3

just a continuation of the flashback

It's late afternoon. We leave later than we meant to. We had to find some silver just in case this meeting takes a turn for the worst since Lycans are allergic to silver. After half an hour of searching, I find that my mom's kitchen knives are made of a silver alloy. Taylor and I each take one in hope that an alloy would be enough. Silver swords and bullets aren't as easy to come by as one might think. It was either the kitchen knives or the fine china forks.

When we finally reach the shack, we look around. We check the bushes first. Then, we start a sweep of the area. We hear a noise come from the shack and turn to find a large man of an impressive build with brown hair except for some grey coming through. He was wearing an old tattered suit.

"Can I help you boys?" The man said, clearing his throat.

"Possibly. We are supposed to be meeting someone here today. Have you seen anyone else or know anything about that?" Taylor asks, careful not to say too much.

"Ah yes, so you're the ones that left me the sandwich. Thank you for that. It was delightful. Now, what was it that you wanted to talk about?" He asked, eyeing the knives in out belt loops.

"Well, uh. W-w-we were wondering if - that is if y-y-" Taylor mumbled

"We want to know if there's any possibility of you changing us into werewolves," I blurt impatiently

"Thought so," the man chortles "humans are all the same. It's ‘lycan’ by the way. Werewolves are men that turn into wolves and do not exist."

"Told you so." Taylor says, elbowing me.

"Normally I'd ask if you could even prove I am, as you say, a werewolf. But since you happened to stumble upon me during my nap and I had transformed due to solar overload, I can skip that. Plus I'm in the market for an apprentice, so yes, there is indeed a possibility."

Taylor and I share an excited smile.

"But it will not come with ease or without cost." Daimian warns

"What do we have to do? We'll do any-" Taylor starts.

"Meet me back here tonight at eleven. Tell your parents you're going camping. Bring some spare clothes and a knife for both of you. Oh, and some more of those sandwiches."

"Hey Ivan, I think we've found a fan of your food." Taylor plays

"Taylor you can shut up. As for you-" I pause for his name

"Daimian." The man says

"Right, as for you, Daimian. We'll be there - here." I confirm

It's a quarter to eleven. I'm carrying the supply pack while Taylor is carrying the the tent. We have to bring it for our parents to believe our story. We're both nervous. You would be too if you were meeting a lycan you hardly know in the dead of night.

"So what do you think we have to do?" I ask scratching my head in unease, breaking the uncomfortable silence between us

"Who knows?" Taylor gripes tiredly

"Daimian!" I call out when I see the shack.

"Well, duh. Of course he knows." Taylor laughs.

"Shush, I'm trying to call him. He said he'd be here." I snap at him

A voice calls to us from above. "Looking for someone?"

Taylor and I look up to see five people sitting, staring down at us from a tree. Each with bright, almost glowing, blue eyes and pure blonde hair. They looked slim but, at the same time, incredibly strong. Four were men the four, the one who called to us, was a woman.

"Yeah," Taylor said nervously. "We lost track of our dad when we went back for the camping supplies." He holds up the tent parts for them to see.

"Nice cover," I whisper to him.

"Really? And since when do boys call their fathers by their first names?" The woman coos.

"He's our step father." Taylor adds coolly.

"Well then. You two look pretty smart. Perhaps you could help us out with a bit of a problem. Think you could help?"

"Sorry lady. We didn't bring an ax. I'm afraid you'll have to find your own way down from the trees," I say trying not to smirk at my joke.

"Oh, that's not it," she says, stepping off the her branch, into thin air. She falls and lands in front of us.

The other four do the same, each landing so that Taylor and I are surrounded by a pentagon of people.

The woman speaks again: "There are five hungry vampirics and two mortal boys full of blood. How much does each one get before you're bled dry?"

Taylor and I look at each other and try to back away, but the "vampirics" follow. I quickly call out for Daimian. Once, Twice - nothing. I study the faces of the so-called vampirics and am relieved to see he's not among them.

There's a rustling sound coming from the bushes where Taylor and I first found Daimian sleeping before.

"What was that?” one of the men says almost jumping out of his skin.

"What's it matter? We've got our meal. It was probably just a rabbit anyhow,” another scoffs.

"It doesn't matter what is was. We can't risk having any witnesses. Gale, go check it out," the woman says to the first guy.

Gale hesitates at first but reluctantly does as he was told. He walks over to the bushes and looks in them for a couple seconds. Then, he lets out a sharp cry of surprise as he gets yanked into the bushes. There's a quick shuffle within them, but it only lasts a couple seconds before Gale screams something unintelligible. His cry is soon followed by a dark red fountain. Gale's head rolls from the bushes. A large shape leaps out from the shadows and lands on the shoulders of another vampiric, crushing him. At last, we see the assailant is the wolven Daimian. Without needing to be told, Taylor and I take the knives out of our belt loops and charge at the closest male vampiric to us. Daimian is making god awful noises from behind us that sound like a mix of growling and laughter as he takes on the remaining two Vampirics, the remaining man and the woman. He scratches and snaps at them to keep their attention as we finish off our vampiric with a quick swipe of Taylor knife to the guy's neck.

Taylor and I immediately rush to Daimian's aid. Daimian must have seen us coming because he gives, what I assume to be, a smile and leaps for the man, luring him away. I see the woman go to make her move and I make mine. I throw myself at her with all my strength and knock her aside. I glance over at Daimian to see him  ripping into his vampiric, howling with delight. The vampiric is missing an arm with the other pinned to a tree by Daimian. Daimian's other hand plunges into the Vampiric's stomach. When he pulls his hand out he brings a steaming handful of blood soaked intestines and tosses them aside. Daimian then uses both hands to finish the vampiric off by ripping him in two, blood covering everything around them. I hear the woman getting up in time to see her fist come in contact with my left eye. I stumble backwards in shock, shake it off, and charge. Taylor makes it to her first and receives the punishment for doing so. The woman catches him by the throat and lifts him clear into the air before sending him sailing into a tree where he collapses on impact. The woman pays no attention to him, but looks from the approaching Daimian, to me, to my knife and her decision is made clear.

She turns tail and runs into the shadows, disappearing from sight. I immediately go to check on Taylor who is stirring back to consciousness.  I slap him a couple times to help him a couple times to help, and grab a bottle of water from the pack when that doesn't work and pour it all over him. He immediately  springs back to life sputtering and curing up a storm. Daimian walks over to us, now human again but still covered in blood. With it being a little chilly the blood on him steams and gives him an even creepier appearance. Naked, covered in mud and blood, and steaming. If I weren't so scared right now I'd be cracking off jokes like crazy.

Instead I settle for asking, "What the hell were those things back there?"

"Vampirics. I guess they'd be what you call vampires but weaker. I thought that was pretty obvious. You boys fought well, and have passed your first test. Hand me a water if you would, I've managed to get vampiric blood into my mouth and while it won't kill me it is still toxic to lycanthropes like myself."

I toss him a bottle and he swishes a mouthful of water around, spits, and takes another swig.

"So you knew they were there?" Taylor asks shaking off a wave of dizziness

"Yes and that is why I was hiding in those bushes. You boys had excellent timing, you allowed me to turn the tables on those hunters."

"Hunters?" I ask confused,"So they hunt and execute your kind? Kinda like death dealers in underworld. Right?"

"Exactly. Currently I'm just a scout... a recruiter if you will. That's why I agreed to turn you two into lycanthropes. Now for your next test. But first the important business. Did you bring a sandwich?"

"uhh, yea." I go fishing threw my pack and eventually pull out  a squished sandwich. "Sorry it got a little smashed when those guys surrounded us." I gesture to the disemboweled vampiric.

"Appearance doesn't change to taste." He says with a full mouth, then swallows. "Now for your second task. You're going to have to die."

"WHAT!!" Taylor and I exclaim

"Well you can't be a lycanthrope if you're living. The bodies would pile up and soon you'd be discovered and hunted down not only by vampirics but by humans too." Daimian mutters through chewing, "Plus that would give the whole undead thing a bad name. Now here's what I'm thinking. It just so happens that your parents think you're out camping in this very park, and every year there are some where around five death a year due to people falling into Deception Pass and getting ripped apart by the currents and/or drowning."

"I don't like the sound of this. Even if were were turned first I doubt we'd live through that and even if, by some slim chance, we did we wouldn't last ten minutes before hypothermia sets in and our bodies shut down." I point out

"Exactly right, which is why you're not going in. A pair of dummies with your clothes and blood are." Follow me." Daimian clarified

We were led into the dilapidated shack where Daimian walked to the center and faced us. "You have to understand now, if you continue from this point there is no going back. There is no known cure to lycanthropy except death. Are you sure you want to become children of the night?"

"Yes." We say together

"Very well, if that is your decision then let's continue." Daimian says walking to a can on the floor. He knocks it aside and instead of clanking across the floor it lands on it's side and stops, as if it were on a hinge. Under it is a shiny red button that Daimian steps on then step back into the open.

Taylor and I follow him as the floor of the shack opens up revealing a nice set of creepy stairs, cobwebs and all.

"Welcome to the Nightwars boys."

"Nightwars?" I smirk "Good thing I brought my flashlight."

" You dare joke at such a serious matter? This was between us and our cousins has been waging since World War two and hundreds of thousands of us, both Vampirics and lycanthropes, have died either in battle or at the hands of human hunters." Daimian says grimly

Now curious, Taylor asks "How did the Nightwars start?"

"I'll tell you about it some other time. Right now we need to kill you two before dawn." Daimian walks to a corner and retrieves two manikins from a closet. "Here, put your clothes on these."

"Isn't there a way to make us appear dead without making us strip?"

"There are, but they aren't really as effective...and have a higher chance of actual death. Now stop whining, you've got spare clothes. But I need those clothes because they are what your parents last saw you in."

Daimian quickly puts together a pair of makeshift boys, although I didn't  really pay attention to how he did it. "Hold out your arms, I need some of your blood in case they decide to do DNA testing to confirm that it is you two that fell. That's if they even find any traces of 'you', by the time they learn of your 'deaths' the bodies will be up by Alaska. Normally I'd tell you to toss these in but in this case I'll do it because I need to make sure that there are shreds of clothing left on the rocks. So you two go set the tent up and make it look like you really were camping then get back here. Oh and don't touch anything in here...I mean it. If I find a single paper out of place I'll toss the real you into the pass. Clear?"

We nod to show we understand then Daimian takes off to kill us. After we set up the tent we come back and look around. The area isn't very big but it's bigger than the shack above. A weapon rack lines one wall while the opposite is covered with nothing but books. There are two small beds and a mini-fridge filled with small packets containing a dark crimson liquid...blood.