Micah and Adrian sat in an uncomfortable silence, neither initially willing to be the instigator of conversation. His usual confident demeanour had vanished, as Micah paced the room anxiously, scraping his brain as to how exactly explain the situation to a naive Adrian. Meanwhile Adrian had preoccupied himself with his shoulder scar, inanely tracing the ridges and contours, his fingers rotating round and round and round.....
"Right.....I don't know how to start explaining this. So I'm just going to come right out with it - and it's probably going to change everything, and defy anything you thought you knew about this."
Adrian jolted to attention, startled by Micah's newly adopted solemn tone.
"I believe you are familiar with Lycanthropy by now? Your brother has knowledge beyond his years, but I doubt you allowed him the opportunity to discuss all his findings...."
Chuckling nervously, Adrian felt his face flush at his rash nature.
"No, I...ran away from it all." he admitted, "it's all too much for me! I can't cope with all these disgusting visions I keep having. I just want to end it all....."
Micah retorted harshly - "You're going to have to learn to cope Adrian! When the full moon comes in just a matter of hours, you'll become a monster!"
Immediately realising his mistake, Micah sighed softly, then lay a hand on Adrian's shoulder.
"Not everyone who gets the curse, gets an offer of help."
"What do you mean?" Adrian glanced up in confusion.
"I was only a child when it happened, my mother thought I was too young to remember. But I remember the screams all too clearly, and the....howling. I ran outside to see what the commotion was - people were running in all directions, trying to escape from the monster in our village. Father told us to run, and never look back - he and my older brother gave their lives to fight off the wolf, giving the villagers time to flee. The creature was savage, biting, tearing, spilling blood - so we ran, and ran, and ran. But the wolf ran after us too. It caught up with my older sister - I tried to save her, but the wolf knocked me aside like I wasn't even a threat" (Micah gestured at his facial scars) "I was unconscious for hours, until a rescue party from the village found us. My sister was badly injured, but alive....she recovered extraordinarily quickly. But the curse had still claimed her - she tried to keep her transformations secret, but she disappeared when I finally discovered the truth. I've only seen her a select few times since then. The Blood Curse destroyed my family, I don't want the same to happen to you Adrian."
Adrian's jaw remained wide open, searching Micah's face after hearing his harrowing and deeply emotional story.
"...I'm sorry, I didn't understand....Will you please help me Micah?"
A familiar smile occupied Micah's face, diminishing Adrian's depression.
"You know I will. Now, there's something I need to show you, it should explain how I've been able to survive out here."
Childish excitement was evident in Micah's voice, as he eagerly led Adrian outside.
"Stand back!" Micah nudged a hidden trip wire, submerged beneath the leaf litter - a defensive wall of sharpened wooden stakes erupted around Micah's home, startling Adrian. Micah laughed loudly, proud that his invention had impressed, as Adrian curiously investigated the wall.
"See, I can take care of myself when the creature comes! There's more too, down here!"
Micah revealed another object hidden among the leaves; a mould covered trap door. As the two men entered the secret bunker, Adrian was taken aback with the sheer volume of objects concealed beneath the earth. Strange weaponry lined the walls, and hand written volumes were stacked high - Micah swirled in a mock dance.
"My collection. Anything I can use to fight the creature, and everything I know about its kind."
"What's this?" Adrian ran his fingers across a coarse material pinned to the earthen wall, noticing the presence of several others.
"The skins of other lycanthropes that have fallen at my hand. I made it a personal obsession of mine - rid the world of as many of those foul creatures as possible. I hate to think how many fathers, brothers, mothers, sisters have been slaughtered by these monstrosities."
"But surely they deserve sympathy....they never asked for this fate. There is no cure after all!"
"Only those that try to control the curse deserve any second thought Adrian. You will be different from the others, trust me, I can feel it.... Now, you should get yourself some rest while it's still light - we've got a long night ahead of ourselves."
Micah shuddered uncontrollably, wishing for once he could dissociate himself from the situation.
YOU ARE READING
Blood Curse
Horror"By day the lycanthrope retains his human form, but in the light of the full moon he is cursed to walk the earth in the skin of a wolf. His hunger for flesh is insatiable, his speed is incomparable, his cunning is uncontrollable. The curse is passed...
