Running with Shifters (completed)

Chapter 21 Isadora

Chapter 21

Isadora

"Now, who can tell me about Werewolves?" Vlain looks around expectantly and I do the same from my seat beside him, looking around to everyone sitting on the couches we've pulled back from around the room. Meg looks at me like 'why are you looking at me? You tell him.'

Well fine, I will, and I'll get all the credit. "Werewolves, unlike their Shifter counterparts, can spread the disease through biting. Once bitten they have an only slightly longer life span than the average human. Despite popular beliefs they Wolf out every night, regardless of the full moon, and you don't need silver bullets to kill them. You can kill them with pretty much anything provided you hit their vulnerable spots, specifically their temples and the soft area under the chin. But that's hard to do because they're extremely large and vicious. Did I miss anything?"

Everyone looks at me in shock, Meg not believing that I actually just quoted what she told me nearly verbatim, and Vlain just beams at me with pride before speaking. "Yes, that's everything important. Thank you, dear. Now to fairies. Even though they can be the tiny winged creatures familiar to everyone from children's stories, that is not their natural shape. They are slightly taller than humans with very... I'm not entirely sure how to describe them, except to compare them to the elves from The Lord of the Rings."

He notices our shocked expressions and lets out an exasperated sigh. "Really? I know what Lord of the Rings is. I've read all the books and watched all the movies too many times to count. Plus, I have Internet; how else do you think I learned modern vernacular? Watching Netflix. Anyway, some of them find it... entertaining to have children with humans, the offspring of such occasions are appropriately called 'Halflings'."

That part about him makes sense. I've been wondering ever since we met him how a centuries old vampire could talk like modern people, but have never had the guts to actually ask him.

After another moment of silence Vlain dismisses us from 'class' so that we can get to sleep. Checking the window, I realize it's almost dawn, the sun lighting the sky enough that it's barely noticeable.

We all say our good mornings, move the couches back to the walls and everyone rolls out their blankets. I push Vlain's and my chairs together and lay down, fluffing my pillow and reaching down to squeeze Lin's hand from where he's lying beside me on his pile of blankets on the floor.

I'm staring into a pair of solid black eyes. Terror courses through me but is quickly replaced by adrenaline as I grip my dagger tighter before striking at its giant, furry face. It rears back, howling in rage, and I nearly puke from its breath in my face.

Taking this opportunity I jump and latch onto the fur of its expansive chest and swing myself around to sit on its shoulders before sinking my blade up to the hilt in its temple. It gives one last howl before its knees buckle from under it and it falls to the grass with a mighty crash.

I roll off of it and turn to look for others. Before I can look far I'm met by another as it opens its mouth, revealing wicked fangs that put Eli's to shame, and snaps down on my face. Everything goes black.

I wake with a scream lodged in my throat and look around in panic, calming down once I realize I'm still in the basement and Lin's hand is still in my own. He murmurs something and I look to see him still asleep, curls fanning out on the pillow wildly, as he squeezes my hand unconsciously.

His nearness calms me even more and before I know it I'm almost back to sleep, one thing repeating in my mind. Were those Werewolves?