The Gift of the Moon

Escaping 1

Luck was never something that I possessed. But this predicament that I’d gotten myself into this time round was so shocking, that even I was stunned by my unluckiness. I mean really, who walks into this sort of situation and actually makes it back out alive?2

It had all begun after another stupid row with my no good, drunk father. He sat heavily in his leather armchair; the only comfortable thing in our whole house. He had moaned at me again and again about the electricity bill, complaining that I had used my computer or my TV too much. I had shouted back, explaining that we would have the money, if he didn’t buy excessive amounts of booze with it. After much more shouting, he had risen out of his chair and punched me hard in the stomach. Without a word, I left, vowing never to return.3

Vowing never to return…how ironic that seemed now, staring into the faces of my soon-to-be killers. I laughed inwardly, lost in my crazy thoughts. It put the two nearest me off, and they faltered backwards. Their expressions suddenly became almost human-like and in an instant they were human. They looked at one another and bounded off into the night. The third however, stood exactly in the same place from when I had first walked into their little feeding party. He surprised me by suddenly jumping right next to my side. His wolf-like features intrigued me, even in my state of fear. I could see humanity, deeply set into his grey eyes. He looked confused, and then snapped at me, making me lose my balance and stumble over. Within a flash, he was on top of me, snarling and growling. His growl penetrated my very core. 4

He leant forward, sniffing my hair. I made no sound. I was frozen and even if I wanted to move I knew I’d never be able to shift his weight off me. Seeing my thoughts calculating in my mind, he gripped me tighter. I felt like screaming at him, telling him to stop playing, to end it. Then, my voice finally caught up with my mind. I screamed. Not a high-pitched scream of fear. But a low, angry scream, followed by hot tears that flooded down my face. The creature leapt off of me. He sauntered around me, unsure of his next move. I pushed myself up from the ground, glaring at him. Like the others before him, he changed. 5

A young man stood before me. He was taller than me by at least half a foot. His dark hair stood up in small pointed spikes, his body muscular and tanned. His grey eyes remained the same as they were in his wolf form. Those grey eyes stared at me; I could tell he had conflicting thoughts. 6

“What?” I dared to speak. I was angry, tired and upset. I wasn’t a social person on the best of days, let alone after an argument with my chauvinistic father. 7

The man raised his eyebrows and smirked at me. I couldn’t believe my own courage…or was it stupidity, when I raised a finger to him and turned my back, beginning to walk away. 8

Suddenly regaining his own composure he was in front of me.9

“That’s not possible.” His voice was harsh, with a hint of amusement in it. I was outraged by his sentence, the sheer arrogance of telling me what to do! Then it crashed down on me again. This man standing in front of me was not human. He was what I could only call…a werewolf. 10

“What?” Again. The same simple word. He was now probably thinking I was retarded as well as amazingly stupid to not have turned and run by now. 11

“I can’t let you leave I’m afraid. You’ve seen what my brothers and I are.”12

“If you knew that why bother shifting back to your human self? Why the hell didn’t you just kill me to begin with?” I could feel hot angry tears welling up again. I really was having a mental breakdown! 13

“Sorry…” He mumbled incoherently. 14

Looking up I saw that it was well into the night now, plus there was no moon, it was hidden by clouds. 15

“Well you can’t stop me now can you? No moon to change you. So, bye!” I huffed and pushed him out of the way, making him gasp. He turned and grabbed me around the waist. “Hey! Let go you bastard! I’ll scream!” 16

“Go ahead and scream then little lady! No one will hear!” He laughed roughly, the coarseness catching me off guard. 17

Suddenly it dawned on me that I walked into the middle of the woods that bordered the road I lived down. I’d walked deep into it, so deep that no one would hear me. I screamed anyway. I thrashed and kicked, smacked and even tried to bite him. All the while he laughed into my ear, having no trouble to keep his iron grasp round me. 18

“Really this is quite unnecessary” he finally said. I huffed at him again, but in truth I was exhausted. 19

Quite suddenly he put me down. I staggered and regained my balance. Quicker than I thought possible, I was running away from him. 20

I ran faster than I really thought I could. I was no athlete, but I knew I wasn’t unhealthy. Suddenly my reckless last few years of smoking caught up with me and I was forced to stop. I ducked behind a tree. Daring to peep, I looked around and could see no sign of my pursuer. I vowed to never smoke another bloody cancer stick again as I breathed in the fresh woodland air. My phone rang and I leapt up, throwing the phone across the floor.21

“Shit!” I jumped onto the phone, receiving the call. “Hello?” I questioned, after all it was gone 1am. 22

“Charlotte! Where are you? Come home honey, we can sort this out.” My dad blurted down the phone. He was still pissed off of his face. I shook my head. 23

“Dad I can’t really talk at the moment. I’m sorry but I don’t think I can come home. It’s always the same. You drink, you get angry, and we fight. This time though, you hit me. Do you even remember hitting me?” I cried, clutching my stomach that felt bruised already.24

I could here him sigh and then I heard a different sound, one coming from around me, not the phone. I looked up from the ground to see the man staring at me, with a look of smug amusement written all over his face. He was so close that I could reach out and touch him. How had he gotten so close, so quietly?25

“Charlie, I do remember, I’m so sorry, it’ll never happen again. Please come home.” I could hear him starting to cry. I looked into the grey eyes of the man in front of me. He raised his eyebrows questioningly. 26

“I can’t dad. Good bye.” I hung up and turned my phone off. I felt the tears brimming again.27

“So Charlie, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?” His voice was lighter this time, almost gentle. I was stunned that he must have been able to hear my whole conversation. I raised a hand to my face and held it across my eyes.28

“Do it then. Get it over quick” I trembled violently. The man leant forward and took my hand away from my face.29

“I’m not going to kill you. But I do need to take you back to my clan. My brothers would have already sent word that I was bringing you. Once a human finds out about us, we have two choices. To kill, or to change. By changing to their human forms, my brothers had already made their choice. I was left to bring you back.” 30

“You mean you’re going to make me one of you?” It was absurd, how could I become a werewolf? Was this really happening? I backed away, hitting the tree. 31

Thoughts of escape ran through my head again. Maybe I could make it to the road this time. He was already well ahead of my thoughts though and in one swift movement, he grabbed me around the waist and slung me over my shoulder in a fireman carry. 32

“Hey! Let me go!! This is stupid!! You can’t really be a werewolf! I imagined it all and now I’m going even crazier thinking you’re taking me to your clan!” I was kicking him in the stomach and not even receiving so much as a grunt from him. “Come on! Tell me I imagined it all! I know you weren’t really eating…” I cringed. What had I seen? Was it a person? An animal? 33

“You know any other person would have probably passed out by now” He growled. He shifted me onto his other shoulder, not stopping his quick pace. 34

“This is kidnap! You won’t get away with this! My dad will…” I stopped abruptly realising what I was about to say. My dad would what? Drink most likely. He wouldn’t even call the cops. I sighed inwardly, sending a shiver down my spine. “I don’t want to die…” 35

“You’re not going to. You’re going to live. Werewolves aren’t part of the un-dead, we’re… super-human. Feel better?” I could tell he was smiling even though I couldn’t see his face. Unexpectedly he stopped and threw me to the ground. There was a low rumble in his throat. “Keep still; do not move.” 36

His body shifted so rapidly I had to blink to believe that he was suddenly in his wolf form again. Out of the darkness, a deeper growl penetrated the wood’s earlier silence. I felt a feeling of hate crept over me. Whoever, or whatever was in front of my captor, was clearly more dangerous. 37

“You bought me an appetiser…?” A deep voice rumbled sadistically. My captor shifted his body, so that he now stood in front of me. “Come now, I won’t spoil your pet.” Without any warning, my captor leapt forward to the unseen attacker. I could hear only what could be described as a savage wolf attack. 38

I gathered my senses together. This was my time to run. Scrambling up, I ran away from the fight, not even looking back. I didn’t want to see it. I ran faster and faster, this time remembering to breathe and praying that my lungs wouldn’t fail me again. I made it to the road eventually, and ran with a purpose now, to my house. 39

I slammed the door shut behind me, breathing heavily. I could here my dad snoring in the front room, even over the blaring TV. I made a plan, then and there.40

First – pack my belongings and grab my passport out of our safe.41

Second – write a note for my dad and then steal his car keys. 42

Third – drive as far away from our little village as fast as I could. 43

I carried out my plan as well as I could. I got in the jeep, reversing out of the driveway. Cursing myself, I remembered to switch the lights on. The lights showed something unexpected. In front of the jeep, stood a man. It was not the same man who had been chasing me earlier. He was more thick-set. His light red-brown hair reached his shoulders. There was a malicious look set across his roguishly handsome face. I recognised him, not from looks, or sound, but from the feeling that swept across me. Hate. 44

I slammed my foot down on the accelerator, but somehow he was quicker. He ripped the door off of the jeep. I sat frozen for a second, unable to move. Suddenly my body and brain connected, he was holding the jeep; I still had my foot hard on the pedal. The jeep roared in protest. I let my foot off, and leapt to the other side of jeep, jumping out into the road. He was faster again though; his body slammed into mine, sending me flying and landing with a crack on the sidewalk. 45

I screamed out in agony, trying to move into an upright position. The man leapt on top of me, holding me down. 46

“Scream louder my pretty; I want him to hear you!” 47

He pushed my head down onto the concrete, sending more pain rippling through my body. I screamed again, satisfying him. I saw the smug look on his face and he lifted his eyes off me to scan the surrounding area. I clenched my teeth and kicked him in the stomach as hard as I could. He grunted as my feet propelled him into the air. I was up a lot quicker than I thought possible, and faced my attacker head on. 48

“Got some fight left in you I see” His voice held me captivated. It was different than before, mesmerising. I looked down at my arm that was bleeding freely. Maybe I was just beginning to hallucinate as I lost blood. He stepped forward menacingly and I snapped back into reality. He lurched down, ready to attack. 49

Suddenly, out from the darkness, the dark haired man leapt from the shadows. He and the red-brown haired man collided, tumbling into the road. Before I could blink, both had transformed into wolves. These wolves were far larger than any ordinary wolf, their bodies long and elongated. I struggled with my overwhelming fear and pain. 50

My body gave up first. I slumped down onto the sidewalk, clutching my arm, trying to stop the bleeding. The two wolves looked equally matched and I watched them in fascination and horror. I couldn’t move; I was transfixed by their fluid movements, mixed in with sheer savageness. Suddenly the darker wolf gained advantage and bit the lighter one hard in his chest. A yelp echoed through the silence. Within a heartbeat the lighter wolf retreated and ran into the woods. 51

A shiver ran down my spine as the blood stained wolf turned to look at me. I shivered uncontrollably. The wolf turned into the dark haired man, a half smile worn across his face.52

“Now don’t you wish you had just stayed still like I told you to?” His voice was even, but I could sense some anger in it. He slumped down beside me and I held my breath, not daring to move. I flinched as he prodded my arm. “Broken I think.” 53

I winced in pain, still holding my breath. He leant closer and touched the back of my head.54

“You’re bleeding here too” His voice took a more concerned note. “You may have concussion, that’s if you actually remember to breath!” 55

I breathed out, and tried to calm myself. Eventually my head began to feel like someone was hammering against it, the pain smearing my thoughts. Slowly I began to feel a darkness enclosing me. I slipped into a fitful unconsciousness.56

Awakening 57

I awoke on a bed of leaves. I knew they were leaves from the sound they made as I moved; rustling and crackling. I groaned involuntarily, the pain searing through my body. I opened my eyes a fraction, there was light filtering in through the trees that surrounded me. 58

I closed my eyes quickly, remembering last night – or at least I thought it was last night. For all I know I could have been unconscious for longer. I breathed in deeply, trying to breathe evenly. If I was with the same man as before, I didn’t really want to wake up. For waking up meant one of two things – dying or becoming a werewolf. 59

I suddenly wondered if I had dreamt it all. Maybe I had driven off in the jeep after my argument with my dad and crashed or something. My hopes were crushed however as I heard a familiar snickering. 60

“You can stop pretending to be asleep Charlie. I won’t bite you…yet.” His voice seemed different this time, the harshness gone, replaced by a gentleness. I could feel the smile on his face, even though my eyes were closed. 61

“Why did you save me?” I whispered; my voice not strong enough, or my mind. I kept my eyes tightly shut. 62

“I was the one that put you in that predicament if you remember. Kahn would have ripped you to shreds and bought me you as a present, all because I was with you.”63

I shuddered remembering the hatred and malice in the red-brown haired man. The man who had crushed me against the sidewalk and begged me to scream so I could be heard by him. I realised that the dark-haired man must have been whom he referred to. When I didn’t answer, he continued.64

“Listen. We really do mean you no harm. You’re alone, you’re strong and you’re young. My brothers and I all sensed the power within you, the power to become a werewolf. Not many people can survive the change, but we know you can.” His voice was fluid and rapid. The words only hit me a few minutes after he had spoken.65

“So there’s a possibility that I might die? Oh great!” My eyes flew open and stared up into his grey eyes. I didn’t realise he had been leaning right over me. He smirked at me, suddenly becoming very handsome. I blushed involuntarily at our closeness. 66

“Don’t worry; the clan leader himself said you’ll survive the change. He agrees that you’ll become a strong member of the pack.”67

“What about what I want? I don’t want to be one of you, I want to be normal!” I cried, my voice reaching a higher pitch than I thought possible. 68

His smiled again and reached forward, tucking a stray bit of hair behind my ear. When he spoke again, his voice was clearer and I could tell there was no arguing with him. 69

“You know who I am and you’ve seen my brothers. I’m pretty sure that I couldn’t get you home, without you seeing the rest of the pack either. Understand me when I tell you that I can’t let you go. My clan’s secret is on the line here, they won’t let it be put in the hands of a mere girl.”70

I closed my eyes again, feeling the tears welling up. I felt my anger rising as I thought about being called a mere girl. I was nineteen, and my life had not been all rainbows and butterflies, like so many other girls I knew. I sighed heavily, calming myself and stopping the tears. I refused to cry again. I had to come up with a plan to escape. But somehow getting away from a pack of werewolves didn’t seem like it was going to happen easily. I had to play along.71

“So when are you going to…change me?” I faltered and tried to keep my voice even. My eyes remained shut; I knew they’d give me away.72

“Not until the next full moon. It should be enough time for your arm to heal as well.” I heard him reply. His voice sounded more relaxed now that I seemed to have resigned myself to his fate.73

I thought about when the next full moon was. We only had a full moon a few days ago, so I had about 3 weeks to work with. 3 weeks to escape the clutches of a pack of werewolves…great. He carried on talking.74

“My name is Kai by the way. You should get some more rest; you had a pretty rough night.” 75

So it had only been last night. At least I knew I had more time to work with. I could feel my body protesting as I tried to stay awake and think of ways to escape. Finally I gave up and fell asleep. 76

* * * 77

I woke up with a sense of unease. My whole body ached, everything felt hot and I found breathing hard. My vision was blurred; I could barely see two feet in front of me. I could see his grey eyes clearly however. His voice sounded far away, it echoed around my mind. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but I could feel his worry penetrating through his voice. Something was wrong and he didn’t know what. There were others too, men and women, all crowding around me. Someone had a wet cloth pressed against my forehead.78

It cooled me down only slightly and the person took the cloth away, muttering to themselves. Kai leant closer then, I shivered from both the fever and his closeness. This time I could make out what he said.79

“It’s ok Charlotte, the fevers broken. Sleep.” 80

I closed my eyes again, this time feeling peace creeping over my body.81

Kai had explained to me the next day that I had gotten a fever due to my head injury becoming infected. The fever was my body’s way of fighting the infection off. My body still ached, I was still too hot, but I was recovering. 82

Kai sat with me the whole day, talking about the forest, his clan and their way of life. It intrigued me, but I knew what he was doing. He was trying to convince me that his way of life was better than mine. 83

I looked at my life. I was nineteen, and even though I was studying to be a lawyer, I knew that I’d never become one. It was the career that my dad wanted for me. He had been a top lawyer when he was younger. Now he was washed out, and had been forced to retire due to bad publicity for a case he lost. Then he had turned to drink. I sighed inwardly; there was no way I would ever be like him. Maybe turning into a werewolf was the way out. However I then thought back to my friends and how they would know something was up if I did just suddenly disappear. They would blame my dad, maybe even accusing him of murdering me. They were always worried about how far he would go in our arguments. He wasn’t usually that bad though; the other night had been the first time he’d physically hurt me. My dad was bad, but he didn’t deserve to be blamed for something like that. 84

Kai interrupted my thoughts by suddenly standing up and stretching. 85

“Time for dinner I think, I’m starving!” He yawned widely. 86

I sat up, leaning against a tree. My body groaned in protest. 87

“That’s the one thing you haven’t spoken about.” I whispered, afraid of the answer. 88

Kai turned to look at me, his grey eyes searching mine. I shuddered; his eyes looked so much like a wolf’s. 89

“What we eat?” He questioned. I nodded once. “Well when we’re human, we always eat normal food!” He laughed at his own joke. I raised an eyebrow questioningly. He sighed, defeated. “When we’re werewolves…well some of us will eat…humans. To be honest, I’ve tried it and it doesn’t really taste all that good. I prefer a bit of venison” He chuckled again, clearly trying to lighten the mood. 90

It was as I suspected. The animal instinct must be stronger in some than others, causing them to even kill people. 91

“What were you eating the other night?” I had to know, even though I was 99% sure of the answer. His teeth clenched.92

“Erm…well technically we weren’t eating it. It was Kahn’s kill, we were hunting him.” 93

“Kahn? The guy that attacked me? He killed someone that close to where I live? Was it someone I knew?” My breathing grew faster, but I couldn’t slow it down. 94

“Calm down. Enough of the twenty questions, ok?” His voice was soothing, he stroked my hair and a half smile crossed his face. “You realise you were at least 5 miles away from where you live?” 95

5 miles? I had no idea I’d walked that far, let alone run that far back. No wonder my lungs had given me a hard time. I craved a cigarette, but I’d vowed to never touch one again…how I hated myself. 96

“I honestly didn’t realise. I guess when you’re running for your life, everything just moulds into one!” I smiled at him and was rewarded by a smile in return. His whole face changed when he smiled. Light returned to his usually sad eyes. I focused again. “If your brothers hadn’t of decided to change me, would you have any way?” 97

“An interesting question. You know all three of us were so shocked to see someone other than Kahn in the trees, that we were all momentarily frozen. You’re blond hair looked silver under the moonlight; your face was so pale from fear. You looked like a ghost. Then you shocked us all by laughing!” His fingertips touched my lips for a split second. “Well after that we just all kind of knew! Who else could laugh at the sight of imminent danger, other than a potential werewolf?” 98

I raised my eyebrows at him again. He had completely ignored my question. I sighed at him and closed my eyes, breathing in deeply. I guess I already knew the answer. If they didn’t think I could become a werewolf…they would have killed me. 99

“Come on; time to join everyone for dinner!” He pulled me up by my good arm, taking care not to unbalance me. I gasped, I had only been brought food by Kai before, and now I was going to eat dinner with everyone…with werewolves. Kai noticed my uncertainty. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Everyone’s met you already anyway.” 100

“Yeah, when I was unconscious with fever! I haven’t met them yet.” 101

Kai burst out laughing, shaking his head. His spiked hair remained unmoved. 102

“Girls! You’re all the same no matter what species you are!” 103

I gave up trying to put it off and let him lead me to where the clan was having dinner. He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me tighter. 104

“Remember, you are not the main course!” 105

Great. That really helped me. I gritted my teeth and unwillingly walked into a crowd of hungry werewolves. 106