Wolf-Girl: Changing (On Hold)

2: Family Ties

    My eyes started to focus on a familiar room. My still slightly blurry eyes scanned the room; everyone I knew seemed to be there – my family, the elders, the mortals, (not yet or never-to-be wolves) the chief of police (one of the few humans who knows about us, otherwise most of us would be locked up for murder) everyone except Luke. “Luke? Where’s Luke?” No answer. “Is anyone going to tell me where my brother is? I do have  rights.”

    “Eliza,” It was my father’s voice sewn in with anxiety and anger. “No one knows what really happened to him, though some say they saw him running off with the vampires. He is, we believe, one of them.”

    “What?” Since when was my father into riddles? “What do you mean?”

    “We think, that Luke, is a vampire.” Eh? That can’t be right; if were-wolves are bitten by a vampire we’re dead.

    “How?”

    “We don’t know.” There was a long silence. “All we know is we need to learn how, so we can prevent it from happening to any of us.”

    “OK. Owww!” My head was still killing.

    “That was your own stupid fault, for going out there.” His voice made it sound like he was going to lose it at any moment.

    “Well, did you expect me to wait around while you lot go risking your lives because of me?” It was perfect logic.

    “Yes actually, I did. I don’t want to lose you. Especially not the same way I lost your mother. None of us do.” His voice had calmed down. But now it was filled with sadness. I was vaguely aware of our audience, watching the chief, talk about his wife to his daughter. Awkward.

    “Sorry. I just don’t see the point of being the last female were-wolf if I’m not allowed to use that.”

    “I know. Your mother felt the same.” She must have poured all her thoughts and feelings to him.

    “OK” I didn’t know what else to say. “When will I be allowed out?”

    “Well, you’ll have some scarring and it may hurt a bit, but you can ‘go out’ as soon as it stops hurting as much, a few days? You were very lucky to have survived. Most wolves would have died if they, like you, had taken a claw to the head,” said Jakob, and he’s right; wolves heal fast, but if you’ve been infected with vampire venom, it can take six years to fully heal, sometimes more. Jakob says I’ll carry it for the rest of my life because of its location; I’ll never heal, not properly

    The next few days passed without any occurrence, apart from my head putting me through wave after wave of pain.

    It wasn’t until three weeks after I was let outside, that any other vampire occurrences happened. I was visiting my only human friend (that wasn’t in the tribe) Alex, and because there was rather nice weather (for England, that is), we went to the park, five minutes away from my colony of were-wolves. It wasn’t until we were queuing for ice creams while my four elder brothers stayed on watch (chilling and acting cool like all teenage boys), did it lose focus. It was remarkable that it had such self control that that parasite could keep up the barrier blocking us out for that long, and keep that close to us (in the queue in front of me) without attacking me or any of the other wolves in the area, let alone the humans.

    I was on him in an instant whilst screaming to Alex “Get everyone out of here!” Even though the wolves present were probably higher up on its priorities, I wasn’t about to let the possibility of the parasite deciding on a snack.

    Alex was another one of the few humans that knew about us. I was at a sleepover at her house before I first changed. I started to feel sick as the sun went down. So her mum was going to take me home. But, just as I put my suitcase in the boot of her car, I exploded out of my clothes.

    I wrapped my legs around him, my teeth at his neck. It wasn’t until then, that I realised that this was no ordinary vampire; this was the one vampire that wasn’t human before becoming a vampire.

    This vampire was my brother.

    I froze.

    My legs relaxed.

    The looks on my brothers’ faces said “why haven’t you bitten him yet?”. Then they knew. They were on him in milliseconds, trying to manipulate his prying hands away from my easily-broken legs. I honestly couldn’t that believe he could attack me - his own sister whom he used to protect.

    We’d always been told what to do if a vampire attacked us.

    Fight.

    Kill.

    Unfortunately, we’d not been taught what to do if your vampire brother attacks you.

    Vampire super speed (not used that often because it makes them weaker and more vulnerable), was the cause of the next events. One second I was on Luke’s shoulders, trying to get a descent angle on his neck, the next thing I knew, I was on the floor, and Luke was crouched behind me. His teeth at my neck.

    Ethan was fastest to react. He leapt at Luke, pulling him away from me, while I scrambled backward.

    “Luke, stop fighting. Come home with us.” Ethan begged. I doubted he would agree to come with us. But I hoped with all my heart.

    “No. My home is with some of the most powerful vampires ever!”

    “You used to spend your life killing vampires. Now you go round making them your best friends!” I hissed at him.

    “Calm down El.” Ethan told me, but I wouldn’t listen. “Please,” Ethan tried again. “Dad’s so worried about you.”

    “I bet the only thing he’s worried about, is that I’m gonna come and kill him.”  That’s when I snapped, maybe it was that I finally accepted that this was no longer the boy I’d grown up with, he was dead, or maybe it was his over-the-top sarcasm. Nevertheless, I leapt onto his shoulders, wrapping my legs around him, whilst also getting into a perfect position to bite his neck. Just before my teeth came into contact with his neck, I felt a wave of pain swim down my spine, the location of the wave was, undoubtedly, my head.

    I screamed.

    Ethan and Murphy exchanged astonished looks at my outbreak.

    In my moment of pain, Luke snapped my leg as if it was a tooth pick, and threw me in the direction of the car park.

    I think I broke something else as I hit the tarmac. I didn’t get time to check before Murphy had picked me up in his arms, seconds before I passed out.

    I remember people screaming.

    Nothing else.