I shared no classes with the three acquaintances i had made, likely because I was an upper classman and they were all lowerclassmen. Though that did not stop the one called 'Dib' from trying to meet me between classes to discuss his other paranormal endeavors, unfortunately while his anecdotes were interesting they did not involve information on 'Zim.'
It was easy enough to avoid him on my way out of the school building, as not to be held up by his excitement. While I was glad the boy was so happy to have made a new friend, I had little patience with topics unrelated to my current mission. The only downside to my quick break for home was the fact that I could not start my reconnaissance of the area until nightfall. Not for lack of ability, but for lack of cover.
I stretched as I sat up after pushing my finished homework aside. At least the classes here seemed to be easy enough and the assignments were a cakewalk. I glanced outside and my heart skyrocketed. Night was almost upon me.
I was practically vibrating with excitement. Tonight would be my first patrol of this area. My mission, while an obvious excuse to get me away from the clan and likely kidnapped, was still a valid issue that needed to be resolved. I was pretty sure I had already found a piece to the puzzle, that alien could account for the mysterious disappearances of the members of the clan in the area.
That made me a bit nervous, while humans normally posed little threat to my kind I had no idea what type of resistance this new enemy would create. If he was capturing my people, what was his motive behind it? Why did he take them? My head swam with questions as I picked up my keys and ignored the rumbling in my stomach.
Maybe I was equally as excited at the opportunity to hunt, I was famished.
I slipped easily out of my apartment and locked the door. I dared any criminal to try and escape my wrath. I could hunt them down in an instant. But still...no need to come home to a robbery. No distractions.
I began walking down the dark sidewalks and noted that most of the streetlamps were out. My sneakers were quiet on the pavement as I made my way out of town under the dimming light of sunset.
Soon I found myself in the sparse woods, mostly away from prying eyes and full of more of that odd alien smell. Now that I was more accustomed to the scents of the city I could deduce 'Zim's' scent all over the territory. He obviously got around.
Once I concluded I was alone I slipped off my clothes and tucked them under some bramble for safekeeping, I felt gooseflesh on my arms and I shivered slightly in the chilly wind. I covered my bare breasts and turned to look behind myself, where I had thought for an instant I had heard something. A few moments passed and nothing was forthcoming, so I assumed what I had heard was not important, and dismissed it. Without further adieu I turned my attention back to the task at hand and willed my body to change. It was not a difficult task, as I was very comfortable in my other form, however sometimes the sounds of the change could be...disturbing.
My leg bones cracked and popped as they re-formed themselves, my ribs popping inward and outward and trying to avoid my sloshing organs as they, too, began to change position within myself.
Contrary to pop-culture belief, A werewolf could change whenever he or she desired, however, it was extremely difficult not to change on the full moon. A young werewolf almost always succumbed to the inhuman strengths and instincts that waxed and waned with the moon. Out of habit I gazed up, seeking that familiar silver face and was disappointed to discover nothing but a mist of silvery clouds hovering above me.
No matter, I knew it was a half moon tonight and it would be waxing until mid-month.
Always the creature of habit I threw back my head and let out an eerily echoing howl to courteously announce myself and my intention to whatever remained of the local clan. It was shrill and deep at the same time, almost sounding as if several creatures were howling at once and also somehow seeming oddly melodic. Many songs of the night answered me, dogs mostly. A wolfpack raised defensive howls, but they were safely tucked away in the zoo, and not my problem.
My hackles rose as I heard no answering howls from my own kind, which was nearly impossible. Our last statistics had shown at least a dozen of us living nearby. I threw my head back, I figured that they were perhaps caught up somewhere and unable to respond the first time and sang my intentions again. This one was louder and more demanding and the dogs and wolfpack responded more desperately than the last time, the cacophony likely invoked agony in the ears of the men and women residing in the city and I could hear the angry shouts and a few yelps as objects were thrown.
Though I felt satisfaction at offending the ears of those obnoxiously loud humans I showed mercy to the wailing dogs and quieted myself. I switched tactics and put my nose to the wind in search of the missing werewolves. Many trails greeted me and it took me a few moments to sort through the unfamiliar scents.
Trying to describe smelling as a wolf is like trying to describe how you see to a blind person. It almost is like seeing, the smells are, basically, colors in your nose and appear behind your eyes if you bother to close them.
I found a graying trail, it was not too old, but would be faded in the next few hours if the clouds above had any say in the matter. It was of an elder, a female. She must have been running very quickly as there was not enough of the trail left for me to decipher if she was well or injured, but I did not smell blood. I took that to mean that at this point in time she had been unhurt. I continued to follow it until I flinched and jumped back. My ears were flat against my skull as i snarled viciously at the strange alien smell that had suddenly intercepted the old female's path. It was a vibrant blue-fuscia with a metallic green quality to it. I rubbed my nose against my fur trying to dispel the sudden strange onslaught on my senses.
That creature had been by here not long after the elder, was he following her?
I regained my courage and shoved my nose into the trail once again, though it was hard to smell anything over that acrid stench. I followed it for perhaps another mile before it went cold and my ears perked up as I thought I heard a strange sound. It seemed like it was a ways off and it was much different from the motor of an airplane or helicopter. It was almost a humming in the back of my brain, not a noise at all, and I instantly suspected that this was how he had snuck up on the clan here. It was impossible to pinpoint the direction at which it was approaching.
I flattened myself to the shadows decorating the ground and allowed my dark coat to blend seamlessly with the voids. I saw it, then, dipping beneath the clouds like a while over the waves.
The alien space craft's vapor trails where what gave off the odd scent I had stuck my nose into and i bared my fangs at it instinctively. I did not see evidence that he had captured the elder female but that could just mean that he had decided it would be easier to kill her. A searchlight missed me by a few centimeters and I steeled my nerves and resisted the urge to flee or fight.
The strange humming grew more distant, though I did not see the vehicle itself move. Likely this was some sort of tactic to lure me out of hiding, it would have worked were he not in my line of sight. The alien seemed determined to find something and the questions burned within my brain.
What did this creature want with my kin?