The Wolf of the North

It was mid-August as me and my friends decided to play a game of cards. The air was crisp but comforting in the evening light. Jennifer, The youngest of us, just turning 18 and excited to enter adulthood. All of us friends since high school, and having known each other well. We decided the best place to play would be James' garage, seeing as how his father was likely passed out from the heavy amounts of alcohol he drank every night. We played for hours, Jennifer cuddling up to her boyfriend, Anthony. David, and his girlfriend, Michelle playfully banter on one side of the table. Me and James sitting next to each other. And Steve, our softspoken friend, who was currently kicking all of our asses at cards. James father bursts into the garage, drunk, begins demanding that everybody leaves immediately. James was having none of it that night, and immediately stood up to face his father, telling him to get out of the garage and leave his friends alone. His father responds by pulling a small folding utility knife from his pocket and threatening James with it. "I wouldnt do that" I say from behind, startling him. "And what are you going to do about it. Little man. Think your some sort of tough guy." He turns to face me as James looks to me, half questioning me, half understanding exactly what I'm doing. As he takes a step towards me, knife in hand, I react without thought nor compromise, grabbing his wrist and twisting the blade from it, breaking a few fingers in the process. I feel myself move but the actions are not my own, nor are the words I speak next. "You are a disgraceful, scared little deer" I say. My voice suddenly as thick as mud, my accent changes to something new. "And I am The Wolf of the North. The Great Hunter. The Guardian True. You see laddie. I come to the greatest in the lands, pure of heart and help them in their times of peril. I have come today because of the unjust crime against nature you are willing to commit without even knowing it." I pin him to the wall and grow claws from my fingernails. My eyes flash a golden hue as I allow this... thing... to take over. "You cant do this to me you fucking brat. Im the son of the chief." He retorts in his drunken state, unable to grasp the concept of what he is dealing with. "And how proud dear old daddy must be at his scared, drunken, sad old deer." The words only making him angrier, but my grip is unrelenting as I apply slight pressure on his throat, making it difficult, though not impossible, to breathe. " you can't win this. I'm smarter, faster, stronger, and better than you. You haven't the foggiest idea of whom you deal with, for I am centuries older than your people." The fear in his eyes says everything I need for this altercation to be done, but the spirit continues. " James Jackson Ford the second, son of Navajo Chief James Ford the first. You are the laughing stock of your tribe. Your own father disowned you at sixteen because you refused to follow the laws. You became an alcoholic at nineteen, impregnated a woman twice while intoxicated, and left your children without a father when you were twenty one. You returned to your childrens lives when the youngest was nineteen because you couldn't afford to live anywhere, knowing she would take you in, as she did all those years ago." I say without so much as a blink. He gasps for air before shakedly spitting out the words "what the fuck are you." I do not break eye contact as he smashes a bottle of beer over my head, but instead i smile after he does. "I have told you. I am the Wolf of the North. Your people also had a name for me." I say looking very much less human by the second. "They called me a great demon. Created by the unholy act of cannibalism. They did this because they did not know me. They called me Wendigo. The romans knew of me, calling me Lycan-thrope. One cursed by the wolf's bite. But you, my scared little deer. Can call me your own personal reaper. Should you ever make such a mistake again, I promise it to be your last." I drop him and he falls to his knees. I turn back to my friends as they stare at me in horror, myself reverting back to my human form. It takes me a second to late to realize their eyes have shifted from me to behind me as i feel a shard of glass press into my skin, not quite having the time to pierce me as i turn around and drag my long, sharp claws through the mans throat, killing him instantly. The police show up later and ask us what happened. We all simply reply, "He had too much to drink and thought he could fight a wolf." The police didnt buy it but all the evidence pointed to us telling the truth. That was 10 years ago. I haven't spoken to any of them since that winter, I havent left the woods since then. The wolf still lives inside of me, coming out when i need food, water, or shelter. I haven't had a reason to leave. Hunters assume I am one of them. Wolves smell the kinship we share and assist me, should i need it. Every once in a while i will smell the scent of my friends as they gather on the edge of the woods to have a picnic and play cards. I assume they want to draw me out of the woods. Sometimes i sit, hidden in the woods, and listen as they talk. David and Michelle are still dating, neither one really wanting to wed. Steve found love in his new husband. Jennifer and Anthony are now married with two children, a girl named Hailey, named after Jennifers mother, and a boy named Jason, named after the friend who sacrificed his humanity to protect the ones he cared about.