Story: The Bitch and the Beast (chapter 2)

Authors: Jos Mous

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Chapter 2

Title: Chapter Two

Part Two

NOTE: I got feedback requesting more, so now I'm pretty nervous because I've got to live up to expectations. Still, don't let that prevent you from feedbacking some more.

~~~~~~~~~~

Nicole strode confidently through the halls of Kennedy High. Her eyes didn't seem to see anything except her target, which right now wasn't in sight yet. It was one of those expressions that made everyone suddenly realise they had to be somewhere else. Preferably on another planet. It was clear that someone had done something horrible and that Nicole Julian was going to make that someone pay.

She spotted her target near a locker, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her along with her, still staring off into the distance. Sam was shouting all kinds of things, but Nicole blocked them out of her mind. Some small part of her knew that Sam could easily break free, but Nicole gambled Sam wouldn't want to blow her cover.

She gambled correctly.

When the two of them entered the Novak Sam immediately and very easily freed her arm. She then proceeded to check the stalls. Pleased that there was no one else here she turned and faced Nicole. It was a little frightening to see Sam standing there. The annoying-everyday-Sam was gone and instead there stood the I-change-into-a-wolf-at-night-Sam.

"What do you want?" She asked making her voice sound both threatening and extremely bored at the same time.

"I want some answers, Spam."

"Hand over the recorder." Sam demanded.

"I don't know wha-"

"Don't lie to me. Now hand it over."

Grudgingly Nicole took out a cassette recorder, quite pointedly pressed the 'stop' button and threw it over to Sam.

"Well, I trust that you've only brought one (at that moment Nicole made a mental note to take two recorders with her next time) so fire away."

"What are you?"

"If you can't guess that this conversation is now over."

"Werewolf?"

"Bingo. Anything else?"

"I thought you only changed during full moon?"

"You think a lot of things about us that aren't true."

"Who else?"

"Who else what?"

"Are there more of you around here?"

"A couple." Sam admitted. "But I'm the only one on Kennedy High." She added smiling.

"Are you lying to me?"

"Maybe." Sam shrugged. "Maybe not. You're not even supposed to know all this."

"'All this' is an impressively small amount Spam."

"And it's already too much. If you get involved you get killed." Sam started heading for the door. "I suggest you back off and let my kind do what we do best."

And with that Sam was gone. Nicole didn't even register that she didn't get her recorder back. She was still trying to process the rather awkward conversation. If it weren't for the fact that she had seen Sam change in front of her eyes last night she'd happily forget all about it.

But she couldn't.

Because werewolves were suddenly real. So were vampires.

And those two facts made Nicole wonder how much more things were out there.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sam McPherson had a problem. She was a werewolf. That in itself wasn't so much of a problem to her. The problem was that once upon a time she had been human. And that time was about five months ago. And being a werewolf also meant having a lot more primal emotions and a lot less control over them. It was starting to get difficult for her as the night approached to not let her werewolf side show. She had let it show a little this afternoon in the Novak with Nicole and that proved to have been a mistake. Because right now Sam McPherson really felt like ripping something's throat out. That urge usually came around the time when she slipped out of her bedroom window to start hunting, but right now it was still diner time. So Sam focused extremely on the plate with all that cooked food on it. Normally she liked her food cooked but in her present mindset -lingering somewhere between human and wolf- she'd much rather have something raw. The rest of the pack had ensured her that all cubs went through this, but that wasn't much of a comfort to her right now.

"Sam honey, are you alright?" Jane asked concerned.

Sam snapped out of her reverie that contained a lot of blood, flesh, fur and teeth. "Err… well… no, I'm not feeling very well." Which wasn't exactly true. She felt great, only not in a human kind of way. "Could I be excused?" Without waiting for an answer she put down her fork and rushed towards her room. She breathed in and out heavily a few times before sinking down against a wall. 'Only a few more hours', she kept telling herself.

Holding on to her humanity seemed like too great a task right now.

~~~~~~~~~~

Finally the moment arrived. The last lights in the house were turned off, the last conversations had ended. Everybody was finally asleep. In her short life as a werewolf this was probably the worst night yet. She had her mom, Mike and even Brooke come over to her room to 'talk to her'. It had been very trying to say the least. She had paced, talked gibberish and quite frankly looked like an idiot. She wasn't going to hear the end of that very soon.

But right now that didn't matter, because right now she was climbing out her window, after which she jumped to the ground. Any human might have been injured by a fall like that, but Sam landed gracefully on her feet. When she stood up again she could see someone she really didn't want to see.

Nicole Julian with a camcorder.

Verging on the edge of homicidal Sam almost ran towards Nicole, grabbed her camcorder, threw the blasted thing to ground and easily smashed it with her foot. She then looked at Nicole who suddenly didn't seem as confident as she was a few seconds ago.

"What the Hell do you THINK you're doing!" Sam shouted, not really caring if anyone could hear them. "Wasn't I clear the last few times when I said stuff like this could get you killed!?" Sam held up her hands and shook her head. "No, forget it. I don't care. If you want to risk your life, go ahead. I promise I won't interfere again." She stared at Nicole, who by now was seriously reconsidering if all this had been a good idea. "Just get out of my way."

Sam was about to shove Nicole quite a few feet away when she was interrupted by a series of snarls and growls. Nicole, knowing that this might be bad, looked frightened. Sam on the other hand looked extremely relieved. Out of the darkness 15 shapes appeared, six men, four women and five wolves. Sam immediately ran over to one of the men, hugged him and started talking in that strange language of snarls and growls. Nicole assumed that the man was either the leader or Sam's new boyfriend. Either way, Nicole didn't really care.

After a few moments Sam broke free from the man and changed into her wolf form. She and the five other wolves quickly darted away. Nine of the ten remaining humans shifted as well shortly after and dashed off in another direction, leaving only Nicole and the man Sam had been talking to.

The man walked up to her and put one of his arms around Nicole's shoulder.

"Walk with me, will you?" The man said calmly.

Nicole, not seeing any other option, said nothing and walked with him.

"What's your name?" The man asked.

"Nicole."

"Name's David." The man said. "Sam told me you were being quite bothersome."

"Sam always thinks I'm 'quite bothersome'."

"Maybe." David admitted. "But going to her house in the middle of the night with a camcorder, well… That's not something we can really allow." David made it all sound very reasonable.

"Yeah, well what are you gonna do about it?" Nicole asked defiantly. "Eat me?"

For a split second the blonde feared that the answer was going to be 'yes'. Fortunately it wasn't.

"We're not cannibals, Nicole." David said.

"You're not human." Nicole pointed out. "You're werewolves."

"We're human. Most of the time." David assured her. "But that's not really the point."

"Then what is the point?"

"The point is that Sam is still a young cub."

"A cub?" Nicole asked incredulously.

"A cub is someone who hasn't been a werewolf for very long regardless of age." David clarified. "Anyway, Sam is still relatively new to all this. In her mind there is still a difference between 'human' and 'wolf' and those two concepts clash occasionally. During that little scene back then Sam had great difficulty keeping herself under control. You're lucky we showed up or she might have done some rather permanent things to you."

"So you want me to stay away from Sam?"

"Not necessarily, I just want you to stop reminding her she's a werewolf. She needs to sort everything out by herself and your constant nagging might drive her over the edge.""I was not-"

"Yes you were. But don't worry, after tonight's hunt she'll be fine again. For a whole day at least."

"Gee, what a comforting thought." Nicole said sarcastically.

"But enough about Sam." David said. "Let's talk about you. What do you think you were going to do with that tape?" He asked calmly without any trace of accusation in his voice.

"I… I don't know. Prove Sam's a werewolf."

"Prove it to who?"

"To… me, mostly." Nicole admitted.

"So you weren't planning on showing it to anybody else?"

"No! Well, maybe Brooke and Mary Cherry. But that's all."

"And then they know as well we are real. Then what?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you. Then you have the absolute truth that werewolves are real. And that will mean that pretty soon the world knows as well. And we both know what will happen next."

"Pretend I'm stupid."

"We'll be hunted and killed." David said simply. "But maybe also dissected and studied." He added as an afterthought.

"Alright, alright, I get the picture. No more tapes."

"Good." David grabbed Nicole and after some futile struggling and shouts from the blonde he managed to reveal two cassette recorders. "So then you don't mind if I take these, do you?"

Nicole merely glared at him.

"Splendid." He said. "So, what do you want?"

Nicole was genuinely confused by this question. "What do you mean?"

"Frankly, there are only two choices." David cheerfully moved on, not really caring if Nicole could follow him. "One: remain human and never bother us again, or two: become a werewolf and join the pack."

"I…" Nicole tried to find more words, but somewhere she realised that she needed to have an answer first. It frightened her slightly that she didn't immediately yell that she wanted to stay human.

"Well, here's your stop." David said suddenly. "Get inside, have a good night's rest and let me know whatever you decide, alright?"

"Wait… how did you know-"

"Where you lived? We now everyone and everything in this town." David explained. "See you later."

"Wait!" Nicole shouted.

"Was there anything else?"

"Spa- Sam, how did she find out?"

"She didn't. We, well, I approached her. She immediately leapt at the opportunity." David leaned in closer to Nicole and whispered in a conspiratory fashion. "She's going to be my successor as pack leader." He backed off again. "But that doesn't really matter right now. You have a lot to think about so I'll let you be. Goodnight Miss Julian."And with that he transformed and ran off.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sam loved the hunt. It was simple, it was fast and most importantly it was fun. And tonight had been quite a profitable night for the pack. They had faced a total of twenty different demons and had killed them easily. After having fed the pack had dragged or carried (depending on the form they were in) whatever remained to David's house where it would be stored indefinitely. It was likely most of the meat was never going to be eaten, but it was still a shame to just let it go to waste. Besides, if people found demon flesh and blood all over the streets they would start asking questions.

So quite satisfied, and her bloodlust back to normal levels Sam climbed up the drainpipe and crawled back into the house through her bedroom window. But when she stepped into her bedroom she was met with a rather unwelcome surprise.

"Mom?"

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