Riley's Curse, A Moon's Glow Prequel (5 page)

“I’m sorry, but you don’t have a choice. I
didn’t mean to change you, my intent was to kill. Isn’t this better
than dying?”

“No. I’d rather die.”

“Well it’s not that easy now. We heal very
quickly. But, don’t worry, it won’t be so bad. You get to stay this
young and handsome forever.” She leaned into me, my body stiffened
as she kissed my lips softly. I pulled back, repulsed. Her scent
was overpowering when she leaned this close.

“I haven’t had a playmate in a while. We
could travel together, be true companions. We will have so much
fun, you and I,” she said gently caressing my cheek with her
finger.

I pulled my face away. “Don’t touch me. You
killed Lucy and tried to kill me. I don’t want anything to do with
you.”

“You think you can handle the changes that
are coming by yourself? Believe me you can’t. You need me. Meet me
in the woods in front of your house tonight at seven o’clock and
I’ll help you through your first change.”

“I do not want to change.”

She rolled her eyes as though I was a
petulant child, misbehaving, instead of someone on the verge of
becoming a monster. “It’s not something you can turn off. You are a
werewolf now and there is nothing you can do to change that. You
just have to accept it.”

There was a loud knock on the door behind me.
I turned to see my father standing outside, his arms full of boxes.
I opened the door for him.

“Why do you have the closed sign up?" he
asked glancing at me. "Nathaniel, what’s wrong? You’re as white as
a ghost.” He placed the boxes down on the floor, and as he stood
up, he noticed Charlotte. “Oh excuse me Miss I didn’t see you
there. Nathaniel, who is this?”

“Father, this is Charlotte Burns, and she was
just leaving.” I took her arm, leading her to the door.

“It was so nice to meet you Mr. Riley,”
Charlotte purred as she curtsied. When she was out of my father’s
sight, she turned to me again. “Seven o’clock,” she said and then
sauntered away.

“Who was that?” my father asked me.

“No one. I’m not feeling well. I wish to go
home and lay down, if that’s all right.”

“Of course. If you’re not feeling well, go
home and get some rest.”

On the long walk home I contemplated what
Charlotte had told me. I was now a werewolf. If it was true, it
would explain everything I have been going through. But she must be
mad. There was no such thing as werewolves, other than fables told
around a campfire in order to put fear in peoples' hearts. However,
if they
were
only a
myth, what had killed Lucy then? It was obvious at the time that it
was more than just a wolf. But now as I recall that evening, my
mind must have been playing tricks on me, and Charlotte was
delusional.

It was a nice warm day and the breeze felt
cool against my hot skin. I was so preoccupied with my thoughts I
hadn’t noticed that I was sweating, even though the breeze was
cool. My skin felt burning hot and I was sweating profusely. A
sharp pain in my stomach made me run the rest of the way home so I
could get there quickly and lay down.

I arrived home just after noon. The house was
empty. My mother was hanging clothes out on the line with Jane, and
the girls were playing in the yard.

I stumbled into my room and fell onto my bed,
doubling over in pain. My stomach felt like something was clawing
at it from the inside. I removed my clothes and threw them onto the
floor.

Hopefully after some rest, I would feel
normal again. Except when I tried to sleep, I couldn't, the pain
was so excruciating that sleep would not come. I tossed and turned
for a long time, until the throbbing ache subsided enough for me to
finally drift off.

I woke some time later in a pool of
sweat.

Looking at my pocket watch that had fallen to
the floor, I saw that it was six o’clock. Which meant I had slept
for five hours.

Even though my body ached all over, I managed
to slowly stand up and take the few painful steps over to the
mirror on the wall.

I jumped back, terrified at my reflection. It
was still me looking back. My sand colored hair was messy from
sleeping. Dark circles under my eyes made my skin appear pale and
sickly, and my face glistened with sweat. But all of this was not
my concern. My eyes, normally a dark blue, were now yellow-- the
eyes of a wolf.

I rubbed them roughly hoping to clear them,
but when I gazed back at my reflection, nothing had changed.

“Nathaniel, are you finally up? You slept so
long I thought you might be dead.” I heard my mother yell from the
other side of the door. The doorknob turned as she started to open
it. I rushed over and held it closed. “Don’t come in Mother, I’m
not dressed. I’ll be out in a minute.”

Still, she pushed on the door. “Nathaniel,
I’ve seen you in your underclothes before. I just want to see if
you’re okay. When I was in here earlier you looked flushed and
feverish. I want to check your temperature.”

“
I’m fine Mother.” I continued to hold the
door until she finally gave up and walked away. I went back over to
the mirror and to my relief my eyes were back to their normal
blue.
What
was happening to me
?

I sat down on the bed, dazed. It was true, I
was a werewolf. I could no longer deny it.

The pain in my stomach returned, but now it
was worse. My skin was literally crawling. Glancing down at my
arms, I could see tiny hairs growing. I panicked. I didn’t want my
family to see me change, so I dressed quickly in the now wrinkled
grey trousers, and an equally wrinkled white shirt that I had
tossed on the floor, and rushed outside.

It was still early for my meeting with
Charlotte so I ran as far away from my home as possible. I didn’t
want her anywhere near my family. I leaned against a pine tree and
slid to the ground to wait for her. As I was hugging my knees,
listening to the sounds of the forest, I heard a branch snap behind
me.

Charlotte strolled over and stood in front of
me. “Well, you don’t look so good after all. So much for handling
it on your own,” she said smiling, obviously enjoying my agony.

“Just kill me,” I growled with my head
hanging in my hands. The pain was so excruciating, I could barely
get the words out.

Charlotte knelt down in front of me onto a
pile of pine needles. “I told you, it’s not easy to die after
you’ve been bitten, you heal very quickly. And besides, now that I
have you, I’m not willing to give you up.”

She sat down beside me, and held my hand. I
would have shaken it off if I had the strength. “It will be over
soon. When the sun goes down and the moon's glow touches us, we
will both turn. It will not be as bad the next time, I promise.”
She almost sounded sweet, holding my hand and trying to make it
easier for me. Then I remembered it was her fault I was in this
predicament.

I stayed silent. Trying to speak was too
painful. Every inch of my body was burning with pain. I was
sweating profusely, and the hair continued to grow all over my
skin.

We sat together on the ground waiting for the
sun to go down. Charlotte prattled on about her life in the late
seventeen hundreds when she was turned, but I barely listened.
Until she spoke her last words. "I did enjoy watching you from the
bushes the day you buried your girl. Did I scare you?"

The memory of that day came back to me. "That
was you in the woods?" I managed to gasp through the pain. When she
nodded, I asked, "Were you in wolf form?"

She tipped her head, her eyes twinkled with
laughter. "Yes, why?"

Her answer shocked me. "I th…thought…you
could only change once… a month." I couldn't manage another word, I
almost collapsed with exhaustion.

She sighed, shaking her head. "My handsome
young wolf has so much to learn." She patted my head and I cringed
at her touch. "You're right, you will change once a month, no one
can escape the pull of the full moon. But if you wish, you can turn
on other days. I will teach you. The more you turn, the less
painful it is to change."

Who would want to be a wolf more than they
had to be?

As she was speaking the sun began to go down,
and I started to panic. On one hand the pain was so strong I hoped
the moon would come out soon to end my agony. On the other, I
feared the unknown. I would turn into a wolf, a monster. Would I
want to kill like Charlotte?

The sun finally went down. The only light was
the full moon shining bright above us. Charlotte stood up, and
started to undress, I averted my eyes. A gentleman never degraded a
lady by gawking at her. My father had always taught me to be
respectful toward women--no matter who she was.

“It’s okay, you can look. If we’re to travel
together, you’re going to see my body quite often.” She folded her
dress and corset neatly, laying them on top of a tree stump.

“I… am… not… going to…travel with you,” I
panted, breathlessly, gritting my teeth.

“You’d better get undressed, or you’ll rip
your clothes.”

“I can … barely move,” I moaned, after a
failed attempt at unbuttoning my shirt.

“Yes of course, I’ll help you then. Don’t
worry I’ll close my eyes,” she said with a wide grin and a laugh,
clearly amused by my suffering. She bent down and pulled off my
pants. The shirt and underclothes were next. I felt bashful sitting
in front of her naked.

“Ughhh…” I doubled over onto all fours,
barely noticing the pine needles and thorns' that dug into my
palms. The pain was excruciating. My limbs snapped and bent. I
screamed out in agony.

Charlotte leaned over me. “It's okay, don’t
fight it. It hurts less if you relax.” She rubbed my back to soothe
me, and once again I was confused by her kindness.

I looked down at my arms. They no longer
looked human, covered in fur. My hands morphed into claws, and I
could feel my teeth changing and sharpening. And then it all
happened quickly, every inch of my human body was now a wolf. I
tried to speak but it came out in a growl. I felt weak and out of
breath, my body suddenly exhausted after what it had gone through.
But thankfully the pain had dissipated.

I glanced over and saw Charlotte in the midst
of her transformation, I turned away. It was very disturbing to
watch.

My hearing was heightened. I could hear
animals scurrying around and despite my fatigue I had the strongest
urge to chase them. It took all I had, to stay where I was, and
wait for Charlotte to finish changing.

When she was fully turned, she stood in front
of me and grinned. Her coat was a reddish brown color. I looked
down and saw that mine was the color of sand. Apparently a
werewolf's fur reflected their human counterpart's hair color.

She nudged me playfully with her muzzle and
then suddenly took off running. I stayed where I was, feeling very
strange. She turned her head and halted when she saw that I hadn’t
moved. She trotted back to me and huffed, nodding her head in the
direction where she had run. She wanted me to follow her, but just
because we were now the same species, didn't change what she did. I
was now like her, but I didn't feel any different. I had no urge to
kill.

I shook my head.

She rolled her eyes then moved behind me,
shoving me from behind, trying to get me to go. But I stood my
ground. I felt a sharp pain as her teeth chomped down on my left
hind leg.

I swiveled around and growled at her
fiercely. She smiled again and took off running. This time I
followed.

At first I felt awkward, almost stumbling a
few times, not used to running on four legs. Then I relaxed and
enjoyed the feeling of pure joy, the feeling of just running on
instinct, leaping over logs, brush, and fallen branches. I felt as
though I was soaring through the air.

I caught up to her and ran by her side, then
feeling the power in my legs, I pushed harder. She growled behind
me, and I felt her teeth in my leg again. Apparently she didn’t
like the fact that I was faster than she was. She made a huffing
sound that sounded like a laugh as I yelped and fell back.

We ran for miles, finally stopping by a
stream to take a drink. I lay down beside the water feeling tired
after the long run. Charlotte lay next to me and closed her eyes,
with her head resting on her front paws.

Her eyes suddenly popped opened and she
sniffed the air. I could smell something as well. She started
creeping with her nose to the ground following the scent.

She pounced on something I couldn’t see. When
she came over to me, she was carrying a white rabbit in her mouth.
She dropped it at my feet and took off again in pursuit of another
scent. A few minutes later she returned with another rabbit. This
time she kept it for herself. She tore into it, devouring all of it
but the fur and bones. She grunted at me and nodded for me to dig
in. I tried to resist, but the scent was too alluring and I had to
admit, I was hungry. I hadn’t eaten all day. I tore into the
rabbit, instinct taking over, and gobbled it up. When I was
finished, I wanted more. Charlotte must have agreed because she put
her nose on the ground and began to hunt.

I caught my own rabbit, a fact I was quite
proud of. And together we brought down a deer. I was stuffed. I
couldn’t put anything else in my stomach.

We went back to the stream to wash down our
meal and clean ourselves, before falling asleep in the grass next
to the water.

I woke to the sound of low moaning. I
opened my eyes and saw Charlotte still in wolf form hovering over
something. She was eating again.
She must have caught another
rabbit.
I crawled slowly
over to her hoping that she might share. I could smell the scent of
fresh meat and blood, I almost drooled. I was surprised that I was
hungry. It couldn’t have been that long since we took down that
deer. I snuck up behind her and saw what she tearing into. It was
Eva’s brother Samuel.