The night was chilly and dark. The entire park was a beautiful and eerie shade of a blackish blue. Everything was very quiet, even Jack who held my hand as he walked next to me. I peered up at him and smiled.
"So, have you given any thought to what we talked about last weekend?" he casually asked, careful not to make direct eye contact with me. I hadn't exactly reacted well to what Jack had proposed just a few days ago.
"Um no, not a whole lot,” I lied. The truth was I was literally driving myself insane trying to make a decision. I kicked a rock and it bounced off to the side of the little dirt path.
"Well, do you want to talk about it some more?"
"What is there to talk about?" If Jack had his way I would be a vampire right now. I didn't want to start talking about it; it would only give him another chance to persuade me.
"Well, I’m sure you have lots of questions. You always do." He smiled his coy Jack smile at me.
He was right.
I sighed. "How would it work? I mean, how would I do it?" I didn't want to talk about it, but I thought maybe it might lessen my obsessing. Maybe if I knew more, it would make my decision easier.
"Well, you would have to make sure to free up three or four days from your schedule," he joked. “Although, I’m sure your boss won’t mind.”
"Seriously Jack, I need to know what I’m getting myself into."
"You talk about it as if it's a choice between a life of crime or something," he answered defensively.
"No, it's not like that. I just want to know all the facts, not only from you but from Julie too." I hadn't exactly told Jules about Jacks idea just yet; it would be way too hard to deal with this if I had a person from each side trying to persuade me. I know what Jack thinks I should do, and I’m sure Julie would want me to do the opposite. “I mean, how can I be guaranteed to end up like you? What if I turn out to be a horrible monster?”
“Avery, I am a horrible monster. I just choose to behave.”
“That’s not true,” I argued. “If it were that easy then there would be other vampires like you and Celadine.”
Jack was about to argue back when, suddenly, something rustled in the trees next to us. My heart jumped and a rush of goose bumps scoured over me as I focused my eyes on a large yellow wolf making its way towards us. I was shocked by its sheer size. On all fours, its head was level with mine. I panicked and looked to Jack as for a signal of what to do.
He just stared at the wolf sternly and calmly, showing no signs of running away. "Don't move," he whispered.
"What?" I whispered back in alarm. "Jack, that's a wolf! We need to run!"
It began to rain then. I desperately pulled on Jack’s arm to get him to run as the hard drops of water beat on my face and hands.
"Avery don’t, she poses no threat to us."
I was totally confused and panicked. When I looked to the wolf, it was slowly moving towards me, desperately dragging its injured body down the now drenched path. As it got closer, I could hear its painful panting and noticed blood soaked into its sandy fur. When the wolf was close enough for me to touch, all I saw on its face was a poor, injured animal looking at me with tear filled and pleading eyes. It came tumbling towards me and collapsed at my feet in a puddle of muddy water, nearly knocking me over.
"Avery..." Jack started to speak, but then the animal began to go into a fit of convulsions. He stepped away and pulled me back with him as we watched.
"Jack, what the hell is going on? What is that?" I shrieked, clinging on to his arm like a maniac. My hair was drenched and slicked to my face from the rain and I was shivering from either the fear or just the cold, I had no idea at this point.
"Avery, you’re not going to like this," Jack whispered. He was staring at the wolf like he knew something, something that I didn't, and somehow seemed to know what to expect.
"What are you..." and my sentence stopped there as I realized what was happening. The blood covered creature began to change. Its sandy yellow fur disappeared and reappeared as it moved up the body, leaving nothing but pale and soft skin in its place. The wolf’s large joints crunched and cracked with sickening sounds until the arms and legs were that of a human, a human girl, with long blonde hair.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Published author and freelance writer/editor, Candace Osmond was born in North York, ON.
She published her first book by the age of 25, the first installment in a Paranormal Romance Trilogy to which two others were published with it. The Iron World Series.
Candace is also one of the creative writers for sssh.com, an acclaimed Erotic Romance website for women which has been featured on NBC Nightline and a number of other large platforms like Cosmo. Her most recent project is a screen play that received a nomination for an AVN Award.
Now residing in a small town in Newfoundland with her husband and two kids, Candace writes full time developing articles for just about every niche, more novels, and a hoard of short stories.
Connect with Candace online! She LOVES to hear from readers!
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