Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Monkey Wrench ❯ Once Bitten, Twice Shy ( Chapter 3 )

12 hours later

4:30 p.m. EST

Elijah's Island, DE

Uig's Hunt Farm

 

I woke to the sound of whistling. I hated whistling unless I was doing it and I most certainly was not the whistler. My head felt like somebody was using my brains for salt water taffy and my contacts were nothing but baked plastic discs of pain with edges made of razorblades. Ah yes, nothing like sleeping in your contacts with a searing hot fluorescent light left hovering over your eyelids to make you want to greet the day with a smile.

 

I turned groggily and made eye contact with a woman in her early forties, wearing a white button up nurse's uniform with a little paper hat on top her head. Yes, that's right, a white nurses uniform. I figured I had either stumbled into a fetish costume shop or by Gods the werewolves had nurses wearing uniforms that were fifty years out of fashion. Then I remembered the maid from earlier in her slightly more appropriate black and white French number, maybe these werewolves owned a costume shop, might explain Dom's early morning mafia gangster getup?

 

The nurse stopped whistling, I noticed her nametag said she was Loretta. She spoke in a clipped English accent, okay, so she wasn't a teapot, but I was close, all we needed now was her husband, Winston, to be the butler and I could make a movie.

 

“Hello dearie. Ya look a bit peaky still, but the medicine our Doctor Mitchell gave ya last night should be just the trick. I made ya some tea; it's on your nightstand there. Now that you're up, I'd best be telling Gage `fore he gives himself ulcers from frettin' so much. I'll be back to check on ya later, dearie.”

 

The door closed behind her softly and I made a face at the tea after Loretta had gone. I didn't want to upset her but I only drank tea two ways, iced or with lots and lots of sugar, lemon and honey, to overpower the tea taste. Truth be told, she could have gotten a gold star if only there'd been a Coke in place of the tea. Maybe I can rig a Coca-Cola drip from my I.V.?

 

Now I waited for this Gage dude to make an appearance and hopefully proclaim me ready to check out. I had a vision of a guy done up as the werewolves' minister, slapping a hand to my head while shouting “Praise the Lord, you are healed!” a lá Ernest Angley. Dad and I always cracked up watching that guy on TV, although I don't think I'd want to meet a werewolf version.

 

I laid in bed, considering between plucking out my little instruments of ocular pain and going around wolf central blind as a bat, or sucking it up, leave them in and pray to God my eyeballs don't shrivel to the size of raisins and fall out of my head from lack of moisture.

 

Contemplating this seemed to give me something to bitch about, and that of course made me happy. Internal bitching/ranting/overall peevishness was my favorite past time, Dennis Miller's got nothing on me. Thankfully for those around me, I tried to keep it internal but sometimes you just can't help it.

 

It was in this state that Paul walked through the door and moved uneasily to stand at my bedside. I felt like a Lilliputian staring up at Gulliver. Damn, this guy was tall, I was lying down of course but he seemed NBA worthy. Maybe he was even taller than I'd thought at first, hmmmmmm, why was I thinking about this right now?

 

“Good to see your up,” said Paul, still in his green plaid shirt, “I hope your feeling alright after all that blood you gave last night, I swear Doc near `bout drained you dry. Don't want you thinkin' we're like vampires, ya know.”

 

I smiled tentatively at his attempt at a joke, this guy was so folksy and down home all he needed was a southern accent and a cowboy hat. He had to be a local boy, unlike Dom, who most certainly was not anywhere near local.

 

I looked up, way up, and stated that I was waiting for Gage to give me the go ahead to get out of this room and further added that if he didn't show up soon I was out of here whether he wanted me out or not.

 

Paul looked mildly surprised, and then shook his head good naturedly. “I'm sorry; I forgot we hadn't been properly introduced in the hubbub last night.” His hand shot out for my own, “I'm Gage, pleased to meet ya.”

 

My eyes widened, crap what an idiot I am sometimes. See where this naming stereotype thing can come back to bite you in the ass. I flustered, embarrassed that my assumption of Gage was all wrong and that a position of authority would not be given to somebody like him. I then remembered his terse orders to Dom about Seth and decided I had been wrong.

 

Sticking out my right arm while wincing when my elbow protested mightily, apparently both elbow veins had been used last night, I mumbled, “Oh, I'm Theryn, nice to meet you too.”

 

Gage took this as my response to pain as opposed to embarrassment. He smiled again, “Well, looks like aside from some bruisin' on your arms, you're all set to go. Doc says just to take things easy for a while `til you're a hundred percent.”

 

I laughed out loud, “If that's the case then I'll be waiting a long while. I don't think I've been a hundred percent since middle school.” Especially with practically useless vision and a penchant for indoor activities, seventy five percent seemed to suit me just fine. I wasn't athletic but I wasn't quite up to sloth status yet, seeking the sedate path was one of my finer qualities.

 

Inwardly I cursed, way to sound cool Theryn. Make yourself look like the Helen Keller poster child some more why don't ya. Gage snorted at my remark. Yes, snorted. Wow, redneck and geek rolled into one towering giant of a werewolf, will wonders never cease.

 

I decided it was time I ask about my brother, being he was skirting the line between wolf and man last night; perhaps a little inquiry should be in order.

 

“How's Seth doing? Did the transfusion work? He's going to be human again?”

 

Oddly, Gage's good humor seemed to vanish and he looked straight into my eyes, my crusted, and burning with plastic pain eyes.

 

“Your brother will never truly be human, Theryn. He's lupinara now. Yes, the transfusion was a success; you shared a blood type, which can make a difference. He's recuperating across the hall now. He's out of the woods, for the most part.”

 

Something was bothering me about this whole ordeal. How did Seth come to be at this farm? It wasn't exactly next door to Whisty field where the party had been. In fact, Seth would have had to travel at least ten minutes by car to get here and it wasn't on the way to the nearest hospital, which is where one would expect him to be taken after being attacked by a wolf.

 

“How did Seth end up here? Dom told me Seth had been bitten by a wolf at Whisty but he never mentioned how he got here. Who bit him, and why?”

 

Gage's mouth tightened to a thin line and he looked down at the floor. His voice carried strongly in the small room and there was a purpose behind his words, no longer was he affecting his good ole boy persona. I started wondering if maybe Dom was the real redneck.

 

“Seth was not bitten by one of our pack; it was a stray lupinara none of us have ever seen only heard about. Technically, he should have announced his presence in our lands up on his arrival,” at my openly questioning face, Gage responded, “It is our custom.”

 

“Okay, so how did Seth get here?”

 

“When he was found with bite marks on his legs by one of our wolves, Seth was shaken but not extremely hurt. He had not been mauled or torn by the wolf, merely bitten as a warning. Often time's werewolves do this as a sign not to encroach on the wolf's territory. Luckily, Meghan was out in the woods and found your brother passed out on the ground. She recognized the attack for what it was, she knew no normal wolf would do such a thing, plus we do not have wild wolves in this part of the country.”

 

I watched Gage as he stared at a point above my right shoulder.

 

“Meghan brought him here knowing Seth would be attended to by me and Doc. Upon speaking with Seth and explaining to him what was happening, we told him to call any and all siblings immediately for the transfusion. You know the rest from there.”

 

Wow, that simple huh? Seth steps a little out of bounds on the way back from the little boys' room and next thing you know, instant werewolf. Something nagged at my brain, making me think I was missing something important in this little show and tell.

 

“You can go see him now if you want. He'll be happy to see a familiar face. I'm afraid this transition period will be rather difficult for him as most of us are born Weres and few have to go through this abrupt change in identity.”

 

This guy sounded like a different person all of sudden, what's going on here?

 

“Who's the leader of this outfit, is it Dom? I want to speak to him,” I replied.

 

Again, this niggling doubt that I was overlooking something obvious that needed to be asked.

 

Gage unleashed a bright white smile, canines were definitely most prominent.

 

“No, that would be me, Gage Schneider, Alpha of the Uig Americana Pack.”

 

I jerked up in astonishment, “You're the alpha!?”

 

Oops, that was beyond rude, but too late now. The Uig alpha seemed amused by my exclamation, as if, aw shucks this happened all the time. So unnerving seeing a guy who was the leader of the pack channel the spirit of Barney Fife incarnate, almost made me wish Dom was top dog, then again, smarmy elitism can be a real let down too.

 

Somewhere in this jumble of thoughts came to me what I'd been looking for, glaring at me like a giant sequoia in the forest through the trees.

 

“What about this rogue wolf that bit Seth? If he's not part of your pack and he should have announced himself, shouldn't you be searching for him to make sure he doesn't start chomping on innocent campers strolling through his earthly domain?”

 

Yeah, okay, so sarcasm probably counts as a fourth emotion for me, but since I live in its perpetual embrace, it's my default.

 

Gage looked uncomfortable again, gathering himself to tell me something he really didn't want to and really wished I hadn't asked. I was glad I was dealing with Gage and not Dom, who would have ignored me at best, outright lied at worst.

 

Again, the smiling hick personality was shed for Gage's serious leader face.

 

“The bite marks on your brother's leg were very unique. They clearly showed an impression of a wolf with the double fang. It is an extremely rare gift and only one living wolf is known to possess it, his name is Nikolai. The wolf that bit your brother is not rouge per se and he is not part of any pack. He is what humans would call a lone wolf, for no werewolf could conceive of such a term. We are pack animals and seek the company of others like ourselves, except for Nikolai.”

 

My puzzled expression must have spoken volumes for Gage continued.

 

“He is originally from Russia and was fully mature at the time of the Unveiling. Werewolves are long lived creatures, lupinara especially as the chemical for control increases lifespan. We have two of your human lifetimes and Nikolai is nearly finishing the first, although nobody knows the full power and potential of what the double fang signifies. You see, this gift is so rare; there are only legends of what it means to inherit it, nobody knows for certain. He is an alpha's alpha, none of us disturb him. When I saw it was Nikolai who bit your brother I knew there was a purpose behind it, it was not a random biting.”

 

My stomach heaved and clenched in a knot of dread. What in the seven hells would this Russian reject of wolf want with my brother? Last time I checked, Seth wasn't into any clandestine Snib activities, he went to school, partied with friends, talked endlessly on the phone to his girlfriend and played his guitar. There should be no room in there for Bitey McBites-alot to hone in on Seth.

 

I asked the million dollar question, “What would Nikolai want with Seth?”

 

Gage answered morosely, “I honestly couldn't tell you and I doubt your brother will know either. It seems a mystery to those who know of his sire, and I assure it is only you, me, Dom, and Doc. If word got `round that we had a lupinara sired from Nikolai…”

 

I decided to let that enchanting aside go in favor of scowling at my I.V. Pulling it out forcefully I pulled the tape off all the wires, threw back the sheets and bolted towards the door, heading straight for Seth's room.

 

I was going to get to the bottom of this little “mystery” if it took the whole Scooby gang and a VW bus to it. I didn't lose most of my blood and spend most of day sleeping among werewolves to sit back and wait for this canine Rasputin to divulge his nefarious plans. This was getting taken care of now.

 

The Cold War has just re-ignited, you Russian bastard, let's jam.

----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------

 

Seth was lying quietly on his bed, all cushy and comfortable, monitors beeping insistently with each heartbeat, which seemed oddly elevated for a human. Then I remembered Gage's words to me, “Your brother will never truly be human, Theryn. He's lupinara now.”

 

Taking a deep breath I started poking Seth in the shoulder to wake up, just like old times. Gage hurried in behind me with a panicked look on his face like he was expecting me to be holding a pillow over my brother's mouth cackling with glee.

 

What the hell? I'd just unloaded a majority of my body's lifeblood for this kid and he's acting like I'm “Theryn: The Fratricidal Smother Queen.”

 

I continued my frenzied poking until finally Seth opened his eyes and they were a very strange sight to behold. Unlike me, Seth had gotten our mother's blue eyes, while I had gotten Dad's green. Before, his eyes were a dark slate shade, nothing like Mom's brilliant cerulean eyes, but blue nonetheless. Now his irises were a shade even lighter than our mother's, a striking pale silvery blue, similar to a Husky.

 

With our Dad's thick black hair and Mom's olive Italian skin, it completely transformed his face. Again, I bemoaned the cruelty of genetics giving my brother the best mix my parents had to offer while I received the super pale Irish skin, army green eyes and straight, thin, brown hair. Darn it, even his eyelashes were longer. Will my torment ever end?

 

Clearing my head from thoughts about things I could not change, and a little smug satisfaction that I wouldn't be the one donning a full fur coat in the near future, I scowled down a Seth already deciding he would have no useful information. He was usually so oblivious to his surroundings he'd forget his head if it wasn't attached. This was a kid who hadn't even taken the smallest iota of interest in learning to drive and he was seventeen! Completely boggles the mind.

 

I heaved a big sigh and thought, it couldn't hurt to try.

 

“Hey Bud, how are ya feeling?”

 

“Like somebody sucked out all my blood and replaced it with yours.”

 

Ah yes, dry cutting wit was indeed not genetic, sorry dear brother.

 

“Yeah, oddly enough that's what happened. Christ Seth, you damn near asked for a kidney last night and now you look as though you've spent a week at Club Med. What's the doctor have to say about this.”

 

Gage spoke up as if he'd been simply ignoring us previously; however it was obvious he had not. “This is a standard reaction to the procedure, although it usually takes more than 12 hours for this result, normally 48 hours at the least.”

 

Well that's certainly encouraging. Cue Rod Roddy's The Price is Right voice here: “Congratulations young Padawan on your journey to wolf man status, by the way, you were bitten by a werewolf freak of nature with not one but two sets o' fangs and we have NO IDEA why! As our parting gift, don't forget to take your medically unexplained healing abilities along with that non-refundable mutant DNA, don't forget to shop Wolvesworth.”

 

Right, no biggie, don't sweat the small stuff.

 

Seth beamed at Gage, “I feel great, but can I get out of this bed and take a shower, I feel nasty.”

 

“No wait a second, answer some of my questions before you run off. Hey, did Gage here explain to you about the `unusual nature' of your bite?” I sputtered harshly.

 

“Um, yeah, he, ah, told me about Nikolai and stuff. I don't really know what to think about it right now.”

 

“Well there's a surprise. That's your problem Seth you don't THINK. Therefore, you get caught in these weird ass situations, like getting bitten by the single most reclusive were animal in the entire freaking history of Weres.”

 

“That's not entirely true, Theryn. When you say Weres, that prefix implies the inclusion of all Were-beasts and I'm not entirely sure Nikolai has attained that dubious distinction as of yet,” Gage interjected.

 

What's up with Gage? Was that Mayberry personality he was sporting not fifteen minutes ago some sort of bipolar disorder? His quick switches between a bumbling yokel and a Harvard history professor were more than slightly disturbing.

 

Frustrated beyond belief, I made my attempt at ripping both men in the room new rear apertures.

 

“Bloody hell Gage, a little help here, Seth's acting like it's no big deal. I mean I can deal with him turning into fang boy once a month, hell I can deal with him turning furry-tastic every day if he wanted to, but you said yourself that Nikolai does not make it a habit to go around biting random dumbasses in the woods.”

 

Gage nodded in confirmation, so I continued.

 

“Then what's so damn special about THIS particular dumbass that our toothy orthodontist's nightmare couldn't pass up the chew toy?”

 

Gage looked at me like I had suddenly grown eight heads. Apparently in my mind, a second or third head wouldn't be sufficient, I needed the full nine. Regardless, Gage sighed and shrugged dramatically, turned his head toward Seth and told him to see him after he was done cleaning up and stomped out of the room.

 

Seth glared at me, “Where do you go off acting like such a bitch? What's wrong with you? Usually you're real easygoing; nothing much ever excites you besides catching Ace Ventura on TBS.”

 

You know, just because you can quote a movie line per line, and utter a rare trill of excitable squealing when finding said movie for the thirtieth time on a particularly redundant cable channel; it does not make you an otherwise unexcitable bastion of serenity. How soon Seth would learn this, again I tell you, he's a little slow on the uptake.

 

I rounded on my teenaged brother like he was the lumbering idiot of a bull and I was the wily and evasive matador. While he was bigger and stronger, I was cleverer and had pointy sticks. As everybody knows, pointy sticks are an advantage.

 

“You want to call me a bitch, fine Seth, I've admitted to that little moniker long ago, welcome to the present. What's wrong with me? Well I don't know, maybe it's the fact that you call me in a stage whisper at two in the morning begging me to come pick your bitch ass up from Elijah's Nofuckingwhere Island and refusing to call Mom and Dad who are a mere forty minutes away.”

 

“Then, when I get here, I find myself frisked by Bruno and Vinnie, security guards extraordinaire and a trio of wolves, quite possibly Weres, whom sniffed me and my crotch with unadulterated delight. Next I get ushered into this space time continuum of a house, only to be smugly insulted by a snot nosed Martha's Vineyard were-yuppie who'd rather toy with me than bring to my attention the state of my slowly dying brother for the oh so vital blood transfusion that he needed, which you neglected to tell me about over the goddamned phone.”

 

“Finally, I wake up, sore and ready to pluck my own eyes out from the most horrendous pain of my contacts metamorphosing into sandpaper overnight, only to found out my one and only brother was bitten by some sort of legendary Cossack werewolf that not only has a hidden agenda but has targeted you for his own despicable devices. Yes, surely I'm overreacting and damn if only someone could find Ace on TBS I'd be right as rain.”

 

Needless to say, that went over like a turd in a punch bowl. Seth, whom seemed to agree with Gage and decided that I had gown eight heads, shook his one and only head and stated simply, “I'm going to go get something to eat and shower, see ya.”

 

Unbelievable, I had just vented a rage that most likely had been building up since the very moments of my creation and nobody, not a goddamned soul was here to appreciate it. I'd have to remember to tell Lisa when I got home, she'd be impressed.

 

Lisa was my best friend since elementary school, fellow venting/rant buddy and the third person who only ever called. Her, Mom, and Cigarette Smoking Lady, three people I interacted with on a semi regular basis, two of which actually call to speak to me, must be for my sparkling social skills.

 

Nikolai's interest in my brother was the least of my problems.

 

Right.