Red Riding Hood

Chapter Twenty-Nine: "White Wolf"

Jack stayed very still, his eyes looked between Darcy and Mark. It was hard to breathe with Geralf's arm around his neck and the feeling of the sharp ax nestled against his ribs. Geralf's arm tightened around his neck a bit, when he snapped out angrily to Darcy. "You don't know what you want! This THING you have become. It isn't you! I can save you!" Darcy snorted blood over his already bloody chest, before growling out. "Save me? From what? You? How badly does it bother you that I got free? How much does it burn that you stupidly told me your plan and I got here first!" Geralf pressed the ax to Jack's ribs more, snapping out bitterly. "Well, you failed. I have him! So, what is your plan now, Darcy?" Darcy's eyes expanded and glinted in the dim candlelight, upon sneering out. "You've lost, Geralf. I'm going to kill you both... because he's tainted now." Geralf blinked, stammering out in confusion. "W-what?" Darcy took a deep sniff of the air, then looked to Mark and chuckled out. "You bit him under a Hunter's Moon, didn't you? And he loves you too much to allow his blood to cure you..." Jack tensed, watching Mark process that with shock on his face.

Darcy's lips curled into a bloodstained grin as he uttered out in a menacing purr. "You've tainted his blood. He's useless to the Hunters now." Geralf loosened his grip to rip the collar of Jack's shirt to expose his shoulders. The second he saw the fresh bite on his shoulder, Geralf shoved him into the snow and snapped out. "NO! What have you done?!" Jack shivered as he scooted back from Geralf, fixing his red cloak over himself to cover what his shirt couldn't now. Geralf removed his pistol, clicking back the hammer as he aimed it at Jack. Jack raised a hand, pleading out. "No! Don't!" Mark growled, bolting toward Geralf but Darcy slammed into him to knock him off course. Rolling across the floor, stuff in the house smashed apart as they wrestled with each other. Geralf glanced at them, before turning his attention back to Jack. Shaking his head, he stated out flatly. "You made him an Alpha... and destroyed any chance of me saving Darcy. You ruined EVERYTHING!" Jack tried to run as Geralf pulled the trigger. The silver bullet tore across Jack's arm, searing his flesh as it grazed him. Screaming, Jack grabbed his arm and staggered but kept running for the woods.

Geralf raised the ax and threw it toward Jack's back. As the ax flipped through the air, Jack felt a sudden pain pulse through him. Falling limply into the snow, the ax missed him and impaled a tree in front of him. Jack tried to get up on all fours, but the pain in his shoulder flared up and weakened his limbs. Strange growls and whines came from the house, causing Geralf to snap out. "Damn it! Not now!" Jack looked up at the sky to see the golden moon rising over the treetops. The Hunter's Moon was reaching its high point now. Allowing its strongest rays of moonlight to touch more area. Jack stared at the Hunter's Moon, feeling his body start to tremble as he felt his muscles strain. It felt like someone was pulling his muscles apart. Resulting in a bloodcurdling scream escaping his throat. Arching his back, he heard his joints popping to release the pressure that his body was under. As he ran out of breath to scream, he started panting but he didn't sound well. His pants came out deep and sounded gravelly. Staggering up on his feet, he looked down at his hands and let out a shaken whine that was anything except human. His hands had gotten bigger and were covered in thick white fur.

His clothes had torn and were scattered around his anthropomorphic wolf feet. The only thing left on him was his red cloak that billowed in the soft breeze to reveal his long bushy white tail. Turning to look back at the house, he stood completely frozen in fear. Had he become a... werewolf? His hands rose to touch his face. Only to find that he had a set of wolf jaws now and as his fingers slid up through his thick fur, he found silky ears on his head. Holding his ears, his whole body trembled. Geralf reloaded his gun, aiming his gun at Jack in his stunned state. Jack closed his eyes, unsure how this had happened. He heard muffled barking from the house, but as he listened to it, the barking cleared up enough that he heard Mark's deep voice yelling out. "JACK! JACK! RUN!" Jack lowered his hands, letting out a timid puppy whine as he replied. "Mark...?" Looking back, he locked eyes with Geralf as he cocked the hammer back on his gun. Jack could only gasp as he snapped from his shock. Geralf gripped the trigger to pull it, when a white form dashed through the snow toward Geralf. Jack's eyes widened as he saw another white werewolf leap at Geralf's back with its teeth bared!