The Godsend Backfire: The Beginning

by Harold Straugh

  She started to change as she made another lap around the tub. Once her transformation was complete and all her skin had gotten taut again, she stepped into the tub and I scooted back against the edge of the basin. She wasted no time sitting down next to me. I will give her credit, she was persistent to say the least. She put her head on my chest and spoke.

  “I like you Roldian and I’m not just saying that because all I have here is Kallik. I can go to the mainland and find a mate if I wanted to. Something inside has always told me to wait. Then I saw you and I knew you were the one. I know you won’t be around here much longer, so please, give me tonight?” she asked, looking up at me.

  She was opening up to me, she was vulnerable, and I felt bad for her, that I was her only option, but before I could think to speak, I spoke, “Okay!”

  It didn’t take but a second after that for her to kiss me and forcefully I might add. She threw her legs around me and thrust forward and it didn’t take long before I responded. She winced at first when I entered her, so I stopped, but she thrusted again, pushing me in all the way. It was then I noticed a red tint to the water, she was a virgin. She was in complete control as I just sat there, watching her in all her beauty, sweat forming on her forehead, face and breasts. Water splashed about out of the tub and sloshed on the floor. She leaned forward and arched her back as I heard bones pop, her spine popped, and she shot back. Her mouth was full of teeth and slightly jutted out. She then, dug her claws into my chest, penetrating my skin deeper than before.. I saw my blood, sparkling in the light as it was my turn to wince.

  She was half transformed again, growling, thrusting, Then, without warning she bit me on the shoulder, it was a great amount of pain, I felt her teeth stick in my bone. She leaned back and howled, licking my blood from her lips and it was then I noticed she went from having two breasts to six, it was in this odd moment that I released into her. She leaned forward again, her hair all but disappeared into thin air, she was breathing heavy. I was in shock at what had just happened and noticed my wounds had already healed.

  She looked up at me and her eyes were dilated and the purple in them was almost gone from the dilation, she was growl-breathing and had a sick, twisted smile on her face, “Your blood, tastes amazing.”

  It appeared my blood had the same affect on them as vampire blood had on me. From the look in her eyes, I thought she was going to bite me again, but instead, she got off me and rested her head on my chest.

  “I should probably go check on Amka and Amaruq, Mylicious wanted me to make sure were to sleep before long,” she said and got out of the tub, she shook off like a dog, which was actually pleasant to see, and walked out naked of the bathing room.

  I looked over at where I was bitten, at first I felt weird tingling sensation in my body, then it went away. The werewolves make one another by biting and I was worried what might happen to me at first. I waited in the tub a few more minutes and I felt nothing more, so I got out. At some point in time, Yura had brought me another change of clothes, which was nice, because my old ones were covered in sap.

  I went in checked on the room with the wood in it, passing up Amka and Amaruq, whom, were headed to their room. Yura was behind me and when I looked back, she was looking at me wildly again. This time, she was dressed in all furs. I was starting to get creeped out a little.

  I checked the cauldron; the room was plenty steamy but Mylicious said to keep up on it. It was about halfway through the ice chunk, so I headed up to get more ice. I got a small dislodged piece of ice from above and when I turned around, I noticed the pack was quiet, and staring at me in their human form. I couldn’t see their faces, but the reflection of their eyes. It wasn’t comforting to see.

  “Come here brother!” Mylicious yelled and as I approached, I could see they were naked and could hear them sniffing the air. A small growl came from Kallik but Mylicious put his arm around me and pulled me in close, “Happiness to you brother,” he said and took a swig of his drink.

  “For what?” I asked.

  “Yura’s scent is all over you,” Mila said and walked up to me and also gave me a hug, then Tarkik and Tapeesa, I was confused and bothered by all the naked bodies touching me. They all hugged me except Kallik he just stood their huffing.

  “Did she bite you brother?” Mylicious smiled even bigger than before.

  “She did….why?”

  The pack immediately began to howl and done a weird, little dance around me, “She’s made you one of the pack” Tapeesa said.

  “What?” I asked, I didn’t want to be one with the pack, I wanted to leave.

  I didn’t even get a response from them, instead Kallik yelled out, “Noooooo! I challenge him.”

  I looked back at Kallik, then back at Mylicious, “What’s going on here?” I was confused.

  “Not going to happen Kallik,” Mylicious spoke for me, but didn’t give the answer I wanted.

  “It’s your rule, any existing pack member can challenge a new pack member if they feel the new pack member doesn’t belong. I feel he doesn’t belong, so I’m challenging him,” Kallik said, clenching his fist.

  “I said, it’s not going…..”

  “It’s okay, I will handle this brother,” I interrupted Mylicious, “If you want to challenge me, then I accept. When I win, and if you survive, you’re gone, no longer allowed in this pack.”

  “Fine, and I if I win, you leave, never to return and Yura is mine,” he growled.

  “Yura isn’t mine to give away…”

  “It’s fine, I have faith in you,” I heard Yura say behind me and when I turned around, she was there, the crazed look on her face, my blood had done something to her.

  “I’m not putting you up like that,” I said.

  “Are you confident you will win?” she asked.

  “I am very confident.”

  “Then do it.”

  I didn’t have a chance to respond before Kallik attacked and he attacked in human form. He was strong for a being in human form, but not as strong as I. He tackled me to the ground and started to kick me. I used my quickness to get away from the blows. I grabbed him from behind and put him in a choke hold. He swung wildly, some blows hitting me, but I applied the pressure and he soon started to fade, I thought the fight was going to be over with soon. Then, I heard bones cracking and his neck started to grow, my grip around his neck started to slip.

  He was soon transformed, but I was still holding on. He bucked and threw me forward, which sent me flying off him. I hit the ice, face first, hard. I heard and felt the bones break in my face. I skidded a few feet and when I rolled over on my back, I felt the sticky, warm that could only belong to my blood. I got up, quickly, because who wants to lay around in the middle of fight. I felt the bones pop back in place and the flesh wounds heal up. I didn’t get to heal long before I got slashed at by Kallik. I dodged one swipe, but got hit by the other, ripping through my clothes and flesh. I went flying to the right, once again crashing onto the ice and sliding. Kallik jumped up in the air and started to descend upon me. I got up and could see the massive, wolfen jaws, wide open. I managed to grab onto the jaws, in the kneeling position, before they closed in on me. Kallik tried to bite down, but I wasn’t going to allow it to happen.

  With his jaws firmly in my grasp, I started to stand up, he tried to push me back down, but once again, I over-powered him. His tongue lashed about wildly, he tried swiping at me some more, but I applied more pressure. His back legs buckled and he fell to his knees. His eyes were wide with fear, he whimpered as I moved his jaws further apart.

  “That’s enough brother, I think you’ve won this one,” Mylicious said.

  I looked at my brother, “Is it?” I asked and used all my force to dislocate the bottom jaw of Kallik, who cried out and fell over.

  “BROTHER!” Mylicious yelled.

  Kallik was on his side, still trying to claw at me. I put my foot on his throat and with a quick twist of his jaw, pulled it completely off from his face
and tossed it towards my brother, “Now, it’s enough,” I said.

  The jaw transformed back into its human form. Mila and Tapeesa rushed to the aide of Kallik, taking his jaw with them. Mylicious, Tarkik and Yura just stared at me at first.

  “He will heal,” I said.

  “I’ve never seen you like that brother, the look in your eyes, it was scary even for me.”

  “I don’t take likely to someone trying to harm me,” I said, “Did you think he was going to walk out of here unscathed?”

  “No, I suppose not,” Mylicious said.

  “KALLIK…NOOOO!” I heard someone scream behind me. I turned and looked, Kallik was in human form, leaping naked through the air at me. I caught him the throat and before he could fathom what was happing, I then, wrapped my mouth around his throat and tore it out. Werewolf blood filled my mouth, it was bitter and vile. I tossed Kallik down as I was experiencing a pain of my own. The werewolf blood caused my body to spasm, I threw up, green vomit that shot across the ice in a steamy mess. I fell over, Mylicious and Yura came to my side, asking me if I was okay, I obviously wasn’t. The spasm stopped a minute later and I learned that I didn’t like werewolf blood at all.

  Mylicious helped me up and we stared at Kallik as the wound didn’t heal, instead he bled out in front of us. His eyes glared off into the night sky, the stars reflective in them. Mila and Tapeesa looked sad, the rest of the pack didn’t seem to care.

  “Your bite won’t heal?” Mylicious asked.

  “I guess it doesn’t and wolf blood hurts,” I said then started to laugh as I spit the remaining, green blood out of my mouth.

  “Thank you!” I heard Tarkik say.

  “For what?”

  “Getting rid of him, if he would have been a lone wolf, he would have terrorized us.”

  “I would still like to give him back to the earth,” Mylicious said.

  “We at least owe him that,” Mila said and gave me a hateful look, which I wasn’t used to by her.

  “What was I to do Mila? Let him attack me, let him kill me?” I asked, breaking the tension.

  “No, I wouldn’t, I don’t know why I’m upset, it’s the link between us, I believe. I’m sorry Roldian, I didn’t mean to get upset with you,” she apologized.

  “Well, I did just kill one your own, I wouldn’t be to happy about that,” I said, trying to see things from her perspective.

  “Tarkik, Tapeesa, let’s get him to the fire,” Mylicious said as Tarkik and Tapeesa picked up Kallik’s body and carried him over to the fire. Mylicious said a prayer to different Gods and they tossed Kallik’s body on the fire. I went back to getting my ice chunk, because I still wanted to get out of there in a couple of days.

  I don’t know went on for the rest of the night, I heard some sorrowful howls and when I went to get my third ice-chunk, the fire was out, and everyone was inside. I walked over to the fire and only the skeleton of Kallik remained, out of haste, I kicked the skull away from the rest of the skeleton.

  The one thing I hate about not sleeping is it’s easy to lose track of night and day. I tended to the steam room and I think it was mid-day the next day, that Mylicious checked on me and the wood.

  “I don’t see how don’t sleep, I would go mad,” he said, startling me as I was staring off, watching the ice melt.

  “Maybe I have gone mad, and maybe I’m too use to it that I can’t tell,” I said.

  Mylicious took a drink from his canteen. I was glad he was clothed, I was tired of seeing naked bodies everywhere. He walked over to the wood and picked up a piece, it bent under its own weight, “This is good, I will show you what to do next.”

  He took a saw and cut a triangle-shaped notch in the end of some of the half logs. He took one half and placed the notch inwards just a foot above the top center post. He took another piece and placed the notch outwards, hooking it into the inward notch.

  “Grab that end and bend it towards me.”

  I took the piece he was talking about and we bent our wood towards each other, around the posts and he cut out notches at our ends and interlocked them. He then had me help him lift the boat over the posts and flip it. He made four more pieces that finished the bottom. He then got out a clay vase and a ladle. He dipped the ladle into the vase and produce a tar-like substance from it and coated the joints with it. We repeated the process twenty-three times over of coating the joints. He then got a bigger vase, with same some substance, but used his hand this time to apply it to the boat.

  “This is made from the tree sap, get it in all the gaps you see, it’ll harden,” he said and moved the cauldron away from the fire, “The steam will make it take longer, so we just have to feed the fire, but not too much, you’ll start to melt the walls,” he chuckled.

  I helped him seal the boat, both inside and out. We scrubbed our hands off in the remaining water in the cauldron. Mylicious threw some smaller pieces of wood on the fire, “It should be ready by mid-day tomorrow.”

  He left after that, I knew he was still bitter that I hadn’t agreed to take him straight to Derium’s head. I walked back down the tunnel and ran into Yura coming out of her room.

  “I’m sorry for last night, I’m normally not like that,” she said.

  “I know, it was the moon,” I said and continued to walk by her.

  I walked into the main room and there was dead Elk in the room. Mila and Tapeesa were covered in blood, then Yura raced passed me, then Amak and Amaruq. The pack feasted on the uncooked Elk, covering themselves in the blood. Mylicious looked up and caught me staring, probably in disgust.

  “The moon takes a lot out of us. Mila and Tapeessa left late last night and just got back right before we finished the boat.”

  “How did they get it back?” I asked confused.

  “We floated it, like a raft and moved quickly.” Mila looked up, blood dripping down from her chin, smiling, proud of her work.

  I went out to the wood pile, letting the pack finish their disgusting meal. I grabbed an arm full of wood and headed back down, setting the wood off to the side to dry, then went and checked on the fire in the boat room. When I returned to the main room, the Elk was gone, and Mila walked up to me holding a pair of moccasins.

  “I forgot to give these to you, I hope you like them,” she said and handed them too me. They were soft, the insides lined with white fur, the stitching was tight on the side. Different colored beads lined the top, I immediately sat down and took off my sandals and slid them on. They were pleasing to my feet, soft. Mila had the measurements right, the moccasins fit great.

  I think the look on my face, spoke wonders, because when I looked at Mila she had a smile of pure joy on her face, “I think I love them,” I said.

  “Well, at least you love something here,” Yura said, dagger-words if you will.

  “Now Yura!” Mylicious started to scold.

  “It’s okay brother,” I said, “I deserve whatever I get. She chose me and I still want to leave, whose to say I won’t change my mind between now and tomorrow,” I said, and for the first time being there, I started to think about staying. I had always been on my own and they were accepting me, I just missed my greenery and the sights that nature had to offer.

  “I doubt you will brother, but be nice if you did,” Mylicious said.

  We stayed busy the rest of the day, Mila, Tapeesa and Yura tended to their crafts, Tarkik and Mylicious headed out to closest shore. They had stakes in the ground with thin rope cast out in the ocean. There were about ten of them, set about twenty feet apart. Mylicious pulled in the first thin rope. Attached to the end was a round, wooden basket, with a conical opening. Inside were ugly little creatures, some blue in color, some brown, with pinchers, known as crabs, or “Water Devils” as Mylicious called them.

  He dumped them out and quickly, hit them in the head with a hatchet he produced from his waist band. I didn’t care to get near them, and they weren’t afraid to chase you either, Mylicious and Tarkik made quick work of the crabs. I picked
them up after they were dead and put them in a burlap sack.

  On our way back, I noticed the sun was exceptionally bright. I wished I had my purple glasses and started to wonder where they were at. I told myself to look for them when I got back, and I did. I couldn’t find them anywhere.

  “What are you looking for,” Tarkik asked.

  “My purple eye coverings,” I said.

  “I think I saw Amaruq with them,” he said.

  I narrowed my eyes, “I would like them back.”

  “AMARUQ!” Mylicious yelled, he must had overheard our conversation.

  Amaruq came running from the middle tunnel and looked scared, he was the perfect mix of Mylicious and Mila, “Do you have Roldian’s eye covers?”

  He was hesitant to answer, but finally did and stuttered, “Ye..yes.”

  “Why did you take them, they weren’t yours?” Mylicious asked, I wanted to smack the little thief.

  “I just wondered what the world looked like through his eyes, why he was so full of hate?” he said, and my hate for him went away, I realized then and there, he was a wise soul, “I will give them back.”

  He was gone but a second, and came back with them, “I made them better, they don’t sit so crooked on your face,” he said, so I put them on.

  He had them straightened out to where they sat level on my face. He smiled up at me and I smiled back, I took them off and tried to hand them to him, “Maybe if you were happier and seen things better,” he shook his head and then ran off, and just like that, he was back to being a brat again.

  I just stared as Mylicious started to laugh, “He’s got a point you know, you don’t seem to be the happiest.”

  “Are we having this conversation again, I’ll be happy when I return to the land of green and sunshine.” I said.

  “Would you even miss us brother, the family that’s welcomed you in?”

  “Of course I would, let me remind you, it was you who lost contact with me,” I said, getting angry.

  “This is true, and I’ve done everything in my power to make up for it!” he said, getting loud with me.