Moon Blood (COMPLETE)

Chapter Four: A Myriad of Confusion

Neil's head was fogged and mired in mud. Everything hurt, right down to his toes. He reached up to hold his head.

But his hand stopped. There was a rattle of chains.

Neil froze as he pulled again. The clinking of chains, and the cold sensation of metal around his wrists. He tried to shout but as soon as he tried, he felt the sensation of leather strapped around the back of his head. The smell of metal was at his nose. So strong, in fact. A lot stronger than usual. It was so strong it was making his eyes water. He looked down and saw the metal muzzle strapped over his nose and mouth. If he could reach up to it, he would. At the very least he could still talk if he needed to.

"Don't be afraid."

He jumped, making the chains jangle as he looked around the room. "Where am I?"

"You were lucky we got you before you turned again."

"Turned? What are you talking about?"

"Shouldn't be much longer now. You did get the right guy, right?"

The voices were murmuring, but Neil could hear them quite distinctly. "Positive. I could smell him a mile away."

"Is someone going to tell me what is going…" The world stopped. His body stopped. Neil was frozen, ice travelled up his spine and fire spread to his toes. Nothing worked, everything was burning. He screamed as his heart spiked.

"It's okay. You're entering your transformation without food in your belly. It's going to be a little uncomfortable." 

His eyes were streaming as he looked up from the floor. "Transfor… what? Who are you?" He grunted against the muzzle as another wave of freezing heat lanced through him. His body felt like it was being torn apart at the seams, held only in place by the heavy chains. He couldn't stop screaming. His throat was arid and dry, growling and raw. With every scream his throat was fire.

"Almost there. You're almost there."

The pain was now so great, Neil couldn't even see. He could hear his throat, and smell the blood around his chafing wrists. An overload of sensory information bombarded him. His skin steamed, evaporating the pouring sweat. That's when he saw the hair. Thick, tufty fur sprouting from his arm, his morphing torso that pulsed and tore at him from the inside. He screamed again, only it came out as a strangled wail, undulating at the back of his throat.

After a certain point, Neil was just hoping to pass out, and be free of this awful pain. But his body seemed determined to see it through in all its glory. Every stab, every twist of bone he felt during every agonising second. At the point he didn't think it would ever end, the burning began to quell and he shivered uncontrollably.

He heard himself whine and whimper. But it didn't sound right. His mouth didn't feel right. Or smell right.

"You were right, Ruby. Good catch indeed."

Neil looked up from his position on the stone floor. Things were different, but how? He sniffed the air instinctually as his eyes were struggling to focus.

His nose told him everything he needed to know. Auras of scent offered pitch perfect clarity. He sussed there were three others in the room. All female, one of them… 

The wolf with wings. She was here, standing right very close by. Neil tried to stand, but something was wrong with his legs. The soles of his feet didn't feel right. He whined, and that's when he felt the fangs in his jaw.

Neil shouted, but instead all that came from his throat was a strangled bark. He stood on his paws, and his nails clicked on the stone floor. The woman with the pleasant blue smell watched him silently.

"I know this may seem weird, but trust me, you're in a safe place. Ruby got you to safety before anyone else was able to catch your scent."

At that, the winged wolf padded forward to the trembling Neil. She had a more fiery, orangey smell about her, that was no less appealing than the cool and calming blue of the human - perhaps a human, at the very least - Neil was having deep suspicions as the cogs whirred in his head, especially since she smelled very similar to the orange wolf. How many others were there?

"Three of us." A voice seemed to melt into his head, giving him the answer to the question he had just asked. Not even words themselves, more the feeling of the words that the meaning could easily be inferred. He jumped, making his chains jangle. The voice emanated from Orange, with surprising clarity. She blinked in response. "At least you're not entirely stupid."

"Cool it, Ruby," said Blue. Neil said nothing, letting his nose try and work things out as best it could.

"This is your second transformation, right? We only caught your scent during your first, when you were with that girl."

Rachel. Neil's blood ran cold at the mention of her name. His body trembled uncontrollably, like he was shivering in an Arctic wind. The women standing by his cage didn't seem to notice.

"There's no need to fear us," said Blue, "I know it's hard to believe but it will make sense soon enough. Here."

From a pouch strapped to her belt, Blue rummaged around until she pulled out a small bundle of greaseproof paper tied up with string. Neil's ears pricked as a scent of something overwhelmingly enticing entered his olfactory. Olfactory? Innate knowledge he never had before was making itself known. Unbidden, he began to salivate.

"You smell this, right? Of course you do. This is raw meat, the only thing you can stomach in this form. It'll clear your mind a little."

He was about to ask, but the one called Ruby answered the question before he could formulate it. "You're a late bloomer: usually a she-wolf will have her first transformation between twelve and sixteen." She turned to Blue. "Lilly, is this normal?"

"I don't know: he's the first male we ever found." Lilly folded her arms and appeared to be deep in thought. "I wonder if mum would have known what to do?"

Neil's head was pounding: from the scent of the meat, to the stress of his confinement, to the fatigue of his body. "Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" he wailed.

Only a howl left his jaws.