Author's Note

All the reviews and follows so early in the development of this story make me so very happy. Thank you all so much!

I jerked awake to the sound of rain pounding down on the roof. I look around my room because there's no way the rain would have woken me since it was already raining by the time I fell asleep. Seeing nothing amiss in my room, I decide to investigate outside. Opening the sliding door that leads to the outdoor walkway rather than the hallway, I quietly slip outside. It's hard to see anything through the rain and there's nothing to lighten the darkness outside. I don't know why, but I just have the feeling that something is out there in the rain.

I go back to my room for a moment to grab my umbrella before sliding down to the ground below the deck to begin my search. I quietly meander through the gardens looking for anything out of place, but I still can't find anything wrong. The wet grass tickles my feet as the gravel paths are uncomfortable to my bare feet. The feeling of unease, which I'm beginning to suspect is what woke me up, continues to grow as my search stretches out. I'm beginning to feel a sense of urgency, as if something terrible will happen if I can't figure out what's wrong in time.

As I jog around the corner of the secondary building I see it, a figure with what looks like a sledge hammer dragging along the ground behind it. They're heading towards the statue garden and I'm not sure if I should confront them or turn and run for help. I stood there frozen for a moment before something in my head tells me it's better to run, so I take a step back.

Crack

I freeze once more as the sound of the twig that I swear wasn't there before snaps under my bare foot. I hold my breath, hoping the sound of the rain drowned out that one twig snap. That hope is crushed when the figure's head snaps around to stare directly at me. Then the fear sets in as I notice small details I had missed before, like the weird angle of his knees, how the figure's arms seem to be too long, how there seems to be a tail swaying at their backside, and how the figure's head seems highly reminiscent of a dog's. A voice inside my head is screaming at me to run away, that this figure before me is dangerous and I must get away, but I just stand there frozen by this building fear.

"Dammit, that stupid sleeper spell didn't get'em all!" the growling voice of the figure curses, before letting lose a string of profanities as he drops the sledge hammer and darts towards me.

But it's too late, his voice has snapped me out of it and I've already turned and sprinted away, dropping my umbrella so that it can't hold me back. I weave and dart through the buildings and gardens, letting my feet guide me as I listen through the rain for the sounds of my pursuer. Fear and more adrenalin pump through my veins as I realize that he's catching up to me. I push myself to run faster, to lose my pursuer and make it to whatever destination it is that my feet have deemed safe for me.

"You're not getting away, girly." the thing breathes down my neck. I quickly swerve to the side watching as claws flash through the space I just occupied. I can't help but wonder if it's possible to get more frightened than what I already am, seeing as I'm being chased by some sort of werewolf.

As I run, I notice one of the tool sheds that are scattered among the gardens and, more importantly, a shovel leaning on the side of the shed. I dart forward and grab the shovel before abruptly pivoting around to swing the shovel at this thing's head. I'm not someone who likes or condones violence, but at this point I was feeling desperate and swung at him with everything I had. I got lucky and hit him square in the nose. He stumbled backward, howling in pain before it quickly turned to a snarl of anger, "You bitch!" Not knowing what else to do, I let the instinct Tatsuki had instilled in me when she taught me self-defense kick in and swung the shovel at his head once more. I got lucky again and sent him reeling once more, letting lose a very colorful string of profanities directed at me, but this time I didn't waste a moment listening to him and threw the shovel at him, darting off again. I really hoped that the pain would hold him off long enough for me to get a decent head start.

Fear just seemed to like holding my heart tonight, because it tightened its grip when I heard the voice of that thing take off after me. With an extra spurt of speed, I found myself moving swiftly down that old, barely-there path. I knew where my feet are taking me now and I sincerely hope that if werewolf things exist, then he does too.

I burst from the path and into the clearing, immediately diving to the left because I could feel that thing behind me. It slammed into the shrine, knocking some of the talismans, tags, and ropes off and leaving a crack in the central box.

Lightning lit up the sky as he detangled himself from the shrine and I could see him clearly. He wore pants down to what I had to assume was the knee seeing as that's where his legs bent, though they bent the wrong way for a human. A lose button-down, fleece shirt was left open on his torso, showing off a well-muscled chest covered in a thick fur. In fact, his whole body looked to be covered in fur. His arms were long, leaving his fingers to brush his knees and his fingers were tipped in long claws, ready to shred his prey. I swallowed realizing that those claws would likely be sinking into me. And his head was shaped just like a wolf's head, but the most frightening part of him to me was his eyes. His eyes were wild and feral, and when he looked at me with those eyes I could tell that I was nothing more that prey to him.

"End of the road for you, girly. Now you get to pay for trying to hurt me with that damn shovel." he growled at me as he slowly advanced forward. I scooted away from him, crawling from my position where I had fallen to the ground avoiding him. I was shaking in my terror and he chuckled in a merciless way that said he enjoyed my terror. Raising up a clawed hand in preparation to strike, he growled out a single word, "Die."

And an inhuman roar sounds from behind him.

I watched as the lycanthrope moved towards the stone seals of the temple and prepared to make my move. I had been following this guy for half the night, so I knew that the normal guards of this place had been cast under a sleeping spell. Just as I was about to strike, the guy turns around, curses, and then starts chasing the human girl who has sighted him. I'm not sure how I failed to notice her and it's a stain on my pride and career that I didn't, but now I'll have to wait and see how she handles herself. It's unfortunate, but we've got rules about being seen, and seeing as I'm not supposed to be here anyway, I'll have to wait.

She does surprisingly well by my book and I find her actions with the shovel truly inspired. It's a shame it'll take more than that for her to win, but she does a good job for a regular human. She runs again and we end up at a shrine tucked out of the way with a bunch of signs of sealing, but I don't sense the usual malice of someone being sealed here, so I guess it's a dunce. He's got her corned and on the ground now, but I won't hesitate this time to take him down because a girl like that shouldn't have to die. However, both he and I made a miscalculation. The shrine that he crashed into is not a fake decoration set to trap people like him. It is real, and its contents have just been set free.

And it doesn't sound happy at all.

Please leave a comment/review to tell me how I did.