Nathaniel

Dinner

Constantine collared me like an animal, a dog. I was half phased, my canines protruded and claws scraped the marble floor. The drug they had given me forced me to be half human half wolf for long periods of time. It somehow kept me just docile enough not to rip their throats out. Constantine looked at me and it was hard to hide my disdain for him. It was hard not to let the red take over. He murdered Archer right in front of me and threatened my pack. Hate bubbled up inside me and was slightly cooled by whatever they injected me with. My head spun with ideas on how they could have concocted this drug. How did humans figure it out? Constantine smiled as if he could see my mind working and sharply pulled the leash taut. "Heel" he commanded. Involuntary growls erupted and he pulled again, even more abruptly. I made myself stop; nothing good would come of my defiance at the moment. My wolf reminded me that my pride was at stake, but then again I was on a leash. My pride would have to lick its wounds later on. He patted my head and the urge to bite his hand off was so strong I almost accomplished the task. We were standing in lines on both sides of a long table. Every human had a werewolf on a leather leash. I could not believe what I was seeing, Werewolves at the beck and call of humans? Why had Mother Nature decided to tip the scales so unevenly in our favor? The room suddenly became devoid of whispers, laughing and growls. A regal woman glided through the double doors. Her skin was of ivory and pearls glowing with a lackluster shine. She was almost too beautiful to look at. She had blood red eyes and she filled my nostrils with the smell of the undead. My nose wrinkled in response to the rancid sickly sweet smell of death, it was an unmistakable scent. She was a vampire. My fellow wolves sensed it also. I tensed I would not be able to fight well in this drugged half phased state. I looked at her again, closer; she could smell all of us as well. I could only imagine how awful we all smelled to her. Every vampire I had encountered, there had been few and far in between, had remarked about our blood. They described it as tainted, poisonous garbage. Only a desperate vampire would drink our blood. I could see the discomfort in her eyes.

"I see you have armed yourselves with little wolves""

Yes, Your Highness, once properly trained they will make excellent guard dogs." The man closest to her answered. Guard dogs? That was going to be my singular use?

"Properly train a werewolf, can you in fact properly train a werewolf? I believe they are too wild to be tamed and too obstinate to think of the consequences of disobedience.... Well, no matter let's see how this drug is fairing so far." Her eyes swept across the room, examining us all, her gaze stopped on me.

" Constantine, bring your new acquisition forward" I bristled at the reference but I was tugged towards her. I looked down at my claws digging into the ground. She tousled my hair and brought her fingers tracing down and ending on the points of my fangs.

"You are extremely well bred, and I am sure you hate all of this with a fitting passion. But remember this little wolf, wolves were born to serve an alpha. We have merely substituted your alpha figure." I snapped my head up and looked at her in the eyes for only a second because as soon as I moved her reaction was to kick and slam my face downwards until my nose touched the chilled marble.

"Well,Constantine you certainly have your hands full with this particular one. Next time we meet I look forward to impeccable manners, well as impeccable as a dog's manners can be." She left just as gracefully as she arrived. I could feel Constantine's eyes on me. All I could do was growl with abandon. His eyes were a measure of disgust and anger with a small, cruel glint. He was going to punish me; he had been waiting to do it since I woke up. Since he killed Archer. What though I wonder were to be his grounds for it, for trying to withhold my dignity in front of a rotting, filthy member of the undead? He pulled me back into line. The wolf next to me shook his head and regarded me with sad yellow eyes, a beta wolf.