Chapter 8

9 Hours 15 Minutes until Dawn

Author's Note: Warning: This chapter is one where I really tried to ramp up the horror factor. If you are of a nervous disposition of any kind, I wouldn't recommend reading this one. You have been warned. Seriously, I sent this to one of my friends and he actually requested I put a trigger/severe content warning on it.

The moonlight from the blood moon bathed every field around Stoneybridge, its scarlet light giving a blood-tinged hue to the night's darkness. On the Moors, Jana could feel it pulsing through her as she stood at the highest point she could find and howled at the top of her lungs. But in the cellar, the smiths could hardly feel any of it. It frustrated them to no end. They stood there, howling and snarling at the intrusive metal cover that was blocking the addictive energy that they so desperately craved. They were so berserk with rage at the fact the cover was there, that it didn't even register that it was one of their own who had installed it. In fact, it didn't matter to them who installed it. What mattered was how they were going to tear it down.

Letting out a snarl, the small grey wolf took a run at the barred door of the cellar. Failing to break it down, she staggered slightly and shook her head to clear the ache that had suddenly exploded inside her skull. She prowled round the edge of the den, only to be met with a surface that was different to the rest of the right wall. When she ran her claws down it, she was able to easily leave ragged tears down the surface. Putting her full weight against it, Maddy Smith was easily able to break through the drywall repair job that her dad had done and reopen the entrance leading into the mineshaft that Liam, Jimi and Sam had opened. With a joyful howl, Maddy raced into the dark tunnel, her blood red eyes shining like beacons in the darkness. She could hear the scrabbling of her parents' paws as well, as they followed her into the night.

The tunnels ran like a maze. Each turn could lead to a dead end. Each turn could confuse them to the point that they were lost in there forever. But at that moment, no one cared. Sensing a weakness in one of the structural supports, Maddy threw her full weight against it. As if she'd planned it, the top layers of the earth fell away and created a hole big enough for all of them to jump through. One by one, they escaped into the invigorating light of the blood moon. Instantly, they felt the raw and primal bloodlust rush through them.

As Maddy and her family convulsed in pleasure at the brilliant feeling of absolute power that flowed through them, a scent caught Maddy's eye. A young doe stood on the moors, grazing on a patch of grass. Normally, she would have marvelled at the rarity of such a sight and taken a picture. But this wasn't the Maddy Smith that everyone knew and loved in control, and all she wanted to do was kill it.

Not even trying for stealth, she raced forward. The deer instantly spotted her and turned tail, but the blood moon supercharged every muscle Maddy had, granting her seemingly limitless stamina. As she jumped and her fangs closed around the doe's throat, there was a soft hiss and a wet squelching noise. Maddy looked at the deer to see a bullet hole through its abdominal section. There was a bulge out of her back where the bullet had some to rest, stretching the doe's flesh to the limit.

"Good shot, son. We'll cook up the meat and you can take it into school for the kids to be jealous of."

"Thanks, Dad."

At the sound of voices, Maddy's head snapped up. Through the red mist that was the bloodlust fogging up her mind, she could see the shapes of two humans. These humans had intruded on her kill! How dare they? The bigger of the two was the one holding the rifle. He would die first.

The father was extremely proud of his son. The bullies at school had done everything in their power to lower his boy's self-esteem. But when the school had written to the parents and said about a banquet for the lower-school children that was done in the Tudor style, he'd seen an opportunity. None of the other parents to his knowledge were licensed hunters. None of the other kids would be able to go out, shoot a doe and bring the meat in to school for the dinner. That would take those bullies down a peg or two. Suddenly, a weight hit him hard. Fangs closed around his throat as the small grey wolf pinned him to the ground. He convulsed in her grip, desperately trying to breathe as her fangs made the holes in his windpipe bigger while he struggled. He could hear his son screaming, but it sounded distant and far away.

The terrified son staggered backwards in shock as the mighty god that was his father was easily taken down by a wolf that was angry to the point of insanity. His only hope of survival rested with the rifle. But he'd given that to his dad. Suddenly, the boy remembered that he had a torch. If he could use the light, he could stun the wolf to try and get away. He pulled it from his pocket and clicked the 'on' button. The red light that indicated that the battery was depleted started flashing. He had to get away. He had to tell his mum about this. She'd know what to do. As he saw it, he was going to have to do something he was told never to do. As the wolf neared him, he held his ground and tried to hit the wolf in the muzzle with the torch. The strike was too weak and just bounced of the wolf's muzzle, only serving to anger it more. As she jumped at him, he backed up only to find that he'd been backed into a tree. Her fangs closed around his throat. As he hit the ground and his life ebbed away at the wolf's feet, the torch rolled from his hands. His dad had told him that it wasn't a hunter's tool, but a simple tool to light the way. If the batteries ever ran out, they could just replace them in the morning. Only now did he realise that replacing them in the morning would only work if morning were to ever come.

Maddy Smith stood over the corpses of her two victims. The scent of the blood pouring from their wounds and the feeling of it seeping between her paws and saturating the fur on them satisfied her no end. It calmed something inside her and made her feel like she'd just achieved something that no one else ever had. With that first kill, she'd spent a part of what made her human in return for something that could never be freely exchanged. That thing was love. She loved this new side of herself that she'd never known existed. As her parents padded over, Maddy saw something in their wolves' faces that they'd never shown her as a human. They were proud of her. In that moment, she made her decision. She was going to stay like this forever. With that, she dipped her head to the wound on the older human's throat and drank the red substance briefly, taking only a small amount as if it were the most unholy communion the world had ever known.

Author's Note: Well, I finally double-updated, much to the website's disgust. It seems to love telling me that there was a connection problem every time I try and upload a chapter. That's why I usually don't write multi-chapter stories. Still, I enjoyed writing this. Yes, you read that right. I've finished writing this story. I just have to post the chapters that are left. There should be another update soon. It probably won't be a double one though. As always, please remember to review. I'm especially curious as to your opinions on these two chapters.