TV and radio stations report about the massacre in one of the Belgrade suburbs. Reporters came to shoot the bloody scene, and people thirsty for the misfortune of others gather to see it with their own eyes. There is a whisper in the air.
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''Terrible.''
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''Owful.''
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''Wolves! In the middle of the city!''
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''Poor children, to witness it all.''
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''What children? Where are they now?''
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''We should ask them. They will tell us what it looked like.''
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And the children are sitting in the ambulance, parked only a hundred meters away. A doctor, and two technicians are trying to ease them down. Not only have they seen a slaughter, but they have actually led their fathers to it. They made their fathers a wolf's snack. After the initial shock have passed, guilt nestled in their hearts. Oh, daddy, I didn't want to. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't... It's their fault that their fathers are now dead.
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Sensational as it is, the news made everything change. No one ever heard of wolves coming to town to kill a human. Not only have they killed them, but they ate them too. They ate one boy, and started to eat one of the men. Two police officers are killed, and one of the men died from fear.
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The wolves everybody is searching for are lying hidden in the bushes not far from the suburb named Kiyevo. Forest made out of acacias, elders, and sycamores hides them better than any house, or a shed would. All the hunters are out with their dogs, searching with rifles in their hands. Men are going through the fields that surround the city.
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Boyan drinks from the clear creek ravenously. A few huge rocks make a barrier, and the creek makes a small pond before it slides down in a number of cascades. Some of the trees there are stubbed, but the area is still almost impassable. It's noontide, and the Moon is week. Alex lies in the pond, making the water rusty. Boyan was lying in it too, but he went upstream to drink. His tongue laps, quenching the thirst.
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The silence is complete. There's a bird song every now and then, but most of the birds are quiet, or gone from that part of the wood. All of them are sensing the werewolves, and that scares them. Suddenly, the silence is broken. A crisp whistle snakes among the trees, and disappears in the humid twilight below the branches. Both wolves rear up. All of the sudden, Alex is very tired. He has had it. His need for self preservation is gone, and all he wants is to end it all. With his ears perked up, he tries to locate the source of the sound. It came from the west, he thinks.
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Boyan doesn't feel the need to give up. Hunger is already stirring inside him, the werewolve's curse. And when another whistle is heard, closer this time, he starts to growl. Alex turns his gaze to Boyan. His eyes are filled with desperation. This should never have happened. Why did he came to the city in the first place? He should have taken Boyan deep into the forest, maybe to the forests of the Old Mountain, across the border. He thought that he would be able to control him. To get Boyan used to the change in the city. What a mistake he made.
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Boyan moves, slowly going toward the source of the sound. Alex tries to get his attention. He knows that something bad is going to happen, unless he can drag Boyan away. They must run, or Boyan will kill again, and maybe Alex will kill again too. And this time, the humans are heavily armed, and maybe...
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An idea, blindingly bright, lights his drained mind. Excited, his heart jumps. Maybe it won't be that bad. Well armed men, with dogs. Big, powerful dogs. If he lets go, it'll be over soon. Centuries of torture would come to an end. But thoughts about his friend call him back to reality. That reality is gray, leading in one way only. Boyan is his fault, his responsibility. He can't let him being killed. Boyan would maybe survive this day, but what about the next one? Or the next Full Moon? Oh, no. There's no easy way out for him.
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Let's go, my friend.
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Nothing. Deep silence. Boyan's eyes are still pointed towards the wistles he heard. From where he can now hear more sounds. Intense barking.
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Listen, my friend. Nothing. LISTEN TO ME!!!
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Alex is desperate. In his mind, he's screaming, but to no avail. Short spark of reason in his friend's mind is gone now. It went out along with the killings a couple of hours ago.
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Barking sounds excited now. The dogs must have picked up their scent. Alex can hear men talking, though not clearly. Hair on Boyan's back bristles. His body tenses, all muscles ready for use. Red heat comes out with every breath he exhales. It's over, and Alex knows it. Desperation drowns him, then retreats leaving him resigned. He wonders when did it all went so wrong. Was it when he changed Boyan? No.
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It happened the day they changed me.
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The first dog comes to the edge of the big stones, and stops. It's a big labrador, and he's barking like crazy. Boyan doesn't wait. He's up there in a single jump, taking the dog down. Barking fades into a gurgling as Boyan tears the neck of the dog, severing the head. The second dog, a driver, runs into Boyan, not being able to stop in time. Boyan turns fast, and with one bite only takes a huge chunk from the dog's back. The poor thing didn't feel a thing, he was dead instantly.
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And now the real trouble starts.
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The hunters arrive, and stop. Three big men in their thirties, gassed with liquor. There are six more dogs at their feet. Four hounds, and two rottweilers taken for a brute force. The hounds attack fiercely. Alex comes out of the pond's hole in time to see them jumping on Boyan. Men release the rottweilers, on leashes up until then. They just stand there, enjoying the site.
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''My Bruttus will slay them both.''
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''Just you watch my Count. He's going to make a wolf stew in a second.''
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Two hounds bite Boyan's front legs, the other two drag him by the thick hear around his neck. He shakes his head violently, and the hounds let go of his neck. One drops into the pond with a splash. The other is not so lucky, he hits the stone, and breaks both of his hind legs. He whines trying to stand up, but ends up lying in the cold water of the creak.
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Bruttus gets to Boyan as he tears apart one of the hounds. The big dog doesn't have to jump, he just pushes Boyan with his broad chest, like a train. Shear force of the contact makes Boyan take a few steps back. His rear end lowers a bit, and nails on the front legs dig into the soft, wet ground. A few pebbles fall to the pond below.
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Count jumps on his back. Alex stands still, thinking what to do. It seems to him that the hunters haven't seen him yet, since they are cheering, watching the dogs battling with the wolf. He knows that Boyan can take out the dogs, they may be big, but he's twice their size, with a longer, and stronger jaw. At that moment he's more interested in the rifles in the hands of the men. If those things fire, Boyan is in for a rough ride.
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While Boyan drops to the ground under the rottweilers, he goes left, and disappears into the grove. His golden fur melts with the surroundings, making him invisible. He tries to avoid dry branches that might expose him, and silently closes in on the hunters. Sure that they'll kill the wolf, they laugh. They have forgotten all about the wolves killing three men, three armed men. They forget it when Bruttus sinks his canines deep into the skin on Boyan's chest, letting the blood out. His blood is clear on his silvery coat.
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Alex comes in line with the hunters. Owner of the labrador, and the hounds is closest to him. He's an experienced hunter, and his home is filled with trophies. There is a bear trophy too, thought the bears are protected, and hunting them is prohibited. He loves to hunt wild boars, that is so unpredictable. Even as he watches the fight, he's so excited. Sex has nothing on this.
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Alex feels sorrow. He's about to kill a man. A hunter, but they are humans too. He jumps, and falls on the closest hunter taking him to the ground. Hunter's rifle, now useless, falls too. It was ready to shoot, so now it fires. The bullet hits one of his friends in the stomach. He too lets go of the rifle, but that one had its safety on. Holding his abdomen, his hands scarlet with blood that spills out of him, the hunter drops to the ground.
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The hunter with Alex on him hits his head as he falls, but the ground is soft, and there's no damage. He tries to catch Alex's head, but fails. Alex bites his face, burrowing his teeth in the cheek bone, and the temple. While the men screams in agony, Alex crushes the scull, sinking his canines in the brain. The hunter twitches a few times, and then lies still.
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The man that got shot in the stomach feels his hands becoming cold. He looks his blood drain with horror. Even the pain is gone now, that hot ball vanished. And that's not good.
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''Oh my God, my deer God...'' He squeals.
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The third hunter, still unharmed, watches his two friends die. Memories of the hunts they did together cross his mind with lightning speed. Last year they killed four dears in one day only. The season was not open yet, but who cares, right? And all those wild cats, rabbits, and pheasants.
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He turns his head in time to see Boyan grabbing the head of Bruttus. One tooth goes through the eye, the other crushes the muzzle. Boyan closes his jaw strongly, and Bruttus tries to pull away. But Boyan doesn't let go until the dog stops struggling, and falls to the ground with a soft thud. The other is still biting his back, but he doesn't seem to feel it.
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The hunter raises his rifle. Alex watches the barrel staring at Boyan. Soon, the man will pull the trigger, and the bullet will hit his friend. He can't allow that. Alex lets out a long, deep howl. The hunter turns toward him, and sees the burning eyes, and the shimmering teeth. In those eyes he sees more intelligence than he wants to see in the eyes of an animal. It creeps him out. Alex jumps, and he fires.
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Boyan leaves Count to lie, bleeding slowly, panting hard. He raises his head, looking at the third hunter. There is star of pain in his chest, a supernova that explodes in hot rage. Alex lies on the ground, and there's a lily made of blood under him. The bullet had hit him in the chest, right at the sternum. It passed the skin, and the muscles, and the bone. It crushed the lungs, and buried itself into the upper vertebrae, severing the spinal cord. Bones that can withstand so much, broke.
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His hot rage is frozen with sorrow. Alex, his best friend, is badly hurt. Sorrow grows and deepens, he smells death around the golden wolf. With two jumps he's on the hunter, pushing him down, biting everywhere he can. The rifle fires one more time, but the bullet goes into the tree behind Boyan. He bites hunter's neck, and cuts it open, crushing the windpipe in the process.
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Ten minutes after the first dog found them, there's silence. The destruction is terrific. The ground is soaked in blood of the humans, dogs, and wolf. Alex lies helplessly. Pain that he felt, is now gone. In a strange way, it consoles him. Panic that he felt at first is gone now too. There's only peace. Soon.
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Boyan comes to him, his head down. He lies beside Alex, touching his muzzle with his own. One pair of yellow eyes filled with life meet the other pair of yellow eyes, dimmed and tired.
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Can you hear me?
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Boyan doesn't respond, he just can't shape his thoughts, but he can hear his friend. He nods his heavy wolf head. He would cry, if only he could. His chest tighten, and it hurts.
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It's not that bad. This. You know, I've been imprisoned in this cursed place for too long. In this limbo. Now, maybe I'll go to someplace nice.
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Telepathy drains him. He breath is shallow, and fast. His mind floats in some kind of drunken bliss. There's no fear. Why should he feel it anyway? Maybe now he'll be free of anger, hunger, thirst for blood, and lust for meat. Boyan's tongue caresses him from the muzzle, across the scull, and between the ears. He will always remember that taste, a bitter taste of a loved one dying.
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Boyan comes closer to Alex. He can't stand that blurred look in his friend's eyes, but neither can he tear his gaze away. He looks at those expiring yellow eyes. He feels the golden body becoming colder. He feels the breathing of the golden body becoming irregular. And as Boyan's pain grows, Alex's is gone. There's just relief. And as Alex's body becomes heavier, his mind becomes lighter.
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Now... Yes... Now everything will be alright.
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Boyan shakes with horror. He feels, and hears, the ever slower beats of the big heart. Breath in. Beat. Pause. Breath out. Longer pause. Beat. Breath in. Pause. Breath out. Pause. Beat.
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So...
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Beat. Breath in.
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Beautiful...
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Breath out. Beatt. Breath in.
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Thank you...
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Breath out.
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His pupils suddenly dilate, and it's like a dark star exploding. Alex's gaze dies away, and Boyan knows that he's gone. He will remain a wolf for ever, trapped in that furry body, broken and tortured. Boyan stands up. The sun is going down slowly, and there's Moon, still pale, watching him with that cold eyes set in a face covered with scares. Boyan hates it with a passion.
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Long, deep, sorrowful howl rises in his throat, and goes up to the Moon, cursing it. It echoes long after Boyan closes his mouth. The ones that hear it tremble, feeling as if sunlight is gone, never to return again.
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