• Chapter 2: Hunting

    Now that the class had been dismissed the students got out of their seats and filed into the hallways. Ren stood up shoving his hands into the pockets on his hoodie; then left the room. Maya quickly followed. The hallways were busy and full between classes as all the students rushed around trying to get to their next class. Ren seemed to have no problem agley moving through the busy crowd of students, Maya however, found it a bit harder bumping into one person after the next. She was relieved when she could finally the large brown double doors that led outside. Ren was already waiting there by the doors and seemed slightly irritate that she wasn’t there yet. Maya tried to hurry and catch up as she pushed through the crowd, but suddenly someone grabbed her by the back of her collar.
    “Hey you!” the large boy bellowed, “I think you owe us an apology”
    “That’s right,” said the boy beside him, “you pushed right through us while we were talking”
    Maya turned around started by the large hand on her collar, “O-oh! I’m sorry! I’m just trying to keep up with my friend”
    The largest boy, who seemed to be the leader, stepped out in front of Maya and she was now encircled by the boys. She became very nervous as these boys were more than twice her size and she knew she probably wouldn’t be able to get away that easily.
    “Oh don’t worry,” the largest boy grinned, “you’re cute I’m sure you can make it up to us somehow…”
    The other two boys now had a large smile on their faces as well as they inched closer to Maya. Her face lit up bright red as she realized what it was they meant, “O-oh no…”
    Maya frantically looked around for an escape but the boys’ huge stature made it impossible for her to see any way out. In a last desperate attempt she looked over to where Ren had been standing by the doors, but he was also gone.
    “No please don’t!” she begged but the three of them still moved closer, until suddenly, with a loud ‘whack’ the biggest one fell to his knees. The other two turned in shock as Ren stood behind him with his foot pushed against the back of the largest boys’ knee forcing him to the ground. Ren grasped the back of his neck then pushed him onto the floor. All three of the boys’ and Maya were in shock, in a split second Ren had taken down one of the largest people she had ever seen.
    “Who the hell do you think you are?!” yelled one of the other boys.
    Ren ignored him and walked over to Maya, “try any keep up; you’ll cause fewer problems…”
    The fact that Ren had ignored him made the boy even madder. He grabbed a hold of Ren’s shoulder and was about to hit him, but then Ren turned his head around and showed his fiery red eyes. The boy froze as soon as their eyes met.
    “Do you want something?” Ren snapped at him.
    Both boys were now frozen, “Th-those eyes… Y-you’re a werewolf…?”
    Ren glared up at both of them, his size paling in comparison to theirs, “I am… now if you’re done wasting our time I’d like to keep going”
    Neither of them moved for a long moment that seemed to drag on forever, until finally the largest boy on the floor let out a groan.
    “You might want to take him to the nurse’s office or something…” Ren said as he grabbed Maya’s wrist and turned walking away.
    By this time everyone in that hallway was staring at them. Maya didn’t notice she was paying more attention to Ren’s hand on her wrist His hand was hot, like he was running a fever. He pushed through the double doors and they were now outside.
    “You’re a real pain in the a**,” he said to her, “you didn’t even try and fight them off, why?”
    Maya looked down away from his piercing scarlet eyes and slowly pulled off her hat, revealing two cat-like ears.
    “A neko-mainen?” he said looking at her curiously.
    “Y-yeah…” a life time of prejudice had taught her to expect the worst form everyone.
    He looked at her, curiously studding her body now, “You hide your tail well at least.”
    She smiled slightly as this was the first nice thing he had said to her, “well everyone has strong points.”
    “Yeah I guess so… How long can you stay phased?”
    “Phased? You mean like transforming into an animal?”
    “Yeah, can you do that yet?”
    “Oh… yeah I can… Umm… maybe an hour or so?”
    “Ok, that’s good enough”
    Ren turned and began walking back towards the woods behind the school. The woods were thick and alive with trees and wild life. At this time of year there were still many creatures running around preparing for the coming winter. The enormous mountain past the forest cast its large shadow over the forest, making it even harder to see through the trees. Ren walked to the edge of the woods and took a deep breath, smelling the air.
    “Mmm… yeah this is the place alright…”
    “You’re prey is here?”
    “Yeah… come on let’s get moving.”
    Ren stepped over the up deracinated roots of the trees as he walked into the woods. Maya followed behind him gently brushing her hand against the sides of the trees to keep her balance. As they walked deeper into the woods Maya looked around enjoying the scenery, she loved the way the leaves had turned so many different colors. Ren didn’t even seem to notice, his eyes were focused on where he was going. Maya noticed this, she watched him in fascination; he crouched over pushing his head out in front of him, he wasn’t looking for the prey anymore, but rather following its scent, his feet barely lifted off the ground as he walked, he didn’t make a sound even with the leaves covering the ground.
    Maya was amazed by this; she struggled to be as quiet as possible but still couldn’t match him. Not only that, he moved this way so easily, he didn’t have to concentrate on it like she was.
    “H-how much farther is it?” she asked tripping over the upturned roots barely keeping up with him.
    “Not much further… we’re nearly there…” he said still moving so gracefully through the forest.
    “Why are you going so deep in the woods? Couldn’t you have picked someone who was closer?”
    “No, this is perfect… if she puts up a fight out here no one will see…”
    Fear shot through Maya as he said these words. ‘She?’ Maya thought frantically, “Wh-what’s her name?”
    “Does it matter? She won’t be alive much longer.”
    “Ren… You don’t m-mean…” Maya held her breathe
    “There! Up ahead the crevasse in the mountain. She’s hiding in there.”
    Maya sighed in relief, “Oh… thank god…”
    “Why? What did you think I meant?”
    “Oh… uh… nothing really,” she laughed nervously but tried to sound convincing.
    “You’re not fooling me you know,” he looked back at her as his figure began to waver, “when werewolves are focused on a hunt we can read the minds of those hunting with us”
    “Wow! That’s really amazing! And now your body… it’s like… shimmering. What’s happening?”
    He slowly leaned over until his hands were barely touching the ground, “This is how ‘we’ phase.” He let out a low growling sound from his throat as his body shined a blinding red light for a split second, then his body had changed into that of a wolf.
    Maya was taken off guard by his new form. She had always imagined werewolves to be like in the movies; a large muscular man like figure covered in fur with a wolfs’ head. Ren looked like a normal wolf, with the exception that he was much larger, and his fur was that same blood red color of his eyes. It was breath-taking, everything about him was irresistible.
    He turned around and faced her now, “Are you ready to go in?”
    Maya stared at him in amazement. “How did you do that?” she said looking closely at his mouth and face, “You spoke… but your mouth didn’t move.”
    “It’s called telekinesis, when werewolves hunt in a pack its quicker and easier to communicate then by barking or speaking. It also gives us the advantage because our prey cannot hear what we’re planning”
    “Wow… werewolves really are amazing…”
    “Are you ready or not? I’m starving”
    Maya nodded and they slowly walked into the cave. All that was visible to her was the darkness while her eyes slowly dialated. She stumbled over rocks and creaves in the ground as they walked deeper into the cave. Ren walked at a much faster rate then her somehow avoiding the holes and large rocks; Maya figured that it must be some werewolf ability as well.
    “There,” Ren said through his telekenesis, “shes there… see her?”
    “No I cant see a thing”
    Suddenly there was aloud rumbling sound as light slowly became visible.
    “Wh-what’s happening?!” Maya exclaimed as she stumbled nearly falling over.
    “You idiot! You spoke and the prey heard you! If you would have just thought it instead she wouldn’t be running now!” Ren’s eyes were furious even through the darkness as he charged after the fleeing shadow at full speed.
    Maya cringed a little knowing he was mad as she ran after him trying futily to keep up. As they reached the ending of the cave the light burnt her eyes, but she kept running not wanting to fall to far behind. It was too late though, Ren and the beast were already far ahead of her. She pushed herself as hard as she could to catch back up.
    A shriek of pain pierced through the quiet rustling of the leaves. She finally broke through the trees and into a small clearing at the base of the mountain behind the school. Maya stood in awe of the monster Ren had convinced her to track. It was a giant red ogre, standing nearly 15 feet tall and 6 feet wide. It had one large horn coming from the center of its head. Its eyes were black with gold centers. The creature had long silver hair that came down to its shoulders, and even though Ren had said they were tracking a girl, its physical build resembled a males body. Her hands were as big as Ren’s entire body.
    She couldn’t believe that anything could be as big as the monster that stood before her, she had seem elephants that were smaller then this! Her eyes then focused on Ren. He was circling the monster slowly, his eyes moving around its body and ready to attack at any second. Maya was about to shout and tell him to run, but then she noticed something she had missed. The ogres face… looked terrified. It was sweating badly and its body was shaking as Ren circled it. Maya couldn’t believe that it was afraid of Ren, even though it had such a large advantage. ‘Were werewolves truly such terrifying creatures?’ she thought to herself.
    The beasts eyes suddenly shifted to Maya. It raised its enormous green and swung at her intending to kill her.