Family Ties

Prologue

Rebecca Dawnson tossed her ginger hair back from her face. The wind blew through the park, making the dead dry leaves blow around her. She shivered and pulled her jacket tighter around her lanky body. She was in a hurry to get home. She'd been partying at a club with her friends but a frantic call from her mother telling her to come home had forced her to leave her friends and walk home, alone. A twig cracked loudly and Rebecca jumped. She looked around in worry, a faint crease appearing between her eyebrows. Something ran across the path ahead of her loudly. Rebecca yelped in fear and surprise. She quickened her step, breaking into a hurried trot. Something behind her also picked up speed. Losing her head completely to the fear, Rebecca ran for it. Loud footsteps behind her followed and a blast of hot breath blew against her neck. Rebecca shrieked and tried in desperation to outrun her pursuer. The footsteps behind her stopped suddenly and Rebecca turned her head back to look over her shoulder. A sudden jerk on her ankle made Rebecca shriek again as she heavily sprawled on the ground, she'd tripped over an up-raised tree root. Her chest heaved and sweat trickled down her face as she sobbed for breath. She twisted around frantically trying to see who or what had been following her. There was nothing there. She sighed with relief and clambered to her feet when suddenly, something tackled her from behind the tree. Rebecca uttered a blood-curdling scream and shut her eyes tightly, feeling that her end was near. She expected to feel her flesh be cut to ribbons by monstrous claws or have her skull crushed by the goliath, snapping maw of a monster but instead all she heard was a masculine chuckle.

"Do you always scare this easily?"

Rebecca opened her eyes and glared at her boyfriend. "Jesus Christ, Conrad! You scared me to death!"

Conrad snickered, "My bad," he replied in a singsong voice. He rolled off the top of Rebecca and pulled her to her feet. He laughed as she dusted herself off, still glaring at him murderously.

"I hate you!" Rebecca snapped at him. She was infuriated when Conrad laughed harder still.

Conrad sauntered over to Rebecca and, taking a hold of her waist, swung her around in a circle. He pulled her against him and kissed her passionately. Rebecca kissed him back and when they finally broke apart she was smiling. "I guess it was pretty funny," she admitted.

"Hell yeah it was," Conrad chuckled. "It was as though you thought you were being hunted or something."

Rebecca smiled and laid her head against her boyfriend's muscular chest then she looked into his mischievous chestnut eyes and, playing with his curly black hair sighed softly. "What a beautiful night. Just us alone together in the park, its quiet and a gorgeous full moon shining down on us."

Conrad murmured in agreement and kissed Rebecca again. Then laughing the two teens dashed around the park, chasing each other. "Find me if you can!" Conrad shouted, hidden somewhere in the park. Rebecca sighed and rolled her eyes, a bright smile lit up the night. She walked around the park, investigating in every crook and nanny she could find.

Conrad watched her from his hiding place in the jungle gym. The light of the full moon made Rebecca's beautiful ginger hair gleam. He stifled his laughter as she tried time and again to find him, then she disappeared from view. Conrad shifted his position, trying in vain to see where his girlfriend had vanished. Something grabbed him from behind and Conrad let out a feminine sounding cry. He twisted around and saw Rebecca doubled up with laughter, her long hair falling over her face. Conrad freed himself and tackled her to the ground. He held her wrists on either side of her face even as she cried with laughter. "Shut up!" he said with a ghost of a smile on his mouth.

"I have never, not in my entire life, heard a guy squeal like such a puss!" Rebecca gasped, tears of laughter still gleaming in her blue eyes. Conrad grinned and kissed her.

"Yeah, well it was a lucky break," he said.

Rebecca grinned, "Doubt it. But I did get you back so we're even now." She returned his kiss hungrily. Conrad, still holding Rebecca's wrists on either side of her head pressed his body tighter against his girlfriend's. The two lovers kissed passionately when a sudden loud crack filled the air like the blast of a shotgun. Rebecca gasped and sat up, forcing Conrad to let go of her and tumble off. He frowned at her resentfully but smiled when he saw the fearful look on her face.

"Relax," he told her, "Its probably nothing."

"Maybe we should go," Rebecca replied worriedly.

Conrad frowned and shook his head, "Nah. I'll go check it out," he told his worried girlfriend. He confidently strode out of sight, into a clump of dense bushes from where the sound had come from.

He looked around, brushing low hanging bushes out his way. The moonlight filtered through a gap in the bushes and Conrad saw tracks in the dirt. He crouched down to examine them and his eyes widened in amazement. Huge paw prints, the size of hubcaps was stamped clearly in the dirt. A musky smell, like overbearing fur, also filled the air and Conrad gagged for a moment. He pulled out his camera and clicked away madly. He didn't know of any animal that had paws that big. He heard Rebecca's voice call him, ask if he was alright but he didn't answer immediately, he was too focused on the mammoth paw prints he had found. Suddenly the camera went blank and Conrad smacked it against his thigh impatiently. He picked it up and randomly turned around and took a photo. The camera whirled back life and the flash went off. The flash went off in the face of a gigantic, salivating monster. The creature stumbled back and grunted then shook its head and furiously pounced upon Conrad. Conrad opened his moth to scream but the hideous beast gave him no chance. An enormous maw closed upon his face and crushed it to a pulp. An eruption of bright blood gushed out of the human's ruined face and the shaggy beast hungrily began to tear his body apart. A whining voice filled the air.

"Conrad! Where are you? Come back you're scaring me."

The beast lifted its mammoth head and crept from beside the fallen human boy. Its sharp black eyes saw a fragile human girl sitting cross-legged on the ground. Its tongue lolled from its mouth and it lifted its head and bellowed at the full moon. The girl's head whipped towards the bush where the beast was hidden. It burst from its hiding place and charged at the girl. The girl screamed in terror and tried to run but the giant monster pounced on her too. The human girl's fragile body fell under the beast's weight and she screamed in mortal terror and pain. She reached up and tried to push the creature's head away from her body. Rebecca sobbed in horror as she looked up at the monster. A huge shaggy wolf-creature glared down at her with murderous black eyes and a large snout filled with huge fangs opened. A blast of hot breath, that stunk like rotting meat, hit Rebecca in the face. She howled in fear as the wolf's huge muscle came snapping down upon her throat. Rebecca only had one thought before she was brutally killed: I hope Conrad is Ok.

The creature howled in triumph as Rebecca's blood gushed into its mouth. It would eat her then finish off the other human in the bushes. As the creature's howl echoed throughout the quiet little town, the people within their homes shuddered and pulled the curtains tighter over their windows.