(First attempt at Fantasy. Gulps!)
*
Full Bloods vs Half Breeds
By Jessica Bruce
Prologue: The Bloodline
Bitten. Changing. Bones breaking and forming a new skeletal frame. I scream out, and claw at my cheekbones, ripping fragments of flesh off. Blind. Eyes are pinned shut. Hunching over, trying to steady myself, I plant my palms firmly on the ground, and prepare for the next wave. Another sharp crack from the inside. A paw touches my shoulder.
“I… want to take… it… back,” I wheeze.
“I am afraid there is no turning back.”
I nod feebly. “I… sha… shou… na… na… - wha…” Gritting my teeth, I try again. “Wha-E is it … ha… hard ta… to… talk?”
“Perhaps the canine cells are fighting with your human ones. Beyond that, I am not certain.” There is a pause. “I warned you mixing the bloodlines might have been dangerous,” said a gruff tone. Another pause followed by a sigh shortly afterwards. “Had I known…”
Suddenly, I shriek. Standing quickly upwards, I shake my head fiercely from one side to the next. It feels like a chisel is smashing itself into my gums. Sharp. Cutting. Pain! My jawbone, there is another crack within, and I collapse back down on my knees and wimper. Unbelievable. I can’t speak physically, yet I’m able to think inside my mind without trouble. I flinch, and bite my lower lip. There are invisible talons, and… Bleeding! I’m bleeding internally now! These talons, make them stop tearing the tissue! I double-over thinking blood will surely spew out my eardrums or nostrils. Rolling around wildly on the ground now as if my clothes were caught on fire.
I cough, expecting to hack up bits of my lung or chunks of flesh. Instead, I feel the opposite, and fear attacks. It starts at the base of my shoulders and finds its way down to my waist. I shudder uncontrollably for a few seconds, then, the most remarkable – and frightening! – thing happens. Primal instinct or maybe it’s really me reacting to the changes my body is still undergoing, I begin spitting out my own teeth, without a second thought. One. Two. Five. Groups of disgusting, foul-tasting teeth were either slipping out from the corners of my lips freely or I was ejecting them in no particular area in the forest. My eyes are still closed. I refuse to open them and witness the animal I was told I would become an hour or possibly earlier but thankfully the pain starts to die down just enough, allowing me to relax. I spat another tooth, and as odd it might seem, I open and touch. No more teeth but gums. I move finger around, top to bottom, searching; alarm sets in once more.
“I huv noph teeuth!”
“Care to elaborate?”
I swallowed. I heard my breath coming from my mouth. Fierce, swift, labored. My chest rose and I quickly exhaled.
"NOO!” I screeched, and thrashed my head, side to side.
Razors! Pointy razors ripping upwards! I scratch, and rip away at my cheeks again, hoping to cancel out one dilemma for another. Breathing hard. Can’t control my heartbeat. I let my head drop, and begin coughing. The bitter taste of blood stings my tongue. I cough again, and then dig my fingernails into the soft soil and scratch it over and over. Anything to distract the pain was all that it mattered now. At least ten or so minutes passed – difficult to keep track time for sure – but the pain dwindled, leaving my poor, aching mouth. It hurt, everything is sore and aching in agony, yet somehow I’m still alive, still able to continue. I hear the wheezes escaping, and I gasp open-mouthed, trying desperately to calm my body down.
“How are you faring?”
His tone wasn’t exactly comforting, but Chance remained, as he promised. It was all I could have asked for now. If I had to experience this transformation alone, dangling from a tree trunk with a knot tied around my neck, I would have accepted that type of death open-armed.
“Ya… You stayed!”
“Of course. The pack always stays united, but you should already know this.” I feel him tugging my left ear roughly.
“Stop,” I say weakly.
“Not until my question is answered,” and the yanking of my ear continues.
“Stop!” comes a booming voice. Not my own but someone else’s. Who was that? Chance does obey the order but I’m left confused. I cock my head just so, and listen for a few seconds. Nothing. I try sniffing the air. No answers there either.
However, I recognize his smell. Chance reeks! He never bathes. He thinks wolves should never practice human habits, even though we are descended from them.
“I am weak,” I moan. No longer interested if there was indeed another person or aura of some form with us, I remain seated, letting my body heal.
“Check your teeth.”
I almost forgot. I guess I was so relieved the pain went away; I didn’t think to check my mouth. Opening it slowly, I whimper, “It hurts.”
“Expect pain. Much of it lies ahead.”
“You could at least be more sympathetic,” I groan, than I scan my gums with my tongue. There were indeed new ones in place. Had I been rested and in good health, I’m sure the mystery of where they came from would have shocked me but not now. Not when I ache.
“Open up, and let me see.”
Impassive. There was no trace of concern or fear in Chance’s voice. Regardless, I opened my mouth anyway.
“Hmmm…”
I closed it. “What?”
“Your fangs have arrived,” he snickered. “And I dare say, your two front ones are the longest I have seen yet. If you crush a deer’s neck in those jaws, do howl in my direction. I will be sure to outrun the pack and make short work of the venison before the others have a chance to feast.”
“You’re grinning, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am,” he snickers.
“Wait, how did I know that?”
“Know what?”
“Know that you were smiling? I still haven’t opened my eyes.”
“Well, perhaps you should do so.”
“Stop grinning at me!”
“But it is fun.”
“How? Tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“You know!” I shout.
“Humph. There goes my pleasure.”
“Please,” I ask.
“Very good, you are learning quicker than I thought. Respect is key to the pack, and its leaders. It is your instincts. Remember our discussion about Full Bloods this past year?”
“Yes. Every word.”
“Good. That means your memory is improving too. Do remember also that with my bloodline pumping through those previously wretched human veins, your sight, hearing, and smell, they all will be heightened, and stronger than our cousins. With these senses comes another, an inner one if you will. We call it the Sixth Sense. It is the ability in knowing another presence that is near, something has gone astray, or like you have demonstrated now; there was a change in my facial features without needing to see it for yourself. Your newly acquired instincts have told you so. Take notice too – your speech has dramatically improved.”
I nodded, taking all the information in, and filing it deep within my memory. I have large fangs. I repeated the words a few more times. I’m capable of breaking a deer’s neck, and in my own mouth? I shuddered, realizing the power that has been given to me. I asked for it but had I any idea the immense pain involved…
Chance warned me from the get go that because he was a Full Blood himself, he also had no knowledge of the transformation I would undergo since he has never been exposed to the change. He says that he’s unaffected by the moon’s cycle, yet Chance is a prisoner to the sun. He once told me the reasoning. It had to do with an alliance made thousands of years ago by an ancient vampire and werewolf. To end the century-old battles between fur and fangs alike, supposedly the deal was the Full Bloods had to accept vampiric blood cells injected into each of them. It meant my race would forever be slaves to the sun, just like the vampire clan. And in return, we would no longer be hunted to the brink of extinction. Plus, we now have the clan as allies – powerful, super-fast, and intelligent beings. But that is all I know of the vampires. Chance’s explanation was brief. The last bit of information concerning our distant, nocturnal cousins that he shared was the leader of the vampire clan is still alive and is estimated to be six thousand years old! Never having met one, I wasn’t going to lose sleep over it. If vampires are any portrayed like anything in Bram Stoker’s movie, forget it. I never want to meet one. Brr…
The Half Breeds on the other hand, the moon’s rays do affect them. Blood-thirsty creatures of the night. They kill without remorse or pity, ripping every living thing to pieces, or at least that is what Chance told me.
“When you said ‘cousins’ earlier, did you mean the vampires?”
“No. I meant the Half Breeds.”
“Oh.”
“Are you going to keep your eyes shut all night?”
“May-be.”
“Suit yourself but Finley will disapprove strongly, and the pack has no room for weaklings in the hunt. You will need to see your surroundings to catch your prey.”
“I’m afraid,” I mutter.
“Well, there has not been much of a drastic difference from your previous appearance.”
That interested me, and I perked up a little. “I still look like a human?”
“No!” Chance snorted. “I have never witnessed a human with pointy ears, claws and fangs that would even make the vampires themselves second guess messing around with the likes of you.”
“Then I do look awful,” I groan.
“No, I disagree. You look like a wolf, well… Partially anyway.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, suddenly startled.
“Whereas I have a thick coat of fur, you still have flesh. Your nose does not look canine, nor do your feet either. There are no paws.”
“I thought the change would come at me all at once?”
“I told you earlier. I have no knowledge in these matters. Only a sane Half Breed could educate you, but seeing how that will never happen, I warned about the mishaps that may occur when mixing my blood with a human, especially the probability of either death or a crazed lunatic that is neither of my kin nor the Half Breeds.”
“So, wait, are you saying I’m not a Full Blood?”
“Exactly. You share the bloodlines of us, as well as vampiric cells, but officially you are an entirely new race. However, since you are neither dead, nor a raving loony, for now I think you are safe.”
“Thanks,” I mumble.
“Come. I know it is quite difficult excepting tonight’s events, but it is time.”
“Time for?”
“For you to open your blasted eyes! I cannot have a blind apprentice.”
“An apprentice?” I asked, refusing to open them for now. “I thought we were friends?”
“No time to explain. If another cycle is to engulf you, it might mean the end, boy. Come, it is time for us to pay a visit to my brother. Finley will decide.”
I shivered a little, accepting the facts very slowly. I had stared death in the face, and actually lived. Chance has spoken of Finley but it was always brief. From the descriptions, Finley wasn’t exactly a cupcake. Chance is stern and most definitely not affectionate but I would rather be with him – as his apprentice, learning under his guidance how to survive as a werewolf, than Finley. He might cut out a new mouth, in my stomach! Nope, that tears it; I’m sticking to Chance like glue. “Finley decides on?”
“Your place within the pack.”
“But I can still be with you, right?”
“Perhaps. It is not my decision but Finley’s.”
Wishing like hell, I didn’t decide to abandon my humanity; living on the streets was simple compared to this crap! Never having met Finley yet, it made me nervous, and the pounding of my heart reassured me of this wonderful fact. But, I am not a human any longer, and I’ve accepted it.
Lots of questions are colliding into one and another but I’m too tired to ask them all at once.
Slowly, surely, I lift my lids. They flutter for a bit, as my vision attempts to readjust itself. It doesn’t take long, more like a minute. I blink, thoroughly amazed by how much my eyesight has improved. Right away, I spot an owl several hundred feet off in the distance, give it or take. Had I been human still, the best I could hope to see was a giant rock a foot from my feet at night. As a human, my vision was a little rough during the day. I could find my way around the city’s maze of streets but nighttime was especially difficult maneuvering about. I could never have afforded to buy glasses, and lowering myself to the underbelly of scum – the druggies - by stealing, never appealed to me.
Chance, who was on his four legs, stepped near me, and stuck his snout right in my face. I didn’t object, nor pushed him away. After all, he was invading my personal space.
“Ah. You have the eyes of a wolf.”
“I do?”
“Yes. Your pupils are distinct.” He moves in even closer, and again, I don’t do anything. “Hmm… Too distinct,” he adds.
“Chance?”
He doesn’t answer. Instead, he trots away.
“Wait!” I holler to him.
No good. Before I chase after, for some odd reason a strong feeling grows. It bubbles below my gut. Churning, circulating something that suddenly becomes appealing. Licking my lips, and crouching, I grow hungry. What’s on the menu? How about a furry, innocent, and a deliciously wonderful rabbit? Instincts kick in, and I spring into action. Running on two legs. Shortly, I realize that I can gain more momentum if I just run on fours, like Chance. I try, but stop, and frown. He runs with such grace and speed, and I can’t come within a fraction to match his pace. I will have to ask later, I say to myself. Still, I can run faster than a human. So, instead I stand, and give chase to Chance, ignoring the rabbit. I will just have to find my meal ticket later.
Joy... I think I'll cut some of them out but thank you too for bringing the fragmented sentences to my attention. It was something else I wasn't sure if it would work to my favor or not.
Cheers!
