Page 9
