Lunus wasn’t sure why she kept thinking of Evan Marshal, but she did, and it annoyed her, because the only “person” who she wanted to think of was Balthazar. Although, even thinking to use the word “person” for him sent a shiver down her spine and a discomfort in her stomach. She had to remind herself again that the wolves were bloodthirsty monsters, not people. Surely, that was Evan’s fault, also.
Balthazar was the leader of the wolves of the forest, and everyone acknowledged him as the King of the Lycanthropes. The wolves called him the Alpha, but the townspeople called him the Shadow of the Forest. His fur was black as midnight, and his eyes were black as coal.
That was what the hunters reported and the citizens who caught a glimpse of him as his pack terrorized the town on the nights they entered the city. It was well known that the eyes of the Alpha were black as the devil, but one man said otherwise; one man said brown, the man he didn’t kill.
The man claimed to have been lost in the forest one night when he heard the wolves surround him. Their piercing howls came near to the tree by which he hid himself, and his fire was faint. The wolves waited until the fire burned out, and he saw their eyes blacker than the night gather around him. He cried out for help and prayed to his God with tears as he trembled. Then, Balthazar appeared before him. The Alpha dismissed the other wolves as his eyes changed from the monstrous gaze of the deepest black to the soft and gentle look of a man. The creature bowed his head to the traveler, and he touched him. The man said that as he placed his hand on the head of the beast it was as if he could feel the spirit inside of him, longing to be free.
That man was Ryan Hollis, and he thought as Evan did that there was a man inside of Balthazar, a man who didn’t want to harm them but longed to be free from a curse, the curse of the wolves of Banglador.
Lunus shook her head in an attempt to dismiss the thoughts. No, they were not some unfortunate souls bound by the forest and living under a curse. The lycanthrope were ruthless, bloodthirsty creatures in need of extinction, and that was all they ever would be. There was not this spark of humanity inside of them that others saw. There was only the wolf-man, the monster.
She shivered, growing cold and uncomfortable. Even that word choice slipped her up. It was bad... bad wording. That was all. Wolf-man? No. There wasn’t anything human about them. They were werewolves, monsters, shifting shadows. That was all, and, as a hunter, it was her job to stop them.
She mounted her horse, struggling again to dismiss the thoughts of Evan and the idea of a werewolf’s humanity. For some reason, it bothered her much more than she had expected, much more than it should have, and she didn’t know why.
She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath to calm her crazy mind.
“They are monsters,” she assured herself quietly as she sat on her horse and waited for her father to come and address the hunting party. “They are nothing but soulless, bloodthirsty monsters.”
“That’s right!” said the chaser beside her.
“That they are!” said the tracker up front.
“Not having second thoughts are you?” another man jokingly prodded.
She opened her eyes like slits and fixed on him with an icy glare. “Not at all,” she told him with deadpan monotone. Her eyes were as determined and cold as she wished her heart would be.
The Chief Hunter arrived, riding out on his horse beside them and pulling the able-bodied stallion around by the city gates. The black horse neighed as it halted, and her father began to speak, addressing his riders.
“Welcome, Hunters!” he said, still calming his steed as the ready horse thrashed about with nervous energy in front of them. “Tonight we ride to put an end to this menace and protect our town! But before we do, I have some shared objectives for us. Besides, we have some new hunters with us, so I’m going to be laying out some ground rules, as well.
“First off is firing. Of course, we want to shoot the wolves, but not each other. So, please, be careful when you shoot. Nearly one-third of combat wounds can be attributed to human error, not the beasts.
“The second thing is this,” he said, patting his horse. “Your steed is your partner. He is your second weapon. He is, also, your best defense against the wolves when they’re on the attack. Werewolves are large, and they’re powerful. You’ll want to do your best to stay above them and maintain the height advantage. So, whatever happens, absolutely do not allow yourself to be knocked off of your horse, and under no circumstances do you ever dismount.
“Thirdly and, also, lastly is shooting. If you see a wolf, shoot it, and, when you shoot it, shoot to kill. We’ve lost too many men because they had second thoughts about killing them. A moment’s hesitation could mean your end, or somebody else’s.
“Now, I want to talk to you about our objectives here tonight. As many of you know, the town founding corresponds to the height of the werewolf’s mating season. If Balthazar hasn’t found a mate by then, it will mean another year without a chance at offspring, and with the casualties he has been taking to his pack lately, waiting is no longer a credible option for him.
“I have no doubt that Balthazar will be taking a mate somewhere in the course of these last weeks leading up to the town founding and the harvest festival. It is our goal to kill him before that has a chance to happen. Our target is the Shadow of the Forest, the Alpha! Lure him out! Do whatever you must, but I want him dead! Do you understand me?”
“Sir, yes, sir!” the Hunters responded together in a unanimous tone of military oneness.
“Then, let’s ride!” he said. “But remember, during the mating season, the wolves’ powers are also heightened. They will become stronger, more ruthless, and more powerful with each day through harvest. So, beware.
“Now... Hunters, to the hunt!” Eccord proclaimed as he spun his horse back to the front and the great gates of the city opened in front of them, granting them passage to the strange world of the forest at night.
It seemed appropriate to Lunus that her first night should be a hunt for Balthazar. After all, he had been her personal target all along, regardless of the hunting team's nightly objectives. But it was a competition now, and one which she was sure to win. So, as Lunus rode through the gates and held tight the reigns of her horse, she kept her eyes fixed forward and focused on the shifting shadows of the trees.The trouble with Balthazar was that he was careful, calculating, and black as the forest. He moved swiftly and silently thr
The sound of the gun rang out and the smoke began to rise from the barrel as a silver bullet pierced the night. Lunus felt the kickback from the gun, and she flinched, her eyes closing for a fraction of a second, a time which would have been negligible under any other circumstances, but here it was long enough for her to lose sight of her target.Lunus had been watching the shadow beast and tracking its position by the movement of the leaves or the trembling of a branch as the wolf-man passed it, but now everything was still. There was no movement at all - not from shadows, not from any
Lunus cocked her gun and fired. The sparks of the flint burned bright like flames against the night's eternal darkness, and the smoke of the barrel ascended into the air, mixing itself with Malkouth's mist. Light hit the ominous scene as the silver bullet gleamed, catching the white of the moon and the orange of the sparks.The bullet soared determinedly towards the core of the Alpha's body and hit him, piercing his flesh and tearing into his monstrous form. He fell ingloriously to the ground, a crumpled heap, but something was wrong. He wasn't dead. He was merely wounded, and with a wo
Lunus watched Evan lying on the forest floor and tried to do what she could to help him, but he had fallen unconscious and didn’t seem to be coming out of it. So, she lifted him up, slung his body over her arm, and did her best to carry him. His feet dragged along the ground, parting the dirt as she pulled him along. It took all of her strength to move him, but she knew that they had to make it to a better place if he was to heal and she was to survive.Mal
It was light when Evan opened his eyes, and he felt a deep, painful stinging in his chest. He tried to sit up on the bed, but the pain shot through his body, preventing him. He laid himself back down flat with his head against the pillow and wondered how he had gotten there.A lot had happened last night, but he couldn't remember any of it. He only knew that it was a lot from the pain in his chest and the bloody bandages wrapped around his torso. As he labored to breathe, he felt the weakness in his body, and he knew that his health had been compromised.
Lunus tried to hide her disappointment as Evan explained that he would be unable to prevent Balthazar’s returning and would be forced to return to Malkouth with the rising of the moon. The pack would be waiting for him, and it was likely they wondered what had happened to him already, since he never returned from yesterday’s hunt.The Hunters were assigned to seven day cycles of service, and Lunus had filled her week’s requirement, so she would be off duty for several days. Even so, she was concerned about Evan. Balthazar may have been a monster, but Eva
He ran through the forest, his powerful paws sinking into the soft dirt of the dampened ground. The prints he left behind him were like that of a monster as he moved effortlessly through the night.It wasn't that he wanted this, but it was the life he was bound to live, and he would do his best to execute his charge with excellence.
It had been a quiet night in Banglador. The hunt had been no more successful, but the number of casualties was down considerably from the prior evening and the injuries the hunters sustained were much less severe.Her father considered it a strange occurrence that the wolves had fought so fiercely the night that Lunus had fallen from her horse, but she supposed that it was more likely to have been Evan's influence. If he really was holding the other wolves back f