A New Day Begins... Unfortunately

Chapter three! A bit more lengthy than the last one.

Dante left the house taking a deep breath as he stepped outside, smelling rain on the air. As much as he hated what he now was, there was a few perks. He was faster than he had ever been before, and many times stronger. On top of that all of his senses had been heightened exponentially, which only made it a little harder to hate himself. He turned back and examined the house, still not believing his lot in life. It was a grand house, truly it was. But Dante could only think of it as a prison. He couldn’t escape, he had tried before after he had awoken and several times after. He was always brought back.

            The school was very similar to the house, extremely well hidden, and difficult to get to. “Although school is a loose term,” Dante said under his breath, “More like a damn survival camp.”

            Open to all wolves, the school was a training camp so that all werewolves would be able to survive in the mortal world, while also being themselves. Dante had been skeptical when he had been first told about such a place, and had been even more so when he had first gone there as it seemed much like a normal school. Mira had later assured him that each student there was a werewolf, which didn’t make him feel any better. In addition to the normal courses of Math, Science, History and all the other standard courses the school also offered courses like City Survival, and Hunter Evasion. Dante personally didn’t care for the school but Mira had forced him to attend against his will.

            Readjusting his backpack he saw other students begin to emerge from the woods, all heading to the same destination he was going, some in human form and some in wolf. That was another trial he had to get over as he adjusted to his new life: seeing wolves and humans so close together and knowing that they were both one and the same. Glancing around him he saw a large gray furred wolf and a small blonde furred wolf frolicking around nipping at each other: Laura and Grayson. The two had become very close in the three months that they had known each other. Dante and Grayson had taken almost two months before the Turning Sickness had run its course, and after that the two had become more and more distant. Grayson quickly had fallen into place with their new life, making fast friends with everyone and becoming especially close with Laura, while Dante quickly became an outcast. To be fair to his pack they had all tried to bring him into the fold but he had rejected them all, and after every refusal to bond with them they had learned to keep their distance. He knew they had all tried, but he was still too bitter over what he had lost to begin to adjust to his new life. In the distance he could see the school looming up before him, and he sighed, ready for another long day. He often wondered if life would be any different if he gave in and finally changed, but he didn’t care enough to find out despite his pack’s continued insistence that he do so soon. He had seen what it had done to Grayson and he didn’t want that to happen to him, though he had wondered often if the change hadn’t altered Grayson’s personality or if had always been like that and Dante had just never seen it before.

            He was immersed so deep in his thoughts he didn’t notice when Laura came slinking around behind him and managed to pull his backpack off his shoulders before he could react. He whirled around searching for his aggressor, and his backpack. He saw Laura about ten feet away, his backpack on the ground in front of her, one paw guarding her prize daring him to come take it. He sighed, but he could feel his blood begin to race and a smile begin to threaten to appear on his face. Dante had always loved a challenge and if nothing else his new friends were great for providing him with a good challenge, even though he had yet to beat any of them. His fight with Marcus had ended with him holding Dante’s arm behind his back telling him to surrender, and Dante telling him to go to hell. Dante slowly walked toward Laura stopping about a foot away from her, her blue eyes never blinking, always watching him. Dante tensed his muscles and shot toward Laura, but she was already moving back, his backpack in her mouth. Dante’s hand shot forward and he managed to grab one of the straps of his backpack, his heels immediately digging into the earth as Laura growled and pulled him forward despite his resistance. Relying on the element of surprise, Dante jumped out of the ruts that he had made in the ground, leaping toward the small blonde wolf. His intention was to startle her into dropping his bag, but he felt a sharp pain around his ankle before his plan could come to fruition. He looked back and saw Grayson biting his ankle, slowly backing up, his teeth carving bloody gouges into Dante’s leg, all the while Laura hadn’t bothered to let go of his bag, he had effectively become a human tug of war. Enraged, Dante dropped his backpack and used his momentum to kick Grayson in his nose with his free leg, forcing his former best friend to release him. Grayson snarled and began to circle Dante, who had a similar expression on his face.

            Grayson’s hackles were raised and he was baring his canines which Dante knew were capable of tearing him to pieces, the evidence was in the blood running in sheets down his ankle. Dante reached behind his back and grasped a small knife he had hidden in the back pocket of his jeans. He waited for Gray to make his move, intending to bury the blade of the knife into the gray fur around his neck: not enough to kill him but enough to end the fight in Dante’s favor. He didn’t have to wait long, Gray leaped at him, clearing the fifteen feet of space between them easily in a single bound. Dante brought his knife out, and lunging forward at Grayson, acting completely on instinct. The two were about to collide when Dante heard a voice in his head roar at a deafening level: “ENOUGH.”

            Dante was forced to one knee and Grayson’s leap carried him over Dante’s head and he collapsed into the grass behind him, his belly fur showing and a constant whine escaping him. Dante fought to get to his knees, but the mental presence was far too great for him to overcome, try as though he might. He barely managed to turn his head and he saw the source of his lack of mobility. Mira was striding up to them, in the guise of her white wolf with Laura, Marcus, and another of their pack Richard all following behind on her heels. She came between Grayson and Dante sitting down between them. “Face me.” She commanded through the mental link that only the alphas were able to use.

            Dante felt his body moving, knowing that he couldn’t refuse an order from the alpha. He had tried before, Mira had been amused by his request to try and ignore an order, but after hours of aggravation he had given up realizing he couldn’t win against the alpha. Grayson moved as well until they were both facing Mira. Dante’s ankle still bled freely and now that the adrenaline was leaving his system it had begun to hurt though he refused to complain. “You two are acting like fools.” She informed them. “Grayson, are you so stupid that you tried to turn a simple game that Dante and Laura were playing into a fight with your brother?” She turned to Dante. “And you, Dante, I understand that you are having trouble adjusting but you take things too far. You should have simply given up the game, and let Grayson win. For now both of you continue your day. We will discuss your punishments for dishonoring the pack tonight.”

            “Bite me, Mira.” He retorted as he stood up and limped off, his wounded ankle, throbbing more with every step. He retrieved his backpack from the ground, brushing off the dirt and slung it over his shoulder. He didn’t look back over his shoulder as he walked toward the school, ignoring the audience that had gathered around them. He pushed past two students in human form, not bothering to excuse himself, trying to focus on something other than the pain in his ankle. He glanced down and saw that the bleeding had slowed somewhat, his natural recovery ability beginning to take effect. Yet another positive aspect of his new life, he could recover from most non mortal injuries in the space of a couple hours. “Still hurts though.” He mumbled to himself, stopping to pull out a spare shirt he had in his book bag, and wiping down his ankle examining his wounded ankle making sure there was no damage to his tendons. Grayson’s canines had dug deep furrows into his flesh but it only appeared to be a surface wound with no damage to the inner workings of his legs. He wiped off his leg once more as blood began to run again, and quickly wrapped his leg with the blood stained shirt in an attempt to stop the flow of blood.

            A shadow loomed over him and looking up he saw Laura in human form staring down at him, a sorrowful look on her face like a puppy that knows it has done something wrong but has yet to be punished. Dante sighed and finished tying his ankle with a sharp tug before getting, painfully, back to his feet. He turned around and met her eyes and raised an eyebrow. “Did you need something?” He asked pointedly.

“Dante….” She began slowly.

He held up a hand forestalling the inevitable apology, allowing a very small smile to appear on his lips. “Don’t. I don’t blame you for Grayson taking things too far. Even when he was human he had that problem. He doesn’t know when enough is enough.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry about me. I just need time to adjust to all of this. Does that cover all of your worries?”

            Laura appeared shocked, and opened her mouth to speak several times to speak before she managed to say, “Wow, Dante, you almost seemed like a person there. You even smiled, and you are even making physical contact with me! This is a huge step for you. What’s next? Are you going to lead the pack in a cheery sing-a-long around a campfire?”

Dante’s customary scowl returned the millisecond she mentioned a sing-a-long, and he let his hand drop from her shoulder. “Don’t count on it.” He shouldered his backpack and turned away from her and began to walk away when he paused and called over his shoulder, “By the way. If Grayson hadn’t interfered I so would have won.”

She stuck her tongue out at him, and skipped away rejoining Grayson and their group of friends, all of whom started snickering at something Grayson said and glanced pointedly at Dante. He returned the knife into his back pocket and limped his way towards the school joining with the throng of students as they chatted, laughed, and barked their way into the marbled hallways. He made his way to his locker, which was located right by the school gym so he could always see what activities they would be doing that day. Generally speaking he never really enjoyed gym like he had back in his former school. The activities in that class generally ended up being something like Pack Survival, Tracking, or Hunting. He wouldn’t have had a problem with any of that if it wasn’t mandatory that the students shift in and out of their wolf form at their instructors’ command. Needless to say Dante had often been yelled at by both of the old wolves, both in human and wolf form. He found it to be very disconcerting to be yelled at, or rather growled at, by a wolf which was as big as he was though the terrifying effect had worn off after the first week. They had their version of gym every day, sometimes inside sometimes outside, though the activities were the same regardless and the distinction generally depended on how the instructors felt. Inside the gym today however, he felt a sense of euphoria and a bit of nostalgia. Lined up on the center line of the gym floor was a row of small rubber balls, each separated by about ten feet. Dante smiled slightly as he pulled a few books and notepads out of his locker, storing them in his slightly ripped backpack. He felt someone standing behind him and he turned around, closing the locker and shouldering his book bag in the same motion. He expected his observer to be a few steps back but as soon as he turned around he ran into Marcus, who didn’t budge, or make any attempt to move at all.

Dante raised an eyebrow. “Did anyone ever tell you it’s rude to stand so close behind someone?” He wondered.

Marcus shrugged. “No one ever runs into me.”

Dante shrugged and silently turned down the hallway, glancing up at the clock as he went noting that he had five minutes to get to his first class. Being late to class in this school carried a great deal of weight, but the instructors all left it to the alphas to actually determine the punishment. The first time he had been late Mira had kept him from eating for the rest of the day. He had no intention of finding out what sort of punishment Mira would come up with this time. Besides, he hated being lectured by anyone, let alone Marcus who had matched Dante’s pace and was keeping in stride with him. “What do you want?” Dante asked, to the point.

Marcus shrugged, his massive shoulders rippling with muscle. “Mira said that I should be around you more often. So here I am.”

They turned down a hall, and Dante regarded Marcus out of the corner of his eye. Dante was by no standards short standing a hair over six feet and one inch, but compared to Marcus he was downright puny. The guy stood at least six foot four and was easily two hundred and forty pounds of solid muscle, and his wolf form was just as massive.

“Did Mira happen to say why you have to be around me?” Dante asked.

“She did.” Marcus was stone-faced.

Several seconds went by before Dante sighed and was forced to ask: “Well are you going to tell me?”

Marcus chuckled and slapped Dante on the back. “She thinks that some male bonding is just what you need. She wants me to make you one of the boys.”

Dante staggered from the force of the light-hearted gesture and glared murderously at Marcus. “Can I say no?”

“You can try, but I wouldn’t advise it. Believe it or not Mira is really trying to help you out, man.”

Dante ran a hair through his black hair and blew out a sigh. “Whatever, man.” He shrugged. “Tell her whatever she wants to hear. Just leave me alone.”

“No can do bud!” Marcus smiled winningly at him. He pointed at his heart. “I’m under orders. You are going to hang out with us whether you like it or not.”

Dante frowned slightly. He didn’t like the fact that he was being forced to socialize with the very people he had been distancing himself from.

Marcus paused at a ‘T’ in the hall way. “This is where we part. Pureblood classes, you know the drill.” Marcus said, referring to the school’s separation of students into purebloods, or people who were born as werewolves, and people like Dante who were turned.

It was Dante’s turn to shrug. “Yeah, whatever. See you later apparently.”

He made to turn away when Marcus caught him by the arm. “Dante, I know you are still dealing with all of this. Trust me I can respect that, I’ve seen enough people turned to see all the different reactions to being turned. But, do me a favor okay? Just think for a second about what I said. Mira is not your enemy, just think about why she is trying to help. You aren’t stupid, so figure it out.”

Dante glared at him. “You are hurting my arm.”

Marcus released him. “Do I need to make it an order?”

Dante shook his head, walking away from the larger man.

Author's Note

As always I value everything you say!