My skin itched fiercely and I wondered if I could hold the change off for one more hour. The twitching spine under my skin and the radiating burn that sent me down on my hands and knees told me otherwise. I groaned.
"Rose?", A light voice full of concern spoke from the kitchen of our apartment. The sweetness in it, like a mother's tone, could only belong to my best friend, and protectee, Lissa. We had been living here for at least six months after replying to an ad for roommates on Craigslist. Our roommate, Jeremy, was a student of at the loca university and was usually out at his night classes around this time. He also worked at the Walmart in town most of the day, so we rarely saw him ever. That was good. I knew the wolves in both of us were famished whenever he was in the room. If only he knew that he was living with two werewolves, I thought. We had been careful to keep our canine tendencies out of his sight. Our usually large meals that consisted entirely of meat (as a varcolac, Lissa could only eat meat) were eaten in secret so he couldnt question why two teenage girls could eat a dinner big enough to feed half of Africa. Our changes were made in the woods behind our apartment building when he was at school or working the night shift.
Another spasm ravaged my body as I struggled to put on my pants. The T.V in our room played re-runs of the simpsons and I had been relaxing on my bed in my pyjamas, tired after a long day of work at the local bar. I worked as a waitress and tended the bar for extra tips. It was an alright job, despite the lustful eyes I got from some of the older male customers, and it was off the books.
Lissa opened the door, seeing me leaning against the bed, my clawed hand grasping the mattress for support. She ran to my side. "Why didnt you say something!", Irritation was heavy in her voice. "I knew you needed to change, I felt it in you, but you kept passing it off."
The feeling she was referring was the weird, psychic bond that had formed when her parents and brother were killed in a car wreak almost two years ago. Lissa and I had been in the car when it happened but miraculously survived the crash. But since then, we have been able to feel each others emotions, and sometimes even see things from the others eyes. But we refrained from doing that part as much as we could, especially when one of us had to use the bathroom.
"I had to, I needed to make sure we were safe", I replied angry.
Lissa shook her head with a frown. "Your paranoid. Besides, you shouldnt fight whats natural. Its not healthy."
She was right. As always. I shouldnt have procrastinated against my changes, I knew that, but the last couple of weeks I had been worried. We had been living here for so long but had not encountered any guardians. It was strange. Before we got to town, we had narrowly escaped at least three separate groups of Guardians ordered to ship us back to the Academy. Since moving into the apartment, there hasnt been any since. And that was concerning. So I had put off my changes to walk the town and keep an eye out for any strangers, smell around for a particular scent. Not to mention I had been working so much lately I hadnt really thought about it. Now I was paying the price.
My clothes were beginning to feel tight around my body and my skin was on fire. Sweat dripped from my face and dampened my purple tank top and jeans.
"We need to get you outside", Lissa said, pulling me up. Her tiny frame held me carefully and I could smell the scent of strawberry shampoo that lingered in her blonde curls. It made my nose wrinkle how strong the scent was. The change made every sense amplified, even more so then my already heightened senses in human form.
Opening the door, she pulled me outside and I struggled to walk down the long hallway to the elevator.
"Ok, almost there", She whispered consolingly to me. Once we were in the elevator, I let out a deep, anguished moan and dipped my head, hugging my body tightly.
"See. You should have listened to me."
"You can shut up Lissa, I already know I should have. It just so happens I rarely listen to anyone," I said through clench teeth.
She sighed, her green eyes falling to the linoleum flooring. "Im sorry, I just- Im mad at myself. You've been so busy making sure we're safe and Ive been doing noth-"
"Lissa", I interrupted her. "Im your guardian, its my job and Im fine with doing it. Plus I cant have you roaming around town when they want you the most, not to mention all the possible rogues lurking in town."
Rogues were Varcolac who had succumbed to their ravenous nature by killing and eating humans. It was forbidden to kill humans and varcolacs only hunted animals to keep their hunger at bay. Varcolacs who killed and ate human beings were sick and demented. They almost always were stuck in wolf form and rarely lived as humans. Most lived in wooded areas like the town we lived in, but some even preferred the city, where there was a higher population for them to decrease. The Rogues were our enemies and I stuttered in horror at the mention of them, remembering the videos we would watch in class at the cademy of Rogue wolves who were stuck in wolf form. Their hair at been matted and patchy and the eyes had been a bloodshot read. The pained whimpers of the wolves and the savage hissing were sounds that were burned into my brain. I had been only eight years old when they had shown that to my class.
Finally, we reached the ground floor and Lissa helped me move through the lobby quickly. I felt prickles in my feet, similar to needles stabbing the flesh, and felt my toes bending out of shape. Pretty soon, I wouldnt be able to walk. I needed to hurry.
Outside, a full moon loomed over us in the navy blue sky. I wanted to laugh. How appropriate. Of course the whole myth was bullshit. While it was part of Varcolac ritual to change during a full moon in respect to the goddess, in reality we could change whenever we want and whenever we felt the need. It was healthy to change at least one every week but Jumalac (my species) could refrain from changing longer than Varcolac. However, if we waited to long to change, our bodies took over and biology forced a change to occur.
The cold air cooled my hot skin, but failed to sooth the burning sensation. We continued towards the woods behind the apartment, which were dark and tranquil. Crickets chirped loudly in my ear as I collapsed behind a bush, my body weak. Lissa stood a ways away, patiently waiting. I finally let go and allowed the change to progress.
Jumalac change differently than Varcolac. Because of the magic in Varcolac bodies, the transformation is much more smoother and comfortable. Since Jumalac were offspring of Varcolac and humans, we possessed no magic. That meant our changes were close to unbearable. I was taught to embrace the change, that the pain was a symbol of strength amongst the Jumalac. A reminder of our job as fearless protectors who demoted pain to nothing more than the job requirement. I cant imagine any guardian still believing in that symbolism when there skin was splitting and every bone in their body was being broken.
The change began quickly. My spine snapped upward as I let out a whimpering moan, feeling the vertebrates scratch against the small of my back like a snake. The stitching of my clothing cracked and began to split as my body grew in size. I struggled to breath when my rib cage began to reform and press against my skin.
My shirt finally ripped down the middle from the pressure of my bulging body and a long sigh escaped my lips as my lungs filled back up with oxygen. Shred of fabric from my tank top fell from my mutating, hairy body as I felt the stitching of my pants begin to split.
Groaning in pain, my face cringed as the joints and hamstrings of my legs elongated and my skin stretched. I exclaimed in pain as the knees cracked, sending a tender pain shooting through my nerves. My pants fell to shreds from my body and a long tail elongated from my lower back, swinging in the wind.
Up until this point, the pain was slightly manageble for me. I had been changing since I was eleven so I was slightly used to the feeling. But no matted how many years I had been doing it, the last part of it was always unbearable.
A animalistic howl rang from my mouth as all my teeth sharpened and split my gums. I tasted metallic sweetness on my tougne and felt my animal side sing in pleasure, hungry for the hunt. My ears sharpened into points. The skin on my face tightened against my skull as the bones stretched out painfully into a snout. Then, it was finally over and I was a wolf.
I rested for a moment on the ground, stretching my new body, feeling the strong muscles in my arms and legs. Electricity moved through me, the need to hunt overpowering me. Lissas heartbeat boomed in my ears as they twitched. But then I caught the heartbeat of someone else.
"Rose!", Lissas frightened voice exclaimed.
Suddenly, a wolf with black fur lunged from the bushes and pushed me to the ground. The large body pinned me to the ground for a moment until I retaliated by sinking my fangs into the wolfs shoulder. Hardly a whine rang from the opposing wolf as he snapped back at me and released himself from my grasp. We both pulled back from one another and stood our ground. I locked eyes with my opponent, their blood sweet in my mouth, as I growled a warning. The wolfs eyes were golden, like mine in wolf form. It was a guardian.
It looked to be a male, judging by the size of his paws and how much he towered over me. I didnt care about how big he was. I could take him if it meant keeping Lissa safe.
However, I questioned my plan to attack when a series of heartbeats caught my ear and several large wolves emerged from the trees around us. I circled around, meeting each of their fierce golden eyes. They all growled in warning and some even looked eager to take a bite out of me. Part of me wanted to fight them all off, run with Lissa to the parking lot and have her steal a car. But I was up against several guardians in wolf form. They would rip me to shreds when I wasnt looking.
I huffed and lowered my head as a sign of defeat. Lissa watched quietly as the larger wolf who stood in front of me began to change forms. The cracking of bones and squishing of muscles filled the night air and it scared me how much the guardian didnt cry out or whine during the process. He was a real fierceless guardian, and in human form, he looked the part.
A man with a large build of muscles stood in front of me, naked. I adverted my eyes, despite finding his body very attractive. But to look mesmerizingly at his body was to show even more weakness. His long black hair was a curtain around his face and his features looked very foreign, almost european. I was proven right when he spoke with a russian accent.
"Rosemarie Hathaway, my name is Dimitri Belikov. I am here to bring you and Princess Vasilisa back to St. Lachlan's Academy."