Chapter 6: Grayson

I ran through the night in wolf form as I chased a pair of men through the woods. One of them yelled at me, not at all unkindly. It was day but the thick woods made sure that hardly any sun light made it through.

The pair had trouble seeing but I didn't. They knew that they would be safe if they made it through the forest. My body seemed to move by instinct, the animal in me was in control.

The end of the forest was dead ahead and the men would make it in less than a minute and my body knew that. I let out a loud howl and jumped off the heavy branch, landing on one of the men. He fought as I clawed at him playfully. I felt the other man jump at my back as I bit into the first mans neck.

The man on my back yelled loudly as I twisted quickly causing the man fell in front of me.

He looked at me, scared out of his mind. I held my face close to his then flinched and looked up.

I woke for a second time that night.

"What the fuck was that?" I sighed silently looking around.

I stood up and started walking. The restroom was my destination.

I turned on the hall light and walked in. My mind raced remembering the dream.

I flushed after I finished and walked out, turning off the hall light.

I walked back to the living room and looked at the girls. I pulled off Lilies twisted blankets, extended them and slowly placed them back on her, her white cat ears flickered as she shifted a bit and smiled a little before breathing deeply and lay still. I did the same with Christine, she didn't move at all.

Lily and my mother always said I had a "big brother" complex. I guess it was true.

I changed to my human form and stepped outside.

I stretched and looked around. Nothing really caught my attention as I made my way around the back to make sure our gate was locked; it was.

I looked at the stars for a while.

"They're beautiful aren't they?" said a man behind me.
I turned around and the same army man, from earlier, walked up to me slowly as he looked up.

"Why are you stalking us?" I asked placing my back to the wall keeping my sight on him.

"Stalking you?" he replied "I'm just looking at the stars and making small talk."

I stared "what are you doing here?" I asked plainly.

"Just like your father" he continued putting his back against the wall "Darkstalkers are hard to find these days."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"No... Perhaps not but you honestly think that we don't know about you? About your family? About the others in this town?".

"'Others?'" I asked.

He stared. "The others like you? Walk with me." he started walking.

A voice told me that I shouldn't stay. I was never fond of listening to that voice. I followed him.

We walked down the street "there are more things like you, you know." he said in a sure and proud voice but something told me that he was bluffing.

A man stood at the end of the street, about three blocks from my house. He leaned on an ordinary lamp post smoking a cigarette. He lazily turned his head, just enough to look at us.

My stalker placed his hand on me and my vision blurred for a second but refocused to see the same man smoking the cigarette, but this time he had large claws extended from his hands and large, brown, wings extending from his back. His face was more or less the same but pieces were missing as if they were clawed away, his eyes glowed red and his lips were deep black.

I moved back from the man's hold and the winged creature returned to normal. The man with the cigarette stood still, doing little more than smoking.

"Who are you?" I asked holding my ground, can't seem intimidated by the enemy.

"We are your friends" replied the army man, my stalker "we are of the same breed, we are the same."

"I'm nothing like you" I snapped.

The man holding the cigarette stepped forward and flicked his cigarette carelessly.

"Grayson, does this fool think that he's better than us?" he said in a raspy voice.

"Grayson..." I muttered.

The man dubbed "Grayson" held his arm up.

"Relax, Rewall. Mr. Talbain simple doesn't understand our Motives yet." said Grayson staring at me

"You could shove those motives up your ass," I started "I'll die before I let you guys recruit me or any of my family." I thought of the cliché.

"I could help with that." Rewall said, and then gestured with a hand and five; vary sharp, foot long razors extended just behind his fingers. He extended his wings and flew, through the air impossibly fast, towards me.

I jumped sideways barely dodging the attack. I concentrated and my body changed to the werewolf that hid beneath the teenager. The moon was full so I was struggling to keep myself from transforming but I think that this was a good time to let go.

He came at me again and slashed the surface of my chest upended.

"Stop this, Rewall!" yelled Grayson in a commanding voice.

Blood flew out in spurs and I stumbled back but didn't fall. I held my hand to my opened chest as Rewall smiled at me triumphantly. I smiled back and his face twisted as my wounds began to close till there wasn't any evidence that anything had struck me other than the blood covering my fur.

"So you could heal..." Rewall said playfully as the blades from his hands extended even further "let's see how well you recover when you're in PIECES!"

He flew at me at incredible speed and something inside me woke up, an instinct I didn't know I have before. The man came to a violent stop right in front of me as a black layer flew up from my feet.

Rewall was thrown back then hit the floor hard. He quickly got into a kneeling position and stared at me with a confused look in his face, I didn't blame him: this was the first time that anything like this had happened.

The transparent black layer shone around me. My wolf eyes saw the world a little difference, all the movements in the night were made very clear to me but I focused the man in front of me.

I threw myself to Rewall, hitting him hard. He flew a couple dozen feet back and hit the floor then rolled a few times and lay still. I looked at Grayson who simple stared back; he had enough grace to make you think of his as an arrogant bastard.

I threw myself at him, the same way I did to Rewall, but stopped a foot or so in front of him. The black layer flickered and dimmed till they banished, but still I floated in front of him. I tried reaching out to tear at his smug face but my body didn't move.

Grayson's smile seemed to widen even more as he realized what had happened.

"Thanks for joining us, Missy." He said, tilting his head up slightly.

I looked behind him and the figure of a girl stood perfectly still as she leaned sideways on the lamp post that conveniently had its light off.

I concentrated on the figure. It definitely had a female form; my eyes focused enough for me to see who it was.

Melissah wore nothing more than casual sleeping ware, she noticed me looking at her and turned away, I immediately fell to the ground on all fours. I stood up and looked down at the man named Grayson, his expression didn't change.

"For... fuck... sakes" groaned Rewall as he slowly stood back up, "son of a bitch!" he said as he noticed that his right foot was bent the wrong way. He snapped it into place with a loud crack and a little more than a whimper. He limped back to Grayson who signaled for them to leave.

"I'll be in touch, Talbain." Grayson said as they walked away, I didn't pursuit them as I knew that Melissah would simply stop me again. "This was fun" Grayson continued then punched Rewall slightly in the arm with enough form to knock him off balance and onto his bad leg.

I was stubborn not stupid so I watched them blend into the darkness.

I turned back to human form and walked home.

"Jonathan?" My sister asked when I crept back in the house. "Are you ok? I smell blood."

She didn't look at me, so I did what every guy would do: lie, "I'm fine, nosebleed, go back to sleep." I caressed her right cat ear and she breathed deeply and shifted slightly. "Big brother" she sighed and started snoring lightly, her cat tail slowly waved playfully.

I smiled, patted her head and walked into the bathroom to wash the dried blood off my face and chest.