Black Blood

Chapter 6 - Zayn

We all sit around a big fire.  The night fell from the heavens and flooded out day.  The moon sat in the corner of the sky, pushing away neighbouring clouds.  There was an intense smell of melting wood and the smoke of infused with the dark woods natural aromas.  The leaves we threw in screamed as it shrivelled, its sacrifice keeping my bare chest warm.

I hunched over, my arms leaning on my knees, my fingers kneaded together as my hands were held together.  Our stomachs were fuelled with raw animal meat, but we still had days of eating before we could go back again.

As a human we can still stomach blood and raw meat, so we all felt fine and rested under the night for the next day.  Nero Morsus was quiet, the sounds of the night echoed in the background, around the trees and shadows.  Our small hut was close my, our human shelter for the nights.

The alpha stepped into the scene.

“Tomorrow, Ilene and Jacob will track the hunt and give the signal.  We did well today, Nero Morsus, let’s do it again” the group raised their cups high to the pride of our pack, though tired from the hunt.

My father traced the back of the circle, until he reached me.  His fingers tapped my bare back and I stood up, turned and looked him in the eye.  He had silver hair and wrinkles that started to sag, though his eyes were still solid, and he was still stronger than I.

“I’d like to talk” he said quietly.  I turned to see the pack, a few peeping sets of eyes turned back to their cups to mind their own business.  He led me behind the shack.

“It’s about today, Zayn” his voice was deep.  I felt it coming, the fear, and the wall I needed to put up to defend myself.

“Father, I didn’t mean it.  I know…”

“No, you did the right thing.  I’m glad someone like you is taking over the pack.  You know the older I get the harder it is to transform, and I know if I can’t make it, I’ll signal you and you can lead them for the hunt.”  I froze in my standing position.  Ash was right; his time as Alpha is coming closer to an end.  He would only ever admit something like that if he needed to.  But Ash was also right about something else, he was proud of me.

“Go on” he slapped my shoulder.  “Join the others, get some rest” I followed his command and took my seat on the log back, dragging my palms across my dark, denim jeans.

“So, what’s the deal?”  Ilene said next to me, rolling back her shoulders in the fire’s majestic blaze.  “Can I still call you Tiger when you’re the alpha?”  I squinted my eyes and turned to look at her, I couldn’t hold in a laugh in my expense either.

“Um, absolutely not.  You’re too late anyway; Ash’s locked in that name.”

“Um, Ash and I are twins.  We came up with the name together.”

“That’s cute” I laugh, cracking my back.  “But I can barely tolerate it now, compared to being alpha.” She smiled and dusted her hands, wiping them on her jeans.  I looked over at her, she had honey caramel hair that was as thin as paper and as straight as a ruler, the light off the blazing fire reflected off her big blue eyes and grey tank top.

“It’s gonna be weird” she laughed.  “You, being alpha.  We’re all pretty close friends, you reckon?” I smiled and looked into the flaring fire and Nero Morsus around it, talking.  We were like a family, I suppose.

“Yea” I sigh.  “It’ll take some getting used to” As soon as I said that, a few pack members shot up and looked around, sending the whole group into a frenzy.

“What’s wrong?” I stand up with my fists clenched by my sides.

“There was movement in the bushes” one of the neurotic ones says as they stand on their toes.  The pack shuts off their convocations as sets of eyes peer around the premises, eyeing off dark corners and black, bleached spaces, monitoring every movement in case of destruction.

“We’re in the woods you morons” I growl.  “We just ate proof that there are other things living here besides us.”  But a rustling noise behind me eliminated any further remarks.  I looked to Ilene standing next to me, shoulders forward and legs in a strong, standing position, the light off the fire setting one side of her face alight with reflection.

“Get behind me, Ilene” I growl and stand in front of the herd.  My father stepped in, I looked at him, a flinch of fear twinkled in my eyes, asking what to do.  He slapped my shoulder, nodded and stepped behind me.  I looked forward again, the noise getting more and closer.  Usually I would be behind my father at this point, taking notes and helping protect the pack, I felt bare and on my own. 

The bushes were dark except for the small light off the fire reflecting off it, the leaves moved, shuttered like a wind had come to push them.  I kept my stance, hands balled up by my sides, sweat building up in them.   

Suddenly, without a single warning sign something burst out of the bushes we had been watching!  The reaction of wolves are not like humans, we fight and not flee, so instead of snapping back away from it, we all lurched forward, baring teeth and leaning ahead.  Until we saw what it was.

A human, with deep, penetrating cuts flooding through its soft flesh, pumping out fist full’s of dark, red blood.  Ripping across his cheeks, slaughtered through his arms and pulsing through his legs, his undamaged skin coated with blood and dirt.

He rolled into sight, exhausted, pulling himself forward.  “Wolves” he panted softly.  “They’re everywhere, they attacked” his voice was soft and mellow, almost barely heard.  He looked up at us, I stepped forward, and crouched down next to him, the blood, it oozed softly out of him, I held my breath, but another wolf couldn’t help it.  Damien, a young wolf, only sixteen years old stepped forward with a lurching stomach.  He had no desire to eat the man yet, but didn’t step away from leaning in to see him and powered in a great whiff of the smell of his blood, before I could slam my hand on his shoulder and push him away yelling at him to stop.

The man looked at me in the eye, tears wielding like guards over his brown eyes as they store deeply at me.  “Wolves” he whispered.  “It’s you”.

“It knows!” called my father.  “Now, Nero Morsus!” Then it happened very quickly, bodies pushed past me, like steam trains.  One wolf after the other, the body screamed its lasts breaths and died with its arm being torn off and his chest being skulled into.

“Stop!” but I was too late anyway, Nero Morsus lurched at him and ripped him to bloody shreds until he was left as a mauled pile of flesh, blood, and cracked bones, messily scattered across the ground, staining it a wild crimson red.  The last of the wolves pulled away and I clearly saw him, Ethan.  Mauled, battered, broken, the body bleeding its last traces of blood until the flesh and the crimson red where separated entirely. 

“We are wolves, not monsters” I said softly with my back to the pack as we all looked at the mess.  I turned around, humans, wiping their mouths from human blood, half humanised, half wolf taken over.  The fur started sinking back in them, leaving their small, human lips and their soft hands drenched in blood.

My father, un scathed, stepped forward from the silence and took my bare shoulder in hand.  “Next time, Zayn” he said softly.  “Next time, you will know how to lead this pack.  For now, you’re just learning, if that man survived, who knows what he could be capable of.” I sucked in broken and jumpy lashes of air into my system. 

“You’re wrong.” I said.  “You just killed a human, which was murder.  We don’t murder, I don’t care what you say.” I shook off his hand and walked away, into the dark and dismal woods, leaving behind the scars, the body and the pack.