Fading Away

Prologue: Darkness I Create

         In Darkness we create.  The world falls at our feet and we are truly free.  Neither Day nor Night effect our beings.  Graceful we have been called yet we are deadly.  Feasting on the flesh of the vulnerable we cry into the night.  Being the Hunter is never easy.  The blood echoing into my ears has many times distracted me from the Hunt.  But nothing is ever so rewarding as the taste of silky flesh separating between my teeth.  To hear the howls of my Clan Mates.  To smell the musk of our markers.  Nothing encases the world with so much sensual pleasure.  This is my world, my darkness…the delight that I have created through the years and ashes of destruction.










Twilight
         Grey mist rose up around us, creating a blend of shadows on the forest floor.  We traveled silently slowing our pace to that of a cheetah.  The other Clans need not know that we traveled this night.  We were out for blood.  Not human this time.  Tonight it was vengeance.
         I stopped and raised my head.  It was too quiet in the forest.  Not even the crickets or the annoying cicadas wailed.  The Hunter was on the prowl.  Tonight it too craved blood…our blood.
         “Is it watching Lucian?”
         I looked down at Syrae and nodded.  He tensed and, with the flick of his wrist, signaled to the rest of my clan.  The growl stilled me.  I searched through the mist for our enemy.  Though the mist was impossibly thick my eyes pierced through them as clear as daylight sun.
         There he sat.  The sleek, black panther that haunted my dreams.  The Hunter.  The Killer.  Our eyes met.  He flicked his tail at me.  His eyes burned with a malicious savor.  Licking his lips, he slid on his belly.  He was ready.  So was I.
         Grey mist parted as he leapt toward me.  I growled hissing showing my gleaming white fangs.  Howls rose up signaling the Hunt.  I curled my lip in delight and leapt to meet him.  Claws met claws, growls warned growls.  We tossed each other away effortlessly.  Landing on the leaf cluttered ground on my alert paws, I watched the Hunter leering at me.
         Blood rose into my veins.  It pumped and droned in my ear killing every sound around me.  I shifted the dirt between my claws feeling every movement of him.  He crouched as did I.  His tail flicked in the air twice before he sprang into the air.  This time I kept to the ground.  As he flew past me I jumped up racking my claws over his soft underbelly.  He screamed and landed on the side losing all his poise.
         Curling my lip, I growled.  Laughter for my kind.  The Hunter dragged himself up and faced me again, his eyes filled with hatred.
         You are strong, Young Wolf.  But I am stronger still.  You and your Clan shall die this night.
         My hearing came back to me for a fraction of a second.  That second was enough.  Screams rose up all around me.  Down the hills in all four directions came a scurry of black.  This black engulfed the mist decimating it, surrounding all of my Clan.  Growls muffled the howls of my fellow wolves.  I could see the ears of my Clan members flattening as the panthers killed the light of the moon. 
         I watched Syrae step forward confronting one of the panthers.  His tail bushed up and he growled threateningly. 
         “You have shamed our Clan, Panthera.  For that we shall destroy you and reclaim our honor.” Syrae bellowed flashing his black tail.
         The backs of my Clan raised, their confidence energizing them.  I glazed at them, a triumphant glint burning in my eyes.  We could actually kill them, I knew it.  We would avenge our fallen comrades.
         Such confidence for a fool.  You will die!
         My eyes blazed into the Hunter’s and I shifted into a hunting stance.  I would kill him first.  That would weaken his Clan.  There was a growl and then a howl as both panther and wolf mixed claws thrashing the air.  A sharp whimper raised the hairs on the back of my neck.
         Syrae!
         Turning my attention back on him I howled.  Agony rose in my throat.  Rushing on swift paws, I jumped atop the panther sinking my fangs deep into his pelt.  The panther screamed bucking me trying to shake me from my grip.  But my grip was lethal.  I wanted him dead.  I wanted to kill him for killing my best friend.
         The panther whined as his neck crack crisply in two.  He dropped to the floor to never move again.  I raced back over to Syrae.  The black wolf laid crumple to the forest floor.  His throat had been torn cleanly out as well as his stomach.  My own stomach lurched and I braced myself to avoid emptying the contents of my dinner.  A tangled grey mass of entrails and blood coiled hotly on the ground.  Steam hissed mixing with the cooling breeze.  I clenched my teeth.  It’s a good thing wolves can not cry.  I closed my eyes mourning his passing.
         You have seen our power young one.  Now you will share in it.
         Growling, I thrashed my head glaring at the Hunter.  Now I had to kill the Hunter.  Not just for Clan vengeance but for my own.  Gripping the ground I raced back toward the gloating panther.  Throwing my head back I howled menacingly and pounced on the Hunter’s back.  I would let neither him nor his Clan live passed this night.  Gracefully, I dug my claws into his back and my fangs into his neck.
         I’ll kill you!  I’ll eliminate you from this world!
         Red replaced my vision.  I had not used telepathy in over one hundred years.  I didn’t like opening my mind to others but I could no longer stand this.  The Hunter had crossed too many of my paths.  This night would mark his demise.
         That’s it!  I feel your hatred!  Now…serve me!
         My body stiffened.  My mind screamed.  I was a fool!  The Hunter was the Master of Telepathy.  Even as my jaws slackened and my claws sheathed, I could hear my screams of protest.  My body no longer belonged to me.  I dropped to the ground and breathed deeply.  Outside I looked cool and calm, I knew I did, but inside…panic had gripped me.
         No! Don’t make me!  I howled pitifully.  It was foolish to hope that he had mercy.
         A maniacal laughter entered my mind.  Why Lucian Cross…why would I do such a hurtful thing?  These pups are your family after all.
         Sweat glistened on my coat and I felt my paws beginning to move.  Inside I fought to regain my control.  I pulled against the muscles of my legs.  I bit the tendons of my jaws.  My body was not my own.  It moved sleek as silk toward my Clan members.  I howled.  My throat ran dry not letting my howl reach the surface.  One by one my Clan members’ gazes fell upon me.  At first their glances were hopeful but one by one they noticed the changes.  Fear replaced admiration.  Condemnation replaced Hope. 
         Please kill me!  Antorton!  Greyllyl!  Smowa!  Please!!
         Tails tucked between their legs but they did not move so much as an inch.  My claws unleashed.  My jaws opened.  Time slowed.  One second I was on the ground, the next I sailed through the air.  Extending my claws, I met the soft neck fur of a silver she-wolf named Smowa.  She howled and begged and pleaded, looking for a shred of mercy.  But I knew that I looked at her as ice.  There was nothing left but cold darkness.  Jaws clamped on her neck.  They were my own.  I screamed inside as I heard the sickening snap.  Horror paled me as I watched her body fall.  Numbness crept upon me.  I retreated into the shadowy corridors of my mind and wept.  I was human inside so the tears could not be held back.
         This is the Twilight of your Clan young Lucian.
         
         One by one my Clan members fell, slain by my hand.  As soon as they fell my own body fell.  It was not of physical injury.  I just could no longer sustain the agony welling inside.  Time stood still like an old picture film as I fell.  I fell in the space of a hundred years in one minute.  My heart beat was my only sound as the cold darkness engulfed my soul.



         Frozen.
         My paws touched the ice cold ground.  My body shook.  Lungs breathed softly though stiff.  I grunted as I slid my eyes open.  Snow had dusted the now frozen winter ground.  I twitched.  Realization hit me.  I was in full control of my body. But…
         Why am I not dead?
         Memories of blood and terror raced through my mind again.  Pain gripped my heart, squeezing it, threatening to stopper it once and for all.  I think part of it was already dead.  I felt weaker.  I sat down and stared.  Stared into space.  Stared into death.  Stared into life….
         Bodies of my Clan mates lay where I had slaughtered them.  Lifting up my head I sent a lone pitiful howl.  My blood was turning into ice.  There was nothing…nothing to stop me from freezing in the damp snow of Twilight.