Page 4 of Isabel and the Werewolf Beast

I fought him. Placing my arms in front of my face to keep him back, I wrestled him. Arms pushed against arms. Body against body. Sweat slicked down my back. I held him off for as long as possible, but he was stronger than usual. Stronger than me, for once. He got my arms pinned to my sides. His eyes lit with triumph. His mouth lowered to my face, the sharpness of his canines coming into focus. He bit the side of my neck. I yelped in pain as his teeth tore into my flesh. Blood dripped from the wound and rolled down the side of my neck. Asher rolled off me, wiping his mouth and smearing my blood across his face in a gruesome tale.

“What the hell did you do that for?” I spat, sitting up, and placed a hand over my wound. Warmth and wetness seeped between my fingers and dribbled down my wrist and into my shirt cuff.

“Your blood tastes gross.” He spat on the floor.

“What did you think, dumbass?”

Now I’d have this mess to clean up and bandage my wound. What had got into Asher? I’d never thought he’d hurt me. Suddenly, pain lanced through my body. Pin pricks along my skin. An ache through my bones. The pressure in my head grew and grew until a howl of pain ripped from my lungs.

“Wh…at?” I gasped, struggling to breathe through the agony coursing through my very veins.

“The first time you change is painful. Next time, not so much.”

“Change?”

Another wave of pain engulfed me. Consumed me. There was nothing but the pain inside my body. I rolled onto my stomach as my insides churned. My skin was too tight. Stretched tight and tighter still until I thought it might crack open and spill my insides out. My bones ached, then cracked and twisted. Even my teeth hurt. My mouth widened as they too grew bigger. Sharper against my tongue.

“You’re like me now, brother. A werewolf.”

I lifted my heavy head. My skull throbbed. “You made me a werewolf? Why?”

“Now no one in town will ever make us feel small ever again. We won’t be the children whose parents left them. We won’t be too weak to be bullied. They won’t hurt us ever again.”

“Asher…”

“You won’t be the book nerd they throw stones at. I’ve protected you this time.”

“Protected me? By changing who I am?”

The pain was so much that sweat broke out across every inch of my skin. It dripped from my forehead and into my eyes. Ran rivers down my back under my shirt. Even along my legs, under my pants. My fingers curledand uncurled on the wooden floor. The joints ached with every movement. Every noise sounded clearer. The tiny whisper of a mouse in the kitchen. The flap of a moth’s wings by the window. My vision grew sharper. The flickering flames were brighter. The blood on the floor was clearer.

“You’ll still be you, but with fangs and fur.”

I tried to say his name again, but every bone in my body cracked and contorted, reshaping into that of a werewolf. I rose from the floor. A beast of fur and claws. Fangs filled my mouth. My head hit the ceiling. I eyed my brother through the fresh eyes of an apex predator.

I wanted to hate him for what he did to me, but power and strength coursed through my body. Fueled me to walk outside, lift my head to the pale moonlit sky, and howl for all the world to hear that I too was stronger. A beast that would no longer allow anyone to tear me down. No longer made to feel less. No longer the butt of the villagers’ jokes. Of being the children, their parents didn’t want. Who’d left us to fend for themselves for too many years. Never really being children. Knowing no difference. Until now.

Our lives had changed.

I hoped Asher had changed them for the better, but a part of me comprehended that while I might be stronger now, people would always target us as outcasts. We were still different.

Now we were monsters.

Chapter three

Isabel

Time. It was all I had now stuck in the beauty of my castle and the surrounding, once immaculately manicured grounds. Every day was the same. The hallways were empty. The air grew stale as though no one lived in the castle and yet inside the ballroom, the party continued. My guests were stuck inside in an endless loop, not even realizing they had been there for so long. Time had no meaning to them, and yet when I entered the ballroom in need of company, it was as though I’d never left. Their dresses and suits were still pristine. Smiles still in place. Hair twirled into afancy updo, holding strong even after all this time of dancing at the same party.

I didn’t know what was more infuriating. Wandering the hallways and grounds, trying to find a way out, or dancing nonstop in the ballroom and almost forgetting about the problem. Silas had screwed me over. When I caught up to him… how I imagined in so many vivid, detailed ways I’d kill him, but death would be too quick. Too easy for someone so evil.

My bedroom was a dangerous prison now instead of the opulent suite it once was. Gowns hung in the timber wardrobe collecting dust along with every item in the castle, letting me see the length of time Silas had cursed me to this castle. At least I didn’t suffer hunger as an incorporeal vampire, otherwise I would have eaten the human guests by now. I didn’t bother asking anyone in the ballroom about eating, as they always seemed content. Better to leave them that way than have them in a panic about being stuck in the castle.

Cursed.

As far as curses went, Silas had performed a good job. I hadn’t expected such high skills from him, but then he’d tapped into dark magic so that had probably amped up his power.

I wandered the hallways. Now and then, I’d stop and attempt to touch something, but my hand would ghost through it. Nothing ever changed apart from the dust collecting in the castle. The walls of the castle creaked as though in agreement. Ever since the curse, the castle itself had been a living presence. Items moved daily. One day, the paintings on the third floor were all on the first floor. Another day, the dining room china was stacked in the library. Humans thought ghosts were the ones moving objects, but perhaps a warlock or witch cursed their houses, too. I’d never understand because I was stuck here.

---