TASK TWO

❝ DO THEY FEAR YOU,
TOO? ❞
— a short story by
dinah c. alistar

LATE 12TH CENTURY B.C.,
TRANSYLVANIA, ROMANIA.

       The moonlight was absolutely stunning that day - or should I say, night - as the shimmery glow of faint cerulean had emerged. It had been that faithful day of the quoted "once in a Blue Moon", and it did not seem as if anything out of the ordinary had happened. Yet. that is. It has only been midnight, the night watch was sprawled abroad across all borders. Humans had their way around the forests, but it was not enough to pull down the ravenous wolves that had so long dominated that very territory from their podium of all-knowing reckoning. You may say these canines were the apex predators of the realm, although humans played a part of trying to compete with these otherworldly beings, none would be capable if they had only have their bare hands and meek flesh to sustain them within a brawl against one of these nightmares.

Ah, the spine and bone-chilling tale of the lodging predators of mankind and its ancestors, inhuman beasts that roamed the terrain at dusk. Howling and hunting for one unfortunate soul to linger within their treacherous traps. Wolves, infamous for their towering height and supernatural agility, as well as their enormous lineage of cold-blooded genocides as a pack.  Gathered together in taking down the weak and even those who were foolish enough to have crossed the lines. The chemistry between man and beast had not been as much of a rarity like some would presume, as it was a daily tribulation that had to be endured because of this hostility and blood-thirsty hunger that had held the product of such hardships and trevail.

In the midst of this witching hour, was a lone wolf being hunted down by a trio of men, that opted to call themselves as monster hunters, capable and skillful men ( and perhaps a scarcity of women ) of whom took it to themselves to be heroes of this critter filled era. And that their ultimate goal was; to put an end into this insomniac lifestyle: extermination of all beasts alike.

Arrows swept past it, the running animal dodging a few of the firey, silver darts that was told to have been the most 'effective' weapons to use for such creatures as them. In a world of supernatural, there had been possibilities of hybrids and interspecied offsprings. But there were also 'werefolk' that had been the product of human and beast. It was an extreme abomination indeed to have had an affair between opposing sides of this daily retribution, but there it was. And this little girl in the form of a one year old wolf pup was one of them.

" well good riddance! That nasty hybrid got away."

" don't worry, it's not as if those pureblooded beasts would help out a hell spawn like that abomination."

" it's for the better, who knows, maybe it's corpse would be tossed and we can come back to take it as a coat."

She could hear the armed men chatter admits one another, laughing and hollering following right after the small argument about losing their price of a hybrid beast.

After finally finding a sound area within the veil of the blue sheen, little dinah, body sore and aching from all the pent up adrenaline of the chase, whimpered softy; " I'm scared.." She very well ought to be, she was both an opposition to true blooded wolves and humans alike. Even her own hybrid kin would not hesitate to throw her in front to act as a shield for themselves. You can never fully trust anyone or anything, no matter how strongly (blood) related you are. Her own father and mother framed her to be a 'special child' because of her intelligent mind and keen senses that surpass a mere human child's. And no wonder she was special, she was a hybrid! And one that had a wolf's blood surging within her veins.

The signs (about her 'specialness'), at first, had been very few and Dinah managed to live a normal life. Well, that is if you take away the cunningness that surpassed her peer's

On her 10th birthday she just lashed out, animal instincts raw and radiating as to reach to the point wherein she murdered her own family with her very hands, canines and claws, everything maniac. The crime scene still fresh within her mind, even if she was quick in fleeting with fresh set of apparels.

She was a monster, but also an alien to both realms and species.

Absentmindedly treking past the tall structures that surrounded her, did the little outcast regain from her stumbling in. Once golden hued irsies flickering back to their 'human' color of deepest brown, whilst her bare feet that sprouted out into furry paws shifted right back into her calloused and dirted soles. Her little leisurely waltz amongst the tall trees soon halted, as she caught a whiff of an overwhelming scent. It was almost as ominous as the mystery of the surrounding forest, and Dinah did not want another threat surrounding her. Despite being a lone and abandoned child, she was also a capable being, that is in comparison to fellow human children. Thus, she had not caught onto the nearing future that was to become of her as the red-eyed beast lingered with the darkness of the vicinity.

Suddenly being pounced upon, the girl fell back, and had let the height of the slop - that she had been currently trekking upwards upon -  conquer the pair for a while. Feeling gravity motion the both of them to roll down a bit, they finally held to a conclusion of dinah being pinned down by the shadowy foe.

It was akin to the spoken figure - a shadow - as the beast had the darkest of black fur, ones that rivaled the very void of space. Those eyes of his a menacing scarlet hue that reminded the girl of the blood that she splattered and painted her hands in with. Accidentally, of course.

" woah.." Instead of retreating like a normal person and a child her age would be doing right now, the victim of this vicious beast was more intrigued than far necessary. No fear was there either in her orbs of shimmering ink nor from her body, no signs of it, only mere fascination and intrigue.

" grrr." The black manned wolf can only grow, bear his menacing set of teeth down at the youth. Why was she not whimpering and asking for him to spare her? Was it because she were a hybrid? Thinking of how he could have withheld from the thought of slaughtering her? It made him mentally scoff, Amaro had come across such scoundrels like her; ones that we're forced out here and taken as prey for the formidable alpha: numerous of times did he have no need of hunting as the food will always serve itself before his very gaze.

" do they fear you too?" The little wolf spoke, her eyes glinting with an odd frame of interest and investment.

The wolf tilted it's head, eyes spiralling with a little perplexity towards the human's reaction. Except for the little guard she had around her, it seemed to be that she had took that cloak of animosity off and soon downed on a respectable attitude - an adoring one as well. " of course they do, they know what I am you fool, a wolf. a terror and a beast." He almost let out that inner snicker of his, imagining that he was rolling his eyes at this point.

" Why do you ask? " the enthralled beast inquired, finding it hard not to enjoy a speck of leisure entertainment. Oh well, he always did seem to play with his food for a while, if it interested him of course. 

"I was just curious, it's peculiar as to how I found someone who's a bit like me." Her answer was as laughable to him as her uncanny character was. 

"tch, I am by no means an equal as to the likes of you, half-breed." Amaro tried to pull off as uninterested, but it did double as an act to prove this 'uncultured monster' was quite the actor. An expert it seems.

Pursing her lips to hold down a pout, little Dinah had argued back to the joking carnivor with a bit of a sliver tongue," maybe not exactly, but we are viewed as the same technically."

Although already knowing of the answer, the obsidian manned wolf had played along with her, " and that is? " there was a faint taunting with his statement, almost urging the frustrated hybrid to prove him wrong and 'win' this insufficient /oral/ match of theirs.

She had locked her gaze with his ruby red ones at this, eyes flickering for a while until a customary gold sheen envelopes both of her eyes.

" we're not human. "  

unfortunately, humanity viewed both of them as monsters and nothing more. They were both seen as beings to beware of, and identically inhuman.

THE END.