Chapter 3

    The days passed quickly as it turned into a week, hopping from one bus to another, sometimes sleeping under bridges, and even abandon houses as I made my trip east. Sitting in the bus near the back seat, I headed east towards Chicago. My senses were on standby carefully watching the people in front of me. I’m not exactly a people person, so interaction with others aren’t my strong point. At least the majority of the seat were empty, making me feel a little bit relieved. There wasn’t much trouble in leaving the Blood Moon Pack territory, honestly it seems like they didn’t care to find me.

There were many thoughts that crossed my mind throughout the whole trip. How was it possible that I travel forward into the future, did I possess this body like a demon, or maybe god was just spiteful and threw me into this body as if everything was alright. At first I didn’t wanted to accept that this was reality, but as time went by it became an almost everyday norm to check myself in the mirror.

Seline.

    Yea?

    How long have werewolves existed? Is this place really Earth?

    What kind of strange question are you talking about? This is Earth and werewolves have been in existence since the dawn of man.

    Really?

    Yes.

This made wonder could this be any different universe? I mean it’s possible. The Earth back home didn’t have mythological creatures such as werewolves before.

Seline sighed. Our kind have never shown our presence to the human race. Ever. We don’t plan on it nor want too. People are afraid of what they don’t understand, and right now we are seen as monsters.

    So does that mean there are other mythological creatures out there?

    Yes, but we don’t intermingle often with each other. I suggest you to stay away from them.

    Why?

    Because they are dangerous Tila. There are things out there that can suck a Werewolf’s soul out of their body as if it’s some kind of specialty soup.

    Really?! I was alarmed that there were such things out there that could even do something crazy like that, but then again werewolves were considered fantastical in the beginning. So why not?

We need to go back home.

    No. Never.

    Please, that’s our mate that we left behind.

    Good riddance.

    Tila!

I squandered her voice, she was starting to get really annoying. Throughout the whole time Seline was whining and begging for me to go back, but instead I ignored her till she finally stopped.

What was strange was that as day went by, Seline seem to slowly but surely change. She still had that annoying snappish attitude, but she was becoming more….feral. Even I didn’t notice until Seline spoke out to me.

Tila.

I was startled at her sudden voice that called out to me, especially because she got it right. Yes?

We need to join a pack soon.

Why? I was momentarily weary of her calm demeanor, but I could hear a slight pained tone underneath it.

We’re changing and it’s not in a good way.

Explain.

Wolves are pack animals, leaving the pack can change us. Especially our minds and eventually our body. I don’t know how much I can push myself, before the change happens. This could become detrimental and can cause us to go crazy. All Rogues that leaves a pack, eventually becomes psychopathic killers!

I huffed. I felt like she was exaggerating and wanting to go back to her home. I wasn’t going to tolerate being bullied for anyone. Stop being a sissy Seline. We’ll be fine.

No, we’re not. I noticed that you are changing as well.

How so? I crossed my arms in front of me not liking where this was going.

You’ve become more… edgey.

Isn’t that a given?

No.

I rolled my eyes. Seriously? That was the best answer she could come up with. I don’t know much about this whole werewolf business, but hell I’m not falling for a stupid trick like that.

Quit being hardheaded and listen!

I am listening.

I turned my head and look out the window, we were passing by hundreds of sky scrappers, busy streets where cars were jam packed every where one turned, and even thousands of people walking around minding their own business. I noticed we passed by the famous John Hancock building, looming over us as my face was glued to the window. I couldn’t help but feel a bit more relieved that I was getting closer to my ‘true’ home.

We need to at link up with someone. At the rate we’re going, both of us are not going to last long. Seline whimpered. I am not as strong as you. I won’t survive the change. I am an Omega.

I could feel her last words, making me snap back to her. I frowned when she stated that words. Personally, I didn’t believe thoes words. Can’t survive? To weak because of an Omega? Bullshit. I’ll protect you Seline, Stay inside me and conserve your strength. Go to sleep and let me be your shield.

Seline was silent, and I could tell that she was pleased in what I had just said. I closed my eyes, and imagined myself cocooning Seline in a bubbly wall. I saw her dingy black fur, all shaggy and dull, her thin legs and even her body was showing malnutrition and old scars. I couldn’t help but hiss out in anger for what those people have done.

Next I envision myself in an opposite color of a striking pure white wolf that was double her size, walking over towards her with great pride and confidence. White was always my favorite color following after was the blue then gold. Walking over, I snuggled next to her body, licking her wounded self. Each lick gave Seline a comforting feeling of love and warmth, I could see that Seline was slowly falling into sleep. She needed the rest, and my guess for her to get her true strength back might take many years. It wasn’t just physical damage but a mental damaged that I worried about.

It didn’t take long for the bus to jerk and wake me up from my meditation. I hurriedly got up and stepped outside. A strong smell of the city smacked me in the face, catching me off guard especially of wolves. The scent me a bit nervous because they marked their territory nearby, making me want to unconsciously stay away. This was really strange to smell a pack, living in the city. From Seline memories, almost no packs lived in the city except the rogues, but even then the city life wasn’t for wolves at all. Running without being seen was immensely difficult, causing one to feel claustrophobic for their wolf within.

Even I could feel the towering city walls becoming a lot more overbearing than before, making me feel small and confined. Too much variety of smell made my nose hurt alot more than usually, making me be a little woozy. I had to tone out as many scent as possible, but even still that was hard till I was able to cut down half.

I knew that I needed to stay clear from the pack territory, but the directions that I needed to go was on the edge of the pack territory. All I could do was trudge forward carefully, trying my best not to catch anyone’s attention. Too many smell, too many people was really putting me on the edge. I didn’t know when someone might pop out from the shadows to kill me, especially if it’s another rogue of the pack that lives here.

For awhile I walked a good distance, cutting corners and even hopping over fences, eventually I arrived to a small broken down house in between two large building. The window panels were falling off from the side barely holding up on the edge of the hinge. A large bare tree stood next to the broken house, spilling over to its side giving it a haunting look. I remember this house when it was in its prime, the beautiful sandy colors of the walls, overarching arcs for entrance way, and a red chimney that was positioned overhead. Smoke would always come out when my mother lit the fire as my family sat in front of it, she would read me books of old grimm fairy tales and my father would rock on his rocking chair.

I opened the door and headed inside. Vivid memories of the past washed over me like a flood. Tears slowly erupted from my eyes as I traced the edge of the wall where the wallpapers were flaking off. Walking through the dining room, I saw a broken down chairs decaying on the side and pieces of the a partial table, even the kitchen was badly vandalized with black paint.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Then I moved towards the stairs, and up onto the second floor. They were three rooms in total in this house. One was the master bedroom, that was a room away from me, were where my parents slept, the second to the right was for me, and the third was the supposed future baby sister that my parent was going to have. I headed first towards my sisters room, and found nothing but a broken down sofa. Next I went to the master bedroom, where nothing but dirty mattresses with plastic bottles, syringes, wrappers, and even used condoms laid scattered.

I blanched when I saw such disgusting things inside my parents room. The only thought I could think of was the possibility of these past years being a prostitution spot or maybe even drug dealing. I don’t know, but I didn’t like it. It just didn’t feel like home anymore. Pulling out from that room, I headed towards my room, opening the door, I froze.

What stared back at me were three pairs of eyes huddled together  wrapped around the three small kids. My guess was that they were about 10 to 12 years old, possibly even younger. But what caught me really off guard was the smell that they gave. It was the distinct smell of hickory and burnt wood of a Rogue Wolves and these three children were just pups.

I knew that they haven’t gotten their wolf form, because of their scent. It wasn’t powerful like a shifted wolf that shouted ‘I am Here!’, but subtle and quiet. For a moment we had a staring contest and I unconsciously let out a growl. The three kids just whimpered and cuddled even closer together than before frighten on what I would do, breaking away contact into submission.

“Who are you?” I let out a deep voice warning them if one false move and I would attack.

The first to speak up was the young girl with dirty brown hair with emerald eyes. A large scar was present on her right cheek, and out of the three she was the bravest out of the three. I could tell that she was fighting not to run and instead a put up a brave front. Even the boy next to her that reminded me of her twin was cowering in fear.  Her brother had the same identical feature as her, almost making them seem as if they were of the same gender. The second girl look a bit older with her fiery red hair, puffy cheeks with a black eye that seem to be from being punched.

“M-my name is Jaz and this is my brother Jayden.” She pulled her brother behind as she faced forward as if her small body could cover his, but failed. “The one on my right is Zoe.”

“I see….” I carefully watched them. “Why are you here?”

“W-we live here.”

“Really? That actually make things a lot more easier for me.”

Jaz squeaked in fright when she heard what I had said. Her hand was gripping her brother’s hand as her eyes became filled with fear. “W-w-what are you going t-to do to us?”

“Nothing.” I bluntly replied. “I just have a couple of questions.”

The three was slowly starting to relax, but was still on edge.

“What w-would that be?”

“Do you know what happened to the people who lived in this house?”

The three shook their heads, but Jaz spoke up. “Ray might know.”

“Ray? Whose Ray?”

An animalistic growl was heard from behind me. “Me.”

I spun around so fast that I swung my hands in an arch and punch him straight in the jaw. Stumbling backwards, I lowered myself ready to spring forward. The person that I hit smashed into the wall behind him, and crumpled onto the ground. Surprise, anger, and worry lit up my face, I couldn’t believe I let another Rogue sneak up behind me so easily, especially for someone like me.

He could’ve attacked me, but some reason he didn’t. I wondered why when he had those chances. Also sneaking from behind me was quite an achievement for this boy that was slumped onto the ground. My family wasn’t a normal family at all, they were martial arts fanatics that even put their child through rigorous training, though this body couldn’t keep up with my past self. I needed to build myself back up from scratch.

“Who the hell are you?” I was seething in anger at the idiot that sprung up from behind me.

The young man groaned as his disheveled brown hair covered half his face. He look to skinny and weak that I didn’t expect much out of him for a fight. I knew I could take him on effortlessly without much trouble.

“Fuck, you have a nasty punch.” Ray spat out blood onto the ground, rubbing his chin. With a glare, he met eye-to-eye with me. “What are you doing in our house? This is our territory!”

I rolled my eyes. This idiot didn’t even mark the place, so this place wasn’t his. If he did he probably had turf war with other rogues that stumbled upon this house.

“This isn’t your house. You haven’t marked it, but suspecting from that lame ass fall you’re not even strong enough to keep this place.” I snapped. “So when I’m telling you nicely, listen.” My words were like ice with a power behind it.

Ray flinched when he heard my voice. I don’t know where all this power was coming from, but I sure am not going to waste it. There were a couple things where I thought it might come from one was that I wasn’t going to take anymore abuse from anyone and that usually was my mentality 24/7 of my life. Probably the second reason was that my confidence came with knowledge of my ability to handle this body without much trouble, and the past martial arts skills that I still knew and that’s was a lot.

“I heard from Jaz here that you know who used to leave here.” I calmed myself down. A fight wasn’t what I was coming here for only answer.

“I do, what of it.” Jayden glowered at me, angry that I punch him so hard.

“I didn’t come here to kill anyone of you. My parents used to be friends of the owner of this house. They go by George Leo and Sarah Leo.”  I lied. I knew he wouldn’t believe me if I told him I was Tila, especially because I didn’t look like my old self at all.

“Wait, you know of the Leo family?” Ray got up, his killing intent dissipated and instead looked at me with curiosity.

“Yea, I was hoping to come here to say hi.”

Ray frowned and sighed. He pushed back his hair, where a small scar was shown. “They died a couple years ago.”

“What?!” I barked out so loud that everyone jumped. “Wait, how? What about everyone else?”

“Old age. Their daughter Julia moved to another state to Florida, leaving me behind.” He snapped with disgust.

“Leaving you behind? Why?” I was confused. Why would my sister leave him behind? It didn’t make sense.

“Easy, she found out I was a werewolf and threw me out. Supposedly my dad was a Rogue Wolf that scared the shit out of my mom. When she found out she said that she doesn’t want anything to do with a monster like me and kicked me out.”

I frowned. I had a hard time believing that my only living family member would be so disgusted with her son.What was more surprising was that the boy in front of me was my nephew. “Was there any other siblings that she had?”

Ray seem to not like the thought of bringing up such thoughts, and instead gave her a glare. “Why do you want to know?”

“Just curious. My mother told me that they were another girl name Tila just like my name.” I quickly threw out a fake story to cover myself. I know this was stupid, but it was better than nothing. “She wouldn’t tell me what happened to her. So I was just curious if she was doing alright.”

Silenced followed after and in a low voice he spoke. “Tila Leo is dead. She died when she was eighteen from an electric shock. I never met her so don’t know much about her.” He shrugged kicking a rock on the ground.

I furrowed my eyebrow, taking this all in. Seline was stirring in my mind, and she too was listening in on my conversation with Ray. Realizing that I had died, and now inhabiting Kimberly’s body, all I could do was deal with this information. My old life was over, there was no going back and this made it a lot more difficult to swallow.

Being stuck in another body wasn’t something I wanted, I missed my past family and all I could feel was more emptiness in my heart. This was reality, and all I could do was chalk it all up and continue living on in what I have become. There was no going back, nothing to magically summon a portal to my timeline. I was still in the same Earth from where I have moved forward too. Nothing much has changed, except numerous new buildings scattered around the city and new people. The world just felt like it got a lot more bigger than I normally knew about.

With a deep breath, I inhaled air and let all of myself go. I am not living the past Tila Leo any more, but the Tila Leo now. No, I am just Tila now. Then it hit me, there was something that I had left behind here on this piece of land.

“Is that all you want?” Ray voice woke me back to the present.

“Actually yes. Do you have a shovel?”

“A shovel? What do you even need that for?”

“To dig a hole with,” I sarcastically stated. Seriously? What else would one need a shovel for but to dig a hole.

“You’re not going to bury us in it are you?” He half-heartedly jokingly stated.

“Why would I do that? I’m no murderer. I came here for what I need and that we’re answers. So do you have a shovel or not?” I placed my hand on my hips, getting a bit annoyed.

“You’re really not going to hurt us?”

“Yea.”

Ray look at me one more time, he seem to watch me carefully in what I would do next. He finally gave up in checking what I would do as if I was going to attack him. Such thought blew away the moment I learned that he was my nephew. “All of you, come on and follow me.” He turned around, the three kids scampered onto their feet, bolting past me. They scrambled towards Ray as if they were his only protection, leaving me behind by myself.

I too followed behind without thinking too much about their reaction. From the look of it, I could tell that I could over power all of them without much effort. We quickly went downstairs, and Ray reluctantly handed me a shovel. It took a bit of persuading to pull the shovel out of his hands for me, though for someone my size compared to him the burst of power startled him. Honestly I didn’t use my strength to pull the shovel towards me, but instead use his strength against him to get what I wanted.

With the shovel in hand, I left from the back door and headed towards the corner of the back lawn that were once full of weed. It was a simple cleared spot that didn’t seem to have anything growing on it. I purposely did this by killing off the surrounding area by pouring a heavy mixture of weed killer and some other chemical I can’t seem to recall. The reason was simple: to remind me that this was a place where I kept my belongs. It was a way to mark without giving off any clues, but myself.

I shoved the shovel into the ground and quickly started to work. It took a bit persuading for the soil to loosen, but eventually i was able to scoop them up much effortlessly. The others stood back, wondering what I was going to uncover. I heard a couple of them whispering from behind, thinking that I was unearthing some kind of treasure.

My lips curled into a smirk, they just didn’t know what they were sleeping on till now. I heard the metal hitting metal. Squatting down, I reached over, dusting away at the dirt. My hands greedily pulled out the large metal container that was the size of a children lunch box. On it was a mickey mouse and Minnie Mouse, dancing together on a blue background.

“What is that?” Jay carefully spoke. He edged a bit closer, wanting to take a look inside. When he got to close, I growled for him to back off. Honestly I don’t know where this whole growling thing started, but my best bet is because I’m part werewolf now.

Carefully opening up my treasure, I look inside. Yep, all the items were all in there. Old wrinkled up papers dyed in yellow, and even small golden coins the size of two quarters combined nicely wrapped in plastic. They were bank notes and old collectible coins from the 1600s that I had personally kept hidden away. The bank notes were gift from my parents, others like the coins I worked hard to collect the funds to gathered. In total they were about twenty of them. Right now, I needed to go to the nearest bank and deposit them before they get stolen. This was the definite proof that I had buried it here myself. Tila Leo had lived in the past and now she lives in another body.

Quickly I shut it before the others could see what it was. I stuffed it in my bag and got up. It was time for me to leave and right now, I don’t have time to watch over my nephew and the three kids. It’s hard as it is keeping myself fed.

“Hey, What was that?” Jay asked. “Isn’t that from my family members? I have every right to know what it is.”

I hissed and bared my teeth. “No. I found it. This is mine. Now move.” I’m not sure where all this anger was coming from, but it hit me hard, punching me in the gut. It was definitely sporadic that all came out in one go. This was my Rogue self talking was this what Celine was talking about? I don’t know.

“But-”

Cutting him off, I rushed forward. Even though he was slightly taller than me, I made sure to knee him once in the crotch, causing him to crumble forward, while I grabbed him by his throat. “Listen, don’t mess with me, especially what’s mine.”

Jay gulped while he was cringing in pain. I could almost taste fear on him, making me shiver in delight. With a heavy push, I let him drop onto the ground and I started to head towards the nearest bank that I could find.

    Yep, there something wrong with me. I’m not sure what, but I’m not liking it at all.