He was sleeping. Natasha lying next to him. She had greeted him at the train station, all smiles, draping herself around his arm. She whispered in his ear. Natasha, a young shewolf with black hair and eyes. Born of Japanese and European legacy. She had a contagious smile, unblemished white skin, diminutive size and generous bosoms. Many regarded her truly beautiful.
He woke to a faint continuous scratching at his door. He listened the low cry of a young girl saying his name again and again. He slowly removed the blankets, slipping from underneath her arm, putting his foot on to the floor.
"What is it…?" Natasha awoke, sitting up in the bed. The full moon shining across her white skin. The blanket covering up to her waist, as she drew her tail across her lap, her long black hair laid across one breast, the other uncovered.
"I heard something…" He went towards the door, as she got out of bed.
"Someone's outside the door," he finished buckling his belt, reaching, turning the doorknob and pulling it open.
"By the gods…" Natasha spoke, standing naked next to him, covering her mouth.
Tessa stood in the hallway, nude, glassy eyed. Her naked, trembling body dripping with a thick translucent liquid. Blood splatter covered plenty of her body. In her mouth she gnawed the remnants of something furry, her lips stained red. In each bloody hand she carried the remain of a recent kill.
"Are those rabbits…?" Natasha spoke, her hand holding his bicep, leaning forward to get a better look.
Ronin knelt, sticking his fingers into her mouth, pulling out the pieces of fur and bone.
"Sound the alarm!" He shouted, glancing over his shoulder at Natasha.
"She's been poisoned…"
He wiped the substance off her face. Her cheeks were flaming, great welts covered the rest of her slim naked body.
"Dammit… I should have known…" he growled as his hand frantically moved across the thick, transparent liquid.
Natasha ran to the front door, and howled the alarm. " Aaaaawwwooo…"
The sound of her voice soared into the air, echoing through the night sky.
His hands shaking as he flipped the strands of syrupy liquid from his fingertips. His skin burning.
"Tessa!,Tessa!,Do you hear me…? " He shoved his finger into her mouth, further down her throat, her body retched as she vomited blood, fur and bone.
Natasha howled again, and spoke to those that were showing up.
In the distance, the return howls as the wolves came running. Natasha came rushing down the hallway, followed by the first to arrive.
Tessa semiconscious body leaned against him, as he wiped the substance off her back. He continued to say her name over and over repeatedly.
"Come on…" He moved her away from him, cupping her face; her eyes still glazed and opaque white.
"I need you…" he spoke, hoping for traces of understanding.
"Tessa… I need you to throw up…" he waited. Then shoved his fingers into her throat again.
"What is it…?" Natasha asked reaching over to grab Tessa.
Ronin slapped her hand away. She glared at him, clasping her hand. " why?!"
"Changeling…" he looked at Natasha, she noticed the fear and anguish in his eyes, "it's poisonous…don't get it on you…"
She stared at him, "but you…" Natasha's voice faltered.
The gel like substance clinging to his body, his skin turning a vivid red.
The corridor filled with the echoes of footsteps of more wolves coming into the hallway. He braced Tessa against the wall, and then punched her in the stomach. The air filled with the sickening sound of her breath escaping her body, the wet splashing of her vomit hitting the floor. She choked, the air forced its way back into her lungs then she screamed, a coarse, raspy dry scream of anguish, sobbing.
He moved his arms around her, raising her up to his chest then rose up, "clear me a path…" He moved down the hall towards the door. The wolves lined the walls. Their faces filled with apprehension, eyes wet with tears as he carried her out the door. All of them knew Tessa, the only daughter of Gabriella, one of the council representatives and one of the oldest wolves on the island.
He held her against his chest. her breathing was hot and hollow. Her red skin slippery, covered with the viscous substance, clinging to her like sweat on a sweltering summer day. Her red hair wet and heavy covering her face.
"Touch nothing… It's deadly…" he shouted as one of the younger wolves opened the door to allow him to continue out into the night. He walked outside feeling the cool chill of the evening air on his skin. It helped soothe the burning on his skin. A chill passed through his body. He sighed as he glanced at Tessa's slight body getting smaller in his arms. " I'm sorry, " he whispered, " I should've noticed…"
Natasha spoke, shaking her head following behind him, "I'll go check for the antidote in the infirmary…" Natasha turned running off into the darkness.
He stood out front with Tessa in his arms, her breathing becoming weaker. He took at breath as others came out to the dark of night.
Emma arrived accompanied by Savanna, quickly shifting into their human form. The ears pricked tight as their long furry tails moved slowly through the air. Their tall slender naked bodies moved effortlessly through the tall grass on to the porch.
"Oh my…" Savanna, covered her mouth, looking at Tessa limp in his arms, fluid dripping to the ground. Her eyes welling up with tears.
She had known Tessa since her birth. And had watched her grow up. From crawling to running, she had been there, along with Emma, Natasha's mother. Savanna's dark brown eyes staring softly at the young wolf in his arms. She sighed, biting her lip remember conversations they would have about school and boys, why she never developed ears and a tail. Why she couldn't shift into a wolf like her friends and mother.
"Tessa…" Emma voice shuddered as she reached out, her eyes watering. Ronin turned putting his body between them.
"No… If you get any of it on you, it will break down your skin…" He spoke. Emma nodded, drawing her hands back. She stared at him, looking at the glisten gel across his red skin.
"Where's Gabriella? " He looked around the village compound. The compound was swelling up with more wolves. Many of them were in their human forms. Others in their wolf.
"We've sealed the wheel…" Emma responded, squeezing her hands together. "We think it's a shape shifter…" she spoke as she nodded.
Emma and Savanna explained, they had stayed on the train, discussing it. They knew Tessa wouldn't lie. They each cut their forearms to make certain they were wolves. A shape shifter has no red blood cells, it's opaque. Once they knew, the alarm was sounded to the outer Islands first.
"No…" Ronin shook his head, "it's a changeling…"
Emma, Savanna stared at him. "That can't, Changelings don't kill… They infiltrate…" Emma paused, looking at Savanna then back at Ronin.
"They will use any measures to evade killing… Including total liquefying themselves to permeate through the slightest cracks…"
"But…" Savanna spoke but Natasha interrupted, "there's no antidote…" She yelled running towards them. Emma turned, her eyes red with tears, looking at Tessa.
"Get Gabriella!" Savanna yelled, "she's patrolling the north side, scatter, howl every two minutes until you find her. I don't care if you have to change. Just do it…"
The air filled with the sounds of wolves hitting the ground with their four paws, howling, running in various directions. It was unacceptable to have one attacked within the pack.
The boom of an strong wind catching large sails ripped through the air. As a pair of enormous black wings appeared on his back, twice his height, four times the width.
"Where are you going?" Emma voiced shook, fighting the tears and anger inside her.
"The spring…" He nodded, studying at Tessa's face. Her breathing had become hasty, her skin an intense red, her hair laid slicked back against her dripping. "It should dilute the toxin and cool her down." He repositioned her, making her comfortable for flight. "Meet me there…"
They shook their heads, turning running towards the forest. He bent his knees. The ground shuddered, a thundering boom occurred when he thrashed his great black wings propelling them soaring into the air.
The cold blast ran across their bodies as he flew across the night sky. With each thrash of his black wings, he came closer to the spring. he glanced at her, so small in his arms, watching the cold wind moving the gel like substance across her skin. Her closed eyes tensed, her delicate lips twisted as she let out a soft moan.
The ground gave way, forming a small crater as he touched down. He glanced at Tessa, her eyes fluttered as they opened staring up into the sky, but they were still cloudy.
He slipped into the icy spring water, the cold water brushed across their hot skin, The mist lifting from their bodies as he sank to his shoulders. Her face barely above the water. The silvery fog lifted from their exposed skin. He held her head nearly submerged prevent her brain from overheating.
He didn't say a word, sighed as he listened to her heart beating, her breathing becoming weaker, holding her as the water streamed across her diminutive body. A lime green oily substance, the toxin on her skin slipping away, running down the cold stream.
Emma, Savanna and Natasha arrived followed by Gabrielle. She stopped, standing still, staring at her daughter as she laid in his arms, floating in the frigid spring. The luminescent green drifting away from them.
"How?" Gabriella whispered, feeling her heart stopping. The tears welling up in her eyes. her tall brown ears drooped and her long reddish brown tail sagged then fell straight.
She stared at her daughter and then to Ronin. The skin on his chest and face, intense red, glistening as the oily substance dissolved his skin.
"Changeling…" the first word out of her mouth, "they don't…"
Ronin shaking his head interrupted her, "it's accidental…"
"What…" Gabrielle whispered, as she stared, removing her clothing then gradually slipped into the spring.
"remember what Tessa said," he looked at Tessa, cupping his hand, filling it with water, pouring it over her forehead. "She snatched a bit of rabbit and ran…" He looked at Gabriella, seeing the fear in her eyes, "take her, her temperature is down but the poison the still inside. The luminous substance are her dead cells. she is being eaten from the inside. A changeling will regurgitate on a fresh kill, to promote the digestive process. That's why they dine alone or with other changelings."
Gabrielle took his spot, supporting her body floating just below the surface of the cold water. He walked from the spring. the mist rising from his burning skin. Large red welts covered his back.
"Are you…"
"Yes…" He nodded his head without turning around. "I've got to get to the Isakawas."
He brought his wings out again, crouching, "he and his daughter are changelings…"
The ground burst underneath his feet, his wings raising him soaring into the air, melting into the darkness.
"they are?" Natasha spoke, looking at Emma and Savanna standing naked by the spring. the mist circling around them.
"Yes…" Gabriella spoke as she sat down in the spring. Her worried filled eyes watching Tessa's face as she filled her cupped hand, dripping the water over forehead.
Emma, Savanna sighed as they slipped into the pool, wading over to her and helped. Natasha smiled, following them into the spring.