A WereLupe howls under the full moon. The chilling cry piercing the starless black night sends shivers up your spine. Now let me tell you how this ghastly apparition came to be.
Thecrazyfanficcer: Uh, Pika-squeaks? She's not an apparition. She's a living, breathing animal.
Pikasqueaks: Whatever. It's my intro, so zip it, please.
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A poor, forlorn pet looked up at the owner's back, a little whimper escaping her lips. Candy turned around. She was here to get a pet, and although this little Lupe was not pretty, nor cute, she needed a loving owner who would be compassionate to her. And Candy had an open heart.
Candy talked quietly with Doctor Death. The gray-haired Techo nodded. He took a key out of the pocket of his lab coat, walked over to the Lupe's cage and inserted it into the lock and turned it. Gears grinding, the lock clicked and the door sprang open. The Lupe cowered in a corner, thinking it was someone coming to hurt her.
Murmuring softly, Candy bent down and picked her up. The Lupe, realizing that this was a person who would love her and not someone who would eat her up, snuggled willingly in her arms.
"Don't see why you'd want to get her," said Dr. Death in his low voice, shaking his mop of mad-scientist hair from his forehead. "Not very pretty, is she?"
"Maybe not, but this little Lupe needs love," replied Candy, cuddling the poor pet. "And you'll see. She'll look better when I'm done with her." The Lupe shivered at the thought of Candy being done with her, but then she suddenly thought that she must've meant after she'd lived with this kind new owner for a while.
"Found her on the streets," Dr. Death went on, kneeling to close the cage. "Poor little thing. She'd been surviving on her own. She weighed about two pounds and was absolutely filthy."
Candy hugged her new pet close. "That's gonna be all better. You're gonna be cute, aren't you?"
Tears welled up in Dr. Death's eyes. "That's so sad. I always feel sad when an owner gets a new pet because there's always millions more out there." He sighed, a tear coursing down his yellow-scaled nose.
Candy smiled to herself. She would help him in a way he could not imagine. But not right now. Now she had to take care of this little Lupe.
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The heat of the fire woke the baby Lupe up. She looked at the merrily blazing fire, amazed. How had she gotten here? Then she remembered. A kind owner had come and taken her from the pound. She wondered who they were.
Just then something squatted over her. She was confused until she realized that the person was bending and so she was upside down from the Lupe's point of view. "How are you feeling, poor girl?" Candy stroked the Lupe. "I'm Candy." She stopped, then went on brightly. "You need a name, you know. We can't go around calling you 'the Lupe' all the time," she declared, righting herself and putting the forlorn figure on her lap.
"Hm, well, I always like Sylvie," Candy mused. "Or Sylvia? But you don't look like either one. This makes me think of the French name Sylvain, but you're a girl. I think I'll call you Silvana." For what could be the millionth time, she hugged her.
The Lupe paused. Silvana? The name tinkled in her ear like some heavenly chime. It had been made just for her. She snuggled gratefully in Candy's lap.
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Plok! Candy suddenly dropped Sylvana in a big white tub filled with water. Sylvana wriggled furiously, then she felt the warm hands of Candy on her back. The vibrant-haired girl calmed Silvana, pouring some kind of bubbly shampoo in the water. A bubble bath! The young Lupe sighed pleasurably as the pink bubbles swept her around.
"Aw, isn't that cute?" grinned Candy in a fruitless effort to grab the slippery Lupe to scrub her. "You're floating around in the bubbles like that."
The little Lupe gave a bark of joy, swimming around. Candy laughed, turning away as bubbles hit her in the face.
Candy straightened her bright green headband in her curly orange hair. "So, my little Lupe, can you talk?"
Silvana held back. Talk? The word seemed familiar to her, but she'd forgotten in all her long, lonely years of street life.
Candy looked at her seriously. "I know you can, Silvana. Just try and remember."
Well, she was understood. So maybe she could talk. "Sil–" she stuttered.
"Yes, go on," Candy encouraged, her face positively glowing. 'Go on. Say it. Sil-van-a."
"Silvana. My name is Silvana," said the little Lupe, the secret of talking returning to her. "I have an owner called Candy. I can talk. I can talk!" With that, she jumped up and started doing cartwheels in the air.
Candy laughed. "Yes. Well. I still have to teach you how to read."
Silvana stopped. Read? This too seemed familiar to her, but she didn't really remember.
"Look." Candy held out a book in her open hand. "Gelert on Treasure Island. Read it." She set the book in front of her. Silvana pawed it gingerly, but instead of batting it around as most baby Lupes would do she gingerly opened it and started to read.
"'Eddy felt nervous. Little did he know what kind of dangers this new island would bring, nor if he would meet anyone civilized like the crew and him. More than that, he wanted to meet some kids. Kids like himself and the others. As Eddy had no hope of returning and the others despised working fro the crew, he might as well make a life for himself on the island.'"
Here Silvana closed the book and looked nervously up.
Candy was ecstatic. "You can read! You can read! Boy, you must've had a good mother!"
Silvana grinned. "Will I have to go to school? I don't want to."
"No, but I'll have to homeschool you then," answered Candy.
"OK," said Sylvana eagerly.
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Life went on. Candy homeschooled Silvana, she made some friends. Silvana was her only pet, so she went to her friends' houses often. But there was one secret pleasure Silvana enjoyed every month, and little did she know that this would be her downfall.
The moon rose silently, majestically, a huge yellow orb in the sky. The stars twinkled like neon lights flashing in a sea of ink. The moon made the dew on the flowers sparkle brightly in the black night; the shadowed grass rustled in the wind.
Once Silvana had read a book in which dragons fed on moonlight. Yeah, right. Like Shoyrus and Draiks and Scorchios would start flying in the light of the moon. It was just made-up. But at midnight, when everything glistened like dew under the soft light of the moon, these were the times that Silvana liked best. When everything was calm and serene and still…a time when all Neopets rejoice in a kind of silent peace.
This was her time. The time of dragonflies. Butterflies. Owls. Raccoons. All of the nocturnal animals in all Neopia, and she was one of them. Part night creature, part day creature. She thrived on it.
Somewhere in Silvana's gentle soul, there thrived a longing to see the world. To feel the salty sea spray of Neopia's many oceans on her flank. To feel the thrill of discovering a new island. To help captured slaves return to safety. She was all for these things, but didn't ever want to stop coming out at night to watch the moon.
And so were her thoughts, which caused her not to notice what happened next.
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Something was there. Prowling, stalking, call it what you want – it was all preying on Silvana, who turned around. Too late. The Lupe was upon her, nailing her to the ground.
Silvana screamed. Or at least she tried to. But the Lupe was growling, ripping, tearing. When he finally rose from her and left, all was still.
It was quiet. Too quiet. Silvana nervously pulled at her neck fur, one of her habits, but it wasn't there.
It wasn't there. Her neck fur wasn't there! She got up slowly, looking at where part of her neck had been ripped off. There was a ruddy, crusty hole, caked with blood, bordered by teethmarks, where one part of her neck had been.
Strange, thought Silvana. Shouldn't it be bleeding? Oh, wait. Just wait a minute. That-that thing had had red-brown fur. And glowing green eyes.
He had been a Werelupe.
Now she was one, too.
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Silvana proceeded with her life, though she was more nervous and lost than ever. Often Candy would ask a question, and Silvana would ask her to repeat it; even when the girl did, she still couldn't remember.
And plus there were the werewolf attacks. Sylvana dreaded going out to the grassy plateau where she had first been bitten. But the Werelupe in her was not going to allow that. The essence forced Silvana to go out, to transform into her grisly (may I add evil?) alter ego.
Silvana was hardly conscious when it happened, like when you're drunk. But who wouldn't feel sad if people were being attacked? Especially if it's all your fault.
She felt alone in the world.
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One day, Candy, who had noticed, the Lupe's nervousness, asked her if she wanted to go out to the cliff with her.
"Sil, I know you don't go to the cliff anymore. But I can see that you're nervous. So why don't we go together and you tell me what's bothering you?"
"W-we can't do that," Silvana stuttered.
"Why not?" Candy demanded.
"I-I don't like it anymore."
"Well, let's just go either way, you and me."
Silvana sighed. When Candy had her will, she had her way.
They slowly ascended the slope to the cliff that night, making small talk. But Silvana didn't want to. Good thing Candy would understand what had happened next, or else she would have totally psyched out and sent her only pet the pound.
They sat there watching the moon for a few minutes. The flowers tinkled under the star-pierced sky, driven by a magical breeze. Then, just as the moon rose into place, it happened. Silvana's limbs began to thicken and pulse under her. Rust-brown fur started to crawl over her. She could feel herself rising under her lengthening limbs. Muscles formed over her newly thickened legs, coiled and ready for action. Her tail, once a beautiful, plumy thing, shortened till it was but a coarse, short, roan-red thing. Last but not least, her eyes. They began to grow wildly and slant, turning poisonous green, bulging in her head.
"So," said Candy. "Now I know why you didn't want to come here."
Silvana cringed at the thought of Candy abandoning her and still being a werewolf.
Candy's eyes glittered. Huh? What's she doing? thought Silvana. "And I have just the plan to get you out of it," the kind owner continued, holding up a finger. She looked just like a cartoon character with her green headband, shoulder-length curly orange hair, glasses, and thoughtful expression. "We get you a moon charm."
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Candy and Silvana entered the specialty shop, the latter a little hesitantly; she stayed close to her owner's legs.
"Do you have a moon charm?" Candy asked the blue Cybunny owner.
"Moon charm? For Werelupes? Can't say. Here, I'll go check." He went off to the back of the shop, his gum popping loudly.
After a bit he came back, dangling a golden necklace with a moon on the tip on his fingers. "This what you want? Sorry, but I don't know 'cause I never really sell them."
"That's the one," said Candy, smiling. Straightening his visor, the Cybunny put the moon charm on the counter, waiting as it was paid for.
When they got out of the shop, Candy dangled the necklace from two fingers. "Now all we have to do is wait until the next full moon."
Silvana shivered, but Candy seemed to know what she was doing.
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It was the first of the Month of Swimming, also the day of the next full moon. Candy had one hand on Silvana's collar, leading her to Moonshine Cliff, as they called it.
The Lupe was whimpering, but she calmed down at the sight of the full moon, like a golden-yellow orb, rising into the night sky. Soon, she felt the changes begin.
As soon as brown-reddish fur made its way down her back, Candy caught Silvana and held her against her chest, practically strangling her to get the moon charm around her neck. Silvana almost suffocated, but then she felt the bigger muscles recede into her body. She felt her eyes become normal and blue just like they should be. She calmed down and then realized that she would never be destined to be a Werelupe again, even if she happened to get bitten once more.
"Now," said Candy when they were home that night, "there's still more work to do."
"What is it?" asked Silvana, laying her head on Candy's knee.
"Save Dr. Death," she said simply.
"How?"
"You'll see," came the mysterious answer.
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The next day, Candy and Silvana confidently led a blindfolded Dr. Death to the adoption center.
"Behold!" cried Candy, taking off the bandanna with a flourish.
"Where's the adoption center?" said Dr. Death, looking wildly around. "It couldn't have just disappeared."
Candy smiled. "Look. There's your adoption center!"
Dr. Death gaped in surprise. Rather than the adoption center, there was a wide meadow and pets were running around, happily chasing butterflies. "What happened?" he asked, stupefied.
"We saw how sad you were with all the dumped pets, so we planted a meadow and now all the disowned pets can run free!" Silvana replied excitedly.
"That's wonderful!" Dr. Death's eyes filled up with tears. "Now I can be a vet!" And he started jumping and doing cartwheels in the air, the frown lines disappearing from his forehead and his gray hair turning brown.
"Now everyone's happy," said Candy with a wide smile.