Axel

"Axel, wake up! We have a job for you."

I jumped up, wild eyed, and looked around. The room was a little hot, and Jessica was tossing and turning in her sleep. I pulled the covers off of her to give her some air wiping the beads of sweat that collected on her forehead, I could see the revenant disease starting to appear under her skin.

"What do you want?" I responded with my mind. "It's three o'clock in the morning."

I got out of bed and walked to the mini fridge. The ice had completely melted, so I grabbed the bucket and went down the elevator to the lobby.
"We need you to go after Donovan and his crew again."

"First of all, what is this we? If Avery wasn't biting pixie dust to save her ass you'd be as worthless as Shaye right now."

I filled the bucket with ice and then bought a bag of chips out of the vending machine.
"No need to get nasty about it. Especially since Jessica's on her way to becoming one of those creatures herself."

I clenched my fists and looked around.
"Show yourself so I can kill you."

I was expecting him to appear out of nowhere, but he just walked through the hotel door like a normal person. Laughing, he was shaking his head.
"I'm sorry. I'll stop antagonizing you. Avery wants you to go after the werewolves."

I shook my head. "I can't do it. We're not ready. Jessica's in a pretty bad state, and Teresa's​ having trouble keeping her spirits up. I can't fight them all with just Teresa."

"We don't need you to fight them, we need you to capture Allen and bring him to the office."

I wasn't sure if it was just me being sleepy or if I was actually confused.
"Who the heck is Allen?"

Gabriel frowned. "You don't remember? You almost killed him when he released the werewolves the first time."

"Oh! The human! That's a piece of cake. I won't even need Teresa's help for this. I'll just nab him and run. Simple."

Gabriel shook his head. "No, it's not going to be that simple. He's a werewolf now too, and he has a considerable amount of strength. I haven't been keeping an eye on him all the time because I've been helping Avery, but you might want to be careful."

I yawned and waved him off. "Stop being so dramatic. I bet it's nowhere near as bad as you say. All you do is exaggerate."

"You need to listen to me-"
I grabbed him by his shirt and threw him into the vending machine.
"Leave. Before I decide to eat something else besides these chips.
He dissolved into smoke, and when I tried to reach into the broken vending machine all of the glass shifted back into place, perfectly new. I wasn't moving fast enough and it cut my finger. I hate that guy. I really do.

Allen

I was lying against a huge tree stump with Marissa at my side. We were watching the clouds go by, listening to the sound of dozens of insects and enjoying the smell of nature.

"So, Allen, what are you thinking about?"
I looked over to see if she was staring at me and she was. It wasn't in a creepy way, but the smile on her face bothered me.

"Uh, I'm thinking about my lungs burning and my heart exploding."
She laughed, but my chest was still in pain, so I barely cracked a smile.

"You have that huge man like form, and I'm still faster than you. Why is that?"

I didn't see it as a fair comparison.

"Four legs are better than two, and I was never athletic in the first place. I'm more of a nerdy type of guy."

"You managed to stand up to Donovan though, and he's been a wolf for years."

"That's different. I clearly am different from you guys, I've never transformed into the basic wolf form. Plus, I had Sam's magic as a backup."

Marissa put her hand on my shoulder, and slowly started to caress my arm. It still surprised me how big my muscles had gotten.
I sat up and looked at the ground beneath my feet. Here, in this park, my life changed forever. I was thrust into this world of werewolves and vampires, and now two of my friends had been taken because of it.

"I want to see you become one."

I looked at her. "How?"
She gave me an eerie smile and pushed her hair back.
"I could command you to do it. That is, if your willing to try."

I thought about it, and it seemed simple enough. I kind of wanted to see how normal werewolves felt like anyways.
"I'm all yours."

She grinned and got on her knees directly in front of me.
"Now, Allen, I want you to keep your mind open, because that's how I'll talk to you. Keep your eyes on me, and don't move. Think of it like a staring contest, but you are allowed to blink."

I took a deep breath. "Let's begin."
I stared into her eyes and waited patiently.
Her transformation was happening so slowly I almost didn't notice.

Her eyes were changing and began to shine. All of her skin began to get darker and hair was sprouting all over. I watched her clothes melt in with the fur as her canine body began to take shape. Now I was facing a fully grown werewolf that was bigger than I was, even while sitting down.

"Now." she spoke to me in my head. Change.
It reminded me of when Sam took over my body to fight, all my limbs moving independently without me telling them to. I remained completely as my eyesight changed and the entire night became clearer.

"Become like me." Marissa intoned. "Do exactly as I did."

The growing fur felt like an itch I couldn't scratch, and my bones started popping and breaking against each other. My arms and legs started to been in an awkward way and I felt my fingers get shorter. I couldn't keep my eyes on her anymore, the sensation was made my body twitch. I pawed furiously at the ground and rolled over, trying to shake the feeling off.
For assume reason, this actually felt better.

I was ​going to keep doing it until I heard Marissa laughing.

"Allen, we did it!"
"What?" I tried to say, but barked instead. Now I was confused. She said that aloud, not mentally. Was she able to talk in this form?
I stood up, on all fours, I might add, and saw that she was back in human form.

"Why'd you transform back so quick?" I asked in my head.

"Because I'm hungry." she replied. "It's bad to be hungry in the wolf form. Easy to lose control."
I stretched out like I do in the wolf man form, and slowly got my human body back.
"This is amazing." I told her.

"This is what you should have turned into. I don't know and that giant manlike form."

"I thought the original werewolves had manlike forms."

She nodded. "Yeah, they did. The overwhelming majority of their descendants don't, and since most werewolves are dead, it's even more rare. You have it, you managed to awaken it in Donovan, and Isaac was able to do it for years."

"He was? Why didn't you ask him for help sooner?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "We were trapped for years, and the morning after we were free, you turned into one. That, and Isaac hated being a werewolf so he attempted to cure himself dozens of times. But Donovan doesn't believe it's completely gone, and that's why we decided to come back to him."

Her eyes were wide and full of energy, meanwhile, that wolf transformation​ triggered my hangover. I was starting to get a massive headache, and it felt like we'd been out here for hours.

"Do you want to awaken the wolf man form?"
Her eyes widened.

"Uh, I don't know how that would look, but I'm guessing it won't look good, if you know what I mean."

I smiled. "I know what you mean."
She smiled too, and then she punched me. It was a hard hit, but still playful.

"Besides, can you do it without beating the crap of me?"

I thought about it. "I don't know. I've never tried."

"It won't be happening then." And with that, she laid back down, stretched, and finally, she yawned!

"So you're​ sleepy now?" I said, smiling evilly.
"Yea, I guess. But we're having fun aren't we?"

I was about to say yes but then I paused. I'm not sure why, but something just didn't feel right. Maybe it's because this is the last place I was with Danielle. Her being gone reminded me of Jacob, and just like that, I made myself depressed again.

"Allen... What is it?" She asked me.

"I want to find them. Danielle and Jacob. It may be too late for him, but I can save her, and give him a proper burial."

"Like we did for Barron?"

"Heck no! I'm talking about a human burial. With a casket. Or maybe, I could have him cremated."

"Doesn't he have family?"

"No. His mother passed away before he finished highschool, and his stepfather abandoned him after he joined the military. I'm really the only family he has left, I guess."

Marissa stayed silent for a moment. I closed my eyes and and tried to think about what would happen next. Sam was gone, but it was pretty obvious what she was going to do. I was about to go fight with Marissa and the other werewolves against the vampires, and since they told me most of the werewolves had been wiped out, I didn't like our chances. I at least had magic as a trump card, they had nothing else to defend against the vampires. I know that they were strong, that's why they haven't been killed yet, but is it wise to attack an army of vampires with so few werewolves? Shouldn't we have contacted some other supernatural groups to help us, like mages?

I had questions, but I wasn't looking for answers. If they told me that most mages hated us too I wouldn't be optimistic about our upcoming battle at all. It's really their battle anyways, I'm only helping because I want to save Danielle. If I could get more information on Jacob, I'd be happier, but I'm not expecting to find his body intact if the vampires have killed him.

Dark images swirled around in my head just thinking about it, so I tried to take my mind off it.

"Marissa, what are you gonna do after this is over?"

"This...night? What do you mean?"

"I'm ​talking about after we fight the vampires. What are you guys going to do?"

"Well... Jamie and Donovan are creating a plan to attack the other vampire territories but that sounds like suicide. I want revenge for the other werewolves too, but my will to live is stronger than a vendetta. Wait, what was that?"

Marissa looked around behind us, scanning the forest. I tried to hear what she heard, but I didn't notice it.
"I didn't hear anything."

"That's because you've never hunted before." She told me, still looking out into the forest.
"If you had, all of your senses would be heightened and you would be aware of almost everything around you. I'll teach you later."

She kept looking back, waiting for something else to happen.
"Maybe it was nothing." I suggested​.
A bright light shined behind the trees, followed by a loud explosion that shook the ground.

She gave me a condescending look.

"Hey, I noticed it this time."

She gave me a fake smile. "Really, you did? Good job!"

She hopped over the fallen tree and went dashing as fast as she could to the other end the forest, changing into her wolf form in a matter of seconds.
I took off running trying to catch up again. I jumped into the air, trying to shapeshift as she had done, but turned into the wolf man form, not the actual wolf form. I didn't have time to be picky or concentrate harder, I just kept going.

When I caught up to her, she was baring her teeth and growling. She was staring at something by the lake, something I couldn't see. I shapeshifted back to human form so it'd be easier to speak.
"Do you see a ghost, or something?"

No. There's a mage there. And they're messing with Barron's grave. She growled life and I could feel her anger pouring out of her body.
I squinted as hard as I could, but to no avail.
"I guess all my senses suck, because I don't see anything."

It's not your fault. They are using magic to hide themselves. We can't let them desecrate his grave. We must attack now!

Marissa started barking like mad and stormed after the invisible invader.

"Wait! Don't go yet!" I called after her trying to get her to stop. She can't fight something she can't see... can she?
I shifted again and lumbered after her.
All I wanted to do was sleep. I thought mournfully. I'll be a walking vegetable tomorrow.

Just when I thought Marissa was going to jump up and attack the air she froze in place. Her tail went between her legs and she started to shake with fear. As soon as I approached her side, it all burst into existence. A massive mound of dirt was next to the edge of the lake, and the gigantic hole it came from was a few feet from it. Barron's body was propped up against the dirt on the left side, and something seemed odd about the way he looked. First off, there were no signs of decay, in fact, it was the opposite. It seemed as if his body had healed, because he didn't look as thin as he did when he died. His face, arms and chest were fuller, and his ribs no longer showed. Second, his claws were longer and he seemed taller. I doubted it had something to do with his species, and their abilities because Marissa said she saw someone else here. But I hadn't seen anyone.

"Marissa, can Barron, whatever he is, be resurrected? Is that part of his magical... anatomy?"

Don't know. She spoke deeply, obviously still angry. Then again, I've never seen him lose to anything or die, so I don't much about his supernatural abilities. But that's none of my concern right now. We need to find the person that did this, kill them, and put Barron back to rest!

She barked and started prowling around, doing her best to track them down. I doubted I'd be much help, since I couldn't even hear what happened the first time.
"I'll put him back in his grave." I called after her.
She didn't look back but in my mind I heard her say: Good.

I walked up to him and held my breath, anticipating a bad smell. Up close, he still seemed menacing, even in death. I forgot about holding my breath as I stared at him in amazement. That's when I discovered​ he didn't have an disgusting odor at all. I stood there for a minute, just looking at the sheer size of his hand. He was so abnormally big that even if I shifted into my wolf man form I'd still be too small, but it would have to do. Donovan did it, in his human form, like it was nothing, so I shouldn't have much of a problem.

I began to shapeshift and noticed it was happening really slowly. Maybe I had done it too much in a small amount ​of time?

I tried to make it happen faster when I noticed something. It looked like, no, it couldn't be... Did Barron's hand just twitch?

Marissa yelped from far away, and when I turned I saw her frozen in midair. She was back in her human form, and appeared to be choking.
Standing under her...was Samirah.
The little girl had a complete makeover since the last time I'd seen her. She was wearing a black dress, with black jagged lines covering every inch of skin showing. She had bags​ under her eyes and her entire body was pale. She reminded me of her adoptive mother, Donna, before she was killed by the curse.

She was smiling at me, but wasn't getting any closer. Something bright lit up above my head, then appeared to go through my hands and my skin.

"Oh Allen..." She said to me. "You and your girlfriend are lucky you aren't my targets today."