Chapter Twelve

Link's eyes slowly opened. How long had he been asleep for? He looked over to the window and saw a beautiful glow of sunset light streaming through the window. Nearly slept the entire day it seemed.

Link squeezed his eyes shut briefly as a vicious pain knotted in his stomach. He felt sick and hungry all over again. If he didn't find something to eat soon...

The boy paused, his nostrils automatically twitching. What was that smell? His head turned naturally to the source, and there on the floor with its neck broken was a grey rabbit. Link almost pounced on the creature, but he hesitated. Did someone leave it here for him? He walked over to it and scented it carefully. It had Dante all over it.

Life on the ranch seemed rather normal. Ingo was carrying some farm equipment across the ranch, and Talon was busying himself with some bales of hay. The horses were out of their stables and were galloping within the enclosure of the large centre pen. For days they had been kept indoors because of the rain, agitated and nervous. Now outside they seemed like different animals. It painfully reminded Link of himself. He would recall nights where he would have to stay indoors, and he too would become oppressed and restless. He growled softly when he remembered the way Princess Zelda had imprisoned him in those cramped, urine-drenched cells. Zelda, what had become of her? And Xanath too, were they alright? Or had something terrible happened to the two?

"Link?" someone called from beside him. He turned and saw Malon standing there, a bucket of water in her hands. "It's nice to see you up and about." Link couldn't look into her eyes; instead his gaze dropped to the ground submissively. He could still hear the hurt in her voice.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Link muttered. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"It's okay, really," Malon said. "You're afraid, aren't you?" Link's eyes rose, staring longingly into hers, his lips trembling. Why did it pain him so much? Why couldn't he just say it? He wanted to fall onto his knees before her, wrap his arms around her legs and cry out all that had happened to him. He wanted her comfort, her warmth...but there was always that other side of things, the part where Malon would run away from him in terror. She would tell the others and together would banish him from the ranch. A terrible ache began in his heart. He didn't know if he could take being alone. He didn't know if he could take being hurt with stones and debris if he approached a village...to be cursed to live that sort of life scared him than anything else.

"Do you want to join me for dinner?" Malon asked suddenly. "I don't want to be by myself." Link agreed, not wanting to upset the girl anymore. Besides it was the least he could do. It was almost insignificant compared to the care she had given him. As the two teens walked off to the houses near the ranch entrance they were unaware of the golden coloured eye peering at them from the shadows.

- - -

Night time had come, and it had grown incredibly dark outside thanks to the storm clouds. In a matter of minutes a heavy down pour began, forcing Malon and Ingo to round up the horses and lead them back into their cozy stables. Then they had to clean the animals thoroughly to keep the mud from tracking everywhere. It was a gruelingly long task, but they got it done in an hour or so.

"I'm glad that's done," Malon said as she entered the house. With a tired sigh of relief she sat down on a wooden chair and leant her head back. "All in a day's work I suppose...things never get dull around here." Link, who was seated opposite her, was staring out the rain streaked windows. Something was wrong...he could literally feel it. The familiar burning sensation of someone's eyes watching them put him on edge. He had tried using his heightened sense of smell and hearing to pick up on anything abnormal but to no avail. It was simply too dark, and too heavy with rain.

"Link, you okay?" Malon called out, jarring him out of his trance. He nodded curtly. "You're spacing out on me a lot. There isn't anything wrong is there?" Link stifled a growl. 'Yes Malon, there is something wrong,' he wanted to say, 'I think someone's out there, watching us...' Malon wouldn't believe him. No sane person would be outside in this sort of weather just to stare at them. But Link knew he wasn't dealing with a sane person.

"I'm going off to bed. I'm tired," Link lied. He rose up and made his way to the door. Malon too rose up.

"Let me walk you there," she suggested, slipping her hand within his. Link blushed at her touch, yet he shook his head slowly.

"No Malon, it's far too dangerous. Besides, I don't want you to get wet and catch a cold," he said gently. He turned around and wrapped his arms around her waist. Colour rushed to Malon's cheeks as his eyes plunged into hers. "I'll be fine..." Without really thinking about it he embraced her. Her sweet scent flooded his nostrils. Malon's eyes began to grow wet. 'Oh Link, why can I feel your body shivering? Something terrible is going to happen, isn't it?' Link released her from his embrace, and without taking a second glance opened the door and walked out.

Link stood near the door, scanning the ranch. No good, the rain only allowed a good five metres visibility. Who or what was lurking in the shadows? Sighing he crossed the ranch; every few seconds he would stop and look about himself. But after several stops and scanning around he shrugged the feeling off. Maybe he was kidding himself. Maybe he was just paranoid.

He stopped ten metres as the unmistakable scent of a werewolf came to him. And it didn't belong to Dante either...Link snarled silently. He crouched low to the ground and scented along the ground, and an alarm went up in his in mind. He recognized the odour. It belonged to one of those werewolves that had fought him from earlier. So, his instincts were right. Someone had been watching him all along. A phantom pain started in his neck.

Link unconsciously unsheathed his fangs. He could feel his body already changing. He felt the familiar pain of claws ripping out of his nail bed, felt the agony of his cracking bones, felt the sting as his muscles began to tauten beneath his paling skin. He stifled a growl as his jaws pushed forwards into a heavy yet long muzzle, and winced as his caudal vertebrae extend into a bushy tail. He waited for a second or two before advancing forwards, strangely hoping that tonight he would get to kill.


Note: You guys don't have the slightest clue how many times I have deleted and re-written this chapter. Believe me the previous versions were really, really bad. And very jumpy. Things happened too fast and it felt as if there were pot-holes...like there are a lot of pot-holes in West Palm Beach roads...lol