Ann and the Werewolf

Ann meets a werewolf.

    It was a cold, bitterly harsh April in the little town where Ann and her family lived. It was spring everywhere else but it was not spring here.  It had been a long dark freezing winter, snow falling all the time it seemed and the aurora borealis was almost always flickering, shifting, crackling and hissing in the sky when ever it was clear. And it was always like this in Alaska where Ann and her little family lived. Cold and dark most of the time and the spring and summers were fleeting and almost unnoticeable.

    When Eddie had come into their lives after having fallen in love with Ann from afar and becoming a father to Tyler and Justin, and easing the pain of Ann’s loneliness, all their lives had gotten a little better.

    Since Eddie had moved in he always helped the boys with their homework. Ann had enrolled Tyler and Justin at the local high school and they consistently received superior grades. They were well liked by their classmates but had no real close friends, the nature of their lifestyle preventing this. But soon, on their 18^th birthdays they’d become vampires. Then none of that human stuff would matter to them anymore and both boys were looking forward to this!

    While Eddie was with the boys Ann decided to venture forth to find herself a little midnight snack.

    Kissing Eddie, Tyler and Justin Ann said, “See you big boys later.” She left the apartment dressed in a parka, wool lined boots, jeans and a sweatshirt with insolated clothes underneath all of it.

    Once a few blocks from their apartment and near a wooden area Ann lifted off into the air. Her snack would come from a neighboring town. She and Eddie never fed near home or in their town.

    She flew over a snowy wooded area with the aurora borealis crackling and hissing over head. As she passed through the thick frozen air Ann could almost reach out and touch the brilliant green, purple and red shifting curtains of hissing and crackling northern lights.

    “Ah! So close!” She whispered then returned her attention to the hunt.

    But after a couple minutes Ann heard something in the woods below her. A kind of painful whimpering sound, this followed by a thin pitched wailing that turned into a sobbing cry.

    “Who or what is that?” Ann said to herself and changing her course she circled back over the spot where the sound came from.

    She opened her senses to see if she could pick up on what it was. The waves of fear and pain hit her like a physical blow. Staggering in the air Ann circled over the spot one more time. She could not tell exactly what was down there, but its pain was overwhelming and its intelligence was obvious.

    She dropped down through the snow draped Douglas Firs and landed in the deep snow and drew herself together. Silent snowflakes fell all about her, a beauty she never grew tired of. And Ann was just as in love with the aurora borealis.

    The sounds that drew her here became a tortured, strangled scream! It cut through the cold air like a razor blade cutting a would be suicide’s vein. And just as alarming!

    “Jeez!” Muttered Ann as she easily navigated the snow. She came bursting through a thick area of evergreens into a very small clearing and met a shocking sight.

    The first thing Ann noticed was the snow was trampled and stained with blood. It was frozen, maybe that’s why she didn’t smell it, she thought for one hysterical moment. It would not take long for blood to freeze at these subfreezing temperatures.

    Then she saw something dark across the far side of the clearing. It was pulling at the end of a long long chain. It was something in a trap her surprised mind registered.

    For one brief wild moment Ann thought it a wolf. A wolf caught in a leg trap. One of those really awful fanged steel jaws having snapped on one foot, capturing the animal in a horrible painful grip.

    But Ann knew it was not just a wolf. She felt its pain, its intelligence.

    “No, this is no mere wolf.” She said to herself and boldly stepped further into the clearing.

    The creature snarled and turned its big grey shaggy head. Its eyes were a flaming pale yellow with black pupils; its fangs were deadly, brilliant white and dripping foam.

    Ann saw, much to her horror and dismay, the front paws were captured in steel traps as well, but the creature had managed to work these traps out of the frozen earth, their long chains being dragged through the snow and frozen blood as it struggled for freedom.

    Ann knew what this creature was when she found herself facing it. A werewolf! Captured in a trapper’s steel jaw leg traps like a common wolf!

    This just could not be!

    Ann approached the crazed, pain filled werewolf.

    The werewolf snarled and snapped its jaws but quickly realized she was not afraid. It paused a moment, forgetting its struggle to figure out about her.

    Then much to its shock, it knew. The female approaching it was a vampire!

    “I am Ann.” She said. “Vampiress. Let me help you.”

    The werewolf calmed down, bowed its head and waited, indicating its desire for help.

     Ann went to the werewolf and knelt by its body and easily opened the trap holding and crushing its foot. With a little whimper of relief, the werewolf pulled its foot free. Then Ann released its two crushed paws.

    The werewolf lay in the snow for several minutes panting, recovering from its pain. Ann waited beside it. The werewolf licked its crushed paws. Then it raised its head and its body rippled and shifted. Ann hurriedly stood and stepped back.

    The werewolf was metamorphosing. Its body rippled and twisted then quickly reestablished itself as a man.

    His hands and one foot still retained some of the damage from the traps but were obviously healing rapidly.

   Then the werewolf looked at Ann. “Thank you Vampiress Ann. Your kindness will never be forgotten.”

    “I was more than happy to help. What is your name werewolf?”

    “Jake.” He said. “You saved my life. I could not transform while in such agony, but little good it would have done me with my hands held in traps of their own too.”

     “I’m just grateful I passed over you when I did and heard you before the human who placed the traps here found you.”

    Jake heaved a big sigh of relief now that the pain was gone. “And I will always be grateful. You have my undying loyalty and the loyalty of my pack. I am Leader of the Alaskan Werewolf Clan. I will put the word out you are a member by my choice and decision and are to be given all Clan and Pack loyalties.”

    Ann felt overwhelmed. She realized she had just been given the highest honor a werewolf could bestow on another immortal or anyone.

    “But I must go, Vampiress Ann, I need to feed to finish healing. We will, of course, meet again. I will seek you out.”

    “Yes, we shall meet again Jake.” Ann said to the werewolf.

    Then she watched him melt into the snowy, northern light colored Douglas Fir forest. And then Ann, who still needed to feed herself, launched herself back into the freezing Alaskan night air to continue on her hunt.

     She knew she’d be seeing Jake and his werewolf clan eventually. Alaska was big, but not that big of a place to immortals.

Reviews

[Brother Rooster]

Your writing has a certain innocence to it which I think is great. This is a good chapter, setting up the charaters...and so far it's quite different in that in your tale the vampires and the werewolves don't appear to be mortal enemies...maybe this is still coming but starting your story out this way is effective. I look forward to reading the rest of it.
Brother Rooster

[Star Wolf]

I somehow missed this chapter. Awesome, just as good as all the others. I really enjoyed this.

[Marie Harrison]

Oh, I love this chapter! Nice, did I sense an instance of foreshadowing? She might use the loyalty of the Clan card on a later day? Oh the story is getting interesting. I'm loving it!

[Coyote Poetry]

Now the story is getting more interesting characters. Alaska is one place I didn't go to. Need a lot of time to be able to enjoy Alaska and her beauty. I like how Ann helps the werewolf and gain a strong group of friends. A excellent chapter.
Coyote

[Black Cat Fever]

Ann helps out this werewolf. Perhaps he'll return the favor. Being good goes further than being uncaring or hateful. She's come a long way since her birth when she was out of control.