• Prologue

    I was staring down at the thirty story drop with a raging river at the bottom while half a dozen werewolves’ were trying to break down the fire escape door. I muttered to myself “Where did it all go wrong?” Of course I knew the answer to that question already. It all started just a fortnight ago, gosh, seems like longer…

    2 Weeks Earlier

    “JACE IDIRIS! COME DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW OR YOUR GOING TO BE IN WORSE TROBLE THEN YOU WOULD EVER BELIEVE POSSIBLE!” screeched Clary, my mum. That was call number one, two more to go before I have to get up. I rolled over to look at the clock, its bright red light shining straight into my eyes momentarily blinding me; it was six-thirty four a.m. only fifty-six minutes till I had to be out of bed and in the car to move yet again to another unknown place, wonder how long we will be at this one for… “I SAID NOW JACE!” That was call two, one more to go. I thought about the dream I had last night, it was such an interesting dream but I couldn’t remember what it was, I’ll remember later for sure, I always do... “THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING JACE! IF I DON’T HEAR MOVEMENT IN THE NEXT FIVE SECONEDS THAN YOU’RE GROUNDED FOR A MONTH!” “Time to get up I guess…”I muttered to myself. I rolled over and stood up, plodding over to the wardrobe to find something to wear. “Wow, some much to wear,” I said as I stared at the empty coat hangers, “what should I wear today; it will be SO hard to chose.” I pulled on a white long sleeve shirt and black pants, the only clothes left in the wardrobe. “This will just have to do.” I put them on and strapped my karaski dagger to my calf, walked over to the full length mirror to and see myself. I stared at the mirror. A tall fairly muscled fifteen year old boy with small almost translucent white scars coving most of his body from the many “Marks” he had had, short black hair, bright blue eyes that changed colour from grey to blue to green depending, small nose and a small mouth stared back. “Well this is going to be a hell of a day, ain’t it Morph.” I said as the clock changed from a radio into a little green blob with two violet eyes. “ A lot of fun I believe, moving to only god knows where and staying there for a few months and then what should happen but we move yet again.” I muttered already knowing what Morphs reply was going to be. Morph chattered back in an odd voice for something that has no solid shape, “You know I find it quite fun, all the change and adventure that can go along with it, not knowing where we are going to be next, it’s all quite exciting…” “But its not really, I never have any friends for more than a few months before I have to make more…” “That’s why your dad left me to you, so you would have someone with you besides family… Someone you could talk to… You do remember you can tell me anything…” “I know, I know but I just want to be normal…” “Well what is normal to you then, please, do tell…? I’m listening…” “Ok, ok, you win; I already know where this is going. Why do you always do that?” “Because that’s what I’m here for, to help you with this sort of thing… I know it’s hard…” “NO YOU DON’T! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ITS LIKE!” There was silence as I stopped shouting. Damn it, why does it always end up like this, Morph will go off and help mum and I’ll be left here all alone to finish packing and then he will come over right before we leave and apologize and say how sorry he is even though it’s MY fault that this argument even started but he will still be the one apologizing and I’ll end up feeling really bad, again... “I’m going to go help your mother finish packing, just think of it this way though, there isn’t anything you can do to change it, accept it, embrace it, you never know, maybe we wont have to move again…” Morph mumbled as he floated away to help mum with the packing. As he left I grabbed the boxes that had all my special stuff in there and started taking things out, looking for one special item while mum called out “I’m just going down to the shops to grab something for us to have for breakfast, I’ll be back in ten minutes and you had better be ready or else”. After going through two boxes I found it, sitting at the bottom of a bunch of nick nacs. It was the box that my dad had made for me before he had passed away, it was a special box to, I was the only one who could open it or someone I had given permission to, it held things that were so special to me, a ring with ‘J I’ engraved into it with wingless dragons surrounding it, a Savera dagger in case of emergencies. All my favourite and special little items, all given to me by my dad who disappeared when I was 5 years old, he disappeared while in Africa hunting a werewolf pack who had rumoured to have broken the Accords…
    I could here loud thumping coming from downstairs, “Is that Morph?” I muttered, getting worried, he was never this loud and mum had already left… I started for the door absently grabbing the Savera dagger from my box before closing it quietly, sneaking to the door to look down the hall, it went dead quiet… I slowly opened the door to peep down the hallway, the light from the hall seeming so bright after the darkness of my bedroom, nothing. It was empty, same as yesterday because I was the one who had the pack it all into the truck… Something wasn’t right though, my head was screaming at me to run but I was too worried about Morph to run yet, I needed to know what was going on. I snuck down the hall avoiding the creaky floorboards as I started for the stairs, I could here something, not quite voices but, yes grunts, they were grunts. “Crap, werewolves…” as I muttered to myself, forgetting to avoid the creaky floorboard at the top of the steps, making it sound like a hammer to wood in the sudden quiet of the house. I stood there hoping that there talking was going to be too loud for them to have heard me… No luck though, I heard them break through the door from the kitchen to the hallway downstairs, hearing three sets of paws running and seeing the big black shapes moving like shadows but as fast as lightning up the stairs, the pad, pad, pad of there paws as they ran. “Savannah” I muttered as one of the werewolves jumped. A blade sprung out of my Savera dagger just as the werewolves’ paws were on my shoulders, the blade hitting it in the stomach causing it to fall away from me but also blocking the path of the other two coming up the stairs. “Lucky me” I said as I started running back to my room looking for the twin karaski sword and dagger under my bed. I sprinted down the hall and had my hand on the door knob when I felt something hit me in the back making me fall forward and hit my head on the door as it opened. I started crawling and was just reaching under the bed for the sword and dagger when I felt a sharp pressure on my ribs. “Move your arm any further and you lose your life.” Growled a voice behind me, presumably the wielder of the knife. “On your feet.” Growled another voice, presumably the second werewolf that followed me up the stairs. I rose to my feet slowly noticing a slight decrease in pressure from the knife. Just as I was getting ready to leap under the bed, one of werewolves stepped in front of me and reached under the bed, grabbing the sword and destroying my hopes of going for it. They pushed me out the door and down the stairs back to the kitchen were there ten more werewolves. All of them surrounding there dying brother. I felt the cool kiss of metal around my ankle, “yes” I muttered, it was my dagger, I must strapped it there this morning… But it’s going to be no use to me if they search me and I have to take on twelve werewolves… Best to wait for a better opportunity… “Where’s my mum and Morph!? MORPH! CLARY! CALL OUT IF YOU CAN HEAR ME!” I yelled, trying to distract them. I felt my blood run cold as one of them replied… “Why should we tell you, you killed one of our brothers, we should kill you actually, Valentine never said anything about bringing you in,” probably the pack leader, “would be easier actually…” he added as an afterthought… the shivers didn’t stop running up my spine as they tied me up and took me out the front of the house, throwing me into the back of a white van with a Chinese takeaway sign on the side saying Jade Wolf Chinese Cuisine. The slammed the door shut and I could here two of them jump up into the front while the others sounded like they were putting there fallen brother into another van. I was just about to see how well they had tied me up and if I could make anything else out when I felt one of them hit me in the back of the head and knock me out.

    I woke up but purposely didn’t let my captors know that I had woken up yet. Didn’t want to lose the only advantage I had, the element of surprise. I peered through my eyelashes trying to make out where I was and what I could see. “Morph…” I whispered, “Morph… Are you here…?” “Yes,” came a voice from behind my ear “I’m here, what can I do to help?” “Is Mum here?” “No thank god, your mother wasn’t back when we left and the werewolves’ weren’t going to stick around and wait for her, anything else I can do?” “You could try and untie me...” “I would but there is a slight problem...” “What?” “I’m tied up to...” “Oh... that is a problem...” I pulled at the ropes on my wrists and ankles hoping that I could break out of it. I pulled and pulled until I heard voices coming towards me, I could feel the blood dripping down my hands and onto legs then mixing with the blood from my ankles and dripping to the floor of the cell. I realised that I was suspended a half a metre or so off the ground meaning that even if I broke out it would mean two things: 1) My captors would hear me fall and hit the ground and 2) The fall would most likely wind me and they could just tie me up again because I couldn’t run away, “Bloody hell!” I murmured as loud as I dared, “Morph, can you change form to get out of here?” “I don’t think so, I’ve tried changing but they must have used a mark or something because I can’t seem to change out.” I heard the pad, pad, pad of the werewolves’ paws as they came towards my cell. The keys rattled as they opened the door to the loud protesting of the hinges. “Hello Shadow hunter, how does it feel to be tied up for a change?” growled a voice that I knew all to well, Valentine. He stood there like the king of the world, tall with dark skin, light blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. “Its certainty different, think you can let me down yet?” “Now why would I do that?” “Well if you wanted me dead I would be so unless you want me to suffocate myself with my own body wait than you might want to let me down soon at least.” And give me a chance to escape I added to myself as an afterthought. “That is true, very true.” He clicked his finger as two tall werewolf bodyguards walked in and let me down but then tied me to the wall with a set of manacles set into the stone wall. “What are you going to do with me? What are you doing with Morph? Where’s my mother?” “Tsk tsk, you really think that I’m going to tell you all that?” He snapped his fingers again and another smaller werewolf wearing glasses walked in. “Yes ma-ma-master?” said the smaller wolf. “There you are Darius; I need you to bring me master Lennox Moon-Rider. I have a task for him.” “Of-of-of course ma-ma-master, r-r-right away ma-ma-master.” Replied Darius, he almost run off obviously scared of Valentine, then again, you would have to be stupid to not be at least cautious him. A minute or so later a very tall and heavily muscled werewolf walked in with a coat as black as night. He bowed to Valentine, “You requested my presence Valentine, what do you need me for?” “Yes, thank you for coming Lennox Moon-Rider; I need you to turn this human into a werewolf please.” “WHAT!” I shouted as the werewolf approached me slowly, “WHY? How can that help you!?” “It’s not going to help me but it will DEFFINATLY make it harder for you.” Valentine replied quite calmly almost happily…

    Present Day

    I looked up at the sky to the full moon, the first one since I was bitten, this would be the telling time to see whether the lycanthropy will take effect or not… I could hear the wolves at the door still, banging and crashing against it with all there might… I felt the blood pounding in my ears, my muscles growing and bulging as my body started the first transformation from human to Lycan. It felt like a lifetime but in reality it was just a few seconds. I looked down at myself, “Gosh” I said “This is different isn’t it Morph? Its well, it’s amazing...” A flexed my hand… No my paw and I could feel the muscles tense and relax, I was more in control then I’ve ever been, I could feel every muscle move, smell every odour, hear every little sound, see in the night as good as in the day. I heard the door give way behind me and I jumped…