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Fantasy When wolves howl.

Katrina

Hello!
BDark BDark

The air was filled with scent of rain. The sky was still clear, but she could smell it coming. A storm approaching to relieve the lands of heat that had surged over the country. Even the grass had become sharp like blades sticking up from the dryness, crunching underneath her paws like virgin snow. Through the green mass of woods a large, dark figure could be seen lurking in shadows. Keira was sneaking past the bushes, her figure hunched over and muscles tense. Anyone who would look at her though would not see a girl however, instead they would see a pitch black wolf in the same size as grown human. Her eyes glowed bright amber, catching the light of evening sun. She lifted her muzzle, sniffing the sweet, warm air. There was another scent mixing among the rainwater and dry moss. A scent of blood no more than a mile from where she was. Her ears perked. There was also a rapid heartbeat and sound of something small moving through bushes. She took another step forwards, her large form lowering to the ground even more. It was her first prey in a week. The heat killed a lot of small animals. They were hiding away from predators such as herself. And since she no longer had a pack to rely on, she no longer lived the life of a human. She couldn't even recall the last time she had shifted to her human form. She was a wolf now.

Keira leap forwards, powerful legs allowing her to swiftly move along the bumpy terrain. She jumped over the coiled shaped roots of pines that bulged from the hard soil, easily avoiding the trees and other vegetation alike. The wounded rabbit had sensed her coming and made a run for it. But it was already too late. She had caught sight of her next meal and would not let it skip away. Her lips parted, revealing a row of razor sharp teeth, itching to pierce the flesh of her running prey. With each step she came closer to the target, with each mighty leap she got closer to what she craved. Adrenaline rushed through her veins, fueling her with energy. She was so caught up in the race for the first meal of the week that she almost missed another scent that wind had brought to her. Almost.

The next moment she halted, watching the rabbit run away and disappear in distance. Her fur raised at her neck and ears lowered to her head. This other smell was no animal. This smell was much more detailed, more specific. A hunter's scent. A low growl rumbled through her chest. It was close to where she was, but she could not pin point a precise direction. Hunters were sly. They used tricks to lure werewolves such as herself in and hunt them down. She was a rogue. The law didn't protect her. Once you're kicked out from your pack, your life falls into hands of government. That is, if you get caught. It had been three months since she became a rogue. Up until now, she had managed to hold onto her freedom, and she did not plan on changing that. Keira listened for any sounds, trying to catch a glimpse of where could the possible danger be hiding. She could sense someones presence, but she couldn't see anyone. Her body set into motion, one thought in mind - to get away from whoever was after her. Even if she couldn't see him - she felt him.
 
As the clouds began to roll in and the winds blew, he watched from above the black wolf dive behind the treeline, silently leaping after a bleeding rabbit. A trap that she'd fallen for, though it wasn't very crafty. Her ears dropped as she caught the scent of something upwind. He looked, and his eyes briefly caught it: A hunter in the shadows, holding his gun up. He had one shot, and if he missed she'd know his location. The bastard went for the oldest trick in the book as well, but he didn't take the wind into account when planning his ambush, and if he could see the hunter then the wolf could probably find him as well.

Better yet, the only thing that covered the noise of his clumsy feet was the same storm-wind that betrayed his scent, the same wind that he'd hoped would reveal his rabbit's location to the wolf but hadn't thought that it would also harry his own scent. Damn, that man was stupid. As he made his way closer to the location of the hunter, he immediately recognized him as that self-proclaimed hunter who was bragging too loudly and drunkenly at the tavern about his hunting skills and about how he was hired to take down a rogue wolf that nobody had managed to catch.

He was now standing right above him. The fact that the bastard didn't know that he was being stalked alone meant that he stood no chance against the wolf, and he needn't the hunter standing in his way. Caldr dropped behind him silently and put one hand over his victim's mouth, wrapping his arm around him in such a way that he dropped his ornate bronze gun, then with his free hand he brought a knife to the other man's throat.
"Amoveus Bard," He whispered in his ear, low enough for the wolf not to hear,"Should've killed you while we were in bed."
And with that, he disappeared once more into the trees, leaving the bloody corpse of the man behind, slain by his own knife, knicked from him during an affair at the tavern the other day, and now he held it in his own bloody hand.

He couldn't kill the wolf. He had to bring her alive, and this made things much harder. Especially since Caldr had very little experience with werewolves, and this one especially seemed to have more fight in her than the others he'd killed.
 
There was a sound of something rustling. Her large head snapped to the side, amber eyes scanning the treeline. Her snout raised up to sniff the air. There was scent of sweat and fear in the air. It was very specific and quickly made her realize that the bloody rabbit had been a trap and a rather lousy one at that. Low growl rumbled through her throat. Damned bastards. Someone was at it again, trying to bring her to justice. If only they knew....The large paws made silent steps as another scent filled the air. A different one, this time without the stench of fear. This one set her off. The fur on the back of her neck rose and ears lowered. There was two of them. No...one. Metallic smell of blood mixed with the air. Fresh blood. Keira felt her mouth water. Being a rogue did come with certain struggle. The need for flesh was driving her crazy at times. Before she had the time to think twice, her legs had taken her to near by bush. A body lied still on the dried ground, still warm. A fresh kill. The knife wound was unmistakable for anything else. Someone was there. She could sense it, feel it in the air. Someone was near, watching from shadows like certain death.

Keira shook her head, trying to rid herself of thoughts to sink her canines into the body. For all she knew, it could be another trap. She had to be careful. The large head of the black wolf turned as she scanned her surroundings. Nothing....But she just knew that she wasn't alone. She had to lure whoever was there out. The big question was how. Her entire body was tense, prepared to pounce any moment in any direction. Whoever was there was there for a reason. There was no specific scent on him. But she knew for sure that it was a man. His scent still lingered around the dead body, thought odor of alcohol and blood did quite a good job at masking it. The dots connected quickly in her head. The man made close to no sounds at all as he moved. He knew how to cover his tracks and hide his scent. There was no mistake about it....he had to be a hunter.

The thought alone made the hair stand at the back of her neck. If he was, the she was in big trouble. All these months gone without being caught, she couldn't allow that to happen now. She was a wolf, fast and her stamina could last her miles without stopping or slowing. She could run away, but if she was right about this hunter, he would track her down. Her head listed, amber eyes scanning the top of the trees. He had to be close somewhere. She only needed to get a waft and she would lunge. Just one movement and he would be hers to take. Low growl rumbled through her throat.

Come on...show yourself, so we can be done with this.
 
Caldr watched as his prey came upon the dead Amoveus. She was wary, but she also seemed to be starving, and she finally felt his presence. However, it was too late, and any move she'd make now he was ready to counter. But still, if she just decided to make a run for it, it might take him days before he could get another opportunity such as this, or she could get herself killed by some other forest creature, and he absolutely did not appreciate having some wild beast do his work for him. But werewolves, as he knew, were more powerful in their canine form, and he didn't have an advantage from his position. Unless he wanted her dead, at least.

The hunter dropped before the wolf, clad in grey attire mostly but for his black leather boots, and he held no weapon in his hand. The only thing that might have diverted her attention from his deep blue eyes was perhaps the silver chain around his neck that held all sorts of tiny trophies from his various missions. He studied her for a moment, before giving a sliver of a smile. He knew what he wanted to do, and he knew he could do it now.

"I am not here to kill you." He said to her in his light Irish accent and almost serpentine voice as he slightly shifted his form to a half crouch. His hands were kept at his sides, exposing the marked wrists of the hunter. His job was practically done.

Strangely enough, this hunter was not like the others. He did not reek of that same odour, he did not reek of sweat or alcohol, and certainly not of fear. In fact, he seemed to lack a scent almost, for it was very vague to those not of his blood. Slowly, he reached with one of his hands into his belt, closing his fist around something and bringing it back to his side. It definitely wasn't a gun or knife.

He had only one shot at this. If he throws it too late, he'd be done for. After all, killing a creature was much easier done than capturing it, and werewolves were no exception to the rule.
 
Her sharp eyes were on the hunter the second he made the decision to come out from his hide out. Her pupils narrowed as adrenaline begun to pulse through her veins, Keira bared her teeth, her fur raising once more and ears lowering to her head. It was quite a sight to behold, having a raven black wolf take a battle stance. Her eyes were set on her target. Perhaps the smarter choice would be to run, however it was not an option in her case. She snarled at the dark haired man, observing him carefully. Though something told her that she was no longer the one playing predator. There was something in his eyes that told her otherwise, warning her of what was to follow. He held no weapons yet, but she turned that as little as she trusted his words. Not to kill her? That was a lie, or a promise for much grimmer fate.

There was something off about him. She could sense it in air around him, smell it. He was wary like anyone in his situation would be, but he smelled of no fear. Almost as if the man had a death wish, which she was more than happy to grant. It wouldn't be her first time killing someone. Her inner beast desired it, the taste of blood, but she had resisted that all the way. This one though, she highly doubted would leave her with another choice. Her amber eyes zeroed in on his hand reaching up to his belt. Her nerves tickled and muscles tensed. It was like a starting gun for her to take action. She did not bother to see what the man held, but she was fairly convinced that it was meant as something that would stop her. Those like him were trained for those things. He wasn't like the fool that lied short distance from the two, drowning in his own blood.

With an angry growl, Keira leaped forwards, her large body crashing into the hunter, sending the two toppling onto the ground. The wide jaws parted exposing rows of teeth as she stared angrily down at the hunter, very much aware that while this position put her in charge, it also exposed more of her to him. If he struck, then she would suffer as much as he would from her bite. Not that she had much time to mingle with those thoughts. The next moment her head was moving down, mouth wide open in an attempt to rip apart his shoulder and eventually his throat.
 
Before Caldr could throw the object in his hand, the wolf pounced and knocked him over. As she reached for his face, he quickly threw the metal disc, which split into two halves connected by a chord and wrapped itself around her front legs in the same way that a bola would, causing her to lose her balance and fall off of him. He clumsily got up and breathed heavily for a moment and stared at her with surprise, before regaining his composure. No wonder she's made this long, the girl wasn't stupid at all, and she sure as hell was much stronger than he'd anticipated.

The hunter then walked over to the dead man's corpse and shook his head before turning his corpse over and stripping it of its weapons, except for the knife that he'd killed him with. He picked up another knife identical to it, a rope, and the large ornate gun. They were at the edge of the forest, so the authorities of the nearby village should find him soon enough and think he killed himself, unless some forest beast feasts on his corpse. Caldr then turned to face the wolf, who was still struggling with the chord, as he placed the gun's holster around his waist.

"You won't be able to get that off." He said to her, before pulling out a little key. "At least not without this. Don't try too much."

Even if she turned human, the chord would still give her issues, but at least she'll be able to walk. He knew werewolves were much weaker in their human form, so he wanted to force her into it for the sake of simplicity. He gestured to her to get up as he replaced the key into his pocket. There was something nearby, he could sense it, and it made him very uncomfortable. Something that had picked up on the dead man's scent. Something he couldn't see quite yet.
 
The moment of victory was short lived. Just as she thought she had him right where she wanted, she felt something wrap around her front legs like steel cords, instantly knocking her off balance. The object dug painfully into her flesh as she went tumbling onto the ground. A mix of growls and whimpers filled the air as she begun to give at the strange wire, with no much success. She couldn't get it open. The hunter had still managed to flip the situation for his own good even when she had him pinned to the forest floor. If it wasn't for the hurriedly growing distress and rage, she might even find herself admiring the skill set this particular man seemed to posses. Keira growled loudly, glaring at the man while still in her wolf form. She knew what he wanted her to do. If she shifted to her skin form, she stood no chance against him, specially when her arms would be tied up by some metallic cord that only dug in deeper with each her move. The man had it all planned out smart. Though what he hadn't taken into consideration was that there were presence of something else in the air. She had felt it shortly before him which had added to her struggling. She couldn't pin point what the scent was as it was in distance yet, but it unsettled her way more than she liked.

Keira was left with little to no choice in the matter, but the odd stench lessened her desire to shift even more. She snapped her jaw at the hunter as a warning. The young woman would be the weaker one now, unable to protect herself from him or anyone that was approaching. And yet, as mentioned before, she had no other options. With a painful snap of her backbone, she begun to shift. The bones moved and snapped underneath her skin, molding into something different and more human like. A forced shift was always painful - specially when one hadn't shifted in a while. It was also not a pretty sight to witness. Her fur disappeared and the snout grew shorter. There was a moment when she looked like a true monster - a humanoid wolf.

But that lasted only for a second before her bare palm touched the dry grass, a sensation she hadn't felt in a long while. If it wasn't for the bright amber eyes - one could mistake her for a human. Keira's raven black hair fell over her shoulders and back freely, not doing too great of a job to hide her naked form. Her body was completely exposed, not a single piece of cloth covering her modesty. Not that she cared much about that. Instead her eyes, from which the amber hue slowly begun to fade to light blue, traveled up to meet the steely eyes of the hunter responsible for her capture. She glared up at him, desperately trying to fight off the need to charge at him. That might not be the smartest option for now. Keira observed his sharp features, how tall he was, desperately searching for a weakness, only to come to a realization that she stood no chance against him in her human form.

"Foolish human....You feel it too, don't you!? You might've just sighed a death wish for both of us with making me shift."
 
Caldr paid no attention to her as she transformed other than a quick glance from the corner of his eye, and as she finished her transformation, his eyes focused near where the dead Amoveus lay, right above his body, dismissing the warnings of the girl. He raised the silver gun, loaded, and aimed it. There was a moment of silence, and the wind grew colder as the rainclouds drew nearer, but the air grew much heavier with tension. He knew the direction from which the creature would come. He felt it, and focused on it.

The silence was short-lived, however, as he caught a quick movement in the woods; a creature about the size of a short man with a tail, and he immediately recognized what it was. Shug monkey. The horrible monkey-like demons that feasted on the flesh of men and animals alike, drawn near by the dead man's corpse and possibly his injured rabbit that had disappeared into the woods earlier. At least it wasn't a Revenant or a Freybug. The creature dropped onto the body, seemingly taking no notice of the two as it began to wolf down Amoveus's fresh corpse. Its flesh was black, even darker than the werewolf's, and its hind legs were a bit thicker than one would expect. Shug monkeys were incredibly aggressive, and if it noticed them it wouldn't let them go. Caldr took aim and pulled the trigger. However, the gun seemed to mostly be made for the looks, and the bullet only caused a shallow wound, alerting the beast of their presence.

It turned around, revealing its white face, its canine-like snout damp and stained with blood, and it let out an otherworldly screech, showing its knife-like bloodstained fangs before leaping at Caldr. The creature pushed him onto the ground, its sharp claws digging into his skin, and started snapping at his face, not unlike the werewolf had done earlier, the only thing holding it back being the long gun in the hunter's hands, which he used as a barrier to hold the creature back.
"FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT-" He hissed in anger as he slid one hand from the stock to the barrel and released his other hand.

Immediately, the creature managed to push closer to his face, its slobber flying all over him, and the gun began the sway with unbalance as he brought his free hand to his waist and pulled out his Hollow Blade. He struggled for a moment before finally managing to slide the blade into the monkey. The creature let out another high-pitched screech before finally getting quiet. He wiped the blood off his blade onto his clothes and reinserted it into its sheath.
"It might be a piece of shit, but it'll fetch a good price." He said to himself as he placed the gun in his belt, before turning to Kiera.

Caldr tied the rope he'd gotten from Amoveus's corpse to the chord around her wrists and looked at her for a moment. He was damn lucky it was just a shug monkey; had it been one of those giant spiders or a Revenant, he'd have needed to put his trust in the girl. And she would have run away and left him for dead, he guessed, and even though he may have escaped with his life, it would've taken him weeks, if not months, before he could track her down once more, assuming nobody else had taken her by then. But she'd survived that long. She was strong enough to survive a little more.

"Come on, now" the hunter called to her, lightly tugging the rope as he moved towards the edge of the forest and wincing slightly due to the wounds on his arm from the monkey's claws. "We must get to the village soon. Unless you want to walk naked in the rain, of course."
 
She could feel her nerves tingle. It was closing in....a creature with stench of rot and blood. It hit her senses harder than a battering ram, nearly making her gag. If she wouldn't have eaten anything in the last four days, she would've thrown up at this point. Instantly she knew who the best was, even before it came charging from the near by bush. In her wolf form the nasty thing wouldn't be a match for her. They were smaller and slower than a werewolf. But it did scare her of what it could do to her when she was in her skin form. She couldn't even try to defend herself with the cords wrapped tightly around her wrists. Keira held her breath not to inhale the stench as the creature finally appeared, and partly not to draw attention to herself. Her mind raced with ideas. She could run. Her legs weren't tied, but even then she wouldn't get far. All she could do was watch as the whole situation unfolded right in front of her eyes.

Her now pale blue eyes darted from the creature and back to the hunter. Keira moved back, moving her hands to attempt to get out from the restrains, of course with no success. "Shit....come on."She murmured to herself, still unused to her human voice. It was odd to hear actual words forming after months of just howls and growling. That was the least of her concerns at the time as the monkey came charging at the hunter, knocking him over with a much more aggressive and wilder attack than she had attempted. Truth to be told, while she had been ready to finish the hunter for good, she did not want to give into the rapid side of her wolf. It surfaced way too easily these days. Even now the smell of blood made her want to shift and carry on with tearing apart everything that moved to get some food in her stomach. She was starving and thanks to the dark haired man, also exhausted.

The fight was over before she had managed to even loosen the cords. An unpleasant screech filled her sensitive ears and just like that the money was dead. The smell grew even stronger with its blood being spilled making her scrunch up her nose in disgust. Keira had to admit, she had given the man a little less credit than he deserved. He was built like a warrior and she could see the predator in his eyes, but he also had the skill. Killing came as naturally to him than to her it seemed, making him that much more of a threat.

The young werewolf observed his every move as he tied the rope. Not that she was willing to just stick her tail between her legs and obey him like a lost puppy. She didn't escape one prison to end up in another, or to die from human's hand! Keira growled as he tugged on the rope as if it were a leash. "Like hell i'm going anywhere with you."She hissed, her canines once again showing as she spoke. Rain nor the fact that she was completely naked in front of him bothered her. It was a trait of wolves, they weren't shy nor where they ugly. Werewolves were gifted with good genes. Their skin forms were usually very attractive and appealing to the eye. As arrogant as it was, she knew she was no different in the matter.

"Don't think it's that easy to take me down."She charged at him the next moment, still in her human form. Unfortunately she was a good fighter only in her wolf form and those methods didn't work too well when she was a human, but still it was worth giving it a shot, try to get him knocked out somehow and unlock the cords.
 
Caldr stumbled into a tree as the werewolf charged into him, causing him to lose his balance momentarily. He then turned around and looked into her eyes, and felt a fleeting feeling he'd never felt before. Something about this one was quite... different, to say the least. She was more powerful, in a way, or she had some connections. At least so it seemed at first. Still, though, he wasn't about to let her just go, and she had no way of freeing herself. So unless somebody else decides to take pity on her and somehow gets his hand on the key, she'll just starve or freeze to death, assuming she doesn't get killed or hunted down first, that is.

"Do you want to live or not?" He growled at her in an impatient tone, flashing the key once more, "Then you better come with me. You have no way of freeing yourself, even with the key. Come along now, or you can wait for another one of these bastard monkeys to come and maul you down if you wish."

With that, he tugged on the rope lightly once more as he stepped over tree roots and twigs, making his way towards the edge of the forest. If everything went according to plan, he was going to get her some cheap clothes from the nearby village and stay at the tavern for the night, or till the storm had passed, then they'd make their way towards his client.
 

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