He had taught her to avoid the urge to chase after toys and cats, the urge that had tamed many of his lupine ancestors. He had taught her to stay wild. But that wasn't much use in the modern world. Capitalism had done what the vampires could not.
'Oh, that's a nice husky,' someone said. An old man sitting on a bench with his wife.
'That's not a husky, Eric.'
'Well, what is it?' Val tensed as she listened to the conversation of the old couple. She ran for a line of trees. She did have a homing instinct, and she tried to listen to it. But would it take her to her old house, or the house she was now renting?
'That's a really, really big fox.'
Val ran away behind some bushes. Unable to cry in this state, she let out a mournful howl. If a fellow sufferer didn't hear her, at least a dog might understand.
They tended to understand most things.
*
She waited under a hedge for the sun to go down. Then, she walked back to the lamp post and sniffed intensively to see if there had been a reply. There were no replies. Just messages saying 'this is my territory, keep out.' Or 'Rabbits in the field down the road.'
The nearest that anyone had come to a reply like hers was a message saying 'My human is sick. What should I do?' She sniffed the scent several times and then left her own response. After this, she went to the top of the alley and howled.
A chorus of barks came in response. She couldn't understand them when they barked that quickly. Her father had been one of the last to speak the old tongue. They probably couldn't understand her.
She trotted down the road. Someone's bin had fallen on its side. How undignified, she thought, as she ate the remains of some fish and chips.
At the top of the road was a van with a sign on it. The van said 'Dog Warden' on it. She turned and ran back down the alley on her battle hardened pads, feeling nauseous. On an impulse she sniffed some blackberries near the lamppost in the alley. How antisocial, she thought as she scented a host of updates from the neighbourhood dogs. Kids pick those.
But there was a message there that caught her attention.
'Lycanthropy ruining your life? I can help you.'
Was it really ruining her life? Or was it the other way round? The world seemed to have no room for anyone like her any more. She turned around with her tail to the blackberries and left her own response. What would her father have said? It was just as well wolves could not shed any tears.
Something scuttled in the distance. It was a rat rather than the majestic stags, bears, dragons and supernatural beasts of the legends she'd grown up on. Nonetheless, she went after it. The fish and chips had not been enough.
*
After sleeping at the back of someone's garden, Val went to the patch of blackberries in the alley. Her message had a response.
'Please come to 36 Sandford Road.'
36 Sandford Road was just a few doors down from Val's work. Anxiety filled her as she considered passing her office and seeing Dierdre. A horrific vision filled her mind of turning human while walking past her work, with no clothes. She had another few days as a wolf - or did she? Thank heavens for that.
But then there was the Dog Warden. Passing the van as she trotted towards 36 Sandford Road, a sinister notice on the side door of the enforcement van declared, 'UNCLAIMED DOGS WILL BE PUT TO SLEEP AFTER A 14-DAY PERIOD'.
36 Sandford Road (@Project_Athena Werewolf Challenge)
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