King

Dreams of the Dead

I sit up with a jolt. Sweat drips down my face and fear clenches in my chest. My breath comes out in uneven huffs. I close my eyes to try and pull myself together but the dream pops up in my minds eye.

Over and over again the scene plays as I watch my mother in her sleep gown, get killed in front of me as a child. Repeatedly she is stabbed in the gut. I'm powerless to do anything but sob as I watch the man who my parents trusted, kill my mother. My father, no where to be found.

I'm not much help to her seeing as I'm thirteen and not yet shifted. Also I'm tied up with a gag in my mouth as the bastard mutilates my mother with his knife.

Werewolves heal fast so as he was stabbing and slicing, the cuts were closing but he kept slashing away. My mother's own screams were drowned through her gag. She tried to fight back but the cruel man had tied her down moments before. I just happened to walk in at the wrong time.

The dream changes from my mother being stabbed over and over into a new, more gruesome seen. My father's body lay headless near my feet. I look on with horror at the sight of my pack fighting against creatures that have wolf like features but are grotesque.

Salvia dropped from their mouth and their bodies bulging in different places. Their coats were no longer silky. They were course and patches fell out in clumps when one of the warriors snapped at them.

The ugly wolves were few in numbers but their strength was unbelievable. It took five pack wolves to take down one of the monsters. Bodies of my dead pack mates lay around me as I stand frozen. Unable to move an inch to help.

I sob as I watch Damien come from the house and out onto the front yard. My dead mother dragging behind him by the hair. I know I'm not really out on the yard. I know this is a dream and in reality I had been saved by Houston after Damien left me in my parent's room unconscious.

I still dream about it though. The dreams started about two months ago. I always end up waking up in a cold sweat with tears streaming down my face. When I walk down for breakfast in the mornings I know my pack mates had heard me screaming by the looks on their faces.

My parents have been gone for almost a year and yet I just started having nightmares about them now. I know something big is coming. My dreams are trying to warn me. I know I must be ready when the time comes to fight. For I am going to avenge my parents and I am going to kill off those unnatural beasts that walk this Earth because of Damien.

Houston runs the pack now. He was originally the beta of the pack when my parents ran it but when they were killed he took over. We moved after the attack somewhere far away from the murder scene of my parents. We moved to Oregon, away from my birth state of Texas.

If I wanted to, I could take over the pack from Houston. I know I'm more dominant then him but I don't fight him for the Alpha spot because I know that if word got around of a female Alpha then things would not be good. Damien would probably find us faster and we aren't ready for that kind of fight yet. We train hard to ready ourselves but those monster contain an obscene amount of strength. Only the Alpha King himself would have a chance against them.

I relax into myself as I stare into the night sky above me. I spread my senses as wide as I can and just listen. I lay in the soft grass in front of the pack house and slow my breathing. The world around me seems to slow as I hear the soft rustling of some branches. I smell the rain coming in the air and feel the humidity on my skin. The stars above me twinkle and I sigh. Content, I lay there for hours into the night. All is peaceful and quiet until I hear the long dreadful howl of a wolf on a hunt.

I bolt up from my spot and keep my human ears perked. I tune in to every sound I can. The howl is long and loud. I can tell the wolf who made this sound is miles away because the wind is carrying it to me. Other howls join in but they are very faint and I can barely hear them. The first howl itself is beautiful and my skin gets goosebumps. I shiver although it is warm outside.

I put my nose to the wind and breathe deeply. Searching for any trace of the mysterious wolf pack. All I get is the smallest hint of something Smokey. Like a fire was burning and the wood is charring. I relax my stuff muscles and sit back down.

For some reason my wolf is on edge. Urging me to look into the distant howl and the smokey smell. I cock my head to the side in a very wolffish gesture. My wolf has never been so adamant about something. I still think it's best that I stay to protect my rightful pack.

"Kassie?" A male voice asks from the porch.

"Yes?" I say back softly, knowing his keen ears would hear it.

"You should come back in and try to sleep. It's getting late." Houston says softly. His voice holding worry for me.

I shake the thoughts of following the strange howl and scent and stand up. Following my guardian into the mansion that is the pack house. Houston has taken care of me since the death of my parents. He has given me love and has mended my broken mind as best he could.

I go up to my room on the third level and sit on my bed. I keep the lamp on so I won't fall asleep, knowing that if I do then the nightmares would plague me again. I hug my knees to my chest and allow myself to ponder the howl and smokey scent from earlier.

Tomorrow I would track them. I needed to find for myself what made that howl and gave off that scent because it was doing things to my body and mind that was unbelievable. My wolf yearned to follow it right now but I had more self control than that.

Years of training on my side. I am the best fighter in the pack and the most dominant. Houston wouldn't approve but I have never cared for his approval before. Tomorrow, I hunt.