Man is not a man, but a wolf to those he does not know.

Plautus

The Gargantuan Highlands were home to hundreds of abandoned villages and homes long forgotten to the people today. The only ones who often tredded through the ruins and graveyards were the wolves and one lone woman. They were the only ones brave enough to venture so close to anything human like despite the town of Luvez so close by to where many of the mountains creatures called home.

The wolves and the woman kept their distance from each other as each proved a well matched opponent to the other in a fight. The woman, who the animals called Lilth, spent her days searching the ruined villages for anything that she could use to make living easier for her. She didn't live with her own kind in Luvez full of luxurious and peace. She felt as if she didn't belong there anymore after being left in the mountains when she was a little girl. Instead, she made a home in an abandoned hunting shack over-looking Luvez and its many lights, smells, and sounds. Where she made her home also allowed her to track the paths that the wolves took to and from their hunting grounds. Despite the fact that Lilth could take on a wolf and most likely win, it would be a battle that would leave her weak and vulnerable for days on end and even then it was unlikely that she would only go up against one wolf.u

But none of that bothered her right now. Now she was wondering through an old building that was most standing. Her footsteps stirred up the thick dust from the cobble floor as she looking up to a large painting of a man hanging above the grand fireplace. The man had gray hair and wore a stern look on his face. Beside him stood a dog, no, a wolf with the same look in his eyes as the man had. They both stood tall and proud as if watching over the whole building to keep it safe. Lilth continued on and climbed up the robbing stairs to an office area of sorts. The air here was thick with dust so she pulled up her scarf to cover her month and nose as she looking around at the stuffed animals with their glassy eyes and still, hard bodies. She saw many animals, from birds and deer to cougars and wolves. Each of them had their teeth pulled back into a snarl or a hiss as if ready to attack, but only stood there still as stone and as silent as the wind. Lilth crossed over to look at the desk and found it littered with papers and leather bond books. She carefully picked each one up and flipped through the pages. She stood still for a moment as she heard the faint howl of approach wolves and cursed to herself. She quickly stuffed the books and papers into her rucksack. She didn't even think when she shoved a golden disk into her bag and took off back down towards the stairs; straight into the wolves.

"What's the rush?" the leader, Zy, growled at her but kept his head high. Four other wolves stood behind him and two others cut off her escape.

"We know how well we get along Zy," she said sternly showing no fear to small piece of the wolf pack, "Just let pass and we can leave with out a fight,"

"You? Fight against us?!" a younger wolf called Vuk barked out and snarled at her, "She's just a weak two leg, what harm can she do us?!"

"If I had known you were training pups this time of year Zy I would have brought a house warming gift," she snarled and dipped her body low to the ground to challenge to young male. The younger snarled back and snapped his jaws towards her as a warning.

"Vuk!" the pack leader barked and trotted up beside him, "We do not attack without an order!"

"We could take her now and be rid of this!" Vuk snapped towards his leader as Lilth relaxed only a little. Zy snarled back and stepped in front of the younger.

"Know your place!" he growled, "or I will remind you why you stand at the bottom of the pack begging for scraps every night," the younger growled towards him for a moment before stalking out the door. Zy watched him walk away before turning his attention back to Lilth.

"What are you doing down here, Lilth?" he asked calmly sitting in front of her, "You know if any of the others see you they won't be so kind with conversation,"

"You know how I like to explore," she said and eased up from her stance, "And besides, you've already picked this place clean three weeks ago. There shouldn't have anything else here you want,"

"Just get out of here," he said stalking back to the small band of wolves, "There's no telling if Vuk will finally be brave enough to ignore a direct order or not,"

Lilth nodded and darted out the building and up the hill towards her home. The sky was turning a deep shade of crimson when she made it back to her cabin. She finally took a moment to catch her breath. Her muscles shook with exhaustion as she sat down on the deer skin cot and pulled out her days scavings. Leather bond books, she sniffed deeply and smelt oak with hints of pine. The leather was from wolf skin. What was with that village and wolves?

"Maybe you should go ask the humans!" a small voice chimed in and crawled out from under the cot. Astraea was the runt of the litter when Lilth found her mother and brother and sisters dead. Lilth took in the pup and she was growing up learning all about the mysteries of the lupus reginae.

"No Astraea," she said and tossed her sack down, "You know I don't work well with them,"

"But there your people aren't they?" she barked and jumped up on the cot and snuggled beside her, "Just like the wolves are mine?"

"It's different than this..." she said softly and crossed the small room to the window over-looking the village. The lights twinkled against the dark forest like the night sky. She hadn't been down to the village in many months, not since she was little but she needed answers if she was ever going to solve this.

She huffed and went to start the fire and cook what little meat she had left for supper. Her and Astraea ate while she hopped and leaped around trying to catch the bugs crawling on the floor. Lilth took slow bites and kept her ears training on the howls from the near by pack of wolves. They were distant and made her long for a different life other than the one she was living now.

Lilth went to sleep long after Astraea. She laid and stared at the distant lights and sounds from the village and made one of the hardest decision she had ever made that night...

AN: This is a little thing I might be working on to the side. The idea has been bugging me for weeks now and I finally got it down and posted it. If this shows enough interest then I'll continue it but I wont update often because I need to finish my other story first :)