Two Worlds ( WIP )

Prologue:

The outside environment, beyond the shallow cave’s entrance, is dreary, gray, and damp. Last night’s thunderstorm erased most scent trails, making escape relatively easy. Now, another storm threatens with a heavy menace, overhead.

The very air smells of ozone and water. The dark clouds in the sky above crowd together as a solid overcast wall threatening to let loose another deluge onto the already well-soaked ground below. Winds rolls through the trees, and pick up the growling rumble of distant thunder. Its threat is all too obvious in the heavy sensation of a thickening humidity. The build storm’s touch is chill, with a hint of frost biting at the edges. Though it’s not late enough in the season for snow, with Sun's Harvest just begun, there is a threat that this storm could bring much more then just rain.

A cloaked and hooded figure huddles along the side, and towards the back, of the cave. It pulls cape and hood closer together, further obscuring features already covered by a heavy layer of clothing. This place, this small and shallow cave, is no proper shelter from the building storm just outside. The figure’s nervous behaviors show that it knows this, but is left with no other choice to protect against the storm. There issues a soft, somewhat feminine sigh from the bundle of clothing. Resignation touches the sound’s tones. Resignation, anger, and frustration color the barely audible groan.

Suddenly, a clawed paw-hand reaches into the cave and roughly grabs the figure. The rough jerk pulls the figure out of the cave before any response is possible. Sharp claws, from the other paw-hand, piece several layers of fabric and leather as it snatches the front of the figure's cape. The hood obscuring the figure's head and face, jerking back with the violent action, shows a definite female shape to the figure's features. She gasps in shock, edged by a panic and terror that only the hunted know well.

The large hulking beast raises up on its hind legs, adding height to its already huge form. The defining features of this creature hide in the stormy gloom. As it holds her, now dangling by her clothes with a single, left-side, paw-hand buried in layers of fabric and leather, the other clawed paw-hand reaches for the female. Both paws now grasp the clothing like a pair of vicious hands, the claws digging deep into the folds of cloth and leather. The beast pulls the figure close to its toothy canine-like muzzle, and breathes in her scent with ragged, en-raged, huffs.

It growls viciously. Spittle jumps along the spray of foul breath as the beast bares its sharp fangs in the female's face. The scent of rotted meat just barely clings to the scent of its breath, telling the female a story of long nights without food. She twitches not, but instead looks into the face of death itself, and chuckles. Irony tinges her laughter, and as it grows the laughter takes on a hint of hysteria.

Put off balance by this sudden outburst of insane mirth, the beast flings the female away from her. Bouncing off the side of the cave entrance, the female feels one of her ribs crack under the impact. Yet, even beneath her wince and out-take of breath, still she chuckles. It is a laughter found within one whom either looses one's grip on reality, or is so emotionally shocked that only nervous giggling finds a way to release the tension built up within. It is a Laughter that racks the body uncontrollably. A laughter that consumes the breath, and makes the chest ache painfully, as it build to uncontrollable levels.

The beast drops to all fours and lunges at the female with a terrible roar as she lays half-prone on the ground. Supported only by the side of the outside wall-support of the cave, the girl clutches her sides. Her face is a mask of mirth and pain. She flinches slightly at the snap of teeth mere inches from her nose. The sudden violence seems to calm her some, yet still she giggles. There is a lost, helpless fear behind her eyes even as the mirth controls her body. Tears begin streaming from her as she gasps for breath.

Just as suddenly as the attack, the rains come. Hiding the tears behind a torrential downpour, the rain obscures almost every feature beyond just a few feet. There is a wet, garbled, howl that issues from somewhere off to the female's right. It is short lived as the torrent drowns out all sight, all scents, and all sounds. Both figures now are pounded by the onslaught of water.

The beast once more grabs the female and drags her back into the cave. Shoving her against the far wall, the beast curls its huge bulk against the side of the entrance. The shallowness of the cave presses the two together in an uncomfortable closeness. It snarls something at the female as it settles in.

Surprisingly, the female responds back in a similar language, though stunted by the lack of certain proper anatomical and biological features. The beast looks up in shocked horror. Then quickly reaches out to smack the female across her face with a flick of its wrist. The action draws blood from gash wounds made by back of the claws pressed against soft flesh. The strength of the move drives a cold chill through the female’s body. The laughter ends just as abruptly.

"This one speak," the girl repeats in that same guttural, growling, rolling language, "other-one kill this one not. This one not know reason?"

In a more elaborate and formal mode, the beast responds. Its tones are vicious, angry, and oddly enough, very emotionally hurt.

"You, Huntress, die tonight at the hands of my pack. But, first I will have my answers."

Chapter One:

( Author’s note – This one may read funny, and not have the same flow, since I’ve edited it from a past tense to a present tense. Ugh.It may just need to be completyly re-written. )

A gentle breeze flows through the night-covered forest. It stirs the leaves of the oak and yew trees with a soft sigh. Its soft breath follows a path unknown to most mundane creatures, as it tracks its way into the forest.

Laina's fur shifts delightfully with the touch of the nightly breeze. It raises goose bumps along her bare skin, as the thin hairs rise up. She picks up a faint scent on that same soft breath of wind. Her pack mates are searching nearby for her are. A cold fear laces her heart suddenly. Laina fears for them.

She is only a gamma, and not worthy of being sought with such determination that they show. She was never as powerful as the alphas, nor ever carried the swift assurance of the betas. Yes, she is a pack-mate and a sister, but not of a high enough social level to hold that much importance. This made her current situation even more difficult. Lania did not have the authority to command them to leave, even if it meant saving their lives.

She struggles vainly against her bonds, but she felt the sinew pulling tightly around her throat, wrist, and ankles. The chains clinking softly against her bare skin sent shivers of cold, and of dread down her back and shoulders. From her throat issues a soft moan of frustration. She sighs to herself, wondering why the Hunter hadn't killed her, and wondering if she was only bait instead. Laina attempts to shift forms, only to find the bindings cutting into her neck, cutting off blood circulation and life giving oxygen. Dizziness spins the world around her every sense. Just then, soft footsteps herald the approach of the Hunter, now alerted to Laina’s conscious state.

Even as Laina hears the Hunter's approach, she continues to struggle. She growls reflexively, eyeing the human who walks calmly and surely into her line of sight. She sniffs instinctively, as the human approaches, yet catches only the scent of wood smoke, the forest, deer musk, and the meat cooking on the fire just beyond Laina's vision. She realizes, suddenly, that scent of deer musk was masking the Hunter’s own scent. She growls again at the deception, as well as feeling foolish for so easily being deceived. Laina then starts wondering if Danc or Falina, the betas, would find this amusing at her expense, if they survived this terrible night.

The Hunter pauses. Its eyes scan the forest first, and then turn towards Laina’s prone form. The naked woman, lying on the cold hard ground and thoroughly bound with sinew, and links of chain, gave the Hunter pause. Any normal human female might find herself feeling vulnerable because she was naked and bound. Laina felt vulnerable only because her bindings made it impossible to shift forms, and thus left her feeling weak and helpless. This is because Laina was not merely a human woman, with the same feelings or social stigma a human woman might carry in their hearts. Laina, as a werewolf, only borrowed the guise of the human skin. So, such human stigmas were as nothing to her.

The Hunter’s face, hidden behind the second skins their kind wore to hide their identity while out hunting, gave little expression. Yet, its eyes shone in the firelight. In them glitters a look of pure wonderment, intelligence, and understanding. Laine blinks in confusion.

Slowly taking off the camouflage, stripping to the bare skin, the Hunter bares itself before the werewolf as she was born into this world.

She? Laina blinks twice in surprise.

Most of the tales she remembers hearing involved mostly males of the human species. Their tendencies lean towards the more predatory type, by their very natures as males. The human-looking, deer-musk smelling, woman then steps closer to the prone and bound werewolf in human guise. She then crouches down before the werewolf, facing the werewolf with no fear or hesitation. She reaches out a bare hand to touch Laina's hair and face, in an almost motherly gesture. Laina’s comprehension of all this eluded her sense. She found she didn't understand these events, because they were completely outside of her normal experiences and understanding. She felt stunned.

The human woman then reaches around, just out of Laina’s sight, and produces a very sharp knife. Laina jerks back instinctively. She almost manages to knock herself unconscious from the sudden loss of blood flow and breath. Laina lay panting and gasping as the Hunter reaches over to her, beyond her face, and over to her back. The werewolf’s brain runs through various hunting tactics, searching for some kind of explanation.

Cutting the sinew cord lose from the chain bindings, the Hunter frees the werewolf. As the sinew cord loosens, the woman Hunter leaps back from the werewolf. The female Hunter’s naked flesh glows in the firelight, and though still smells strongly of deer musk, also smells of trepidation.

Laina shifts her physical form from human to hybrid with what physical and mental strength she had left, snapping the chain links, and tearing at the other sinew cords around her wrists and ankles. Then, even with the fierce pounding of her blood in her ears, calling to hunt, begging for the kill, she stands up on her hind legs, slowly. Savoring ever muscle twitch and slide of joint, Laina revels in her natural form’s power, comfort, and strength. Laina is again free and feral, yet only looks at the woman Hunter in wonderment. Laina, standing in all her glory with her saber-sharp talons flexing and her hackles rising in anger, tried to summon the emotions she displays. As much as she attempts to engender the righteous fury, she did not truly feel it.

The woman crouches down, displaying a flight or fight posture with the knife in hand, and holding her ground only a few feet away. Fear, oddly enough, was not evident in her eyes, only mild curiosity. There was that slight trepidation of uncertainty in her scent, but not outright fear. Laina knows how the others would response to this situation, and knew instinctively she should do the same as one of the greatest of predators what roamed this land. Yet even as she ponders the many ways of disemboweling this woman, Laina holds back.

The Hunter took the initiative. She slowly places the knife back on the ground-cloth where there were numerous other tools, items, and weapons of which Laina never before laid eyes upon. The Huntress (as Laina begins to re-adjust her associations about this woman) slowly stands up and motions for Laina to follow her. The Huntress walks back to her fire, and sits on another ground-cover. She begins poking at the rabbit carcass roasting above the flames.

Laina, ever the curious one, ventures closer. She feels more comfortable, now that she is no longer bound. With this surety of self, she lets slid her hybrid-form back into the guise of the human skin. The blending of human and wolf does not offer the flexibility human speech as well as does the human guise. She then sits across from the Huntress and watches her, even as the woman watches Laina. The two stare at each other for a long time. Each take in every minute detail of the other. Then, the Huntress did something that completely confounds the werewolf.

She sniffs at Laina.

Laina raises an eyebrow, watching in wonderment and no less then pure confusion. This is not typical human behavior, as far as the werewolf understands. Laina did not comprehend why this other female was acting in such a strange and un-human-like behavior.

The woman looks at the werewolf, and sees the confusion etched across the werewolf’s human face. She pauses in her sniffing and chuckles. The sound was friendly enough and its mirth helps ease the muscles along the werewolf’s back into relaxing. Laina shakes her head at the thought of a human trying to be a werewolf, or a beast.

‘Or,’ she chuckles to herself remembering the scent, ‘a deer.’

Laina thought the whole scent masking trick a rather ironic turn of events, and very informative. Here was a female human, which are prey to werewolves, masked in the scent of that which was prey to humans, werewolves, wolves and other predators. She also has skills with which she could have killed Laina simply enough, even with a fight. Instead Laina’s capture not only caught the werewolf completely off guard in the first place, but proves there was far more to this individual then Laina first assumed. Laina couldn't believe what she was experiencing.

Then, abruptly she wonders about the location of her pack. Thoughts flood through her brain, as her inner instincts that chart time tell her quite a few minutes are past.

Laina suddenly stands bolt upright with a swiftness so unlike any human alive. This startles the woman to the same action. Laina lifts her head and turns slowly in a circle, scenting the breeze. Then, when she finds the course of the soft breeze, she curses herself for being so stupid and unwary. The human form is not as capable of such sensitivity, even if her inherent wolf-like nature makes certain senses stronger and clearer.

Shifting swiftly to wolf she again moves to catch the soft breeze in her nostrils, and begin tracking it for scent. It blew through the forest, and brought her news of a rabbit’s recent death, and a stag’s most recent territory markings. Concentrating on filtering out the ‘background’ smells for certain particular scents, she then finds herself able to pick out the individual scents of her pack mates. Yes, they are closer then before, but up-wind of the Huntress and herself. She sighs a bit in relief.

A realization dawns on her. Why, in all of creation, did she worry about a Hunter’s well being? They are the Enemy!

Laina turns back towards the woman, who even now stands in a posture of readiness, alertness, and tense uncertainty. She pads up to the woman, growling, trying to scare her off. Laina didn't want her pack to catch wind of this woman; she didn't want them to rend her flesh from the bone. She was worried that this most intriguing curiosity of a human female could lose her life. All for the pursuit of knowledge.

The thought froze Lain’s forward momentum. How did she know that?

The Huntress, standing before her and waiting patiently, then crouches in front of Laina's four-legged form. She gently extends her arms to the wolf, a slight, closed mouth smile on her face. The werewolf felt a compulsion to drop into the woman's arms, and so she did. For once since her brother’s disappearance, the werewolf felt at peace.

The Huntress’ fingers were gentle but firm as she strokes them through the thick pelt of soft fur. Laina felt a warm peace descend over her much like comfort her brother and littermate gave when they were cubs. But, Derek’s disappearance over 18 years ago left a void in her life. She began to ponder why such thoughts came to mind now. Then, realizing that there was something very damilat about this human woman, Laina buried her nose into the woman’s armpit. Taking in the woman's body scent , Laina discovers the familiar feeling also arose from the woman’s sent.

This Huntress didn't smell completely human. There was a lingering scent of the deer musk, but being this close, it was but a cover scent. Laina looked into the woman's eyes and knew. This human wasn't human... but kin. Laina didn't know what to do. She knew her pack was near, but this link, this person was more then human, and yet again less. The lingering body scent that was a mixture of both this woman’s parents, she recognized as related to her brother's. Why Derek would take a human mate was beyond even Laina's vast imagination, but the scents did not lie. She watched the woman's face and saw hints of her brother in the woman's eyes and jaw-structure. The werewolf backed away, puzzled and frightened.

Suddenly, a vicious howl echoed through the forest. All the night creatures went completely silent. Laina jumped, suddenly shifting to her battle form, that of the man-wolf. She growled suddenly a warning to the woman, the words running guttural from her throat. It was simple and, Laina hoped, perfectly clear.

"Run. Now"

Yet the woman only scurried to her pile of possessions. Swiftly the Huntress threw on her camouflage suit, grabbed a bunch of throwing knives and stored them in pockets that just didn't seem as if they were there in the first place. She also grabbed a wrist-bow-gun-thing, a few bolts, and some rope. Laina couldn't comprehend why this human wasn't afraid. Even those related by the odd and rare mixing of blood showed fear at the nearness of those who were made to hunt them. It made no sense.

Laina reached out with a powerful taloned hand and caught the human as she was mucking about. She flipped the Huntress to the ground and point to the far woods. Laina repeated her command, but the woman just sat where she landed looking more emotionally hurt then afraid. The werewolf marveled at this display of courage, and motioned to the Huntress in a kinder posturing that she must leave. The Huntress just shook her head, grabbed a bottle and dumped musk over her head once more. At first the smell was a bit over powering, but it faded quickly as she rubbed her entire body down, from hair to boot sole. The werewolf stood in a sense of awe, as the kin leapt from the ground and raced into the woods nearby. She just as suddenly disappeared, as does a moon shadow in a dark forest.

Laina blinked in a bit of surprise, and was very startled as her pack mates rushed into the clearing. All this occurred in only a few minutes, and left the werewolf stunned. The alphas were not there, but the rest of the pack was, and in force. This confounded Laina to a degree that she never thought one's mind could reach. Falina, the beta female, rushed to Laina's side. She seemed very worried, and very angered.

"What happened Laina? Where did you run off to?!"

Laina just looking at her sister, friend and pack mate with a mixture of annoyance, confusion, and stunned disbelief. The beta did not like this in the least, and she made her displeasure known through both body language and voice. The beta male, Danc, and the others scoured the clearing and the campsite thoroughly as Falina snapped at Laina.

"Well? You run off," the beta's voice a mixture of sarcasm and fury, "without a second thought as to what we needed you around for, and then when we called for you and you didn't answer!"

She was a seething ball of fur and fury, her talons flexing reflexively, her teeth bared and spittle covered. Laina, strangely, was not impressed. She just watched the beta with the same confused look as before.

"When Talus ran off to track you down, he found a pit trap with a bit of your fur in the bottom. We thought you were lost like the Alphas!"

Laina then recognized the beta's fury for worry. The thought of the alphas disappearing... weirded her out badly. She postured to Falina in apology, and told the other werewolf that she had been unconscious until just now.

"I found myself unbound and free, in a Hunter's campsite, and now the Hunter is gone. I don't pretend to understand what's occurred, but I know I was freed."

"Well we didn’t find any real trace of what ever hunter was here." Danc’s voice was tinted by his own worry, but calm enough to instill the same in his mate and lover.

Falina's ear twisted towards the sound of Danc's voice, her seething anger slowly abating. She seemed mostly accepting of Laina's story, but felt that there was something missing. Laina did not add more to the story. She didn’t want to lie to her betters, but neither did she want them killing a link to her lost brother. Loyalty vied for her own personal curiosity and need. Laina just stood there as the rest of the pack searched for what ever they could find. Falina, on the other hand watched Laina very carefully. The beta’s attention split for the moment gave Laina the moment to fully compose herself, as the two betas’ began to talk. Lain was glad for it too, because their conversation brought up more questions.

"I still am not sure what happened, but some how they were ambushed," Falina was highly upset and agitated, " and I could do nothing to help them."

Danc comforted his mate, his huge battle form rough and angry looking seemed to soften a bit as he collected Falina into his arms.

"Hush now," he whispered to her, " no need to fret, this Hunter is the best by far then any we have yet encountered. Whoever it is, they are fast and subtle... with the ability to hide their scent from even the best tracker we have with us."

Laina shivered at the thought that perhaps her kin had done this treachery. To attack pack members was one thing. Yet it seemed that the alphas themselves were now but skins. A dark thought rose in the back of Laina’s mind, that perhaps her brother had something to do with this. He had always wanted to be the alpha, but then why wait ten years? Laina just couldn’t understand; her curiosity once again peeked. She continued to listen to the betas.

"I think though Melker has found another clue in the pile by the fire," Danc pointed to the pile of the Huntress’ possessions by the fire. There Melker held up a sigil of some sort. It was shield-shaped cloth patch with a gray background, a black border, and a crossbow with a bolt and arrow as the symbol inside the gray background. The others scratched their heads, but Falina grew more infuriated.

"Its like the one we found near the trap." Her words a mix of guttural human and wolfs speech. She struggled away from Danc and rushed to Melker’s side. Snatching the sigil out of the other werewolf’s claws, she stared at it as if to force its submission. She seemed to want to make it talk. Then throwing it on the ground she growled to the stars above.

"I will find who did this, and I will kill them."

It was an oath, a promise most severe. Laina felt her hopes falter as she realized that if her kin did do this, that Falina would never let her live. Laina kept her mouth shut, a stern look upon her muzzle, even as the others howled in unison. Falina and Danc looked to their pack sister in a suspicious way, until they saw the look she bore. They both smiled ferally, as they thought to themselves that Laina was just too overwhelmed with anger of her own to join. Unknown to them, Laina was plotting out a plan of action all her own.