Transactions like that are really annoying. It doesn’t hurt like I thought it would. It actually felt kind of good. I liked having that warm feeling when the fur grows out from my body, and I just loved it. Except for the fact that I was turning into a werewolf.

One person might ask, “Don’t werewolves only transform in a full moon?”

That was one of the first questions I asked Payton when I had transformed back to my original (naked) self. Man, that got annoying. Every time I morphed I lost my clothes, and I woke up nude. Yeah, that’s a pleasant thought.

Anyway, Payton answered, “Landon, werewolves can transform any time they want. The only objection is at night; werewolves have to change. It is mandatory. And we cannot morph back until morning.”

So, I guess that kind of brought on all of those questions that all of you have been eagerly awaiting, for example, “Payton, are everything in the movies true? I mean like…are Vampires real?”

I instantly knew the answer, because I had seen Ronda get ripped apart, and she was a Vampire. What a stupid question to ask!

“Yes,” Payton answered, “we don’t know exactly where they are, but they are our enemies. We have been taught to kill any Vampires.”

“Why?” came my next question.

“It is only polite to obey Wolfgang’s orders.

“Where are we?” I asked, as I saw Payton turn into a driveway of a house. The house was large, a lot larger than mine. The grass was turning brown, because of the season. There was a black Sedan in the driveway, and I guessed that it was Payton’s.

“Where are we?” I asked. The sunlight caught my eye, and I turned to it. It was very close to the horizon, and I remembered what Payton had said about transforming. Man, nothing was real like what they said in the movies! Nothing! Werewolves look nothing more than big dogs with big appetites.

“We are at my house. C’mon, we need to catch up on some sleep. I don’t really want to go out tonight. I am tired of walking, and I bet you are too.”

Payton unlocked his door and opened it up, allowing me to go in.

Have you ever been inside your English teacher’s house? No? Well, don’t be very anxious, because it is really no different than any other house. There were pictures on the wall, some paintings and other things hung up. I looked carefully at one of them. There was a man and a woman; the man was holding the woman, and the man was Payton. I had never seen the woman before.

“Come. Eat something and then go to bed. I have a guest bedroom. Oh, and there is a shower upstairs, if you need it.”

I nodded. This was really weird. So many things have changed my life today. One, my parents and family are dead. Two, I am a werewolf. Three, my freaking English teacher is a werewolf and has kidnapped me and going to bring me to Fort Wolfgang. Four, I have not tried to escape yet. Why?

I secretly looked at the door. It was locked, but I could open it. Would I be able to run faster than he when I got out?

I stole a glance at Payton, who was cutting up some lettuce. There was a big saucer on the stove, and the stove was burning hot.

Would I be able to? My adrenaline started to rush, and I felt that anxiety to get out.

“No,” I thought to myself, “I will have to wait until dark.”

Later that night, Payton and I sat down to dinner. It was tacos, something that I had never really favored. I muttered a word of thanks, and then grabbed a shell and filled it with meat and cheese. Simple enough.

After the meal, Payton stared at me. I felt really uncomfortable, and asked, “What?”

“Don’t you want to know some things? I mean, it’s not every day that an English teacher turns your life around. You must want some answers.” Payton answered, looking at me straight in the eyes.

From all of the questions that I could have said, I chose the one that had nothing to do with me at all.

“Who was that woman in the picture over there?” I pointed to the picture with Payton and woman holding each other.

He glanced at the picture and his mouth trembled. “Um, that…that was Sarah. She was my wife, but passed away a few years ago.”

I reflected back to the picture and suddenly felt pity for Payton. His own wife died…how sad.

“So, how did you become a werewolf?” I asked him, after he had stopped shaking. He must have had some bad experiences with her, because just asking a simple question like that really shouldn’t have triggered him like that.

“I, uh, I was eight years old when I was first bitten. A bunch of werewolves came to my house, one night and killed my family. I was the only survivor. One of them bit me and then I felt that pain like you did, yesterday. Only, mine went on for hours and hours. It lasted until I was brought before Wolfgang, who was the newly appointed leader back then. Wolfgang thought that I was useful, and kept me alive.” Payton answered, looking at his cleared off plate.

“Man…that’s so young!” I exclaimed. Payton looked up at me.

“Yeah…that was a long time ago. Right now I am two hundred and five years old. Next month will be my two hundred and sixth year alive.”

I gasped. “What?” I cried. He smiled and said, “Werewolf blood will last much longer than human blood. No one really knows why.”

So, now I was in bed and thinking about everything that went on that day. Man, that was way too much to comprehend. Way too much!

My family…Celeste…everyone was dead. Payton was over two hundred years old, and I am a werewolf.

I still couldn’t believe it. I am a werewolf. That was the weirdest sentence I have ever heard. I kept thinking, and then slowly fell asleep, thinking about werewolves.

The next morning, I woke up to, “Hurry! Get dressed! Our flight to Cardston is in a few hours!”

What? Where the heck is Cardston?

“What? Where is that?”

“It’s in Canada,” Payton said, and he peeked into my room. “That is where Chief Mountain is, and that is where Fort Wolfgang is. Hurry! We need to get to the airport!”

Everything was rushed. Totally rushed. I couldn’t even stop to examine my hair, which had suddenly turned ragged and long. I was also seeing some white hairs poking out from the colic on my head, and I knew that it wasn’t from old age!

When we got to the airport, I didn’t even have time to try to escape. I knew that Payton would hunt me down and drag me to Fort Wolfgang no matter what, so I just played along.

All right, there are some things that I learned about werewolves and Vampires that I haven’t mentioned.

First off, Vampires suck. I mean it. Payton says that they are our mortal enemies, or whatever that means. All I know right now is that they want to live in peace, while werewolves want to conquer. Who is the better side? I couldn’t really tell, but the Vampires did sound like the good guys. Was there a way to be like…un-werewolf and become a Vampire? Then I wouldn’t be on the wrong side. No matter, that was not something I could do right now.

Next, silver doesn’t really hurt us. Payton had said that that was the only thing that I put in my report that was false. A silver bullet will affect you just as much as me. It’s not poisonous, but the Vampires think otherwise.

And about the Vampire’s stake through the heart: full of crap! See above.

I learned all of this last night, before I went to bed. Payton had told me some of those things that the movies put in that weren’t really true. Werewolves don’t look like big hairy monsters. We look like overgrown wolves. Yeah, that was it.

And so I made my grand flight to Canada. I suddenly thought of that movie, “The American Werewolf in London”, and chuckled. I was now the American Werewolf in Canada.

Alberta is a really pleasant place, with nice people. They had people that ushered you out of the plane and treated you to a mint. I loved it more than America! The only thing that bothered me about Canadians was their really annoying accent.

As soon as we stepped out of the Cardston, Alberta airport, Payton pointed to the west and said, “There is Chief Mountain. That is where we are headed.”

Chief Mountain. Sounds Indian-ish huh? I wondered what Fort Wolfgang was going to be like, and what Wolfgang was going to be like. From Payton’s quick comments, Wolfgang sounded like a really crude leader. Like Napoleon! Wasn’t that that French guy?

Anyway, Payton hailed a taxi and said, “To the foot of Chief Mountain.” The driver looked at Payton and I with a strange expression, and then put his foot to the medal.