Werewolf Chronicles Chapter 4

Werewolf Chronicles

Chapter 4

         Thick chains were wrapped around the gym doors, matching thick locks on the chain to prevent the doors from opening.  A wide circle had been drawn on the floor with tape, and members of the werewolf clan stood around its edge.  In the middle were Elisa and Katalyn, staring venomously at each other.  Elisa looked the worse of the pair, old bruises on her face, covered by new ones; her nose was leaking blood, and more was trickling out of the corner of her mouth; she was on her hands and knees, breathing hard and staring down.  Katalyn stood above Elisa, her arm bent backwards at an unnatural angle, viscous scratches covering her neck and her right eye already starting to swell.
         Elisa stood up slowly, wiping the blood from her face.  “Is that all?”
- - - -
Several Days Earlier

         “Is he going to be okay?” Elisa asked.  She was sitting in the living room of the werewolf pack’s temporary house.
         Rachel and Katalyn were in the room as well, Rachel dressed in blood splattered hospital scrubs.  “Lycanthropes can recover from almost any injury, but . . .”
         “But silver and fire,” Katalyn finished.  “Not all of James’ injuries are serious, but a lot of those bullets were silver.”
         “Is my husband going to live!?” Elisa yelled this time, jumping to her feet.
         “Do not yell at me!  I don’t know how you treat your superiors, but here we show them respect,” Katalyn yelled back.
         “Then tell me you stupid bitch!”
         She ground her teeth together, wanting to change into her werewolf form and tear into the woman.  If I do that, I won’t have any chance with James.  “Rachel, take her in with her husband.”  With that Katalyn turned on her heel, and marched angrily out of the house.
         “He’s in the master bedroom,” Rachel sighed, leading her up the stairs and into the bedroom.
         James was in the center of the king sized bed, still in his werewolf form and unconscious.  Blood was soaked into the once white sheets, and matted the fur against his body, making him look much like a drowning rat.  Several small bins sat on the nightstand, bloody pliers and deformed bullets sitting inside them.  Gauze bandages were wrapped around various parts of his body, all of them stained a dark color as his blood soaked through them.  A portable health monitor was hanging on a small rack beside him, its leads running beneath James’ fur; it beeped steadily, if weakly.
         Elisa grabbed the chair from the vanity table, sitting beside James, and wrapping her hand in his.  The massive claw dwarfed her hand, and the fur was covered in dried blood, but she wanted to be touching her husband.
         “I think he’ll be fine,” Rachel said from the doorway.  “He’s a very strong werewolf.”
         “I know he will be,” Elisa said confidently.
         “Young wolves usually don’t have the control he has.  It takes a full moon for them to change the first time, then it’s against their will, but James . . .”
         “He changed in the factory, to save me from one of the vampires.”  James stirred lightly, and Elisa leaned forward, but he remained asleep.
         “And he caught an SUV?  Are you sure he didn’t just stop it?”
         “Yes I’m sure, because it almost hit me.  Why is it so hard for you people just to be nice to me or believe me damn it?”
         Rachel sighed, sitting down on the opposite side of the bed.  “Because he shouldn’t be that strong, not so young.  Even Maxwell would have problems picking up a vehicle.”
         “Who’s Maxwell?”
         “The pack’s alpha male, and Katalyn is the alpha female.”
         “Your leaders?”
         “Mostly,” she stood up, glancing at James’ monitors as she left.  “I’ll leave you two alone.”
- - - -
         “What is your interest in that halfbreed?” Maxwell asked loudly, but not loud enough to be heard outside the living room.
         Katalyn sat sprawled on the couch in front of him, flipping through James and Elisa’s cell phones.  “Power Maxwell, why?”
         “He doesn’t listen to us, and he has already put the pack in jeopardy.  James needs put down, or abandoned, not sheltered!”
         She stood up, leaning against the larger man and caressing him seductively.  “Threatened by his potentional Max?”
         “No, but he’s a danger,” he stated, storming out of the house.
         Rachel had been waiting in the kitchen, walking into the living room as their alpha male left.
         “The truth, is he going to recover?” Katalyn demanded.
         “Luckily they brought me some of Aperture’s regression formula.”
         “That’s why he is still in lycanthrope form?  Then how was he able to change?”
         Rachel shrugged.  “He shouldn’t have been able to; it would take an amazing amount of willpower.”
         “Full of mysteries.  Could you get Jake to run a geneology report on him?”
         “I’ll go now, just be careful of Elisa, she’s very protective.”
         “I’ve dealt with worse.”
- - - -
         James rolled back and forth, mumbling under his breath.  Elisa half dozed beside him, unsure how to help her husband.  He looked completely terrifying, covered in coarse, blood soaked fur, but she also knew that it was her husband.  Somewhere in there was the man she had married and loved, and there was nothing she could do to help him.  Elisa pushed the chair closer to the bed, crossing her arms and leaning on the bed.  “What am I supposed to do?”
         “Hell if I know,” James muttered tiredly.
         “You’re awake!” she sprang up, hugging him tightly, not caring if blood soaked into her clothing.
         “Ow, easy, I’m still kind of sore.”
         “Sorry,” Elisa reluctantly released him, and sat down on the bed.
         “Getting shot does that to a person.”  James tried to sit up, but his head swam crazily, and he decided to lay back down.  “That wasn’t a good idea.”
         “I’m so glad you’re awake, Rachel didn’t know, you . . .”
         James smiled, baring his sharp fangs.  “Yeah, could you get me some water?”
         “I’ll be right back,” she said, kissing his furry cheek before rushing downstairs.
         Katalyn was still in the living room, talking hurriedly on a cell phone.  “What’s wrong?”
         “James woke up.  Where are the cups, I want to get him some water?”
         Now.  “Not in here, there’s a case of water in the green van outside.”
         “Thanks.”
         Katalyn waited until Elisa was outside, texting one of her guards to keep Elisa outside before she rushed up the stairs and to the master bedroom.  James sat up as she entered a smile on his face, but once his eyes found who had entered the smile left his face.
         “Expecting someone else?” Katalyn asked, walking over the James’ side of the bed.
         “Yeah, my wife.  Where is she?”
         “Busy, why don’t we talk some?” she sat down beside him, resting one hand on his chest.
         James pushed her out of the way, forcing past his dizziness and sitting up.  “I’m not that dense lady, give it up, I love my wife.”
         Katalyn stood up angrily.  “I get what I want James, period.”  She added to the comment by withdrawing a Glock from her back and marching out of the room.
         “Shit.”
- - - -
         “Let me back in the house!” Elisa yelled.
         In front of her was a large dark skinned man, his arms crossed over his chest.  He was standing between her and the house’s door, keeping her from returning.  “Sorry, but I can’t.”
         “My husband’s in there!”
         “That doesn’t matter here, I have my orders.”
         “This isn’t the fucking Army, let me in there!”
         “Look, I . . .”
         Elisa clenched her fists; “Let me in there, or I’ll hurt you.”
         The man laughed, “You . . .”
         “Move,” the voice came behind the man; he looked over his shoulder, and stepped aside.  Katalyn had come out of the house, the Glock hanging at her side.
         The look on Katalyn’s face made the hairs on the back of Elisa’s neck stand on end; it looked like trouble.  She didn’t even try to rush inside, the sight of the handgun keeping her several feet away from the door.
         “Your husband is stubborn.”  Katalyn’s finger itched on the trigger, wanting to shoot the woman.
         “Yeah, and?”
         In a flash the handgun was pointed at Elisa; she dove towards the ground, the first bullet whispering through her hair and digging into the ground.  Elisa landed hard, colliding with several of onlookers.
         “STOP!” the voice boomed across the yard, stunning everyone into place.  Wading through them was a massive, black furred werewolf, aiming directly towards the two fighting women.  “What are you doing?”
         Katalyn growled deeply in her throat, leveling the weapon at Elisa’s back.  “She’s in my way.”
         Maxwell laughed, but it came out more as a growl.  “James becoming more trouble?  That is so amusing.”  He laughed more, taking amusement in Katalyn’s frustration.
         “What’s so goddamn funny!?” Elisa demanded.
         The black werewolf kneeled down, thinking for a long moment.  “We shall settle this properly, whenever a mate is contested.”
         Katalyn dropped the handgun back to her side.  “No, we won’t!”
         “Yes, we will,” Maxwell said sternly.
         “Will someone tell me what’s going on?” Elisa asked, standing slowly.
         “Whenever a mate is contended in a pack,” Katalyn began quietly, “the contesters fight.”
         “What!?”
- - - -
         “You have to do what?” James asked.  He was sitting up now, and most of his wounds had healed, but he still could not change back into his human form.
         “Fight Katalyn, over you,” Elisa was lying in the bed next to him, idly watching the television.
         “It doesn’t matter, I don’t want her, I have you.”
         She kissed the top of his head.  “I know, but I don’t think we have a choice.”
         “We always have a choice,” James kissed Elisa neck, staying there for a long time.
         Elisa closed her eyes, enjoying the attention.  “One last time?”
         “As long as you don’t mind doing it doggy style.”
         “Ooh, never.”
- - - -
         “He’s still a werewolf?” Jake asked.  Jake was a skinny young man, who was just shy of twenty-one.  He and Rachel were in his small van; Jake sitting in front of a computer, Rachel in the passenger seat.
         “Yes, ever since Elisa brought him back,” Rachel answered, pulling chips out of the bag in her lap.
         “How did he even change with the serum in him?  That’s not possible, right?”
         “I’ve never heard of it before, but he’s here.”
         “Rumor is he caught a SUV too?”
         “That’s what his wife said, but she could be exaggerating.”
         “No wonder Katalyn wants his puppies.”
         “Oh c’mon, that’s vulgar.”
         “No, I get worse.  I wonder how Maxwell is taking this?”
         Rachel smirked at the thought.  “That wolf has been through nearly every woman in the pack.”
- - - -
         Elisa sat on the edge of their bed, a sheet wrapped around her body and smoking a cigarette slowly.  She could hear James in the bathroom showering and shaving the stubble from his face.  After their lovemaking he had transformed back into a human, scaring her half to death and she was halfway through another pack of cigarettes because of it.  “How am I supposed to fight one of those?”
         “You’re not going to,” James said, emerging from the shower, dressed in a new pair of jeans and a thin grey sweater.
         “I don’t think they’re just going to let us drive out of here, especially Katalyn.  Of course, I can’t blame the girl for having a crush on you,” Elisa smiled.
         “No, I’m just going to see if I can even the fight, because I think you can kick her ass.”
- - - -
         Rachel looked up as one of the house guards was thrown through the front door, landing hard on the muddy ground outside, his shotgun flying from his hand and skittering across the ground.  James followed the man out, ripping the tattered remains of his left sleeve off and tossing it on the ground as he bent over and retrieved the dropped weapon.
         “Go ahead, change,” he muttered at the fallen guard, but all the man did was look up at James.
         Rachel walked slowly towards James, unsure of the determined expression on his face.  “You’re human again, are you okay?”
         “Where’s Katalyn, no wait, better yet, where’s Maxwell?”
         “We’re both here,” Maxwell said from behind him, still in his human form, with Katalyn a step behind him.  “What do you want?”
         “I want to talk about this contest, fight, or whatever the hell it is between Elisa and that bitch,” he said, pointing with the shotgun’s barrel.
         “Bitch?  I’ll show you . . .” Katalyn started forward, but Maxwell placed a restraining hand on her chest.
         Maxwell kept a watchful eye on the shotgun as he talked.  “There isn’t anything to talk about, unless Katalyn or your . . . wife . . .”
         “Her name’s Elisa,” James grunted, tightening his grip on the shotgun.
         “ . . . Elisa then, wish to give up their claim to you . . .”
         “No,” Katalyn grunted angrily.
         “Hell no,” Elisa added, walking up behind James and resting her hand on his back.
         “Well, then why don’t we make the fight fair then?  Katalyn needs to stay in her human form, unless you want to give me time to give the same power to Elisa?”
         “No, it’s . . .” Katalyn shouted.
         “That sounds agreeable,” Maxwell smirked, “Katalyn if you still want James, you’ll fight Elisa for her right . . . as a human.”
- - - -
         “Whoa, shit . . .” Jake grunted, staring at his computer screen.  He printed the information quickly, ripping the paper from the printer and sprinting out of his van.
         “What did you find?” Rachel asked, stopping the young man as he sprinted out of the van.
         The young man handed the paper to the woman.  “Take a look who is ancestor is?”
         She had to read the paper several times before she would believe it.  “Have you told anyone else yet?”
         “No . . .  I was just on my . . .”
         “Let’s keep this quiet until after the fight.”
         “Why?  Katalyn told me to . . .”
         “Leave it alone, I’ll take it to them.  Just keep it quiet, it’ll go better that way.”
- - - -
         Elisa rolled off of James, breathing heavily and wiping the sweat from her brow; she wrapped the sheets around her body,  laying one hand over his chest and running her fingers through his hair.  “Well, you definitely have more energy now.”
         “Yeah, it’s nice,” James smirked at her, the moonlight reflecting off his face.
         “At this rate, I’ll be pregnant in no time.”  She grabbed her robe off the floor, wrapping it around her and digging the cigarettes out of one of its pockets.
         James followed her, pulling on some boxers and grabbing his own cigarettes.  “Let me borrow that lighter.”
         “Since when do you smoke after sex?” she asked, holding the lighter out for him.
         James smiled, taking a long drag off of the cigarette. “Since I started turning into a wolf.”
         “So . . . what’s it like?”
         He thought for a long time, finishing his first cigarette then digging another one out of his pack.  “It’s like . . . power, like all these restrictions are gone, and I can do anything that I want.”
         “Sounds like you enjoy it?”
         “I do,” he half smiled, “It’s a lot of fun . . . especially in bed.  Don’t tell me you don’t like it?”
         “It’s . . . interesting.”
         “Ha,” he laughed, “yeah, it’s that.”
         “Oh!” Elisa exclaimed, rushing over to her nightstand, ripping it open and pulling out a small necklace.  “Apparently Katalyn found this in our apartment.”  In her hand was a deformed ring on a golden necklace.
         James took it from her.  “It’s my wedding band, I thought I lost that the first time I transformed.”  He put it hurriedly over his head.
         “Rachel got the chain long enough so that it’ll stay on when you change.”
         “Cool.”
         Elisa dropped down on the bed, clutching the sheets tightly.  “I’m worried.”
         “About the fight?”
         “Yeah, I’m a lover not a fighter James.”
         “You’ll do okay, you’ll kick that bitches ass.”  He dropped beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.  “It’s not like you’re going to lose me or something.”
         “I know.”
         “Not like I’d ever sleep with her or anything,” he kissed Elisa lightly, “she doesn’t have anything on you.”
- - - -
         “This is outrageous!” Katalyn screamed, throwing the laptop across the campsite, where it crashed against James’ parked truck, shattering into several pieces.  “Maxwell can’t be serious about this!”
         “I, I, uh think he is,” Melissa, a young red haired woman stuttered slowly.  She had been recently assigned to the pack’s guards, though she was still extremely nervous.
         “I know that you stupid girl.”
         Melissa gestured with her assault rifle at James as he marched across the grounds.  “Katalyn, its James.”
         He pushed past the two women, pulling open his truck door and digging out the battered submachine gun inside.  My poor truck, he thought, scanning the damaged front end.  James heard movement behind him and he twisted around.
         Katalyn was barely inches from his face, her brown eyes drilling into James’ own, looking him up and down.  “I might be willing to make you a deal.”
         He didn’t respond, just moved his hands more comfortably on the firearm.
         “If you give yourself to me willingly,” she held up a hand to keep him from talking, “not forever, just long enough for me to be with child . . . I won’t kill your wife tomorrow.”
         “Have a kid with you?  You can go to hell.”
         Katalyn growled deeply, shoving him back against the truck with surprising strength and cracking his head against the truck’s glass.  “I always get what I w . . .”
         James brought the rifle butt up, slamming it against her jaw in a sickening crack and tossing her onto the ground.  He twisted the weapon around, charging the handle with a large clack and aiming it down at the fallen woman.  “I will never fuck you, regardless of what you threaten to do to Elisa.  Now back off and leave me alone.”  He grabbed several more bags from his truck, stepping over the fallen woman and marching away.
         “N, no wonder you want him,” Melissa helped Katalyn to her feet.
         Katalyn dusted herself off, mumbling curses beneath her breath.  “He has no idea how far I will go.”
- - - -
         James leaned back against the damaged house, now empty of all the pack’s belongings, and barely looking as if anyone had been using it.  He puffed slowly at the cigarette, his eyes scanning the pack behind his sunglasses as they moved back and forth.  At the far end of the clearing were several moving trucks, each of them being loaded with thick wooden crates and other equipment.  James recognized most of it as being military issue, and all of it fairly recent.  “What the hell?” he grunted beneath his breath as several heavy machine guns were loaded into the back.  “What are they planning?”
         “How are you doing my lover?” Elisa asked, wrapping her arm around his waist.
         “Eh,” he grunted.  “Are you ready to leave?”
         Elisa shrugged, following James to his truck and climbing inside.  She was quiet as he drove down the dirt road, following one of the clan’s vehicles, another behind them.  “We could make a break for it?”
         “Could try, but did you see those weapons they were loading up?  Plus, I think Maxwell is looking for a reason to kill me.”
         “Why would he be doing that?  You’re such a people person,” Elisa commented sarcastically.
         He grunted at her, “Yeah.”
         She lifted the bench’s center console out of the way, sliding around his CB radio and next to James.  One of her hands slid behind his back, her head resting on his shoulder while the other rubbed his inner thigh.  “Y’know, I could give you one last blowjob?”
         James laughed at her; “I’ll take that after you kick her ass . . . besides, it might be a turn on.”
- - - -
         Maxwell walked slowly around the gym, ensuring that all of the exterior doors had thick chains wrapped around them.  The only way out now was through the main doors, which were clogged by the majority of his pack.  Two more of the members were carefully laying a large circle of tape in the center of the gym while others were impatiently waiting around the gym’s edge.  James and Elisa were on one of the far corners; he was talking quietly to her, gesturing towards where Katalyn was stretching on the floor.  She can’t win, he thought, walking towards the finished circle.
         “Katalyn, Elisa!” he bellowed, gesturing towards them.
         Katalyn walked calmly across the floor, smirking at Elisa as the other woman approached the far side of the circle.  “The pack has a contested mate, between Katalyn and Elisa over their right to have James as a mate.  This will be handled as normal, with one exception: Katalyn must maintain her human form . . . to keep this fight fair and even.”
         “My ass,” Katalyn muttered under her breath.
         “For Elisa, you two will fight until one of you cedes, passes out . . . or dies.  You must stay within the circle, if you leave the circle, you lose.”  He smiled at Elisa as he finished the sentence, then glanced back at Katalyn.  “Fight.”
         Katalyn was across the circle before Elisa realized she had moved, her fists crashing into her face and forcing her to stumble back.  She started to fall backwards, but the other woman grabbed her wrist pulling her forward, using one foot to trip her onto the floor and back into the circle.  Katalyn leapt forward, grabbing Elisa’s wrists and pinning the human to the floor.  “I couldn’t let you lose that easily, I still need to have my fun.”  She punched Elisa several more times, knocking her head back against the floor; she wrapped her fingers around Elisa’s neck, squeezing so tight that her nails dug into her flesh.
         Elisa fought for breath, grabbing wildly at Katalyn’s iron grip.  She twisted her hands around, grabbing Katalyn’s wrists and driving her knees into up and into her stomach.  The werewolf grunted loudly, relaxing her grip; Elisa wormed her hand free, raking her fingernails across Katalyn’s neck.  The wolf swore, clutching at the trickling blood from her throat, letting Elisa roll away.  She kicked out, catching Elisa across the nose in a loud crunch, blood spraying out across the gym floor; Elisa clutched at her nose, and rolled onto her back, tears already starting to stream down her cheeks and mix with the blood.
         Her heart was beating against her ribcage so hard it felt like it was going to explode out of her chest.  Breathing was starting to get difficult, her chest starting to tighten so much that it hurt.  She watched in slow motion as Katalyn straddled her again, throwing two more hard punches into her mouth.  Elisa dodge the third punch, Katalyn’s knuckles cracking loudly against the floor;  she threw a fist into the woman’s face, connecting with a meaty smack against her right eye.  Katalyn threw her knees repeatedly into Elisa’s side, cracking loudly against her ribs.  Elisa grabbed Katalyn’s wrist as her fist connected with her chest; using her other hand she twisted the wrist backwards, rolling forward.  Katalyn tried to roll with the attack, but her back foot was caught beneath Elisa’s body.  There was a dull pop as Elisa continued her roll out from beneath the woman and onto her hands and knees.
         Katalyn swore, lifting herself up on unsteady legs.  “You’re going to die.”
         Elisa stared down at the floor, the edges of her vision seemed to be fading in and out.  Everything was more vibrant than before; she could see each individual particle of dust on the floor; hear all the angry shouts around them and hear Katalyn breathing angrily above her.  She stood up slowly, wiping the blood from her nose and mouth.  “Is that all?”
         Katalyn roared loudly, the transformation ripping through her body in a flash as she dove at her adversary.  Elisa watched the change in slow motion, easily sidestepping the attack and raising a knee into the werewolf’s stomach.  Her heart was beating faster and faster, and it seemed that with each beat the world slowed more around her.  The werewolf recovered quickly from the attack, charging at Elisa again; this time her claws ripped four ragged furrows across her back.  She cried out, stumbling forward and turning to face Katalyn.
         “I’m going to enjoy your blood,” the wolfess grinned, leaping forward with a deafening roar.
         Elisa dropped onto her back, driving both of her feet into the wolf and using her attacker’s momentum to toss her over her head and out of the circle.  She stood up slowly, cursing at the pain that burned up her back from the attack.  James was still at the edge of the circle, being held back by several of the large members of the pack.  When Katalyn left the circle there was a deep silence that fell across the pack, everyone staring at the lone human that stood in the center of them all.
         James fought out of the men’s grip, rushing over to Elisa and wrapping her in his arms.  “Are you okay?”
         Her heart was gradually slowing back down, each beet bringing her closer to the normal speed of her life.  “I think so.”
         “Good, cause watching you kick that bitch’s ass really turned me on.”
- - - -
         Elisa sat quietly on the tailgate of James’ truck while Rachel attended to the rapidly swelling bruises on her face and painfully cleaned the small scrapes across her skin.  She was shivering slightly, even though James had wrapped a blanket over her shoulders and was squeezing her tightly.  Anytime he tried to walk away, she would grab his hand tightly, not wanting him to leave.  Elisa still wasn’t sure what had happened in that gym, but never in her life had she been able to react that fast.
         Rachel forced two white pills into her hand.  “Take these, they’ll help with the swelling and pain.”
         “Will this help my headache?” she asked, gulping the pills with an offered bottle of water.
         “It should.”  Rachel slowly packed up her medical supplies.  “Have you ever done anything like that before?”
         “It felt like an anxiety attack, I thought my chest was going to explode.  My hands were shaking . . . I was freaking out.  Then it all kind of stopped, and I was watching that bitch charge at me.  It just happened . . .”
         “What did they do to you at Aperture Science?”
         “I don’t really remember, mostly took blood and stuff I guess.  It’s all kind of a blur still.”
          “There’s no telling what those butchers could have done to you.  You’ll need some blood work done.”  Rachel thought for a moment.  “You humiliated her, you know that?”
         “Bitch deserved it.”
         “But to be defeated by a human is humiliating, she’s probably going to lose her status in the pack now.  Every strong female is going to be challenging for her position now.”
         “So I could?” Elisa smiled, coyly kissing James on the cheek.
         “Well, being his mate makes you as much part of the pack as he is, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”
         “Why not?” James asked, breaking his silence.
         “Katalyn will be ready next time she fights you,” Rachel zipped her bag shut and strutted off.
         “Did she threaten me?” Elisa mumbled.
         “No, I think Rachel is one of the few people we can actually trust.”
         The pair watched as Maxwell walked out of the gym, directly towards the back of the truck.  He stopped several feet away, his clenched fists resting on his hips.  “Are you ready to leave?”
         “Going back?” James asked.
         “No, our clan is actually located mostly in Missouri, in the mountains.”
         “What were you doing down here?”
         “We weren’t, the one who bite you and their mate were vacationing down here.  Then I was forced to come clean up this mess.”
         “There’s still some things I need to take care of here, we did have a life here.”
         “It’s gone now, and anything you do here will only endanger the rest of our kind,” Maxwell seemed on the verge of shouting but was able to keep his voice even.
         James only stared at the man, refusing to break eye contact.
         Grunting, Maxwell handed him a folded piece of paper.  “When you’re ready, come to Missouri and call that number.”
         “Alright, I’ll see you then.”