Hello Again!

So this is the fourth installment and will be swiftly followed by the fifth as this one is quite short (for me) and I kinda want to get on to the next one.

Timeline wise, this is the first chapter of a very long night for the three that I have divided up.

Please read and review, any ideas are welcome as sometimes I find my head a scarily vacant place!

Toby Whitehouse owns these characters, I do not.

Chapter 4

Another full moon, this was the fourth Tom could now say he had seen. There were clouds hiding it this nights, but Tom knew it was there; he could see the faint glow when the cloud thinned and it would wink at him knowingly.

Tom again stood at his open bedroom window staring out. The night seemed so quiet now; he closed his eyes, on a night like this; no sounds where not even the wind blew, there was no way of him knowing he was even outside. He couldn't stop looking at the pale glow that sat in the sky. He had meant to stay downstairs, sit on the sofa, turn on the telly and forget about it. But instead he had climbed the stairs after dinner, mumbling about reading a book to Alex, walked into his room, not even turning on the light, and just stood there as dusk turned to evening turned to night.

Hal wasn't around, another night away doing his own thing and Alex was downstairs with one of the magazine she made them buy; the TV humming in the background, just like any other night. Out of all of them, Hal seemed to have made the transition to human the easiest. Tom envied him, Hal always made everything seem so effortless, he's the one who'd been a monster the longest and now he was the most human out of all of them. He wasn't stuck on a sofa refusing to engage with the outside world, and he wasn't starting out his window pining for the old days. He was out taking part, and making it look so easy.

Tom washed his hand over his face and continued to stare. Just like any other night. One where people were going out getting drunk or staying in reading books or what-not. A day of the week, nothing special.

He sniffed. He used to be able to smell the moon, he could sense where it was in the sky and feel the difference around him. He remembered walking around dragging the chicken on a string in a circle, stepping over rabbit holes and brambles without even looking. Naming each leaf as it went by and knowing if another human or a wild animal had been there hours even days before.

But now, there was nothing. Looking at a dog stopping by a hedge Tom would wonder why; could he smell a mouse, a cat, another dog's piss or something else? He would go by a bush or a tree, inhale and… empty, if it was early he could smell the moist earth, but it was nothing, he was nose-blind. He didn't know because he'd lost the wolf in him.

His hand spasmed and he hit the wall beside the window – lightly, so's not to make a noise before laying his head on his arm, still not breaking eye contact with the clouds. The full moon was what he would gear himself up for all month, he would count down the days and funnel all his energy for that night's rampage. And now… and now.

Tom gritted his teeth. He couldn't just spend this night at home watching TV as if nothing was different, the pit inside him where the wolf once lived whimpered and moaned. He had to get out, he had to do something.

He grabbed his jacket and flung open the door. 'I'm going out.' He yelled as he went, not waiting to see if Alex heard.

Tom stopped at the end of the road. He was heading to the woods, he could go for a run through the trees, among nature. He could smell the night air and listen to the animals that would be roaming around, reveling in their new freedom on this night where once they had hidden and coward from the monstrous wild beast that hunted them down with glee.

Tom hesitated, that was his old life. He wouldn't smell the night air and he wouldn't be able to tell if another creature was near him. And he would be alone. He didn't want to be alone.

He wanted to be in noise, he wanted to run and hunt and jump and duck, he wanted to dance or fight or run until his body was tired and scream until his lungs were hoarse.

He looked towards the town. He would find what he needed there, there would be everything to distract him, noise, people, drink, movement, he would lose himself among it and vent all this energy; releasing the inner bomb that had been bubbling in his veins.

He growled to himself as he went, his fists were balls, his muscles were tense, he needed to do something, he wanted to scream, to run, to punch a wall; he needed to release the feral rage he still felt.

Shouts, bangs and crashes, the sound of metal falling on the ground. Tom eagerly turned towards the noise coming from an alley next to a bar where thumping music was bouncing off the walls around him.

He had been wandering, eyeing up the people that rolled around him. He'd pushed one man who'd fallen onto him, but the guy'd been too far gone and hadn't done more than stare glassy eyed before bending over and throwing up. Tom had stepped away disgusted, men were such animals, and women were shameless. He felt himself getting angry, none of them respected themselves or those around. Where were their mothers to tell them how to act, where were their fathers to instill proper values?

A chilling thought crept up on Tom; Is this humanity? Is this what I've wanted to be part of?

Another crash, an angry thud, someone let out an 'oof' and a grunt. He walked slowly towards it; he heard a laugh and the scraping and slipping of shoes on tarmac. He'd wanted to find a vampire, but he couldn't tell who was what now, he didn't know.

I'm not part of that world no more. He said to himself. It wasn't right to hurt normal people, but here, right now, normal people were animals.

Tom sneered. If they didn't act like people, why should they be protected?

A soft crack followed by a man's scream; bones had just been broken. Tom moved forward. In the dim light he made out four men, one crumpled on the floor, one crawling trying to stand, another edging towards the fourth who was standing firm, ready. Tom couldn't see who they were, but clearly it was three on one. And the one was winning.

'This is disappointing, if I knew you were this bad I would've let you keep the knives.' Can an imperious sneer from the fourth.

Tom froze. He knew that voice. Oh God, he knew that voice.

'Hal?' he said.

The fourth stopped, his head turned towards him just as the other lunged forward and landed a heavy blow on the side of Hal's face, sending him backwards.

Tom didn't need to be invited, he was already barreling down the alley, head down, teeth bared and snarling.

On to Chapter 5, to be uploaded in a few hours if all goes according to plan!