Inherent Instinct (In Another Life Part Five)

Chapter One

France was beautiful in late spring. The countryside was filled with blooming splashes of color that, while not quite as vibrant as in day, were still quite pretty lit by moonlight to the eyes of Elayn and Serana as they made their way down the road. They spoke as they walk, and the odd traveler with courage enough to brave the road at night would notice that there was a third member of their conversation, one that spoke from one shadow here, and then another there, until it seemed as though there were multiple speakers.

There weren't, of course. Salem just enjoyed being as ghostly as they could manage.

"I'm just saying," Serana said, with the reasonable tone of someone who has tried to argue their point with no success. "If we're descended from children of Poseidon, then why don't we share more in kind with fish? I don't breathe under water, I just don't breathe."

Then where is your metal leg? Salem asked with the patience of someone speaking to a small child. And how often has Hecate commanded you to her will?

“Poseidon hasn't done much of that either,” she argued back, and anyone could see she was hiding a smile beneath her frown.

Elayn let her ears pick up the conversation as it went on, without focusing on it wholly, so that she also heard the sounds of the forest around them. It was because of that passive perception that when the few birds that sang at night went quiet. It was the only warning the party received before the bushes exploded, and a heavy weight bore Elayn to the ground while claws ripped into her back.

“Elayn! Get off of her!” Serana shouted, and the beast above her yelped as it was hit by necromantic energy and went flying.

Her back on fire beneath her now-shredded clothes, Elayn shoved herself up in time to see the beast gather itself. It's eyes opened as it stood, and she got a good look at wild silver eyes and a familiar, furry shape before it was racing at them again, teeth bared.

Elayn acted without thinking. She rushed to put herself between the wolf and Serana. Hunched forward, eyes wide and teeth showing, she brought a snarling sound from the depths of her chest and turned it into a bellow that shook the leaves of the trees around them.

It was all over as soon as it had begun. The wolf skidded to a halt and turned tail at the sound of Elayn's fury. When it was gone, Elayn stood, and spat contempt in the direction it fled.

“What on earth? That was no ordinary wolf,” Serana said, sound shaky but sharp, which was fair given how sudden the attack had been.

“No, it wasn't,” she said, peering through the trees as though she might catch a glance of the creature that attacked them. “That was a werewolf.”

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"Are you sure?” Elayn asked for the sixth time, pacing while Serana readied herself to sleep the day away in an inn they had found in a town not too far from where they were attacked. Certainly not far enough for the approach of dawn to be much of a threat. It also meant the town they were in might be well within the territory of the wolf who had attacked them.

“Yes,” Serana repeated, hiding what little exasperation she felt. Or, she tried, only to get a frown from Elayn. “I've told you enough times, luv,” she said, smiling to ease the sting in her words. “If you want to stick around and investigate, I won't argue with you.”