ROB

Sam and I were cruising through town in our truck. The stereo was playing mellow music while we were on our way to dump the two bodies in the bed of our truck. It may be surprising for most, but I was feeling quite calm and content at the moment.

Some people might refer to me as a narcissist because I consider myself a step above most of the people you’d see on the street. But the truth of the matter is that I have adequate reason to feel superior to most people. Unlike most of the people who live blissfully ignorant in this world, I am aware. I am present and I can influence the world like they never could. I am a werewolf. A proud member of the Hunter pack. Robert Hunter.

There’s a lot of lore known around the world about werewolves, most of it is hogwash. Actually, except for our kind’s relation with the moon, everything else widely known about us is wrong. Even our association with the moon is only partially true. The truth is that we don’t need a full moon to transform into our wolf selves and silver bullets do just as much damage as regular bullets which is jack all. And I have yet to encounter any herbs or poisons that do significantly more damage to us than humans.

While it is true that we are at our maximum strength during full moon, the difference in our strength during full moon and new moon is nothing to write home about. We are truly only vulnerable during a lunar eclipse when we can’t transform, if you happen to be on the side of the world that is not facing the moon. Nowadays, with the advancement in astronomy and the revolutionary strides in aviation in the last half century means that all you have to do is catch a flight outta the wrong side of the world before the eclipse.

Werewolves are without a doubt, the most civilised of all the supernatural creatures.

We don’t need to consume anything from humans in any shape or form to sustain ourselves, unlike vampires or deepcrawlers. This allows us to live independent lives coexisting with humans.

This was not always the case. It wasn’t like our race was simply handed down all these desirable features from heavens above. No, we acquired it and it took us centuries of hard work to perfect it. Apparently, werewolves used to be just as barbaric and undisciplined as other creatures of legend as recent as 7 centuries ago.

The reason for our superior breeding today can be traced back to the Luciente family in Italy.

Luciente emerged into prominence from the ashes left behind by the passage of black death through Italy. They were one of the families with wolf blood in Italy that were arrogant enough to claim direct descent from Romulus. But unlike most of the other Italian wolfblood families, the Luciente could back up their words with their deeds. Historians are still not sure how, but the first of the modern day Alphas came from the Luciente family.

It wasn’t uncommon for werewolves to come together to fight during a crisis, but the rigid pack system that is the norm today was established by Luciente alphas. A group of werewolves was like a blunt iron rod, able to do a lot of widespread damage, but not very effective. Under the pack structure led by alphas, these blunt rods were turned into fine steel tipped spears. Luciente alphas brought the werewolf population of Italy and soon the entire Europe under their control. Those that didn’t bend were broken. Weaknesses were systematically bred out of the werewolf population. By the time Europeans settlers were venturing into the Americas, the Lucientes had changed the werewolf population into highly effective units under the command of alphas.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I’ve read the works of many mundane authors about how it was that the European settlers were able to kill, drive out or assimilate the majority of the native americans. What these books don’t mention are the relentless battles carried out by werewolves against wendigos, the uktena, the owl witches and a myriad of other creatures to finally emerge as the apex supernatural species of these lands. The advancement of our species, spearheaded by the Luciente meant that we could move independent of humans, allowing us to expand and settle in the most hostile of environments.

Once werewolves established themselves as the apex supernatural species, naturally, the infighting started. There was only so much the non Luciente alphas were willing to take with the Luciente hoarding all of their secrets and lording it over others. In a civil war that followed, the new age alphas, allying themselves with other species, managed to oust the main branch of Luciente family from their throne. Their line practically disappeared, taking a lot of their secrets with them.

Their end sparked a new age of decentralised packs, all vying for power. And this particular political climate provides a lot of opportunities for someone like me and our pack. Our alpha Luke is an ambitious and capable man. My place in the pack is as his second in command.

I had a lot to feel good about today. Today marked the completion of the first stage of a difficult task that Luke assigned me a few months ago. An alpha’s power was like a tree. A tree that needs challenges as fuel to grow and thrive. Being from the Hunter family line of alphas meant that most things came easy for him. But Luke was not the kind of guy who’d be content with resting on his laurels. So, a few months back, Luke had set himself a task that would challenge him as an alpha. To turn someone mundane into a werewolf.

In order for someone to become a werewolf, there were 2 conditions. First, they had to be of wolfblood and second, an alpha had to share his power with you. It was possible to change someone without wolfblood into a werewolf, but most alphas wouldn’t be able to do that. That alone was challenging enough. But, Luke, being the overachiever he always was, wanted to do something even more daring. He would perform a ritual that would change the gender of the person as well. An alpha exerting ultimate control.

I advised Luke against going for it, but he was convinced that this challenge could push his power to the next level. If the ritual failed, Luke risked consequences ranging from losing his alpha powers to death itself. Before anything though, I had to find him a suitable candidate.

I looked for months before fate finally smiled at me in the form of dear old Pete. He was a small town boy with no close living relatives. He was introverted and didn’t have many friends. I had marked him as a lead candidate among a few others. I followed him a few days after he left work and found out where he lived. A golden opportunity presented itself one day when I saw him get in the middle of an alley beatdown.

Pete was smart enough to run away from the scene and that problem would have ended there but for me watching. I knew he was really spooked when he didn’t show up for work for a couple of days. When I saw that he did show up for work after 3 days, I had Sam and Jay ransack his place. I knew for a fact that he and the restaurant owner didn’t get along, so it was easy to spin a story about the idiots from the alley being part of a huge organisation and convincing him that the owner gave up his information. Sure enough, as soon as he got home and saw the condition of the apartment, he freaked out and called me.

After that it was easy to confine him to the garage and cut off his communication with everyone else. Not that he had many friends to begin with. The final part of the drama played out this afternoon, when I managed to rile up the 2 self important idiots from earlier and convinced them that Pete was a grave threat to them. Those 2 idiots had walked into the trap without a second thought and now Pete had blood on his hands. It was technically Luke that did the deed, but the blood and fingerprints on the murder weapon belonged to Pete, making his freedom beholden to Luke’s whims.

The final piece of the first step would be completed when Sam and I dumped these 2 bodies somewhere out of the way, so that city police can find them later tonight or tomorrow morning. Some might think of me as downright evil, but that’s because they have no idea how the world really works. Me, I’m just pragmatic.

I leaned back in my seat as a soothing melody started playing from the car stereo.