Stained

Wolf

***
He stepped closer, so I leaned back. He advanced, I backed up until I lay on the ground. He still advanced until he was breathing in my face, his dog breath hot on it.
He snorted and growled in my face. I flinched and he let out an odd noise, kind of like a hyena laughing, but different. He snorted again, grabbed a hold of my shirt, and pulled me up.
I fake laughed and yanked my shirt back. I stumbled back. He just lowered his head and followed.
"Y-you're a w-wolf." I meant it  but my voice was too uneven. That happened pretty often.
He nodded and grunted like it was obvious.
"You're r-really a werewolf."
Another grunt. He descended on me.
"No! B-back off!"
He hesitated for a second, then flew at me so fast, I only saw a flash of black. He was on me, two paws on my shoulders and two trapping my legs.
His hot breath swirled over my face.
I stayed completely still as he sniffed around me. When he moved to my head, I flinched and swatted his muzzle away. He snapped at my hand. I pulled it back and smacked him.
I gasped and covered my mouth.
"I-I didn't mean–" I stammered but a low growl deep in his throat cut me off.
He turned back to me, eyes glowering in the dark. He bared his strangely pearly white teeth, exposing his sharp canines. He leaned down and sniffed my neck.
I squeezed my eyes shut. When I felt something wet, my eyes shot open to find him licking my neck. I shoved his muzzle away.
He growled, but I cut him off.
"D-don't think that just b-because you're a big, scary wolf, that you can p-push me around."
Another weird laugh. He pushed me with his muzzle. Pretty hard, too. I pushed him back, harder. He pushed me again. This continued until he rammed into me, shoving me back into a tree. I yelped as a branch caught on my neck and cut a little gash in it.
His ears pricked up, and he padded over. I rubbed my neck, and my hand came back with blood.
He sniffed the blood, pushing me so my neck was exposed. His breath tickled across my neck. I tried not to laugh.
Then, his tongue slipped across the wound. I jumped up. He stared at me, questioningly.
"Y-you just licked my neck."
He cocked his head. Yeah, so?
"Why would you lick my neck?"
When he didn't speak, I nearly slapped myself. Duh, he can't speak, he's a dog. I sighed.
He walked over and whacked my leg with his tail a few times. When I pushed him away, he started snapping at my legs.
"Hey, hey. What're you doing?" My voice went up at the end because I pranced away from him.
He ran after me, nipping at my heels as I ran from him. He clipped my foot more than once. When I stopped to catch my breath, I leaned over. He jumped over my back, startling me to the point that I fell over.
I pushed the hair back from my face and got up. I looked around for him. He wasn't near me. I knew him, he was playing a game. Maybe not a safe game, either. I ran to the nearest tree and scrambled up it.When I looked down, he was there staring up.
He growled, probably wanting me down. I smiled and stuck my tongue out at him. A bark nearly sent me flying out of the tree. I sneered at him.
He bared his teeth and barked again. I jumped like a cat. He barked once more, then went into a fit, barking and whimpering.
The racket made me nervous. I'm not sure why, it just did. I climbed down and landed beside him. He stared up at me, and I realized just how big he was.
His eyes were almost to my eye level. I gulped and hoped he wasn't forming a plan in that insane head of his. I leaned away, then carefully started slinking away. He turned to me slowly and cocked his head. Something changed in his eyes. The green changed to a darker shade. He crouched down onto his haunches. I knew what that meant. Predators did that when they were....hunting prey.
I backed away. He crawled closer.
I got up and ran. He waited for a few seconds, then followed, a blur of fur. He swooshed by me a couple times, almost knocking me over. He changed to actually running into me, and actually knocking me over. I knew what he was doing. Tiring me out, like with prey. But why he was doing it, I hadn't quite figured out that part.
He stopped and lay in the grass, next to his clothes. He barked at me. I glanced questioningly his way, then realized he was going to change back to a human. Or, at least, that's what I hoped.
I took this chance to run as fast as I could, which wasn't very fast, away. I didn't care if anyone thought I was crazy, or if anyone saw me. This guy was crazy. He was also a werewolf.
I ran until I didn't know where I was, just that I was in a town of some sort. A ghost town, it looked like.
I hid behind a building that looked like an apartment, at one point, and peeked behind me to see that he had his clothes on, and was following my scent. Now I knew why he always found me, he could smell me and hear me.
"You better save me the search and come out now!" His voice boomed. I was torn between going out and avoiding a strange punishment, or staying and finding a way out.
I was still deciding when I heard footsteps coming my way. I was tempted to peek but didn't in case he saw me. I tiptoed inside the building.
The interior had a thick coat of dust. I covered my nose and mouth.
There was a desk up front and a hallway leading to bathrooms.
I saw a couple vending machines in the hall, and my stomach growled. I didn't know how long it had been since I'd last eaten, but I knew it was too long.
I tried punching in a combo, a random one, and the machine whirred to life. I gasped and hid behind it. Whatever food I'd chose came out and I snatched it up.
I ran to the bathrooms and locked the door behind me. I knew he'd eventually find me, but looking at the food I'd gotten, I smiled.
It was an energy bar. I loved energy bars. I slowly and carefully unwrapped it. The wrapper crinkled, and in the quiet, sounded like a train.
I threw it in the full trash can.
As I sat in a stall, I munched on the energy bar. I was used to having small meals; I never had much of an appetite, but this bar tasted like heaven.
Once I finished, I licked my fingers and wiped them on my jeans. They got all sticky. I looked round and listened. If I was quick, I could try to wash my hands and get out of here quick–
A door opening interrupted my thoughts. It closed and I heard footsteps heading up the stairs.
I blew out a breath and made up my mind. This was the time to run out there.
I opened the bathroom door and stepped out. I made a run for the door.
"Well, there she is."
I turned to see him at the top of the stairs, slowly walking down.
"You know, I really hate it when you run away."
I opened the door and ran out.
I'm sure he wasn't far behind, but I ran for the next building and got inside.
I searched for something to jam in the door and came up with a floorboard. I shrugged. It won't hold long, but it'll hold long enough for me to hopefully do something.
I jammed it in the handle. Just as I was backing away, a bang on the door made me jump.
"I know you're in there, Jess! Make this easy on both of us, and come out. I don't feel like running after you and I'm sure you don't want another punishment!"
Against my better judgment, I answered his call.
"You're a madman!"
He laughed from the other side.
"The world is filled with them, princess. I'm not the worst you'll encounter."
"If I live through this, I won't encounter any others."
"Maybe, maybe not. But I assure you, if you don't open this door in five seconds, you won't be sleeping well tonight."
There were so many bad things that went along with that.
"I won't be sleeping well, either way."
He chuckled. "Probably not. But, it'll be better if you open up. I might even feed you more than an energy bar."
"How'd you–"
"Enhanced senses? Werewolf? Ring a bell? Geez, what do they teach you in school?"
"Nothing about werewolves, they aren't supposed to exist."
"Well, what am I?"
I didn't answer, just sighed and pulled the wood out and opened the door. He stood there, leaning against the doorframe.
He wrapped his hand around my neck and pushed me against the wall.
"Why do you always make my life harder?"
"Maybe, if you'd let me go, I wouldn't."
"Fat chance." He said and let me go. I fell down and coughed. He started walking away, and when I didn't follow, came back and stared at me.
"Are you just going to sit there?"
"I'm not going to follow you. I'm tired of running for my life, and having to listen to you."
He snorted. "As if you even listen to me. And if you didn't run in the first place, I wouldn't have to run after you."
"I don't want to listen to you."
"I know that."
I slumped. He walked next to me and hit a pressure point.
"What are you–" But I couldn't even finish the sentence before my eyes closed.
***
I woke up back in my room, him watching me from the doorway. I noticed I was in a tank and shorts. I pulled the bedspreads up to my shoulders.
"Finally, you're awake. I was starting to think you wouldn't wake up at all. Maybe I killed you." He chuckled.
"Good to know how much I mean to you." My voice came out raspy. I cleared my throat and tried again.
"What'd you do to me? Feels like I was hit by a train." I said as I rubbed the back of my neck.
"What do you mean? I only pushed a pressure point."
"Well, I hurt everywhere."
"Let me see."
I sighed and craned my neck so he could take a look at it. He gently touched my neck at the point where it hurt the most. I yelped and he pulled his hand back quickly.
"I think I found your problem."
"What is it?"
"Your spine's out of place a bit here."
"What?"
"It's nothing severe, calm down."
"I wasn't–"
"You were."
I shook my head and got up to walk around.
"Um, what're you doing?"
I turned to glance at him questioningly.
He sighed, then laughed.
"You're absolutely adorable. So naive. I have to push your spine back into place."
"That's gonna hurt. A lot."
"Yes, it is. But, if you don't let me fix it, it'll heal like that and you'll be in that amount of pain for the rest of your life."
"Eesh. Fine, but make it quick."
He gestured for me to lay down on the bed. I did.
"You may want to cover your mouth."
I did, but shot him a questioning glance. When he pushed my spine back in place, I understood why he said to cover my mouth.
An earsplitting scream escaped my lips and was partially muffled by my hands. I saw him smile out of the corner of my eye.
Bastard.
Tears slipped from my eyes even though I squeezed my eyes shut. I took in a few shuddering, deep breaths until the pain passed. When I tried to move, the pain returned in full swing.
A few more tears.
"Just stay there, I'll grab some painkillers."
"No, no. I can deal with it. I've dealt with worse." I forced myself up, wincing at the pain.
"Wow, alright then."
"What?" I snapped at him.
"Nothing. I just didn't think you'd be able to handle it."
"If course I can."
"I see that now."
I sighed and walked, slightly limping, around the room. He backed into the corner.
"How did you even misplace your spine like that?"
"I don't know. Maybe when you slammed me into a tree?"
"You wouldn't have been able to move, and you did, running off."
"Yeah, whatever. I don't know how, or even if I did it, but I know it feels much better with my spine back in place. Thanks."
He shrugged. "I only want you in shape for when—" He stopped himself before he finished the sentence.
"For when?" I prodded.
"Nothing." He waved it off.
Uh oh, that doesn't mean anything good.
We sat there in silence until he suddenly grabbed my arm and hauled me after him. He took me outside, into the bright, mid-day sun.
I shielded my eyes from the light and tried to stay balanced as he pulled me along.
I saw where we were heading, toward the ghost town I had hidden from him in. When we got to the entrance to the town, he stopped.
I stared at him, or tried; the sun was so bright.
He hunched over and dropped on all fours again. I knew what this meant. I tried to back up, but he hoarsly yelled, "No! Stay here."
I stopped and stood there for the duration of his change. This time, it took less time than before, or that's how it felt.
I stood through the snapping bones, and the gutteral sounds coming from his mouth. When he was finished, he shook his black coat of fur.
I was rooted to were I stood. He nudged me, and when I didn't move, full out whammed into me. I fell over with an oof!
"Hey, what was that for?"
He snickered in his dog-like way.
"Ha ha, very funny. Why'd you bring me out here?"
He answered by prodding me up with his nose. I stood and watched him prance around. He seemed like a normal dog, aside from how huge he was.
He seemed playful, fun, nice even. But, I knew better. I saw through his little coat of fur. My thoughts went away when he pushed me again.
I caught myself and thought,
Oh, I see what he wants. To play.
I got into a crouched position and watched him do the same. His tail swung back and forth, and his mouth was open, tongue lolling out. I chuckled to myself.
I ran at him. He was caught off guard so, I wrapped my arms around him and pushed him to the ground. He let out a laugh, pushing me off.
I fell onto the ground, but rolled out of the way as he pounced the ground where I was. I got up and brushed some dirt off my shoulder. I crooked two fingers at him.
"Is that all you got?"
He sneezed and ran at me. I snickered. About a second before he ran into me, I turned, letting him zoom by me. I sighed in relief, I hadn't thought I'd be able to dodge him in time.
He noticed a little too late that I had set this up. He ran into a tree, hitting his head pretty hard. I laughed in my hands, as he got back up and shook it off.
He started circling me, and I saw a change in his eyes again. The darker shade. He wasn't happy. I bolted the other way. He laughed and followed.
I weaved through the trees, dodging  jaws as well as the trees. He easily followed, until we reached the edge of the tree line.
I stopped short, wondering if he'd think I was distracted by the giant highway, and try to run into me. But, he knew better, and avoided me altogether.
I didn't notice him come back around, and run at me until the last second. I turned, but he was already on top of me, pushing me to the ground. He leaned over me, staring into my eyes. Then, he sank his teeth into my shoulder.
***