Chaos

Burning Bites

Hellish.
That's how I would describe my morning. Absolutely hellish.

When I went to take a nap that morning. I had a dream, or rather, a memory. Dreams were hard to come by as a vampire, or perhaps it was just me. It doesnt matter.

I had a dream that...
I was so cold, numb.
"Victoria, where, where are you? you left... i'll come for you, is it too late? Sleep, you need sleep, yes, you're just sleeping, that's it, sleeping. Wake up, my love, did you know you.. you were meant for me, you have to stay by me, i'll stay with you, forever... forever, and ever, until.. until never." I muttered.

Coming to full consciousness, I realized I wasn't alone.

Where...
there she is, My Victoria.

She stood across the room, emotionless and staring at me before being blocked from my sight entirely by a large black wolf.

This black wolf was wrong; he was no longer natures child.

Blood dribbled in thick clots down his eyes and mouth and ears. He was devilish with burning, red rage eyes trained on my miraculously small form. I was 140 again, taking the fight of rites. The arena was set that should one of us die, we would be sufficiently deposed of as weaklings.

Failures.

'Filthy vampire, stand up you puny bat', the wolf circled me and snarled menacingly as blood continued running in streams along his jaw.

The witch, the fairy, the vampires and Victoria stood along the sides of the blinding white walls. Except this time, blood spurted from the corners and ran down rapidly coating the children. Their equally white clothing were soiled and congealed with dark red substance. The suffocating white light that seemed to emancipate from the walls, was efficiently smothered in fiery red.

I hadn't the time to process if this was memory or dream when I was pushed down on the ground, the wolf attacked me from behind. He took my head in his jaw and I held onto his muzzle instinctively. He lifted me above the ground by my head, his teeth agonizingly sinking into the skin of my head and into my skull.

This unnatural fiery pain spread throughout my body, causing a blood curdling scream to erupt from my throat. My throat was sore and raw with agony and sorrow. My head felt as though it would explode, and it probably would. The pain throbbed unbearably all throughout my body and I was convinced I was going to die before finally sparing a glance at Victoria. She looked me with tears rolling down her face, her eyes red with sorrow.

Wherever my strength came from, my body surged with power. I pried the jaw open, shocking the wolf enough to attempt to back away, dropping me to the ground. I landed, holding firmly to the muzzle and pulling him close. The great black wolf reared back and viciously growled, blood and saliva flying everywhere as he struggled.

I pulled the jaw open, wide open. And I kept pulling and pulling and pulling until-
A loud, sickening wet snap and twist cleanly ripped the top jaw clear off.

I awoke with a jolt, perspiration sticking to my back, head and arms. A loud scream then shook me from my daze. Lucille.

I jumped off the bed, into the hallways and threw myself down the stairs to find the little curséd atop Lucille, who struggled to protect herself from the fiend.

I had almost forgotten about him. With a single hand, I snatched his shirt collar, causing it to rip. I grabbed him by the neck and held him at arms length. He tore at my arms with his dirty nails, his mouth foamed and if I had to guess by his appearance i'd assume he was rabid. The thought made me cringe with both curiosity and disgust.

Lucille stood up, her heart beating wildly in her chest. She wore a green plaid button shirt with a black tank top beneath and dark denim shorts. Her hair was mussed from having fell to the floor. Lucille combed her head with her fingers, to perhaps massage her battered skull or tidy the unruly curls.

"Chaos what is that thing!" she yelled, her breath in sharp pants and eyes wide with shock. It must of been a sudden ambush for her, I felt guilty for not securing it better.

"It's is a curséd vampire I brought home from the hunt yesterday, it should be able to tell us something of sense since it is fairly new." I hadn't entirely thought this through, had I? At this point my dream was mostly forgotten, at least the bits of Victoria had.

But the wolf bite...
"Lucille can you tell who did this to him?" I asked. I restrained his wrists in one hand, pulling at his shirt with the other to reveal the rest of the bite along his shoulder and collarbone. He thrashed around in my grasp but to no avail.

She came closer to the bite mark, not an ounce of fear now, even though he hissed and snapped at her. With two sniffs she pulled back.

"It smells like syrup, and warm dark wood. Like cinnamon fire." That made no sense. "I like it." she then smiled at me.

Flustered, I turned back toward the cretin and put him away, this time more securely. Lucille followed behind me silently, and then walked with me back inside.
"So, were you able to speak to him?" she asked. i sat down on the couch and she nestled beside me. I rubbed her sore scalp my fingers slowly as her head rested upon my shoulders.

"No, I must starve him first to have enough sense of his babbling", I whispered absentmindedly. I was thinking, rogue wolves smell like pinewood, so this bite must be purposeful or coincidental. Syrup and cinnamon fire? What kind of nonsense-

Wait... no, I know that smell.
"Lucille, do you know of anything about special wolves?" I asked her.
"Special wolves? What do you mean?"
"Yes, such as having extra abilities", I continued. Lucille shifted thoughtfully against my side and pondered a bit.

"There was some speculation and myths of elemental wolves in the making of The Beginning, but none that exist now of course", Lucille spoke nonchalantly.

"So no news of recent or past experience of spontaneous abilities amongst werewolves...?"
She went silent again.

"Hmm... i mean, there was this one time a wolf in my old tribe was unknowingly cursed by some nymphs, having stepped in their fairy circle. He was convinced he had the ability to fly and actually attempted jumping off the rooftops. It was temporary though, thankfully." She giggled. Yes, well nymph circles have the tendency to make you believe anything, it's about the same effect of humans sedated by narcotic substances.

"Very well then, I hope he's alright", I responded softly.
"He... he actually died some time ago in a major fight between the Canadian tribe and our pack. My mother went missing in it as well..." Lucille's recollection drifted off, and her eyes glazed over. I brought her face to mine, causing her to look at me, sadness brimming in her gaze.

I placed my hand along her neck and lightly pierced the skin just behind her ear with a single taloned finger. Lucille instinctively grabbed my wrists and jumped back in shock, clasping her ear in her hands as the sensitive area bled a little.

"Ow! What was that?" she squeezed her face in confusion and hurt, looking at me as if shocked. Well, that was the point.

"To shock you from your trauma, to ground you" I answered calmly. She rubbed the spot where I pricked her fervently. "You must of seen something terrible that day, I don't plan on letting you relive it."

Her face relaxed then and she tucked herself back into my arms. What Lucille and I didn't know, is that I needed her to be the one to ground me from my trauma too.