Chapter 4
Questions. Questions were zooming through Luke’s mind like bees in a hive. Each thought was an oversized bee that was drunk, it swerved in the hiveand started to hit the parapets. Luke had about five hundred bees in his head at the moment.
One bee seemed to be buzzing much more loudly than any of the others. It said, “Werewolf? What the hell?” Then another bee said, “Who is this stranger? Can he be trusted?” Luke started to clear his head and began to walk faster down the trail, wanting to figure what was going on.
As Luke walked down the path he noticed that animals were peering out from trees. A deer started to walk a crossed the trail then stopped and looked at Luke. Luke stopped as will and look back at the animal. Something in his stomach clenched when he saw the chest of the deer inhale and exhale. Luke’s eyes turned wide, he could not take his eyes off of the deer. Something told him to kill it, something else asked why. Then there was no reply
Luke took a step forward, the deer’s eyes widened and Luke saw fear in them. Something was beating. It was a heart, the deer’s heart. As Luke walked forward, the pacing heart started to pound faster and faster. Still entranced, Luke broke into a run and made a jump for the critter. The deer bolted off before Luke could reach it. The trance was snapped and Luke was normal. “What just happened!” he yelled into the tree canopy, “Am I losing my mind?!”
Luke held his arms around his chest. Something was in him, he could feel it, but Luke didn’t know where. He resumed his walking. His pace was quicker than the day before, he strode confidently but a side of Luke was wondering why. The idea of him being a werewolf suddenly can to him, it would explain the recent phenomena’s that was happening to him. But at the same time it seemed just to good for him to be a werewolf now of all his life. He was always exiled from other people on his class.
When Luke arrived at the clearing, he saw no traces of his blood on the ground. Luke walked to where he was attack and looked around. EVenn breathing came to his ears; Luke looked around and saw the strange man sitting on a tree branch, picking dirt from his fingernails.
“About time you showed up,” he said a little annoyance in his calm voice, “by the smell of you, you had breakfast? He sniffed the air, “The continental kind if I am not mistaken, eggs and beacon.”
Luke wasn’t deterred or amazed at the man’s guess or statement. Luke guessed that he was a werewolf, but he couldn’t be sure. Luke looked at the man in his grey eyes and said, “Nice guess. Still peeping on other people’s privacy?
The man gave a laugh, a laugh that would have sent shivers up his shoulders a day before, but today Luke was a different. “You seem tense,” said the man, jumping down from the branch. He landed squarely on the ground. “Normal for a werewolf’s first day.”
“A werewolf?” Luke said, “You are the one who jumped down fifty feet; if anybody here is a werewolf, it is you.”
“Half true, I am a half werewolf, but you are a full werewolf,” he paused, “as much as a person who got bitten can be a full werewolf.”
“You are talking in circles old man,” Luke said, rubbing his shoulders, where the wild animal had bitten him. Then Luke observed that the man had an air around him that seemed to be gray.
“How right you are kid,” the man said, “How old do I look to you?”
Luke took note that the man was in his thirties. “You are in your thirties, right?”
The man chuckled, “Hardly kid, six-hundreds is closer.
Luke stared at him, but the notion of him being close six-hundred was re-goddamn-dicules. “You would be no more than a pile of bones if you were.”
The man seemed to relax, “Come on kid, don’t you watch werewolf movies?”
Luke did, and he wondered why he hadn’t thought of that before. “Ok, let’s say you are in your six-hundreds,” Luke said, “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be terrorizing some village near England or Transylvania?”
“That would be a stereotype” he laughed, then he straitened up, “Time for business, I already know your name Luke, but you have no idea what mine is.”
“True, what is your name?”
“Over the centuries I had many names. But now adays people call me Venn.”
“Venn,” Luke said, “That short for something?”
“No not really, but now we go to business, Luke.” Venn began, “To get this over with, I was attack by a werewolf during a half moon, many years ago. He was human but I got torn up. The man slaughtered my family as well. The abilities I have are amazing to watch, but I cannot measure up to the skills you will have.” Venn gave a breath, “Luke, you are a werewolf”
“That explains a lot,” Luke said sarcastically, “But what do you-”
“That explains your new attitude as well, Luke,” Venn interrupted, “You seem more tense than a normal teenage boy, these days.”
This hit Luke like a boulder; he was more tense then the day before. “What do you want with me?”
“Nothing at the moment, kid,” Venn said turning around and looking at the trees behind him for something. “I came to you because you will have no control when night grows near.”
“The night?” Luke asked quietly.
“The first full moon of the month was yesterday,” Venn began, “There are three nights when the moon will be full, in case you didn’t know.”
Luke’s stomach dropped, “You mean I am going to transform tonight?”
Venn nodded.
“What do I do?” Luke’s voice sounded petrified, “Is there a way to control the transformation?”
“Yes there is,” Venn said and Luke gave a sigh, “But only after the first month.”
Luke’s face was blank.. The sight of Luke’s horror sent laughter through Venn. Little did Luke know that he would be tied up by Venn when night got near?
“Luke,” Venn said trying to control his laughter, “I came here to tie you up when it gets dark. You are not going to kill anybody.”
“How can you be so sure?” Luke asked advancing on Venn who stood his ground.
“You have no choice but to do so.” Venn said, signing, “There are many werewolves like you who I trained and are doing well.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before I started to freak out?” Luke said, sounding relived.
“What and miss you freaking out?” Venn gave a smile at Luke, “I always do it to every person I train, so don’t feel to bad kid.”
Luke glared at Venn, trying to make him feel bad, but it didn’t work. “Oh and if you are wondering about the police finding the body and then tracing it to you, you don’t have to worry about a thing. I made a false lead that will send them into a dead end.”
Luke just thought about the newscast he had recently watched and said, “The newcaster and the police are saying to the man had hypertricoses”
Venn chuckled, “Indeed, they are partly right. In a matter of speaking.”
Luke thought about what Venn had said. How he will help Luke with his new curse. But for now Luke had no choice but trust Venn. As Luke thought, Venn looked around the clearing and walked over to where Luke had been attacked.
A closer look at the spot showed a pair of paw-prints, but no blood was in the imprint. “Luke, come over here,” Venn hollered. Luke broke from his thoughts and strode over to where Venn was. “Notice how there is no blood and there are paw-prints in the imprint.”
“I thought you or some other person cleaned it up.” Luke said, puzzled.
“No, I didn’t clean it,” Venn said, “After I shot the wolf, I ran after it and finished the job, I never came back here, Luke.”
“Does this mean we have other worries?”
“Sure does, Venn said to himself, in an undertone.
