Viviette Toon by Me

How long she had dreamed, she could never recall. Days, months, years, it all ran together.

The dreams were pleasant, filled with the people and places she no longer knew words for, and small moments of a life that would never be allowed to continue. Always, he was there though. A man of dark hair, and even darker eyes, in every moment of the dreaming he was there. But why...she didn't remember. But the synapses in her brain kept firing off the same word: Áedán.

There was little she recalled about the day she was 'born' to her new life. A few muffled words, a blinding light, but most of all she remembered pain. Excruciating pain. The kind that felt like your bones were dissolving, your skin was being shredding apart molecule by molecule, and your very blood was made of liquid fire. The attempts her altered body made to ease the pain only resulted in violent thrashing, which broke the tank that held her. This new body was stronger...

No more was she surrounded by the liquid prison that kept her slumbering. No. She was born into her new life amidst pain and violence, ripped from a now forgotten life and forced into one she never wanted. Her eyes stayed closed, as tentative movements of her altered limbs told her she lay in a pool of the liquid, naked, on some sort of smooth surface. But there was something more. Every noise was painfully loud, and when she attempted to cover one ear, she found it in the wrong place...and replaced with that of a fox. She had tails now, 8 of them, and every movement from them caused a violent spasm of pain to rip through her body again.

Footsteps now...Gods, they were so loud, like claps of thunder. Then the soft tenor of a male voice, "Hello Viviette."

Her eyes flew open.

Werewolf by Teyoliia

"Yes, yes yes", I tutted, acting as nonchalant as possible, "the big bad Beta is trying to intimidate an agent of Dinas while wearing his fur in public."

Reid's eyes seemed to blaze brighter in the darkness. Shapeshifters were notorious for keeping themselves under strict control, but they never could seem to keep their eyes from giving away their true emotions. Especially when they were angry.

"Can we turn down the headlights a bit", I asked, "My date might see."

Fur melted, leaving bare skin in its place, and where a monster had stood previously, a man now took his place. I made sure to keep my eyes locked with his. No need to look down and see something I didn't need to.

"Date?" The word spat from his mouth like venom. He clearly had a distaste for it. Odd though, since he'd never seemed to care much about my life outside of work before.

"Yes, date," I crossed my arms in front of my chest, taking a more defensive posture, "Johnathan has been trying for months to get me to go to dinner with him. He happened to have tickets to the ballet, and I happened to have a night free from vampires and demons."

Reid scoffed, his anger quite apparent at this point, "It's not even your favorite!"

"Excuse me?"

How in the hell did he know Sleeping Beauty wasn't my favorite? It's not like we've ever talked about it in-between trying to track down the undead and wayward shapeshifters.

"How can you eat dinner with a man who doesn't know that you don't eat meat?! He ordered you a steak for crying out loud! You'd rather eat your own arm than eat a steak!" Reid was raging, throwing his arms up, pacing naked back and forth. Good lord, the man was crazed.

And he had been following us.

Oh good God above, the Beta of the Canis tribe was trailing me. He was gathering information on my life, noting what I liked and disliked. If he was following me, he had probably been staking out my work and home as well. I began putting all the clues together.

He was breaking into my territory.

He had tried to feed me.

He had stolen something valuable of mine and returned it unharmed.

He was trying to claim me as his mate.

Werewolf by Teyoliia

"Thank you", I muttered softly, letting him lead me down the icy steps.

Johnathan was nice enough. He worked as a liason between the Mayor and Dinas, which meant our paths crossed fairly often, and he wasn't a stick-in-your-ass government type, which meant he was tolerable too. He had been pestering me for months to have dinner with him, but with my job and the ever increasing tensions between the Tribes, I kept finding reasons to get out of it.

But tonight, he surprised me with tickets to the ballet, and I simply couldn't say no. He had found my one weakness. When you worked a job as dark and soul wrenching as mine, sometimes you just needed a quiet evening surrounded by beauty. We saw Sleeping Beauty, and it was ethereal.

A black sheen covered the steps as we left the theater, and Johnathan offered his hand. Ever the gentleman. Evening gowns, heels, and ice never mixed well. He helped me descend the steps easily enough, a goofy smile plastered on his face as he watched me try to diligently traverse the stairs.

Blue fire erupted from the darkness across the street.

That was an eye-shine I knew all too well, and the sight of it chilled me. It belonged to the auburn haired pretty boy that the Canis Tribe called their Beta.

Reid.

"Excuse me for a moment," I smiled at Johnathan, motioning toward the shadows, "I think I see a friend over there who I haven't seen in ages. I'll just be a minute."

He gave me a strange look, but let go of my hand so I could cross the street alone.

I had expected a man when I approached, but oh no, not tonight. That was expecting too much of Reid. A sickle clawed, seven foot tall monstrosity was creeping in the shadows, his eyes pure ice.

Now, how to handle this like the eloquent and intelligent government agent I was?

"Did some little werewolf forget that we don't wear our fangs in public?"

Yes, that was great. A + Aislyn.

Reid let out a low growl, flashing his eyes at me again. I had hit a cord apparently.

Werewolf by Teyoliia

“Aislyn..”

I heard a familiar voice break the silence of my dark house.

“Go away, or so help me I will get the vacuum out.”

The resulting growl was all the response I needed to know that I had hit the nerve I was looking for. Without opening my eyes, I turned over in bed and put the extra pillow over my head. There was a blissful amount of nothing for a few moments, until I felt a weight on the mattress.

“NO. No dogs on the bed. Go home, I don’t like strays in the house. They smell.”

Well, that did it. Implying that a shapeshifter smelled was just about the biggest no-no in the ‘How to Handle Your Fearsome Furry Friends’ handbook. A painfully loud snarl ripped through the room, and before I could block the inevitable pounce, I was swept off the bed, and pinned to the floor.

All I saw when I looked up was devastatingly blue eyes. Well that was bad. Reid’s eyes were naturally dark brown.

“I do NOT smell.” He growled out from between clenched teeth.

With a roll of my eyes and a shrug, I sighed, “So sorry. The musk could have fooled me. Is it mating season in the Canis Tribe?”

His teeth snapped less than an inch from my jugular. Despite the fact that he was still in control, and still in human form, this sudden outburst wasn’t like him.

“Touchy tonight aren’t we?”

When he brought his eyes back up to meet mine, there was a strange light in them I didn’t recognize. Something I had never seen from a shapeshifter, let alone from the Beta of a tribe. His voice cracked as he spoke, “They killed the Alpha. They killed my mother.”

The sun was beginning to set, casting shadows over the river, and blanketing the buildings of Wichita with darkness. Most people would think it was a pretty scene, but not me. I knew better. I know what hid in the shadows of this city.

My current mark was an Asin.

Wichita had never had one take up residence, at least not that I knew of. Dinas records might show otherwise, but I had no way of looking that up now. I had been an agent with them for five years, doing the dirty work of keeping 'what goes bump in the night' from the unknowing citizens of the city. It wasn't easy work. Especially when you were the sole liaison between Dinas and 5,000 antisocial shapeshifters. But that was another story completely.

I was just starting to walk the paths of the Nature Center when I heard it. The soft soprano of a woman singing. The song had a sad cadence to it, almost like something sung when trying to console oneself after a great loss. It was a very clever lure for her prey.

I wracked my brain for information.

"She's a cannibal", I muttered softly, "From Alsea tribe legends. Sings to lure children into the forest."

Of course, once she had them, she ate them. That wasn't exactly the ideal outcome...

Werewolf by Teyoliia

I froze.

My eyes were locked onto the distinct shine hidden in the treeline, and a cold shudder ran through me. Slowly I stood up from the corpse I was examining, my hands in the air, and my breathe coming in ragged waves. There was only one thing in Wichita that had such a distinct greenish gold eyeshine, and it was 7 feet tall, grew fangs and sickle claws, and went by the name of homo lupus.

A Werewolf.

A loud growl reverberated through the dark parking lot, as massive furred feet met the pavement, moving with a terrifying determination. There was no use in running, and it knew that, taking slow methodical steps, its eyes shifting quickly from the woman's body, to me. I had received an anonymous tip that there was a shapeshifter in trouble, and since I was the only Dinas agent with any clout among the tribes, I was sent out to investigate. When I arrived though, I found only a dead woman, her body left out in the open for anyone to find.

The wolf moved closer, blue eyes made of pure fire, and a snarl that promised instant death on its muzzle. The pelt was pure black, which was odd, but not unheard of. But it was the claws I was mostly focused on now. Easily six inches long, and all too happy to splatter my organs on the pavement.

“I work for Dinas,” I stammered out, “I received a tip to help a shapeshifter in distress.” The monster was closer now, far too close, and I felt the air on my face as it snapped those massive jaws toward me.

“I'm only trying to understand what happened. I only want to help.” I began walking slowly backwards, my hands still in the air, my throat bared in an act of submission. I had helped the Tribes before, I had bled and cried for their dead, and this was my reward. Flayed alive by a werewolf on a rampage.

“Just ask Jade, the Alpha of the Felid Tribe, I've helped you before! I only want to help again...I only want to-” a barking snarl cut me off.

It stalked me, matching each of my steps with its own, until my back was pressed against the warm brick of one of the buildings bordering this lot. In two steps, it was towering over me. I closed my eyes, waiting for claws to begin tearing into my flesh.

Nothing happened.

A distinctly male voice broke the silence, “My name is Reid...and the Canis Tribe needs your help.”