She couldn't remember her parents at all, or anything of her childhood. It wasn't as if she had gone into a coma or anything. It was just bleak and empty, as if she hadn't had any memories of her younger self at all. In fact, she couldn't even remember anything 7 years old and younger. But all she knew was that the dreams….those dreams she had on certain nights, the ones that were sure to come whether or not she wanted them to, would haunt her sleeping nights. It seemed so real, like a suppressed memory or something; but somehow, as weird as the dreams were, they all seemed so real…
Stacy Crenshaw sat on her dormitory bed, overlooking scattered biology books and her mind kept trying to drift off to other places. She looked up into her bookshelf which had a bunch of stuffed animals on the top, while books of werewolves, vampires and anything mythological swooned the wooden frame. The stuffed animals were all mostly wolves, a few birds, and even a cat. She looked up quickly, tempted to open her book on mind control, when she shook her head and picked up her pencil. It had small dents from her gnawing on it, but it didn't bother her as she chewed the tip of the eraser. She started to write down the formula for meiosis, when she realized that she needed something else. What was missing?
Since Stacy had entered college, though she was only 15, she had tried to work extra hard, for her deceased mother's sake. She was orphaned at birth, she was told, because her parents had died in a plane crash. She had no recollection of anything, and since she only knew what she learned at the age of 10 and up, her memories were fuzz. She coughed and turned the page, seeing if she could get more information. A knock came from the door and she sighed heavily, throwing down her book and fixing her sweatshirt; every one of the college students had gotten a gray sweatshirt emblazoned with the school's name: Jake Blanesworth College, abbreviated JBC. She fixed her sock, which had just slipped off her heel and the door was knocked on loudly.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" she said and she lightly jogged to the door, opening it a crack as it was locked from the top with a draw chain.
"Yo!" came a voice as a gray eye popped through the hole, followed by auburn hair. Stacy stumbled backwards and shut the door, causing the voice to groan in a joking way. Stacy turned and unlocked the door, having her friend pile in. Behind the amber-haired girl came a boy with black hair and black eyes. He solemnly waved and came in through the door, muttering something along the lines of "She's crazy, I swear."
"So, what brings you all to my," Stacy dramatically opened her arms and got into a sexy pose, "wonderful abode?" The auburn hair laughed.
"Pssh, this WAS my abode…you just stole it from me, jerk."
Stacy gave her friend a loathing look and she gently smacked her on the arm.
"Shyin, you're just jealous. Besides, it looks better now, doesn't it?" Stacy asked and Shyin shook her head slowly. Stacy drew her lip and attempted to smack Shyin who laughed and grabbed a pillow to block the hit. The boy just sighed and looked up.
"Shyin, we ARE here for a reason. I gotta study, you know. We all don't have work from the special class."
Shyin threw the pillow this time, abandoning her protection. Though turned around, the boy caught the pillow behind his head as Shyin made a humph noise. He took the pillow, squeezed it and made a "Hun" noise. He tossed it lightly back to Stacy, who caught it out of a reflex, and she dropped it on the bed. Her hair was in two ponytails on the sides of her head, and her blond hair trailed down. Shyin tugged on one and pulled her head down, whispering "We gotta gift for ya."
Stacy looked up and she blinked awkwardly. She had forgotten that today was her birthday; being so busy with the schoolwork assigned left her drained and completely oblivious that she was turning 16. She turned to the boy and he looked up slowly, his black eyes penetrating everything.
"Riku, I-I mean, Talon, why don't you stay a bit longer? I can help you with your quadratic equations if you want." Stacy offered and Talon's lips formed a coy smile.
"Alright, but I just want ice cream; frosting makes me a bit sick." He said and he stepped away from the corner, his sweatshirt strings bouncing on his chest. Shyin squealed and she ran out of the room shouting "I'll be right back." Stacy looked down at the ground and she sighed, shuffling her socked feet on the floor.
Talon looked up and noticed that a band aid was on Stacy's right cheek. She had band aids on different parts of her body every month. She was known for being clumsy, tripping up stairs, falling in gym class, and even falling off her bed in the middle of the night. But this wound was different than a scrape or a bruise. It seemed to be scratches of some sort, like a mouse, but much larger, like a dog?
Talon sat still and listened for a minute. Of course there were no dogs on campus, and they were at least 5 miles from any wildlife refuges. So, why did this all seem to make sense to him? There were no dogs around. There weren't any in the room, he would have heard it scuffle. Talon squinted, to make sure he was seeing alright, even though his vision was 20/20.
"Stacy," he said, pausing to see if he could find the right words. "Did you fall again?" he said, indicating his own cheek. Stacy looked at him curiously, then smiled, pointing to her face. "I woke up with this one. Must be the dang rats again…the size of dogs they are." She said and she poked the bandage to see if it was still on tightly.
"Don't you think it's a bit…odd?" he asked and she blinked.
"No, not really. Well, Ms. Morgan says that they are hiring an exterminator when everyone leaves on Saturday. She says she wanted to wait until everyone was off campus. Those who can't leave have to stay in the library on the West Wing a few feet from this building, you know, so the fumes don't come in here."
Shyin came back in, kicking the door open with one foot and grinning like a madman. She threw the gift and Stacy caught it, but barely, nearly dropping it upon the floor out of surprise. She touched the cheerful silver wrapping, and then the dark blue bow. She looked at Shyin who closed her eyes in a smile, then at Talon, who turned his head away from her.
"Oh, he's just shy; he picked out the ribbon-" her sentence was cut short due to a pillow to the face. She glared at Talon who threw her a look. Shyin followed his gaze, which was at Stacy, and Stacy closed her eyes, waving her hands to tell them to calm down, all the while muttering, "Please don't hurt each other, especially in my room; I hate blood, you know."
Stacy shook the box and heard a thump noise coming from the parcel. It wasn't very heavy; in fact, it had to weight at least half a pound. She looked at them, who both nodded, and when she opened it up, tearing off the paper with a beautiful sound, Shyin took the bow and placed it on Stacy's head. Stacy laughed and continued opening the present. Inside was a black book, with gold lining on the cover, in the shape of ivy leaves and symbols that danced across the front. There was also a wolf stuffed animal, which she took out first and she squeezed it, throwing it lightly on her bed. As she did so, a howling noise issued from the toy and she jumped back in fear, staring at the bed before she heard Shyin laugh.
Talon made her draw her attention to the book, which she looked at. She couldn't read the cover at all; it was in Romanian or something, but Talon translated it for her, saying that the store manager said that it said "Magical Creatures, Where and How They Exist."
She stroked the cover then threw it on the ground and hugged Talon, causing him to stumble out of surprise. He didn't exactly love being touched, but he let it slide this time, and awkwardly pat Stacy on the head, telling her it was no big deal.
"Yeah," she said letting him go, "but I absolutely love the gifts, you guys!" she said, rushing to put the book on her desk, after throwing off all the clutter, and throwing away the trash. She placed it gently and stared for a minute before snatching the wolf plush and placing it on her ever growing stuffed animal collection. Talon just scratched the back of his head and told Stacy that they'd be back on Friday for a party. He was going out of town on Saturday, and he'd be back on Monday. It was a ritual for him to visit his father once a month, whenever he had finished all of his work and was well ahead of his lessons. Shyin saw Talon get up and she hugged Stacy, telling her that they'd be back tomorrow, and that she knew Talon needed to study for his classes, otherwise his teachers would come to every room trying to find him. Of course, this had happened in the past, and every time a teacher entered a room, Talon darted from the room after that one, and into a room several dorms away.
"We'll be back tomorrow okay? I'll actually get the chance to bake you something in culinary class, alright? Huh. Maybe I can make a giant cookie? Yeah! Giant cookies are awesome for birthday cakes, dude. I'll put in chocolate chips, and nuts, and white chocolate chips, and-" she was being dragged out of the room by a disgruntled Talon.
Talon slammed the door and flattened against a wall like a spy, looking over at Shyin for a second. He motioned for her to come into his room and they walked down the hall all the way to room number 224. He stuck his hand in his pocket and shuffled around for the key. He pulled it out quickly and stuck it in the door, turning the knob with a clicking noise and he pushed the door forward. Inside was just a normal room with a bed that had a desk attached to the side, and a computer perched atop that. There was also a rolling chair that had a black t-shirt on it, that was very wrinkly and hanging off the right side. He walked over and picked up the shirt, throwing it into a small basket in the closet and sitting on the chair. Shyin watched as he began to type and she came over to his bed and sat down, a creaking noise issuing from the mattress.
"So, what was the big hurry all of a sudden?" she asked and he shook his head, typing frantically into his database. He pulled a hair from his pocket and she blinked.
"I got this from the pillow I threw at you." she shot him a look, "Sorry, alright? Look. This is one of Stacy's hairs. I found something in her room that I didn't notice before. It's Monday, right? I was gone Saturday, and I know you were out too. But there was something in there. Something that didn't feel quite right; didn't smell quite right." he said and he muttered the S word as the computer froze. He licked his finger and touched the screen, making it flicker and the computer worked normally once more. He typed in Stacy's name, Stacy Crenshaw, and the computer whirred as it looked around for the information on the girl.
"C'mon, you stupid-" he said and a small picture of Stacy popped up, a school picture. She was smiling happily, her eyes closed, and her hair still in the pigtails. However, there was still a bandage on her face, and a small scab was visible. Her mouth, in the smile, was open, and a good view of her white teeth was showing. Talon looked up and he shook his head, then got up from the chair, pacing the room once, his arm covering his mouth, and he sat back down in the chair.
"She's like me." he said and Shying looked looked at him in shock. She stood up, her eyes wavering, and she muttered a "You're kidding, right?"
"No, at first, I thought I was, but, I'm not. I didn't notice it until I entered her room. The cuts...they're all superficial. Self-mutilation. I don't know if she knows it, though. I didn't notice, but they seemed pretty aggressive. Canine like actually. Like a dog did it, but they had to have some pretty sharp claws...see what I mean?" he said and he got up, pacing the room, his hands in his pant pockets.
"So, wait, does SHE know? I mean, she would have to know something like this, right?"
Talon just shook his head, his spiky hair ruffling slightly.
"I don't know. I learned at a very young age, but my great grandfather didn't learn until he was almost 20." he said and he looked at the computer once again, observing it.
"I smelled the scent of blood, that's true, but it was stronger on her hands. See the picture? What's wrong?"
Shying leaned in closer and she looked at Stacy with careful inspections. She squinted for a second and then she backed away.
"Her teeth..." she said and she looked up at Talon who nodded slowly. He turned his black eyes back at the screen and then he logged off the program.
"I didn't notice it before. It must've been right before a full cycle." he said. Shyin blinked up at him and she raised an eyebrow. He sighed and rubbed his forehead in annoyance.
"Uh...every time, right before a full moon, or even after, the lycanthrope's teeth are usually a bit longer and much sharper, but it's usually just the canines. The wisdom teeth and the molars stay put pretty much."
She laughed gently then sat back, flopping against his pillows. He reached for a book as the computer started to shut down.
"So, Stacy's a werewolf too, huh?" Shyin said, throwing a small ball in the air and catching it, then repeating the course.
"Yeah. I don't think she's awoken yet though, you know, like know she is one. But, I think that when she wakes up, I'll ask my 'father' to come and take her away." he said calmly as he flipped through the pages, trying to find a page.
Shyin sat up quickly and glared at Talon as he turned around, feeling her burning stares.
"Not forever, just to show her the basics. We can't have a wild werewolf on campus, dolt. That would be bad. Think about it, Shyin! If Stacy transformed, then students could wake up and find their roommate dead on the floor with no organs or something like that. Or worse, find Stacy lying on the floor in her birthday suit with blood all over her body. Don't you think someone will find that a bit suspicious?"
Shyin looked at the floor and she held in tears. She touched her own teeth, and then covered her mouth with a shaky hand.
"Do you want me to tell her? I might even have to kill her in the end, Talon, and I don't want that. I don't. She's like my own sister. And think about it; where will she go when she finds out? She has no family, no cousins or aunts that she knows of. She'll run from here, and we won't be able to find her. Like last time, with Ma-"
She was stopped by Talon who placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed gently. He had heard footsteps up the hall. He dropped his hand quickly and he shot her a look.
"Listen to me, Shyin. We only get one chance. Marco is gone now, okay? He could be dead, we don't know, but we can't make that mistake with Stacy. So get a grip or we will, okay?" he said and he let her go.
"You never killed me when we found out. Vampires and werewolves can work together, alright? We already learned that." he said and she blinked.
"Can I go to my room now?" she asked, her voice cracking. He looked at her, his fiery eyes cooled and they blinked, shining white in the dying afternoon.
"Shyin." he said as she walked to the door. She opened it and looked back. "Just don't tell her anything, okay? I'm going to do a bit more research and see if everything I said was a lie." he said. She nodded and closed the door with a small creak and Talon sat there for a second. He then collapsed on his bed with the book. He looked at his hand, and then turned to the door, looking at it with his black eyes. The lock slowly turned, and locked the door tight. While this happened, Talon's eyes had turned a bright yellow with a small slit in the middle. He looked at his ball that was on the bed. He used it for target practice for gym meets.
He threw it at the door and sighed angrily, his eyes fading back to midnight.
He stood up and walked to the phone, called his dad and told him everything. He hung up and walked to his wall, smashing his head against it twice before he sat down. He went back to the phone and called Shyin's dormitory.
"Hello?" she said, her voice muffled and shaky. He coughed and spoke urgently.
"Shyin, tonight, I'm going into Gaian form. I'm going to see if I can find anything on Stacy. If she does anything, then I'll know." he heard her agree and he hung up the phone.
"Alright then. Gaian form at 23 activating now."
The room glowed a bright white as the transformation occurred, and the campus was quiet
Chapter 2
Stacy was sitting on her windowsill, trying to finish whatever homework she had. It was just the last sentence of her essay, and she glared at it with dismay. She quickly wrote down something completely idiotic, as she didn't feel like thinking, and she placed the notebook in her bag. She stared at her room, sighing sleepily, and she looked around for something to do. It was only 8:34 at night, and the sky was a midnight black with small blotches of white dappled across the landscape.
She got up and stared to her bookshelf, where the black book with gold lining rested, the one Talon had given her. She pulled it out delicately, then jerked her hand back, as if the book had stung her. She didn't know why she had just done that, but she pulled out the book again, and this time kept it in her hand. She threw it to the bed, and it bounced a bit, being absorbed by the smooth and thick bed blankets.
She flopped down on her bed, and with that she lay down. She opened the book, to the very first hard-covered page and she blinked. There, in a blood-red scrawl, lay her own name, Stacy Crenshaw, and it was emblazoned into the inner cover. She could tell right away that it was Talon who had written it, and he used red ink and a quill pen, the same pen that he used to write most essays. He always kept it on his desk, and he never took it out of his room unless it was a free study day. He would then whip it out, writing profusely under a large willow tree and staring with idle content at his paper.
She smiled, then looked at the next page, the table of contents. It was listed in alphabetical order. She started to open to the next page when she realized something was wrong. There was no copyright date, no 'word of the author'. It was if the book was a counterfeit. She flipped to a random page, and on the page was a picture of a basilisk, a large demonic chicken with a huge thrashing lizard tail. The eyes were yellow slits, like a cat's own eye, and the chicken's beak was soft looking, scaly, with vicious fangs. She stared for a moment, and then remembered her tizzy. She leaned close, and she placed her nose to the page, inhaling deeply. The ink, it seemed, smelled like a library with the after smell of coffee, and, she embarrassedly noticed, Talon's skin.
Sher started the book over. Maybe it was a special edition? She would ask Talon later. In the meantime, she wanted to know more about the Anubis...
Shyin was pacing her room. She was scared to admit it, but, she knew that somehow, Talon was doing the right thing. It was Friday, and the day before a full moon. Everyone but a few people were off having parties, or at the arcade a few miles up the street. They wouldn't be back until Sunday morning. She still had a few drops of worry, followed by a shivering fear. What if seeing Talon in his Gaian form shocked her, and caused her lycanthrope genes to run rampant, forcing her to transform for the first time? She shook off the thought. She looked out the window, waiting for Talon to come by and give her the parcel.
In the meantime she stroked her chest, where, under her shirt, lie a necklace in the shape of a bat. She sighed in frustration and hoped for the best.
"Please don't be an idiot, Talon...you can't screw this up...you can't." she said, and she turned away from the window, staring at a picture of her and her friends. She was smiling on the right side, flashing a peace sign to the camera, winking with one eye. Stacy was in the center, both of her eyes closed in a happy little grin, her arms around the necks of Talon and Stacy. On the right, Talon looked slightly disgruntled; having hating to be touched, he managed to smile a bit anyways, and even though his arms were crossed in a tough manner, her still seemed happy. She couldn't remember that day well, only that Talon was found in the city that night, naked and bleeding in a pile of his own blood. Shyin cringed, staring into his black eyes and just looking at him. She had a specific task that night. She had already been friends with Talon, but she didn't know of his werewolf genes.
She remembered jumping over the rooftops, chasing down a dark grey and beige werewolf, who had a few arrows sticking out from his body. He was still running, panting, and trying to stay in his wolf form. The city had just suffered a blackout, and even though he hadn't attacked anybody, her orders were to kill any creature that ventured around the animal and human combined limits; preferably, a live werewolf would get her a large bag full of gold, and maybe, she thought, a promotion.
She took aim from the rooftops, and with her sniper in hand, she stayed on the floor of the building just several feet away from the werewolf. He had stopped and started to lick his wounds, breathing heavily, and with a large growl, he tore the arrow from his body. For a second, the form started to slip, and the grey fur on the wolf's head turned black, but then returned to a dark grey. Shying blinked, and with deadly precision, she shot the wolf three or four times with silver bullets, the werewolf's worst enemy next to vampires. She heard the werewolf cry, heard him fall in the alley, heard him grunt in pain.
She ran to where she heard him, her metal clad armor making naught a sound as she jumped to the building where the alley was. The alley was quiet, but she sensed another presence. It was another werewolf, a bit bigger, and more muscular than the one she had shot. He stood in front of the injured wolf and he growled towards Shyin. She jumped from the rooftop, and with a growl, she aimed her gun at the wolf's throat. He told her not to do it, in his scratchy, buff-like wolf voice, but she ignored him and shot him in the throat.
The wolf's form melted away into a boy's, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He fell to the ground and Shyin held in a scream. She had shot Marco, her cousin, who had also been going to school with her. She had no idea. The other werewolf looked at the girl and he looked pained.
"Why?" the wolf said and she glared at him, holding back tears, though they welled in her eyes.
"I did what I had to, wolf. I didn't mean to kill my own cousin, but if those were the orders of my Master, then I had no choice but to kill every werewolf in the vicinity. Even you." she said, and she aimed the gun at him once more. The werewolf slowly lowered his head.
"Do it." he said as she lay there, staring at the girl, then at the alley wall. She sat there, her finger twitching on the rapid-fire trigger.
"What are you waiting for? I can't fight back. Do it. Now." he said, and just as she pulled the trigger, the wolf grabbed a trashcan and tipped it sideways. It was empty but it provided him cover for an instant. The trash can keeled backwards, spinning away just inches from the wolf's head.
"So, you would've killed me then? Right before midterms too." the wolf said, and the form melted away to reveal Talon, or Riku at the time. Shyin lowered the gun, the mask covering her face falling to the ground as she stared without blinking. Talon's consciousness melted away and he fell into sleep. The blood that covered his body was good enough shelter, and she needed to cal an ambulance for the both of them. She looked at the boy and she gingerly touched his black hair. It was soft, she noticed, even though it was unkempt and unruly after being matted with blood and dirt. She managed to fumble in her pocket for her cell phone. She dialed 911 and when the female voice answered, she just screamed help, her voice cracking, and hung up her form. She managed to melt away her hunting gear, revealing a girl with auburn hair and gray eyes, a skirt covered in blotches of Talon's and Marco's blood, and tears on her eyes. When she heard the cacophony of the ambulance, she lured them to the alley and managed to flee up a fire escape.
She remembered that Talon wasn't in school for a few days, but when he returned, she didn't even say anything. He knew that it was she who had attacked him, and when everyone asked what happened, he just said he got into a fight with some pit bulls. Marco though. No one knew what happened to Marco. She remembered that talon said he had escaped somewhere, but he didn't know where. He managed to mask his scent using urinary glands that are familiar to the Canis Lupis species.
She was shaken out of her trance when she heard a gunshot followed by a yelp. She looked out the window, saw a flash of white, and the campus was silent again. She knew that that wasn't Talon, but somewhere in her heart there was a slight possibility.
"Gaian form, at 23 activating now." Talon said, and he focused with all of his might. He wanted to look wolfish, but human at the same time in case someone looked out there window. If they saw a boy with a muzzle and a tail, they would freak, but he would wear his hoody to cover his face. The change didn't occur immediately. The senses, the smelling, the hearing, and the seeing; that occurred first off the bat. Talon stumbled to his windows, closing them, and the curtains. He would open them when the change was complete. He needn't worry about friends coming; they were all gone. Every boy on campus was gone but him, and some teachers. He breathed hard, and then continued the transformation.
The thing he noticed first was that his hair had started to lengthen, but not by much. The small spikes on his neck grew out, but his black bangs started first. They went from a few inches to a foot or so, and the black became a mild midnight. His eyes went from black to a blueish color, almost a violet, until they lightened up. He noticed that his nails weren't growing, but sharpening, like a cats. The sweatshirt started to feel a bit tight, but he focused, and the fur on his back started to diminish, becoming nothing but a vertebrae out dent once more. He needed to change his appearance, but keep his voice. He felt his toenails become symmetrical to his fingernails, and he whined in pain. The transformation was burning him up, and he knew why: tomorrow was a full moon, and the cycle of today's moon was affecting him.
He stared at himself in his mirror, a long, lengthy rectangle that stuck to the floor, and almost touched to ceiling. He didn't like looking at himself, but he needed to make sure he wasn't pushing it too far. He bared his teeth in pain, and then felt his gums itch. The canines he had were growing out and out, but he couldn't stop it. The teeth he had, the blunt, square-like teeth were becoming sharper, longer, and he had to let it happen.
At once, he stopped the transformation. He breathed deeply a few times. He had never done this form that quickly, nor with that much attention to the details. He couldn't fail Marco again. And he was doing this for someone he cared about once more...
Shyin looked out the window, her head resting on an arm, while the other one dangled off the window sill. She was jolted upright by her vampiric senses, which shook her attention. She looked behind her, into her room, and saw nothing. When she turned around again, she felt something brush against her back. She quickly swung around, punching the nearest thing...
...which happened to be Talon. He caught her hand deftly, and looked her in the eyes with no emotion. His hand was larger than hers, wider as well, and it snugly fir over her hand like a glove. Her eyes went wide, and her let her hand go gently.
"Be careful, or you'll kill someone." he said, and she blinked, grasping her chest.
"Well, then don't sneak up on me like that!" she said, and she turned out the window, her arms cradling her head, sulking.
"I had to make sure my sense were acute. You can understand I'm sure, Ms. Vampire. Besides, you nearly caught me off guard myself. If I hadn't heard you moving, heard your heart beat rapidly, I wouldn't have suspected an assault from the front." he said, his clawed hands flopping to his side.
"Are you going to her like that?" she asked, curious about how he'd get into her room."
"No, idiot. I'm going outside her window, scare her a bit, make her see the truth. If she doesn't by tonight, then tomorrow she might...Look, I'll be swift. Do you still have your radio transmitter? I can place that on the inside of my sweatshirt, and you can contact me and listen via broadcast. It'll be simple." he said and she stared at him.
"Fiiiiiiiine, you do what you want." she said, shuffling through her drawers. She found a small black dot, which would have looked like a small dot of dirt, except that it had a small green blob in the center, which wasn't noticeable when it was on. She handed it to him, then placed a small microphone on her shirt collar.
"I'll turn it down low, and listen inside my closet. I can give you advice, but you have to follow it very careful, okay Talon?" she said and he nodded.
"I don't know how long I can maintain this form...when I started to change I felt..." he said, but then he shook it away. "I'll be careful, alright?" he said, and with a small wave, he leaped from the window.
"Be careful stupid. If you screw this up, then you screw your life up." she said, and she saw him look back, saw his glowing blue eyes squint in anger. Then she saw him dash off towards Stacy's room.