Prologue. Chop and Change

"She found no love, in this town, so she'd never mess around"
-The Black Keys, "Chop and Change"

New moon nights were always the hardest for her. With no moonlight, she felt weak, vulnerable, and deserted. Hm…she guessed it fit. The city before her seemed to be the same way. Though crawling with thugs and other minor and, to her, insect like criminals none touched her. Some dared to even look at her. She growled at them when they did, at least when she caught them staring, baring her long, sharp, canine fangs. But for the most part, she was ignored or no one seemed to care about this newcomer.

Invisibility…just what she liked. Ever since being bitten, she was happy to be invisible. She was somewhat glad she was no longer like them, like blind sheep wandering into a wolf's territory. No. With this new life, she was the wolf.

Her name, ironically enough, was Canis. At least that's what she called herself now. Canis Lupa was the name she took after being marked. She wore mostly dark colored clothing, anything black or earth toned suited perfect with her. Tonight she chose a simple pair of tight fitting black jeans with chains attached from one belt loop to the next to go with a dark green sleeveless shirt and a chain with a small dream catcher around her neck. She wore leather, black fingerless gloves and her nails were painted a gunmetal color. With this outfit, she wore large steel toed combat boots. Her pale skin had a silvery gray tinge to it, but as it was a new moon, it hardly showed. Her hair was long, even in a low set ponytail, and seemed to change color based on the lighting. It was normally black, but tonight, like on all new moon nights, it was back to its human shade of chocolate. Her eyes retained their canine sharpness, never missing a thing, but tonight kept a human shade of cerulean blue.

Only a few days…a week or two at the most. She'd need to hunt for the time being. And hunt she would. Human Canis may have looked, but she still had all of her key heightened senses and amazing stamina. Everything smelled putrid…horrid, not fitting for a wolf. Not that it mattered, she didn't eat humans. She did once…but that was when she first shifted after being marked. Rats would have to do it for now. In a solitary alley, she hunted and appeased her hunger, gaining some of her strength back. It wasn't the best food, but it beat going hungry until the moon showed itself. Hopefully she'd be long gone before then. But for now, she didn't have the option of being picky. Food was food. As long as it wasn't a human, she was perfectly okay with it.

Canis swore off humans. One they didn't taste very well and didn't have a lot of meat on them. Also, she knew that every life, whether great or terrible, had value and who was she to pick them off? In a way, humanity was its own food web. The wrong doers and good people often changed roles, from wolf to sheep and vice versa. Sometimes the wrong fed and the good suffered. Other times the wrong suffered and the good fed. It was the cycle of life and had been since the dawn of time. No creature understood that like she did. She figured it wasn't her place to interfere with it, so she stuck with animals as her primary prey, only attacking humans in self defense, and usually avoiding confrontations with them if possible. But she had a feeling in this town, she may not have a choice. Oh well, more experience to her.

Canis wanted to be left alone. She never sought trouble, just two things. One: To hunt down the one who made her this way and two: to find her own special place; to find her own little paradise. So far, neither had happened. She wandered too much, always hunting, never resting. Tirelessly she hunted, managing from one month to the next. Canis wasn't one to give up, even when she was human. She wanted to be human again. It wasn't that she despised being a werewolf, she just missed humanity. She was tired of living for both herself and the beast inside her. She was tired of being alone and being unable to trust anyone. Canis just missed having that closeness with someone, that ability to trust. The only way to do that was to kill the one who turned her.

She was a werewolf. She was one of, if not the strongest creature on the planet as well as one of the most feared in legend. But yet she herself was full of fears. She never got close enough to anyone to reveal what she was. Canis knew how humans were. They feared what they didn't understand and it was impossible for a human to fully understand a werewolf's way of thinking and how they were. Not to mention the beast within her wouldn't allow closeness with humans. No human was worthy of it. The wolf inside saw herself as superior, and maybe she was. Canis didn't dare to venture into her mind though.

As she fed, footsteps caught her attention. The wolf's ear twitched at the sound. One..two…three humans. All smelling terribly, alcohol. Snarling, she moved to the shadows, trying to stay away from them. But when they turned to her alley, it didn't help. Without much thought, Canis ran, making her way out of the alley but it didn't go undetected. The drunkards had turned and followed her. At first she did what every somewhat normal person would do and ignored them. But as things went on, they dared to get closer and even taunt her. The wolf was getting aggravated. Humans had no place compared to her. Finally, Canis let herself fall away and the wolf took over.

It wasn't a full moon so she couldn't turn, but she was still able to grow some of her wolf's weapons: Her fangs and claws, weapons she used gladly. One of them she bit in the throat, busting a blood vessel and so he bled out. Another she clawed and bit his practically unprotected torso. The last one was a little harder to deal with, as he had a weapon: a shot gun. Snarling she leaped as he shot, dodging a few of the bullets. She jumped upwards and then let gravity take over. Canis fell right on top of the guy, giving his weapon wielding hand a hard, flesh piercing bite. Mercilessly, the wolf bit down on the man's neck and he also bled out.

She wasn't sure when the bullet had hit her, but suddenly felt a sharp sting in her ankle. He'd shot and hit her right there. Canis didn't feel the powerful sting/itch effect of silver, so maybe she'd gotten lucky. Leaning against a nearby wall, she removed her boot and sock and inspected the wound. To her slight relief it was already healing, the wolf's venom taking its course through the wound, reattaching everything and closing the hole. The bullet had gone clean through. Hm…she was surprised she hadn't felt it, as wounds like that were extremely painful. But tonight, it was only an irritant. It would heal in a few minutes, maybe an hour at the most. Canis slipped her sock and boot back on and continued on her way, leaving the three drunks bleeding and dead behind her…