In the sky, the face of the moon looked dull. Victor, in his room given by Dvorak, felt very hot and restless. He had been feeling this way all day and wondered why. He had spent four days at Dvorak's place, helping fix his truck and loading hay bales. Victor worked in the hay barn all morning, feeling uneasy. He thought it was from the hard work and the goddamned heat, but lying on his bed, he sensed something was about to happen that night, though he couldn't figure out what. But he could feel it.
All of a sudden, he felt a dry perch in his throat. A drink! Yes, a drink! Something strong and hard to calm down all this madness. He stood up from the bed, stretched fully and walked towards the room door……his thoughts guiding him solely to only one place - Dvorak’s liquor cabinet. He went out of the room and strolled into the living room. It was pitch black. Dvorak’s wife and kids (since Dvorak had not returned from his trip) had already turned in for the night. Victor, using his wolf’s super vision, made his way to the liquor cabinet easy.
As he lifted his hand to pick a liquor bottle from the rolls of bottle on the shelf, a sharp, gut ripping pain, knifed him in the chest and went through his body in a blinding tremor. The hand that he had raised to grip the liquor bottle, went to his chest reflexively and he gripped it and winced. What’s happening? What the hell is going on?. He thought he was having a heart attack. Another blinding, body-wrecking pain shot through his body and that moment, his legs felt like rubber sticks and they could not support him.
Wincing hard, Victor went down on both his hands and knees.
Cold sweats broke out on his body and he could feel it rolling off him. His heart was hammering powerfully against his chest and different sounds were ringing in his ears. He could feel his blood moving through his body like a ghost moving through an empty house. Erratic, colorful images began to flash across his eyes and his head began to swim, and then pound vigorously. Right now, he wasn’t even breathing normally……….he was heaving……..his chest rising and falling fast and hard.
There was this strange feeling of tremendous euphoria surging through his veins and though it was bizarre, he kind of liked it…wanted it….…. his body was actually welcoming it.
Suddenly, the room had become intensely hot. At that moment, all Victor wanted was to get the hell out of the house. He needed to!
Surmising every ounce of power he had in him, the muscles of his thighs and legs fluttering, he wobbled to his feet and in a blinding daze, headed towards the front door. With shaking, sweat soaked hands, he turned the key in the lock and stumbled outside the house.
The night was full of heat and airless. Victor , trembling violently, lifted his sweat- stricken face to the sky. The moon, just about that time, slipped out from behind the fluffy cloud.
It was white and fat.
And at that moment, he understood where all this craziness had originated from. It was the night of the full moon. The moon, beautiful, tumescent rays hits him hard on his face. He screamed……..an ear-ripping off one. The scream rolled around the dark, silent night. The scream was bound to come anyways. He had wanted to vent out all those pains that had bottled inside of him while he was inside the house.
A sudden surge of inexplicable energy surged through him, driving him to run wildly. Through the deserted, brightly lit streets, he sprinted, hair flying, eyes blazing, heart thundering in his chest. As he ran, his teeth clenched, ears flattened, tongue lolling, and his nails transformed into sharp claws. His boots burst, making room for his expanding, wolf-like feet. Clothes tore away in tatters, filling the night with a cacophony of ripping sounds.
He was running across the streets now like a mad dog who had been set on fire. His one thought was to get to the nearest woods. He headed towards the direction. His feet glided easily on the hard floor of the streets and to him, he felt as if was actually flying. By the time he got into the woods, he had already turned into a full-blown werewolf.
The white light of the full moon fell on his shaggy fur in a shining silver streak. And he continued to run, his body massive and vicious. He raced across the wet undergrowths, running into big trees and bushes. Splinters of branches and sticks flew around him as he smashed through the woods and plants with his monstrous body.
He leaped onto a tree, chested out his massive hairy chest, raised his furry head, and a cold cloud of breath wisp out of his snout as he let out an ear-piercing growl that rolled around the woods.
Somewhere in the woods, the sound of a wolf howled back. Victor , full beast now, cocked his ears towards the sound, and leaping from branches to branches, he began to run towards the direction where the sound had come from. An exhilarating feeling of energy was gushing through him and he felt more alive than ever.
When he got to a part of the bush, he stopped abruptly, panting, his burning red eyes scanning the thick woods. Then he saw a pack of wolves: they were six altogether. Their eyes: green eyes set slant wise, glinted at him in the terrifying darkness.
They regarded each other for a long moment; human-beast versus animal. Victor bared his teeth and snarled. Frightened, the wolves cowered back. Then they retorted, baring their teeth in savage, belligerent grins at the monstrosity which was right in front of them.
Victor contorted his face, hard and tight, then he brazenly howled at the wolves. Terrified now, the wolves let out a mournful howl and they all scampered into the thick woods. Victor, breathing heavily, felt the vigorous energy he had felt earlier seeping away from him. Instinctively, he raised his head to the sky. The moon had turned to a dull white ball. Its rays are fading away faintly.
He let out another howl this time but it wasn’t as powerful as the other ones. He began to run through the woods, but his energy had dwindled to a low ebb.
All of a sudden he stopped running. He began to walk, taking one massive step at a time. His movement slowed, then it turned to a crawl, and moments later, he was lying slouched out on the undergrowth. The thick furry hairs on his body began to disappear rapidly into him. His ears, nose and snout relaxed into their normal shape and the thick sharp claws of his hands and feet pulled in into human nails.
Lying on the ground, he breathed slowly, feeling the cold sweats gradually fade away. After a few minutes, he felt better. Propping himself against a tree, he realized he was completely naked. Laughing to himself, he thought about his situation. Then he heard a faint sound. His instinct for danger kicked in, and he listened intently. He could hear footfalls now. Despite the damp undergrowth muffling the footfalls, his werewolf senses heightened the sounds as if the intruder was nearby.
Victor was curious. But he was not afraid. Though he knew he ought to be, lying naked on the ground like that, and with nothing to protect himself. He sniffed the air and grunted. The intruder was harmless. There was nothing to be worried about. So he relaxed against the tree comfortably, and awaited his unwarranted guest.
Few seconds later, out of the shadows of the woods, a tall and well built girl stepped out. She stopped in her tracks when she saw him. Standing some ten meters away from him, she ran her eyes interestingly over his body just the way a cattle owner would look at one of his cattle’s for signs of wounds or illness. Satisfied, her lips curve into a smile.
“Are you alright?” Her voice was soft and sultry. “You look like you could use some clothes.” her green eyes jeered at him and he could see she was amused……greatly amused by what she was seeing. She wasn’t terrified. And that seems to throw him off a bit.
Victor swallowed hard. Truth be told, he was startled by her sudden appearance. The eerie light of moon flashed on her face and he felt a rush of blood through him. The girl had thick, blonde hair, green alive eyes and a mouth like a slashed red fruit. She was wearing hunting outfits and it fitted her shape nicely. An overwhelming sensuality oozed from her. She was disturbing-looking.
He remained motionless, his eyes watching her closely. He wasn’t even bothered about his nakedness. He was more worried about the kind of force that had propelled this girl to him. Seeing he wasn’t going to say anything, the girl moved closer to him, her eyes filled with amusement and unnerving confidence. Yes confidence, he could see that in her.
When she got a few meters away from where he lay, she crouched down. “I’m Marianna Davenport. My family owned this part of the woods.” And she lowered her eyes to his groin areas, moistened her lips with her small tongue and lifted her eyes back to his face and in that darkness that enveloped them, he could see those green jaded eyes glinting with lust, and shameless desire for him.