New Prey

Six times the moon bloomed full since the night they formed their alliance. Six months had passed since Grey embarked on his quest for vengeance. Elle had been right then. Chris had been the easiest to find. It took them only three weeks to catch him while he was breaking into a house. Although more experienced, he wound up losing his life to the two newly-changed werewolves with a rage that more than rivaled his own. Unfortunately, they killed him before they could learn anything about Liam or his plans. And finding Deb proved to be much harder than Chris. Somehow, it seemed that she had gotten wind of their motives and had been successfully evading them. More than once they nearly had her, but when it seemed that they almost had their claws around her throat, she would slip away, leaving hardly a trail to follow.

They tracked her for miles, usually in a stolen vehicle of some sort. But they were getting used to tracking her on foot, especially in wolf form. Their pursuit led them further north, until after five months of sniffing around, they found themselves in Canada. Back then, they relied on stealing what food they could to survive. Grey felt guilty at first, but the thought of Liam still breathing out there quickly replaced the feeling with anger. Clothing had been an issue as well, since they couldn't keep their clothes on when they phased into wolves. They had to bury the clothes they abandoned as well as steal others to replace them. At first, there was the awkwardness of dealing with each other's nudity as humans, but they eventually got used to just separating a short distance and changing alone.

Elle pawed the frozen ground. We should probably rest here for the night. We'll pick up on Deb's trail tomorrow.

It took Grey a while to get used to, but when he phased into a wolf with her, she showed him that they could communicate using thoughts. He wasn't sure how it worked, but it sure made things more convenient. All right, we'll take refuge near those pines. There's bound to be an outcropping of some sort we could use. Plus, he sniffed the air, the elk appear to be plentiful in this region. We should hunt before turning in.

Agreed, she nodded as she shook her dark brown fur, which stood out against the white snow. They had chosen to keep in their normal wolf forms instead of the massive ones because it would have drawn less attention, even though seeing a pair of wolves instead of a pack was enough to cause suspicion. Regardless, they had managed to slip by with only a few scuffles and one or two mishaps when one of them suddenly loses their temper.

Alright, you go find us a place to stay for the night. I'll go and hunt us some dinner.

Actually, I was thinking the opposite. Grey, you have been doing all the work as of late. Let me pick up some of the slack every once in a while.

Grey was reluctant about this arrangement. Most of the time, he had to remind himself that he wasn't operating alone. He wasn't used to depending on anyone else besides himself, but he realized that given the situation he had no choice. There was no way he could have gotten this far on his own. Can you handle the elk? The bulls are pretty large.

She glared at him and snorted. What do I look like, a pup? I can handle myself fine, thank you very much. I've been at this longer than you, so shut up. Without another word, she turned tail and vanished into the trees, leaving only her small tracks in the snow. Resigned, Grey started scouting the surrounding area for a suitable place to spend the night. Within minutes, he discovered a colossal, hollowed out log that could accommodate two medium-sized mammals. Taking no pleasure in doing so he raised his hind leg and marked the side to keep potential intruders away. Satisfied, he started off to look for Elle to make sure she hadn't gotten herself killed.

It didn't take him long to find her. The scent of blood hung in the air and all he had to do was follow it. Sure enough, he found Elle's dark brown form snarling at an injured bull. He could see she had gotten a hind leg, which was now bleeding, but this just left the animal aggravated and dangerous. It bellowed and lowered its head slightly when she got close, ready to jab with its deadly antlers. Grey sighed. She had to pick a bull.

Crouching low, Grey started circling the perimeter, drawing closer to the animal's flanks. There was no wind, so his scent won't carry over. And the bull seems distracted with holding Elle at bay to notice the danger approaching behind it. Grey was a mere twenty feet away and he paused to take a glance at Elle. She had noticed his advance and only gave a slight nod. In response, Grey shot forward like bullet, weaving back and forth while staying out of the buck's field of vision, his footfalls muffled by the snow. When he was a few feet away, Grey sprang up and momentum carried him onto the bull's back. Before the animal could react, he sank his teeth into the back of its neck.

The animal shrieked as it ran around wildly, trying to shake him off. Grey clamped his jaws harder as he hung on for dear life. He dug his claws into its shoulder, managing to get a hold into its thick hide. Had it been a cow (female), he would have been able to snap its neck, but this was not the case. The bull twisted and jumped as it both tried to throw him off and catch him on the ends of its antlers.

Dammit Elle! If you're going to do something, now would be the ideal time!

He was starting to loosen his grip. He tried to dig his hind claws into its back, but they just slipped off. His front paws were shaken loose as well, so he was just hanging by his teeth. He was about to let go of those too when he heard a very menacing snarl in front of him. The bull heard it as well, for he felt it rear up as it bellowed. He also heard something splinter and moments after, the animal was toppling backwards. Using his remaining strength, he pushed himself off the animal before it crushed him as it fell with a deadened thud. Grey shook his head to clear it and saw Elle with her maw dripping with blood, her frame heaving as she breathed heavily. The bull lay on its side, dark blood pouring out of a hole where its throat had been and staining the white snow crimson.. Its left hind leg had snapped under its weight and was now bent the wrong way. Elle licked her chops and started lapping up the pool of steaming blood.

You sure took your time, Grey muttered as he followed suit.

I needed an opening, she shrugged. The thing still had an eye on me while it was tossing you around like a rag doll. If I jumped in too soon, I would have been speared at the end of those damned things.

And any later, I would have been flung off and possible trampled.

Oh, quit being melodramatic, she muttered as she started to rip the hole in the throat bigger. Grey, in turn, started clawing at the underbelly until it split. He stuck his snout in and started pulling out its intestines. They both kept at this until they had hollowed the creature out. They separated the organs into two piles: one they would eat and one they would not. Next were the legs. Grey grabbed one forelimb while Elle grabbed the other and they both pulled until the joints dislocated. They did the same with the hind legs and added those to the pile they would consume.

They were in no hurry and took their time in feeding. They devoured the organs first before starting on the limbs. In less than an hour, the bones had been stripped clean and all that was left was to dispose of the remains. This they did by burying what organs they didn't eat. The carcass they decided they would just leave to rot. Let the scavengers have their fill. Elle turned her green eyes at Grey. So where are we sleeping tonight?

The best I could find was a rotting log. It can hold both of us, but someone's gonna have to stay up and keep watch. I'll do it first and we'll switch off.

Elle rolled her emerald eyes. The one time you have to look for a place for us to stay and the best you could do was a log?

Bite me.

At that, she snapped playfully at his heel, skipping away as he turned to snap back. Grey shook his head and continued padding towards the hollow log. She stepped in front of it and hesitated. Grey nudged her in with his muzzle before settling beside her. it took only minutes before he heard her snoring lightly. He pulled back his lips into a smile and closed his own eyes, heightening his already superb sense of hearing. The night was quiet and he heard nothing save for the activity of the local nocturnals. But he stayed vigilant. He couldn't afford to lower his guard for even a moment. It took Grey a while to get used to sleeping with one eye half opened, so to speak, but it was a necessity he had to learn.

About three hours later, he felt a light shove at his shoulder, signaling that it was the end of his shift. Immediately, his muscles relaxed as he started to recede into slumber. They kept at this system until just before dawn, each getting enough sleep to function "normally". They set off early and Elle managed to find an empty log cabin nearby. They entered by breaking a window and sniffed around. It had been empty for quite some, so they figured it would be safe to linger. They found some clothes in a closet and Elle took what she needed to the bathroom. After a few moments he heard her voice smugly say, "You found us a shitty log. I found us a whole damn cabin. You fail!"

"Oh shut up," Grey grumbled as he phased back and started to pull on the denim jeans he found. "You were the one who insisted on hunting, so I don't wanna hear you complain about the sleeping arrangements."

The door to the bathroom opened to reveal a girl wearing a white long-sleeved cotton shirt under a brown vest paired with tan moccasins. Grey was taken aback for a moment, for she looked so much older than her true age of thirteen. She looked closer to his age, and this thought reminded him that he probably looked older than sixteen as well. A quick glance at a nearby mirror confirmed his suspicions, as he appears to have aged two years in just six months. He pulled on a thick wool sweater over the white T-shirt and sighed. "There's gotta be a way to do this without having to keep ditching our clothes."

Elle nodded. "There is a way to do it where our clothes sorta just meld with our bodies when we change, but Liam and the others never taught me any of that. They just did it for me and told me not to ask how they did it."

"Well, before we kill Deb, that's one of the things we'll drag out of her." Grey declared as he pulled on a worn coat. It smelled like it was skinned from an elk and he smiled. With the wool and the coat, he had given a whole new meaning the phrase "wolf in sheep's clothing". He found that there was a set sheathed hunting knives in one of the drawers and stowed these into one of the coat pockets. Elle took off the hunting rifle mounted on the wall and managed to scrounge up some ammunition along with some cash hidden in odd parts of the cabin. Prepared, they set out once again to pick up on the trail of the elusive Deb.

It was a bit awkward at first tracking their quarry as humans, since they'd been running as wolves for several nights in a row now. But as they trekked through the trees, bare feet sinking into the wet snow, their heightened senses made them more comfortable searching on two feet instead of four. They could detect something in the air, a kind of aura that didn't seem natural. It was faint, probably days old, but they could still sense it. They walked slowly, wary of their surroundings, taking care to notice any clues that could lead them further in the right direction. Around midday, they picked up a scent that went along with the strange aura. Elle recognized it right away as Deb, and they picked up the pace.

They were lead to a small town, where the scent was everywhere. It was a quiet place, and people were just starting to get up. No one looked suspicious, but only Elle seemed relaxed. Grey's brown eyes shifted from face to face, trying to find one that harbored the slightest bit of guilt or hostility. Instead, he found them filled with anxiety and fear. As they walked, he managed to snippets of conversation.

"Another one was taken," an old woman said.

"Who was it?" asked another.

"Frank's daughter," she answered. "And no one knows how. No doors where broken, no windows were shattered. It was as if the one responsible appeared out of thin air."

Thin air? Grey thought as they made their way towards the tavern. Something foul was at work in this place, and it wasn't Deb. Something in his gut told Grey that it was something far more sinister.

The tavern was pretty empty, save for one customer snoring at the bar. The bartender looked up from polishing a glass, gauged their appearance with beady eyes, then went back to what he was doing. He looked to be in his early forties, judging from his weathered face and white hair. When Grey and Elle took a seat at the bar he asked, "What'll it be lads?"

"Two beers and some information if you can spare it," Grey answered.

"Information?" he grunted as he filled two glasses with amber liquid. "You're not from around here I take it?"

"No sir we're not," Grey replied as he took a sip. The liquid burned slightly, but he drank it anyway. He would need more than blood and raw meat to sustain him. Elle left hers untouched. "By chance, did a middle aged brunette pass by here recently?"

"Might have. Don't really remember. So much has happened in the past few days," he said wearily.

"What do you mean?" Elle wondered as she fingered the rim of her glass.

"Ah 'sright, you don't know. People have been disappearing a lot lately. At first, we just thought they was getting lost. That is, before the bodies started turning up."

"Bodies?"

"Dead as dust they were. Had a look of shock on 'em. And they were as white as the snow they were found in. But the strangest thing out of all of it was the fact that they were all drained. No blood in 'em. People are scared now. No one feels safe anymore, myself included. Especially after last night."

Last night? Grey thought as he finished his glass. Could he be…

"What's your name sir?" Elle asked.

"S'Frank," he answered tiredly. "And don' worry about paying for those drinks. Don't matter to me no more. My little girl is gone. If you two know what's good for you, you'll get out of here as soon as you can."

"Not until we find who we're looking for," Grey said tersely.

"Then do so at your peril," Frank warned. "There's an in just across the street you could stay at until you sort your affairs. Don't worry about paying. Maggie is kind to travelers such as yourselves and will be sure to accommodate you."

"Thank you. I'm sorry for your loss," Grey bowed. He raised Elle's glass, murmuring, "Cheers mate," before draining it. They left the tavern and started questioning the other townspeople about Deb, although none were of any help. They were too distraught over the recent kidnapping to be able to remember anything clearly. In addition, they seemed to be frightened of them, and the fact that Elle had a shotgun slung over her shoulder certainly didn't help. By nightfall, they trudged to the inn empty-handed. Maggie, a kind, old woman happily led them to a room with twin beds. Grey noticed that although she was smiling, her eyes were very much in mourning. He thanked her for the room before closing the door.

"Well, that was unproductive," he muttered.

"I know she's here Grey," Elle quipped as she sank onto one of the beds. "There's just a lot of stuff going on in this town. And the people are scared shitless. It's a wonder they even go outside at all."

"What could be causing it all though?"

"That's pretty obvious if you think about it. Pale white corpses? Drained of blood? There's only one creature that would do that sort of thing."

Several seconds passed as images of six months before flashed before his eyes. He saw himself walking in a park beside a girl. He remembered how he wanted to confess something. He remembered how two figures appeared, therefore changing his life forever. But most importantly, he remembered the face of one of those figures. It was pale, menacing, and eerily beautiful. Grey growled, "Vampire!"

Elle nodded. "This'll make looking for Deb harder, assuming she hasn't fled already. We should probably do the same if we don--"

"No," he interrupted in a low voice. His hands were shaking lightly and he could feel his blood boiling. He knew what was happening, and he did not care. For the first time, he welcomed the rage. He wanted it to fuel him, give him power. "We are going to kill that monstrosity before anything else!"

Sensing the danger, Elle got up and pushed him down to the nearest bed. "Relax Grey. Going berserk now is not going to solve anything. You'll end up hurting innocent people and I know you don't want that."

At the very thought of seeing anything happen to Frank or Maggie, he felt the bloodlust recede. She was right. If they were going to do this, they were going to have to do it right. They would need a plan. He looked to her wistfully and asked, "What do you propose we do then?"

"Remember that elk last night?" Elle smiled. As she said this, Grey noticed that her canines had elongated and her eyes shifted from their usual green color to a dark yellow with slits for pupils. "Just think of the vampire as an albino elk on two legs with fangs. What do you do?"

Grey thought about it and he felt his teeth change as he smiled as well. The sucker would be treated as prey and be hunted down. He started to feel slightly giddy at the thought. He could almost feel his claws going through the monster He could almost here the bastard shrieking as Grey ripped him or her limb from limb. He could almost taste the undead flesh in his mouth. His eyes were altered to match Elle's as he shifted his gaze from the moon behind the window to hers. "I like the way you think."

"So you think you can hold off on killing Deb for a few nights?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"Deb's gonna have to wait," he replied still smiling. "As of now, we are going to personally make sure that that vampire never hurts another human again."