A Dark Night - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The meeting point was some slinky bar on the outskirts of town.  Vileb was still a bit under the weather from the last few days yet I had been hunting weak prey for him to feed.  This further had helped our cause:  The bar was a renegade Fang hideout.  With me pulling errands for Vileb, the Fangs would believe me to be his loyal Lupe puppet.

Vileb on top of being a quiet mess, had taken a favoring to constant apology.   He would slink around the vacant flat, every so often looking to me and whispering a cracked, “I’m so sorry.”  I initially had fussed at him for the constant apology.  I soon came to ignore the whininess of my colleague. 

“Kirsta?” His voice was stronger today than it had been in the last few days.  I peered towards the door where I could hear him creeping.  “Kirsta, are you made at me?” I slightly chuckled at him, playing with my knife.

“No,” I peered up from my blade to see him cautiously peeking around the corner.  He reminded me of his younger self, carefully making his way to me in fear of the other children.  “I just want you to be yourself again.  You’re acting like you’re eight years old again.  No one can push you around like that anymore.”  I stopped to stare at him for a moment.  “What happened back there?”

Although it had been three days since the incident with HARM, we hadn’t had opportunity to talk about the beast or his feral outbreak.  “I honestly can only remember bits and pieces.”  Vileb slunk into the room and curled against my shoulder.  The year difference between us was greatly clouded after being alive for so long without having aged at all.  Yet at moments like this, he truly showed his younger age.

“I remember being in the room with that man, Revelle.  There’s something about him that just doesn’t sit right, Kirsta.  He seems to thrive on torture, torment, and chaos.  Definitely odd for him to be involved in an organization build on order.”  Vileb was right on with his instincts on people.

“But he tried to force non-existent information out of me.  They were surprised to discover that the Lupe and Fangs were both based in the city.  He personally seemed disturbed by that fact.  More so, he was both intrigued and confused by our situation.  He truly didn’t present any look or sense of being threatened by either of us but rather looked as if he wanted more information on our survival.  We’re an anomaly, and he clearly stated that to me as well.  How we’re been able to survive in an environment to still believe our lies but yet still see us as a threat…”

I nodded with some conviction and knowledge now about the man who had pushed my companion to his feral side.  Revelle was a force to be monitored but with such delicacy that he shouldn’t know I was keeping a close eye on him.  “Do you know anything about the beast?” I asked, running a few fingers through his hair.

Vileb shuddered for a moment then squinted his eyes as if trying to visualize the situation again.  “I remember attacking it as I could only see the heat pulsing in it.  However as soon as I had sunk my fangs into its flesh, the figure that was so plainly human immediately transformed into something different.  It was like when I watched you shift into your lupine forms.

“This was something engineered in HARM, but that organism was definitely still human.  I think the gentleman we so kindly met on the first day was a successful transmutation of their ‘strongman.’  However, this twisted individual was truly a failed experiment.”  I had to agree.

The man who had arrested us and brought us to HARM originally was not your average human but still was well within human constrictions.  It was like he was on steroids but not restrained by them as well.  This was something I certainly would need to converse with Lyv about at a later date.

“So, this is the plan,” as soon as the words left my lips, Vileb’s eyes perked up.  “We must make our way to this bar called the ‘Stabbed Heart.’  This location is an old Fang haunt so we will definitely encroach upon territories we haven’t wandered through before.  We have to be really careful as I have done a great done of spying…”

“Reconnaissance!”  His arm had shot up in the air with the word.

“…Fine.”  I huffed, smirking at his joke.  “…Reconnaissance to learn that within the last few days there have not only been rouge vampires but a few Fang recruiters hanging out at this area.  If we want to make this believable, you are going to have to pull out all the stops and I’m ready to take any type of damage you have to do to me.  But first and foremost,” I poked him in his arm.  He flinched and narrowed his eyes at me.  “You need to clean yourself up.  You’ll never pull off being a Lord being the whiny little boy you’ve been the last few days.”

Vileb shot to his feet almost immediately.  His laugh darkened as he began to walk across the room.  “Ahh, but dear girl.  You seem to forget who you are speaking to.”  As he continued to move, he stepped to the walls and walked to the ceiling without missing a beat.  “So what is our angle?  City slumming representative who decided to step out of the shadows or visiting country landowner who decided to come to town?”

“Neither, actually.  The Fangs have heard of the vampire who was just released from the human Rebellion and request an audience with him and his loyal mutt.”  A smirk drew across my face as my eyes locked with Vileb’s.  The gleam in my eye easily transferred to him as he did a front flip off the ceiling to land next to me.

“Very good, HARM definitely have helped with our little operation.  From what I’ve understood, vampires that escape the HARM facility seem to have little knowledge of what have occurred.  Should I play up that approach as well or probe for further information on what they want?”

I made my way to our closet, looking through our attire and costumes from previous scouting missions.  “You’re better when you’re smart.”  A quick glance to him was easy to catch the disapproved look on his face.  “They’re sure to ask how you’ve gotten me so obedient without their laser-leash.  The silver collar will do well to assist this bust.”

He quickly came over to grab his trenchcoat, checking the pockets.  “Except that I managed to walk off with a little parting gift,” and in his hand showed the laser-leash control from HARM.  I lightly chuckled, but more nervously.  He easily saw the concern in my eyes.  “I know you do not like them but we have to play the part.”  I whimpered but nodded solemnly.  “So now?”

“Now we prepare.”  Vileb gave a single nod to me as I did as well.  First things first, I was to go play in the rags and shreds of what was left of those I fed to Vileb recently.  All of which were nameless Promised, humans told by the Lupe that they would soon be turned into a werewolf.  I dressed myself in what clothing would still fit but was not to upstage my master.  I let my hair down, a falls of brick-colored hair layering over itself.  Pinning it up with pieces of sinew and bone, I looked like a glorified mess.

I could smell the sweet musk of a clean Vileb in the next room.  It had been a few days since he had bathed, and from this request, it would be a few in which I would until we had completed Lyv’s request:  Infiltrate the lower bowels of the Fang hierarchy to attempt to locate the main base.  It was highly doubtful that we would get any information within the next few days.  This exploit would definitely take a few days to pull off at the least and we shouldn’t attempt to contact anyone or get any further information from HARM or any of our normal leads.

Vileb hadn’t taken long to slick his hair back into a simple ponytail, the caramel locks tied back with a golden wrap similar to what you would see in colonial times.  He wore his black trenchcoat but had a clean and pressed white button-up collared shirt on.  He did not wear his common boots but brightly polished dress shoes at the end of his perfectly cuffed auburn dress pants.  “I hate your alacrity,” I muttered.

“Good word, I’ll have to make sure it waltzes through my vocabulary soon.”  He waved the wand at me as the restraints began to take effect.  I began to relax to allow this to occur all ready to begin our charade.

“It’s your fault I started reading in the first place.”  I smirked at him.

He leaned in to me and softly kissed me on my forehead.  “You’re welcome, little wolf.  You’re welcome.”

A Dark Night - Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Vileb’s scent was easy to focus; no one else in this establishment had such a poignant stench to me.  Something that I learned over the years, it was much easier for me to track him than it was anything else.  It could have been based off of our time together, but nonetheless he wasn’t escaping my grasp now.  I’m pretty sure Lyv was losing her mind, riding a giant wolf like a horse throughout corridors of steel and chrome.

I stopped at the end of a long hall, pausing to sniff the air.  “What is it girl?” Lyv questioned, a hint of sarcasm in her tone.  I did a short hop in place to jolt her.

“I smell fresh blood….” I whispered, beginning to stalk down the hall.  My ears swiveled with every short sound, a faint dripping catching my attention from the third door on the right.  Someone had been wounded; I could only hope that Vileb wasn’t the one who had done the damages.  I crouched down to let Lyv off my back, which she quickly complied hopping off her boots making that hideous click again.  I groaned, almost barely, before I heard a growling not of my own.  “Damnit…” I whispered, caught short by something tackling me from the door.

Lyv was quick to run, I now caught in a tussle with who-knows-what.  The beast had pinned me to the floor quickly, and my current state was very unable to knock back the gnashing fangs at my throat.  Snarling at the first gash, I quickly threw the figure off me and forced myself into the common werewolf form.  Immediately, I dashed towards where the figure lie attempting to regain its composure when I thrust myself to tackle it headfirst.

For my luck, the sheer force knocked it off guard, and that’s when I could notice the wounds in its form.  Fang marks ravaged the body of this thing, and it surely wasn’t Vileb.  It had a faint scent of him, and soon I learned the worst.  Something swiftly had come behind me, grasped both of my wrists as I snarled and howled.  With two adversaries, this would have been a more difficult task.  Whomever had a hold on me, they knew a bit about my fighting style.

The beast that had attacked me was now clearly in view.  It used to be human, the obvious facial features and lack of either fangs nor fur made it easy to decipher.  The muscle mass was somewhat rotting yet still regenerating save for the scars of the fang marks.  I could smell Vileb’s blood splashed across this beast; that is what lead me to it so quickly.

The beast rose to face me again, snarling, drooling, a gnarled hand about to swipe down upon me; except a bullet shot it straight through the shoulder.  It whimpered and looked past me, as I struggled with the restraining party.  I forced every muscle in my legs to buckle, feeling every inch of me begin to collapse, before I snapped back, thrusting the figure over my shoulders.  He lost his grip and toppled into the beast.  I then saw Vileb, eyes bloodshot, body caked in blood and sweat.  He stared at me with a certain bloodlust I had only seen in him once before.

“Either come at me, or calm the fuck down,” I stated, my voice somewhat a mix between my own and that of a vocoder.  Vileb’s eyes quickly shifted from me then to behind me, I spun my head around to see Lyv with a gun in her hands.  “Shit…” I whispered, soon feeling a wisp of air fly past me.  No sooner had she shot again, this time it hit the center of the beast’s head, where it slowly toppled into the corner and laid still. 

I rushed after Vileb, one of Lyv’s stray bullets catching my shoulder.  She was quick to unload at Vileb, yet at his heightened peak of bloodlust, he could easily dodge a human’s skill.  Groaning I slunk to the ground and thrust forward, propelling myself after Vileb as promptly as I could.  A single scratch caught Lyv’s ankle, the further sight of blood making Vileb howl and claw at the ground to get to her.  I immediately sat on him, glaring up at Lyv who seemed to have let this episode scare her into a statuette.

Pinning his arms and legs, Vileb began to relax, my muzzle on the back of his neck reminding him I would snap at him the moment he got rowdy again.  “If you wouldn’t mind, maybe leash him again?”  Lyv immediately obliged, waving the laser-restraint wand at him.  He groaned and writhed, but I could feel his fight dying away.  As I stood up, I began to shift back, a mild snort crossing my nostrils as my jumpsuit was mildly tattered but not shredded away.

Vileb slowly scooted across the floor, pushing himself against the wall and began to cry like a baby.  I was stunned at first, then crouched down to hold his head.  Lyv all the while kept both the wand and the gun pointed at the two of us.  I laid an arm across his shoulders, gingerly brushing my fingers through loose strands of his hair, he seemed to be coming to, incoherent mumbles beginning to resemble words.

“Sorry,” Vileb whispered, laying his head upon my shoulder.  Tears streamed down his face and lay amongst splotches of blood riddled across his cheeks.  “I…” he began to huff, his breath short and stuttered, “I don’t know what happened…”

I nodded and continue to pet him.  Lyv fell to her knees and looked as if she was about to started screaming.  A gasp of air left her lips but then silence.  I soon could hear the rush of footsteps darting down towards us.  Several HARM agents lined up around the mouth of the hallway, automatic weaponry pointed at both Vileb and me.

A single man came up the middle of them and crouched down next to Lyv.  His uniform was very similar to hers, yet it lacked a bit of the shine.  It still was distinctive that he was a high ranking member of HARM.  He laid a hand on Lyv’s shoulder and she snapped up and regained composure almost instantaneously.

“Get these two back to the main hall, gather their belongings, set them up for briefing.”  The men with the guns dropped their weapons and saluted to Lyv at once.  The other officer came to her side.  “Next time we want to try this experiment, Revelle, we do it my way.”  She spun around to face the officer.

Revelle was a black haired man, his hair tied in a tight ponytail notched from the top of his head and hanging to the mid of it.  He stood about six feet even and had a scar running from his hairline, across his left cheek, and down to his jaw.  There was something oddly familiar about him, but all the while it could’ve just been the fact that, despite his haircut, he looked like every other soldier in this complex.

“Yes ma’am,” he said, with a quick salute, moving over to help me and Vileb to our feet.  It was weird, but something about him made me uneasy; fearful even.  This man instilled a deep sorrow in my heart that I thought I had pushed away.

As Vileb began to stand, I kept my arm around him.  Fear of him having another outbreak bothered me, but I took a solemn moment to peer over my shoulder back to the beast in the corner.  This was the first time I had a chance to fully examine it. 

It was human, like I saw before, but now that the raging had finishing and it had drawn its last breath it seemed to have reduced swelling.  Something had caused it to grow and attack.  I could only fear that this wasn’t the last time that we would come across these beasts.  Unfortunately, without more than another glance, another soldier rushed up and brushed us past, forcing us down the hallway; another quickly began to gather the body of the beast.  They ran a tight ship here, that was for sure.  I, however, began to think there was something Lyv wasn’t telling us.  That beast was the beginning of it.

A Dark Night - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Whatever the mysterious woman had put me under made my memories flood forth and calmed me.  When I awoke, I was human again and strapped to a device not dissimilar to an old electric chair.  I groaned and looked around the room, ready to question whomever the first body I would come in contact with.  I noticed the dark shadow from before, and realized the scent of the woman nearby.  “...Release me...,” I attempted to shout.  However my throat was hoarse for it seemed to be a side effect.

“I want to hear your story, Lupe.  But, if you get rowdy again, I have a more…effective method to calm you.”  I groaned at her words, but now I got a better look at my assailant.  She was dressed in a similar outfit to the men who captured us, dark blue jumpsuits and combats boots.  Nonetheless, her outfit had a tinge of silver in it, seemed to shine slightly, and she wore boots with a distinct clicking heel.  It somewhat bothered my ears with every step she took, but I partially thought that to be purposeful.

“And then you’ll let me see Vileb?”  She nodded to my request.  “We are simple third party agents.  We are neither Fang, nor Lupe, nor are we vampire or werewolf.  We have been seeking out the Rebellion for over twenty years now.  Fifty years ago, our home was burnt to the ground by a mysterious organization and between my knowledge and Vileb’s suspicions we believe that the organization was searching for us.  We had escaped, fortuitously, but shortly after we demonstrated similarities to vampires and werewolves, but with some differences.”

She seemed completely entwined in my story.  I writhed in my seat, not comfortable in the slightest with my current situation.  “I’ve told you what I know, now let me see him!”  She smirked, slowly walking the length of the room.

“There’s more however.  Why are you two in this city?  This particular city?  There’ve been Rebellion sightings across the country and higher threat of Fang and Lupe activity elsewhere.”

“That’s the thing,” I chortled.  “The Fangs and the Lupe have organized their gangs so well that the main bases of operations are actually in this city.  They refuse to bring work so close to home in effort to expose themselves.” I smirked at her, her eyes showing great interest in my statements.  “Vileb and I have spent many years tracking and tracing agents and promised humans to these areas.  We haven’t pinpointed the bases as of yet.  However, we believe ourselves to be very close.  We’re so close,” I licked my lips,  “I can taste it….”

“As you say, Lupe,” she spat.

“I am not a Lupe,” my golden eyes felt heated and I knew they were starting to glow.  “I am merely just me.  Neither Lupe nor true werewolf.  I’m a monstrosity beyond their comprehension.  The silver they are so weakened to makes no marks upon me.  My regeneration rate is far superior to even their alphas.  I have not encountered, nor do I ever think I will encounter, one of their agents who is a carbon copy to my disorder.”

“Disorder?” she chimed.  Her voice seemed as if it began to pique of my plight.  “You see this as a disorder of humanity rather than a blessing?”

I nodded solemnly.  “Now granted I would never want to return to the way I was long before.  However I know that I can never be, and shall never be, a normal human.  I will not allow it nor do I truly wish it upon myself.”

“Now if I believed your story… to be a normal werewolf, do you wish that?”  Her question slightly drove an invisible knife into my soul.  No, I truly didn’t wish that either.  The only thing I did wish was not to be judged so quickly upon the eyes that peered so angrily upon her.  I shook my head at her statement.  “Then why call it a disorder?”

“Because, as satisfactory as it is, it is still a disorder.  A difference from the normal.  An anomaly that no one knows of the origin.  Now you have the information you so desperately craved.  Where is he?”  Her eyes had a sudden shift of lacking data.

“We don’t know...”  Her voice was tiny and shallow.  It held no sign of deceit however.

“What do you mean ‘we don’t know’?!”  My eyes pierced her gaze, a snarl causing froth to hit my lips.  “Answers now...”

“Shortly after his interrogation, he escaped the guards.  The same serum we put you under had different effects on him.  He started to climb walls, hiss and run across the ceiling.  It was unlike anything I had ever seen.  Results with the serum with the Fangs, they fell into a short sleep and began to spew all information left and right.  Nonetheless, they never revealed their base or orders but more so weaknesses, strengths, their favorite color...” she chuckled.  My glare made her straighten back up. 

“But with your friend, his story merely matched yours.  When we were not happy with it, they gave him another dose.  That threw him over the deep end, and he broke through our restraints.  The building is on lockdown, so he hasn’t escaped as of yet.”

“You have to help me find him.  If we don’t, he might start to feed...”  My thoughts raced at the ideas of a narrow-minded Vileb.  His instincts would surely get the best of him while in this state.  She seemed to argue not at all and pressed a button on a console which released my chair restraints.

“Honestly, I still do not trust either of you.  But, that’s what the laser restraints are for...”  I felt the grip of the laser-leash grow back on me.  Throughout the whole time I didn’t realize I hadn’t been released from their grasp.

“Did you leave them on Vileb too?” I questioned, rolling my head against my shoulders.

“No, we believed his tongue was a more poignant weapon than himself.  The cuffs are all that remain on him.”  I groaned before trying to recall his scent.  If anyone was to find him, it would have been me.  These dunces had left him loose and sent him wild.  For once, it was me trying to calm him and not the other way around.

“Never thought I’d get to see your beastly side,” I whispered to myself, a faint laugh crossing my lips.  It was no sooner had I closed my eyes than I fell to all fours to shift into one of my own wolven forms.  I was larger than a typical Great Dane,  my fur shone with a slight tinge of the brick red of my hair.  Cream brown markings touched my face and paws in effort to regain some of my humanity.  I’m sure it was a sight for the woman, especially when I turned to speak to her in English.

“You can either stand there in awe or come along for the ride.  Hop on or keep up.”  I was quite frank.  In this form, I often ferried Vileb on my back when we needed a quick getaway.  I wasn’t as agile as he was on rooftops, but I was more so in the shade of forests and swamps.  She crossed to me and uncomfortably climbed upon my back, I shook my body once to scare her.  “Okay...”  I sniffed the air once more.  The trail was cold, but I was sure I would cross it.

The woman began to tap something on her wristband.  “I’m unlocking the doors in this area.”

“And before we’re off...  I’m Kirsta.  It’s only proper that you give me something to call you by.”  I wasn’t about to play horsey for a nameless person who tried to kidnap us.

“I’m Lyv; head of operations for HARM.  If what you say is true, Kirsta, then maybe you and your fanged companion could be a great help to us...”

“Well Lyv, hold on tight, and don’t get sick.”  I shook my head once and began on a sprint through the newly opened door.  Thoughts began to run through my mind of what could be going on with Vileb.  Please, Vileb, I thought, don’t do something stupid....

A Dark Night - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The boys were always so mean to me but it was nothing compared to what they would do to this younger boy.  He didn’t like to play with the football or run around in the mud with the rest of them.  He preferred to sit in the library of the orphanage and read what books to which we did have access.  I would often sneak through the halls to grab a midnight snack and catch a glimpse of him reading the books with a flashlight.

One evening, I caught him sitting in a circle of books, a curious stare beginning to grow across my face.  “Whatcha doing?” I questioned, my fingers curled around the edge of the door.  We were both about eight or nine at this age.  My nosiness was something familiar to my demeanor.  I always wanted to know what was going on, and this was perhaps the only time I could catch him without everyone behind me to quiz him as well.

“Reading,” he replied, his eyes never lifting from the book he stared into.  I raised an eyebrow and huffed, putting my hands on my hips.  No sooner had I been displeased with his answer did I rush in upon him.

“Reading what?!” I grunted, attempting to snatch the book from his hands.  He was quicker, however, and spun away before I even got close to the spine of the book.

“Whatever I can.  This book is about war and history…”  He chuckled for a minute.  “Are you going to beat on me like the rest of them?”  He looked up from his book, and I think it was perhaps the only time that I ever saw his face without it being shoved in a book or beat on by the other boys.  His eyes were a gentle green almost the color of the grass in the yard.  His hair, long enough just to hide his ears, was a shaggy caramel with slight bits of dirt tucked into it.

“Why would I do that?” I questioned, plopping down nearby him in his circle of books.

“Why wouldn’t you?  You could be just like the rest of them.”  I somewhat resented that statement and glared at him once again.

“I am not!” I shouted, and he soon jumped at me to try to quiet me.

“Shh!!” he whispered.  “We’re not supposed to be in here at night.  You don’t want to get us in trouble do you?”

“What’s wrong with a little trouble?”

“Well, it gets you in trouble!”

“Well, maybe you need a little trouble now and then,” I giggled, playing with the elastic of my dingy pajama pants.  As orphans, we weren’t given the best of facilities, and I honestly didn’t care.  This boy was making due with what he could, just as I was.  “What’s yer name?”

“Vileb.  You?”

“Kirsta.  Why don’t you play with the rest of us in the yard?  You always stay inside when we’re having recess…”

“I don’t like being around the other boys, they beat on me so much…” Vileb stated, his lids lowering over his eyes and it almost looked as if he was to cry.

“You just gotta rough them up a little,” I replied, giggling as I put a fist deep into my palm to demonstrate.

Vileb glanced at me and then muttered, “But I’m not strong enough to do so.”

“Well, then I’ll be your bodyguard!  I always wanted to protect someone!”  I snatched up his hand shortly and stood in front of him.  “Make way for the smarty-pants Vileb!”  I giggled and pretended to push people away from my new friend.

Friend; that was something that I wasn’t accustomed to.  I did, as much as I could, try to be there for everyone always.  However, I never did grow close to one of the kids at the orphanage.  No one seemed to click with me over the years I had been there than I did in the few minutes with the boy who liked to read too much.  “Smarty-pants, hunh?” he chuckled, then tried to tackle me.

Unfortunately, it was directly into a pile of his books that made more racket than the both of us combined.  We soon heard the swift shuffle of feet from the headmistress’s room and we turned to hide amongst the piles of toppled books.  “Who’s in here?!” she shouted, shining her flashlight upon the muddle of old and filthy books.  We tried to hold back our giggles and peeked through one of the bookcases.  Luckily she didn’t see us.  But, that wasn’t any help.  “I’m going to give you to the count of three, or we’ll go and check to see who isn’t in their beds.  One…”

Oh great, we were busted one way or another.  Vileb slouched his shoulders and hung his head, ready to give up, but I wasn’t one to do so.  I grabbed him by his arm and pulled him against the wall.  We were going to sneak out and around the headmistress.  “Two…”  I pointed to the small space between her and the doorway.  She had come in further to try to find whomever it was lurking in these shadows.  I grinned and nodded to him.  He nodded back.

We ran quickly and almost knocked her over.  She spun around not able to discern the small shadows darting past her.  “Get back here you little hooligans!”  I heard her shout but I wasn’t about to get caught.  As we made it back to the safety of the orphans’ quarters, we quickly jumped into our respective beds and pretended to be asleep.  We heard the scuffing of the headmistress’s feet come to the door and swing it open.

Coincidentally for us, a few of the other children were startled and awoken by the noise that she pointed at them first.  “You and you!  Why are you awake?!”  They whimpered and tried to explain it was because she just slammed the door, but she was not listening.  “To my office, now!!”  The two boys slowly slid out of bed and followed the point of her finger out the door.  When she slammed the door a second time, most of the other children woke up as well.

“What happened?”  “What’s going on?”  “Where’s Jim and Berg?”  “The headmistress is really pissed…”  Within all the shouts and confusion, Vileb and I just exchanged glances across the room.   I giggled for a moment, recognizing the names that the other children had mentioned.  Jim and Berg were the two bullies who often picked on Vileb whenever we were having dinner, sitting down in class, almost anything to be honest.

The next day, the boys knew exactly what had happened.  Vileb had come outside during recess because I finally coaxed him out of the library.  He actually was very agile for a bookworm.  While we were on the monkey bar globe, Jim and Berg came over and pushed Vileb off the bars onto the ground below.  Vileb coughed for a moment, and stood up to stare at them.  They began to push him back and forth between the two of them.  “It’s your fault! ‘Cause of you, we got a beatin’ for being in the library at night!  We know it was you!”

I glared at them and hopped from between the bars to only get pushed by Berg.  “What are you doing, Kirsta?  Let us give him what’s coming to him.”

“No!” I shouted, pushing Jim off of Vileb and standing between them.  “You have to get through me!”

“Haha!  Look, she’s protecting him.  Ooo, is he your boyfriend now?  Ooo!  Look everyone, Kirsta’s got a boyfriend!”  The taunts from the boys called all the rest of the orphans around us.  I glared and punched Jim in the face, my fists balled so tightly my knuckles began to lighten.  Jim fell to the ground, and Berg hopped up to face me.  “He is your boyfriend!”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.  “And if you don’t leave him alone, I’ll beat you all up!”

“Just try it,” Berg said.  That was all the reason I needed.  I swung out and caught him straight in the jaw.  He was taken aback and soon I was pummeling his face.  He began to cry and scream before Jim hopped up and tried to peel me off of him.  Vileb sat there laughing the whole time.

“You think it’s funny freak?!” Jim shouted and dove after Vileb.  Vileb quickly sidestepped, tripped Jim, and then stood on his back.

“It is funny, actually,” Vileb said, laughing.  I could barely see it my eyes now streaming with tears as I punched Berg more and more.  The crowd of children caused the headmistress to run over and snatch me up by the collar of my shirt, fairly similar to a small puppy grabbed by the scruff of their neck.

I remembered later that evening, after being disciplined by the headmistress, I could smell smoke filling our room.  Vileb came to me and shook my side.  “Kirsta, wake up, the building’s on fire!”

Sadly enough, he was right.  A fire had started on the back of the building where the orphans’ quarters was.  We had gone to the library as it was our routine from now on, since the boys would try to beat up Vileb in the middle of the night.  It wasn’t too hard for us to pry open one of the windows and sneak out.

We soon saw fire trucks trying to put the blaze out but it was far too much for them.  Men in weird tuxedo-like suits were taking to the headmistress and the children who escaped.  After each one was spoken to, he or she was put on a weird black bus.  The men didn’t get on that bus, but shortly after it departed it went up in a grand explosion.  I didn’t like the looks of it and after a convincing glance from Vileb, neither did he.  We ran into the wood just a short distance from the orphanage, and never looked back.

A Dark Night - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

We had been stripped of our belongings and dressed in horrid orange jumpsuits.   They were obviously tattered hand-me-downs of the prison that had become their base of operations.  I was still held by the laser-leash, as I now called it, in an open-bar cell alone.  Vileb was nowhere within sight.  This was perhaps the first time in a long time where I felt alone.

I huffed and whimpered, pacing throughout the cell and observing my surroundings.  The cell was lighted dimly but that cared not to my eyes.  A faded cream sink had spots of mildew and rust that would never wash away.  Overtop was a single paned mirror, its edges vulnerable and visible to manipulation.  I caught a single glance of my eyes, a sharp snarl crossing my lips before I spun around.  My eyes…. I was a monster.

I groaned and slumped upon a cot, eyes narrowing as I contemplated my situation.  I leaned forward and shrugged my shoulders a few times.  The leash left little room to move, but yet just enough to writhe.  I growled under my breath as I sensed someone coming my way.  A guard, one with seemingly no knowledge that I was there, was moving through the cell block.  I could hear his heels on the solemn concrete yards away down the hall.

My back shuttered momentarily.  I sniffed the air for his location; not too far now.  As soon as he came within a yard of my cell I shouted in his direction in rage.  My eyes now glowing a fiercer gold, tufts of crimson hair beginning to sprout all over my form.  He shuttered and jumped taken aback by the random scare.  Fighting with some sort of device on his belt, he was more in fear of the beast beginning to develop before him.

I was angry, too angry to let this moment pass.  My muscle mass began to develop slightly more tearing parts of my orange jumpsuit.  I began to breathe heavily, my mouth and nose shifting into a brutish snout.  My ears slightly pulled closer to the top of my head and as each grew into a point.  Fangs developed where my grin used to be.  Claws grew from my nails gripping the bars.  My vertebrae elongated as flesh, skin, and fur became a bushy tail, the tip twitching with my anger.

He dropped a small box and ran off screaming at the sight of me.  I was sure he was just some recruit. Some sap they hired to wander through the cells and make sure no prisoners killed themselves before their interrogation.  This was both luck and opportunity.  However, the laser-leash was beginning to grow tighter to my form.  I was not prepared that they anticipated my transformation.

A slight buzz was now apparent to my hearing and I realized it was coming from the cuffs.  I crouched quickly to try and rip the anklets off with my claws but it was to no avail.  The leash tightened, forcing me slowly into a fetal position.  I howled at my misfortune, but did not give up to it.  Sliding towards the bars, I slipped my tail outside and attempted to grab the box the guard had dropped.  I could feel it cupped within my grasp, but soon to have it dislodged by a heavy boot on my appendage.  The sudden blow made me roar in anguish.

“So, you are a Lupe...” hissed a voice I had not heard before.  The scent, it was feminine and new to me as well.  I groaned trying to pull my tail from under the boot.  The position I had found myself in was surely not an opportunistic one.

“I am not a Lupe...” I whined, my teeth gritted, beginning to whimper as I could barely make out the shadow of the figure that had me pinned.  I felt her weight shift as she bent down to pick up the box that the wimp guard had dropped.  At this exact moment I thrust my tail as hard as I could back through the bars.  It allowed me to free it from her grasp.

“You are intelligent for a beast...” she whispered.  “Perhaps too intelligent.  I still believe you are in some kind of alliance with the Fangs, however...  Your comrade has been as silent and suspicious as you have...”

“Vileb!” I whimpered.  “Let me see Vileb!”  I attempted to roll to face her, but could barely get to my knees.  I soon realized that after I transformed, so had the laser-leash.  It had made some sort of collar to wrap around my wolven neck.  The tension further pulled me to curl into a ball, keeping her sight from me no more than a menacing shadow.

“You will see your friend only after we get information out of the two of you...separately.  That bond you two have is something... interesting that we wish to learn about.  Are you willing to come peacefully?”

At this point, I had no choice.  They had all the cards and I had nothing but my brute strength and basic intelligence.  I was always the brawn of our companionship.  Vileb was the brains, for lack of a better term.  “Yes.”  I hung my head in disappointment that I was restrained so easily.  If these simple humans could bring me down, what if the Fangs or even the Lupes were trying to catch me?  Without Vileb I was as dangerous as a box of rabid anthropomorphic kittens with butcher knives.

“Well then,” she said sinisterly.  I soon felt a sharp pain in my back; a needle, with syringe.  A fluid was injected into me that began to make my eyes water.  I yawned and my muscles relaxed abnormally.  “Sleep little beastie.  We'll let you see your dark prince again shortly.”  I huffed somewhat at her words.  Their misunderstanding of our relationship also bothered me.  Made me wonder just how much they truly knew about the two of us.

“He's... he’s not… not…not my...my…my… my boyfriend!” I huffed, the side-effects beginning to swirl my thoughts and drive them to a simpler time.  I felt like a child, back as if we were at the orphanage.  My mind beginning to slip in and out of consciousness, I whined, “Leave him... alone!  I'll...I'll beat you all up!”

A Dark Night - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The agent was dressed in a dark blue jumpsuit.  He was a living tribute to a brick wall; completely solid frame, a stoic facade, and the muscle to back any statement.  He glared at Vileb and me again before walking into the building.  His body nearly blocked the sight of the window through which he entered.

“Stand down,” the man stated, his voice booming.  My ears began to ring like before, every sound causing pain at this point.  I slowly crouched to my knees, whimpering at the pinpoint sharpness.

“Kirsta, what's wrong?” Vileb had jumped to my side.  I soon began to focus on a single, high-pitched frequency.

“A sound...coming...from him...it hurts....”  I held my ears and began to scream, my eyes narrowing in effort to try to still the pain.  I began to lose consciousness, or perhaps it was more of my control, as my body began to reject any possible humanity it had within it at the time.  I immediately snarled, claws beginning to extend from my fingertips, and thrust myself at the man.

The agent chuckled and took a swift thrust of his massive arm.  It squarely hit me in the chest with enough force to throw me to the ground.  Other than Vileb, no one had ever knocked me square back to the floor before.  I began to huff as my vision became less clouded, my senses beginning to return.  The noise was still piercing my eardrums.

“Sir, whatever it is, please stop.  We will come quietly.  She has no control when that device is on.”  Vileb spoke with conviction and relaxation.  The agent touched something upon his left wrist, the shrieking soon stopped as I sunk to the floor.

“Good, I'm sure the Fangs will be disappointed that we now have one of their top agents and pets in our custody.”  The agent appeared sure of himself.  As I began to crawl back to my feet, Vileb's curiosity seemed to have peaked.

Vileb quickly spat, “Me?  An agent of the Fangs, ahh, good sir.  You are surely mistaken.”

“And I am not his pet, but his companion.  We are merely a third party in this war,” I chimed in, beginning to regain composure.  The agent seemed quiet, contemplating the issue.

“However, you both are still under arrest for the death of a HARM agent.  You will come with me or I will have to call in a support team.”  Vileb nodded to me and I huffed before standing up straight before the man.

“We'll go quietly,” I whispered.  An instant after my statement was made did the man hold out a small baton and aim it at the two of us.  At first a faint blue light began to wrap around both of our wrists and ankles, as it slowly began to disappear.  I could feel the laser restraints despite the fact they were almost invisible to the naked eye.

“Come, or this will not be fun for any of us,” stated the agent, he still holding the baton tightly in his hand.  As he began to walk away, I could feel a slight tug.  So these were the leashes I had heard about.  Some time ago, the Fangs had gotten a hold of technology that acted like jailhouse full body restraints; however, there was a device hooked up to them that allowed a person to slightly control the movements of the restrained.  The Fangs were using them as leashes for their Lupe “pets”.  Apparently these HARM agents got a hold of the technology and began to develop upon it.

We walked towards the fire escape, shuffling within the restraints that faded in and out of the eye's plane.  Moving in stride with our captor, we made it to a van parked down within the alley.  The doors swung open and a makeshift team of about four men, who were not as menacing as the main agent, pushed Vileb and I within the seats and slammed the doors behind us.  My breath became shallow at the darkness around us.  Vileb seemed to chuckle at the absolute silence. “What's funny, Fang?” spat one of the men.

“Ahh, nothing,” Vileb began.  “It just occurred to me that you all group vampires and werewolves no matter their affiliation.”

“And your point?” stated the previous man.

“Well, for one, I do not consider myself a vampire.  Granted, many of my traits are similar to them but I am most definitely not one of them, nor am I one of the Fangs either.”

“Ha, anything that stalks men in the night and drinks their blood is a vampire.”

“And furthermore, my colleague here is not a werewolf nor is she a Lupe.  Do you not think that it is odd that we were actually looking for you?”  The men in the van got deadly silent.  I could see their puzzled looks through my tinted glasses, despite how dark the van was.  “So, the Human Association of Relocating Menaces.  HARM for short.  I suppose you are the so-called Rebellion who has not allowed a vampire or a werewolf into your ranks.”  Vileb's intelligence was something that I had always admired.  Despite that I had already made that assumption, he flat out made it apparent.

The ride was a slow and steady one, my eyes shut completely as I tried to discern the directions they were taking us.  Familiar scents began to waft over my nostrils, each one coming and going with a memory attached.  Shortly I began to growl, as the scents flashed through Fang and then Lupe territory respectively, and then fade away into nothingness.  I soon couldn’t recognize the scents around us.  My mind was completely at a lost of where we were.  This began to make me uneasy, another growl parting my lips.

“Calm yourself, Kirsta,” Vileb stated quietly.  “I’m sure that they’ll feed you and if not, you can always have a snack.”  The joke made me chuckle, it made the four men along for the ride cower.

The four men began to shift uneasily in their seats, even knowing that Vileb and I were fully restrained.  The van came to a stop, the momentum causing everyone to lean slightly.  As the doors opened, the brick wall agent chuckled at us all.  Behind him was the well-lit backdrop of what appeared to be a prison.  He took note to the fearful glances the other men had and then looked at Vileb and me.  “Thought you two could manage to scare them silly.  Welcome to your new hell.”

A Dark Night - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It had been a few days past since the spy was Vileb’s breakfast.  Moving at night was something accustomed to us now.  Neither one of us needed to hide from the sun, but we learned that most of our prey came out while it slept.  As I stretched my arms, a few bones cracked from lying upon the floor.

Vileb was nowhere to be found, and that was not surprising in the dusk.  He generally had gone to scout along the rooftops for whatever hint the Rebellion would leave.  The Rebellion of the Lupe and the Fangs:  Most thought it a myth but we knew it the truth.  We knew that somewhere there were those fighting our cause.  The Lupe and Fangs couldn’t obviously be giving each other the amount of resistance that was apparent.

My nostrils rang with the scent of vermin, a few mice had taken residence in the walls and their scratching was beginning to annoy my ears.  I sighed while rising up from my makeshift bed; my leather jacket balled up on the floor, and continued to stretch while pacing.

The scuffing of my feet drowned out the majority of the noise, and I was thankful for that.  My sense of hearing had been acting up as of late, and I worried that this was another development of our abilities.  Our abilities did this from time to time ever since we were young.  They would grow in such lengths, unstable and uncontrolled.  We would soon train each other to learn how to make these traits obey, something that brought us closer than most of the Lupe or Fangs would ever understand.

I supposed that is why we search for the Rebellion.  These gangs have taken organized crime to levels in which I could not understand.  But Vileb senses a greater purpose in the two.  For some reason, he believes that the current gangs have something to do with why our orphanage was burned to dust.  Why our lives were thrust forward in such a way.

This thought would often dance through my head, only to waver away with the sorrowful memories igniting in my mind.  I growled under my breath, eyes shutting, but yet I could see the exact moment I knew things were not the same.

“Kirsta?”  It was Vileb.  I suppose he sensed some anger in me.

“I’m here, just thinking…”

“Again about home, hrm?”  He came over and placed a hand on my shoulder.  I didn’t remember walking to the window, but as my eyes opened, I found myself staring down at a lone streetlight.  It snapped on and began to illuminate the corner while the sunlight was fading.

“I just wonder sometimes if you were right.  The Lupe, the Fangs, the Rebellion, you, me, for some reason it all seems connected.”  I slid into the sill, letting one leg kick on the outside in the fire escape.  A few people rushed by the sidewalk, their view caught in my glimpse as they passed the alleyway.  “What if one of them burned down home?”

Vileb gave me the same reassuring smirk he always did, crouching to my side.  A single fang pressed against his lower lip as he began to chuckle.  “Then we make them pay as we have always said we would.”  I was not quite as certain about that statement, but it would truly be our way of payback.  We never spoke of it, but we secretly knew that if we ever found out who burned down the orphanage that we would make them suffer.

I glanced up to catch my reflection in the window across from mine.  My glowing eyes pierced into my own soul, and I groaned as I spun around and got up from the window.  “I’m a monster…” I muttered, reaching down to grab my leather jacket.  Hastily shoving it on my body, I soon felt a cool hand upon my shoulder.

“But you’re my monster!” Vileb joked, that always being reassurance.  I suppose our lives together had made it so it was always easy for him to calm me, as it was easy for me to sedate his hunger.  We both were truly monsters, I the beauty and the beast while him the gentleman and Death.  Our abilities aligned us close to the feuding parties, but our past separated us deftly.

The Fangs saw me as a monster who had brainwashed one of their brethren to aiding me in my cause.  The Lupe saw Vileb as a tyrant who had trained me to obey my master.  Neither one could honestly see the teamwork that we had developed, nor did we truly want them to know.

“Our agenda for this evening?” I asked, pulling my sunglasses from my pocket and pushing them to my face.  I glanced back to the window.  Golden eyes gone; out of sight and out of mind.

“We’re searching again for some link to the Rebellion.  Hopefully we can find them and then we can use our abilities to aid their cause.”  Vileb took one concerning glance at me, but before he opened his mouth to say something I rose my hand.  I knew another confirming word would come from his mouth but I needed it not.  The task was set and the thought of my eyes no longer bothered me.

“Let’s so see if we can pull any leads.”  I hopped back out to the fire escape from before, only to slam directly into something solid.  Standing before me was a burly man about six foot even, both tall and wide.  He glared at me as I retreated back into the abandoned apartment.  Vileb rushed to my side as I began to snarl.

“My colleagues would like a word with you…creatures.”  The word boiled my blood more, for I could feel myself losing control.  “It is about the agent you killed the night before, Fang.”  His eyes darted to Vileb with the last statement.  I immediately sniffed the air.

“He’s no Lupe…” I whispered to Vileb.

“Then what exactly is he?” Vileb responded, holding me by the shoulders.  He knew if he let me go I would attempt to rip the man’s limbs off.

“I hereby place the two of you under arrest by the Human Association of Relocating Menaces.  Call your mutt off, Fang, or I will have to use force.”

A Dark Night - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I watched through the lemon-tinted glass as tourists walked by the stores. So many with grins on their faces, they are unaware of the disasters that would befall them. One couple giggled and moved through the throngs of people as if lost in their own waltz. Another small group carried a cloth doll and placed it in random places, taking pictures of what locations they had been. Pulling my glasses off my face, one woman caught a glimpse of my eyes. She fell aback, startled but then a glance at my companion made her face turn in disgust, then confusion. As I pulled my sunglasses back upon my face she continued on her way that thought plucked from her mind like a fresh strawberry.

Vileb and I had been friends, companions, lovers, fighters, and destroyers for all of our lives, yet not all of those to each other. Our childhood riddled in mystery, we were the sole survivors of an orphanage slaughter. Both so young and fearful of others, we ran away before officials could find, interrogate, and ship us off away from each other.

As we grew older, strange abilities began to infest us. Yet this power did not come without sacrifice. My eyes had shifted from a dark brown to an illuminating gold, forcing me to hide them at all costs. Vileb often was consumed by a vicious hunger that I can satiate for a few weeks but on the fourth he needs the warmth of another.

At first we considered this a curse, for the years went by yet we grew no older than what appeared to be early twenties. Soon we came to discover others, but their abilities slightly different and their plight vastly. We had seen new-found friends torn apart by the differences faced between Vileb and me; however, we continued to hold the pact from after our home’s death and vowed to end the war hidden in shadow.

“Kirsta, you almost ready?” Vileb questioned. I looked to him, a faint smirk splayed on my face. His caramel brown hair cascaded down his shoulders, flicks of auburn dancing throughout. He wore a similar pair of shades to help divert attention from me wearing sunglasses at night. We both were outfitted with dark colored attire, his trenchcoat open to show the black sleeveless he wore.

I adjusted the neck of my crimson jacket, shoving my hands into my pockets. As I watched the full moon begin to rise over many of the skyscrapers, a familiar scent began to waft over my nostrils. “Not yet, old friend. That rat is not quite here yet.”

A Lupe spy had been following Vileb and me for some time now. The Lupe were under suspicion that we were cohorts for a rival organization called the Fangs. Unfortunately for both the Fangs and Lupe, Vileb and I weren’t attempting to help either of them. In fact it was quite the opposite. The scent became poignant and I nodded momentarily to Vileb.

“So the attack will commence tomorrow evening?” I questioned, the act beginning now that the spy was within earshot. Vileb nodded, pulling his gun from within the coat. He began to clean it, smiling. “Aye, my comrades are quite thankful for your help. You will be spared when the enslavement begins. Perhaps you could even be given charge of an area.” The rehearsed lines sounded so smooth, Vileb’s tenor voice like silk.

“I do not think that is necessary. If any of my brood learned of my deceit then I am sure that they would start a rebellion with those remaining and take me out first.” My eyes lowered, a few fingers nervously running through the bangs of my brick red hair. I began to fidget with the braid in which it was fixed. “I only request that freedom that you so generously offered.”

“Done,” replied Vileb. He leaned in the chair at the outdoor cafe at which we had set for this play. I could sense the spy getting closer and closer to our location. Suddenly, I heard a faint click and a light chuckle. Before either Vileb or the spy knew what was going on, I had snatched the gun from Vileb’s lap and shot the kneecap of the spy hiding within the nearby alley. “Grabbing my crotch again?” Vileb snickered.

I rolled my eyes and walked over to the spy; he was whimpering and skittering backwards into the alley. My abilities had surpassed many of the underlings within the Lupe, just as Vileb’s had with most of the Fangs. I leaned in and grabbed the spy by his shoulders, holding him up against the wall a few feet off the ground. My eyes glowed fiercely, claws digging into his shoulders. “Here’s your meal for the week, Vileb. He’s just some human they hired...”

“Oh great, you know how much I hate using you. Sometimes I worry that I’m draining your life away.” He grinned, his canines beginning to elongate and sharpen.

I smiled at Vileb, saying, “And you know that it never seems to matter. It just scars me, only thing that does nowadays... Maybe we should leave him alive, you know, to send a message back to them?”

“I think they’ll come looking for him eventually anyway. I’d rather drain him completely. Make it easier for us in the long run. So you think he was one of the Promised?”

I leaned in to peer at the fear on the man’s face. “I’m sure of it. They’ll say anything to some lanky human to get them to spy on us. Both sides have done it now, and only turned up with a corpse. Think the Rebellion will eventually find us?”

“Sometimes I even wonder if the Rebellion is looking for those like us. Probably would think us spies for the Fangs and Lupe. You know how trusting humans are....”

“Well, this one is.”

Vileb put his lips to the man’s neck. “Was.”