46. Doyle

Sunday, August 22nd
Beaver Moon

Nights were getting longer, allowing Lilith to wake up earlier each night. I felt the rush of energy that always signaled her arousal, heightened by the full moon. She would arrive soon, but late nonetheless. It would be easier for her to join us this time, since she didn’t have to change up on the stage. Tonight, we had another new member, a man I’d never met before. It was his turn to be the center of attention.

Randall and I stood up on stage with Quinn and Sylvea, behind the naked man. He was newly bitten, and it was his first moon. Quinn found him through a pack member that works in the hospital as a doctor. A few weeks ago, he was found on the side of the road, covered in bite marks. When rushed to the hospital, the doctor immediately recognized the bite marks and called Quinn. Quinn had been coaching him and helping him, preparing him for his first moon.

Now, the man was changing for the first time, and I could sense his fear. I recognized that fear, that torment. It was the same as mine back before I joined the Pack. It was the same fear that gripped me every time I saw the moon growing fuller, the same fear that forced me into a small cage and tried to fight against the wolf inside me.

The man was stalling, his long, scraggly brown hair nearly covering his face, his beard snarled and unkempt. He looked more animal than human; he looked like he might snap at any time.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I whispered to Randall as we stood there, waiting.

“This is the tradition. Everyone has to do it,” He said quietly, watching the man.

Quinn stepped forward and put his hand on the man’s shoulder. The man flinched, but didn’t pull away. Quinn began his speech, similar to the one he had given on my first night, “Welcome tonight, fellow children of the moon. We have a new addition to our Pack. He is young in our terms, and he needs our guidance. Please welcome Doyle into our family!” He stepped away from the man as we waited.

“Can he do it?” I whispered.

“Eventually, the moon will force the change. He’s too weak to fight it and win, but if he does fight, it won’t be pretty. It will be almost painful to watch.”

“Can’t we do something? Use our power to help him?”

He glanced at me, “Everyone has to do this by themselves. It’s a rite of passage. Just let him do what he has to do. In doing so, he will slowly gain acceptance of what he has become. In being with us tonight, he will see that it’s not so bad. Just like you saw.”

I quit focusing on the man and scanned the crowd. I saw a dark figure slide in from the woods. Lilith had arrived, but she would stay in the crowd instead of coming up on stage tonight. I also saw Kate, who was staring up at Doyle with a look on her face that almost looked like shame. Did she disapprove of the new pack member that much or was she embarrassed for him?

I felt sorry for Doyle, and I felt even worse that I couldn’t help him. But what if I could do it without anyone else noticing?

What do you think, Tala? I asked inward.

That man isn’t good; he has darkness in his heart.

I was taken aback by her statement. Darkness in his heart? What did that mean? That still doesn’t mean that we can’t help him. Maybe being a part of the Pack can make him a better person.

We are too weak, your vampire took our blood just yesterday, but you can still gain some power from the people around you.

I glanced at Randall and the other two Alphas. Won’t they feel it?

Not them. She turned my head towards the crowd. Them.

I watched the mass of people, nearly a hundred beings full of energy. If I took only a small amount, no one would notice. Then what?

Then you give it to him. Slowly push it into him and he will begin to change. He won’t be able to fight it, and if you do it right, he won’t want to fight.

I closed my eyes and saw the crowd in my mind, I thought about their energy, their power running through them just like their blood, and I took it, not much, but a little bit from every person in the crowd. I took it and instead of bringing it into me, I slowly, gently put that energy into Doyle.

I opened my eyes and watched the man begin to change. He fought at first, but he couldn’t stop the wave of fur from growing over his body, thick and brown to match his hair and beard. He cried out when he saw his hands change, but it was more shock than anything else. He dropped to his knees when his legs began to change from human to animal, his spine elongating and poking out from behind to form a tail. We all watched as his face elongated to form a muzzle, teeth filling out and growing to sharp points. His ears grew up and pointed as he climbed onto four legs and shook out his fur, testing his new body. I stopped then, but continued to watch. He was no longer human, and I could feel his inner wolf taking over.

“This isn’t good,” I said to Randall, focusing on my own change. If he was going to go wild, I wanted to be in a form that I could fight him in, I wanted to keep him from hurting anyone else.

Randall put his hand on my shoulder as my own white fur began to spread over my body. I hadn’t even bothered to take my clothes off yet. “Not yet,” He said and I stopped, trusting his judgment.

Quinn walked up to Doyle and the wolf growled at him, snarling and snapping its new teeth. “Calm yourself. You are stronger than the animal inside. You are human, even in this form.” He put his hand on the wolf’s head and he stopped gnashing and growling. He looked up at Quinn with eyes shining with human intelligence.

“Are you in there, Doyle?”

The wolf nodded and the crowd began to cheer. Quinn had tamed the wolf with his power.

“See?” Randall gloated as he pulled off his clothes, preparing to make his own change. I followed suit, trying not to rip my clothes with half-formed claws. We all changed after that, and I ran with Randall at the front of the Pack, like before Lilith had come. I glanced back and saw Lilith and Kate not far behind me, a black shadow of a wolf next to a red one.

In the morning, after we changed back, Lilith lingered to talk to me. The sun wasn’t quite ready to rise, but we were all exhausted from the run to care that it was still dark out. I changed back and pulled my shirt and sweatpants on, only to cover myself up until I could get a shower.

“I felt what you did, even if the rest of them didn’t notice,” She said as she pulled me aside.

“So?” Was she planning to go tell on me or something?

“You know, doing that makes you no better than me,” She smiled.

I growled at her, “I’m nothing like you. I didn’t use that power for myself, I used it to help.”

“This time,” She said, not bothering to say more. She walked off, saying goodbye to Kate and heading to her car.

I brushed off her comment and went up to the house with Randall. We showered together, which would have been fun under normal circumstances, but we were too tired to do anything except clean ourselves off. I collapsed into bed and ignored the fact that I had class that day. Finals were coming up, and I should have been attending class, but I was too tired to function, let alone stay awake during my lectures. Biology lab was cancelled for the week because of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, so I didn’t have to worry about missing much important material.

As I drifted off, somewhere in those moments between consciousness and slumber, an idea came into my head. I didn’t necessarily like the idea, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like my only option. I wasn’t strong enough to beat Lilith in a fight, not with her taking my blood, but there was another way to gain power. Her word echoed through my head and later into my dreams. If I was to be no better than her, I could use that power for myself. It would make me just like her, but in a way maybe I needed to become something like her in order to beat her.

I could use it to destroy her.

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A/N: I got a bit of writing done last week, and I plan to finish up my writing of Bitten over the next few weeks (before the honeymoon). I'll be gone on the honeymoon for a week, but I plan to have the new chapter automatically posted that Monday. If for some reason I can't get it up, you'll get two chapters the following week. I plan to only have about five or six more chapters in Bitten. I've already written the last chapter, just gotta write some of the in-between material.

I get married on Saturday and my birthday is Monday, so the week will be even busier, but I still think I'll have time to get some writing done in between packing and wedding stuff. Stay tuned for wedding pictures!!