Free Story #17 - Foretold (Chapter 7)

Four weeks had passed since that night. Well almost. It was now the night of the full moon. It was hard to believe, even for someone with my imagination, but it was true. Tonight was the night Shadow would first transform. I was going to be there for him every step of the way. Just as the packs had been for me.

Mum, Helen and Gran had eventually moved back into the family home. But only after Zoe had used her magic to scare my father out. Which were all grateful for because the flat was getting a little cramped to say the least.

About an hour before we were due to shift, I was sat in the front room whilst Shadow sorted a few things out in the room that was now his bedroom. Just before the others were due to arrive, he opened his door and put his head through a few inches.

"Hey dad, can we talk?" he asked.

"Sure, what's the problem?" I asked, walking over and putting my arm around his shoulder.

"Well, I'm nervous about tonight. How I'll cope with it all"

"It'll be fine. You've got me, Doug, Jenna and the rest of us to help you out. It's only a month ago that I first transformed"

This seemed to make him feel better and he smiled a broad smile that reminded me of when Doug showed his perfect at that moment, I knew he would be fine. He went to the bathroom a second later. I think that he was just making sure he looked just so. That was one trait he got from Doug, not me.

He had finished two minutes later, allowing me to use it quickly before we left. About twenty minutes later, Doug, Campbell, Arc and Jenna were all in the flat waiting for me to finish in the bathroom.

Embarrassing I know, but I couldn't get the smell of Zoe's perfume out of my hair. I had accidentally used it instead of Doug's Calvin Klein to cover my scent. Eventually, I got most of it off so I decided that enough was enough. When I came out of the bathroom, Shadow had changed from wearing an orange shirt and tracksuit bottoms to a blue t-shirt and baggy jeans.

"Ready to go?" Doug asked him.

"Yeah, ready when you are" Shadow replied.

His voice didn't seem sure but his expression was. We left in single file and Doug locked the flat door behind him.

Doug and Shadow went in my car with me, whilst the others went into Campbell's range rover. It wasn't exactly well looked after but the paint was unscratched.

Lord help the man who tried, I thought to myself. About thirty minutes' drive later, we came to a clearing next to a wood. It wasn't like the place we normally used, but it was better than nothing at all. Being picky wasn't really an option.

The clouds started to part and I could see that Shadow was beginning to tense. Even though he knew it was coming, he was still scared. Just as the moon came into full view, Shadow yelled in pain and fell to the floor. Me and Doug tried to go forward to help our son but Campbell and Jenna held us back.

"He needs to do this alone. When he's changed, you can help him then" Jenna whispered.

Shadow contorted and he screamed with pain. I remembered the transformation all too well. But something was wrong. Very wrong. I had started to sprout fur almost immediately after the transformation began. But Shadow remained human. Nothing changed.

"Campbell, something doesn't seem right …" I said.

The alpha male spun round. His original intention had been to reassure me but his expression turned into shock. He then looked into the sky and gasped. We all spun our heads upwards and echoed Campbell's sentiment. The moon was gone from the sky.

"But how is that possible, it's a full moon" Zoe exclaimed.

Arc looked closely at the sky. He seemed to be searching for some clue as to its disappearance.

"There!" he said and pointed to something like looked like a star. But it was larger than a star. It was a beam of light from the moon.

"It's been eclipsed" I gasped.

There was no denying the fact. How the hell it had happened was anyone's guess. Harsh laughter echoed around the clearing and Farrell and my father strolled from the woods.

"How do you like my little trick?" Farrell asked.

Doug shifted into his wolf form and launched himself at Farrell, teeth bared. But he blasted some energy from his hand and deflected the werewolf with ease.

"You'll need more than that to stop me" he laughed.

The rest of the group stepped forward to confront him.

"Why are you doing this?" Jenna shouted.

"Merely repaying a debt my dear, or should I say ex sister-in-law?"

Jenna stood stock-still. Doug stood carefully, whining occasionally from the bruising caused by the energy blast. When he looked at Farrell once more, he gasped.

"Finally remember me huh? Looks like my memory spell worked"

Memory Spell? What did he mean? Jenna and Doug looked at each other. They were clearly thinking the same thing because their expressions were the same.

"What do you mean sister-in-law?" I shouted.

"Ah Taylor, I may as well tell you. I'm not just your father's best friend. I'm the brother of the man he murdered"

He pointed at Doug.

"That wasn't how it happened!" Doug snarled.

"Then how do you explain the bullet through his head?" Farrell asked.

"He killed himself. When he failed to kill me after shooting my mate"

"And you bit him. Which provoked him to do so" my dad yelled.

"I didn't know that would happen!" Doug shouted back.

The two men laughed a cruel laugh.

"Regardless, if this werewolf can't transform, he's going to explode. Poetic justice for my brother"

My stomach clenched in fear. Farrell and my dad were going to kill Shadow, and there seemed to be no way I could stop them.

Shadow yelled out in pain, and blood started to leak from his fingertips. He was crying and struck with silent fear. Throwing caution to the winds, I ran forward to him and held him close.

"It's alright son, it'll all be ok" I said and stroked his hair.

"I'm so scared Dad" Shadow choked.

At his words, something snapped inside me.

He could attack me all he liked but there was no way I was going to let him hurt Shadow in any way shape or form. I snarled and transformed. It felt good to use my wolf form but this wasn't the time to revel in guilty pleasures.

Decided that instead of attacking him full on was foolish, I went go into the woods instead, being sure to look like I was running away. Jenna would read my mind to find out what I was doing. And that was just what I wanted.

"Looks like your father has abandoned you" Farrell said. He used a blast of purple magic to cut Shadow's face. The straining werewolf yelled in agony and fell to the floor.

Jenna, Campbell, Arc and Zoe were speechless.

"He just left his son to die" Zoe blurted.

Jenna closed her eyes and used her telepathy to read my thoughts. Just as I had predicted.

"No, he's got an idea. But we all need to pull together"

She huddled the others together and sent Doug a message. Then she sent one to me. I received it and smiled. Farrell wouldn't know what hit him. Then, Jenna sent a message to Shadow. He looked over at her and she nodded.

It took a second but he understood. She wanted him to play possum. Shadow gave a whine of pain and fell to the floor. Still as death. Doug ran over to Shadow and licked him. He looked relieved at seeing his father but knew better than to move.

He felt his father's warm muzzle massage him. After a minute, Doug raised his nose to the sky and howled. It was full of false grief. But Farrell and my dad were fooled, that was what mattered. Farrell's hands stopped glowing and in a moment, the eclipse was gone from the sky.

Thankfully the moon had gone behind the clouds otherwise the illusion would be lost. I was in the woods about twenty feet from Farrell's back. The reason for this was that my time with Zoe had taught me if you attack a magic user from behind, they cannot use their magic for a few seconds. I didn't know why it happened. But I had asked Zoe to borrow her book on duelling magic for research, and it was one of the rules in the book.

Meanwhile, Farrell seemed to be so happy at his own success that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. Which worked to my advantage. I waited till he reached the edge of the wood, then ran forward and leapt into the air. Farrell laughed one last time but before he could leave; my front paws collided with his back.

He fell forward and landed directly in a pool of mud. I yipped in victory and ran forward to see if Shadow was ok. He smiled up at me and I breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, Shadow tensed up once more. Thinking it was Farrell interfering again I turned to face him.

But he was still face down in the pool. I looked into the sky and saw the moon, shining full and true. Shadow yelled and fur began to grow. This was it. His ears relocated and his tail popped out. His hands and feet changed to paws and finally his face extended into a muzzle.

Like Doug, his fur was golden blond. But there were patches of brown scattered over his tail, his paws and his back. Unlike me, his body seemed to recover remarkably fast. His mind however was still in shock. He whined just as I had done.

Doug muzzled one side of his face and I licked the other side. We swapped from time to time until finally, Shadow seemed to be calm. He sniffed the air and barked in surprise. Before we could go any further however, Farrell woke up. And he wasn't happy.

"You may have stopped my plan, but I can still stop you"

Out of his coat, he pulled a blade, of solid silver. Campbell growled and shifted into his wolf form.

"No Campbell, don't try to be a hero!" Jenna called after him.

What happened next was nothing short of horrific.

Campbell, with a single swipe of his mighty paw, struck my father to the floor. In a single leap, he leapt toward Farrell and took his head clean from his shoulder. When Campbell landed, he howled in victory.

But his song was cut short. By the sound of a gun being fired.