I shot up when a warm, sand papery, and more importantly wet tongue started licking my cheek. After blinking the sleep out of my eyes I discovered it was a golden retriever, who was now sitting down and expecting me to pet it. After a good pat to the head, it left the room.
Seeing as I don’t own a golden retriever, this isn’t my bedroom, and my girlfriend isn’t in bed besides me, I can most likely rule out that The events from last night were not some fucked nightmare. Dream nightmare at least, this was a waking nightmare since it was real.
The white walls and sun shining through the window made the migraine I’d woken up with worse. I rubbed my face and eyes before checking out my surroundings.
The room was a fairly decent size and also pretty much empty. There was only the bed I was laying on- which had no sheets or even a pillow- a barren desk, and a closet. My phone wasn’t anywhere in sight and I, oddly enough, didn’t have a shirt on. I knew I wasn’t alone wherever I was because some shriveled up nutsack was blasting rock music.
I groaned before getting up and exiting the unfamiliar room I’d woken up in through the already open door. It led into a hallway where there were five other doors, three on each side. The one I had come out of was the very last one on the right facing the top of the stairs that were located at the opposite end of the hallway.
I walked slowly, in part because of my intense migraine that was making it a little hard to keep my balance, but also because I was in unfamiliar territory. Looking into one of the open rooms I found the butt that was blasting his music so loudly. It felt like the bass was pounding against my skull trying to get out.
“Hey, could you maybe turn it down?” I asked the boy who was scribbling something in a notebook on his desk.
“What?” The boy turned in his swivel chair and pulled out a headphone that I hadn’t seen before to hear me better.
“N-never mind.” I said before continuing down the hallway.
As I approached the banister and top of the staircase somebody stomped their way up the flight of stairs. I winced as the thumps on the hardwood floor felt like somebody hitting me with a baseball bat.
He was just a kid, like the one in the room I’d just passed, in his late teens to early twenties. He had crystal blue eyes and wavy sand brown hair. The kid shot me a smile when he saw me.
He put his hand on my shoulder before he passed me,” Boss man wants to see you in the kitchen.”
With that ominous message in mind, I made my way down the stairs. It was pretty easy to find the kitchen, seeing as like in a cartoon the intense smell of food cooking lured me right into the designated room.
“Well look who’s awake!” One of the four men in the kitchen shouted as they noticed my entrance. I winced at the loud invasion of noise filling my ear drums. I motioned with my hand to lower the volume and he gave me a sturdy nod.
All of them were younger than me, but looked stronger and more in shape. Definitely could beat me up if they wanted to.
A playful bark came from the golden retriever that was now sitting by the kids’ side, getting pets. I wiped the residual slobber off my cheek as I looked at the dog.
“I see you’ve met Butter, and it looks like she likes you!”
I didn’t say anything as I looked around the room awkwardly.
“How’d you sleep, Danny?”
“Uhhh good, I guess. Quick question?” I answered, burrowing my eyebrows in confusion.
“Shoot.” The black haired boy, who was wearing a grey T-shirt and jeans, answered.
“How do you know my name and where am I?”
“That’s technically two questions… but we checked your wallet and found your ID. You’re at Sigma Theta Beta at the university.”
Paloma University?!? That’s like all the way on the other side of town from the police station! How far away did these people find me?
“What happened when you found me?”
After I asked, a large plate of bacon, eggs, and toast was placed on the table where three of the four guys were sitting. I’d already deduced that the “Boss man” head honcho was the black haired kid that was talking to me. Instead of answering my question, the kid gestured to the fresh plate of food. “Breakfast?”
My stomach growling prompted me to take a seat at the table. The kid then gestured to the fridge and another one of the kids got a water bottle out and handed it to me.
“Got any aspirin?” I asked after downing half the water bottle in an instant. The guy just rolled his eyes at me before sitting back down. The food didn’t smell poisoned so I began to dig in. The first thing I went for was the buttered toast.
“So… Do you remember anything from last night?” I was asked.
“If you mean if I remember a bunch of college kids picking me up off the streets, then no.” I said as I finished off the piece of toast. Flashbacks of Beck dying and Jess getting dragged away flooded my mind and I had to blink away the tears that were welling up in my eyes.
“I see.” The kid said as he rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
I asked, looking at the sky outside a window,“ What time is it?”
“Five.”
“Am?” I gestured to the breakfast in front of me.
“Pm.” He answered. I raised my eyebrows in shock, but then again I was up pretty late last night fighting for my life.
Everything then just kinda mellowed out and all I could focus on was the bacon and eggs sitting in front of me. It felt like I hadn’t eaten in years.
When I came back to reality everyone was staring and laughing at me.
“What?” I asked, mouth full of food. I then wiped my mouth off with the back of my hand, which caused everyone to laugh even more.
“Nothing.” The kid chuckled as he recollected himself. “Everyone is like this, more or less, after their first shift.”
“Shift? Did you recruit me for a job or something I don’t know about? Look I’m not homeless, I have a job, an apartment and all that. So I’m good, thank you.”
A few more snickers sounded through the room. They ceased quickly as the kid glared at them. He then ordered everyone else out of the room.
“I’m sorry, I’m not following.” I stated as I finished off what was on the plate.
“Clearly.” He muttered under his breath as he rolled his eyes. “Oh where are my manners? My name is Ashton Levey and I’m the fraternity president.” Ashton stuck his hand out for me to shake it. I did.
“I’m also the Alpha of this Pack and this is our pack house.”
I raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“Pack? What are you talking about?” This kid must be a loon or something.
“Listen Danny, some things… happened to you last night.”
“You can say that again.” I scoffed.
“I turned you into a werewolf last night.” Ashton announced bluntly.
“You know,” I started as I rubbed my face to help my growing migraine,” if I hadn’t seen my best friend rise from the dead right in front of me last night and been hunted down by a couple of blood thirsty vampires, I’d have a very hard time believing you right now.”
Ashton sucked some air through his teeth. “Yeah…”
“That would also explain the no shirt and ripped jeans thing.”
“Mhm.” Ashton said as he pressed his lips into a thin line.
“So is everyone here-“ I started.
Ashton interrupted and finished my thought, “A werewolf? Yes.”
Another awkward moment of silence passed.
“So… What’s up with you people and turning my friends and I without our consent?”
“They started it!” Ashton said back defensively like a child. “They’ve been encroaching on our hunting grounds for years now and keep draining and turning humans left and right! It’s like they’re preparing for war, and if it’s a war they want, it’s a war they’ll get.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” I said, waving my hands in disbelief as I got up from the table,” you’re telling me you turned me into a werewolf over- over what? Some supernatural politics?!?”
“I saved your life! Saved you from being murdered and turned into a vampire!”
“By turning me into a werewolf?!”
An awkward silence filled the room as Ashton looked down to his feet and fiddled with his thumbs.
“The whole point of me fighting last night was to stay human!” All my feelings then bubbled up at once and I slammed my fists on the table. The thing crumbled under my hands and the piece of furniture broke in half.
“Dude! My table!” Ashton yelled out as he took in the damage my new found strength caused. “I’ll forgive you this time, but only because the moon has all of our emotions running high.”
I tuned him out as I zeroed in on my reflection on a mirror that had been hanging on the wall next to a whiteboard/calendar thing. My eyes were glowing an unnatural vibrant yellow.
“Y-you see?” I said, terrified of myself, backing away from my mess. “I’m not supposed to be able to do this. I’m a monster.”
“You aren’t a monster.” Ashton said in a sigh. “None of us are.”
“What would you call a person that can transform into a giant hairy beast, or those murderous blood suckers then, hmm? Not fucking human, I’ll tell ya that much!”
“Danny-“
“Just- just give me my phone and wallet back… please.”
Ashton then grabbed my items from his back pocket and handed them to me. I then turned and made a B-line for what seemed to be the front door. I didn’t know where I would go, seeing as Jess’s apartment didn’t seem safe at the moment, but I needed to leave and get away from all the supernatural bullshit.
Suddenly two kids were blocking my exit.
“Move out of the way please.” I growled, they didn’t budge.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Ashton asked as he crossed his arms into his chest.
I muttered out,” Anywhere but here.”
“I can’t let you leave, Danny.”
“And why the hell not?”
“Because you don’t remember anything from when you shifted last night. You aren’t in control of your wolf or abilities yet. That makes you a danger to both humans and us.”
“I don’t care! You think I wanted this, any of this? Just let me go and deal, man.” I cried, trying to push my way out.
“You’re not leaving.”
“Fine.” I yelled, giving up. “I’ll go deal in that room then. Alone.”
Like a toddler throwing a tantrum, I stomped up the stairs and then slammed the door to the room I had woken up in.
The frat bros left me alone to cool down for a while. I checked my phone and found texts from both Beck and Jess asking me to come home or to find out where I am. Luckily it would still be daylight out, even though the sun had already started to set, for a while longer, meaning if they wanted to hunt me they wouldn’t be able to for a bit. They’d probably track me via my scent, but I’m pretty certain it’s different now. Which admittedly is a good thing seeing as it would make it harder for them to find me.
As I got lost in my thoughts, the A/C kicked on and a cold chill enveloped me. I then realized I was still shirtless. Being a werewolf didn’t even give me rock hard abs either, what the fuck.
All that was in the closet was mothballs and dust.
“Can a guy get a shirt around here?” I yelled out into the hallway. I immediately regretted it as the sound of my voice reverberated inside my eardrums ten fold.
A minute later Ashton came up the stairs, a folded white t-shirt in hand.
“Thank you,” I said, taking the piece of clothing from him. “Seriously though, can I get an aspirin or something? This migraine is killing me.”
Ashton chuckled at my expense. “It’s nothing to worry about, just your body adapting and adjusting to your enhanced senses. It’ll go away on its own.” He then turned around and went back downstairs.
After closing my door in a monotone voice I muttered, “Thanks a lot.” I then flipped him the bird, put my new shirt on, and crash landed on the naked mattress. These pricks couldn’t even give me a blanket.
At one point, during the mindless scrolling on my phone as an attempt to disassociate, sleep overtook me. When the sound of the lock mechanism on my door clicking woke me up, I shot out of bed. This was followed by the sound of a loud, large, and heavy object scraping against the old wooden floorboards in front of my door.
“What are you doing?” I yelled, trying to pry open the door, which was locked from the outside.
“This is for all our protection!” Ashton yelled back.
“Protection from fucking what?”
“You.” He answered back coldly. “Look out the window.”
Doing as he said, I walked over to the small window and snuck a glance outside. The sun had long since set and the full moon was high in the sky.
The full moon.
The full fucking moon.
“You can’t be serious.” I muttered to myself.
Ashton and a few other frat bros footsteps retreated downstairs.
“W-what if you were wrong?” I shouted out desperately. “What if you didn’t turn me and I’m still human!”
I knew I was wrong. The image of my eyes from earlier danced through my head, reminding me that all of this was real.
“Tell that to my table!” Ashton yelled from downstairs.
I rolled my eyes as I plopped down on the bed. I was angry, upset, and hot.
I started rocking back and forth to cool down a little bit, but nothing helped. It kept getting warmer and warmer. Eventually, I fell to the floor as it felt like a raging fire was burning within me. It hurt. It hurt so bad.
I felt my bones start to crack and break. A loud yelp escaped from me. My jaw started to hurt and I wrapped myself in a tight bear hug, trying to ease the pain. I dug my nails into my skin and was relieved when some of the pain eased. I wasn’t so relieved when I saw my nails had elongated into long, sharp claws. Where I had dug my nails- claws- in had torn my skin wide open. Instead of blood coming out there was dark grey fur.
Remember when I said I don’t do well with bodily gore and stuff? Yeah, I still don’t. The sound of my bones shifting didn’t help either. I didn’t barf, though there were a lot of panicked screams. I lost consciousness shortly sometime after.
The sun blasting in my eyes woke me up again, but as my blurry vision focused, the sun was blocked out by someone’s silhouette. It was Ashton standing over me with his arms crossed.
I noticed the brown stains on my hands and freaked out.
I looked to Ashton worriedly,“Did I-“
“Nope. Not that we know of anyway. You probably just ate someone’s dog.”
“Not helping!” I said as Ashton helped pull me up off the ground. We were in a large and open grassy field. Ashton led me through the wood out of the clearing back to a car that was waiting for us.
“How did I get out? I don’t remember anything.” I asked, trying to wrack my brain for any semblance of memory from the previous night.
“Well after you tried, and failed, to leave via the room door, you escaped through the window.” He sighed
“That tiny little thing?”
“Yup. You must’ve been really desperate to get out.”
“Can we not talk about this anymore? It feels like I’m hungover again.” I said after rubbing my temples.
“Sure bud, sure.” Ashton said as he patted me on the shoulder. He then handed me a water bottle and I graciously accepted it.
When we got back to the frat house Ashton pointed me to the bathroom where the shower was. I cringed when I saw all the dried blood smeared around my mouth. It took me a while, but all the blood and dirt caked onto my skin was scrubbed off. I had to dig around under the sink looking for a clean towel to dry myself off with. My shirt had been destroyed yet again, and my ripped jeans, that hadn’t been ripped when all this started, were still covered in blood, dirt, and I don’t even want to think about what the other stains could be. Bottom line, I didn’t have any clothes to wear.
Wrapping the towel around my waist to cover my private bits, I started making my way down the stairs to bother Ashton for some threads. Halfway down the stairs though, an intense searing pain shot through my stomach. This caused me to lose my balance and I tumbled down the stairs- not very gracefully I might add. Somewhere along the way my towel slipped off too.
“Danny? Danny!” Ashton yelled, running out of the kitchen towards where I landed.
“Ooh… something- somethings not right.” I cried out as I went into the fetal position. My stomach felt like it was eating itself and my blood was on fire. I had no idea what was causing me this much pain, but it was bad if I didn’t care that I was butt ass naked in front of a bunch of college kids.
Werewolves must really like their mirrors or something because I landed right in front of one. It was a full body length mirror and it was propped up in the corner by the front door.
A weird and painful sensation came from my mouth and I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I was writhing in pain. The pure shock of what looked back at me was enough to let me adjust myself to where I could get a proper look at my reflection.
My eyes were glowing a deep red and a pair of fangs had sprouted in my mouth.
“Oh you’ve got to be shitting me.”