What am I up to? Follow me through NaNo 2009!

Hello followers!

I am sorry that I kind of quit blogging for a while. Mostly, I was busy goofing off and I really didn't have a structured day to sit down and do some blogging, so I just didn't really do it.

I really hope you guys enjoyed the ending of Bitten. You may have been waiting to hear from me (or given up, who knows?), so here I am again!

I decided to start a new blog. Mainly because I'm going to be doing NaNoWriMo this year and I want to blog my progress (not saying I'm going to blog actual parts of my story, but I will blog about the story). I also am going to post things about writing in general, what I've learned from NaNo, and the ins and outs of my life.

Please check out my new blog at http://arielle-writing.blogspot.com/ . I'd really appreciate followers, comments, and anything else you can throw at me.

-Arielle

Six Years Later

Date Unknown
Waxing Gibbous Moon (Four Nights to Full Moon)

I was more animal than human; I couldn’t remember the last time I’d changed back to my human form. There was no more Tala; there was no more Selene. There was just one being in my body. I wasn’t ruled by the moon or Packs or Alphas or power.

I was a wolf.

I had my own territory, several hundred miles of wilderness. The other wolves didn’t dare come close. They knew I was stronger than them.

I was roaming the night when I came across another wolf’s scent. I growled and took off, following the smell of the foreign wolf. I would teach him to come through my territory. The thrill of the chase sent energy through my body. From the scent, I could tell that he was strong. It would be a fun fight.

I stopped short when I came to a clearing. I could smell water, the river that ran through my territory, but I could also smell something else. Something that wasn’t entirely wolf.

I cautiously approached the naked figure standing by the water. He turned to look at me. He looked older, more grown up, more handsome. He smiled, “I finally found you.”

I snarled a warning as he tried to come closer.

“Selene? I know you’re in there,” He said as he slowly inched forward. “Please change back so we can talk.

I turned to leave. Talking was the last thing I wanted to do.

“We forgive you, and I know you knew that when you left,” He said, “We all do, even mom. It wasn’t your fault Quinn died, and you saved the rest of us. Quit blaming yourself for one death, that isn’t something a pack leader can do.”

I hesitated, lingering on his last statement. They still wanted me to lead?

“Please talk to me. I have so much to tell you.”

I walked back to him and lay down in front of him. I didn’t even know if I could change back after so long. He ran his hands through my fur and rubbed behind my ears. I could feel his energy flowing through me. He was trying to help me.

I felt cold as the fur began to recede, the distant ache as my limbs changed back to those of a human. My face reformed back to that of a human’s, but I didn’t even know how I looked. Would I look the same as I did five years ago, or would I look older like Randall did? My tail disappeared as I lay naked in the grass. Randall climbed on top of me and kissed me deeply, something I hadn’t experienced in years. I was dirty and I probably smelled bad, but he kissed me anyway.

“I missed you so much,” He whispered into my hair, nuzzling me, enveloping me in his familiar scent.

“I-,” I paused to clear my throat. I hadn’t talked in a long time. I wasn’t used to it. “I missed you too,” I whispered. It was the truth, I had missed him at first, but giving myself over to the animal nature had helped to quell the emotions that were beginning to resurface. I didn’t want to go back to being a human. It hurt too much. It was too complicated. Being a wolf wasn’t so problematic.

“I’ve been leading the Pack by myself ever since you left, but I need someone to rule the Pack beside me. We’re growing; there are nearly twice as many members now. The Elders tell me that I have to pick a bride soon. This is the longest any pack leader has ever gone ruling alone. I need you, Selene. You’re the only one I want. I’ve been looking for you for the last six years.”

“Why me?” I pushed him away and got up, wobbly on two legs. I slid into the slow-moving river to rinse my body off. It was colder than I expected.

“You’re the only one I ever loved, Selene. I love you. I need you. Without you, I don’t feel complete, and the Pack won’t be complete.”

I looked up at him, standing on the riverbank, “You never said that before.”

“That I love you?”

I nodded as I climbed out of the water, wringing out my hair. The night air was warm and I would dry quickly enough.

He pulled me into an embrace and kissed me again, “I should have, but I wasn’t man enough then. I’ve had to do a lot of growing up in these past years. I have to be strong enough for nearly two hundred people. I have to know what I want and I have to know how to say it. I love you, Selene. I always have and I always will.”

“I love you too, Randall.” I kissed him and then pulled out of his embrace, “But I can’t go back. No one in the Pack liked me, not even the Elders. I was no better than Lilith.”

“Selene, your name is celebrated amongst the Pack. If it wasn’t for you, Lilith would have just preyed on someone else, someone that may not have been able to stand up and fight her, someone that may not have been able to defeat her and survive. I have pack members come up to me asking if they can name their daughters after you. Every year we remember the day you defeated Lilith. You are the reason we’re all alive and free today. I want you to come with me. I want you to marry me and rule the Pack beside me. Please,” He said, his eyes staring deeply into mine.

I nodded and began to cry. He pulled me into a tight embrace as tears streamed from my eyes, dripping onto his skin. He walked me out of the woods slowly, to his truck. He pulled a blanket out of the cab and wrapped it around me. He dressed quickly and I climbed in. It was going to be a long drive, and I was exhausted. I curled up and lay on the seat, my head resting in Randall’s lap as he drove. He absently stroked my hair as I fell asleep. It was the best sleep I’d gotten in years.

-----

A/N: This is the final chapter of Bitten. I hope you guys enjoyed the ride, I know I was late a lot and it still needs major work before it is print-worthy, but it's done and that's all that matters right now. Please comment and let me know what you thought if it as a whole.

I will leave the entire book online for about a month before I take it down for editing. I don't want to just leave the finished product out on the internet for very long. Let your friends know about it, re-read it, offer suggestions, help me to get Bitten to where it needs to be for publishing! Keep this page bookmarked and come back often for updates about Bitten, even when I take down the book. I'm going to take a few weeks break from working on this story to pursue other ideas and maybe finish Becoming, and if I start blogging a new book, please read it! I'll post a link to it here, of course.

As for this final chapter, I actually wrote it a while back ago, just because I had the idea in my head and I didn't want to lose it. I didn't want to make things too cheesy (i.e. Twilight), but I wanted it to be a happy ending. I had some ideas for a spin-off chapter later on about Selene's crazy mom and what she's been up to for the last six years (idea was she got herself bitten so she could prove werewolves existed so she could expose them and find a cure), but if that happens it won't be for a while, and it'll probably be a short story.

Anyway, thank you all for reading Bitten. Thank you for your comments over the past nearly year, and thank you for supporting me. Thank you Brandon for pushing me to write when all I wanted to do was play WoW. >.<>

52. Awake

Date Unknown
Moon Phase Unknown

When I awoke, my entire body was sore. I blinked my eyes against the harsh, white fluorescent lighting. Everything smelled like sanitizer. There were people around me, breathing. I smelled tears.

My throat was dry and my voice cracked as I spoke. “Is she dead?” If I was alive, then Lilith had to be alive. There was no way I could have survived. I’d failed at killing her.

“The vampire is very dead, Selene. You did a number on her.” I heard Randall say as he pushed the button on the bed I was laying on, making my head rise. He held a glass of water for me as I drank out of the straw.

“But, I’m alive. I’m supposed to be dead too.”

“You should be happy that you’re alive,” A woman said as she walked in. She was wearing a doctor’s white coat, but I recognized her as a pack member. “Your heart was a wreck, it was like nothing we ever saw. But when anyone touched you, it was like an electric shock. You were harboring so much life energy from the Pack that it kept you alive, just barely. You were very near cardiac arrest, but you made it. You’ve been asleep for a few days. Once all that power was used up to heal your internal injuries, your body became very frail. You’ll recover, but you’ll be very weak until your own power regenerates.”

“You even missed the full moon,” Randall said. “We were pretty worried that you didn’t change, but the doctor said it just meant you weren’t recovered yet.”

“You believe me about Lilith now, I guess,” I smiled weakly.

“I should have believed you sooner. I’m sorry that I didn’t. Most of the Pack didn’t even really realize what was going on after you passed out on the rocks. We rushed you to the hospital and made sure our Pack doctor took care of you. We didn’t even really quite believe what Lilith was until the sun came up. Her body caught fire and disintegrated to ash as soon as the light hit it. She’s gone, all traces of her.”

“And Quinn?” I asked.

He looked away as he spoke, “We buried him yesterday, on the Pack lands. We couldn’t really take him in anywhere, with all the scratches and bites on him. People would be hunting wolves after that, and we couldn’t take that risk.”

Tears ran down my face as I thought of that night. “It shouldn’t have been that way.

He changed the subject, “Kate hasn’t spoken since that night, she’s been waiting for you to wake up.” I followed his gaze to the girl, her eyes red and puffy from crying.

“I’m so sorry!” She burst out, sobbing into a fresh Kleenex.

We waited patiently for her to regain composure. “I didn’t know she was a vampire! She told me all these things about how Quinn was an awful leader and that he was too soft and how you two were going to get married and take over the Pack and it would be even worse and the Pack would be in danger if we didn’t do something! She – she handpicked Doyle and had me bite him and infect him. She said he was what we needed to have justification to challenge Quinn and take over the Pack ourselves. She said and did all these things and I just went along with it because I was jealous of you guys and I thought she liked me,” She burst into tears once again as some of the Elders began to walk into the room. Sylvea was at the back of the group, looking sullen-faced.

Susan was at the front and she spoke first, “She fooled us all. We thought she was the perfect, innocent girl that she wanted us to think she was.”

“It was all my fault, I let her come to power because I was too weak,” I said, looking down.

“Randall already told us the situation you were in. He said you tried to tell him, but he didn’t believe you at the time. He said she bound you to her and threatened you with death. As I said, she fooled everyone, even those of us who are supposed to be wise. You were no different. She used us all,” Susan said. “What we need to do now is focus on the future of the Pack. Technically, you did win leadership of the pack, and if you want to lead, you have earned the right.”

I was so shocked that I couldn’t form sentences, “Me? Lead?”

“The other option is to give the position of Pack Leader to Randall, since he would have been the next in line.”

I nodded my head and told them, “Give it to him. Definitely. He deserves it more than me.”

Satisfied with their answer, Sylvea and the other Elders turned to leave, but Susan stayed, placing her hand over mine, “No matter what you think, you do deserve it. You sacrificed more for the Pack than most people do. You weren’t afraid to die to save everyone. You have the qualities it takes to be a great leader.”

I sighed and lay back as she left the room. Kate left as well, leaving me with Randall. “You look tired,” He said as he pushed the button to lower my bed again.

I nodded. My eyes were drooping. I was exhausted. He bent over to kiss me and said quietly, “I’ll need someone to help me run the Pack, you know.”

* * * * *

As soon as I had enough strength to do so, I left. I couldn’t stay and run the Pack. I felt too guilty. Yes, I saved them from Lilith, but I didn’t do it so they would like me. I did it because it was my obligation to. I did it because it was my fault she was there in the first place. If I hadn’t fallen into her trap, none of that would have happened.

I spent two weeks in the hospital recovering the power I needed to escape. Randall visited me every day and I led him to believe that I was still too weak to do much of anything. He wanted to take me home with him and let me rest there, but I insisted on staying. It would be easier for me to escape from the hospital.

I kissed him goodbye after his last visit. I would miss him, but I had to put all of that behind me. I was trouble, and I had to go. It would be the only way their lives could go back to how they were before I came and ruined everything.

I snuck out that night. I didn’t need anything else besides the hospital gown, which I would shed as soon as I got outside. I’d regained a bit of power, more than I’d led Randall to believe I had recovered. It was enough for me to change, which I did between two empty cars in the parking lot, out of sight. And once I was a wolf, I left, hugging the shadows until I got to the woods. From there, I was free.

-----

A/N: I couldn't really let her die. I didn't want to end it that way, it's not very creative! I don't know if this way is much better, but I liked it. The last and final chapter comes tomorrow. I've already got it prepared. It's sort of like an epilogue/follow-up chapter. It takes place six years after Selene leaves. Enjoy!

51. Revenge

“What are you doing?” Susan asked as I climbed onto the stage.

“I challenge the Pack Leader, Lucille.” I said, stressing her fake name.

“On what grounds?”

“On the grounds that she isn’t what she claims to be. She needs to die tonight.”

Susan laughed nervously as she glanced at Lilith, who was glaring at me. “What are you doing, Selene?” Lilith asked.

“Something that I needed to do before things went this far. Now, fight me.”

“You’ll die either way,” She said.

“I don’t mind, because I’ll be taking you with me,” I said with a smile as I continued the change. I didn’t care about anyone else. I didn’t pay attention to what the crowd was saying or what Randall was doing. Sylvea had pulled Quinn’s body aside, so the stage was clear aside from the fresh blood still on the rocks.

She sighed and began her own transformation. The moon wasn’t all the way full, and I was already weak from my previous blood loss as I struggled to force the change. She laughed as she realized my difficulty. “You’re going to beat me when you don’t have the strength to turn?"

I gritted my teeth as I tried to force Tala awake, as I tried to get her to help. I’m tapped out, Selene. There’s nothing left here for you to use. She’s taken too much.

No! We have to beat her now. It’s too late to give up. She killed Quinn, she’s going to kill others, she’s going to use them as her slaves and private buffet, I said to her in my mind.

There’s no power to fight her with. Unless you have another way of getting it…

I looked out over the crowd. There were a hundred werewolves there. Only Randall and Sylvea were Alpha, but they all still had some power within. Power that I could take in order to kill Lilith. I probably didn’t need too much, since she’d exerted so much during the fight, since it had to take a decent amount to keep her form so solid. A little bit from everyone wouldn’t hurt; maybe a little bit more than when I’d taken it for Doyle the previous full moon. Some might not even notice.

Tala helped me as I began to siphon off a little bit here and there, as I took the power of the Pack and pulled it into my body, using it to help me change.

“What are you doing?” She asked as I fell to all fours, my tail growing out behind me. She was still only half-changed, waiting on me to finish.

“I’m beating you at your own game. I’m taking their power just like you took mine, except you fed off my blood and pain. I feed off life and energy. Let’s see which one is stronger,” I finished my sentence as my face grew out to form a muzzle, teeth coming in nice and sharp.

Lilith completed her own transformation, dropping to all fours as we stared at each other, a white wolf versus a black one, yin and yang.

I didn’t stop taking the power, and people were starting notice something was different, draining them. They didn’t like it, but I didn’t really care. I wasn’t doing this for the glory or the power. I was doing it to get rid of Lilith. She was my responsibility now, since I’d allowed her to gain so much power. The air in the clearing was buzzing with energy, and it was the power of the Pack members creating that electricity around us. The best part was, Lilith couldn’t take that energy. It was all mine.

I used it to strengthen my muscles, to give myself more speed and agility. I used it to sharpen my senses, so I could react faster and notice her movements better. I used it to become more powerful than her, and she knew it. I could see it in her eyes as she stared me down.

I attacked first. I didn’t know if it would work, but I hoped that if I could wear down her power, I could break through her disguise and kill her. I lunged at her, mouth open, claws extended. She tried to move out of the way, but with my enhanced reflexes, I was able to adjust my path to anticipate where she was going. I hit her dead on as my teeth and nails dug into seemingly real flesh and fur. As I’d expected, Lilith hadn’t anticipated Quinn getting through her barrier. Even if he’d managed to land a hit on her, it would have most likely been a graze or a nick, since she was able to outmaneuver him so easily. It wasn’t solid enough to take a full-on attack.

The illusion was a thin barrier, enough power to create a solid surface, but it wasn’t thick like a real body. I tore through the power, through the black fur to reveal a large patch of her pale skin underneath. The Pack saw it too, gasps and whispers coming from the crowd.

“What’s going on?” I heard several people ask. Of course they were confused. Wounds are supposed to bleed, not disappear to reveal a human body underneath.

Lilith growled, ignoring the hole in her disguise. She ran at me at full speed, exerting a huge amount of power to move so fast. I couldn’t move out of the way fast enough and ended up with her teeth in the fur on my tail. It hurt, but it wasn’t too much to endure. She’d been going for my neck, just like she’d done with Quinn, but I’d managed to deflect her. I turned quickly and snapped at her, grazing her front leg with teeth. I came away with a mouthful of air and a hand and arm replaced the leg I’d gone for.

She moved away, but I followed, not allowing her to get any time to regroup. I pounced on her and knocked her to the ground, going for her throat with teeth, going for her heart with my claws.

“You kill me and you die,” She warned from under the slowly fading disguise.

I glared at her with yellow wolf eyes. I couldn’t speak in that form, but I knew she could see the resolution in my gaze. Lilith screamed as I dug into her chest, using the power I took from the Pack and Tala’s guidance to grow my claws, to tear through flesh and muscle. My own chest burned as I pushed myself to keep going. My breathing became more laborious as I found her heart, beating weakly to pump my blood through her veins. The fire in my heart grew as I pierced hers with my claws. She screamed louder, her cries echoing through the silent clearing, before she went silent, her eyes dead, her body still. She looked almost human, almost innocent as I stared down at her.

My vision blurred out as my own heart stopped beating, a mirror of her injury. Only this time, she wouldn’t heal, and neither would I. I heard distant voices and looked up, my world going black as I gazed up at Randall standing over me. He was touching me, trying to help me off Lilith, but I couldn’t do it anymore, trying to see if I was okay. I couldn’t get enough air. I couldn’t talk because I was still mostly wolf. I couldn’t do anything. The pain was too much.

So this is how it feels to die, I said in my head to Tala.

You did well, She said quietly, weakly.

It was the last thing I remembered before everything turned to blackness.

-----

A/N: Two more chapters to go, one to wrap up, and then a sort of epilogue. I hope to have the next one up in a day or so. The last one is already written. Hope everyone's enjoying the ending so far.

50. To the Death

We could only watch as the two black wolves circled each other. It was easy to tell them apart; Lilith was smaller than Quinn, which may have seemed like a disadvantage for her, but as we watched the fight play out, it proved to be a big benefit.

Lilith made the first move; literally a blur as she lunged with teeth at Quinn’s face. Quinn was barely able to dodge, and I smelled blood when he got away. She’d nicked his muzzle, but he didn’t show any signs of pain so it was most likely only a shallow cut.

It was amazing to see how solid Lilith’s wolf form was. It was flawless, and the raw power that made the body was impressive. Though it was merely a solidification of the power she’d stolen from me mixed with her own, it was firm enough to form claws and teeth, to cut, bite, tear, and scratch. I wondered if it would bleed if she got hurt.

I was mad at myself for allowing her to drink from me only a few nights before. I’d felt her hunger and I actually went to her, not wanting to feel that hunger while I was staying at Randall’s house. I hadn’t wanted him to notice any change in behavior or mood, so I told him I was going to hang out with a friend and I allowed her to take her fill. Now, she was using that blood and power to fight against Quinn.

She attacked again, this time running all-out at him. He didn’t move fast enough, and she hit him with her body, using momentum to knock wind out of him and push him onto his side. As he struggled to catch his breath and get back on his feet, she pounced on him and went for the neck.

I cried out with the rest of the Pack. It couldn’t already be over! Quinn growled and used sheer force to shove her off of him, her teeth only able to grab fur. She pulled away to regroup as he got back on his feet and went into a crouch. He made his move instantly, now allowing her to get any time to plan her next strike. He couldn’t move as fast as her, though, and as he attacked, she was able to easily spring out of the way, turn, and bite down on his left back leg. He yelped as she bit down, a cracking noise echoing through the clearing as we all held our breath.

He turned with her still latched onto his foot and went for her stomach with his teeth, but she released when she saw what he was doing and quickly moved out of the way so all he got was air.

I turned to look at Randall, whose face was emotionless as he stared at the fight. Before it started, he had been so confident, but I knew how the fight was going to turn out, and I’d known that his confidence wouldn’t last for long. “We can still stop this,” I said to Randall. Lilith couldn’t win against all of us.

“It’s pack law,” He said through gritted teeth. “Anyone who tries to stop the fight will be kicked out. If we were to try and help dad, he would lose no matter what. He’s on his own.” I could tell as I watched him speak that he wished it could be different, that he yearned to help his dad, but he’d been in the Pack all his life, these rules were a way of life to him.

Limping, Quinn snarled angrily at Lilith, who only stood there with confidence. I saw her glance at me and give me a private grin under that shadow of a wolf. She was gloating.

Lilith didn’t waste time in drawing out the fight. It was as if she’d even planned this part. With Quinn injured, he was like a sitting duck. He hadn’t lost much blood from his wound, but the pain seemed to weaken him the most. She struck again, going for his neck. He couldn’t fend her off with his front paws because he would have to put his weight on his back feet, so he dropped to his stomach as she came, putting himself low to the ground as she attacked. There, he was able to use his strength to a slight advantage, but it wasn’t enough. This time, she came away with a piece of his ear, and there was even more blood.

I glanced over at Kate, who was watching Lilith intently. Was this what Kate wanted? Why had she helped Lilith? Was it out of some sort of devotion towards the vampire? Did she want Quinn dead because of some sort of cruel revenge towards Randall for never wanting her? She didn’t seem happy, though I didn’t really know who she was rooting for.

Quinn was slowly losing the fight, and it was amazing how much willpower Sylvea had. She was standing up on the stage, and though she was watching her husband fight a losing battle to the death, all she did was watch. Tears shined on her face as she watched the two snarling, growling wolves. I saw her hands shaking as Lilith attacked again and again, coming away with more flesh, more blood matting down Quinn’s fur. She cringed each time Quinn yelped from pain, but it was like there was some kind of invisible wall separating the fight from the rest of us, and no matter how much we wanted to, we couldn’t cross it to help.

All we could do was watch.

We watched Lilith make her final move, ending the inevitable as she finally got her teeth around Quinn’s neck, snapping it with sheer power and strength, ending his life.

We watched as he breathed his last breath, as his eyes went dull and his body stopped moving. The entire crowd stopped breathing with him as we gazed upon our new leader, a leader that kept her mouth around his neck a little too long, a leader that was trying to inconspicuously drink the blood of our fallen friend and family member.

We watched Sylvea fall to her knees, sobbing at the loss of her husband, and we watched the Elders return to the stage to welcome the new leader. It was as if the wall dissolved as they stepped across that invisible barrier only a moment to late, as Lilith began to drop her wolf disguise and change back to her naked human form. Her body was unscathed and covered in only Quinn’s blood, her lips and teeth tinged red, her fingernails stained as well.

“We have a new leader,” The Elder woman, Susan said to the Pack. Lilith stood up next to her, grinning at the crowd.

“We can’t let her be the Pack Leader, Randall. Once she gets control, we’ll never be able to stop her.”

Randall’s mind was far away from the issue at hand as he stared at his father’s body. The fur was slowly melting away as it returned to human form. “She won it, Selene. Just let it go. No one else needs to die tonight.”

“You don’t understand! If we don’t get rid of her tonight, countless others will die in the future!”

He turned to me and yelled, “She won! Just. Drop it.”

“I won’t drop it,” I said as I began to change, white fur covering my body. “I’m going to save everyone or die trying.” I climbed on the stage to confront Lilith, all my fear gone. It was replaced with hate and the need for revenge.

-----

A/N: I wanted to finish all the chapters before I posted the next set. There's only 3 more planned after this one, and I hope to post them all in succession. The plan is one tomorrow, one on Wednesday, and the final one on Friday. I know this part is kind of suspenseful, so I want everyone to get to the ending so I can see what you all think of it. I am mostly done with the next chapter, I have the last chapter finished, and the second-to-last is stored up in my head. I will probably have more free time over the next few days so I'll get some writing done. I had an interview today with the City of Houston Public Works department for a Chemist position, but I won't hear about it for at least a month, so I don't really know what I'm going to do until then...

I need to get on the rewrite so I can put it up on Lulu. >.<

As for this chapter, it feels a little awkward, and it will hopefully be smoother in the rewrite. I'm also going to write a scenario before the fight takes place in which Lilith and Selene do their last little blood donation. I mentioned it offhandedly in the chapter, mostly because I forgot to write it earlier. Maybe that scene will be a better transition into this chapter!