Mentioned Wolf - photo taken by Andyworks on iStock⬆️➡️
Song: The Runner *instrumental* - Zack Hemsey (Nomad)
Word Count: 2455
I looked up, gingerly holding my wrist as I met the gaze of my friend. His eyes were wide as he stared at my wound, gaze flickering back and forth between my hand and his own. Fearfully, he met my eyes and took a few steps towards me, only stopping when he saw me whimper and curl into myself.
"Red?" He whispered, reaching out a hand in an attempt to make a soothing gesture. I didn't respond, only hid myself further. "Red, it's me, Eiden."
"I don't know you," my voice faltering from the tears.
"Red, come on. You know me...it's Eiden! Akia's older brother, your older brother! You do know me," Eiden desperately tries to console me.
"A wolf!" I cried, staring at the wound on my wrist. "You're a f...a fucking wolf!"
It's getting serious if I curse, I never do. Thank Nonna for that.
"Red..." I looked up when I felt a hand on my shoulder, meeting the eyes of Eiden. Our eyes lingered on each other's for a moment, me searching for the truth in his and him analyzing the fear in mine. His gaze lowered down to my wrist, carefully taking it from me. I swallowed a cry of pain as he pulled my arm towards him, pressing the pads of his fingers into the bite. "It's okay, I promise."
I watched as Eiden balanced my wrist in his hand, stroking the wound slowly. I sucked at my teeth at the immense pain, squeezing my eyes together and concentrating on the feeling of the tears rolling down my cheeks. Slowly, the needle-like pain I was feeling decreased and I peeked one eye open in confusion.
What I saw completely shocked and terrified me.
While my hand and arm were still completely stained with my blood, the obvious wound was disappearing. Every time Eiden ran his fingers over the red marks, they minimized into stark white scar.
I watched as Eiden finished his...healing, before ripping off a part of his cotton shirt and scrubbing away the blood stains. I gaped at him when he looked up at me, wordlessly asking how he could have possibly done that. Eiden just shook his head, carefully grabbing my chin and wiping away the blood from my earlier cuts.
"Can you explain all of this to me?" I asked, pulling my arm out of his grip and examining the scar, running my thumb over the risen skin.
I glanced up at Eiden when he swallowed, watching him stand and shove his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Turning and leaning back against the boulder, I continued stroking my scar as he paced back and forth in front of me.
"Look, Red-" he cut himself off, turning his gaze from me to the ground. He let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose before running a hand through his hair. "I'm not...human."
"Yeah, no kidding," I deadpanned, staring at him. Eiden let out a strained chuckle, shaking his head and looking away from me again. "So...what are you?"
"Well, you have to promise not to freak out-"
"You attacked me twice as a wolf, then healed me as a human. I think that if I was going to freak out, I would've done it by now." I raised a brow at my friend.
Eiden let out another laugh, walking back over and sitting in front of me. "Touché," he sighed dramatically, pausing before speaking again, "so, you know about werewolves, right?"
"A fair amount," I mumbled, picking the grass as I thought about the books my fourteen-year-old self had mistakenly read.
"Well, take that idea of a lycanthrope, meaning half-wolf-half-human creature, and change it a little bit. Have a human that can transform into a full wolf anytime they want with nearly no relation to the two in their full forms, but can also become something that's a hybrid between the two. So, basically, a full human, a full wolf, and the classic image of the creature between the two. That's what I am. Not a werewolf."
"So...you're a human...that can morph into a wolf...or a creature between the two? Is that it?"
"Essentially."
"But you're not a werewolf."
"No."
"So then what are you?"
"An Adolphi. Well, that's the plural form. I specifically am an Adolphus."
I frowned, hugging my knees to my chest in hopes to get comfortable on the damp ground. The bright sun had melted some of the snow, but that just made the grassy floor wet. I looked down at my half-painted nails, picking off the remnants of burgundy polish as I let my mind wander. We were silent for a few moments, before I asked another question. "So what's Akia?"
"What?" Eiden had the nerve to be shocked at the question. He and his sister have the same parents; if he was a full-blooded "Adolphus," then Akia had to be something, too.
"What's Akia? Is she an Adolphus, too?"
Eiden started to laugh, the noise turning into a cackle quickly. He only stopped when he saw me glaring at him, clearing his throat and scratching at his scalp. "Uh, no. Well, yes, but she's not an Adolphus. She's exactly like me, but the males are Adolphi and the females are called AdoQhinas."
I swallowed, continuing to pick at the grass beneath me. All of this new information was making my head hurt. "So," I began, "there are werewolves. Creatures that are supposed to be mythical, but aren't. Are there vampires and...and fairies, too?"
"What, no!" Eiden laughed loudly, "those are obviously make-believe!"
I raised a brow. "Yeah, obviously."
Eiden gulped, shaking his head and moving so he was sitting next to me. "I'm...sorry to tell you all this. I didn't really want to do it like this, I wanted to choose when. I guess I didn't have a choice."
"No, you didn't." I glared at him, shifting closer. Sighing, I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. "Why did you have to be weird? Couldn't you and your sister just be normal?"
"I ask myself that all the time." I looked up at Eiden from where my head rested, sighing again and making myself comfortable. He reached for my scarred hand, gripping it tightly and running a thumb over the cold flesh. "I'm sorry."
"It's ok-"
"No, it really isn't. You said it yourself, I hurt you. Twice! I never wanted to do that!"
"It wasn't you. You told me yourself, you have nearly no relation to your wolf when you're in that...form. It wasn't you."
"I should have stopped myself-"
"You couldn't have."
"I should have done something-"
"You really couldn't have."
"I could have told-"
I leaned away from Eiden and pulled my arm out of his grip. Grabbing his face in my hands, I forced him to look at me, staring deep into his shocked eyes. "Eiden, you couldn't have done anything. You didn't know. You obviously didn't recognize me, how could you have stopped yourself?"
Eiden shook his head, grabbing my hands and pulling them away from him. "I still feel like I could have stopped myself. You have a scar on your wrist because of me...you felt such an...intense pain because of me!"
"It really isn't that bad," I mumbled, looking down at the mark that was partially concealed by my jacket. Now that I think about it, the leather should have protected my arm, but the sleeve pulled back far too much and left my skin bare.
Eiden gawked down at me. "Isn't that bad. Isn't that bad? Red, look at it, it's-" I looked from my wrist to Eiden in confusion when he cut himself off. He was looking around the clearing, staring at the woods with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
"What is it?" I questioned, watching as I stood up. I grabbed my friend's hand and used it to help me climb to my feet, stepping away from him and looking around the field.
There was nothing...nothing out of the ordinary, anyway. "Eiden, I don't really see-"
"Sh!" I blinked when Eiden slapped a hand over my mouth. I looked at him with wide eyes as he continued to look around, slowly pushing me into the center of the clearing. "Do you hear that?"
I raised a brow at him, rolling my eyes and shaking my head. He was holding my mouth closed, did he really think I could answer?
Eiden took a step away from me and turned, glaring at the boulder we were just sitting against. "Something's here," he said calmly. Far too calmly in my opinion.
"What's here?" I asked, taking a step towards him. He held out a hand, signaling me to stop without taking his eyes off the large stone.
"Back up," Eiden ordered, so I did. After only a few steps, a wolf came out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground.
"Eiden!" I screamed, falling a few steps back and covering my mouth in horror. I watched him struggle underneath the wolf. "Oh my god!" I quickly shed my jacket, trying to use it as some sort of distraction. Once it was off, I took some running steps towards Eiden, before I was shoved to the ground by another creature.
This seems to be a reoccurring theme today.
I push at the paws and chest of the wolf that had an obvious murderous intent, but it was futile. Despite how Eiden had healed me, I was still weak from blood loss. The wolf used this to its advantage, forcing my arms away from him with his jaw, pinning them to the ground.
With a vicious shake of my head, the wolf lowered its jaw to my neck. I let out a loud, piercing scream as I felt its teeth sink into my flesh, feeling every rough corner and groove of the yellow surfaces. The creature's jaws buried themselves further into the junction between my shoulder and neck, shaking around as they tried to make a killing bite. My vision went from clear and precise to blurry and dark, my whole body growing limp as the pain increased.
"Eiden!" I screamed, turning my gaze up to the sky as I blinked my tears away, letting out a cry of pain as the salty water rolled into my wound. I made another attempt to call for my friend, but he didn't come. I called for him again, but he still didn't help me. I couldn't do anything to fight the wolf off; I was weak and powerless. I had no way to do anything, no way to save myself.
I was going to die.
For a brief moment, the pain heightened to an almost unbearable point. I felt each strand of my muscles tear, each tooth scraping against my bones. I felt the blood pouring from my veins, each river that flowed down my shoulder and onto the ground beneath me. Each measure of searing pain that could have existed in my small body was there. It was all there.
Then it was gone.
The weight I mean. While the pain had decreased significantly, it was still there, but the weight of the wolf was gone. I could breathe easier and feel my arms again. My eyes, which I hadn't realized had closed, opened, the biting cold blinding me alongside my tears.
"...re you okay!?" I could barely hear a voice through the sharp ringing in my ears. I turned my head, rather painfully might I add, to the left, staring through hooded eyes at the corpse of the dark wolf, a panting Eiden standing above it. He had lost his shirt and pants somewhere, his naked skin splattered and stained with blood.
I took in his worried expression and simply blinked in response. What did he say?
"Red?!" I watched as Eiden leapt over the wolf and ran towards me. He grabbed his jeans from wherever they were and slipped them on, before kneeling down in front of me. He pulled me into his arms, brushing my hair over to my right shoulder. His eyes widened at my wound, tears beginning to drip down from them.
"Eiden?" I whispered, slowly lifting a hand up and pressing it to his cheek, wiping away his tears. I was too weak to hold my arm up, so instead of trying, I just let it fall to my side, the cold grass freezing the skin that it touched.
"Oh god, Red, I'm so sorry! I should have protected you! My god, I'm so sorry." Eiden chanted, continuing to cry as he held me. He looked around for a moment, before reaching out and grabbing something. A...scrap of fabric that he wrapped around my shoulder...where did he even get that? I let out a scream as he began to work, hot pain searing through my body.
Eiden pulled his hands away from me, his terrified expression wordlessly explaining what he felt. I shook my head. "It's okay," I whispered. "I'm okay."
A few more tears slipped down his cheeks as he nodded, slowly reaching his hands out and finishing the ungraceful wrap on my shoulder. "It really isn't, but-"
"Eiden-" I inhaled sharply at the burst of pain, before taking a deep breath and continuing. "Eiden, we can't really focus on that right now. I'm-mph...nearly dead here."
More tears fell at my statement, but Eiden did seem much more courageous. "Yeah, okay. We...we need to get you somewhere safe." He pressed a hand to my back and pushed me up into a sitting position. I felt the blood seep from my wound, much more than I thought would. My weak body fell into Eiden's chest, him catching me quickly and wrapping his arms around my shoulders.
"I don't think...I can stay awake for too long," I mumbled, burying my face into his chest. I could feel Eiden's hands shaking, but his nervousness kept me grounded. Kept me...awake.
Awake.
I need to stay awake.
"Hey...Red?" A nudge. Some kind of feeling, a movement to keep me alive. I could just barely feel it.
"I just want to sleep," I murmured, closing my eyes and falling further into Eiden. Everything just felt...numb.
"...ed! You nee...ay...ke."
"What?"
"...d!"
"Eiden."
I couldn't hold back anymore. I allowed my body to fall limp and my mind to shut down, falling into a quiet, dreamless sleep.