prologue

Prologue

A man who looked no older than 20 stood atop a giant tree in the centre of a huge forest, watching the moon rise. When the moon had reached its peak, the man’s eyes flashed a golden colour as a smirk moved across his face and he said aloud, “Time for the hunt to begin”. He then dropped from tree, thirty feet straight down. After landing with a thud, he began rising to his feet and he raised a hand as if to tell someone behind him to stop. Two people were suddenly standing behind him, a woman with long brown hair and a young man with cropped light brown hair.

“Is it time?” said the girl with a sense of eagerness in her voice. She had only just finished talking when a loud noise echoed through the forest. It sounded like a cross between a wolf’s howl and a human scream, this was followed by another coming from the other direction. Upon hearing the howl the lead man’s eyes flashed gold, the girl’s flashed blue and the other man’s green.

“There’s your answer,” said the man at the lead. “Iran take Lisa and hit the one to the west, I’ll take the one to the east.”

“Yes my lord,” said Iran as he bowed his head.

“How are you going to take it out on your own?” Lisa exclaimed sounding fearful.

The leader simply smiled before saying, “Trust me I’ve been at this a lot longer than the two of you.” His body then started to shake and shimmer.

Iran put a hand on Lisa’s shoulder leading her back a few feet.

 “What?” Lisa responded.

“Just watch, this is why he can go on his own.”

His body suddenly changed into the form of a giant pure white wolf. Before running off he pushed a thought into the heads of the two others, “go now!”

Iran bowed his head in respect before grabbing Lisa’s arm, leading her away.

The beautiful white wolf ran as fast as his legs could carry him to where the howl was heard. He reached a small clearing to find shredded pieces of clothing littering the area. Sniffing around trying to find a scent to follow, the wind suddenly changed direction letting him catch the scent of what he was hunting, but it was all too late as the creature charged across the clearing ramming into him, throwing him into a tree. The creature just stood there watching its prey. It stood seven feet high and had some features of both a wolf and a human. The beast had elongated arms with huge claws on each hand; its head appeared to be mostly wolf, its body appeared to be mostly human except for short fur that covered the entire form and it legs were a cross between wolf and human. The creature charged again, but this time he was ready, diving out of the way he begin to think, “To kill the ones we hunt, we take the form of the one who created them.” He then quickly spun back around, latching on to the back of the abominations neck killing it in an instant. The beast dropped to the ground with small wisps of smoke escaping from the holes formed by the canines.

After placing a paw in the centre of the beast’s back he said, “Go now my cursed brother with the light of the moon as your guide, be your body freed from the curse and your soul freed from its cage.” With that smoke started to flow out of the holes as the body started to smoulder and burn. He turned and left the clearing and the body behind.

Quickly running up the side of the mountain that laid in the west, something made him stop half way up, he looked around to see a man in his early twenties standing there watching him. The man’s eyes were as black as the night sky; he just started to laugh before turning and running off into the forest at super human speed.

Before he could decide whether to go after the man, Iran and Lisa had come to a stop before him, “It is done, my lord.” As the words entered his mind of the leader he was pulled back out of his thoughts.

“Iran take Lisa and go back to the car,” he said with a calm thought.

“Leon wait!” Lisa’s thoughts came flowing from her with a sense of surprise.

“It’s alright Lisa I’ll meet you there in a second,” Leon quickly spun around and dashed off into the forest.

Following the scent of the strange man, Leon came to the top of the mountain only to find an empty clearing and no scent trail to follow. There was movement in the forest; Leon’s eyes lock on to it, as a small bag flew out of the tree line hit him in the face covering him in a fine powder. It clung to his coat, stang his eyes and nose. His body began to convulse and shimmer as he seemed to be forced back into his human form. The strange man walked out of the tree line and stood before Leon’s breathless body.  Threading his fingers though Leon’s hair, he pulled Leon’s face to meet his own.

“You took my pack from me. It’s about time I start returning the favour,” the man said dropping Leon’s head.

 As the man turned and started to walk back into the forest Leon spoke, “Powdered mountain ash, now that is an old one.”

The man quickly spun back around, “So you know some of the old magick.”

Leon just laughed as a breeze blew across the clearing collecting the powder as it passed.

“Yes, I know enough to know that even mountain ash cannot bind an alpha for long under a wolf’s moon,” Leon said as his body started to shimmer and retake its wolf form. Leon growled and beared his teeth ready to attack the man, only to find himself growling at an empty clearing and there was no scent, it was like the man had just vanished. Leon remembered what the man had said; he quickly jumped into the forest and ran as fast as he could, straight for where they had left the car several hours before.

When he reached the car he was able to let out a sigh of relief to see both Iran and Lisa waiting. Iran spotted Leon at the edge of the forest, he moved quickly to the boot of the car and picked up a small bag and threw it to his master. Leon grabbed the bag by the handles before disappearing back into the trees and reappearing a few moments later fully dressed. Throwing the empty bag into the boot of the car Leon quickly climbed into the driver’s seat, put the keys into the ignition beginning the long drive back to their house.

Leon’s mind was racing from what he’d heard the man say. Suddenly there was the sound of bending metal and breaking glass, as the car was sent flying into a large tree. Iran and Lisa were killed instantly, Leon was left dazed and bloodied. Leon lent back in the chair as an abomination landed on the bonnet of the car, but this was different to the other one, this one was larger, far more wolf like and had longer fur covering its entire form. It drove its grey arm through the windscreen grabbing Leon by the shirt and pulling him from the car.

Alien thoughts started to enter Leon’s mind, “I told you I’d return the favour.” The beast then turned its head to the car before bearing its fangs and latching onto Leon’s shoulder. When it then let go Leon fell to the ground as small wisps of smoke started to rise from the bite mark.

“Go now my blessed brother... and all that crap, we both know that it’s not going to be as nice a death as the others over there, yours is going to be long and painful as the were-venom slowly moves through your body setting you alight from the inside out.”

“Even when you kill me others will just move in and hunt you down,” Leon said with a pain-filled smirk.

“True, that would happen if I planned to stay here when I’m done.” The beast seemed to be smiling.

Leon began to feel the heat intensify and move through his body, his blood started to boil under his skin, his heart felt like it could explode at any moment and his lungs could not hold any air as he started to cough up blood. The abomination turned and started to walk away as Leon used all of his strength to pull a vial from his pants pocket, crushing it in his hand before shifting into his wolf form. He slashed at the abomination with his claws, catching it on the arm leaving three long gashes the full length of it. It grabbed its arm after hitting Leon away back into the tree. Leon’s form changed back to human as more smoke started to rise from the wound and skin started to burn around it. “Just a little parting gift,” Leon said as he opened his hand to reveal a pale blue liquid.

The beast roared in pain as it turned back into the man who had been in the clearing, “What did you do?”

“Liquid wolfsbane,” Leon said as the venom started to turn his body to ash

“You b*****d,” the man screamed as he drove his hand into the centre of Leon’s chest. Ash was blown up into the air in a thick black cloud as Leon’s body exploded.

Reviews

[J. Ghalden]

“Trust me I’ve been -- Comma after me

Other than that and maybe a few minor spelling mistakes that I may have skimmed over, it was an excellent opening. Very good hook for the reader, and I found myself wanting more right after the first paragraph. I'll continue on when I get the time.
Great job.

[Gwyn]

I agree with both of the other commenters, it was fantastic! The characters might need just a little more description though. But otherwise, great idea and story!

[StillShorterThanYou]

that was really exciting. And the idea about wolves as the hunters for were-wolves? Awesome :D

[C.A.Jordon]

That is really good writing. i enjoyed your tone, though i would like to know more about the characters so i am going to keep reading when i have time.